Need to harvest early, what's the best way?

[indigo990]

Hey folks,

I'm growing some Top 44 from seed but I'm going away in early October (about 9 weeks away), so I need to harvest my plants before then. At the moment they're about 2 weeks old from seed. top 44 is a quick finishing strain and I've heard that it also works with a fairly short vegging period.

But my question is, would I be better going for a short vegging period and putting them into flower when they're still quite small ( they mature in about 7 weeks of flowering) or letting them veg for longer to get bigger plants but cutting them down before the buds are fully mature?

More specific questions which it would be great if someone could answer:
1) What's the very shortest vegging period a plant can have before it can be put to flower?
2) What would happen if a plant was put into 12/12 lighting when it was very, very young e.g. 10 days?
3) When a plant is in bloom, most strains have a dramatic increase in bud weight between about week 3 and 6 of bloom and then growth slows down. Does this correspond to a big increase in THC levels or does the biggest increase in THC levels come at the end of blooming?

Any help greatly appreciated. Cheers

 

[JARofHERB]

1) You can grow 12/12 from seed. Many really good grows have been done this route. Its just that it takes 3-4 weeks after sprouting when it acually starts to produce sex organs. but people have had harvests from seed in 70-90 days this way.
2) It will sex early this way, and after about 15-25 or so days from that day 10 of vegg , it will start to produce sex organs. Essentaly the same as 12/12 from seed.
3) Very good question indeed. Im not sure about that one....Ive picked buds when I first started growing in that 3-6 week peroid though, and noticed alot of diffrence in the high, the latter produced more of a even mellower, not rushy high like early on in the buds growth..

 

[MTF-Sandman]

What's the recommended flowering time for Top44? I think I'd just allow for the recommended flowering time and start flowering that much before you have to leave. Remember, it'll take around 3-7 days to dry so that has to be taken into account...

 

[Guest]

44days oddly enuff, but very rarely will it finish in 6wks-ish, i grew some last year and it took well into 9- 10 wks to finish, people comonly assume its ready bang on 44days (as the pack suggests) and end up smoking sub quality gear, sooooo to answer your three questions,
quote,
More specific questions which it would be great if someone could answer:
1) What's the very shortest vegging period a plant can have before it can be put to flower?
My answer: generaly once a plant starts growing leafs with 7 fingers or more, your good to go.

2) What would happen if a plant was put into 12/12 lighting when it was very, very young e.g. 10 days?
My answer: an alarming amount of fuck all


3) When a plant is in bloom, most strains have a dramatic increase in bud weight between about week 3 and 6 of bloom and then growth slows down. Does this correspond to a big increase in THC levels or does the biggest increase in THC levels come at the end of blooming?
My answer: basicaly, as its growing the essential oils will produce and 'ripen' in coralation with the plants usual life span / fruiting period, so the longer you leave it the better it gets (up to a point, then its too late)

 

[indigo990]

Thanks for the help. So here's the plan...I'm going away tomorrow until Tuesday. When I come back, I'm going to transplant the smaller plant and then leave them in veg for another week, then put them on 12/12. Then leave them in bloom for 7 weeks which brings me to early October and all things going well I have some drying time and MAYBE even enough time to re-veg to take clones. (assuming at least one is female).

Sound OK?

 

[Guest]

bingo, fingers crossed you hit it bang on 6wks,that'l give you plenty of time in case it needs it & if it needs to come down early at least youl get a resonable amount of descent smoke, party on dude