How do you know when your flower cycle actually began?

[VirginHarvester]

Hey all, have a couple plants that go 8-9 weeks(cheese x blueberry) and it's been 46 days(7 weeks) since I saw definite sex traits but really, it would have actually started flowering before I could with my naked eye see it. So how far back should I count?

It doesn't look finished, looks like it still needs a couple weeks, but all the trichs are milky white and a few are amber already.

So how far back should I consider flowering to have actually begun from when I could make out these were def female(46 days ago)?

 

[smokeymacpot]

no dont count from when they showed sex, but count from when buds started to form with white hairs from the colas.

 

[Big Foot]

Hey, virgin harvest, I would not worry so much about the overall flower time but more about the trichs as they will tell you the ideal harvest time. If most are milky white you could harvest now, and get more of a head high or wait another week for some more trichs to become amber, the amber trichs should be 25% amber by a week and an imo the best time to harvest.

 

[nomaad]

^^ i concur. you will never figure it out with the "flower time".. those are bogus anyway as that will vary based on a LOT of factors.

 

[Ripshot]

when you start seeing multiple calyx on node sights. count back roughly a week an that is the start of your flower cycle.

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

most people use the first day of 12/12 as a measurement of when flower began... people debate but its not only strain dependent but pheno dependent.... so just look at your tics...

 

[VirginHarvester]

Yeah, I concur they could be ready in a week and I want some amber, just not half or more amber. It just seems to be ready to finish a little early and doesn't look like fully mature bud yet- not starting to "die off". But I'm just going to go by the trichs and expect to take her now in about a week.

Thanks.

 

[ninsega]

I think the most accurate way would involve waiting until much of the plant has shown sex. Just because the tippy top showed one hair does not mean the entire bush is now in full flower mode.

This season was my first outdoor grow and it was with a strain I had grown indoors until mostly amber trichs. I knew this to equal roughly 58 days flower. I noticed in the outdoor grow some buds were ready at that time but most were not. This was because I wrongly went off of first signs of flower instead of waiting until the plant was mostly flower. Otherwise my timing would have been dead on.

 

[GreenThumbBumb]

when a plant is mature enough to flower and you put it in 12/12 it is flowering, you dont wait till anything forms, its flowering that causes those things to form so its obviously already flowering, all in all it doesnt matter because the plant is ready when its ready its not based on a time somebody said.

 

[dirt farmer]

I start at about this point. 8 weeks latter I look at the triks.

 

[s13sr20det]

i start counting days of 12/12 when the buds start forming and look like little q-tips, but you should always check trichromes before you harvest

edit: this photo sucks but this is right about the beginning of flowering (maybe 1 week in)

 

[ninsega]

when a plant is mature enough to flower and you put it in 12/12 it is flowering, you dont wait till anything forms, its flowering that causes those things to form so its obviously already flowering, all in all it doesnt matter because the plant is ready when its ready its not based on a time somebody said.

That's not how it works outdoors though. I had half a plant lag behind the other half around two weeks. It was insane, but it is what happened.

I have found one of the biggest guarantees of good bud is going long enough. So many people cut too early. This might come from seeing the first flower and going "its 8 weeks from now" when really it might be 10 weeks because the rest of the plant did not hit flower yet. Depending on the strain, those last two weeks can mean everything.

 

[smokeymacpot]

i start counting days of 12/12 when the buds start forming and look like little q-tips, but you should always check trichromes before you harvest

edit: this photo sucks but this is right about the beginning of flowering (maybe 1 week in)

no that pic is more than 1 week in, try about 3!!

 

[Movintarget]

Your best piece of equipment is at least a X30 scope,($5-$10) Judge your harvest time by your trichs. clear..cloudy..amber. A breeder's description is mostly likely based on average time. Your gonna find that this is the consensus of the crowd. Good luck

 

[houdini]

That plant pic above.....agree that it is more like 3 weeks into flower rather then just beginning. BTW, if you don't have a scope to check those milky/amber trichs., you can actually SEE with the naked eye when plants are ready. The milky trichs will give a misty frosted look to the buds and smaller leaves. The pistils will have mostly turned from white to orange/brown/black and the whole plant will have a 'done' look about it. Although I use a scope myself, I only use it to confirm what I can see.

 

[s13sr20det]

oh, my bad.

 

[VirginHarvester]

There's another 'twist' to outdoor growing and trich judging I believe and that is the effects the elements(weather, rain, wind, bugs, etc) can have on trich coloration. 5 days ago I looked and I thought all the trichs were cloudy/milky with a few amber. For all I know some of those amber trichs are just ones where a bug crapped or walked all over them or something. Tonight I'm going to take a real close look and bring some samples home from all over the plant and judge them on a table where I can be steady.

This is an 8-9 week strain, although the breeder told me there is a 7 week pheno, but even last week when I was looked at them would only be 7 weeks if I counted back 5-7 days from the first time I noticed small, distinguishable flowers. So tonight is going to be just 7 full weeks since I could tell with the naked eye it was in flower. I don't want to take them too early or late, but just right. Bringing some buds back inside to view will help a lot.

 

[VirginHarvester]

Hey all, I harvested yesterday.

Weird thing is that I harvested almost 7 weeks to the day from when it first started showing unmistakable signs of flowering- not necessarily showing sex to the naked eye outdoor but clearly that a change in structure had taken place which was confirmed 5 days later when plants were clearly female. At any rate, I took very good care of these plants, watering heavy every 5 days, good organic soil, ph balanced water without too much nutes.

So about the trichs, these babies run the gambit. Some are dark amber like maple syrup, some are part amber, some are clear. My goal is all milky and 25% amber. So I probably went a little over, which is surprising at 7 weeks but anyway, we will see how it turns out. I'm def hoping not too couchy or sleepy thanks to the dark amber, almost decayed percentage of trichs.

The Cheese clone must have a very strong odor because these babies stink up the room and strain is really only half Cheese.

 

[311]

I know this thread is OLD as hell. BUT!!!!!! After reading a bunch of different websites, I decided to write a breeder myself, and see if they would respond. I decided to go with Greenhouse Seeds, and they replied my email in less than 24 hours. I am only posting this to help any future people wondering when the breeders themselves start counting. I hope this help someone in the future. Now I know that this is only 1 breeder, and I will try to email a few more, but for now....... Here is a copy of my email from Greenhouse Seeds.
Happy Holidays,
311
Dear XXXXXXXXXXXXXX(my name doesn't matter),

Thank you for your email.

You start counting from the moment you switch the light to 12/12. The
flowering time depends on which strain you are growing. If you completed the
flowering weeks and the hairs are still quite white you can leave them a bit
longer. When 20-30% of the hairs become brown they are ready.

Kind regards,

GHSC

 

[Classyathome]

I start counting the day they flip to 12/12...