Am I doing everything right so far?

I've been attempting at growing for a while, but was unsuccessful. Finally I realized, I've been using the wrong light. I went out and invested in a huge double bulbed fluorescent plant light system. ANd finally, my plant is growing.

I've been growing it for about 3 weeks. My plant looks AMAZING. It has a nice shade of green. It has over 40 leaves so far.

My plant has been getting 12-14 hours of light. And I've been watering it roughly every 2 days, or whenever the soil on top gets dry.

I water it with distilled water mixed with a little bit of unsweetened apple juice.

I seem to be doing great so far, but it's only been 3 weeks. What can you say that I should expect in the future to come? From now up until the day I dry it out, what things should I expect to do other than water and give light? Also, I'm confused as to when I should harvest my crop. When should I dry it out? How do I know when my plant is ready?

When you say 12/14 hours of light, this means that you are not using a timer?

You should be aware that there are two stages of growth for weed plants. The first stage is called vegging, and is achieved by anything from 18 to 24 hours of light per day (I recommend 20 on, 4 off, for best results). You can veg a plant for as long as you want and it will continue to grow, as long as it has sufficient nutrients and light. The light schedule should be consistent from one day to the next.

The second stage is called flowering, and is achieved by having a CONSISTENT 12 hours of COMPLETE darkness per day. When you start flowering (referred to as 12/12, since this should be your timer schedule), you start a ticking clock of doom for the plant, since it thinks winter is approaching. At this point, it stops growing leaves, and starts growing buds instead. The buds are the (female) plant's means of propogating, and it's goal at this point is to make them as big as possible, in order to get pollinated. In 8 to 12 weeks the buds will be ready for you to chop. (strain dependent though, some take more, or less time)

The 12/12 light schedule should be the same every day, or you will stress the plant, which increases the odds that it will become a hermaphrodite, and self pollinate. This means that you need a timer, and also need to decide whether you are vegging your plant for a while, or flowering it at the size it is. Since you have been roughing the light schedule, the plant may have already begun flowering, but this can usually be reversed by switching to veg lighting timing.

At this point, you should read as much as you can, to make sure you know what you are doing. Start with the GrowFAQ and forums. It's a lot of info to take in at first, but it becomes second nature soon enough.

What's with the apple juice thing, BTW?

I've read somewhere on this forum that the plants love unsweetend apple juice with their water. Also, they love molasses. The molasses makes the buds heavy supposedly, but I haven't actually tried the molasses yet. Thanks for your help by the way, I'm going to switch the light/dark schedule. I'll keep a timer too. Anyone else have anything they need to tell me?

I noticed in one of your replies in another thread that you may have misunderstood my post. I'll copy my reply from that thread here:

I think you misunderstood me in your thread. It's not that you can't go 12/12 straight away, it's just that you will have very small plants if you do. My main point in your thread is that the 12 hour period must be consistent, not 12 one day, 10 the next etc. If you go 12/12 straight away, the plant will grow a minimum amount to support itself, then flower whilst small. People do this deliberately when they are running small micro grows, like this one. I was just highlighting the difference between vegging and flowering times, and the importance of timers.

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It is down to you, the grower, to decide when to switch from vegging to flowering mode. Some people use 12/12 from seed with no vegging time, for lots of tiny plants (or one plant in a PC case lol).

If you are happy with the size of your plant now, switch to 12/12 straight away. It will stretch some more when you do so, so you will have to take this into account with regards to how big you want it, and how much vertical height you have to play with. Also, the power of the light is a big factor, as are the possible training methods you may choose to employ to keep the plant low and bushy.

One thing you should be aware of, however, is that, although people do get away with 12/12 from seed, it puts the plant into a stressed state, which increases the chance of males, and hermie behaviour. It is recommended that you wait for preflowers, or alternating nodes, before you initiate flowering.