The Cannabis Grow Bible
by Greg Green
When to flower
Pre-flowering is a sign that your plant is mature enough to start flowering. As a grower you have a simple choice to make. Do you want to flower now? Or do you want to continue vegetative growth? Here are a few facts before you make that choice.
Most cannabis plants can be kept alive for up to 10 years by simply keeping a light on the plant at all times. These plants will grow to a certain height and then form into a bush. It will then eventually stop producing branches and will spend the rest of its life growing new leaves to replace the old ones.
Bud production is not equal to the height of your plant. Bud production is equal to your growing environment, your strain’s genetic make-up and the amount of nodes that the plant has. All nodes are potential bud areas, but every strain has a genetic threshold for bud production.
It possible to get more bud with lots of plants which are flowered as soon as they are mature (which also keeps them shorter and smaller), than extending vegetative growth with less plants until they reach their maximum height and size. The time frame for the shorter option may also produce more bud turnover per annum.
Keeping these things in mind, you can either choose to flower now or choose to keep your plant growing until it reaches its size threshold before you start flowering. If you take the longer route then prepare to have the space for it, because when you flower most cannabis strains they can sometimes more than double in height and width.
If you have pre-flowers and want to flower you only have to do one thing. You must put your plants under a 12/12 schedule.