newbie needs advise

[vision weaver]

hi peeps any advise would be greatly received

i am new at this growing hobby and i am disabled so trying to grow my own prescription .

i have bought some seeds and i have about 6 growing in the greenhouse some with four leaves and some baby ganga just peeping through my media .

i have ordered a 600 halide light but i cannot put this in the greenhouse it will light the neighbourhood up i suppose like a beacon .

my question s are

1 when they have four leaves is this when they have to be in 24 hour light and if so how long for i will be able to bring them inside for this when do they go 12/12

and go back outside ?? cheers peeps

[oldtimer1]

You would normaly grow your plants in veg untill they produce preflowers. See :- link!

Then they are put on 12/12 light/dark to flower.

Have a read of this thread link! and the links in it, it will help you understand, also give you alternate methods with out useing lights.

[vision weaver]

thanks old timer the links were of use and i will hope for a good crop

do i keep the light on 24 hrs at present or just let the daylight hours and nightfall sort the growing

[oldtimer1]

Natural light is all you need at this time of the year.

[vision weaver]

cheers oldtimer as ever very informative i bow down to your wisdom and your knowledge

l.o.l.

are the lights then just for indoor growing gardeners

hobbyist etc

[Pip]

The whole 24 hours light thing does more harm than good to your plants, all plants need a dark period where they produce sugars etc....leaving them on 24 hours light for any length of time could put them into shock, then its either stunted growth or bangkok chick boy time. I reckon that 20/4 is the most light they should be getting, personally i stick to 18/6, until they are about 12" then flower.

Good luck with the lady's vision weaver.

[twinkle]

hi v w,i'll just stick my bit in,i also grow in g/h,i'v 18 plants at various stages,and i shall just wait patiently till they flower naturally. i have 3 which i started under fluey's on 03 02 03,and they started flowering approx 4/5 weeks ogo,so to continue the flowering process i now put these 3 to bed in my shed at night,thus giving them an artificial 12/12,and hopefully finishing them of for a nice smoke,also most of my other plants came from these 3 originally,so i'v learnt how to take clones successfully on this site another miracle!!well for me it is!!the sexing part screwed me up,so i now use feminised seed only,i then dont have the problem of12/12 to sex em and then starting the veggin process again,this is [my way]and it's working for me good luck vw regards twinkle

[vision weaver]

hi twinkle thanks for the imput very informative so lets see if i have this worked out .

from germination seeds that have a tap root i plant in my media and put them in the greenhouse with some water

they take about 1/2 weeks to pop there little babies head out of the media i let them grow in the natural light day / night till they show signs of flowering diperse with the male unless i need seeds for the following year?

or take clones from this plant motherplant and bring on

when they show signes of flowering 12/12 at what hieght do they start to flower ??

and when do you harvest twinkle phew made it so far

my babies have only got 4 leaves on and have some way to go keep me posted twinkle your gratefully the visionweaver

[oldtimer1]

VW you only need lights for growing indoors. Once the plants show preflowers you can either let them flower naturally.

Even under glass they may not finish properly depends on the variety. It is better to either take them indoors and flower them under a light.

Or better still give them artificial dark as twinkle was saying. That way you can flower them while the sun is still at its strongest this will give you the best quality.

Pip cavan. I have clone mother lines that have been under continuous light without a break for over 35 years with none of the problems you mention yet.

[vision weaver]

CHEERS OLDTIMER IT PAYS TO LISTEN TO YOUR ELDERS . I AM GRATEFUL FOR YOUR INPUT AND I AM A LOT WISER THAN WHEN I FIRST STARTED

HERES TO HAVING A GO AND HOPFULLY GET IT RIGHT

I SUPPOSE THAT ALL FIRST TIMERS ARE LIKE ME KEEN TO LEARN AND EAGER TO PRODUCE WITH THE MINIMUM EFFORT FOR THE MAXIMUM CROP

CHEERS OLDTIMER AND TWINKLE

HAPPY TIMES AHEAD

[Pip]

I have clone mother lines that have been under continuous light without a break for over 35 years with none of the problems you mention yet.

I was under the impression that, as with most of the plant world, they need their dark period to produce starches and sugars as well as regeneration/sleep or they get stressed. Obviously you have the experience, have you ever flowered your mothers or just the clones, just wondering if they would be affected that way?

I'm confusing myself now, oh well, You learn something new everyday. I would believe your word more than my own mate, God knows what strange things my brain has been making up over the years and telling me.

[oldtimer1]

Pip cavan, in practise there seems to be no problems or detrimental effects keeping bonsai mothers long term under continuous lighting. There are a number of things that are relevant to this. Firstly cannabis is supposedly an annual type plant, yet will form a tree like structure, ie a lignified trunk as a framework that will keep producing new soft growth from pruned top branches year after year. This should not be possible either, but does when grown under long or continuous light hours. For the longest mother life just enough light for the plant to metabolise is best. Under intense light growth will be more rapid and the mother will need replacing/regenerating more often and maintenance becomes a pain in the butt, requiring constant attention.

Back in the sixties and early seventies people/gurus who wrote about cannabis like EdR said you could not keep clone or mother lines going for more than a few months without degeneration and genetic drift taking place. Thing is I was already keeping mother lines long term, no one told me you could not. I still have some of those lines now, they are just as potent and yield as well today as they did when they were seedlings.

As to flowering old mothers, I have done it and its pointless. The main stem is woody and lignified. To expect it to make the massive growth needed for a good crop just can’t happen. The quality is good but the yield minimal.

Soft cuttings are what are needed, from them rapid growth is easy and the best crop yield produced.

One advantage of cuttings rooted under continuous light is they match whatever environment they are put into. A lot of growers in the southern states of the US have big problems when putting plants out that had been vegged under 18/6 lighting in the spring. The plants tend get set back going into flowering mode when planted out and never properly recovering or cropping like they should. Whereas plants raised under 24/7 have not had any dark period and as long as the natural dark period they put out into is not above the plants flowering trigger. Adapt and grow away on the rising light hours just like a seedling would, with no set back at all.

I don’t know why this is, as I have said many times I’m a gardener not a scientist.

[Pip]

versatile and hardy little buggers, somehow i don't think my dahlia's would stand up to that type of treatment, cheers OT.

[vision weaver]

B) we are very humble to your knowledge

and experience ot thanks for the info

i have just taken delivery of my 600w light one minute i tested it it worked when i cam to hang it the bloody thing

will not come on the ballast is buzzing so i presume that it must be the light some how ?

[twinkle]

hi guys,well vision weaver you will have to grow the best pot in the world with the great advice from these pro's p/c o/t1,me i'm in the same boat as you,my first grow was last year ,but i did like gardening prior to my using pot, i then started to realise what crap i was smoking so grow man grow regards twinkle