Need help determining if my ladies are starting to flower outdoors!

[NorCAKnowYourGrow]

Interesting thread.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and grow in pots outdoors. Last year was my first year of growing. I had everything fully harvested by mid to late August (bought clones around early April). While this may not have been right, the second I saw any signs of flowering I moved them into a storage tent at night and gave them darkness for ~12 hours. I now know that I missed out on the stretch as I’m sure this slowed that way down. But my first ever harvest was deemed to be excellent weed (not a user just a grower for a medical and while I’m sure my harvest wasn’t very big....I was happy enough.

This year I’m again in pots outdoors and have somewhat bigger pots overall and chose to just let them grow as big as they want. Every plant is in some stage of flowering. I have 8 different strains. I started them indoors from seed between March 1 and March 20 depending on the strain (I just kept finding strains I wanted!).

My Super Silver Haze started going into flowering about late June (I didn’t keep close track) and is currently solidly into the fattening stage. I trained these two so they’re more short and buds are the same height. Not sure if that affected maturation or not. I would not be surprised if I am able to harvest by the first week or two of September. I did cover them nightly for a few weeks so that may have pushed them along. I quit out of sheer laziness.

My other strains are in all spectrum of bud growth. One plant is about 7’ tall and in the earliest stages. Others have the appearance of being 1-2-3 weeks further along than that tall girl.

All this to say, I think there are a lot of factors beyond light that will determine flowering start and bud development. Strain. Light. Germination date. Of course my experience is minimal but it’s what I’ve seen.

When my girls started flowering last year my friend with more grow experience was shocked I saw -any- flowering evidence in early June. She kept telling me we should be harvesting in October this can’t be.....but.....

 

[Emeraldo]

All this to say, I think there are a lot of factors beyond light that will determine flowering start and bud development. Strain. Light. Germination date. Of course my experience is minimal but it’s what I’ve seen.

When my girls started flowering last year my friend with more grow experience was shocked I saw -any- flowering evidence in early June. She kept telling me we should be harvesting in October this can’t be.....but.....

I germinated two rounds here in Nor Cal Central Valley at 38N lattitude at the foot of the foothills, the first on March 13 and the second round on May 10. Seven plants. They're all in flower now, all at varying degrees. At one extreme there is Acapulco Gold pushing bunches of pistils, at the other is GHS Super Lemon Haze with much less and mostly at the top where she gets the most sun. So yes, strain genetics are key, and within each strain, daylength is the immediate trigger (it's a pair of hormones within the plant, actually, flowering is triggered when one of the hormones becomes dominant due to a lengthening dark period). Germination date is only a factor if the plant is not yet mature. Indoor growers will tell you a cannabis plant can be flowered at a very young age of maybe 4 or 5 weeks if put on 12/12, so maturity is not an obstacle for most outdoor growers. My younger round this year is not as big as the first group but they are showing pistils!

IMG_2082.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Aug 7, 2020

Acapulco Gold, August 7

 

[CanadianBacon92]

I germinated two rounds here in Nor Cal Central Valley at 38N lattitude at the foot of the foothills, the first on March 13 and the second round on May 10. Seven plants. They're all in flower now, all at varying degrees. At one extreme there is Acapulco Gold pushing bunches of pistils, at the other is GHS Super Lemon Haze with much less and mostly at the top where she gets the most sun. So yes, strain genetics are key, and within each strain, daylength is the immediate trigger (it's a pair of hormones within the plant, actually, flowering is triggered when one of the hormones becomes dominant due to a lengthening dark period). Germination date is only a factor if the plant is not yet mature. Indoor growers will tell you a cannabis plant can be flowered at a very young age of maybe 4 or 5 weeks if put on 12/12, so maturity is not an obstacle for most outdoor growers. My younger round this year is not as big as the first group but they are showing pistils!

IMG_2082.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Aug 7, 2020

Acapulco Gold, August 7

That is a work of art! Nice plant !

 

[CanadianBacon92]

My Blue Cheese has started setting budsites, my Bakerstreet is stretching, grew about a foot in the last two weeks, as has my Bakerstreet/sativa cross. From the looks of your pics yours are just starting.

It’s been a few days since I posted, just wondering if it this looks like it’s starting to flower, I get roughly 14.5 hours of sunlight now.

 

[Emeraldo]

I see lots of bracts, those striaght pointy pairs often about 1/4 or 3/8 inch in length. I also see preflower growth. Pistils not far off, I'd say...

 

[CanadianJim]

It’s been a few days since I posted, just wondering if it this looks like it’s starting to flower, I get roughly 14.5 hours of sunlight now.

She's looking good. She's definitely setting budsites now. I agree with @Emeraldo you should be seeing full flowers soon.

What made me question day/night length being the sole trigger to flowering was the number of times I saw threads in this and other groups saying "I put my plant outside and now she's flowering". Jumping down from 18 hours of light to 15 being the trigger. Now, to get those plants to continue flowering is a different story.

Edited to fix a typo

 

[NorCAKnowYourGrow]

I germinated two rounds here in Nor Cal Central Valley at 38N lattitude at the foot of the foothills, the first on March 13 and the second round on May 10. Seven plants. They're all in flower now, all at varying degrees. At one extreme there is Acapulco Gold pushing bunches of pistils, at the other is GHS Super Lemon Haze with much less and mostly at the top where she gets the most sun. So yes, strain genetics are key, and within each strain, daylength is the immediate trigger (it's a pair of hormones within the plant, actually, flowering is triggered when one of the hormones becomes dominant due to a lengthening dark period). Germination date is only a factor if the plant is not yet mature. Indoor growers will tell you a cannabis plant can be flowered at a very young age of maybe 4 or 5 weeks if put on 12/12, so maturity is not an obstacle for most outdoor growers. My younger round this year is not as big as the first group but they are showing pistils!

IMG_2082.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Aug 7, 2020

Acapulco Gold, August 7

Very pretty!

Thanks for the info on the hormone trigger. The hormones must be somewhat unique to the strain. Maybe you're saying that and the coffee hasn't kicked in.....lol

Always learning new stuff. Love this plant but it's not easy peasy to grow like tomatoes. I almost NEVER have any nutrient deficiencies with those. These plants this year....a freaking roller coaster of ---oh no they're yellowing, oh no, they're yellowing AND seem to have nutrient burn.....oh they look amazing....next day.....holy shit what now?? What the f*** are they doing now? Oh....back on track. Oh....wait..... And half the time I'm not really sure if they need MORE nutes or less......

Roller coaster!!! lol

 

[Emeraldo]

...
What made me question day/night length being the sole trigger to flowering was the number of times I saw threads in this and other groups saying "I put my plant outside and now she's flowering". Jumping down from 18 hours of light to 15 being the trigger. Now, to get those plants to continue flowering is a different story.

After writing that last post I remembered researching the flowering trigger some years ago. Actually, it isn't the length of the light period that matters at all. It's the length of the dark period. More than 12 hours of darkness affects the hormone/pigment balance so the flowering hormone becomes dominant, shutting down vegetative growth eventually and starting the flowering growth. So you could have theoretically (and indoors only) a light period of 16 hours followed by a dark period of 16 hours. Flowering would occur -- because of the length of the dark period. Maybe an indoor grower will corroborate that...

So going from 18 hours indoor light in early May to outdoors will trigger flowering because outdoors the dark period is still long enough for flowering in early May (as it is in August). Flowering in that case is triggered but, because the days are still getting longer, the plants will eventually go back into veg. Until the dark period is long enough, which would be maybe in August. I never had that happen but I would try to avoid it because it might stress the plants, never know.

Very pretty!

Thanks for the info on the hormone trigger. The hormones must be somewhat unique to the strain. Maybe you're saying that and the coffee hasn't kicked in.....lol

Always learning new stuff. Love this plant but it's not easy peasy to grow like tomatoes. I almost NEVER have any nutrient deficiencies with those. These plants this year....a freaking roller coaster of ---oh no they're yellowing, oh no, they're yellowing AND seem to have nutrient burn.....oh they look amazing....next day.....holy shit what now?? What the f*** are they doing now? Oh....back on track. Oh....wait..... And half the time I'm not really sure if they need MORE nutes or less......

Roller coaster!!! lol

Thanks.

I'd say you might be over-doing the nute thing... Less is more. But I had heat burn here in No Cal this summer, and it looked a lot like a nutrient deficiency of K, but after really looking into it I decided it had to be heat and wind burn.

 

[NorCAKnowYourGrow]

I'd say you might be over-doing the nute thing... Less is more. But I had heat burn here in No Cal this summer, and it looked a lot like a nutrient deficiency of K, but after really looking into it I decided it had to be heat and wind burn.

I thought maybe it was too much before, too. So I cut back on nutes a few weeks back when the roller coaster was the most crazy and the plants didn’t like it. I ended up realizing they weren’t be given enough of them or water. I was giving less than I gave plants half the size.

It is interesting so many views on nutes and outdoors. Some say the same as you....maybe too much. Then the next will say...it’s outdoors, they need a lot more. So many factors including the soil you use.

When I added a compost tea (developed by a long time grower) they seemed to dig that a lot. Only two applications (one including a nasty smelling fish fertilizer with high N) and that helped a lot. Overall they have got a lot better. But each strain has reacted slightly different. Super Silver looked way better overall but then had sugar type leaves (Not fan) that turned super yellow while everything else looks awesome. I haven’t found anything matching that description yet

I also discovered my hose water is 7.5 average and now water only with adjusted pH down to 6.1-6.2 on average. That helped. Also a big flush with sledgehammer.

Anyhow, don’t need to give play by play. Lol.

I appreciate any input and keep adjusting here and there based on what I learn.

 

[Emeraldo]

I thought maybe it was too much before, too. So I cut back on nutes a few weeks back when the roller coaster was the most crazy and the plants didn’t like it. I ended up realizing they weren’t be given enough of them or water. I was giving less than I gave plants half the size.

It is interesting so many views on nutes and outdoors. Some say the same as you....maybe too much. Then the next will say...it’s outdoors, they need a lot more. So many factors including the soil you use.

When I added a compost tea (developed by a long time grower) they seemed to dig that a lot. Only two applications (one including a nasty smelling fish fertilizer with high N) and that helped a lot. Overall they have got a lot better. But each strain has reacted slightly different. Super Silver looked way better overall but then had sugar type leaves (Not fan) that turned super yellow while everything else looks awesome. I haven’t found anything matching that description yet

I also discovered my hose water is 7.5 average and now water only with adjusted pH down to 6.1-6.2 on average. That helped. Also a big flush with sledgehammer.

Anyhow, don’t need to give play by play. Lol.

I appreciate any input and keep adjusting here and there based on what I learn.

I've learned something this year I didn't know before, and it is a game changer for me: You don't need to pH your water or your nutrient solutions. You need to pay attention only to soil pH to keep it within a certain range of "alkalinity". Note I did not say alkaline, but alkalinity.

It took me a while to get my head around this. But 420 members shared their info on a thread I started about on whether I had heat damage or my soil pH was too high. Anyway, @InTheShed's thread is definitely worth your time reading. Your 7.5 pH water is fine. Mine is 7.1. What matters is this: does your soil contain enough lime to maintain the soil pH where it needs to be, at 6.0 - 7.0 generally speaking.

Check it out: Do we need to pH adjust our nutrient solutions?

 

[NorCAKnowYourGrow]

I've learned something this year I didn't know before, and it is a game changer for me: You don't need to pH your water or your nutrient solutions. You need to pay attention only to soil pH to keep it within a certain range of "alkalinity". Note I did not say alkaline, but alkalinity.

It took me a while to get my head around this. But 420 members shared their info on a thread I started about on whether I had heat damage or my soil pH was too high. Anyway, @InTheShed's thread is definitely worth your time reading. Your 7.5 pH water is fine. Mine is 7.1. What matters is this: does your soil contain enough lime to maintain the soil pH where it needs to be, at 6.0 - 7.0 generally speaking.

Check it out: Do we need to pH adjust our nutrient solutions?

Interesting...I’ll check out the thread. Sounds like great info. Thx

I did test soil and it was 7.4 or something close. I don’t know how much lime is in the bagged soil I used by 420 called Bhang. It’s eh......

I just bought True Living Organics book and plan to devour that before next season’s grow.

 

[CanadianBacon92]

I see lots of bracts, those striaght pointy pairs often about 1/4 or 3/8 inch in length. I also see preflower growth. Pistils not far off, I'd say...

Lol im started to get frustrated,‘I’ve had em
All growing since May, and I hop on YouTube and people in my area are flowering and some even budding, why are my ladies taking forever!! Does anyone know??

 

[Konks Dirt Empire]

@CanadianBacon92 check out Ontario Outdoors 2020 there are pics from other growers in our region giving a nice timeline of where we are at this summer grow

 

[NorCAKnowYourGrow]

I germinated two rounds here in Nor Cal Central Valley at 38N lattitude at the foot of the foothills, the first on March 13 and the second round on May 10. Seven plants. They're all in flower now, all at...

IMG_2082.jpeg

• Emeraldo
• Aug 7, 2020

Acapulco Gold, August 7

Gorgeous

 

[NorCAKnowYourGrow]

I've learned something this year I didn't know before, and it is a game changer for me: You don't need to pH your water or your nutrient solutions. You need to pay attention only to soil pH to keep it within a certain range of "alkalinity". Note I did not say alkaline, but alkalinity.

Check it out: Do we need to pH adjust our nutrient solutions?

BRAIN. HURTS.

Really interesting thread. But a bit out of my science brain threshold. Lol. So many acronyms and I have no clue what they are.... Is this my age or lack of experience for not knowing what they mean. Likely both.

After reading several pages, maybe 5 or 6, I have come away with this:

I really need a better understanding of how to test soil. I was told you need soil from the bottom of the pot which is really hard to get to with fabric pots without damaging roots. So.....I must not have a clue what I’m doing. A slurry test education needs to happen.

And, I am moving to 100% organic next year. Top dressings, better soil, compost teas and the like. It *seems* like this is going to create a better more consistent soil and the pain of the rest (water, pH, nutes, etc) won’t be so burdensome.

I also need to further educate myself around alkalinity vs alkaline. I won’t tell you how many decades it’s been since I took ANY formal science class. The thread kept me bumping up against my brain abilities.

Thanks for the headache from the brain stretch lol!!!! It’s a good headache to have.

 

[Emeraldo]

Lol im started to get frustrated,‘I’ve had em
All growing since May, and I hop on YouTube and people in my area are flowering and some even budding, why are my ladies taking forever!! Does anyone know??

Patience, my friend. If your plants look happy and healthy, give them more time to flower. I can see in your photos that they are starting to flower. As anyone will tell you, they do this S L O W L Y. And different strains start and flower at different times. This isn't instant gratification/fast food! Lol

 

[Emeraldo]

BRAIN. HURTS.

Really interesting thread. But a bit out of my science brain threshold. Lol. So many acronyms and I have no clue what they are.... Is this my age or lack of experience for not knowing what they mean. Likely both.

After reading several pages, maybe 5 or 6, I have come away with this:

I really need a better understanding of how to test soil. I was told you need soil from the bottom of the pot which is really hard to get to with fabric pots without damaging roots. So.....I must not have a clue what I’m doing. A slurry test education needs to happen.

And, I am moving to 100% organic next year. Top dressings, better soil, compost teas and the like. It *seems* like this is going to create a better more consistent soil and the pain of the rest (water, pH, nutes, etc) won’t be so burdensome.

I also need to further educate myself around alkalinity vs alkaline. I won’t tell you how many decades it’s been since I took ANY formal science class. The thread kept me bumping up against my brain abilities.

Thanks for the headache from the brain stretch lol!!!! It’s a good headache to have.

Yeah, isn't that a great feeling, the head hurting from mind expansion and the breakdown of unnecessary habits!

Lol

I had the same. But my realization about pH'ing my water being unnecessary (a task I had faithfully done for years) came when other 420 members responded to a thread I had started. Have a look at their responses and the explanations @FelipeBlu gave to some of my stubborn questions.

Potassium deficiency? Or heat stress? Or soil pH too high?

A month ago, we had high temps (104F/40C) and, at the same time, high winds that whipped the 5 foot tall plants, snapping them this way then that. At the time I noticed injury to the leaves, the serrations turning upward in a kind of little cup. At first, I though all these symptoms were just...

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