preventing early spring flowering with clones

[Davesnothere420]

Not sure if it uploaded my pics but I get direct sunlight for 10 hrs n probably another 4 with shade from the tree. Is that good or do I knocking down some pines

 

[KGB47]

10 hours of light should be sufficient, I've made due with less.

 

[therevverend]

I'm stoked 6 or 7 of my seedlings showed female pre-flowers in the last 24 hours. I planted on 3/15 and 3/23, natural light their entire lives. Between now and the solstice the majority of my females should show. This is the benefit of planting out before April.

Of course the males are going to be more of a pain in the ass. Difficult to read from pre-flowers and they don't like to show until they go all the way. I'm already seeing 3 or 4 I'm pretty sure are male. Flipping their little middle fingers at me. Need to use a magnifying lens to get a better look.

What's strange is that I've got seedlings that are photo-sensitive, suppose to flower at 15 hours. A couple are showing undifferentiated preflowers but that's it. I figured they'd be the first to show, I'm hoping they do within the next couple weeks.

Any strain that's unstable, liable to flower under more then 14 hours light or Autoflower, I guess photo-sensitive is the term. Is going to be unpredictable. It could flower in spring or wait until August, start flowering and then revert to Veg in June. If you know a strain is unstable I'd keep it at least 16 hours of light if you're using artificial lights. I wouldn't go from 18 to 24 hours of light directly outside because it's likely to think the change means it's autumn. Tricky little buggers.

 

[Davesnothere420]

10 hours of light should be sufficient, I've made due with less.

Thank u. First time grower over here scared as hell. Lol

 

[KGB47]

Thank u. First time grower over here scared as hell. Lol

Try not to worry too much, your plants will pick up on your vibe.

They're very hardy plants so unless you neglect them entirely or over-feed them they'll do just fine.

 

[therevverend]

I get direct sunlight for 10 hrs n probably another 4 with shade from the tree. Is that good or do I knocking down some pines[/QUOTE

The more light the better, always choose spots that face south, if not south, south east or south west. Every hour counts. That said 10 hours is more then enough light. My spot gets 4-8 hours of direct light and does great, and I've seen spots with a couple hours of intermittent light surprise. The growth and yield was more similar to indoor but it was still nice.

WHEN the light hits is as important as how much. Mine works even at 4 hours of direct light because it's 10-2pm. If it was 4-8pm it would suck. The intensity of light is important if it is too weak your clones will start flowering in June and/or reverse sex.

Another important consideration is where the sun is in September and October. There's spots with full on raging sun for 10 hours in June, in the Northern Hemisphere the sun sinks in the sky quickly when the days shorten. Those tall pines the sun was easily clearing at 10 AM in May could start shading out the area until noon in early September. You need to check in the middle of March to see where the sun will be on the fall equinox.

Last year I had a late plant, didn't finish until the end of October. Great spot in September but by October 10th the sun ducked behind a few trees. I ended up pissed, huge buds soaked with dew that never got the direct sun they needed to dry out. The flowers finished fine, super frosty, but grey mold took it's toll.

Same thing with drainage. Always check your spots in late September and October the year before. A place that's high and dry in May could be a shady damp swamp at harvest.

 

[CrushnYuba]

I can't help but to wonder if all this light matching shenanigans is actually counter productive. I have no evidence. I just wonder.
i have never REALLY had any plants flower early on me. Also all my pre season veg is suplemental lit greenhouse. I have never actually done anything to match light. And i have never planted an outdoor plant that wasn't 100% healthy and fully raging. 24/0 to outside, 18/6 to outside or am hour of light at 2am to just break up the dark. All the same results for me. They don't flower.

Is there really evidence to suggest that matching does shit? Do plants really notice the drop of a few hours? Or is flowering just brought on by a hormone accumulation that a plant produces during the dark cycle. And really a plant being grown on 24/0 has less of that auxin built up to begin with so it's actually less likely to flip then the plant that you weaned down to 15 hrs hella slow.

I have put out clones mid May from 24hr that don't flip. Mostly the only plants that have flipped on me seemed genetic. They were seeds and it was a recessive trait.

 

[Ibechillin]

Yeah CrushnYuba it seems each strain has a specific dark period that initiates flower transition. Indoors 12/12 works to initate flower because the plants need ~2 hours uninterrupted darkness for the phytochromes to switch to PR flowering state naturally and then ~10 hours in the PR state.

Outdoors at sunset until dark the ratio of infrared light is higher than usable light for photosynthesis. The higher ratio IR light switches the phytochromes instantly to the PR flowering state and allows them to flower with 2 hour longer days. Plants percieve shade the same as sunset high ratio IR light, having them shaded in the evening before sunset can make them begin flowering even sooner.

This is why people use 730nm "flower initiator" IR lights at the end of light on cycles indoors, it allows flowering under 14 hours light.

 

[CrushnYuba]

But is it possible that a healthy plant that was on 24hr light is less likely to flower then a plant that was on 16/8 when put out in the spring?

 

[Ibechillin]

Seems more likely the 24/0 plant would flower after its first exposure to dark signaling summers end approaching. Your mention of putting plants 24/0 veg to outdoors in spring and not flowering goes against most peoples experiences also, but supports the critical dark period for flowering depending on phenotype theory.

When do you usually cut the supplemental light and let them go under sun only?

Sam has mentioned there are very dark sensitive photoperiod strains that finish end of July. Im waiting to hear back from him with more info about them.

My S African Durban Poison was 2 weeks earlier then Early Pearl when grown outdoors in Holland side by side. I know Early Pearl well, it was developed by my colleague RCC before he sold it to Nevil. I have several varieties that are done by Aug. I am all but retired but will be sure they are passed on to friends that are interested.
-SamS

Mr.Greengenes mentioned in another thread recently about gradually reducing day length on his indoor plants that relates to each phenotype having a critical amount of darkness to flower. They started flowering sporadically at all different times depending on genetics.

I messed around with gradual day reduction instead of flipping from 16/8 to 12/12 a few times. Pretty sure I made a thread here about it. The plants grew like crazy during the reduction period and resulted in greatly increased yields. I didn't notice a difference in terpene production, but I have some awful smelly plants anyway, not sure I want more of that!

I've been vegging at 16/8 for about the last 30 years, so that's most likely where I started. I'm pretty sure I took off about a half hour per week, so that would have taken 8 weeks to get down to 12/12. Plants started flowering at all different points in the reduction scheme, so it spread the finishing times out much wider than if they'd all been slammed under 12/12 in one shot.

One interesting thing was the way different genetics reacted so differently to the gradual reduction. Some plants that normally didn't stretch much stretched like crazy, others didn't. Some started flowering earlier, but finished later. Others did the opposite. Basically, I ended with more questions than I intended to find answers to at the beginning.

 

[theJointedOne]

you only have to worry about clones

 

[CrushnYuba]

Seems more likely the 24/0 plant would flower after its first exposure to dark signaling summers end approaching. Your mention of putting plants 24/0 veg to outdoors in spring and not flowering goes against most peoples experiences also, but supports the critical dark period for flowering depending on phenotype theory.

When do you usually cut the supplemental light and let them go under sun only?

Sam has mentioned there are very dark sensitive photoperiod strains that finish end of July. Im waiting to hear back from him with more info about them.



Mr.Greengenes mentioned in another thread recently about gradually reducing day length on his indoor plants that relates to each phenotype having a critical amount of darkness to flower. They started flowering sporadically at all different times depending on genetics.

Yea, i have seen plants that veg on 24/0 and flower as soon as you put them out. My friend is running some cbd varieties now that do that.

I kill light to clones on may 21st usually. I have earlier but i don't risk it usually. Never have before the 14. Dankwolf was just saying how he puts clones out from 24/0 on the end of april. He lives much further North then me though. He says his plants just stretch a little. They don't really start budding. I just wonder If plants really

 

[marmarb]

I have some seed starts that haven't gotten the best care indoors so I'm gonna just set them outdoors.

 

[Trucksta]

It happened to me too I had two do it out of all these plus some

It happened to me too I had two do it out of all these plus some

 

[marmarb]

Back at it for another yr for you zone 7 growers when is the ideal time to set clones out

 

[CrushnYuba]

Zone is for climate. Your latitude will dictate your day length and when you can put them out without flowering.

 

[marmarb]

41 north

 

[St. Phatty]

https://gilmour.com/planting-zones-hardiness-map

 

[marmarb]

Thanks

 

[TychoMonolyth]

North American Zones