Vegging till they preflower... really?

[Zapata's Dog]

Cervantes says when growing from seeds to allow them to veg till they show preflowers- that inducing flowering before sexual maturity will stress the plants, possibly resulting in more males or hermies, and that they won't flower any earlier anyway.

Do experienced growers agree with this?

 

[Boneman]

Vegging until u get preflowers is ideal if you have the time and space. Some strains show quicker than others. My AK-47 showed in 41 days which was the fastest of any of my strains (not including autoflowering strains).

 

[Hedgehunter]

boneman is right, its a nice way to do it if you have the time

 

[GoldenGanja13]

I agree with Cervantes 100% and follow most of his guidlines. I have had one plant hermie on me in 12/12 out of 40 (over time). But on RIU you see so many hermies and it seems that they where 12/12 before mature. I always ask the grower with the Herm when did they go 12/12 9 out of 10 was premature.

 

[Zapata's Dog]

Thanks, guys, will do.

 

[chitownsmoking]

yeah it works just be sure to veg under 18/6 and not 24/0 it should take 6-8 weeks to show sex like this

 

[Zapata's Dog]

Oh, thanks, I had misread (or misremembered) Cervantes and was using 24... went back and reread and he concurs. In fact he suggests 16/8... any opinions?

 

[easygrinder]

ed rosenthal recommends 24/0

you'll see every pro recommend every different method in different posts, it depends on how far back they date,

i personally prefer 24/0 as it saves on time and money and gets tighter node spacing.

16/8 i think its too little light, your going to get a longer veg period,

until a plant shows it's preflowers it is in veg whether or not it is on 12/12 lighting, a plant has to mature to a certain level before it can start showing sex, so if you switch at week 2 then your still going to wait 2 maybe 3 weeks for it to show, and in that time it will stretch a lot as it tries to reach its natural height and maturity, or you can speed up the process keep node spacing tigher, veg a little longer and have it show sex a lot quicker

 

[Zapata's Dog]

Doh! Two totally divergent opinions. Anybody else care to weigh in?

I'm definitely convinced to veg till preflowers show, the question is under what light cycle?

 

[Dr Greene]

I agree with that except for the " possibly resulting in more males " part. Sex is not a controllable factor (at least in my exp). Of course, alot of organisms have the ability to herm due to environmental stresses, but not to deny their genes altogether....

Think of it like this, some humans who are sexualized too early in life tend to take longer to reach sexual maturity mentally which affects other parts of their psycological development as well. Not to mention those organs aren't ready for stimulation and could possibly suffer short or long term physical damage because of this. Same general idea with your plants, give them time to mature before encouraging reproduction.
This makes sense to me right now anyway.....

 

[Dr Greene]

Doh! Two totally divergent opinions. Anybody else care to weigh in?

I'm definitely convinced to veg till preflowers show, the question is under what light cycle?

What light cycle are u using now? I typically try to mimic nature. 20/4 ->18/6 -> 16/8 -> 14/10 ->12/12 (basically they lose two hours every two weeks or so)

 

[SCORPIO13]

This is a big controversy in any forum. What should I use 24/0 or 18/6? You are going to get mixed responses. That does not mean they are right or wrong. Both of them work and they work good. It all depends on the growers preferance.

 

[Gerrybhoy]

I vegged 24-0 for the first 3 weeks and then moved to 18-0 for the last 4.

Check out the pictures in my journal (link in sig)

 

[GoldenGanja13]

24 for the first 40 days at least. 24 hrs will have plants growing faster than 18/6. It's proven in my Garden and High Times will back me up (june 09).