When to start flowering???

Hey jimmyrauch, You could put them to flower pretty much at anytime if you want. Normally they strech 2-3x in size from when you put them into 12/12 deppending on the strain, and lights. I would say if you have five feet i would probably wait till they hit about 12-16" before you put them to flower. Another thing you can do to help with less initial strech is to put them to 24 hours dark before the start of 12/12. I know a lot of people will agree and the same amout will disagree with 24 hour dark before flower. But trust me i did it with identical clones from the same mom with 2 different strains with the same results. The one with 24 hours dark had alot less initial strech that was very noticable after 2 weeks like almost a 5-6" difference. Also it was throwing pistils like crazy. The one that didnt go to 24 hours dark first looked alot more streched and had alot less pistils looked almost like 1.5 weeks behind.

Hope this helps... Good luck...

 

Now I'm not refuting this, because I haven't had experience with a lot of strains, but I haven't seen any sign of this. Perhaps it also depends on how tall it was to start with as its easier to triple the height of a 6" plant, but after 2 weeks of 12/12, when the plant begins flowering, all of the stretching pretty much stops and the only vertical growth is from those colas getting higher (which will in turn make you higher). I'm guessing some strains do have a large amount of flowering growth, but most plants I've encountered follow a similar growth pattern (majority... not all): they grow like a fern, more-or-less, into the basic frame or structure that will fill in with bud production and leaves during flowering.

Also, I haven't had this clarified yet, but I've been told by many that, from a seedling, a plant should be 2 months old before flowering.


E4A2S

 

I have grown WWx, BB, NLxBB, WR, Purps, Lemon Skunk. All under the same conditions flood drain hydro, under a 1000 HPS. Every single plant that i put into flower in the past and present has more then doubled. The only 1 that i have noticed that doesnt strech that much is the WR the rest get alot bigger. Believe me after just 2 weeks the strech is still not over. I would say that i noticed that the strech does slow down around the middle of the 3 week but it doesnt really stop till much later on.

I have vegged seedlings for 1 month get them to about 12-17" and flower them with no problem.

 

Enuff4All2Share- What strains have you grown that have shown minimal stress. Would like to know thanks.

 

No name strains, to knowledge. About 4 or five different bagseeds. They all followed a similar structure, that which I've outlined aboved. They began flowering at 3 1/2 feet in height, and gained 6 inches during flower. They were vegged by HPS, mostly... perhaps they stretched enough during that time that they had too little left. Had they trippled, I would have had an interesting situation. If I were to place them in flower earlier, when veg growth was at it's peak, perhaps that would have allowed more growth. Anywho, I was happy with how everything worked for me. I can only relate my experience.

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I got a WWx that i started to LST when i put it to 12/12 just to see what would happen. That damn thing took up so much room it was like 1' at start of 12/12 now that thing is in the 5 week of flower and its like 3x3' it finally stopped streching thank god. But its full of bud everywhere.

 

Its best to wait until they sex(male/female) or alternating nodes.If i were you i would start training the plants now.Tieing down branches.You just topped the plants so the new branches can be bent and tied.Make sure you have good ventilation in that closet.Training your plants will save vertical space but they will bush up and get a little crowded so good ventilation/air movement is important.But from my experience with when to start flowering Ive tried flowering plants at different times in veg and for me letting them mature in veg will give you a healthier plant and much better yield.Now some sativas can be thrown into flower as early as 2 weeks in veg depending on strain.Some sativa strains have long flowering times up to 13 weeks.