This question may have been in a different thread but I couldn’t find it. Anyone else noticed significantly longer flower times than suggested on the packaging or website to reach full maturity and at what point do u consider day 1 of flowering??
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Honestly…I gave up on actual flower time…I just read the plant. Some star their time different. When I did Count days I started after about two weeks after flip of lights…once she starts really forming flower and not just pre flowering (showing sex)
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I agree with reading the plant. It’s the best way. The breeder timelines are suspect, especially considering you get different phenos.
I would always add a week to whatever the pack says but would keep my eyes on it the whole time.
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The most used and original way to count flowering is from time of flip to 12/12.
However, breeder listed flowering times are often listed as the shortest flowering pheno. Also, every grow style and environment will influence flower times differently.
As others have said, eventually you get to just know how a plant looks when nearly ready.
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I start counting after the first pistil is seen. So typically on the flip day because of preflowers or 1-3 days after that.
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Thanks for the feedback everyone. I agree on it def being a bit longer than advertised. I think the earliest on a 55 day strain was 65 and a few other went to 75-80 from the flip of 12/12
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The breeders advertise shorter times as they know people want fast turnarounds on their grows, if they stated the actual time people would not buy them as much, if they are looking for a fast strain. I am always telling my plants to keep going, just a little bit longer, get those buds big and fat for me lol.
I treat all my plants to being a 10 week flower period and start checking trichomes at 8-9 weeks unless they are obviously done, and stopped taking up water.
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because when i started to grow i was doing it in a greenhouse its pretty hard to tell when they flip always used a scope to check and see how much amber i had … still do this and most of the time i let them go longer then the recommended times …
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This is nothing more than a deceptive sales tactic which is annoying because many cannabis “breeders”
seem to be somewhat contemptuous of their own customers. High prices for heterogeneous plants, with inaccurately short projections of maturity.
In contrast, I have noticed that non cannabis seed purveyors seem to be more respectful towards their customers, in that, I have noticed that actual maturity times are usually shorter than those stated by breeder.
ETA-- clarification
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perhaps some of the breeders out there should read what your saying and state that out of respect for the growers they are being honest about the times … i know that i my self have been disgusted with them in general and would be loyal to a breeder that showed me respect ,not only in the times to maturity but also in respect to the over pricing … am growing out some beans right now and we will see how close the finish times are …i WILL make sure to note this info here on OG and i think it would be a great idea for everyone else to do so also …
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Breeders flowering times have always been all over the place… the environment in which they are grown plays a big part in actual flowering times. Also, when did they start their count… was it when they flipped to 12/12 or was it when the plant started its pistilate flowering?
If you start counting as soon as the schedule is flipped to 12/12, your plant hasn’t actually started flowering quite yet… pre-flowering is not actual flowering… and it will still take another 10 to 14 days for that plant to actively start it’s flowering cycle. In essence, up to two weeks are added to a plants flowering time, while it hasn’t actually started flowering yet… that makes absolutely no sense and it’s confusing to a lot of experienced and inexperienced growers alike.
From a horticultural point of view… when a plant starts it’s pistilate flowering it will look like a small group of pistils emerging from the top of the forming flower. When you see this, your plant has begun it’s active flowering cycle.
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Don’t pay attention to what the breeders say on the packs, because that could be wrong. I mean, most of the time there are various phenos that show up in those seeds anyway. But even if you were working with a homogenous variety, it’s hard to say because who knows if the breeder was counting from the first appearance of pistils or from the moment that the lighting schedule was changed.
In my experience, in the 90s there seemed to be a lot more indoor gardening than there is now, because of the changing legal climate. Indoors it’s kind of silly to start counting from the appearance of pistils, in my humble opinion, because you might miss them, lol. Not everyone is checking their indoor gardens every day, even if you are, you could still miss some pistils. Also, let’s not get into why we should wait for the pistils to appear when such a thing as female pre-flowers come first. But outdoors, of course, there is no flipping to a different light cycle. There’s just a gradual descent toward winter solstice, and how gradual it is depends on latitude.
All of this to say, just use it as a guideline and don’t time the chop based on what’s printed on the seed pack. Wait until the plant tells you it’s done, and that’s the only thing that matters.
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I grow inside, count from day 1 of light flip, like everyone I thought, lol!!! Surprised so many do not start the count then.
Does not really matter to me, they get run till done, judging with a scope.
I have never had a plant done at 55 days!! But I tend to grow Sativa’s or 60/40 cross of such.
The plants I have going now stretched for 21 days, 3 weeks. Real Bud formation did not start till like day 21 or so, when stretch was finished. They will all go 70-75 days.
I wait till they slow their drinking WAY DOWN. They will abruptly (easy to see/tell in my Octopots) just stop drinking much when they are about finished. Seems when they stop drinking hard, 7 -10 days they are ready to come down.
I wait for all cloudy, and for strains that do(some DO NOT ) I like 10 -15 % Amber heads .
Funny how everyone does it a bit differently
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What the hell, I’ll play Devil’s advocate for a sec… In all fairness, the buds could actually be effectively harvested at the breeder times. In the sense that it will get you high, racy af, but high 
For real though, I give up on those guys when it comes to outdoors. They are vague and vaguer.
My DBHP outdoors threw pistils, retracted them and started over 3 - 4 weeks later. Face palm
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I usually count from first pistil and use the breeder times as a date for when I break the microscope out to start checking the trichomes properly to check for any colour change.
In the past I I’ve had plants finish SOONER than the breeder recommended times but that becomes obvious as they stop taking as much water and the leaves start to fade. 
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then perhaps they need to state these things in their advertising …was taught that you start counting when you flip …it is crazy for breeders not to be clear about a seed i am paying so much for …show me some respect and i will show some in return
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