I have a single female Dutch Passion Holland's Hope growing outside at 45 degrees North on a south slope, it is about 5'6" right now, I have been feeding it weekly with Jack's Classic vegetating fertilizer until about three weeks ago when I started using bloom nutrients. The plant has not had any nutrient deficiencies, nor "overdoses" in it's life span, it is green and healthy. You can check the link to the attitude seed bank describing the plant, but it is supposed to finish around the end of September, or the beginning of Oct. with a 8 week flowering time. I started this plant a little late though, with it popping out of the ground on June 11th. What I am wondering is when does the 8 week period begin? I tried many google searches to no avail, as I kept encountering conflicting opinions/theories. So I hope I am able to receive a consensus here. Does it start when the plant develops staminate? When it starts developing new branches between nodes? Or when it shows pistils? I am worried that the plants late start will possibly result in a late harvest, as I only first saw pistils on the 22nd of August, however the last time I checked the plant was on the 15th, one week earlier, so they probably developed sometime in between, as they were already quite noticeable. I checked the plant yesterday and it now has what resembles flower buds on the ends of many of it's branches, especially on the center of the stalk near the top, where there are many. For several weeks before this though, the plant had already developed staminate and had started branching between established nodes. The problem is that I am leaving for school around the 22nd, give or take a few days. If the flowering period for my plants started before pistils showed, then this shouldn't be a problem, but if flowering starts when pistils emerge, then it will only have about 5 weeks to grow buds. If this is the case, I understand my yield and potency will suffer considerably. However, I prefer an energetic, uplifting high, which I understand is aided by harvesting the plants before the trichomes turn amber. So maybe this won't be a problem for me anyways. However, I have never grown before, and really can only guess what's going on. I am hoping someone who has had a similar situation happen to them before/more knowledge than me, be able to give me some advice and give me some insight into what to expect from plants. Regardless of what happens, I plan on drying the bud in something like this. I just want to be sure a single rubbermaid dryer like that would have enough space for whatever my yield turns out to be. Also curious of how much smell will still leak with a carbon filter.
The 8 week period begins when the pistils begin to show. pistil is part of the flower so its technically flowering. If you do not have time for the 8 weeks, if thee 8 weeks is exact, then u can still cut it down a week early if u have to. If u got just one plant that might be big enough but u need air flow for them to dry. so u probably cant leave the lid on it.
i have the same problem, i grew some bag seed that ended up being sativa and my 2 females just started flowering today(first pistils visible). they have been branching like crazy for 2 weeks before today. i think the branching is a preflowering thing... and there definitely is a lack of information about what plants look like in different stages. but i wish you full maturation and a good harvest edited
Thanks, and I wish you luck as well. I will post a picture later today, hopefully that will give someone an idea as too how long my plant has. I am hoping if all I want is cloudy trichomes then I will only have to wait 6-7 weeks, give or a take a few days.
Here are some pictures. I couldn't get a good picture of the main bud site at the top of the stalk due to the bright light, will probably get a better one in a few days during the morning. In order though is the plant from the south facing side which receives most of the light, then the north side. I then have a picture of one of the plants bud sites on a branch somewhere in the middle, the next picture is a zoom in of that same bud site that was outlined in black. The next picture is the top of the plant, but it is not representative of what it looks like at all, did not come out well. The last picture is just along the stalk of the plant show some pistils/sites. The plant is between 5'6" and 6'0" tall. So can anyone guess how long she has till cloudly trichomes, or a rough estimate of how much she will yield?
The flowering times on the plant are only estimates and can sometimes be confused with the indoor/outdoor aspect of it. Late starts can add to the confusion as well because the plant needs to be mature enough to flower before it actually can. (Puberty if you will.) If your baby is outside, you shouldn't really go by the 8 week marker, that is a good guide line to go by outdoors, but more usefull indoors where the light cycle changes more dramatically. You see, the closer to 12/12 the plant has, the more energy it puts into flowering. A plant outdoors can certainly flower earlier than 12/12, but 12/12 is when the flowering juices are really pumping. Keeping this in mind, you can see why indoor where we switch from 18/6 to 12/12 overnight, an 8 week marker can be very exact. However, outdoors the days are getting shorter every single day, and your plant is flowering "harder" as the summer gets shorter. You will be amazed at the yield your plant produces under these circumstances and especially since this is your first grow, I would say, if weather permits let the baby flower as long as she can. She's also an Indica so they tend to have a shorter flowering season. IMO: If all goes planned, you will for sure have some good smoke to come home to on the weekends.
That is kind of what I assumed all along, just so much conflicting information/people confusing indoor growing with outdoor/marketing bull on the internet it can be very confusing sometimes.