Whether you call it blooming, flowering, force flowering, induced flowering , or photo-period manipulation it is all the same thing. Marijuana plants measure the dark periods and light periods of each day and change their growth patterns based on that information.
The biggest example is how plants will put their full energy into a reproductive effort in preparation for the coming winter. The plants know when to do this by measuring the amount of darkness in each day.
The nights get longer and longer in late summer and heading into fall. At some point the plants instinctively know to begin their reproductive efforts. It is exactly this response to the dark period that will give you control over force flowering.
Some plants are very particular, but most plants will begin flowering when they begin getting 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness every night, and always at the same time each night.
Should you want to flower your plant outdoors before the required 12 hours of darkness you can do what is called 'force flowering'
To do this you must create regular and strict dark periods of uninterrupted light. This effect can be created by bringing the plants inside and putting them in a dark closet. Or if you cannot move your plants then you can cover them with blankets, a large garbage can or barrel depending on their size.
I cannot stress enough that during the flowering stage, the dark period should not be violated by normal light. It delays flower development due to hormones in the plant that react to light. They should never receive more light than what they would receive from moonlight.
A strict schedule of covering the plants and uncovering them at the same hour morning and night for 2 weeks will start your plants to flowering. In late summer, with fall approaching, it may be necessary only to force flowering the first two weeks, then the rapidly lengthening nights will do the rest.
Compiled using these articles
http://www.seed4weed.com/grow/flowering.html
http://www.jasons-indoor-guide-to-organ ... rcing.html
