Apollo 11 Not Flowering

[Tarantula-1]

No pics, but I'll try for a thorough description.

I'm running some Cannacopia Deep Chunk crosses (X Choc Trip) and some Joey Weed Apollo 11s. 350w CFLs; good air circulation, CO2 and zero light leaks. Flipped them all at about 7-8 inches after vegging for 3 weeks. Grown in Fafard mix with the usual goodies mixed in (guano, lime, greensand, perlite, etc)

After roughly 25 days in flower, the Chunk crosses are budding up as expected; the Apollos have all shown sex but I'm only seeing small, individual white hairs....they're not elongating or clustering up, let alone flowering. I've given them two mild doses of bloom ferts (Bill's Perfect, which I've used previously w/ good results).

I could understand if I had one Apollo refusing to bud - I'd simply bin it and move on. But 3 out of 3 playing hard to get is a headscratcher (not to mention a frustrating pain in the ass!) They all came from Joey's most recent batch of F2s - the ones made available about 4 months ago that just recently went out of stock - so I know I'm not dealing with ancient seedstock.

The other frustrating aspect is that the Chunk crosses, which look right on schedule to finish in 65 days, are showing a small bit of nute burn, although nothing major or worrisome. The Apollo girls are clean....not only that, they appear fabulously healthy! Bright green, copious branching, textbook marijuana in every way...they're doing everything right - except they're not budding. I almost feel stupid putting this in the Infirmary because they're so friggin' vigorous and healthy.

Suffice it to say they ain't no way this "7-week strain" can possibly be ready in under 10, and that's assuming they'll eventually flower. Has anybody had similar difficulties with Joey's A11....or this most recent batch of his A11? Should I switch bloom ferts (I've got some Tiger Bloom in storage- it's about two years old, though)? Outside of just watching and waiting, I'm at a loss for figuring out my next move. And this all starts fresh again in 2 weeks, as I've got another 5 clones in veg!

Appreciate any words of wisdom you fine folks might throw my way.

 

[Sirius]

I'm not sure, but could the problem be that they only had three weeks in the vegetative state? I've read before that it will take longer than usual for plants to develop preflowers if they are put into flowering before they have sexually matured, so maybe they are developing slower overall as a result? Like I said, not sure on that...

The other thing that comes to mind is, what is the color temperature of your CFL's? If they aren't around 2700k, the plants probably aren't receiving enough of the red spectrum to develop at a normal pace. I'm assuming you have the right bulbs though, since you say the Chunk crosses are right on time...

The last thing that I can think of, which would seem most likely since the other things I mentioned probably don't pertain to your situation in the slightest, is that you're growing f2's of Apollo 11, and I would expect that there is a great deal of variation in f2's of Apollo 11, considering its parents and the fact that they came from Jack Herer, which is quite a hybrid itself. F2's aren't going to be stable, and I'm sure you've got some that are leaning towards the sativa end of the spectrum. Do you have any pictures of the way they've grown and their leaves, to help determine if this is true?

Also, I'd keep your eye on Seedbay and look to grab some of Rez's Apollo 11 when he releases them in the next week or two, because I'm positive they are going to be much much closer to the real Apollo 11 than these f2's.

 

[Tarantula-1]

Yeah, I thought about them being a tad immature....I usually veg 25-28 days with little problem.

I grow with T5 HO's and I've never seen a T5 at 2700k. My setup's mixed spectrum: 3 bulbs are 3000k (standard bloom temp for T5s), 2 are 3500k and 1's 6000k (I added a 40w, 2700k CFL strictly for one of the A11s). This will be my sixth full grow with T5s after five successful prior runs, albeit with different strains - one of which was Jack Flash, which turned out very well.

As for sativa-leaning....hoo boy! All 3 are sat-dom with a vengeance - which is why I'm half-resigned to going as long as I have to with these girls. I just have a sinking feeling I might arrive at day 50 without seeing significant budding, at this rate.

Again, I could understand one plant coming up empty in a pack - but 3 out of 3? Doesn't seem possible, particularly for a brand as respected as Joey's. Don't exactly get me enthused about popping the other 7, either.

 

[Guest]

I had this with GHS Big Bang

2 out of 10 refused to flower totally

Instead they developed 10 or so pistills per node and that was all

I carried on flowering and they got no better

Cut them and start again once they get past 5 weeks flower and still look shit!!


This is one after 6 weeks flower - Loosing battle i think!!!!

 

[Dr.Snow]

i grew out jw a11 from an older batch and had no problem (started flowering FAST) and grew surprisingly uniform for f2s... the only thing I can think is that they were put in too early from seed (i let mine veg for 6 to 8 weeks from seed). Maybe if you had the space you could try cutting down the hours more (8 or 10) and see what happens... be careful those I abused an a11 male and found it hermied fairly easily under stress. good luck let us know how it turns out. btw make sure theres no light leaks a small one could be causing this problem.

 

[Uncle Remus]

I had one of my Double Strawbery Diesel did the same thing...All other plants of the same strain were going great gonzos, and this one plant did NOTHING

I's chalk it up to bad luck...Pop a few more and see what happens...Worst that could happen is they do shit as well...THEN a possible email or IM on one of the forums with a few pics (important IMO) might get u some new beans...USE CAUTION WHEN COMMUNICATING

EDIT: A11 should be very stable IMO...The C99 I believe should really help in keeping the plant stable...I've been growing C99 for over a year and it NEVER EVER hermies or even complains really...No matter how much I abuse her she keeps right on growing...Over-fert, under-fert, taking cuts late, whatever

IMO it must be the lineage of the X's that must be questionable, not the strain as a whole

 

[Tarantula-1]

Worst that could happen is they do shit as well...THEN a possible email or IM on one of the forums with a few pics (important IMO) might get u some new beans...USE CAUTION WHEN COMMUNICATING

E-mail? Brad at HD uses Hotmail. Uhhh.....I think not.