Backwards growing!

Hi all,

does anybody else take advantage of the short days early in the year?

I put out a Kali Mist plant in the last week of feb, into a heated greenhouse. When we got into May I started to 'by hand' it. (ie put it into a dark room for 12 hours each night to make sure it kept flowering)

This is what it looks like now.
 

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and that is actually only half of it as there were 2 identical branches. The other snapped off today so I hung it up. Sometimes you choose when to harvest a plant and sometimes the plant chooses when you harvest it!!

Here is the other half, hanging up
 

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It smells really divine and there is so much resin, as you can tell. I have to say that I am blown away by how well this experiment worked. It means I can flower in the greenhouse (or outdoors) from the last week of February until well into November.
 
A few weeks later I started to flower an F1 from a bunch I have been testing. They are Strawberry Surprise X Gift of Fire OG. I call them Strawberry Fire OG. This one was the most Strawberry Surprise, so I decided to put it outside. The others are indoors (some flowering) but I have recently brought out some cuts from the Gift of Fire side of the cross.

The Strawberry one (no.5) stretched a lot more than the Kali Mist as it had much stronger sunshine. It actually got quite big for a 'by-hander'
 

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These are 2 Orange Bud skunks that I have been by-handing for just a week maybe.

I don't know if you can tell but they are 'just about' coming into flower. The stretch now is a lot, as you can see.
I just vegged them in the greenhouse until they were ready to go.
 

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The sunlight right now is just fantastic for flowering plants. Even overcast days work out fine. EVEN HERE IN THE UK!!!

It is a real waste to not be force-flowering plants if you can.

A greenhouse, preferably heated and a dark room or way to darken the greenhouse are all you need.

I will try to always have at least a few 'by handers' going on and always have more vegging in the sunshine, ready to replace those that finish. Keep going right up until the last week of August, when I can just leave them out for nature to take it's course again. These ones can be much bigger as they don't need to be moved, of course...
 
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Also, of course, I could use the technique to start longer flowering plants a few weeks or a month early and have them finish on time, in October or November.. - or even more and try some really long flowering ladies, maybe. Everybody has been doing that for ever, including me, of course!!
 
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Nice stuff man, lovely plants. Light deprivation is a wonderful technique and I admire your dedication to be able to pull off the “by hand” approach.
Nice to see you around the forum, keep having fun man!

Stay hazed
 
The other branch has been harvested!

Here are the photos of it.

Spring greens..
 

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and some more
 

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final 2. I hope the photos do it justice. I loved this grow. Proper spring sunshine in that flower cluster
 

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This is the top of one of the Orange Bud plants now...

I have never seen a pink Orange Bud before!
 

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and this is how the Strawberry Surprise x Gift of Fire looks now:
 

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here are a few more photos of that Strawberry Surprise x Gift of Fire (OG) coming along nicely outdoors (and in the greenhouse)

what a West Coast Gem I have here!
 

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and a few more. Enjoy!
 

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