Marijuana plants offer different growth intervals from seeds until harvest season. There are a lot of factors that contribute to how long it takes for a marijuana plant to fully achieve full growth.
The first question that always pops on people’s minds when it comes to growing marijuana is: “How long does it take to grow marijuana?”.
It is actually an easy one to answer. Generally speaking, marijuana usually takes about an average of 3 to 5 months until it reaches harvest period. But it can go over that range depending on several factors that we will be talking about as you go through this article.
Know Your Strain
This is probably the first step you need to take so that you will know how long will you wait for your marijuana plant to be ready for harvest. As mentioned before, there are various factors that affect the length of growth of a marijuana plant which includes if it is an autoflowering strain or photoperiod strain, if it is grown indoors or outdoors, or most especially if it came from a sativa or indica lineage.
Autoflowering and Photoperiod strains
The light cycle of a marijuana plant was one of the parameters that dictate when it will begin to flower. But when the Cannabis ruderalis came into the picture, a new variety of marijuana was born which is the auto-flowering strain.
Autoflowering strains will begin to produce flowers at a specific age and it doesn’t depend much on the amount of light it receives. This means that whether it is exposed to less lighting or more it will still achieve a perfect flowering stage. It can automatically transition from vegetative phase into the flowering phase.
It usually takes about 7 to 12 weeks for its buds to be ready for harvest which still depends on the lineage of the plant you are cultivating.
Photoperiod strains, on the other hand, takes a bit longer before it can reach the most awaited flowering phase of its life cycle. This particular variety goes through the regular vegetative stage which usually lasts for a few weeks or up to a number of months until it reaches its flowering stage. For indica strains, it takes about 6 to 9 weeks while for sativa stains, it is around 8 to 14 weeks to complete one flowering cycle.
Indoor and outdoor grown
People who grow marijuana plants indoors tend to have more control over it since they have the chance of manipulating the amount of light and nutrients the plants need. Weed farmers can actually force it to jump to its flowering phase sooner than its standard flowering cycle schedule.
Exposing the plants to a minimum of 18 hours of lighting per day can help reduce the duration of the vegetative phase. The flowering phase can happen in just 2 to 4 weeks after the germination of the seeds. Weed farmers will soon transition to a 12/12 schedule for lighting to promote the flowering of their plants.
Although some growers won’t venture on rushing their plants to flower because allowing the plant to increase flowering time will able to make it produce more buds. Ultimately, a marijuana plant grown indoors can provide a good harvest after 6 to 14 weeks depending on the strain.
One parameter that sets outdoor growing from indoor cultivation is the time or season when the seeds are planted. Planting marijuana during off seasons like early spring will cause a much longer vegetative phase for the plant. It usually ends during the end of summers or during the start of falls. Planting it later will decrease the vegetative period.
After that, the plant is now ready to go through its flowering phase which can have a duration of 6 to 14 weeks. This range depends mainly on the lineage of the strain.
Indicas usually have a flowering cycle of about 6 to 7 weeks like what the Skunk variant has. Sativas, on the other hand, have longer flowering cycles of around 9 to 12 weeks. Hazes, which comes from a long line of sativas, have a very long flowering period of 14 weeks.
Growing Timeline
To give you a glance at how long it usually takes for a marijuana to grow from seed to harvest, here’s a glance at an estimated duration on each step that it undergoes.
- Preparation of Equipment
This one can take you about 1 to 2 days depending on the setup, tools, a method of growing, and other factors you prefer.
- Acquiring seeds or clones
It is quite easy to acquire clones from reputable sources in areas that are open with the cultivation of marijuana and it is a bit of a problem in countries or states that haven’t accepted the legality of marijuana. Marijuana seeds usually take 2 to 4 weeks before they arrive on your doorstep which is delivered by online sellers.
- Germination phase
Sproutlings comes out from the seeds in a matter of 2 to 3 days. If you acquired clippings (clone) then you can skip this phase.
- Seedling phase
It usually takes about 1 to 4 weeks before your seedlings enter the vegetative phase. If you’re dealing with clones then you can forget about this stage.
- Vegetative phase
This is probably the longest phase that your plant will undergo which is about 2 weeks to almost 6 months depending on the strain, conditions it was set in, and the proper care and management used.
- Flowering phase
Marijuana plants most commonly enter this phase during the fall season when the light it receives is lesser than the previous phase. The average duration of this phase is around 6 weeks to 3 months.
- Harvest phase
Alas! The most awaited phase is here. It takes around 1 to 3 days to fully harvest every inch of your plant.
Patience is a Virtue
Let this saying linger in your system because there’s no easy way around in growing marijuana. Everything that is very fruitful and fulfilling takes time to be acquired. And the harder you put into growing your marijuana, the more rewarding the results will be.
Research is a vital role in the whole process. Knowing the proper care and maintenance can help you grow your marijuana plant successfully. There’s no harm in trying and even in asking. Only those who are scared to ask are the ones who actually fails.
