MH / HPS – Grow Weed Easy

Nebula’s Cannabis Grow Journals & Experiments (Side-by-Side Tests)

Nebula Haze — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 20:12:10 +0000

by Nebula Haze

Over the years, I’ve run a few side-by-side experiments with growing cannabis plants. I am almost always surprised by something, and I thought you might be too. So I decided to keep a list of all my marijuana-growing experiments in one place. You can also check back here to see whatever is the current experiment. I also decided to include other past marijuana grow journals for you to check out while you’re here. Contact us and let us know what experiments you want to see!

Here are the cannabis experiments and grow journals starting from the most recent. Scroll down for a quick overview of each one!

Experiment Grow Journals

Regular Grow Journals (no experiment)

More past grow journals soon. I’m slowly going through all my old grows on Instagram and turning them into cannabis grow journals on the website. My hope is to one day contribute to the body of science surrounding cannabis cultivation.

Defoliation vs No Defoliation in the Flowering Stage

Does a 3-Day Dark Period Before Harvest Increase THC?

I’ll make a graphic soon, but here’s a quick summary of the results:

Before 3-day dark period: 18.4% THC average
After 3-day dark period: 19.7% THC average

Topped vs Natural with Auto-flowering Plants

LED Grow Light Showdown: Mars Hydro TSL-2000W vs Spider Farmer SF-2000

Super Soil (“Just Add Water” Soil) vs Coco Coir cannabis grow journal

315 LEC vs HLG 300 LEDs side-by-side grow journal

Viparspectra LEDs vs HPS

The post Nebula’s Cannabis Grow Journals & Experiments (Side-by-Side Tests) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

How to Grow 1 Pound of Weed Indoors (Proven Method)

Nebula Haze — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 03:57:01 +0000

by Nebula Haze

Ready to harvest more than 1 pound of top-shelf cannabis right from inside your home? Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Turning that dream into a reality is fully within your grasp, and I’m going to show you exactly how to produce a pound of top-shelf weed indoors. Harvesting a pound (that’s an eye-popping 16 ounces) of your own top-shelf cannabis is about more than just the weight. It’s also about independence from buying, the delight of sharing your crop with others, and the freedom to have so much weed you never run out, with enough left over to make your own goodies like edibles, extracts, and tinctures.

Our first 1-pound indoor cannabis harvest based on this tutorial (600W HPS grow light).

And our first 1-lb harvest after switching to an LED grow light (600W LED grow light).

One key to growing a pound of good weed indoors is you have to give your plants the right growing environment. A large tent sized at 4’x4’x6.5′ (1.2mx1.2mx2m) is a manageable size that provides an ideal place to consistently produce your 1-lb cannabis grow.

Here are some examples of grow lights that would be suitable for this size grow tent:

Spider Farmer SF4000 LED grow light – (uses 450W) – Yields just under 1 pound
Mars Hydro FC-E4800 LED grow light (uses 480W) – Yields over 1 pound per harvest
600W HPS (Uses 600W) – Yields up to 21 ounces or 1.3 lbs
HLG Blackbird 600W LED (600W, dimmable) – Yields up to 24 oz or 1.5 lbs. Recommended choice – this LED light was designed specifically to achieve high yields in a 4×4 grow tent.
1000W DE HPS (Uses 1000W) – Yields up to 35 oz or 2.2 lbs, VERY hot, you will need cooling.

Example Plants Grown in This Size Tent

Cannabis plants grown in a 4’x4′ grow tent under a 600W HPS.

Six plants under a 600W LED grow light in 4’x4’x6.5′ (these are only on day 38 of flowering).

Two Hydroponic Plants under a 600W HPS in 4’x4’x7′ grow tent – Yielded 23.09 oz at harvest!

Those are just a few examples. Many of you have written in asking for more tutorials about growing large amounts of weed in the home environment. We have heard you loud and clear! Here’s the proven strategy we’re covering in today’s cannabis tutorial that will teach you how to yield 1 lb or more of top-shelf cannabis in a single large grow tent:

Overall Strategy

1.) Start with a high-yielding cannabis strain – Learn how to find the right strain.

2.) Get your supplies – Here’s an example of a complete shopping list for a 4’x4′ grow tent that gets great results with cannabis.

3.) “Top” plants at a young age – Cut off the top of the main stem when seedlings are a few weeks old.

4.) Train plants to grow flat and wide (like a table) in the vegetative stage.

Simple Way: Either use plant twist tie to hold down branches…
Using a Net: Invest in a Scrog net and install it to be half the final desired height of your plants. Any time a stem grows above the net, tuck it back underneath until you’ve filled the entire net

5.) Initiate the flowering stage, then…

Defoliate – Follow a strategic defoliation schedule
Not too hot, not too humid – Maintain a good environment while buds are forming.
Keep plants healthy – Avoid bugs and nutrient deficiencies.
If using a net, add a second net and arrange buds to fill the entire net as they grow.

6.) Harvest at the right time.

7.) Dry and jar buds properly.

This is just a super basic outline. Check below for more details and step-by-step instructions!

How to Grow 1 Pound of Weed: Step-by-Step Instructions

1.) Start with a high-yielding cannabis strain

Learn how to find the right strain (regardless of what your goals are).

Some strains naturally yield much more than others. Choose high-yielding strains to maximize your harvest weight.

Autoflowering Strains vs Photoperiod Strains: Which is better for cannabis yields?

Although many auto-flowering strains are high-yielding, and produce fast harvests under 3 months, you don’t have as much control over plant growth patterns and size as you do with photoperiod strains. That’s because autoflowering strains start making buds after about 4 weeks, even if your plants aren’t as big as you need them to be yet. Cannabis plants about double in size after they start flowering, and if your autoflowering plants are too small at that point, they’ll stay small until harvest no matter what you do. Especially for beginners, it can be difficult to consistently harvest 1 lb per harvest with auto-flowering strains because even a small problem at the beginning of the grow can stunt your plant size.

On the other hand, photoperiod cannabis plants are much more forgiving if you make mistakes early on. You have all the time in the world to get your plants to the exact right size and shape before you initiate the flowering stage. As long as you set your plants up right before they start flowering, and keep them healthy, you’re pretty much guaranteed a 1+ lb harvest following all these steps, which is why photoperiod strains are recommended if you’re not sure what to pick.

Autoflowering strains

Pros

Faster – Ready to harvest in under 3 months. Can’t beat the time to harvest! If speed is most important, then auto-flowering genetics are the way to go.
No special light schedules – You don’t have to worry about light schedules, light leaks, or anything like that. Just give the plants 18+ hours of direct light a day and that’s all you really need to think about when it comes to light. Check on your plants any time.

Cons

Early mistakes can dramatically hurt yields – Can’t make mistakes in the seedling stage. Autofloweirng plants start flowering after about a month even if they’ve been sick and are still small. That means early mistakes like overwatering your seedlings will stunt autoflowering plants for life, so only choose autoflowering strains if you’ve got a great handle on taking care of plants for the first 4 weeks of life.
Less consistent yields – More difficult to always get 1 lb per harvest, due to the shorter life period as well as the fact that it’s easier for plants to end up smaller than you want.
Fewer strain choices – Autoflowering strains are “boutique” specialty genetics and you typically have fewer options when it comes to autos.

Photoperiod strains <– Recommended for this cannabis high-yield tutorial

Pros

Early mistakes are forgiven – Even if you make mistakes early on, you have time to let your plants recover and get them the optimum size and shape to guarantee a 1-lb harvest.
Consistent 1 lb harvests – With photoperiod strains, even a total beginner can produce a pound of weed in their first harvest as long as they just make sure to follow all these instructions.
Bigger selection – Most strains are photoperiod strains, which means you have a much larger selection to choose from.
Excellent bud quality – Although you can get some incredible autoflowering strains these days that have bud quality equal to photoperiod strains, on average photoperiod buds not only look and smell nicer, but also have higher THC levels.

Cons

Takes longer – Average grow time with photoperiod strains is 4-5 months from germination to harvest day. This is about 1-2 months longer than most autoflowering strains.
Special light schedules – In order to get photoperiod cannabis plants to make buds (start “flowering”), growers give plants 12 hours of complete darkness a day to simulate that winter is coming. This is easy to do in a grow tent by putting your grow lights on a timer. However, the downside is you can’t check on or care for your plants during their 12-hour “lights off” period every day so you don’t accidentally interrupt their beauty sleep.

I recommend growers follow this tutorial with photoperiod strains just to increase the chance you get a full pound or more. However, auto-flowering strains can work if you’re desperate to harvest within 3 months and are willing to make sure to take extra good care of your plants while they’re still young.

Examples of excellent high-yielding photoperiod strains (these are all feminized seeds, which means every plant with be a bud-making female plant)

Blue Dream by Seed Supreme – Enormous yields every time. A true commercial producer and one of the higher-yielding strains I’ve grown. Buds are sweet-smelling with relaxing yet “social” weed effects that have given in the status of “party favorite”.
Platinum Cookies by Seed Supreme – Excellent yields and the bud quality is out of this world. The purple-tinted buds tested at 25-27% THC when we grew it and the effects were a crowd favorite. This strain tends to get tall, but responds well to bending and supercropping to keep it short and flat. It has a 12-week flowering stage, which is a few weeks longer than average, but the yield and bud quality are worth 2 extra weeks in my opinion.
Kushberry Moonrocks by MSNL – Great yields, pretty purple color on buds, averages around 28% THC, only a 10-week flowering stage. Effects are relaxing but POTENT. Definitely a strain meant to be enjoyed at home.

2.) Get your big-yield supplies

Here’s an example of a complete shopping list for a 4’x4′ grow tent that gets great results with cannabis using the HLG Blackbird 600W LED.

Here are other examples of grow lights that would be suitable for this size grow tent, using otherwise the same setup as above:

Spider Farmer SF4000 LED grow light – (uses 450W) – Yields just under 1 pound
Mars Hydro FC-E4800 LED grow light (uses 480W) – Yields over 1 pound per harvest
600W HPS (Uses 600W) – Yields up to 21 ounces or 1.3 lbs
HLG Blackbird 600W LED (600W, dimmable) – Yields up to 24 oz or 1.5 lbs. Recommended choice – this LED light was designed specifically to achieve high yields in a 4×4 grow tent.
1000W DE HPS (Uses 1000W) – Yields up to 35 oz or 2.2 lbs, VERY hot, you will need cooling.

Any of these grow lights will grow thriving cannabis plants in a 4’x4′ grow tent.

Other hints for getting the highest yields in your setup:

Grow with coco (or hydro) – Coco and hydro tend to produce better yields than growing in soil on average. The grow medium that tends to produce the lowest yields is super soil (“just add water” soil). However, yields aren’t the only important thing when it comes to growing, and you can achieve 1 pound in this setup even with super soil if you make sure to maximize everything else.
Use synthetic nutrients – Along the same line, cannabis plants tend to produce the highest yields when using synthetic or mineral-based nutrients. Adding organic nutrients can definitely increase yields vs not using any nutrients, but they are not as easily available to the plant as man-made nutrients. Some great cannabis nutrient systems are mostly organic with just a few key synthetic ingredients to get the best of both worlds, like Fox Farm trio for hydro. But fully synthetic nutrients like General Hydroponics Flora trio get the best yields of any nutrient system we’ve tried in side-by-side grow experiments so far. If yields are your #1 goal, I highly recommend the GH Flora trio – just follow the instructions on the side of the bottle at half strength, maintain a pH of 5.5-6.5 pH at the roots, and you don’t have to worry about nutrients.
Don’t ignore heat – Young plants don’t mind the heat, but if it’s regularly above 85°F/30°C in the grow space while buds are forming, it will harm your yields by making buds grow more loose and airy. Heat also greatly increases the chance of getting bud rot or mold in your buds. Luckily, a good exhaust fan venting air out of the tent goes a long way, which is why I included in a powerful exhaust fan in the recommended 4×4 setup. However, if the whole room is warming up above that temperature, adding more fans won’t help. At that point, you should vent the hot air directly out a window or install an AC. At that point, you won’t need to worry about heat and can focus on other things.
React quickly to plant problems – If you notice a nutrient deficiency, see signs of bugs, or catch sight of any other unexpected plant symptoms, pay attention! Check our free plant doctor tool and correct the cause of the problem as soon as possible. Most problems can be dealt with easily at first, but they get harder and harder to fix the longer they go on without intervention.

Once you’ve got your garden set up, start your seeds and lets start growing!

How to germinate your seeds directly in the grow medium, as pictured below (here’s a germination tutorial for hydro).
How to water cannabis plants.

Plant your marijuana seeds and keep them warm during germination.

The result? Cannabis seedlings pop up a few days later.

3.) “Top” plants at a young age

Wait until the seedling has about 6 sets of leaves, then cut off the top of the main stem.

Wait until your plants have grow about 6 sets of leaves (6 “nodes”).

Cut off the top of the plant through the main stem. You want to remove the top node completely.

After topping 4 plants, I had 4 little tops. Cutting off such a small amount of plant doesn’t seem like it would make a huge difference to your yields, but this is one of the most important steps to take as a grower indoors to maximize yields. As a result of this simple act, the plant will stop growing with only one main stem, and instead naturally grow more bushy and wide with multiple stems. These bushy cannabis plants will be covered in buds instead of only having one main bud, giving you the “sea of buds” you often see in pictures.

These 4 plants were just topped.

These are the 4 tops from the 4 plants. Such a small amount removed, but it will dramatically change the future growth of your plants.

Now that their tops have been cut off, these plants will never grow the same again. After being topped, they naturally grow bushier with multiple bud sites instead of growing with just one big bud. As a result, you increase the amount of yield you can produce per plant.

Learn more about topping cannabis plants.

4.) Train plants to grow flat and wide (like a table) in the vegetative stage.

Method 1: Bend down branches and use plant twist tie to hold them in place.

When any branch gets taller than the others, bend it down and away from the center of the plant.
Tie the stem directly to the plant container using plant twisty tie to hold it in place.
You’re done when they’re all the same height and about 1.5′ tall from the top of the plant container. At that point, move to the next step.

Full tutorial on how to use plant twist tie plus bending to grow plants wide and flat like a table.

The goal of any training when growing indoors is to force your plants to grow flat and wide like a table. This ensures all the parts of the plant are about the same distance from the grow light. This shape will dramatically increase your yields once buds start forming because it allows your plants to use “every last drop” of light to make buds.

Method 2: Use a “Screen” (get trellis netting and train plants to grow under the net)

Invest in a 4×4′ Scrog trellis net (get two because you may want a second one later) and install it to be half the final desired height of your plants. In a 4’x4′ grow tent, a good final height for your plants is about 3′ tall. So install the scrog net about 1.5′ feet above the tops of your plant containers. Any time a stem grows above the net, tuck it back underneath until you’ve filled the entire net.

Keep tucking branches under the net as plants grow.

Continue until the whole net is “filled” with a canopy of living plants. This net just has a few spots left before it’s completely filled and ready for the next step.

5.) Initiate the flowering stage, then…

In order to get plants to make buds (start “flowering”) you need to give plants 12 hours of complete darkness a day. This is typically done by putting your grow lights on a timer set on a 12/12 light schedule. Since your plants are in a grow tent, when the grow lights are off, your plants are in complete darkness so they can enjoy their “beauty sleep”.

Note: Don’t check on your plants during their 12-hour “night” period because exposing them to light at night even a few times can disrupt budding and revert plants back to the vegetative stage. Keep plants totally in the dark when the grow lights are off.

Defoliate – Follow a strategic defoliation schedule.

It doesn’t seem like defoliation (removing leaves) should improve cannabis yields, but this is a “hack” that has proven to be remarkably effective. Not only does strategic defoliation increase your yields (when done properly), it also increases the overall bud quality including the THC percentage and density of your buds. We confirmed this at the lab in our defoliation side-by-side experiment with clones. There are many great defoliation schedules, but here’s one that works well to increase yields and is followed by many commercial growers.

Example of a great defoliation schedule (most common defoliation schedule for commercial cannabis growers)

First Defoliation: 3 weeks after 12/12

Remove all the big fan leaves from the plant about 3 weeks after initiating the 12/12 light schedule.

If a leaf is the size of your hand or bigger, remove it.
If the stem is at least 1″ long, remove it.
Make sure to leave at least a few fan leaves on each main stem

Second Defoliation: Do this 4 weeks after the first defoliation

Repeat the same process
Focus on making sure all bud sites get direct exposure to the light and aren’t covered by leaves
After this, don’t remove leaves unless the plant is getting overly leafy, causing leaves to lay on each other and create wet spots
It’s okay to tuck leaves to expose buds

After defoliation, you should be able to see light from the grow light hitting the floor (if the floor is in shadow then remove more leaves).

Read the full defoliation tutorial.

Other flowering stage tips

Not too hot, not too humid – Maintain a good environment while buds are forming.
Keep plants healthy – Avoid bugs and nutrient deficiencies.

Leaves should appear green and healthy for most of the flowering stage. It’s normal for leaves to start turning yellow or looking rough the last 1-2 weeks before harvest, but before that, it’s a sign of a problem. If you notice discolored leaves, don’t ignore it. Do something! Your yields will thank you.

If using a net…

Once you initiate the flowering stage, stop tucking your stems under the first net.
Let the stems grow above the net. Each stem is going to develop into a main bud (sometimes called a “cola”).
Are the colas getting too close ot the light or starting to fall over?
- If the stems are wavy and falling over, or if some stems are growing taller than others, install a second net about 1 foot above the first one.
- This is not 100% necessary, but can be helpful if your stems stretch a lot after initiating 12/12 (a second net helps you arrange buds to make sure they fill the entire grow tent).
- Use the grid to stabilize your colas where you want them.
- If a stem is getting too close to the grow light, tuck it under that second net.
- Try to ensure your buds are all about the same height as each other and the same distance from the light.

Regardless of the exact method of training, the goal is to get all your buds about the same distance from the grow light. This maximizes yields.

6.) Harvest at the right time.

Harvest at the right time. Here’s a quick guide.

Not Ready

Baby buds (budlets) look like a ball of white hairs. These buds have many weeks to go!

If your buds are all white hairs, they’re just getting started. Expect much more fattening from here.

Watch out for pollen sacs!

If you started with feminized seeds from a trustworthy breeder, you should never see pollen sacs. But just in case, if you see pollen sacs instead of white hairs, it means your plant is growing male flowers and should be removed from the grow space immediately. Why toss male plants? Male flowers don’t contain much THC and their pollen causes nearby buds to grow seeds.

Immediately remove any plant that grows pollen sacs instead of white hairs. Learn more about male plants.

Still Not Ready

As the marijuana plant buds get closer to harvest, they thicken, and those white pistils start to darken and curl up. You’ll notice your buds are slowly getting thicker and denser. However, if you still have a lot of straight white pistils, like this bud, it means you still have a few weeks to go.

Ready to Harvest!

You’re in the ready-to-harvest window for cannabis when most of the hairs have darkened and curled in.

A bud is ready to harvest when most of the hairs darken and curl in.

Check out tons more pictures of ready-to-harvest buds from different strains!

Learn how to use a magnifier to look at buds for even more precision.

7.) Dry and jar buds properly.

Buds aren’t smokable directly off the plant because they’re mostly full of water. You need to dry and cure buds if you want to get bud quality like what you’re used to buying.

The simplest way to dry buds is to cut off the branches and hang each branch upside down until the buds are dry. Best done in a cool space.

Learn how to dry buds and cure them perfectly.

Time to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Conclusion: Summary of Key Steps for 1 Pound Yields in a 4×4′ Grow Tent

Growing over a pound of cannabis in a 4’x4’ grow tent is an achievable goal for any home grower (even a beginner) when following my strategic plan.

Here’s a recap of the key steps covered in this guide:

Start with high-yielding strains – Choose stable, fast-growing strains that are known for their heavy yields.
Get the right equipment – Invest in a quality grow light, tent, fans, etc. sized for your space. If you get good equipment, especially a good grow light, your equipment will do most of the work for you.
Top young plants – Cut the main stem early to promote bushy, wide growth.
Train plants to grow flat like a table – Use bending and tying down (or a trellis / scrog net) to “train” plants and create a wide even canopy that fills the entire grow space. Do this before you initiate the flowering stage.
Initiate flowering at the right time – Switch to 12/12 when plants are 1/2 the final desired size.
Strategic defoliation – Remove large leaves to “hack” the plant’s natural plant processes and force it to grow in a way that produces bigger, denser, and more potent buds. Best when done on a specific schedule. For example, a common schedule is to defoliate heavily at the beginning of the flowering stage, and then defoliate again 3 weeks later.
Control environment – Avoid excessive heat or humidity, and give plants lots of airflow. Luckily, if you started with good equipment and set up your grow space properly, you won’t have to worry about the environment.
Stay vigilant – Catch issues early and take corrective steps. Don’t ignore problems!
Harvest at peak maturity – Harvest buds at the right time.
Dry and cure buds – Dry buds in a good environment, then jar and cure them for a few weeks. This is crucial to achieve professional quality bud!

Follow these steps carefully throughout the grow and you can expect to harvest over a pound of dense, high-quality buds from a 4’x4’ grow tent setup! With some experience under your belt, yields of 1.5 pounds or greater become possible!

You might enjoy the following cannabis growing tutorials…

15 ways to improve cannabis yields

How to increase bud density

How to increase THC of buds (make buds more potent!)

The post How to Grow 1 Pound of Weed Indoors (Proven Method) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Grow Weed Easy – Learn How to Grow Cannabis Tutorials

Nebula Haze — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 22:07:58 +0000

Grow Weed Easy – Learn How to Grow Cannabis at Home

GrowWeedEasy.com teaches you the secrets of cannabis home grow.

Start Here: How to grow weed
Get Seeds: Seed Supreme & others
Sick Plants? See the plant doctor
When to Harvest? Harvest guide

Growing weed is easy when you know what to do, but most “how to grow marijuana” tutorials leave you feeling like you need a degree in horticulture.

We send useful cannabis grow tips, tactics, and lessons from actual home growers with years of growing experience.

Even a total beginner can consistently produce top-shelf weed by following our step-by-step home grow tutorials. 100% written by humans who care.

Who Made GrowWeedEasy.com?

Grow Weed Easy.com was started in 2010 by home growers Nebula Haze and Sirius Fourside. Together, we built a free online “encyclopedia of cannabis home grow” with 650+ expert home cannabis cultivation tutorials about every aspect of growing weed.

GrowWeedEasy.com is now the biggest and most comprehensive source of free home grow information in the world. We show you how easy it is to grow your own marijuana at home.

The GrowWeedEasy.com Ethos

Our Goal: You grow as much top-shelf weed as possible, with as little time and effort needed to grow your desired yields and cannabis bud quality.

Whether you’re a total beginner who wants to start growing cannabis indoors for the first time, or an experienced grower who wants to upgrade your skills to Pro level, this website was built for you.

Looking for a complete harvest system?

If you want dense, beautiful, great-smelling weed, our new digital book gives you our complete harvest system. Follow the straightforward instructions and massively upgrade your next harvest. A few small changes can make a huge difference to your results.

Get our fool-proof harvest system.

FOR SERIOUS GROWERS ONLY

🌟 $200 Off Special Offer: Enroll today in Home Grow Masterclass!

If you’re reading this right now, you want to grow great cannabis at home.

Cannabis plants isn’t a regular house plant, but learning how to grow isn’t as complicated growers make it seem. We’ve spent the last 16 years breaking down the home grow process so anyone can learn it.

The key to consistent harvest results is simple: follow a proven system developed for home growers.

You could waste an entire grow learning through trial and error…

Or take the shortcut and harvest a sea of fat, dense, beautiful buds that smell great. At home!

Follow our 5-week course and get walked through each part step-by-step. Build by experienced home growers and honed with hundreds of students since 2019, we ensure you achieve great results on your very next harvest.

Learn How To Grow Top-Shelf Weed at Home!

Start Your First Class TODAY!

You may be asking yourself these common growing questions:

“How do I grow marijuana indoors?”

Read this guide on how to grow marijuana indoors. Or check out this article to learn what materials you need to get started growing your own marijuana!

Luckily, it’s really easy to get a cannabis seed to sprout!

“How much money will it cost to get started?”

If you’re considering growing weed, it costs as little as $300 to get started growing or a bit more for a semi-automatic, high-yielding bubbleponics grow system. See examples of yields to expect, electricity use & startup costs for different setups. Read this article to see even more growing styles with different price ranges.

“Where can I get marijuana seeds?”

Check out our How to Buy Marijuana Seeds Online Guide (with delivery to every state of the USA) to safely get your hands on good genetics. Starting with good seeds lets you choose the looks, smell, and effects of your buds!

Learn where it’s safe to buy cannabis seeds online (2026 update).

What do good cannabis seeds look like?

Learn about the best marijuana beginner strains and how to research and find the right strain.

Cannabis buds are generally green, but can also be pink or purple with certain strains.

“How much will electricity cost each month?”

If you’re just growing a few marijuana plants for personal use, it will cost you $20-$100+/month for electricity, depending on what grow lights (electricity) and nutrients you use. On average, I’d say a hobby-size grower might pay about $50/month to grow, but it depends greatly on your setup and local electricity costs! How much will electricity cost each month?

“How can I increase my marijuana yields?”

We have quite a few techniques to choose from or combine! See some of our most popular pages:

Super Cropping – A simple technique to bigger yields
Simplest Guide to Growing Short & Bushy Marijuana Plants
LST (Low Stress Training) – Training your plants can easily double your harvest!
Or check out our page on the controversial defoliation technique

Even More Ways to Increase Cannabis Yields

Increase Light Intensity (plus choose right light for desired yields & possibly add CO2)
Manipulate How Plants Grow (a free way to yield more bud indoors)
Provide Right Nutrients (low Nitrogen in the flowering stage, and remember sometimes less is more!)
Control Growing Environment (let the growing environment work for you)
Harvest Plants Properly (most importantly, don’t harvest early!)
Lastly, it’s important to remember that the strain has a major effect on yields!

Two small cannabis plants can yield several ounces of premium weed!

“How can I grow weed privately?”

Read guide on growing weed indoors without anyone knowing. But remember the most important factors to stealth growing: “No tell, no smell, no sell.” Never tell anyone, not even your best friend, that you’re growing. Be on top of preventing smells, and never ever sell cannabis. Breaking one of those 3 principles is how 99% of growers get found out!

“What if my plants get sick?”

The most common issue a grower runs into is a pH imbalance. Barring that, your marijuana plants likely either have a nutrient deficiency, heat or light stress, or are being attacked by some sort of marijuana mold, pest or bug. Whether you call it weed, cannabis, sinsemilla, skunk, pot, marijuana, or something else, the plant known as Cannabis Sativa is a hardy weed in the wild and can actually be easy to grow indoors at home when you know what to do.

Growing Medical Marijuana

“Medical marijuana” has become a household name. The body of evidence for medical marijuana in the treatment of cancer and other illnesses is growing every day. And for those who need medical marijuana, growing weed indoors is the perfect way to ensure a safe, regular supply of buds, for cheap.

In fact, when you grow weed indoors for personal use, you often end up with way too much. If you catch the growing bug like I did, and if you start enjoying the process of tending your cannabis garden just for the sake of gardening, you’re going to have to find a way to press, cook, freeze, and concentrate all your extra buds. 🙂

As you probably know, both medical marijuana and recreational cannabis have been decriminalized or legalized in many places around the world and weed is becoming legal in more places every day! Yet there still aren’t many simple indoor “how to grow weed” guides for beginners (even for those who legally grow, such as medical marijuana users and those who live in places where marijuana is legalized for personal use).

If so, I know how you feel. It can be hard to weed out all the bad information on the internet and find well-researched, free tips or instructions on how to grow your own cannabis. That’s why Grow Weed Easy.com aims to be a simple online resource that explains from start to finish what you need to do when growing cannabis so you can learn how to grow cannabis with great yields and potent buds, even if you only have a small grow space like a closet or even a computer case.

We’ve grown cannabis out of closets and have gotten ounces of buds and you can too. Grow Weed Easy.com covers many popular cannabis cultivation topics, including:

A comparison between different cannabis grow lights including experience-based information about LED grow lights
A page that teaches you the basics of how to grow weed
Detailed how-to weed growing tutorials
How to start growing weed tomorrow (simplest cannabis growing guide!)
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Link Guide to Growing Cannabis Tutorials

Nebula Haze — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 03:08:57 +0000

by Nebula Haze

In addition to the search bar, this link guide helps you navigate through the Grow Weed Easy website. Learn about growing topics you won’t find anywhere else! This is a shortened list of all our cannabis growing tutorials, as the website has over 500 articles and tutorials!

Full List of EVERYTHING on GWE ← Over 500 Articles & Growing Tutorials!

Start Here – Beginner Grow Guides

Complete Beginner’s Guide
How do I start growing my own weed indoors? (get help choosing your setup)
How to Grow Weed in 10 Steps
Simplest Cannabis Grow Guide Ever!
How Long Does It Take to Grow Weed? (Marijuana Growth Timeline)
3 Steps from Beginner to Legendary Grower
Complete New Grower’s Shopping List

Cannabis Life Stages

Germination
Vegetative Stage (Getting Bigger)
Flowering Stage (Making Buds)
Harvest

Choosing…

Common New Grower Topics

Problems & Symptoms

Plant Training (Indoor Tricks for Bigger Yields)

Grow Mediums

Nutrients

Grow Lights

5 Best LED Grow Lights 2025 (Yields, Speed, & Bud Quality)
Compare Types of Cannabis Grow Lights
- Fluorescents (T5s) – Good for Seedlings Only (not powerful enough to produce potent buds or big yields)
- CFLs (Spiral Bulbs) – Not Recommended (LEDs are much better)
- LED Grow Lights – Recommended for Most Home Growers
- MH/HPS Grow Lights – Good Alternative to LEDs, But Run Much Hotter
- CMH / LEC Grow Lights – Good Alternative to LEDs, But Run Much Hotter
- Plasma / Magnetic Induction Grow Lights – Not Recommended (poor cannabis growth)
How Does Light Spectrum Affect Marijuana Plants?
How Far Away Do I Keep My Grow Lights?
You Can Actually Give Plants Too Much Light?!
Grow Light Upgrade Guide: Yields & Potency Explained
Cannabis Grow Lights: What’s the Best Size?

Best LED Grow Light Articles

5 Best LED Grow Lights 2025 (Yields, Speed, & Bud Quality)
LED Grow Lights: Too Much or Not Enough Light?
LED Grow Journal: Mars Hydro TSL-2000W vs Spider Farmer SF-2000
LEC vs LED Grow Lights: Side-by-Side Cannabis Grow Journal
Nebula’s Auto-Flowering Grow Journal (Topping vs Natural) – cannabis plants are grown under LED grow lights

Environment

Plant Care Tutorials

How to Improve…

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Bud Quality
- 7 Environment Effects on Bud Quality
- The Secret to Excellent Bud Quality
THC Levels
CBD Levels
Smell/Taste
Density
Bud Color (How to Grow Pink or Purple Buds)
Glitter (Make Buds Sparkle with More Trichomes)
Bonus: What Determines Yields?

Buying Seeds

Recommended Strains

Best Autoflowering Cannabis Strains for Yields & Potency
List of Sugar-Dusted Strains (Heavy Trichome Genetics)
10 Cold-Resistant Cannabis Strains
14 Heat-Resistant Cannabis Strains
Which cannabis strains stay short? (Best strains for small spaces)

Auto-Flowering Strains

Edibles

Decarboxylation: How to Decarb Your Weed (crucial step for just about every edible recipe)
Best Weed Butter Recipe
- How to Make Great Brownies with Weed Butter
Canna Caps
How to Make Cannabis Gummies (Weed Gummy Bears)
How to Make Cannabis Tinctures
How to Make Hash Oil (aka Cannabis Extract Oil, Rick Simpson Oil, or RSO)

Extracts (No Solvents Used in Any Recipe)

Solventless Extraction Showdown – Bubble Hash vs. Dry-Ice Hash!
Dry Ice Hash (Made with Dry Ice)
How to Make Bubble Hash (Made with Ice Water)
How To Make Your Own Homemade Rosin (dabs)

And Lots More!

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Weird or What? Cannabis Mutations & More!
Creatures on Cannabis (Cute Photo Gallery)
10 Gift Ideas for Cannabis Growers

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Happy growing!
Nebula & Sirius

Use this “Navigation” page to find the pot growing topic you’re interested in, or click here to see every single page on the website!

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Auto-flowering Grow Journal with 4 Plants – 6.7 oz Harvest

Nebula Haze — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 05:16:54 +0000

by Nebula Haze

Table of Contents

Supplies

Week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Final Yields & Strain Reviews

Blue AutoMazar
Critical Jack
Sour Diesel
Total Yields for Grow

Pros & Cons: My Thoughts on Auto-Flowering Strains

Reflection: How I Could Have Improved Grow

More Info on Training Auto-Flowering Strains

Conclusion

(Click Here to See a Photoperiod Grow Journal in This Same Setup)

Time Needed For This Auto-Flowering Cannabis Grow:
Seed to Harvest in 13 Weeks!

Supplies – Get Everything You Need to Copy This Grow!

Total Grow Time:
13 Weeks From Seed to Harvest (~3 Months)

Auto-Flowering Cannabis Strains

Dinafem Critical Jack (Recommended replacement: Critical Purple Auto)
Dinafem Sour Diesel (Recommended replacement: AK-47 Auto)
Dutch Passion Blue AutoMazar
Sweet Seeds Jack 47 (Recommended replacement: Black Jack Auto)

Growing medium

Coco Coir + Perlite – this article shows how I mixed these together with water to become the growing growing medium.
4 x 2-gallon Smart Pots – I should have gotten bigger containers, maybe 3 or 5-gallon. I had to water these ones all the time and if the pots had been bigger, it would have been a lot easier to care fore them because they’d need to be watered less often..
Rapid Rooters – to start seeds (these can be kept in the fridge between grows)

Setup

2’ x 4’ x 5’ Grow Tent
~~Sunburst 250W MH/HPS with Built-in Ballast~~
Note: This particular grow light model is no longer available. However, the SF-2000 LED grow light is an ideal replacement that gets similar yields even though it uses less electricity. Honestly, I loved the 250W HPS from this journal, but these new LEDs are better all around. Check out a grow journal featuring the SF-2000 where it smashed the results of another popular LED I tested it against.

Air Circulation: Two small clip-on fans circulating air around and over plants
Exhaust: Cheap booster ducting fan pointed out from the top inside vent. This is not a powerful fan, but with a small light like this, it’s enough to vent out all the heat and make sure your plants get access to plenty of fresh air. In addition to the ducting fan, if the room started getting hot, I used a window fan pointing out to vent that heat outside. For me, the temperature in the tent stayed around 78-83°F. That’s a little hot, but okay.

Nutrients

General Hydroponics Flora Trio
CaliMagic (Cal-Mag supplement, essential when growing in coco coir)
Here’s the nutrient schedule I used (PDF) (it’s basically the regular GH schedule for the Flora trio, but I cut the dosages in half and converted everything to imperial measurements (tsp, etc). You can use this schedule exactly as is for growing cannabis in coco coir.

Other Random Tools

Thermometer & Humidity Monitor
Power strip & electrical timer
Rope Ratchets to hang light
Measuring spoons (I got this particular set because it goes down to 1/32 tsp)
Dropper/Pippette (for pH testing)
General Hydroponics pH Kit

Start of Grow: October 13

Week 1

October 13 – 19

Baby Sprouts!

I noticed that the seedling in the lower right corner, the Jack 47, had two taproots coming from the same seed

When the leaves appeared, there were two different distinct sprouts – “twins.” I’ve heard of this happening before, but it was kind of neat to see it in person.

You can see a tiny set of leaves behind the main sprout

At this point, I didn’t realize the main sprout was a tri-leaf plant. As you can see if you look above, there are three cotyledons (round leaves) on the tall seedling, while the tiny seedling only has two.

I decided to kill the smaller sprout, though later I come to regret that as I end up running into all sorts of problems with the tri-leaf plant. From what I understand, tri-leaf plants are caused by polyploidy, which happens when their is abnormal cell division. This weirdness may also have been what caused there to be twins in this seed. In any case, I eventually have to throw away the tri-leaf plant. I wonder if things would have gone better if I killed the tri-leaf and nurtured the two-leaf Jack 47 plant.

Here’s the Jack 47 tri-leaf at the end of week 1 – it has three leaves at every node instead of just two. It’s beautiful isn’t it? At this point I’m hoping that extra leaves at each node will end up with more bud.

Week 2

October 20 – 26

Started some light LST (low stress training) to pull the main stems down and away from the center.

Here they are at start of Week 2

I do some LST, starting with the Jack 47 in the front right

End of Week 2

All the plants seem to be growing well except the Sour Diesel. It has been suffering from what looks like an iron deficiency ever since it first sprouted.

Here’s a closeup

The leaves come out yellow, then slowly turn green. I think it may be an iron deficiency.

I thought it would grow out of it, but by the end of week 2 I decided to check the pH of the runoff (which I should have been doing the whole time) and saw that the Sour Diesel’s runoff was way too high.

I started giving nutrients at a 5-5.5 pH every time I watered the Sour Diesel plant until the runoff started coming out around 6. I think it took a week or two. I also started giving more CaliMagic, now at 1/2 tsp/gallon every watering. As you’ll see the yellowing eventually clear itself up after a while with the Sour Diesel.

The Jack 47 does something weird in week 2. One of the growth tips kind of splits off where a growth node will be, kinda like the plant topped itself on just one of the three sides. So it had three growth tips per node, and one kind of splits off. On the right is a normal cola, now with just 2 leaves per node. On the left side of the split, the stem grows very strange, a whirl of leaves with no apparent growth tips.

Left – strange whirled cola. Right – now is a normal cola with 2 leaves per node.

I don’t know it yet, but this whirled cola is going to become a useless, leafy mass. I should have cut it off at this point. Though that probably wouldn’t have changed the fate of this plant….

Week 3

October 27 – November 2

Pistils appear on the Blue AutoMazar and Critical Jack at the end of week 3, both showing pistils on the same day.

I did more LST on all the plants this week, though the Sour Diesel is just pulled over a bit since it’s smaller than the others.

Low Stress Training – I’m trying to pull the main colas down and away from the light

Here’s what the plants look like after being LST’ed

About plant training

When I started LST’ing the main stems down and away from the center of the light, my idea was I wanted to break the apical dominance (the tendency of the plant to grow just one main cola) by depriving the main colas of light. My hope was that if the main cola didn’t have enough light, this would cause the lower branches to become main colas.

My idea was to do this instead of Topping or FIMing (pinching/cutting off the tip) the plant, which is how I would normally start a plant training regiment, but I didn’t want to cut these plants since they were my first autos and everyone tells you not to cut autos.

Well, as you’ll see in a little bit, this strategy of bending away from the light to break apical dominance did not work for any of the plants. These autos appear to have an incredibly strong apical dominance. Even when the main colas were deprived of light, the plant still focused on them instead of the side buds. So in the end I actually bent the main colas back under the light. You’ll see the crazy bending I did when you see the plants’ “skeletons” after harvest.

Next time I grow autos, I definitely plan to FIM them. Despite what everyone says, I think the plants would have recovered quickly and it would have broken the apical dominance while giving me a better platform to LST.

Week 4

November 3 – 9

Pistils appeared on the Sour Diesel at the beginning of this week. At this point all plants have pistils except the Jack 47.

We had a crazy heat wave this week, and I kept accidentally overwatering the plants to make sure they didn’t dry out, and to help them cope with the dry heat. They are looking a little droopy but still growing fast.

Here they are at end of Week 4 – still droopy but growing fast! Some of the plants are starting to stretch and I’ve bent the plants down wider to keep things flat.

For the next few weeks, I will be bending down any growth tips that grow taller than the others. The goal is to keep the whole canopy the same height, so all plants get the same amount of light from the 250W HPS.

Week 5

November 10 – 16

Jack 47 shows a few pistils. At this point I’m hoping it’s just going to flower a little later than the others, but considering how weird this plant has been so far with the twin seedlings, the tri-leaf and the splitting of the main cola, I’m not holding my breath.

I installed a webcam last week, and I’m using this lamp (with a heavy base) to hold it up. There’s no light bulb, I’m just using the frame to hold up the webcam.

They’re really starting to stretch now! The two on the left (Blue AutoMazar and Critical Jack) have really taken off and started producing buds. The Sour Diesel is catching up, and the Jack 47 in the front right hasn’t grown any buds yet.

At the end of this week, I got some Method 7 glasses, which let me see my plants in full color under the HPS grow light, and it can also be used to take better-color pictures. So from now on, be prepared for better pics! 🙂

I got a pair of Method 7 glasses made for HPS and show your plants in true color under HPS grow lights. The Method 7 company also have an LED version for you LED growers out there!

Week 6

November 17 – 23

Here are the plants at the beginning of Week 6

A view from the side

Everyone is now in full swing making buds except for the Jack 47 plant in the front right, which still only has a handful of pistils.

The Sour Diesel plant is still suffering from yellow new growth, like it has from the beginning. But it is now growing vigorously and I had to do some LST to keep the height down. The buds are also beginning to form. We’ll see what happens next with this plant!

The Sour D still has yellow new/inner growth, but seems to be growing well now

I did some LST and light defoliation on the other plants

The buds are starting to look pretty!

Week 7

November 24 – 30

Tossed the Jack 47. It wasn’t making buds yet, and still just had a few hairs/pistils around the joints. It has been a thorn in my side the entire grow. At this point, I decided it was just a waste of space. Even if it started flowering immediately, it would still be 4 weeks behind the others, and honestly I was a little annoyed with the plant. I felt a sense of relief when I threw it away.

Week 8

December 1 – 7

The two new plants in solo cups (on the right) are catnip plants I started growing for my cat 🙂

Week 9

December 8 – 14

Busy week!

First off, I started using the Lux Meter we had laying around, and I found out I could move my plants a few inches to get more light to them. I explain it all here:

Learn more about using Lux Meters for growing cannabis

It’s SMELLY in the grow room this week. I’ve just invested in some ONA blocks for the living spaces in the home to keep any guests from being assaulted by the smell of cannabis when they come through the door. ONA products are extremely good at getting rid of odors and replacing them with a clean ONA scent.

The only thing to keep in mind about ONA products is they can’t share air with your flowering plants. For example if you put an ONA product in your tent with your flowering plants, all your buds with smell/taste like perfume after harvest, because the ONA is removing their natural smell and replacing with ONA smell. The perfume smell never goes away – it’s permanent, even after months and months. I learned this one from experience a few years ago, so don’t make the same mistake I did!

From left to right: Dinafem Critical Jack, Dinafem Sour Diesel, Dutch Passion Blue AutoMazar

I normally don’t take them out of the tent, but I wanted to do some leaf checking

Week 10

December 15 – 21

At this point I still have 3+ weeks to go before harvest, but when I was taking pictures of the plants, I noticed that just one bud from the Critical Jack plant looked like it was ready for harvest already. All the leaves had turned completely yellow and everything was starting to curl in.

On closer inspection, I realized that I must have accidentally broken the stem at the base of this bud at some point, and so the bud was basically just drying out on the plant.

There was nothing I could do except harvest it, which means I’ll get to sample some of the Critical Jack buds early 🙂

Here’s the stem after I cut it off the plant, and it smells!

In fact the whole grow space is INCREDIBLY stinky with this grow, worse than any other grow I’ve been through. I wasn’t sure which plant was the culprit, but after bringing this one small stem downstairs, it stunk up the whole floor. Now I’m pretty sure it’s this Critical Jack that is making the entire grow space reek of fuel.

Here’s a closeup

I trimmed the buds and prepared them for drying & curing.

Here’s another closeup. Make sure you click on the pic so you can see the full-size and zoom in! I took a macro shot so you can see all the trichomes.

I will be drying this out, doing a 2-week cure, then “testing” it for potency 🙂

Week 11

December 22 – 28

Finished drying the extra nugs from last week. I dried it for several days on the stem, and I think I may have overdried them a little bit, but c’est la vie. It’s important that there’s a little moisture for the curing process to happen properly, so I’m hoping there’s still some moisture in the middle of the buds that will work its way to the outside during the cure.

Click pic for closeup!

I weighed the buds, and together they came out to 2.9 grams.

In the tent it’s mostly just watering and waiting. Unless I run into some sort of problem, there’s not much left for me to do until harvest.

Week 12

December 29 – January 4

As we get close to the end, each plant is about 1’x1′, and about 18″ tall when you include the 2-gallon pots.

All 3 of the plants are about the same width and length because I trained them to grow in that shape with LST/bending. They could have been a different shape/width/length if I’d trained them to be.

Blue AutoMazar Harvest

1/3 plants harvested! I harvested Blue AutoMazar on Dec 31.

This plant was 79 days old from seed (2 months 18 days). It really makes me appreciate how quick-to-harvest these auto-flowering strains can be. I planted the seed in mid-October and was able to harvest the first plant before the New Year 🙂

I also made a video of the trichomes from the day before harvest if you’d like to check it out:

Blue AutoMazar is on the right. The other two plants will be harvested in a few weeks.

A view from above

All the buds that were facing the 250W HPS light turned purple, but the rest were mostly green. This pic shows the side that was facing the HPS.

The buds displayed a lot of different colors; some were mostly green, some were mostly purple.

This cola is particularly purple compared to the others

This shows the “structure” of the plant. I used LST (bending) to train the plant to be short to take the most advantage of the 250W HPS grow light.

Yay! Harvest day is the best 🙂

Hanging to dry in my closet

Week 13

January 5 – 11

Critical Jack Harvest

Harvested Critical Jack on Jan 5, at 85 days old, or 2 months, 24 days from seed

A side view

Some closeups of the Critical Jack buds just before harvest

The structure of the plant “under the hood”

Holding up the full harvest from the Critical Jack plant

Hanging to dry

Sour Diesel Harvest

Harvested Sour Diesel on Jan 9, at 88 days old, or 2 months, 27 days from seed

Look at the LST on some of the colas – even after being bent over, the stems still formed lots of chunky buds

A different one

After all the buds were taken off except the main one, this is what the plant looked like

Final Yields & Strain Reviews

Blue AutoMazar
(harvested December 31, weighed January 5)

Altogether, the Blue AutoMazar plant yielded 66.7 grams, or about 2.3 ounces. These buds appeared to be the largest, but were lighter and more airy than the other buds.

Blue AutoMazar – 2.3 ounces

Blue AutoMazar Strain Review:

Potency: Body effect, medium potency as far as pure power. These buds were the least “strong” of all the buds harvested. These buds are relaxing and calming. I think this one would be a good one for anti-anxiety. It didn’t make me tired, but I felt relaxed and at peace. For me this strain is great for relaxation and pleasant introspection.
Taste/Smell: Sweet and soft but not fuity, these buds don’t have a particularly strong scent, and they don’t really smell that much like cannabis. They don’t have a “skunkiness” to them at all and smell like some other unidentified scent. It might be a good strain for a stealth grow.
Bud Structure: This plant looked like it was going to be the rockstar of the grow as far as yields. It had the biggest buds. When we jarred them they nearly filled up 3 quart-sized jars, so I was expecting to get a little under 3 ounces (generally a jar holds about an ounce, give or take). I was surprised and a little disapointed when the final weight came out to 2.3 ounces. But it makes sense after I was exposed to the consistency of the buds; they are lighter and more airy than the other strains.

Critical Jack
(harvested Jan 4, 2015, weighed Jan 8, 2015)

Altogether, the Critical Jack plant yielded 60.1 grams, or about 2.1 ounces.

The Critical Jack buds were the most dense of the three strains. Before they were dried, it was hard to tell what to expect from each plant because of the water weight, but after they dried the denseness of the Critical Jack became a lot more apparent!

Critical Jack – 2.1 ounces

Critical Jack Strain Review:

Potency: Body/mind effect, high potency. This one is about equal to the Sour Diesel when it comes to pure “strength.” I’d say the buds are comparable to photoperiod strains. These buds have a tingly body effect that eventually moves up to your head, too. This one made me feel really good physically. I think this one could be a good choice for pain, spasms, stress or tensed up muscles.
Taste/Smell: This plant was the strongest smelling of all of them. It’s probably one of the stinkiest plants I’ve ever grown, actually. It has a sweet and spicy odor that pierces through your nostrils 🙂
Bud Structure: These buds were the most dense, the most sticky, and the most sparkly of all the plants. They probably have the highest bag appeal.

Sour Diesel
(harvested 1/9/15, weighed 1/15/15)

Here are the buds after they’ve been dried. Altogether, the Sour Diesel plant yielded 63.6 grams, or about 2.2 ounces on 1/15/14.

Sour D – 2.2 ounces

Sour Diesel Strain Review:

Potency: Body/mind effect, high potency. These buds were tied with Critical Jack as far as the potency, and could compete with the photoperiod strains we have in the house as far as pure strength. Very strong initial head/body effect – I found myself putting hand to my head after I tried it (“headband”). This one was good all over and had really strong mental and body effects. I think this one is the most “recreational” of all the plants I grew.
Taste/Smell: True to its namesake, this plant has a sort of diesel and spicy sour taste/smell.
Bud Structure: Dense, sticky and covered with bright orange hairs, this plant grew long spear-like buds. After a slow start (this plant was way behind the others in the beginning), it really chunked up and ended up being the 2nd as far as yields.

Final Yield: 6.7 ounces

Between the 3 plants I harvested 190.4 grams, or about 6.7 ounces

Post-Grow Thoughts on Auto-Flowering Strains

Before this grow, I’d never grown any auto-flowering strains. I’d seen a few back in 2010 and wasn’t impressed, but the genetics have obviously improved greatly. This was an adventure! I’ve grown photoperiod strains for years, and I always wondered what growing these auto strains would be like. I thought it might be helpful for other growers to learn some of the things I noticed throughout the grow.

Pros

Short harvest! I planted these on October 13, and harvested the first plant before New Years! With these auto-flowering plants, I was able to harvest 1-2 months earlier compared to growing with photoperiod strains – it felt crazy how fast harvest came. If you need cannabis fast, than growing autos is definitely the way to do it.
Light Schedules – No need to worry about light schedules or light leaks, though this didn’t really make much difference to me since I was already growing in a tent, and changing the timer to initiate flowering only takes a minute or two.
Medicinal Qualities – These buds felt more medicinal than the majority of strains I’ve run into. This may be because auto-flowering cannabis strains tend to have much higher levels of CBD than most high-THC photoperiod strains. Learn more about THC vs CBD. Even after enjoying a lot of buds at once, the effects weren’t as “racing” as some of the really high-THC, low CBD strains, and I think some people might actually prefer the effects of the auto-flowering buds. They all made me feel very pleasant and helped melt away stress, without being overwhelming. I like that with these strains I’m able to build up the positive effects as much as I want without running into adverse effects or feeling like it’s “too much.” I think autos might be a good choice for many medical marijuana patients.
Potency: I was surprised and delighted that the two Dinafem strains seemed to hold their own against photoperiod strains when it comes to pure strength and potency.

Cons

Some Strains Have Lower Potency: I think growers need to be aware that some auto-flowering strains may not be as hard-hitting as many of the photoperiod strains. For example the Blue Mazar produced really nice effects; it’s great for relaxation while allowing me to still be functional, but I’m not sure this particular auto-flowering strain would be a good choice for someone seeking mind-bending buds for recreational use.
Bud Structure: If you’re looking for the most eye-catching buds that will win the next beauty contest, than autos are probably not for you. The buds I grew weren’t as sparkly as the best photoperiod strains, though they were still very pretty. They also seemed to have a slightly different structure than most photo plants; they generally had more and larger sugar leaves (which I assume helps the plant grow vegetatively even while it’s making buds) but that makes them look leafier than photoperiod buds.
No Control Over When Flowering Begins: I didn’t like the lack of control caused by the auto-flowering trait. For example I had to toss one of my plants because it didn’t auto, and I believe that lowered my final yields because there was a “hole” in the canopy I’d created, so that extra light was being wasted. With photoperiod plants, you can get all the plants to flower exactly when you want, even if they’re different ages or sizes, so that particular problem wouldn’t happen in a photoperiod grow.
Training – Any LST Happens in the Flowering Stage: After week 3 the plants had buds growing on them, so when it came time to do a training/bending session, I was worried about bumping into or crushing buds while I was trying to bend the stems. It worked out okay in the end, and I’m very happy with the results, but the whole time I felt like I was actively trying to avoid injuring any of the fledgling buds. It felt stressful. I like how with a photoperiod plant you do your training in the vegetative stage, when the plant is hardy and almost impossible to truly injure. You can drop your light on a photoperiod plant in the vegetative stage and it will recover just fine, but with the autos I felt I had to be a lot more gentle when it came to training. Many growers recommend that you shouldn’t train autos, and should just let them grow naturally, and I do believe that would have made things a lot easier, although it would probably lower the final yields. Next time I grow auto-flowering plants, I plan on topping them.

Reflection: How I Could Have Improved the Grow

Nutrients – Full strength nutrients (based on the schedule by General Hydroponics) was way too much, even with several plain-water waterings in between. I ended up using the GH nutrient trio at half strength, and after the first few weeks I only gave nutrients every 2nd watering, with plain pH’ed water the rest of the time. I didn’t seem to have any problems when I altered to half strength. I do recommend adding an extra plain water watering in hot weather, or if you see signs of tip burn. Here’s the exact nutrient schedule (PDF) I was using at the end. It’s nothing special, just the regular General Hydroponics schedule at half strength, and converted into imperial measurements (tsp instead of ml measurements).
Light – If I could do it again, I’d get a 250W HPS light with a bigger reflector and separate ballast. I originally wanted a 250W HPS with a wing reflector, but I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for in my price range. I ended up getting this 250W with built-in ballast, and it’s convenient because it’s plug-and-play, but it has a reduced light footprint compared to a dedicated reflector. In other words, a wider reflector would create a bigger area that has usable light. I think the buds on the edges of this grow would have gotten more light if I’d used a wider reflector. I also think it might have been a little cooler in the tent if the ballast could be kept outside the grow area. Still, I am very impressed with this light and I don’t plan to trade it in or buy a new one. The built-in reflector, and the temps were completely adequate for my needs.
Pot Size – I may consider using 5 or 7-gallon smart pots next time. The 2-gallon smart pots were very small for this grow. I ended up having to water the plants every other day and sometimes daily when it got hot or dry. The frequent watering was needed because the pots were too small to hold enough water to last the roots a few days. Part of why I chose such small pots was to fit the 4 plants inside this tent under the grow light. If I could do it again, I probably would have put them in bigger smart pots. Then again, the plants grew fast and well, so maybe I just need to commit to watering every other day and get a better way to water them.

On Training Auto-Flowering Plants

I always train my plants for better yields, but with auto plants everyone warns you not to use any cutting or high stress training techniques like topping or pinching/FIMing because their veg stage is so short they don’t have time to recover.

So without cutting techniques, if I wanted to train the plants I was only left with Low Stress Training (bending stems to the plant grows in the shape you want). LST is a great cannabis training technique, and increases your yields dramatically even when used alone, but it works best when combined with cutting or pinching off the top of the plant when the plant is young. Topping/pinching instantly increases the number of colas/main buds and gives you a symmetrical “platform” to start with, so it annoyed me that I had to work with one main cola that had strong apical dominance.

Despite the warnings I’ve heard from other growers, I wish I’d FIMed (pinched the top off of) or topped these plants when they were young. I’ll never know if it would have turned out better, but from what I saw I believe I would have gotten bigger yields if I had broken their apical dominance from the start. If I had to do this again, I would FIM or top the plants when they have about 3-4 nodes (but only if the plant was growing vigorously, if it was struggling like my Sour D was at the beginning, I would leave it alone until it was healthy). Careful FIMing or topping does not slow down growth much in a healthy plant, and I believe that would have made training much easier (less time needed on the grower’s part doing intricate LST) while making multiple main colas for bud-making. I think it would have been easier to spread out each plant under the light if it had more colas right from node 3 or 4.

But if an auto-flowering plant is struggling or slow growing, I think it’s incredibly important to avoid any type of high stress techniques! It could stunt your plant. Every time you stress an auto-flowering plant, you slow down growth to some extent. That means you’re losing that time forever since these plants have a set number of days to live – it’s a fight against the clock! I believe you have to find a smart balance of finding just the right type of stress to make a better plant structure, but not enough stress to stunt your auto-flowering plant. I definitely can’t recommend anything since I haven’t done it myself!

Conclusion

Overall I’m really glad I did this grow and got a chance to try growing auto-flowering cannabis strains.

They impressed me with their quick time-to-harvest and yields. Their medicinal qualities were better than nearly all the buds I run into, even some of the high-CBD medicinal strains like Harlequin (which never really did anything for me).

I was initially worried the buds wouldn’t be as strong, and I was very pleased to find out the potency of the two Dinafem auto strains were as good as the photoperiod strains we have in the house. Auto-flowering strains have really come a long way from the original “Lowrider” strains when it comes to potency!

I think auto-flowering strains are the perfect choice for a lot of people, especially medical marijuana patients, people who don’t have time to train their plants, or those who need a harvest soon. But for me, the downsides outweighed the upsides, and although I’ll probably visit autos again in the future, I’ll be a growing a photoperiod plant for my next grow!

Jump to…

Auto-Flowering vs Photoperiod Strains

Plant Training for Bigger Yields

1st Grow in My Garage – Auto Northern Lights – 5.35 oz Harvest

5 Ways to Increase Yields When Growing Indoors

The post Auto-flowering Grow Journal with 4 Plants – 6.7 oz Harvest appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

600W Hydroponic Grow Journal – 23.09 oz Harvest!

Nebula Haze — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 16:13:42 +0000

by Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside

Quick Grow Snapshot

Strains: Blackjack & Wonder Woman
Grow medium: Hydroponics / top-fed DWC (deep water culture)
Grow Light: 600W HID
- Metal Halide (MH) bulb in vegetative stage
- High Pressure Sodium (HPS) bulb in flowering stage
Nutrients or Additives: General Hydroponics Flora Trio & Hydroguard (formally Aquashield)

View the complete grow setup here

June 16: Seeds sprouted
August 22: Switched to 12-12 flowering light schedule
November 19: Harvest!

Vegetative Stage: 67 days (2 months, 6 days)
Flowering Stage: 89 days (2 months, 28 days)

Total Time – Seed to Harvest:
156 days (5 months, 3 days)

Final Yield
23.09 oz

View full grow journal below!

Vegetative Stage

We started with 2 feminized BlackJack and 2 feminized Wonder Woman seeds.

Because these seeds were feminized, we knew that all the seeds would grow into bud-producing female plants, so we didn’t have to worry about sexing these seeds as they grow older. Learn about buying cannabis seeds online (including feminized seeds), right here.

Here’s a quick diagram to show how growing in a top-fed DWC hydropnic system works:

Learn more about growing cannabis with bubbleponics

Seeds were sprouted June 16 via the paper towel method and were transferred to rockwool cubes and placed in DWC system on June 17. All 4 seedlings were initially placed in one tub together for easy care. Later all chosen plants can be moved to their own tub.

June 17 – Sprouted seeds placed in system

We initially started plants on 24 hour light schedule (24 hours of light a day), but kept the new seedlings several feet under the powerful Metal Halide bulb (which was also turned down to 60% power). The reservoir was filled with plain pH’ed tap water until the plants grew their second set of “real” (serrated) cannabis leaves.

Becasue of the top-fed aspect to our DWC system, we didn’t need to worry about watering the seedlings. We simply needed to sit back and wait for the sprouts to appear above ground, and for the roots to follow the top-drip down into the water reservoir below.

Here they are a few days later on June 29. By this point, we had turned the Metal Halide light onto 100% power, and had moved the light a little closer. This is also when we began adding nutrients to the water, at about 1/4 strength compared to the directions provided by General Hydroponics for a recirculating hydroponic system.

June 29 – Given their first nutrients!

One of the net pots is removed, so you can see the water reservoir below.

You can see that the top right BlackJack seedling is struggling behind the other three seedlings. Luckily, we planted 2 seeds from each strain so that we would be able to throw away the two least-healthy seedlings. Some seedlings just come out of the gate faster than the others, and we look for the ones that seem to be growing fast & healthy, and which have healthy roots.

July 11

We selected the most healthy and vigorous seedling from each strain to become the main plants for our grow.

July 13 – Chose best plant from each strain

We moved our 2 winners into their own separate tubs.

July 15 – Moved to separate tubs

July 18 – Started plant training (main-lining)

Learn all about the main-lining technique here:
https://www.growweedeasy.com/main-lining-technique-nugbuckets

We began main-lining them, which involves using cutting and training techniques to create a manifold at the roots with 8 main colas.

This was our first time main-lining a cannabis plant!

We began by topping down to the 3rd node (set of leaves), then cleaning off all other vegetation that wasn’t on the 3rd node.

At this point, the young vegetating plants were over a month old. Normally it is considered best to start main-lining plants when they have about 6 nodes in total.

When we main-lined our plant, they had more nodes, and were a bit older than they needed to be. While this didn’t affect our results with main-lining, it did unnecessarily add a few extra weeks onto our vegetative stage time.

While we were pleased with our results (as you will see), we believe we should have begun main-lining earlier, and we believe doing so would have cut off a couple extra weeks from our veg time.

July 24 – immediate after second cut

The next step to main-lining is to main-lining is to again top the plants. Now that the plant has been topped twice, she has 4 main colas.

A day later, here’s a view from above the Wonder Woman (click for closeup)

July 26 – Removed other growth tips, leaving just 4 mains

At this point we only have 4 growth tips on the plant. We want 8, so we will repeat this process one more time.

During this point, we had a heat wave. And we believe that the plants seemed to be growing a bit more slowly than usual.

August 1 – Topped again for 8 mains

After the two plants had grown a bit bushy again, with a few more growth tips, we topped both plants again for total of 8 mains. This is basically the end of our main-lining and plant training.

Before

After

Here they are!

Now that we have main-lined the plants to produce 8 main colas, we must give them a little bit more time to gain some size before we signal them to start budding by changing the timers to a 12-12 flowering light schedule.

By allowing plants to get a bit bigger in the vegetative stage, we prepare the perfect structure to produce a lot of buds and get the most from the grow light in the flowering stage.

The only “training” we are doing at this point is tying down any branches down and away from the center of the plant. This helps the plant spread out in a desirable shape with a flat canopy.

Other than that, we are just giving the plants nutrient water and allowing them to naturally grow into a beautiful main-lined shape.

August 13 – Plants are starting to get bushy again

Flowering Stage

August 22 – Switched to the Flowering Stage

Flowering time! This is when plants start making buds!

We changed the timer to be on a 12-12 “flowering” schedule to initiate flowering. The process of giving a photoperiod cannabis plant 12 hours of light and 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness each day caused the cannabis plants to “get the message” that winter was coming and it was time to start flowering..

Growers artificially create a 12-12 light environment for cannabis plants grown indoors to signal the plant to start flowering (making buds).

We switched to the 12-12 flowering light schedule on August 22, so plants were vegged for just under 9 weeks.

While it is generally recommended to switch to an HPS bulb during the flowering stage, we kept the Metal Halide in for a little bit extra time as the blue light from the Metal Halide tends to reduce “stretching.” The yellow light from an HPS is great for flowering/budding, but does tend to cause the plant to grow taller or “stretch” more.

Whenever a cannabis plant is switched to flowering, it will tend to grow a lot of height all at once, known as the “flowering stretch.” By keeping the Metal Halide bulb in for a bit longer, we hoped to reduce the stretch a bit, since we were very happy with the structure of the plant.

August 25 – A view of the two plants

August 28 – The grow tent is starting to get filled up

August 29 – We switched to an HPS bulb to help promote flowering

You will notice that the HPS bulb produces a much more yellow light spectrum. This yellowish/pink light spectrum helps promote budding in cannabis plants. At this point, we still have not seen signs of flowers/buds (which show up as wispy white hairs on the joints of the stems for female plants).

September 7 – Flowering stretch! Look how much they’ve grown in just 9 days

As you will soon see, pretty much all the extra growth that was added during the flowering stretch will turn into long thick colas covered in buds.

Here are those first buds beginning to form

The manifolds we created in the vegetative stage have grown strong and thick, providing a steady supply of nutrients to the plants from the roots:

September 11 – Buds are popping up everywhere

September 19

September 20 – The Wonder Woman is fattening up faster than the BlackJack

BlackJack Bud

Wonder Woman Bud

September 28

September 30 – Comparison of the colas

The BlackJack colas are growing long, thin and spear-shaped, absolutely covered in trichomes

Throughout the flowering stage, the BlackJack has proven to be extremely sensitive to nutrients, and has shown signs of nutrient burn (burnt leaf tips) even at 1/4 strength levels of the General Hydroponic nutrients.

It’s important to note that the heat may be partially a cause of this. Plants drink a lot more water when the temperature is higher, and this may contribute to nutrient overload (nutrient burn) when it’s hot. This is why DWC growers may notice that plants seem to prefer lower levels of nutrients in the summer when they’re drinking a lot of water.

The Wonder Woman colas are growing extremely thick and rounded

In contrast to the BlackJack, the Wonder Woman seems to continue demanding more and more nutrients throughout the flowering stage. We struggled with her showing yellowing leaves (not getting enough nutrients) even while the BlackJack was showing signs of nute burn at the same nutrient strength.

We upped the nutrient strength for the Wonder Woman to nearly twice as much nutrients as the BlackJack from this point on.

I also must admit I was a bit disappointed at how the BlackJack plant was growing at first in the flowering stage (she was a dream in veg during the plant training). But at this point in the flowering stage, she didn’t impress me at all.

All the buds were thin and spear-shaped, while the Wonder Woman was growing these huge top-heavy buds. However, the BlackJack colas were incredibly long and continued to steadily fatten up throughout the flowering stage.

Despite the lack of bud growth so far, the smell from the BlackJack is already amazing, very spicy like a Haze strain, though this smell will get pretty overwhelming in the grow tent by the time harvest approaches. The Wonder Woman produced fat indica looking buds with a throw-back skunky smell that didn’t appear until later in flowering, and not as intense of a smell as the BlackJack.

Things were going great, then…

Another problem…

About 6 weeks after changing to the 12-12 flowering light schedule, we ran into another problem, only this problem actually made us happy 🙂

The plant colas were getting extremely heavy, and stems felt ridiculously weak in comparison. By week 6, the colas were falling all over each other and we were worried about mold (from fat buds touching each other), and also about making sure we were maximizing light to the leaves and colas.

October 9 – Buds start falling over

Plant Support Spools: We got a very helpful tool made exactly for this scenario, known as “plant support spools” from our local hydro store (examples: Sun Spool, Support Spool, Yoyo plant hanger, etc) in order to hold up the colas.

These worked fabulously, and allowed us to hang each cola directly from the top of the grow tent, opening up the plant to both reduce the chance of mold while allowing a great deal more leaf surface area to capture energy from the grow lights above.

Take a look!

October 11 – Tied plants up with plant support spools

Close-up of a support spool below
(hooks the heavy cola directly to the ceiling of the grow tent with string)

October 18 – Buds are continuing the develop

A BlackJack cola

A Wonder Woman cola

October 24 – Everything is still fattening up nicely

A view of the grow tent, with a blue lighter in the middle for size comparison

From this point, the buds are continuing to fatten, but we are most concerned with the color of the “trichomes” (glittery stuff that covers the buds).

Here is what the trichomes look at this point – still mostly clear
(which means it’s too early to harvest)

When looking at these trichomes under a microscope, we can see them turn from clear to milky-white as the cannabis grows in potency.

When the THC begins to degrade, the milky-white trichomes will begin to turn a golden color (often referred to as “amber”). For a more “stony” effect from the buds (and less of the racing thoughts or paranoia which is slightly more common with early-harvested buds), we opt to harvest our buds after at least a few trichomes have begun to turn amber.

Learn more about when to harvest: https://www.growweedeasy.com/harvest

November 17 – Getting close to harvest…

The BlackJack is listed as having a 9-11 week flowering time, while the Wonder Woman is 8-10 weeks. These times are generally considered to start when the plant first starts showing signs of flowers/buds, which usually happens about 2 weeks after switching to a 12-12 flowering light schedule for female cannabis plants. In my experience, and from what I’ve heard from other growers, both these strains tend to do better when left a bit longer than the breeder’s estimate.

Yet no matter what is stated by the breeder of a strain, I highly recommend using a magnifer to look at the trichomes of a cannabis plant. Each plant is a bit different, and the trichomes are the best way to know the exact right time to harvest.

Learn how to determine exactly when to harvest your cannabis so your buds have the greatest potency and medical effects:
https://www.growweedeasy.com/harvest

On November 17, we saw what we were looking for plants finally appeared ready to harvest!

Here’s a look at the trichomes…

We took these videos using the Carson zOrb hooked up to a laptop

BlackJack Trichomes

Wonder Woman Trichomes

At this point, we began flushing the plants (feeding them pure pH’ed water until harvest):

Before we harvested the plant, we were hoping to pull a pound from the tent this grow, and we were feeling very hopeful as the buds were long, dense, and covered in resin.

November 19 – Harvest!

Buds were harvested on November 19, trimmed (and it was a very easy trim job due to the fact that pretty much all the buds came from huge colas with no larfy smaller buds, due to the main-lining we’d completed in the vegetative stage).

A big cola from the Wonder Woman plant

The BlackJack buds weren’t as thick, but still long, dense and covered in trichomes

The buds were hung upside down to dry in our grow tent

Buds dried for about 6 days until smaller stems started snapping, and buds were cut off the branches everything was jarred up. We made medical cannabis oil capsules out of the trim.

Final dry yield was 23.09 ounces for 2 plants

We weighed everything out on our digital scale after buds were dried and trimmed, before placing in jars. We were expecting about a pound (16 oz), so we were both pleasantly surprised by the final yields!

Learn how to grow your own cannabis plants exactly like this below!

Is It Time to Grow Your Own?

Here’s a list of everything used in this grow journal:
(get more info about this setup from the grower right here)

Cannabis Strains From This Journal

Wonder Woman – Creates many, MANY top-heavy bud sites. High yield. Very potent.
BlackJack – Covered in trichomes (great for extracts or hash). Pungent spicy smell similar to a Haze. Highly requested medical strain.

Where can I buy seeds safely?

Growing Environment

Grow Tent:
GrowLab GL120 ( 3’11” x 3’11” x 6’7″)

The grow tent is set up near a window in so we could exhaust the heat from the lights.

Grow Lights & Exhaust

Ballast (for 600W bulbs):
GGL 600W Dimmable ballast

Bulbs:

MH bulb: SunMaster 600 Watt Cool Deluxe
HPS bulb: Digimax Digital Lamp 600 Watt

Hood/Reflector: Sun Systems Blazer 6” Reflector

Exhaust Fan:
Can-Fan Max 6” with speed control

6″ Ducting

Learn how to hook everything up (grow lights & exhaust)

Growing Medium

Hydroponics: Deep water culture (DWC) hydroponic system with top-feed, also known as “Bubbleponics”

Learn how to grow this way: Top-Fed DWC “Bubbleponics” tutorial

Nutrients: General Hydroponics Flora Trio

Additives: Aquashield

pH Tester: General Hydroponics pH Test kit

Tip: Quickly Change Your Reservoir with a Water Transfer Pump!

It makes me so sad to see people struggling to change the water in their hydroponics reservoir. A water transfer pump will make your life so much easier. The inexpensive Sierra Tools water transfer pump does the job better than any other water transfer pump we’ve tried in its price range. This will allow you to easily remove reservoir water and add new water to your reservoir without disturbing the plants. Note: You need 2 x D batteries for this pump to work. We use rechargeable Eneloop batteries.

Smell Control

We used a couple quarts of Ona Gel to control odors for this small medical grow. We weren’t worried about the smell of the air coming out of our exhaust, just of the smell in our living areas (when guests come over). Many growers use a carbon filter as part of their exhaust system, which is much more effective (when set up properly) and will remove just about all scent from the air both in the grow room and outside where the air is being vented out.

Learn how to control odors in the grow room

Harvest, Trimming, Drying & Curing

Magnifier – Jeweler’s Loupe or a Digital Magnifier (we use the Carson zOrb hooked up to a laptop)

Shears for trimming: Fiskars Microtip Snips

Several Quart Mason Jars for Curing

Rubber Gloves (otherwise your hands will be covered in resin)

Learn how to professionally dry and cure your buds every time

Other Gardening Tools

Gently Tie Down plants:
Any gardening ties will do – We use Study Twists & Soft Wire Tie

Hold Up Heavy Buds:
Plant support spools (Sun Spool, Support Spool, Yoyo plant hanger, etc)

Small Fan For Inside the Tent:
The exhaust fan does the heavy lifting as far as air exchange, but a small desk fan inside the tent can help keep air moving below and within the plant canopy.

Humidity & Temperature Monitor:
This Ambient Weather WS-07 Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer lets you check the readings from another room (don’t forget to get 6 AAA batteries

Read frequently asked questions below!

How big is your tent? How do you keep the temperature down?

I am currently using the GrowLab GL120, which is 3’11” x 3’11” x 6’7″ (a tiny bit smaller than 4’x 4′ x 7′). I don’t fill the complete tent so I could probably get away with something that was 3′ x 3′ x 6′, but I like having the extra space to work with the plants.

I use ducting and an exhaust fan to pull hot air out of tent and through a nearby window. The exhaust fan I use is the Can-Fan Max 6” with speed control. It has 3 speeds and is about as loud as a regular powerful room fan when it is set on high. It works pretty well even though I have no AC. Even in the midst of summer, I was able to keep temps under control as long as the lights were kept off during the hottest 6 hours of the day. Now that summer is over, I don’t have any problem with heat.

For complete details, here is a complete explanation of all the parts included in this setup.

Is DWC hydroponics a good choice for a new grower?

DWC is very rewarding once you get a handle of it. It really makes you feel like a mad scientist when you’re mixing up the reservoir.

Some people start with hydroponics and do very well. Other people prefer to start with something that seems more familiar like a hand-watered grow. While grower Sirius started directly with top-fed DWC as his first type of grow, Nebula started growing cannabis in pots of coco coir using CFLs.

If you do decide to try growing cannabis in DWC, definitely don’t beat yourself up if you run into problems your first DWC grow. The cool thing about DWC is if you keep an eye on the plant, you can usually recover from most problems if you react quickly.

I recommend keeping it simple for your first DWC grow. I believe a lot of growers try to add a whole bunch of different nutrients and supplements all at once to make things better, but it can sometimes cause unexpected reactions. I’d stick to a single nutrient line without too many bells & whistles.

For DWC, I like the General Hydroponics Flora nutrient trio (just follow their included schedule for “recirculating hydro systems,” at reduced strength) and Botanicare Aquashield for root health. Those were the only nutrients/supplements we used for this whole grow. I wouldn’t add anything else unless you notice a problem (except maybe Cal-Mag if you know you have soft water or are using distilled/RO/filtered water).

DWC has great advantages(faster vegetative growth being the biggest one compared to soil), but a lot of growers find it tough to get dialed in. You must commit to maintaining your reservoir, which takes at least 20 minutes a week. It’s also important to watch over the plants closely (we check in daily) because if things go bad in DWC, they go bad fast. On the flip side, you also have total control to fix problems almost instantly too, since you can always completely change the reservoir and the roots have a completely new environment.

We have been growing in DWC for a few years, but on a smaller scale (LEDs, CFLs). This is our 3rd full run in this tent with a 600W HID. Last yield was less than a pound, so we are pretty happy with this harvest.

We added a few weeks into our vegetative stage due to a heat wave. We were growing two long-flowering strains and we harvested when the trichomes were pretty much all cloudy with a few ambers here and there.

We went a big longer than the breeder’s recommendations (which estimated 9-11 weeks for these strains). In my experience, if you wait to harvest until all the trichomes turn cloudy with a few amber, it often takes a few weeks longer than the breeder’s rec. Many growers harvest earlier and are happy with the results, but a few ambers is our preference.

No matter what the breeder says, I recommend that growers always go by the trichomes. Every plant is different. I believe most plants have at least a 2 week harvest window when they are good to harvest, and it’s up to each grower to determine what works best, especially for small medical grows like this one.

Learn when to harvest your cannabis:
https://www.growweedeasy.com/harvest

How do you clean your reservoir? I’m using the 10 gallon totes like yours and they are a pain to clean or change the water!

As far as changing the reservoir, we use a cheap water transfer pump to easily pump water in and out of the reservoir. This cheap battery operated Sierra Tools water transfer pump does the job better than any other water transfer pump we’ve tried its price range. This will allow you to easily remove reservoir water and add new water to your reservoir without disturbing the plants. You need 2 x D batteries for this pump to work, just for your information.

Between harvests, I generally clean the reservoir with bleach water or just regular hot soapy water. I throw away the net pots and buy new ones. I also replace all the tubing (I bought a big spool of tubing a while back) instead of trying to clean them out. Lastly, I check all the airstones, pumps and individual parts to make sure everything still works properly and get the system going for a couple days before I germinate any new seeds.

I can’t believe you got plants that big with those little pots!

Those little pots are called ‘net pots’. They are used to hold the seedling plant roots until they grow down into the water reservoir below. The roots are actually sitting in the grey 10 gallon bins which are full of nutrient water. It’s known as a DWC (deep water culture) hydroponics setup.

What are the other empty pots for? Dead plants or future grows? Also, are you growing in clay balls or what is the medium?

This setup allows you to start 6 plants at a time. I use them to plant more than one seed at a time and pick the best one to grow. I also use the other holes to access the reservoir, for example to check levels, add/drain water, etc. Those clay balls are known as hydroton, but they actually don’t make hydroton anymore. I just have a huge bag of it from years ago. There’s replacements out there that are just as good.

What’s the advantage of hydroton vs coir or soil?

Each growth method has their own advantages and disadvatages.

Organic Super Soil – A hand-watered grow like a plant in a pot of organic super soil could arguably be one of the easiest ways to grow, since you basically just need to water the plants. A big advantage of making your own organic super soil is that these growers often don’t need to worry about nutrients or pH throughout their grow. They make the soil right for a plant like cannabis (usually involving a period of composting or letting the soil cook, to achieve the right levels of microbes which basically break down nutrients from the soil and feed them to the roots), then just water the plant, and let her do her thing. A lot of organic soil growers claim that their buds have a better taste than buds grown other ways, and that organic growing is more natural. Unfortunately, this is subjective, so the benefits are mostly up to the growers taste. The biggest time-sink in this type of grow would likely be the process of mixing up and cooking the soil.
Regular Soil – In a regular soil grow (like if you just buy soil from the store), growers don’t have to worry about mixing their own soil or composting, but they do have to worry about factors like providing nutrients to the plant (as it will naturally use up all the nutrients in the soil). They also have to worry about monitoring the pH of the roots, because they don’t have the teaming army of microbes to do it for them. Remember, if the pH at the roots is too high or too low, the plant doesn’t have access to the nutrients and will show deficiencies even if the nutrients are there in the soil. This method takes a little more work while the plant is growing since you have to feed some amount of nutrients and monitor pH, but is much easier and quicker to get started than mixing and composting your own soil which makes it attractive for a lot of new growers. Also, many people have already grown at least some kind of plant in soil before, so it’s a lot more intuitive for some people than hydroponics.
Hydroponics – Hydroponic means that the plants are getting their nutrients directly from the water as opposed to the soil. That means you can grow a plant in a soilless medium like coco coir, and it is still considered hydroponic because there are no nutrients in coco coir (coco coir is just an inert medium to hold the roots). When you’re getting into hydroponic setups like coco coir or DWC, you are entirely responsible for 100% of the nutrients the plant gets. You are also entirely responsible for maintaining the pH. Basically you are doing the “job” that the microbes were doing in the organic super soil setup. Hydroponics can be intimidating because most people do not have experience providing nutrients and managing pH this way. However, just like mixing your own super soil, you can easily follow an exact recipe that has been proven by other growers and get great results on your first time. One of the biggest advantages of hydroponics over soil is that the plants grow much faster vegetatively, and also tend to get higher yields. This is partially because you are basically “chewing up the food” before you give it to the plants. You make it easier for the plant to get the exact nutrients needed, and the plant will grow faster/produce more. Some growers believe that hydroponic bud does not taste as good as organically grown buds. I do not find this to be the case (many people ask if I grow organic when they taste my DWC-grown buds, and I don’t use organic nutrients). I believe the biggest factor is causing an unpleasant “nutrient taste” is from feeding too high levels of nutrients during the late flowering stage, and also from poor drying/curing practices. This is an ongoing debate and I definitely don’t claim to know the answer.
Sirius: Personally, I find hydroponic cannabis to be far more potent on a regular basis. This is reflected by the fact that many medical dispesaries tend to sell organic cannabis at a lower cost, even for the same strains. If we’re speaking purely about things that can actually be measured, hydroponic growing outperforms organic growing in every way except ease after the initial setup. That being said, the debate is still ongoing!

I know that was a lot of info, but I hope it helps you and other growers make the choice.

To summarize:

Organic super soil – quite a bit of prep work before you grow, ultra easy-to-maintain during the grow, possibly more flavorful buds.
Regular soil – easy to get started, slightly more work during the grow.
Coco coir & other soilless mediums – easy to get started, perhaps a little more work than regular soil during the grow – faster growth.
DWC (or other hydroponic setups where the roots are fully immersed in water) – Most effort to maintain, fastest growth, biggest yields.

What nute strength were you giving them? (ppm/were you following the Generaly Hydropnoics schdule for Flora trio amounts)

We started by giving them the recirculating nutrient schedule from General Hydroponics at about 1/4 to 1/2 strength.

The Blackjack wanted much less nutrients than the Wonder Woman, and I gave her plain water sometimes while the Wonder Woman took the 1/2 strength dose and wanted more. It was hot this summer, and they were drinking a lot, so they needed lower concentrations than what would likely be appropriate for the cooler months.

What are you going to try next?

The next grow will be the same setup with a few adjustments:

Strains: Most likely Sour Diesel & Headband
We are considering adding a Silicon supplement in addition to the GH trio & Aquashield
Topping the plant earlier to begin main-lining – exactly when the plant hits 6 nodes

Jump to….

I want to make a grow setup just like this!

How to grow with bubbleponics (top-fed DWC)

How to set up your MH/HPS grow lights

Where can I safely buy medical cannabis strains?

The post 600W Hydroponic Grow Journal – 23.09 oz Harvest! appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

First grow problem – Edges of leaves are curling up?

Nebula Haze — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:45:18 +0000

Question: What do I do if the edges of my cannabis leaves are curling up?

Take a look

Only one of my 3 plants is having this issue.

A friend suggested that the issue may be low humidity.

I live in a dry area so the humidity in my house is normally below 20%. However, when I checked the humidity in my grow tent, it was 36% so I’m not actually sure it’s actually too low.

Any ideas of anything else I should check?

More grow details: 250W HID, 2x3x5 grow tent with 4″ inline fan. Northern Lights strain. Seeds germinated in rockwool and transplanted into 4-gallon smart pots w/ mix of peat moss and perlite. Fox Farms Nutrient Trio for nutes – following the dosing schedule but started with 1/2 doses for the first week. pH of water is 6.5-6.6 and runoff from pots tested at 6.4-6.6.

Answer: Heat stress, Root Problems or Extreme Humidity

This looks like the result of excessive heat, root problems (possibly from overwatering) and/or suffering from extreme humidity levels (such as very high or low humidity).

When the serrated edges of marijuana leaves curls or tipped up like that, it’s often a sign of temperature stress, overwatering/root problems or extreme humidity levels. This plant was overwatered and living in high heat, which is what caused these symptoms.

When the problem is low humidity, the leaf will also often fold in the middle, like a taco.

What’s your temperature in your grow area? Is there a hot spot around these plants from the grow light?

You mentioned that this is happening to only some of your plants. If this is happening to the plants which are closest to your grow light, that’s a hint that the problem may be temperature related.

If your light is simply too close, you can move the bulb further away from these plants and this issue may resolve itself. However, these leaves are showing symptoms of heat stress, without light stress (burning/spotting), so it’s more likely that the light is a good distance away and the heat just isn’t being controlled properly.

If plants are also droopy, it’s likely you’re dealing with watering or root problems.

When growing with hot HID lights, good ventilation and an exhaust fan will go a long way towards preventing all these problems. If the whole grow area is too hot with stagnant air, you will want to consider venting out all that extra heat.

Having good air movement, like a small fan in your grow tent blowing over the tops of your plants, can help prevent hot spots from forming directly under your grow lights.

In general, if it’s too hot for you to be comfortable, it’s too hot for your plants.

Learn More About Cannabis Heat Stress

Learn More About Root Problems

Learn About Controlling Humidity

Jump to…

Leaf tips turned down? It may be a Nitrogen Toxicity
How to Set Up / Vent Heat with HID Grow Lights
Check These 7 Things & Cure 99% of Marijuana Growing Problems
1st Grow in My Garage – Auto Northern Lights in Grow Box Under 400W HPS

The post First grow problem – Edges of leaves are curling up? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

1st Grow in My Garage – Auto Northern Lights in Grow Box Under 400W HPS – 5.35 oz Harvest

Nebula Haze — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 04:37:09 +0000

by [Name redacted per request]

Quick Grow Snapshot

Strains: 3 x Auto-flowering Northern Lights
Grow medium: FF Soil
Grow Light:
- Vegetative: 6400k T5 Grow Light
- Flowering: 400W HPS with digital ballast and air-cooled hood
Nutrients or Additives: Fox Farms Soil Nutrient Trio

May 5, 2012: Seeds sprouted
July 29, 2012: Harvest!

Total Time – Seed to Harvest:
85 days (2 months, 24 days)

Final Yield
5.35 oz

View full grow journal below!

Getting Started – Pre-Grow

With space to grow in the garage, I decided to build a grow box and try my hand at growing marijuana, even though I’d never grown anything before.

In addition to learning grow skills, building my box was a big test of my carpentry skills, or lack of skills I guess I should say. I’d never built anything like this before.

Planning My Grow Box

Build grow box out of plywood and 2x2s with 2 chambers so I can swap the plants between the chambers when it’s time to flower.

The dimensions of the box are 4’W x 2.5’D x 5’H.

The grow box cost me about $135 for the lumber, screws, caulk, sandpaper, wood stain, and hinges.

You’ll see how the box is divided into 3 sections. I want to put a vent in the ceiling of the bottom right section and a vent in the top of the wall in the left section so that both of them feed into that top part where my carbon filter will be.

What would be the best way of ducting both of those vents into a single carbon filter?

Choosing The Right Grow Light

I was concerned about heat and light usage for my small space.

I looked at LEDs when I first started my research, but I kept reading things about them being kinda sketchy. A lot of people seemed to think they didn’t live up to all the hype.

I considered using T5 grow lights for both the vegetative and flowering stage (6400k bulbs for vegging and 2700k for flowering) because they produce such low heat.

I was hesitant about using a T5 in flowering, though. Some growers seemed to be getting good results with them, yet I was worried that a T5 was not going to be intense enough to get good yields in the flowering stage.

I decided to go with a 400W HPS light with an air-cooled hood and exhaust fan for the flower chamber. It was hard to resist getting a bigger light, but I knew that a 600W was going to be too big/hot for my space.

Final Setup

Grow Lights

Vegetative: 6400k T5 Grow Light
Flowering: 400W HPS with digital ballast and air-cooled hood

Grow medium

Fox Farms Ocean Forest Soil

Nutrients

Fox Farms Soil Trio

Strain

Feminized Northern Lights (from Pyramid Seeds), ordered them from AttitudeI probably wouldn’t order seeds from this breeder again. The seeds ended up being an autoflowering strain even though it was advertised as being a photoperiod strain. It all ended up working out, but I would have been happier if I’d received the seeds I ordered.

My First Grow In Pictures!

I started germinating my seeds in a shot glass.

I put the seeds in a shot glass filled with water to germinate themI put the seeds in a shot glass filled with water to germinate them

Seeds have sprouted roots

I’ve got a pack of these pellets to start them in. I did a test run by putting a pellet in a cup of water, damn those things expand!

Here is what I ended up doing, I tried to cut out any extra steps and just put the pellets directly into the soil from the start.

I put bottles on top to help retain extra humidity (like a humidity dome). Here are my ultra cheap humidity domes

Seedlings under T5 Grow Light in Veg Chamber. It’s a steady 85 degrees F in there, no idea about the humidity in the bottles.

Day 7 from seed

Day 13 from seed

Day 19 from seed – Plants started looking a little sick

Leaves started looking sick on Day 19 I thought they may have used up all the nutrient in the soil (I haven’t been feeding extra nutrients until now). I started feeding them with Fox Farms Nutrient Trio.

I also considered it might be stress from the wind of the fan, so I got a lot more careful about blowing air on the seedlings.

With these two changes, the problem seemed to sort itself out.

Day 39 from seed – Moved plants into flowering chamber under 400W HPS

I moved the plants into the flowering chamber with the 400W HPS grow light.

At this point, I continued to keep them on a 18/6 light schedule, which should have kept them in the vegetative stage. I wanted to let the plants get a bit bigger before switching them to flowering.

I did not yet realize that these were autoflowering plants.

Day 41 from seed

Today is also the first day I’ve tried to LST (low stress training). I know it’s generally recommended to start LST earlier, but I was trying to avoid it on my first grow just to see how my yield would be with no training.

I ended up LSTing one of the girls who was getting too tall.

I was surprised to see my plants start flowering (you can see a couple of flowers starting to appear in the picture above).

I’d purchased non-autoflowering seeds. Guess I’ll never order from that seed vendor again. At first I thought I was seeing pre-flowers, but I soon realized my plant was producing full-on flowers.

Then I saw something even more scary, a hermie banana…

On the advice of others, I plucked this single banana and finished flowering my girls. This was the only hermie sac I saw throughout the grow, and I’m glad I ended up finishing the girls because I had a fantastic harvest.

Day 45 from seed – Closeup of trichomes on the buds and surrounding sugar leaves

Day 53 / 54 from seed – Buds are fattening up

The plants in the grow box definitely smell at this point, but it only became noticeable to me within the last few weeks. Even now it’s not too bad, and you would have to be in the same room as them to smell it.

Day 63 from seed

Closeup of trichomes

Day 79 – End… The final days

At this point I still don’t have a fan hooked up to my vented hood and I’ve been relying on a wimpy little one and keep the door cracked open to let the heat out.

For my next grow I’ll have a real ventilation system set up and heat shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve been running my light at half power (200W) for the past couple weeks to control the heat. I’ll have much better ventilation my next grow so I’ll be able to run it at 400W the whole time.

Day 84 from seed – Day before harvest (ready to be cut down)

I’m really happy with how they turned out.

For my 2nd grow I’ll have 4 plants instead of 3 and I’ll be LSTing from the start.

Also, I will finish my grow box by hooking up a fan to my hood (with a carbon filter), and I put mylar up on 2 of the remaining walls where I still need to cut some holes.

My light has only been running at 200W for a majority of the grow because the weather has been so hot and my ventilation sucks.

I’ll be really interested to see how much doubling the light, making all the other minor improvements, and avoiding all my previous mistakes will affect my yield.

Day 85 – Harvest!

I ended up having to go to a pet store and buying some activated carbon to control the smell of my drying buds. I knew it would smell, I just didn’t think that much!

Harvest Final Weight 5.35 oz!

My 2nd Grow in Pictures!

Stay tuned for my second grow in pictures.

Here’s a quick preview…

Are You Ready To Start Growing, Too?

So you’re ready to start your own indoor grow…

You know the space you want to grow in, but you have a few questions…

“What do I need to get?”

“How much does it cost to start growing?”

There’s so many confusing options out there, yet you no longer have to figure it out all on your own.

This quick article will guide you through the whole process.

Get the right equipment for YOUR grow space

Get Started Today!
https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-supplies-get-started-growing

Jump to…

Growing Marijuana Indoors vs. Outdoors

5 Ways to Increase Yields When Growing Indoors

Autoflowering vs Photoperiod Strains – What Growers Need To Know

Help, My Leaves Are Dying!

Frequently Asked Growing Questions (FAQs)

The post 1st Grow in My Garage – Auto Northern Lights in Grow Box Under 400W HPS – 5.35 oz Harvest appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

MH & HPS Grow Lights for Cannabis

Sirius Fourside — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:12:02 +0000

by Sirius Fourside

Table of Contents

Introduction to HID Grow Lights

Which Size HPS Grow Light? (get estimates for yields & electricity cost)

The Different Components of an HID Grow Light System

Setting Up & Using Your MH/HPS Grow Light

How Far Away Should MH/HPS Grow Lights Be From My Plants?
How to Control Odors
How To Set Up Exhaust System

About Sirius Fourside

Get a Complete Grower’s Shopping List for 400W or 600W MH/HPS Grow Light! (includes setup cost, estimated yields, electricity cost, and more!)

First of all, you should know that an HID (High-Intensity Discharge) Grow Light System isn’t the right choice for all cannabis growers. Just like any other cannabis grow lights, MH/HPS grow lights have pros and cons.

Many people choose HID lights because they are ultra-powerful grow lights, including the incredibly popular “Metal Halide” (MH) and “High-Pressure Sodium” (HPS) grow light combo for growing cannabis.

Yes, this type of system has been used for decades and gets great results, bigger yields, and tends to be easier to maintain than just about any other grow light system for growing marijuana. That’s why the MH/HPS combo is often referred to as the “golden standard” grow lights for growing cannabis…

(Wait, where can I buy seeds?)

Though there are lots of awesome benefits, this system requires a relatively large initial investment and tends to take a little bit more time right in the beginning to get things set up compared to certain other grow light options.

Yet it’s worth it when you can grow rows of high-yielding marijuana plants like the ones displayed here to the right. These plants were grown using an HID grow light system. The High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights are what make flowering plants look golden in pictures, though the plants look normal under regular light.

When I originally started growing weed, I was worried about excess heat, high electricity bills, and making sure I was as stealthy as possible.

I didn’t want to spend a whole bunch of money on grow equipment when I wasn’t even sure what to expect!

I can assure you that as long as you follow the instructions on this website, you definitely are going to make it to harvest! But if you’re not sure which setup is right for you, it’s hard to get started. Here’s a really quick breakdown of the different MH/HPS sizes:

Example MH/HPS Setups

400W HID

1.5 – 3.5 oz per month
Electricity: $96/month
Initial Setup Cost: $744.00

600W HID

2.5 – 5 oz per month
Electricity: $128/month
Initial Setup Cost: $780.00

Although there is a larger size MH/HPS grow light available (1000W), at that size, it starts going outside the scope of a “hobbyist” grower as far as ease and yields. In addition to needing a lot of extra cooling, a 1000W HPS grow light is less efficient compared to a 600W grow light (as far as how much light is put out for electricity used). I think most hobbyist growers would be happier with a 600W, or even two 600W lights, over a 1000W.

MH/HPS Grow Lights

As a general rule of thumb, HID grow lights like Metal Halide (MH) and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) are most suitable for relatively larger grows where there is at least 5 feet (1.5 meters) of height in the grow space, though it’s recommended to use a taller space for the best results. This is because MH/HPS lights have to be kept fairly far from the plants.

MH lights are generally used in the vegetative stage of growth (when plants are young and growing just stems and leaves), while HPS lights are considered optimal for use during the flowering stage when cannabis plants are producing buds. HPS lights can be used for the entire grow and will still get great results. Modern ballasts often allow a grower to interchange MH and HPS bulbs, but it’s important you look for this feature if you want to use a combination of both MH and HPS. Learn more.

HID grow lights get better penetration into the plant canopy than almost any other type of cannabis grow light and therefore tend to produce long, thick colas when the growing conditions are right. The power and color spectrum of HPS grow lights tend to get better yields than any other type of grow light for the amount of electricity used, with the possible exception of some of the modern LED grow lights.

Note about mixing LEDs & HPS grow lights for flowering: Recently there have been tests by growers coming out which indicate that using a mix of HPS and LED grow lights during the flowering stage of growth tend to produce buds that have a terpene (taste & smell) profile that mimics bud grown directly under the sun. Learn more. It’s possible that the future of indoor cannabis growing is going to feature a mix of HPS and LED grow lights in the flowering grow room.

Now on to the pros and cons of HID grow lights like MH and HPS…

Pros

Proven to work great – Sometimes called the “Golden Standard” of grow lights for growing cannabis, MH/HPS grow lights have been used by growers for decades and will consistently produce great growth rates, great yields, and great results
Easy to scale up – works well for growing just a few plants or dozens of plants
Efficient – When you consider the amount of light produced for the amount of electricity, HID grow lights are some of the most efficient grow lights on the market (more efficient than CFLs or other fluorescent grow lights) with the possible exception of some of the newer models of LEDs
Deeper light penetration and greater coverage area, which is why HID grow lights usually work better than CFLs for growing bigger and taller plants
Intuitive – After being set up, MH/HPS grow lights are intuitive to use and tend to be easier for new growers to quickly understand and master than fluorescent grow lights or LEDs
No need for constant adjustment – you will only need to adjust the height of your HID lights a few times during your grow, and there’s only one fixture to adjust instead of many tiny bulbs like with CFLs
Some models work well for smaller grows – A small 150W HPS can be purchased with a built-in ballast & hood so you can connect the lights directly to a plug in the wall without any extra light sockets or equipment
Electricity Use & Heat are similar to CFLs watt-for-watt – HID grow lights will produce about the same amount of heat as the same wattage worth of CFLs, but you will tend to get bigger yields and better results with HIDs. So for example, let’s say you purchased 7 x 23W CFLs(161W worth of CFLs). This setup of 7 small CFL bulbs equaling 161W of CFLs will produce roughly an equal amount of heat and use about the same amount of electricity as a 150W HID grow light, except you’ll usually have to get better results with the 150W HPS, and you won’t have to buy 7 light fixtures and find a way to hang 7 bulbs within 2″ of your plants.

Cons

Need a tall grow space – Since HID bulbs must be kept relatively far from your plants, MH/HPS grow lights can only be used even when the grow space is taller than 4 feet (1.2 meters), though 5+ feet (1.5+ meters) of height is recommended for the best results.
Higher initial investment – Will almost always cost more of an initial investment to get started with HIDs (compared to CFLs) though you are much less likely to need to upgrade your lights during your grow
HID grow lights can be difficult to find locally – Since HIDs are considered specialty growing lights, they almost always must be purchased online or from a grow store.
Heat means you will likely need an exhaust system – HID grow lights produce a lot of heat when you use bigger bulbs like 400W, 600W, and especially 1000W HID grow lights, so you will need to create a way to exhaust the heat outside of your grow space. However, I will teach you how to set up exhaust systems and show you the relatively inexpensive way I set up a stealthy exhaust system for my house below. This exhaust system has proven effective for cooling a 600W light without an air conditioner, even in sunny southern California 🙂

Conclusion: MH/HPS Ended Up Being Right For Me…

I’m glad I first started growing cannabis with CFL grow lights, because they were cheap, gave me beautiful buds, and taught me how to grow. Yet when I started looking at upgrade options a few years ago, I realized I was ready to take my grow room to a new level of efficiency. I knew I was ready for professional grow lights, and I believe getting a 600W MH/HPS light was the best decision I’ve ever made for my grow room.

I knew that if I upgraded to HID grow lights, I could spend less time worrying about adjusting lights and more time on learning new, better ways to improve yields, potency, and taste.

The results of the switch have been amazing, and today, I will walk you through the whole process so you can understand exactly what you need if you’re ready to go pro and set up the perfect MH/HPS grow light system for your indoor garden.

The Different Components of an HID Grow Light System

MH and/or HPS Light Bulbs – MH/HPS bulbs give off the right kind of light for plants with high light needs, like cannabis. MH (Metal Halide) bulbs are perfect for the vegetative stage and HPS (High-Pressure Sodium) bulbs are perfect for the flowering stage. Either one can be used for the whole grow, though most growers who choose just one opt to use HPS for the whole grow.
Ballast – MH/HPS grow light systems use bulbs with big bases that can’t connect to a regular light bulb socket. Instead, they use a socket that requires a special ballast to start and maintain their arcs for power. Some ballasts can accommodate both MH and HPS bulbs. Some ballasts are digital, which gives you additional options for controlling the amount of light given off and electricity used.
Hood – This sits above (or around) your bulbs and reflects the light from the bulbs downward to your plants for maximum penetration and brightness. Many hoods are enclosed to keep heat away from the plants and for easy venting.
Exhaust – A fan plus ducting is used to pull hot air away from the bulbs and outside so that the hot air doesn’t heat up your grow room or plants
Timer – Standard electrical timer to turn your lights on and off for you on a schedule.
Odor control (if needed) – carbon filter (carbon scrubber) will remove odors from the air before it’s exhausted outside. Learn about your options for marijuana odor control.
Grow tent (highly recommended) – Many closets are too small and not a suitable shape or size for growing. In many closets, there is no convenient way to exhaust hot air out, waterproof the floors, make all the walls reflective, and keep the plants safe from specks of dust or light leaks. I ended up opting for a grow tent because quality grow tents are made specifically for growing with high powered grow lights like HIDs, and make it easy to hook everything up without having to DIY. Plus, a grow tent is a relatively discrete way to set up a garden and exhaust right next to a window – the front of a grow tent looks a lot like a clothes wardrobe if you’re not familiar with them.

What’s the difference between Metal Halide and High-Pressure Sodium? MH lights are generally used in the vegetative stage of growth (when young plants are growing only stems and leaves), while HPS lights are considered optimal for use during the flowering stage when cannabis plants are producing buds.

Either MH or HPS lights can be used for the entire grow and will get good results, but modern ballasts often allow a grower to interchange MH and HPS bulbs, so many growers choose to use what’s been proven to get the best results and grow with both types of bulbs. If you want to use MH and HPS bulbs with the same ballast, it’s important you look for this feature to make sure you don’t accidentally put the wrong bulb in the wrong ballast. It’s actually simple in practice, and I’ll walk you through everything in the choose your ballast section below.

Metal Halide bulbs produce a bluish bright light that mimics the spring sun, and using MH bulbs during the vegetative stage will promote short, bushy growth in your plants. MH lights are not as efficient as HPS bulbs, and used in the flowering stage MH lights don’t seem to cause buds to bulk up as much as a similar wattage HPS. Some growers use a MH bulb for the entire grow, but most growers who choose just one bulb opt for using an HPS for the whole grow.

Some growers use a mix of both MH and HPS lights in the flowering stage to help mimic the complexity of sunlight, and believe it may actually produce buds that have a more complex terpene (taste & smell) profile, but right now, more tests are needed to confirm this. Please contact us if you’d like to share your experience using both MH and HPS grow lights during the cannabis flowering stage.

High Pressure Sodium bulbs produce a yellow, golden light which mimics the color spectrum of the sun in the fall, and using HPS lights during the flowering stage of growth will tend to produce dense budding, resulting in long, thick colas.

When using just HPS for the whole grow (without using HPS during the vegetative stage), you are more likely to get stretchy growth in the vegetative stage unless you train your plants to grow short. Keeping plants short and wide is often considered better in this type of indoor setup because short bushy plants get better results and bigger yields when using HID grow lights that are situated directly above.

Since the light from the bulbs is coming from directly above the plants, when growing indoor cannabis plants you should consider trying to create a large area of leaf matter when looking down from above. At the same time you want to keep bulbs as close to your plants as possible, so you want to keep an even canopy.

Learn more about how to train your plants to grow short & bushy to get the best results with HID Grow Lights.

Choose Your Ballast

A ballast is a special piece of equipment which is needed to run HID lights. Some small models of HID lights like the 150W come with the ballast built in, but most models have them separate. You plug the ballast into an electrical outlet, and then connect your hood to your ballast (your bulbs will connect directly to the hood). The ballast converts the electricity from the wall into what’s needed by your bulb to ignite and stay lit.

Think of your ballast as a power source for your HID bulbs.

You will need to choose a ballast that is made for the type of HID light you would like to get. For example, if you want to run a 600W HPS bulb, you’ll need a 600W ballast that supports HPS bulbs.

Ballasts generally come in a few standard “sizes,” 150W, 400W, 600W, and 1000W.

For first-time growers, I recommend getting a 400W or 600W ballast, unless you have too small a grow space. 600W grow lights are the most efficient, and so if you have a large grow space, it may be the most efficient to get multiple 600W lights compared to the other sizes.

A 150W ballast is not as efficient on electricity as the bigger models, and will only be able to cover a 2′ x 2′ (0.6m x 0.6m) area, which is sufficient for 1-2 plants. Many models of 150W HPS lights come with a built-in ballast & hood, which can make setup easier and usually comes with a way to air-cool the light (and hook up to an exhaust) if needed. If you’re growing in a very short space with less than 4′ (1.2m) height, or an oddly shaped space, you may want to consider going with several smaller CFLs instead, as you may be able to get better light distribution in a small or awkward space for about the same amount of electricity.

A 400W ballast will be able to cover an area of about 3′ x 3′ (0.9m x 0.9m). This is popular choice for beginner growers as it creates less heat than it’s larger counterparts, but will still bring in impressive yields.

A 600W ballast is the most efficient of all ballasts as far as electricity used per amount of light produced, and will cover an area of about 3.5′ x 3.5′ (1m x 1m). I use a 600W ballast in a 4′ x 4′ (1.2m x 1.2m) grow area and have average well over a pound per harvest. Check out a recent grow where I harvested over 23 ounces from a single 600W light! Because 600W bulbs are the most efficient of all HID grow lights, and are very unlikely to accidentally cause light burn when adequately cooled (unlike 1000W grow lights), many growers who want to upgrade opt for multiple 600W HID lights instead of getting a bigger light.

A 1000W ballast is slightly less efficient than a 600W lights and will cover an area of about 4′ x 4′ (1.2m x 1.2m) up to about 5′ x 5′ (1.5m x 1.5m). The further your light from the plants, the less powerful the brightness but the greater and area the light will cover. You will optimize your brightness in a smaller space by keeping the light as close to the plants as possible without burning your plants. 1000W lights need a significant amount of cooling power as the bulbs get very hot in a small amount of space. In big grow operations in the US where indoor space is very limited, some growers opt to use several 1000W grow lights, as even plants along the edges get strong amounts of light, and this reduces the total number of grow lights to adjust up and down as rows of plants grow taller. Sometimes 1000W lights are placed on automatic movers so they can cover more plants and prevent these powerful lights from accidentally causing light burn.

Digital vs Magnetic Ballasts – Digital ballasts cost a bit more than a magnetic ballast, yet a digital ballast runs cooler, uses less electricity, tend to produce higher light intensity, and will save you money in the long run.

Digital ballasts are also more likely to be compatible with more types of bulbs, where a magnetic ballast needs special bulbs and will burn out the wrong type of bulb.

For the sake of ease of use, I recommend getting a ballast that is digital, dimmable, and supports both MH and HPS bulbs.

Make life easy on yourself, get a great ballast…

Digital
Dimmable
Supports MH and HPS bulbs

This gives you the most flexibility as you can use either type of bulb, and digitally control how intense you want the light to be at any moment.

With a digital, dimmable ballast, you can adjust the ballast to put out less light (and use less electricity) when plants are small and don’t need full-strength light yet. This can shave quite a bit off your electricity bill and make it easier to nurture young plants.

I highly recommend getting the best ballast you can afford, as better ballasts last longer, are easier to use, and offer the “bells and whistles” you’ll wish for after you start growing. Even the most expensive ballast will pay for itself after a single successful harvest.

Choose Your Bulbs

Your bulbs will need to match your ballast. If your ballast supports 600W Metal Halide, you need to get 600W Metal Halide bulbs. If your ballast supports 1000W High Pressure Sodium, you need to get 1000W High Pressure Sodium bulbs.

Some ballasts support both Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium, and will clearly state that on the box.

Some ballasts are digital and dimmable, which means you need to get bulbs that support digital/dimmable features.

Some bulbs claim to be “enhanced” or be ultra-efficient. While there is not a whole lot of difference between the different bulbs, you will tend to get slightly better results from the higher quality bulbs, and they tend to be more durable/long-lasting.

Therefore, like with the ballast, I recommend getting the best bulbs you can afford. These bulbs generally last 1-2 years of normal use, so you will not have to replace them for quite a while. They do get dimmer over time, so it’s a good idea to always replace all your bulbs every 3-4 grows, even if they haven’t burnt out yet.

Never buy used bulbs!

Some sellers will actually replace burnt out bulbs within a certain time period, so definitely take advantage of new bulbs with guarantees if you can!

For longer lasting bulbs….

The biggest wear to HID light bulbs come from turning the lights on and off, as opposed to how long they run. The worst thing you can do as far as wear and tear is turn off an HID light and then turn it on again before it’s had a chance to fully cool off.
Sometimes bulbs blow right away, and the most common reason this happens is because the type of bulb doesn’t match the type of ballast you have. So make sure your ballast matches your bulb in every way that’s listed on the packages. If your ballast says “magnetic” your bulb should say “magnetic.” Getting a digital ballast with your grow light system will lower the chances you run into problems with incompatible bulbs, since they’re compatible with the most kinds of bulbs.
If you’re using a non-standard ballast (for example a 150W HID grow light with the ballast and hood built-in instead of separate), it’s a good idea to double-check the specifications of your ballast just to double-check it doesn’t need some special kind of bulb. When you buy your bulb and ballast together as part of a set, you generally don’t need to worry about incompatibility, and you can make sure to always get the same type of bulbs if you ever need to replace it.
Always double-check to make sure you have a way to return or exchange a bad or malfunctioning bulb, especially when purchasing bulbs from a small local shop or unfamiliar online seller

Choose Your Hood

There are many different kinds of hoods for HID lights, from wings to cooltubes to air-cooled hoods. The hood will reflect the light from the bulbs down at your plants, and may come with special cooling features, too.

In my experience and from talking to all the growers I know who’ve experimented with different hoods, many growers seem to agree that air-cooled hoods, especially extra wide air-cooled hoods, get the best yields and results when growing marijuana.

Winged Reflectors

A winged hood is basically just a reflector with a socket for your bulb and a plug to connect to your ballast. They are the simplest type of “hood” for HID grow lights and also tend to be the least expensive.

Wings will get the job done, but they are not good at managing heat, and using this type of reflector will oftten require that you have a great exhaust system and/or a naturally cold growing area in order to keep grow room temps under control.

Wings aren’t good for controling heat because they do not contain the heat produce by the bulbs in a specific area (like the next options you’ll se listed here) and they also have no built-in cooling features. With a winged reflector, the heat from the bulbs will basically be radiating downward from the bulbs onto your plants with nothing in between to shield your plants from the heat.

Cooltubes

Cool tube grow lights are easier to cool than a wing, because they trap the air and allow it to be easily exhausted, but cooltubes are not as good at reflecting light as a bigger air-cooled hood.

The reflector part of cooltubes is not large (as you can see pictured here), and that measn they aren’t as good as spreading the light efficiently over the breadth of your grow space.

Additionally, many cooltube owners have reported that they can create unexpected hot spots (places where light can focus and burn plants). A cooltube is better than a wing, but not as good as an air-cooled hood.

However, Cool tube grow lights are a great choice in situations where you can’t let air out from your grow room, for example when using CO2 enrichment where a sealed grow space is necessary.

Air-cooled hoods

Air-cooled hoods reflect light directly towards your plants, and have piece of glass or plastic which keeps hot air contained near the bulb (and away from your plants).

They’re called “air-cooled” because they are set up to easily connect to an exhaust system, so a fan can pull all the hot air away from the bulbs and directly out a window (or wherever you’re exhausting your air).

They generally come with a very wide reflective surface, which allows you to spread the light from your bulb over a greater area in your grow space.

No matter which hood you choose…

Please note that you want the hot air exhausted out a window, up a chimney or otherwise out of your grow area. You don’t just want to pull this air into your grow room, or you’ll just end up with an incredibly hot room and the hot air will have no where to go.

Things to look for in a good hood/reflector:

Seals well (as air-tight as possible) to keep heat contained and ensure odor-proof ventilation. This is why the “Wing” type hoods tend to get much hotter and be more difficult to cool properly.
Easy to open so you can easily change the bulb as needed. For Air-Cooled hoods, the best design is when you have latches on one side and a hinge at the other.
The more wide and smoothly curved the reflector is, the more even the light spread will be. So look for a wider hood that has an even curve or at least a lot of “sections” to it. Notice in the pictures above that the “Wing” hoods usually only have a few convolutions. The “Cool Tube” hoods are smoothly curved, but not wide. These drawbacks are part of why these hoods are less efficient at spreading light than the smooth, wide curve from the “Air-Cooled” hood.

Setting Up & Using Your MH/HPS Grow Lights

The following section will teach you what you need to know about setting up and using your MH/HPS grow lights for growing cannabis. I’ll share the hints and tips I’ve learned along the way to help you achieve the best results with your new lights!

How Far Away Should My MH/HPS Grow Lights Be From My Plants?

There are a couple factors you must consider when deciding how far away to keep your grow lights from your plants. The most important is to make sure it’s not causing too much heat where your plants are.

Every Time You Adjust Your Lights, Perform the “Hand Test” To Check for Heat

A great way to check for heat is to use the “hand test.” After your grow light has been turned on, place one of your hands (palm facing downward) near the top of your plants and let it sit there for 10 seconds. If the light feels too hot for your hand, it’s too hot for your plants and you will need to either move the light up or find a way to better control heat. Plants that are allowed to be too hot for too long will begin to show signs of heat stress.

Even if the heat is under control, it’s still important to follow these guidelines to prevent your plants from experiencing light burn.

Quick Guide – Distance From MH/HPS Lights To Plants

Here’s a quick reference guide to use as a starting point:

Grow Light	Closest	~ Sunlight	Furthest
150W	8″ (20cm)	10″ (25cm)	12″ (30cm)
250W	10″ (25cm)	12″ (30cm)	14″ (35cm)
400W	12″ (30cm)	14″ (35cm)	19″ (48cm)
600W	14″ (35cm)	16″ (41cm)	25″ (64cm)
1000W	16″ (41cm)	22″ (55cm)	31″ (79cm)

150W – covers 2′ x 2′ (0.6m x 0.6m) area

250W – covers 2′ x 2′ (0.6m x 0.6m) area up to 2.5′ x 2.5′ (0.8m x 0.8m)

400W – covers 3′ x 3′ (0.9m x 0.9m) area up to 3.5′ x 3.5′ (1m x 1m)

600W – covers 3.5′ x 3.5′ (1m x 1m) area up to 4′ x 4′ (1.2m x 1.2m)

1000W – covers 4′ x 4′ (1.2m x 1.2m) area up to 5′ x 5′ (1.5m x 1.5m).

Please note: The further your light from the plants, the less powerful the brightness but the greater and area the light will cover. Investing in a wider hood will allow you to cover a bigger area while keeping bulbs close.
Use a Lux Meter to More Accurately Measure Light Levels

If you have a Lux Meter to measure your brightness levels, you can get even more accurate with your grow light distance. While a Lux meter isn’t perfect for everything, it works well for measuring light levels under fluorescent, MH and HPS grow lights.

Quick Guide – Lux Levels for Optimal Cannabis Growth

Life Stage	Maximum	Good	Minimum
Vegetative	70,000 lux	40,000 lux	15,000 lux
Flowering	85,000 lux	65,000 lux	35,000 lux

< 15,000 lux – sparse or “stretchy” growth – plant isn’t getting enough light
15,000 – 50,000 lux – good amount of light for healthy vegetative growth
45,000 – 70,000 lux – optimal amount of light for cannabis plants in the flowering (budding) stage
70,000 – 85,000 lux – a lot of light, some strains thrive at this light level, but some plants lose their top leaves early under this light intensity, especially plants that are not resistant to heat/light (like many indicas)
> 85,000 lux – at this light intensity, you’ve hit the plant’s “saturation point” which means your plant can’t use all the light (be careful of light bleaching!)

Learn more about using lux meters to increase yields

Note: Unfortunately, a lux meter is not a good tool for measuring the brightness of LED grow lights.

Get a Lux Meter to more accurately measure light levels

How To Control Odors

You have a few options. One option is to control odor with products like Ona Gel, which neutralize and cover up smells. These products are great in a pinch, or when you need to cover up smells in your living areas, but they shouldn’t be placed in the same area as your plants as they can eventually alter the smell of your buds.

A much better way to control odors is to get a carbon scrubber and install it where you’re exhausting your hot air. This cleans the air of any smells right before the air is vented outside, and with a strong fan as part of your exhaust completely venting all the air in your grow area every few minutes, none of the smell will escape to other parts of the house, even in the midst of the budding stage.

Learn more about your options for marijuana odor control

How To Set Up Your Exhaust

Optimally, you want the exhaust to pull air from your hot lights and directly out a window, in a short, straight line if possible.

Exhausts become less and less efficient at cooling the further your air has to travel, and the less straight the path. A short, straight, direct line to a window is the best case scenario when it comes to setting up your exhaust.

Use ducting and a strong fan to pull air directly from your air-cooled hood and out your exhaust.

When worried about heat, it’s important to create enough suction with your fans to completely replace all the air in your grow tent as rapidly as possible, at least once every few minutes. Even when you’re not worried about heat, it’s still important to regularly replace the air and make sure there’s plenty of airflow and circulation above and below your plants.

Here are a few guidelines that will help you achieve the best exhaust system possible:

It’s important to have as strong-enough exhaust fan for the grow space to make sure that you are completely changing out all the air in the tent often.
Designing your exhaust will be much simpler if you take the time to understand airflow in a room – the whole idea of setting up an exhaust system is to create negative airflow in the grow space or grow tent so that any hot air is regularly replaced with new, fresh cool air.
All the air in the tent should be replaced by new air every 1-3 minutes for the best results. You can calculate the strength of exhaust fan you need based on the dimensions of your grow space. Learn how to calculate the type of fan you need below…
When your grow tent is bending in from the exhaust fan, it means you’ve got good suction going in there and have created negative airflow
Make sure your intake hole is bigger than your exhaust hole to achieve proper suction – in other words the holes/spaces for new air to come in (vents, intake fans, doors, windows) should be bigger than the hole/space where air is being pulled out the tent by your exhaust fan
Even with a good exhaust system, it is recommended that growers still install small fans in their grow space to blow air above and below to the plant canopy to improve air circulation and help prevent any hot spots or humid pockets of air

How to Calculate The Exhaust Fan Strength You Need

In the US, most exhaust fans have a “CFM” rating. This means “cubic feet per minute” and is talking about how much air the fan can move each minute. It’s important to get a fan with the correct CFM rating for your size space.

Here’s a short equation to help you determine what CFM rating you need for your fan in your space.

Determine the cubic area of your space by multiplying Length x Width x Height. You want to exhaust this amount of air every minute.
Exhaust Efficiency – Every exhaust system has some level of inefficiency which will lower the amount of air being moved by the fan. This step tells you how much extra air-moving power needed to compensate. With an efficient exhaust, air goes in a short, straight line after passing through the fan. An inefficient path is when air has to go a long way after leaving the fan, or if the air has to go around turns instead of being in a straight line. This step will help make sure your fan is moving enough air to properly ventilate your space.
• Efficient path – multiply previous number by 2
• Inefficient path – multiply previous number by 3
Pick your fan. Fans are measured by CFM (cubic feet/minute), so you need a fan that has a CFM higher than the number you figured out in the last step.

Fan CFM Rating Table
(here are some examples of possible setups using the equation above to figure out CFM)

Grow Space Size	Wattage of Light	CFM of Fan*
2’ x 4’ x 5’	250W	80-120 CFM
3’ x 3’ x 6’	400W	108 – 162 CFM
3.5’ x 3.5’ x 6.5’	600W	160 – 238 CFM
4′ x 4′ x 7′	1,000W	224 – 336 CFM

* Of course fans don’t come in all these sizes, so round up to the closest fan size available.

You’ll need a lower CFM rating if your grow space tends to stay cool and dry. You’ll need a higher CFM rating if your grow space tends to get hot or humid.

While this doesn’t affect most indoor growers, if the exhausted air has to move a very long ways after going through your fan before it’s vented outside (for example the air has to go through several feet of ducting after passing through the fan), a bigger exhaust fan might not be enough – you may need booster fans along the way.

When in doubt, it’s usually better to get a bigger exhaust fan than you need. You can always turn off the fan if it’s moving too much air. For example you could use a speed controller or put the fan on a timer if the exhaust fan is moving air out of your space too fast. There are often times during a grow where it’s helpful to be able to move more air, so size up if you can when it comes to exhaust fans.

Even with a good exhaust system, it is recommended that growers still install small oscillating fans in their grow space to blow air above and below to the plant canopy to improve air circulation and help prevent any hot spots or humid pockets of air.

Cannabis plants like having a lot of fresh air all the time, and they will reward you for your diligence in setting up a proper exhaust system.

Choose the Placement of Your Grow Tent & Exhaust Carefully

Consider that you want a direct line to the exhaust, with as short a distance as possible, so that hot air is quickly and easily released outside of your home.

Learn how to make a stealthy “secret window” exhaust system like this below…

Having trouble finding a cheap & easy way to stealthily exhaust out hot air from your grow tent? I used a combination of the following items to create an awesome exhaust system for about $45 (just add your fan).

What You Need

wicker blinds
foam
corrugated plastic
duct tape
ducting
super glue/hot glue
staple gun

*All these items can be found at a home improvement store, as they are common items for upgrading around the house

First, hang the wicker blinds in your window like normal. Air can escape through these blinds, but you can’t see through them to the other side. They are commonly used in bedrooms and other windows that lead into private areas.

I bought a huge sheet of foam and glued (super glue and hot glue for best results) it to a sheet of corrugated plastic. You can buy both these items for a few bucks at a home improvement store like Home Depot.

Next, use some ducting to trace a round, duct-sized hole on the foam/plastic. Note: Cut out the duct-sized hole in the foam/corrugated plastic near the top of where it will be mounted. Remember, heat rises, so having the exhuast exit near the top is much more efficient.

Run the ducting through the hole you cut, and right up to the wicker blinds. The ducting should be butted up against the wicker blinds so that heat escapes directly outside (since it will be able to pass through the blinds easily). Use duct tape to hold the foam/plastic in place, then use more duct tape to hold the ducting in place. At the end after everything is placed and you’re happy with how everything looks, you will use a staple gun to staple all your duct tape in place, but don’t worry about that yet.

I also used duct tape to secure the foam to the window because it’s cheap, easy to use, and is very durable when combined with staples.

Use a staple gun to reinforce anywhere you use duct tape, including where the ducting goes through the hole you made in the foam.

I like using foam + corrugated plastic because it’s inexpensive and easy to cut the hole for the exhaust. Having the foam/plastic combo in the window increases the suction in the room so more hot air is vented out and blocks light (no light gets in or out). As an added bonus, the foam dramatically reduces the noise of the fan (so you can just barely hear it even when you’re standing right outside the window).

LEDs vs MH/HPS Grow Lights

When I originally started growing weed, I was worried about excess heat, high electricity bills, and making sure I was as stealthy as possible.

Yet at the same time, I was also worried about spending a whole bunch of money on grow equipment since I wasn’t even sure if I could successfully grow.

I ended up going for the cheapest stealth grow light I could find, LED grow lights, which work fantastic for growing weed. LEDs tend to use less electricity and produce less heat than HPS grow lights. After I got the hang of growing weed, LEDs consistently produced a lot of dense buds. However, I was intrigued by the sheer size and thickness of buds produced by HPS grow lights.

You might wonder if you should get LEDs or MH/HPS grow lights for your first grow. If so, I’ve compiled some helpful information below to help you decide which one is right for you.

LED Grow Lights

LEDs work well in most setups, big or small. You can get tiny LED grow lights in a tiny grow space and produce a surprising amount of potent weed. As a general rule of thumb, LED grow lights are the best choice for most home growers.

Pros

Less heat produced – On average, LED grow lights output less heat than HPS, which means if it gets warm in your grow space, LEDs are almost certainly the best choice for you.
Plants are also more resistant to heat – Not only do LEDs put off less heat, but plants grown under LEDs are overall more resistant to heat. This is because LEDs don’t raise the internal temperature of leaves as much as the big bulb from an HPS. So you get double heat protection!
Less electricity – LEDs are more electrically efficient than HPS. So overall, LEDs tend to be kinder to your electricity bill than HPS grow lights.
Shorter grow spaces are okay – Modern LED panels are relatively flat and don’t take up as much room as an HPS. The smaller ones (below 200W) can also be kept surprisingly close to your plants. That means LEDs can be successfully used in smaller grow spaces. See an example of a tiny LED grow setup.
Don’t need to replace bulbs – LEDs stay at full power for a long time, so they usually don’t need to be replaced unless they actually break. On the other hand, HPS bulbs need to be replaced every few grows because the bulbs tend to get less powerful over time.

Cons

Weaker penetration (especially certain models) – Although modern cannabis LEDs get good penetration into the plant, some models are better than others. While the light from an HPS goes DEEP into the plant, producing longer and often thicker buds than most LEDs.
Big LEDs are pricey – Small LEDs are pretty cheap. But when you get to bigger sizes, HPS grow lights are much cheaper. For example you can get a 600W HPS grow light for under $150. A comparable LED grow light is the 630W HLG Scorpion Diablo, which costs almost $1300. These use about the same amount of electricity, and get similar yields, but the HPS costs more than a thousand dollars less! Even a “cheap” LED in that size costs double the same size HPS. HPS can be a great way to “get your feet wet” with growing before investing in more expensive grow lights.
Inconsistent results between models – While all HPS grow lights of the same wattage produce almost exactly the same results, LEDs are different. Some companies produce low quality LEDs that just don’t grow good weed. When buying LEDs for growing weed, it’s crucial to pick an LED company that’s proven to work well with cannabis plants.
May still need an exhaust system – LEDs may produce somewhat less heat, but the bigger ones still get surprisingly hot. If your LED is bigger than 150-200W, you may need to set up an exhaust system to keep your garden cool.
LEDs are a bad choice for cold grow space – Cannabis plants grown under LEDs are weak to cold because the LEDs don’t raise the internal temperature of the leaves (unlike HPS). That means if your grow space is on the cooler side (for example a basement, or during the winter), then your plants might grow slow and unhappy under LEDs. HPS not only warms the air but also directly heats up the leaves, so they are more resistant to cold.

Candy Games #38 grown under a 300W Mars Hydro LED grow light (here is the full setup)

You now know everything I wish I’d known before I started growing with HID lights. If you’re serious about growing cannabis, HID grow lights are going to give you some of the best yields, most ease of use, and (in my opinion) the most enjoyable growing experience.

Now that you know exactly how to get started…

Is 2025 the year you decide to go pro with your garden?

About Sirius Fourside

Sirius co-founded GrowWeedEasy.com in 2010 with fellow grower Nebula Haze.

A huge proponent of hydroponic growing, especially bubbleponics, Sirius is dedicated to getting information out there so other growers see how easy it can be to grow pounds of marijuana out of your closet.

Jump to…

7 Tips to Growing Top-Shelf Buds

(Advanced Only) Cannabis Leaf Defoliation Technique

How to Grow Hydroponic Cannabis via Bubbleponics

Supercropping: Simple Secret to Bigger Yields

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