Nancy Evans
In this guide, we will show the entire cultivation of cannabis in 10 steps. We hope you understand all the terms, and be sure to pay attention to the legality of the cannabis of the country you are in before reading! In almost all EU countries, only certain varieties of cannabis with up to 0.2% THC are allowed to be grown.
Growing marijuana indoors, under artificial lighting, in a simulated environment ("grow box") can be very suitable for beginners. In indoor cultivation, you have control over everything the plant needs and ingests. From nutrients, water, light, and earth there are a number of other things that you have a direct impact on. Many who are thinking about breeding think that indoor breeding is too expensive and that initially a lot of investment is needed to achieve the right conditions. This is by no means true because if you plan to grow no more than 2 plants, the equipment and other components you need for indoor cultivation do not have to exceed the figures of 200 euros with the seed. Even though you have control over everything, with that comes responsibility again because you can pay for every mistake you make with quality and the ultimate yield. If you do not give the plant what it needs at a certain point, your plant will eventually wither.
Where to place plants during the "indoor"?
You can place the plants anywhere, it is important that they have access to fresh air and that no one can have access to them except you. Growing marijuana at home is no stranger!
Suitable spaces for indoor cultivation can be:
It is very important when choosing your location for indoor cultivation to pay attention to the temperature in the plant environment. Marijuana is best suited to temperatures of 25-30 ° C while young, and in the last stages of cultivation, temperatures of around 25 ° C are most suitable.
As the temperature is one of the most important factors for quality cultivation, we advise you to constantly control the temperature of your "grow-box"! An ordinary thermometer is enough for that. Remember that the temperature is mostly affected by lighting lamps, which emit not only light but also excess heat. The heat output of the lighting depends on the intensity and type of lighting for growing that you will use. If you use multiple lamps such as HPS, you should have flow air ventilation (fans and exhaust) to even out the heat and distribute it evenly.
Hydroponic marijuana cultivation
Hydroponic cultivation of cannabis takes place in indoor conditions without soil. There are different methods of hydroponic cultivation, but they all work on the same principle - by circulating water and nutrients in the system. This makes cannabis roots have greater access to oxygen and absorbs nutrients more easily.
Outdoor breeding is the cheapest type of breeding. To grow marijuana outdoors you need space, sun, seeds, and willpower. You do not have to worry about purchasing special lighting, Ph, etc. But outdoor marijuana cultivation brings new problems like privacy (good isolated location), possible pollination, theft of plants, parasites, animals, and other pests found in nature.
Nature is your best ally in outdoor farming, but sometimes it is also your biggest enemy. Today, you can’t grow almost anything out there if you don’t take care of it. In times of drought, the plant needs to be watered abundantly, if there is too much rain you need to protect the plant from watering.
It is a good rule when growing if it is too hot for you and the plant is too cold, if you are too cold, it is probably too cold for the plant, so if you have large temperature differences in your area, we advise you to place the plant outside in a small greenhouse.
There are two types of light sources: natural and artificial. The natural source of light is the Sun, which is also the highest quality light source for growing plants because it provides the widest range of light.
Artificial sources:
CFL - energy-saving lamps
HPS - High-Pressure Sodium
MH - Metal halide
LED - Light Emitting Diode
Fluorescent tubes - T-5, T-8
Sun
If you grow your plants under the sun, make sure your site has at least 8+ hours of direct sunlight a day for the best results. Cannabis is thus one of the more demanding plants in terms of the amount of light it needs.
CFL
Beginners often use this type of lighting in indoor cultivation because it is the cheapest and most affordable although they are not a perfect choice due to less power or Watt.
Fluorescent tubes
Fluorescent lighting for cultivation is primarily used to "help" the main light source because of their intensity. Fluorescent lamps are suitable for developing the sides of the plant because they are weak enough to be very close to the plant. They exist in versions with a different spectrum suitable for vegetation or for flowering.
LED
We consider LEDs to be one of the most expensive, but extremely cost-effective light sources. LED lighting is perfect for growing due to its low consumption and low heat output.
On the market today, and especially online, there are different versions of LED lighting for cultivation from different manufacturers. We advise you to study people's experiences and comments before buying.
Soil is also one of the factors that need special attention. Each type of soil you use to grow marijuana requires different care, water, and nutrients.
The most common types of cultivation:
Soil - There are different types and producers of soil. You can make the best quality soil yourself by composting. Today on store shelves for almost every plant there is a special mixture of soil with already included nutrients for a particular stage of development.
Mix without soil - Most often a mix of perlite, coconut bark, and similar components. The soilless mix is used for hydroponic cultivation.
Which soil to use?
The best option for the most successful cultivation is to use homemade composted soil (+ Canadian earthworms), which gives excellent results in terms of the taste of the marijuana itself in the end. You can also buy this type of soil today from different family farms, just look a little online.
Once your plant has grown a bit and after it has depleted all the nutrients that were in the soil you need to start fertilizing. When choosing nutrients, we advise you to follow the measures below.
If you have the funds, buy professional nutrients for growing in authorized grows shops, and in most cases use Plantella (red and green) well as a great and easily available alternative to professional nutrients.
Start of growth: 3rd - 4th week
At this stage of growth, the plant does not need additional nutrient supplementation because they have enough energy for the first 3-4 weeks of growth. Do not fertilize before the third week as this can shock the plant so much that it withers.
Vegetation: 4th - 6th week
Beginning of vegetation: 5mL of micronutrients, 5mL of nutrients for growth, 5mL of nutrients for flowering
Vegetation environment: 6.25mL of micronutrients, 6.25mL of growth nutrients, 5mL of flowering nutrients
Towards the end of vegetation: 5mL of micronutrients, 5mL of nutrients for growth, 5mL of nutrients for flowering
Flowering: 6 - 15 weeks
Beginning of flowering: 7.5mL of micronutrients, 5mL of nutrients for growth, 7.5mL of nutrients for flowering
Flowering medium : 8.75mL micro nutrients, 3.75mL growth nutrients, 8.75mL flowering nutrients
Towards the end of flowering: 10mL of micronutrients, 2.5mL of growth nutrients, 10mL of flowering nutrients
End of flowering: 12.5mL micronutrients, 2.5mL growth nutrients, 15mL flowering nutrients
Although marijuana is illegal and its cultivation is prohibited, the seeds can be purchased in online stores with relative ease. We advise you to buy seeds from well-known producers who have been on the market for a long time and not to grow and buy them in countries where it is illegal.
Should I be afraid to order hemp seeds online?
Not. Manufacturers and companies that sell marijuana seeds are very well informed about the legal regulations in each country in which they operate. There is nothing inside the package in which they send the seeds except your name and address. You don’t get an invoice, pay into their account, or send money in the mail so nothing can tie you to buying seeds other than a name and address that anyone could write. Each manufacturer has a special section on their website where the ordering, payment and shipping processes are explained in detail.
Fact: In the U.S., no one has ever been arrested for ordering marijuana seeds online.
Before buying, it is important to choose the type of cannabis - feminized seeds, autoflowering seeds or classic seeds.
My personal recommendation is to buy Strawberry Banana Seeds
I have had great results with this strain of marijuana.
There are several different methods for seed germination. The simplest way is handkerchief + distilled water.
Wet wipe method
Seeds
Container with lid
Wipes/paper towel
Water
After the first set of leaves grows on the plant, we consider it to be in the vegetation phase. At this stage, the plant elongates and gains in leaf mass. We see this by the daily change in height and the amount of new shoots of leaves and branches. Plants in the vegetation phase are best suited to temperatures of 23 - 30 ° C, but until it goes to temperature extremes, the plant is able to withstand and adapt to different temperatures.
This is also the stage within marijuana cultivation when you can start training the plant.
Within this phase, the optimal amount of light is at least 18 hours a day.
In the vegetation phase, we can estimate which variety of cannabis we grow. We can estimate this based on the space between the nodes of the plant. Indian hemp is usually short and thick, while the Cannabis Sativa variety is tall and thin.
Pay special attention to watering the plant during the vegetation phase. It is certainly important to increase the amount of irrigation as the plant develops. When the plant is young, it should be watered closer to the stem, but as the plant grows, so do the roots. When this happens, start watering the plant away from the stem so that the roots can stretch and absorb water more efficiently.
At this stage, "buds" begin to sprout on the plant, ie the plant begins to bloom. Marijuana cultivation comes to an end when the plant blooms. Before flowering, there is a micro period called the "pre-flowering stage". The plant shows its sex here, and at that time it is necessary to pay special attention to removing all-male plants in time.
Before harvesting, be careful not to prune the plant until it is at least 3 weeks within the flowering phase. Early pruning can upset plant hormones.
Light
If you are planning indoor cultivation it is very important to change the light regime to 12/12 light-darkness. By changing the light regime you give the plant a sign that it is time to bloom. This imitates the solar cycle in nature. In outdoor cultivation, the plant will begin to bloom naturally under the influence of the season and the position of the sun, ie the reduction of the daily amount of sunlight.
Nutrients
At this stage, pay special attention to nutrients because in the flowering stage it is most sensitive to changes in soil composition.
When to harvest? How do you know when a plant is ready?
Wait until your plant stops shedding pistils (white hairs on the top of the "headache").
Carefully pay attention to the color and shape of the pistil per plant. If more than half have changed color and are "drying out", this is a good sign that your plant is soon ready to be picked.
After most of the pistils have changed color or darkened, the plant is ready to be harvested and contains the most THC.
If you want to be 100% sure that your plant is ready to be picked, we advise you to use a magnifying glass or a microscope and look carefully at the trichomes on the buds. If most of the trichomes are golden-brown in color and the rest are milk-filled trichomes, you are ready to pick them. Simply cut off the plant with the main stem and put it to dry.
Before harvesting, some growers wash the plants of nutrients.
You can "trim" the plant after or before drying. For a good product, it is important to remove the larger leaves of the plant before drying and hang it by the branches. After drying, remove the rest of the leaves. Drying and curing marijuana should take as long as possible so don’t rush this process.
For "curing" or in layman's terms, slow drying of marijuana requires:
Place the cleaned ("streamed") heads in the jar until it is full. For the first two weeks of "curing", open the container every day to ventilate and to reduce the humidity in the container. If the marijuana is wet to the touch at this stage, leave the container open until it is dry to the touch. Humidity favors the development of mold, and you do not want that at this stage of cultivation! If after two weeks the marijuana is not moist to the touch, then it is ready for consumption.
We advise you to "curing" in at least 25 days because we deeply believe that this is one of the most important aspects that contributes to the quality of the final product.
After you have dried your plant, it is also important to store cannabis in order to maintain the quality of the yield in the long run!
We hope that this guide to growing marijuana for beginners will help you achieve your goal - to maximize the yield of cannabis! Next, we can only wish you luck in growing your plant!
