Does "veg" stage start at germination?

The veg stage starts when your plant gets it's first set of true leaves. The very first little leaves are smooth edged. That is the seedling stage. Then when it starts getting the serrated leaves the plant begins the vegetative state. It will stay in vegetative state until the light is reduced to less than 14 hours a day. Ideally 12/12 light and dark. When you switch to 12/12 the flowering stage begins. (Well there is some debate about whether flower starts when you change the light to 12/12 or when the plant starts getting more pistils.)

 

Veg state lasts as long as you want it. Can be 1 day or forever. MJ can be kept indefintely in veg state hence seed banks only listing Flowering Stages.

The reason why its variable because when you go into 12/12 (Flowering) your plant will double, triple or more in height. So that being said its up to you since only you know how much room you have to grow. So if you veg till its 1 foot youll have a 2-4 foot plant in a very short time.

 

I'd consider a healthy plant with at least four nodes just beginning the real veg stage.

Before that I'd say they are still seedlings establishing themselves not plants in a vigorous vegetative state.

As was said you can veg for as long or short as you want depending on how big you want the plant to be.

 

For practical purposes there is no need to define the start of veg. The reality is that as soon as the plant is producing leaves it is vegetating. Trying to separate "seeding" from "veg stage" is like trying to separate "baby" from "childhood" -- it's really just part of the larger process.

 

^Yes, to the extent that they have a veg period at all (some autos do, some jump into flowering pretty quickly).

 

I consider the 1st 2 weeks as "seedling" stage. So I consider the 1st day of week 3 as day 1 of vegging for me. I use it just for calendar purposes so I know how long I have been "vegging". I don't flip my light according to the calendar though, I do it by growth and when I think my screens will fill. But I like to look at the calendar and know how long I have been "vegging".

 

^And this is why the question is somewhat pointless. Whether you "veg" for 6 weeks or you have a "seedling" stage for 2 weeks and then "veg" for 4 weeks, it doesn't make any difference. You shouldn't feed during the first couple of weeks and ease into the light intensity, but whether you think of that as the early part of veg or as a separate stage doesn't change anything. So it's OK to label it however you want. The plant is putting out vegetative growth from the very beginning, all that really matters as far as actual timing is concerned is the flower period.

 

yep, thats basically what I was saying. More just for calendar reference use. I also consider them "seedlings" when not giving them nutes. But yep, whetehr you say its seedling or vegging, all that matters is how long its been flowering.