Many people today are considering growing cannabis themselves for a variety of reasons. Even though there are some restrictions imposed on cannabis home-growing, it’s not prohibited anymore. Moreover, there is a lot of new online information that can help one grow pot successfully at home.
It’s nearly impossible to track down where street-purchased marijuana comes from, so this is a fundamental reason most people have an interest in growing their weed at home. Growing cannabis yourself offers full control over its production, and when it’s ready, you’ll know exactly what you are consuming. Since you are responsible for the entire process from seed germination to harvest, you can create a product of the highest quality for yourself.
Growing your cannabis at home gives you a chance to experiment with new methods and different techniques. Depending on the amount of time and energy you have, you can breed your very own marijuana cultivars. Just unleash your creativity and enjoy the process itself!
The most common methods of growing cannabis:
Marijuana can be grown in ordinary soil, just like any other plant. All you need is to keep it watered and adequately fertilized. This is the easiest and the cheapest method of all.
Another way to cultivate cannabis is by using an inert medium instead of ordinary soil. Using an inert medium is also cheap and straightforward but allows you to get better yields than regular soil. Moreover, the process is somehow cleaner.
Hydroponics also allows growers to achieve higher yields indoors. In this case, you don’t need to use soil or vegetable matter at all. Instead, you must pour water-soluble fertilizers through the gravel. Although this cannabis growing method helps produce bigger yields in a shorter period, it is more expensive and harder to set up. Hydroponics also requires more careful maintenance, so it’s better to use this method if you are going into the business of growing marijuana.
Another method called aeroponics means that plant roots are hanging out from a box in the air and get water and fertilizer continuously sprayed over. The mist of nutrients provides cannabis plants a humid oxygenated space for growing. Experts say that this is the most effective way of growing marijuana, but it’s costly because it requires specialized equipment. The results of using aeroponics can be incredible because it allows the fastest growth and the most significant yields of any method discussed so far.
However, aeroponics’ largest problem is that if the power cuts out, the mist stops, and your cannabis plants can die. This growing method is also more labor-intensive and has to be monitored daily to keep the nutrients and Ph in a specific range. The aeroponics method is sensitive and susceptible to mistakes.
Sea of Green growing method:
The “Sea of Green” growing method means that one uses many small marijuana plants instead of a few bigger ones. They are put into the flowering stage when they’re still young, so one can get to harvest more quickly.
With the help of the Sea of Green technique, you can get excellent yields that may be increased by up to 40% after training your plants. This method takes significantly less time to harvest and doesn’t require much effort spent on training. It also allows you to cultivate many different strains simultaneously.
While using the Sea of Green grow style, one typically switches to the flowering stage when plants are approximately 4-6 weeks old. If they are switched sooner than four weeks, there may not be enough time to get the most out of this technique. At the same time, adding a few extra weeks can also make a dramatic difference in yields. So as you see, it’s about finding the perfect balance. Some growers also remove the tips of seedlings once they have about 4-6 pairs of leaves, increasing the number of bud sites.
To adjust the right environment parameters, light cannabis clones start out with 150-200 micromoles and slowly increase the volume to 550 micromoles for the vegetative stage. During the vegetative cycle, the light must be 18 hours on and 12 hours off. To transition cannabis plants from the vegetative stage to the flowering one, you need to increase the lighting to 800 or more micromoles. To induce the flowering stage, change the lighting settings to 12 hours on and 12 hours off. Your plants would also benefit from CO2 enrichment up to 1500 ppm in both vegetative and flowering stages. If you want to prevent the spread of plant disease, decrease humidity when switching to the flowering stage.
There are a few downsides to the Sea of Green growing method. First, you would need to take care of more plants, which can be challenging for beginners. It is also not the best choice for growers who live where there are plant limits by law. Another problem is that plants are often crammed together, so the chances of mold or mildew increase. Mold or mildew may occur because of poor climate control that involves improper humidity and insufficient air circulation.
Wrapping it Up:
All in all, growing your weed at home ultimately means saving a lot of money for regular smokers. They say that at little as one or two harvests can return initial investments on equipment and energy, significantly cutting back on your cannabis-related expenses.
Most importantly, cultivating weed is fun! Growing cannabis can be an excellent relaxing hobby that offers great pleasure and enjoyment. Many people become passionate about it and learn new useful skills. It’s much easier than you think because weed is quite hardy and resilient. Even if you do something wrong, you shouldn’t worry about the outcome because marijuana can withstand abrupt changes in conditions. Just do some research before purchasing particular seeds and make sure they fit your climate, as well as the amount of time and care you want to dedicate!