so many grower's have posted buds in week 5 or 6 and clamed there only 2weeks

I always "count" from when the plants begin to show flowers. I don't actually count days but rather just keep track of roughly how many weeks each batch has been flowering. Then I harvest the plants as each strain I run is mature. I've seen great growers count both ways, and it doesn't really matter..... Wanna know why?

The plant will not be finished at a certain time because of how you count the days or weeks. It will be finished when it is completely matured.

I see posts all the time from inexperienced growers asking if their plant is done. Typically they are saying "it's been flowering for X amount of time and it's supposed to be harvested next week according to the flowering times".

Well guess what the harvest times don't mean shit. Every phenotype of every plant can perform differently. You can only judge the ideal harvest time for your plants by reading them. Look at the trichomes, look at the hairs, and how the buds are forming and swelling. These will tell you when it's done not a counting method or made up time frame.

Yup, just a guide, those breeder times can be way off sometimes. I only track it so I know what to expect from clones once I've grown out the initial seeds and have an idea of the finishing times for cycle planning. Other than that, exactly what you mention above, I use a combination of things with more weight to the trich development but other things like whether the plant is still drinking at the normal flowering pace, look and maturity of the hairs, a combo of all those things tells me when it's ready. There's a point at which I walk in to check the plant and it's like they tell me they're ready.

the reason I like to count the weeks is because of the feeding schedule that come with the nutes.

Reason I like to is cuz I'm chomping at the bit to chop em down lol

I do not follow any rules like this.

Days of flowering = days in 12 hours darkness.

greenlikemoney said:

The general rule of thumb is flowering begins 2 weeks from the flip. Generally. And every environment is different, so don't try to "keep up with the Jones'"

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churchhaze said:

I do not follow any rules like this.

Days of flowering = days in 12 hours darkness.

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You seem to forget about the transition a plant naturally has between growth cycles. Most nutrient regimens even list a feeding level for the "transition". Just adding some info.

It's not like I've forgotten about the stretch... It's just that using the time where you start 12 12 is the only useful piece of information that can be shared between growers. Guessing when flowering starts based on observation is too arbitrary. It's a lot more predictable and useful information to go by when you change the lights.

Honestly, if you told me you were in 30 days flowering and it was really 30 days + 2 weeks, I'd think you were a liar, despite your reasoning for reporting it to us that way. If it's 30 days + 2 weeks, it's 44 days into flowering, and you're basically lying to everyone.

Thundercat said:

You seem to forget about the transition a plant naturally has between growth cycles. Most nutrient regimens even list a feeding level for the "transition". Just adding some info.

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Not hardly a lie, just a different perspective based on the natural growth of the plant. If you count from 12/12 but your genetics aren't fully mature it will "appear" to add weeks to the flowering time.

So when these noobs post asking why their plant isn't done after 7 weeks of flowering that's the first thing I look at.

That " transition " period as it's properly called can take any where from a couple days on a mature clone to many weeks on an immature long flowering sativa.

Thus making a 12/12 count just as if not more arbitrary as deciding what day the plants begin to start flowering based on plant growth.

Even a new grower should be able to look at a plant and tell within a day or two that it has truely began to flower.

Day 19 of 12/12, after 8 days at 14/10 to stretch and pre-flower. Veg/stretch under LED's, flowering under CMH...

Looking very nice buddy they seem nice and happy!

you start fthe flowering process when you switch to 12/12 I don't care what anyone says otherwise. my 55 day strains are 55 days from flip, shit I with they were only 41 day but their not, their 55 days of flowering.

I understand however this is a huge discrepancy among growers (mostly due to confused nubs who never find a good answer) so whenever I'm talking to people about flowering I say the following...

From flip... like "I flipped em over 3 weeks ago, or I flipped them over to 12/12 3 weeks ago. That said the majority of growers I know (can't think of one that doesn't) all could their weeks from the day of flip.

Thundercat said:

Looking very nice buddy they seem nice and happy!

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Thanks, loving this CMH for flowering, they knocked a week off my first run last round (same strain, clone from same mother) and tripled the weight of my LED grow prior to that, nothing wrong with that

ganjarules106 said:

Not saying any body on this Forum has done this or dose this but i wold I like to see some real images of a plant that is 2weel from 12/12 unless it's just me. because after 2weeks i have beraly got pistals staring hope i haven't upset any one with this post

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yeah most people start flower time when the plant has begun to actually flower...I will be considering this week 1 for my plant.

Count from whenever you want, from flip, from when true flowering starts. There isn't a right or wrong way.

I count my days from flip until flowering and then count flowering days from when the plant truly start flowering. Anyone with a couple grows under their belt can accurately tell when a plant has started flowering. I can tell people both how many days have passed since flip and how long they've been actually flowering. When I don't include the transition, my plants finish a lot closer to the breeders described flowering time.

^^^ See I think this is just to sell more beans, not you but by breeders. If you have a sativa that takes 3 weeks to show pistils it sounds fancier to say its a 12-14 week plant rather than an 15-18 week plant. Than again most people don't have room for a 15 week plant, ceiling height or time.

Grojak said:

^^^ See I think this is just to sell more beans, not you but by breeders. If you have a sativa that takes 3 weeks to show pistils it sounds fancier to say its a 12-14 week plant rather than an 15-18 week plant. Than again most people don't have room for a 15 week plant, ceiling height or time.

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I'm sure that's one of their (breeder's) drivers, when I look around for new strains, anything above 10 weeks is pretty well ignored, they'd have to produce 1.5 times "normal" for me to even consider a 12-14 weeks strain. Similar to BDOG's post, if I add about 10 days to the breeder's time it's close to the stated finish time, recently did something similar for the last 3 rounds, 4 strains, I ran them in the veg cabinet for 8-10 days (varied by run/availability of the room) @14/10, this stretched them and got them pre-flowering. Started the count when I flipped them to 12/12 in the flower room and they finished closer to the stated finish times.

GroErr said:

I'm sure that's one of their (breeder's) drivers, when I look around for new strains, anything above 10 weeks is pretty well ignored, they'd have to produce 1.5 times "normal" for me to even consider a 12-14 weeks strain. Similar to BDOG's post, if I add about 10 days to the breeder's time it's close to the stated finish time, recently did something similar for the last 3 rounds, 4 strains, I ran them in the veg cabinet for 8-10 days (varied by run/availability of the room) @14/10, this stretched them and got them pre-flowering. Started the count when I flipped them to 12/12 in the flower room and they finished closer to the stated finish times.

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This is true yes, because as I stated in my first post, flowering TIME starts when you flip and that is what is universally known, I don't want to get a clone from someone who counts from the show of pistils, could you imagine? If you're a total noob and someone tells you this clone will finish in 60 days and you've done your research so you know flowering time starts at flip. Well being a noob you don't have a scope you're just going by 60 days, so you start flushing at 46 days, but thats actually only day 32 of the flowering time the guy who gave you the clone considered, thus you're finishing a plant 2 weeks early and wondering why your shit don't look like others.

Grojak said:

This is true yes, because as I stated in my first post, flowering TIME starts when you flip and that is what is universally known, I don't want to get a clone from someone who counts from the show of pistils, could you imagine? If you're a total noob and someone tells you this clone will finish in 60 days and you've done your research so you know flowering time starts at flip. Well being a noob you don't have a scope you're just going by 60 days, so you start flushing at 46 days, but thats actually only day 32 of the flowering time the guy who gave you the clone considered, thus you're finishing a plant 2 weeks early and wondering why your shit don't look like others.

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Yeah good point, probably more important for noobs to have an idea for sure. Anyone that's grown for any length of time just uses the breeder times as a guide and runs the plants until they're finished, regardless of stated run times. There is some merit for experienced growers too, like planning runs/cycles etc. when you have a close idea of the finish times.

churchhaze said:

It's not like I've forgotten about the stretch... It's just that using the time where you start 12 12 is the only useful piece of information that can be shared between growers. Guessing when flowering starts based on observation is too arbitrary. It's a lot more predictable and useful information to go by when you change the lights.

Honestly, if you told me you were in 30 days flowering and it was really 30 days + 2 weeks, I'd think you were a liar, despite your reasoning for reporting it to us that way. If it's 30 days + 2 weeks, it's 44 days into flowering, and you're basically lying to everyone.

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Exactly. I start counting days the minute I switch the light. Trying to guess when the hormones trigger the plant to "flower" stage leaves too much room for error. I want to know how long it took the plant to finish from when the lights got flipped, not a guess based upon someones version of when flower begins.

And the flip side of that is people complaining that their strain took longer then the breeders advertised flowering time. I'm pretty suprised by the attitude people are taking towards not counting the transition.