When to begin flowering?

I have spent hours on the RIU Forums trying to nail this down, hope someone can steer me to the proper thread(s).
I'm 9 weeks into vegging a bunch of Afghani ( Rock Star?) plants, and so far all is going well, actually TOO well. They (26- one for each letter of the alphabet) are all strong, green, and apparently healthy. I'm using Sunshine Mix #4 ,(4) 55 watt CFLs to supplement (two) 125 watt CFLs, and Earth Systems "Grow"as my primary nute.
I'm about 3/4 of the way to my current existing head room and HERE's my question;
WHEN is the "right" time to do the "flip"and start my 12/12 cycle? Is it based on ;
a- my available headroom
b- the time they have spent vegging
c- a combination of the two
d- the genetics of the strain ?
I have a bottle of Bush Master ready if that's my only option ( NO room to bend them as the plants are all very tightly packaged in a room which is 2'by 5'by 5'tall)
I understand that older plants may generate more "power", but the REAL reason I even started this group was to create clones so I can begin a SOG garden in the same space, and therefore eliminate some of the headroom issues.
There is SO much info on this Forum and yet I haven't seen anything yet which covers this issue. Thanks in advance to anyone that can steer me ( and the alphabet gang) in the proper direction...!

If you've been vegging for nine weeks, I'd say they're definitely ready. Those babies must be pretty tall and the maturity level is there, after nine weeks. Go ahead and switch your light schedule. A lot of people on here only veg for 4 weeks or so it seems, but I typically let mine go at least six or eight weeks just so they can withstand the weight of the buds, the possible added stress of a sudden light switch, and other factors such as a bigger yield. Nine weeks is plenty, flower those girls now, good luck!

Ledhed,
Many thanks! I've been thinking along the same lines, but with SO many different techniques, opinions, and strains I was hoping to avoid a stupid move which would negate all of the previous nine weeks of work.....

they can double or triple in height by the time there ready for harvest, so id say if youve used 3/4 of your space the ideal time to flower would have been 2-3 weeks ago. sry bro. i guess you could train them down or almost horizontally but id flower asap

you could put em out side when they out grow theyre space but 26 plants is a lot for a guerrilla grow

Thanks KaleoXxX,
If I were to lower the height of my table a bit I could get another foot perhaps, and that gives me 2 feet of headroom over 3 foot plants, but my flowering light source(s) are going to be a 150 watt Sun System HPS supplemented by (4) 65 watt 2700 k CFL's. I understand that the HPS will require at least 12-18 " of headroom so I'd be almost back to where I started. I'm starting to think that I may have to hit them with a shot of Bush Master in order to salvage the grow. That is unless someone out there has some secret "voodoo" technique......(?)

you could top, end up with 2 colas instead of one and gain 6-8 in like i said before
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=2214345#post2214345

KaleoXxX,
Thanks again. Unfortunately I have already used the "FIM"and Super cropping techniques on about half of the group, as this first crop is sort of a "living lab" to;
a. test the grow room and equipment
b. learn some of the growing techniques I have read about for a long time
c. identify the "girls"in the group
d. continue the process with a SOG which will be much easier to work with once I have a handle on the way the plants will grow in their environment.
Good news here is that I originally had only 5'of headroom because the idea was to use the closet space as a "bi-level farm" with flowering on the upper deck, and clones on a shorter lower deck. Now that I can see where the crop is going I will eliminate the lower deck and figure some place else to raise the clones, and this would then give me two more feet of headroom, which would now mean I'd have almost 4 feet of headroom on a 3 foot crop. Still tempted to do a "short shot" of BM (maybe 1/2 ml?) to keep things in check, but this might be the right time to use BM on a portion of the crop and see what the difference turns out to be, as all of this is part of my "education".
If all of the above works out am I correct in assuming that the clones from this group will be able to veg for 2-3 weeks before starting to flower them as well? (That is 2-3 weeks after they have established a real root system so that's really probably closer to 4-5 weeks).
I appreciate the all the info available here on the Forum, and at some point in the future I hope to be able to return the favor....

Just to update this thread; I hit them all with a 1 ml per gallon shot of Bush Master, and it did the trick ! It slowed vertical growth tremendously, and I have a bunch of happy girls blooming away right now ! Three weeks into flowering and I haven't had to touch the lights, lower the decks, etc.....Since it was my first attempt I was pretty ruthless when it came down to sexing, and if there was any doubt, ( or possible cross dressers...) I isolated them for a few days until I could be sure. Had one drop a bunch of pollen three days after I took him out of the room.....As a result of my inexperience I probably "lost" a few plants in my anxiety to run an all girls club, but now that I've seen just HOW the flowers really show, it should be easier with the next generation ( 10 strong clones sitting in waiting...).

Ok so my plants are well in the timeline to begin flower however they just seem weak as if it may not be worth it yet can I still try flowering I know they will double or triple usually but with them being weak is it a good idea? First time getting this far anyone who can help I'd appriciate it could use some friends too that may be able to help

Ok so according to what I have read I should be ready to flower however my ladies are very weak looking I know they usually get bigger when switched to the 12/12 cycle but with them looking scrawny idk is it ok to start flowering anyway?

do you have any pictures? the reason they look unhealthy could be many reasons.
too much watering, not enough, too much nutrient, not enough nutrient, bugs, heat stress, humidity levels are too high or low?

Trollin said:

do you have any pictures? the reason they look unhealthy could be many reasons.
too much watering, not enough, too much nutrient, not enough nutrient, bugs, heat stress, humidity levels are too high or low?

Click to expand...

I can get pics but right now they look aweful had nut burn from usinhg miricle grow on advisement so I have lost almost all my fan leaves to that ph is fine now but I'm thinking over watering maybe have any tips you can pass on even if unrealted to this while I work on pics?

Trollin said:

do you have any pictures? the reason they look unhealthy could be many reasons.
too much watering, not enough, too much nutrient, not enough nutrient, bugs, heat stress, humidity levels are too high or low?

Click to expand...

I can get pics but right now they look aweful had nut burn from usinhg miricle grow on advisement so I have lost almost all my fan leaves to that ph is fine now but I'm thinking over watering maybe have any tips you can pass on even if unrealted to this while I work on pics?

you can prity much start 12/12 any time heck you can start 12/12 from seed if you want! scrawny or not

Thanks for all the tips everyone thought I might say that and happy growing!