As we will soon be approaching the flowering season (in the Northern Hemisphere, that is) there will be the perennial questions about the timing of flowering. In this thread I hope to quash a few myths. Firstly you should have identified the sex of your plants by now, the plants show their sex when they produce pre-flowers, long before flowering itself is under way. Indoor growers have a simple life - their give their ladies a 18/6 lighting regime, and they veg. When the girls are big enough, they switch their timers to 12/12 and the girls immediately oblige by going into flower. Switching to 12/12 is a convenience to them, and has no real meaning to us outdoor growers. We have the one season, our ladies will start to flower when they determine that the days are getting shorter. This will be some time after the longest day on June 21 (the same date everywhere), my girls start early August, it depends a little on your latitude and some say on the strain, but I must confess mine always go at the same time whatever the strain. Note they will flower when they notice the days are getting shorter. They do NOT wait until natural 12/12 occurs at the autumnal equinox on September 21 (again the same date all over the world), that is just a convenient regime that indoor growers use. In fact, by September 21 we will all be eagerly anticipating this year´s harvest, it will be getting near. For you Aussies add 6 months to those dates.
Spanishfly I have a question about lighting. I have two plants in my back yard just to keep some close incase my plot is found or ruined. However, when I planted them I forgot about the security light I have in the back orchard. It is a what Americans call a standard street light. My two plants get some light from this in the night and its on until 4 am Will this effect these two plants from reconizing 12/12 stopping them from flowering? Do I need to block the light that is hitting just a few leaves on one of the plants or is it far enough up in the air that it won't effect them? The two plants I got at home are huge I am wondering if they think there getting light all day and most of the night? What do you think of that.?
That's good that the light won't bother them. I was worried about having to figure out a way to block off the light from them That would of made it look stupid putting up a wall to block. it. I guess I should of thought of that when I transplanted them but I was thinking I could keep a close eye on them growing where I could have eye contact with them every day. They are still getting about 15 hours of sun a day. They get some shade off and on through out the day but its just a few hours from 3-5pm because the sun is moving to set. This is good because some days I think they are going to he fried from the sun getting so hot. If was 120 degree's here yesterday and the leaves were just drouping but I watered them at about 10 pm after they cooled down and I used tempered water to not shock them. By morning they were standing strong again ready for the next day. Today is another hot one so I will have to go water my plot.
Hey Cheech, The time to plant varies with your latitude and climate. Over the years I have found many sites that provide last frost dates and suggested planting times, but I have found local farmers and nurserys tend to know best. It is also believed that the cycles of the moon affect the plants, I tend to ignore this with no noticable reprecusions. I am about 42 degrees north latitude and the first week of May is when I plant my small plants outside, though you can wait until even June to avoid the rough spring weather. Your plants will be smaller the longer you wait which reduces yield. As long as you avoid the last frost it is entirely up to the grower, though I would recommend starting your plants inside in late march or early april. Hope this helps cheech, happy farming!!
spanish fly. your threads are awsome.. also in s. spain outdoor grow... have a unknown sativa about 3 feet high and doing well. three plants same strian. all clipped differently. 1 -should i also expect to see sex traits beginning of august? and see beginning of flowering? 2 - have read to continued veg ferts for a couple weeks into flowering... true or false? using 8-6-6 Mg-2 Fe-1 BIO.
If I started in mid June, when should I expect flowering to start? And how long after flowering should I harvest? PS- im located in northern florida if that helps...
Mine are just beginning to flower now. Yours will probably be about the same, when you started is irrelevant. I will expect to harvest at the middle/end of September.
SpanishFly.. Again you rule but dont let you head get to big with all the praise! now that flowering is coming around.. new tone of questioning... in S Spain where and what natural fert can i purchase? Went to the plant store today - MercatVerte and they do not have anything with low N - high P and medium K --, then to Leroy Merline (not a good choice).. actaully neither even chem ferts with that NPK ratio... dont tell me i have to make it myself!!! any suggestions?
Wel, I thank you for your comments, Frenchie, but as ever will try to avoid any cranial excess. In Southern Spain you can purchase an orgainic fert labelled BIO-CANNA. This is specially formulated for Cannabis, has the Cannabis leaf on the bottle, and comes in two types, Crecimiento (for Vegetative growth), and Floracion (for Flowering). I use this when I run out of my own comfrey - based fert. Hope this helps. Fly
When will it be flowering time, i live in Texas and when do i harvest. (sorry to bring thread back) Thanx,
Hi! I got a question for you Spanishfly... I live in Costa Rica, and well.. we don't have much change in the sunlight hours here, we don't even have 4 seasons, only dry season (nov - apr) and rainy season (may - oct). But even in the rainy season we have very sunny mornings. Also the temperatures range between 20 - 30 C all year long. So, my question is how can I manage to induce the flowering period outdoors? The past year I had two Skunk #1 plants and they grow huge, but they spend almost 4 months growing before they started to show the first bud formation. Is there any way I can manipulate the plants, the nutrients maybe? of any other method to make the plants flower? I want to start a new grow, but I don't want to spend so much time in the vegetating phase. Any advice will be very helpful! Thanks!
Is it possible tobring them inside or otherwise make make them completely dark for a couple hours a day.. maybe with black garbage bags?
Yes, I know that's an option, but putting on and off the bags each day is not an option for me =S I'm planning to feed them with a special "recipe" of nutrients for each phase, will this help? Or is the photo-period the only way to make the plants flower? I researched a little and found that here the days begin to be shorter on late june. So that will be like 5 months of vegetative growing, and the plants will be big by then, and that's not what I want. =S