When to count how many flowering days?

ioppoi

Active Member
I'm not too sure how many days i've been flowering.
Do i count from when i flip the switch to 12/12 or when i see the first pistols?

I ask this because my pistols didn't show for about 2 to 3 weeks after flipping the switch 12/12
 

Brick Top

New Member
In the end normally it really doesn’t matter all that much if you start counting on the day you go to 12/12 or the day you see the first signs of pre-flowering or flowering because ALL given flowering time periods are general/basic estimates that can vary a good bit and actual results will be different with different setups and conditions.
 
I have had online discussions with breeders who say figure the number of weeks of flower starting on the day you go 12/12 and others have said use the date when the first signs of flowering are seen so you will get differing opinions even from breeders.
 
Seldom are given flowering period times all that accurate. They often vary two or more weeks in the length of flowering time they claim for a strain and given different setups and different conditions and grower skill or lack thereof the times can vary more than that.
 
Plus it depends on what you like the most in a high or stone and if you will harvest when your trichomes are mostly a cloudy/milky color to get more of a head high and less of a body stone or if you wait until most trichomes have turned amber so you then have more of a body stone than a head high.
 
The best advice I could give to a new grower is start with the date you go to 12/12. If you cannot remember the exact date make your best possible estimate of the date that you can. Then beginning about a week before the earliest finishing flowering time the breeder claims for the strain you picked begin watching your trichomes closely and when they reach the color that will give you what you want most … harvest … and do not even begin to concern yourself if it turns out to be sooner or later than any given number of days or weeks for flowering ad pay no heed to people who tell you to harvest when your plant's trichome color would give them the high or stone they prefer. It is all and only up to you.
 
Don’t harvest by days or weeks or pistil colors or if Venus is in perfect alignment with Uranus. Go strictly by trichome color and trichome color alone if you want the best smoke you can possibly get from your efforts.
 

fdd2blk

Well-Known Member
the flowers are growing before you see them. the plant has been flowering in order to produce the flowers you see. the "flower cycle" starts the day you change the "light cycle". once the plants get 12/12 they start to go into flower mode, whether you see it or not.
 

ioppoi

Active Member
Thanks everybody for all the info and advise. I'm going to go ahead and count from when I flipped the switch to 12/12. And just keep a watchfull eye on my girls. I flowered on 7/14 and two are coming along just great, and the other two look a week, maybe even two weeks behind. So I will judge by trichome colour.
 
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