If you want to grow your own supply then you need to learn how to grow marijuana. Most expert growers agree that it is not really hard to grow cannabis. In fact, marijuana can grow no matter what kind of environment. There are even cannabis strains that can grow in the coldest climates!
But if you want to learn how growing marijuana indoors and how to grow marijuana outdoors is possible, we will show you the easiest way to do it.
About Growing License for Marijuana
In some countries where cannabis growing is regulated(legalized or decriminalized), growers are asked to apply for a license. A cannabis growing license is a document that allows you to grow marijuana at home for a particular illness or medical use.
There are several steps to take to be able to procure a license. Usually, it starts with talking to a doctor regarding the use of medical cannabis for your condition and then applying for a license from a regulating body in your country, state or region.
A license has limits. There are a number of plants that you can grow and there are regulations to follow regarding your growing area and compliance with local laws about growing cannabis. To find out if growing cannabis is regulated and if you require a license to do so, check local government regulations online.
How to Grow Marijuana Indoors
What You need to Grow Cannabis Indoors
We will discuss basic steps on how to grow cannabis starting with indoor cannabis growing. You need the following materials:
- Good grow lights
- Intake and outtake fans
- Grow tent or grow cabinet
- Pots and potting mix
- Smell filters or carbon filters
- Fertilizer
These materials are available online or from local shops. You can buy these individually or as a set.
About the Grow Tent
The grow tent is where you will keep your cannabis plants. The tent keeps light and smell in. Most updated grow tents come with reflective interiors to reflect light back. There are openings to install fans to removes tale and smelly air and to bring in the fresh air. It also has openings for electric cables.
Cannabis Grow Lights
Remember that light = weight of your harvest. This means that the stronger your lights are, the better your yields would be. The most common types of grow lights available are HID lamps, CMH lamps and LED lamps.
LED lamps are preferred by more growers because these are energy efficient. LED bulbs may be expensive but these use very little electricity and will last for years so you will save money in the long run. Choose high quality, expensive bulbs because these will give you a better harvest. Cheap bulbs usually yield small buds.
On the other hand, HID or high-intensity discharge bulbs guarantee better harvests but the downside is this use a lot of power. These are very cheap but you will only pay for more electricity.
Ventilation
Your plants need fresh air to be able to grow healthy and strong. When plants are grown inside tents and cabinets which are not well ventilated, these can develop molds and mildew and these can significantly affect your harvests. Improve air circulation by using at least two fans inside your growing area.
One fan has to be installed at the bottom of the grow tent and this will take in cold, fresh air inside the tent or cabinet. The fan at the top will blow stale air out of the tent. This air movement will improve ventilation and ensure good health and freedom from the mold.
Use carbon filter to remove strong cannabis smell. Carbon filters are easy to install and are available in cannabis growing stores and hardware stores.
Pots and soil
There are many types of pots for growing seedlings but the best has to be one made of fabric. These let oxygen reach the roots more efficiently and drain excess water and nutrients faster. When it comes to the ideal cannabis growing soil, use top quality soil from a garden center. The ideal soil is sandy-clayey soil because this absorbs water and nutrients better and will drain excess water and nutrients more efficiently. Sandy clayey soil and other soil components are available from local garden centers and cannabis growing outlets.
The ideal soil medium has nutrients that your plants need for the initial 3 weeks of its life. You don’t need to provide plants with nutrients at this point.
Growing Your Seeds
Germinating Cannabis Seeds
If you are growing regular seeds, then you need to germinate more to compensate for possible male plants in the batch. A batch or a pack of seeds may have 50 percent males and 50 percent females.
For feminized seeds, grow 12 seeds if your space can fit 10 plants; two of these seeds will be reserved seeds. If possible, start with as many plants as you can. Grow seeds in Jiffy pellets which are a more preferred growing medium. All you need to do is to place each seed in one damp pellet. Soak the pellets overnight in water until these expand before placing the seeds in.
Place the pellets in a plastic container or in a large plate. Place these inside room temperature. As long as the seeds have not sprouted, there is no need to place these in the light. Pour water into the container to keep the pellets soft and damp. Usually, it can take 3 – 7 days for cannabis seeds to sprout.
Placing your seeds in your grow box
Now that your seedlings have sprouted, you may now proceed with placing them inside the grow box or tent. Adjust the lights so that these deliver 18 hrs. strong lighting and 6 hrs. of total darkness. Use a timer to monitor your lighting better. Keep the soil moist. Do not water when the soil is wet or moist, only when the soil is dry. These can grow very quickly.
When you see roots sticking out of the pellets, this means that it’s time to transplant your young plants into your chosen growing medium. Place the Jiffy pellet to a pot containing your chosen soil medium. Make a hole about two to three inches deep in the middle and place the pellet in.
Fill the top of the pot with soil to cover the pellet. Compress the soil lightly using your hand. Water it until you see water coming out of the container hole. Put the newly transplanted plants under strong lights.
Water your plants on a regular basis. You may use tap water if your water supply is safe for plants. You may also use rainwater. Water only when the soil in the pot is dry and not when it is wet or damp. You should see excess water coming out of the pots.
The Different Cannabis Plant Phases
The Vegetative Phase
The vegetative stage is also called the growing stage. This is so named because plants at this stage grow vertically and horizontally. At this phase, plants need 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness. Leave your plants under 18 hours of light for at least 3.5 weeks. There are growers who recommend 24 hours of light but this could be too intense for your plants and cost a lot when it comes to electricity.
The Flowering Phase
When your plant reaches 3.5 weeks, you must switch to a 12/ 12 lighting schedule. With this schedule, your plants will think that it’s starting to become colder and it must start to make flowers and seeds. You will soon see the first buds after about 4 weeks of 12/12 hours of light.
How to Spot a Male Cannabis Plant
During the pre-flowering stages, males and females will male cannabis but females will develop buds with whitish hairs. Males, on the other hand, will develop balls and sacs that may appear to be hanging from the plant.
The males have balls or sacs that are filled with pollen. These can burst soon and pollinate the female pistils creating seeds. You must remove males at once before the pollen reaches the female plants. After removing the males, females will now produce unfertilized buds and these will soon grow larger and denser.
Applying Fertilizer for Hungry Plants
Fertilizer is always mixed with water and this is watered to your plants. There are a variety of fertilizer mixes, nutrients, and supplements that are made for cannabis plants. Be sure to choose the ideal one based on the stage that your plants are in. So flowering fertilizer mixes are for plants in the flowering stage.
Harvesting and drying
There are different ways to harvest plants but the timing has to be right. You need to monitor the clarity of the trichomes or the small glass-like structures inside the buds and the color of the pistils.
You can cut only the buds and discard the plant. But some growers cut the entire plant and dry these in a dry and dark room for weeks. The dried buds are separated and placed inside dry and sealed containers.
Other plant parts are dried and chopped to be used as plant matter when making joints, teas, cannabis edibles and concentrates.
A good way to dry is spreading the buds on paper and leaving these in a dark and dry room. Slowly drying your plants can place these at-risk for mold and mildew development. Buds should feel dry after around 7 days. Yo can touch these and feel if these are dry. Place these in a large plastic bag.
How to Start Marijuana Seeds for Hydroponics
Hydroponics is growing cannabis seeds with a special system that expose the plant roots directly to the nutrients that it needs to survive. Hydroponic plants are cultivated in a soilless environment with the most common setup suspended in a nutrient-rich medium. Nutrients are fed through the roots and oxygen is provided using an air pump with an air stone.
There simple and complex hydroponics systems. Simple hydroponics set up could be pots that are hand watered using an inert medium nutrient solution. Complex systems are usually homemade and may have a number of pumps, a water reservoir, timers and grow lights.
Setting up a Hydroponics System
There are many kinds of hydroponics set up and each one has specific supplies and equipment needed. A very basic setup includes a water reservoir, air pump, air stone, drip lines, 5-gallon buckets, plants in growing pellets and nutrient-rich water.
This setup alone needs a large space indoors or outdoors. You must consider enough space where your plants will set and where the rest of the hydroponics setup will be installed. Your setup should be near a power outlet and water supply as much as possible.
Your plants should be placed in growing pellets and suspended in nutrient-rich water. A pump will remove water from the gallon buckets to return to the water reservoir. Nutrient-rich water will be pumped back to the buckets using a drip line. The air pump will be connected to an air stone to create oxygen to the water in the reservoir.
As you can see, a hydroponic setup could be fully automatic and may need only minimal maintenance. You may replace nutrient-rich water weekly using nutrients that are needed by the plants at their specific phase.
Check for root rot which is common in plants grown in pellet cubes in hydro. At the first sign, flush the system with clean water and remove rotting roots.
For advanced outdoor growing techniques meant for growing different strains and cannabis types, check out the latest information online. There are grow bibles and growing instructions available from online sources and from local growers and breeders online.
