Do you want to know what to expect when you switch to flowering? To maximize your yields, it's important to know what to focus on during each part of the flowering phase.
It is also very useful to know when something is wrong with your marijuana plants! Obviously, this article is not about autoflowering strains..Week 1-3: Transition to flowering
When you grow marijuana indoors, the flowering phase begins when you switch your grow lights to a 12/12 light cycle (12 hours light, 12 hours dark each day). Getting those 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness every day gives your plant the signal that it's time to start flowering. In a way, the plant "thinks" that winter is coming because the days are getting shorter.
Outdoors it's also the shorter days that cause a marijuana plant to start producing buds in late summer, but outdoor flowers also develop at different times depending on the local climate, like in Mexico. .
Week 3 to 4: Formation of the first marijuana buds
The fast stretch of the first few weeks will start to slow down in week 3-4, but your cannabis plant will continue to grow upwards. At this point you will start to see actual buds instead of just white hairs and all the pistils will be white.
Mid flowering stage – week 4-5
From week 4-5, the plants stop growing and begin to enlarging their buds and darkening their pistils.
Week 4 to 5: Cannabis in mid-bloom
Humidity levels should be reduced to 40-50%. If you're indoors, it's good to have a carbon filter at this level because the plants must start to seriously smell. It is better to lower the temperatures a bit during flowering.
Temperatures with lights on 18-26°C (avoid high temperatures). Although most of the pistils will likely still be predominantly white at the end of week 5, the buds are getting bigger and denser every day!
Week 6 to 8: Pistils darken
The pistils begin to darken and the buds become more and more sticky, along with the small leaves that surround them. Your leaves shouldn't turn yellow yet, it's too early! At this stage, great care must be taken to adequately control the temperature to ensure the end of flowering in optimal conditions. The same for the PH, if you can pay attention to it, the better.
Week 8 to 10: End of flowering, rinsing and harvesting of the marijuana.
The reward is coming! Patience more than two weeks for it to last, watch a little less if you are growing fast flowering cannabis strains. From this moment on, it is usually recommended to give your plants only water and stop fertilizing matter in order to rinse the fertilizers and give your plant more purity.
The flowers are now covered in trichomes, which are rich glands that secrete THC and other cannabinoids.
Now, it is completely normal for the leaves of your plant to start turning yellow. As long as the yellowing does not affect your buds and you are very close to harvest, it is completely normal. You can't stop this from happening no matter what you do with fertilizers, because that's exactly what a cannabis plant does naturally when the flowering phase is over.
If your marijuana buds are too big and start to fall off the branches (that's all we wish for you), don't hesitate to buy yoyos available in any good growshop.
When the pistils are 2/3 brown, your plant is usually ready!
