Preflower definition

turbobuzz said:

So I’ve recently ran into a difference in opinions of the definition of what preflowers are. I always thought if you see pistils that was called preflowers, but someone told me no, that’s just the plant showing sex. How would you define the state of this plant?

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Skuxx said:

I think a plant showing sex is the same as preflowers. When you first see a calyx with white pistils that is preflower stage. The pic above is flowering. There are buds forming.

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Richard Drysift said:

This veers off subject slightly but I have been experimenting with manipulating light cycles for the past few cycles. To me preflowering happens just before the pistils emerge. You can get your plants to preflower by flipping them to 12/12. I prefer calling it transition mode but going to something like 15/11 induces a bushy “preflowering” plant without white pistils emerging.
If you can get your plant to go into transition mode without growing flowers the plants form more nodal areas to support larger bud mass later on when the pistils begin to develop. Some call it monster cropping. It adds more time to the grow than most growers have the patience for but increases bud mass enough for it to be worthy of the effort. It also reduces stretching once they are flipped to bloom phase.
If you want to try this you want to use a known female; works best with clones but you can also do this to sex them out . Begin lowering the amount of daylight hours gradually by an hour or 2 per week. Go from 18/6 to 17/7 or 16/8 and so on. When they get down to 14/10 or 13/11 most stains begin to throw pistils. When pistils emerge re-set timer to 18/6 for a week or two to allow the plant to transition back to veg mode. Let them veg for a week or two. When you flip them back to the final bloom 12/12 cycle you’ll notice how many more nodal spaces where buds form there are which will make for very large size cola buds. One word of warning.. big buds can mold easy.

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MajorCoco said:

That's not at all how I think it's defined.... "Pre-flower" is the flowers that you see prior to the plant being hormonally "in flower" (i.e. 12/12 light). They indicate that the plant is sexually mature, even if you have 24 hrs light a day. (I've seen this happen when I used to run 24hrs for plants in veg)

Monster cropping increases yield, but it massively increases the risk of hermies if not done carefully, and with the right plant.

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