1. Seed Selection
|
You’ve decided to grow your own. To find the variety of your choice you’re faced with some important decisions. Most important, obviously, is where to grow; Indoor or Outdoor.
The other growing conditions are also crucial in making your decision, which will be discussed in more detail in the next paragraph. Factors influencing your choice are: what type (Sativa, Indica or a mix), what effect and which taste you prefer. What flowering period and what kind of yield do you require?
In choosing please bear in mind that Sativa plants are generally taller plants, branches are wider apart with thinner leaves and wider spacing between leaf nodes, giving the smoker a high effect.
Indica, on the other hand, has generally speaking a more stoned effect and is a shorter, more compact plant with thicker leaves and narrow spacing between the leaf nodes. |
|
|
|
Another very important factor effecting yield and overall quality is experience. Please note, in choosing what variety to grow you should look at your level of experience.
Difficulty: some varieties are easy to grow so perfect for beginners; some are more suitable for experienced growers as these varieties require more expertise in order to grow successfully. Especially short indica varieties, most notably Skunk varieties, are easy to grow for first-timers. Haze varieties are often fragile plants and require lots of attention, so more suitable for experienced growers.
In choosing your variety for Outdoor you are restricted by the weather conditions. Plants that are able to grow Outdoor in Spain will not grow in Holland and vice versa. Same goes for other Northern countries, such as: Belgium, Germany, Great Britain etc. Simply because Spain has a warmer, gentler climate than these countries.
Growing conditions that will effect, taste and yield are: lighting, fertilisers, soil, ventilation, temperature, humidity. If you are looking for high quality marihuana you will get the best results using regular soil and organic fertilisers (BIO). If you want to improve your yield you can use HYDRO methods. This means using artificial soil and fertilisers. Soil, for example: mapito, coco soil and/ or rock wool and fertilisers, such as; root stimulator and topbooster. There are many different opinions when it comes to growing conditions. Each expert has his own special mix of soil, there’s a vast range of nutrients available and there are many methods to illuminate your plants. So what growing conditions to apply for your specific crop is best discovered by gaining experience and by gaining information from experienced growers and experts (Friends, growshops, internet, magazines, books, videos etc.).
Below we will guide you through the cultivation process: germination, vegetation, flowering and drying process for marihuana. There is however, one element that does vary: time. Some plants are ready quickly; others need more time to grow. |
|
|
2. Germination stage
|
|
|
| Germination stage is the same for both Indoor and Outdoor plants. There are numerous methods to germinate your seeds. To germinate the seeds you should keep them at temperature of around 20 degrees centigrade. Below we mention three methods we found to be very successful. |
|
|
 |
A. Put the seeds directly into turfpot (5X 5 cm) covered with plastic foil leaving room to grow, or in a propagator (for instance a 10 X 10 cm) or plastic container covered with plastic foil.Leaving 2/3 of the seed above the soil. |
 |
B. Put the seeds into a small glass of water. Get them out gently with a pair of tweezers once they have sprouted and transplant them into to a small turf pot (5 X 5 cm). |
 |
C. Put the seeds in a moist tissue on a plate covered with an upturned plate. Put the covered seeds in a damp place and keep them moist. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Keep the soil moist constantly, but not too moist, by using a plant spray. Preferably put the seeds on the windowsill for adequate sunlight or under artificial light. Keep the PH value neutral at around 7.0 and at a temperature of around 20 degrees centigrade. Phosphoric acid can make the PH go down, lime and potash can make it go up.
During the whole cultivation process PH levels should always be kept between 6.2 and 7.0. Seeds can sprout after 12 hours, but can also take up to 10 days. Once the seeds have sprouted make sure that the seedlings aren’t in direct sunlight and make sure the leaves of the seedlings don’t have too much water on them or they will break. |
|
|
|
3. Vegetation stage
|
|
|
| Transplant seedlings after 6 or 7 days to a larger pot, preferably to a 9x9x10 cm pot. Transplant the seedlings after having moistened them, because the soil will adhere more easily.After four weeks the plants need to be transplanted again to 15 X 15 cm pots. You can either transplant the marihuana plant in different pots during different stages or transplant it once from the turf pot to a larger pot (4 liter pot minimum, 15 liter pot maximum). You should always check how the roots have grown. If the pot is full of roots you should transplant, because they need room to grow. Below you have an indication of when to transplant plants to bigger pots. |
|
|
Plant is in
10 cm pot
15 cm (2 litres)
20 cm (4 litres)
10 litre pot |
Transplant in
the third to fourth week
fourth to fifth week
seventh to eight week
around ten weeks |
 |
Marihuana grows during periods of 18 hours of light and 6 hours of complete darkness. Ideal temperature is 20 to 25 degrees and plants should receive plenty of fresh air, by using a fan. Plants should receive water daily. |
|
 |
|
|
| Attention: in using a large pot there is the risk of overfeeding the plants, since you have to make a mix for this large pot. Especially in the beginning the plants don’t need as much nutrients, as they are small. With the smaller pots you can keep the nutrient levels constant more easily and reduce the risk of overfeeding since small plants are very fragile. By transplanting the plants to a new pot they will receive new soil with the proper levels of nutrients. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
If you put them outside dig out a space of a meter deep, mix this soil with fertiliser and nutrients and put the plants back into the ground with this soil. Water and feed them regularly and, if necessarily, prune them. Outdoor plants require a lot less attention. |
 |
Outdoor plants should be kept inside with plenty of sunlight available until they have reached 25 to 45 cm in height. With this height the plants are strong and big enough and you can then put them outside. Move the plants outdoor after the last frost period. To adjust to outdoor conditions you can first put them in pots on your terrace or balcony. Put your plants outdoor the end of March beginning of April,depending on where you live. |
|
 |
Indoor plants should be kept in a closed space (a closet or grow box) under artificial light. There are several types of artificial lights available, such as: High Intensify Discharge lamps (three colours; Metal Halide, Mercury Vapor and High Pressure Sodium), blue Tl tube (colour 33) and other grow lamps. The great advantage of HID lights is that they can be used during the whole cultivation period. Strength of these lamps (amount of watts) is dependent on the number of plants you grow. Plants should be kept from the lamps at a distance of 30 cm. For best results gain advice from experts on what lamps to use. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4. Grow Marijuana Flowering Stage
|
For Outdoor: let nature do its work.
For indoor: By giving the plants only 12 hours of light and 12 hours of complete darkness,they will go into the flowering Stage.
Temperature should be around 20 to 25 degrees and humidity should be around 60 to 70 percent. After about 14 days into to the flowering stage you can recognize male plants from female. |
 |
Male plants only have flowers(so-called pods) who look like small balls hanging at the stem at the top of the plant. After recognizing male plants; the pods won’t open and pollinate until two to three weeks. |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
Female plants are the only ones whom you can smoke, so remove the male plants to prevent pollination! plants you will recognize after two to three weeks by white hairs first appearing at the top of the stem and branches and at the internodes where branches emerge from the stem. So, basically, all over the plant. |
|
| Final stage sees the last transplantation to 8 liter or 10 liter pots where the plants will be able to grow further until it is ready for harvest. As soon as these white hairs turn to brown and the leaves turn yellow it is time to harvest. If you grow indoor make sure you rinse out all the nutrients by running fresh water through the pots, two to three times. This will improve the flavour. |
 |
|
|
|
|
5. Drying stage
|
|
|
| Cut them off at the stem, remove all the leaves and hang them up to dry. Drying the buds will take at least a week. If they smell like grass leave them hang to dry for longer and they will still get their recognizable scent. |
 |
 |
|
| TIP: If you don’t plan on using your seeds for a while. Keep them in the Freezer in a moisture proof container and they will last for a long time. Please do not use these grow marijuana instructions if the law in your country forbids the growing of weed. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
