A question from a fellow grower:
when is a plant considered in veg. State?
Your marijuana plants switch from seedling to veg phase when it has developed the max number of leaf fingers. Say your second node from the top has 5 finger leafs, then the newest growing node has 7 finger leafs…this means your plant is possibly still in the seedling stage if the next node has 9 finger leafs…but if it stays at 7 finger leafs after that then its officially in the veg stage.
Basil
If you mean what is the veg state as compared to the bloom/flowering state, then veg state or stage is when you are growing your plant under more than 12 hours of light with a less than 12 hour dark cycle, usually 16-18 hours of light with only 6 or 8 hours of uninterrupted darkness respectively. And then after the plant has reached the desired size, keep in mind the plant will likely continue to stretch about another third of its size through the bloom stage, the bloom a.k.a. flowering stage is started by giving the plant at least a full 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness for a 12/12 hour light/dark cycle. As stated above, the larger and more mature the plant gets the more number of “fingers” the leaves will have, however for most smaller indoor grows you can start the flowering stage even if the plant has not developed the full number of leaves. I’ve seen healthy nuggets grown on plants with only three fingered leaves. Also the number of leaves may change depending on the strain.
I should re-phrase that last sentence, how quickly the plant grows out its higher numbered leaves and what the top or peak number of leaves it will develop is often different for different strains.
I have always considered that the plant was ready to or beginning the “Veg” stage, when the seedling has grow 4 sets of true fan leaves, 4 nodes.