how do i know when to put my plant on 12/12

[midnighttoker24]

hey, im not sure when to put my plant on 12/12, its got 5 sets of fan leaves and is about a foot and a half tall and the bottom leaves fell off about a week ago. im growing it indoors and it has what look like tiny buds forming up and down by the stems

midnighttoker24 Reviewed by midnighttoker24 on 12-27-2006. how do i know when to put my plant on 12/12 hey, im not sure when to put my plant on 12/12, its got 5 sets of fan leaves and is about a foot and a half tall and the bottom leaves fell off about a week ago. im growing it indoors and it has what look like tiny buds forming up and down by the stems Rating: 5

[virgin-grower21]

hi there it sounds like it's ready to go 12/12 but pic's would help man laters

[LIP]

hey, im not sure when to put my plant on 12/12, its got 5 sets of fan leaves and is about a foot and a half tall and the bottom leaves fell off about a week ago. im growing it indoors and it has what look like tiny buds forming up and down by the stems

If it's already got bud forming up and down the stems and it's not in 12/12 is can only really be preflowering. So it'll either have pistilles, or male pollen sacks, so pics would really help.

[Abattoir Dream]

yeh, you could flower it, but you could vegg for longer too...

[Volker]

Ok. I've had a few grows under my belt now. But I'm still fuzzy in one area:

How, exactly, do you tell your plant is "ready" to bud? I already know you can force budding as early as 1 week from seed, and that many growers simply set to 12/12 at 30 days. What I mean is when the plant "feels" ready to enter puberty.

What I have always done in that past is either 1) next new or full moon after 30 days, or 2) as soon as nodes stop forming bilaterally, and start "zig-zagging", whichever comes first.

Plants that have not started zig zagging when I start them budding usually stretch tremedously. I think the zig-zagging is the indicator, but dunno.

The wheelchair project appears to be starting to zig-zag at 25 days. I plan to throw it into bud on the Jan 4th full moon. I'm going to start the "pre-bud" (switch from 24/7 to 18/6) tonight.

[stinkyattic]

Zigzag, or alternating, nodes are the most reliable indicator that the plant has decided it is ready to move to its next life stage.
The full moon... ur... are you growing outside?
I would not make 2 light changes. Irregular photoperiod can trigger herms, so the evener the light regimen, the better.

[Volker]

Zigzag, or alternating, nodes are the most reliable indicator that the plant has decided it is ready to move to its next life stage.

Cool! That means this one's ready, cuz since this morning, it's defo doing the zig-zag

The full moon... ur... are you growing outside?

Nope. But I've always used moon cycles as change points. No scientific reasoning behind it; it just "feels right".

I would not make 2 light changes. Irregular photoperiod can trigger herms, so the evener the light regimen, the better.

I do the pre-bud cycle (18/6) after the 24/7 to stimulate root growth. I'm under the assumption that a dark period is beneficial for root system development. Is this incorrect?

This light change also simulates the end of mid-summer above the arctic circle. I try to mimic a complete season in a short time, swapping & cycling between different spectra bulbs - easy to do w/CFTs - and doing the 24/7 to 18/6 (one week) to 12/12 (however long) to 10/14 (last week) to 38 hours darkness thing.

To date, I have not had any hermies. But I'm sure I'll run into one sooner or later, it's gotta happen eventually, right?