be patient. make sure the dark period is absolutely dark. And don't mess with the light cycle timing at all (12 on, 12 dark). Some people do 11 on 13 off to give them the signal sooner, especially for sativa heavy strains but I don't do this.
They will put out soon enough, mine took 8 days of 12/12 after 5 weeks veg. FIM/topping will make the plant take longer to respond to the flowering signal.
The only thing that I'm a little worried about, is that you are manually 'boxing' them up to make it night time - if you are late or forget they're gonna get confused!
Get a magnifier to look for the pre flowers at the angles where the growth tips' stems meet the main stalk
LST
you are right, LST is for getting the lower growth tips and leaves into the light to help them develop.
However, my understanding of the mechanism by which LST works is slightly different to what you think;
the highest growth tip in nature would get the best sunlight, the plant senses this and directs its energy to it, so by bending them over, the ideal is to get all the growth tips on the same horizontal plane so they are all equally at the top of the plant and the plant treats them as equally dominant > more colas that develop weight worth harvesting.
the training works by distributing the dominance by altering height
The important thing to note here is that a fan leaf shading a growth tip is not the end of the world. I like to keep the fan leaves on so they can do their job of making energy for the rest of the plant to use.
Blood and bone tea
you can do it with any volume of water, say a tablespoon b&b to a gallon water. Its not an exact science. Most of the nutrients will not dissolve, and you will have heaps of stinky sludge leftover - chuck it on your compost pile.
On that note, how big is your compost pile? for it to cook off effectively you need to make it at least 1/2 to 1m3 (or 3-4' wide/long and a few feet high). Your ingredients sound good so far. Make sure its moist but not soggy, and twice a week turn it upside down and move the centre of the pile to the edges. Keep it up for the next 6 weeks and you'll be there!
No no no no! I have a sinking feeling that you are driving around the countryside looking for a farm that raises foxes???
We don't have 'Foxfarm' in Australia, but its a a brand of potting dirt.
PS: i love your signature
the quote isn't mine, its chris's. and sharing a signature tag line makes it look like we are part of a gang, a very philosophical and cynical internet gang.
I don't know if it's because they are getting direct sun or what but they are getting really tall, however, not that stocky like the ones inside. I wish I would have fimmed them before I put them outside so they would fatten up. I'll take pics tomorrow and show you what I'm talking about. I may be able to start fimming now, although they won't have any leaves near the bottom like my girls, they have leaves all the way down! Weird.
