Flowering time.....when do you say that.

When growing indoors you consider your plant to be in flowering as soon as you switch yoru light cycle to 12/12. But when your growing outdoors when do you say that your plant is into the flowering stage. I know you could say when the natural sunlight reaches 12/12....but there must be some other way to determine when the flowering starts approximately?

My plants are all a couple of feet tall and 2 - 3 feet wide ( i used LST to keep em wide and low), and my female plant ( or the only one who has already told me she is female) has single preflowers at all of her nodes including the most recent growth. How will i know that she is officially flowering and moving on from the 'preflower' stage? Maybe i'm jsut confused with the terminology but i'm new to growing....Thanks for any replies. I'm posting another post with a a couple of questions and concerns of mine, please reply to those too....i'll get a pic up soon....

well, it depends on alot of things. especialy what lattude you live in and strain, along with other things. usually they should start between august and september. they should finish before november.

When you see buds your plants are in the flowering stage.