I never cut off any leaves unless they start to turn yellow, dry up and die. Only then do I remove them.
I do frequently remove entire lower(lowest) branches (2-3).Primarily for ease of access for watering, as well as enhancing air circulation, especially indoors.
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Two unknown strains and bubblegum on the bototm picā¦ camera sucks , the greens arenāt that light , picking up too much of that 2700k light
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One more:
Any advice on the lighting? Are my plants really going ot be affected by a few minutes of extra darkness at the end of the 12-hour-dark at this stage?
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3 weeks out from harvestā¦ first grow has been a major success but i had a couple questions about lighting and how strict the 12/12 needs to beā¦ i dont have them on a timer and have turned the lights on about 10 minutes late in the morning a couple timesā¦ i usually just work it back to 9pm/9am by splitting the difference(always giving it more dark than light)ā¦ like Iāll turn them off at 9:05 instead of 9:10 tonight (because I went 10 minutes too long turning them on this morning) and then have them back on the 9/9 by tomorrow night.
These plants are very far into flower and looking amazing for a CFL grow (picture attached).
This is my first grow using any sort of non-natural lighting and have a lot of things on the checklist for my next grow (a timer being one) but wanted to get a clear understanding of how sensitive these things really are to a slight variation in timeā¦ Anything under 15 minutes, say. I mean in nature you have so many variables i donāt see how these plants could be THAT sensitiveā¦ but i research it and canāt seem to find a consensus on the topic.
Thanks everyone
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Your plants should be fine.
For decades now, I have been moving outdoor container plants indoors to induce flowering before the season(s) would initiate flowering. No timer can move the plants in and out at the same times every day. I always try to be as punctual as possibleā¦ but I am not a timer.
Point being, that when I have been off on my timing I always erred on the dark cycleā¦I always make certain they get minimum 12 hours of uninterrupted darknessā¦.just bring them back out a corresponding later/ earlier time. I never worried if they received 10 or 20 minutes or so of more dark than light, or 10 or 20 minutes of less light than dark.
Never had any problems doing this.
Your plants look fineā¦you are doing great!
Enjoy your harvest!
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Thank man!
Thatās basically what Iām thinking itās just my first grow so you knowā¦ stressing about every little thing. You say they should be fineā¦ so youāre saying thereās a chanceā¦ 
ā¦ hah. those pictures were taken this morning ā¦ im thinking the buds are about 3 weeks out from harvest but still stress hard over little things like 10 mins of extra darknessā¦
The last time this happened (was roughly 10 minutes as well, I did the same thing, split the difference, giving them slightly extra dark that night by turning the lights off 5 minutes before schedule, never giving them more light then dark )
Got the CFLs a little close on one of the plants and scorched a few sugar leaves ā¦ been a huge learning experience and one of the funnest things Iāve ever done.
Will be upgrading to LED after one more CFL run. Itās crazy to me that these plants could be affected by something as little as 5 minutes of light either wayā¦ hell even 15 or 30 minutes now and then. itās not like nature is 100% ā¦ gets darker as the season goes onā¦ moonlight, etc.
But when I read itās like some people are saying even just a SLIGHT variance can send your plants into a frenzy and others are more casual about itā¦i mean there is definitely a consensus that you dont want to mess with it ā¦ but 5 minutes?
Thanks buddy appreciate the feedback very much.
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I have never worried about interruptions at the beginning or end of the cycle. Itās interrupting the middle that will really screw things up IME.
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Also of note- made my own cal-mag using activated calcium from ground up chicken eggshells/vinegar and epsom salt. This simple solution turned my leaves from yellow to green inside of a week ā¦ it was amazing watching that happenā¦ i can tell botany is in my future for real.
Loving all these home remedies. hell i even successfully cloned a couple clippings with water and peroxide and have them a few inches tall at this pooint- probaboly going to send them into flower super early and see what happensā¦ seems like a good test for a CFL setup.
thanks again for the feedback it really does help with my stress levels.
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Makes sense man i was just talking with my wife this morning saying i dont see how those plants could really hermie out at that stage unless i just started blasting them with 24 hours of light or somethingā¦ i mean they are less than a month from being cut down with very solid bud formation across the board on all 3 of them. Seems like it would take a disaster of some kind to mess with these things at this point.
Anyone out there who actually believes a couple of minutes would matter? Just curious as to the reasoning behind why they would be as sensitive as a computerā¦ down to the minuteā¦ really?
If this has gotten off topic, my bad- I will find start a separate thread.
I just am down to the last few weeks and praying everything goes OK.
Well let us consider what is happening in the plant. During the day light sensitive hormones are destroyed. At night, theses hormones accumulate. Once there is enough of this hormone (ie the nights are longer) the plant starts to flower. So minor fluctuations in hormone levels are normal. Now if the night cycle is interrupted the hormone levels drop, causing the plant to stress.
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so thatās why longer light cycle during flower is much worse. got it. thank you again.
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Hey everyone I think my plants are pushing harvestā¦ Iām not 100% on how to tellā¦ of course ive read articles - I understand optimal harvest is when the trichomes are JUST starting to move into the cloudy-to-amber territory. Like say 90% cloudy 10% amber.
Can i post some bud pics and get some feedback on what you guys think as far as how the actual buds look? Its hard for me to tell the color of the trichomesā¦
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Bubblegum, Unknown#1, Unknown#2 (in order from top to bottom)
Something is telling me roughly 1-2 more weekā¦BG might be ready thoughā¦1 more week on that Iād guess.
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What do you guys think based on the general look of the buds? Still some white hairsā¦ To be honest they are very impressive to me for my first CFL growā¦ and there is a decent amountā¦ the bubblegum probably produced the most but the other two have some nice buds as well, all very nicely covered in trichomeā¦ The middle picture one got a little burned in a couple areas (bulbs got a little close for one light cycleā¦didnāt seem to affect muchā¦ leaves are also starting to yellow in general on that one and bubblegum) ā¦ im thinking that one might be close too but there are still new white hairs coming out and the trichs arent looking amber to me quite yet.
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I would say minimum a week maybe two.
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Thanks man- Forgot to mention they are halfway through week 7 of flower as of those pictures so that would put them right around 9-10 weeks. thats about what i had in mind as well.
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