If you’re wondering how to grow a marijuana plant, then look no further. Growing cannabis plants doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, the simplest thing you can do is let them grow outdoors. However, doing that won’t produce the best-quality cannabis. If you want top-notch buds then you should learn how to grow marijuana indoors.
This article will explain how to grow your own weed, with or without a marijuana grow box. A marijuana grow kit can certainly make things simpler by providing you with everything that you need to get started, but it’s not a necessity by any means. Just remember to ensure that cannabis cultivation is legal in your area!
How to Grow Cannabis Outdoors
To be honest, you don’t really need a guide to grow cannabis outdoors. All you need to do is buy cannabis seeds, plant them, and water them. The plants will grow. It’s called weed for a reason, and if you’re not concerned about producing high-end weed then you don’t really need to do much for it to grow.
Even so, growing cannabis outdoors is a great option for new growers. It can help familiarize you with the plants. Taking advantage of natural sunlight also reduces the amount of energy that you use, thereby making the growing process more cost-effective. Outdoor growing also requires far fewer tools and resources.
Here are a few tips for outdoor growing.
- Cannabis prefers to be grown in regions where daytime temperatures are between 75 to 85 F (23.9 – 25.4 C). Planting anywhere that temperatures fall outside of this range can impair growth, although cannabis will still grow pretty much anywhere unless the temperatures are extreme.
- If growing in the northern hemisphere, plant your cannabis in early or mid-spring.It should be ready to harvest around the middle of fall.
- If you live somewhere extremely hot, take advantage of shade cloths to make sure your plant doesn’t get too hot. If you live somewhere very cold, use a natural enclosure to keep your plant warmer.
How to Grow Cannabis Indoors
If you’re wondering how to grow marijuana indoors then you’ll want to make a few more preparations. You’ll need to simulate a natural environment, which means taking care of light, oxygen, temperature, nutrients, and water.
Here’s a quick guide on how to successfully grow your pot.
1. Choose a Good Spot
When choosing where to grow your plant indoors, you’ll want to find a place with a suitable temperature, or somewhere that temperature can be easily adjusted. Remember that your grow lights will influence the temperature.
2. Pick Your Lights
There are lots of different lights you can use to grow cannabis, including the sun.
- Household fluorescent lights aren’t great for growing weed but they can do in a pinch, especially if you’re a new grower. Regular fluorescent lights (the long ones) are more suitable, but still not preferred by cannabis.
- LEC (light emitting ceramic) lights are designed for growing cannabis and are known to produce quick-blowing grounds.
- LED grow lights are more powerful than LECs and are considered among the best for growing weed.
3. Pick Your Growing Medium
Of course you can use soil to grow your cannabis, but there are other options.
- A soilless mix might include coco noir, perlite, or vermiculite.
- Hydroponic cannabis can be grown directly in water.
- Aeroponics allows you to grow cannabis with its roots suspended in the air. These are options for experienced growers.
4. Pick Your Plant Nutrients
The medium that you choose will partially determine the type of nutrients that you should get.
If you’re using soil you can get cannabis-specific growing nutrients from a grow shop or headshop. There are also nutrient packs available for people growing aeroponically or hydroponically.
5. Buy Cannabis Seeds or Starters
Fortunately, cannabis seeds are becoming increasingly easier to obtain. Make sure that you choose a strain that you’re sure to enjoy and acquire seeds, either online or from other growers that you know in person.
You can also purchase cannabis clones and starters. These are small pants that have already sprouted from seed.
6. Germinate
Most indoor growers prefer to germinate their seeds prior to planting them. This can be done in a number of ways. One of the simplest ways is to put your cannabis seeds in a folded paper towel and keep it moist until the seeds sprout.
7. Plant and grow
Once the seeds have germinated you can put them into your growing medium. Keep it moderately well-watered until it begins to grow leaves, at which point it’s considered to be in the vegetative stage.
Maintain temperatures between 20-30 degrees Celsius, ideally between 23-26 degrees. Make sure to feed it regular nutrients, starting with a smaller amount when your plants are young. Generally, plants don’t need a full dose of nutrients unless they’re showing signs of nutritional deficiency, such as yellowing or dying leaves.
Plants enjoy having tons of light during this stage, between 18 to 24 hours a day. 18 is preferable.
Once the plants start to grow buds, you’ll want to shift your lighting schedule. Keep the plants illuminated for 12 hours, then leave them in the dark for 12 hours. You’ll also want to get rid of any male plants at this stage.
8. Harvest and dry
Once your buds have stopped growing and have become nice and smelly, you can harvest them. Usually, you’ll want to wait until the hairs have grown dark and started to curl inwards.
Harvesting when less than half of the hairs have turned will lead to more stimulating cannabis. Harvesting when 50-70% of the hairs have turned will optimize THC content. Waiting longer than this causes THC to convert to CBN, which leads to more sedating cannabis.
Cut the plant, let it dry, harvest the buds, trim off the excess leaves, and then set it to cure in tightly closed jars.
Conclusion
Learning how to grow cannabis isn’t hard, it just takes a bit of preparation. Buying a marijuana grow kit can help take away some of the stress and confusion involved in making all these purchases and decisions yourself.
Now that you know how to grow marijuana, there’s nothing stopping you from producing your own armada of sticky-icky ganja. Good luck!
