A few questions.

[smalltown]

A friend of mine offered to house some plants for me this year so I took him up on his offer. I used a few bag seeds that I had saved from some pretty good smoke. He kept them there from the end of Feb. to the middle of May. They were given light on a 18/6 schedule. My first question is, is it okay to keep most outdoor plants on a 18/6 schedule a few months before planting outdoors?

The plants are really healthy and range from 5ft tall to almost 8ft tall. The males have been destroyed. After keeping the plants in a vegetative state for so long will they flower quicker or does it still depend on the strain?

My friend has offered to do the same thing for me next year. If everything does okay this year I plan to buy some "real" seeds. I am pretty sure I will be getting some Big Bud, G-Bomb, Blue Cheese, Sugar Haze, and Purple Bud. I'm going to try and get all feminized seeds but if that's not possible I'll just get rid of the probable males. Would it be okay to put these strains on the same vegetative schedule as my crop this year?
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smalltown Reviewed by smalltown on 07-13-2009. A few questions. A friend of mine offered to house some plants for me this year so I took him up on his offer. I used a few bag seeds that I had saved from some pretty good smoke. He kept them there from the end of Feb. to the middle of May. They were given light on a 18/6 schedule. My first question is, is it okay to keep most outdoor plants on a 18/6 schedule a few months before planting outdoors? The plants are really healthy and range from 5ft tall to almost 8ft tall. The males have been destroyed. After Rating: 5

[LOC NAR on probation]

A friend of mine offered to house some plants for me this year so I took him up on his offer. I used a few bag seeds that I had saved from some pretty good smoke. He kept them there from the end of Feb. to the middle of May. They were given light on a 18/6 schedule. My first question is, is it okay to keep most outdoor plants on a 18/6 schedule a few months before planting outdoors?

The plants are really healthy and range from 5ft tall to almost 8ft tall. The males have been destroyed. After keeping the plants in a vegetative state for so long will they flower quicker or does it still depend on the strain?

My friend has offered to do the same thing for me next year. If everything does okay this year I plan to buy some "real" seeds. I am pretty sure I will be getting some Big Bud, G-Bomb, Blue Cheese, Sugar Haze, and Purple Bud. I'm going to try and get all feminized seeds but if that's not possible I'll just get rid of the probable males. Would it be okay to put these strains on the same vegetative schedule as my crop this year?
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The light cycle is OK.

They will not flower any different, they will just be much bigger. Huge.

Depending on where you are and the outdoor season is what your looking at. Now the diff between sativa and indica you can see. Some strains start to flower early and slowly build up. Some sativa's don't show till late and BAM all at once in the last 2 or 3 weeks.

How do you know you have destroyed all males ?

[smalltown]

All the males I had started making seeds and I got rid of them. The plants I have left have started to flower, some more than others.

Right now I'm at around 14 hours and 20 minutes of daylight. Most growers around here that I know start their crop at the beginning of May and harvest around the first frost, which is usually around the end of October.

What would be the maximum amount of time you would keep a plant on a 18/6 lighting schedule before moving them outdoors?

Also, will a longer vegetative cycle always produce a higher yield?

[oldmac]

I have found that a plant that has vegged a long time takes longer to flower. At least that is the case with the old mothers (6+ months old) I have put to flower. In fact I prefer to put old mother's out to pasture (outdoors) to flower and finish if it's the right time of year, like now in the NorthEast. If it's fall or winter I kill them, not worth the electric to flower them indoors. Keep in mind in my grows I usually don't grow that large indoors.

You need to acclimate them to outdoors. If they are going into the ground, then give them some shade during the first few days so they don't deal with the full sun all day. The sun has alot more power then any HID light. Planting on a cloudy or light rainy days helps.

When I was doing field crop growing I would start seeds indoors about March 15th and they would be ready to go outdoors about June 1st and depending on weather they'd go out between then and the 15th of June. So abt 2 1/2 to 3 months max.

Longer veg does not equal more porduction after a certian time. There is a point of diminishing returns.

BTW male plants don't make seeds only female plants can do that.

[smalltown]

Thanks for the correction on that. I've always been told that males produce seeds :wtf:. I assumed that's what the little green balls were and didn't think anything about a pollen sack :error:.

I all ready made the mistake of placing all but 2 of the plants in direct sunlight. This resulted in them being between 5-6 feet tall while the two I placed in a more shaded area are just shy of 8ft. The largest two started to flower around 2 weeks ago and the smaller ones started to flower a couple of days ago.

Could you give an estimate on how much larger they'll get, or would you have to know the exact strain? From what I've been reading I'm guessing that they're sativa's based on their height, but could an indica put through a long vegetative cycle reach these heights? I ask because the tallest plants have REALLY big and wide leaves. Maybe a hybrid?

[oldmac]

Probably a hybred from your description. And correct that it is strain dependent. Just keep an eye on them and check the trichome color.

But keep in mind when you grow outdoors you do not have as much contol as indoors, you are now at mother nature's mercy. There is a lot to be said for growing in a controlled enviroment.

Speaking of mother nature, the worst part I've found outdoors, is being a week or two from harvest and having storms hit with heavy rain and winds. Not good from many angles, prone to mold or direct damage etc. Be prepared to tie up heavy branches or if it is possible during nasty rain spells to try and portect them, I used to use large beach umbrellas sometimes (impossible if you are trying to maintain a low profile outdoors).

[LOC NAR on probation]

When a plant is put into flower it can double or even triple in size. But alas I have no outside experiance. They should be huge.

Males don't make seeds yes. You did good if they had balls or pollen sacks. That's males that have to go.

Listen to olmac, ain't learning fun.

[smalltown]

Thanks for the help guys. It's amazing how much you can learn in just a few short days.

I understand exactly what you mean about being at mother nature's mercy, oldmac. I all ready had to tie to trees around a week ago when a couple of bad storms came through. It worked really well. I never thought of the umbrella idea but if these plants get as big as I think they will, I doubt it would work in my situation. It will always be an option though because I don't have to worry about being low profile :thumbsup:.