Even if your flowering cannabis plant is looking rough with yellowing leaves and nutrient deficiencies, there may still be time to save your marijuana harvest.

Escape the Mid-Flower Curse and harvest better weed.

Today’s cannabis grower experienced this common problem I like to call the Mid-Flower Curse. It affects almost every grower at least once. This is when plant leaves suddenly start looking sick about halfway into the flowering stage.

Note: Some strains like Purple Haze, Green Crack, and Do-Si-Dos are more resistant to problems, but the mid-flower curse can strike any cannabis plant.

If you see nutrient deficiencies after buds start forming, don’t harvest early…

• Check out this page on how to stop flowering stage deficiencies.
• See pictures of nutrient problems caused by pH (may be the most common cause of the Mid-Flower Curse).
• Or use our free cannabis plant doctor to figure out the problem.

See how one grower beat the mid-flower curse and got a great harvest.

Our student initiated the flowering stage and his plants were growing buds a few weeks later. Despite some water stress, the plants were green without spots or nutrient deficiencies.

He watched the buds get bigger each day. Everything was going smoothly. Then, about halfway through the flowering stage, he noticed a handful of green leaves turning yellow.

Yellow tips, a few pale leaves, and the occasional brown scorched spot. 

At first, the symptoms seemed small. So he ignored them.

But it started spreading.

6 days later, those plants had a yellowish cast, especially on the hardest working leaves attached to the biggest buds.

When he looked closely at those leaves, he saw lots of brown and yellow scorch marks.

“Does it need a special supplement or nutrient?” he asked Sirius, who answered, “No, it looks like the pH is off. Check that.”

The grower thought, “How big a deal could that really be?” and told himself he’d do it later.

Another 7 days passed, and the yellowing was hard to ignore now.

Brown spots were everywhere. Even worse, it seemed like the buds had stopped getting bigger. Maybe it’s time to harvest now, our grower thought.

“Should I just harvest them now?” he asks Sirius, who replied, “Look at all the white hairs on the buds, they’re not ready yet. Make sure to check the pH of the runoff too. Try to keep the leaves healthy until harvest.”

The grower finally checked the pH of his runoff water, expecting around 6-7 (the pH zone that helps prevent nutrient problems in soil). After all, he was always giving them water pH’ed exactly to 6.5.

Yet he was shocked to discover his runoff water measured at 5.4 pH. Way too low.

It really was the pH causing these leaf symptoms the whole time.

Once he fixed it, the discoloration stopped spreading. And although most yellow leaves never turned green again, the buds immediately started growing bigger.

By harvest day, the buds had doubled in size.

He dried the buds in the grow tent.

After being dried and cured, the resulting buds were dense and beautiful. He beat the curse.

Lesson: How to Defeat the Mid-Flower Curse

Growers experience the mid-flower curse because most cannabis plants stop making new leaves about halfway through the flowering stage.

From then on, plants put their energy towards developing buds instead of maintaining foliage. Leaves stay green and healthy in ideal conditions even if they’re working hard. That means it’s up to you as the grower to give great care so your cannabis plants keep enough healthy leaves to last until harvest.

Happy leaves help cannabis plants produce great bud quality.

Better late than never is often true for ailing cannabis plants, especially in the middle of the budding phase. Even though you see some yellow leaves now, you might think, “Oh well, it’s already a lost cause” but the truth is every day of good care helps plants develop bigger, denser, and more beautiful buds.

Even after some leaves are lost, it is worth saving the remaining ones. Partly green leaves still help. Don’t give up on your plant just because it’s starting to look a little rough.

Leaves turn light into energy. No leaves = no energy to grow.

What do you do if leaves turn purple? Even purple leaves should look healthy without brown spots or scorch marks on the leaves or edges, like this Runtz plant with green leaves that slowly turned purple close to harvest.

Your #1 job: don’t ignore problems. If you notice yellowing leaves or spots, try to identify the cause and fix it as soon as possible instead of waiting until symptoms spread.

• Learn how to stop flowering stage deficiencies.
• See pictures of nutrient problems caused by pH (common cause of the Mid-Flower Curse).
• Use our free cannabis plant doctor tool if you still need help.

Keep your cannabis plants as healthy as possible, even after problems start forming. Too many growers give up on their plants right when they need extra care the most.

In our harvest book, we help you finish strong and harvest buds at the right time to maximize density and effects.

Main Takeaway: Aim to keep lots of healthy green (or purple) leaves to power bud growth, so your plants produce maximum yields and density.

You now have the power to prevent the mid-flower curse from attacking your harvest. Your jars will thank you.

The post Harvest Rescue: How to Beat the Mid-Flower Curse appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

You’re browsing a cannabis seed bank website, and see different marijuana strains with the same name, perhaps Bruce Banner. But one says “Autoflower” and one says “Fast” (sometimes also “Express” or “FF” or “Fast Flowering”). What does this mean? What’s the difference?

What’s the difference between an Autoflower and a Fast cannabis strain?

“Autoflower” and “Fast” Cannabis Strains are Not the Same

This may be the most confusing strain naming convention for beginner cannabis growers. You could read the entire strain description, and still not know what to expect. Autoflowering strains are technically very fast to grow, typically being ready to harvest just 2-3 months from germination.

However, the short answer is a “Fast” strain is a fast-flowering photoperiod strain (not an autoflower strain).

Keep reading for a quick and simple explanation, so you know exactly which strain to choose for what you want!

“Autoflower” Cannabis Strains Make Buds Automatically

An auto-flowering (“auto”) strain makes buds automatically after a few weeks, and these plants are typically ready to harvest only 2-3 months from germination. These are not photoperiod strains and don’t need special light periods, or any input from you whatsoever, to start growing buds. They’re essentially like a cannabis houseplant that just needs to be kept alive to make buds.

Auto-flowering strains like this Gorilla Glue Auto by Fast Buds tend to stay small and are typically ready to harvest 2-3 months from germination.

• Autoflowering examples: Bruce Banner Autoflower or Chemical Candy Auto

Learn more about autoflowering strains.

“Fast” Strains are Photoperiod Strains… but Faster

A “Fast” strain is not an auto-flowering strain, but actually a photoperiod strain that has been bred specifically to go through the flowering stage extremely quickly while still achieving good yields and potency.

• “Fast” strain examples: Bruce Banner Fast and Crystal Candy F1 Fast Note: Fast strains are sometimes called “Express” or “FF” (for Fast Flowering)

What does “photoperiod” mean? Photoperiod strains are traditional cannabis strains, and instead of automatically growing buds after a few weeks, they need to experience a 12/12 light schedule (12 hour nights) in order to start making buds. Otherwise photoperiod plants just get bigger and bigger forever, never growing buds. Luckily, giving 12 hours of darkness each day is easy to accomplish indoors just by putting your grow lights on a timer.

Learn more about photoperiod cannabis strains.

A “Fast” strain like Crystal Candy F1 Fast is NOT an auto-flowering strain!

Fast cannabis strains are usually developed in one of two ways.

Two ways to create a “Fast” photoperiod strain:

1. Cross a photoperiod strain with an auto-flowering strain – Once the cross is made, the first generation (F1) of offspring will be photoperiod because the auto-flowering trait is recessive. In other words, the offspring carry the recessive autoflowering gene, but still act like photoperiod plants. Those photoperiod plants tend to be much faster-flowering. Some breeders might sell those F1 seeds as “fast flowering”. However, typically a breeder will continue breeding to select for the fast-flowering trait while breeding out the recessive autoflowering trait until they stabilize a photoperiod strain with that extra speediness. The use of autoflowering genetics is why you’ll notice that many “fast” photoperiod strains are developed by breeders that also breed auto-flowering strains.
2. Cross 2 fast-flowering photoperiod strains – In this case, the breeder makes the cross between great photoperiod plants, identifies the fastest-flowering offspring, and then uses those plants to breed the next generation. This is typically done by commercial growers, and over several generations can shave multiple weeks off the flowering time without sacrificing yields or bud quality.

For home growers, we typically don’t mind an extra week of growing here or there. As long as we’re getting several solid harvests every year, we’re often happy with that. Compared to those growing weed to sell to dispensaries, we may take more time in between grows, and experienced home growers often grow way more weed than we could use on our own anyway.

However, once breeders develop these fast strains, it’s actually pretty neat from the perspective of a home grower. Who doesn’t want to get the same bud quality and yields, but sooner?

Fast cannabis strains produce the same results in less time.

Recommended Fast Strain: Gorilla Cookies Fast (sometimes listed as Gorilla Cookies “FF” for “Fast Flowering”) can get big and produce great yields, but buds are ready to harvest 7-8 weeks after initiating 12/12. That’s 2-3 weeks quicker than most photoperiod strains.

Here’s an example of Gorilla Cookies Fast. Tons of weed in a short amount of time!

While we’re here, I just wanted to explain the difference between feminized and regular cannabis strains, since this is a super important distinction for home growers!

Feminized vs Regular Seeds

• Feminized Seeds – Every cannabis plant is female when you start with feminized seeds. That means every single plant will make buds, and the buds will be seedless. These special seeds are created using an advanced feminization technique. As a home grower, starting with feminized seeds lets you grow weed without worrying about male plants. Example: Bruce Banner Feminized
• Regular Seeds – With regular seeds, half plants are female (makes buds), half are male (don’t make buds). Example: Bruce Banner Regular. Male plants make non-smokable pollen sacs instead of buds, and also release pollen, causing any nearby buds to become full of seeds. Although it’s extremely important for growers to know whether a cannabis plant is male or female, you can’t tell which is which from looking at the seeds, or even from looking at the young plants. Male and female plants look the same until they start making flowers or pre-flowers. Therefore when using regular seeds, growers must identify and remove male plants as they reveal themselves. You get to skip all that if you start with feminized seeds.

Half of “regular” seeds grow into female plants, which make buds.

But half of “regular” seeds grow into male plants, which make non-smokable pollen sacs.

I recommend most beginner growers start with feminized seeds. This takes one extra possible headache out of the growing process. It stinks if you grow a few regular seeds and most of them (or even all) end up being male, due to random chance. In that case, you would have to start over to get more cannabis plants that grow buds. It’s a lot easier to take care of cannabis plants when you know every plant will make buds!

Feminized seeds always make buds.

Fast Fun Fact: You may have noticed many versions of Bruce Banner on this page. Why so many variations? It’s because the original Bruce Banner cannabis strain (bred by Jason Holck, aka OG Ironlung) hit the genetic jackpot of big yields, high bud quality, and strong euphoric effects.

Bruce Banner genetics tend to be high-yielding with excellent effects.

Do you have any questions about marijuana seeds or strain names? If so, let us know and I can add the necessary information to this tutorial!

The post What’s the Difference between “Fast” and “Autoflower” Cannabis Strains? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

If you’re a home cannabis grower, and buds just aren’t as big as you want, there is a reason why. Some strains like Blue Dream just produce way more weed than others, but there’s a lot you do as a grower that affects bud size besides genetics.

If your marijuana buds are staying tiny, you can fix it by following today’s tutorial!

With the right grow tactics, and you can consistently produce big, dense, and long cannabis buds (known as “colas”).

Strain is White Rhino

Follow today’s tutorial to grow a literal sea of cannabis colas. That way you can enjoy enormous yields of top-shelf buds every harvest!

Strain: Ultimate Auto

Cannabis plants are straightforward in the way that if you grow the right strains and treat them right, they consistently make big buds for you.

This tutorial breaks down the exact reason why cannabis buds stay small instead of growing big, dense, and long colas.

Look over this list to diagnose why your buds aren’t getting as big as they could, and simply address the issues that are affecting your garden. Soon, you’ll be enjoying your own huge cannabis harvests with big yields. And as a bonus, the things that make marijuana buds grow big are also the things that make buds grow dense, potent, and beautiful. You’ve got this.

How Grow Environment Can Make Small Buds

Your grow environment has a remarkable effect on how buds grow. A lot of cannabis growers may focus on other aspects of growing, and unintentionally treat their growing environment as an afterthought. If you make sure to avoid the following pitfalls, you greatly increase your overall bud size.

Weak light levels (most common reason)

• Indoors: The grow light isn’t strong enough. Make sure to get the right-sized grow light for your grow space. Learn how to pick the perfect grow light for your cannabis garden.
• Outdoors: The plant isn’t getting direct sunlight, or not getting enough light hours per day (should be getting 8+ hours/day of direct sunlight)

This plant was grown under a tiny LED grow light. Weak light levels are the most common reason for small buds.

Grow light is too far away

This is actually just another cause of weak light levels, and it can affect your bud size even if you’re using one of the best cannabis grow lights. Keep your grow light as close as possible without stressing the tops of plants.

Learn how far away to keep your cannabis grow lights.

Cannabis buds tend to stay small if the grow light is kept too far away.

Note: If the grow light is the recommended distance away, but plants are still getting light burn or top leaves look stressed, it’s likely that they’re actually suffering from a nutrient deficiency or other sub-optimal conditions like too high temperature. When a cannabis plant is under stress of some kind, symptoms show up first on the hardest-working leaves. Cannabis plants can take more light than almost any other plant if you give them ideal conditions and great nutrition. So if the manufacturer says to keep the grow light 18″ (45 cm) away, for example, but your plants are looking burnt at that distance, look over the rest of this list to diagnose why.

If your grow light is the proper distance away but the top of plants look stressed, there is likely another issue going on (like too much heat or a nutrient deficiency).

Heat or Cold

Temperature matters! If a plant is too hot of cold, it just can’t make big buds. You may also notice the plant drooping or growing slowly when it’s hot or cold. The ideal temperature for cannabis plants is 70-85°F (20-30°C). The further you get outside that range, the more it will affect your bud size. Note: Plants under HPS or other HID grow lights prefer it on the colder side of that spectrum, while plants under LED grow lights prefer to be on the higher end.

Learn about the ideal temperature for growing cannabis plants.

This cannabis plant is suffering from heat stress.

This plant is suffering from cold (cold is also a common cause of red leaves or stems).

High Humidity (or Extremely Low Humidity)

Though not nearly as important as temperature for bud size, very humid or dry air can also prevent buds from getting as big as they could. Ideally, you’d like to keep your humidity around 40-50% while buds are forming (this also helps prevent bud rot). Giving buds lots of airflow via fans can help if the humidity is too high, but it’s best to lower the overall humidity if possible. Usually, cannabis plants are more tolerant of low humidity, especially if they’ve grown with it their whole life, but once the air gets under 30% humidity, your buds may not fatten properly.

Learn more about humidity effects on cannabis.

When growing marijuana, very high or very low humidity can inhibit bud size.

Re-vegging (reverting to vegetative stage)

This is a common nickname for when a cannabis plant is re-vegetating or returning back to the vegetative stage. You know your plant is re-vegging if buds start growing, but suddenly you see your plant growing round, single-finger, or twisted leaves, and soon after the buds stop developing and start to die. Re-vegging is caused when a flowering plant is getting light during its dark period. Even small amounts of light (like a light leak, or checking on your plants during lights-off) can set re-vegging in motion.

Learn about cannabis plants re-vegging (and see tons more pics, as every plant looks a bit different when it happens).

If a budding marijuana plant gets light at night, it may “re-veg” and cause buds to stop growing.

Learn more about how the environment affects cannabis buds.

How Certain Plant Structures Tend to Grow Smaller Buds

Plant is too small when it starts making buds

Small cannabis plants simply can’t support big buds. For a photoperiod plant, this happens when flowering gets initiated too early (given a 12/12 light schedule too soon).

When a photoperiod cannabis plant is put into the flowering stage too early, it just can’t make big buds.

Autoflowering plants start budding on their own, so if they’re too small it usually means that they didn’t get optimal conditions when they were young, and therefore didn’t get big enough before they started flowering.

Learn more: What causes auto-flowering plants to get stunted?

Example of a stunted auto-flowering plant.

Small roots

You don’t need huge roots to grow big buds, but if you’re growing in a cup or a 1/2 gallon pot, they’re typically not able to get big enough to support really big buds unless you do a lot of extra work to make up for what the roots would normally be doing.

Some growers like to push the limits with small roots, but it takes work to overcome. Learn about the “solo cup challenge”.

As a super general rule of thumb, a cannabis plant can grow about an ounce of weed for every gallon of root space. Of course, this is different for each strain and depends on the nutrients, grow medium, and grow practices. But that gives you a very general idea of what to expect for most growers in most conditions. For a few ounces per plant, 2-3 gallons is good. To get 5+ ounces per plant, you should have at least a 5-gallon container for the roots.

Small roots tend to limit your overall bud size. This cannabis plant grown in a cup was allowed to get tall but the buds stayed tiny.

Too many lower buds

Buds that aren’t located at the top of the plant will never get as fat as the top ones even if everything else is the same. That’s why it’s ideal to use bending and other pruning techniques to make your plants grow flat and wide. This means all the buds are top buds, which helps them bulk up to their maximum size and density.

Notice in the following picture how the top buds get the biggest even though the plant is getting the same amount of light from top to bottom.

Lower buds won’t fatten like top buds.

Get cannabis plants to grow flat and wide (via plant training) to make it so all buds are top buds.

Overly leafy plants (especially if buds are hidden by leaves)

If your cannabis plants are so bushy that the buds are all hidden from the grow light, they won’t fatten. Only buds that receive direct light get big.

Learn how to defoliate your plants so buds are all exposed to the light.

Buds won’t get big if they don’t get direct light. Notice how there are barely any buds on these plants where there are tons of leaves.

Buds hidden by leaves just don’t develop to their full potential. Buds need light!

Not enough leaves

On the flip side, if growers over-defoliate (remove too many leaves), and the plant is bare without many leaves, it can’t conduct enough photosynthesis to power the growth of buds. Another reason you might not have enough leaves is if your plant has lost a lot of leaves due to nutrient deficiencies, heat stress, bugs, or other challenges.

If your cannabis plant has almost no leaves left, buds tend to stay small, especially if combined with other issues.

Don’t harvest buds early!

If buds are small, sometimes they just need more time. If you harvest cannabis buds before they’re fully mature, it reduces their final size. In fact, in some cases, buds can double in size in just the last 2-3 weeks before harvest, which helps explain why early harvesting can have such a devastating effect on bud size.

If there are still white hairs sticking out, it’s too early to harvest your cannabis buds!

How Nutrient Issues Affect Bud Size

Not enough nutrients overall

If plants appear pale or lime green all over, this is a sign the plant needs higher levels of nutrients overall, even if you don’t see nutrient deficiencies.

If your plant is pale or lime green all over, it needs higher levels of nutrients overall.

Nutrient deficiencies

A cannabis plant that’s showing lots of symptoms on the leaves can’t conduct photosynthesis, which is what it needs to do to make energy to grow buds.

Learn how to stop nutrient problems.

When your leaves have lots of nutrient deficiencies, cannabis buds may grow, but would otherwise grow bigger.

Pests and Diseases Can Greatly Reduce Bud Size if Left Unchecked

Bugs and diseases can take away energy from buds, especially if they are left untreated. Luckily, as long as you identify and get rid of pests early, your plant should bounce right back.

Learn more about cannabis pests and diseases.

This cannabis plant is suffering from a severe fungus gnat infestation, and buds aren’t reaching maximum size.

Some Cannabis Strains Naturally Grow Small Buds (even if you do everything else right!) aka “Small Bud” Strains

Some strains just won’t make big buds even if you give a perfect environment, plant structure, nutrients, and keep plants healthy and happy.

For example, I once grew an “Ocean Fruit” strain, and all the buds stayed small even though the plant was healthy and all the other buds with the same conditions fattened up beautifully. When I talked to other growers who’d grown the same strain, they had a similar experience. That being said, the buds were amazing, so it’s not always a terrible thing.

This Ocean Fruit cannabis strain tends to grow small buds even in perfect conditions.

The bud quality was excellent though, so not a total loss! Size isn’t everything.

On the other hand, some cannabis strains like Chamba will get big even if you make lots of mistakes. However, if buds get too big, typically the overall bud quality suffers, and you’re more likely to run into issues with bud rot.

In my opinion, the best cannabis strains are high-yielding, but not absolutely nuts, like Purple Ghost Candy. Check out my full review of this strain.

I believe this is about the optimal size for cannabis buds that gives you a good mix of bud size and quality.

The Purple Ghost Candy above produced good-sized, super-dense, super-potent bud

Here are some of my favorite strains that give you high yields, but still make dense, nugget-like buds.

3 more recommended high-yielding cannabis strains

Kushberry Moonrocks by MSNL – Remarkably Strong

Example of Kushberry Moonrocks plants (by Victor)

Growing tips: Make sure to top these plants when they’re young and spread out all the branches as it grows. Other than that, it’s overall easy to grow. Just keep it healthy and give it lots of light for the best results.

Buds: This enchanting new strain has remarkable effects and looks/smells beautiful.

Zweet Inzanity by Ethos – Big Yields!

Zweet Inzanity impressed us with her high-yielding power and big, round, hard nugs.

Growing tips: This forgiving strain is extremely easy to grow, and responds well to FIMing/topping/LST and other training methods. It gets to a nice size – not too tall, not too short – and about doubles in size after the switch to 12/12. This strain takes about 2.5 months to finish flowering, and rewards you with great yields and chunky, round baseball buds. It tends to do best at relatively high levels of nutrients – we got great results feeding her at full strength.

Buds: Big yields. Dense, hard buds that sparkled, and highly potent yet friendly social vibes when smoking. Our buds smelled sweet and delicious.

The post Why are my cannabis buds growing so small? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

It’s weed time! If you’re growing cannabis plants, then the flowering stage is when your weed comes in. But what do you need to know to make sure your flowering stage ends in a magnificent harvest? Find out today!

Buds are the dried flowers of a female cannabis plant.

An annual plant like cannabis normally grows from seed to maturity and dies over the course of one year. Like many flowering plants, there are 2 main phases of life for marijuana plants: the Vegetative Stage and the Flowering Stage. 

Vegetative Stage

First, a cannabis plant goes through a phase of vegetative growth, producing lots of stems and leaves. In this stage, the plant only gets bigger and does not make any flowers or buds. We recently covered the cannabis vegetative stage in depth.

In the Vegetative Stage, cannabis plants only grow stems and leaves. No buds.

Flowering Stage

Next, when a cannabis plant “senses” that the year is coming to a close, the plant completely switches gears from growing bigger/taller and begins a flowering phase of growth. During this flowering stage, the main goal of the plant is to produce flowers, which are the organs needed for sexual reproduction.

The Flowering Stage is when your cannabis plants grow buds (aka “weed” “marijuana” or “sinsemilla”).

At first the flowers looks like white hairs.

But they soon develop into familiar buds.

When buds reach peak potency, the branches are cut and hung upside down to dry.

Dried buds are jarred, and soon are ready to be smoked!

Nothing is more satisfying than smoking your own homegrown weed, like this Platinum Cookies.

Now that you understand the basics, let’s cover everything you need to know about the Flowering Stage of cannabis growth, including:

• What to Expect During the Flowering Stage
• Flowering Light Schedule: When to Start 12/12 Photoperiods

5 Keys to Flowering Stage Success

• Temperature – Not too hot or cold
• Light Spectrum – Mimic the Autumn sun
• Light Intensity – More light = more buds (to a point)
• Nutrients – Give bud-boosting nutrients
• Seeds – Start with great seeds to grow great weed

What to Expect During the Flowering Stage

With most cannabis plants, the “signal” that tells them when to start flowering is how much light and darkness they get each day, also known as their photoperiods. (The exception is auto-flowering strains)

Let me explain.

For most strains of cannabis, once the plant starts experiencing longer nights (when they’re getting 12+ hours of darkness each day), they enter into the flowering stage within a few weeks.

This is because the plant uses a special chemical process to sense how long the nights are. When night periods get long enough, the plant “senses” winter is coming and starts preparing to make seeds by beginning to flower.

Though all cannabis plants look the same when they’re very young, they reveal their sex in the flowering stage.

Yes, sex.

Most cannabis plants are either male or female, which is part of their genetic programming.

Home growers are often only concerned with female cannabis plants, because only female plants produce the beautifully sticky flowers (or “buds”) that we love so much. On the other hand, male cannabis plants grow pollen sacs instead of buds.

Male and female cannabis plants look the same until they start making flowers.

Note: Pre-flowers can also reveal a cannabis plant’s sex about 3-8 weeks from germination, depending on the strain.

When flowering begins, female plants start growing wispy white hairs at the base of each fan leaf. These hairs are actually the pistils of their flowers. The spots where these white hairs appear develop into buds, and are sometimes called “bud sites”.

Wispy white hairs = female plant

Male plants start growing “balls” that form into pollen sacs, in the same places a female plant grows wispy hairs. Most growers kill male cannabis plants on sight, to prevent them from pollinating the female plants (pollinated female plants focus on making seeds instead of buds, giving you seedy buds and dramatically reducing your yields).

Bunches of “grapes” = male plant

Important: Only Female Plants Make Buds!

In the flowering stage, only female cannabis plants make buds. In the flowering stage, watch closely to make sure all your plants are female.

Buds look like bunches of white hairs at first.

Watch Out for Male Cannabis Plants!

When a male cannabis plant starts flowering, it makes pollen sacs instead of buds. Pollen sacs look like little balls at first, and often have zero psychoactive effects.

Remove male plants quickly! If you see a male plant, it’s recommended to immediately remove it from the grow area. Otherwise the pollen can cause your buds to get seedy.

Male cannabis plants only make pollen sacs in the flowering stage.

After a few weeks, pollen sacs open and spill pollen everywhere, causing nearby buds to grow seeds.

Male cannabis plants are pretty…

…but you don’t want any pollen near your buds!

Use “Feminized” Seeds for All-Female Plants

Luckily, home growers can start with feminized seeds. All your cannabis plants are female with this type of seed, so you can be sure every plant grows buds, and only buds.

Start with feminized cannabis seeds to ensure every cannabis plant is female and grows buds.

As female cannabis plants continue to mature, their buds look more and more like the buds you buy.

Those bunches of white hairs form into solid buds over several weeks.

At harvest time, the hairs on buds have darkened and curled in.

Ready-to-harvest buds look mostly solid, like this. 

The Flowering Stage of cannabis can be a worrying time for growers because flowering plants are not as tough as they were in the vegetative stage. Flowering plants often have a bigger visible reaction to problems or stress.

Imagine what your plant is going through. Sure, it is a little stressed out trying to make awesome flowers. But a female plant just needs a little extra loving care in this stage to produce the biggest, most potent buds possible.

Don’t worry about minor slip-ups, but do watch your plants closely in the flowering stage, especially your first few grows, and you’ll be able to handle anything that comes up by using the information below.

Now that you know what to expect during the flowering stage, when should you initiate it?

Grow Light Flowering Light Schedule: When to Start 12/12 Photoperiods

It’s generally recommended to switch indoor plants over to the flowering stage when they’ve reached half their final desired height.

Switch to 12/12 when cannabis plants are half height.

Most cannabis strains about double in height before their buds are ready to harvest. “Short” strains tend to stretch less. “Tall” strains may triple in height. Learn more about the “flowering stretch“.

For indoor growers, set your timer so that the lights are off for 12 hours a day to “tell” your plants to start flowering. This is known as the 12-12 light schedule because you’re providing 12 hours of light, and 12 hours of dark each day.

Here are those same 3 cannabis plants at harvest. Twice the height and covered in buds.

However, strain makes a difference. Pay attention to the breeder notes for a strain to see if it tends to be particularly tall or short. The following example helps show the difference in “stretch” between a short and a tall strain.

“Short” vs “Tall” strain – How much does cannabis grow after initiating 12/12? It depends.

Why do cannabis plants need total darkness during their daily 12-hour dark period?

As I mentioned before, cannabis plants decide to start flowering in response to how long their NIGHTS are.

In fact, many growers mistakenly believe that 12 hour days are important, when what’s actually most important is the length of uninterrupted night, or darkness.

Cannabis plants need total darkness during their 12-hour dark period. Even a candle can prevent flowering or cause re-vegging.

Total darkness is needed because specific chemical changes happen during long nights that tell the plant to start flowering.

So for example, your plant would still start flowering if you gave your plant 12 hours of darkness then 24 hours of light, then 12 hours of darkness, etc.

Though this is a generalized rule. It’s important to keep in mind that cannabis naturally grows all over the world, in many different climates. This has caused a lot of variation between strains that can be confusing for new growers.

Some strains respond very strongly to different light cycles, and may be triggered to start flowering after only a few “long nights.”

Other strains, especially Sativa strains from equatorial regions, may need even longer nights to be triggered to start flowering. For these tall, lanky plants, you may need up to 14 hours of darkness each day before they “get the hint” and start flowering. Typically, a breeder will list this in the strain details so you aren’t surprised.

Certain strains may need extra-long nights (up to 14 hours a day) to flower properly.

For reference, these varieties of cannabis tend to be harder to manipulate using the light cycle:

• Moroccan strains
• Southern African strains
• Commercial hemp
• Hybrids developed for early outdoor harvests (September or earlier)

These strains are more likely to respond negatively to light leaks and more likely to show hermaphrodites in response to light stress. For some reason, they also tend to be harder to clone.

Want to Ignore Light Periods?

Some extreme northern varieties of cannabis, for example the Ruderalis or “auto-flowering” strain are actually not photosensitive at all. For these plants, the amount of time since germination (the age of the plant) seems to determine when to start flowering.

Auto-flowering strains automatically make buds without special light periods.

Learn about auto-flowering cannabis strains.

5 Keys to a Productive Flowering Stage

While the light period is your main tool to “tell” your plants to start flowering, other factors can have an effect on happy natural development of buds, (the importance of these “secondary” factors is dependent on the strain).

So in addition to photoperiod (i.e., day length), which we already discussed, factors such as light quality (spectral composition), light quantity (photon flux density), vernalization (exposure to a long period of cold), and nutrient and water availability may have some strain-dependent effects. Other strains are much less sensitive to these other environmental variables. Of course, the strain itself is crucially important as well, as genetics control how a plant grows and develops buds.

Cannabis plants need a good environment to grow big, beautiful buds.

In the wild, flowering can be initiated by stresses such as nutrient deficiencies, lack of water, or overcrowding. Why? This allows the plant to produce seeds in bad conditions, and seeds are much more likely to survive environmental stress than the plant itself (which only lives for one year in the best case scenario).

Yet as the grower, you don’t want to “stress” your plant into flowering. You’d much rather get plants to start flowering naturally. This also gives you more control over your garden.

1.) Temperature While Buds are Forming

Avoid Heat– High amounts of heat (especially above 80°F or 27°C) can cause several problems during flooding, including loose airy buds, as well as buds with low potency or smell. The heat both “burns off” the good stuff, while also preventing the plant from forming them in the first place.

Avoid Cold – Cooler temperatures are not as bad as too much heat, but you don’t want it to be under 75°F (23°F) during lights-on if possible. If it’s cold all the time, especially during the first 6 weeks of the flowering stage, buds won’t get as big as they normally would. There is some evidence that the presence of cooler temperatures can cause some strains to start flowering quicker, but does not necessarily increase how fast buds develop.

Quick Tip: For many purple strains, cooler temperatures at night are needed during the last ~2 weeks of the flowering stage for the buds to develop their signature purple coloring.

Cool nights during the last 2 weeks tend to bring out purple in many cannabis strains.

Freezing temperatures will kill most varieties of cannabis. In the wild they live their whole life cycle in one year and die when winter comes, so they have no need to become resistant to freezing cold.

2.) Light Color/Spectrum: Flowering Grow Lights Mimic the Fall Sun

For optimal bud production, growers often switch their grow lights to “warmer” colored lights with higher amount of red and far red. This combination simulates the Autumn sun and helps plants start flowering, stay in the flowering stage, and grow the biggest buds.

If you went for a MH/HPS grow light, now’s the time for that thin HPS bulb that produces yellow light.

However, most home cannabis growers these days are using LED grow lights. Each model is a little different, but here are some tips to keep in mind.

1. Get Flowering LEDs, If Possible – Some LED grow lights are labeled as “bloom” or “flowering” LEDs. These tend to get the best yields and bud potency in the flowering stage. Typically they appear to have a white-pinkish light.
2. Flowering Setting – Some LED lights come with a “flowering” setting that should be chosen during the flowering stage.
3. Choose a Trusted LED Brand – Certain LED manufacturers have created LEDs that are specially tuned to growing cannabis plants, and even test their lights on actual cannabis plants. These companies include Spider Farmer, Mars Hydro, and HLG. Any of their LED grow lights will produce spectacular weed if used as directed.

It’s important to note that any grow lights will work during the flowering stage. But extra strong lights with higher levels of red give you the best results.

Light from good modern flowering LEDs usually looks white to the human eye, often with a tinge of pink or yellow.

If you’re growing outdoors, you let the sun do its thing and just watch your plants for signs of problems or stress.

3.) High Light Intensity

Strong, intense light is what fuels the growth of buds. Photons are like “food” for cannabis plants. Plants use photosynthesis to turn light into sugar for energy to grow. As a general rule, if your plant is staying healthy, then more light = more buds during the flowering stage. However, too much light will start causing symptoms of light stress.

More light = more buds (to a point)

After you reduce all other limiting factors, there comes a point where even stronger light can’t be used by the plant to grow more buds and may hurt them. This is where some dedicated growers have discovered tricks (like supplementing CO2 in the grow room), which allow plants to use even more of the light, increasing yields beyond what would naturally be possible.

However, for most new growers, just mastering the basics and preventing problems during the flowering stage will cause a huge increase in yields even with a humble grow light. Often, this increase in yields from understanding the basics is more than you would get by upgrading your lights.

I’ve seen many dedicated growers get bigger yields in his or her first grow with a relatively small 200W LED grow light than other growers who start with an enormous 600W LED light and the most advanced equipment or nutrients available. That’s because it’s much easier to manage plants under a smaller grow light, so you maximize your plant’s potential. With a big grow light, growers may struggle with heat and light burn, reducing both their yields and bud quality while wasting electricity.

How to Maximize Light Intensity: Choose the right grow light for your space, and keep your lights the right distance away.

High light intensity is necessary for big, dense buds. Remember, light is food for plants.

4.) Bud-Boosting Flowering Stage Nutrients

Most cannabis-friendly nutrient systems have you change to a “flowering” schedule when buds start forming. Flowering nutrients contain higher levels of the nutrients a cannabis plant needs for the creation of buds. Flowering nutrients also contain lower levels of nitrogen, because too much nitrogen tends to make flowering cannabis plants more leafy with fewer and smaller buds.

Want effective and easy nutrients for bud formation? Dyna-Gro Bloom works well at 1 tsp/gallon for cannabis.

Full tutorial: How to Use Dyna-Gro Nutrients to Grow Cannabis

A lot of beginner growers add excessively high levels of nutrients at this stage thinking that the plant will take it in as food and grow bigger buds.

The hard truth is that adding too many nutrients will only burn your plant. Nutrients does not equal food for your plants. If anything, nutrients are more like their multivitamin, and light is their food.

Too much nutrients = nutrient burn

So as far as nutrient levels, you’ll want to keep doing things the way you have been, just with flowering-specific nutrients. You’ve already dialed into what works for this plant, don’t go totally crazy on it with nutrients now.

Only increase nutrient levels if your plant is showing signs of a deficiency, and only if you’ve ruled out pH problems as the culprit. Even then, increase nutrients slowly and watch plants for signs of nutrient burn. Adding more nutrients than needed during the second half of the flowering stage can give an unpleasant “taste” to your buds, even with organic nutrients such as compost/manure.

Towards the end of the flowering stage, it’s natural for there to be some yellow leaves near the bottom of the plant. No need to increase nutrient levels at this juncture. However, if top leaves are turning yellow, or bottom leaves are turning yellow early, try to figure out the cause and fix it quickly. Your plant needs a lot of green, healthy leaves until just before harvest in order to make the biggest and best buds possible.

5.) Start with Great Seeds (Ultra-Important)

This isn’t something you actually do in the flowering stage, but your seeds determine half your results at harvest, or more. You can’t grow great weed without great genetics.

Think about it, if you grow hemp seeds, the buds won’t have any potency whatsoever. If you grow seeds you find, you don’t know if they got the “good genes” from their parents, or whether they’re grow completely different from the buds you found them in.

3 Proven Cannabis Seed Sources

These are the 3 main cannabis seed sources I personally use when I’m growing weed.

• Seedsman – For growers who want the biggest selection of cannabis strains possible. They’ve got just about everything! Especially in 2025, they have continuously updated their offerings with some of the best breeders. They also breed their own top-tier in-house strains which are cheap seeds for what you get.
• North Atlantic Seed Co. – This seed company was started by and is run by home growers. They take genetics seriously, and heavily screen all breeders. You can feel confident any breeder on this website is a trustworthy breeder or they wouldn’t be there. A great source of rare American genetics.
• MSNL Seeds – This company is run by a geneticist. What I like about these strains is he thoroughly lab tests each strain for potency and smells, and freely shares that information about each strain. If you’re looking for consistent plants with particular potency or effects, this is an excellent choice.

Learn about other recommended cannabis breeders.

3 Recommended Strains for Home Growers

If you want more specific recommendations, let me share my 3 current favorite strains as of mid-2024. These are the strains I’ve grown before, and am currently growing again.

1.) Pineapple Chunk

Pineapple Chunk is a quintessential European strain that continues to impress me I grew it in 2012, then 2015, 2022, and recently again in early 2024. Every time the buds came out even better than the previous time. I personally think this may be Barney Farm’s best strain, and that explains why they keep refining it. This one was grown under a newer LED grow light and smelled like a mix of citrus with a hint of strawberry. Buds came out dense and sparkly.

2.) Liberty Haze

I am a huge fan of Liberty Haze. The bud effects remind me of the unique psychedelic “day” (uplifting) effects of now-rare outdoor Sativa strains. You never see them anymore because they get huge and need long hot summers in order to produce properly. Liberty Haze gives you access to those bud effects yet is suitable to grow indoors. It still tends to grow tall and stretchy, but as long as you top the plants when they’re small (cut off the tops, which forces the buds to makes many buds instead of one), you can wrangle them indoors.

The left plant here is the 2nd time I grew Liberty Haze. As you can see it got a bit tall, which I’ve come to expect, but it was otherwise easy to grow and produced excellent yields. The Critical Kush on the right was also a good plant, but the Liberty Haze buds won when it came to effects.

Example of a Liberty Haze plant sent in by a reader.

3.) Amnesia

This strain lives up to its name. Amnesia buds are known for making you forget what you were just saying. Not necessarily the best choice for social situations (unless you all just want to chill) but perfect for relaxation at the end of a long day.

Example of an Amnesia plant I grew in a hydroponic setup.

Closeup of Amnesia buds. Dense and chunky!

Here’s a detailed guide on how to research and find the best strain for you.

Now you have a complete overview of everything you need to master the flowering stage, the most important stage of growth for most growers. Now check out some specific tips and hints so you produce the best buds possible!

You might like: Week-by-Week Timeline: What to Expect in the Flowering Stage

About the Author: Nebula Haze

In response to the need for more tutorials aimed at new growers, Nebula co-founded GrowWeedEasy.com in 2010 with fellow grower Sirius Fourside.

Since then, Nebula has published hundreds of growing articles in print and online, teaches online video lessons, and continues to dedicate herself to serving the needs of the cannabis growing community.

“My mission is to show other cannabis enthusiasts how easy and fun it can be to grow pounds of killer weed out of your closet.”

The post Growing Marijuana: The Flowering Stage appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Cannabis growers often use a magnifier to look at the glittery trichomes to know when to harvest weed. Some growers wait until most of the clear trichomes turn white, and some wait longer until some of the trichomes turn amber before they harvest. But what about when cannabis trichomes turn purple?

What do purple trichomes tell you about cannabis buds?

I decided to make this article in response to a post about purple cannabis trichomes in our free grow forum.

You need a magnifier like a jeweler’s loupe or USB magnifier to clearly see trichomes. (Learn how to see trichomes.)

Marijuana growers often examine the color of the cannabis trichome heads as harvest time approaches. These trichome heads typically turn white when buds reach maximum THC levels, but not always.

If trichomes are normally clear, white or amber/gold, what does it mean if they turn other colors, including purple?

What Makes Trichomes Turn Purple (or Pink or Other Jewel Colors)

What makes cannabis trichomes turn purple: Genetics.

While growers have developed methods to increase the amount of purple on your buds or leaves (temperature swings, cold nights, LEDs, slightly lower pH, harvest on the later side, etc.), the color of trichomes is almost 100% dependent on your genetics. The strain is in charge when it comes to cannabis trichome color.

Purple Lemonade by North Atlantic Seed Co. loves growing purple trichomes

For Most Strains, Trichomes Go from Clear > White > Amber (Yellow)…

With most cannabis strains, the trichomes appear with clear glass-looking heads, turn a milky white when they hit peak THC, and then turn amber (a nice way of saying “yellow”) when the THC is starting to degrade. For optimum potency, most growers harvest weed when the heads are mostly white or just starting to turn amber.

• Clear trichomes – not ready for harvest
• White trichomes – highest THC
• Amber/yellow trichomes – more sleepy effect, THC is starting to degrade

Clear trichomes (not ready yet – these are a sign of low THC potency)

Mostly white trichomes (max THC potency)

Mostly amber/yellow trichomes (THC is starting to degrade, effects are more “sleepy”)

What about purple trichomes?

When Do You Harvest Weed with Purple Trichomes?

Unfortunately, with cannabis strains that grow purple trichomes, you can’t use the color to know when to harvest the buds. So how do you know when to harvest your weed?

• Option 1: Ask the breeder – Most trustworthy cannabis breeders will answer questions about their strains, including hints about the best time to harvest buds. Additionally, the strain description from when you bought the seeds may have relevant information.
• Option 2: Look at the buds directly to see whether they look ready to harvest. Here is a picture gallery of ready-to-harvest cannabis buds to help guide you.

Some cannabis strains produce trichomes in colors like purple or pink. These trichomes may never turn white. When it comes to these “exotic” trichomes, the standard rules don’t always apply. In these cases, it’s best to ask the breeder when the trichomes indicate readiness. If that’s not possible, make sure to look at the buds and ensure they look ready from a visual inspection and use the trichomes as only a secondary indicator.

These trichomes started white as normal and then just turned purple instead of amber.

But for some strains, the trichomes turn purple from the beginning and therefore the color doesn’t tell you anything about potency. That’s why, with colorful trichomes, it can be best to either ask the breeder about when to harvest, or judge the apparent maturity of the plant.

Regardless of the color of trichomes, most cannabis strains are ready to harvest when buds look solid. At this point, all of the hairs on the buds have darkened and curled in. When you can’t tell when to harvest based on the trichomes, use the visual appearance of the buds to guide you. Here is how to look at the buds themselves to determine when to harvest.

Need more help knowing when to harvest cannabis?

• Full cannabis harvest tutorial: https://www.growweedeasy.com/harvest
• Picture Gallery of Ready-to-Harvest Cannabis: https://www.growweedeasy.com/ready-for-harvest-pictures
• Trichome Deep Dive: Picture Gallery of Ready-to-Harvest Trichomes: https://www.growweedeasy.com/what-do-trichomes-look-like-when-ready-to-harvest-ready-to-harvest-trichome-picture-gallery

Harvest your weed at the right time and get rewarded!

The post Purple Trichomes: When do I harvest buds? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Is there a last-minute trick to increase THC right before harvest?

If your cannabis plants are close to harvest, you probably want to make sure you do everything possible to maximize your results. What if I told you there might be a way to increase THC and overall bud quality in marijuana plants, right before harvest time?

Enter the 3-day dark period.

I’ve heard about this tactic multiple times over the years.

Essentially, the idea is to “shock” your plant in the days leading up to harvest in hopes of increasing the potency of your buds. The most common tactic is to place your plants in total darkness for 3 days before harvest. Another tactic is to water your plants with ice water. I’ve even heard a grower say that you should put nails through the main stem to “scare” your plant.

But do these tactics work to increase bud quality, potency, THC, or anything measurable in cannabis plants?

Keep reading to learn more about whether the 3-day dark period works to increase cannabis potency.

Does the 3-day dark period actually work?

I don’t know for sure. I have only seen one other grower do an experiment on the cannabis dark period with lab testing. Check out the bottom of the article for my first set of experiment results, and a comparison between our findings.

From a theoretical standpoint, I personally have difficulty imagining a vast difference in bud quality using last-minute tactics. My reasoning is that THC develops slowly throughout the flowering stage. It takes “work” on the part of the plant to create molecules of THC. Even if stressing the plant increased THC production, how much extra THC could be produced in a few days?

But I’ve grown cannabis long enough to know that sometimes what seems intuitive isn’t correct, which is why experiments are so helpful and powerful.

Check out my other side-by-side cannabis growing experiments.

My experiment: Test a 3-day dark period before harvest

These 2 cannabis plants are close to harvest. They were grown in small grow tents under small LED grow lights.

Square One Genetics special cut plant under an HLG 65 4000k LED grow light (65W) in a 2’x2’x3′ mini tent (check out the full grow journal).

Runtz cannabis plant under a Spider Farmer SF-1000 LED grow light (100W) in a slightly taller 2’x2’x4′ grow tent.

I harvested buds off these two plants from before and after giving them a 3-day dark period.

Lab Test 1 (by GrowWeedEasy.com)

Let’s see how these buds test against each other in the lab.

• Before 3-day dark period: 18.4% THC average
  • Pacific Punch: 19.8% THC
  • Runtz: 16.9% THC
• After 3-day dark period: 19.7% THC average
  • Pacific Punch: 21.9% THC
  • Runtz: 17.6% THC

Wow! This was a spur-of-the-moment test without any controls, so take this with a grain of salt, but it’s pretty stark how much higher the THC tested after the 3-day dark period on both plants. The average is more than 1% higher. I must run more side-by-side experiments to see if this is a fluke. It’s hard for me to believe a dark period could increase the THC this much on a consistent basis.

I wonder if there is some other factor. Perhaps it was natural variation between the buds and it was a matter of luck which ones I picked. It’s also possible that harvesting half the plant caused stress that increased THC in the remaining buds. That would mean it actually had nothing to do with the darkness. Or there may have been some other unknown factor.

A follow-up experiment is definitely coming. This first one was last minute and not well planned. There were no control plants. But the next experiment will involve clones and I’ll harvest plants separately  before and after the dark period to reduce the total number of variables. Maybe I’ll think up some other similar tests. Such an exciting time to be a grower!

Closeup of one of the Runtz buds.

Lab Test 2 (by CannabisGreenTeam.ca)

CannabisGreenTeam.ca is run by a long-term cannabis grower and friend who also sells cheap dry cannabis nutrients. He recently released the lab test results for his own 3-day dark period experiment, and he got the opposite results.

Max tested the THC of Wedding Cake and 3 other strains.

See his dark period experiment with THC analysis.

Now we have two lab tests, each showing opposite results… Clearly it’s time to run another experiment and collect more data points.

Check out more side-by-side cannabis growing experiments.

Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter to get updates on my current experiments before they’re published on the website!

Now learn how to improve…

• Yields
• Bud Quality
• THC Levels
• CBD Levels
• Smell/Taste
• Density
• Bonus: What Determines Yields?

The post Does a 3-Day Dark Period Before Harvest Increase THC? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

It’s 2026, and there’s never been a better time to grow with autoflower cannabis seeds. Why? New autoflowering strains grow fast harvests of top-shelf buds. View our list of recommended autoflower breeders and best autoflower seeds of 2026.

Back: OG Kush Auto, White Widow XXL Auto, Zkittlez Auto.
Front: Critical Orange Punch, Alaskan Purple, Pink Kush CBD

Check our recent autoflower grow journal (above are those 6 autoflowering plants, just before harvest, at 80 days from germination).

Autoflower cannabis plants are like houseplants on steroids. Unlike standard photoperiod cannabis strains, autoflower cannabis seeds grow plants that are simpler-to-grow and ready to harvest just 2-3 months from germination. For home growers, auto seeds are the best choice for a perpetual harvest.

Autoflower cannabis plants grow smaller plants on average. From left to right: Blue Dream Auto, Critical Kush Auto, Sour Diesel Auto, and Black Jack Auto.

What are cannabis autoflowering seeds? Autoflowering cannabis plants tend to stay small and most plants from autoflower seeds are ready to harvest in 2-3 months. Some seeds grow even faster, for example Fastbuds autoflowering seeds are often ready to harvest in just 2 months from germination.

Autoflower cannabis seeds make buds (“flowers”) automatically. Check out my recent autoflower journal. This Zkittlez Auto was my favorite.

Autoflowering strains are ready to harvest several months sooner than standard (photoperiod) cannabis strains. Autos have another cool advantage for indoor growers. While photoperiod strains need daily dark periods to start making buds, autoflowering strains start making buds/flowers automatically after a few weeks (“autoflower” stands for automatic flowering). This simplifies the home grow process because marijuana growers don’t need to put grow lights on a timer or think about light leaks.

Harvest day (from my recent autoflower grow journal).

Autoflowering plants usually don’t get enormous due to their short lifespan, but they can produce multiple ounces of bud per plant when grown in optimal conditions with lots of strong light.

This Ultimate Auto in a 2-gallon fabric pot was harvested 65 days from germination and produced almost 4 ounces of prime bud on one plant.

Those Ultimate Auto cannabis buds at harvest.

Blackberry Kush Auto is a smooth pleasant strain, and nearly all autoflowering plants grow deep purple buds.

Why autoflowering strains are a great option for growing cannabis:

• Grows like a regular house plant (on steroids) – Just germinate the seed and keep plants alive until harvest. Voila, you’ve got buds! Auto-flowering plants don’t need special light periods to make buds like photoperiod strains. Even a sunny window can produce a few grams of buds from an autoflower plant. However, it’s important to remember that light is the plant’s “food”. More light equal more buds (up to a point) and you need more than a sunny window to produce a lot of weed. One of the best options for home growers to produce multiple ounces of bud per plant is a cannabis-specific LED grow light.
• Ready to harvest in 2-3 months – While standard photoperiod strains typically take 3-5 months from seed to harvest, autoflowering strains are ready to harvest in just 2-3 months from germination.
• More harvests per year – The ability for a 2-month grow period let you harvest up to 6 times a year compared to 3-4 harvests a year with photoperiod strains.
• Hundreds of strains to choose from – There are auto-flowering strains with almost any combination of THC and CBD to suit your personal needs. There are also autoflower versions of popular and legendary strains.

Cons to auto-flowering strains

• Reduced strain choice – Auto-flowering strains do have lots of options, but they are a relatively new (and boutique) type of cannabis so there are not as many options as photoperiod strains. You also need to be extra careful who you buy autoflower seeds from because some breeders sell questionable autoflower genetics.
• Plants stay small if you run into major problems – An auto-flowering plant gains its full size within about 6 weeks from germination, then the plant stops growing any bigger and focuses all its energy on fattening buds. This short growing period means a plant may stay small forever if it gets stunted during the first 4-6 weeks of life. This is opposed to photoperiod strains which need dark periods to start making buds, which gives you as much time as you want to grow plants to the desired size.
• No advanced training techniques – Plant training techniques like manifolding or schwazzing aren’t suitable for autoflower seeds due to the shorter grow period.

Want to give auto-flowering strains a try in 2026? Continue reading this article to learn how to grow autoflower seeds so they produce potent, high-quality weed.

Autoflowering cannabis plants stay very small when grown in small pots with a small grow light.

Autoflowering plants get much bigger when given plenty of light plus room for plants and roots to spread out. A 2’x4′ grow tent can produce up to 1 pound of cannabis if you fill it with auto-flowering plants.

The final size / yields of auto-flowering plants is determined by their genetics, their care (how well you treat them), and how much light they get. These plants were the same strain, but the smaller plant was grown under a much less powerful grow light.

If you give your auto-flowering plants water, nutrients, and a good environment, you can produce a surprising amount of bud in 2-3 months.

The biggest downside to autoflower seeds is if you run into problems early on, plants may stay stunted and small. That can dramatically reduce yields since a small plant can’t support a lot of buds.

Here’s an example of an auto-flowering plant that was overwatered as a seedling and stayed small. At 6 weeks old, it stopped growing any taller and was only a few inches tall at harvest.

Can You Grow Autoflower Seeds in a Window?

Autoflower cannabis strains are kind of like a regular houseplant in their care, except they need much more light and nutrients.

A long as you keep an autoflower plant alive and healthy (and ensure it gets several hours of bright light every day) it will produce buds that are ready to harvest in 2-3 months.

An autoflower plant in a window can be a fun way to get started growing weed without investing in a grow light.

Even a window auto-flowering plant can produce a few grams if you take care of it.

The above plant produce 3.5 g after being grown in a sunny window.

In contrast, a photoperiod strain can’t be grown in a window because it needs 12-hour dark periods every day for 8-12 weeks in order to make buds. A photoperiod plant that gets light during its dark period will re-veg, which makes buds wither away and die.

Side Note Based on the Cat in Picture: Never leave a dog or cat alone with a cannabis plant or you may find nibbles on the leaves. Cannabis leaves are generally well-tolerated by cats or dogs (and some pets find cannabis leaves calming), but pets can harm or knock over your plants. This particular cat (my calico) will methodically take a bite out of every leaf if left alone with a plant for even a second.

Many cats and dogs love eating cannabis leaves. I collect extra leaves and let my kitty nibble on them 🙂

What Autoflower Seeds Should You Get?

If you want to get great results with auto-flowering cannabis seeds, you must choose great genetics. Autoflower seeds were developed from cross-breeding a type of hemp and the first commercial strain (called “Lowryder”) was released in the 2000s. In the beginning, all autoflower plants buds were small and grew relatively non-potent buds compared to their photoperiod counterparts.

All auto-flowering plants descend from the humble Ruderalis cannabis plant from northern Siberia. These tiny hemp plants developed the auto-flowering characteristic as an adaptation to the short 2-month summers near the arctic circle. Cannabis breeders have crossed these hemp plants with standard cannabis strains to create autoflower strains that produce potent fat sticky buds.

These adorable Ruderalis hemp plants are the ancestors of all auto-flowering strains.

Dedicated growers have slowly created auto-flowering strains that produce buds as big and potent as photoperiod strains. As of 2026, many auto-flowering buds match or in some cases even exceed the quality of photoperiod buds.

However, due to this breeding history, there is incredible variation between the worst and best auto-flowering strains. Unfortunately, some breeders still sell older or subpar genetics. It’s especially important when ordering auto-flowering strains to choose a trustworthy breeder that uses modern auto-flowering genetics. Here are some examples of trustworthy breeders and auto-flowering strains.

Recommended Autoflower Seed Breeders in 2026

There are many great breeders, but this list is based on my personal experience. These are the breeders I have ordered my auto-flowering seeds from so far for my grows in 2026.

Fast Buds Seeds

Ships from the US (specifically Maine) through this link. A long time auto-flowering breeder, their auto-flowering seeds grow fast and get consistent results. Great bud quality, nice looking buds, and most strains are ready to harvest just 2 months from seed. Fastest autos you can find without sacrificing quality.

Noteworthy Fast Buds Autoflowering Seeds:

• Blue Dream Auto (aka Blue Dream’matic auto)
• Gorilla Cookies Auto
• Purple Lemonade Auto

Seed Supreme

Also ships from US. A great variety of excellent modern genetics adapted into stabilized auto-flowering seed form. They are much more likely to offer the strains you’ve heard about/are looking for by name, while Fast Buds only carries their specific strains. They have a germination guarantee and good customer service. Their autoflower strains tend to be high-yielding.

Noteworthy Seed Supreme Autoflower Seeds:

• Durban Poison Autoflower
• Gummibears Autoflower
• White Russian Autoflower

ILGM Seeds

ILGM (I Love Growing Marijuana) has an extensive library of both famous and unique strains, all stabilized and bred in-house by ILGM. You can count on their seeds to germinate well, be easy to grow, and produce excellent bud quality. In our grow forum, ILGM may be the crowd favorite for auto-flowering strains.

Noteworthy ILGM Autoflowering Seeds:

• Blue Dream Auto
• Granddaddy Purple Auto
• Super Skunk Auto

10 More Excellent Auto-Flowering Cannabis Breeders

I’ve ordered auto seeds from these breeders in the past and had great experiences.

• Bomb Seeds – I especially like their THC Bomb Auto for both yields and potency.
• DNA Genetics – A bit pricey, but they are a great choice if you want to get photoperiod-looking bud quality with auto-flowering strains. My favorite auto from them is Purple People Eater Auto.
• Dutch Passion – XL yields on many auto seeds, though not necessarily the highest potency on their auto plants. I had especially great results with their Critical Orange Punch Auto and Cinderella Jack Auto.
• Ethos Genetics – Ethos also specializes in photoperiod strains but has been extensively working on their auto-flowering line since 2020. Not the quickest-to-harvest auto-flowering strains, as they typically take almost 3 months from germination to harvest (that seems fast, but some breeders like Fast Buds make autoflowering strains that take as little as 2 months from seed to harvest). However, Ethos offers some of the best smell and bud potency for autoflowering strains. I think of Ethos strains as “sparkly potent smelly genetics” whether it’s their photoperiod or autoflowering genetics. Noteworthy strains include Pineapple Runtz Auto, Pluto Cut Auto R F3, and Banana Daddy Auto RBX2.
• G13 Labs – They’ve been in the auto-flowering game for a while and have some real winners in their strain library, especially Pineapple Express Auto. They captured magic with that strain!
• Happy Valley Genetics – A recent top breeder in the world of autoflower seeds. This breeder started out as a dispensary in Massachusetts, then started breeding their own strains so they could offer better weed. After winning a bunch of cannabis cups, they began specifically breeding both photoperiod and autoflower seeds aimed at home growers. Their photos are great (I especially love Candy Games #38), but I feel like their auto seeds are where they really shine. Not the biggest yields, but some of the highest bud quality you can get (or at least, the best “bag appeal”).
• MSNL Seeds – This seed source is based out of the Netherlands, so it tends to arrive fast in Europe, but may take 1-2 extra weeks to reach cannabis growers the US. MSNL only carries their own strains, so the strain selection isn’t huge, but the company is run by a geneticist and their strains have tons of excellent information about them when it comes to effects, potency, yields, grow patterns, etc. My favorite auto strain by them is Kushberry Moonrocks Autoflower.
• Mephisto Genetics – Mephisto has been developing great auto-flowering strains since 2012 (one of the first great auto-flowering breeders), and continue to add new strains regularly. Great germination rates, maybe some of the best. I always get outstanding results. My personal favorite strain I’ve grown from them is Creme de la Chem Auto.
• Seedsman – They run an online seed store that sells strains from many different breeders, but also breed their own in-house strains. I’ve found the Seedsman-branded auto seeds tend to have excellent germination and growth rates, and buds always come out looking like photoperiod strains. I like that they offer some genetics that were developed in other parts of the world like Europe and Africa, which offers genetics that can otherwise be hard to get within the US. My favorite auto seeds from them are White Widow Auto and Alaskan Purple Auto (my Alaskan Purple didn’t turn purple but the bud effects were excellent, check out the grow journal).
• Sweet Seeds – Colorful strains with relaxing effects and delicious flavors. This breeder is located in Spain and therefore they offer different genetics from pretty much anywhere else. They seem to focus more on how buds make you feel (creative, relaxed, sedated, etc.) as opposed to massively high THC percentages. I like these buds for chill, relaxation time. Black Cream Auto may be my favorite.

Check out my recent autoflower grow journal! Here was the harvest.

Best Autoflower Seeds (Feminized Seeds Only!) in 2026

Note: What are feminized seeds? Feminized seeds (whether autoflower or photoperiod) grow 100% bud-making female plants. Perfect for how growers. With “regular” (non-feminized) seeds, half of the plants are male and don’t make buds. I highly recommend every home grower start with feminized seeds to make like a lot simpler. Every plant grows buds. So convenient and straightforward!

Learn more: Feminized seeds? Are they worth it?

5 Most Potent Autoflowering Strains in 2026 – High THC (25% or higher)

These autos have extremely high potency with strong physical and mental effects. All ready to harvest in under 3 months.

1. Girl Scout Cookies Auto by Seed Supreme – Ready in 75 days, THC above 25%. Sweet, lemony smelling buds. Ships from the US.
2. Kushberry Moonrocks Autoflower by MSNL – Over 25% THC, ready to harvest in about 80 days, big yields. Ships from Europe.
3. Lemon Cherry Cookies Auto by Fastbuds – Can be harvested in as little as 60 days, but leave it to about 75 days to maximize the potency, which can reach up to 28% THC. Ships from US.
4. Gorilla Cookies Auto by Fastbuds – Ready in just 70-80 days, over 25% THC, and sweet smelling buds with candy notes. A creative “up” kind of high that you feel in your body. Ships from US.
5. Pluto Cut Auto R F3 by Ethos Genetics – Over 25% THC plus about 5% other more exotic cannabinoids for a total cannabinoid content around 30%. Feels very potent, strong body effects. Tends to stay relatively short, with excellent yields. Ready in 80 days. Ships out of the US.

Pluto Cut Auto R F3 by Ethos Genetics is one of the most potent autoflowering strains available in 2026. Ships from the US.

3 Fastest Autoflower Strains in 2026 (Under 2 months!)

Ready to harvest in less than 2 months. Two of these are from the breeder Fastbuds, which has some of the fastest auto-flowering strains (yet still focus on bud quality and yield).

1. Banana Purple Punch Auto by Fastbuds – Ready in 56 days from germination, big yields especially for the timeline.
2. Blackberry Auto by Fastbuds – As little as 56 days from sprout, purple buds, great smell, excellent yields.
3. LSD Auto by i49 Seeds – Kind of a bombastic name, but the strain is a potent choice for growers who want high-quality buds. Just 60 days to harvest with great yields.

The Blackberry Auto I grew from Fastbuds. Smelled like fruit!

2026 Autoflowering Genetics with Huge Yields

These strains tends to produce bigger, longer buds than the others on this list, which tends to give them the biggest yields for autos.

1. Blueberry x Big Bud Auto – Both Blueberry and Big Bud strains produce large yields, and this gets the best of both.
2. Cinderella Jack Auto – Grows tight, dense buds with strong bud effects and excellent yields.
3. Haze XL Auto – Grows big plants with huge yields.
4. Pineapple OG Auto – Makes buds that are fat and plump with sweet undertones!
5. Ultimate Auto – Best yields I’ve ever gotten from an auto-flowering strain, though not the highest potency.

Can’t beat the yields of Ultimate Auto – Here’s the last time I grew it!

3 Best “Pretty Buds” Auto-flowering Strains in 2026 (High Bag Appeal)

These are ready to harvest in 3 months or less, for those who want buds that look incredible in pictures with appealing smells.

• Purple Sunset Auto by i49 Seeds – Ready in 70 days, purple-tinted buds that grow in tight nugs, beautiful potency and strong effects that tend to last.
• Pineapple Runtz Auto by Ethos Genetics – Around 22% THC with an assortment of other cannabinoids. Starburst sweet smell. Gorgeous sparkly buds.
• Purple Lemonade Auto by FastBuds – Super purple buds, citrus smell, excellent yields, ready to harvest 60-70 days from germination (wait until the full 70 days for the best potency of about 22% THC). Feels potent.

It’s hard to beat the smell, looks, and just overall high-quality impression of buds from Purple Lemonade Auto by Fast Buds

3 Best Auto-Flowering Strains for Anxiety Relief in 2026 – High CBD (Over 15%), Low THC (Under 1%)

These strains have anti-anxiety properties with subtle mental and physical effects (won’t get you “high”).

• Charlotte’s Angel CBD Auto (16% CBD)
• Purple’matic CBD Auto (17% CBD)
• Pink Kush CBD Auto (17% CBD)

Recommended Strains with Relaxing and Uplifting Bud Effects in 2026

I chose these strains not because they have particularly crazy stats, but because when you grow them, the buds just come out good and tend to be popular at parties.

• Blue Dream Auto
• Bubblegum Original Auto
• Creme de la Chem Auto
• Forbidden Runtz Auto
• Gelato Auto
• Strawberry Cheesecake Auto
• Zkittlez Auto

This Creme de la Chem Auto plants I grew stayed small and were easy to grow, but I most loved the ultra chill effects.

Here’s the last Zkittlez Auto I grew. A pleasure to grow with excellent yields and dreamy bud effects.

The Zkittlez Auto cannabis buds grew big, fat, and sparkly. After harvest, the buds gave a confident high.

I hope that helped give you some ideas on strains to grow. Now it’s time to learn how to grow your auto-flowering seeds so you get great results.

How to Grow Autoflower Seeds to Perfection

Here are simple directions on how to grow a cannabis auto-flowering plants from seed to harvest.

1.) Get auto seeds (recommended strains above)

This one is easy. All auto-flowering plants are started from seeds and any of the choices above will work great. Check out our seeds page for recommendations on where to buy seeds online.

A main thing to keep in mind when choosing auto-flowering seeds is to look at the breeder information and match the strains for a similar amount of flowering time. Avoid growing “tall’ and “short” strains at the same time. The more similar plants grow to each other, the easier it will be for you. Sometimes growing different strains together can cause unexpected problems. I tend to get strains that take 9-11 weeks from seed to harvest and grow to a medium size, which means all my plants tend to “play well” with each other.

2.) Prepare grow light, grow medium, and autoflower cannabis nutrients

Before you get started growing, you need to make sure your plants have light, nutrients, and a home for their roots.

Not sure what to get? For beginner growers, I recommend getting an LED grow light, using soil or coco as a grow medium, Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro and Bloom nutrients (can be used in any grow medium) and choosing a 2, 3, or 5-gallon fabric pot as your container.

The Spider Farmer SF-2000 is a great 200W LED grow light that doesn’t make much heat and can produce over 10 ounces per harvest (here’s my review).

I personally believe soil or coco are the best choice for first-time growers. These mediums tend to be more forgiving than hydroponics.

3-gallon fabric pots like the ones here let an auto-flowering plant get big enough to produce big yields, but plants usually won’t get much bigger than this.

Dyna-Gro (Foliage-Pro, Bloom) are inexpensive nutrients that work great for growing cannabis in any grow medium including soil, coco, or hydro. Use “Foliage-Pro” during the vegetative stage, and “Bloom” during the flowering stage. Just follow the instructions on the bottle for a great feeding schedule.

​

Learn more about what you need to start growing.

3.) Germinate seeds

Once you get set up, it’s time to start growing. There are many ways to germinate seeds. Here’s the technique I use to get nearly 100% germination. But at its simplest, you can stick seeds in a pot about half a knuckle deep.

Germinate your autoflowering seeds and you’ll soon have seedlings. Remember, bigger pots let plants get bigger while using small pots or solo cups will keep plants small.

4.) Water autoflower plants with care

For the first few weeks, the idea is to give water to autoflower seedlings when the top starts drying up. Young seedlings only need a little water in a circle around their base at first. Wait until your plants are growing fast before giving enough water to get runoff water out of the bottom.

Learn how to water autoflower plants perfectly every time.

Seedlings only need a few cups of water at first. Notice how we only gave these plants a little water in a circle.

Once cannabis plants are growing fast, you can give them enough water for runoff (remove the runoff immediately). Wait until the top is dry before watering plants again.

Follow a provent nutrient feeding schedule (made for your particular nutrient system) to maximize plant growth. Younger plants don’t need much nutrients, so you can often get away without giving them at first (if you’re growing in soil, which contains some nutrients already. But once plants start flowering (next step), their nutrient needs go up.

5.) Autoflower buds start forming (“flowering stage”)

Autoflower plants naturally enter the flowering stage (buds start forming) after 3-6 weeks, depending on the particular strain (4-5 weeks on average, in my experience).

Autoflower plants start making buds (“enter the flowering stage”) about a month or so from germination, like this Critical Purple Auto.

Make sure to give your plant “flowering” or “bloom formula” nutrients” (low in Nitrogen, high in Potassium and Phosphorus) once you see fluffy white buds like above.

6.) Adjust grow light as needed (watch autoflower plants for stress)

How much light is enough light for autoflower plants?

As plants get taller, raise the light to keep it the recommended distance away from plants. When in doubt, start lights about 24″ away, though many lights can be kept closer.

How far should I keep my light from my plants?

Adjust grow lights as needed to keep them the proper distance from plants as they grow.

Remember, when buds start forming, autoflower plants can handle more light, on average. However, they won’t be growing new leaves nearly as fast, so if plants get too much light it can give them light stress, causing plants and buds to grow slower.

7.) Harvest autoflower plants (learn when to harvest)

Buds are ready to harvest when the white hairs have darkened and curled in!

The hairs on buds darken and curl in as buds mature. Buds should look solid by the time they’re ready to harvest.

Here’s the full “When to Harvest” guide

Don’t forget to dry and cure your buds!

Keep the leaves after harvest to turn into edibles or hash!

7.) Enjoy your weed!

You earned it.

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Cannabis plants are quite a bit more complex than a regular house plant, but my partner Sirius and I have dedicated years to showing the world that learning how to grow isn’t as crazy complicated as a lot of growers make it seem.

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Your buds will be covered in so many THC-filled trichomes they look like this under a magnifier!

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The post Nebula’s Best Autoflower Seeds of 2026 (Fast, Potent, High Yields) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

If you’ve just started growing marijuana for the first time, you may be a little overwhelmed by all your strain options, including autoflower vs photoperiod strains. (Where can I order cannabis seeds online?).

• Photoperiod plants make buds with “long nights” (usually by putting grow lights on a timer).
• Autoflower plants make buds automatically after about a month from germination.

Purple Haze Auto buds are ready to harvest ~70 days from germination.

Two common types of cannabis strains are photoperiod (standard/traditional) and auto-flowering (boutique strains that are ready to harvest much faster). If you don’t know what that means, it can be a little confusing. Today I will share the differences as well as pros and cons of auto-flowering vs photoperiod strains so you can pick the right option for your cannabis garden.

Auto-flowering plants make buds automatically. No special light schedules needed.

The main difference is photoperiod cannabis plants need 12-hour dark periods to start making buds to simulate the long nights of autumn (typically done by putting grow lights on a timer), while auto-flowering strains automatically start making buds about a month after germination (without any change in light schedule).

Let photoperiod plants get about half size, then put grow lights on a 12/12 timer.

Photoperiod Cannabis Strains

In the wild, cannabis plants sprout in spring, grow throughout the summer, and start making buds before winter. A 12/12 light schedule (12 hours light/12 hours dark) “tells” a photoperiod plant that autumn is coming and plants start making buds in preparation. If photoperiod plants don’t get long nights, they “think” they’re in an endless summer and continue growing stems and leaves forever.

Photoperiod plants keep growing vegetatively with long days, “thinking” it’s an endless summer.

Photoperiod plants need long nights to start flowering (making buds). Long nights signal to photoperiod plants that it’s late summer and winter is coming.

Once photoperiod plants start flowering, they typically take 8-12 weeks before buds are ready to harvest (the length of the flowering period depends on the strain). If plants get any light during the dark period, even a small “light leak”, buds won’t form normally. This means photoperiod plants need to be grown in a space that can be completely light-proofed (like a grow tent).

On average, plants double in size after the switch to 12/12, which means it’s typically initiated when plants are half the final desired size. Most growers take 4-8 weeks to grow their plants to half the final desired size. When added to the flowering stage, that means seed to harvest takes about 12-20 weeks or 3-5 months.

Pros of Photoperiod Strains

• Height control – You get a good amount of control over the final height since you choose when plants start flowering. You can grow plants as big as you want
• More forgiving to slow starts  – Photoperiod strains allow time for recovery if a plant grows slowly or gets sick in the vegetative stage
• Strain choice – Much bigger choice for photoperiods strains vs auto-flowering strains. Most strains are photoperiod strains.
• Clones – Photoperiod plants give you the ability to use clones. Clones are when you cut off a piece of a vegetative plant to grow a new identical copy plant. This is possible because photoperiod plants will not start flowering until you initiate 12/12. This allows you to get specific “cuts” or make copies of your favorite plants for future grows.
• Potency – Photoperiod strains have more options for THC or CBD levels. For example, there are lots of photoperiod strains with THC above 25%, but few auto-flowering strains with THC levels that high. There is much greater choice and variation because more breeders are developing photoperiod strains.
• Yields – With bigger plants, you have the ability to yield more per harvest

Cons of Photoperiod Strains

• Longer grow time – Photoperiod plants take significantly longer to grow (3-5 months from seed to harvest on average)
• Dark periods – Initiating a 12/12 light schedule isn’t too hard since you just put plants in a dark space with the grow light on a timer, but this does add extra steps and points of failure. For example, if plants are exposed to light leaks during their dark period, they will revert back to the vegetative stage. Dark periods are also inconvenient because you can’t check on your plants for 12 hours every day. This can be inconvenient around a work schedule.

Quick Summary for Photoperiod Strains

Vegetative Stage – Photoperiod plants grow only stems and leaves until they get long nights

• You should keep plants in the vegetative stage until they’ve reached half the desired size
• You have as much time in the vegetative stage as you want
• Typically growers give plants 18-24 hours of light a day

Flowering Stage – Photoperiod plants start making buds (flowering) once they get a 12/12 schedule

• Growers typically put grow lights on an electrical timer (12 hours on, 12 hours off)
• Outdoor photoperiod plants start making buds when nights start getting long in late summer
• Plants revert back to vegetative growth if they get light during their dark period
• Grow space should be light-proof (often done by growing plants in a grow tent)
• Plants about double in height after the switch to 12/12 (some strains stretch more or less, but the strain details will typically tell you how long to expect)
• This gives you a good way to help control the final size (initiate 12/12 when plants have reached half the final desired size)

You can make photoperiod plants as big as you want. With powerful grow lights like 600W of LEDs in a 4’x4′ grow tent, you can easily harvest over 1 pound of buds even if they have a slow start.

Autoflowering Cannabis Strains

Auto-flowering plants start growing buds after about a month from germination, and plants are ready to harvest about 5-8 weeks later on average (the timeline depends on strain). This gives a total grow time of 8-12 weeks or about 2-3 months from seed to harvest. As a grower, the only thing you need to worry about is keeping them happy and healthy until buds are ready to pick. This can simplify the growing process because growers don’t need to worry about dark periods. This makes growing an auto-floweirng cannabis plant more like a typical houseplant. You can even grow an autoflower cannabis plant in a window. However, the more light plants get a day, the bigger the final yields (up to a point).

Auto-flowering plants are kind of like a house plant. You can even grow one in a window. Note: Don’t leave your cat alone with any cannabis plant unless you want a bunch of bites in your leaves 🙂

The above plant was Zkittlez Auto

Like their photoperiod counterparts, auto-flowering plants about double in size after they start flowering. That means the final size of the plant depends on how big the plant gets during the crucial 3-4 weeks of life. Better care, bigger pots, nutrients in the water, and strong light all help plants get bigger faster.

Pros

• Fastest harvest – Autoflowering plants are typically ready to harvest in 2-3 months from germination, which is significantly faster than most photoperiod plants
• Rarely get overgrown – Auto-flowering strains typically won’t get huge or out of control. If you’re looking to grow smaller plants, auto-flowering strains will help keep size in check.
• Dark periods don’t matter – Since autoflowering plants start automatically making buds without dark periods, you don’t need to worry about light leaks or putting grow lights on a timer. You’ll be able to check on your plants any time of the day without worrying about messing up their light periods.
• Great yields for the time – Auto-flowering plants tend to get lower yields than photoperiod plants because plants stay smaller on average. However, yields are similar for plants of the same size in the same setup. That means auto-flowering plants tend to get more yields for the amount of time. For example, it might take 2 months to grow a 3 oz auto-flowering plant, while it would take at least 3 months to grow a 3 oz photoperiod plant. How? Auto-flowering plants get 18+ hours of light a day while making buds, compared to just 12 hours of light a day for photoperiod plants. Light is like food for plants, and the extra hours of light per day increase the amount of buds that can be grown in a specific time frame.
• More harvests per year – You can produce 4+ big harvests per year with auto-flowering strains, vs about 3 times per year with photoperiod strains.
• Start plants whenever and put them wherever – With an auto-flowering plant, you can sprout a new seed whenever and it won’t matter. Plants will grow and be done without input from you. With photoperiod plants, you typically start all the plants together so that you can put them in the flowering stage together (you can’t put vegetative photoperiod plants in a 12/12 space or they’ll start flowering). That means you typically need to grow photoperiod plants in batches, while auto-flowering strains give you the ability to start a new plant at any time and stick it in the same grow space.

Cons

• Less size control  – Plants automatically start flowering after about 4 weeks and then double in height (on average) after that. Although you can control the height and shape of the plant using pruning and bending techniques, the biggest factor in the final overall size of your plant is how big it gets before it starts flowering. Better care, bigger pots, nutrients in the water, and strong light all help plants get bigger faster.
• Less forgiving to slow starts – If plants get sick or stunted during their first 4 weeks of life, the plants will stay small and stunted forever.
• Smaller strain choice – There are excellent, potent auto-flowering strains that produce dispensary-quality buds. However, in general, there are fewer auto-flowering breeders and fewer options.
• No clones – All auto-flowering plants are started from seed because their internal time clock goes too quickly to make clones and let them recover. This means there’s no way to take a copy of a plant you like and grow it again in the future.

Quick Summary for Auto-Flowering Strains

Vegetative Stage – Auto-flowering plants grow only stems and leaves for the first 4 weeks

• Most growers give plants 18-24 hours of light a day (any light schedule will work, but more hours of light tends to increase growth rates)
• The rate of growth at this stage has a big effect on the final plant size
• Plants start making buds after about 4 weeks

Flowering Stage – Auto-flowering plants start making buds (flowering) after about 4 weeks from germination

• Plants about double in height after buds start forming (some strains stretch more or less, but the strain details will typically tell you what to expect)
• Most growers give 18-24 hours of light a day

Auto-flowering plants tend to stay small since they go from seed to harvest in under 3 months. These auto-flowering plants produced about 7 ounces.

From left to right:  Sweet Critical Auto, Sour Diesel Auto, Blue Mazar Auto

However, if you take really good care of auto-flowering plants for the first 4 weeks and give them a lot of light, they can grow much bigger. These auto-flowering plants reached half this height in the first 4 weeks and produced about 11 oz under the same grow light as above.

Counter-clockwise from top left: Alaskan Purple Auto (did not turn purple), White Widow Max Auto, Green Crack Auto,  Pink Kush CBD 30:1 (short purple plant), Zkittlez Auto, Gelato Auto

Recommended Auto-Flowering Strains

While we’re here, I figured I’d share some of my favorite auto-flowering strains.

• Alaskan Purple Auto by Seedsman – Buds don’t always turn purple (cold nights can help bring out the color) but no matter the color of the buds, the potency and yields are great.
• Amnesia Auto by MSNL – I’ve harvested several of these plants and was pleased with the results every time. Plants can get big but respond well to training. Buds produce strong cerebral effects, and yields were good-to-great.
• Black Jack Auto (American stabilized version) – These plants responded well to plant training and produced nice yields. I really enjoyed the strong yet unique bud effects of this strain. It reminded me of a sativa/haze with more of a body stone.
• Bloody Skunk Auto by Sweet Seeds – Impressive purple bud color on most plants, great yields, lovely effects, and an overall easy strain to grow.
• Cinderella Jack Auto by Dutch Passion – Good yields with dense buds that look nice, but this strain was especially a winner in the potency department. The buds ended up being a fan-favorite due to the strong mental and physical effects.
• Gelato Auto – Easy to grow with buds that smell amazing. This didn’t get the best yields, but the bud quality was worth it.
• Pineapple Express Auto by G13 Labs – An extremely popular autoflowering strain. Plants stay short, are quick-to-harvest even for an auto, and the sparkle-encrusted buds smell like heaven.
• Pink Kush CBD 30:1 by Seedsman – Medicinal strain with under 0.5% THC, beautiful purple buds, quick-to-harvest, tends to stay short.
• THC Bomb Auto by Bomb Seeds – I’ve grown 5 different plants of this strain over multiple grows in different setups, and every one came out marvelous. Easy to grow, great yields, beautiful sparkly buds, and potent effects. Highly recommended!
• Ultimate Auto by Dutch Passion – Average potency buds, but the best yields of any auto-flowering plant I’ve ever grown. Always yields twice as much as the next auto-flowering plant in the tent. However, plants can get big so watch the height! A great choice for someone who wants classic bud effects that aren’t too overwhelming.
• White Widow Max Auto by MSNL – The plants grew big but with a good bushy structure (not too stretchy), responded well to training, and produced enormous yields of high-quality bud.
• Zkittlez Auto (American stabilized version) – This strain has grown fast and healthy for me and produced fat buds that smell sweet and look gorgeous.

From left to right: Blue Critical Auto, Critical+ CBD Auto, Sour Diesel Auto, Black Jack Auto

Recommended Autoflowering Breeders

Many other breeders also produce great auto-flowering strains (Dutch Passion, FastBuds, Barney’s Farm, etc.), but the following breeders stand out for consistency.

• Bomb Seeds
• G13 Labs
• Mephisto Genetics – Focuses 100% on autoflowering strains.
• MSNL
• Sweet Seeds

Zkittlez Auto buds aren’t as dense as some strains, but the smell and bud effects were out of this world.

The post Photoperiod vs Auto-Flowering Cannabis Strains appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

If you’re just getting started on your weed-growing journey, it can feel totally overwhelming. Where do you start? There’s so much to know, so what should you focus on first? Get the answers to all your questions in this straightforward tutorial. I’ll show you exactly what needs your attention, so you consistently get the harvest results you seek.

What should a beginner focus on to achieve great results on their first grow? Find out today!

If you read this article and follow the three steps, you’ll produce exceptional weed (and tons of it) even if you make a bunch of mistakes.

These techniques also increase overall marijuana bud quality, looks, and potency, so your homegrown buds look like this!

Today I’ll break down the 3 things you need to get right to become a legendary grower. If you understand these three aspects of growing, you will get good results. Yes, even if you mess up quite a bit!

Growing cannabis doesn’t have to be as complicated as a lot of people make it out to be. Typically, when growing weed feels difficult or frustrating, it’s because you lack the information on what to direct your efforts toward. You just need to know the following three things, and you’ll be able to grow exceptional weed and get the yields you want.

1. Understand the cannabis life cycle
2. Use the right equipment
3. Start with quality genetics

Get ready to transform into a legendary indoor cannabis grower!

1.) Understand the basics of a cannabis plant’s life cycle

A solid understanding of a cannabis plant’s life cycle will make everything a million times easier for you! This cannabis life timeline is a quick overview of the main aspects you should know as a cannabis grower.

Seed Germination – Seeds germinate into seedlings.

Tips:

• use a proven germination method
• keep seeds warm and moist but not soaking

I love modern versions of the classic OG Kush strain. Easy to grow, lovely unique “kush” smell, with excellent bud effects.

Vegetative Stage

Plants grow only leaves and stems at first. Since all growth is vegetative, this is known as the vegetative stage. On average, plants gain half their final size in this stage.

Tips:

• Pay attention to the environment – If it’s comfortable for you, it’s comfortable for your plants. Learn about the optimal cannabis environment. Getting your environment right now makes things easier when buds start forming.
• Watering habits – Learn how to water your plants perfectly, and pay attention if you notice drooping or signs of overwatering.
• Vegetative nutrients – Give all-purpose or “grow” nutrients in the vegetative stage. In soil, wait four weeks before giving nutrients. However, in coco or hydro, give nutrients from the beginning. An example of a extremely simple vegetative nutrient that works great for cannabis plants in any grow medium is Dyna-Gro Grow (give at 1 tsp/gallon). For more advanced growers, Fox Farm nutrient trio (for soil) or General Hydroponics Flora trio (for coco or hydro) offer professional results. Learn about cannabis nutrients.
• Plant training (optional) – Helps increase yields and maximizes the size and density of buds, but plant training is not necessary for success. Skip this if you feel overwhelmed! Learn about plant training.
• Start flowering/budding at the right time – Move on to the next stage when you cannabis plants reach about half the final desired size. They will about double in size after they start budding in the flowering stage, which is their next stage of life. Initiating flowering at this point sets you up so your plants are the perfect size (not too big, not too little) at harvest, so you get max yields but not overgrown plants.

Flowering Stage

Initiate the flowering stage by giving plants a 12/12 light schedule (except auto-flowering strains, which start flowering on their own after 3-4 weeks). Once plants get a 12/12 light schedule, they start growing flowers/buds within 1-3 weeks. Plants can double in size after getting 12/12 on average, though the amount of “stretch” depends greatly on the strain. Once buds form, the time until harvest is determined by the strain.

Tips:

• Initiate a 12/12 light schedule when plants are about half the final desired size. Learn about “12/12” and cannabis light schedules.
• Pay attention to the environment (especially make sure it’s not hot or humid) – Learn about environment effects on bud quality.
• Watering – Watering techniques should be about the same as before, though plants will be drinking more overall. The main thing that changes is the amount of nutrients you provide.
• Nutrients– Switch to flowering or “Bloom” nutrients. Dyna-Gro Bloom (at 1 tsp/gallon) is super simple and effective. If you’ve been using professional nutrients like Fox Farm nutrient trio (for soil) or General Hydroponics Flora trio (for coco or hydro), switch to their included “flowering schedule” which will change up the ratios to give plants what they need while buds form.
• Plant pruning (optional) – These two main techniques increase yields by ensuring all buds get tons of direct light. As a bonus, the top buds on the plants get the biggest, densest, and most potent, so these types of training maximizes bud quality, too, since all your buds will be top buds.
  • The first technique is to keep flowering plants flat like a table as opposed to a Christmas tree shape, which is done by bending tall branches over and tying them down.
  • The second technique is to remove excessive leaves to make sure all buds are exposed to direct light.  Learn about how to prune flowering cannabis plants.
• Problem resolution – Many growers notice leaf symptoms in the second half of the flowering stage because plants are much pickier than in the vegetative stage. This is normal and a common issue for beginner growers. Don’t panic, but don’t ignore problems either. Check the plant doctor for help diagnosing the cause, and then fix the issue before it affects your harvest. Also, here’s some help on controlling height.

Plants are a bit more picky about the environment and nutrients in the late flowering stage, but they’ll reward you if you follow the above tips!

Harvest

Harvest cannabis buds when they’re mature, dry them, then jar them for storage and curing.

Tips:

• Pick the right time to harvest. Here’s what to look for.
• Proper drying is crucial – Drying buds makes a huge difference to final bud quality.
• “Cure” the buds! Store dried buds in jars and burp occasionally. Bud quality improves for weeks.

Harvest cannabis buds when they’re ready!

Time for a quick review!

This infographic shows the whole life cycle with a timeline of what to expect

2.) Get good equipment

Now that you understand the most important aspects of what it takes to grow cannabis, let’s talk about setting up so that nature does most of the work for you. That way you get to focus on enjoying the process and looking at your beautiful, healthy buds forming.

• Environment – Your setup should make it easy to maintain comfortable temperature and humidity for your growing plants (a grow tent with fan pointing out works really well!). You can hang a grow light from inside a closet and use a fan to help blow air around. Just know that you may have more trouble controlling the environment than if you get proper equipment.
• Grow light – For beginners, I recommend a 200-300W LED grow light like the Spider Farmer SF2000 (200W) or Mars Hydro TSL2000 (300W). These LEDs get excellent cannabis growth, yields, and bud quality. If it tends to get cool in the grow room (for example you’re growing in a basement, or during the winter), then a 400W MH/HPS may be a better choice because it’ll help heat up the grow space.
• Grow medium – Examples are rich fluffy potting soils (Coco Loco, Ocean Forest, Roots Organics, etc.), coco/perlite potting mix (Mother Earth Coco plus Perlite mix is what I use, and it’s fantastic), and lastly, water for hydroponic setups. If you’re not sure, you can’t go wrong with simple old soil! Learn more about grow mediums.
• Nutrients – Nutrients are necessary for the best yields unless you’re growing in a super soil setup (which slowly releases organic nutrients over time throughout the plant’s life). Use an all-purpose/grow nutrient formula for the vegetative stage, and flowering/bloom nutrients for the flowering stage. With soil, you should start giving nutrients about 4 weeks after plants have been in the same pot. With coco or hydro, give nutrients from germination or the plants won’t grow (coco and hydro don’t naturally contain nutrients, so the plant only gets what you give in the water).

See examples setups that work well for growing cannabis.

Get a setup that fits your yield goals, space limits, and budget.

3.) Start with good genetics

I highly recommend beginners starting with feminized seeds from a trustworthy breeder. Feminized seeds means 99.9% of seeds will produce female plants, unlike regular seeds, which produce male plants roughly half the time. Since male plants don’t produce buds, starting with feminized seeds means you can feel confident that every seed you germinate will produce buds.

Ideas for genetics:

• Highest THC –  Check the list of American strains and seed banks. I’ve found that American strains tend to have the highest THC levels, though not always.
• Therapeutic use – High CBD, low THC, symptom-specific strains. Use the filters on this feminized seed selector tool to help find what you’re looking for.
• Biggest yields – Choose a high-yielding strain. Here’s a list of high-yielding, feminized strains on Seedsupreme.com. I set the filter on that link so the highest-rated strains appear at the top.
• Easiest to Grow – Stick to established strains that have been stabilized to produce consistent results. Avoid “crosses” (usually with a name like STRAIN x STRAIN). Crosses result in a variety of different types of plants. Crosses are great for breeders looking for the next big strain, but not necessarily the best choice for someone who just wants to grow weed and know what to expect.
• Low time commitment – Autoflowering strains mean fewer steps to get plants to make buds, plus you’ll get to harvest quicker than with other strains.
• Bag seed? I’ve seen growers get good results with bag seed (seeds they find). If that’s all you have, that’s what you have to use. Just know that the results can turn out extremely different from the weed it came from, and you’ll have no idea what to expect as far as growth patterns or how long it will take before it’s ready to harvest. Bag-seed really makes you appreciate breeders. If you can afford even a few cheap seeds, you’ll be a lot more prepared! I highly recommend Seedsupreme strains if you’re looking for something inexpensive but generally dependable.

Learn how to find the right strain.

I recently grew these two Critical Kush plants and was beyond pleased by the yields, ease of growth, and potency! I highly recommend the strain if you’re not sure what to get.

Closeup of a Critical Kush bud (click picture for full-size version). Although the buds look pretty typical, don’t let that fool you. The yields, smoothness, smell, and effects are outstanding.

For auto-flowering strains, Dinafem genetics have never done me wrong!

About the Author Nebula Haze

I’ve grown a lot of excellent weed since I started in 2008! After struggling to get started growing, my goal in life became to help other people grow as much weed as they want, and grow better weed than they can buy. That’s why I co-founded GrowWeedEasy.com in 2010 and have been teaching growers ever since.

If you liked today’s article, sign up for our weekly newsletter and get a new growing article delivered to you every Sunday.

Happy growing!

The post 3 Steps from Beginner to Legendary Grower appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Do you have legal plant limits? Cannabis cultivation is legal in many countries and several states in the USA. However, many growers are subject to legal plant limits. That means they can only grow a certain number of plants at a time. For example, California (where I live) allows 21+ adults to grow up to 6 plants. In Canada, adults can legally grow up to 4 plants.

Legal plant limits? No problem! Learn how to grow up to 1 pound (~0.5 kg) of weed with 1-4 plants.

Just follow the step-by-step LST instructions and harvest a bounty of weed!

Legal plant count limits can make it harder to get big yields when growing cannabis, especially if you’re also limited on space, but there are cultivation tricks and tactics to let you harvest huge amounts of bud from small grow spaces with just a few marijuana plants. In fact, it’s possible to produce over a pound (~0.5 kg) of weed from 1-4 plants when you do it right.

Get big cannabis yields with just a few plants!

Pruning techniques like manifolding can force even one small plant to produce huge buds. This plant was less than 2 feet (0.6m) tall at harvest and produced 6.2 oz by itself.

Let marijuana plants get bigger to increase your yields. This is especially effective when combined with pruning (as explained below). These two cannabis plants are about 4 feet (1.2m) tall and produced 18.6 oz (over 1 lb) of weed between them!

This giant mass is actually made of only 4 plants trained to grow flat over a screen.

Multi-pound harvest with just 4 plants!

It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a few plants. Let’s learn how to produce a ton of weed in your marijuana garden with 1-4 plants.

1.) Grow Bigger Plants

You can only yield so much from a small plant. Bigger plants can produce a lot more weed than small plants. Just make sure you don’t let plants get too big or your space quickly gets overgrown. Growing plants to the perfect size for your setup leads to the best harvest.

In this picture: One of these clones got much bigger than the other. Although buds are similar in width, the bigger plant with longer buds produced higher yields overall. Letting a plant get big enough to completely fill your grow space can dramatically improve your final bud weights.

On average, bigger plants produce more weed.

What to do: Wait to initiate the flowering stage until plants are 1/2 the final desired size. In other words:

• Photoperiod Plants: Change to a 12/12 light schedule when plants are half size. Most strains are photoperiod strains. Plants will about double in height on average.
• Auto-flowering Plants: Auto-flowering strains start flowering on their own. Their final size depends on the strain, size of the pot, light levels, and overall care.
• Know Your Strain: Different strains “stretch” a different amount. Strains listed as “tall” strains can triple in size after buds start forming. Check the strain details when buying seeds so you know what to expect.

Cannabis plants don’t immediately stop getting bigger once they start making buds. After entering the budding/flowering stage, most plants about double in size. That means you should start 12/12 when plants are about half the final desired size.

To maximize yields, you want plants that are as big as possible without overgrowing the space. It helps to calculate how tall plants can safely get in your grow space without being too close to your grow light. No matter the height you’re going for, try to create a nice wide plant canopy. Fill the entire space under your grow light with plants.

These two plants reached half the final desired size for this grow tent. At this point, initiate the flowering stage by giving plants a 12/12 light schedule.

A few weeks later, the plants have about doubled in size. This is known as the flowering stretch. Use this knowledge to grow plants that are the right size for your grow space.

Tips to grow bigger plants

• Photoperiod strains help you control plant size – The main idea behind this step is to control the length of the vegetative stage so plants get to the optimal size. Auto-flowering strains only spend a few weeks in the vegetative stage, and therefore don’t give you much control over the final size. Learn more about the best strains to grow in Step 4.
• Use bigger pots – Bigger roots can support bigger plants. Plants in a small pot (under 2 gallons) tend to stay small while bigger pots (5-10 gallons) make it easier and faster to produce plants that are 3+ feet (1+ m) tall.
• Consider coco or hydro – Plants grown in hydroponics (and to a lesser extent coco) tend to grow faster than soil plants. If you want to get big plants fast, hydro or coco may be a good way to go. Soil or super soil can still be great choices, but they may add to the total time to harvest.
• Grow plants to 1/2 size before flowering – Initiate the flowering stage when plants are 1/2 the final desired size. This is done by using a timer to put grow lights on a 12/12 light schedule. On average, plants double in size after the switch to 12/12, though strains listed as “tall” or “short” may stretch more or less. Learn more about the flowering stretch.
• Total plant coverage – Completely fill your space before you initiate the flowering stage. Think of sculpting a plant canopy that is wide and flat like a table…

2.) Train Plants to Grow Flat

You just learned about good plant coverage. This step takes that to the next level. In addition to making sure your entire grow area is filled with plants, you increase yields even more by training them to grow wide and flat (like a table) before you initiate the flowering stage.

While plants are in the vegetative stage, bend branches down and tie them in place to maintain as flat and wide a canopy as possible. Try to make plants shaped like a table.

Why do growers train plants to grow flat? The biggest buds grow at the top of a cannabis plant, close to the grow light, Buds that are lower on the plant, or further from the light, tend to stay small. A flat canopy means you get many buds the perfect distance away. This ensures your plant grows tons of buds, and every single bud swells to a big size.

Main Idea: Train plants to grow flat and wide like a table in the vegetative stage.

Tips to grow wide, flat plants.

• Cut off the top of young plants – Cut off the top of young plants in the vegetative stage. Cutting off the top of a plant is often called “topping” in the cannabis growing world. Topping splits any stem into two, and a plant with two tops is easier to spread out to create flat plants than a plant with one main top
  • Beginner tip: Wait until the seedling has grown 6 sets of leaves. Cut off the top through the main stem above the 5th set of leaves (pictures below). Easy and simple, yet won’t stress plants. After being topped, your plant is easier to spread out and naturally grows more bushy and wide.
• Tall stems should also be “topped” – Cut off the ends of any stem that’s growing much faster than the rest. Each new pair of stems grows slower than the original one. Topping is a great tool to curb fast-growing stems in the vegetative stage.
• Spread out – As the plant grows, spread out the stems by bending them down and away from the center of the plant. Don’t forget to tie branches down with something like plant twist tie or they’ll spring right back up the next day!
• Supercrop (if necessary) – Cannabis stems get hard and woody as time goes on. If you find you need to bend a stem that’s already stiff, use the supercropping technique to bend even the toughest stems at any angle. This is a bit advanced because you can accidentally split stems. But don’t worry if you do. Simply tape broken stems back together like a cast and the plant can heal. One of the things I love about cannabis plants is it can recover if you make big mistakes in the vegetative stage.

Here’s an example of training plants to grow wide and flat for more bud sites and bigger yields.

Cut off the top of a young plant right above the 5th set of leaves (“top” the seedling above the 5th node)

When cutting through a stem, be careful not to damage the growing tips at the base of each leaf. These will become your two new stems.

Topping splits the main stem into two. You can see the two new “main stems” on each side of the cut.

Since you waited until the plant had several sets of leaves before cutting a small piece off the top, it will continue growing like nothing happened.

As the plant grows, spread out the branches and cut off the top of any stem that’s getting bigger than the others. You don’t want your plant putting too much energy into any one branch.

The plant was transplanted to a mini grow tent under an HLG 65 4000k LED grow light and given a week to adjust to the new environment.

Training time!

Bend over all the stems down and away from the center until it looks flat from the side

I used plant twist tie to hook on to each branch and tie it down where I wanted. I attached the other end to the fabric pot.

How to attach to the pot? You can use safety pins or binder clips but I think this is easier. Poke holes in the fabric using sharp pointy Fiskars pruning scissors and thread the twist tie through.

Back to training. Here’s a top view. We’re trying to fill the entire tent with this plant.

A few days later the plant has filled in nicely. Repeat the steps until you’ve filled your entire grow space.

Initiate 12/12 when plants have complete coverage at the height you want. Look at all the bud sites on this 1 plant right as it starts flowering

Here’s a side view. At this point, the only thing to do is water the plant and give it nutrients until harvest.

Partway through the flowering stage.

At harvest, this plant was just over 18″ (46 cm) tall, yet yielded several ounces because it was trained to grow wide and flat. Talk about making the most out of one small plant!

The buds started getting heavy, flattening the plant further.

Learn more about growing plants to be wide and flat.

3.) Grow Light is Key to Yields!

If you read step 1 and 2, you understand the value of plant coverage in your grow space. You’ve also learned how to produce plants that are the perfect height and shape to maximize yields.

This step is about your grow light, which is the other most important aspect of your setup when it comes to yields.

Main Idea:  Pick a grow light that maximizes yields for your grow space.

Tips:

• Avoid fluorescent grow lights (CFLs and T5s) – If yields are a key factor for you, choose LEDs, HPS, or CMH/LEC grow lights. These are the most efficient grow lights for yields when it comes to growing cannabis. Fluorescent lights like T5s and CFLs produce excellent bud but get about half the yields per watt.
• Expect 0.5-1 gram per watt – You can use wattage to estimate yields so you pick the right grow light for your goal. With LEDs, HPS, or CMH/LEC, you can typically expect about 0.5-1 gram per watt of actual power draw. So if you’re using a 400W HPS, you could expect to yields 200-400 grams. If an LED grow light uses 300W, you could expect 150-300 grams. You can yield more or less, and some specific grow light models are better than others, but that’s a good rule of thumb for an average grower. Some modern cannabis LED grow lights like HLG or Spider Farmer LEDs can achieve 1-2 grams/watt.
• Proper grow light distance to plants – Each grow light has an optimal distance it should be kept from plants. Too close and plants will burn, too far and yields are reduced. Most grow light models list the recommended light distance in their product details. If you’re not sure, check out our tutorial on light distance.
• Good light coverage – Each grow light has an optimum amount of space it can cover (its recommended “light footprint”). If light doesn’t reach your plants on the edges, those plants will produce poor yields For example, if you have a 2’x3′ (or 0.5mx1m) grow space, get a light that’s made for that size space. Luckily, this is another detail that’s usually listed in the description when you buy a grow light.

Maximize yields with the right grow light for your space

A great LED grow light produces a ton of weed with just a few plants.

Check out examples of yields to expect for 3 popular cannabis grow lights I recommend for indoor growers.

Set and Go – 100W Quantum Board (LED Grow Light)

• Grow space: 2’x2′ grow space
• Heat: Fixture gets hot but will not warm up the room
• Average Yields – 1.5 – 3.5 ounces
• Bud Quality: Potent and pretty with great effects, but buds may be airy
• Recommended model: HLG 100 LED Grow Light
  • 4000k version is best for seedlings, clones, and the vegetative stage
  • 3000k version is best for the flowering stage
  • both work from seed to harvest, but 3000k produces higher yields
• See an example setup with this grow light

If you want to start small, this light lets you hang up .a grow light and start growing decent amounts of high-quality weed in a small space. Flimsy but effective. It barely affects the electricity bill and doesn’t make much heat. Also an excellent choice for seedlings and clones.

HLG 100 should be kept about 10″ away from the tops of plants

3 plants grown with the HLG 100 using the techniques above – 5.5 oz

Great Yields Without Much Heat – 300W Quantum Board (LED Grow Light)

• Grow space: 2’x4′ or 3’x3′ grow space
• Heat: Warms up a room by a few degrees
• Average Yields – 5-10+ ounces
• Bud Quality- Dense, potent, sparkly nugs
• Recommended models: Mars Hydro SP3000 LED (2’x4′ space) or Mars Hydro FC-E3000 (3’x3′ space)
• See an example setup (with detailed yield estimates) for 2’x4′ space or 3’x3′ space.

For this size grow light, I’ve had really great results with Mars Hydro grow lights. They’re easy to use, powerful with big yields in the flowering stage, yet surprisingly gentle on young cannabis plants.

3 plants grown under a 300W LED grow light using the techniques listed above – 11.1 oz

Big Producer – 315W CMH (sometimes called LEC)

• Grow space: 3’x3′ grow space
• Heat: Burning hot bulb raises the temperature of a room by several degrees
• Average Yields: 5-12 ounces (though I’ve yielded over a pound before)
• Recommended Model: Sun System Flower Power 315W LEC/CMH
• Bud Quality – Intense smells and unbelievable trichome production (get the most glitter by using the 4200k Philips or 4100k Eye Hortilux bulb in the flowering stage)
• See an example setup with a 315 CMH.

4 plants grown under a 315 LEC grow light using the above techniques – 12.57 oz

4.) Choose the Right Genetics (plus example strains)

If yields are a consideration, pay close attention to genetics. You can greatly increase yields by choosing a strain that is known to yield more than average.

• Photoperiod strains only – To follow this tutorial, you need to be able to control the length of the vegetative stage. Photoperiod plants give you total control because they won’t start flowering until you initiate a 12/12 light schedule. Most cannabis strains are photoperiod strains, so unless you buy “auto-flowering” seeds, you’re good to go.
• High-yielding – Some strains can yield 2-3x as much as other strains in the exact same grow space and conditions. It’s astounding how big of a difference genetics makes to yields.
• Avoid “short” strains – Short strains tend to yield less because plants are smaller.

Example cannabis strains that are heavy-yielders:

• Kushberry Moonrocks – ultra potent, purple, sparkly buds
• White Widow – high-yield version of the classic strain
• Fruity Pebbles – smells sweet and fruity
• Royal Gorilla – easy to grow, top-shelf buds
• Planet of the Grapes – some of the best yields of any strain I’ve grown.
• Thug Roze R1 – massive yields, tangy ‘Sativa’ smell that’s rare these day, unique effects.
• Dos Si Dos 33 (Barney’s Farm version) – huge yields, excellent buds, easy to grow.
• THC Bomb (MSNL version) – massive yields, excellent buds, developed by a geneticist

A single White Widow cannabis plant produced 12.57 oz of dense buds under 300W.

Many branches produced over an ounce of weed after being dried, and every bud was rock hard.

5.) Advanced Techniques

If you only follow the steps above, you can produce bountiful yields with just a few plants. But some growers want to maximize their yields even more. In that case, this section is for you.

These techniques require a bit more work and know-how, but they can produce incredibly high yielding plants indoors.

• ScrOG (Screen of Green)
• Manifolding or Fluxing

ScrOG (screen of green) means using a screen or netting to train plants to grow flat before flowering.

Manifolding or Fluxing are similar techniques with the goal of creating plants where all the branches meet at one part of a plant (the “manifold”). These techniques require extra time in the vegetative stage, but reward you with huge symmetrical buds. Plus these techniques are super fun!

With manifolding or fluxing, young plants are cut up in the vegetative stage so that all branches come from one main “manifold” on the main stem.

The base of a “manifolded” plant

Fluxing is a different take on manifolding, but follows the same essential principles of splitting the main stem and creating a symmetrical plant structure

When followed step-by-step, these techniques produce outstanding harvests on every plant

A grower named “nugbuckets” designed and popularized the manifolding technique (though he called it “main-lining” at the time) to maximize yields per plant. Here’s one of the manifolded plants from his original tutorial. A huge thank you to nugbuckets for sharing your knowledge with the home growing community!

Now you are armed with the knowledge to produce tons of marijuana even if you have plant limits. It’s time to grow the yields you want!

GrowWeedEasy.com has hundreds and hundreds of pages!

Check out some articles you may not have seen…

• Nebula’s Manifold – Cannabis “Main-Lining”  – Turn your cannabis plants into a lean, mean, organized green producing machine! The technique is pretty keen if you know what I mean.
• How Long Does It Take to Grow Weed Indoors? – When we first started growing, we asked this question so many times only to get generic, non-specific answers. That won’t happen here! We only deal in details!
• Stealth Growing: How to NOT get Caught Growing Weed – Despite the ever-increasing legality of growing your own cannabis, it’s still be best to be on the safe side and remain as stealthy as possible. Even if it’s legal where you are, theives know that the police won’t investigate cannabis plant theft…
• How to Save Money When Growing Weed – When you grow your own weed, you should experience an increase in quality, but it should also cost drastically less than purchasing froma dispensary. If your weed isn’t dirt cheap (yet), let us help you get there!

The post How to Produce a Ton of Weed with Only 1-4 Plants appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.