Vegetative Lasting between 3 to 16 weeks, the vegetative stage requires full-spectrum light for 18 hours and 6 hours of darkness. Some argue for 24-hour light cycles during this stage, but that choice may lead to nutritional deficiencies and stunted growth in the final flowering stage.
Growers can switch to the flowering stage as soon as the clone has established a solid root system. In optimal conditions, plants should be kept in their vegetative stage for approximately 60 days. This time period should give the plant the opportunity to maximise yield and acclimatise to growing conditions.
After germination your cannabis seedlings will produce an initial pair of rounded cotyledon leaves. In the following weeks the plants will start to mature and produce traditionally shaped leaves ('fan leaves'), this is known as the cannabis vegetative stage.
You can keep a mother plant for anything between 6 months and 3 years before the plant starts to break down and lose its vigour, yield, smell or other characteristics.
The longer you keep your plants in the vegetative stage, the bigger your plant will be, resulting in bigger yields from plants that were vegetated longer.
A good potting mix that is well-fortified with organic materials and perhaps even some mineral fertilizer will require less feeding than a medium that is more inert such as rockwool. For a standard potting mix, fertilizing once or twice a week should be sufficient.
You can remove fan leaves during flowering in much the same way you do during veg. Prune away large leaves that are overshadowing bud sites, as well as dead or dying fan leaves. One thing to keep in mind is that you should prune in intervals, giving at least a couple weeks between each session.
Photoperiod cannabis plants kept in the vegetative stage will continue to grow. So if you veg them for too long and don't control it, they will grow very large and unwieldy. Some strains of cannabis like to grow tall and spindly—for instance, landrace sativas.
Mother plants can be grown from seed or clone, and are kept in vegetation throughout their entire life. Choosing a mother plant requires some preparation when the original plants are grown from seed.
The flowering period is a fixed period of time, usually 8 to 9 weeks with most strains. No matter how long your plant was in a vegetative growth phase, the it will produce buds and finish flowering in 8 to 9 weeks. That means that your veg period could be two weeks or six months.
Ideally, we recommend defoliating your plants once during veg and once during flower. If you're an inexperienced grower, only defoliate once during veg. If you are more experienced, you may want to try defoliating multiple times (given your grow schedule allows enough time for plants to recover after each defoliation).
Vegetative
Lasting between 3 to 16 weeks, the vegetative stage requires full-spectrum light for 18 hours and 6 hours of darkness. Some argue for 24-hour light cycles during this stage, but that choice may lead to nutritional deficiencies and stunted growth in the final flowering stage.
Switching from Veg to Bloom
Plants need at least 13 hours of light each day to stay in veg – a few 'long' nights may be enough to trigger budding. Plants begin budding when they get at least 12 hours of 'uninterrupted' darkness each night (12/12). This must continue until harvest.
Cut the branches with buds into manageable sizes.
Similarly to wet trimming, you'll start by using your large shears to cut through the thicker branches. It's pretty simple — just make sure the branches attached to the buds aren't too short or too long for you to easily handle them.
Week 7: The calyxes in the seven-week varieties swell to near bursting as THC is produced in the glands. At the end of the week they will be ready. The trichomes stand more erect and the caps swell with newly produced resin. At the end of the week the flowers reach the peak zone.
Weeks 4-6: Buds Fatten Up
At this stage of cannabis flowering, your buds are getting bigger. They'll still have all the white pistils sticking out, but you'll be able to see the buds getting bigger every day.
“Parent” conveys the notion of a generation between the clone and the source. On the other hand, in terms of the number of genes in common, a clone might better be thought of as a sibling. Ordinarily a parent gives a copy of half its genes to the child, the other parent supplying the other half.
A plant grown from seed is capable of yielding more than a cloned offspring. Most plants grown from seed naturally produce a tap root, whereas plants grown from clones are unable to do so. A tap root acts as an anchor for the plant which aids in better support and water and nutrient uptake.
Grow plants to approximately 12 inches tall and completely strip off any clones. (This process can yield about six to eight clones per plant; about 48 to 56 total.) Allow 14 days to root each clone.
Many growers have increased yields by lollipopping. We know enough about plant science to support the logic behind this type of pruning. What's even cooler is that you can combine lollipopping with topping or fimming.
So, the veg stage is when growers determine if plants are female or male, discarding any males that pop up immediately to avoid pollination. Typically, plants will show their sex around the 6-week mark for reference. All in all, the veg cannabis growth stage typically lasts anywhere from 4-8 weeks.
When all goes well you can expect a smooth re-bloom and another harvest. Some growers have been known to reveg the same plant 3 or 4 times.
Fan leaves contain low levels of THC, which makes them useful for herbal teas and extracts, but not for smoking. More significantly, the fan leaf helps the plant develop the best buds possible. Much like most of the plant world, cannabis fan leaves are a key component of the photosynthesis process.
All of the leaves of the cannabis plant are necessary for the process of photosynthesis to occur. Photosynthesis results in the production of sugars and other plant nutrients. Since the fan leaves are the largest leaves, they are essential to this process.
Fan leaves will get larger, however, they will not regenerate. Any leaf that is cut off during the flower stage will not come back, so always keep that in mind. Once it's gone, it's gone.