If you want to start producing cannabis at home, you must take care of all aspects of cultivation yourself.
In addition to cultivating plants, you also have to consider your electricity bill and ensure your growing-room is cozy during cold winter.
This course will teach you all basics of marijuana cultivation. We’ll talk about lighting, temperature and humidity, nutrients, and more.
Starting from Scratch: Growing Cannabis from Seed at Home
You can grow weed plant from seeds or cuttings. In this article, I will explain how to grow cannabis plant from seed.
It’s not difficult, and you can start immediately with little investment.
I will tell you precisely what you need and what you must do during different phases of your plant life cycle.
Cannabis seed is dormant when you get it. To grow, it needs to come out of its hibernation.
This process is called germination. This can be done by soaking seed in water for 24 hours.
Use clean jar with lid and fill it with water, preferably at room temperature.
Add your seeds and let them soak there for 24 hours. You can already check if some seeds have started to crack open after this period.
If they haven’t yet cracked open, leave them in water for another couple of hours and check again later on.
If they still did not crack open, throw them away and next time buy weed seeds from more trusted source.
If you’re starting from seed and growing indoors, it’s best to use pots.
This way, you can closely monitor amount of water and nutrients your flower will need.
Indoor Growing Conditions
Marijuana plant uses four things to grow: light, air, water, and nutrients. In nature, flowers get these from soil.
Soil contains many organisms that help flowers absorb nutrients by making them available to plants through their roots.
When growing weed indoors, we have to take over these functions.
We need to provide our plants with nutrients, light, air and water.
Ideal Temperature and Right Humidity
After you’ve germinated your seeds and they sprouted, you have to provide them with the right temperature and humidity, which is different in every growth weeks.
That is because they need right temperature to grow and become strong enough to survive first couple of weeks.
If you can’t provide your plants with these conditions, you could try cultivating cannabis outdoors in summer or greenhouse.
- Seedling Weeks: temperature should be between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit and high humidity levels between 65 and 70 percent.
- Vegetation Weeks: temperature and humidity should be slightly lower than in seedling weeks.
- Flowering Weeks: at this stage humidity should be 40-50%, temperatures can range between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Light Cycle for Indoor Growth
In nature, sun rises every morning and sets every evening. That means that plants get maximum sunlight during day and no light during night.
Growth process takes place during day, and plant rests at night.
During summer, days are long, and nights are short, so plants stay in growing stage for weeks.
It’s essential to create proper light cycle for your cannabis plant when cultivating indoors.
Light cycle is simply difference between light and darkness periods that plant experiences every day.
For indoor cultivation, you should use this light schedule for seedling stage: light for 18 hours a day and 6 hours of darkness, mimicking an exceptionally long summer day.
And light schedule for flowering weeks: during this stage, 12 hours of full-spectrum light and 12 hours of darkness are recommended, mimicking fall period.
Right Medium: Soil, Coco Coir, or Rockwool?
First thing you must decide when producing cannabis is what growth medium you will use.
Garden centers and hydroponics stores sell all sorts of materials that can be used to produce cannabis.
Soil is most commonly used because it’s cheap and easy to get hold of.
Coco coir is also popular option because it retains water well and contains many nutrients.
Rockwool is also very nutrient content and beneficial resource for hydroponics growing systems.
Controlled Environment: Using a Grow Room or Tent
Most people grow indoors. It’s more controllable, and you can keep away from animals, wind, rain, and nosy neighbors.
You can create controlled environment in simple grow tent or in complete grow room you built yourself.
Clean free space where you are growing cannabis needs to be lightproof and needs to have an extraction system to remove CO2 and to bring fresh air inside space.
Going Micro: Best Small Box Setup
Small growing spaces are very popular because they’re easy to set up and don’t take up much space.
Another advantage is that this method’s cost is cheap, so you have to install a slight cooling air system and light system.
Disadvantage with growing cannabis micro is that you won’t be able to grow as many plants.
But if you only want to grow little for personal use, it’s the perfect solution.
Grow Cannabis Discreetly: Basement or Attic
If you want to start growing cannabis indoors, it’s good to get some experience by growing cannabis in your basement or attic, for instance.
If you live in an apartment or just don’t want people to see what you’re up to, then an attic or basement is best option for you.
These spaces are usually smaller than standard grow rooms and don’t have any windows, wich makes them perfect for discreetly grow weed.
Cultivation Techniques: How to Grow Your Own Cannabis
Planning your clean grow room is fun part of cultivating cannabis. You get to choose all sorts of equipment and materials, and you will definately get ideas for improvement.
Cultivating cannabis is not only about providing plants with sunlight, air and water; it also requires specific climate, air conditions and certain growing techniques.
This course will teach you all you need to know about cultivation techniques. We’ll start off with hydroponics because this technique is very suitable for growing cannabis.
Hydroponics Growing Systems
Cultivating cannabis using the hydroculture method is very different from growing it in soil.
In hydro, roots don’t have access to soil and must live off water, air and nutrient.
There are several different types of hydro weed systems: deep water, shallow water, and ebb & flow systems.
In deep water systems, roots are placed in water that contains all they need. These plants will produce many big buds.
But there’s risk of root damage because of high oxygen levels in the water. It’s also difficult to see how your plants are doing if you can’t get close to them.
ScrOG (Screen Of Green) Growing Method
ScrOG stands for “Screen Of Green” method uses a screen to support your plants and prevent them from growing towards each other.
By tying them to a horizontal screen (scrogging), you can create a flat surface on top of your plants to grow on.
You then also have perfect view of your plants and can spot bugs and diseases much more quickly.
ScrOG method is an ideal indoor technique for maximizing yields per square foot.
Maximizing Space and Yield with Vertical Cannabis Growing
As cultivator, you always need to be thinking of ways to maximize your yields while minimizing costs. One great way to do this is by growing vertically.
You can use otherwise unused free space for flowering plants by training your plants to grow up. Additionally, when vertically, your plants will use more light because they’ll be closer to lamps.
There are many different ways of doing vertical producing. Here are few ideas:
- Planting cannabis in between two poles and tying them up with string or cable ties;
- Planting cannabis in pots sitting on top of each other;
- Planting cannabis in pots hanging from strings;
- Planting cannabis in pots between ceiling and lamp;
- Planting cannabis in net pots hung from ceiling;
Organic Growing Methods for a Pesticide-Free Harvest
Organic weed cultivation cannot be more different from conventional methods.
Instead of relying on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, organic growers rely on natural processes to help them cultivate their weed.
In practice, this means that you’ll have to provide your plants with their nutritional needs through composting or by using natural fertilizers, such as guano or bat droppings.
Organic cultivation has multiple advantages:
- No risk of toxicity due to pesticides
- No chance of fungi infestations
- Better end-product taste
However, it’s also much more complex and takes lot more time to ensure optimal cultivation conditions.
If you’re looking for fast harvest, there may be other methods for you.
The Simplicity and Efficiency of One-Pot-Plant
This method is ideal for anyone who doesn’t own grow tent or another type of space.
All you need is pot and grow bag for each plant.
In pot, you place the bag with medium and put plants that will grow.
This way, your plants always face lights sources and will get very tall.
Upside Down Cannabis Cultivation: A Unique Approach
Some of newest and most exciting growth techniques are based on upside-down growth. This method is almost as simple as it gets.
All you need to do is place your cuttings in water and keep them there.
It’s just like putting a seed into soil, but with this technique, you’re literally hanging plants upside down with roots in water instead of in soil.
This method is actually very similar to hydro technique, but upside-down growing does not require any special equipment or setup.
You can literally free hang cutting in water, and that’s it!
One thing to pay attention to is size of pot you use for root system because plants will be hanging from bottom of this pot later on.
Use something more significant than you would typically use for hydro system, so roots will have enough clean room to grow.
If you want to try this, we advise cloning cannabis rather than seeds because they’ll have a better chance at survival if they get too large and roots become too heavy for their pot.
Growing Cannabis Outdoors: When and How
I prefer growing marijuana outdoors because it’s fun, and you can harvest amazing, unique flavors.
But most important reason to grow outdoors is that it’s legal in many states.
Outdoor cultivation also has its own challenges, and this course will teach you everything you need to know about cultivating outdoors.
If you want to grow outdoors is best to start in early spring, so plants can grow all summer and be ready for harvest in fall.
Backyard Growers: Grow Marijuana in Greenhouse
Greenhouse is bit more expensive than just cultivation outdoors in backyard; however, you can also make one yourself quite cheaply.
Here are some things to keep in mind when growing cannabis in greenhouse:
- You have to provide your cannabis with enough light.
- You’ll have to hang up some fans to blow fresh air through greenhouse.
Growing Naturally and Secretly: The Guerrilla Guide
You can always go guerrilla if you can’t grow outdoors because of nosy neighbors or your landlord.
You’re going to need bit more skill to grow outdoors in natural setting, but it’s possible.
If you want to grow outdoors in summer, plant your seeds around end of February.
Transplant them outdoors when they are about 8 inches tall. Give them about 2 feet between each other, and make sure they don’t get too much shade.
Ensure they have pleasant and fertile soil with lots of nutrient and water them regularly during dry months. By end of summer, buds will be ready for harvest.
Nutrients 101: Easy Weed Care
Good climate is essential for healthy flowers.
But nutrients are equally important because they feed cannabis plants.
First, leaves appear, first buds form, and first flower buds ripen when there’s enough lights and enough nutrients in soil.
If you’re starting with cultivating marijuana, it’s good to know how plant feeds itself.
Nutrient Calendar and Chart
Plant uses nutrients to create buds and leaves.
Top layer of soil contains all nutrients needed by cannabis, but it’s not enough.
To have optimal production, correct pH value, and sufficient water supply, you must give them additional nutrients.
If you don’t supplement your soil with any additional fertilizer, your cannabis will grow very slowly and will produce small buds.
Your weed need the following primary macronutrients:
- Nitrogen (N)
- Phosphorus (P)
- Potassium( K)
Nitrogen is needed to create leaves and stems. Plant needs lot of nitrogen during start of growing season to develop nice big leaves that can absorb sunlight.
Phosphor plays very important role in function of chlorophyll, which is needed for photosynthesis.
Phosphor also plays an important role in production of proteins, creation of roots, and development of easy bud.
Potassium is important to speed up metabolism of strains and to improve production.
It also improves quality and taste of weed. It is therefore very important to provide right amounts.
These micronutrients are needed as well, but in much smaller doses:
- Calcium (Ca)
- Magnesium (Ma)
- Sulfur (S)
Weed also needs these non-minerals to thrive:
- Carbon
- Hydrogen
- Oxygen
Carbon is needed for sugars, and development of strains and creation of buds. Plant needs lot of carbon when it’s in flowering weeks.
Grow Cannabis Tip’s for Beginners
Here are some tips for beginner growers:
- Please provide them with water that’s rich in nutrients
- Don’t overwater plant, but keep soil nice and moist.
- Make sure your strains get enough light.
- Air Temperature should be between 64 and 77 degrees.
- Make sure air supply is sufficient.
Common Problems and Solutions for Slow-Growing
There are many possible reasons why your cannabis seeds grow slowly or not grow at all.
It could be because they’re germinated in wrong kind of soil, or because they need more light, or because they need more water.
It could also be because strains are too close to each other, so that lights can’t reach bottom of it and gets caught underneath leaves.
It can be because of too much water or too many nutrients; pests and mold can also cause this problem.
You can do some of these things if your strains are growing slowly:
- Make sure they are getting enough light
- Move grow lights closer and make certain flowers get sufficient light
- Raise lamp higher
- Install more lamps
- Install reflector under lamp to create more heat
- Provide more air ventilation to your grow room
- Check pH of your growing medium to see if it is right
Stages: Life Cycle from Germination to Harvest
There are 4 weed plant stages during cannabis seeds life cycle.
By adequately understanding these stages, you can make better decisions regarding what you need to do in order to get highest possible yield from seeds.
Cannabis germination is first stage of seeds life cycle. Germinating cannabis is process by wich cannabis seeds sprouts.
To sprout your cannabis seed, you need to make an enviroment for them suitable for germination.
That requires the right temperature, air, and good moisture, meaning you have to provide them with perfect environment.
From Seedling to Young Plant: Optimal Conditions
After germination weeks, seedlings will appear.
They’ll stay small for first couple of days, but once they manage to stand on their own, they’ll start growing like crazy.
Plants always have certain period of adaptation in begining, so don’t worry if they look a bit limp for first few days.
All little marijuana need are good conditions, sufficient light, and correct temperature and humidity.
It’s especially important to keep humidity high in this phase because seedlings can’t yet produce their own moisture through evaporation through leaves, which only starts after first pair of leaves is fully grown.
Maximizing Growth in Vegetative State
During vegetative state, plant makes many leaves and stems. That is an ideal state for maximum photosynthesis.
Many factors influence final size of weed.
Most important ones are light, temperature, and nutrients.
More lights plant gets in vegetative stage, more chlorophyll it can produce, and more photosynthesis can take place.
More photosynthesis, more energy, and nutrients can be absorbed.
In nature, sunlight is most intense during summer months, which is perfect for growing weed.
Make sure you buy proper MH or HPS lamps if you’re growing inside.
Pre-Flowering and Flowering Stage
Pre-flowering stage plant develops sex organs by producing stamens and pistils.
Marijuana will also start to show their gender, which you can see through their pattern.
Males are recognized by their thin stalks with balls at top, while females have thicker stalks with little bulges.
It’s important that you remove males right away during first stage because they won’t produce any buds. You can do this by checking them every weeks or simply using marker pen to identify them.
They also use lot of energy from cannabis for growth and not for flower production. Make sure to get rid of them all!
Cannabis typically start flowering outdoors by the end of summer, depending on external factors.
This is because days get shorter, and lower lights intensity trigger flowering.
Fully Grown and Ready for Harvest
In order to get quality weed, it’s important to determine right weeks of harvest.
Color of pistils and smell of buds are two main criteria.
Color of pistils tells you if your weed is ready for harvest, while smell determines quality and taste.
Equipment and Supplies: Understanding the Basics
Cultivating weed is an art and science. Proper setup of your grow room will determine quality, quantity, and flavor of final product.
In this chapter, I’ll explain different types of lights, containers, and cannabis growth mediums in detail so you can choose which is best for your needs.
Choosing the Right Pot and Containers
Choosing right pot is important to successfully cannabis growth.
You want your cannabis plants to get enough water, but not too much because this causes root system to suffocate.
Also, they need nutrients in soil which they take through their roots. You can provide these by giving them fertilizer once or twice during cannabis growth phase.
And last but not least, you have to make sure roots don’t stick out of bottom of pot because they’ll dry out otherwise. Using pots with holes solves this problem.