Too soon to flower?

[skeeterleg]

I started this just messing around. Just an experiment. I put some bag seed in some germinating thingies I got from Loews. I think it was peat moss. They popped quick. Then they stretched too much and bent over. I keep them in the germ thingy for 2 or 3 weeks. I bought a couple of water farms and added an air stone to the res and a 4’ 8 bulb t5. I cleaned the roots and stuck them in the water farm. The last week (week 2 in the water farm) they exploded. About 4 or 5 times their size a week ago. They have only grown 2” in height but have grow out like crazy.
I had no plans to see this through. Just a trial. I have to move at the end of May. But they are doing so well and it is fun so I want to finish them, just asap!!! Everything I try they like and respond. They are short and fat.
I need some guidance from those who know. I need to push the flowering and harvest assuming I have a female. They have been on 18/6. I am using GH nutes that came with the water farms. I used their website nute calculator for aggressive growth and ordered the extra juice they recommended.
1. Is it too soon to start flowering? 12/12
2. Is there any way to speed up the flowering?
3. I just want the main cola so can I cut the lower branches or leaves? If so how much trimming? I was thinking this would be the fastest way to harvest.
4. Is the short height due to the t5? I keep it about an inch from the tops.
5. I have in 6 blue and two red in now. Should I put in more red for flowering, all red or a mixture?
Any advice would be appreciated. Skeeter

 

[Boneman]

One plant per container for starters. You can start 12/12 anytime you want. Personally I would wait a few more weeks but thats just my way.

 

[johnwashburnx30]

they are pretty small still. but you gotta also remember that your plants will grow greatly while they are flowering too. mine have become giants! i would say wait a little tho, your plants are pretty small still, but they would be fine if you put them on 12/12 now, you can do it basically whenever you want

 

[Gastanker]

Like everyone else said - your choice. I put mine on 12/12 at around 5 or 6 nodes and 4-6" in height. Now they range from 20-40".

 

[skeeterleg]

I would like to wait as well but I have to move out of my house so for this trial I need to speed it up. They are between 5 and 7” above the hydropon and another +2” in the hydropon. I can count about 4 or five nodes. They are real bushy under the fan leaves.
It doesn’t matter how much bud I get out of them. I just hate to waste them. It is a trial or test run. I have some WW feminized, BB and MA seeds to get it on for real after I move.
Any comments on trimming? Would it speed the cola development or slow it down? Here is a shot of the leaf burn from the drip splashing on them.

 

[skeeterleg]

Thanks Boneman

I agree one plant per pot. This is a trail run for me. I been messing with weed since 73, I am an old fart! Never grown before. I just put two in each because they did not look too good at first with the stretching. Plus if I had a male at least I would have another started in the pot. Once they took off I decided to try and finish them. My goal is to just push them as fast as I can and what I get is ok. I am learning!!!

 

[GreatwhiteNorth]

I'm thinking that you're not going to have enough time to finish if you are moving at the end of next month - 7 ish weeks from today?
Of course its strain dependent but White Widow for instance takes about 8 weeks to finish & I think they start counting when flowers actually show so that can add another week or so to the equasion.
All this means is you will have to chop pretty early & that would be painful !
Pretty girls tho.
Peace

 

[skeeterleg]

Thanks GWN

They do look good don’t they! I hope they are girls. It is just bag seed, good stuff though. I did not use the WW, BB or MA seeds because of the time factor. These were started before I ordered the good stuff. I can’t wait to see what good seeds do. That’s what I was thinking, just not enough time. I have a friend that will babysit for me. I can just see myself driving down the road with these 3’ MJ plants! lol

 

[skeeterleg]

3-31-09
I thought I would post my progress so it might help other newbies that are unsure. I did not get any responses on trimming so I decide to just trim, trim and trim and see what happens. One of the plants had a weak spot in the main stem so I decided to remove it. My thoughts were to remove leaves that shaded other tops.

 

[skeeterleg]

4-04-09
You can see they made a good recovery in just 4 days. I installed my new light. 600w HPS. Also started 12:12. I tried some super cropping and tying some limbs down.

 

[skeeterleg]

4-10-09
They are looking good. The trimming did not hurt them that I can tell. I got my aggressive nutes from GH so I started their aggressive flowering program. They are bushy again so it is time for another trim.

 

[skeeterleg]

4-16-09
They are looking good, green and growing fast. It amazes me how quickly they recuperate and have new growth after trimming. No matter how much I trim they come back with a vengeance!!!
10 days into flower I could see sex. Two females and one might have nuts. 12 days in I definitely have NUTS! I was able to pull Mr NUTS out and did not hurt the other plant. The roots had not grown together. No I have one female in each container like it should be.
They seem to like all the nutes I give them.

 

[skeeterleg]

4-19-09
Still looking good. These water farms use a lot of water. Over ½ gallon a day each. They only hold 2 gallons each. At first I just added water to top them off between weekly change/flushes. Then the last couple of weeks I started mixing the nutes in the water I used to top them off every day. They seem to like it. I had some algae growing in the drain tube and I had not washed out the res completely in a couple of weeks so I decided to clean the whole thing. The roots where a big white balls down in the res water. I could not take a pic by myself or I would have. Roots ROCK! The res where both slimy and had a lot of residue. I cleaned both up, added the nutes, checked the air stones and drippers and refilled my home made Co2 fermenters, tied the limbs down and added reflective material at the bottom. I will definitely use a different (one res) system the next time.
There are some AWSOME grows on here and a lot of info if you read. I pick from what I read that makes sense to me and go with it! These plants / weeds are tuff as heck. I think mine look good for my first grow / experiment. I have nothing to compare them to except what I see on here. I don’t know if all the trimming helps or hurts but it is what I have done. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[widdow sensation]

nice grow man they look wicked check out my first grow im about 15 days in to flowering growing white widdow and 3 big buddha cheese.

 

[fureelz]

lookin good...that 600w hps will make a huge difference, keep us posted.

 

[chitownsmoking]

nice phat plants bro

 

[skeeterleg]

widdow sensation

Thanks. I have some white widow fem seeds for my next grow. Ill check your grow out with great interest...

fureelz

Thanks. I hope the HSP helps. I would like to grow a comparison between my T5 8 bulb HO and the HPS to see the difference. I did not get the growth in height I expected at first with the HPS but the last 1.5 weeks they have stretched more. I have the HPS about 12" from the tops. Much closer than what I have read for height recommendations. I was surprised. I think the T5 made the short and stocky. the nodes are only 1" apart and the trunk is over an inch in diameter.

chitownsmoking

Thanks bro...

 

[skeeterleg]

Are these nuts????

 

[skeeterleg]

ARE THESES NUTS???

I just noticed these today. It looks like one has hairs starting to come out.
I hope they are not nuts. If they are I am gonna

Take a look and let me know what you guys think!!!

 

[skeeterleg]

As an experiment I cut off the leaves shading buds on one plant and trimmed very little on the other plant just to see what would happen.
Here are pics of the results. All the ones I trimmed grew another 3-5” more. The nodes grew apart. This plant was shorter than the other plant and now it is taller by a couple of inches. One of the branches is now bigger than the main stem. The nodes spacing increased with the growth spurt. The trimmed plant as you can see has mostly hairs and not much small leaf growth. The hairs / flowers are growing farther down on the stems. I would assume due to the increased light penetration. Do know if this is good or bad but we shall see.
The untrimmed plant did not gain much more height in the same period. They stayed tighter with a lot more small leaf growth. Very busy at the bud sites. Might be due to the tighter spacing of the nodes. Don’t seem to see as many hairs but it is hard to see because of the bushiness.
I am curious as to what the difference will be when harvested and smoked. I will keep them separate at harvest to compare quantity and quality between the two.