Growing Cannabis, Beginner’s Guide: A Blog About All The Basics Of Growing Cannabis.

Growing Cannabis, Beginner’s Guide: A Blog About All The Basics Of Growing Cannabis.

INTRODUCTION

Growing cannabis is a hobby that many people enjoy. It takes a lot of work and dedication, but the payoff can be worth it. If you have never grown cannabis before, the process can be overwhelming. However, no need to fret! This guide will help you get started with all of the basic information you’ll need to know.

Choose The Right Plants 

Choosing the right genetics is important when growing cannabis. This decision will determine whether you are growing cannabis plants that are right for you, or whether you are going to be disappointed in the quality of your finished plants. Cannabis is grown either from seed or from a clone. Here’s what you need to know about seeds.

The first thing you will have to do when growing from seed is to choose the style of seed that you want to grow. The two groups cannabis seeds fall into are called photos and autos.  

• Photos: Photoperiod plants will vegetatively grow until the amount of daily light decreases.  Photos allow the grower to control the change from vegetative growth to flowering growth.  This fact also allows the grower to determine the final plant size because the grower must change the light cycle to force the plant to begin flowering.

• Autos:  Auto-flowering plants begin flowering automatically after a few weeks regardless of the amount of light they receive per day. They will finish their entire life cycle within 8 to 12 weeks depending on their genetics.  This makes them suitable for outdoor or indoor growing.

Once the type of seed is chosen, the grower needs to choose which strain of cannabis to grow.  When it comes to choosing the right strain, there are multiple factors that come into play:

• Is the strain suitable for the indoor or outdoor growing location?
• What size does this strain grow to? 
• What kind of growing medium will be used? (soil, hydro or coco coir)
• How experienced is the grower?
• How long does the plant need to grow?
• How big will the plant be when it is ready to harvest?
• What is the percentage of THC and the Cannabinoid profile of the strain?

Regardless of where you get your seed, from a friend or a seed bank, there is no guarantee what exactly the seed will grow into.  While all cannabis seeds share the same ancestry, they can differ in physical characteristics when grown. For cannabis growers who wish to eliminate the guesswork from cultivation, there is a simple option: cannabis clones.   

Clones are a great way to grow your plant quickly. All you have to do is cut off part of the mother plant carefully, so that your clone has a minimum of three nodes. Ensure the environment is sterile by using gloves and disinfected razors, scissors or other tools that may come into contact with the clone, to prevent introducing bacteria or fungus to your clone. 

Put the clone into an appropriate growing medium and give it rooting hormones to encourage healthy root growth. Growing medium options include rooting cubes, rockwool, or other non-soil equivalents like peat or coco coir.

Clones typically take approximately two weeks to grow roots long enough to be planted.   After roots have grown out of the starter plug slightly, it is time to transplant the clone.  Bury the clone deep enough to cover its roots, usually between 1-2 inches.  After this, continue to grow clones as you would a plant started from seed.

A Space to Grow

Before you begin growing, you’re going to need a space to do it.  It’s possible to grow indoors or outdoors, with hydroponics or soil, in small spaces or large buildings. The amount of space you decide to grow in will determine the size and type of equipment that you need, how much time you spend maintaining your plants and how many plants can be grown at once. 

The most common indoor growing spaces are tents, rooms and stealth grow spaces. The benefits of growing in a tent are easier control over the growing environment, tents are portable, easy to set up and tear down, and can be hidden easily. The downside is that it lacks ventilation and can become very hot and humid. This can be fixed by adding fans or blowers to help circulate air and add fresh air to your tent.  Another issue with tents is the lack of weight the tent frame can hold.  This can become a problem for growers needing to hang carbon filters or other heavy items from the tent frame.

Another popular choice for growers is the grow room. A grow room can be any space that is converted into a grow area such as a closet, bedroom, garage, or even a warehouse.  Grow rooms vary in size depending on the garden size.  All necessary lighting and HVAC equipment is added according to the room size and the plants’ needs.

Another option for growers is the stealth grow. Stealth grows can be any space that is converted into a grow area but is disguised so the average person would not realize there is a cannabis grow.  These gardens can be in a file cabinet, refrigerator, or clothes armoire.  Again like with the grow room, the grower is starting without any lighting or HVAC equipment, so that must be addressed to properly control the grow environment.

You will need to ensure good ventilation and air flow in your grow space. A grow area properly filled with plants will use all of the grow area’s ambient CO2 within five minutes or so.  This helps determine the fresh air intake fan size.  Continue reading for more information on air circulation.  

The space you choose must have access to electricity so you can set up your LED lights, fans and other equipment that may be needed during your growing process.  Ventilation is another power concern.  The grow area needs access to fresh air or a way to exhaust hot air from an air conditioner.

Cannabis can be cultivated outdoors in nearly any climate as long as it gets enough sunlight, water and nutrients.  If you decide to grow outdoors, make sure that your plants will get plenty of direct sunlight, the soil has good drainage, and the plants won’t be easily visible from the street or any public areas.  You may also face the challenge of keeping your plants secure from wildlife.  Rabbits, squirrels, and deer can be worrisome but pests like spider mites, aphids, cut worms, and thrips can ruin an entire outdoor grow before you return to see how the plants are growing.

Whether you grow indoors or outdoors, the area in which you grow your cannabis has to be large enough for each plant to grow properly.   Plant size is based on several factors.  Genetics, lighting, and container size are just a few factors that can affect plant size.  Unless you have grown the specific plant (meaning you are growing clones or re-vegged), assume it will double in size from when it starts to flower.  This will help to determine when to change the vegetative light cycle to a flowering light cycle.

Now that you selected your growing space, it’s time to select the lighting your plants will need. 

The Right Kind of Lighting for Growing Cannabis

Lighting is one of the most important aspects to growing cannabis. In order to grow healthy, green plants with a lot of big buds, you will need to provide them with enough light. If you are growing outdoors, nature can provide some of the work involved in growing plants. But if you are growing indoors, you will need to find a way to imitate natural sunlight. 

Why is lighting so essential?  Light is essential to the photosynthesis process, which is the plant’s means of converting light energy into chemical energy that is then stored in its tissues. This process is what feeds the plant, allowing it to grow and thrive. Photosynthesis cannot occur without light and the proper type of lighting can ensure that your plants have enough light to complete this process.   

The light your plants receive affects growth a great deal. Sunlight contains the full color  spectrum, but you control the colors of lights used in a grow room through the bulb or LED you pick.  

There are three types of lighting that growers use: Compact Fluorescent light (CFL), High Intensity Discharge bulbs (Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium), and Light Emitting Diodes (LED). Each has advantages over the others, but general rules apply regardless of which you choose. Many growers use a combination of these bulbs to match their plants’ needs.  

• Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs 

Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs provide light across the full spectrum.   CFL’s are produced in vegetative, flowering, and full spectrum versions.  They do not produce as much heat as HID’s, so they run at cooler temperatures than HID’s but not cooler than LED’s.  While a single CFL bulb or a few are great for seedlings and smaller plants, Uncle Herb’s Rule of Thumb is to use a more powerful option if you have a larger tent or grow room.

• High Intensity Discharge bulbs (Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium)

Metal Halide (MH) bulbs are similar to everyday room light or compact fluorescent light CFL.  MH bulbs emit the blue and green lights that are needed for the vegetative stage. High pressure sodium (HPS) provides orange, amber and red light needed for the flowering stage. Growers regularly use these two types of lighting fixtures in tandem, MH for vegging and HPS for flowering, or even both at the same time. Both of these bulbs produce a lot of heat when in use, so external ventilation or air conditioning is a must.  Another drawback to HID’s is the bulb needs to be replaced relatively frequently to maintain optimal lighting level.   Uncle Herb’s Rule of Thumb for flowering is to use a 400 watt HPS for 8 to 12 square feet, 600 watt HPS for 14 to 20 square feet, and 1000 watt HPS for 16 to 25 square feet.  The light fixture coverage areas also vary depending on the plant genetics, the number of lights in the grow space, and CO2 enrichment levels just to mention a few variables. 

• Light Emitting Diode (LED)

Full spectrum LED lights can be used throughout the growth cycle.  These lights offer many benefits, such as low power needs and long life spans that make them more cost effective over time.  There are also LED lights that separate the vegetative and flowering spectrums. LED lights don’t emit as much heat as compared to other options out there, so less ventilation is needed to maintain the proper grow space temperature. LED lights often are ready to use without purchasing any additional components.  The quality of LED varies greatly depending on the brand.  In Uncle Herb’s experience, plants will not grow properly if there isn’t enough overall light output no matter if a LED light has the highest quality or the lowest quality parts.  

LED light manufacturers can use misleading names for their LED lights.  A common model name will be XYZ name brand and model 1000 W.  This makes the person think the LED uses 1000 watts or replaces a 1000 watt HID.  Those LED lights almost NEVER use or replace a 1000 watt HID. Always read the package closely to see actual wattage of the light.  LED lights have come a long way in the last few years, so don’t be afraid of them.  Uncle Herb’s Rule of Thumb for flowering is to use around 150 watts for 3 to 5 square feet, 250 watts for 6 to 9 square feet, 450 watts for 12 to 16 square feet, and 720 watts for 16 to 25 square feet.  Just like the HID lights, the LED lights’ coverage area depends on several factors, not just the grow space square footage.

CFL bulbs are good for beginners because you don’t have to spend money on expensive equipment. However, if you want to grow large plants then fluorescent lights won’t provide enough light for them. HID lights are more expensive but they provide much more light than fluorescent ones do. The downside is that they have high heat output so they need good ventilation and cooling systems which cost even more money,  especially if you’re going to use multiple bulbs at once.  LED lights have started to take over as the main light source for indoor cannabis growing.

Getting the right bulb type is the first step to having a great yield.  The next step to increase yield is to manipulate the amount of light your plant receives.   Different stages of the cannabis growing cycle will require different amounts of light. The general recommendation for adult plants or those in their flowering stage is 12 hours of light  and 12 hours of darkness during a 24 period.  In contrast, seedlings will only need 18 hours a day, while clones can do with 24 hours of light a day.  

Cannabis plants love light, and they’ll grow better with the correct amount than they will without enough. Like everything else in life, too much of a good thing is not a good thing.  Excess light can burn leaves and the plant can even die. That’s why it’s important to understand how light affects cannabis plants, and how to find the sweet spot of just enough light but not too much for optimal growth. You will read more about cannabis growth needs in the upcoming sections on the growth cycles. 

Now that you have learned about lighting, we now examine different types of growing mediums.

Selecting Your Growing Medium for Growing Cannabis

A grow medium is the material in which cannabis plants are grown. Media can either be soil or soilless options.  Each type of grow media has its own benefits and drawbacks that growers should be aware of. Ultimately, the best type of grow media for a cannabis plant depends on the needs of the individual grower and plant.

Types of Growing Medium

What type of growing medium should you choose? There are so many options to choose from. 

• Soil:  The type and quality of soil will dictate how well your cannabis grows, so make sure you choose wisely. You can start with organic composted soil you purchase or make yourself.  Commercial potting mixes are an easy nutrient supply from day one.   Most soils will have some nutrients added to them.  This gives the grower time before additional nutrients must be added to feed the plant.

• Soilless:  Soilless mixes are a great medium to start your garden, because they give the grower better control of watering and nutrients.  The better control can lead to a larger harvest more quickly. Two soilless medium examples are coconut fiber which is called coco coir, and rockwool, composed of volcanic rock that has been melted and spun into fibers similar to cotton candy. Since soilless mixes contain little or no nutrients, you will need nutrients to feed the plants. If you are growing in a hydroponics system, you will almost always use some type of soilless medium or a combination of soilless mediums.

• Amendments:  Amendments are not always necessary.  Just like their name states, amendments, amend or add nutrients to the medium. Amendments are usually a dry solid product that is added directly to the soil.  These are applied by mixing it with soil prior to transplanting, top dressing, or spoon feeding. Soil amendments come in many forms.  The main available forms are powders and granules.  They are specially designed to break down over time to help plants grow better.  Dry amendments help supplement soil so that it is naturally conducive to the growth and development of plants.  Growers use specific amendments to ensure the medium stays at optimal level in all stages of growth.  The best dry amendment depends on the nutrient requirements of the plant. Amendment examples include worm castings, bat guano, seabird guano, rock dust, alfalfa meal, and insect frass.

Choose the Medium 

Cannabis is just like any plant in that it can grow in almost any soil, but the quality of the plant growth partially depends on the medium’s moisture content, nutrient composition, pH level, and temperature. Cannabis even has certain needs during its different life stages.  Nutrient and pH levels must be monitored and adjusted by growing stages to produce the highest quality buds.  

A benefit to cultivating your cannabis in soil is the ease of providing nutrients to your plants.  The soil already has nutrients, but you can always add more nutrients mixed in the soil or in the water.  Another benefit that sways many growers is the belief that cannabis grown in organic soil tastes better than soilless grows.  

If you select a soilless option, you will need to consistently add nutrients to the water.    Soilless cannabis is known for its faster growth, larger yields, and more potent effects than soil-grown cannabis.  Just remember you are completely responsible for feeding your plants, which can be great or can be bad.  

Now that you selected your growing medium, it’s time to discuss controlling the environment to maximize your plants’ growth rates.

Control the Environment:  Humidity, Temperature, Air Circulation Control, and Air Intake

If you’re growing outside you’re at the mercy of Mother Nature, but indoor growers have total control over their environment.  Like choosing a soilless medium to grow in, if you decide to set up an indoor grow space, you are completely responsible for the conditions inside your grow space, again which can be great or can be bad.  Humidity levels, air temperature and air circulation all need to be monitored and adjusted as needed. 

Humidity

The importance of humidity cannot be overstated. Humidity is the amount or percentage of moisture in an environment.  Levels are measured in percentages, with 100% being considered saturated.  Humidity levels below 40% are considered low, and humidity levels above 65% are considered high.   Warmer air can hold more moisture than cooler air.  Humidity impacts plant life cycles by affecting how much water they absorb from their surroundings with every breath they take.  Too much dry air causes plants to lose more water than they can recover via their roots. Total moisture levels in the plants decrease, causing plants to close their pores in order to minimize moisture loss.  As a result, they receive less carbon dioxide from the environment and experience cell death.  

The best way to get your plant the humidity it needs is by watering them only when they need it. Watering helps open their pores and respires out carbon dioxide, allowing for rapid growth.  The importance of not over watering can never be mentioned enough.  One of the most common mistakes growers make are to over water their plants.

Cannabis plants have different water needs depending on the stage of their growth cycle. The following table outlines these needs and the optimal humidity levels at each stage:

• Seedling Stage: The seeds have been planted and you’re waiting for them to sprout. During this stage, it is important to keep the humidity around 65% – 90%. You can do this by misting them lightly with water every day or keeping a water tray nearby with a wet paper towel on top.

• Vegetative Stage: As they begin to grow and flower, you want to bring down the humidity to 55% – 70%. Doing this will ensure your plants don’t retain too much moisture and help fight off diseases.

• Flowering Stage: This is when you want to keep your plants at about 45% – 60% humidity. If your plants are getting too much moisture, their buds could develop powdery mildew or rot from the inside out, known as bud rot.

Different strains have different humidity needs.  Check your plants regularly and use a quality thermometer and hygrometer (or an all-inclusive measuring tool) to make sure they’re healthy.  Uncle Herb’s Rule for a Green Thumb is to start the humidity around 80% to 85% for cuttings/seedlings and drop the humidity 5% per week down to 60% or so during vegetative growth stage. Humidity during the flowering stage starts around 55% to 60% and is lowered starting mid flower so the final humidity is 40% to 45% prior to harvest.  The lowering process is done evenly over the few weeks. 

To decrease humidity levels, here are several options: 

• Decrease the temperature  
• Water plants as soon as you turn the lights on
• Use a dehumidifier
• Get rid of hot air by speeding up the exhaust fans

To increase humidity levels, here are several options:

• Increase the temperature
• Mist your plants instead of watering them. Be careful when misting flowering plants to prevent bud rot
• Use a humidifier
• Keep hot air in the system by turning down the speed on the exhaust fans

Air Temperature 

Proper air temperature control is essential to growing healthy plants. Photosynthesis rates are affected by temperature.  If the room is too hot, the plant’s leaves will droop and look wilted. High heat can also attract pests. If the room is too cold, the plant will grow slowly or stop growing altogether.   At cool temperatures, plant metabolism is slowed. Certain plants also go into a hibernation-like state, called winterization, to protect themselves from harsh weather. 

Cannabis grows best in temperatures between 70 F and 80 F during the light cycle, and anywhere from 60 F to 75 F during the dark cycle. The light cycle temperature should be higher than the dark cycle.  To avoid temperature issues, make sure that you have proper ventilation, including an exhaust system or air conditioner and dehumidifier for sealed grow spaces along with oscillating fans for air movement.

During the vegetative stage, you should try to keep your plants within this temperature range, although they can tolerate slightly higher and lower temperatures. When it’s time to flower, these temperatures should be kept even more stable. While plants can tolerate higher and lower temperatures also during the flowering stage, stable temperatures as much as possible ensure maximum yields and high quality products.

Air Circulation

You need to ensure good ventilation and air flow in your grow space.  It is a good idea to install a circulation fan to keep the air moving around the plants, so there is not an increased chance of mold from poor circulation.  The fan should cause the leaves to move slightly.  A good way to check if you have good air circulation is to hold your hand behind your plants. If you feel a gentle breeze on the plant’s backside, then you can feel comfortable there is a good amount of air circulating.

Proper air circulation has many functions.  Air circulation allows for better heat and CO2 distribution throughout the grow space.  This air movement helps keep flying pests at bay.  Properly circulating air also eliminates high humidity directly on the plant leaf that can cause conditions to support mold growth and other diseases.   Aside from providing proper ventilation, removing dead leaves and pruning from time to time can help improve your plants’ health by allowing better air circulation.

Air Intake

If your grow room has poor ventilation, and there is little or no fresh air coming in, then you want to consider adding an inlet fan and/or an exhaust fan to your grow room.   Fresh air flow gives your plants CO2, necessary to convert energy from the sun into the sugars they need to grow.

The inlet fan directly blows fresh air into the grow space. An exhaust fan pulls air through the grow space. Both types of fans add fresh CO2 for the plants to consume. You can also use a carbon filter attached to the ventilation system to remove any unwanted smells that come from your grow room. 

A grow space properly filled with plants will use all of the grow space’s ambient CO2 within five minutes or so.  This helps determine the fan size needed for the grow space. For example, a 5 ft tall by 5 ft wide by 8 ft tall grow space is 200 cubic feet. A standard 6 inch inline duct fan moves approximately 430 cubic feet per minute of air, assuming the airflow is not restricted.  The air exchange rate is found by dividing the fan flow rate (430 cubic feet per minute) by the grow space volume (200 cubic feet).  For example, the air exchange rate is 430 divided by 200 = 2.15.  A standard 6 inch inline fan changes the entire grow space volume of air 2.15 times in one minute.  This fan is more than adequate to ensure the grow space has enough fresh air.

Sometimes an inlet fan can create enough air movement to also keep your plants happy.  If you have a small enough space, you might be able to accomplish the proper air circulation and air intake with an oscillating fan or even some strategic opening of windows.   You’ll want the fan set up so that it’s blowing air across your plants from different sides, not directly at them in one direction all the time. This will keep them from getting used to the breeze and growing in that direction over time. 

Feeding Your Plants

Feeding your plants is probably some of the most important work you’ll do as a grower. This is how you provide the nutrients that are essential to healthy growth. Over time, your plant’s needs change. You will need to monitor and adjust these components as needed:  watering amounts, nutrients added to water, water quality, and pH levels. 

How Often to Water

When growing cannabis, you’ll want to let your growing medium (soil or hydroponic media) dry out between waterings. This drying is called “dryback”.  Cannabis roots need the correct amount of water to air in the medium to grow as fast as possible.  Medium that is constantly waterlogged is not good and will kill the roots.  Over watering is one of the two most common problems for growers, so it is important to only water when the growing medium is not saturated. (Overfeeding is the other most common problem.)

It can be easy to check the moisture level of your soil if the container is not much taller than it is wide.  If your container is relatively shallow, put your finger into the soil at a depth of 2 inches or so. If it feels moist, the plants will be OK for a few more days. When the top inch feels dry, water your plants.  

Deep containers can be more of a challenge to gauge the moisture level.  They could be dry for the top few inches but still have enough moisture deeper in the container for root growth. Pick up the planter when it is dry to see what it feels like, so you can tell when it is dry vs wet.  You can also look at the bottom drainage holes to see if the soil is wet.  Better yet, you can use a moisture meter. 

Nutrients

All organic soil naturally contains nutrients.  But, it may not contain all of the nutrients needed for optimal growth throughout the life of your plant. So unless your plants get all their nutrients from composted super soil, they will need additional nutrients.  Hydroponics systems use an inert medium that doesn’t have any nutritional value.  You will need to add all of the nutrients the plant needs to grow for all growth stages.

At the beginning of its life cycle, seedlings do not need much additional nutrients. The seed itself stores enough energy to start growing.  The seedling stage is usually about two weeks. As the roots grow and absorb all the nutrients from their soil, you’ll need new nutrients for your plant’s next growth cycle, the vegetative stage. 

In the vegetative stage, cannabis plants need several different nutrients. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are considered the macro nutrients.  Calcium, Magnesium, and sulfur also play important roles in the plant’s growth rates.  During vegetative growth plants need more nitrogen than phosphorus or potassium. Other elements are needed but in much less amounts.  These nutrients are called the micros.  They are boron, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, and zinc.  Micro nutrients are usually included in commercial fertilizer mixes.  

To ensure that your plants get the needed nutrients, read the labels on any fertilizers you purchase. The label will tell you what ratio of macronutrients and micronutrients are in the fertilizer and how much of each nutrient is in the product.  Once the flowering stage begins, your plants still need all of these nutrients, just in different amounts.  Flowering plants need less nitrogen and more phosphorus and potassium.   

It’s important to be careful when adding nutrients. When starting with a new nutrient, Uncle Herb’s Rule for a Green Thumb is to always start by adding half the amount suggested on the label.  As the plant grows larger, slowly increase the nutrient amount until you notice yellowing of leaf tips, called nutrient burn.  Nutrient burn may happen if the fertilizer mixture is too strong for certain plants.  This is a way to find out how much nutrients your plants can absorb during that part of their life.

Water Quality

Tap water can be used to grow plants, as long as it doesn’t have a lot of dissolved solids present.  Hardness is the measure of how much minerals and impurities are in your tap water.  Contacting a local supplier or using a simple kit at home are both effective ways to find the information. If your tap water has high levels of impurities, then consider using RO (Reverse Osmosis) water instead.  RO water has most or all dissolved solids removed.  This allows the grower to give the plants only what the grower intends, not some extra solids coming from the water source.  Uncle Herb’s Rule for a Green Thumb for water is to use water that has an EC equal to .6 or less or 300 ppm (depending on the scale used).

Importance of pH levels 

Nutrient absorption is impacted by the pH levels.  When pH is not carefully monitored, plant growth can be hindered.  Even if you have enough nutrients in the right ratios for the plant, it won’t absorb the nutrients if its pH level falls are not in the appropriate range. You can easily check the pH level with test kits or digital meters. 

For organic soil medium, the recommended pH range is 5.8 – 6.5 pH.  In a hydroponics system, levels should be 5.5-6.0 pH.  Uncle Herb’s Rule for a Green Thumb is to check the pH level each time you are going to water your plant, and especially when your plant is turning to its next growth stage.  Frequent testing allows you to verify the nutrients added are available for root uptake and to track for future successful grows. 

Your grow space is ready.  You have your lights and know how to control the environment.  You have the seed and growing medium.  Now it is time to start growing.  Read on to learn about the first step on your way to bud harvest, germination. 

Germination and the Seedling Stage

Germination

Growing cannabis from seed is a great way to start your cannabis growing adventures. When growing from seed, you don’t have to worry about getting any diseases or pests from the mother plant that you are taking the clones from. Seeds also tend to be hardier than clones and can withstand stress better.  Seeds do benefit from taking the step to germinate so the tap root develops.  

There are several ways to germinate seeds. 

• Plant them directly into your growing medium. The benefit with this method is that you avoid the stress associated with transplanting seedlings. To plant the seed, make a hole ½ inch deep.  Drop your seed inside a hole in the soil and cover it with dirt.  To ensure your seeds do not drown, water the area just around them.

• Use two wet paper towels to germinate the seeds. Place the paper towels in a ziploc bag and close almost all the way.  Be sure to leave space in between the seeds, so their roots don’t touch each other once they sprout.  Keep them in a dark, warm space.  Some strains of seeds will germinate in 24 hours, while others may need up to a few days or more to sprout. Make sure the paper towels are wet throughout germination time.  Once the root has appeared, plant the seed with root in soil as stated above. Be very careful not to damage the tap root (the main root growing).

• Place seeds in  a cup of water in a dark location with temperatures around 75 F until they crack the seed hull (usually within 2-5 days). Be sure to check on them daily. The root can ‘drown’ if it stays submerged in water too long before planting. 

• Grow plugs are a great way to start your seeds off right. They’re small pieces of growing medium with a hole made in them so that you can plant one seed at a time. Simply put the seed in the grow plug and water it. Once the roots have developed enough for planting into the next container, the grow plug goes into the container.  No need for transplant stress once a good root system emerges.

Seedling Stage

Once the taproot emerges, the plant is in its seedling stage.  This stage can last between two and four weeks, depending on where your grow is, indoors or outdoors. 

Clean, purified water of a pH level of 5.5 and 6.0 without any nutrients added should be used.   Around the two week mark, you can add nutrients at a quarter or half the recommended dosage unless the feeding chart has a recipe for the seedlings specifically. Nutrient burn can happen easily to seedlings, so close attention is needed.  If you use a commercial potting soil, read the label carefully to be aware of what nutrients it already has.  You will need to keep that in mind when deciding on feeding additional nutrients to your seedling. 

When growing seedlings, the right kind of light can make all the difference. A “cold-spectrum” type grow lights are more beneficial during early stages when vegetation needs less energy output but still provides enough warmth without burning anything up (and risk causing photosynthesis problems).  

Fluorescent light bulbs give off the ideal light strength and will not overheat the grow space. Seedlings grow well when the light schedule is eighteen hours on and six hours off.  You can experiment which type will work best for your plants.  Some growers will give the plant continuous light during the seedling stage.

The seedling grows leaves with an increasing number of lobes or fingers, two to three to five to the familiar seven fingered leaves of the mature cannabis plant.   Once you see the seven-fingered leaves, you know your plant is definitely in the vegetative stage.

Vegetative Stage: Grow Your Plant Big and Strong

When your plant grows the first “regular” set of leaves, it’s pretty much officially in its vegetative stage. In this period between seedlings and full maturity, you’ll see growth spurt where plants can grow up to double their original size. Your young cannabis plant will be in the process of becoming strong, from its roots to stems. Buds are heavy, so your plant needs these strong roots and stems.   Manipulating the environmental factors of temperature, humidity, light, and nutrients will help your plants develop the strength to produce the high-quality buds you desire.

Temperature

Young cannabis plants grow fastest when the temperature is a bit warmer than 70-85°F.  As long as it doesn’t get freezing cold or burning hot, your plant should be able to thrive in much wider ranges of temperatures.

Humidity

Young plants in the vegetative stage aren’t impacted by humidity as much as they will be later on in their life.  Humidity levels should be 50%-70%. 

Nutrients

In the vegetative stage, cannabis plants need more nitrogen than phosphorus and potassium. 

Uncle Herb’s Rule for a Green Thumb is to start at half recommended strength, since new growth can easily burn with too many nutrients.  If leaves are turning lime green and then yellow, that is the sign to back off the nutrient concentration in the water you use to feed your plants.  

Light

An indoor grow during the vegetative stage can include 18-24 hours of light per day. Remember that all light bulbs generate heat to varying degrees, so careful monitoring of the temperature is vital when the lights are on this many hours each day.

Unless you use a full color spectrum bulb, you need bulbs that emit blue and green light, most likely metal halide bulbs. 

If you are growing outdoors, strong direct sunlight most mornings between 10am–4pm is ideal for your plants.  

Light is the main factor that will dictate how large your plants grow.  Make sure they are getting the amount and type of light needed.  

Flowering Stage

Cannabis plants enter the flowering stage when they produce the flowers or buds. This lasts until harvest. At this point in your grow, you will need to do several things differently than before so that the final product has maximum yields and potency for medical or recreational use.  These are:  remove males, adjust the light schedule, prune, and finally, adjust nutrient feeding schedule.  

Purge the Males

Cannabis plants come in three main types: the female, male, and hermaphrodite (herm) plants. Female plants that are not pollinated will grow flowers that are seedless “buds.”  The buds are where the cannabinoids (actual drug compounds) reside. Male plants do not produce buds but instead produce pollen sacks, and contain only traces of cannabinoids such as THC. Hermaphrodite plants can either be female or male at any given time depending upon genetics or environmental factors during growth.  Since they have both male and female sex organs, herms usually don’t produce a lot of consumable buds. However, they can be useful in creating feminized seeds for a future generation of successful growth.  Genetic stability is an issue if you use seeds from herm plants.  Herm plants have both male and female genetics in them, meaning that a female plant this time could be a female-male plant or another hermaphrodite next time. 

At a certain time of the flowering phase, male plants create little balls of pollen with no white hairs. In contrast, female flowers have small white hairs, and no ball-shaped buds. 

If the goal for your grow is to cultivate high quality buds, you will need to prevent pollination from occurring.  Determine the sex of your plants and get rid of any males.  You can keep the plants together for natural pollination to occur if getting seeds is your goal. A note on herms, remember that herms can change sexes at any time of the grow. If they change to male early, they can pollinate nearby female plants.  If they change at the end of the flowering stage, you can harvest immediately.  The bud quality will be lower from those buds because they didn’t have enough grow time but that is better than the herm pollinating the entire grow space.

Light

The light schedule during the flowering stage is 12 hours light and 12 hours dark.  You can adjust the number of bulbs since they will be on for less time each day during this growth stage.  If you are not using a full color spectrum bulb, it is time to switch to a bulb with orange, amber and red colors, typically high pressure sodium.   If using a switchable LED fixture, it is time to change the light output to “flower” stage.

Photo plants that begin flowering under artificial light must be switched to a 12-hour flowering stage. Autoflowering varieties do not require this change in schedule.  They will start to flower on their own. 

Pruning 

Plants concentrate most of their energy to grow their buds, so leaves are not a priority.  Dropping a few leaves is not a concern.  Dropping many leaves or a color change in the leaves during vegatative growth stage or early flowering growth stage is a sign of improper nutrient uptake.

Some growers prune their plants to drive resources to growing its buds.  Leaves that are turning yellow are good candidates for pruning.  Individual buds sites can be pruned, too. Pruning helps to make the plant healthier and more vigorous by thinning out some of its branches or leaves so that light is able to reach all the flowering sites adequately for growth. Growers often trim many leaves around the plant in an effort to divert resources to the buds.  Leaves that are thriving do serve a purpose, to absorb light, produce energy, and store nutrients. 

Nutrients

In the final weeks of growth, your cannabis plant will begin to focus on producing buds. This means that if you aren’t careful with nutrients at this point in time, there is a higher risk for problems later on when flowering progresses. Plants in the flowering stage still need all three macronutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, just in different ratios than during the vegetative state.  Flowering plants need less nitrogen and more of both phosphorus and potassium.   

Flushing

Flushing the nutrients out of the plant ensures the buds taste better. Knowing when to flush requires knowing when to harvest by looking at the pistil and/or trichomes.  (More information on harvesting is in the next section.)   Before you harvest, stop feeding additional nutrients, and then you can flush the plant with plain pH balanced water or a flushing agent. Cannabis plants can continue to grow without being fed additional nutrients if there are nutrients still within the plants.   

The ideal scenario is that you have fed the plant properly throughout its life, and do not need to to flush the plants because there is not a build up of nutrients. If the grow did not go as planned and the plants were overfed, then flushing will be more involved.

Uncle Herb has three Rules for a Green Thumb regarding flushing:

• Flush for two weeks with a flushing agent if you know you overfed your plants because nutrient burns signs are all over
• Flush for one week with a flushing agent if you think you overfed earlier in flower but not towards the end of the flower growth stage
• Flush for the last couple waterings with just water.  Flushing before harvest can increase the potency of the final product. This process should start two weeks before harvest time.  

Quick Tip:  If using an inert growing medium, test the runoff with an EC meter.  If the runoff EC equals the EC for the added solution, then you know there is usually not any nutrient built up in the medium.

The flushing process can be simple.  The actual flushing time may vary by strain and how they were fed.  Continue to monitor the EC levels to be sure all of the unwanted nutrients are gone. 

Harvest, Dry and Cure

Harvesting at the right time can be as important to your cannabis plants’ health and potency, if not more so than growing them correctly in general. Harvesting too early will result with less fruitful buds, while waiting too long may force you into making sleep medicine!

Cannabis harvesting requires several steps. You want your plants to be full, fragrant and ready for harvesting by this point in their life cycle, so that you can get the most out of them. When you harvest will impact the effect you get from your buds.  Two ways to determine when to harvest are examining the pistils and examining the trichomes.

Examine the pistils, or hairs, on the bud.  Here is a guide to knowing when it is time to start harvesting. 

• Close to 40% have started to curl and get darker in color:  The buds produce a quicker effect, but will not be at full potency.
• Between 50-70% of the hairs have darkened: THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, levels are at their highest.
• Between 80-90% of the hairs have darkened: the effect is a relaxed and sleepy, anti-anxiety feeling because some THC has become CBN, cannabinol.

Looking at the trichome color is the best way to know when to harvest.  This method requires a magnifying lens, since trichomes are so small.  The three colors you are looking for are:  

• Most of the trichomes are cloudy:  the buds will give a more energetic high. 
• Half cloudy/half amber: combination of head and body high
• Amber:  the effect is a relaxed and sleepy, anti-anxiety feeling because some THC has become CBN, cannabinol).

Dry and Cure

The final key to growing a successful crop is drying and curing.  The drying process removes the moisture in the plants evenly.  Curing lets the natural botanical profile of the plant shine through. Curing allows the natural taste of the botanical to fully develop.

Drying can be as easy as hanging the entire plant upside down or cutting the branches off and hanging them upside down in a cool, dark place with plenty of air circulation. Taking time to dry the buds slowly should prevent molding or over-drying. Drying cannabis in a hot environment, either oven or room with a heater, can speed up the process, but will most likely hurt the flavor.   

Uncle Herb’s Rule for a Green Thumb is to use a dark room with a gentle breeze NOT directly blowing on the plants.  The humidity and the temperature should be about the same.  Keep the humidity around 55% to 65% and the temperature between 65 F and 75F.  The lower the humidity, the faster the plant will dry. Drying the plant too fast traps in chemicals, potentially making it smell and taste like hay.  Temperature works the opposite of humidity.  The lower the temperature, the slower the plant will dry.  After the smaller stalks are stiff enough to snap instead of bend, it is time to remove the buds and finish any final bud trimming.   The rest of the plant can be used to make tinctures, compost, topical, hash or extracts.  

Curing extends and even enhances the takes place in glass jars with a tight sealing lid or any enclosed environment that is controlled.  Once a day, remove the lid to let moisture and gasses escape.  Mold can grow quickly if you don’t release this excess water from within each jar. Continue opening the jars daily until the day the buds are no longer moist to the touch.  Once this happens, you can move to opening the jars only once a week. Once you open the jar, continue opening it every week to ensure there is no moisture.

Curing can last anywhere between a few weeks and six months.  Longer curing time can also negatively impact the flavor and potency.  Of course, you can sample a bit when you open the jar to see if you are satisfied.

Lil Guy Hydro has the supplies you need to have a successful cannabis grow!

Conclusion

Ultimately there is only one way to learn how to grow cannabis, and that is through experience.  You won’t be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor for a few months, but time and dedication will lead to a great harvest. It’s not easy but it will be worth it. You will get better at it each time you grow. It’s really a passion that grows with you and your experience.