about the flowering stage?????

how many weeks should i let my plant flower for?????

can you tell us a bit more, what strain is it? sativa or indica dominant?

its short and bushy im not sure just a seed from an ok source

Maybe a pic would do justice cuz you're not giving us much info.

if its stayen small and bushy and your at week or past week 4 from seed i wud flower it now...i would flower it for bowt 4 t 5 weeks giv or take. if it was tall u wud veg for 6 weeks and flower for the same hope this helps m8

as many as it takes the plant to finish........

You let it flower untill its ripe which can take 8 to 12 weeks but most common is 10 weeks, depends on the strain and its enviromental situation.

How do u tell when its ripe, most of the pistols are turning orange/brown and receding into the bud (no bright white pistols reaching for the light), the calyaxes have swelled, and some trichomes have started to amber.

This shows you exactly what depraves talking about. From fdd's harvest tutorial-

we will start with ripeness. most people say to check your trichromes with 30X magnification. i have other ways. when buds are done they look "done". the appearance of the bud changes. the leaves start to hook upwards and become hard and crispy. the calyxes will swell and the hairs will turn brown. you can see a golden tinge to the bud leaves. this is the amber crystals. they start to turn amber on the leaves first.



not ready..........





ready.......

Spend the 12 dollars and get a microscope from Radio Shack. Reading the trichomes is the only accurate way to tell when they are done. You can go by pistils but depending upon the strain you may be fine and you may end up with something mediocre. Here is an article with pictures: http://www.420magazine.com/forums/harvest-preparation-curing/56899-how-know-when-harvest.html
For the 12 dollars you will know exactly where they are at. Flower can take anywhere from 7-12 weeks depending on the strain.