I’ve been admiring grow diaries. I’ve noticed several (many?) seem to have 5 weeks of veg and then switch to (12 hour light) flowering. 5 weeks seems short to me. I was going to stay in veg for 3 months. I’m looking for advice on how long plants should stay in veg. I am growing pink bubba if that matters. Thank you.
Hi @solarslurpie For photoperiod I have always used 6 weeks in veg as the minimum mature age where she can be pushed to flower. I do not know of any plant indication that would say she is mature enough…just always went with 6 weeks minimum and then how she was growing.
It really depends on what size you want the plant to be. Bigger plant = bigger yield, but, for most of us, the size of the grow space will become the limiting factor. A simple rule of thumb is, the plants have filled the grow space to where the leaves are nearly touching.
With 6 plants in a 5x5, it takes about 8 weeks for me, in soil.
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@CurrDogg420 - Thank you very much. Your advice makes sense. For now, I am focused on this one plant as a learning process…so I think I’ll start flowering after about 8 weeks.
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Yah - I could be someone’s Grandma and I got deep into learning about electronics (pretty excited that I live to tell it). Since I can’t help myself, I built an automated grow environment that monitors temp, humidity and CO2 and maintains humidity and CO2. I really enjoy the programming aspect of it all… The wiring and all the wires…um…not so much.
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add to the mix - how big is your container. You do not want to get root bound by over-vegging a plant larger than the container can handle. You also should account for STRETCH - the amount eh plant grows during flower time…it can be upwards to 3 feet so a larger veg means taller plants and will they fit?
@Mrb53004 - thank you. Interesting point. I chose a 3 gallon container. I think next time I will use a 5 gallon container. What are your thoughts for veg time given a 3 gal container?
I couldn’t find quite the emoji to express my feelings about this. It’s like a cross between the nerd glasses and the Cupid’s arrow through the heart. 
Are you running at a higher light intensity with the CO2?
Regarding pot size, in my opinion 3 gallon is a bit small for your current plan. You’ll be chasing nutrient issues in flower. I’d be in at least a 7 gallon fabric. Or you could flip closer to that 5 week mark.
Transplanting is easy with photos though, and even if you do damage some roots you can just veg a little longer to allow it to recover.
much of this depends on what you are growing, how much room you have to grow and the rest of the environment
Personally, I grow auto’s in 3 gal…if they look spectacular, I will transplant them to a 5 around 5th week in
Photo period - I only\y START with 5’s. I have 32sq ft tent space and 5 gals can fill that up pretty quick so larger than that is reserved for outdoors where I do 14-40 gal…Living in Vegas, we are just now coming down from plus 110 temps so my starters (I start in 1 gal containers, can do 20/30 in the tent, a dozen in my room, closet) Everything is getting ready to go out for the fall. We easily are still 100 in October. Last year we had 2 days under 40°…
so much of this is based on environment / growing areas and strains / genus
I like the variety and quickness of autos and it affords me constant supply, even though they are small. My photo’s are select and give me quantity. I also make tincture form all the shake
The fact that you have an automated system says a lot. If you are running CO2, that means a closed system and higher heat / brighter and MORE light. That means more bud
the bigger the root, the more fruit so GO LARGE r go home with a system like that
Else you can stay small and go for variety, perfectins, quality…
@solarslurpie sounds like you are having fun growing with your homebuilt auto environment and that my friend is what it is all about…enjoying the grow!
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@CurrDogg420 Thank you. The PPFD is currently about 1,000. I’m running the CO2 at a range of 1,000 - 1,2000 ppm. Thank you for the advice on the buckets. My most recent challenge is I want to do the soil with “Living Soil”…so I got Nature’s Living Soil. I am noticing that there appears to be some nutrient deficiencies which I am currently tracking down/trying to address.
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@Kojak Wow - they look Magnificent! Congratulations. Have you had to treat any nutrient deficiencies? What soil do you use?
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MG performance organics for containers… In a black bag… Not really, I been kinda following advice on here and trying to stay all organic i.e. fish emulsion, fish meal, worm shit, bone meal, blood meal, Epsom salt, molasses water to water with… Also been using sulfur water to help with the pH balance…tied 3 of my Bruce’s today to try some training.
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