Whats up everybody? >Newbie here< Is my plant ready for flowering? How to tell?

So I threw a few seeds in a planter outside in say April or so and by the middle of June I had to transplant it indoors cuz it stuck out like a sore thumb. So I pulled some info off the internet and a built a grow room in the closet using standard fluorescent tubes cuz I'm broke and couldn't buy the good stuff. I've got a 4 foot fixture over the plants with 3 20 watt cool whites and 1 grow light from wally world. Also have a 2 foot u-shaped warm white running vertical so the sides of plant got some light and also a cheap little fluorescent desk lamp. Didn't know what I was doing but the plant grew pretty well it's about 22 inches tall right now. I've been running 18on/6off with the lights for months now. How do I know when the plant is ready to switch over to flowering? If I upload pictures to my profile can you guys check them out? I don't know how this site works yet. Anyway to me overall the plant looks healthy but kinda "thinnned out" also. Like not extremely bushy or anything but I don't know what the hell I'm doing so I need you pros to take a peek at it if you can. someone please shout at me and let me know if you can help. thanks a ton.

First off welcome to RIU.
Next your plants are ready to flower when they show preflowers or whenevr you want to switch to 12/12.

thanks for the welcome. yeah i read another post a second ago and they mentioned preflowers but i don't know what they are. what exactly am i looking for?

http://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/504/crzycom1-pm.jpg..

yeah I dont think I have any of those yet I've got the singles but not the doubles.

well when you get the doubles thats a female the pod looking things are males.

I am on my first grow as well...using CFL none the less. Dude, I went with 6500 spectrum compact flouro's (23watt...100w equivelent X 4) for veg, then went [2]43w/200w, [8] 26w/100w for a total of 294w/1200w from CFL's, works out to 21k lumens at 2700k for flowering. Seems to be working "OK", but I am DEFINATELY upgrading to HPS next grow. My plant didn'y show the classic 2 hair split in the begining. They all looked like they had balls and i was pissed. I left them alone for like 2 days(after 2 weeks of no gender showing) then i popped open the closet and was like OH SHIT...pulled the male, and the fem had hairs everywhere. I have been reading, reading, researching, reading, and researching more...and i am still trying to figure the shit out...lol, good luck bro!

jesus I just checked out your pics and saw that bud that looks like it's a foot and half long that thing looks tasty. how long you been growing?

Who are u talking about?

thanks dude, yeah it sucks not havin' the right type of shit doesn't it. some guy was selling a huge ass metal halide light for like the inside of a factory for $25 the other day but he sold it right before i emailed him. total bummer

talking about your bud pics berrywid

For almost 4 years.

That shit was more like 3 -4 feet.It weighed almosta quarter.A little over 90 grams..

thats fantastic. you probably got all the right shit huh? the right lights and all that? you gotta do everything by the book to get those results right?

Not really.I used mg soil alot which many people say its no good but i still grow monsters.I have a 150 hps,t5s 6500k and 400 mh/hps.I plan on upgrading soon but for personal a 400 watt is all you need.

I veg for 50 days then flower...


Dice