My plants have just popped a few hairs after a week of 12/12. Does this mean I'm in the second week of flowering? Slightly confused as to when you start counting the weeks for flowering.
Good question.. I always assumed flowering started basically when you start the 12/12 but either way the hairs are pre flowers.. Congratulations on your girls!!!
This has been debated for years and some will tell you flowering begins when you see the hairs and some will tell you it begins the day you switch to 12/12. I start counting the day I switch my lights. Its not that important though, its just a ballpark figure....you cant just say " end of flowering week 9, Im ready to harvest".... you have to get a microscope and check your trichs...thats when you will know theyre ready.
Yeah, what NICN and Growsens said! MJ plants are confused themselves. Unless the plants are feminized, sex is not predisposed until somewhere around 4 to 5 weeks when they finally "decide" what they want to be when they grow up. Shortly after, they will pre-flower. For example, say a particular strain requires 5 weeks to decide & display it's sex, or pre-flower. No matter what you do, it won't show any earlier. If you veg for three weeks and switch to 12/12, it will still take two more weeks to show. Many growers veg at 16/8, 18/6, or even 24/0 until their plant shows pre-flowers, then they switch to 12/12. Those growers can accurately say their bloom cycle started when they switched to 12/12. Now me, I grow hydro & I can never get that to work for me. If I veg until I see pre-flowers, the plants are 4' and then want to double size when I switch to 12/12. So, I switch at 3 & 1/2 weeks & wait the week or two longer for them to show. So technically, I should start counting my bloom cycle when I see first signs of sex. Growsens said it well, it's a ballpark figure. Most important, you saw hairs, not balls. WHOOO HOOOO!!!!
Really the number of weeks is just a rule of thumb. How it looks visually towards the end is what counts. Check out the harvesting guide to see pictures on when to harvest.
Thanks for the input guys. I just wanted to know so I could Follow a feeding schedule during flowering. I am somewhat experienced when it comes to harvesting etc...I have my mini microscope all set and they were fem seeds so I knew all along that they would be ladies. Happy growing!