How long after flipping can I flower?
In most cases, late the final flowering phase will be 6 to 8 weeks after flipping over to 12-hour light periods.
This usually takes four to eight weeks, depending on how big you want your plant to get.
When you're ready for plants to start the flowering stage, change your lights to a 12/12 cycle (12 hours with the light on and 12 hours with it off ). You will see signs of flowering in 1-3 weeks. On average plants will be ready to harvest after 8-11 weeks of flowering.
Height of plant: Depending on the strain, plants will generally double in size during flowering. So, if 'room' height is limited, the switch to 12/12 will need to be done no later than when the plant has reached 50% of the 'available' height (remember to consider the minimum gap distance between lamp and foliage).
In optimal conditions, plants should be kept in their vegetative stage for approximately 60 days. This time period should give the plant the opportunity to maximise yield and acclimatise to growing conditions.
Week 5. In week 5 of flowering, you can observe the buds all over your plant becoming thicker. You may also spot new buds growing in new places such as along the main cola. With buds abounding, your cannabis plants will get fatter every day.
Does lollipopping increase yield? Many growers have increased yields by lollipopping. We know enough about plant science to support the logic behind this type of pruning. What's even cooler is that you can combine lollipopping with topping or fimming.
Yes, you should remove fan leaves during the flowering stage using the correct technique. Removing fan leaves will open up light and produce a better air exchange to the lower canopy. It will also ensure that more energy can go to your plant's valuable parts and make for a bigger harvest.
Cannabis plants need short days (or more specifically long nights) in order to start flowering and make buds. Most indoor growers give their plants 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of light each day to initiate budding and continue with that 12/12 light schedule until it's time to harvest.
Short Answer: The smell starts at 3-6 weeks old (depending on strain) even in the vegetative stage. But the smell gets much worse after plants start flowering/making buds. The leaves of a cannabis plant smell a little, but the buds smell a lot.
How tall should you be before switching to flower?
A good rule of thumb is to take note of the length of your main colas after the switch to 12/12 (from a previous grow), then try to initiate flowering with your new plants when they're about that height. So, if your main colas end up around 12″ long, initiate flowering when the plant is 12″ tall, etc.
As plants grow taller, the bigger leaves on top shade the lower leaves and branches. That can lead to small plants with buds on only the highest tier. By gently bending the top of a plant, you bring light to the lower leaves, increasing the colas (nodes where buds form) and bringing light to lower-level buds.
Bigger pots does not mean bigger plants. The recommended pot size for transplanting is between 2 to 4 inches larger in diameter from the pot that the plant was planted in. This gives the roots enough space to spread and absorb more water and nutrients.
Remove fan leaves only when you feel that they are affecting your plant in a bad way. Because of this, if your plant is too bushy and you think it is affecting it in a bad way, it is recommended to slowly remove around 20% of the fan leaves to allow a better airflow and light absorption to the lower part of the plant.
One possible reason your buds may have stopped maturing is the plant is “re-vegging.” “Re-vegging” means the plant is returning to the vegetative stage in which the plant only grows stems and leaves. Re-vegging happens most often when plants are somehow getting light during their 12-hour dark period.
| Plant stage | Water every # of days |
|---|---|
| Germination | 4-7 |
| Seedling | 3-7 |
| Vegetative | 2-4 |
| Flowering | 2-3 |
Stress is the number one cause of popcorn buds.
Any kind of stress, be it from poor watering, a lack or excess of nutrients, the environment, pests, plagues, or improper care, can affect a plant's ability to grow big, dense flowers.
It is recommended that you wait until your plants have at least four nodes before topping them, and most growers recommend topping the plant above the sixth node. Nodes are the part of a plant that connects new stem offshoots with older growth, which can form a branch, a leaf, or in the case of cannabis plants, a bud.
WHEN TO LOLLIPOP CANNABIS. Most growers will agree that week 3 of flowering is the right time to start lollipopping. After a couple of weeks in the bloom phase, most cannabis strains will begin to display multiple bud sites along shoots. Marijuana will stretch during this phase, some strains more than others.
Many sugar or carbohydrate-based supplements claim to improve the smell/taste/sweetness of buds. A cheap alternative to expensive sugar-based bloom boosting supplements is blackstrap molasses. Giving this to your plants for the last few weeks before harvest can help them get bigger and smell/taste better.
Does Lollipopping make bigger buds?
By lollipopping, you not only help direct light to the right nodes, but optimise the limited energy stores of your plants. The end result is a heavier harvest of big, dense buds with maximum potency and flavour.
It's a matter of balance: allowing as many bud sites as possible to get plenty of light while still leaving fan leaves on the plant to be the photosynthesis powerhouse for the associated branch or bud. Remember, buds also have plenty of smaller leaves to support photosynthesis.
Stop Watering 1-3 Days Before Harvest – After flushing, in the final days of harvest, you can further stress your plants by stopping watering. You want to allow the plant to start to wilt just a small amount, because then the plant “thinks” it is dying and as a last-ditch effort, it will increase resin development.
Schwazzing involves stripping your plants of all fan leaves beneath the top two or three nodes at two key times: Once at the start of the bloom phase, and again at the beginning of the third week of bloom.
Late flowering / Ripening stage – week 6 to harvest
In the last few weeks, buds gain the most weight. They are sticky to the touch and can be very smelly.
If you grow strains with an average flowering time, the majority of bud development will occur by the 6th week of bloom. In the last two weeks, the buds will mostly be ripening and not really growing much more in size. At this point, the previously white pistils on the buds will now slowly turn amber-brown.
The Vegetative Stage of Cannabis
In fact, indoor growers commonly use an 18/6 light to dark ratio to encourage faster growth.
You should measure from the base of your plant to around 12 inches below your lights. When your vegging plants reach about one third of this height, you can flip into flower.
It is recommended that you wait until your plants have at least four nodes before topping them, and most growers recommend topping the plant above the sixth node. Nodes are the part of a plant that connects new stem offshoots with older growth, which can form a branch, a leaf, or in the case of cannabis plants, a bud.
Clones can take from 7 to 21 days to root depending on environmental conditions and genetics/cultivar. Ideally, you want the plants to finish at approximately 24 to 36 inches tall, so you will induce flowering when plants are approximately 12 to 18 inches tall.
