Yellowing at center of leaf clusters

[jfred]

Well, you wouldn't recognize my little plants. I'll post photos soon.

Anyway, the afghans are massive bushes and the Northern Lights are seven and a half feet tall. And growing.

They're the tallest things in my garden. Fortunately I have decent privacy in my rear yard, but sometimes it does concern me that they are so prominent. The 2 or 3 friends who've seen the garden say that if you didn't know they were there you just wouldn't see then from the distances that any observer could view them. I'll let ya know if I get busted.

But I look at them and think, "If they don't blossom until late August or early September...WTF" Are these plants gonna continue to grow until then? How tall can they get?

[stiky dodo dumb]

they will transition in mid august more then likely, i harvested some purps late september last year. if they dont next month then ausgust you should start to see buds, they should harvest october sometimes -harvest often rainges from september to november soo its really when the plant start transitioning and then how long that phenotype takes to fully mature.

my granddady purple harvest last year was a little early -but they where ready for my likeing and came down befor the first rains -often the october rains will judge if i can leave them out longer or ciut them down befor the 3-4th straight day of rain. budrott is a big concern for me with a huge crop dendity but i hav e sprays for mold and fungus -green cure and sarinade soo the only other thing that may judge my harvest is if caterpiller get past my line of defence -safers caterpiller killer sprayed weekly, then i would need to cut befor the blossms die back to the chewed up stems and infection (bud rott) sets into the injured buds. last year i had to pull alot because of bud worms -corm worms.

one thing you could do is grab a chair to stand on and a sharp pair of pointy scissors and carfully snip the very smallest most uper node that ist the highest place of new growht on hte plant but- only do this if their room for them to fatten up slightly, they will start to grow more pronouced from side branches and pritty much the whole plant will contunue to grow but the top node will be broken up into several and the hight wont be as extreem if it flowered and streached into that. if theirs alot of branches just under the highest shoot then thoes may come up about in line with it creating a bushier and dif growth patern. i would go ahead and do that now or never cause you still have a soled month at least of vegg, i predict the will transition in july and you will see noticable fuit set in august

[jfred]

Thanks for the suggestion on pruning the plants, but I'm afraid of scissors...might poke my eye out! Actually, I just love the shape of the plants.

[jfred]

As my plants approach the 10 ft mark I'm starting to think about buds and stuff.

Am I correct that it is length of sunlight days (or, conversely, length of darkness) that triggers the flowering process? If so, what is the trigger point and can I simply check solunar tables to predict flowering stage?

Also, at what point in the maturation cycle should I switch to a bloom-enhancing fertilizer.

Thanks for the help!

[jackel]

outside they will start to flower in august.

[jfred]

Well, correct me if I'm wrong but I understood that flowering begins when darkness exceeds daylight hours. Is that correct or does it vary with phenotype?

If it takes 12 hours darkness that won't happen until September 26.

Meanwhile, as I'd mentioned, the plants have become enormous. The NL's are over 10 feet and the Afgh is over 6 and as big around as tall. It they're going to be vegetative for another 7 weeks or so, should I continue to encourage growth?

Visibility is not a concern, or at least it's one that I've come to terms with. As this point they are not exactly hidden but I have good privacy. I'm gonna take my chances.

What I want to know this: Is continuing to fertilize for growth the best thing for the plants in terms of yield and quality...and for the general well-being of the plant?

Finally, at what point should I switch to a high potassium/low nitrogen fert?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[jfred]

Since I'm back asking questions, I thought I'd post pics from today.


Down the row, same as other shots, 5 plants


Down the row, opposite direction, 4 plants showing

[jfred]

No answers?

That's okay. I've re-read other answers and most of my questions are covered there.

I'll just keep feeding them as I have and switch over to high potassium fert at the end of August or when I see budding start. And that will be when that will be.

I'll come back with pics during harvest.

Best to all of you.

[stiky dodo dumb]

im getting another single gallon of age old grow to get me threw august, also getting a 10lb pail of mocha guano 4-6-2 -supposed to be good for transition and i used it last year w/nothing but good results. toward the end of august ill get a jug of bloom, i havent kept track of when i switched ferts in my past threads but if you look back in the outdoor threads i have one from august w/pics and early sept, a year ago this time..
i use a young brand mixer/proportioner and an adapter from the hose outlet to 1/2 poly hose out to 1/4 hose and finally shublers also a batery run timer all from raindrip -i feed every day at 5am or soo and have had it set strong liek 50:1 w.o burning just ran through the ferts too fast $65 2.5gal jugs in a little more then a week. soo with budget in focus i toned it down to between 50:1 and 100:1 and have from time to time ran out for less then a week, then it takes a little more then a week to mail order the stuff. you can kinda see the transitioning, that grandaddy purple sept 19 i think -it is a rapid matureing strain but also had alot of shade to keep it in vegg longer i think, the rest where harvested threw october into november. what wasnt rotting more and more day by day i left up, once the rains come i see more or less mold each morning i got out and shake them to get water off the buds.

i put up alot of poles 4-8ft tall depending on the stages of growth so as they grow i can re-direct growth or keep heavier lower branches from snaping as they grow outwards, it also get really windy for us soo they can get puched around and stressed out or just beated up of i dont hold them in place. i also use uni-grow or any other streachy suport tape i can find as a sling for each branhc up to the main stalk -this was maintained often and not allowed to choke anything wich could be a problem if left in disregard.
-im cleaning the crap out of the lower canopy, theas GDP plants have re-vegged from trying to flower early on. something about the shade or something messed it up but their alot of re-growth up top, im getting rid of the dead weight and what might not grow into proper buds. its erergy the plant could flow to more productive tops and actual re-vegg action, some stuff was stunted and still looking photofucked. some of thoes branches had snaped and i used a squart bottle to get ants out of the crack that probly had sap in it, also might of helped the palnt heal as i re-hydrated the would so it wasnt all dry when i put it back together and made a sling to mend it. -then i went a little nuts and made sure other branches wherent gunna fall, might have put uneeded stress on the stalk but i doubt it had influence on being photofucked i just should of tied them to poles but i ran out and desided it was all right for the time being -now i gotta step it up befor an expected heavy fruit set, and tie all that stuff up smake some more poles into the rootbed.

[jfred]

Well, one of my plants (the Afgh on the north end) blossomed the other day. Male. Had to slaughter it.

The other 4 (which I truly hope are all female) are looking good. There is some yellowing of fan leaves, but I figure that's just the plant pruning itself for the big event - attempting to reproduce.

The NL's are 12 feet tall and the other big Afgh is 8 ft tall and 6 ft wide.

It's 89 degrees here tonight, 39% humidity. So warm, and not particularly dry. The gentlest of breezes. A very typical August evening in North Central Texas.

It was so nice to stand there in the last light and SMELL those plants. They really are beautiful. I don't know if I told you, my only other growing experience was with anemic spindly pot grown 40 years ago (in my college days) under purple UV "grow lights" or in kitchen window sills. I was unprepared for these fine specimens. I'm a gardener and I've really enjoyed watching them grow. If I get a decent harvest of fine bud it will be a very satisfying experience.

sdd, I enjoyed your last post. I hadn't anticipated needing to stake outer limbs, so I'm gonna keep an eye on that. I only hope they get that heavy. Like your irrigation system...you're obviously a serious gardner.

[stiky dodo dumb]

my 1/4 poly tubes cloged just for one plant so i had to cut the 1/2 inch @ the junction and put a 3 way to keep that plant like the others. ill get som pics of my rig but i burry all my line under the drit to keep it cool, the nobs on theas shublers come off if i dont keep them maintained. id like all 20 shublers to be consistant but the fact is some just arnt made the same and dotn put out enough pressure. i tried for 3 shrublers per plant to get a wide spread at the base of each plant.

theas where transplanted into slower draining soil with lava rocks after reveging from a spring seed crop, made some additions to get a shubler to each of them


i still water further out with a hose and hoften scrw on the fertilizer mixer/proportioner to feed out where the roots keep growing.

[jfred]

Okay, we're gong into the third week in August and I think my lovelies are beginning to show sighs.

I've examined them (5) and have concluded that they are all females. However...I wouldn't mind a second opinion or two.

They are in this order: (1) Afgh 1; (2) NL 1; (3) NL 2; (4) Afgh 2; (5) Guerilla


Afgh1


NL1


NL2


Afgh2


Guerilla - popped up outside my fence

This is still my first rodeo. Any expert opinions?

[jackel]

they appear to be female however the NL1 isnt mature enuff for me to tell from the photo

[jfred]

Thanks, Jackel.

The NL's are from feminized seed so I think I'm okay on that one.

[jfred]

I'm putting these photos up so one of the 420gurus can confirm what I'm afraid is obvious: my NL2 is a guy!

Very disappointing. First, it's supposed to be feminized seed amd .second, th damn thing is 15 feet tall and I was really looking forward to a nice harvest from it. This is a male, right?