Flowering with Fluoroscents T12s

I am currently timing my plants at twelve hours on and twelve hours off. I started about four days ago. I have about five plants that were ready and eight total. Three will be set back to veg later. I am wondering what to do from here. I have nutes and the recipes and instructions on what to do there but what do you experts think about my lighting. I have four 48" plant/aquarium lights from which are forty watts each and one 24" that is twenty watts that is mainly for the smaller three plants in the corner of the closet next to the mylar material on the walls. Do you experts have any advice on where to go here. I have a fan in the upper shelf blowing air around. The new air usually circulates daily when I go to pay green children a visit. I haven't sexed them yet so I dunno if they're male or female yet. Where to go from here? This is my first time getting this far.

Hi, I assume you dropped the light duration from something in the range of 18-24 hours. Assuming so I suggest you do this... keep your current lighting scheme with the florescent lights until all plants are sprouting white hairs like crazy, then start looking closely. At some point within 2-4 weeks from the light reduction those white hairs will start to shrivel up and turn brownish-red. Now, assuming you want to re-generate these plants, keep going until every plant has at least a few hairs turning color. This is the time to increase your light back to the long schedule. Eventually if everything goes well the buds will continue to mature as the hairs all turn color. Depending on nature's accuracy (ha!) your buds will get all sparly and sticky and smelly, hehe... and look for little sprouts coming out of the top of the buds. The hairs might not ALL have turned color yet but the sprouts are a sign that the vegetative cycle has returned. This means harvest time is approaching. Pick the ripest ones first and continue till you are satisfied you have all the "good stuff" then kick back and enjoy as the drying takes place (however you decide to do that - I used little baskets that have screen in the bottom and hang them where it is warm. Your plants will have begun another cycle. Over the next weeks you will need to trim off the old growth leaves that are not good enough to "use" and then let them re-grow to a height that is still well short of the max, and do it all over again... enjoy!!! :hippy:

As for sexing you should know what they are soon. If you have a plant that does NOT produce hairs like the other ones do, it is a suspect. Keep a close DAILY eye on it and if a week or more goes by and no hairs I would yank it just to be safe. Otherwise you may see little round pods forming instead of the hairs. These are definitely MALE and must be killed right away! One more suggestion: might want to increase light coming from the sides of your compartment. I always try to get the distance between nodes on the plants between 1 and 2 inches, making thicker, more productive vegetation, AND also... ya need to lose those shade leaves as soon as possible, but without sacrificing the sprout coming out right above it. Good Luck![/COLOR] :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by doobidude

Hi, I assume you dropped the light duration from something in the range of 18-24 hours. Assuming so I suggest you do this... keep your current lighting scheme with the florescent lights until all plants are sprouting white hairs like crazy, then start looking closely. At some point within 2-4 weeks from the light reduction those white hairs will start to shrivel up and turn brownish-red. Now, assuming you want to re-generate these plants, keep going until every plant has at least a few hairs turning color. This is the time to increase your light back to the long schedule. Eventually if everything goes well the buds will continue to mature as the hairs all turn color. Depending on nature's accuracy (ha!) your buds will get all sparly and sticky and smelly, hehe... and look for little sprouts coming out of the top of the buds. The hairs might not ALL have turned color yet but the sprouts are a sign that the vegetative cycle has returned. This means harvest time is approaching. Pick the ripest ones first and continue till you are satisfied you have all the "good stuff" then kick back and enjoy as the drying takes place (however you decide to do that - I used little baskets that have screen in the bottom and hang them where it is warm. Your plants will have begun another cycle. Over the next weeks you will need to trim off the old growth leaves that are not good enough to "use" and then let them re-grow to a height that is still well short of the max, and do it all over again... enjoy!!! :hippy:

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That is the strangest harvesting method I have ever heard.

idk what that other guy is talking about but i would recommend looking into getting a handful of cfl's
for overhead lighting and use the t-12's for side lighting..
you are going to be looking at using 10-15 bulbs
if you seek any kinda bud density you need 5000+ lumens/sq ft..
you REALLY dont wanna turn em back to 24 hr unless you HAVE TO!!
this will cause hermie and WILL NOT LET THE PLANTS MATURE CORRECTLY!!

if you are curious about what CAN be done look around for grow logs and
READ them before asking these questions..
they have been asked many times and you will only irritate most members here

to recap get CFL's and a bunch..
get rid of any of your plants that look weak
keep a COUPLE good ones in flower and
CONCENTRATE the light you DO have and any you might get
on the selected couple

thats the best i can do for now hit up one of my logs if you
take some or all of my advice and we can go from there

~MG