Lighting Worried! Autos not flowering under Mars Hydro Reflectors

[live4now]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to LED growing after 3 years under Sodium lights.
I have 2 Big Bang Autos and 3x Dinafem Cheese Autos under 2 300w Mars Hydro Reflectors and the veg stage went fine. BBs stayed a bit smaller than usual but that could be because they had the first 2 weeks under CFLs as the lights arrived late.

I'm growing in large pots, coco fibre and use Dutch Pro for autos. Temperature a steady 25C with humidity around 40-50 in veg, now slowly bringing back down to around 35. Started with very little nutrients around day 8 and keeping it on the low side.
Lights have been about 40 cm away from the canopy in veg, about 30cm now. Lights were on 22 hours to start with but are now on 20 hours.

The plants didn't show any signs to want to flower until last week when the Cheese Autos showed preflowers, the BB are now showing some pistils, but very little. I switched to red lights last week when they were 5 weeks old and changed the nutrients to bloom over the weekend after a good flush, and one of the Cheese plants is starting to flower.

Before, under sodium, they would start around 4 weeks, no matter what. I am getting really worried about the BBs. They look very healthy, but nothing is happening. Unfortunately, my last set up got stolen (together with my plants) in the last week of a growth, this no-show is making me seriously worried.

Can anyone tell me if I I'm doing something wrong? I'm starting to think I should have stuck with sodium lights!

:Bad Luck:

 

[MisterHarpy]

You're doing nothing wrong some take longer than others. Just be patient.
https://www.autoflower.org/showthread.php?t=5113

 

[MisterHarpy]

Read that sticky as its very informative as the life of autoflowrr

 

[live4now]

I'm so hoping you're right. I've grown this strain for 3 years and never seen them behave like this. Expected change but this is nerve wracking. If anybody would have told me years ago that I would have sleepless nights over some plants, I would have had them committed.........thanks. I might sleep better tonight.:tiphat:

 

[Magic]

I'm not too sure about the cheese but big bang is not a fast finisher. I've heard people go 90-100days easy with that strain. If its your first time growing with leds don't be so quick to judge the light you can't grow plants like you do under HPS with leds and expect the same results in the exact same way.

Not sure What do you mean when u said you switched to red light? When did they show pistols? How old are they now? Could it be possible they are just taking longer to grow or even need to be switched to 12/12? You barely see now days leds not powerful enough to make a plant flower.
:Sharing One:
I saw you said they normally flower week 4 under hps and didn't happen til week 5 under leds that's only a week behing your normal schedule. I'd wouldn't be worried until it was week 6+ and no signs of flowering.

 

[live4now]

The Cheese started to show some pistils in week 5 and the Big Bang only shows one or two now (end of week 6). What I meant I switched from Veg light to Veg and Bloom light (Mars Hydro Reflectors). Sorry, not made myself very clear.
I don't expect the same way of growing under LEDs but this is so vastly different that it started to worry me. I have grown this strain for a couple of years and its been a very steady and reliable strain with excellent yields and always finished within 12 weeks. I should have taken a deep breath first before I panicked....go on, just say it lol.
I did so much reading up before deciding on LEDs and never came across a late(r) start to flowering. Obviously I have a lot more reading to do.

 

[MisterHarpy]

Here read this thread that mephisto is doing currently I think that's kind of what you're getting because In there thread the HP's plants flowered before the LEDs also. Don't bash on the LEDs yet though as they can excel in the flowering stage https://www.autoflower.org/showthread.php?t=40118

 

[live4now]

I really do hope so. Didn't mean to bash the LEDs. Just knew exactly what I was doing with my old lights. Feel like a total newbie again. Not afraid to learn though and I must say, people are very helpful here. I'll read Mephisto's link.

 

[Gonzo]

I really do hope so. Didn't mean to bash the LEDs. Just knew exactly what I was doing with my old lights. Feel like a total newbie again. Not afraid to learn though and I must say, people are very helpful here. I'll read Mephisto's link.

live4now, you shoudnt had used veg mode only. It is not powerfull enough and is meant for seedlings only. As you can see, not many manufacturers use this way of building LEDs any more.

But autos might flower with delay sometimes, if you take a look at my current grow, plants are nice, healthy and green, but two of them have not developed many flowers yet, while other couple is faster. So it is a lot about different phenos or maybe something else.

As you know, every grow goes a little bit different, so it is hard to say.

Good luck!

 

[live4now]

I was under the impression that the the Veg mode was for the vegetation stage (i.e. first 3-4 weeks) and that from there onward both Veg and Bloom mode was switched on. That's what I was told by Mars Hydro and had read in other forums/posts. I will have a look at your grow. Just finishing reading Mephisto's current thread. I hope they will catch up and have enough time to produce plenty flowers. They look really healthy and bushy, so fingers crossed. Thanks Gonzo.