Continue veg after pre-flowers form?

I have a high CBD hemp plant that a friend gave to me this spring. It’s been growing outdoors. Due to a lack of research and learning curve the plant struggled for a few months. It’s now looking healthy. It’s only 9" tall, but I found female pre flowers yesterday. Here is a picture from 4 days ago. I know that I’m not using an ideal pot for this girl, now.

In the meantime, I’ve gotten my indoor growing set up, and started two new seeds about a week ago. I was planning to move the hemp plant in with these once I switch from 24/7 light to 16/8 light in about a week. I will raise the small plants to keep the canopies level.

How much leeway is there between pre-flowering and flowering? I’m worried that if I wait too long, it’ll be too late to continue to veg the hemp plant. Today we have 14:06 hrs from sunrise to sunset. In a week it will be 13:49 hrs. My hemp plant receives direct sunlight until about 5:30pm when the sun drops behind my house. Does my plan sounds like it will work out?

She will need 12 hours of darkness or more to start flowering. Sounds like you got time.

The one concern is hitchhikers (bugs) she may bring in whey you take her in the tent. I would treat her with neem oil, and do preventive maintenance on all 3 once inside.

1 Like

Ok thanks for the heads up on pests. I did a light dusting of DE on the outdoor one yesterday. I’ll look into getting some neem though.

This is true for plants grown indoors, but not necessarily for outdoor plants. Outdoor plants can start flower with as little as 9 hours of total darkness, depending on genetics and circumstances.
@djfo77 When your plant starts to flower will depend on your geographical location. Outdoor photos in my area have already started flowering.

@Growyourown how can I tell when it will be too late?

I’m not 100% sure what you’re asking. Too late for what?
Preflowers are not a sign of flowering, but a sign of maturity. It will start flowering whenever it’s environment tells it to, which should be soon, depending on your location.
If you want it to veg longer, you’ll have to bring it inside to extend the daylight hours.

I was just wondering if the pre-flowers gave any additional signs of flowering as the days get shorter. I think I’ll leave it out for a few more days, then set my indoor light to 16/8 a few days sooner than I was planning. From what I’ve read, it’s not a problem to have seedlings on 16/8.

Preflowers are just a sign of maturity. Once they reach maturity, they’ll continue to do that until their environment tells them to flower. From the pic you posted, it doesn’t look like it’s flowering yet. So you should be fine.
16/8 schedule will be fine for your seedlings. As long as you don’t go under 15.