Flowering or Pre-Flowering?

Hey all,


I have done some searching on various forums and I have decided I am unsure if what I am seeing is pre-flowering or if I should be concerned.


I am running a 600W MH on 20/4. The girl in question is Sour Diesel. A couple weeks ago, I noticed white hairs on nearly all the plants when I was under 18/6, but when I kicked it up to 24/0 they faded.


I am noticing hairs in similar places to a couple weeks ago (at bases of stems and what not) BUT now, I am also seeing white hairs on some future bud sites, which has me worried.


Here are some pics.





I'd appreciate any input...thanks RIU!

those are flowering...are they auto flower? auto's will flower under any light schedule.

pre flowers are usually only single V shaped hair coming out of a single calyx or bract. yours are clustering like they are in flower mode.

Great. Not auto-flowering to my knowledge. Got these clones from a trusted friend who didn't mention if they were...which I imagine he would. If they are in flowering, and kept under the 20/4 light cycle...what happens? I just noticed this tonight, and I check on my plants every day so it's definitely a recent development. I certainly don't want to make the switch to 12/12 now...all of the plants need a couple weeks still.

Also, they are about 5 weeks in.

subblue586 said:

Great. Not auto-flowering to my knowledge. Got these clones from a trusted friend who didn't mention if they were...which I imagine he would. If they are in flowering, and kept under the 20/4 light cycle...what happens? I just noticed this tonight, and I check on my plants every day so it's definitely a recent development. I certainly don't want to make the switch to 12/12 now...all of the plants need a couple weeks still.

Click to expand...

if they are clones and not auto's then if kept on 20/4 or 18/6 light cycle they will start to revert back to veg, and you will start to see weird deformed leaves forming in the next couple of weeks, as it reverts back to veg.
are you sure your timer is working properly...photo-period plants need about 12 hrs of dark for 7-14 days to flower

Definitely. They are only off for 4 hours between 2 and 7 AM. Lights are on when I wake up, during the day, and when I go to bed. Other than weird leaves, are there any downsides to forcing back to veg? Would it be worth it to switch to 24/0?

keep it on the same schedule as you had it 18/6 or even 20/4... and you will see if its going to continue flowering...if it does continue flowering under that light cycle than it has to be an auto flower strain.

it all depends my monster plant started budding under 18/6 but it was not a auto i think they will bud the longer the veg

Ya those are starting ther actual flowers thats why your starting to see the white hairs at the bud spots... lol good luck

Nice grow...

Lime73 & kevin murphy

Thank you for the quick advice. I am going to go ahead and keep it on 20/4 for another week or so, then switch it over. I'll also be closely monitoring the trichome development later in the cycle so I don't let my speedy girl get over-ripe.

most likely she is just in pre-flower mode..super-pre-flowering! lol

great ...well keep us updated on progress