What To Do When Your Indoor Cannabis Plants Won’t Bloom
Any indoor grower would know that cannabis plants use light as energy. Inside leaf cells, special organs called chloroplasts secure the blue and red light from the visible spectrum of light and use it to start the process of photosynthesis. During this phase, plants take certain elements from water and air to produce sugar while releasing oxygen at the same time.
Getting indoor cannabis plants to bloom effectively is a strategic process. To help along the way, the use of Dorm Grow LED lights helps plants to photosynthesize effectively in the grow space. For most people, an indoor cannabis project is always exciting. You set up your grow space, plant seeds, and soon they germinate with little green sprouts turning into real plants. When it comes time for flowering, it can become challenging if you do not have the best lights.
Lighting is Important for Cannabis
Like any other plant, cannabis also needs spectrum energy to thrive. When growers plant these outside, cannabis follows a seasonal cycle in spring and summer. Often, flowering is a stage that occurs in late summer, triggered by the summer solstice (around June 21). Once this date crosses, days become shorter. Longer nights as a fact help to trigger blooming, usually starting in early August.
However, if you are an indoor grower, the lighting cycle has to be manmade. If you are unable to get your plants to bloom successfully, the first obvious culprit has to be the light. For best results, you will have to tweak the setup to make sure that it gets the right temperature and kind of light for the right number of days.
Master the Light Spectrum
Growing cannabis indoors doesn’t require you to be a certified electrical engineer. All you have to do is master some basic concepts when taking up a DIY project. The blue light spectrum is the best one for vegetative growth. Red, on the other hand, is ideal for flowering. These are the most basic colors needed but for robust growth and heavy flowering, choose a light that has an 8-band color system.
Sometimes, some indoor growers tend to leave the lights on 24/7 during the vegetative state of their growth. At anytime under this condition, plants are prone to show signs of stress and lessening the light cycle or period will help. Usually, 6 hours of darkness is the standard time for night cycles. Just as you need to sleep to recover from the day, plants need their rest time too.
Once the plants finally reach a healthy size, growers can force the plants to flower by exposing them to about twelve hours of red light and the same hours of darkness. However, be aware that during this process, even the smallest amount of off cycle lighting can have an effect on the process. The bottom line here is that exposing cannabis to excessive light can coax them to reduce their flowering process. The best option here is to regulate the lighting.
Understand Cannabis Strains in Your Grow Space
Each cannabis strain is different, and matures and flowers at different rates. To some extent, it is possible to manipulate this by indoor growers who match the lights to ideal growing phases in their personalized nursery. On top of this, it is also a good thing to know the tendencies of the plants. Indicas often flower between 45 or 65 days, whereas sativa dormant strains can take longer. Normally, these flower in about 60 to 90 days.
Female plants can make buds. Male plants only make pollen sacs. Since these may also pollinate the female varieties, creating seeds and reducing yields, most indoor growers prefer to discard male plants as soon as possible.
In cannabis, there are some types available, known as the auto flowering cannabis varieties. This means that the flower automatically, no matter the amount of light exposure you give them. For beginners, this is often a great option and those with a tight budget can buy these from established indoor breeders. When using LED Grow light with auto flowering plants, it is not necessary to change to a 12 hour cycle. Use the same veg/flower LED light during the entire grow and the plants will flower automatically as their name states!