When and how to flower?

[Hallucinogen]

Hey all,

 

I'm gonna start my own little crop soon (saving cash for equipment) but I just wanna know when to flower the plants and how, when I plant em i'm gonna wait until the plants are ready to flower then buy a HID but what lighting times do you put on them? like when they get to a certain height what do you change your light timers to?

 

By the way to save cash im gonna grow with CF's, if they are enough to grow with until flower how many would I need for each plant in a closet?

 

Thanks for your previous help guys.

[Ozzy420]

Hey Hallucinogen a lot of ppl have a lot of diffrent idears on when to flower and it can come down to how much room u have as well, a plant can streach up to 2/3 of its size when u turn it to bud, so say u have a plant that is a foot tall and u turn it ti bud it could end up 3 foot and even more depending what strain u grow, most ppl start off growing 18 hours on and 6 hours off for veg and when thay ready to turn to bud to will turn to 12 on 12 off, with cf most ppl use them to start seeds and to do clones and some use them to veg them up to certin point as it takes a little longer to grow with cf and then put them under there HID, with the cf u can get 48w cf thay are around the $20 mark from most hardwear stores, or u can get 24w cf from most super markets for around $8.

 

So when it comes to budding ya plants the bigger u can get them in the area u grow in the more u will get in the end but it manly comes down to what strain u grow and and the size area u grow in, i hope this has helped u out a little if just ask any thing u need know and we will help you out the best we can.

[Buddy]

The accepted light times are as Ozmade described ...18 on 6 off for veg and 12 on 12 off for flowering.

Most people who use compact fluro's or tubes leave them on 24/7 till they are ready to change to the flower cycle

[Guest weekprik]

my lights are on for 24 hours a day untill I force flowering at approx 1 foot tall, at which stage I change the lights to 13hours dark followed by 11 hours light.

 

The more dark hours you give a plant generally the faster it will finish, but it will have less potency slighlty.

[sols]

g'day; have a read here before you start..... http://hempology101.com/cannabisgrowing.html

[Guest Wilderbud]

Hey, I suggest buying a 40W CF per plant and grow them till their 6" to 1' then throw them out into the sun and youll end up with a 1M plant if all goes well. A 40W CF can be bought from Bunnings for $23 and a light fitting costs about $10 so thats 3 CFs for $100 - enough to light up a small space nicely.

 

You should be able to get about an ounce per plant if you grow/clone them.under a few lights then stick them out under the sun to flower. I used 6x38W strip lights on my plant and its 3 weeks into budding outdoors now so I have proof that this will work.

 

If you get power surges then fit a surge protector to the lights for sure - I just had 2 of my CFs blown up in a storm [i had a surge protector sitting right next to them also - doh].

[Stalwart]

Grow the plants thru maturity. That's indicated by fact that the leaves will no longer form opposite each other on the new growth. The stop hopping and start walking along the branch. Without waiting for maturity you are just gonna get poor yields. As for size you can always take clones to reduce the profile while the plants are growin up. Clones should always be used for flowering cause with them you can control height. I think you'd have to cut the hell outta seedlings or treat em badly to get them to not grow really fast. So don't think of growing seedlings think of potential mothers.

[Guest weekprik]

1st Sols thanks for that link, its full of great info, everyone should have a read.

 

That ageing thing is also right, however if you use clones then genetically they are already aged, So it doesnt come in to play, but for seeds yea very true, I read that some strains WILL NOT flower unless they want too either,

 

 

Bunnings for 40w CF, hmm Ive been to 2 Bunnings stores and cant find any that strong, the strongest I found was a 28 (or 25 etc), are they with the other lights etc in the store??

 

I dont really wanna ask for a 40watt CF, as im sure it will look sus??

[pipeman]

I've seen the 40watters at the Cannon Hill store in Brisbane weekprik. (or were they 48watts? I can't quite remember) anyway not all Bunnings stores carry them. They're not with all the other compact fluoros either. They're off to the side in individual boxes.

 

I can't see how asking for the 48watt bulbs would be sus.

 

but, they were quite expensive from memory, the 28watters were better value. If you're concerned about light power you may as well move to a HID anyway. spending money on big fluoros is chasing your tail IMO.

[Hallucinogen]

im gonna goto bunnings this weekend and check out the prices/wattage of the CF's... I'm probally gonna wack 2 on each plant and leave them on 24/7 but with flowering I'm kinda fucked cause I can't put them outside and other people live with me who dont know I'm gonna grow so the stench might be a little trouble...

 

anyway thanks for your help and keep posting cause im still gonna read this topic i'll let u all know how I go at bunnings.