Understanding the Flowering Period of Cannabis | How to Grow Indoors with Smokey Okies

This video blog series on growing cannabis indoors covers the foundational knowledge any grower must have. In this video, we discuss the flowering period of cannabis.
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https://www.oklahoma-cannabis-company.com/understanding-the-flowering-period-of-cannabis/

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1) What is the difference between the Vegetative period and the Flowering period?

Cannabis is a photoperiod plant, meaning there are two distinct periods of growth: the vegetative period, where there is more light than darkness; and the flowering period, where the amount of darkness is greater or equal to the amount of light.

In nature, these periods are controlled by the changing of the seasons.

When you are growing indoors, these conditions are controlled by the grower, and the grower chooses how long to maintain the vegetative period, as well as when to trigger the flowering period.

2) When do you flip your plants into the flower cycle?

Unlike the outdoor environment, where nature picks and chooses the veg and flower cycles, indoor growers have control over these photoperiods.

When you are growing indoors, you get to choose when you create the flowering period. Most growers take into account a variety of factors when deciding the length of their veg cycle and when to switch to the flower cycle.

These factors include:

a. How big do you want the plant to grow during the course of its life?
b. What are your location-based restrictions, such as ceiling height?
c. How often do you want to harvest?
d. How much yield do you want from each plant?
e. Differences of preference in growing techniques
f. Different strains may prefer longer or shorter veg cycles
g. How many times you plan to top in Veg

Topping is great and increases yield, but the recovery from the stress can increase your time in veg. To learn more about topping, check out: https://www.oklahoma-cannabis-company...

These are just some of the things to consider when growing indoors. Many indoor growers veg within a range of 2-6 weeks. You decide what works for you.

For us, we veg for about 4-5 weeks. After we clone a new plant off a mom, we need about 10 days to get that plant rooted, then it is transplanted into a pot. Once potted, we start counting down the weeks until we flip.

After you flip....

3) Beware of the Post-Veg Stretch that causes plants to double or triple in height during the first weeks of flower.

When you switch your light cycle to 12/12, your immature plants will go through a crazy growth spurt in the first 2-3 weeks.

They will literally double, or triple, in height. They will grow like crazy, both in length as well as in bush. This is referred to as the “post-vegetative stretch.”

This immediate growth is the result of the increased sleep/recovery period that the plants are now getting. This extra recovery time causes a giant growth spurt.

You will need to start defoliating after 3-5 days, but definitely before the end of the second week.

This brings us to trellis. Ideally, you have trellis set up in your grow space before you even switched to 12/12 light cycle. If not, you need to get it on ASAP.

Why?

Because early in flower, as in veg, your plants are still pliable and you can bend and train them. Once deeper into flower, those branches firm up and you cannot bend them without breaking them.

At Smokey Okies Cannabis, we hang trellis the day before we flip into that room. We place two layers of trellis, and the next day we move our plants from the Veg room to the Flower room. We then de-foliate during Week 2 and Week 4. After that, we stop pruning.

4) Coasting through the Second Half of Flower

The good news is that if you've done all the hard work so far, you now get to sit back and coast through the remainder of flower.

So long as you topped your plants during veg; defoliated them early in flower; and utilized multiple layers of trellis, weaving the vines through to create a horizontal landscape, then you are all set.

If not, well it is too late to get caught up on these tasks that will ensure a good yield, and good light density that is necessary for dense nugs.

But if you did your chores described earlier, this is the part where you get to witness the beauty of cannabis. The color expression, the fragrance and aroma of the room. You get to witness the trichome coverage and the frost that emerges.

You still have to monitor temp, humidity, CO2, nutrient feed, etc. But you shouldn't have to worry about nodes not getting light density; or overgrowth causing other issues. Because you've taken care of that already.