Urdedpal
New Member
I have people ask me this question all the time and to be honest, I have a hard time explaining the magic number. Some people would say 12 inches, others might say 24 inches. But the height of when to flower depends on the plants genetic traits,type of lights,type of growing method, number of plants, and the grow environment.
Plant genetic traits:
You normally learn the genetic traits after your first grow but if you know the strain, seed banks do put info out so you can get the most out of the plant. A general rule of thumb is that a indoor plant will double or even triple its size. I go by 1 1/2 times to get one number.
Example, if I flower a plant at 14 inches, my finish target height is 35 inches.
Just remember some strains grow at different rates.
Type of light:
Some lights like HIDS (MH and HPS) get real hot so you have to account for that. It is best to keep HIDs 18 to 24 inches away from the plants, air cooled reflector can get closer, 1000w HIDs sometimes have to be as far as 3 1/2 feet away. Flouros need to stay as close as 2 to 6 inches. 6 is stretching it.
Growing methods:
Growing methods such as LST (low stress training) and SCROG (screen of Green) should be trained early and measured from the highest points of the plants. LST and Scrog slow plant height so take that into consideration.
Number of plants:
Every light has a footprint of how much light is distributed in a certain area. Plants don't just grow upward, they get fat too. Light can only penetrate the canopy so far. Its best to try and keep the canopy as even as possible for better light distrabution.
Grow environment:
Your grow environment is your grow room so a lot of that depends on how high you can place your lights. The shorter the ceiling the shorter the plants.
Source: Urdedpal at 420Magazine
Plant genetic traits:
You normally learn the genetic traits after your first grow but if you know the strain, seed banks do put info out so you can get the most out of the plant. A general rule of thumb is that a indoor plant will double or even triple its size. I go by 1 1/2 times to get one number.
Example, if I flower a plant at 14 inches, my finish target height is 35 inches.
Just remember some strains grow at different rates.
Type of light:
Some lights like HIDS (MH and HPS) get real hot so you have to account for that. It is best to keep HIDs 18 to 24 inches away from the plants, air cooled reflector can get closer, 1000w HIDs sometimes have to be as far as 3 1/2 feet away. Flouros need to stay as close as 2 to 6 inches. 6 is stretching it.
Growing methods:
Growing methods such as LST (low stress training) and SCROG (screen of Green) should be trained early and measured from the highest points of the plants. LST and Scrog slow plant height so take that into consideration.
Number of plants:
Every light has a footprint of how much light is distributed in a certain area. Plants don't just grow upward, they get fat too. Light can only penetrate the canopy so far. Its best to try and keep the canopy as even as possible for better light distrabution.
Grow environment:
Your grow environment is your grow room so a lot of that depends on how high you can place your lights. The shorter the ceiling the shorter the plants.
Source: Urdedpal at 420Magazine