When to cut back lights

[ifsixwasnin9]

How do you know when to let the plants start flowering? When the plant stops growing vertically? And from that point to harvesting can take up to 8 weeks?

 

[MikeOrganix]

They will veg as big as you want to get them. They will not stop growing. If you get them too big, your lights will not be strong all over the plant and you will end up with a ton of crappy buds. Better to bloom them smaller and have the buds be huge. with seed plants I let them get about 9"-12" and they can double or even more in flowering. Clones I get them about 8" and bushy. Use low stress training to pull the tallest growing point down. They will bush out. What size lights are you using??

Flowering is generally 8 weeks yes. Can tell when they are done cause the hairs turn red and the trichomes go from clear to cloudy. Some strains are a week more or less than 60days.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

How do you know when to let the plants start flowering? When the plant stops growing vertically? And from that point to harvesting can take up to 8 weeks?

When your plant gets alternating nodes, it is sexually mature. You can keep your plant in vegetative growth as long as you want. However, your plant will generally double or sometimes triple in height when put into 12/12 light. Flowering usually takes a minimum of 8 weeks. IMO, there are very few (non-auto) strains that are ready at 8 weeks. Sativas take longer than Indicas.

IMO, the only real way to tell if a plant is ready to harvest is by looking at the trichs with a 30x or better scope ($12 from Radio Shack). There can be various reasons that the pistils darken prior to the plant being ready to harvest. Most people harvest when the trichs are a mixture of cloudy and amber. The more cloudy trichs, the more up high. The more amber trichs, the more couch-lock the high.

 

[legalize_freedom]

I flip anywhere from 18 -24 inches usually. The main thing is to know when it is sexually mature. You will get alternateing nodes, which is to say that the branches coming off of the main branch will no longer be directly across from each other one side will be a little higher or lower than the other. Another way to tell is to watch for pre-flowers, somewhere from the 4th node up. Where the branch meets the main stem you will begin to see a little nub there. If this nub produces pistils, or 2 little hairs, it is a girl, if the nub developes more little nubs, or doesn't produce the hairs, then it is a male.

Anytime after the plant has become sexually mature, you can begin the flowering process...it can be from as little as 7 weeks to as long as 14 weeks and even longer depending on the strain.

You can not tell if the plant is finished by the pistils. Many other things besides ripeness can casue your pistils to change color. Watching the pistils is not a good way to tell when your plant is done. The only sure way to tell when the plant is done is by watching the trichs.

 

[legalize_freedom]

LOL...THG...looks like we were both typing at the same time...ya beat me to it....lol, at least we both gave him some good advice...lol

 

[ifsixwasnin9]

So branches (or the plant) will not be symmetric with one another? Didn't know that. Anyone point me to a photo?

 

[pcduck]

We do have a wonderful resource section here at MariP. It is located in the toolbar that is on every page at the top. or you can click here

 

[leafminer]

SOME plants will keep stretching and stretching when they flower. Others not. For instance right now I have a pure sativa and an indica dom sitting next to each other in the greenhouse. The indica dom just stops veg growth one day and begins colas the next. There is none of this double or triple in size stuff. But the sativa went into flower at 20" and is growing fast and I expect it to get to 5 ft easily.
Or in other words:
It is very dependent on the strain.

 

[legalize_freedom]

Leafminer really? What indica is it? All my indica's have had a flower stretch, usually doubling in size...granted not as much stretch as the sats, but they go through a stretch after the 12/12 flip. I'm curious to what your growing that just starts developing buds? Seroisely it doesn't grow more verticly after the flip? I want this if it's decent weed. Hell, no worries about when to know when to flip, if you know they won't grow more.

 

[DonJones]

Leafminer,

I'd like to find a plant that I could veg until the size I wanted it and then flip it instead of having to try to guess how much more it would grow in flower.

Come on, share the wealth. Although maybe you just got an unusual one of an otherwise normal variety.

Anyway, I'm sure glad you have one like that. Please tel me you're cloning it.

Great smoking.