NL Non-Autos seem to be flowering under 18/6 Light Cycle

HapiDjus

New Member
Gday everyone.

Not long ago I decided to start growing for the first time. I bought myself some feminized Northern Lights seeds from ILGM, so I know the genetics and quality is good and that I certainly didn't buy autos.

At present, I'm currently having an issue where my ladies seem to be flowering even though I have not switched the light cycles over to 12/12 yet... but I'm not really experienced enough yet to really understand what's going on here to tell if they actually are flowering or still sitting in some heavy pre-flowering stage.

I'm currently set up in a 3x3 foot tent running a mars hydro TS1000 at 75% - 80% power 18 inches from the canopy. Ventilation is good and I have a dehumidifier keeping humidity in the tent at 50%. Temperature has been kept between 25 - 29 degrees celcius and they are on a 16/8 light cycle with electronic timer. My growing medium is organic living soil and I'm using fabric pots in saucers. I have been feeding them the appropriate level of nutrients designed for growing cannabis in soil including additives such as potassium silicate (for the hotter environment I live in) and resin boosters/terpene enhancers. I water them as they need which is currently about every 2-3 days and I feed them nutrients once a week. PH levels are always tested before watering and are around 6.5-6.6. Soil PH is around the same or closer to neutral. Once a week I will water them with just straight water at a PH of around 6.7 to keep the soil from getting too acidic. I also water them evenly and slowly now to the point where I am seeing runoff in the bottom of the saucer.

I'm growing 4 plants and they are currently in week 6 since first sprouting. 3 out of 4 are growing really rapidly with thick af stems but tall and stretchy and it's these 3 that seem to have started flowering before changing the lights over (photo 1). The other one has definitely started to pre-sex as a female but hasn't even begun to show any white pistils yet like these ones (photo 2). This one is growing like it should, short and fat with really dense green colas like a pure indica. I should point out too that one of the 3 that seem to be flowering is approximately a week younger than the rest. The one that is growing short and fat was germinated as a part of the first 3 I germinated and was subject to all the same mistakes and environmental conditions as the others, so it's making no sense to me as to what is going on as why one is short/fat and not showing pistils and older than one that is...anyway...

I did have some issues first starting out where I didn't have the right spectrum bulbs for the first few days and they stretched slightly but the short/fat one was one of these. Controlling humidity here was also a problem for the first few weeks of life as I had problems sealing the room properly and needed to buy a dehumidifier. (I live in a naturally humid part of the world above 65% all the time, some days 92%+). I overwatered them once also before realizing and correcting my mistake because I also made the mistake of going straight for oversized pots to avoid transplanting. One plant is a week behind because I had issues germinating the seeds in the beginning properly and accidentally killed 1 out of the first 4 I planted by potting it a little too early.

My main concern here however is are they beginning to flower already and therefore I really should change the lights to 12/12 IMMEDIATELY or is this still some stage of heavy pre-flower and they are still vegging ok as I really want to veg a little longer to allow this short and fat one to push up her colas a little more into my SCROG??
 

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I agree with Bob, it is an auto. It has to be if it is flowering under 18/6. You don't stress a plant into flowering.
 
Thanks guys. Seems like I need to touch base with the source of the seeds then.

Also, what will happen now if I change the lights over to 12/12 to get the other one to start flowering?
 
Thanks guys. Seems like I need to touch base with the source of the seeds then.

Also, what will happen now if I change the lights over to 12/12 to get the other one to start flowering?
You can grow auto's under 12/12, they just won't develop as well as they would under 18/6 or 20/4. Less light = Less development.
 
Why? Autos don’t need 12/12 and it’s going fine now.

Cool. Roger that. Never looked into growing autos before. That's good to know.

Now I'm in the situation where 1 out of the 4 I have germinated seems to be what I rightly purchased initially being a non-auto growing along side them. I guess my problem now is this one will just have to veg for way longer now while these autos grow out...
 
Cool. Roger that. Never looked into growing autos before. That's good to know.

Now I'm in the situation where 1 out of the 4 I have germinated seems to be what I rightly purchased initially being a non-auto growing along side them. I guess my problem now is this one will just have to veg for way longer now while these autos grow out...
Veg your photos next to the flowering auto. I do it every year in the fall because my autos can’t finish outdoors.
 
Veg your photos next to the flowering auto. I do it every year in the fall because my autos can’t finish outdoors.
Nice. Thanks man. Seems like it's not as much of an issue as I initially thought... well, except for the yield size now because they are autos but hey, maybe the training will make up for that a bit.

At the end of the day it's my first ever grow and I'm still pretty happy overall how things turned out. My plants look healthy, I seem to be on top of the environment now and I'm still going to get to enjoy my own quality bud without having to buy the crud off the streets they sell around here anymore... so I'm still winning :hump:

I'm waiting to hear back from ILGM about this though, maybe someone was a little too happy on the herbs when picking my order? Who knows... They might hook me up next time for this. I'm definitely going to ask anyway.
 
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