Your How-To Guide on: How to Grow Weed

If you call yourself a dedicated stoner you should know how to grow weed. Growing your own is the most rewarding thing there is so today we will look at some of the basic need-to-knows.

Cannabis has taken the world by storm. Canada shook the western world when they became the first western country to legalize cannabis. Many US states had already done the same, but there is nothing tangible on a federal level. If you live in Canada or one of those lucky states, you may be wanting to know how to grow weed. It isn’t that difficult, I mean it isn’t called ‘weed’ for nothing – this stuff grows like nothing people. Any stoner will know that throwing a few seeds in a flower pot will more than likely lead to a few small plants.

Let’s get down to the business on how to grow weed. It’s easy, but there’s a lot of things you’re going to have to decide on. We aren’t going to discuss choosing between growing indoors and outdoors or what strain you want to grow, because that is up to you as a grower.

How to Grow Weed Seeds and Clones

Now that you have chosen where you are going to grow and what strain you are going to grow, you can start. If you’re growing indoors you will first need to purchase all your equipment, but we’ll cover that in another article. No matter where you’re growing, you’re going to need to start your plant somehow. There are two ways, seed or clone.

Seed is the traditional way of doing it and favored by many growers worldwide. There are many seed banks to choose from that offer hundreds of different strains. Starting a cannabis plant from seed is very rewarding, you get to experience the entire life cycle of the plant, from start to finish. All you have to do is pop the seed into a moist and warm place and the germination process will begin. Every grower has their technique, some include using a paper towel, planting it in jiffy pellets or other starter cubes, or simply sticking the seed directly into the ground. As long as you give your seeds a warm moist bed, they will grow.

Starting from a clone is a great way to kick start your grow. Clones come from mature ‘mother’ plants and start growing bigger a lot faster than seedlings. They are also guaranteed plants unless you really mess them up because they already have established root zones. You won’t have to do anything unless you are taking your own clones, and you can skip to the next section of how to grow weed.

What You’ll Need

How to grow cannabis is simple science. Most plants on this planet work the same and luckily cannabis is one of those. There are certain things a cannabis plant needs to grow, mainly light, water, and food. Without these three things, you will not be able to grow a plant and you will see that even if you have all these things, you won’t necessarily grow great plants. How to grow cannabis is one thing, but growing it as a master takes a lot of practice and a lot of failures.

Light

Okay, so let’s talk light. If you’re growing outdoor this is very simple, all you have to do is leave your plant outside in the right season. The outdoor season starts in spring and ends in fall, but where you live will affect when you plant. You’ll have to find that out based on your area, so if you aren’t sure, ask some local farmers about when they plant their tomatoes or other seedlings.

If you’re growing indoors you have a lot to choose from, but the idea is the same, you want to give as much light as your plant needs, without hurting it. Yes, you can hurt your plant by giving it too much light, so don’t try and grow a ‘monster’ plant by putting a 1000w HPS above a small seedling – your plant is going to be dead by the morning. As long as you have light, your plant will grow and don’t be tricked into buying expensive equipment that you don’t need.

The main thing to know about light is that normal cannabis plants have a specific photoperiod. This means that they grow during a certain light cycle and they flower under another. As soon as the plant detects winter is coming, by the shortening days, it starts to flower to preserve its genetics. Growing outdoor means you will have to wait for the seasons to do their things, which takes between 5-7 months depending on your location and when you start.

If you grow indoors you can change your light cycles accordingly. Keep them at 16 hours or more when you want them to veg (grow) and drop that to less than 12 hours when you want them to flower (produce bud).

Water and Nutrients

Plants need water and food to survive, but just like humans too much food and water are actually bad for us. You can easily kill your plants by starving them or giving them too much water. How to grow weed will depend on what medium you are using. If you’re growing in soil, in coco, or hydroponically it will require different watering and feeding schedules.

Soil or organic mixes will often have enough nutrients for the plant to grow until it’s already a few weeks old, while light mixes or hydro require nutrients from the start. If you like the natural approach, organic is great and it produces tasty bud; whereas hydro also produces amazing plants but it requires more knowledge about what the plants need and what to do when deficiencies show up.

Knowing how much nutrients and water to give will take time because you need to learn what each plant needs. If your plants are in a hot and windy environment, they will need water more often than plants in colder or more humid environments. Slowly increase your watering as the plant grows. It will tell you if it gets thirsty.

Growing and Harvesting

Once you have everything down, your plants will be flying through the different phases. If you are growing indoor and can control the light, you can veg your plant for as long as you want and it will never die. Grow the plant until you are happy and send it to flower. Remember, plants can double in size when going into flower, so find out more about your strain and how much it will ‘stretch’ during flower.

Once your plant has reached maturity you are ready to harvest. When you harvest will depend on your preferences as it affects the high. Know that you know how to grow weed you can grow your own product and be rewarded with quality medicine.