Can Nutrients Make Your Weed Grow Faster?

by Nebula Haze

Can nutrients make your cannabis plants grow faster? The short answer is “Yes”.

Giving optimal cannabis nutrients makes weed plants grow faster with bigger buds

Optimal nutrients also produce better-quality cannabis buds

When plants get the exact right amount of nutrients at the right time, they will grow significantly faster and produce more and better weed.

Optimal cannabis nutrients gives you…

Faster growth
Bigger yields
Better quality weed

However, there are some things to keep in mind. Mainly, you don’t want to go overboard with nutrients as this will burn and harm your cannabis plants. Additionally, the more light you’re giving your plants, the more nutrients they use. But the less light, they less they need. So you may give plants the exact same nutrients but they will react differently depending on the strength of light being given to them. On top of that, certain cannabis strains are “heavy feeders” and tend to need a lot of nutrients (especially tall or fast-growing strains), while other ones do better with lower levels of nutrients (especially short and squat strains).

Optimal nutrients for super fast cannabis growth

Proper nutrient ratios – Giving the perfect ratio of nutrients at the right time make plants grow faster, increases yields, and improves bud quality
- Vegetative Stage: High Nitrogen/Phosphorus/Potassium
- Flowering Stage: Low Nitrogen, High Phosphorus/Potassium
Right amount of nutrients
- Too little nutrients result in pale plants, slow growth, and small buds
- Too much nutrients will burn your leaves, cause slow growth, and can harm bud development
- More light = more nutrients needed – The optimal amount of nutrients varies greatly depending on the light levels. The more light the plant gets, the more nutrients it needs to process that light.
- Strain differences – tall/stretchy strains tend to need higher levels of nutrients than short/squat strains
Mineral (“chemical”) nutrients produce the fastest growth and biggest yields – Mineral-based nutrients are quicker for the plant to absorb than organic nutrients, resulting in faster growth and bigger yields overall when everything else is equal.

You can use that information to choose your own nutrient system, or just follow these recommendations of proven cannabis nutrient systems:

General Hydroponics Flora Trio

General Hydroponics offers a simple duo with one bottle for the vegetative stage, and one bottle for the flowering stage called FloraNova Grow + Bloom. This nutrient system is cheap, simple, and easy with excellent results in soil/coco/hydro. The biggest issue I have with the duo is the liquid is so thick it can be annoying to measure out.

However, their Flora trio is a winner. A tried and true favorite of mine, the Flora trio works very well for growing cannabis. I’ve had great success with it in every grow medium including soil, coco coir, and hydroponics. I used this nutrient system for almost a decade and have always been thrilled with the results. I’ve been testing new nutrient systems so I can report back to our readers like you, but based on my years of success I know you’ll be happy with the Flora trio. Best for…

Soil
Coco Coir
Hydroponics

·Soil, Coco Coir, or Hydroponics (DWC, Bubbleponics, etc)

General Hydroponics Flora Series Nutrient Trio + CaliMagic (add 1 tsp/gallon Hydroguard in hydroponics)

Follow the instructions on the side of the bottle at half-strength for great results in soil or coco. It’s recommended to also use a Cal-Mag supplement if using filtered water, growing in coco, or using and LED grow light (all tend to increase the Cal-Mag needs of your plant). I prefer the GH version called CaliMagic, and use it at 1 tsp/gallon. If growing in hydroponics with roots directly in water, use similarly to soil or coco, just make sure to also get Hydroguard to protect your hydroponic roots from root rot.

Add 1 tsp/gallon of Hydroguard to prevent root rot if growing cannabis in a hydroponic setup like DWC or Bubbleponics

Check out a few different grow journals featuring the GH Flora trio

600W Hydroponic Grow Journal – 23.09 oz Harvest
Kind K5 XL1000 LED Grow Journal – 1.2 lb Harvest
250W HPS Cannabis Grow Journal – 6.2 oz Yield
Nebula’s 315W LEC Grow Journal – 1.1 lb Harvest
Super Soil (“Just Add Water” Soil) vs Coco Coir (used General Hydroponics Flora Trio with the coco coir plants)
LECs vs HLG 300 LEDs
The General Hydroponics Flora trio is my personal favorite nutrient system for growing weed in soil, coco, or hydroponics. I’ve used it for all grow media and consistently get fast growth and big, dense, clean-tasting buds.

Examples of cannabis I’ve grown with General Hydroponics Flora trio:

General Hydroponics Flora trio using a 315 LEC grow light

General Hydroponics Flora trio using an Electric Sky 300 LED grow light

Fox Farm Nutrient Trio

The Fox Farm trio is a popular nutrient system for cannabis growers that contains a variety of natural sources for nutrients like earthworm castings and bat guano, which cannabis plants thrive on. Fox Farm’s original nutrients contain too much organic matter for DWC/hydro, which increases the chance of root problems, but all that organic matter is great for plants in a hand-watered environment to enhance smell and flavor of your finished product. Fox Farm offer hydroponics-specific nutrients that don’t contain any organic matter called the “Cultivation Nation trio”, but this trio is not as good as the General Hydroponics Flora trio for growing cannabis, in my experience.

Best for…

Soil
Coco Coir

·Soil version

Fox Farms Nutrient Trio for Soil

Very concentrated, less is more. “Grow Big” & “Tiger Bloom” provide most of the major nutrients your cannabis needs, while “Big Bloom” has many micronutrients and beneficial compounds that help nutrient uptake and root health. This trio works extremely well by itself, just follow the feeding schedule (here’s a PDF, here’s a JPG) from Fox Farms at half-strength to start.

Check out a grow journal using the FF trio for Soil!

·Coco version

Fox Farms Nutrient Trio for Hydroponics & Cal-Mag

Use the “hydro” version of Fox Farms nutrients when growing in coco coir. Two bottles are the same as the soil trio, but the “Grow Big” bottle is formulated slightly differently for a soilless grow. Follow the feeding schedule (here’s a PDF, here’s a JPG) from Fox Farms at half-strength to start. Generally, the Fox Farms nutrient system will prevent Cal-Mag deficiencies, but it’s good to have extra Cal-Mag on hand just in case whenever growing cannabis in coco coir, if using filtered water, or if growing with LED grow lights.

·Hydroponic version

Fox Farms Cultivation Nation Trio (Micro, Grow, Bloom) & Cal-Mag

This is a Fox Farm copy of the General Hydroponics Flora Trio. It has the exact same nutrient ratios and the exact same ingredients as the General Hydroponics Flora trio. I’ve used it with good results over 2 different grows, though I personally prefer the Flora trio because the Cultivation Nation bottles tended to leak if the bottle was tipped over. A leaking bottle means that air is getting in, which will cause your nutrients to go back more quickly. I also noticed these nutrients tend to crystalize, while the Flora trio nutrients always are fully liquid.

I recommend getting General Hydroponics Flora trio instead of the Cultivation Nation trio. The Flora trio is cheaper and the nutrients are better.

Dyna-Gro

Originally designed for orchids, Dyna-Gro nutrients have proven to work exceptionally well for cannabis plants. If you want professional results without spending a ton of money or having to mix multiple bottles together, this combo gives your plants everything they need from seed to harvest. Dyna-Gro nutrients are suitable for any growing medium including soil, coco, or hydro.

Works great in Soil, Coco or Hydroponics

Dyna Grow (Foliage Pro + Bloom) – Use “Foliage Pro” in the vegetative stage and “Bloom” in the flowering stage.

Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom is my recommended nutrient system for newbies. One bottle for the vegetative stage, one for the flowering stage. Super simple!

Grow Journals featuring Foliage Pro + Bloom

Cannabis I’ve grown using Foliage Pro + Bloom

Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro + Bloom worked great under a tiny 65W LED grow light

One Last Tip…

When using a complete nutrient system like the ones listed above, always start at half the recommended strength by the manufacturer, and only increase nutrient levels if your plant is getting pale. If you’re giving too low levels of nutrients, the entire plant will start to appear overall pale or lime green. If you have a different nutrient deficiency (diagnose your plant here), chances are it’s caused by incorrect pH, not by too-low levels of nutrients.

It’s a good idea to always start at half the manufacturer’s recommendation! Most nutrient companies recommend way too much for growing cannabis!

Why not keep adding more and more nutrients? Doesn’t more equal better? No, nutrients are more like a multivitamin than food. After your plant has enough nutrients, adding more gives you diminishing returns, and too much starts causing the following problems.

A cannabis plant turns pale all over (left) when it needs higher levels of nutrients overall. If plant is a healthy green (right), stick to half the recommended dose.

Too high levels of nutrients causes…

Nutrient burn – nutrient burn causes tips of leaves and edges of buds to appear burned. It isn’t a huge deal but doesn’t look as pretty, especially if it gets bad enough to spread to your buds.
Random nutrient deficiencies and lockout
Buds don’t grow as big as they could have in the flowering stage, especially if levels of Nitrogen are too high
Leaf discoloration may spread to the sugar leaves on the buds (not a big deal, but not pretty either)

Now that you understand everything you need to know about picking the right nutrient system, check out some supplements!

Learn About Cannabis Supplements: