when do you start counting the weeks of flowering? do you start when you switch lights to 12/12 or when you start seeing buttons of white hairs on all the tops, my plant didn’t grow any hairs for first 3 weeks of 12/12 and have been growing a bunch of white hairs over last ten days so are my plants 4 and half weeks into flowering or just a week and a half into the 8 to 12 week flowering?
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Hi and welcome!
I’m guessing you’re asking because you want to know when to harvest?
The plant might take 1-2 weeks from the photoperiod change to initiate flowering on a molecular level. That doesn’t matter, except for nutrient needs.
The ripening of the flowers should be gauged by trichome maturity. To understand that, you need at least 60x magnification, and you evaluate the ratio of clear/cloudy/amber glandular heads. The “right” ratio is a matter of personal preference. Generally, people will want a 50/50 mixture of cloudy and amber. There are lots of images of trichomes if you google them.
At the first sign of actual flowering. Not to be confused with preflowers. Pistils.
Pictures help more than anything.
Edit welcome to ILGM.
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is this flowers? this has been happening for about a week and a half now the reason i ask is i am trying to get an idea of how much longer it will be before i can start getting excited about harvest, i read that the flowering time is 9 to 12 weeks but i am not sure when to start estimating a time to ripen, my wife has asked me and from ignorance i have said it still has 8 weeks left to go because i started counting 12 weeks from when i started the 12/12 photo period, please explain to me when the 9 to 12 weeks of flowering begins in the attached pics can you see any flowers or is this only the pistils
8-11 weeks from now
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Maybe less but that’s just a guesstimate, true time will show in the trichomes.
Also if you find a strain that suits your needs, keep growing it or clone it to grow over and over. Then you’ll have a better understanding of the flowering time
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I am new to forums so please excuse me if i post same thing twice as i am not sure if my first reply can be seen by all parties in the thread so i have copied it onto your response as well in order to get your thoughts on the subject
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Welcome to the forum! We are glad your here.
Lots of good information here and they have you covered. To newer a few of your questions. Yes, those are bud sites, congratulations she looks great. The rule of thumb is to start counting weeks two weeks after the flip to 12/12. Those two weeks are considered the transition period. As with all rules they can be broken my last grow was done right on time, got lucky, starting from the day I flipped. As mentioned and it sounds like you understand, trichomes are the only way to judge ripeness. So you will need a loop to view them.
Photos are great but in natural light helps everyone see what is going on a lot better.
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thanks , that’s good info, yes i agree the red light is horrible to see details from now on i will try to get some full spectrum light for my photo ops, and a big thanks for the compliment on the plant its my very first time growing and am really proud and because of the need for stealth i have not told anybody about my girls and i don’t have anything to compare them to so i am not sure if they look good or just OK or not so good, its been exactly 31 days since i flipped the switch to 12/12 and its been about 7 to 10 days since any noticeable female qualities out of 2 female plants one started showing signs about 3 to 5 days before the other
You’re doing great.
Just to reiterate, pay no attention to the breeder estimates on flowering. You need to examine the trichomes under a microscope. Not the pistil color. Not yellowing of leaves. It’s the appearance of the glandular heads on the flowers.
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