The cannabis sapling passes through various stages and schedules before flowering into a proper plant. They are sensitive to light exposure as the amount of light they get each day decides how soon can they start making buds. Surprisingly, both indoor and outdoor marijuana plants require sufficient lighting, which indirectly affects the different life stages as well. The two most important stages in a Cannabis’ light schedule is the vegetative and flowering stage. Seeding or cloning is the first step though not a ‘technical stage’. If you are planning to grow it indoors, you can start with it whenever you feel you are ready.
Vegetative Stage
For outdoor plantation, the best time is after Spring Equinox. Preferable month to put the seeds out in the northern hemisphere is in or after April and in the southern hemisphere is in or after October. Cannabis clones need a few weeks more than the seeds to flower. Also, seeds of Cannabis are slow in flowering outdoors than the clone’s counterpart.
In case of a cold climate, you should plant your seeds only after the last frost because very low temperatures are harmful to the plants. The choice of the strain also matters a lot here. They should be grown outdoors in cold weather.
The vegetative stage marks the growing phase of the plant. They grow taller and bigger with only leaves and stems and no buds. You can also control the shape and size of the plants through some training methods. If the light conditions are favorable, the plant growth rate is high in this stage.
Flowering stage
One essential requirement for their growth during the flowering stage is that the plants should receive undisturbed darkness every night and it should continue until the harvesting is done. If it is not the case, they will revert back to the vegetative stage.
To grow the plants indoors during the flowering stage, most growers put them on a 12-12 scheme. In this schedule, they try to artificially promote flowering by exposing the plants to 12 hours each of sunlight and darkness. The bud will be ready for harvest after 6 weeks to 5 months if it follows the 12-12 lighting scheme.
For the growers who want to grow it outdoors, they need to wait till the plants begin flowering naturally under the sun, which is usually after mid-summer. One important point to consider is that they shouldn’t be exposed to any kind of light at night, not even spotlights or street lights as it can hamper their flowering process.
It’s all about your personal preference for the result you need. You should focus on the age and height of the plan before you decide to switch to 12-12 flowering stage because it will also affect the end results greatly.
