12/12 for sexing

[MrMagic]

My last grow went horribly bad near the end of the grow and basically had to scrap the whole lot. So after a little pause im back at it. I'm going to tune my set up on this grow. Is it worth starting bag seeds under 12/12 lighting to show their sex. Will this just basically monster crop them and just add a whole bunch of time to my grow. I have a 4 plant limit.

[dphipps1020]

It wouldn't be considered monstercropping, that's when you harvest a plant and then reveg and grow it again. That would just be starting a seed at 12/12. I would recommend 18/6 regular veg lighting for the first few weeks. Then if you really want to sex them by switching to 12/12 you can. I never sex my plants, they eventually show signs before the switch anyway.

[Rwise]

It will take 14 days (or so) for the flowering to think about starting, then another 14-21 days to get it back to veg, then another 14-21 days to get it back to flower. Or an extra 6-9 weeks. Good seed are cheaper than time. Myself I do grow bag seed, but only when I have enuf stash to play.

[MrMagic]

Yes good seeds are cheaper then time but I'd rather not waste $$ on less than poor results. I have got to get my system dialed in, 7 to 14 grams from 2 36" manifolded plants is pathetic.
I don't have a good track record for sexing during the veg stage and was hoping to sex them in their solo cups before going to their forever pots. I currently have 8 seedlings hoping that I get 4 fems.
So it may be best then to roll the dice put them under 18hr light and pot what I think are fems? hopefully the good people here can help with that with some good pix when the time comes. This would be a non issue with a 6 plant limit. I'm good with 2 or 3 extra weeks but yeah in 6 to 9 weeks I could almost pull off a grow in that time.

[dphipps1020]

The problem there is your light then probably. I'd recommend something better or you'll have to keep your plants really short with the light close. I've had some of the cheap LEDs and got small yields every time until I upgraded my lights. Now I get way bigger, more dense buds. Look into it, I highly recommend it.

[MrMagic]

Yeah upgrading this week just got to decide on a light. I'm down to the vipra P1000 or the Philizon 1000 cob. I know the P1000 is a good light but I'm more on the side of cob lighting is better for penatration hence better buds further down the plant. After researching my light its a decent light made from quality components at the time just a little out dated. My biggest issue has been PH and thats where I'm starting first cause if thats off the best light in the world won't help. With the right ph my current light with one of the above mentioned lights I look forward to this grow.
While I plan to add lighting improve ph and generally fine tune my set up I figured I'd burn through a bunch of bag seed that I have and let them be the victims lol. So for some dumb reason my pea brain thought the fastest way to sex them would be 12/12 light them in solo cups till they show and toss the males keep my allotted 4. I'm limited space to my 3x3 tent and 4ever pots.

[dphipps1020]

I am running one Spider Farmer SF2000, and the rest of my lights are Mars Hydro (TS600, TSW2000, and TS3000). I would avoid the cheaper off name brands though and stick with lights people actually use and can give a good review of. From what I've noticed, anything below about 18" from the top of your plant will usually be smaller no matter what light you use. As long as you get good quality lights you shouldn't have a problem with good penetration. I just bought my lights recently, replaced some 315CMH lights, which replaced an HPS and cheap LED light combo. So far I love them! For your 3x3, look at the Mars Hydro TSW2000. I have 4 of them in my 8x8 tent and so far they're doing great. Another thing I'll add is to spend the money up front, it will be worth it and will actually save you money spent on buying multiple cheap lights because the last ones didn't work. Trust me, I did that exact thing that's why I had so many different kinds. It cost me way more in the long run than if I would have just spent the money in the beginning.