I have three non-auto plants that germinated May 14th. They appear to be very healthy and nearly five feet tall. I have been fertilizing regularly using Blue Planet Nutrients Elite 3 Part (Elite 3-Part Base Nutrients - Grow Micro Bloom - Blue Planet Nutrients).
I thought the plants should, at the least, be showing signs of flowering by now. But, as a newbie, I cannot tell if they are close or if they won’t flower or if I am doing something wrong. I read that their light schedule should be 12/12 with the twelve hours off being in total darkness. I am not able to do that. Is that why these three plants are not flowering?
My first grow was a few auto-flowering plants and they were very easy to grow and get to flower. And it was very quick to reach flower stage.
I am growing to extract the CBD. Please tell me if the following process that I read about is the correct way to to that:
#1 - Cut off the clumps of buds and separate them into small clumps similar to the size of popcorn. Remove and discard leaves. #2 - Place on a cookie sheet and put in the oven for 40 minutes at 240 degrees. #3 - Remove from the oven and let them cool, then grind to get it even smaller. #4 - Place it in a double-boiler pan, cover with grain alcohol and let that sit unheated for 10-15 minutes so the alcohol turns bright green. #5 - Gently heat until the alcohol has evaporated. #6 - What remains should be a dark green, thick substrance which is the activated CBD.
Attached are photos from today. I would greatly appreciate your suggestions based on what the photos show.
Thanks!
I know nothing about cbd, so just assuming it’s the same. Why aren’t you able to do a 12/12 schedule? Sounds like that’s the issue. They are staying in veg because of the light cycle.
If they are photo period plants they won’t flower without 12 hours of continuous darkness every night. If you don’t have any way to do that you’ll need to grow autoflowers.
Your dark space doesn’t have to be fancy though. I have a space in my garage that I’m using. You could stick them in a spare closet or bathroom… As long as it’s completely dark for 12 hours a night.
June 10 and are doing very well.
Must the room be completely dark? Attached are four more photos; the last showing the darkness I can achieve in there.
Will the six other plants be OK with only 12 hours of light until the three largest flower? And once those three begin to flower, do I still need to give them only 12 hours of light?
OK, thanks. I found some cardboard to put in that window to block the light. One more quewstion about this, what is your guesstimate as to when they will be gin flowering now that they will have 12 hours darkness?
These plants are pretty tall already. You’re gonna have to move your lighting up because they’ll stretch up quite a bit once you change the light cycle to 12/12. The first 2-3 weeks of flower you could possibly double in size depending on the strain. Expect at least another foot tho for sure.
Photoperiod = light period = the amount of light determines life cycle, should be nearing shorter hours naturally with change of seasons though, what additional light do u have during darktime hrs
Just only have your lights on when it’s light out, any light leaks can cause herms and should be getting short enough days, if ur currently at 24hrs anything south of 15hrs of light should trigger flower, can also speed it up a lil bit and give em blackout darkness for two days then 12/12
