How long should I veg for?

I have a plant that I have been growing for 2 weeks and 5 days, just about 3 weeks. I was wondering what the community of RIU thinks about how long I should veg for until I switch my light cycle to 12/12. I am on 16/8 right now. It has one set of fan leaves and the second set is coming in. Here is a pic or where it is at right now.

You veg your plant to the size that is appropriate for your grow and style of grow.

i veg for the 4-5th node and go to flower, usually 3 weeks with my soil.

tip top toker said:

You veg your plant to the size that is appropriate for your grow and style of grow.

Click to expand...

Well this is my first grow. I want my plant to be bushy and not so tall because I only have about 4 feet max of height for it to grow.

I will help you because i feel generous, but the ide was that i was pointing you in a direction of research, you're getting there. Look at me patronize you lol, sorry about that.

When a plant goes into flowering, it will typically double to triple in size, a sativa may grow larger, the type of lighting you use will also reflect on how much taller they grow. So you aim to flip to 12/12 with the idea that the plant will triple but that after tripling in size, will sitll fit in the grow area.

The size at which you flower will also depend on the type of lighting you use, a CFL will have minimal penetration so unless you have a hundred CFL's, a big plant is potentially going to be counter productive as the light will not be of much use to anything but the flower sites in it's close proximity.

a 16/8 light cycle eh? I normally have a 18/6 light cycle for veg, some people even swear by 24/7 for veg. As far as your question goes, The longer you veg, the more bud you will get in the long run from a single plant. Heres an idea, veg this plant all the winter, supercropping and tying it down, and make it a bush, then bring it outside in late spring, and you could grow a monster plant, were talking 10 foot plus tree.