Can I trick a photo into flower stage?

[OlderNOTwiser]

I have a plant that is getting kind of tall ( 43") and not yet in flower stage. Oh, outdoors, bagseed, soil, dropped about June 7, female is showing but nothing really signalling a switch is imminent. (Of course why would it switch when it is getting all that sun!) Since it is already nearing mid-August and assuming some ridiculous flower stretch coming up and of course the vagaries of the seasons...If I could rig something up in my basement for light deprivation and bring her in a few hours short of sunset and bring her out in the morning a few hours after sunrise would/could that trip her over to begin flower stage? Would be a large task but I'm willing to try.

I started this grow on a whim and now I'm overloading on reading tutorials and diaries and all that I can. So much so that I'll be laying out my plans for an indoor set up soon. I'd like to get some nugs to ease pain and tension for bed as well as something a bit more cerebral for daytime and something more trippy for concerts and such.

[VtGreen1965]

In a word: yes.

[Cali]

Look up light dep there is a tutorial here on that also YouTube videos. Basically you would just build a dark tent to cover the sunlight from hitting your plant or like you said move her indoors maybe put the pot on wheels??

[Rwise]

Or the days are getting shorter, wait 2 more weeks,,,,

[oldjarhead100]

Plants will start bloom anywhere from the start of August till around the 15th so you should be good if you wait

[GreenState]

I'm doing exactly that here. Started moving a plant inside from 6:30 pm to 6:30 am on 7/31. Pistils showed 7 days later.
Hardest part so far is remembering to move it(lol). Thank goodness for the iphone alert (g).
I have noticed that stretch is a lot less vs artificial light.

[OlderNOTwiser]

Do you have her (them?) in a totally dark indoor space or just shielded from direct input? I looked up the hardiness zones and I'm 6a or 5b while all of Vermont is colder. I assume that means you're closer to a surprise frost than I am. Nice to know we can do that outdoors in similar fashion to indoor and light switching.

[OlderNOTwiser]

Thanks for the responses guys and gals. I'm going to start cleaning out the space I'm planning for a tent this autumn/winter and see if I can rig up a dark zone there in the short term.

Oh, and GreenState...I assumed it means Vermont if I'm wrong them mea culpas for me.

[GreenState]

Highs in the low 60's today, yes I'm in VT
I have been moving the(1) plant into a closet for 12 off. No light infiltration.
All the best.

[Farmall]

1/2 my family lives around Highgate, Sheldon and Hero...F%&#ing cold and they’ve been there for centuries

[Farmall]

https://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/Dur_OneYear.php

one of the comments in the forum prompted me to wonder about where the 12/12 point outdoors begins to occur during the US summers and I found this interesting calculator I might suggest you type in a place nearby your area. Just my suspicious side . After all, a few minutes can’t make that big of a difference

[oldjarhead100]

It has been my experience that plants go into bloom around the first of Aug and start showing pistils by the middle to end of Aug, I have some that are showing now, and the light is still about 13/11

[GreenState]

This is day 10 since this experiment began, can definitely see signs of flowering.
That is the same site I use for daylight estimates. I chose 6:30 with thoughts I could just leave the plant outside in Sept without to much disruption if I wanted.
Probably will just continue to manually bring it in and out until it's finished. I expected much more stretch, as I grew the same strain indoors this past winter. She's now 20" tall
In fact this plant is from a seed I found on the "mother" GG4. Only one found. Of course I was also growing a blue widow and white widow, so you never know, maybe they cross bred and I'll get something unique (ha,ha).

[OlderNOTwiser]

Turns out I'll be out of state the last week of the month and so have tabled any thoughts of doing the deprivation thang for now. If things are proper plant-wise I'll do it for a few weeks prior to the equinox and then let nature do the depriving after that. It seems like Mother Nature has begun the transition for me. Maybe I won't need to do that unless time is getting to be an issue with the advent of Autumn. Besides the nice start (photo) I noticed this morning all of the potential bud sites were pointed nearly straight up as opposed to just kind of hanging waiting for the sun to hit them. Granted it is overcast with a chance of rain as opposed to the mini-drought/heatwave we've experienced of late and plants do things in anticipation of weather changes but it just jumped out at me as I was pouring the first cup this morning.

While I've always liked Winter for the play time outdoors this year I'm looking forward to dropping a few nuts in on the new year in a new indoor set up. Meanwhile I'm hoping this outdoor not so stealthy bagseed grow turns out well. All things being equal I have read and learned a ton here. And thank you to everyone here not just responders to me but to all who have contributed over the past few years as well. I'm in an unenlightened state and hope to be able to share more as my Rockefeller Laws paranoia eases a bit.

So, todays question is...If this is the transition beginning when do I switch to flower nutes? My gut tells me steady as she goes for a bit longer to get the plant good and strong and a bit more prominent into full on flower then switch.

Thanks again everyone

[oldjarhead100]

I start bloom nutes around the 3rd week I like to let her stretch and then stop the n, so towards the end of Aug or beginning of Sept

[SoOrbudgal]

Farmall Hey that's a great table tip thanks. Here we are at approx. 13+hrs of daylight still. All of my photoperiod plants are in preflower outdoors. This summer is going very smoothly with minor leaf biters that are easily flicked off I attribute it to my soil mix that I've been nursing throughout the year before putting it in my containers. More coco coir this year rather than coco peat and more perlite, organic compost that has cooked for many months gradually added to my soil mix into a huge tub with a lid.
That being said I used worm casing mixed into bat quano, fish poop, molasses teas every 2nd watering during veg. 2gal. per 10gal container. Flowering now I use GH flora nova bloom per directions. I've lowered the N teas to once a week. I will decrease that and use less per what I see the plant needs. I watch the reactions of the plant and feed N as needed but at this point it's looking really good. Very little yellowing lower down the plant, no need to defoliate much they are opened naturally to sunshine. The stretch it on and more support and supper cropping will take place later on in late flower I see the Mama Mias may snap a few arms as they are getting close to 7 1/2 ft. damn it to good of mix in my 10gal. containers Have a groovy day fellow growers. Peace

[Farmall]

I used worm casing mixed into bat quano, fish poop, molasses teas every 2nd watering during veg. 2gal. per 10gal container.

Sounds like the plants should love it.... I have a friend who is an outdoor farmer and she has plants that are 3 times taller but quite "airy". I debate when I saw her about why I keep them short and dense and defoliate. In the end, I'm sure the yields are close unless the sun grow colas begin to really swell and fatten up like coke cans.

The super soil was ideal in that its a few gallons of water only... I mixed a little worm tea in the beginning and a little molasses twice

[SoOrbudgal]

Yes all I did was top these and spread out the branches with bamboo. Went out last night around dusk to check them and one mama mia was on it's side fell over from wind. She is not in a fabric pot but a huge tall bucket with lots of holes in it. Top heavy so I put a stake along side the pot to hold her down. Sometimes having good grows can be a lot of work.

[OlderNOTwiser]

I can identify with top heavy. My poor Sadie Bagseed is severely pot bound at this point but we're soooo far past being able to deal with it. Yesterday I decided that it was time to tuck her up against the north side of the house this morning when it was time for her breakfast. Theory was to try to at least start slowly depriving direct sun even though it still rises and falls well north of due east and west. Pot was nearly dried from t-storms so the base was very light. Don't ya know we had a small front pass through about an hour before I got up this morning and to my horror this is what I found. I just now got her moved and will be rigging something up to help keep her upright.

[SoOrbudgal]

Yep that's me too. No worries she'll bounce back. Mine were flat on the ground LOL I stood them up and put a tall sturdy stake in the ground tied trunk to it no more " face plant on the ground" if you happen to break a branch when it hit just support it if it's not busted off. It's really amazing that this type of stress on a branch creates a fuller bud structure. I literally bend/squeezy branches to stress it so that I can move it under cover. Growing tall plants is a lot of work at times LOL