Need advice on mothers

[miketool21]

Hi. I currently have 4 26 watt cfls covering 3 3 foot tall mothers. I am doing this because I do not want them to grow anymore, just survive. The CFLs are positioned above the plants, so the bottom 2 feet of the plant are not getting much light. 24/0 photoperiod.

My question is, might these flower because most of the plant is not being brightly illuminated? Mind you it's a 4 x 2.5 space.
Also, if I do need more CFLs, how many to keep it from flowering?
Thanks.

 

[satch]

Why can't you just trim them down to manageable size? You really don't need mothers to be that big. The plant shouldn't flower anyway.

 

[miketool21]

Why can't you just trim them down to manageable size? You really don't need mothers to be that big. The plant shouldn't flower anyway.

I'm new to the whole game. I've been trying to avoid stressing the plants, so I didn't wanna go lumberjack and kill off a mother. But if you say so, I guess it won't kill it. As luck would have it, I just decided the other day to trim them down. I guess that might be the solution. However, if it's not necessary, I don't want to butcher the plant. I still need to have some kind of idea about how much light I would need to keep the plant from flowering though, in case for whatever reason the plants get large again.

 

[Stonefish]

Hi. I currently have 4 26 watt cfls covering 3 3 foot tall mothers. I am doing this because I do not want them to grow anymore, just survive. The CFLs are positioned above the plants, so the bottom 2 feet of the plant are not getting much light. 24/0 photoperiod.

My question is, might these flower because most of the plant is not being brightly illuminated? Mind you it's a 4 x 2.5 space.
Also, if I do need more CFLs, how many to keep it from flowering?
Thanks.

If you are keeping a light on them 24/7 I don't think they will flower (unless auto flowering strain) as most strains will only flower after changing the photoperiod to 12/12 (as in nature, when the days get shorter, the plant knows the growing season is winding down).

 

[satch]

I'm new to the whole game. I've been trying to avoid stressing the plants, so I didn't wanna go lumberjack and kill off a mother. But if you say so, I guess it won't kill it. As luck would have it, I just decided the other day to trim them down. I guess that might be the solution. However, if it's not necessary, I don't want to butcher the plant. I still need to have some kind of idea about how much light I would need to keep the plant from flowering though, in case for whatever reason the plants get large again.

Think of it as "trimming the lawn." As a general rule of thumb, always keep 1/3 of the foliage.

 

[420weedman]

no, they wont flower
i made the same mistake.
those plants should be flowered at 2' really
and you should have a replacement mother growing(clone) so it keeps the stuff in the veg room smaller.

 

[miketool21]

no, they wont flower
i made the same mistake.
those plants should be flowered at 2' really
and you should have a replacement mother growing(clone) so it keeps the stuff in the veg room smaller.

But the whole point in my mind is to keep the mother for 6 months at the bare minimum. And I have plenty of clones, of course. I have ample room for the mothers (like 8 feet high ceiling). I don't want to juggle mothers.
Thanks to everyone who replied. I think I'm just going to trim the tops when they get too tall. At least I know it won't flower.

 

[420weedman]

6 months is too long really.
when you keep topping them you get smaller and smaller buds
you could be flowering a nice mother plant while one of the clones grows into the new mother.
im speaking from experience .

i have CFLS for my veg room as well
along with a seperate room w/ 400w HPS

what light are you flowering with ?