air . When it ’ s rainy and damp , it will take much longer than during a dry period . Be careful in the winter , when the air is very dry because drying the buds too fast will ruin the taste and smell . Growing in the Mojave Desert is much different than in Missouri or San Francisco . The best way to know that your flower is ready to smoke is to bend the stems and see if they snap or just bend . If they snap , they are ready . If they bend but don ’ t break , be patient and wait another day or two . Somewhere around two weeks is a good rule of thumb .
The flower process will take a couple of months and , honestly , isn ’ t interesting enough to fill two months of articles . We will continue to follow our plants ’ progress , but we will multi-task while our pretty little ladies do their thing and make buds . All you will do during the flower stage is make sure they don ’ t get any light during their dark hours and keep them fed and watered . Every fourth or fifth feeding , you will want to substitute pH-balanced water . The water will need to read between 6.0 and 6.5 on a pH test kit , which is slightly acidic . It is recommended to completely flush the container with twice the water as the container size . For example , you would use two gallons of water to flush a pot that holds one gallon of dirt . This will remove excess salts and should be done throughout the growth cycle .
� Close up of bud at two weeks of maturity .
This is the part where I admit that I usually don ’ t bother with the full flush . The best way to do it is in the bathtub or shower –– it is a huge pain in the ass ! I will give my girls a flush if I notice the leaf tips beginning to curl and resemble claws as seen in the example photo below .
� Close up of bud at five weeks of maturity .
The curled leaves ( see photo above ) are the early signs of nitrogen poisoning and need to be addressed . The plant needs to have its container flushed out , and it ’ s time to back off the plant food a little .
Shown on the right are photos showing examples of buds at two weeks and five weeks of maturity . The final bud photo shows what a plant might look like after eight weeks . Every cannabis strain takes six to ten weeks to flower , with the average being around eight weeks . The plants I have right now are slow to ripen , and I actually let them go for around 11 weeks .
Next month , I will show you some easy ways to increase the yield of your plants and explain a little further how to tell if your buds are ripe . Until then , I hope you enjoy your summer and have a successful garden . You will find all kinds of videos showing you grow tips and a bunch of other cool stuff on my YouTube channel , Bobo ’ s Botanicals . See the link at the bottom of the page . Happy gardening .
� Close up of bud at eight weeks of maturity .
Jay Richardson is a highly experienced home cultivator adept at producing top-quality edibles in a home environment . You can find his growing tips and cannaeducational information monthly in The EVOLUTION Magazine and on his youtube . com /@ bobosbotanicals / featured channel , where he also adds a humorous touch . His sense of humor is displayed on his new novelty tee shirts , available at www . ThatBadassShirt . com .
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