I'm new to indoor growing and I'm just wondering how you count the flowering weeks. I've flipped my girls to 12/12 and I haven't seen any buds yet. I'm just trying to get a gauge on when I can expect to harvest. Thanks in advance for your input!
i start counting the weeks when i see more then one or two white hairs. the first signs of flowering it can take as long as two weeks to get to this point so be patience
I count from the day I flip, but it doesn't matter that much because they are done when the trichomes say they are done and not when a certain amount of weeks have passed.
I start counting when i see pistils. Like above poster states, they are done when they are done, but if you want to truly document and learn a particular strain/pheno's tendencies for planning purposes (ie. perpetual systems), consistency is key. And the only really consistent way to count flower time is pistil onset. If you have 2 plants, same strain, and flip to 12/12 when one of them is 3 weeks old, and the other is 4 weeks old, the 3 week old plant will likely show pistils anywhere from 5-9 days later then the 4 week plant as it may not be fully mature and will need an extra week to induce flowering. If you take this example and start counting at flip to 12/12, you will get flower times that vary by a fair margin. If you start counting when you see pistils, this is a far more consistent and comparable IMO.
^this. Keep track of everything anyway, note preflowers, start of 12/12, start of flower, beginning and end of stretch, etc. It's fun to compare different grows, mediums, strains, lights, and all that.