Quote Originally Posted by littleguitar
i've got 5 papaya and 2 shivas about 2 weeks old under my flouros. also ready to start 12/12 on 2 early mistys. my neighbor has done 12/12 for 1 week and no real sign of sex, how long does this typically take? we have several strians between us and i have to report that the early bud is the biggest, baddest, heartiest plants of the whole lot, also, papayas are young but really taking off. i was looking at our 2 skunk clones we took from a mother plant last fall and i noticed the stalk is getting all brown and dead looking....any suggestions? i'm worried they might not make it till spring. b.t.w., i took these 2 clones the day before we harvested the mother, there were actually buds on the clones. they are about 2 feet tall now, but have had a hard time keeping them going lately.
I have hade plants show sex in the first week under 12/12 but some strains take longer than others. I had 5-G13 X Thi plants and all took about a month to start showing sex and they finished about 6 weeks longer than the other strains I was growing at the time. On the two Skunk clones, if the brown is on the lower part of the stalk it may be growing its bark. Plants will grow a bark like membrain on the outside of the lower stalk to suport and protect the heavy plant in its later years. I had a outdoor White Widdow plant last season that grew 8 feet in 3 months and every inch of the stalk besides the top 16 inches had a thick layer of bark to protect it. If the plants seem to be slowing down, you may want to check the P.H. of the soil or mak sure you have enough light. Hope this helps and if you have anymore Q's just post it. Peace.