1st Grow - 6 weeks flower - questions!

[Steeev]

Hey everyone,

I'm just looking for some advice and feedback on my 1st grow.

I started the flowering schedule (12 on, 12 off) 6 weeks ago and I took some pics today.

My set up is a 400w HPS with a reflector. I have 8 plants under it, a small grow area but it's manageable. The plants are all over 36 inches tall, and veg'd for about 4 months.

I have two distinct strains although and I have no idea what their names are. One's buds are very purple and dark, while the others are white and fluffy looking.

A couple of my plants I LST'd and topped and I left a couple alone. It seems to me that the ones I left alone are getting bigger buds. I've been clipping a lot of the big fan leaves off in the past few weeks and I also have clipped 50% of the leaf in many areas (ones covering bud development).

I included a couple of pics showing my plants and grow area.

So, my main questions are:

-How many more weeks of flowering?
-Any ideas on what strain the plants may be?
-Any change in lighting schedule (10 on, 14 dark)?

I would appreciate some feedback very much. Thanks a lot!

 

[mikepro88]

looks nice but i wouldnt drop below 12/12 i think( im also kinda stupid ) 12/12 is the min light you can go for healthy plants looks good tho

 

[Medman]

Looks good. You shouldn't be clipping leaves off though. You'll stunt the buds and hurt your harvest. Unneeded leaves will shrivel up and fall off naturally. Answers to all your questions are in the stickied faqs and growing tips at the top of this page http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6

 

[IRISH]

oh yeah, they are sweet. stay the course bro. 12/12 all the way. you got a scope to check your trich production?

some peeps cut off leaves, but most say 'never do that'. i don't. you need 'em for bud production.(photosynthesis).

as for knowing the strain, that would be impossible. although i know what they look like to me. SWEET:hubba: ...bb...

 

[UKgirl420]

;looking very nice ,,go by the trichs for harvest ,,,what color are they now eace:

 

[cadlakmike1]

As most of the others said stay on 12/12. Do not trim fan leaves, even if they are covering buds it is more important that they get light than the buds do. It's hard to say how much longer flowering will take, as said above look at the trichs. If you could show a close up of some of the fan leaves we could mostly identify between indica and sativa but the exact strain will be really hard if not impossible to guess. The reason the plants you did not LST look like they have bigger buds is because they do. A non-LST plant will produce one large cola and then numerous smaller buds, when you LST you will get more consistent medium sized buds but the yield should be similar between the two as long as you have adequate light. LST is beneficial if you have height restrictions or a light that will not penetrate deep canopy. I saw you had a 400w but how large is your grow area?

 

[HippyInEngland]

You have Sativa dominant plants, the flowering time will be 10-12 weeks.

As many have said, Trichomes decide when to harvest, not counting days or weeks

eace:

 

[blancolighter]

Stop by radio shack, they have two items that you should look at, one is a 60x-100x pocket microscop, and the other is a 15x pocket magnifier. I have both and personally I like the 15x more, its easier to work with, still lets you see the trics just fine and you can see more at once for a bigger picture of where your plant is at. If you really wanna go the extra mile, getting a 30 x jewlers loupe would be perfect for looking at your trics.

 

[Steeev]

Thanks so much everyone. I've been finding a lot of conflicting information about these things so I figured I should ask on here.

I'm definitely going to go to radioshack and buy the magnifier to check out the trichomes. I've looked with a magnifying glass and close up hi-res pics and they seem to be clear still and pointing outward, very few are curling up and changing colour.

I've read a fair amount on how the plants don't need as many fan leaves during the flowering phase. Apparently the majority of the energy from the leaves goes to making the plant larger (during the veg stage), and that's not happening during flowering. Obviously you guys have more experience with this though, that's really unfortunate though if I do get a lowered yield, oh well. Has anyone observed a reduced yield due to clipping?

HippyInEngland, just out of curiosity, how could you tell that I have sativa dominant plants?

Thanks a lot!

 

[greenthumberish]

From my experience, sativa dominant is a thinner leaf width, and the indica dominant is a big ol' fat fan leaf. Strains that are fairly equal are medium in fan finger width....could be wrong though I'm not an expert...i'm just a mexican

 

[willowgrow]

steeev, you really shouldn't trim or prune your plants at all during flowering. In veg the plant uses all the energy to grow and get green, whereas in flowering it transitions to using that energy to create big buds (you still will get a big growth spurt in flowering though). I tend to prune my ladies in veg a tiny bit, but never in flower. It will affect your yield, although im not sure how drastically, and it will stunt your plant growth.

 

[420benny]

Nice pics! The first pic looks a lot like this month's BPOM, at the top of the page. Think of the fan leaves as solar panels and leave them alone until they die or dry up.