While I have kept up with the pictures on Facebook, it has been a struggle to post here. My last post was 9/25 and a LOT has happened with the plants since then. I had trouble with one of the plants early on, under-watering I believe. Apparently some strains require more frequent watering. I transplanted her and put her on a stricter schedule and she seems to be recovering okay. I have another plant that I am fairly certain is dying. BUT, out of 5 plants total, at least 2 are doing well, and on Sunday, I switched them to flower. From what I have read, plants can "veg" for 2-6 weeks (or longer). Mine vegged for 5 weeks and the weaker ones are still vegging. But I changed the light schedule for the two that looked to be doing the best, and they seem to be doing okay so far.
In veg, you leave your lights on all the time, or cycle 18 hours of light, 6 hours of dark, or some variation of that. In flower, the lights are off for 12 hours and this mimics natural daylight and darkness that plants need to do their thing.
So, once plants begin to flower, it takes anywhere be 7-12 weeks for them to finish, depending on the strain. Now is the time I also start looking to determine if my plants are male or female. I'm honestly hoping the two in flower are female so that I have some bud at the end instead of just seeds. I may literally be able to tell any day, as they have been in flower for almost a week now. Right around/after Christmas, if all goes well, I might actually have my medicine fully grown.
Sadly, once I harvest, there is still at least another month before I can use it. Drying cannabis and curing it can make or break a harvest, from everything I have read. So, even though you have to wait even longer, in the end, if your medicine is better, then it is worth it, right?
