Quote Originally Posted by lulu64
I guess I wasn't clear. How long do you let the plant grow before putting it on a 12/12 cycle? Should it be 18" tall, 2 feet, tall 3 feet tall or what? Also, after you get a female do you leave the light on 12/12 cycle until harvest or do you go back to a longer time of light like maybe 15 on and 9 hours off?
The length of veg time depends on your setup or preference. Say someone with a 10x10 grow area with several HPS lights will usually veg for longer so they will have bigger plants. More room/lights=more space to grow bigger plants. Someone with limited room/lights will veg for a shorter period of time and keep their plants on the smaller side. I will usually veg til i see alternating nodes. That means the plant will be sexually mature and ready to flower when you are. If you dont have alot of room/lights its pretty much up to you when you want to flower. Whenever you are ready. Just keep in mind that a plant will double sometimes triple in size in flowering so veg to the size according. Outgrowing your space/lights sucks.
Once you start flowering i keep my lights on 12/12 til they get the chop. Some do 11/13 and some do 10/14. With you being new i would just do 12/12 til you get the hang of growing then you can experiment further down the road.