Plants flowering on 18/6 - any ideas?

[dubble-oh]

Hi everyone,

First off, thank you all for sounding in on the problem. Here's a bit more information for y'all to chaw on, although I have a hunch that it might not make things much clearer.

Initially, my thoughts were similar to those that a number of you suggested: that these were just pre-flowers and the kids were just indicating their gender early on. Unfortunately that is not the case. At least one of the boys has developed a fully functional set of reproductive organs that were indicated to me when I poked 'em and they went "puff" and a bit of pollen erupted (geez - sounds a little erotic, non?).

Anyway, prior to posting I had pretty much given up on the thought that I was looking at pre-flowers.

I hadn't realized though that there were strains of MJ that were autoflowering and self sexing. My initial reaction with no contrary indicators would certainly have been that I was growing that sort of strain, especially since this was a bag-seed grow and I don't know the strain at all except, the buds were good to smoke The thing is that the autoflowering explanation doesn't really explain why all of the different plant species in the room decided to flower at the same time.

The major fly in the ointment here is that I have tomatoes and peppers growing under the same conditions and they have spontaneously decided to flower at the same time as the MJ even though the light cycle hasn't changed.
I think that it's a really strange coincidence that the tommies, peppers, and MJ would all decide to flower at EXACTLY the same time without being induced by a change in the light cycle...

To answer the questions posed by DRSICE:
Yes, I have grown tomatoes and peppers before - but only in dirt and the tomatoes I have only grown outdoors.

For the record, the tomatoes are well within an acceptable size range for them to start flowering so I was ready to let them flower as much as they want. The peppers on the other hand are a strain of japapeno (not an ornamentnal variety) and the plants are less than 8" high at this point and definitely Not large enough to support fruit.

The veg section of the room has the following light set up: 6 four foot fluorescent lights (half cool white, half warm white) at 32 watts each. In addition there is a CFL strip of 6 lights at 23 watts each (approx equivalent I believe to incandescents at 100 W per bulb). I don't think that the quantity or quality of lighting is a factor here, but thanks for enquiring.

That brings me around to my real suspicion of what has happened here. I *think* based upon all of the reading that I have done here on the board and elsewhere, that several cool nights in a row have caused the plants to think that autumn is approoaching so they're starting to flower.
The best support I have for this hunch is a paper I read here:
A thermosensory pathway controlling flowering time in Arabidopsis thaliana - Nature Genetics

From previous experience I know that in a "typical" grow of MJ, the plants will continue to veg for as long as the light cycle stays constant at 18/6. And that is the mantra that everyone here has been echoing. The truth of the matter is that the light cycle has stayed constant and "correct" yet the kids are developing full-blown reproductive organs and I'm not just seeing pre-flowers or the onset of puberty (thanks for the suggestion DRSICE).

I'm sure, if you've bothered to read this far, and you're interested enough you'll want to see pictures. They're on their way!
I'll post some tonight showing the boys and the girls in all of their glory.

Hope you can wait that long. Thanks for all of the replies. This forum rocks!
peace,
D-O

[JackdaWack]

i will can say this it is not ordinary to find auto-flowering bag seed... but who is really to say, if the cold tempatures are the cause to the effect then it could be, the colder temps at a constant rate. I have no evidence or inquery to support this so i cant chime in. If all the plants are flowering, all strains and diferent species peppers and mj then there is something going on. Maybe there not full out flowering but showing signs that flowering conditions are there. For Mj to be ruled on any prior explinations, we take our notice to Mj grows under specific conditions. If your not having constant temps around 60 and 70 F then in reality your not really giving it the environment it needs so you may experience things out of the ordinary. but in the prime environment this should not happen.

Thats a good link and i dont really take tempatures into concern because im ussually above the avg. If you keep them at the temp they need they will vegg forever with 18+hoours of light.

[FreeVenice]

You don't think 16/12 will work? I know it's not a 24 hour day, but do the plants really know how long a day is. I got this timer that goes by the day and I could set it up for almost any time schedule. If you think it's a waist of my time though I won't bother. My room gets to hot for HPS, and my ventalation sucks, I got to cut some corners if you know what I mean.

[Gatekeeper777]

I am going 18/6 and i am having great results 2x a day water.they are starting to explode with growth. I dont think you can do better the seed may not know what a day is but it is still encoded genetically of what to expect.
and with out millioons of years to adapt you will either shock it and it will die, or more then likely it will morph into a hermie or eventually make a newer strain if she self polinated.

[FreeVenice]

awww, I don't want to grow a herm. . .

[JackdaWack]

yeah the genetics of a plant are 24 hours a day, with in the 24 hours u can do anythng, but just like having cold temps more then 24 hours is just not what a plant is genetically encoded to destiguish, it will probably be fine and grow but you will most likely run into a hermie or somethin. Im at 18/6 and it seems to be perfect, i find that anything more then 20 hours on is a waste of electricity, the roots grow on the dark periods the most.

[FreeVenice]

What kind of lights are you using? what about 16/8. I am only using flos and I want to get the most growth as possible.

[JackdaWack]

to much dark and it could slow down growth too. I veg with fluoro tubes, i would stick with 18/6 or 20/4 or in between. U could look to nutes for better growth aswell, additives, there so much to contribute other then light.

[Gatekeeper777]

What kind of lights are you using? what about 16/8. I am only using flos and I want to get the most growth as possible.

anything above 12 hours of light should keep her from flowering unless she is an auto flowering strain. from EVERYTHING I have read an 18/6 is the most benificial tot he plant.
some argue 24/0 is better but then that makes for good growth but poor root growth and that my friend can result in a lower yield due to the fact that less root=less nutes to the plant.
i grew under 24/0 and got an oz. now i expect several oz's.
let the girls sleep for no more then 8 and no less then 6 when you start to vary from what NATURE has encoded in its genetics you invite problems. and if a hermie pollin sac pops in your grow room it can infect your grow room for yesrs to come and getting rid of pollin in a room is a big pain in the ass.
leave the playing to the experts.
just grow and smoke.

[dubble-oh]

Hi folks,
Thanks again for all of your input - it has been most helpful.
Here's a couple of pix of the plants. There's one of some tomato flowers and one each of the boy and girl mj pre-flowers (the boys haven't yet opened up fully but I expect that they probably will in a couple of days).
peace,
D-O