Growing Weed – Pre-flowering Stage Care

Pre-flowering is a sub-stage of the growth stage, which indicates that our plant has reached sexual maturity and is ready to enter the flowering stage. At this point the vertical growth slows down, the plant begins to spread to the sides. Slowly we begin to discover calyx leaves that develop in the connections between the branches and the stem and constitute a “preparation” for the flowers down the road. How do we know it’s time? When is it right to put our plant in the flowering stage, and what should we do to take care of it?

The pre-flowering stage of our plant is one of the more nuanced and lesser-known stages in the cannabis life cycle. It indicates that the plant has reached sufficient sexual maturity and can be put into its flowering stage that we have been looking forward to.

This is a critical and very important stage, the entry into which will set the tone for the rest of the most important part of the growing stage. So how do you know when it’s time?

Many people ask if at this point the sex of the plant can already be identified in order to remove unnecessary males and put the remaining females into flowering. The answer is that it is still too early and it is very important not to be too reckless so that an unfortunate situation does not occur in which we destroy a female in vain.

Pre-flowering stage – the appearance of sexual signs

There are 3 signs we will try to identify in order to know if its a boy or a girl

1. The first sign to note is that if you planted seeds of the same variety, and they all sprouted and grew together, there is a very good chance that if you have plants significantly taller than the others they are males – a rule of thumb that really works great.

2. The second sign that you should pay attention to is that the males tend to show sex marks before the females. So you should pay attention to whether you see small “balls” close to the connections of the branches, in the same place where you would like to see flower buds.

3. The third and final sign that can be used to guess whether you have grown males is to observe with the help of a magnifying glass the nodes of the plant. If the calyx leaves are sitting on a tiny branch, it is most likely a male.

When to put our plant in the flowering stage?

We no longer have the patience, and all we want is to put our plant into the flowering stage and begin to see the development of buds. When do you do that?

It is important to note that the decision is largely up to you. The cannabis plant can be introduced to the flowering stage immediately upon the appearance of pre-flowering signs. But on the other hand, the plant can be continued to grow so that it will yield more flowers. As long as your plants get over 18 hours of light a day they will not bloom.

Plants that stay in the growth stage for a long time will reach the maximum height they can reach genetically. From that stage, the plant will simply start to develop more and more branches. The density in your growing space will also increase. Eventually, the plant will stop developing new leaves, shedding old leaves and growing new leaves in their place.

There are cannabis growers who prefer to grow a lot of small plants and transfer them very quickly to the flowering stage. This saves growth time and shortens the entire growth cycle. On the other hand, there are cannabis growers who would prefer to grow fewer plants, but over a much longer period of time and thus yield the maximum crop level that the plants can provide.

The main thing that must be taken into account is how much floor space and height we can allocate to our plants. In growing, the amount of light must be considered also so we can allocate the number of plants.

Space and height of the space

Do not underestimate the area and height you can allocate to your plants, this is the most important factor in deciding when to move to the flowering stage. The goal is to utilize the entire growing area in the best and most efficient way.

It is highly desirable to know what variety you are growing and how the plant develops during the growth and flowering stage. When you are growing a variety that develops a lot of branches and splits, keep in mind that it will take up a lot of floor space.

If your growing space is too crowded and your plants do not have room to spread, this will stop their growth and cause the plants not to reach their full genetic potential during the flowering stage. Are you are growing a variety that is known to grow to great heights? You need to consider how high your growing space will allow the plant to grow before the tops of your plants begin to touch the growing bulbs and burn.

Pre-flowering Stage lighting

To avoid a situation where your plants burn due to excessive proximity to the growing bulbs, mark the maximum height to which your plants can grow before you move them to the flowering stage. First, mark the maximum height to which the plant can grow and then raise the growth bulb to the maximum height it can reach and turn it on.

Then put your hand under it and start lowering the bulb until its heat feels too hot. At this point, we will mark the wall of the growing space and we will know that this is the maximum height that the plant can reach.
Keep in mind at the flowering stage some varieties double and even triple their height.

Rinse before flowering

Before we put our plants in the flowering stage, we wash our growing medium with clean water only. In the flowering stage, the target is a lower amount of nitrogen in the growth medium than in the growth stage.

Unlike phosphorus and potassium, nitrogen is soluble in water so light rinsing with clean water will lower the nitrogen levels in the substrate and prepare it for the fertilizer that is increased in phosphorus and potassium.