Cannabis is now used in a medical capacity in certain areas and is prescribed by doctors for certain diseases.
Are you interested in growing cannabis by yourself?
Are you looking for a comprehensive guide on the materials and conditions?
Do you need an expert opinion on the growing and maintenance methods?
If your answer is yes to all the above questions, you are lucky. This article answers all the usual questions of a novice cannabis grower and offers some additional information. Let us know about them in the following paragraphs.
Cannabis Cultivation – Some Related Information
As a grower, you must know some basic information about the physiology and cultivation of cannabis. Understanding these data is crucial to grow and harvest the most from this plant. Let us list them in points:
- Specific parts of the cannabis plant are used as an ingredient for combusting and smoking the fume.
- It interacts directly with the brain and generates a calming and euphoric state.
- The bud or the flowering part of the cannabis is crushed and used as an ingredient for smoking.
- Cannabis bud is judged according to its potency, resilience, and flavor into three main divisions: private, top–shelf, and bottom shelf.
- Growing a cannabis strain requires optimum environmental conditions and supplements added in the correct amount and time.
- It is better to use a trusted names Homegrown Cannabis Co., where you can get authentic seeds delivered to your address. Growing the cannabis buds directly from the seeds minimizes any chance of reduced quality and sub-optimal potency.
- Usually, cannabis growers go for quality than quantity during the farming of this particular plant.
The Checklist For Cannabis Growth
As said before, the list of things required for cannabis farming ranges from the environmental factors to the proper containers.
In all cases, organic sources work give better-quality results, whereas chemical supplements determine the number and health of the bud.
So let us know in detail about the different factors required for good-quality cannabis growing:
- Seeds: The most obvious choice for growing marijuana is cannabis seeds. Clones may be cheaper, but the quality of the bud may not be up to the mark. Try to acquire them from well-known vendors and seed banks. You can find three main types of seeds in the market as given below:
- Photoperiodic Cannabis seeds: The cannabis plants from these seeds can be either male or female. They start their flowering stage according to the daylight duration; in natural conditions, the blooming starts as the days begin to shorten (like in the autumn), and in indoor conditions, when the lighting cycle is changed from 18 hours light / 6 hours dark to 12 hours light / 12 hours dark.
- Feminized Cannabis Seeds: These seeds will produce female plants when germinated. The lighting schedule required for blooming is similar to the photoperiodic roots, both in indoor and outdoor condition.
- Autoflowering Cannabis seeds: These seeds are designed for flowering at a fixed time, irrespective of the conditions or the switching of the photoperiod. No extra effort is needed to change the vegetative state to flowering state by the switching of photoperiod.
For the newly starting grower, Autoflowering cannabis seeds are more appropriate because the grower wouldn’t need to switch the light timings nor determine the gender of the plant. Moreover, Autoflowering strains have a shorter life cycle and develop faster than photoperiodic strains.
Good Growth Environment With Light And Airflow
Cannabis grown outdoor gets natural light and airflow; for indoor cultivation, the grower has to arrange for an optimum level. The indoor growing environment can be a bucket, a tent, a box, whatever you can set. You have to provide artificial light for indoor growing, which is easily available in the market.
Moreover, you can become assured about the humidity and temperature by using a thermometer/hygrometer. Therefore, using these instruments to create optimum conditions can benefit the grower in the long run.
- Most Appropriate Light For Indoor Growth
The cannabis seedling will need light to grow as soon as it is germinated. A cold spectrum (blue) light will be better as it promotes vegetative growth. You can also use LED lights or lights of lower wattage for this stage.
During the first or second week after the seeds have sprouted, you can use CFL lights for the seedlings. It will start the germination process without needing high-intensity growing lights.
After the second week has passed, you have to arrange for a grow light for the plants, preferably a high-pressure sodium lamp or metal halide lamp.
- Proper Ventilation Of The Environment
The growing chamber will require a clean and constant flow of air. The easiest way of arranging this is to attach an exhaustion fan or cooler on the top of the growth chamber and let the air enter indirectly from the bottom.
- Appropriate Container
The grower can cultivate cannabis on pots of different sizes; however, the bigger the container, the bigger the plant. All container must have drainage holes to let the excess water seep out; otherwise, the plant will suffer from contaminations of root rot and other fungi. Bigger containers also mean greater plant height, so they must be placed correctly and at a proper distance from the overhead light.
The distance between the plant tip and the overhead grow light must be more than 30 cm for some strains.
- Growing Medium
One of the most critical factors for the new grower to consider seriously is the growing medium. Like all plants, cannabis growing medium serves the following functions: providing physical support, holding the available water and nutrients, and root respiration.
The plants will grow ideally if the aeration, space, water requirement, and nutrient need are satisfied; otherwise, the grower may observe some symptoms depicting troubling growth of the cannabis plants.
Growing medium for cannabis is usually a mixture of different materials where the plant can take root and grow. For example, soil mix is an excellent medium, provided they have the right balance between inorganic and organic matter and empty spaces for the flow of air and water.
To avoid soil compaction and make space for aeration, you can add perlite, vermiculite, or coco coir, creating pore spaces between the solid soil materials for root development. Using organic matter such as compost and worm castings will provide nutrients for the initial growth stages.
Soil mixes added with pit moss can also be a good candidate; however, the grower will need to adjust the pH with dolomite and add the nutrients for the cannabis growth separately.
Adding Enough Water
Plant growing outdoors may have access to natural water, whereas cannabis cultivated indoors needs externally added water. Water with a pH of 6-7 is alright for growing the cannabis in soil. So, the grower can use tap water, provided it is not “hard water” (contains a high concentration of minerals), has a pH of 6-7 (you can adjust it as needed), and is chlorine-free (you can evaporate the chlorine by leaving it for some time).
Some growers also recommended using water passed through a reverse osmosis filter. In some cases, the grower may have to add extra nutrients along with specific micro and macronutrients later. If you are a starter in cannabis cultivation, this article will be beneficial for your project.
