A few dry hopping questions.

I am going to be racking my first brew over to the secondary here in a few days and will be dry hopping. I have read on here that many people dry hop at 7 days - my IPA will be in the secondary for about 10-14 days - would it make much difference if I just added the hops when I rack to the secondary? If I do do it at 7 days do I just pull the airlock and drop them in?

I will be using whole leaf should I drop them in loose or use my steeping bag?

Thanks for the tips!

You can leave them in for extended periods no prob. I would put them in a bag to help with cleanliness, but I have done straight in there plenty with no ill effects. Just a little more beer wasted to the hops that way and you may end with some small pieces of hops in your bottles/keg.

+1 I bag mine and drop them in to the primary, I however don't use a secondary unless I rack on to Oak or Fruit, or unless I want to do a bulk age.

I also only use pellet hops to dry hop with, because the whole hops suck up too much wort.

You didn't specify but if you are using a carboy, I think you'd want to put them in loose. You'll want to use a strainer when you rack (think steeping bag over the end of your racking cane) to avoid bringing over all the hops. If you are in a bucket or other wider mouthed vessel, I do use a bag as others suggested. It helps to remove them from your final beer.

As for timing, I think you are fine.