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Marijuana Vegetative Stage
What happens during the vegetative period of marijuana
The vegetative stage will take 3 to 16 weeks (you will enter this phase after 3-4 weeks from seed), though auto-flowering plants may begin this phase within 2 to 3 weeks. Make sure to transfer your plants into a larger container at the start of this stage, otherwise they may quickly become root-bound.
You notice the difference in spacing. Generally, an indica plant won’t grow as tall and be more dense with leaves. Whereas a sativa will grown much taller and have less complexity.
When in the vegetative stage, you can tell when your marijuana plant has finished this stage when it starts to produce buds. Female plants grow white pistils and male plants grow pollen sacs. When using artificial lighting such as LEDs or HIDs, you can switch the lighting schedule to 12/12 after your plant has significantly grown to end the vegetative stage and enter the flowering stage.
WATERING DURING THE VEGETATIVE STAGE
The vegetative period of marijuana is during the early days of its development, where they need most water. When the plant still young, it is not that big and you should water early in the day. When it became larger, you should water the area around the stem, so they will grow wide roots and absorb more water.
Within each plant’s vegetative period, care should be taken to ensure healthy growth by watering it when the top inch of soil feels dry and ensuring that water can easily drain from the pot. A good pot size for home growers is around 20 litres.
Find out the effect that temperature has on a vegging cannabis plant
Cannabis plants do not like low humidity during this stage, and the humidity level should not drop below 40%. Cannabis plants need at least 6 hours of light and growers can use artificial lighting or natural sunlight to maintain a bright and illuminated atmosphere for longer periods.
If you see an indicator of too much heat from your light source, you can move your plant to a cooler location or use a fan to create airflow over the plant indoors.
Grow Light Requirements for Vegetative Phase of Cannabis Grown Indoors
When growing marijuana plants in the vegetative stage, they will need to be exposed to at least 18 to 24 hours of light each day. This lighting requirement is reduced to 12 hours in the beginning of germination (flowering stage). Setting your light for 18 to 24 hours often can force plants into extending their vegetation phase and reduces the time the plant needs to get bigger.
Have you ever wondered if marijuana plants stay in the “vegetative stage” until it gets shorter based on the seasons?
Generally, the bigger the plant, the more buds you will get while waiting in the vegetative phase of your cannabis growth. However, while lighting is crucial while in this stage, remember to also watch the sunlight come and go and lower and raise your lights accordingly.
4 Weeks in the vegetative stage is a good place to start, with 18 hours of light each day. You can also try a 24-hour cycle, as well as provide warmth to your plants if they are kept in a cool room.
Nutrients for Vegging Phase of Marijuana
Your cannabis plants will need higher levels of nitrogen during the vegetative stage. High phosphorus from a nutrient solution is ideal as well as maintaining medium/low potassium levels.
Hydroponic Training Techniques for Marijuana Plants
Training your cannabis plant to grow optimally provides a chance to increase the yield of buds formed. Techniques for training your plant include making sure that the leaves that get the most light get more light, allowing light from above to reach lower parts of the plant.
Low Stress Training
Bending taller branches over the plants can provide more exposure to light to undergrowth and produce a higher yield. This technique is called “Low Stress Training” or LST.
Is LST worth it?
The LST technique is beneficial to growing cannabis as taller branches are bent to allow light to penetrate at the growth underneath. This method usually happens about 2 weeks before the flowering stage and should only be performed by experienced growers. If done incorrectly you can cause damage to the plant but if successfully done it produces an increased yield.
Top the best parts of your cannabis life!
Topping Technique
Topping a marijuana plant is a process to encourage more growth and yield. To top a plant, simply cut off the main stalk to promote bushier and healthier plants. Give the plant a few weeks rest in between each topping session.
What does “Topping” exactly mean?
Cannabis topping is a plant training technique that aims to boost your cannabis plant’s lateral growth in order to increase yield. When cannabis is allowed to develop naturally, it produces one major stalk (known as the cola) surrounded by a few lesser stalks. These short stalks produce small buds, which can have a big impact on the yield’s overall quality and size.
You may induce the plant to produce more colas (or big stalks) by “topping” specific portions of the plant. A plant with more colas has a stronger structure and can support more buds that are larger in size than one without.
Fiming Technique
Fiming is to cut the top growth but not the main stem. This technique is less stressful than topping and goes well with LST.
The following step is FIMing. “Fuck I Missed” is the acronym for “fuck I missed.” That is, in fact, what it stands for. Isn’t it amusing? What is the origin of the term FIM? According to reports, a grower once attempted to top a plant by hand and left roughly 10% of the new growth that he was intended to remove completely behind. To put it another way, he pinched it higher than he should have. He determined that this method of high-stress training is really less stressful for the plant than regular topping. He also realised that it yielded four colas from a single cola. This mishap turned out to be a triumph! One thing to keep in mind is that pinching rather than cutting new growth with a blade is both easy and encouraged while FIMing. Freehand pinching can lead to a variety of fascinating side effects.
How you can get to your thinking cap with screening for lighting
The marijuana plant is particularly sensitive, and can go from seedling to death in a matter of days if treated incorrectly. ScrOG is a technique that involves the use of a netted screen which allows for more exposure to light, thus increasing growing time and yielding better quality.
TIPS about how to start this effect
Reduce intake of air pollutants inside the growing space. One of the key means of cultivation is availability to CO2 and other minors like nitrogen. Avoid excessive levels of air pollutants even if it is spotless and outside traffic because this could affect growth and overall quality.
With the vegetative period of marijuana, monitor for mould. If you see a white powdery mildew covering your leaves or buds, your plant may have mildew. This could be due to humidity levels being too high or a lack of air circulation and ventilation. If caught early on, this can be resolved
The vegetative period of marijuana is the time in which the plant creates new leaves, stores energy for use during blooming, and grows taller. You can increase the process of this stage by providing more light to your plant. Alternatively, you can lengthen this stage by decreasing the brightness on your lamp.
Observing your marijuana is important to help identify issues that may be affecting its growth.
During the vegetative period of marijuana, you will notice spaces between nodes. If sacs are developing, it is most likely a male plant. Separate the plants to stop pollenating. Female plants only produce the buds needed for harvest.