I think I might be over my head.

Hi there everyone.
This is my first grow and I have read a lot of peoples threads on this subject. But now I am starting to get worried about my next step and how to go about it. I have a flood and drain system, which is set to flood my plants every 4 hours just long enough to fill the system,, which is 3 minutes,, then it drains. I am useing Botanicare Power Plant & Botan Pure Blend for veggie state. And for flowering I have Botan Power Flower.

I am not sure when to start into my flower stage. I have read no less then 8 weeks. I have also read 8"-12" of growth.

Also,, I have read that you want to keep lights as close as possible to the plant to keep them from stretching.. HAHAHA.. I have one plant that can not be much taller then 3" and it is so Bushy I think it is going to kill itself. I have a picture of this one. I also have a picture of one of the regular ones. All about the same age.

I started these plants about 4 weeks ago. And I am thinking I maybe should send them into flowering in a week.

I have had them on 24/7 of light. And I will put them straight to 12/12. Check out my pictures and please tell me what you think.

I wonder if I should let my plants run on pure water for a couple days before sending them to flower.

I am almost thinking I would have liked my plants to have stretch a little.. They seem so bushy that they are missing some light, But then once they flower they grow extra fast. Plus I have 6 lights for 4 plants. One T-5 4' light, and (5) 64 true watt CFL's which are rated at 150 watts.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Here is one more picture. I have circled what I am kind of thinking might be preflowering. What do you all think?

I cant see exactly how tall they are in the picture but you do want to wait until they are about 8-12 inches. If you know what strain they are it helps b/c indicas stretch less (sometime only 6 inches to 2 times the size of your plant when flowering starts) and sativas stretch a lot more (2-4 times the height you started flowering - at least) So if they are indica, wait until the 10-12 inch mark. Sativas - start from like 6-8 inches - (note - these heights are if you you want to keep them short. If you have vertical room, you can flower them whenever). If you look at my grow (link on bottom) you will see sativas in the back and an indica pheno in the front - the height difference is evident. As far as the preflowers - I cant tell from the pic. But the sex will be obvious after you flower for about 1-3 weeks. You will either see beautiful white hairs or little nutsacks. Good luck homie! That short plant looks crazy!

You could go ahead and flower if you aren't worried about side buds. You could also stretch them some by just moving your lights away for a couple days. you could also train them and veg for a while and get some nice bushes.

I would guess your plants to be indica dominant judging from the leaves, so it will at most double in size during flower, maybe not even that much.

Thanks for the help you two. I also think they are an Indica strain.

I think I am going to wait until next weekend, and then decide what I am going to do.

Has anyone used Botanicare Power Flower? I got it with my setup, and not so sure If it is a one part flower Nut. The instructions are kind of confuseing. :stoned:

Thanks again:

Chabnoc....what did you end up doing? I highly disagree about sending this plant into flower now. i have a few questions:

1) how many plants are you growing?

2) are these from seed or clone?

3) does the plant have alternating nodes yet?

4) are you just going to grow these or are you wanting to grow continually (mother plant, growing clones, etc)?

Dboy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dboy

Chabnoc....what did you end up doing? I highly disagree about sending this plant into flower now. i have a few questions:

1) how many plants are you growing?

2) are these from seed or clone?

3) does the plant have alternating nodes yet?

4) are you just going to grow these or are you wanting to grow continually (mother plant, growing clones, etc)?

Dboy

---

1) I had four plants, there is only three now. I had to get rid of one. Needed the room. And I thought it was male also. Two of the three left are Females. Not sure aobut the third one yet.

2) These plants were from seeds.

3) not sure what Alternating Nodes are.

4) I am just going to grow these. I might get a mother and start cloning my next grow.

I have had my plants in Flower Stage for 3 days now. I was going 24/7 light during Veg Stage, and flooding the Hydro System every 4 hours. Now that I am Flowering them, I dropped the light to 12/12, and am only watering them every 6 hours for a few minutes longer. Someone had told me to drop back to feeding them only 3-4 times a day, while flowering. Not so sure what I think of this. Any Ideas, or suggestions?

Here is what they look like now.

alternating nodes are a sign that the plant has reached sexual maturity and is ready for flower. you should see the nodes start to "stairstep" at maybe 7 - 8 nodes up. Looking at your pic I *think* I spotted alternating nodes. Your plants should start to display their sex within a week or so, with the males showing first. I can help you with identification if you want but you have to show extreme closeups in the node areas. Once you have eliminated the males, you might want to consider cutting clones of the females so that you'll have plants already growing for the next grow, and they will already be identified as female (of course you'll have to put these new clones in another room, on a 24/0 or 18/6 cycle..and make sure no light from the veg area is shining into the flower area). Expect these plants you have flowering to grow up to 3 times the height when they entered flower..have you changed to flowing nutes yet? BTW your plants look really good.


Dboy

Thanks dboy for all the info.

I changed my plants over to flowering time, and nuts 7 days ago. I have two females so far, and one male. The male got the AXE. One plant has not shown it's sex yet.

I have an Ebb & Flow system, I was flooding every 4hours, and have dropped back to every 6 hours. You think this is a good idea?

Thanks again for the help.

post pics as often as seems reasonable. the pics now look gr8.