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The kelvin temp is the color of light a bulb emits. A high Kelvin temp is more of a white/blue light which is better for vegitating plants. A low Kelvin temp is more orange color and needed to flower your plants. Try for a Kelvin temp of 6500k for veg and 2700k for flowering. Usually says on bulbs or box. The temp of your room should be around 75.
ok cool stuff... i also have 12 ultra bright white leds which i will put in i no its not much but hopfully will make sum diffrence i also have a load of yellow leds but heard yellow is useless in grow what does anyone think to yellow light.....thanks
Ya yellow is useless
To answer the OPs question, You have there a sprout or seedling, it will take 2 to 3 weeks for it to develop a good root system, then it can be called the vegetative state or mode and it will stay in this mode for many years at anything over say 16/8 light, (but more ppl use 18/6 or 24/0) unless you "force" it to flower by changing the light schedule to 12/12. Generally they will stay in this veg state and grow opposing branches (one out each side at the same level) up to about the 9th node, and then the plant will switch itself to alternating branches. You may begin to flower now if you wanted, but it's better to get some roots going first.
You can also flower anytime while it's growing the 9 nodes, but it's better, imo to wait until it switches to alternating nodes, no matter the time it takes to get there. As the 9th node forms it can be deemed to be in the "pre-flower" mode. And flowering can commence at any time after that depending on how tall you want to go. Height has nothing to do with it being ready to flower or not(it's a personal decision), go by the nodes you count. You can have a 3 node plant that's 12 inches or a 9 node plant that is 3 inches. There are some right squatty strains out there now! The veg mode can be however long you want it to be, but most indoor growers have a limit that is called a "ceiling", that prevents us from growing 10 or 20 ft plants, so pick a max height you want your finished plant to be (use the maximum height you can raise your light(s) to and still have the distance you need to the plant)and veg to 2 or 3 feet FROM (ex: you want a 5 ft plant, so veg until it hits 2.5 to 3' and then send into veg) that and send into flower mode by cutting back the light cycle to 12/12. The reason for this is it will not instantly stop growing in height when in flower mode, but will continue to grow another few feet even while flowering. And yes, it is very important to make sure the dark cycle is total and uninterrupted! It's the dark cycle that will send it into flower, not a shorter "day".
There is no advantage imo and it will slow everything down to incrementally change the lights...go straight to 24/0 (18/6 or anything in between is acceptable) after the seedling phase, and when ready to flower go straight to the 12/12...not only is it a PITA to change in small steps, it definitely slows the changes down.
You can veg for a very long time (years), which is how we keep mothers to clone from, but I generally veg for 4 to 6 weeks, depending on strain, then go to flower depending on when I want it finished and how much I want to harvest, although the harvest will be what it is. Flowering times are much more set at certain times again depending on strain...some will be done at 6 weeks and others could take twice that long. Go by trichs color for best harvest, again, a personal choice! Some go 30% amber and cut, some 50%, some 80%, but any longer in flower from 80% amber the potency may start to go down, so there is a point of diminishing returns! Whew, I hope this helps cuz I'm tired of typing! ;)
PS You will not get much of a plant or any buds with that light! I doubt it has enough power to get the plant to bud properly. MORE LIGHT! Get more light! LOTS MORE LIGHT! You may want to consider a more powerful light even!
The Ex should read "....then send it into flower"....I typed veg SORRY! dam I cain't even edit gooder....DOH!