Hey all, I think I may have made a very newby mistake. I put my rooted clones in the ground march 9th. right now, the daylight is 11hrs and 40min.. are they going to start flowering in a week or 2 once it hits 12/12?? or are they too young to flower?? if they are going to flower, would placing a few CFL Lights around em and turning them on about an hour before sundown and about 3-4 hours into the night(giving the plants about 13-14 hours of light)keep them from flowering? I'd like to have them fill out and grow before they start flowering...
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HELP!! Quick Flowering question
- Thread starter dh26
- Start date
Evol Seeds
Member
They will most likely start flowering. Remember, the clone is the same age as the mother so if the mother is mature enougj to flower then so are the clones.
Extra hours of light will keep it in veg. CFL should be fine
Extra hours of light will keep it in veg. CFL should be fine
11 hrs 40 min light cycle will make the plants flower faster than a 12 hour light cycle.
The shorter the day, the more likely flowering is to occur. You should read up on this, it is important to understand how and why cannabis flowers.
To cut to the point, it is the dark cycle that determines whether cannabis will flower. About 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness is needed for the flowering hormones to be made. Anything above 12 hours dark will make them flower faster because more hormones are produced.
Interrupting the dark cycle with an intense light will prevent flowering. The best thing to do in your situation would be to put your cfls on a timer and have it turn on for a few minutes in the middle of the night, this will ensure that your dark periods are as short as possible(as opposed to trying to extend your daylight by a few hours, which will still leave you with a 10 hour dark period). Only a few minutes light is needed as this will interrupt the hormone accumulation. Also remember cfls are relatively weak and you will need the bulbs very close to the plants.
The shorter the day, the more likely flowering is to occur. You should read up on this, it is important to understand how and why cannabis flowers.
To cut to the point, it is the dark cycle that determines whether cannabis will flower. About 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness is needed for the flowering hormones to be made. Anything above 12 hours dark will make them flower faster because more hormones are produced.
Interrupting the dark cycle with an intense light will prevent flowering. The best thing to do in your situation would be to put your cfls on a timer and have it turn on for a few minutes in the middle of the night, this will ensure that your dark periods are as short as possible(as opposed to trying to extend your daylight by a few hours, which will still leave you with a 10 hour dark period). Only a few minutes light is needed as this will interrupt the hormone accumulation. Also remember cfls are relatively weak and you will need the bulbs very close to the plants.
Evol Seeds
Member
Wouldn't constantly interrupting the dark cycle cause the plant to be more prone to herming?
I would personally not try this unless I had already stress tested and made sure it has no germ tendencies.
I would personally not try this unless I had already stress tested and made sure it has no germ tendencies.
ok, thank you very much for helping out. I think im going to put a 200w CLF bulb in a reflective hood and then hang it close to the plants. we have been covering them at night with a pvc/tarp pyramid too help protect against the cold. so it can easily hang under that. ill let you know how it goes 
Absolutely not. Light leaks cause hermie problems because production of the flowering hormone is interrupted. This cant happen during the vegetative stage and will not cause stress later during the flowering period.
Lots of experienced commercial growers use the technique I mentioned to prevent greenhouse plants from flowering during winter.
It shouldn't. Even if they do start to flower, which is unlikely, flowering plants can 'revegitate' and go back into their growth stage. Its a long summer, they will have plenty of time to veg either way, just get that lamp on them asap.
We got the lighting figured out and hopefully it goes well. another unrelated question though. The clones were transplanted from indoors, hand watered and now are outdoors. within the first few days the leaves have tanned where in direct sunlight (one leaf turned white all together), and there is some other discoloration. yet one of our plants is looking extremely healthy and perky minus one wilted leaf about mid stalk. could this be stress from the huge change?
Definitely.
In the gardening world, they use a process called 'hardening off' to acclimatize plants to the outdoors. Look it up!
we also had a problem in out gravity fed watering system, so they were overwatered too. im sure that is compounding it. The have been out of water for 3 days now, and the soil in the middle is just starting to become less saturated. its still a bit damp, but im thinking maybe a small watering tomorrow.
MMAjay420
Member
Sounds like your off to a good start. I totally agree with the guy who expalined the flowering is induced by the DARK period. I just learned that as well myself. And if your tarp is light proof, you can use that to force flower them when ever you want. just make some kind of frame you can strech the tarp over and secure it to, and cover em up at night.
I never knew that MORE than 12 hours dark will help in the flowering.... very good info
I never knew that MORE than 12 hours dark will help in the flowering.... very good info
yea, its been rough. and im not mad, cause its my first time, but these have all been problems i could have avoided because i understand it. just do things without thinking sometimes and then over react. but yea, we planned on using a tarp to force flower as soon as our plants get where we want them (i hear they will double in size in flower, maybe more outdoors). im going to start training them with LST and eventually a SCROG as soon as they perk back up. i'm going to start a grow thread(limited pictures though, as the landowner is against them), but if you guys would like to follow and see how it goes and provide advice thatd be a huge help!
