Basic questions

[DickensCider]

First-time grower, long-time smoker.

I found a bunch of seeds in my last bag (sadly), so instead of throwing them away, I decided to give growing a go. I germinated them, planted them and put them in a closet with a 200W bulb. I wound up with about 9 plants and each are about 5 inches tall right now. Obviously I don't know what sex the plants are and I'm guessing I'll wind up with about half males, which is fine (i'll dump those guys when I find them).

Basically, I'm on an 18-hour lighting schedule. It's been only a few days, so I'm probably putting the cart in front of the horse as numerous things can go wrong between now and harvesting.

When do I go to a 12-12 schedule? How long does the entire process typically take?

[Divestoned]

It's not really a yes or no kinda question.
But here goes....it takes about 90 day's to grow a plant all the way to harvest,30 day's for veg. 60 day's for flower.
You want to make sure your plant's have atleast 5-6 set's of branches before you switch to flower.

Dive:stoned:

[DickensCider]

Follow up question:

I have to go out of town in about a month. I'll be gone for about a week. That should be about the time I put it on a 12-12 cycle, which shouldn't be too tough to do by just placing the plant next to a window. I'm concerned, however, that I won't be able to water the plant during this time.

If I'm away from the plant for almost a week, will it die?

[bigtopsfinn]

^^Pretty much what Dive said.

However, if you have the wrong lighting and if it's a sativa dominant strain, it could take twice as long in some cases.

Can you take some pics of your plants and setup? If we see what's going on, we can guide you a little better :thumbsup:

Until then, you should start reading up on all the FAQ's and the stickies in each section. Here's a few that should get you started:

Grow FAQs - Cannabis Forums Message Boards - Medical Marijuana, Cannabis Club, Dispensary, News (http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-faqs/)
http://boards.cannabis.com/basic-growing/127522-simple-noob-instructions-growin-da-dankness.html
http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-growing/132514-noobs-guide-growroom-set-up-work-progress.html
http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-lighting/121311-el-cheapo-guide-lighting.html
http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-lighting/140735-answers-about-cfl-hps-how-much-light.html

You can also download the "GrowFAQ" from here (http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/70144797/growfaq?tab=summary) (it's like 205 mb or something), which answers just about every question you could ever have. It's a great guide for noobs.

Plenty more than that to go through, but it should get you started. Welcome, good luck, and keep us updated :jointsmile: