When to flower?

When the nodes alternate, your plants are ready to flower. You can keep them in the vegatative stage to promote more growth, but keep in mind that plants double to triple in heoght during the flowering stage.

To better explain alternating nodes, i have drawn up some diagrams with paint. (im no artist) But check the diagrams below.



In this diagram, the plants are NOT ready to start the flowering cycle.





In this diagram, the plants IS ready to start the flowering cycle.

Thanks, never knew that when the nodes alternate its about ready to go into the flower stage. Is this the same for outside plants? like if I notice that happening should I expect the flowering stage to come soon?

An outdoor garden should have no problem flowering. When the days get shorter, they will begin the flowering cycle. Where i am, the plants go outside towards the end of June, and are ready for harvest in late september to mid october, depending on strain (sativa/indica).

This problem is more common when growing indoors. I have seen plants outside that were put out very late in the grow season, and still flowered with no problems, other than just being a lot smaller than the ones that were started earlier.

this is my first time how do i do this i got three plants and i think there ready to flower but how do i know and what do i do

I hear three months old is a good time to flower.

MJ is a "long night" plant re: flowering. they must have 12 hours of full darkness to flower.

this works for poinsettias too.

Summer -

I recommend people flower primarily on their set up. The amount of lighting is usually the MOST important factpr. If a grower is using CFLs, 3 month is way to long.

Actually, except for outdoor growing, 3 months seems far to long to grow any plant in the vegetative stage. In 3 months a single plant can be 4 feet tall and fill an entire closet. When you induce flowering, this plant may shoot up to 5 or 6 feet. To light a plant of that size properly could very well require 1000 watts HPS from the top and another 1000 watts of fluorescents from the sides. If you have the ability to do this kind of lighting, the rewards will be substantial!!!! But most people do not have the ability, for one reason or another, to preform of grow of this nature.

This is a plant that was flowered at 15 days old and only 4 inches tall, using CFLs for lighting. It havested 3 ounces incuding a 17 gram main cola.

and NOW you KNOWM[/img]

Garden Knowm said:

Summer -

I recommend people flower primarily on their set up. The amount of lighting is usually the MOST important factpr. If a grower is using CFLs, 3 month is way to long.

Actually, except for outdoor growing, 3 months seems far to long to grow any plant in the vegetative stage. In 3 months a single plant can be 4 feet tall and fill an entire closet. When you induce flowering, this plant may shoot up to 5 or 6 feet. To light a plant of that size properly could very well require 1000 watts HPS from the top and another 1000 watts of fluorescents from the sides. If you have the ability to do this kind of lighting, the rewards will be substantial!!!! But most people do not have the ability, for one reason or another, to preform of grow of this nature.

This is a plant that was flowered at 15 days old and only 4 inches tall, using CFLs for lighting. It havested 3 ounces incuding a 17 gram main cola.

and NOW you KNOWM[/img]

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uhh you or whoever did that should give an exact guide to what they did and send me seeds! especially if its as yummy as it looks.

Yes, the manuscript is complete, the publisher picked up the book...

the book will be out in 12 months!!!!


SEEMOREBUDS

: )
iloveyou

Garden Knowm said:

Yes, the manuscript is complete, the publisher picked up the book...

the book will be out in 12 months!!!!


SEEMOREBUDS

: )
iloveyou

Click to expand...

Post a link to youre site when youre book hits the shelves.... I want a copy!

Yeah I really have to go get those lights

ejr8568 said:

Yeah I really have to go get those lights

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Yeah I want some CFLs too. If they can make my skinny little babies grow into that...

My plant is tall and topped off. So, now it is getting bushy and the nodes are alternated on the branches but not the main stem. Is it ready for the flowering stage? Thank you in advance!

Peace...

I have a mini 12 plant rockwool hydro setup and i have been veg growing for almost a month now. i have a very small 3 ft wide by 4.5 ft long by 3.5 ft tall room entirely coated for reflectiveness and a 400 watt hps with 2, 4 ft florescents. since there is a huge height restriction in there factoring in the resivoir and hps hood my little guys are only about 8 inches tall and i am about to switch into the flwering stage in just a few more days. I am experimenting with this small size i have never harvested plants under 3 ft tall so i dont know how to boost my results here. at harves i suspect they will be no taller than a foot an a half wich will be perfect. just wondering som tips to get such awesome results with such small plants. Also did you clip the centers to let them branch out or leave them be?.. they look great eithor way

droman said:

I have a mini 12 plant rockwool hydro setup and i have been veg growing for almost a month now. i have a very small 3 ft wide by 4.5 ft long by 3.5 ft tall room entirely coated for reflectiveness and a 400 watt hps with 2, 4 ft florescents. since there is a huge height restriction in there factoring in the resivoir and hps hood my little guys are only about 8 inches tall and i am about to switch into the flwering stage in just a few more days. I am experimenting with this small size i have never harvested plants under 3 ft tall so i dont know how to boost my results here. at harves i suspect they will be no taller than a foot an a half wich will be perfect. just wondering som tips to get such awesome results with such small plants. Also did you clip the centers to let them branch out or leave them be?.. they look great eithor way

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hope for you that reflectifness is not tin foil, if so, happy heat spots to you buddy

to keep them low you can top thru out veg, tie branches down with strings/paperclips/wire to get them to grow the way you want
as soon you flower you can still tie them down or bend them down, but you shouldn't top them than anymore or this gone lower your yield

matth, where did you get this info from? I'll be honest, i'm dubious - If i'd waited for that to happen then i'd have 8ft tall plants by now!

ILoveUMaryJane said:

matth, where did you get this info from? I'll be honest, i'm dubious - If i'd waited for that to happen then i'd have 8ft tall plants by now!

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what info do mean? that a indica strain needs about 8weeks+ to mature or what? if your plant get 8ft in veg indoors you got your lights to far away and forgot totally about topping it. in those 8 weeks my BB hardly makes 1ft do to proper light set up, topping and tying its branches down. even in flower it won't get cross the 3ft, if it crosses the 2.5ft mark its get bend down and everything is fine.
be reassured, i got a slight idea what i'm doing in my grow

Alternating nodes usually means the plant is MATURE, You can surely flower before this. I agree 100% with garden knowmns post, as learned from expierence. You should flower based on your indoor conditions, for instace, my last grow, the bottom 4 inches of my plants had insignifigant buds.. waste of time/height. i will be flowering earlier from now on.

yeah i know about topping them, this is going to be my 3rd harvest but 6th attempt growing...i had 2 robbed from me by some nosey ppl. but i am no noob here altho i still learn new stuff all the time on these sites and boards. All my other attempts were just in much bigger spaces. Is there anything else, trix/tips to get a max yield in such a small place. Ph is at 6.5 and plenty of light/ventilation. that pic from your small plants looked great.

here are current pics of the setup

russ0r said:

Alternating nodes usually means the plant is MATURE, You can surely flower before this. I agree 100% with garden knowmns post, as learned from expierence. You should flower based on your indoor conditions, for instace, my last grow, the bottom 4 inches of my plants had insignifigant buds.. waste of time/height. i will be flowering earlier from now on.

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Just because your own circumstances (as does everyones) dictates when you should put your plants into flower doesn't mean that it's the genetically correct time for the plant to be put into flower! At the end of the day it depends entirely on what you want to get from your plants, if you feel flowering earlier than 'sexual maturity' gives you the results you're looking for, then that's the right thing to do for YOU - it still doesn't mean it's the right thing for the plant.

For these plants to give their best and for them to fulfill their fullest 'genetic potential' they should be flowered when they're sexually mature enough to flower - and that is when the nodes start alternating. By flowering at the correct time that plant will have the best opportunity to fulfill it's maximum genetic potential and therefore give the vest best possible results it can.

Older, sexually mature plants produce more Cannabinoids than immature young plants, by flowering too early, you're not letting the plant fulfill it's fullest genetic potential - that's your choice - but it certainly does not make it 'the right thing' for everyone.

The right time to flower is when the plant is sexually mature enough to flower, just because peoples circumstances or situations make it difficult to follow that only makes it right for their own situation and circumstances - not necessarily right for the plant !

This is a great thread, just bringing it back so anyone who missed it can read it. Knowm, can you really go a little more in detail for us about how you produced that much bud from a small plant? That's approximately the same size as mine may turn out to be, so I'm hoping for success like that in my first grow!