2nd grow, unknown strain, 18/6 CFL but Flowering?

[xtrchessreal]

I received a number of plants as a gift that have been vegging in 3 gal Happy Frog for 8 weeks, no nutes, no signs of deficiencies. These plants grew like crazy and are about 4 to 4.5 feet tall, very leggy lots of space between nodes. I just noticed some are showing pistils and I haven't even begun to setup for cloning yet.

I have a number of other clones I just transplanted with 100% success so I placed the origins of those into bloom hps 12/12 to determine sex in reverse.

This other unknown strain that is still in veg 18/6 are showing sex. I wanted to clone these for sex as well but I am a bit overwhelmed. I still want to clone in case its great bud. What should I do? Could these be those auto flowering types? I am going to try to clone these regardless of strain. Any advice you can provide would be appreciated. Its late I will post pics tomorrow if needed.

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[Farang]

I'm looking forward to the pics.

 

[GigaGrew]

if its flowering under 18 hours of light then it pretty much must have some ruderalis in the gene pool (auto)

 

[xtrchessreal]

5 ft stakes in background

multi node calix pistils

close up of Pistils

So here they are. I made a mistake on the number of weeks old, these are actually 15 weeks old. I apologize for that. I was waiting to clone these after the others in bloom showed sex. But if these are auto flowering I will never be able to keep a mother around...right? Infinite energy usage, oh well.

So if these are flowering under CFL 18/6 should I move them into my 12/12 bloom room with HPS? Should I begin putting in bloom nutes (bat guano and molasses). I water these about every 10 days under 23 watt CFLs so...slow goin' but energy efficient I guess.

Thanks for any advice
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[trichomes]

I'd start the flower nutes, paint the walls white, cut off all the low growth, (or bend the tall tops down so all tops are close in height), get the bulbs as close as 2" form the tops, keep a fan on the tops to make shorter/stronger branches, and lastly, "if I was a plant, I'd be pissed off, if I did not get fed everyday!" Despite my novice input, you are doing a FINE job!!

 

[Rodrigo]

That's not flowering, you're safe. Those appear on plants naturally during vegging and you don't have anything to worry about. I speak from experience. I can't tell you what they are because I simply don't know (I think is a type of preflower, basically showing where flowers (either male or female) are going to appear eventually. So I can guarantee that you're still in vegetative state.
Is there I chance I'd be wrong? yeah sure, keep an eye on them if you want to be sure but I wouldn't worry.

Hope this helps.

 

[GigaGrew]

beautiful looking plant, Rodrigo appears to be correct. how big is your plant by the way? just curious, i hear 15 weeks of veg and my brain thinks small tree, lol

 

[Rodrigo]

Yeah, judging by the picture it looks to be about 30" tall.

Is that a mirror on the back? you shouldn't use that as a reflective surface as it creates hot spots instead of scattered light and they don't really have a good reflectivity coefficient, less than 50% as opposed to the 95% you get from mylar.

 

[GigaGrew]

just slap some matt white emulsion on that concrete, job done =)

 

[Farang]

wow. I've got to chime in here, too.

the mirror is a bust. get rid of it in favor of foil, dull side out.

what you are seeing is a pre-flower. it's absolutely NOT abnormal to see this and you can be 99% sure you have a female plant.

it also indicates you can switch to whatever flowering light schedule you prefer at this point, so long as you are growing one plant and this is your plant. OR you can wait longer, if you can accommodate larger plants with more buds and probably larger buds.

IMHO, I'd switch to 12 or less any day now.

 

[GigaGrew]

wow. I've got to chime in here, too.

the mirror is a bust. get rid of it in favor of foil, dull side out.

what you are seeing is a pre-flower. it's absolutely NOT abnormal to see this and you can be 99% sure you have a female plant.

it also indicates you can switch to whatever flowering light schedule you prefer at this point, so long as you are growing one plant and this is your plant. OR you can wait longer, if you can accommodate larger plants with more buds and probably larger buds.

IMHO, I'd switch to 12 or less any day now.

perfect response =)
i still think white paint is better imho.
get rid of the plant in that room with foil or reflectors and it still looks like a grow. with clean white walls, add a desk a few bits of paper and pencils and its an art room, lol

it also looks better if you have a missus that can see your doin your part to run a nice clean habitat, foil and the like can look a bit tatty. but as you can see my dissagreements are entirely superficial =)

 

[Farang]

yup. not pretty but effective.

and thanks, GiGaBaNE for the up-vote.

my room is virtually all flat white painted, but covering that with foil seems to please my plants.

but what do I know?

 

[xtrchessreal]

Thanks for your ALL of your input Everyone. These plants are 4.5 going on 5 feet tall. One picture shows the 5 ft stakes next to the mirror. The mirror was going to be thrown out and we thought instead to place it by the veg area. I am only using CFLs, I am not sure hot spots are going to happen even if I used a magnifying glass and tried to burn it. (I may actually test that theory to be certain). Either way its good info to know about mirrors I will check around about that as well. No disrespect to anyone but that is just how I learn, read, read, read and more research and ask questions.

Preflowers huh, but they are fems that is cool. I have a bloom room made just like Jorge Cervantes showed in his DVD, all panda film white inside and black on the outside. I made sure its sealed well with foil tape and the exhaust fan sucks the walls in. Its like being in a giant vacuum bag. When its dark in there you can't tell if your eyes are open or closed even after 10 minutes.

So if these are preflowers in veg 18/6 does that mean these are indeed autoflowering or does this just happen in many cases and its normal for long term veg? If these are not autoflowering I can clone them and have some mothers around or top them and keep these as mothers. Unless at this point its too late since they are at this preflower stage. Any info is again much appreciated

Thanks
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[GigaGrew]

i have used foil myself in emergencies, space/survival blankets are good too.

 

[Rodrigo]

They are not autoflowering, they are just vegging as they are supposed to, this growth is absolutely normal after vegging for a while, you can clone her safely and the clones will be the same as the mother.

However I have to disagree with Farang with regards of it being for sure a female, I have never had male plants as I've always used feminized seeds but I think this preflower also appears on males, so the only and safest way to find out is to take a small clone and flowering it, if it's female then you're good, if it comes up male then you've wasted a lot of time.

You should start your cloning operation soon and as soon as they are strong enough take one and put in under 12/12, it doesn't have to be a professional setup for this, you can put it anywhere where it gets a 12/12 light regime, no reflective material or aeration needed as this is only a test for sex.

 

[Farang]

I don't clone because I lack the proper stuff required; without that stuff, I've had little success, but from what I've read, you should be able to.

at this phase, I'd simply switch to flowering lighting and go for it.

that's me.

do what you will and enjoy the experience!

at that height, you're apt to create monsters. congratulations.

 

[xtrchessreal]

Thanks Everyone for all the good suggestions and answers. I think I will go ahead and clone these for sex in reverse and see if I can get a mother to hang around. Since these grew so tall and fast I will top the mother once I get the new clone going well so she is bushy with plenty of clone-able branches for future harvests. I have to clean out the males on my current 1st bloom but all is not lost I will eat them for their wholesome nutritional qualities. And, I do have 100% success on my clones from that grow so plenty mothers coming soon.

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