I have a limited amount of time before I will be unable to care for my plants anymore, and i was wondering what the best ways to speed up the grow are? For vegging, I am doing 24 hour lighting (my research tells me this will increase growth by up to 30%). I also plan to drop the light down to 8-10 hours a day, halfway through flowering. Ive read that this will make the bud ready to be harvested sooner, at the expense of the size of the yeild. This is fine with me- a small yeild is better than nothing. This is my first grow, im not expecting the best stuff ever. If I get a gram of smokeable weed, Ill be happy. I need to speed this up as much as possible though, or ill have to get rid of them before I get anything out of it.

Tips? Advice?

you cannot rush it, youll end up fucking it up. esp. if its your first grow.
using 24/0 for vegg is good.
but you cannot make the flowering prosess go any faster really, maybe a week. but id just get a fast strain, like top44=44 days. euphoria somthing like that.
if its your first grow, you need to do it rite and learn from it, not rush.

what lites are you planning to use?

I have 1 42 watt CFL, and 3 23 watt CFL's. Nothing is really sprouted yet, once they get a bit bigger, ill get some more.

my understanding is the opposite of yours. Switching to 8-10 hours of darkness instead of the usual 12 should extend the flowering time but increase the yield (but probably leafier bud). but i'm no expert and could easily be mistaken.

also - if there was a sure-fire way to speed up time to harvest - we'd probably already be doing it.

....If nothing has sprouted you have a long way to go...how long before you can't care for them?

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The first one sprouted 2 days ago, the second yesterday. I have about 7 weeks.

Like I said, Im not expecting to get much out of this grow- i went into it knowing I was limited with time, and am really using this as a learning experience more than anything else. I'll do a real grow when I can devote more time to it.

I plan to start flowering ASAP, probably when theyre around 8 inches tall.

I know that Im not going to get a full plant out of this- im just trying to maximize my limited yeild as much as possible. After all, 1 gram is better than none.

Can a plant be harvested before the trichomes are orange? Are there any ill effects of smoking premature bud?

I read that in an article about 10minutes before posting this thread. It said that a 12-12 cycle will allow the plant to flower longer, and have a larger yeild, due to the good amount of sunlight. As long as it has enough sunlight, it will keep flowring. It is from my understanding that reducing the sunlight to 8-10 hours will simulate the shortening days of fall- telling the plant that winter is coming, and it will finish flowering sooner. Thats my understanding of it- but Im new at this game.

Im trying to do as much reading as possible, but I still have a lot of questions... my apologies to the OG's who have answer my questions before. (Im a moderator on a car forum... I hate repeated questions, but sometimes they cant be avoided)

By the way, thanks to everyone who's been helping me out.

Well 7 weeks seems a little short honestly. You could get away with vegging for a few weeks, and flowering for a few, but then you still need time for harvest, drying, curing.....

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Heres what Ive got right now.

The lamp now has a splitter on either side, so it has 4 bulbs total. I also got some white walls in there, and a fan.

Harvesting, drying and curing is of no concern. I can do this after the 7 weeks. I have 7 weeks until it must be harvested- I can still dry it after that. 7 weeks is the time i have for growing.

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