12/12 too Early? Move back to 24/0?

[Racerx]

I have a post in basic growing but I sort of wanted to find this answer out ASAP. Indoor, 250watt HPS. Grown from seed. I am moving from my place in a little more then 2 months so I started to force flower when plants were about 4 weeks old. Started 12/12 about 8 days ago. I have never grown from seed before. It is good to note that this is a closet with good ventilation, but its been about 105 everyday for the last 2 weeks. I moved my large fan from inside the closet to my window, and the small one into the closet, and it dropps temps by a good 8 degrees so its a little more manageable now.

I am being told by some friends that I should move back to 24/0 and let them mature more because they arent old enough to flower. They also said it would take the same amount of time in the end. I really dont care too much about yield, this was just to experiment with seeds and how they would fair with hardly any attention or nutrients.

So should I continue 12/12? There are no signs of sex. Or should I move back to 24/0? I feel like moving to the 12/12 has slowed their growth considerably. They were growing .5" everyday for awhile. Sometimes more. I have always used clones so Im used to flowering with only 3-4 weeks veg at times.


PS. If someone wouldn't mind, I am confused about using pH drops with nutrients. If I use some Flora Nova and test it with drops for pH, will it read inaccuractly because its not clear? My water is like 7.5-8, but with the ferts it says its about a 6. Is this false? No money for electronic pH.

[Racerx]

Oh, forgot to mention. About half the pots (4-5) had multiple plants in each one. I was hoping to detirmine sex as soon as possible then kill off, but didnt realize it took so long. It was suggested by a few people here and my friends to just take my chances and remove any extra plants. Those pictures are a few days old. There is only 1 plant in each pot now.

[kdspecial]

I have herd of people flowering as early as 2 weeks into growth. But I am not 100 percent sure As I am a new grower. I have also read about people flowering as soon as their clones have rooted. SO I imagine you will get a bit of bud. I am curious as to what others think as well. Because I plan to grow small little plants too. Due to my limited space.

kd_special

[orangeman]

You can flower. You'd be surprised at the size your plants will grow when flowering. I recommend you switch back to 12/12. But hey, it's your decision.

[stinkyattic]

Started 12/12 about 8 days ago. You should be seeing males in a day or so then.


It is good to note that this is a closet with good ventilation, but its been about 105 everyday for the last 2 weeks. That's why your growth rate has slowed, in part. Keep it under 85.


I am being told by some friends that I should move back to 24/0 Only if you want a closet full of hermaphrodites.



and let them mature more because they arent old enough to flower. Look as the leaf placement. Are they opposite or alternating? When they are alternating, the plant WANTS to flower.


They also said it would take the same amount of time in the end. Not really. You 're going to speed it up a bit. I flower by size, not by maturity since my veg room consists of racks and plants over 12" touch the lights. The immature ones take a bit longer, but not too too bad.


So should I continue 12/12? yeah.


Or should I move back to 24/0? nope!


I feel like moving to the 12/12 has slowed their growth considerably. Well on top of your heat problem your plants are changing their life processes and diverting energy to reproduction rather than vertical growth. However they will shoot up quite a bit when you get your temps straightened out.


If I use some Flora Nova and test it with drops for pH, will it read inaccuractly because its not clear? My water is like 7.5-8, but with the ferts it says its about a 6. Is this false? No money for electronic pH.
Most ferts are tinted, so it can be confusing, just take that color into consideration when you're reading pH. If your ferts are green and the pH is in the 'yellow' range, you'll see a light green. Get it? Ferts can often drop the pH of the solution you put them in.

Okay now finally abou the multiple plants in the same pot... Each plant needs one gallon of dirt per vertical foot that it will grow to be. But this is your first time from seed, so you can do an experiment:
Keep the plants in 12-12.
Kill all the males.
If you have 2 or more pots with 2 or more females, kill one female in one pot. Track the progress of the remaining female in that pot as compared to the other pots with 2 females. When it's time, measure your yield. If the solo female has as much or more bud weight than the total bud weight from each of the pots with 2 or 3 girls, that should send you in the right direction next time.

[Racerx]

Wow, thank you soooo much guys! Thats the assurance I needed! Seriously, answered everything. I decided to take another risk and weeded out all extra plants, so it is only 1 plant per pot. They already seem to like it more and I dont need to water as much. The temps inside the room were reaching into the 90s, but Ive got it into low 80s now. A big 3 foot box fan in my window is effectly dropping tempature by more then 15 degrees (serious) and in turn the closet is getting dropped.

I have kept it on 12/12. I came to the conclusion before I read your guys responses that even if there was a possibility of it taking longer, I didnt want to stress them any extra and yeah...get some hermies or something.

I am so used to using clones which carry the age of the mother. 3 weeks of veg and boom they are more then ready to go and within a few days of 12/12 they are busting out big ole pistils.

I got some pH down (amongst other things, spent like $250 today in supplies for next grow and a little for this one). I had to ad a hefty amount to my water to get it close to 6. I know that GH Flora Nova has pH buffers, but according to my pH drops it was dropping it nearly 2 pH. This seems excessive but the water is already brown, so maybe it technically is reading a more lighter green.

I am getting some leaf droop and curl. Doesnt seem to be over watering. Top leaves and new growth looks fine, a little pale but fills in pretty quick, I am thinking its maybe the heat? I have the HPS about 14" above the plants but its not really that hot.

What do you mean by alternating? When the stems come out of the main stalk alternating? I am confused.

[ate]

Can someone explain to me what "alternating" and "opposite" leafing is?

[busteruk7]

alternating nodes is a good sign that the plant is maturing ,
you will see the main stem and the individual branches coming off in pairs one branch on each side of the main stem that meet in the same spot
when they start alternating these branches will start coming off the main stem but in difrent places so that they dont look like they are growing in pairs they will be growing in random places all around the main stem .
hope this helps dude
cheers all :)

[Racerx]

alternating nodes is a good sign that the plant is maturing ,
you will see the main stem and the individual branches coming off in pairs one branch on each side of the main stem that meet in the same spot
when they start alternating these branches will start coming off the main stem but in difrent places so that they dont look like they are growing in pairs they will be growing in random places all around the main stem .
hope this helps dude
cheers all :)

well my plants definitely do not have alternating nodes. Everything is symetrical. Will they not flower without alternating? Im confused since I have seen plants flower without alternating...

Also, I hope I didnt mess em up last night. My grow room fan broke so I left the doors open but my alarm didnt go off so they got a little light. Not direct light but some light leaking in.

[Pothead4204life]

dont stress about it...your doing fine...just stay on 12/12 and enjoy your grow...

[yabatab]

dont stress about it...your doing fine...just stay on 12/12 and enjoy your grow...

Good answer....they just about confused the fuck out of
me and i know what they are talking about......LOL

[Racerx]

Good answer....they just about confused the fuck out of
me and i know what they are talking about......LOL
LOL! Yeah I do that to myself often. I really enjoy asking questions, which is why I end up knowing so much crap about all kinds of stuff. But sometimes I just need to zip my mouth and brain and let stuff mature.

I recently lost my job so Ive been at home like all day which Im not used to so I end up in my closet fiddling with crap when I shouldnt. Last couple grows I did somewhere else besides my house so I only saw them once twice a day.

[Racerx]

Just a few quick shots. Day 9 of flowering. Still no sex, but the plants seem to be growing a little faster. A few clocked another 1.5cm last night. Still, Im used to more then an inch of growth a night. Makes me realize all the more how much of a difference good soil, setup, ventilation, temp, and genetics make.

The yellowing at the bottom Im pretty positive was a pH problem (didnt realize water was at 8. Where Im from its already like 6.5. New growth seems a little light. Would this be a P deficiency?

[yabatab]

LOL! Yeah I do that to myself often. I really enjoy asking questions, which is why I end up knowing so much crap about all kinds of stuff. But sometimes I just need to zip my mouth and brain and let stuff mature.

I recently lost my job so Ive been at home like all day which Im not used to so I end up in my closet fiddling with crap when I shouldnt. Last couple grows I did somewhere else besides my house so I only saw them once twice a day.

LOL It makes them grow slower when you see them every day don't
it? I see my outdoor plants like once a week and my indoor ones
like twice a day it seem like they are growing slower because i look
at them all the time compared to the ones outside that I see maybe
once a week they always have new growth. Its like watching a clock
at the end of a work day.

[MegaOctane12]

A watched plant never grows.



To be honest I don't think you can ever 12/12 too early, it all comes down to your situation. Stick with it.

[Racerx]

A watched plant never grows.



To be honest I don't think you can ever 12/12 too early, it all comes down to your situation. Stick with it.

well 3 of the plants grew almost an inch last night and everything looks a lot healthier today. I started feeding mild mutes this week. They seemed to not like it at first, but now they are looking much better. Im at about 600ppm of nutes from the back (no longer have a ppm meter), Flora Nova. I am about to switch over to the Flowering nutes.

Anyone disagree with that? 9 days into flowering, switch to flowering nutes? I used to feed my clones for one week after flowering started, then move to a low nitrogen solution after that, but since these arent showing sex...

[Racerx]

Well, first male showed its sex today. As I sort of expected, it was the tallest one. A few of the others look like they are going to show male as well...but of course ill wait until im certain. I have a real crappy digital cam right now and it cant do closeup worth a crap. But here are a few pics.

[ate]

You can get good shots you just need to know when the camera is too close, it's not able to focus like a really high pixel digital camera, so you just have to take a semi-distant shot in really good focus, and then zoom in on the computer.

I like your plants.

[Racerx]

w00t! First female showed today. 2 nodes with some big ass hairs coming out. Shes a stumpy bushy fucker but there will be no complaints on my part. Considering I was just sort of experimenting until I move in 2 months, Ill be perfectly fine to have very little yield off like 2 plants...

I am making a guess that there will be 2-3 females in the end out of a total of 11 plants; Ive got my eye on another one.

Im thinking about just starting a mini-grow log like some other people have. This is my first time growing from seed. Pictures to follow.