HELP! First time to flip my plants to flower and any tips to get a Maximum Yield

[Stevepmd]

Im getting ready to flip the plants to12/12 light schedule for the first time and have a few questions.
My grow information.
1. Im growing 8 plants in 5 gallon fabric pots using Coco.
2.Im using a 1000 watt MH/Hps light.
3. My grow space is 6×3x8.
4. Im using the General hydroponics 3 part Flora nutrien system. Cal-Mag by Botanicare.
5.Watering 2 times a day.
6. All 8 of the plants have been topped once.
7. 4 plants are K-train snd the other plant is called The Church from Green house seeds.

I have a few questions for anyone who has had a good harvest.
When is the best time to defoliate and how much at one time.
When do you start to change over the nutrients to bloom.

If you have any tips that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Smokesteve]

I personally do a major defoliation about a week before flowering. I remove about the bottom 1/3 of the vegatation and I thin out the middle a bit for airflow. Most nutrient companies have a feed chart often just before flowering begins you start incorporating the bloom nutes but follow the manufacturer recommendations.

 

[alltatup]

Steve:

defoliation: https://www.growweedeasy.com/nebulas-flowering-stage-defoliation-tutorial This def. makes buds bigger if you do it right.
flush every 2-3 weeks for 24 hours: plants love the break.
light sweet spot: make sure your colas are in it. https://www.growweedeasy.com/lux-meter
Tell your plants you worship and adore them, and that they are beautiful. They swell up with pride when we do this.

 

[9fingerleafs]

agree with the above, also you want to keep your veg nutrients for one or two weeks after switching the light, as they stretch they need that nitrogen, once you see pistils growing all over then you can switch to flowering nutrients, at least thats what i do. about defoliation i strongly reccomend what steve said about lollipoping the lower part of the plant as with such a big canopy it will not receive light and will drain energy from the top colas, besides being the right environment for pests