best time to flower??

[Wasabi420]

wondering what your opinion is on the best time to switch plants over to 12/12. I was thinking at 12 inches but im debating. I plan on using 5 gallon grow bags and im growing ak47. Im also shooting for maximum efficiency/ biggest yield in the shortest time.

 

[RetroGrow]

12 inches is usually pretty good, but 5 Gallons is pretty big. You could probably veg a bit more and top them. Topping will increase yield, but will take longer. Worth the wait, IMO....

 

[Greencloud]

Most definitely, top, and veg to 18 inches or so.

 

[reckon]

you want to flower early enough so that you have some growing room for the roots, but not so early that you don't have a big enough plant yet.

for a fast growing strain like grape ape I let em get about 16" high with probably a dozen internodes.
for a slow growing strain like GDP, I'd probably let em get to 20" with 16-18 internodes before flipping the lights.

you just don't want em to get rootbound halfway through flowering, which slows growth, and fux up the yield.

for your AK, in 5 gallon buckets, I'd let em get a little bigger before flipping, although with AK, they bud so frickin heavy it probably wont make much difference (2 oz? more or less?)

 

[facelift]

Timewise I always like to have the light schedule similar to the sun rise/set

 

[sanke]

dont top, just tie them! If you bed the top shoot of your plant over 90 degrees it send out a signal to all the other branches to start growing. works much better with a lot less stress.

Also if you are flowering I would let them go to at least 18" before flower

 

[reckon]

dont top, just tie them! If you bed the top shoot of your plant over 90 degrees it send out a signal to all the other branches to start growing. works much better with a lot less stress.

Also if you are flowering I would let them go to at least 18" before flower

actually I DO cut instead of bend, and let me explain why

when I flip the lights down, since I veg 24/0 I get some pretty crazy stretch at first, so to TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE STRETCH, I clip just a tiny match head sized 5mm off of just the MAIN GROWING TIP,....then wait 5 days, and then flip the lights down to 12/12.

what happens is the main shoot stops growing (obviously, it has no shoot now) and this lets ALL the side, and lower branches catch up, and you end up with a flat topped "menorah" shaped plant with a DOZEN TOPS, like this:

this is 7 days after light flip (already showing flowers all over), those side branches will move up and be even with the main shoot in another week or so.

if I just bend the stem, it doesn't work as well, that is, the side branches don't grow as quickly, and the main shoot still grows (and still emits the growth inhibitor hormone)

while this doesn't increase overall weight, it DOES increase the fat bud percentage by about 70%, because instead of harvesting 1 or 3 main colas, I harvest 12 or 14 main colas, and almost no popcorn.

 

[Diamonddss]

how long you veg depends also on you lights. 1000 watt lights veg as long as you want. longer veg more yield. I suggest around 6 to 8 weeks.

i prefer tie down (lst) but topping works. You experiment

600 watt prob the same but 400 watt i would say around 4 to 6 weeks 6 to 10 inches as they will get to tall on 400 watt

 

[Wasabi420]

would you think I could get better yields if I use smaller pots and veg em smaller?....for the space that is. I want to get the biggest yield in my space. so im wondering if a bunch of smaller plants packed in with single buds would be better than fewer larger plants bush style

 

[libby]

would you think I could get better yields if I use smaller pots and veg em smaller?....for the space that is. I want to get the biggest yield in my space. so im wondering if a bunch of smaller plants packed in with single buds would be better than fewer larger plants bush style

Aswered your own question mate.

 

[Wasabi420]

so your saying smaller plants will give me the best yield?

 

[carbonskeleton]

so your saying smaller plants will give me the best yield?

Well that is the theory of most crop plants. We use dwarf perennials to produce more fruit. This is likely the same theory that is behind the "sea of green" style of growing.

Realistically if its a cutting you can flower it at anytime - Id say that it really depends on your setup and space when you should flower.

 

[Wasabi420]

well technically speaking my setup will be a sea of green either way but im just wondering weather you can get more buds with longer veg and bigger pots & less plants. or a shorter veg smaller pots & more plants...

 

[carbonskeleton]

well technically speaking my setup will be a sea of green either way but im just wondering weather you can get more buds with longer veg and bigger pots & less plants. or a shorter veg smaller pots & more plants...

I believe it comes down to the setup then. If you have higher watt lights you get more canopy penetration so you are able to get more out of bigger plants. However if you are using lower wattage lights you probably want shorter plants since the light wont break the canopy and everything below won't fully develop.

Hope that helps answer your question - if I left anything out please let me know.

 

[Wasabi420]

nice i think im gonna go bigger then. Ive got 2 1000ks on light movers so i think they should get good penetration. Ill probably try both approaches though eventually. Ill be able to get some good pics on here soon too...finally getting a camera