Budding & Flowering Marijuana

i planted her around end oct/ early november. as for the strain, i'm not sure what kind. i have a friend who grows and had some seeds, but he didn't know the specific information. best i can do is a sativa or indica. everything seems to be growing fine, but since it's my first grow it seems like the flowering stage hit and now is stalled out. i was just trying to make sure everything was ok and flowering correctly. don't want to be wasting my time on something thats clearly not right, but i'm such a newby that i can't realize it. thanks for the response though.
 
I’ve been told that even touching the hairs on a auto female will cause them to go hermie , is that correct.
if so how do you water, prune , bend , fert without touching a hair accidentally.
 
No.
 
You can Bud or Flower Marijuana by introducing dark cycles of 11-13 hours that simulate the oncoming winter in the fall as the days grow shorter. As a consequence, it works out well indoors to have two separate areas; one that is used for the initial vegetative state and one that is used for flowering and fruiting. There is no other requirement other than to keep the dark cycle for flowering very dark with no light interruptions, as this can stall flowering by days or weeks. Once a plant is big enough to mature (12" or over), dark periods are required for most plants to flower and bear fruit. This will require putting the lamp on a timer, to create regular and strict dark periods of uninterrupted light. In the greenhouse, the same effect can be created in the Summer (long days) by covering it with a blanket to make longer night periods.

A strict schedule of covering the plants at 8pm and uncovering them at 8am for 2 weeks will start your plants to flowering. After the first 2 weeks, the schedule can be relaxed a little, but it will still be necessary to continue this routine for the plants to completely flower without reverting back to vegetative growth. Outdoors, Spring and Fall, the nights are sufficiently long to induce flowering at all times. Merely bring the plants from indoors to the outside at these times, and the plants will flower naturally.

In late Summer, with Fall approaching, it may be necessary only to force flowering the first two weeks, then the rapidly lengthening nights will do the rest. Give flowering plants high P plant food and keep them on a strict light regimen of 12 hours, with no light, or no more than a full moon during the dark cycle. 13 hours light, 11 dark may increase flower size while still allowing the plant to go into the flowering mode. Use longer dark periods to speed maturity toward the end of the flowering cycle if speed is of the essence. (8-10 days) This will however, reduce total yield. Two shelves can be used, one identical to the other, if strictly indoor gardening is desired.

One shelf's lights are set for 12-13 hours, and one is lit continuously. Plants are started in continuous light, and are moved to the other shelf to flower to maturity after several weeks. This flowering shelf should be bigger than the "starting" or "vegetative" shelf, so that it can accommodate larger plants. Or, some plants can be taken outside if there is not enough space on the flowering shelf for all of them near harvesting. A light tight curtain can be made from black vinyl, or other opaque material, with a reflective material on the other side to reflect light back to the plants. This curtain can be tied with cord when rolled up to work on the garden, and can be velcroed down in place to make sure no light leaks in or out. If the shelf is placed up high, it will not be very noticeable, and will fit in any room.

Visitors will never notice it unless you point it out to them, since it is above eye level, and no light is being emitted from it. Flowering plants like very high P level foods, such as 5-50-17, but 10-20-10 should be adequate. Nutrients should be provided with each watering when first flowering. Trace elements are necessary too; try to find foods that include these, so you don't have to use a separate trace element food too. Home improvement centers sell trace element solutions rich in iron for lawn deficiencies, and these can be adapted for use in cultivating the herb. Prices for these mass produced fertilizers are significantly cheaper than the specialized hydroponic fertilizers sold in indoor gardening shops, and seem to work just fine.

HYDROPONIC FLOWERING SOLUTION, per gallon: 1 tspn high P plant food, such as 15-30-15, or 5-50-17, etc. 1/2 tspn epsom salts 1 tspn Oxygen Plus Plant Food (Optional) 1 tspn Trace Element food I cannot stress enough that during the FLOWERING PHASE, the dark period should not be violated by normal light. It delays flower development due to hormones in the plant that react to light. If you must work on the plants during this time, allow only as much light as a VERY pale moon can provide for less than 5 minutes.

Keep pruning to a minimum during the entire FLOWERING PHASE. A green light can be used to work on the garden during the dark period with no negative reactions from the plants. These are sold as nursery safety lights, but any green bulb should be OK. It is best to keep the dark hours a time when you would normally not wish to visit the garden. Personally, I like my garden lit from 7pm to 7am, since it allows me to visit the garden at night after work and in the morning before work, and all day long, while I'm too busy to worry about it, it lies unlit and undisturbed, flowering away... Flowering plants should not be sprayed often as this will promote mold and rot. Keep humidity levels down indoors when flowering, as this is the most delicate time for the plants in this regard.

Early flowering is noticed 1-2 weeks after turning back the lights to 12 hour days. Look for 2 white hairs emerging from a small bulbous area at every internode. This is the easiest way to verify females early on. You can not tell a male from a female by height, or bushiness. 3-6 weeks after turning back the lights, your plants will be covered with these white pistils emerging from every growtip on the plant. It will literally be covered with them. These are the mature flowers, as they continue to grow and cover the plant. Some plants will do this indefinitely until the lights are turned back yet again. At the point you feel your ready to see the existing flowers become ripe ( you feel the plant has enough flowers), turn the lights back to 8-10 hours. Now the plant will start to ripen quickly, and should be ready to harvest in 2-3 weeks.

The alternative, is to allow the plant to ripen with whatever natural day length is available outside, or keep the plants on a constant 12 hour regimen for the entire flowering process, which may increase yield, but takes longer. Plants can be flowered in the final stages outdoors, even if the days are too long for normal flowering to occur. Once the plant has almost reached peak floral development, it is too far gone to revert quickly to vegetative growth, and final flowering will occur regardless. This will free up precious indoor space sooner, for the next batch of clones to be flowered.

Look for the white hairs to turn red, orange or brown, and the false seed pods ( you did pull the males, right?) to swell with resins. When most of the pistils have turned color (~80%), the flowers are ripe to harvest. Don't touch those buds! Touch only the large fan leaves if you want to inspect the buds, as the THC will come off on your fingers and reduce the overall yield if mishandled.
Great Info, thanks so much 420Magazine.com for all this amazing info you are providing! You have brought a World of people together that have the same outcome in mind! A World that enjoys Marijuana together!!
 
I have a question. Great info btw. I have two photoperiod plants outdoors from seeds of different strains. same age, soil, nutes, etc. They are both in week 5 of flower. One appears to have another 4 to 5 weeks to go and the other has had milky trichs for a week and im beginning to see amber. At 4 n a half weeks! I guess my question is, is it possible for a plant to be finished after only 5 weeks? Not trying to squander my hard work by harvesting too early. Any light you can shed will be greatly appreciated.
 
You can Bud or Flower Marijuana by introducing dark cycles of 11-13 hours that simulate the oncoming winter in the fall as the days grow shorter. As a consequence, it works out well indoors to have two separate areas; one that is used for the initial vegetative state and one that is used for flowering and fruiting. There is no other requirement other than to keep the dark cycle for flowering very dark with no light interruptions, as this can stall flowering by days or weeks. Once a plant is big enough to mature (12" or over), dark periods are required for most plants to flower and bear fruit. This will require putting the lamp on a timer, to create regular and strict dark periods of uninterrupted light. In the greenhouse, the same effect can be created in the Summer (long days) by covering it with a blanket to make longer night periods.

A strict schedule of covering the plants at 8pm and uncovering them at 8am for 2 weeks will start your plants to flowering. After the first 2 weeks, the schedule can be relaxed a little, but it will still be necessary to continue this routine for the plants to completely flower without reverting back to vegetative growth. Outdoors, Spring and Fall, the nights are sufficiently long to induce flowering at all times. Merely bring the plants from indoors to the outside at these times, and the plants will flower naturally.

In late Summer, with Fall approaching, it may be necessary only to force flowering the first two weeks, then the rapidly lengthening nights will do the rest. Give flowering plants high P plant food and keep them on a strict light regimen of 12 hours, with no light, or no more than a full moon during the dark cycle. 13 hours light, 11 dark may increase flower size while still allowing the plant to go into the flowering mode. Use longer dark periods to speed maturity toward the end of the flowering cycle if speed is of the essence. (8-10 days) This will however, reduce total yield. Two shelves can be used, one identical to the other, if strictly indoor gardening is desired.

One shelf's lights are set for 12-13 hours, and one is lit continuously. Plants are started in continuous light, and are moved to the other shelf to flower to maturity after several weeks. This flowering shelf should be bigger than the "starting" or "vegetative" shelf, so that it can accommodate larger plants. Or, some plants can be taken outside if there is not enough space on the flowering shelf for all of them near harvesting. A light tight curtain can be made from black vinyl, or other opaque material, with a reflective material on the other side to reflect light back to the plants. This curtain can be tied with cord when rolled up to work on the garden, and can be velcroed down in place to make sure no light leaks in or out. If the shelf is placed up high, it will not be very noticeable, and will fit in any room.

Visitors will never notice it unless you point it out to them, since it is above eye level, and no light is being emitted from it. Flowering plants like very high P level foods, such as 5-50-17, but 10-20-10 should be adequate. Nutrients should be provided with each watering when first flowering. Trace elements are necessary too; try to find foods that include these, so you don't have to use a separate trace element food too. Home improvement centers sell trace element solutions rich in iron for lawn deficiencies, and these can be adapted for use in cultivating the herb. Prices for these mass produced fertilizers are significantly cheaper than the specialized hydroponic fertilizers sold in indoor gardening shops, and seem to work just fine.

HYDROPONIC FLOWERING SOLUTION, per gallon: 1 tspn high P plant food, such as 15-30-15, or 5-50-17, etc. 1/2 tspn epsom salts 1 tspn Oxygen Plus Plant Food (Optional) 1 tspn Trace Element food I cannot stress enough that during the FLOWERING PHASE, the dark period should not be violated by normal light. It delays flower development due to hormones in the plant that react to light. If you must work on the plants during this time, allow only as much light as a VERY pale moon can provide for less than 5 minutes.

Keep pruning to a minimum during the entire FLOWERING PHASE. A green light can be used to work on the garden during the dark period with no negative reactions from the plants. These are sold as nursery safety lights, but any green bulb should be OK. It is best to keep the dark hours a time when you would normally not wish to visit the garden. Personally, I like my garden lit from 7pm to 7am, since it allows me to visit the garden at night after work and in the morning before work, and all day long, while I'm too busy to worry about it, it lies unlit and undisturbed, flowering away... Flowering plants should not be sprayed often as this will promote mold and rot. Keep humidity levels down indoors when flowering, as this is the most delicate time for the plants in this regard.

Early flowering is noticed 1-2 weeks after turning back the lights to 12 hour days. Look for 2 white hairs emerging from a small bulbous area at every internode. This is the easiest way to verify females early on. You can not tell a male from a female by height, or bushiness. 3-6 weeks after turning back the lights, your plants will be covered with these white pistils emerging from every growtip on the plant. It will literally be covered with them. These are the mature flowers, as they continue to grow and cover the plant. Some plants will do this indefinitely until the lights are turned back yet again. At the point you feel your ready to see the existing flowers become ripe ( you feel the plant has enough flowers), turn the lights back to 8-10 hours. Now the plant will start to ripen quickly, and should be ready to harvest in 2-3 weeks.

The alternative, is to allow the plant to ripen with whatever natural day length is available outside, or keep the plants on a constant 12 hour regimen for the entire flowering process, which may increase yield, but takes longer. Plants can be flowered in the final stages outdoors, even if the days are too long for normal flowering to occur. Once the plant has almost reached peak floral development, it is too far gone to revert quickly to vegetative growth, and final flowering will occur regardless. This will free up precious indoor space sooner, for the next batch of clones to be flowered.

Look for the white hairs to turn red, orange or brown, and the false seed pods ( you did pull the males, right?) to swell with resins. When most of the pistils have turned color (~80%), the flowers are ripe to harvest. Don't touch those buds! Touch only the large fan leaves if you want to inspect the buds, as the THC will come off on your fingers and reduce the overall yield if mishandled.
Glad I read this.I thought it worked the other way around.Live and learn.I only just started growing and things are taking a lot longer than voiced herein.Obviously too much light for too long while flowering.It does look and smell great, however.
 
Hello all my lady just went into flower two weeks ago in dwc setup up, just wondering if anyone here uses general hydroponics the 3 part and what there feeding quantity is like? Thanks
 
Indica seems to take longer?I see the times here and I'm new to growing but my indica seems slower to grow than what I see reported?I'm just bumbling my way along but it's still fun.We try,we learn,we do.
 
I would like to answer that question with another question. Can I use a flashlight outside during the day?

Answer to both: Yeah (but why?) :hmmm:
Can I use a regular full spectrum led bulb with a normal sort white led bulb or will that mess with the other light it has uv as well idk if the light from the other led will mess with what the plants take in since its way brighter
 
good info, but i am still a little unsure about a couple things, what if most of your pistols have turned color, but just about all of them on the lower levels are still white, and my top seems to be like, burning, i moved my lights farther away, but just wondering if i am already maybe past harvest time? i dont seem to have much bud on the plant, so i figured i wasnt really all that close to harvest, and to ripen, just turn back the hours to 8 or 10 for a couple weeks and then hang and cure it?
thanks for the help, its my first harvest and kind of confused on some things, all clarification is greatly appreciated
-bubba
Another way to tell if it's time to harvest. Is to look at trichomes. Trichomes is where THC and CBD is produced. Trichomes start out clear in color as it nears maturity they Biggin to turn cloudy/milky. At maturity the trichomes start changing colors again to a darker color/ yellow tan brown purple red amber.. when between 10 & 15 percent have turned dark it's ready for harvest. I use 60× mini microscope to check them. This method will give highest THC & CBD levels. Photo below shows transition from clear to milky with about 1% yellow/dark. Dark trichomes are closer to inner core of bud.
IMG_20211025_081325.jpg
 
hi can you please tell me what you mean by top them? thank you so much...

topping is when you cut off the top of the growing plant main stem.. to force side braches to grow to
create more bud sites ( growing tips)



 
I’ve been told that even touching the hairs on a auto female will cause them to go hermie , is that correct.
if so how do you water, prune , bend , fert without touching a hair accidentally.
I don't do autos. But most Hermie's are just genetic. But under certain stress during early flower can cause one to morph. And many pure strain indica's morph close to harvest but doesn't affect it's taste or potency.

Picture is an example of indica morph. These appeared about 10 days before harvest.
IMG_20211004_190117__01.jpg
 
Sure, topping is removing the very top early thereby causing the the plant to grow more evenly shaped flowers by sacrificing a large main kola.
hope this helps.
Topping is great for indoor grow. Reducing plant height. But still produce good weight. My rule of thumb is to top just above 5th limb at about three weeks into veg. And give enough veg time for cut to heal. I still get nice colas buds. Quote bud's not bud. I average about 4 to 6 ounces dried and cured per plant depending on strain. Sense I only grow for my needs. I only grow 1 at a time. Unless I'm doing seed crop. Even then I top them. Before I started topping was getting plants that grew 6 to 8 feet tall. That still only produced 4 to 6 ounces of dried & cured bud's per. Works well for outside grows to. Especially helpful when you live in high crime area's. Where stealth is needed to prevent theft. Just remember to top while still in veg. Topping during flower will reduce height but lose colas bud entirely.
 
If someone doesn't want to remove the top of their plant, they can tie it down so that is below (or at least even with) the tops of other branches. The plant will then redistribute the auxins that govern the basic light-seeking behavior - and those formerly lower branch tips will "take off" within a day or so. This is how a person can eventually fill a 4'×4' (or larger) screen with tips, from just one plant, when using the SCROG technique.
 
I have a question. Great info btw. I have two photoperiod plants outdoors from seeds of different strains. same age, soil, nutes, etc. They are both in week 5 of flower. One appears to have another 4 to 5 weeks to go and the other has had milky trichs for a week and im beginning to see amber. At 4 n a half weeks! I guess my question is, is it possible for a plant to be finished after only 5 weeks? Not trying to squander my hard work by harvesting too early. Any light you can shed will be greatly appreciated.
I've read they can add them several times so he said after the third time is good.
 
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