preventing early spring flowering with clones

The Iceman · Apr 26, 2007

Just wanted to get as much feedback and hints as possible. Please anyone with any suggestion fire away. I'm thinking of cutting back the inside light time to 15 or 15.5 hours. Should I wait to plant until late may to be safe?

Also I read another thread is this forum about spraying the plants with aspirin water early on in veg to prevent mold. I can't seem to find the thread though so if anyone can enlighten me to the method it would be cool. Thanks!

JJScorpio · Apr 26, 2007

What light do you have them on now? If it's been 24/0 then they will start to flower at 15 hrs of light.....

stevr59 · Apr 26, 2007

well every plant i put out side 2 clones and one seed plant have all started flowering on me only was i see it is to run the light at what every the out door light cycles is in my case its 13 1/2 hours now i have a mex bag seeds plant i been growing in coco out side since i sprouted it and its not flowing and put out 2 ak47 x bb from seeds thats was growing under 15/8 85 watts flos and there not flowing either seems the only one flowering are the ones i had under 18/6 of light now my question will they keep flowing in till there done or will they reveg?

selfprofider · Apr 26, 2007

As stated above -One important factor is what light cycle are they on right now. I know myself that I have set clones out in may that were rooted running on a 18/6 and they immediately started flowering, but given enough time they reverted back to the veg stage and grew to full bountiful plants

Ideally trying to closely match the outdoor time table is best or as close to it as poossible but still may flower to sme degree with indica clonesAs for the asprin spray I never heard of it and wouldn't do it to my plants IMO
Later
Selfprofider

The Iceman · Apr 26, 2007

JJ - I've had them on 24 but just switched to 18 a few days ago...im gonna go with 18 for a couple then switch to 16 for a couple and hope that works. I might even wait until june to throw them in the ground.

LORD BENIS · Jun 11, 2007

My bet is that they start flowering, but maybe not, just my 2 cents. Happens to me all the time and it sucks. I actually found this thread searching for some answers to preventing flowering. Butte is doing very well with this issue this year. Any additional info would be highly appreciated.
BTW, the asprin thing could potentially work. They make Asprin from Willow tree bark and it's been used for all kinds of cure alls with plants. Never tried it myself, I'd go very light if you feel you need to try it.

Seve · Jun 17, 2007

Good thread topic. I've had problems with this in previous years. I've seen many plants re-veg but it definitely results in lower yields... I guess the best set-up is a greenhouse of some sort w/ electricity so you can have supplemental lighting. Anyone else who has information on this topic, please share.

Edit: Maybe give them more N to help prevent flowering???

Guest · Jun 26, 2007

Know more than 14 hours while indoors. No more no less. I also give them a small dose of Nitrogen the day b4 the go outdoors.

elkslayer · Jun 26, 2007

Pleacing clones out in mid may without matching the light cycle, will guarantee preflower. More importantly, placing root-bound clones outside will absolutely guarantee pre flower. Some will snap out though you will be left with very leafy herb where the preflowering had previously occured.

Placing cuts out past June 10 will typically solve this, providing they are not rootbound. An experiment I have yet to try is taking a freshly rooted cut of an ezclone, in the shade for 2-3 days, and then in direct sunlight. I hypothesize that this method could work. I did it in early June with Cheese, with no ill effects from the scorching sun, thus it most likely could work in early May. Dunno fer sure though.

Good Luck

ES

Butte · Jul 2, 2007

I know I'm a little late, but here's the write-up from my thread as to how I did it...

Butte said:
...I started most everything back in February under an 18/6 photoperiod under a 1000w inside. Then, in early April I put them out in the halfway house. The plastic I have for this house is probably only 70% light transmission, so this had an effect of hardening them off a bit while they got bigger. I followed DJ Highst’s advice (THANKS!) on the supplemental lighting program by taking the daylight hours and adding a bit of supplemental in the evening and in the morning. This meant the lights came on before the sun actually was totally down and ran till 11 to 12 PM. The lights went off and then back on around 3 or 4 in the morning till well after sunrise.

After a couple weeks under plastic, I moved them out into the full sun while still retaining the lighting schedule. Every few days (no schedule, just as I remembered), I would knock 15 minutes off the morning or the night so the “dark period” slowly got longer. The thought was to slowly bring the lighting back into a natural rhythm. I achieved this with only a couple 40w bulbs, too.

Once I wanted to put them in the ground, I did actually string up another couple rows of light to light up the main patch, too. Since I had brought power into the plot last year, this was relatively straightforward. As we’re almost to the solstice, I’m almost done with the supplemental, but I still have a couple hours to shave off the total time. Overkill? You bet! Flowering? Not on the plants that had this regimen. The one purps I put in that has triggered was being veg’ed under 3000w at 18/6 and it triggered on me. I think the intensity of the light is to blame for this as his cuts (from the same batch) had a lot more growth than those I had in the sun! Then, with a lesser degree of light outside, they flipped.

...and a couple photos to illustrate:

June 13

June 6

May 20th

April 26th

Happy growing - Butte

The Iceman · Mar 10, 2008

old thread ....so anyone come up with any solid solutions?

New Grower · Mar 10, 2008

bookmarked

medjool · Mar 11, 2008

I have essentially the same problem, and I'm adopting the same solution. I germinated seeds in early January and have had them in 16/8 lighting since then. Today I moved them into a greenhouse. They will be getting supplemental light for 5 hours/night from around 6:00 pm to 11:00pm. I'm using four 40w fluorescent bulbs for this purpose. I intend to keep them under this lighting regimen until mid April when I will turn the supplemental lighting offnd let them flower. I hope to have them finished by mid to late june.

Medjool

Mr Celsius · Mar 11, 2008

Aspirin mixed with water is the same stuff as scorpion juice from advanced nutrients. It creates a systemic response and heightens the plants abilities to fight diseases and pathogens.

I have no ideas about early flower and such, I've never had a problem with it + I grow mostly autos now.

Guest · Mar 11, 2008

Hey Iceman and everyone,

Years ago I had this problem but I have learned what I believe are the answers to your question, at least in my world. We all live in our own worlds however.

Timing when a clone is taken is one of the most critical factors. Clones for outdoor growing should be taken from the mother plant in late march/ 1st of april, to be ready by the first weeks of may to set out. My experience has been a simple lesson. The longer the clones are indoors, the more likelyhood that they will flower prematurely when set outdoors. I have never had a clone try to flower that was taken from the mother, rooted under 24 for 2 weeks and then turned to normal light, mimmicking outdoors. The clones hit the outdoors as soon as they have a simple root system. The photoperiod for the clone should remain constant and reflective of outdoor light. Any attempt to increase the light beyond natural levels will result in problems. Attempts to pregrow clones to a certain size before placing them outdoors always results in problems in my view. Root them and hit the door at the first opportunity.
There is also a significant difference in clones taken from a mother started this year and clones taken from a mother that overwintered. The clones taken from the overwintering mom have a much greater tendency to flower prematurely with photoperiod change. Take clones from a seed you started in January and problems should be less.

Photoperiod stability is the key. Put them on natual times the minute u see a root.

My 2 cents.

Butte · Mar 11, 2008

I had no preflowering...until I turned the lights off on the solstice

This year I'll have my lights on a schedule to match the sunrise/ sunset in my area on the solstice and run them until then.

- Butte

The Iceman · Mar 11, 2008

silverback killer advice bro...thanks man!

Cannabinofil · Mar 11, 2008

agreed with taking clones from 1 of april on, for ready for transplant clones 1 of may ... but why not root clones under 15hrs light 9hrs night(just like the photoperiod diet for rooting of seedlings in nature), like that when planted outside rootbound or not, natural light is only augmenting ... they then should not triger(I hope 'coz that's what i'm gearing to do) :joint:

Butte · Mar 11, 2008

^^^ I think that would work with most strains, but some of these elite clones like to trigger on remarkably long hours...

...also, don't forget light intensity and, independently, the length of the difference (ie switching from 24 to even 18 will trigger most strains). One year I hid my starts in the trees and had them trigger even though the actual day length was fine...I just didn't have enough light coming to them to keep them veg'ing.

- Butte

Cannabinofil · Mar 11, 2008

Butte said:
^^^ I think that would work with most strains, but some of these elite clones like to trigger on remarkably long hours...

...also, don't forget light intensity and, independently, the length of the difference (ie switching from 24 to even 18 will trigger most strains). One year I hid my starts in the trees and had them trigger even though the actual day length was fine...I just didn't have enough light coming to them to keep them veg'ing.

- Butte

That is a good anser Butte ... Thank you for taking the time to think about this ...

Allow me to dissect your points for analyses ..

-Light intensity-> more lumens to keep in vedge --> I agree with your thought
-Light length of difference-> triggering occures with full plants-->the devil's advocate asks the embrion question "is a clone a plante before it has roots?" and there for may it have a "fresh" start under 15/9 ?

thank you

preventing early spring flowering with clones

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