Is this preflowering?

[olegren]

My little Mephisto 3Bears had a rough early life. Lots of newbie mistakes on my end. Once I started to let her be, she seemed to do well - even in line with grow journals of the strain that I've been following. I know she was given way too much light for at least a couple 12-18 hour stretches, but I never saw any overt signs of results of burning -- and I've since gotten a lux meter to help dial in ppfd and stop making silly adjustments on that front.

Despite some growth over the last couple weeks, I worry she's stunted. She's not quite 4" tall at this point. Pistils started showing around day 18 and are now pretty prominent. From what I have read, I should be expecting a fit of stretch (Today is day 24), but other journals with this strain seem to hit that stretch phase well before pistils start showing; at which point I have to wonder -- is this thing trying to flower?

She's in soil - Happy frog with 25% perilite mixed in. Avg conditions for the last week are 79.5F & 51.16% RH (Usually higher; but been hard to source distilled water during this plague).

Can anyone give me any ideas what might be going on? Thanks in advance for your insights!

 

[Bigg Al]

Yup, that's pre flower alright!!

 

[OttoCBD]

I can't say if it's stunted or not but it's definitely worth seeing it through because it very well might not be stunted. I think that it's more of an auto trait. I had the same concerns and asked the same question. In my researching stunted growth, the majority of results were people asking about their autos (never photos) and most replies were to the effect of "Just ride it out.."

 

[olegren]

Thanks for the quick insights, fellas. I'll definitely let her ride and see how it goes. I am assuming somehow I have encouraged this with weird lighting shifts early on.

I was hoping to top as you suggested, Otto, but that top cola didn't get large enough for me to feel confident in snipping the right bit until just a day ago - at which point I was too paranoid about the stunt to make the move. I'm going to try it on this new NL seedling; which is 2 weeks tomorrow and coming along great so far.

 

[OttoCBD]

No problem at all. Being as new to autos as we are, we definitely owe it to ourselves to kind of experiment to see what works for us and our environments. I topped my first auto and LST'd pretty heavily. My second auto is 11 days old and I'm not going to top or do any LST. With no options, there is no creative process. Have fun, no matter what you do!

 

[Mizzo81]

I wouldn’t top at this point. Let her be and dial things in for the next one. I just said this am I got everything pretty dialed in now I just have to eliminate myself cause I’m he only thing that fucks up all the time lol. I’m the wild card in the grow haha

 

[AutoWonders]

I know she was given way too much light for at least a couple 12-18 hour stretches, but I never saw any overt signs of results of burning

Not sure what you mean. Autos have no light preclusions. Or is it a photoperiod?

 

[olegren]

Not sure what you mean. Autos have no light preclusions. Or is it a photoperiod?

Poor wording on my part. I meant via intensity. I had a brief phase where I thought my lights were not functioning correctly. Had 240W of QB LED about 12" away on full blast for a full night when she was young. I understand that autos have their own timers, but I was thinking maybe the fact that I was so messy with lighting in general (several other unnecessary adjustments outside the fiasco above) might have contributed to signs of flowering so early. Perhaps not?

For what it's worth, I've been using a 24/0 light cycle all along based on breeder (Mephisto) recommendations.

 

[Iriee Vibez]

I don’t know if you mentioned how old she is, but I may have missed it. Clearly, if she is flowering at that size, something went awry. Either she is flowering prematurely, or her veg growth was stunted and is flowering is on time. In either case, you grow her out, and sit back and smoke the hell out of that joint! It may be the best weed you smoked. You can correct the environment issue for the next plant! Cheers!

 

[AutoWonders]

For what it's worth, I've been using a 24/0 light cycle all along based on breeder (Mephisto) recommendations.

Before Buying my Autocobs and Quantum boards, I loved the 24/7 light schedule. My old led lights that had 3 watt and 5 watt diodes loved it. I felt I finished a little sooner with a little bigger harvest. I changed to 20/4 light schedule with the Autocobs and Quantun boards.