Your plants will enter the vegetative stage when their leaf and stem growth develops at a rapid pace. This is also when your plant will start to outgrow the nursery bag, if it is in one, and will need to be transplanted into its final container.

To transplant your plant tray plug or nursery bag into a fabric pot, fill the fabric pot with a potting mix, dig a hole deep enough in the potting mix so the entire plant tray plug or nursery bag can fit inside it, and drop them in. After transplanting, make sure to completely wet the pot with water; this will help the nursery bag integrate with the new potting mix around it. Once the transplant is completed, it can be placed in a grow tent setup for the rest of the grow. 

To support the vigorous new growth, you will need to feed your plant a nitrogen-rich grow fertilizer, starting at 50% of the recommended amount in the first week and then increasing it to 75% in the 2nd week and finally 100% after the 3rd week. Nitrogen supports stem and leaf growth, so it is vital to ensure that the plant is growing at its full potential. With that said, do not over-fertilize your plant; excess nutrients will only slow its growth due to nutrient toxicity, identifiable by a dark green leaf color and clawing or browning of the leaf tips.

Hemp plants will stay in the vegetative stage indefinitely as long as It is given more than 12 hours of lighting a day, so the two constraints in deciding when to flower the plant are time and space. You must decide how much time you want your grow to take and how large your plant can get before it is too big for your grow space. Most hemp strains will grow another 50−100% in height in the flowering stage. This “final stretch” at the beginning of the flowering stage is unavoidable, so be sure to keep it in mind when deciding when to flower. Typically, hemp plants grown indoors are given 2-4 weeks to grow in the vegetative stage which strikes a good balance between total grow time, plant height, and final yields.

While plants grown in grow tents are limited by height, there is typically more horizontal space for your plant to stretch out. To utilize this space, you may apply low stress training to your plant by tying down the stems with plant ties. An automatic method of low stress training is to install a trellis net in your grow tent and push down stems growing above it to maintain an even canopy until the horizontal growth fills up the entire grow tent space. 

By directing your plant to spread out horizontally, you are not only increasing its size but also expanding its growth potential by exposing more of it to your grow light. While this will require your plants to stay in the vegetative stage a few weeks longer, you can produce greater yields in the same amount of space.

Ideal Environment

• Temperature Range: 70°-80°F (21°-27°C)
• Humidity Range: 50-70% RH
• Lighting Required: 13+ Hours/Day
• Duration: 1+ Week(s)