4 weeks into flower sativa dom showing signs of finishing? Please help!

[bogcotton]

I'm uploading these for a friend overseas who's a bit paranoid (or healthily cautious should I say!), but is on his first grow and really needs some info about whether what he's seeing is normal.

The strain is Durban Poison x Early Skunk.

These pictures show it 4 weeks since the first pistils, 2 L soil SOG, no veg from clone, 400W HPS, 12/12, 4 Sq ft closet.

The seedbank states an 8 week flowering time, so he expected it to be more like 9 - 10, but is seeing signs which are confusing him.

Some brown pistils, 90% cloudy trichomes under a 100x microscope, and sudden swelling of the buds at 4 weeks into flower. Is this typical of this stage of growth, or is he entering the last weeks of flowering?

 

[burns1n209]

Can't see pics

 

[SneakySneaky]

Pics would be helpful, what's his room temps and nutrient? 4th week swell is normal, high heat and humidity can make pistils brown off prematurely. Is it one single plant under a 400?

 

[bogcotton]

Of Course!! Dim moment, added the pics to a private album, hopefully you can see now.

It's 25 x 2L SOG, staggered maturity, with these being the most mature.

Temperature is stable at 80F / 26C. Humidity is typically 60%.

 

[aloneinthewoods]

im no expert but it dont look like its in its last week to me looks at least another three weeks just by the look of the buds


some plants have slightly cloudy trichs from the start some even have red pink and so on ! did he notice the coulor change or was it like this the first time he looked at them ???

might even be the lighting causing them to look cloudy try looking at them in natural light

tell your friend what he is seeing is normal and to expect them to go three weeks more at least

 

[Neo 420]

Is it 4 weeks from the pistil shoot or 4 weeks from flip to 12/12.

 

[bogcotton]

4 weeks from pistils.

The trichomes were clear, and on the clones a couple of weeks behind are still clear, the light is a white LED within the handheld microscope.

This is his first grow, and wants some opinions on when to initiate flushing. Since he had guessed it would be another 5 weeks, he was going to wait another 3, what do you guys think?

 

[sso]

id say it has a few weeks left..


some strains pistils die off, midterm, then grows some new white ones before finishing off weeks later.

some pistils getting brown, might also just mean, something touched them, or that it just happened.

sometimes some buds swell up way before the rest, usually the one on the stem that is not really part of the true bud.

and

sometimes pistils go brown and buds swell up, because you have a hermi.

(which is not a problem if its a slight hermi (meaning you get a few seeds or perhaps just a single one per bud.)

unfortunetly, you probably have a hermying plant.

fortunetly it looks like its a slight hermy.

couldnt be 100% though, just from that pic.

check for bananas and feel if the buds have a seed in them (feel harder than they should.)

if its a hermy, i would not worry about it, just let it go on. might want to though inspect it for bananas, see if they are allready open (and then not a problem anymore, just spray it with some water.)

and pluck any that you see. (they usually dont come back.)

 

[bogcotton]

It being a hermie was his first suspicion, and he searched all of the buds on all of the plants for anything which could even possibly be a 'naner, and couldn't find anything.

Would these peculiarities have arisen before pollen was released by the male bits on the hermie plant, or only after?

If the latter, he is really meticulous (Physicist) and I'm fairly sure he would have spotted the offending bits.

Could this simply be a particularly early finishing pheno of this strain? Or are there other more likely causes?

 

[sso]

It being a hermie was his first suspicion, and he searched all of the buds on all of the plants for anything which could even possibly be a 'naner, and couldn't find anything.

Would these peculiarities have arisen before pollen was released by the male bits on the hermie plant, or only after?

If the latter, he is really meticulous (Physicist) and I'm fairly sure he would have spotted the offending bits.

Could this simply be a particularly early finishing pheno of this strain? Or are there other more likely causes?

sometimes nanners are really hidden in amongst buds and you dont know they are there till you got seeds.

but no, it does not have to be nanners.

..it could be any number of things.

but really, from that pic, id say "stop worrying about some pimples and just keep on growing."

that plant looks fine. (even if it had nanners it would only have a few seeds and sometimes hermies can be the finest of smokes. (my favorite plants always had a single seed in each bud.))

 

[Neo 420]

Tips up and down.......what are the canopy temps. maybe a slight off on ph.. Is this organic or chem bro? So it is actually 6 weeks in flowering ( about 2 weeks to get pistil growth and stretch)

 

[bogcotton]

Yes I think it took 2 weeks from the switch from 12/12 to show pistils. Aren't the guideline finishing times usually from this point though? Would be great to get some clarification on that.

This is Plagron Bat Mix with BioBizz BioBloom.

Canopy temperature is unknown, the probe is about half way up the cupboard. The temperature is usually about 80F, and the tops are about 18 inches (vertically, so this is minimum) from the bulb.

The temperatures inside the cupboard usually show as about .5C less than the room it's in, so the temperature gradient has to be the least possible for the bulb right?

It's a 330 m^3 / h fan on a 70x70x150 cm wxdxh (roughly from his plans when building it) cupboard.

The PH could very well be an issue, as he just uses tap water, since the growth was good, and even his seedlings were healthy, he didn't consider the PH an issue. It's usually buffered by the soil anyway right?

 

[bogcotton]

I hate double posts, but can't edit yet.

Just needed to say that the real reason for the thread is so that he has an informed opinion on when to start feeding water only for best flavor / least harshness.

What are the signs that he should look out for, what would tip him off that it's starting to gear up for its last hoorah?

Any guesses based on the (limited) information / images are welcome.

Major appreciation for all the help as well dudes.

 

[stoney917]

I'd go atleast 8 wk then start flush... flower time for most ppl is dy 1 from 12/12 ... It looks like it got a ways to go yet... From the genetics I'd say 10wker easy... Feed nutes till atleast 8 wks and flush till its done... Just by lookin I doubt he seeing cloudy trics at wks 4.... There's. Sayin when I doubt wait a week.. Trust me keep feedin that hurl she gonna keep gettin fatter and frostier... When she swollen and gonna pop wk 9 flush her yellow till wk 11 u be happy....this is just approximate but def stepping in the right direction...

 

[señorsloth]

it looks fine, got at least 4-6 weeks to go if not longer, hard to say with sativas, cloudy crystals don't really mean much, you wanna wait for about 25% amber...

go on google and search "zeus's take on harvesting", you will find an EXTREMELY informative thread on another forum that i've been told i am not allowed to link to anymore...it should answer all of your questions.

 

[Neo 420]

Yes I think it took 2 weeks from the switch from 12/12 to show pistils. Aren't the guideline finishing times usually from this point though? Would be great to get some clarification on that.

This is Plagron Bat Mix with BioBizz BioBloom.

Canopy temperature is unknown, the probe is about half way up the cupboard. The temperature is usually about 80F, and the tops are about 18 inches (vertically, so this is minimum) from the bulb.

The temperatures inside the cupboard usually show as about .5C less than the room it's in, so the temperature gradient has to be the least possible for the bulb right?

It's a 330 m^3 / h fan on a 70x70x150 cm wxdxh (roughly from his plans when building it) cupboard.

The PH could very well be an issue, as he just uses tap water, since the growth was good, and even his seedlings were healthy, he didn't consider the PH an issue. It's usually buffered by the soil anyway right?

Day one of flower is when the 12/12 cycle has started. Waiting for the pistols to pop to start count is usually a outdoor thing...

Never used those nutes so no comment..

Knowing canopy temps is paramount when growing. 80f is a little high without co2.

Soiil buffering is usually in organic grows (humics). You would have to have the right soil mix for that to happen.

all in all you look decent but obviously have some issues. With the info I have I say heat and ph issues.

Indications that the bud is ready is:
1. Hairs on the bud will start to relax
2. Check the trychs all over the plant. Not just on top. 70%

It's unlikely there is 90% cloudy trychs on week 6. You need to check the amber amount....

 

[bogcotton]

Okay, so the general consensus is that this looks typical for week 6 for this kind of strain, save for maybe a slight PH / temperature issue, and he should just keep on going for the next few weeks?

If so, he's going to be one happy dude! The buds are already at a size he'd be happy with harvesting, frostiness too.

Has anybody grown these genetics before, and can give a rough idea of how much more weight is put on in the last third of flowering?

"Majorly appreciate the free knowledge guys" - grower.

 

[medmaker420]

at least 3 weeks and don't overdue the nutes, I see tip burn and sometimes less is more

 

[aloneinthewoods]

any updates from your friend ??