my plants are confused i think

[okawari]

 

Hey all, im new here and i am so amazed at how nice and helpful you all are!

 

With that in mind ive come for some specific advice should anyone feel like contributing. so ive been growing myplants indoors, and they grew in veg stage pretty fast to a foot.

and against all recommendations the light cycle they have been on since then has been a bit erratic (since im living at home and the electric bill posed some financial issues.) is it bad for the plants to get this old? they were born on nov. 5th and now they are tall and seemingly happy but the buds are still teeny.

not sure what i should do at this point, im growing WW. if anyone has any ideas or links or anything at all i would greatly appreciate it! thank you

 

xo

[Tom]

High there okawari, welcome to Oz Stoners.

 

You need to keep them on a regular light cycle, by now you should be looking at flowering them, you really need to use a timer for this stage as it is important that they get their 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness each day. To help you properly we are going to need a lot more details about your grow room, lights, ventilation and nutrients.

 

[okawari]

thanks for writing!!

yeah, sorry i guess that was pretty vague my setup besides the light and the soil is pretty ghetto as in, ive been moving them from my closet, (for darkness) to my livingroom. the soil was all by the book, 1 part vermiculite, 1 part perlite and 1 part peatmoss and potting soil. and light is a 430 sonagro, its sweet. since i assume they are getting adequate fresh air in the big space i havent really taken the time to set up a proper growing box with fans etc.

since the electric bill issue ive tried to supplement natural sunlight for part of the light cycle: ive got them under the lights for 8 hrs, and in the morning they just have to make do with the light coming in from outside.

Ive been fertilizing with just a balanced 20-20-20 since i put them in the flowering phase on dec. 21st. the cycle has been all messed because while i have a timer, my family is loathe to let me leave the light on for the full 12, so in moving them i end up forgetting or sleeping late and sometimes they get too much/not enough darkness. plus when i am away sometimes the light gets shut off or left on only briefly etc. after all ive read i guess that this light irregularity is the problem but i figured i would ask for some wisdom elsewhere. maybe i should just build a box and lock it but i live with an electrician (my dad) so at any time he ultimately controls what goes on, sneaky bastard. :sly

anyway sorry to drone on, but some of the hairs on one of the plants are turning golden and since its white widow i thought that maybe something wasnt right because the buds are still teeny, i hope they dont want to be harvested yet. thanks for the help!!!

[Tom]

since the electric bill issue ive tried to supplement natural sunlight for part of the light cycle: ive got them under the lights for 8 hrs, and in the morning they just have to make do with the light coming in from outside.

It is very hard to save power in the grow room so it's best not to bother, look at the rest of the house instead, change light globes to compact fluoro's, turn off things that are not in use, etc. A 430w will cost far less than an ounce does to run for a quarter and can provide you with 10+ oz if used properly, your present method of growing could cost you several ounces in yield and increases the risk of picking up an insect pest problem.

 

since i assume they are getting adequate fresh air in the big space i havent really taken the time to set up a proper growing box with fans etc.

Good ventilation is every bit as important as the light, you are creating an environment and unless everything is right it won't be healthy for your plants, you also need an oscillating fan to strengthen the stems of the plants so that they don't collapse during the flower cycle.

 

 

but some of the hairs on one of the plants are turning golden and since its white widow i thought that maybe something wasnt right because the buds are still teeny, i hope they dont want to be harvested yet. thanks for the help!!!

I would say the constant changing of light intensity has caused them to try and finish as soon as they can (survival trait) I am surprised you haven't ended up with hermies, if you can't use the light enough maybe you should consider moving them outdoors to finish, assuming you live in the southern hemisphere that is.

 

[okawari]

thx so much for your help yeah that sucks, i really should have known, i think im going to build them a home to live in and set them up the way i should have initially, do you think the damage is controllable or should i do something else? Although if i put them outside even for a milisecond right now i think they would freeze solid its bitchin cold!!!!

when they were in veg stage i did have the light on 24 hrs and thats what flipped the family out money wise, but theyll suck it up.

 

thanks again and sweet site, ill be around

-peas

[Tom]

For veg I have found 18/6 to be just as good as 24/0 so use that option, can you post a picture or two of this plant as it is quite probably recoverable?

 

[jailbreakin]

my human size microwave fark quality production production production

Edited January 3, 2006 by jailbreakin

[Pa-uul]

5 Nov to now, that’s 10 weeks, that's not a lot especially if they've been getting less artificial light. Less intense light slows things down. Erratic light cycle will confuse the plant temporarily. It's no so bad during vegetative growth. Female buds are small to begin with. Hairs dying is an indicator of maturity. If that's happening that doesn't sound good. Ultimately you've got to judge the proximity to harvest by the state of the tri-chromes (the "frost"). Such as their colour and density. Keep an eye on them for the next few days. Maybe they'll get bigger. Keep the light consistent and reasonably dark at "night".

[Nath]

Erratic light cycle will bring your plants to hermphradite... you definately dont want that. If you really must save on power in the growroom with lighting, you can get away with flowering sativas in a SOG style setup straight away with 11 hours of light and still get an ok yield.. although the sativas wont yield as much, they will continue to grow alot in the flowering period, alot more than the idicas, which is good if your flowering at an early age. This gets rid of much need for veg time. If you look at CW at threads on flowering straight from 12/12, the swaziland rooi bart strain gets to 5ft+ from 12/12, and the Super silver haze gets to near that also... indicas would probably just double from 1/2 a foot to 1ft however.

 

Anyhow, you really cant stuff around with the light cycles in flowering like that, you cant jus tak them outside and put them back. Taking them out brings them more prone to problems, and hurts the plants probably more than it helps them by moving their locations and making them readapt to different er.. 'lifestyles'.

[WantDaChronic]

get a timer, they are $10 and reliable...

 

as for your family, buy compact fluros like tom said and make the power saving from using those as close to the 430watts your gonna be using in the grow room. not especially hard if you stinge out and use 11w fluros when the average light is 60-100w if you are equalling out the usuage of your light by reducing the rest of the power used by your house, then they have nothing to whinge about, if that doesnt work, tell hem your light only chews around $75 every 3 months and you'll pay that towards the electricity bill to cover its use....

 

also, get some ventilation, an indoor grow room is trying to replicate nature and without decent amount of air to replace stale air in the grow room, the plants will grow extremely slow, look unhealthy, etc. and thats if they even continue to grow

 

an investment like that will set you back a few dollars, but like tom said you could easily pull 10+ ounces in your grow room if used correctly and at the moment, its basically going to waste because your family is concerned about power usuage