It's getting real close to harvest time. I want to pick my buds in such a fashion as to be able to switch the light to 20/4 or 18/6 and have the plants go back to Veg. How is this done? Any tips will be greatly appreciated.
Leave as much vegetation on the plants as possible. Maybe even some of the smaller buds. Then feed with a high nitrogen fertilizer and switch your lights. You should see new growth within 2 to 3 weeks.
I've done it several times and am so not a fan of it.
Here's why:
Not all of the plants survive the "switch. You're majorly stressing the plant out. Some of them die, others go into a kind of "suspended animation" where not much of anything happens.
For the ones that make it, you muct them wait a month or more--let's say 5 weeks--for the plant to grow new branches.
So figure 3 weeks for the plants to make the switch and 5 weeks for the plant to grow enough new branches to send it back into flowering.
In that amt of time, 8 weeks total.
It that amt of time you could have germ-ed & vegged healthy vigorous NEW plants and had them in flowering already.
To me, the only reason to re-veg this way is if the grower didn't take clones off the plants before any thoughts of re-vegging.
Also, based on my own experience and talking to friends who have done it I've found that the yield is significantly less the second time around.
I don't recommend it unless you decieded that late that you want the same strain.