Flowering week 1 to 4

During the first four weeks of the flowering stage the plants continue to grow and start to produce their first buds.

The plants automatically start to flower when providing them with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.

Make sure the grow room is completely dark during the 12 hours of darkness.

If this is not the case, your plants will suffer from unnecessary stress and can revert back into the growing stage.

I increase the EC with 0.1 every week and will alter the nutrient solution a bit. As long as the leaf tips don’t burn you can continue to increase the EC.

It’s also important to keep a close eye on the temperature, humidity and the levels of your water.

If these are all correct, not much can go wrong. If you have any questions or doubts, just ask someone for help on the forum.

Enjoy!

Robert

Day 29

• Air temperature: 74
• Water temperature: 69
• Humidity: 70%
• EC: 1.2
• PH: 6.1

The plants have grown nicely over the weekend. They responded well to the 600 watt HPS lamp and it didn’t get too warm.

You have to make sure your settings are correct before going into the flowering stage, since this 600 watt HPS lamp generates more heat than a 400 watt MH lamp.

The plants evaporated about 5 gallons of water, and the EC dropped by 0.3.

This automatically increases the pH value, because the more nutrients in the water, the lower the EC.

From today onwards I will give them as much A nutrition as B nutrition.

They will actually still grow for a while, but because the nutrients in the water are now 2/3 A and 1/3 B, I’m going to slowly change it to 1/2 A and 1/2 B.

I add another 5 gallons of water and make sure the EC is 1.5 and the pH is 5.8.

The plants are growing closer and closer to each other, and they’ll be completely overgrown within two weeks.

If I hadn’t fimmed these plants twice, they’d be touching the ceiling by now. There’s still a chance that the plants will get too tall. In this case, you have two options:

Plant growth regulator strongly inhibits cell elongation to make sure the plants stay low.

The internodes develop shortly after each other and the thickness of the stem increases.

The manufacturers claim it has no harmful effects on the duration of the mitosis cycle, metabolism or energy processes, but it however causes stress to the plant.

The slowing down of the plant growth starts immediately after treatment and lasts 14 days.

After this period, the cell stretching resumes as normal in a phase of the cycle.

If you decide to use it at this point, your plants won’t grow any more. Check an example of a brand of plant growth regulator at this link here.

I prefer this option in this case. Supercropping is squeezing the stem of the plant and bending it horizontally.

This can be done to lower the tallest shoots a bit to give all plants a similar height.

Buy High Yield Marijuana Seeds

• Easy to grow
• Beginner friendly
• Germination guaranteed
• Grow guide available

BUY HIGH YIELD SEEDS

The stem will be thicker at the place it was snapped and will slowly grow upwards again.

I will place a net above the plants at the end of the week and bend all branches that grow a certain height through.

Here’s a small course on super cropping and all it’s advantages:

The plants look super healthy. They have thick stems, white roots and green leaves.

All the light green you see is new growth. These will all become buds. I expect this to be a good harvest.

Day 31

• Air temperature: 75
• Water temperature: 70
• Humidity: 65%
• EC: 1.3
• PH: 5.9

I have to say I’m very satisfied with this system. The plants and the root system continue to grow.

Naturally, I add more water to the system and increase the EC to 1.5.

I swapped the front right plant with the back right one for photography purposes, because the front plant is much bigger than the back one, so the back one wasn’t clearly visible.

These pictures once again clearly show the results of fimming. The plant has multiple main shoots and no longer has its original ‘christmas three shape’.

You could fim your plants once more if you want. The plants will grow until the second or third week of the flowering stage, so they have sufficient time to recover and grow.

The root system continues to grow and is starting to get a nice yellow-gold glow.

The root system will also continue to grow until the second or third week of the flowering stage, so it will still grow significantly from now.

The stem is getting nice and thick. You can see some algae appear on the rockwool cube. This is no problem, as long as the water remains clean.

I didn’t do much else, and everything is going well. Feel free to post some pictures on the forum if you’re growing along with this harvest.

This allows everyone to check out your plants and possibly provide you with tips and advice. Here’s a bit on nutrients:

I didn’t do much else, and everything is going well. Feel free to post some pictures on the forum if you’re growing along with this harvest.

Download my free marijuana grow guide and start growing high quality strains

This allows everyone to check out your plants and possibly provide you with tips and advice. Here’s a bit on nutrients:

Different nutrients

A plant makes its own food by converting water and CO2 into sugars and oxygen, with the help of light.

In addition, the plant absorbs a number of important elements via its roots. The three most important ones are Nitrogen (N), Phosphor (P) and Potassium (K).

Nitrogen

is important for the creation of chlorophyll, which is used to absorb light. Nitrogen also promotes the growth of the stems, leaves and buds.

A plant therefore needs a lot of nitrogen during the growing stage.

Buy Marijuana Nutrients

• Fertilizer
• Pest control
• Grow kits
• Grow guide available

BUY MARIJUANA NUTRIENTS

Phosphor

plays an important role in the respiration and energy supply of the plant.

It promotes the development of the root system of young plants and the flowering of mature plants. Phosphor is very important during the entire cultivation of your plants.

Potassium

is crucial for the production and transport of sugars inside the plant.

It gives the plant firmness, makes it resistant against fungi and diseases, and is important for the formation of the roots.

It’s also very important for the creation and growth of the buds.

Potassium is therefore required during the entire cultivation, and the plant could use some additional potassium during the last couple of weeks of the flowering phase to create thick, hard buds.

There are various other elements that are important to your plants.

Read the article Nutrients for Marijuana Plants for some more background information on the nutritional needs of a plant.

Day 33

• Air temperature: 74
• Water temperature: 68
• Humidity: 65%
• EC: 1.4
• PH: 5.9

All values are perfect, which is clearly reflected in the plants. All the light-green colors on the leaves in the pictures is new growth.

The plants continue to get wider and taller. Naturally, I refill the system and bring the EC to 1.5 and the pH to 5.8.

Keep checking to make sure the water still smells fresh and replace it as soon as you’re in doubt. It’s a small task that could prevent a lot of trouble.

Since the plants are growing so nicely, I’ll add some more hydrogen peroxide to the water.

There’s already 1.5 ml per 34 ounces of water, and I’m going to increase this to 2.5 ml per 34 ounces.

This results in even more oxygen in the water, allowing the roots to absorb even more nutrients. It also works as a disinfectant against bacteria or deposits.

As I mentioned before, these plants will probably get too tall for the tent.

The distance between the lamp and the plants will therefore be insufficient, thereby overheating the plants.

This can cause the stomata to close or even completely burn. That’s why I’m setting up a net.

Once the branches grow 10 inches through, I will supercrop them. Supercropping is squeezing the stem of the plant and bending it horizontally.

Without breaking it of course. This is a great way of bringing down high plants or branches a bit.

After the weekend I’ll show you how to supercrop. If you want you can already check this course on super cropping because there are more benefits than only bringing down high plants.

Day 36

• Air temperature: 75
• Water temperature: 71
• Humidity: 60%
• EC: 1.3
• PH: 6.0

The blanket of leaves is now completely grown shut, and no light is wasted anymore.

All 600 watts are absorbed by the plants, so I’m expecting a nice yield.

The four of them evaporated about 8 gallons of water over the weekend, so they absorbed a ton of nutrients and created a lot of sugars.

I started the flowering phase with EC 1.5, and will increase it by 0.1 every week.

I will increase the EC to 1.6 starting today and the pH will stay on 5.8. Keep an eye on the leaf tips.

Once they start to discolor, the plants are getting too many nutrients, and you’ll have to lower the EC a bit again.

Since they’ve grown so nicely, it’s also time to super crop your plants. We snap everything that reaches 10 inches through the screen.

You have to gently squeeze the stem until your fingers touch each other.

If you don’t first squeeze the branch and bend it right away, it will break. This could be repaired, but this is not what you want.

It’s a bit like scrogging, because this also requires you to horizontally bend the branches.

You snap everything that grows through the net. This causes underlying branches to grow upwards, and you will get even more main buds.

This does however damage the plant a bit, so I wouldn’t do it unless it’s necessary. Next time you’ll see how quickly a plant recovers from this.

See how thick the root system is getting. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Day 38

• Air temperature: 76
• Water temperature: 70
• Humidity: 60%
• EC: 1.4
• PH: 6.0

The plants continue to grow, evaporate water and absorb nutrients. I added 6.5 gallons of water and increased the EC from 1.4 to 1.6.

I again lowered to pH to 5.8. Also keep measuring the temperature and humidity at different spots in your grow room.

If the airflow isn’t perfect you could end up with a very hot, dry corner in your room where fungi or bugs can easily develop.

As you can see, the plants recovered well from the super cropping.

There’s already a big knob where the plants were snapped. This will get bigger and bigger, and the flow of saps will continue to circulate.

I once again snap everything that grows quite a bit through the net.

Squeeze it carefully until the stem snaps, and then bend it slowly. You can see that I accidentally broke a stem in these pics below.

Luckily, plants recover from fractures a lot quicker than humans.

If you put the broken piece back exactly how it was and fix it with a bit of tape, the flow of saps will continue and the plant will nicely recover from the fracture.

Did you know that you can put a branch of a different type on this amnesia plants with this method?

This branch will then produce a different type of marijuana than the rest of the plant. I will show you guys one day.

Day 40

• Air temperature: 75
• Water temperature: 68
• Humidity: 65%
• EC: 1.3
• PH: 6.1

The plants are experiencing little stress from the super cropping procedure.

The plants could suffer from purple stems or less evaporation, but none of that is the case in these plants. They’re looking healthy and strong.

I once again added water to the system, increased the EC and lowered the pH. I don’t see any buds yet, but I think this will change over the weekend.

If you look closely, you can see more hairs are growing out of the tops, and not just leaves. This is the first sign of flowering, and things will really take off from now.

This is the branch I accidentally broke last time. I’ll keep the tape on for now, but you can see it’s still looking healthy. Marijuana plants are true weeds and can take a hit.

Know how to perfectly time your harvest so you can maximize your yield. Download our free mini harvesting guide.

Day 43

• Air temperature: 76
• Water temperature: 70
• Humidity: 60%
• EC: 1.3
• PH: 6.2

Yeahh! This is what we want to see. A beautiful field full of small white buds. Zoom in on the pictures above, so you can see how many there are.

They evaporated over 9 gallons of water over the weekend, so that’s huge. I really have to add a lot of water to the system each time to make sure not too many roots are dry.

I now raise the EC to 1.7 and keep the pH on 5.8. Keep an eye on the leaf tips, because discoloration is a sign of too many nutrients.

We’re going to turn these little buds into very thick ones, full of THC, over the next weeks. They have to get that full flavor and become compact.

It has to have a nice her by and sweet scent. By giving the plants a nice amount of nutrients and sufficient light, we can influence the compactness and flavor of the marijuana to a certain extent.

This shouldn’t be a problem with this extremely healthy root system.

Day 45

• Air temperature: 75
• Water temperature: 71
• Humidity: 60%
• EC: 1.4
• PH: 6.1

As the pics show, the top is completely overgrown, so no light is lost.

Starting today, I will adjust the last picture of the standard series of three pics. Instead of the picture of the bottom of the plants, I’ll post one of a small bud.

Each time I’ll take a picture of the same bud to get a good view of the developments. See the pics below.

I refilled the system again and adjusted the values.

I also check for bugs and diseases now and then by looking underneath the leaves and between the branches for any damage or discoloration on the leaf or on the stem.

These pictures show that the plant recovered very well. The knob is quite thick and very hard.

It would be hard to squeeze this flat between your fingers.

These photos show that the branch that snapped is functioning fully independently again. I removed the tape, so you can see that the wound healed very nicely.

Day 47

• Air temperature: 78
• Water temperature: 72
• Humidity: 65%
• EC: 1.5
• PH: 6.0

The values are still perfect. The temperature always has to be around 75 degrees, and the water temperature around 70.

The humidity can slowly be lowered by turning up the extractor a bit or by letting it get a bit warmer. Also, don’t spray your plants anymore.

The EC can go back to 1.7 and the pH to 5.8. I’m doing this every other day and it’s working great.

You can also do this every day or connect an external water tank with a float switch that allows water to flow through once it drops below a certain level.

These buds look very healthy and start to get more and more little white hairs.

The color of the hairs determines whether it’s time to harvest your plants. The first hairs will turn red/brown in about two weeks.

You can harvest your marijuana when 50% of the hairs are brown, although the plants would still be very young and won’t contain much THC.

Most people harvest when about 70 to 80 percent of the hairs are brown.

This gives your marijuana a nice taste, weight and it will contain a whole lot of resin. We’ll be keeping an eye on it.

Check this course on harvesting for more information.

Day 50

• Air temperature: 77
• Water temperature: 71
• Humidity: 60%
• EC: 1.4
• PH: 6.1

They’ve done exceptionally well last weekend. They used a good amount of water and have grown nicely.

I’m going to raise the EC to 1.8 for this week, as long as the leaf tips don’t burn.

I also check the plants for bugs and diseases, but they seem to be perfectly clean.

The plants themselves don’t grow much anymore, but the buds do!

They’re small, hard balls with pretty white hairs. Try and gently squeeze one of the buds to feel how hard they are. They should start to have a stronger smell by now.

If you don’t have a carbon filter installed, this is the right time to do so, otherwise neighbours who live as far as five doors down can smell your plants.

You should definitely install a carbon filter if you’re growing illegally. Check these course on how to do this.

Day 52

• Air temperature: 77
• Water temperature: 69
• Humidity: 60%
• EC: 1.5
• PH: 6.1

Everything is still looking great today. The plants are enjoying the perfect climate they’re in.

I’m able to create this climate, partly because of my experience, but also because I keep checking all values.

Your plants immediately react to being too warm or cold. They can for instance close their stomata to stop the evaporation of water. This means they also no longer absorb any nutrients.

The plant will show symptoms of a nutrient deficiency, but you can’t find the solution here. In this case you have to adjust the temperature.

That’s why I advise you to record all values in a notebook or on your phone every other day.

If you end up having problems, you can see if your plants experienced major temperature changes or changes in pH levels.

It also makes it a lot easier for people on the forum to help you.

Here are some more pics of the stem and roots. The roots are starting to get a nice golden-yellow glow, which is normal as they get older.

The stem has a nice thickness and is capable of transporting a lot of water and nutrients. You can see that the bottom is starting to get quite woody already.

This water filter is very simple. Place both hoses in the water you want to purify. One hose sucks the water into the filter. The coarse dirt is first picked up by a couple of sponges.

The water will then move along purifying stones to catch algae and other small organisms. The purified water will then be injected back into the buckets.

Day 54

• Air temperature: 77
• Water temperature: 69
• Humidity: 55%
• EC: 1.5
• PH: 6.0

Each plant now uses about a gallon of water a day. I don’t expect this number to get any higher and I don’t think they’ll grow anymore.

If you have buds growing too far above the net, it’s best to tie them down with a cable tie or a plant clip instead of super cropping them.

The plant now need all its energy for the creation of buds, so it would be a waste to super crop it.

I placed my lamp at the very top of the tent, but it’s still getting a bit too warm underneath the lamp.

I already had a rotating fan blowing away some of the heat, but it still feels a bit too warm.

You can test this by putting your hand directly underneath the lamp at the height of the bud. It should feel comfortable, so no burning sensation.

The temperature directly underneath the lamp is obviously higher than away from the lamp.

But this is no problem. This is the radiation temperature, which can be a lot higher than the air temperature.

But since the radiation temperature burns my hand a bit in this case, and the distance between the lamp is only 20 inches, I attach a spreader to the lamp.

This spreader distributes the light more evenly and catches a lot of the heat. In this way you can place the lamp a bit closer to the plant, thereby giving the plant more light.

Since the spreader also blocks some of the light, the net result is the same. I had a heat problem and couldn’t place my lamp any higher, so a spreader is perfect in this case!

This was the first part of the flowering stage. We still have to take the remaining pictures, so in about a month I’ll post an update with the last weeks of the flowering stage.

After that update, I’ll show you how to dry and cut your plants and I’ll present the final results.

Greetings,

Robert