Is my Cali Orange complete? First time grower

[SpBUDly the horse]

Hello everybody, I started growing cali orange last October, had them veg under 24hr LED light in the south facing window {here in Calgary Canada} until Dec 4, they have been flowering ever since.

I read they complete the flower cycle in about 9-10 weeks, well here I am pushing into week 12 and just curious if it's ready to crop?

My issue is these plants are not looking as bulky nice as I see in other pictures, and think it either needs more time, or just lack of light power. This is my first time growing, so want to do it right. I planted a Candy Cane auto flower and already harvested it while these girls are still growing!! But I might of harvested the CC a bit early (not sure, it smokes well) and don't want to do the same... Not after all this work.

I only have about 122 watt running + whatever the sun provides. I bought blue and white spectrum for vegging, then later purchased red spectrum light to help with flowering.

These are "special" LED lights pattened specifically for cannabis from one of the local light stores. A simple 24" red spectrum light is about $150. They work like 1 inch = 1 watt of power, they are apparently rated to give an output of 1.5g growth per watt at maximum ideal conditions.

They where all about roughly 26" tall when started to flower, and now sit about 37-40 " each after 3 month of flowering.

I am using a simple Part 1,2,3 grow nutrients, 1+2 for veg, 2+3 for flower. With royal gold, and enzyme complete. I started feeding just straight water +enzyme since Jan 7, except 2 weeks ago grabbed some Kelp mixed in 10L. Now back to water + enzyme

Also my light cycle got messed up because of work, as I move them back and forth from the dark tent to the sunlight, about 3 weeks ago had them in about 20 hours of light, so initially put them in 20 hours of darkness. So since then am on average of 17-19 hours light then darkness, and have to say I have noticed a significant growth in bud size since doing so! Or it could be the Kelp added last minute? But These girls are starting to even grow new nodes, but I'm wondering if those new nodes might be nut nodes and we don't want those!

Has anyone ever Done this type of light cycle before? To be honest, I think it's more efficient then the 12 - 12 cycle, did I accidentally discover something new and enginous??!

Any ideas or input on what is going on would be greatly appreciated! I'll answer any questions if need be. Here I will attach a few photos.

And 3 pictures of the candy cane, it grew about 18" 9-10 weeks, yielded about 16g after drying. Still curing, tasting nice, hitting surprisingly hard to the head! Probably because of an early harvest? 1 picture is this cool red clothes rack I found at Dollarama, it rotates, great for drying I thought?

Sincerely,

Jesse.

 

[SpBUDly the horse]

Sorry to load so much into my first post, but was trying to eliminate as many questions that may have been asked.

Here is some pictures of the "new nodes" growing the past few weeks.

My main goal with this post is should I harvest them now, or wait still?

 

[PadawanWarrior]

They look good, but they need more time. What I think you're talking about is a swollen calyx. Give them at least a few more weeks.

 

[Tiflis]

So since then am on average of 17-19 hours light then darkness

Is this the cycle your flowering plants are on? That would explain the plants growing new nodes.

 

[FastFreddi]

Must maintain an even light schedule...12/12, 10/14, whichever, BUT YOU MUST STICK TO IT., and yes, a little more time on her.
Good luck
FF

 

[SpBUDly the horse]

Well they where on a 12/12 hour cycle from Nov 4 until about Jan 04, then it snowed alot, since I do snow removal was gone for like 20 hours.... So naturally put them in 20 hours darkness to compensate... And slowly been working down like 19 hours, then 18 hours... Etc...

My personal theory is the plants where born indoor, and they have no physical idea of what the earths light cycles are, they just know when daddy tells them to sleep and wake up haha! But that being said, I think they have adjusted to the longer light/dark periods now. I fear dropping back to a 12/12 cycle overnight at this point will draw stress.

So let's have fun and call this accidental experiment "super light cycling"?

I will update when/if anything changes. If those new nodes turn out male will sadly harvest right away.

 

[Medicated Bonsai]

Well they where on a 12/12 hour cycle from Nov 4 until about Jan 04, then it snowed alot, since I do snow removal was gone for like 20 hours.... So naturally put them in 20 hours darkness to compensate... And slowly been working down like 19 hours, then 18 hours... Etc...

My personal theory is the plants where born indoor, and they have no physical idea of what the earths light cycles are, they just know when daddy tells them to sleep and wake up haha! But that being said, I think they have adjusted to the longer light/dark periods now. I fear dropping back to a 12/12 cycle overnight at this point will draw stress.

So let's have fun and call this accidental experiment "super light cycling"?

I will update when/if anything changes. If those new nodes turn out male will sadly harvest right away.

Hopefully, the "super light cycling" wont have the ability to revert your plants back into veg haha. I've never experimented with light cycles so I don't know anything about it...However, it seems like you're new to growing and I wanted to give you some feedback on my previous grows. I'm fairly new to growing myself, currently on my 4th grow. I think you'll find that growing the plants is fairly simple once you've done it a couple times. I found that hanging, drying and curing is the most important part. I only cared about growing the plants and never took the proper measures to cure my buds correctly. There's nothing more disappointing than ending up with a bunch of bud that smells like hay and tastes like arse. You should prepare and plan for the dry/cure so all your hard work doesn't go to waste. Good luck brother.

 

[SpBUDly the horse]

Well definitely done alot of research on that and still doing so, my candy cane (last 4 pictures in 1st post) was hung for about 7 days at roughly 40% humidity, with humidifier, without is about 16% naturally in this "home". It was not at the point of the little branches snapping when bent, but with enough force yes. Why am I not worried about this? The lack of humidity, naturally things will work out I think... So..

I read a comment from someone saying waiting until it cracks upon bending is to dry, which is what alot of people normally do from what I'm learning. But some of the most desirable buds I've seen where sticky/fresh. So hung 7 days then chopped 16.4g, curing in glass jar since Jan 29. Burp every 5-8 days (Kyle kushman method) smell is starting to come around better! Went from just plain sticky to now more fresh, but tight in the middle and sticky!

Have I tried it / gave some away? HECK yeah! With positive results! Taste is decent surprisingly, burns cleaner then What I'm getting from this LP, I really was not expecting much being new to all this. Also after doing more research it seems I cropped the candy cane too early, so it could of been better perhaps! There's 2 more growing now, they are auto flowers, and sais 9 week flower, so which is why I cropped it at 9.5 weeks. And read auto flowers are a little more tricky to determine when they are ready so panicked whatever.
Also started some Arjans haze #1, those 2 sativa grow from 6,to 16" last 9 days in they're Dixie cups after trimming lower branches, so just transfer them! Here's a picture of the happy little garden so everyone has an idea of what am dealing with now. Any other tips/advice is always appreciated.

Anyways excited for these cali oranges!!!