It's flowering time.. Or is it?

Okie dokie. So, on October 20th, I will have had my plants for exactly 4 weeks in their veg stage. That would make them roughly 5-6 weeks old in total from seedling (I did not have them until they were clones about 2-3 inches tall respectively).

The plants are approximately 11 and 10.7 inches tall currently, but I still have 4 days left of vegging from this stage (should be more than enough time to get me 12" or a bit over).

I have developed a schedule for feeding/watering/etc and have followed it closely to this point in the dates. The reason for this is that I absolutely need my plants to be finished (harvested, and cured, etc) by Christmas Day at the latest, as I will be out of town for a while and unable to attend to plants. Plus, it would be my christmas gift for obvious reasons

With the schedule that I have set up, both of the below scenarios for me will push the plants into a completion date by roughly around christmas time, but I am not sure which would be better.

Now, I have two choices:

1. On october 20th, flower. Set to 12/12 and hook up the flowering lights right away and get her going. By the 20th, the plants should have an additional 2 or 3 inches from what they have now (which would make them roughly 14 and 15 inches respectively).

2. Allow her to veg one more week, until October 27th. I have not fed the plants any nutes in about 3 waterings now, except for one watering at 1/8th strength with some blooming food (someone on here recommended it) to fix a deficiency (phosphorous I think?). If I did this, should I feed the plants 1/4 or 1/2 strength vegging nutes? Or just leave the nutes altogether since it is only 1 more week of vegging? I am not sure.

3. Also, when should I start taking clones? Which part of the plant would you recommend I take from based off the pictures?

Again, I am looking for which would be the best given the look and state of my plants, etc and the information I have given. Thanks a lot for the recommendations

PS - The lower leaves dont looka s healthy due to previous problems with the plant. Heat stress/spotting, and insect damage as well as some deficiencies. However the top growth looks really healthy and green in my eyes. PIcs for yourselves are attached.

1. If you can wait another week you should be good by christmas, might not all be dry yet but will be done.. Also make sure you'll have enough space for 'em, they will triple in size.

2. Give her some more nutes, she will explode. I start giving my plants nutes at about 2 weeks into veg. up until 2 weeks left of there lives. I generally use full doses after its about a month old, you just gotta know your plant and how much it wants to eat. I want to tell you to just give them full doses of nutes but i'm not sure how they would react, i'm growing WW right now and she loves the nutes. I would say bump it up to at least a half dose, and start your flowering nutes soon too, maybe after your next feeding of veg. nutes.

3. You should be able to take clones now if you have long enough shoots, I would suggest getting them from as low as you can too.. a good portion of the lower branches won't get enough light during flower anyways.

Any more questions just ask..

How does the plant look relatively? I know it doesn't look fantastic, but it's because it's literally my 1st grow ever, and I've had issues along the way. The worst of which (which caused the burn on all the leaves you see pictured) was from spider mites that I got, and the spray that I used afterwards. I didn't allow enough time for the plants to dry off before putting them back under the lights, and the result is what you see in the pictures.

Also, I have been only feeding the plants @ 1/4 strength nutes. I am using Organic soil, but the nutes are Miracle Gro All-Purpose nutrients @ 24-8-16. I have never fed them more than 1/4 yet, and have only fed them these nutes roughly 3 times in their entire lifetime.

If I feed them the vegging nutes on their next watering (which should be close to their 4th week, the 20th of oct) and I then switch the flowering date to around the 27th, when should I introduce the blooming food? On their next watering right after? Or should I put it into the flowering light cycle, and just flush with regular water for the first couple feedings then begin to add the blooming food?

Thanks a lot for the help

If most of that is from light burn that they do look pretty good. You should check the leaves at the bottom of the plant, if they are starting to yellow and die off evenly from the bottom to top then you should up the nutes you're giving her. It doesn't look like there really begging for nutes, but I couldn't see it hurting them.. and even if it did you could just flush them.

I would say just switch to the blooming food right after you feed her the next veg. nutes. It sounds like either the soil/nutes you have are strong or she just doesn't really need that many nutes. If you happen to see the tips of the leaves start to burn then instantly flush them and lower the dosage. Like I said with basically all the plants i've grown they just love the nutes..

By the way I use fish emulsions (5-1-1) for veg., very good and reliable for vegetative growth. For flowering I switch to Pure Blend Pro for SOIL (1.5-4-5).. I also give them some Cal/Mag supplements almost every feeding from seed to death.

Thanks for the reply.

I am using Organic soil with only Humus and Perlite mixed into it. The burns are from light damage I am fairly positive, as they only showed up immediately after I sprayed and placed back under the lights.

I looked at the bottom of the plant and the bottom leaves are extremely tiny in relation to the rest of the leaves (the higher ones), some are yellowing and falling off, a couple already have during my grow before this point. In total I would say maybe 4 or 5 bottom leaves have fallen off one plant and 3 off the other.

Another thing I want to add, is there was ONE particular time I noticed typical nutrient burn. It was about 3 weeks ago, and I fed them @ exactly 1/4 strength. Afterwards, I noticed on each plant there was ONE single leaf, in the corner of that particular leaf, that displayed typical nute burn. However again, this was only one leaf on each individual plant. I am not sure if that means anything or not in regards to how much I should feed them?

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