When should I go 12/12?

[Spliffenroll]

Greetings yall...
So its like this. I have a limited grow space, its a growbox i made for only one plant (micro grow) and i was wondering when to go 12/12. My plant is right now about 6 inches tall, and it has been 1 month since it sprouted. I am very impatient and its because i've got new auto seeds on the way and this was only an experimental first grow. Is it a good idea putting it into flowering or is it way to early ? Thx in advance..
Jah bless

 

[Mello136]

Depending on the size of the box and what size plant you want. She can grow anything from 50% to 150% the size before you flip.

 

[Papageno]

If you are doing things right then she should double in size minimum when you bloom. Now consider that you need space between the light and the plant of min about 1 foot unless you have a very small light. So in a very small space like 4' you basically want to train it out flat and start blooming it as soon as you can't train it anymore.

check out this guys post.

Light Addict's Quick Guide To Fluxing - Featuring The Original Flux!

That is how you do a 4' grow room.

 

[Acyll1996]

I agree with post abowe. I think you should flip cycle soon to prevent any issues with space.

 

[Amadeus Forzin]

I run a small micro box, check out links in sig, I flowered mine after a month of veg. Any longer and I'd have had trouble. They will stretch quick when you flip them too so bear it in mind.
Happy growing

 

[AKgramma]

I know finding space can be the limiting factor, but keep in mind, when you ask a juvenile to produce buds, the yield is going to be small. More like a lot of small buds. Not an issue if you cram the buds into a pipe to smoke or use them in edibles. Big or small buds or sugar leaves, cured for at least a month and you'll get good smoke.

My first three or four 2-plant harvests, I had topped 2 times and tied the ladies to about 18" tall and 24" wide, with heavy trimming of shaded veg. My OG Kush did not stretch much, maybe a couple inches. Maybe it was all the harassment I put them through before and during flower. I got about 0.5 g dry from each plant, plus about the same from the trim off the tiny buds. Plenty of leaves for tincture, etc, though!

 

[Spliffenroll]

Thank you all! specially for the links.. helped me alot. i hope everything goes well. one more thing!! how long into flowering does it take for me to start seeing the sex of the plant ? Thx alot you guys again!!
Jah bless

 

[AKgramma]

About a week, you should start seeing the two white hairs popping up at the growing tips.

 

[Papageno]

1 week should be good unless you are stressing them so that is kind of a good canary in the coal mine. If it isn't obvious in a week you are doing something wrong.

You can get it down to just under 3 days but but there is some risky things to do to do that. Not good for beginners who are not confident in reading the plants. Not good for people who run nutes high. Probably the most important rule for beginners is to be patient. Veg and Bloom are very different parts of the plants life cycle and chemicals change inside the plant drastically. So yo can induce blooming chemically if you know what to do but I really think beginners have a better chance at stunting their plants then doing it right. After your first 3 grows... if you can get to a good grow store, any good store will have someone there who can explain this.

Just hang in there. The worst part is waiting for it to dry

 

[AKgramma]

The Villageidiot is correct.

 

[Spliffenroll]

Haha, thanks again.., approximately what will the yield of a "first grow" in a growbox be ? i am using 5, 23W CFL bulbs and the only problem ive had with the plant was that i overwatered one time around 2,5 weeks after sprout, but it recovered in a week or two and is a bushy healty looking plant right now, No overfeeding or signs of sress since then. Is there any way to take a good and close guess about the yield ? Much thanks..
Jah bless

 

[AKgramma]

Depends on size and health of her when you put her under flower, and how many flowers she gives you. Show us a few beauty shots when the flowers start showing, maybe 2 or 3 weeks into flower.

 

[Papageno]

Sorry bro...I try to be honest on here even if it hurts. When you ask me what the quality and yield will be from a few CFL bulbs I am gonna say zipo. Complete waste of time.

I grew for years in a small closet with a 250W HPS and I got good results but never dense good nugs. Stoney for sure but not any real heavy duty stuff after it dried. Looked great until it dried. smoked great but was just fluffy loose weed.

Once I switched to a 400W HPS I got pro looking stuff. I would never bloom in anything less.

If you have any decent setup (closet) a 400W setup will pay for itself in 1 grow.

Blooming with a handful of CFLs is like being a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.

 

[AKgramma]

Sorry bro...I try to be honest on here even if it hurts. When you ask me what the quality and yield will be from a few CFL bulbs I am gonna say zipo. Complete waste of time.

I grew for years in a small closet with a 250W HPS and I got good results but never dense good nugs. Stoney for sure but not any real heavy duty stuff after it dried. Looked great until it dried. smoked great but was just fluffy loose weed.

Once I switched to a 400W HPS I got pro looking stuff. I would never bloom in anything less.

If you have any decent setup (closet) a 400W setup will pay for itself in 1 grow.

Blooming with a handful of CFLs is like being a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.

When someone like me is limited by space and money, CFL's are the only safe and economical way to go. It is true that I won't get any hard monster COLAs, but I grow only for family use, and, since they crush it up for their bongs, it doesn't matter what the buds look like, as long as the end product is well-cured and smokes well. I dole it out by weight, anyway: an eighth is an eighth, regardless of the beauty or firmness of the buds.

It's all in the quality of the Trics.

If you're in it to sell, then by all means invest in the pro equipment. Buyers like lovely-looking buds and wil pay more for them. You'll eventually pay for your set-up.

 

[Papageno]

I only grow for myself and my wife. It pays for itself it one grow. You are putting a lot of time and effort and money into it. I am just trying to recommend for bloom you upgrade.

It takes 2-6 months to cure properly so all runs are a very long process. With a 1000W setup growing for just 2 I only need to do 1 grow a year. That means I have 8 months where I don't have to care about anything. I don't have to grow in summer when the temps are hard to control. That saves a lot and I don't have to worry about. If I want to go crazy and grow all winter long I can make butter for the year too.

But the size of the light under 1000W has nothing to do with if you are a seller. 2 or more 1000W and you are growing for others. But I use 1000w because I get superior quality and I grow once and done. I get to go on vacations in the summer. I can justify the extra work for Hydro when I want because it is just a short grow.

Just saying zall. We all have been there bro. Growing on a budget is a great way to learn.

 

[Papageno]

And I am all about saving money. I have multiple threads here explain how to cut costs and still get great results. For superior trics read this guys post. I wont promote mine anymore even through I use pics and show the process. The issue is without light there is little hope for great trics. My explanation on anther guys thread is long because we talk about a lot of things that are good to know but sort of off topic...like why this matters and how to do it.

If you wanna know how to grow on the cheap and don't want to search around PM me and I will walk you through it.

Tea Bag your DWC

Using that I have made seeds from the early '90s look like modern stuff.

 

[AKgramma]

I only grow for myself and my wife. It pays for itself it one grow. You are putting a lot of time and effort and money into it. I am just trying to recommend for bloom you upgrade.

It takes 2-6 months to cure properly so all runs are a very long process. With a 1000W setup growing for just 2 I only need to do 1 grow a year. That means I have 8 months where I don't have to care about anything. I don't have to grow in summer when the temps are hard to control. That saves a lot and I don't have to worry about. If I want to go crazy and grow all winter long I can make butter for the year too.

But the size of the light under 1000W has nothing to do with if you are a seller. 2 or more 1000W and you are growing for others. But I use 1000w because I get superior quality and I grow once and done. I get to go on vacations in the summer. I can justify the extra work for Hydro when I want because it is just a short grow.

Just saying zall. We all have been there bro. Growing on a budget is a great way to learn.

It sounds like you do one big harvest per year, then. Probably a whole lot less work than my perpetual grow, in which I harvest one plant every month or so. That's how I switch them over, too, one plant every month or so, which allows me to manage my small grow areas better. I don't think I have th stamina to harvest a whole year's crop at once. WHEW! What a monster job!

I was seriously thinking of upgrading to real tents (And not tarps over shelves), until I found out the cost of shipping is more than the cost of a 36' x 36" tent online. The local cannibus gardening center has the shipping price built in, and so, right back where I started financially. Maybe if I win the lottery....

 

[Papageno]

Yeah it aint as bad as it sounds...I have a bong and a TV nearby when trimming...

But the whole house stinks...last time I did some trimming in the tent with the fan on. You don't have to trim everything at once. I think last time I did it over 3 or 4 days in the evenings after work. If you are curing correctly then you have a long time to do this.

 

[AKgramma]

Yeah it aint as bad as it sounds...I have a bong and a TV nearby when trimming...

But the whole house stinks...last time I did some trimming in the tent with the fan on. You don't have to trim everything at once. I think last time I did it over 3 or 4 days in the evenings after work. If you are curing correctly then you have a long time to do this.

So you trim during the drying process, rather than before?

 

[Papageno]

Well we are high jacking this thread now. But there are a few ways to do it and it depends how you dry it. Some people like to leave the leaves on there to slow down the process to make it more even. That can be more difficult in the end to prune out nicely. Most people and the big professional warehouse operations do it fairly quickly and then control the drying environment.

I chop them down, wash them (read up on the stick on here about that) and hang them on the SCROG they came off of. Then over the course of the next week I find the time to trim them down and after about 2 weeks they are ready for curing. Then I don't have to deal with trimming up a mess of dried up stuff falling apart everywhere.