when to start flowering?

Ok new grower here....
just a question about when exactly i should start the flowering stage? This is my first grow, and i figured i wouldnt be very good at it so i started from seeds and planted 17...turns out all 17 grew healthy, i was ecpecting like 5-6 to grow then from there only like 2-4 females......lesson learned ...
anyways they are all now between 5-8 inches tall and i am curious about the best way to tell when i should switch to the HPS lights and 12-12 light schedule, and also curious about the harmful side effects of starting flowering too early other than the obvious less bud!
Any help would be great, thanks

anybody out there? lol

there really is no such thing as to early just keep in mind that your plant height will at least double or more from the time you start to flower let your height restriction be your guide

well i have unlimited height, well 8ft, but thats plenty....
in theory could i let them veg forever or would they eventually die or just not grow anymore?
the strain is northern lights so its a short plant to begin with, im thinking like if i let them get to about 20 inches or so before i flower i would have some decent plants? thanks for reply ganjaman!

Same thing, also, just be careful not to have your plants heat up too much during the flowering process, or it may cause your plants to herminate (turn into a shemale).

Otherwise, there's no specific time when you should or shouldn't, just depends on when you feel like it.

Rbomb said:

well i have unlimited height, well 8ft, but thats plenty....
in theory could i let them veg forever or would they eventually die or just not grow anymore?
the strain is northern lights so its a short plant to begin with, im thinking like if i let them get to about 20 inches or so before i flower i would have some decent plants? thanks for reply ganjaman!

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If you let them simply in the vegging stage, they'll simply continue to grow towards the light, and eventually, they'll force themselves to flower, regardless of light cycles.
In other words, you NL could get past your height of 8', if you could stick your lamp(s) through your ceiling.

If you have them flower at 20'', they'll then grow to approx. 40'' and start to make buds, if they're females. Sure they could continue to grow a little even, but that's it in a bottle.

hmmmm...i wonder if i should let them get to 3ft before i flower haha....i guess people dont usually do that because they just start more plants for a faster turn over and more yeild? anyways thanks for the info! i cant wait to start the flower and see how many lovely ladies i have!

i wouldnt go any higher than 2 ft. that should get ya at least 4 ft plants prolly closer to 5ft. then they start gettin really noticible

Melangwanja said:

Same thing, also, just be careful not to have your plants heat up too much during the flowering process, or it may cause your plants to herminate (turn into a shemale).

Otherwise, there's no specific time when you should or shouldn't, just depends on when you feel like it.



If you let them simply in the vegging stage, they'll simply continue to grow towards the light, and eventually, they'll force themselves to flower, regardless of light cycles.
In other words, you NL could get past your height of 8', if you could stick your lamp(s) through your ceiling.

If you have them flower at 20'', they'll then grow to approx. 40'' and start to make buds, if they're females. Sure they could continue to grow a little even, but that's it in a bottle.

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if they are in veg. and eventually force themselves to flower, how is that people have mother plants in veg. for 20 to 30 years or more and they havnt flowered?

Hmm i never realised people could have a plant in veg for that long, does that mean it just stops growing and a certain height? or is that controlled by lighting?

smoke and coke said:

if they are in veg. and eventually force themselves to flower, how is that people have mother plants in veg. for 20 to 30 years or more and they havnt flowered?

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You've got me partially stumped there.

I'd say probably because they keep cutting away at it for clones. When you cut certain parts of it off, it stops it's growth for flowering completely and goes into a "repairing" state. At least, that'd be my theory.

(By the way, I'm not saying that it does flower when people clone it, but usually, you try to cut the plant before you see any signs of flower...)

Edit: Just saw another thread on the matter. It seems that apparently, that's the thing, to keep the mother plant from flowering, you have to cut it so it tries to grow some more, and it has to be kept under an 18/6 light régime. But otherwise, lots of equitorial plants wouldn't flower ever, since they have a constant régime of light, regardless of the season.

Melangwanja said:

You've got me partially stumped there.

I'd say probably because they keep cutting away at it for clones. When you cut certain parts of it off, it stops it's growth for flowering completely and goes into a "repairing" state. At least, that'd be my theory.

(By the way, I'm not saying that it does flower when people clone it, but usually, you try to cut the plant before you see any signs of flower...)

Edit: Just saw another thread on the matter. It seems that apparently, that's the thing, to keep the mother plant from flowering, you have to cut it so it tries to grow some more, and it has to be kept under an 18/6 light régime. But otherwise, lots of equitorial plants wouldn't flower ever, since they have a constant régime of light, regardless of the season.

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ok yes im saying people have plants in veg for many many years and the mother plant doesnt force flower itself under 18 hours or more of light.
but now you have me thinking now. at some point i want to have a couple of mother plants but i only need cuttings off of it for 7 months of the year. so for 5 months of not taking cuttings you think the plant will force flower?
i imagine for the 5 months i would be taking cuttings and just throwing them away. have to keep it shorter anyway.

i just havnt heard of a plant forcing itself to flower if its on veg. lighting. except an auto flowering. i have never had plants inside in veg for longer than 8 or 9 weeks because it goes into 12/12 by then. and the plants that are outside for 3 or 4 months then flower in the fall.
i am going to try and raise a couple of mothers this winter for cuttings in spring.

no, it doesnt need to be cut to avoid flowerering. 18/6 or 24/0 is all thats required that i know of. but ive never vegged a plant more than a yr so after that point i dunno

you can start 12/12 from seed so no such thing as too early in that regard. i'd start flowering now if ya got 20+ plants. i prefer fewer big plants myself so i veg 4-6 months. best of luck

I only veg for a month due to space and they were not quite 10 inches tall..