GROWING MARIJUANA IS EASY
Cannabis is grown all over the world by all kinds of people. It is easy to grow your own cannabis. You don’t need any experience to grow a successful cannabis crop. All you need is knowledge and dedication to accomplish your plan. With ten simple steps, we’ll take you through the development from seed to stock. Get ready to be part of the growing community. Zamnesia Grow Pack View
STEP 1: DECIDE WHETHER TO GROW INDOORS OR OUTDOORS
The first decision every grower needs to make is which growing style to follow. You can grow outdoors, provided the climate is warm enough and there is at least eight hours of sunlight a day. Growing indoors can be done 365 days a year, all at once. The outdoor growing season in a hot, southern climate can last from spring to fall. In cooler, northern climates, the growing season spans only eight to 10 weeks in the summer. For growers who grow outdoors, timing is key. If you sow the seeds too late, winter weather can destroy the crop just before harvest. If you do it too early, however, photoperiod strains remain in the vegetative phase for a long time. Until the natural day/night cycle approaches the ideal 12/12 schedule and flowering begins. Cannabis cultivation that takes place indoors, however, allows the grower to regulate the light cycle himself.
STEP 2: MAKE SURE YOUR LIGHT SUPPLY IS UP TO SCRATCH
SUNLIGHT
Growers who cultivate outdoors must sow the seeds at the right time. To know when it’s the right time, you need to research the weather and climate conditions of your location. Another important factor is whether you are using a container or sowing directly into the ground. Cannabis plants need strong sunlight. If you plant in a pot, you can move it to a sunnier spot if the original location becomes shaded later in the season. And if the weather turns, you can move your plants inside to protect them.
OLD-FASHIONED GROW LIGHTS
Growers who grow indoors should invest in a lighting set and timer to grow their plants. HID lighting is an affordable and reliable light source. Dimmable, digital ballasts with 400W and 600W are a good choice if you are setting up a plantation on a limited budget. You can reduce the amount of light by hanging the reflector closer to the plants. By doing so, you can curb the heat emission and keep the energy bill low. Micro-growers using a custom (clothes) closet should limit themselves to a 250W system. Both MH lights for vegetative growth and HPS lights for flowering get hot. Inlet and outlet fans should be powerful enough to maintain optimal room conditions. If you use multiple lights, air conditioning is often necessary. The old-fashioned three-part lighting set of ballast, bulb and reflector is still used by professional growers today.
ADVANCED LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY
CFL is best used as supplemental light during the flowering period, or as stand-alone lighting during the vegetative phase, as an alternative to an MH lamp. They give off almost no heat, but the light is less powerful compared to HID or LED. You can hang them close to the canopy to keep energy consumption as low as possible. LED is the lighting technology of the future for growers who grow indoors. Unfortunately, the best performing LED setups are pricey. Systems that operate the full spectrum can be used for the entire cannabis life cycle. They are ready to use immediately when you take them out of the package. Ballasts, reflectors and the annual replacement of bulbs are no longer necessary with this new generation of lighting. The primary advantage of LED lighting is that it stays cool and, compared to HID, emits far more light than heat. If you’re planning on growing cannabis for a long time, then an investment in high-quality LED lights is definitely worth it, if you have the pennies. The new generation of LED lights will last about ten years and consume 50-75% less power than HID lights. Are you planning on growing for a long time? Then LED will pay for itself in the savings you make on your electricity bill.
STEP 3: GROWING MEDIUM?
Cannabis plants can flourish in multiple substrates. The three most common growing mediums are soil, coconut fiber and hydroponic substrates, such as clay pellets. With soil, less can go wrong and it serves as a buffer for the root area. Coconut fiber and hydroponics require more precision regarding nutrients. For this reason, beginning growers often lean toward soil. However, it is not much harder to work with coconut fiber or hydroponics. Everyone has to start somewhere. The main difference is that soil contains enough nutrients to support the development of the plant in the first few weeks. Coconut fiber and hydroponics, however, require fertilization from the beginning. Always buy substrates developed specifically for cannabis at a grow shop. Fertilized soil from the garden center, where nutrients are released gradually, is not suitable for growing cannabis. To develop super soil, a lot of experience and practice are needed. Just buy substrates from the grow shop until you gradually get routine with growing. It is not expensive and you avoid unpleasant surprises.
STEP 4: BUY NUTRIENTS
Cannabis specific nutrients are essential. Most grow shops sell complete starter kits of fertilizer from well-known brands. Most popular fertilizer brands have developed product lines tailored to your chosen growing medium. Some basic nutrients are refined with the perfect pH. As a novice grower, you should also remember to adjust the pH before watering. If you are using a line of nutrients that is not pH-perfect, you should check the pH first. Then you adjust it up or down until you have the appropriate value for your substrate. To achieve that, you’ll need a pH test strip and a bottle of a pH-plus or pH-min solution. Growers growing in soil should aim for a pH of 6.0-6.5, while hydroponic and coconut fiber growers need a pH of 5.5-6.0 for optimal nutrient uptake. In general, chemical fertilizers are better for hydroponics. This leaves fewer salts that can block the irrigation system. Organic nutrients and soil go hand in hand. With coir fiber, a supplement of Calcium-Magnesium is often needed. Novice growers should not let themselves go crazy and therefore use too many supplements in addition to the basic nutrients. Complex concoctions and miracle elixirs for weed are a waste of money at this stage of your growing career. We recommend keeping a regular schedule where you alternate the administration of macro- and micronutrients with watering. Silicon is often overlooked, but is an essential weekly addition for all substrates.
STEP 5: CHOOSE GOOD SEEDS
Ultimately, genetics is the deciding factor for any grow, whether outdoors or indoors. The right strain for you, of course, is the marijuana you like best. But the strain also has to fit well in your garden, literally. To get an idea of possible strains, you can consult online resources, such as our top ten feminized and autoflowering cannabis seeds. You can also find an overview of suitable strains if you use our Seedfinder. Enter the characteristics and traits you’re looking for. Then let our Seedfinder search for the best match based on your specifications. SeedfinderClick here Indica-dominant hybrids and autoflowering strains are generally the easiest for novice growers to grow. They don’t require much maintenance, stretch less and grow reasonably fast, especially compared to large, late-flowering sativa-dominant varieties. Training and pruning are skills you can master with lots of practice. For your first crop, keep it simple and grow low plants instead of stretching vine-like varieties. Try not to want too much right away.
STEP 6: GERMINATE SEEDS
There are many ways to germinate seeds. But since you are just starting to grow, you need a simple method with a high success rate. The Smart Start kit is a simple way for the inexperienced grower to germinate seeds. Within one to eight days, your seeds will sprout. It is best to place the Smart Start kit in a grow box to maintain a high relative humidity (RH). Cannabis likes a high RH of between 50-70% from the very beginning until the flowering stage. Smart Start (309) View Even if you plan to grow outdoors, we recommend germinating your seeds indoors. Many growers place the seeds on a sunny windowsill throughout the seedling phase. Then the little plants are transferred to “the big outdoors.” Most cannabis plants prefer a temperature of between 20-30°C during the day and no lower than 15°C at night.
STEP 7: VEGETATION
From the moment seedlings emerge from the growing medium they need light. Repot your Smart Start seedlings directly to their final containers once they reach 2-3cm. Photoperiod cannabis strains can remain in the vegetative phase if the light cycle remains 18/6, although four to eight weeks is common. Growers growing outdoors should start during the spring/summer period when the days are longest. Autoflowering strains generally have a vegetative growth phase of only three to six weeks. They thrive regardless of the light cycle. These seeds can be sown outside during the off-season and still do well. But ruderalis hybrids need more than eighteen hours of light throughout their eight- to 12-week life cycle. Small cannabis plants require minimal amounts of nutrients and supplements. Often fertilization with nitrogen and enzymes for the root zone are enough. Furthermore, cannabis plants have a sharp aroma. If you are growing indoors, it is wise to invest in odor control. You can install a carbon filter in your ducted exhaust fan and/or put odor absorbing devices in your grow room.
STEP 8: FLOWING
Photoperiod cannabis strains enter the flowering phase when you change the light cycle to 12/12. The flowering period lasts between eight and twelve weeks. The light-dark cycle should be consistent and uninterrupted. Outdoor cannabis blooms more naturally and gradually as the days get shorter in late summer and fall. As we mentioned above, autoflowering cannabis transitions independently of the light cycle. In terms of nutrients, the need for nitrogen changes to a need for phosphorus and potassium. The plant needs less nitrogen and the grower must switch to nutrients with higher levels of phosphorus and potassium. Many growers also add bloom enhancers. Cannabis strains grow two to three times larger during the flowering phase. Indoors, grow lights must be adjusted several times to prevent the flowering buds from burning.
STEP 9: HARVEST
During the last few weeks of flowering, it is advisable to flush the growing medium with pure water or a light rinsing solution. If you skip this last step, fertilizers spoil the taste of your marijuana. Even organic fertilizers should be flushed out. You’ll know when your plants are ready for harvest by looking closely at the hairs on the buds. When 50-75% have turned a red, orange, pink or brown color, the buds are ripe. If you want to know more precisely, you can use a magnifying glass to take a closer look at the resin heads. Ideally, most of the heads will be milky and a few will be amber. With that, you know it’s time to start cutting. If most of the heads are still clear, you should wait a little longer. You can harvest a plant by cutting branch by branch or by cutting smaller plants from the base of the main stem. The important thing is to remove as much leaf material from the buds as possible. Sugar leaves can be kept for making hashish later. Wear latex gloves and use pruning shears to carefully cut the leaves away from the buds.
STEP 10: DRYING AND CURING
Freshly harvested and cut buds should be allowed to dry in the dark for ten to fourteen days. To prevent mold, the room should be kept at room temperature with a RH of 50%. There are growers who use a clothes closet in which they hang the buds on a line to dry. Other growers remove as many stems as possible and dry the buds on racks. This involves flipping the buds over every other day to ensure they dry evenly. Popcorn buds can be dried in brown paper bags in about one week. You can smoke your marijuana as soon as it is dry. But if you want to enjoy maximum potency and full flavor and aroma, it’s worth curing your cannabis. Simply keeping the buds in the dark in glass jars for another two to three weeks will harden the cannabis. The room in which you do the curing should be kept at room temperature with a RH of 60%. It also helps to open the jars for ten minutes every day. This will prevent the evaporated moisture from accumulating. By being patient you will enjoy the full cannabinoid profile and flavor spectrum of the strain.
