it can use. It will continue to grow upward and produce new leaves. It will also develop a thicker stem and thicker branches, as well as its maximum finger (blades) numbers on the leaves; it will eventually start to show its sex, when mature enough to do so. Then it is time for the plant to enter pre-flowering. The vegetative growth stage can last between one and five months.
Pre-flowering
At this sub-stage, the plant’s upward growth slows. Instead of growing taller,46 the plant starts to produce more branches and nodes. The plant fills out during this stage and will start to show a calyx where the branches meet the stem (nodes). This calyx is the ultimate indicator that the plant is in the pre-flowering phase of growth and is mature enough to flower. Pre-flowering can last anywhere from one day to two weeks. During this sub-stage, plants start to exhibit signs of their sex and more calyx development takes place at other node points.
Seeds grow within the calyx of the flowers. Usually they are not visible being covered by the calyx but growth bursts eventually produce what you see here. Photo Paradise Seeds.
Flowering
Here, the plant continues to fill out. The plant’s sex is now clearly evident. The male plant produces tiny, creamy, yellow sphere shapes that are clustered together like grapes. The female plant produces little white pistils that look like oily tentacles coming out of a pod. Each of the plants will continue to fill out and their flowers will continue to grow. It can take between 4 and 6 weeks for the plant to fully develop its flowers, depending on the strain. During this time the male’s pollen sacks would have burst, spreading pollen to the female flowers.
Seed Production
The female plant will produce seeds at this point if she has received viable pollen from a male plant. The seeds grow within the female bud and can take anywhere between 2 and 16 weeks to grow to full maturity. The female pistils may change color before finally bursting the seedpods, sending them to the soil below. Breeders like to collect seeds before the seedpods burst.
THE DECISION TO GROW
Important issues to bear in mind before you decide to grow cannabis:
• What do you hope to achieve—high potency, high yield, one or many plants?
• Which species/strain best meets your needs?
• Are you willing to spend over $100 for 10 seeds?
• Will you grow indoors or outdoors?
• How do the people you live with feel about this?
• Do you have time to take care of your plants?
• Do you have someone you trust to take care of your plants in your absence?
• How secure is your grow area?
• Are people going to walk past your grow site?
• Can you hide the smell when the plants start to flower?
• Do you have the patience to wait a few months before sampling what you produce?
• Are you prepared to spend money on lights and other grow items?
• Are you prepared to pay the costs of a higher electricity bill?
• Are you aware of the risks for the amount you plan to grow?
• Are you sure you really want to do this?
• Can you afford a good attorney if you think there could be legal consequences to your grow?
• Have you any previous convictions which could be used as a legal prejudice against you if you are charged with growing cannabis?
• Do you know what your legal rights are?
• Can gun ownership be used against you if you are caught growing cannabis?
• Can other drug possession in your home be used against you if you are caught growing cannabis?
• Can your children be taken from you and put into social care if you are caught growing cannabis?
• Is your home safe to grow in?
• Are there any pets around which can damage your crop or start a fire?
• Can you deal with a fire?
• Are you a relaxed tight-lipped person?
• Do you really want to be another dull cash-cropper who wastes their lives just selling cannabis, or do you want to be a new wave frontier grower who grows to rid themselves of the connection to the black market in order to enjoy their favorite herb?
• Do you want to grow?
If you are hesitant on any of the points above, I suggest you resolve those issues before growing. Reading on should help you answer most of these questions.
If, during the flowering stage, there are no males present to pollinate the female plants, the buds will grow larger and develop more resin glands. Resin may drop down on to the leaves, making the plant very sticky. The pistils on the buds will begin to thicken and cluster. The reason for the high increase in bud growth is that the female plant is trying her best to attract male pollen. This is the sinsemilla condition. Toward the last days of flowering, the pistils may change color, indicating that the plant is ready for harvest.
Cycle Times
Given different breeds and the various stages of growth, it can take between 10 and 36 weeks for a plant to grow from a seed to full maturity. The most common grow time is three to four months. All this is dependent upon the strain that you have selected. Pure Sativa can run anywhere into the six to nine month bracket.
This is Sensi Star from Paradise Seeds. There are many strains out there with many different flavors, colors, potencies, morphology, smells and flowering times. The varieties of cannabis are immense. Photo Paradise Seeds.
How much of this strain is green? Look again and you can see that there are many other colors at work and green may not be the majority.
Indica can flower in six weeks. As you can image, a Sativa/Indica hybrid plant will fall into the two to four month flowering period.
Let’s Get Growing
You should now have a general idea of what to look for in a plant to produce
