First time Growing. Need help!!

Ok i am new to growing the beautiful plant known as cannibas<--(I am leaving it purposely incorrect cause it bugs canadians). But ive been coming to this site for a couple months now. I am a MM patient. I have 11 plants growing right now, 6 of which are white widow, and 5 are Super Silver Haze. Its been 6 1/2 weeks since i planted my seeds in rockwool inside a dome. Unfortunately i had the lights too far away in the beginning and made them stretch. I have been using Aqua Vega nuts and using 4 - 48" T-12 bulbs, 2- 5k, and 2-6500k spectrum. I also added two extra side lights also putting out 6500k. Im using a Deep Well Hydroponics setup i built myself. Im growing them inside my closet. I have about 6-7 feet of clearance to work with. My temp is always between 70-75 degrees. My lights are on a 18/6 cycle right now. Currently all my plants are 10-11" tall except one which is 17" tall. This one plant took off and i dont know why. Im watering 3 times a day for about 20 minutes. All my seeds were feminized seeds so I shouldnt have any males. I just dont know when i should start flowering? I have read alot on here, and I know all the experienced guys will say use the search function. But as ive read EVERY situation is different. So i figured id post some pics and ask the experts on this site. Below are a few pics. The pic of the smaller plants was taken 01/06/2013 the other three pics were taken today 01/23/2013. So they are 17 days apart. The last pic shows the 17" plant. Let me no what you guys think and when should i start the 12/12 cycle to flower? Thanks.

See the reason that all the pages you've read are different is because its up to you. I would not flower them yet if you have loads of space to play with and its only been 6 1/2 weeks give them a chance. Maybe wait at lest another couple of mouths yet.

hehehe, they do look a bit stretched ey, no worries I've done the same

as far as flowering........me; I wait untill I see the preflower deals showing. even if I have female seeds. just because I know that the plant is "ready" to begin flowering.
also, you want to have as healthy of a plant as possible. she's gonna have to hold up some weight.
you can do some tying down, bend them over, top them, what ever you have to if space is an issue.
otherwise, whenever change the lights over to 12/12 on off cycle then they will begin the flowering phase. so long as you do not interupt that 12 hours darkness.
really depends on your goal. do you want massive plants?
then let'm veg for 6, 7 weeks or more.
want them small, then less obviously.
take advantage of LST, low stress training, its worked well for me. i have a very limited space for what I want to grow lol
...... thats just me

happy growing

Space is really the big question. You said you were in a closet, well 10 plants in a closet could get cramped if they were all large, unless its a large closet. Looks like some of them would prolly be fine to flower now, especially the 17" one. Though a few look pretty small still. But figure on the hazes getting 2-3 times the size they are when you switch them. The WW will prolly just get 2x at least thats about what my WW does. But like I said in the beginning it all depends on how much room you have. Are you planning on floewring them under the floro bulbs or did I miss something?

Flower from the beginning. Cut down on time and start another cycle sooner. 12/12 from the beginning is great.

BelieveInJesus said:

Flower from the beginning. Cut down on time and start another cycle sooner. 12/12 from the beginning is great.

Click to expand...

Obviously I cant do that now. but my next cycle i do i plan on experimenting more with LST and super cropping. but you gotta crawl before you walk. And this harvest is more of a learning adventure for me.

Thundercat said:

Space is really the big question. You said you were in a closet, well 10 plants in a closet could get cramped if they were all large, unless its a large closet. Looks like some of them would prolly be fine to flower now, especially the 17" one. Though a few look pretty small still. But figure on the hazes getting 2-3 times the size they are when you switch them. The WW will prolly just get 2x at least thats about what my WW does. But like I said in the beginning it all depends on how much room you have. Are you planning on floewring them under the floro bulbs or did I miss something?

Click to expand...

The closet is 7 ft wide 3.5 ft deep, and 7 feet tall. Im planning on starting my flowering a week from this sunday which will be the 8 week mark since i planted the seeds. Assuming my plants grow 2-3 times their size, im guessing that my plants will be 3 to 4 feet tall when they are done flowering. Add in the light and the DWC I will be anywhere from 5.5 to 6.5 feet tall leaving me just enough room for my growlights. I need to get floro bulbs for my system. Also i will have 3 extra Red flourescent lights added to the others to help with flowering. I would like to top the 17" plant which is now 18" since I posted earlier today. I dont want to raise my lights anymore to keep the rest of my plants from stretching. I just have never topped plants before and i am nervous. Where should i make my cut and how much can i top off without stressing the plant too much?

gotta get the lights closer or stronger ones. they are too stretched. GL

Po boy said:

gotta get the lights closer or stronger ones. they are too stretched. GL

Click to expand...

Yea I realized that kinda late in the growth stage. Currently my lights are 2 inches off my tallest plant, which is 18" tall. The rest of them are around 10-11" tall. So They are about 8" or so from the tops of the majority of the plants. Thats why i was thinking of topping the tall plant to make it more even with the rest of the plants so the lights can be closer. Just nervous about doing it. Dont want to mess up and kill the plant.

I've topped plants in half before,and they turned out great. I used the top half as a clone, and then flowered the rest. If you want to top it you can take a few inchs off, and make it closer to the size of the other plants. ANother option is to LST it and create more bud sites.

lower the lights my friend in the case where you don't have much room you want to use space wisely and i think stretching your poor girls is not a good way to do that. just lower your lights next batch, if you put your hand over your plants and ur hand is hot then its too close if your hand is warm but not hot then its perfect, good luck!

I agree with thundercat,po boy and smokeagram. you need to get those lights closer 8"is too far. Lst or top the taller one and I didn't see if you had one but you should get a fan in their to strengthen up those stems for flowering. besides the obvious stretch they look good. good luck.

Im going to top the tall plant a few inches and lower the lights this morning. So do I just cut the plant with scissors? Or should I use something else?

Clean razor throw cut in cup of water see if it roots unless you've got cloning materials. I'd cut just above nodes at others height. Try topping or fiming the rest can still get a good yield and shock them into growing sounds crazy but sometimes works on slow starters.

They say a clean razor is best, I always just use scisssors, but like he said cut just above a node. This will allow the side branchs at that node to become the new tops of the plant.

herbbilly said:

Clean razor throw cut in cup of water see if it roots unless you've got cloning materials. I'd cut just above nodes at others height. Try topping or fiming the rest can still get a good yield and shock them into growing sounds crazy but sometimes works on slow starters.

Click to expand...

I am going to top the plant tonite since someone told me to top plants just before your lights turn off. Im not going to clone it since i have no where to put the clone. Its -10 degrees outside and i dont want to put the clone next to a cold ass window. Am i correct on topping before my lights go out? or have i been mis-informed?

I've never heard that one. I top when ever I do my work in my room. I've topped at many different times of day. I don't know what benefit there would be doing it right before lights out.

Thundercat said:

I've never heard that one. I top when ever I do my work in my room. I've topped at many different times of day. I don't know what benefit there would be doing it right before lights out.

Click to expand...

Nuff' said. im gonna go cut it right now. thanks

no problem, once you do that and get the lights lower you will see the others start to catch up I think.

Topped off the top plant and lowered my lights a few hours ago. Already I can tell it will help the rest of my plants. They are filling out so well. I cant wait to start flowering.

nice plants gl with flowering