So, cannabis has been made legal in your country or state and you’ve decided you want to save money and reap the benefits of home-grown herb? Perfect, you have found the right place. While growing nature’s best medicine is an enjoyable and relatively plain sailing experience, it’s not without it’s hurdles and potential crop-destroying disasters.
The following is a beginner-friendly guide to growing your own stash. We’ll cover what you need to grow blossoming buds and highlight some solutions to the problems that can crop (see what we did there?) up on the way.
What you need to Start Growing Cannabis
Sadly, the need to buy the proper equipment is a necessary evil when growing cannabis. However, the main expenditures (light and tent) are one-off purchases, so think of them as long-term investments.
Lighting
If you go to websites like Amazon for your light source, you will be met with an abundance of cheap lights for sale. These often promise certain outputs that are impossibly greater than what the lamps actually draw from the socket. Being frugal with lights will invariably lead to insufficient lumens and light, airy buds – if any buds at all.
When choosing a grow light, it’s important to choose something that outputs a minimum of 3,000 lumens for a personal grow, or 7,000 for a larger, commercial operation. It’s also a good idea to choose a light that offers a full light spectrum.
Grow Tent
A grow tent is not always essential but is often advised. They are often lined with a reflective layer that bounces the light around your plant, offering buds under the canopy a fair share of the light. Some people use rooms as opposed to tents, but if privacy is an issue – or you don’t have a room small enough -, then a tent is the way forward.
While choosing your tent, be sure to allow for plenty of room per-plant. Photoperiodic marijuana plants can get pretty large.
A Large Pot
Unless you’re planning on growing your smokables in the palm of your hand, you’re going to need a pot. A three-gallon bucket or pot will give your plant the space it needs to stretch her routes and thrive. Many people start their seedlings in small pots but, personally, we start our plants in their forever homes. There’s no need for any additional stress by rehoming delicate saplings.
Soil or Coco Fibre
The market is full of different soils and substrates that offer their own benefits and nutrients for your plants. Where coco fibre is used, your water will need to be PH-balanced and tested before each feed. To eradicate this hassle, we use BioBizz All-Mix. This wonder soil contains a whole manner of ingredients from bat droppings to crushed fish bones and gives your plants the best possible diet. Furthermore, BioBizz is infused with perlite that helps to drain surplus water.
Nutrients
Like us, our plants need all the right nutrients to thrive. There are many on the market but we have always used BioBizz’s holy trinity: Grow, Bloom and Top-Max. These can be purchased as a triple-pack for a relatively low-cost.
Additionally, it’s always a good idea to have a bottle of CalMag at hand in case any magnesium issues occur later down the line.
A Jeweller’s Loupe or Handheld Microscope
A jeweller’s loupe or a handheld microscope will be needed for checking your plant’s trichomes at the end of the cycle to determine its readiness for the big chop. Most handheld microscopes will allow you to see the trichomes clearly enough but you should use no less than a 40x zoom if you opt for the loupe.
Post-Harvest and Harvesting Tools
Gloves
When it comes to The Big Chop, things are going to get sticky. Skin-tight nitrile gloves are perfect for this. Anything that doesn’t have a close fit will likely hinder your harvesting. Additionally, it’s a good idea to have spares at hand as they can be awkward to put back on once you have taken them off. Boxes can be bought for around $5.
Scissors or Secateurs
During the harvesting stage you’re going to be doing a lot of trimming. It’s essential you have a sharp pair of scissors or secateurs to separate those branches and give your buds a neat little haircut. These may become very sticky during the process, a couple of alcohol wipes at-hand will keep them cutting sharp and true.
Digital Scales
After spending so long growing cannabis, you’re going to want to know how good your yield is. Digital scales are the most accurate option and it’s best to find a set that’s accurate to .01 of a gram.
Air-Tight Jars
Mason jars are perfect for the curing process. If it’s your first grow, then it may be difficult to judge how many you will need. It’s always better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them, so have around three 1.5 liter jars for every plant you are growing.
Time to Start Growing Cannabis
Germination
The germination process is essential to give your seed the best chance of sprouting a tap root but will only take a few days. Wearing gloves, so there’s no contamination, take a clear plastic container (with a lid) and line it with paper towel. Drip water slowly onto the towel until it’s all damp but not saturated and then place your seed on the top and central so it’s easily visible. Place the container somewhere that gets direct sunlight and wait. A few days later you should have a root. Make sure this is around and inch long before planting.
Planting your Seed
Make sure your plant pot has sufficient drainage and fill it with your choice of soil (we recommend BioBizz All-Mix) or coco fibre. Poke your finger into the soil to make a well about half-an-inch to an inch deep, then simply drop your seed and root into the well, root down and cover. Water your seedling and place it under your lamps. At this stage, it’s always best to have the light source around a foot above the pot.
Some people start their seedlings in smaller pots and transfer them to larger ones when the time calls for it. We, however, feel it’s best to start off in the plant’s forever home. There’s little point in causing needless stress to your plant in its infancy.
When to Start on Neturients
Before long your plant will have grown its first four leaves and be ready for a little boost to help things along. Start off with using half of the recommended maximum dosage (they usually say between one and four mil per liter) and gradually increase or decrease according to how your plant responds. Too many nutrients can lead to a number of adverse effects, so keep an eye out for signs such as yellowing leaves.
Now all you need to do is keep a close eye on your plant, decrease or increase nutrients as required and wait for the good stuff to bloom. You should see signs of flowering at around five to six weeks.
Flowering
After your plant has been in its vegging state for a while, you will notice small flower-like buds dotted around. This means your plant has gone into its flowering stages. Flip the ‘flowering’ switch on your light (if you have one) and give yourself a pat on the back, you’re nearly there.
As the flowers mature you will notice them turning into something resembling the buds that we all know and love. Now you just have to continue your hard work for a little while longer. Check daily for any signs of distress and continue watering with nutrients (bloom) when required. You can also start checking your plant’s trichomes to determine if the plant is ready.
The Flush
This is the final stage of growing cannabis and works to flush all of the nasty ingredients found in mixed nutrients from your plant. For this last stretch simply feed your plant on water only until she is ready for harvest.
When is a Cannabis Plant Ready to Harvest?
The readiness of your cannabis plant is determined by the color of the trichomes on the buds. Trichomes are small protrusions that can only be clearly seen properly under magnification. Starting glassy in appearance, trichomes gradually change to a cloudy white hue before turning amber. Amber trichomes are what cause that ‘couch-lock’ feeling. A heavy ‘body high’ is achieved when around 60 – 70% of the trichomes are amber. For an energetic high with little couch-lock, harvest a little earlier.
The Harvest
Great! You have finally reached the harvesting stage. Now is not the time to rush things along. As tempting as it is to pull those buds and smoke them, a little preparation is necessary.
Cutting and Trimming the Buds
Don’t jump right in at the deep-end and cut your buds straight from the plant. Instead, cut away individual branches where you see buds. Keep snipping these branches off until your plant is bare and place them to one side for trimming.
Think of the trimming stage like giving your buds a haircut. Using sharp scissors, cut away any excess leaves and remove any browned foliage as this can cause mold during the drying process. Once finished you should have something like this:
Drying Stage
Now that your cannabis is primed for drying, we can begin the process. The most effective way of doing this is to hang it from the branches on lines of string. This should be done in a dark room that’s relatively cool and dry. Using a fan pointed at one of the walls will help regulate air quality and be sure to check for any signs of mold during the drying process. You’ve come so far and don’t want your yield to succumb to rot.
The key is to dry the buds as slowly as possible. The drying stage should take anywhere between three days and a week. To check to see if the drying is complete, try to snap one of the stems. A clean snap with a distinct snapping sound is a good sign that you’re ready for the curing phase. If the branch bends instead of snapping, your buds need a little more time to dry out.
When the branches are indicating readiness, you can cut the buds from their stems ready for curing.
Curing your Cannabis
This is it! The final stage. At this point you’ve been growing cannabis for quite some time. With that being said, it’s imperative that you don’t skip this stage. While you’re buds are ready to be smoked, they will have a harsh taste as opposed to the smooth hit we all know and love. Curing is the last step in your journey and is more than worth the extra time.
To cure your cannabis, simply fill your air-tight jars until they’re each around 70% full. Once filled, place the jars in a dark cupboard and ‘burp’ them once a day by cracking the lid to allow fresh air into the jar.
During this process, you will notice that your cannabis gives of a strong smell of hay. Don’t worry, this is completely normal and the distinctive cannabis smell will return. This hay scent is purely the chlorophyll breaking down.
Once your jars stop smelling like a farm, their contents are ready to be smoked. Curing takes a minimum of fourteen days, with some growers even curing for up to six months. The longer you stretch this stage out, the better your smoke will be.
Summary
Growing cannabis is a long and drawn-out process but the results are always worthwhile, regardless of your yield. There’s a certain therapeutic element to the whole process and there’s something about smoking weed that you have grown from seed that makes it all the better.
Over time you will slip into your own methods and learn new things from this website or others. The above is merely a guide to help you get started. If there are any questions, please feel free to drop them below.
Happy smoking!
