Size & flower question

[NewGrow2019]

My girls are almost seven weeks old, approximately 1.5 ft tall, bushy but all tops are pretty close to level. The stems are only about the thickness of a sharpie, they are hardened and really stiff, dark green turning brown. Is this normal or average for size? My main 4 limbs have about 4 limbs grown up off of those. How big and thick should I let these get before switching to flower? Thanks for any input.

 

[TysonOG]

Switch to flower should be determined by your height limitations. If she's 1.5ft already expect her to finish 3ft or taller if you flower her now. I flowered a handful at 1.5ft and the tallest finished at 4ft. You also need a light capable of penetrating far into the canopy. 1000w HPS is good for about 3ft of penetration, a 600w is good for 2ft etc. Most LEDs don't have strong penetration power and thus aren't as good for tall grows. Outdoors, it doesn't matter as much because sunlight is just as strong at the top of the plant as the bottom.
So basically depends on your light source and height limitations.

 

[NewGrow2019]

I have 6 plants under two (4 ft) 220 watt T5 HO sunlight bulbs and 4 (4ft) full spectrum 200 watt led. I hope that's enough. It took a bit to get height of lights figured and they started growing quickly when I set T5 at 20 inches and leds angled around outside at 15 inches. Wish I had figured that out 5 weeks ago, ceiling to floor (about 6-7 ft) was super slow grow . It's been about 8 days since I set that height and they have grown almost 10 inches since. I was debating switching my veg bulbs to bloom and going flower next week, just wasn't sure if they were big enough or ready with stems not being anywhere close to a lot I see on different websites that have stems an inch or more thick.

 

[NewGrow2019]

Switch to flower should be determined by your height limitations. If she's 1.5ft already expect her to finish 3ft or taller if you flower her now. I flowered a handful at 1.5ft and the tallest finished at 4ft. You also need a light capable of penetrating far into the canopy. 1000w HPS is good for about 3ft of penetration, a 600w is good for 2ft etc. Most LEDs don't have strong penetration power and thus aren't as good for tall grows. Outdoors, it doesn't matter as much because sunlight is just as strong at the top of the plant as the bottom.
So basically depends on your light source and height limitations.

The night of your message I switched to flower. In week two and looks good to me so far, I hope. Thank you for the reply, I was gonna wait another couple weeks, glad I didn't they have already jumped to 32 inches in a little over a week. Raising the lights every two days. I wish the nodes were closer all the way down but it is what it is I guess. The couple I flipped to flower the week prior are in week three, I've attached a photo. Does this look right growth/size for three weeks of flower?

 

[TysonOG]

Looks good to me!

 

[NewGrow2019]

Today is the end of week three flower. I borrowed a lense to get a closer look. With 4 plus weeks left I'm happy so far

 

[NewGrow2019]

Tomorrow starts week 5 flower and the buds are about round as a nickel and maybe 1/2 inch tall. The articles I read and videos I watch all have huge buds by now, what am I lacking to bulk them, or will they bulk over next couple weeks? I have no signs of deficiency or light issues, should I up the p/k or stay on my schedule? I added pics from this morning, they look bigger in pic then actually are. Any advice is appreciated.