Flowering marijuana is the most enjoyable stage of growing for me and others. It's most enjoyable from the halfway point. On average, the flowering time is from 7 to 9 weeks. Depending on the strain you have. Indicas or Indica dominant hybrids tend to take around 7 to 8 weeks. Some heavy-yielding Indicas can take up to 10 weeks to flower. Pure Sativas and Sativa dominant hybrids can take up to 3 or 4 months to flower.
When growing weed outdoors, you have the sun to signal the plant to start flowering. It does almost everything for you. With indoor growing, you have to simulate the sun cycle indoors by reducing the hours of light from 16 to 18hrs of light to 12 hrs of sunlight. Another important thing is to have an indoor light that is either a High-pressure Sodium bulb or a Led light with a red spectrum of light to simulate the end of summer and fall light cycles. Many good led lights have blue and red ranges within them to grow several light spectrums during the veg and the bloom stages.
During flowering, the calyx, pistols, and preflowers will form. Flowering has started. The buds will appear as the plant is still growing. From the start of flowering to about week 3, there is a stretching period where the plant can double or triple in height. It's necessary to allow room for the stretch. Sativas tend to stretch more than Indicas. Indicas will sometimes double in height and don't stretch a lot.
Around week four, you're usually about halfway through the whole process. During this phase, the plant will stop stretching and will put its energy into forming buds. You will see more buds and pistols until you reach a point where their hairs are pale and fluffy. It is around the halfway point and the peak period where reproduction would be ideal. When the female is ripening, you will slowly see a transition of the pistols slowly dying. The pistols are the fuzzy hairs that pop out of the bud itself. They want to get pollinated by the male. To get some of the most potent buds and most resin, it's better if it doesn't get pollinated by a male. Better bud without the seeds unless you are a breeder. Toward the end of the flowering phase, there will be buds swelling, the buds themselves growing trichomes on each bud, and more of the plant's terpene smells getting more pronounced.
Flowering is the most exciting part because you see the buds form and stack. By observation, you can see how much the plant will yield. You can also see the structure and how frosty the buds will get. Finally, you can measure how strong-smelling the terpenes will be by the very end.
Something to do when flowering begins is to keep feeding them higher nitrogen as you do during veg. After that change, their nutrients have higher levels of phosphorus and potash. The plant is forming the buds and stacking on that weight. Other nutrients during veg and flowering are Calcium and magnesium.
Another thing to consider is not to over-prune during this phase. You can stress out the plant, stunting its growth and affecting its potency. Don't prune more than a third of the plant matter during flower.
During the final two weeks of flowering, you want to stop nutrients and give the plants water. Flushing allows for cleaner smoke because the plant will use the nitrogen in the leaves. That's why in the fall the trees turn yellow. With cannabis, this is natural and is the end of the life cycle for the plant.
By week seven, the buds will be swelling, and the trichomes should change colors.
Week 8 is when the plant is ready to be harvested. I go by when about 80 percent of the hairs have died and curled back towards the bud. I use a loupe to look at the trichomes to know the colors. When they are clear, you will get more of a head high. When they are cloudy, they are at their peak potency. Some prefer to wait until the trichomes have turned amber, so they can get more of a couch lock effect when smoked or more of a messed up feeling because as the Trichome goes amber, the thc is degraded and is weaker smoke.
The choice is yours on when you prefer to harvest. Waiting for the plant to be fully ripe and not harvesting it too early is difficult for most.
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