Can/Should you go immediately into flowering?

Hello all,

Because I know that during the flowering stage the plants size increase dramatically, I have now found myself in a bit of a situation. I am currently on a 24/0 light schedule. I know that due to stress, I should bring down my hours per day because I will eventually have to go to 12/12. I do not think my rubbermaid is going to be large enough to support another 2-3 weeks of slowly bringing down my light schedule + the time they need for flowering. A friend who also grows suggested that I do 24 hours of darkness, and then move directly to 12/12. What do you guys think? By the way, both of them are FEMALE! =)

Just throw them into 12/12. Does no damage.

headworm said:

Just throw them into 12/12. Does no damage.

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I hope throwing them staright into 12/12 is ok!! thats what I did!! in the first 2 days one of my plants shot up like a foot taller!!

its coo to do that its just "safer" and its suppose to be healthier for ur plants cuz when they sleep they break down certain minerals or some shit like that..i do 24/0 till there as tall as i want them then 23/1 for a couple days then 21/3 for a couple days then 18/6 for few days then 12/12..u can make up ur own lighting schedule just dont go below 18/6 before switching to 12/12 good luck ur ladies should be fine

HomeGrown420baby said:

its coo to do that its just "safer" and its suppose to be healthier for ur plants cuz when they sleep they break down certain minerals or some shit like that..i do 24/0 till there as tall as i want them then 23/1 for a couple days then 21/3 for a couple days then 18/6 for few days then 12/12..u can make up ur own lighting schedule just dont go below 18/6 before switching to 12/12 good luck ur ladies should be fine

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I understand what you're doing you're trying to simulate the natural cycle, but at the same time any light schedule changes will do stress, you want to eliminate the length of that stress, putting it straight to 12/12 is the best idea. There's also a trick when you're 3 weeks into flowering you can up you light to 14/10, it will make your plant think it's flowering time is going away and it will resin up nicely and finish, but you have to trigger flowering in 12/12 first. I wouldn't recommend 24/0, here's a quote from Uncle Ben, "Plants do better (produce more carbos) with less light over a longer period of time than alot of light for a shorter period of time. There is a point of light saturation where more light will work against you by bleaching out the lifeblood of the plant - chlorophyll." Now also a share of root development help takes place when there is an amount of time with no light when the plant can rest. I recommend for vegging you do a 22/2 hour light schedule, to 18/6 the standard cycle.

have u ever tried what i said??

i just go from 18/6 to 12/12. no problems although i think next time i may try the full 24 hrs of darkness when switching just to see if it does have any effect.

i usually give them 24-48 hours of darkness before switching to 12/12 no less then 24 and no more then 48..what evers best for me the plants just grow more pre flowers and stretch out a lil more then just switching to 12/12 right away

im doing this now 12/12 from seed to end the plants are healthy growing pretty big

yeaaa.. switching directly into 12-12 is fine.. i had mine on 24-0.. and then switched right to 12-12.. and they were fine.. well i mean theyre all fucked up now.. lol. most of them went hermie.. but that was only because my timer fuckin sucks!! and it kept staying on when it was supposed to go off.. soo it fucked it all up.. i kno i probably dont have to tell you this... but wen u do switch to 12-12.. MAKE SURE YOU PUT YOUR TIMER SOMEWHERE WHERE IT WONT GET TOUCHED OR MOVED!!!! i just dont want u to go through all this hard work.. like i did.. and then have them go hermie on you... it sucks... trust me... =-(

also.. i was just thinking.. if its size your worried about.. you could LST them.. just get a few pieces of string or yarn.. and tie a loose knot around your stem (remember that your stem will get thicker and you dont want the knot too tight so leave plenty of room) and you can use a hole puncher.. and put a hole in the side of ur pot.. or.. if you have a clay or glass pot... just get a piece of tape.. and tape the string to the side of the pot. you can cut the plants height in 1/2 if you do that and just keep up with it.. sorry for rambling on.. smoking seems to make me do that.. lol

chb444220 said:

also.. i was just thinking.. if its size your worried about.. you could LST them.. just get a few pieces of string or yarn.. and tie a loose knot around your stem (remember that your stem will get thicker and you dont want the knot too tight so leave plenty of room) and you can use a hole puncher.. and put a hole in the side of ur pot.. or.. if you have a clay or glass pot... just get a piece of tape.. and tape the string to the side of the pot. you can cut the plants height in 1/2 if you do that and just keep up with it.. sorry for rambling on.. smoking seems to make me do that.. lol

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I am already LST'ing them! haha. Even with LST, I think my box is going to be plump full with plant. Also, I did some research and it looks like I should be OK with LST'ing during flowering. Could you guys confirm this? If yes, what can you guys recommend as far as actually doing this, do you want to rarely tie down the buds? I had a friend that had his doubts on this method.