Are these ready to switch to flowering?

[gbauto]

If you have some way to train the branches to spread out, all of those new bud nodes will grow vertically into a sea of nice buds.

[UndergroundFarmer]

It's best to pick out which branches have a legit shot at making fully-formed bud then remove lowers that don't have a chance to catch up as well as new suckers from growth nodes below the canopy. I was once reluctant to do that but I eventually got tired of messing with larf after harvest. Equal-opportunity for all bud sites works to a point outside, never indoors though.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hello to all, Happy New Year!

I've gotten pretty much everything straightened out as far as Temp/Humidity goes (for now...) and I've switched them over to flowering about 5 days ago, and now, I have a few more questions;

First of all, I've notice several sprouts of fresh growth coming up from the lower branches, should I do another light defol of fan leaves to give these more light or will they grow up past the fan leaves?
Secondly, Am I correct that each of these little sprouts are a potential bud site?
And Finally, now that I've switched them to flower, about how long before I should be looking for actual flowers?

Thanks again,
GrumpyOldMan

[gbauto]

I use a vpd chart to try and adjust my environmental conditions in the grow.

https://pulsegrow.com/pages/vpd-charts-in-fahrenheit-and-celsius

I use a simple IR temp gun to measure leaf surface temps and I've found that I tend to get best results when the leaf temps are around 80 degF.
That will usually result in a room temp around 83 degF with 60%rh.
Running coldr room temps is a hold-over from the HID days where they emit a shit-ton of IR heat to the grow space.

[Ckbrew]

You are well on you way to a successful harvest. Keep a tape measure handy. During max stretch I usually have to move the lights up every day.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Good afternoon, Once again, Ckbrew, you've been a great source of information...

I found that my plants had actually grow up closer to the lights than I thought and had to move them up a few inches, which brought the temp down a few degrees, I can see I'll be having to adjust the lights frequently.

I also moved the 6 " duct fan to the top of my tent blowing vertically as you recommended, and yes, the rectangular vents at the bottom of my tent are open. I've adjusted the small fans more horizontally as well.
I aimed one of the small fans directly at the thermometer, but there was little change.

I did a VERY LIGHT defol, we're talking 6 or so leaves per plant, and then I switched them to flower, they're on a 12/12 schedule now, 100% intensity, 20" above the plants, so now the fun begins.
Thanks for the positive comments about my plants, rather encouraging...

Thanks again,
GrumpOldMan

[Ckbrew]

GFCI- good idea. All my circuits in the grow area are GFCI protected at the breaker box.

[3Berries]

I use a 4 foot x 2 foot wire shelf tied to the poles. Then you can weave or tie off the cords.

The use of a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter is highly encouraged. Not sure of how they do that with 220V. But on a two wire 110V circuit it provides the ground fault protection and is actually much better than just a grounded outlet. If you are using a two wire 110v ungrounded outlet get rid of it for a GFCI one.

[Ckbrew]

Just an FYI, looking at your tent, all the power cords are on the floor. Same place that water would go if there were a spill. I get a heavy gauge extension and feed it in from one of the small top ports. Plug in your power strip and zip tie it to the pole. From there, run your wires from above and use zip ties to keep everything in place. Remember, Mr. Murphy is always looking for an opportunity to mess with you.

[3Berries]

The large temp increase is probably the sensor picking up heat from the light hitting it and not the air. I agree with moving the exhaust fan and I like to stir up the air above the lights.

[Ckbrew]

Looking at your setup, if it were me I would change; Move your exhaust fan to the top ceiling port of you tent above where it is now so it blows vertical, straight up not sideways. Reposition one of your fans so it blows across the bottom of the tent horizontal across the tops of the pots to increase air circulation on bottom of tent. Don't take the manufacturer's recommendation on light height as absolute, I use LED lights and I have found that I can not keep them as close as mfgr says, they are just too hot and have caused heat stress from the radiant heat. If you think you need to move them higher then do so, you are in charge. A trick I learned is place the back of your hand below the light, then slowly move it up toward the light. Pay attention to the heat on your hand. At some point you will feel a dramatic increase in heat for the distance your hand is. I keep my lights a few inches above that distance from the tops of the plants. Are the lights adjustable? Turning them down will reduce heat. The greatest light intensity is needed during bloom. Do you keep the bottom rectangular ports open on the bottom? If you pump out air from the top if needs to be replaced with air from the bottom. The ambient air temp in the room where your tent is will affect the inside temperature of the tent. Put a fan blowing directly on your lights to dissipate heat. If you want to remove heat from the lights it needs to be transferred to the air first then pumped out. Your thermometer may be affected by radiant heat from the lights. Try moving the thermometer to see if that makes a difference in the temp readings.

As for the plants themselves, I would do a pre-flip defoliation, then let them run about a week before flipping when ever you plan the flip. It is your grow, flip when you think it is ready. As they are now, I don't think you will be dissapointed if you flip now, I believe this is you first grow correct? They could be pushed a little harder, but you are still in a learning curve so either way I think you will be happy with the outcome. The plants look very nice.

[GrumpyOldMan]

OK, Sorry for the delayed response, Thanks Ckbrew for the info,

As far as lowering the lights, I found that the light manufacturer recommended to lower the lights a few inches from where I had them, and when I did is when the problems began,
my in-tent temps went from mid to upper 70's to 80+, all by lowering the light 4", I even put a box fan blowing cool room air at the plants, but to no avail, mind you, the side is completely open as in the pictures.

I think I've come up with a viable solution, living on the East Coast, not far from DC, I'm able to open my windows and let natural convection cool the room enough overnight to where it stays relatively cool, providing the ambient temp is low enough overnight.

Here are the latest picture of my setup and plants. you can't really see it too well in the picture of the tent, but I have a 6" 390 CFM fan running 24/7 in the top right corner of the picture,
Also there's a second 6" fan in the back corner pointing down just above the back light, and a 12" oscillating fan in the back left corner.

These pictures were taken today, I think I'm going to shift them to flower now, what do you all think?

Thanks,
GrumpyOldMan

[Ckbrew]

So long as RH stays in the low 40% I think an occasional temp increase to the low 80s would be ok. If they both go up then you have to do something different. Did you increase the intensity of the light? Not sure how just moving the lights would increase the temp. You do have an exhaust fan at the top of the tent? Heat rises. I also use a 6 inch fan at the top of the tent pointed down at the light to help dissipate heat from the light and allow it to be exhausted out of the tent. This will also increase the life of the light. Is your exhaust fan turned up all the way? Idk where you are, but in the northern hemisphere, open a window? you have to be more careful of heat & humidity when they come into the last ripen phase of flower. Then do what ever it takes to keep the RH% low, and the heat.

[Puglover1]

Last summer I froze a few empty 28 oz bottles of Powerade filled with water and stood them around in my closet on the hottest days, it definitely helped keep the temps a bit lower and RH a little higher.

[Gingerbeard]

billyboy, you posted when I was typing. Thanks for the ° info.