Pre Summer Solstice Budding

longball

'21, '23 COE Winner
Hello All!

I have a plant that started budding around June 13th. Not pre-flowers - buds. It was a week until the summer solstice so the days were still getting longer!!! I did not think a photoperiod plant would do this? Is this more common than I thought?

To be clear - the plant is outdoors. It is not an auto-flowering plant. I know the history of the seed and its mom. The seedling was put in soil on March 28th. Been growing about 11 weeks - not auto-flower. It was about 95F all that week. Heat stress?
None of the other 13 plants are doing this. Growing in the middle of New York State.

Longball
 
LB, nice to meet you friend. I will try to help.

Did you start them indoors? If so under what light cycle? When did you plant them out? Could the change have effected one more sensitive than the rest?

Are they in pots or in the ground? Sometimes root-bound plants (stress) can auto flower.

It’s not unthinkable that a stressed plant (heat, root-bound, light cycle changes, too much shade, genetics, or any combination of aforementioned could cause it to flower regardless of peak sun/night ratio. Again, maybe just more sensitive than the others.

I would let her ride it out. A little smoke in August would be nice waiting for the big and heavies to come down later. Best of luck with the grow.
 
Hello Shrimp&Grits!

Nice to meet you! Great site here!! Thank you for taking the time to try and figure this out. To answer some of your questions: The plants were all started indoors and then moved outside in containers(until harvest). I kept the indoor environment as similar to what they will be living in outdoors as possible. Temps 65F - 75F, window open causing fluctuation. Outside if warm, inside at night. I tried to maintain as much consistency as possible to reduce stress. It's been hard to explain that to Mother Nature!

Light Cycle - 18/6 for a month. As they would be living outside I slowly scaled back the light to match sunlight hours. After 3 weeks I was down to about 15.5/8.5 which matched the sun. The plants went out for good in mid-May(last frost had passed) and days started getting longer. Never tried that before - I think I read that trick from Ed Rosenthal.

Heat Stress - It was mid-90'sF for a week. It does not usually get that hot where I grow, We set 2 all time heat records. Maybe that played in?

Pots- The plants are in movable containers. The plant budding before the solstice is in a 10gal(40litre?) cloth Grow Bag. I don't think it is root bound. I attached a picture and it is the plant closest in the picture.

"genetics, or any combination of aforementioned could cause it to flower regardless of peak sun/night ratio" - I think the answer is most likely right in here somewhere lol

Shrimp&Grits, have you ever had a plant that flowered while the days are getting longer? Thanks again for stopping in! :) Happy Growing!

One last note - hard to tell in the picture but once the plant started budding it completely changed. Old growth looks like its mom, rather typical hybrid plant. New growth and bud structure is sativa dominant! Stoked about that! Top half of plant is different than bottom half lol Love these plants!

Longball

Solstice Bud 1030385.jpg
 
hello

i agree with S&G when you put out a plant start indoor sometime the bloom start before the cycle light come down
you have to watch if the plant not turn on herni

nice garden

best regard
 
[QUOTE="quinxstar, hello
i agree with S&G when you put out a plant start indoor sometime the bloom start before the cycle light come down you have to watch if the plant not turn on herni
nice garden
best regard [/QUOTE]

Hello quinxstar!

Thank you for the compliment. I agree, the light cycle is most likely the cause of the problem.

Longball
 
[QUOTE="CannaFish, its most likely from starting them on the 18hr cycle. you can move that plant under a supplemental light to keep it in extended vegetative state. [/QUOTE]

Hello CannaFish!

Thank you for the reply. Here was my concern about the light cycle. Where I grow the outdoor season is, weather permitting, mid-May til early October. Not very long. I try to get plants going April 1st indoors to get a little longer season.
The longest day here(summer solstice) is 16 hours. A 16/8 cycle. Setting the plants out mid-May is maybe a 15/9 light cycle. Maybe. I am wondering if I should use a 18/6 light cycle to start them as they will never see that cycle in their life
once outdoors. I was thinking that going from 18/6 to 15/9 may cause flowering yet I need to start the plants indoors due to weather. Maybe I should start the seedlings at 15/9? Does that make any sense? I would think 15/9 would cause smaller
or slower growth?

Longball
 
Hey buddy.
Yes, I’ve had plants flower early. The odd ball, not the norm.
You could start on 15/9 and put them out mid May. If you like 18/6 you can wait till mid June to put out.
If it’s just the one plant and everything else is to your liking I wouldn’t change anything.
Your plants look great. Well done!
 
Hello S&G!

Thank you for the reply! Been following your 'More Tonkin, Less Honkin' thread. Badass grow there. Awesome selection! I will be rootin' for you all the way!

Longball
 
Hello All!

I think since I started this thread I should update it. One plant started flowering about 10 days before the summer solstice, as the days were getting longer, not shorter! Never saw that before. Of course, I have not seen a lot!
Overall this particular grow is going ok.

yard-p1030447.jpg

The plant that started flowering early is dead center - Jack Herer - Mom leaned to the indica side.
Here is a picture of the plant early on:

jack-herer-big-ed-2-05-13-20-p.jpg

Once she started flowering she started getting very long thin leaves with only 3 leafs per stem and looks nothing like the picture above. Here is how she looks now:

1-p1030450.jpg

2-p1030455.jpg

I guess I will just have to wait an see what happens. I took a couple cuttings just in case. They started to root and put them into soil today. 07/13/20

Longball
 
LB. I appreciate the support. I’m small fry.
Your plants are lookn healthy and beautiful.
Took cuttings in case what? To pollinate a potential cross that flowered early with sativa qualities? Or plant out and make a Herer clone army? Either way I say yes and yes. Happy growing and blooming. 😁
 
[quote Shrimp&Grits: " Took cuttings in case what? To pollinate a potential cross that flowered early with sativa qualities? Or plant out and make a Herer clone army? Either way I say yes and yes. Happy growing and blooming."quote]

Hello Shrimp&Grits!

To answer your question: Yes and Yes lol. Thank you for the kind words and good wishes! :)

Longball
 
Update - 8 weeks later. Plants got too big for the yard and had to be moved to a more secluded spot. Less sun but less likely to be spotted. Here's a picture of how they are doing. They are taking unbelievable amounts of water - 3 times a day, every day! These are not the plants from my deck grow. I have another grow about 25 miles away in the foothills of the mountains. Deck grow is in a river valley. It seems this is the year of giants.

All.jpg

Nice little Christmas tree looking cola :)

All 2 .jpg

Up next: A Meet & Greet With A Few Lovely Ladies! ;)

Longball
 
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'Goldie'

Hello Guys, time to meet a couple of the Lovely Ladies. All beauties, but don't get your hopes up,
they are all spoken for!

Guys ,meet Goldie! See is a 50/50 mix, Sativa/Indica. Sativa is supposedly a Gold but unable to find
out much about either parent.

She has been a stunner since birth.

Goldie
Goldie.jpg
 
The Skunkettes

I have 5 Super Skunks going, called The Skunkettes. This one is the Lead Dancer. Her name is Darla. Darla, meet slabsofdank!!

It looks like she needs a haircut, or trim, or prune, or something but these all involve something with a sharp blade. So far, I have been

unable to take a sharp bladed instrument and commit such an act of violence against such a pretty girl! In my inexperience, where do

I even start? Everything looks too healthy to cut!

Darla
Darla.jpg
 
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The Jacks

Originally, I had 7 Jack Herer's and 5 Super Skunk all of known good quality. The first night out something ate all 12 plants! I had no Jack Herer seeds left and had to scramble as growing season was upon us. A 'Motley Crew' was assembled. A friend gave me a seed he thought was the last Jack seed from a good batch. Wrong, it was an Auto! Last year, of my 4 Jack plants, a single seed was produced. No plans to use it but now I had to. A friend had purchased an eighth from the dispensary in Lee, Mass. The eighth had 3 seeds in it!!! That was my 5 Jacks for this year. All seeds I would not generally use.

Longball
 
Meet The Jacks

2019. Meet the Original Jacks. One of these 2 Jack Herer's produced a single seed which was used this year.

Orig Jack .jpg


That single seed turned into this plant. If you like your girls demanding, temperamental, feisty, and a new surprise around every corner then

this is the girl for you! Flowering before the solstice is why this thread was started. She is full of surprises. She called 'Crazy Jack' and I love

her with all my heart! haha About Week 12 of flowering. Colas like church spires!

'Crazy Jack'

JH BE.jpg


This is one of the plants that came from seeds in the dispensary flower. Over 8 feet tall we call her 'Little Jack'. Just starting to flower. Will she finish?

'Little Jack'

JH Disp 1.jpg


Another dispensary seed. She is called 'Get Up Jack'!

'Get Up Jack'

JH Disp 2.jpg

I hope y'all enjoyed meeting some of the Lovely Ladies. They sure enjoyed meeting you!

Longball
 
" I love the tikki torches. 🏖"

Figgured 'Ol Eagle-Eye Slabsofdank would spot the tikki torches! Can't slip anything by 'Ol Eagle-Eye.

When the tikki torches were lit, that plant looked so other worldly! I remember looking at it one night, completely mesmerized by the plant in the flickering flame of the tikki torch light and thinking, 'I will reach Nirvana tonight!" And right then,

The mystery man came over
And he said I'm outta sight
He said for a nominal service charge
I could reach nirvana tonight
If I was ready, willing and able
To pay him his regular fee
He would drop all the rest of his pressing affairs
And devote his attention to me

But I said look here brother
Who you jiving with that cosmik debris? - FZ

Longball
 
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