Mistakes during the flowering phase can significantly affect the size and quality of your crop. However, with a few simple tricks, you are guaranteed a great harvest.
In this article, experts will help beginner growers answer a frequently asked question - when does hemp flower?
The moment the light cycle provides your cannabis plants with longer hours of uninterrupted darkness, they enter the flowering stage. Your plants stop growing and instead direct their energy into producing buds. Outdoors, this usually occurs during shorter daylight hours. When growing indoors, flowering will begin as soon as you switch the lights to 10-12 hours of darkness. Watering cannabis during flowering should be less plentiful than during the growing season. Approximately 1-2 waterings per week.
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For most varieties of cannabis seeds, the flowering period lasts about 7-9 weeks, although some sativa varieties require even more time to fully mature. What happens during flowering and at what time can vary somewhat depending on the particular variety you are growing. So don't expect your plants to follow this schedule, consider it more of a general guide that you can follow.
First stage flowering of autos and feminized strains
The beginning of marijuana flowering is not a sudden change in the growth of your plants. Cannabis will not stop growing and will immediately begin to bloom. This is important to know when it comes to properly feeding your plants and also if you want to give them enough room to grow.
In the very first weeks of flowering, cannabis plants will be in a transitional stage. Thinking that winter is just around the corner and that she will soon have to carry a large load of buds, the plant will most likely grow significantly faster. Some varieties can almost double in height during this time. Due to the rapid growth of cannabis, this early flowering phase is also known as the extension phase.
Second week of flowering
In the second week of flowering, you may notice the first white pistils growing on the female cannabis plants. These fine white hairs will develop where the large fan leaves meet the main stem. It is these thin hairs that will later become buds.
If the cannabis plant is male, it will not grow these hairs, but will instead grow little pollen sacs. If you are growing regular, non-feminized plants with an unknown gender, now is the time to determine their gender so that you can separate male plants from female plants.
Third week of flowering
In places on the plant where you previously saw a few hairs, you can now see the first signs of true bud development. Your plants will still not have a lot of resin glands and trichomes, which means that the smell will not be too harsh.
This flowering phase, when the plant begins to expend more and more energy on growing flowers, is particularly critical. Make sure the nutrients you are giving are adequate and check the recommended dosages on the labels.
Flower at week 4
Cannabis plants will most likely stop growing altogether and now spend all their energy growing buds. There will still be white hairs (trichomes) sticking out of the buds, but the buds themselves will get bigger and thicker every day. As more buds grow, your plants will now produce more trichomes, making the scent much more noticeable at this stage. At the end of marijuana flowering, trichomes change their transparent color to bright amber.
How to determine the sex of cannabis during flowering
Most growers determine the sex of their plants in the last week of the growing season or in the first weeks of flowering. Remember that males develop pollen sacs that look like small balls and must be culled or separated from females if you want to avoid pollinating them.
Also, keep an eye on your female plants while they are in bloom to catch hermaphrodites. While not common, some cannabis plants may develop both female and male flowers, while others may develop stamens.
