How To Grow Cannabis From Seed in 7 Easy Steps
As you’ve heard, the legalization of cannabis is spreading across the world. So now, you’re planning or already decided to grow cannabis of your own (whether at the farm or under indoor grow lights).
But, first, let us congratulate you on becoming a part of the fastest-growing trend in 2021. Soon you’ll be a part of this growing culture!
To grow marijuana by yourself seems complicated, right? But it only happens when you haven’t enough information to grow weed. Unfortunately, lots of people misguide others by their own undoings.
But not anymore!
We’ll guide you from zero on how to grow cannabis from seeds. In this article, we’ll present some basics of cannabis and a detailed guide to grow cannabis at home. In the end, we’ll give you some tips to ensure the safety of cannabis growing.
So, be right here with us!
Basics of Cannabis Grow Mediums
Most people confuse with the term growth medium or grow medium. Most new growers don’t even know what exactly grow mediums are? Well, it happens to all.
In short, growth medium or grow medium is the thing where you’re growing your cannabis in. Specifically, it’s the place where your cannabis plant will grow. It may be soil, a pot, perlite, coco coir, water, etc. With the help of these mediums, you can grow cannabis anywhere you want.
There are many ways to please the needs of a cannabis plant while growing. But the question is, which is the best growing medium for cannabis?
A cannabis plant can survive in any medium as long as the roots of cannabis can access water, the oxygen they’ll grow.
Now, let’s have a look at the different growing mediums to grow cannabis at home:
● Soil/Composite: It is the easiest and natural way to grow cannabis because it is available everywhere. If you have decided to use soil as a medium, try to use sterilized, loose, non-peat-based potting compost. If you’re going for this medium, we’ll recommend you mix your soil with perlite (50% soil and 50% perlite). It will provide drainage and keep the air and oxygen in the soil.
● Soilless Medium: Mediums like coco coir, rockwool, and perlite can become an excellent medium to grow cannabis — soilless mediums work similar to soil. The difference is you just have to give nutrients in the water.
The great advantage of using a soilless medium is that there are fewer chances to have problems with molds or bugs because your plants are taking nutrients directly at their root system, which will also ensure the rapid growth of your plant.
● Hydroponics: Many hydroponics types and setups are used to grow cannabis at farms. Some use pots to hold plants and filled with hydroponic mediums such as clay pebbles, perlite, rockwool, and water drippers to water/nutrients the plants.
What Kind of Grower Do You Want to Be?
So, you’ve got all the information related to the mediums. Now, it’s up to you which type of grower you want to be to grow cannabis? Either you’re going to cultivate cannabis naturally or artificially.
It’s all up to you.
If you think you’ve got a good amount to start cultivating cannabis at the farm and can afford some risk initially, you can choose the artificial way.
At the beginning of your cultivating career, you may have to take some risks to gain some knowledge and experience. But, once you’re on track, no one can stop you.
If you fear the risk, you may start growing cannabis naturally — the best and ideal way to begin your journey as a grower.
Growing Cannabis from Seed Step-by-Step Guide
Growing cannabis is like all other gardening’s; you can develop skills over time to time. In addition, the process to grow cannabis is not expensive as you think. Growers underestimate the fundamentals to grow cannabis legally in their homes. That’s why they become less successful in their marijuana journey.
The good thing is you can learn how to grow cannabis in pots or any other places easily. Here are the seven essential steps that will give you enough information to become a specialist cannabis gardener:
1. Selection of Seeds:
Choosing suitable strains is very important for any grower before cultivation. If you’re planning to harvest in an open garden, it’s essential to see which strain is suitable for external current weather conditions.
Now, it’s up to you which type of medicine you’re targeting for. Yes, cannabis strain can vary on medicine types.
2. Germination of Cannabis Seeds:
You’ve chosen the strain to grow cannabis according to your taste. Next, it’s time to place them where they belong. The whole germination process consists of 7 different steps. Don’t worry; it’s easier than your imagination.
● Soak The Seeds for 12 hours: To make germination easier and more successful, soak the seeds in a tap or a sink for 12 hours. The usable seeds will drown to the bottom, and non-usable will float to the surface.
● Place Seeds on Towel: After 12 hours, place the usable seeds on the towel. After that, pick one paper towel and put it on the table. Paper towels can hold on to the moisture that helps the seeds germinate.
● Put seeds at the difference of ½ inch on the Towel: Place the seeds and separate their blunt sides apart from each other, so the roots do not get intertwined.
● Store Seeds at 21 to 29 ℃: This is a crucial step; your seeds must be placed at a warm and consistent temperature to germinate.
● Don’t Let the Paper Towel Dry: Make sure to spray at the top of the towel to keep them moist. And wait for the seeds to germinate.
3. Set Grow Tents & Containers for Seeds:
Well, congratulations! Your seeds have successfully germinated on the towel. Now, it’s time to place them in the right spot where they needed to be.
If you’re planning to grow cannabis outside, grow tents would not be necessary. All you have to do is just sow the seeds in the soil. But let’s consider you’re growing cannabis strains inside. There are many types of grow tents and containers available it’s up to you which suits your conditions.
4. Grow Lights for Vegetative Stage:
The vegetative stage is the earlier stage of any plant after seedling. In cannabis strains, vegetative is a phase of growth where no buds of plants yet produced.
So, what’s the give and takes of grow lights for the vegetative phase? The answer is straightforward; your plant may not survive at the earlier stage of growth. Because the cannabis plant requires 18 to 6 light cycles, that means 18 hrs on and 6 hrs off.
So, that’s why choose a proper grow light for your grow tent. Although many types of grow lights available, we’d recommend using LED lights to grow tents. LED grow lights are much more energy-efficient as they consume less amount of electricity, as compare to fluorescent lights.
Check out the recommended LED grow lights here. In addition, we’ve lights specially designed for cannabis plants and grow tents.
5. Flowering & Nourishing:
Do you think seedling of hemp means your job has done? You might wrong at this point. But, perhaps, your part of caring has just started!
During the flowering stage, the light cycle should be changed from 18–6 to 12 hrs on and 12 hrs off until harvest.
During this stage, you’ve to be very careful with the plants. This is the stage where your plants need continuously monitored for pets and other nutrients to helps them to grow healthy. Same as grow lights, nutrients come in different varieties.
6. Harvesting:
Lots of people ask when to stop giving nutrients to plants before harvest? Well, it depends on which cannabis strains you’re growing. Most growers stop feeding nutrients to plants before a week or so.
You may witness some yellow leaves during the last stages, but you should not worry about that.
Make sure to use scissors for harvesting. It will help you to remove colas from the cannabis plant. Be gentle and don’t use any kind of force during the harvesting process.
7. Drying & Curing:
The final stage of cannabis harvesting requires drying, but trimming should be done before drying. Collecting all the leaves after trimming, it’s time to dry them at the same place where you grew them. It’ll take about one week or 12–14 days to dry completely.
After drying completely, the final stage comes in the shape of curing. Curing is a specialized process and requires lots of efforts. You don’t want to mess everything you’ve invested on cannabis strains to grow. Simply put the curing in a glass jar or a plastic tub and place it in a dark location with low to no humidity.
Tips & Tricks for a More Fruitful Cannabis Grow
What if we tell you there are many ways to increase the cannabis yield production inside your house. It’s fantastic to grow cannabis of your own. Only in that case if you grow enough; otherwise, you may go through disappointments.
You can use different training techniques and methods to maximize the production of cannabis. Some common methods for more rapid/faster to grow cannabis at home are as follows:
● Sea of Green (SOG)
● Topping
● Fimming
● Low-Stress Training (LST).
But here, we’ll discuss only the “Sea of Green” method because SOG provides more space and faster cultivation.
By using this technique, you’ll be able to grow more cannabis plants in a small area. In addition, you easily control the schedule to get faster yields as well as cannabis plants. SOG works as growing many small plants and putting them into the flowering stage. As a result, they will rapidly harvest as they don’t grow big.
How to Ensure Safe Cannabis Growing?
Like any other industry, health and safety precautions have to be considered while growing cannabis. However, Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has set up to control the hazards over these workplaces. Many states have made strict regulations for the cannabis buds and products made by them.
Like other cultivation industry, the greenhouses built to grow cannabis contains 60–80% of humidity. As a result, workers who trim cannabis can be exposed to higher humidity levels, leading to wheezing, coughing, difficulty in breathing, asthma, and other respiratory diseases.
Other indoor environmental issues should be ensured first before harvesting the marijuana. Co2 is used as dry ice to increase the growth to produce concentration. These concentrations pollute the indoor air with Co2, and as a result, headaches, dizziness, rapid breathing can impact workers.
And More
Before starting to grow cannabis, make sure you should consider the following things first:
● Know Your State’s Regulation First: Knowing the state’s regulation is very important because many states don’t allow to grow weed at the industrial level or in gardens.
● A Realistic Budget is Important: Like investing in other businesses, investment in the cannabis industry is also essential. However, cannabis also requires a handsome amount on a more extensive level.
● Get All The Growing Info You Need: How can you start a business without any knowledge about it? Definitely not. It’s better to study every aspect of cannabis and gain some experience through the practices.
