Out of town for 3 weeks nearing flowering. What to do?

I have two plants going that have been flowering for some time. High temps i think prolonged the flowering quite a bit but theyre getting there. I was hoping they would be done by the time i leave but i do not think it will happen. Ill be leaving in 3 weeks and i will be gone for 3 weeks. Now i'm just going to hope it has more than 6 weeks to go because i'll obviously have no way to harvest while i'm gone. The way i see it i have a few options.

One is to just let them keep going the way they are and turn on an auto-irrigator i set up to water them while i'm gone and hope for the best for when i get back. They are two plants less than 10 inches tall each under a 135w led blackstar.

My other option i think is to gradually acclimate them to the current light period outside (i believe here in new england we have about 14 hours of light) and let them sit near a window where i know they wont get enough light but hopefully it will slow down the flowering just enough for when i get back. Of course i would also have the auto-irrigator on. i would then throw them back under 12/12 blackstar when i get back.

In addition to those two options i am considering making clones. That was if all goes to hell i don't have to germ any new seeds and be rest assured that they're female.

Thoughts?

Less light will actually make them ripen faster, if that's what you want.

But assuming they have 6 weeks left, I would let them flower at 12/12 indoors, because any reduction in the night hours could start revegging the plants (some strains are known to only flower with 11+ hours of dark). Yeah, that would slow the flowering but you'd also lose potency, as the THC-producing reproduction hormones would start reverting. Take a look at the trichs on the day before you leave and ask yourself if they're done, and if they'd be 50/50 or worse by the time you get back.

I would just leave them be since your doing LED if you was doing HPS/MH that's another story. I would never go 3 weeks away with them unattended under HPS/MH or even CFL. 3 weeks away you are going to see a MAJOR difference when you get back.

to be honest i dont think i'll even see trichs before i leave..

LoRd MeGaTR0N31 said:

I would just leave them be since your doing LED if you was doing HPS/MH that's another story. I would never go 3 weeks away with them unattended under HPS/MH or even CFL. 3 weeks away you are going to see a MAJOR difference when you get back.

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thats the only reason i'm considering leaving them be. there would be way to much heat and fire risk with any other light source. but even so i'll still be quite paranoid for those 3 weeks. then again the light isnt even in the box. i cut a round hole on top of the box and the light is just sitting on it filling the box with light.

i'll revive this thread when the time gets closer so see where im at with the flowers.

EDIT: maybe i should set it up to be self sufficient now and see how these last 3 weeks go with them unattended as a trial run before leaving them for an additional 3?

Yes to a trial run.. Also how long does the auto-irrigator last, and are you using nutes with it?

That's a great idea set everything up how you would if you were leaving now and ignore it for the next 3 weeks. Once the 3 weeks is up see how things are if they are how you want then you know what to do for the next remaining 3 weeks.

inthemix8080 said:

EDIT: maybe i should set it up to be self sufficient now and see how these last 3 weeks go with them unattended as a trial run before leaving them for an additional 3?

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the auto irrigator uses just plain water. it has a submersible pump. im worried about putting nutes in it, i have ff tiger bloom and big bloom. the nutes sink to the bottom and i'm worried about the pump pushing in a highly concentrated dose.

the irrigator is pretty simple. a 5 gallon bucket with cover with a submersible pump in it. the hose runs out and splits into the pots. the pump is hooked up to a digital timer that runs for 1 minute for each watering. because of how hot it was around here recently i had it watering 3 times a week (m-w-f) but i might change it to just two days a week. i used it when i went away this weekend and they were standing up quite nicely when i got back.

I've asked this before on a forum here and there and I've always wondered why nobody uses a Apex controller by Neptune for their grows...
I use one and it alerts me on my phone if/when my res is dry, water is on the floor, pH or temp is outta wack, it auto top offs my res with fresh water, blah blah blah...
I mean for 2-300 bucks its pretty cheap automation/insurance/remote control for a grow (yeah you can even shut stuff off/on from your android/iphone app)

http://www.neptunesystems.com/products/apex-controllers/apex-controller-system/

JohnnySocko said:

http://www.neptunesystems.com/products/apex-controllers/apex-controller-system/

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that's pretty badass, especially that it has a scripting language to customize everything. I love customizing shit.

Bro if you give them just water and no food you will rob your harvest man. Its bad enough you are using LEDS. I would just flush all chem nutes out and top dress some bat guano Jamaican and Kelp meal and azomite and Dolomite lime over the top and bam. You don't have to worry about them starving

LoRd MeGaTR0N31 said:

Bro if you give them just water and no food you will rob your harvest man. Its bad enough you are using LEDS. I would just flush all chem nutes out and top dress some bat guano Jamaican and Kelp meal and azomite and Dolomite lime over the top and bam. You don't have to worry about them starving

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i was thinking of just repotting them into fresh ffof. that or use some dis-solvable nutes in the res that way it wont concentrate at the bottom.

so its been three weeks. i didnt exactly do a trial run, instead i upgraded a lot of things. i went from a 3'x2'x2 box to a grow tent (60'' tall x36''wid x20''deep), 6'' inline fan as an exhaust, repotted them into muchhh bigger pots so they dont dry out as easy (ffof), and the 5 gal auto irrigator is set and ready to water them twice a week. neither one shows trichs so im hoping i wont be harvesting late. i think theyll be getting nice and ripe by the time i get back.

also should i add nutes to the res? or will the ffof feed them well for three weeks?