Growing your medicine is a lot of fun, but it can be tricky. To make sure your plant thrives and grows to its full potential, you must handle each stage with care and patience.
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1. Seedling
All grows start with seeds/clones. Cannabis seedlings can be tricky to keep alive, but this crucial beginning will depict how your plant grows and eventually how it harvests.
When sourcing your seeds, be sure to look for the right strain for you and your growing conditions. Take into consideration what strain you want to grow, your grow equipment, and whether you’re growing outdoors or indoors.
Cannabis Seeds Need Four Things to Germinate: Moisture, Warmth, Darkness, and Time.
There are a few techniques to germinate your seeds: the paper towel method, a glass of water method, and starter kits. Starter kits ensure your seeds are provided with the perfect conditions right from the start. Buy cannabis grow kits online for the easiest way to ensure your seeds will grow healthily and happily.
The basics of mastering the seedling stage include three main components: temperature, humidity, and optimal lighting. Cannabis seedlings like daytime temperatures of 20-25°C and nighttime temperatures roughly 4-5°C cooler.
To fully optimize the developing process, it’s important to keep cannabis seedlings’ relative humidity levels at 40-60 percent. Lastly, seedlings are very light-sensitive and will burn under strong HIP or LED bulbs. For the best results, grow seedlings under an 18-6 light schedule using CFL bulbs.
Vibrant green foliage and rapid growth are signs of healthy seedlings!
2. Vegetative
The vegetative stage is the first stage of life for the cannabis plant. When the plant is only growing stems and leaves (without any buds), it’s considered to be in the vegetative stage.
As mentioned before, providing an 18-6 light schedule is essential. This means 18 hours of light a day and six hours of darkness. Use a timer to turn indoor grow lights on and off automatically.
During the vegetative stage, your job is to keep your cannabis plant happy and healthy by doing the following: providing water, nutrients and light, providing the proper temperature (20-25°C, and humidity (40-60 percent), and sufficient air circulation. Ensure your plant is getting a constant supply of fresh air to provide the C02 it needs to grow.
The vegetative stage can last however long you desire, but plants need at least three weeks before they’ll begin to make flowers.
3. Flower
During the flowering stage, it’s time to switch up the light schedule. Your plant now needs 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness a day.
Cannabis plants start budding when given at least 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness each night. Once they start flowering, they must continue to get long dark nights until harvest, or they might revert to the vegetative stage.
As mentioned in the vegetative stage, cannabis plants need at least three weeks before they start flowering. Your cannabis plant will double or triple in size and height from the point where you change over the light schedule to 12-12.
After the vegetative and flowering stage, it is time to harvest, dry, and cure your plant!
4. Dry/Cure
After you’ve harvested your buds (cut and trimmed those beautiful sparkly buds), you’ll want to hang them upside down in a cool, dark place with plenty of ventilation to dry out. After they’ve dried, it’s time to cure them.
The curing process is critical because it will determine the potency and quality of your buds.
To cure your cannabis, place it in air-tight jars and cool, dark places.
During the first two weeks, open the jars for a few seconds each day to ventilate and release moisture (moisture causes mould). After two weeks and no sign of humidity, you can start opening them once a week.
Curing time is up to you. The longer you cure the buds, the more potent and aromatic they’ll be. An average curing time is 3-4 weeks for maximum potency.
One Last Note on Growing Weed
These are the four main stages of growing weed. It can be a tricky process, but the result is rewarding and unique.
Keep in mind, curing cannabis for, say, six months will not do anything, as over long periods, cannabis can become less potent.
For long-term storage, keep your fresh, home-grown cannabis in a cool, dry, air-tight space.
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