Auto Flower 54 days, seeing first pistils? Is that

[Triffid]

I've got 3 ladies going in the one reservoir, and they have JUST started to show some pistils, at 54 days from seed.
All the other grows I have done (only a few years of growing now) had pistils showing from around 35 - 40 days.
Is it normal for it to take 50+ days to start flowering




Critical 2.0 XL Auto by Garden of Green
3 plants in DWC, using PH Perfect by AN.
They have 8 3500k strips, and have slowly had PAR increase to 750.
They have received a single dose of Salicylic Acid at 22 days
Get a foliar every second week of Chitosan, Triacontanol, Harpin Protein and Kelp Extract.
1 plant topped itself at 14 days, the others I topped at 25, 1 plant is growing 9 finger leaves and has the tightest internodal space I have seen, and the 3rd is "normal".

They have been defoliated heavily at 32 Days, 39 days, 46 Days and 51 days. High temps here, 30-35c, and I have no way to reduce humidity, so a chiller keeps 35ltr reservoir at 19c, to help offset the heat and humidity, and to create space for LST, air flow through plant (canopy is incredibly dense), and lastly, masses of leaves leaves touching and water constantly on the leaves.

First defoliation

Second defoliation

3rd defoliation

and now, pistils just starting to show

 

[Vegan4life]

Maybe they are stressed from all of the training and defoliation? Unless I am missing something I thought those methods were mainly for photos...

 

[013]

We had a similar one a few weeks back, the grower indicated that the breeder said it was an auto and it would start to flower around 8 weeks but we never heard back from the grower to hear final results. I was curious to learn if it began flowering on its on, or if a flip was required to trigger it - which was my whole point I kinda made the case that it wasn’t an auto and the seeds were mislabeled or got crossed up from the breeder or seed vendor.

read somewhere that defol could monkey with or delay the start of an auto going into flower, but that sounds like a photo - am I right? Anyway Virgin Ground confirmed she had a strain that didn’t start flower until 55 or 56 days. So it’s not common but not unheard of either.

 

[Triffid]

Maybe they are stressed from all of the training and defoliation? Unless I am missing something I thought those methods were mainly for photos...

They definitely are stressed, I haven't seen a delay from LST, but defoliating puts growth on hold for around 24 hours, the Salicylic Acid, Harpin Protein and the Chitosan all stress the plant, triggering the SAR response, which ends with a healthier plant, less likely for bud rot to set in, and more resistant to other pathogens.

I have tried no LST and it ended up with a rather small yield, and I ran out of tent space, plant was lanky and sparse on buds. Also tried no defoliation, ended up with bud rot and lost most of that harvest.

 

[Triffid]

We had a similar one a few weeks back, the grower indicated that the breeder said it was an auto and it would start to flower around 8 weeks but we never heard back from the grower to hear final results. I was curious to learn if it began flowering on its on, or if a flip was required to trigger it - which was my whole point I kinda made the case that it wasn’t an auto and the seeds were mislabeled or got crossed up from the breeder or seed vendor.

read somewhere that defol could monkey with or delay the start of an auto going into flower, but that sounds like a photo - am I right? Anyway Virgin Ground confirmed she had a strain that didn’t start flower until 55 or 56 days. So it’s not common but not unheard of either.

I was thinking of putting it on 12/12, but had delayed. If it "is" an auto, changing light duration would not do anything except stress the plant unnecessarily . Is that correct?

Went back through my notes for previous grows, and yes, I spotted a correlation between how often and heavily they were defoliated, and how long till the start of flowering took. Will have to do some more experimenting there, thanks for pointing that out for me.

 

[BeanTownFan420]

They definitely are stressed, I haven't seen a delay from LST, but defoliating puts growth on hold for around 24 hours, the Salicylic Acid, Harpin Protein and the Chitosan all stress the plant, triggering the SAR response, which ends with a healthier plant, less likely for bud rot to set in, and more resistant to other pathogens.

I have tried no LST and it ended up with a rather small yield, and I ran out of tent space, plant was lanky and sparse on buds. Also tried no defoliation, ended up with bud rot and lost most of that harvest.

The only reason a plant would grow as you described was you did not give the plant enough light.

 

[BeanTownFan420]

I have photos in flower at day 19 right now and the emerged from the soil on Oct 20th. Making them exactly 6 weeks old today or 42 days.

 

[Triffid]

The only reason a plant would grow as you described was you did not give the plant enough light.

Hmm, my notes show I did LST, up to the scrog net, then let it go, my mistake.

That grow I was using cheap blurple, wasn't strong enough to burn the plant even when it was growing around the light. That grow prompted me to do a different light setup, switched to DIY strips, so the loss ended up with a benefit for me, and got hold of a PAR meter, so I had an idea of how much light was actually hitting the plants, yet another bonus.

I also used Bud Ignitor on that grow, thought it could have been that causing the stretch, which prompted me to figure out what the active ingredients were in the additives, giving me much more control of what I put in and when, as well as saving the bank account. Another bonus from the grow

Went from this, scrog net just placed at 15cm

9 Days later

Another 10 days

Another 15 days

and then she had hit the roof and started falling out of the tent