Trouble reading today's article? Click
here: Issue #197 - Sunday, January 31, 2016 Dear Fellow
Grower, In today's issue... - Learn what to expect during the cannabis flowering stage, including what
buds look like at each stage of development, and what problems to be worried about!
- What are feminized seeds and are they a good choice for cannabis growers?
- This week's trophy pic features an incredible closeup of
trichomes and a question about finding an old fashioned skunk strain!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com) "Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
~Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Dance of the Flowering Stage by Nebula Haze |
Table of Contents
Week 8+ - Flowering Ends, Final Flush, Harvest
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Introduction to the Cannabis Flowering Stage
During the phase of life known as the vegetative stage (the first stage of life for marijuana), a cannabis plant grows about how you'd expect... like a weed! In the vegetative stage a cannabis plant only grows new stems and leaves, and can grow several inches a day with the added ability to recover from just about anything!
Even if you run into major problems in the vegetative stage, you can bring your plant back from the brink of death simply by addressing the problem and giving your plant some TLC.
In the vegetative stage, your cannabis plant only grows stems and leaves and is resistant to problems. It grows like a weed! However, things aren't so rosy in cannabis flowering stage. In the flowering stage your cannabis plant grows very differently, and is much more sensitive to problems. The tricky thing about the flowering
stage is that you don't have much room for error and big mistakes can lower your yields.
In order to maximize your yields, it's important to know what to focus on during each part of the flowering stage. It's also really helpful to know what to expect so you know when something is going wrong! The Dance of the Flowering Cycle
Week 1-3: Transition to Flowering
When growing cannabis indoors, the flowering stage begins when you change your grow lights to a 12/12 light cycle (12 hours light, 12 hours darkness each day). Getting those 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness each day gives
your plant the signal that it's time to start flowering. In a way the plant "thinks" winter is coming because the days are getting short.
Note: Many growers think that getting 12 or less hours of light is what initiates flowering, but it's actually uninterrupted darkness that does the trick!
Outdoors,
it's also the days getting shorter that cause a cannabis plant to start making buds in late summer, but outdoor buds develop on different schedules depending on the local climate. This tutorial is meant to explain how a cannabis plant usually develops when grown indoors.
For the purposes of this tutorial, the flowering stage starts the day you switch to
12/12 Autoflowering strains of cannabis
don't need special light periods to start flowering, however the cannabis flowering timeline in this tutorial is a good general guideline for indoor auto-flowering strains, too. Their "vegetative stage" lasts about 3-4 weeks, so as long as you start counting at week 3-4 from seed (when they start getting their first pistils) this flowering timeline will generally apply to autos too, though sometimes they finish up faster. During the first few weeks after being switched to a 12/12 schedule, your plant will be growing like crazy and rapidly gaining height. In fact, a cannabis plant can (and frequently will) almost double in height after the switch to 12/12. This period of super-fast and often stretchy growth is sometimes referred to as the "flowering
stretch."
Example of flowering stretch - what to expect
Pre-Stretch - just before 12/12 Post-Stretch - 4 weeks after 12/12 Although your female plants will start sprouting lots of white pistils, they usually won't start growing "real" buds with substance quite yet. If you're new to growing cannabis, it's very important to note
that only female cannabis plants make buds.
If your plant is male, it will start growing distinct pollen sacs and should be removed from the grow room immediately to prevent it from pollinating your female plants and causing 'seedy' buds. Learn where to get feminized (all-female) seeds online so you don't have to worry about male plants.
Female plants should be growing pistils, which look like white wispy hairs emerging from the joints Remove any plants growing pollen sacs instead of pistils, because they are male and won't make buds. Plus they can pollinate your female plants and cause them to
grow seeds!
During week 1-3 of the flowering stage, your plant will mostly be producing new stems and leaves as it grows taller. Right now your plant is still very resilient and can handle problems just like in the vegetative stage. However, it's still very important
to avoid problems and take great care of your plant!
As part of the stretch, your plant will be growing out its bud sites. Stunting growth at this point could cause the plant to make smaller and fewer bud sites than it would if it were healthy and growing fast.
If you have more room in your grow space under the
light to spread your plants out, or if you are running out of headroom, it is important to gently bend stretching stems down and away from the center of the plant to help maintain a flat canopy (a technique known as low stress training).
During the stretch, gently bend new stems down to try to maintain a flat, even canopy If you keep up with it during the stretch, you can prevent any one stem from getting much taller than the others When stems are new, they are flexible and easy to bend, but they quickly harden up and turn woody. By keeping a close eye on your plant and bending any too-tall branches down and away from the center of the
plant as soon as you can, you will maximize your yields since that flat shape will most efficiently use your grow lights. If all your main bud sites are spread out and about the same height, you can increase your yields by up to 40% or more!
Spreading out your bud sites and maintaining a flat canopy can increase cannabis yields by as much as 40%...or even more!
At this point, you only have
a few weeks left until you lose the ability to do any further training, so don't miss this last opportunity to control the shape of your plant, especially if you're running out of room!
Week 3-4: Budlets Form
The mad stretching of the first few weeks will start to slow down in week 3-4, but your cannabis plant will still be growing upward. At this point you'll actually start to see real buds instead of just hairs (I like to call them "budlets" during this stage) and all the pistils will be white and sticking almost straight out.
"Budlets" start forming where buds will be, with white pistils sticking straight out Your plant is going to start getting a little picky about the environment and nutrients in week 3-4 so it's important to keep a close eye on your garden. You need to make sure...
What Are "Feminized" Seeds?
by Nebula Haze |
What are "feminized" cannabis seeds and how are they different from regular seeds?
Feminized
cannabis seeds are produced in a way to make sure that all the resulting plants are female (since only female cannabis plants make buds).
"Regular" (or non-feminized) seeds will produce about half male, and half female plants.
Having male plants can be an asset to a breeding program, but having to watch over and throw away half the plants can be a waste of time and space for growers who just want to grow their own supply of bud!
By starting your grow with feminized cannabis seeds from a reputable breeder, you can stop worrying about plant gender altogether, and know that every single one of your plants is going to be female and make buds!
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How Do Breeders Make Feminized Seeds?
The way breeders create
feminized seeds is they breed two female cannabis plants together, which means that all the resulting offspring will be female. This is done by spraying developing flowers with a substance that changes flower development (often colloidal silver or gibberellic acid). This process is used to force one of the female plants to start producing pollen sacs just like a male plant.
By harvesting the pollen sacs and using the "female" pollen to pollinate buds of a different female plant, you are giving the resulting seeds only female genes (there is no "father"), so none of the seedlings end up being male.
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I wanted to say thank you for your excellent knowledge, guidance and advice.
When I first started growing about 5 years ago I used your site quite a bit to get me started, and now wish I had kept reading and improving!
After a few problems I decided I needed to research why and solve them. The depth and range of knowledge and the pictorial guidance
has genuinely allowed me to progress to the next level!
Not only did it solve my current problem (which was over feeding) I then got reading some of your other tutorials which has taught me how to improve quality and yield. So for the first time I have a topped, LST'ed and partially defoliated plant which with a month to maturity is looking superb!
Thanks again for all your excellent help and advice. A truly vital resource for every grower!
Jonny |
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In your travels have you found a strain of truly skunk (smelling like one ya killed on the road )?
I'm nearing my sixtys and can't find that good old taste or high been
growing for 40 plus years and your site is still help full new then. Is crazy who thought fem seeds ??
Keep up the great work
Going Green |
Going Green, we are currently growing the strain Super Skunk by Nirvana, and honestly the smell is almost overpowering even though it just started flowering! I've smelled strains that are skunky before, but this one is something else!
Below on the left is Pineapple Chunk, and the right is the Super Skunk plant. Although the Pineapple Chunk has a soft fruity scent up close, you can't even smell it because of the overpowering smell of skunk!
~Nebula We encourage you to forward this email to a friend in need!
Who Runs This
Newsletter? |
Nebula Haze:
Medical cannabis is important to me personally, and I'm dedicated to showing others how easy it is to grow their own supply of
cannabis at home.
It is my mission to educate and build growing resources to help both new and advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. We update GrowWeedEasy.com at least weekly (often even more often!) to make sure that our website provides you with all the information you need to succeed at growing! |
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Learn which seed sources are personally recommended by Nebula Haze |
Sirius Fourside:
Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium (deep water culture,
bubbleponics).
"Growing cannabis is a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much
easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water doesn't increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, coco, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
Get Your Seeds Delivered
Safely! |
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GrowWeedEasy.com has put together a hand-picked list of all the available SEED BANKS including what type of payment they
accept and where they ship in the world!
View complete list of trusted seed sources:
http://www.growweedeasy.com/seeds
Why not start your grow with quality genetics from an award-winning
strain? Or choose a strain that suits your growing style and personal needs. Still not sure? We recommend Nirvana. They've been breeding award-winning strains for decades
and offer some of the most reliable stealth shipping in the industry. In our complete seed sources list you'll discover... - Which Seed Sources are Fast, Safe and Reliable (list is updated regularly)
- Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Check Money Order, Paypal & even more secure payment options!
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- Find Out Which Seed Sources Deliver to YOU!
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