Question on veg time

[ttown]

I was wondering how much yield will change from having a veg time of like a month, to having a veg time of like 2~3 months? I realize that this would vary a lot depending on the strain and setup and what not. I guess what I should be looking for is maybe just somebody who has had experience with vegging their plants for different periods of time and what their results were.

Thanks for your time.

 

[vancityj]

There are lots of variables to that question. In the right size pot, a plant can grow horizontally as much as vertically. It comes down to available space. You can veg a plant for one month...it'll be about 3 ft. tall; 2-3 months of veg time will give you large bushes that can be upwards of, potentially, 4-6' across, and will yield upwards of one-pound, each. It all comes down to personal preference; lot's of people stick with 2-gallon pots and 2 weeks veg, with <20/1KW. Obviously, more plants and less veg time equals a faster yield.

 

[Squ1rrely]

like u said, yield is going to depend more on genetics, setup, and gardening methods rather than veg time. but i hav experienced substantial differences with veg times and yields, due to having mothers for extended periods of time. especially with sativas. in my opinion they're not worth the space, as they take up A LOT, and maintenence. i love huge plants, i jus dont love to gro em. some people do. look up some of the critical mass grows. they'll blow ur mind and want u to change EVERYTHING u do. lol.

 

[GreenMachine22]

im guessing that would increase your yield a shit load... Bigger stem,roots,leaves = bigger buds

 

[somebody041]

i have been wondering the same thing ttown. i don't think i could have worded it as well as you so thanks for posing the question and i hope that more people contribute!

 

[stealthcabber]

older plants are really hard to care for also, they start getting nute deficiency. even clone moms only last a little longer than 3 months imho

 

[vancityj]

"Bigger stem,roots,leaves = bigger buds"

Yes, and no. The longer you 'veg' a plant, and the larger it gets, the more nodes and branches there are to produce fruit, and the higher the yield will be, given the proper spacing and lighting. You can't expect to pack too many large plants under an inadequate light source (20, 5-ft plants under one lamp, for instance) and yield the same numbers; on the contrary, growth and yield will suffer. Having one large, 5-ft bush under a 1000-watt light will yield you roughly the same as 20 smaller plants in the same space. Again, it's personal preference. As most people probably grow indoors, the question is: Do I want to veg one or two large plants for two or three months, flower, and yield 'X' in given amount of space. Or, do I want to veg ten plants for three weeks, and yield the same amount. Also, electricity consumption (longer cycle = more $) and the number of plants in one's possession should be considered as well.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Outdoors, great. Indoors, not so much. A plant vegged for several months is going to be several feet tall. The effective penetration of grow lamps is measured in inches. You'd increase your yield but, lower the quality.

 

[kronicundrum]

So it boils down to a saturation point. After it gets so big, the amount of light you have is the limiting factor. So lets say at 3-4 feet you start flower, you get 1lb. If you let it goto 5-6 feet for veg, now y our lights dont cover as large an area, and main colas will not be as big and you get .8 lbs of weed.

Also it takes longer to veg plants larger, so unless you have 800watts or more, stick to regular size.

 

[vancityj]

It's sort of similar to the 'Law of Diminishing Returns'. Diminishing returns (also called diminishing marginal returns) refers to how the marginal contribution of a factor of production usually decreases as more of the factor is used. According to this relationship, in a production system with fixed and variable inputs (say factory size and labor), beyond some point, each additional unit of the variable input yields smaller and smaller increases in output. Conversely, producing one more unit of output costs more and more in variable inputs.

 

[Sleepy]

4-6 weeks veg time and some topping seems to work best for me.

i use 2 gallon growbags under 400 watts for flowering. T5 mixed spectrum for the veg period.

keep the root mass healthy and the pH in range, the plants are on 'autopilot'.