Where is the best place to get cannabis seeds? We recommend these cannabis seed source as of late January 2026…

• ILGM (I Love Growing Marijuana) – California, United States
• MSNL (Marijuana Seeds Netherlands) – Amsterdam seed bank now ships from US, Canada & UK
• North Atlantic Seed Co. – Maine, United States
• Seed Supreme – Florida, United States
• Seedsman – Ships from US & Europe
• Other – Did we miss anyone you like? Let us know.

Check out my recent grow journal featuring seeds from Seedsman, NASC & Seed Supreme.

Seeds of different strains grow different buds.

Are you looking for yields (like Blue Dream) or beauty (like Candy Games #38)?

Maybe density & potency are most important. Then go with a strain like Purple Ghost Candy.

Note: Purple Ghost Candy is an oversized stretchy plant that always makes potent, dense buds, but not always purple. See the full strain review.

Or perhaps the key to your heart is a pungent, memorable smell (like Mandarin Cookies V2).

Check out the new cannabis strain library for reviews of strains GrowWeedEasy.com recommends for home growers.

Note: Here’s how to store your seeds so they last for years.

Where to get cannabis seeds? Here’s our note to marijuana growers looking for good seeds going into a turbulent 2026…

Updates on the 2026 Farm Bill

“How will the new Farm bill for 2026 affect home growers? Is there a specific deadline for growers? I have seen many opinions, but have yet to find a straightforward answer to this question.” ~ Bob

Laws and regulations seem to be evolving every day. The reason no one can give you a straight answer is because no one knows for sure what will happen.

If you want my personal opinion, I suspect it will have a small effect in the short term, and a long term dampening effect.

Seed companies may try to work with lawmakers to find ways to ship seeds in compliance with the law. But unless the law is changed, fewer small breeders will participate. Some people are concerned that only the biggest companies with deep pockets for a legal team might be able to easily sell seeds and take payments.

That’s why home growers need to value cannabis genetics.

In other words, don’t panic. However, do take on a general preparedness mindset.

Happy growing,
Nebula Haze

GrowWeedEasy.com

Hey growers,

Looking for good cannabis genetics? We got you! We have run our recommended cannabis seed source page on GrowWeedEasy.com since we started the website in 2010.

GrowWeedEasy.com’s trusted seed sources list has helped home growers find seeds since 2010.

If you don’t have cannabis seeds in hand, it can feel like it’s going to be hard to get them. Luckily, these days, you can get viable seeds of good strains sent to you almost anywhere. Today, we want to hear about your experiences ordering seeds online.

Marijuana seeds are so tiny…

But within each seed is a tiny living thing, longing to be released…

Did you know? A cannabis seedling embryo is already fully-formed inside each seed, just waiting to germinate and grow weed for you!

Germination lets the seedling inside escape its shell prison!

Never touch newly germinated seedlings like this, I only did it for the picture!

Leaves are yellow inside the shell, and turn green once the leaves start getting exposed to light.

Less than a day after being planted into a Rapid Rooter, the seedling is green and already growing new leaves!

Learn how to germinate seeds here.

Back in 2010 when we started GWE, we’d only had good experiences with a single seedbank so far (the others had been mediocre-to-bad). So back then, the seed source list had only one option…

Bonus: Check out the October 2010 version of the seeds page on the Wayback Machine! You can even click around to see the original version of the site 🙂

Our seeds page is not meant to be a comprehensive list of seed sources. Sirius and I are just a two-person team and can’t try every seed company. There are many, many outstanding cannabis seed sources not listed on our seeds page.

But what the page is, is the list of the seed banks we actually use ourselves to grow weed at home and document on the website.

Check out our recent autoflowering grow journal! The OG Kush Auto produced smooth, potent buds.

When we stop using a seed company ourselves, for whatever reason, we take it off the seed source page. Usually, they haven’t done anything wrong, just simply no longer carry strains we’re looking to grow with.

We believe it’s crucial to ensure every seed bank on the list is legit, and only stay if we continue to use it for our home grows.

Our seed bank testing is led by you: If we hear about a really great new company that everyone loves, we will test it out ourselves. Our goal isn’t just to grow great weed (though we do a lot of that too!), but also help home growers find exactly what they’re looking for.

GrowWeedEasy.com testing process for seed banks

• Community feedback – If we keep hearing good things about a particular seed source, we know it’s time to give it a try.
• Order seeds anonymously – We never tell them it’s us. I always order the seeds myself as if I were a regular customer. I feel like that’s way more likely to give the “authentic” experience.
• Grow the seeds – Next, we actually grow the seeds from germination to harvest in a home grow environment.
• Document the results – We take pictures and notes about each plant, including where we got the seeds, and share that information on GrowWeedEasy.com and through our newsletter.
• Lab testing – When funding is available, we get the buds lab-tested, especially for side-by-side grow experiments with clones (like testing super soil vs coco or plant training methods like defoliation vs natural)

We also love, love, LOVE when you send us grow pictures, or tell about your experience with seed banks and their strains/seeds.

Our current cannabis seed source recommendations, as of January 2026.

• ILGM (I Love Growing Marijuana) – California, United States
• MSNL (Marijuana Seeds Netherlands) – Amsterdam seed bank with shipping centers in the US, Canada, and UK.
• North Atlantic Seed Co. – Maine, United States
• Seed Supreme – Florida, United States
• Seedsman – Ships from US & Europe
• Other – Did we miss anyone you like?

We encourage you to write us any time with specific cannabis seed bank feedback, including anecdotes, or just your overall thoughts or experiences buying cannabis seeds online where you live.

We’ll be considering everyone’s feedback as we go through 2026. And make sure to sign up to our newsletter to ensure you get insider information and updates about seed sources that we can’t post on the website. You can email GrowWeedEasy.com directly by responding to our weekly newsletter.

Harvest great smelling, dense, potent buds with proven home harvest techniques. By Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside, authors of GrowWeedEasy.com.

Get total guidance next harvest.

Find the Best Marijuana Seeds for You

Every cannabis strain listed here is personally recommended by GrowWeedEasy.com for home growers. Check out our notes and the pictures to see why we chose each strain. Our goal is to make it easier for you to find the perfect cannabis seeds for you. More strains added every week!

The post The Seed Banks WE Use to Grow Weed (2026 Update) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Got marijuana plants growing in soil? Many nutrients made for hydroponics work in soil. But do you know what’s way better? Using nutrients that were made specifically for growing cannabis in soil. Soil nutrients have cool, unique properties that you won’t want to miss! Here are my top cannabis nutrient picks:

• Fox Farms Nutrient Trio for Soil – professional-grade marijuana soil nutrients, popular, mostly organic.
• Botanicare Pure Blend for Soil (Grow and Bloom) – perfect for beginners, one bottle for each stage of life.
• Dyna-Gro Grow & Bloom – cheapest option, easy to use, but still produces great bud quality.

Weed plants in soil love extra nutrients!

Keep reading to become an expert at soil nutrients for growing marijuana…

Table of Contents

Do You Need Special Nutrients to Grow Marijuana in Soil?

What Type of Soil Should I Get?

Which Company Makes the Best Soil Nutrients?

Tips for Growing Marijuana in Soil

Do You Even Need Special Nutrients to Grow Marijuana in Soil?

• Cannabis has high nutrient needs, especially in the flowering/budding phase. Without enough nutrients during budding, the plant won’t make buds as big as they could be.
• You can avoid using extra nutrients altogether by growing in well-amended composted soil and transplanting your cannabis into a nice big pot with fresh composted soil right before the switch to the flowering stage, which should be enough to last through the flowering stage. In composted soil, tiny microorganisms slowly bread down the nutrients for your plants, so the nutrients are fed to the plant slowly and regularly.
• A potted cannabis plant in regular (non-composted) potting soil often uses up all the nutrients in the soil before they even make it to the flowering stage. After about 3-4 weeks of growing in an average sized pot, a cannabis grower either needs to repot the plant into new, fresh soil, or supplement with extra nutrients in order to get everything to the plant that it needs.
• There are “natural” ways to provide extra nutrients to your cannabis (for example egg shells, coffee beans, dolomite lime, etc all add minerals and nutrients) but these usually do not break down fast enough or consistently enough to make sure your cannabis doesn’t run into nutrient deficiencies. Another problem with using things like this is that giving your plant too much of one nutrient can actually make it deficient with another nutrient. So it can be difficult to get the right proportions right unless using a soil recipe that’s specialized for cannabis or by adding extra nutrients in the water.
• Want more info? Since it’s just a weed, why can’t I grow cannabis in the regular dirt outside?

Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil (pictured here) is a top soil for growing cannabis. It just works.

How to Get Enough Nutrients to Your Marijuana Plants

To make sure your cannabis plants don’t run into nutrient deficiencies while growing in soil, you need to either…

• Grow with composted soil OR
• Regularly transplant to new. fresh soil OR
• Grow in a really, really big pot with tons of soil OR
• Supplement with specialized marijuana nutrients formulated specifically for growing cannabis in soil (recommended)

Conclusion: Adding soil nutrients to the water tends to get the best cannabis yields, potency, and density.

Fox Farm Nutrient Trio – excellent, mostly organic marijuana nutrients.

What Soil Should I Get to Grow Weed?

What Are the Best Soil Nutrients?

But are they the best marijuana nutrients? Which one is the best?

There are so many nutrient options out there! How can growers figure out which ones are actually the best cannabis nutrients? In fact, what makes a nutrient system good or bad for growing cannabis in the first place? The answer is it’s about the NPK nutrient ratios!

* In a pinch, nutrients for cactus or succulents can be used in the flowering stage until you get better nutrients because they have similar nutrient ratios

These aren’t the only nutrient ratios that will work for growing cannabis, but these ones work well. Adding cannabis nutrients to your grow can help you get the best potency, yields and growth from your plants, especially in the flowering stage when cannabis uses a lot of nutrients to make bud. Cannabis plants have two stages of life and they need the right nutrients at the right time.

Note: Don’t use anything with time-released nutrients (like fertilizer spikes, or Miracle-Gro soil – they deliver too much N in the flowering stage).

Most nutrient bottles have 3 numbers, often called N-P-K, which stands for Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium

(Why “K? The atomic symbol of Potassium is “K” from Neo-Latin kalium)

Marijuana plants need different ratios of these 3 nutrients (as well as several micronutrients) depending on what stage of life they are currently in.

For example, cannabis plants in the vegetative stage need nitrogen to power the growth of leaves. In the flowering/budding stage, cannabis needs less nitrogen and greater levels of phosphorus to assist with proper bud growth.

Because of the varied nutrient needs of the cannabis plant, it’s often easier for many growers to use a professional nutrient system made for a plant like cannabis, instead of trying to mix up their own. With a professional nutrient system, you don’t have to figure out your own changing nutrient ratios, and you don’t have to worry about chemical reactions that occur from combining different types of nutrients incorrectly (which can create fertilizer salts and cause nutrient lock-out).

A professional cannabis nutrient system will save many growers a lot of time, frustration and money. There are many nutrient systems to choose from which have been created by long-time cannabis growers and breeders around the world!

When it comes to finding a nutrient system to use with your cannabis plants, the first question you ask yourself should be: “What is my growing medium?”

Warning: When it comes to growing cannabis, avoid any nutrients which claim to be “extended” or “slow release”! They can cause all types of unexpected problems.

If you’re growing in soil, you will want to get nutrients made for soil.

With all nutrient systems, don’t start at full strength or it might burn your cannabis plants!

Different strains have different preferences, and some plants are very sensitive to nutrient burn.

How Much Soil Nutrients to Give Cannabis?

• Start at half strength – I recommend starting new nutrient systems at half-strength and only raise the nutrient levels as needed.
• Fast-growing plants need more nutrients – If your cannabis plants are growing very fast (inches a day) they likely need full-strength nutrients regardless of the type of grow light.

Other Factors That Affect Nutrient Levels

• Small grow lights require less nutrients for plants to be healthy, on average – Many home growers will never need to raise nutrient levels above half-strength because their plants are under relatively small LED grow lights (100-200W). Plants just aren’t “digesting” enough light to need lots of nutrients.
• Big grow lights often require need full-strength nutrients – On the other hand, cannabis plants are under powerful, bright lights may require full-strength nutrients (or even more in rare cases).
• Individual plants have different needs – Some strains or specific cannabis require more or less nutrients. You sometimes notice you have plants in the same environment, but some plants get “hungry” for nutrients while other plants getting the same conditions are getting enough or even too much.
• Pay attention to plants more than anything! If a plant looks like it needs more nutrients, give it more. If it looks like it needs less, give it less.

Plants turn yellow or lime green all over when they need more nutrients overall.

If leaves are dark green all over, they probably need less nutrients overall.

“Nutrient burn” (dry, brown, possibly curling tips) is another sign of too-high levels of nutrients or supplements. Pay extra close attention if nutrient burn affects all the leaves at once, especially if you see it happen right after raising nutrient levels or adding a new supplement.

Nutrient burn on all the leaves is another signal the nutrient levels are too high.

Plants use light for food (and to power the growth of buds), not nutrients. Just like eating a bunch of multi-vitamins every day will make you sick, giving plants too high levels of nutrients can make them sick, too. With plants, just like humans, you will get the best results by paying attention to nutrient needs on a regular basis. Don’t wait until your whole plant is yellowing to try to figure out the problem!

Some growers try to push their plants to the limit of what they can take, giving stronger and stronger levels of nutrients until plants show signs of nutrient burn, but I don’t believe this is necessary. Sometimes less is more. I believe that as long as your plant is not showing signs of deficiencies (such as growing pale green leaves towards the bottom of the plant), you are generally in the right range.

Many cannabis growers will find that professional nutrients work well at half-strength, and only growers with very bright lights and fast-growing plants will need to raise nutrient levels above that. There are also certain strains that seem to do better at higher nutrient levels than most others.

Here are pictures of cannabis plants with nutrient problems (and solutions).

Please, save yourself the time and frustration – get a nutrient system that’s proven to work for growing cannabis! If cost is a worry…

​An Example of Cheap (But Effective) Cannabis Nutrients: Dyna-Gro Grow & Bloom. Use Dyna-Gro “Grow” bottle in the vegetative stage & Dyna-Gro Bloom bottle in the flowering stage. This cannabis nutrients work great for growing marijuana. You don’t need anything else besides these two bottles of nutrients to grow weed all the way to harvest and this simple cannabis nutrient system is cheap (effective for soil, coco coir and hydro!). If you’re not sure which nutrients to get and you’re on a budget, consider going with Dyna-Gro!

An easy and simple nutrient systems that for beginning cannabis growers in soil is the Fox Farms Nutrient Trio for Soil. These are professional-level nutrients, and one of the the most popular nutrient systems for growing weed in soil.

Fox Farm Nutrient Trio – excellent, mostly organic cannabis nutrients.

The Fox Farms trio works great for growing any cannabis strain, without needing any additional supplements.

Tips for Growing Cannabis in Soil

• Low Levels of Nutrients Given Regularly is Much Better Than Giving a Lot of Nutrients at Once!

The most common mistake made by beginners growing cannabis in soil is they water their plants too often. Overwatering is almost never a case of giving your plants too much water at once. Instead, overwatering cannabis in soil is almost always caused by giving the plant water too often.

Learn how to water seedlings in soil (day-by-day watering schedule).

Never overwater your seedlings again, just use this seedling watering schedule.

How to water adult cannabis plants in soil

1. Wait until the top of your soil feels dry up to your first knuckle (about an inch deep)

2. Add nutrients to your water (if needed), then adjust the pH. Most soil growers only add nutrients every other watering, or even less often, but you will always need to adjust the pH of your water.

3. Start watering your plants and continue to add water until you see at least 20% extra runoff water drain out the bottom of your pot. Go back to step 1.

Use the above directions to water older plants in soil, like these 30-day old plants

Learn more about growing cannabis in soil!

The post Best Soil Nutrients for Growing Marijuana? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

“Curing” is a special process that makes cannabis better after you’re done harvesting and drying buds. A proper cure improves the density and smell of buds, but that’s not all. Curing cannabis actually increases the subjective potency of buds, and improves the overall subjective effects.

The #1 Most Important Tool for Curing Weed: Boveda Humidity Control Packs (automatically maintain humidity)

Why do growers cure weed in the first place?

• Higher Bud Density – Curing tends to tighten buds so they are overall more dense and feel more solid.
• Improve Smell – Sometimes the cannabis smell gets lost during the drying process. Curing helps bring those smells back. They also increase the overall complexity of smells.
• Increase Potency – After curing buds for two weeks, they typically feel “stronger” when smoking compared to smoking right after they are first dried.
• More Lovely Effects – Many growers feel the effects of cured buds are more captivating, more relaxing, or otherwise improved.
• Smoother to Smoke – Curing buds tend to make them less “harsh” to smoke, so they’re easier on your lungs.

Curing can make the difference between “good” and “out of this world” cannabis!

Curing gives you higher quality, more potent weed! (This is Alaskan Thunderf*ck after curing)

This Purple Ghost Candy got ultra dense after curing.

A cannabis grower’s 3 best curing tools:

1. Boveda Curing Packs – Moisture levels in the air are key to a great cure, and these packs automatically maintain the humidity (amount of water in the air) to ensure buds never get too wet or too dry. The right humidity ensures buds are exposed to the perfect amount of moisture during the curing process.
2. Wide-Mouth Glass Mason Jars – Glass mason jars are perfect for curing and long term storage, as they are airtight but easy to open and close. The “wide mouth” version ensures you can fit your hands inside. Glass mason jars are what most cannabis growers use for curing, and what I use. The most popular size is 32 oz (1 quart), which holds about 1 ounce of weed. A few other types of containers can be used for curing, but are much less common (more info below).
3. Mini Hygrometers (Optional) – It’s nice to know the humidity inside your jars. However, the Boveda Humidity Packs automatically maintain the humidity, so this is the least important of the 3 tools.

With these three tools alone, you can achieve a fool-proof professional cannabis cure every harvest!

Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Cannabis Curing

Curing is actually one of the most straightforward parts of growing cannabis, especially if you invested in Boveda Humidity Packs. Before these packs were popularized, growers had to manually maintain the humidity, which can be a pain. Luckily, the packs take out the guesswork and do most of the work for you.

Step 1: Dry and Trim Your Buds After Harvest

Before putting jars is buds, it’s essential to make sure your buds are fully dried and most of the leaves have been trimmed off.

Why Dry Buds Before Curing?

Freshly harvested buds are mostly water (75-85% water). Although humidity packs can take out extra moisture, they don’t have the drying power to take all that water out of your buds. Too much water locked in the jars can grow unwanted stuff, so you must dry buds first.

Buds are dry and ready to jar when…

• Small stems snap instead of bend
• Buds “pop off” the stem, without leaving strings behind

If the small stems are still bendy, or buds are leaving strings behind when you try to pop them off, it means there is still water contained inside and they should be dried a bit more.

The most common way to dry weed is hang branches upside down and let them air-dry.

Why Trim Buds Before Curing?

Although you can trim your buds before or after drying, it’s crucial to trim your buds before curing. If a lot of leaf matter is put in the jars to cure, the buds get a grassy hay smell, and buds won’t be as smooth to smoke even if you trim the buds at that point.

Don’t skip trimming before jarring your buds! Buds respond well to curing in jars, but leaves don’t.

Example of trimmed vs untrimmed cannabis buds.

Helpful Tutorials

• When to Harvest Weed Tutorial
• Complete Guide to Trimming Weed
• How to Dry Cannabis Buds

Step 2: Put Buds in Airtight Container with Humidity Pack (Optional: Add Hygrometer)

Once buds are trimmed and dried, it’s time to put them into an airtight container to start the curing process. These containers should be easy to open and close because you will be “burping” your jars once a day for a few weeks. Most cannabis growers use glass mason jars for curing cannabis.

During curing, it’s crucial to maintain the proper humidity. Luckily, this is easy with today’s curing tutorial! Just add a Boveda humidity control pack (sometimes called “Humidipaks”) to automatically maintain the humidity in the right range. They come in different versions, which I’ll explain below.

Lastly, you can optionally add a mini hygrometer to monitor the humidity in the jars.

Less than $20 for a 10-Pack of Humidity Control Packs – An investment worth EVERY penny!

There are two types of humidity packs you can choose to use for curing weed.

58% vs 62% Humidity Pack – Which is Better for Curing Weed?

• 58% Humidity Pack – The 58% version keeps things a little more dry than the 62% option. I personally prefer this version for curing weed. I think buds tend to smoke better, and it lowers the chance of any moisture building up in the jar, especially if you’ve got bigger or denser buds. It is also an ideal humidity for long-term storage, as weed should be a bit drier when stored for more than a month or two.
• 62% Humidity Pack – The 62% size is another great choice for curing weed. This is better if you prefer slightly softer weed, and also is an ideal choice for smaller buds (which tend to be easier to dry out). Although I like slightly drier buds, many cannabis enthusiasts prefer the texture of weed that has just a bit more moisture contained inside. However, if you plan on storing your weed for more than a month, you should opt for the 58% version (or switch after the 2-week cure).

Besides the humidity rating, these packs also come in different sizes. Boveda’s “Size 8” (this stands for 8 grams, which is the weight of each pack) is the perfect size to cure 1 ounce of weed. If you’re

Whether you get 58% or 62% packs, choose “Size 8” for 1 ounce of weed.

What containers to cure weed?

These are the most popular types of containers to cure your weed inside:

• Wide-Mouth Glass Mason Jars – These glass jars were originally made for cooking, but they’re also perfect for curing! These are what I use, and (by far) the most popular container for curing weed. They’re completely airtight, yet easy to open and close. You can easily see the weed inside.
• Turkey Bags – Also known as “oven bags”. These are what you would stick a turkey inside of to cook in your oven without drying out. They happen to work well for curing weed, especially if you’ve got a BIG harvest and don’t want to have to “burp” tons of jars once a day. The one downside is the trichomes may stick to the sides from static, but if a bag is full of a ton of weed that won’t make a significant difference.
• Other Airtight Containers – Glass tends to get the best results. Wood containers can leave a woody smell, and plastic tends to make static and can attract trichomes so they stick to the side instead of staying on your weed. Some growers get specially made curing containers that claim to automatically “burp” the weed for you, like the insanely expensive Herb Guard Auto-Cure Smart Jar or much more reasonably priced 2-Way Humidity Control Bags. However, in my experience these don’t work any better than the tried and true glass-jar-plus-humidity-pack combo.

Make sure to get the “wide mouth” version (not “regular mouth”) so your hands can easily fit inside.

Glass mason jars – tried and true for awesome curing. The 32 oz (1 quart) size is most popular, and holds about 1 ounce of weed.

After buds are cured, they can be kept in the jars for long-term storage.

Another option that’s popular for a big harvest is to cure the buds in “turkey bags” (the kind of bag you would use to cook a turkey in the oven). Buds are put into the bag, and then you tie it closed tightly to make it airtight. The benefits of turkey bags are you can put a lot more weed in them, and they’re easier to open and close to “burp” than jars (which you’ll learn about in the next step).

If you’ve got 20 ounces of weed in 20 jars, it can actually get a bit time consuming to burp them all every day. But you could put that much weed in a few turkey bags, and opening/closing is easier.

With a large harvest, daily burping can feel a bit daunting. Turkey bags make burping easier.

The only thing to keep in mind with turkey bags is they’re not suitable for long-term storage. Even if you tie them tightly closed, they’re not airtight like glass mason jars. That’s fine during the curing process when buds still need a little fresh air. But once the buds have finished curing for 2 weeks, you should move them into a truly airtight container.

Turkey oven bags can also be used for curing cannabis the first 2 weeks.

Tie the bag as tight as you can. Note: Even tied tightly, they are not completely airtight.

Remember, buds need to be moved to an actual airtight container after 2 weeks of curing.

Hygrometers are optional, but fun. If you want to see the actual humidity in you jars, you can buy cheap mini hygrometers that fit right inside a glass mason jar! However, if you follow all the other steps including getting the Boveda humidity packs and burping the jars, you don’t really need them.

Mini hygrometers are unnecessary if you follow all the other steps.

But they’re cheap and fun!

Step 3: “Burp” Jars Once a Day for 2 Weeks

While curing buds, the container should prevent air from going in and out, but buds do need some amount of fresh air. That’s why jars should be “burped” once a day during curing.

“Burping” means to open the jars and then close them. Larry had a LOT of jars to burp last harvest.

This step is pretty straightforward. Open your jars (or other curing container such as a turkey bag) once a day for the first 2 weeks. This ensures they get some amount of fresh air.

Don’t skip this step even if you feel like you overdried your weed. It’s crucial for the buds to get some fresh air to properly cure. The humidity packs ensure there is the right amount of moisture for a proper cure.

Sniff your weed! Burping is also a good time to enjoy the smell of your weed as it intensifies over the curing process. Maybe keep a nug for a smoke test 😉

Some strains like Platinum Cookies smell like a tasty dessert!

If buds smell musty or feel wet on the outside, pay attention! Buds should feel dry to the touch. Also, if buds smell like something besides weed (ammonia, vinegar, musty, or otherwise like something unwanted is growing in there), don’t ignore it! Typically, this happens when the weed was still too wet when jarred.

A humidity pack can remove some amount of moisture, but if the buds weren’t fully dried before being put in the jar, it may not be able to pull enough water out. Or the moisture may be building in the bottom of the jar, away from the humidity pack.

If you think your buds aren’t dry enough, dump them out of the jars onto a clean surface and let them dry for a few hours. Don’t put them back in the jars unless the outside of each bud feels completely dry. You may need to repeat this process again the next day if you still notice a musty smell or the buds feel wet again.

If buds seem wet in the jars, lay them out on a clean surface and let them dry for a few hours.

Step 4: Enjoy Your Cured Buds!

After 2 weeks, your buds are done their initial cure. At this point, they’re ready to smoke!

After 2 weeks, you don’t need to keep burping the jars every day. But it’s not a bad idea to open the jars once a week for a few more weeks to keep the curing process going. Buds may continue to improve for several more weeks or even months of curing.

Is it worth curing buds for longer than 2 weeks?

I’ve noticed certain strains keep getting more and more potent for months, while other strains don’t seem to improve much past the first 2-4 weeks of curing.

For example, we grew some Full Moon and Purple Ghost Candy plants together. The harvest was enormous, and we were smoking it for over a year. We noticed that the Full Moon maintained its potency, but for the Purple Ghost Candy continued getting more and more potent until we used it all up. We actually started calling it the “Day Ender” because if you smoked some of it you weren’t going to be doing anything else that day!

Some strains continue improving from longer curing, like this Purple Ghost Candy.

Buds were super potent after 2 weeks of curing. (Note: although the leaves were purple, the buds were mostly green)

But after curing in jars for a few more months, the Purple Ghost Candy potency reached “day-ender” status!

On the other hand, the Full Moon buds (plant on the left from the same grow) only maintained the same potency after a long cure.

So strain and genetics seem to play an important role on the effects of long-term curing.

What about long-term storage?

One of the coolest parts of being a home grower is after you’ve gotten the hang of it, each harvest results in way more weed than you can use. Even for daily smokers!

Check out this unbelievable harvest by our friend Mr. K!

So you may end up in a situation where you want to store your weed for a long time. Properly stored weed maintains its potency for years.

Here’s what’s most important for long term storage:

• Buds are completely dry – It’s a good idea to open jars once a week for a little while to ensure that moisture isn’t building up inside. After a few weeks, if buds seem totally dry every time you check, they’re ready for long term storage.
• Add a Boveda 58% Pack – For long term storage, moisture is your enemy, so you want to keep buds on the drier side. A 58% Boveda pack works great.
• Cool, dark place – Besides moisture, the biggest enemy to weed in storage are heat and light. Both tend to degrade THC levels. Ideally, you want to keep your buds completely in the dark, in a place that stays cool all the time. Don’t store your weed jars next to a window with the sun shining on them, or a room that gets hot!

If you followed all the steps, buds can be stored for years without losing potency. And as mentioned before, in some cases, you may find they’ve actually gotten more potent!

If you follow today’s 4 easy steps, you’ll end up with perfectly cured cannabis every single harvest!

Happy Growing!

Looking for some awesome new cannabis strains to grow? Wondering where to buy marijuana seeds? There are lot of choices, but learn about the marijuana seed banks we recommend here: https://www.growweedeasy.com/seeds

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About the Author: Nebula Haze

Nebula Haze founded GrowWeedEasy.com with her husband Sirius in 2010. Our mission is to demystify the world of indoor marijuana cultivation. We’ve shared our passion and knowledge through hundreds of tutorials covering every aspect of growing, both in print and online. We’ve also guided numerous students through our comprehensive online courses. For us, it’s not just about growing cannabis; it’s about empowering every grower to discover the simplicity and joy of nurturing cannabis plants to an outstanding harvest. Growing is easy, you just need to know what to do!

Keep smiling and growing,
~Nebula Haze

The post The #1 Method to Cure Buds Perfectly Every Time appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Ok, it’s starting to get warm outside. What if you want to harvest a lot of outdoor weed as fast as possible? What if you’re working with a short summer where you live? Perhaps it’s already summer time; do you still have time to grow weed outdoors? Get the answers today!

• Under 2 months → Not enough time to harvest outdoors (time to start an indoor grow)
• 2-3 months left → Grow an autoflower (Gummibears Auto, LSD-25 Auto, White Russian Auto)
• 3+ months left → Grow an autoflower (fastest) or fast photoperiod (Bruce Banner Fast, Guava Root GMO, Gorilla Gas F1)

Grow autoflower strains for an ultra-fast outdoor harvest in as little as 2 months!

Pictured: Rainbow Kush Auto plants on either end, Four Assed Monkey Auto plants in the middle. Masterfully grown by our Home Grow Masterclass student Raymond!

When I started growing in 2008, you had to always plant your cannabis in the Spring and they would not be ready to harvest until late Fall. That’s how traditional (“photoperiod“) strains worked.

Luckily, as a cannabis grower in 2026, you have more outdoor growing options.

There are now many strains, known as autoflower strains,  which are ready to harvest as soon as 8 weeks from germination, regardless of when you germinate your seeds. That’s less than 60 days from seed to weed. It’s still mind-blowing to me how fast autoflower can strains sprint to harvest.

Autoflower cannabis strains need as little as 2 months to go from seedlings…

…to a bountiful outdoor autoflower cannabis harvest!

What that means to you: If you’ve got at least two more months of decent weather where you live, you’ve still got enough time to complete an outdoor harvest using autoflower strains. Note: “Decent weather” for growing cannabis plants means the weather is sunny on many days, and not freezing cold or constantly wet.

Fun Fact: I’ve noticed that many fast autoflower strains have “Blueberry” genetics in their history. Someone in the past must have made a fast-flowering Blueberry auto cross!

A lot fast autoflower strains have Blueberry genetics in their history.

What About Photoperiod Strains?

When growing outdoors, photoperiod plants grow buds in the summer and are ready to harvest in the Fall. But even in ideal conditions, the fastest photoperiod strains are usually slower than almost any autoflower strain.

That means if you’re looking for the fastest outdoor harvest, autoflower strains are the best option.

But what about the fastest photoperiod harvest? There are “fast version” photoperiod strains that are ready to harvest a few weeks earlier outdoors, typically in early-to-mid Fall.

Most photoperiod plants (like this Larry Lemon) are not ready to harvest until mid-to-late Fall. “Fast version” strains may be ready in early Fall.

See Recommended Strains for a Fast Outdoor Photoperiod Harvest.

These 10 Autoflower Strains Are Ready to Harvest Outdoors in 2-3 Months

The fastest strains to harvest are autoflower strains. Autoflower strains start making flowers (buds) about a month from germination, and are typically ready to harvest just a month or two after that. The exact amount of time needed depends on the strain.

Most of the following autoflowering strains are ready to harvest 8-10 weeks from germination. 2 months is about as fast as you can harvest with autoflower strains and still get good yields and bud quality.

Note: A little extra time increases bud size and potency. Even with these ultra-fast strains (which do produce great buds in 2 months), you can increase your yields and bud potency further by giving them an extra week or two over the minimum recommended time.

When time is of the essence, the following outdoor autoflower strains serve you well!

Black Cream Auto by Sweet Seeds

Ready to harvest in 60 days from germination, this strain stays on the shorter side. Plants tend to grow one main big bud, and a few smaller side branches. Bud color ranges from regular purple to almost black purple, depending on the particular plant. The smell is sweet and fruity, with earthy notes. Once they’re dried, the dark purple nugs are a unique sight to behold.

Buds have a unique smooth effect that I love from Sweet Seeds strains (whether auto-flowering or photoperiod). Their genetics are originally from Spain and leave you relaxed and floating on a cloud.

Dark purple buds like from some Black Cream Auto are delightful to see on the plant and after harvest!

Here are all the colors of buds you can expect from Black Cream Auto. These plants are extra hardy and can handle some mistakes yet still produce a great harvest. Grown by Santacabrera.

Skunk #1 Auto by White Label

Skunk #1 Auto plants make that old school skunk smell that takes me back to when I first started smoking. Great yields, easy to grow, and ready to harvest in under 60 days. A relaxing strain that is not too intense, making it perfect for social situations or long smoking sessions.

Two Skunk #1 Auto plants grown outdoors (orange cat for protection)

Skunk #1 autos produce big buds outdoors, fast!

Girl Scout Cookies Auto by FastBuds Seeds

I love this autoflower strain for a bunch of reasons. For one, this strain is true-to-its-roots and gives you Girl Scout Cookies buds with the effects you would find in a photoperiod version of the strain. Buds look gorgeous, and feel stronger than the 20% THC. The apparent strength may have to do with the entourage effect and higher levels of d-Limonene in this strain’s buds. Note: D-Limonene is a lemon-smelling terpene that adds to the entourage effect and may make buds feel more relaxing and social.

Plants can get surprisingly tall in a short amount of time. Ready to harvest about 65 days from germination. Prefers higher-than-average nutrient levels in the flowering stage (a plant needs lots of nutrients to grow those huge buds!). Otherwise, plants are hardy and easy to grow.

LSD-25 Auto by FastBuds Seeds

A lot of the fastest autoflower strains are bred by FastBuds, or descended from FastBuds genetics. That’s because this breeder has continuously focused on making strains to produce fast harvests. LSD-25 Auto is a popular choice for growing outdoors because it’s ready to harvest in 60 days from germination, stays small, is easy to grow, and most plants produce bright purple buds.

Outdoor-grown LSD-25 Auto plants typically make bright purple buds. This one was grown by BigBeardy Grows.

Blueberry Auto by Seedsman

I have had consistently great results with most autoflower strains by Seedsman. The seeds germinate well, plants are easy to grow, and bud size and quality are above-average. Their Blueberry Auto is no exception!

These Blueberry Auto plants were grown in a DIY greenhouse (mainly to keep them out of sight), and thrived outdoors.

Blue Cheese Auto by Seed Supreme

This strain tends to grow one main bud, and it can get THICK! Blue Cheese Auto is specifically resistant to mold or bud rot, so it can handle higher humidity levels than many other strains. Great if you tend to have a lot of wet days or high humidity where you live. Ready to harvest in about 70 days from germination.

Blue Cheese Auto plants grow well outdoors, even if the environment isn’t perfect.

Blue Dream Auto by Seed Supreme

Needing 70 days from seed to harvest, Blue Dream plants tend to be easy to grow with excellent yields and bud effects.

Blue Dream Auto plants tend to grow themselves.

Some of these strains take a little longer, but are still very fast and reward you with bigger yields than the fastest autoflower strains.

Mint Jelly Auto by Humboldt Seed Company

This strain is an autoflowering version of the popular Mint Cake strain, but it may have turned out even better than the original. It has a THC level of up to 27% and a peppermint and cake flavor. It grows well outdoors, and is ready to harvest about 70-80 days after germination.

Mint Jelly Auto produces up to 27% THC – one of the most potent outdoor autoflowering strains available!

Cream Cookies Auto by Fastbuds Seeds

This strain is considered to be an Indica-dominant strain (its “body high” is greater than its “head high”) with high resin production. It has a THC level of a little over 20% and buds have a caramel and creamy flavor. It grows well outdoors and is ready about 10 weeks from germination.

Most autoflower cannabis plants, including Cream Cookies Auto, tend to stay on the smaller side, unless marked as XL

Planet of the Grapes Auto by Ethos Genetics

Easy to grow, good yields, smells great, STRONG bud effects. May be even stronger than Mint Jelly Auto in some cases. Tends to take a bit longer than most autos (up to 90 days) and gets bigger (up to 2-3 feet tall) but will reward you for your patience with amazing yields of top-quality buds. When growing outdoors, you want to plant this strain a full 3 months before it gets cold or rainy outside where you live.

Planet of the Grapes Auto grows with a natural bushy structure and buds are amazing.

Kushberry Moonrocks Auto by MSNL 

Easy to grow, hardy enough to grow in hot or arid climates, and great yields make this a gem in the outdoor autoflowering strain world. Ready to harvest about 2.5 months from germination. I absolutely love the photoperiod version of this strain, and the autoflowering strain lives up to the same standard of bud quality. Truly an example of getting photoperiod buds in autoflowering form.

Kushberry Moonrocks Auto cannabis bud quality is in a league of its own.

Grease Gun Auto by Atlas Seed

This strain produces the best bud quality, resin production, and potency if you allow buds to continue to mature until a full 12 weeks from germination, though it can be harvested a week or two earlier in a pinch.

Here’s an outdoor Grease Gun Auto grown by SkunkSquatch: “Plant is grown in a 7 gallon grow bag about 22 inches tall.”

Grease Gun Auto by Atlas Seed does well in outdoor conditions and grows sparkly buds dripping in resin.

Zkittlez Auto by Seedsman

Extremely easy to grow indoors or out, this strain does take a bit longer than most others on this list, needing almost 90 days from seed to harvest. Yet still faster than any photoperiod strain. For your patience, Zkittlez Auto plants reward you with huge yields of sweet-smelling buds covered in trichomes.

Zkittlez Auto buds produce lovely “chill” effects, and smell delicious.

Auto Duck by Dutch Passion

“Duck” strains (also called “Ducksfoot” strains) look different from other cannabis plants. Unlike typical cannabis leaves, the leaves of these strains are the shape of a duck’s foot. This is due to a natural mutation that an enterprising cannabis grower noticed and bred into a strain. As a result, these plants don’t look as much like cannabis plants to most eyes even after buds start growing. That makes these strains a coveted choice for outdoor growers looking for a little extra stealth.

This strain takes a full 3 months outdoors from seed to harvest, but rewards you with excellent buds. This particular version of Duck has been crossed with a high quality White Widow, giving you White Widow buds from a duck leaf cannabis plant.

Auto Duck by Dutch Passion is a cannabis strain that grows unique duck’s foot-shaped leaves. Stealthy!

Check out those leaves up close.

A Ducksfoot strain has less of an overall “cannabis” aesthetic.

What About Photoperiod Strains?

If you’re pressed for time before cold weather arrives, or just want the fastest outdoor harvest possible, then photoperiod strains aren’t your best bet. Even the fastest photoperiod strains aren’t ready to harvest as fast as almost any auto-flowering strain.

Most photoperiod strains are ready to harvest in mid-to-late Fall

While autoflower plants are ready to harvest based on their age, photoperiod plants go through their life cycle based on the season. They start producing buds in response to long nights, which means photoperiod strains typically start making buds in mid-to-late summer. Buds continue to mature until plants are ready to harvest in Fall.

Think of it as if a photoperiod cannabis plant is “trying” to finish making buds before winter comes.

Most photoperiod plants (like this Larry Lemon) are not ready to harvest until mid-to-late Fall. Notice how the leaves in the background have changed color.

“Fast” photoperiod strains are ready to harvest in early-to-mid Fall

When a photoperiod strain is “fast” that means it tends to be ready to harvest a bit earlier in the Fall season. However, there is no photoperiod strain that is naturally ready to harvest in summer. Photoperiod plants are “trying” to time their harvest to happen right before winter. If you want an outdoor summer harvest, you need to choose auto-flowering strains.

You need an auto-flowering strain, like this Bloody Skunk Auto, to achieve a harvest in summer.

Photoperiod plants are very sensitive to time of year

An odd quirk is that if you plant photoperiod seeds outside too early in the spring, the nights will be long enough to cause them to start making buds immediately. However, since the days are getting shorter at that time of year, the plants quickly revert back to the vegetative stage, buds die, and the plant then goes through its regular life cycle, becoming ready to harvest in the Fall.

On the other hand, with an auto-flowering plant, this is not a consideration. Just put the plants outside when you know you have 2-3 months of good weather.

Photoperiod plants may “re-veg” if you put them outside too early.

Remember: Whether you plant photoperiod seeds outside in the Spring or Summer, the buds will be ready to harvest in the Fall.

Photoperiod strains aren’t the best choice for late planting

Photoperiod strains grow best outdoors when placed outside in late Spring. If you plant photoperiod seeds too late, the buds might not be ready to harvest in time, even if you’re growing a Fast Photoperiod strain. Why? Let’s look at the life of a photoperiod plant to see why they need more time than you might think.

A photoperiod seedling needs a certain amount of maturity before it can start flowering (making buds). Typically, most photoperiod plants do not start flowering until at least 3-4 weeks old (later for some strains), even if you plant it later in the season when normally a plant would start flowering. So let’s say you’ve only got 3 months left before it gets cold or rainy in your climate. That means you need a photoperiod strain with a 2 month flowering period or shorter, because your plant won’t start flowering for the first month. And that’s if everything goes as planned.

Start seedlings indoors to help give them a fast start.

That’s why it’s recommended to get a photoperiod strain with the absolute shortest flowering period when planting later in the season. This just helps speed everything up and ensure your buds are mature and ready to harvest before it gets cold.

There are several “Fast” photoperiod strains, which have 6-8 week flowering periods in good conditions. These can shave off a few weeks from the flowering stage, but you’re still looking at a 3+ month grow from start to finish outdoors. If you’ve got less time than that, I highly recommend going with autoflowering strains!

“Fast” strains are your best bet for photoperiods with late outdoor planting.

Another tip for growing outdoors is to make sure to start your seeds indoors, so they get a headstart and are strong enough to start growing fast and healthy as soon as they’re put outdoors. Take great care of these seedlings and pay close attention to them from the beginning. Be careful not to overwater them. And when you put them outside, ensure they get lots of sun.

Outdoor Late-Planting Photoperiod Tips

• Grow a “Fast” Photoperiod Strain – Get a strain with a 6-8 week flowering period (as fast as it gets for photoperiod strains).
• Start Indoors – Give your photoperiod seedlings a head start by giving them perfect conditions for the first few weeks of life.
• Lots of Sun – It’s especially important to make sure your late-planted cannabis plants get a lot of light. Light is food for plants!
• Don’t Overwater – Overwatering is one of the most common ways to slow down a cannabis plant.

Learn how to grow great cannabis outdoors.

“Fast” Photoperiod Strains – Ready to harvest in early-to-mid Fall. For an earlier harvest, grow an autoflowering strain!

Note: Even if you plant these strains outdoors very late in the season, fast photoperiod strains need at least 3 months from germination before buds are ready to harvest.

Bruce Banner Fast Version by Seed Supreme

Bruce Banner is an epic strain, and this is the faster flowering version. The quality of buds is the same, though with a shorter flowering period it tends to have slightly lower yields than if you grew the non-fast version. Extremely potent (over 25% THC) so these buds are not for the faint-hearted.

Bruce Banner Fast by Seed Supreme does well in outdoor conditions and grows sparkly buds dripping in resin.

Northern Lights Fast Version by Seed Supreme

This strain is a good choice for a stealth grow because it tends to grow more short and bushy (won’t grow over your fence), and doesn’t stink up a storm like many other photoperiod strains. Tends to be a relatively hardy and forgiving plant, and can handle colder climates better than most strains on this list. The reward is sparkly buds with a nice smooth smoke.

Northern Lights Fast by Seed Supreme does well in outdoor conditions and grows sparkly buds that smell fresh with a touch of incense.

Blue Princess Fast Version by Homegrown Cannabis Co.

This is a Blueberry crossed with a Cinderella strain (hence “Blue Princess”), and the fast version has proven to perform well outdoors and still reward you with an ultra-fast harvest. A great strain for those who suffer from anxiety, as the higher CBD levels help provide a relaxing soothing effect, and overall is known as a “smiley” strain.

Blue Princess Fast by Homegrown Cannabis Co. is well-suited to outdoors and grow dense, professional looking buds.

Frisian Dew by Dutch Passion

Although not a “fast type” strain, any list of great outdoor cannabis strains has to include Frisian Dew. It is the quintessential outdoor strain, being developed specifically to thrive in non-ideal outdoor environments (especially colder climates), yet still produce a great harvest. Buds are typically purple, plants are resistant to pests, cold, high humidity, and other common stresses.

A great choice for growers at northern latitudes. It tends to be ready to harvest earlier than most other photoperiod strains.

Frisian Dew was specifically bred to thrive outdoors in northern climates.

A closeup of Frisian Dew buds. Beautiful!

Ready to Plant for a Late Summer Cannabis Harvest?

If you’re going to grow outdoors and it’s already getting late in the season, then you need to grow a fast autoflowering strain. These strains need as little as 2 months from seed to harvest. If you’ve got more than 3 months, then an early-finishing photoperiod strain can also work.

What this means to you: As long as you have decent weather for the next few months, you have enough time to plant one of the recommended cannabis seeds outdoors and still get a good summer harvest.

Remember, with outdoor plants, give them as much direct light as possible every day, and pay attention to the weather. If it’s going to be bad weather, do what you can to protect your plants from the elements. Here’s a full guide on how to grow cannabis outdoors.

About the Author: Nebula Haze

Nebula Haze is a dedicated cannabis enthusiast and co-creator of GrowWeedEasy.com, your resource for every aspect of cannabis cultivation. With years of hands-on experience growing cannabis at home, Nebula uses her passion to simplify the grow process so anyone can achieve amazing yields and bud quality at home. Her in-depth yet simple tutorials make learning to grow weed easy and fun, the way it should be!

Nebula Haze wishing you many abundant harvests!

Make sure to use the search bar to search for any cannabis growing questions you may have, and our free plant doctor tool to diagnose your sick cannabis plants.

Don’t miss out on the latest tips, tricks, and expert advice from Nebula Haze! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get the best cannabis cultivation tactics delivered straight to you every Sunday morning at 4:20 am.

The post Fast Outdoor Strains for a Quicker Cannabis Harvest (Short Summer, Late Planting…) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Do you want to grow a bunch of (almost) free weed outdoors? Do you seek the satisfaction of growing cannabis plants in nature? If so, you’ve come to the right place. This beginner outdoor marijuana growing tutorial will walk you through the basics of growing weed under the sun. Just follow all the steps, and you will be holding your own homegrown weed by the fall.

Don’t you want cannabis growing in your backyard like these beautiful plants by LuckyAcres?

Why Let Your Cannabis Buds Embrace the Sun?

Why grow your cannabis outdoors?

• Free Light! (The Sun) – Cannabis plants “eat” light. Light is what feeds the growth of buds, and more light = bigger yields on average. Outdoors, the sun provides all the light a cannabis plant could use.
• Turn Outdoor Space into a Weed Factory – An indoor cannabis garden takes room in the house. If you’ve got a good space outdoors to grow weed, why not use it?
• Free Weed Every Year – Even if you also grow cannabis indoors, it’s nice for any grower to get a huge bumper crop of extra weed every year. If you set your outdoor grow up properly, it should be fun, straightforward, and lucrative.

This White Widow plant is growing big, beautiful cannabis buds.

Pros of Growing Cannabis Outdoors vs Indoor Growing

• Cheaper Than Indoors – Thanks to the sun, you don’t need electricity or grow lights to grow cannabis outdoors. Electricity is usually the highest cost for indoor cannabis growers. A free source of unlimited light dramatically cuts down costs. Outdoor weed is the cheapest weed to grow.
• No Extra Heat in the House – Outdoor growing doesn’t cause heat in the home, like a grow light. Though admittedly, a very small LED grow light won’t change the temperature of a room.
• Less Work – Depending on where you live, Mother Nature takes care of many of a cannabis plant’s needs, such as providing water through rain. With indoor growing, you typically water your plant a few times a week.

There’s something particularly beautiful about outdoor cannabis plants.

Cons of Growing Cannabis Outdoors vs Indoors

Cannabis Pests Want Your Plants

• Problem: Bugs and other outdoor pests are often the biggest challenge for outdoor cannabis growers compared to indoor growing.
• How to Deal: Bugs can be dealt with. This outdoor tutorial suggests a mix of pest management practices and safe insecticides (when necessary). But with extra care, outdoor growers can grow a clean cannabis crop of big beautiful buds.

Local Climate Might Not Be Optimal

• Problem: Cannabis plants need lots of direct sun every day. Harvest timing is also a factor for outdoor growers, because weather/light cycles are different in different parts of the world. Some growers may have to prepare for weather such as storms or heat.
• How to Deal: It helps greatly to learn a little about your local sunlight cycles and seasons. Most strains of cannabis are ready to harvest in mid-Autumn, which is still good weather for some growers. If not, some fast-flowering photoperiod strains are ready to harvest earlier. Luckily, you can also grow autoflowering strains and choose almost any harvest date (more info below). For weather, here are cold-resistant strains, heat-resistant strains, and extra tips for dealing with heat and humidity outdoors.

Artificial Light Can Cause Problems (Photoperiod Strains)

• Problem: Outdoor photoperiod cannabis plants need total darkness at night to make buds in late summer. Long nights tell the plant “winter is coming”. Artificial light at night can interrupt this process.
• How to Deal: Small lights in the distance aren’t enough, but artificial light close to cannabis plants at night can cause the plant to revert to the vegetative stage. Cannabis plants need their beauty sleep to make buds. Take a moment to think about nearby artificial lights. For example, don’t plant your cannabis right under a street light or bright window.

Note: Ignore this for autoflowering strains, as autoflowering cannabis plants don’t care about light cycles.

Stealth is Paramount

• Problem: It’s best no one knows about your cannabis plants besides you. Even if just to prevent a heart-breaking plant theft. The problem is cannabis plants have a potent aroma and plants given plenty of sun, nutrients, and root space can grow quite large.
• How to Deal: Even if it’s legal to grow where you live, and you’re not worried about thieves, it’s still good to be a considerate neighbor and not stink up the neighborhood. Here’s a helpful guide to stealthy outdoor cannabis cultivation.

Quick outdoor tip, while we’re here: These delicate floating white eggs are actually good eggs. They come from the green lacewing bug, a garden friend. Leave these eggs alone so they can hatch and eat cannabis pests in the area. Check out this guide to outdoor pest management.

Lacewing eggs make GOOD bugs.

Less Control

• Problem: You have much less control over your outdoor environment compared to indoors.
• How to Deal: Being more zen helps a lot. Part of outdoor growing is acceptance. If it rains for a week, that’s just what your plants are getting unless you can shield them. You can gain more control by growing in pots so plants can be moved, but to some extent, outdoor plants are at the mercy of the elements. Outdoor growers must accept that some bugs will crawl on your plants at some point. However, this tutorial shows you how to minimize the most common outdoor challenges, so you’re rewarded for your patience at harvest time.

Now that you know how to overcome these stepping stones, you are ready to join the wonderful exciting world of outdoor cannabis cultivation!

Overview: Timeline of an Outdoor Cannabis Plant in This Tutorial

Seedling Stage: The life of an outdoor cannabis plant starts as a seedling indoors. Seedlings get moved outdoors after it stops getting cold at night.

Vegetative Stage: Plants are nurtured with sunlight and regular watering. Autoflowering plants grow on a schedule, but traditional photoperiod plants follow the sun’s light cycles. Photoperiod cannabis plants typically reach about half of their final size by mid-summer, at which point you should see the first buds forming. This is the sign your plant is entering the “flowering” or budding stage of life.

Flowering Stage: Continue to water plants regularly. Since cannabis plants are nutrient-hungry when buds are forming, it’s recommended to give organic or synthetic “bloom” nutrients during the budding phase. This helps prevent nutrient deficiencies, which tend to reduce yields and slow down bud development.

Harvest: Wait until buds are ready to harvest. Then cut down the plant, hang each branch upside down to dry, and jar the buds.

Enjoy: An outdoor marijuana harvest can be huge if you follow all the steps below.

7 Steps to Grow Weed a Ton of Weed Outdoors: Easy Method

Whether you’re a curious newbie or a seasoned grower looking to switch from indoor to outdoor, we’ve got you covered with our fail-proof method.

Step 1: Source Quality Seeds

You have two main options, autoflowering or photoperiod strains.

• Autoflowering Strain – Autoflowering plants are ready to harvest on a schedule. For example, most strains are ready to harvest around 3 months from germination. With these, the main thing is to make sure you plant the seeds so they’re ready to harvest before it gets cold or rainy where you live.
• Photoperiod Strain – These can be a bit trickier. Photoperiod strains automatically start making buds when nights get longer in mid-to-late summer. Then they are ready to harvest in early to mid-autumn, depending on the strain. If your local climate gets cold or rainy before mid-autumn, you might want to consider auto-flowering plants to make sure they’re ready to harvest in time before the weather gets bad. If you do have a decently warm fall where you live, opt for a photoperiod strain that is listing as being a good choice for your climate.

Other factors to keep in mind:

• Avoid sensitive strains – When growing outdoors, it’s best to get cannabis strains that are known to be hardy against the elements, for example have some resistance to heat, high humidity, and bugs. You probably don’t want a particularly fragile strain outdoors, since you don’t have as much control to baby the plants.
• Ask locals – Sometimes the best cannabis strain for growing outdoors comes from local growers. If you can find someone who’s been growing weed in your area for a few years, they may even have some great tips or genetics to share about your local environment.

Recommended Outdoor Autoflowering Strains

• Blue Dream Autoflower – Easy to grow, nice “in-your-head” daytime effects that are not overwhelming. Ready to harvest about 9-10 weeks from germination.
• Blueberry x Mazar Autoflower – Excellent effects, easy to grow, ready to harvest about 3 months from germination.
• Durban Poison Autoflower – Robust, healthy plants that do well in many environments. Ready to harvest about 3 months from germination.
• LSD-25 Auto – Beautiful purple buds, potent effects, easy to grow. Harvest buds about 10 weeks from germination to get the highest potency and bud quality.
• Runtz Auto (MSNL version) – Big yields of sparkly buds, easy to grow, with an extremely fast flowering time, up to 24% THC levels, and a stimulating high.
• Purple Punch Autoflower (Royal Queen Seeds version) – Very fast strain that’s ready to harvest as soon as 7 weeks from germination, though an extra week or two tends to increase the potency and density.

Check out my recommended outdoor autoflowering strains for the 2024 season.

Recommended Photoperiod Strains for Outdoor Growing

• Apple Fritter – Super high THC levels and excellent bud quality. It does well outdoors and can handle heat and cold, a good choice for grower who want super high potency. Just be careful to protect it from bugs as it can be extra tasty to bugs (like caterpillars) compared to some other strains.
• Blue Dream – A classic for good reason. Hardy, high-yielding, and relatively easy to grow. Resistant to common molds and pests. Offers a balanced high and is generally a crowd-pleaser.
• Blueberry x OG Kush – A popular strain that’s well-suited for warmer climates. It requires some attention but rewards with high-quality buds. It’s known for its potent effects and complex aroma, blending earthy, pine, and lemon notes.
• Baldur’s Crepe – This photoperiod strain thrives outdoors even at northern latitudes, as it was bred to grow outdoors in northern Maine close to the Canadian border. New to the scene, it has proven to produce gorgeous fat round buds that belong on the top shelf, even if you make a few mistakes along the way. The same breeder also offers Skunch, which performs well in similar conditions, with buds that take on a “peanut butter” smell after they’ve been dried.
• Durban Poison – This pure sativa is great for outdoor cultivation, especially in warmer climates. It’s known for its resilience and can grow quite tall. It offers a clear, uplifting high and a sweet smell.
• Frisian Dew – Specifically created as an outdoor cannabis strain, Frisian Dew is known for its hardiness, mold resistance, and visually striking purple buds.
• Granddaddy Purple – Perfect for cooler climates. It’s a hardy strain that produces dense, resinous buds with a sweet, grape-like aroma. It’s great for pain relief and relaxation, and its stunning purple hues are a sight to behold.
• Gorilla Sherbet F1 FAST – This fast version of Gorilla Sherbert by Sweet Seeds is ready to harvest earlier outdoors
• Maui Wowie – A classic strain with unique effects. It grows well in various grow environments, and can tolerate a wide range of conditions and still produce excellent weed.
• Pineapple Express #2 – Designed to thrive in hostile climates and still give you sweet-smelling, delightful weed.
• Sour Diesel – Known for its pungent, diesel-like aroma, this strain is a favorite among growers for its strong, energetic high. It’s fairly resistant to mildew and pests, and thrives in a sunny, outdoor environment.

Frisian Dew is the quintessential outdoor cannabis strain.

Step 2: Set Up Your Grow Spot

What Supplies Do you Need?

Soil – I like Coco Loco because cannabis seems to grow faster for me in soil that uses coco instead of peat. Anything labeled as an “organic potting mix” usually works well for growing cannabis.

Other Thoughts on Soil: If soil looks rich and you see little white rocks in it (shows up as “perlite” on the ingredients list), that’s a good sign. I’ve had good luck with any soil by Fox Farm. Their Ocean Forest soil tends to burn young seedlings because it it “hot” with a lot of nutrients, but they get used to it and grow well after that (just don’t give extra nutrients for a few weeks). Their Happy Frog soil is made for seedlings, with great fast growth, though you need to start giving extra nutrients after a week or so because they’ll quickly use up everything in the soil. My local garden nursery offers “rich organic potting soil with coco and perlite” and that works amazing. If there are friendly garden workers near you, it can’t hurt to ask what soil they recommend for an outdoor vegetable garden.

What’s the best soil for growing cannabis?

Don’t skimp on soil. Give plants good cannabis soil like Coco Loco if you want good weed!

Bad soil results in sad, weak plants that don’t ever grow happy and fast.

This is bad soil!!!

Nutrients – Regular soils typically starts running out of nutrients before cannabis hits the crucial nutrient-heavy budding phase. For your first grow outdoors, I recommend doing what’s easy and proven to work great, which is to add cannabis-specific nutrients to your water when watering your plants.

• Easy, Cheap Nutrient Option: Dyna-Gro Grow & Bloom. Give 1/2 tsp/gallon of “Grow” with every watering at first, then 1 tsp/gallon after the first 2 weeks. When the new buds have started coming out, and you see little white “puffballs” all over the plant, switch to giving 1 tsp/gallon of Bloom with every watering. Learn more about using Dyna-Gro nutrients to grow cannabis.
• Higher End Cannabis Nutrients: Fox Farm Nutrient Trio – Give this to cannabis plants according to their schedule, but start at half strength as it tends to be a bit strong.

Check out more recommended cannabis nutrients.

Easy, cheap nutrient option for growing weed outdoors: Dyna-Gro Grow & Bloom.

Home for Roots: Plant Pots, in the Ground, or a Raised Bed?

• Plant pot – A relatively small plant pot can help keep plants smaller, while an enormous pot can support bigger plants. A 5-gallon or 10-gallon pot can support a big but not crazy cannabis plant. If growing in a fabric pot, don’t get anything smaller than a 5-gallon, and it can help retain water and protect roots from heat if you put the fabric pot inside of a hard-sided pot.
• In the Ground – This can be a good option if you have particularly good soil where you live, but typically you should either dig a hole and fill it with good soil, or get your soil analyzed and fix it so that it has the right properties to support a plant like cannabis.
• Raised Bed – Tends to grow bigger and more vigorous plants than using plant pots. A good choice if you want to grow big plants without having to rehabilitate a bunch of soil in the ground.

Starting multiple cannabis plants in different kinds of pots lets you decide what works best for you.

Some advice about pots from my outdoor growing friend LuckyAcres. “After 20 years of being around black “nursery pots”, airpots have become my number one choice. Better root growth, better access to air, massive root terminals…. day and night to what I was accustomed to. Grow bags can retain salts and pests if not dealt with properly between grows. My access to sun changes thru the season so I must be able to move my ladies as needed.”

Learn more about air pots vs regular pots.

Example of a Night Queen Auto by Dutch Passion that was grown in an air pot.

Outdoor grower Jim shows off his outdoor cannabis plants in raised beds.

You need big pots with lots of soil and tons of sunlight to grow huge cannabis plants outside. These are 200-gallon fabric pots!

Where should I grow cannabis outdoors?

Here’s what to consider.

• Hours of Sunlight – When it comes to growing outdoors, you want to maximize direct sunlight to your plants. Most importantly, your plants should be getting at least 6-8+ hours of direct sunlight every day during late summer. Cannabis plants need a lot of light to produce big buds. If they only get indirect light, or only get light for a few hours a day, the buds will never get dense or mature fully.
• Stealth – If possible, the grow spot should be easy to hide, so that no one will accidentally see the plants. If there are people around, you may also want to consider security to deter possible thieves.
• Water Access – It should be easy to get water there (a hose is ideal)
• Smell – What will happen if the smell of weed starts to get out of control? If neighbors will be able to smell your plants, you’ll want to think about this (for example grown in a greenhouse with a carbon filter to contain smells, or grow low-odor strains).
• Wind Exposure – Cannabis plants like fresh air, and don’t want to be planted in a humid or musty spot. Grow cannabis plants where there is a nice breeze if possible, but not so breezy it would make the stems wave around.
• Pests and Wildlife – Outdoor grows may attract pests and even wildlife like deer or rabbits. If possible, try to grow in a clean, tended, fenced outdoor grow area that doesn’t have a lot of bugs or wildlife.
• Overall Accessibility – Your outdoor cannabis garden should be located somewhere that’s relatively easy for you to get to. It should be convenient to check on your plants every day. If they’re in some Far away clearing you probably aren’t going to be able to tend to the plants much. But if it’s in your backyard, it’s easy to check on plants regularly.

A greenhouse makes it a lot easier to hide cannabis plant.

Keeping plants in pots helps keep them on the smaller side, and gives you more freedom to move the plants (at least until they get too big).

When planting straight in the ground, it’s important to dig a big hole and fill the hole with several gallons of good soil, like this grower did. It’s unlikely your local soil happens to naturally support happy cannabis plants (with some exceptions).

Step 3: Start Seedlings Indoors

Easy method:

Start in solo cups  if you plan to grow multiple seeds. This makes it easy to decide what you want to do until after you see which seeds have sprouted and how they start growing.

Don’t forget to label each cup with the strain you planted, or you will often forget which is which lol

Or if you don’t mind using some extra soil, it’s awesome to put cannabis plants in 1-gallon or 2-gallon nursery pots. They’re relatively cheap, let plants get pretty big, and are relatively easy to transplant into their outdoor homes.

Plant seed directly in the soil under a small grow light. A very bright household light kept close works too. Just use the “hand test” and make sure it’s not too hot for your hard where the seeds are located.

Step 4: Transition to Nature in Early Summer

Move seedlings outdoor to their final home in early summer. It should be after the last frost of the season, and not get too cold at night anymore.

Just transplanted to a 15 gallon pot.

This plant was planted strain into the ground in a bed of awesome soil.

A plant going out for summer in Australia.

Follow a Proven Watering Schedule and Nutrient Regimen

How to Water Plants in Pots

• Wait – Wait until the top inch is dry
• Nutrients – Add nutrients to water
• Get Runoff – Give enough water to get some runoff
• Remove Runoff – Don’t let your plant pots sit in water.

*Alternative: “Pick up the pot” method. Water when the plants start to feel light when you pick up the pot, as most of their weight actually comes from the water.

How to Water Plants in a Raised Bed or Giant Pot

• Check the Soil Moisture – Dig your fingers an inch or two down and see if it feels wet. It should be moist, not soggy or bone dry. Generally if the top inch is dry it’s good to water again.
• Water Deeply and Evenly – Water slowly and evenly around the plants to allow the water to penetrate deep into the soil.
• Watch the Weather – Plants drink more when it’s hot, dry, or sunny. THey need less water when it’s cool or cloudy. Make sure to adjust your watering accordingly.
• Mulch to Retain Moisture – If soil is drying out, add a layer of mulch to hold extra moisture and help keep an even temperature at your plant roots.
• No Waterlogged Soil – Overwatering cannabis is a common mistake. Soil should be wet but not muddy. Make sure your planter has good drainage so extra water isn’t trapped with the roots. If soil seems really really wet, give it a long while to dry out before watering again. Not only is overwatering bad for your cannabis roots and growth rates, it tends to attract unwanted pests like fungus gnats.
• Monitor Plants – Watch how they respond after getting watered. If they droop for days after watering, that’s a sign you’re giving too much water at a time or watering too often. Healthy plants stand upright with vibrant, green healthy leaves.

If height is a concern, you can force cannabis plants into the shape you want simply by bending stems and tying them where you want.

Mainly, your job is to keep plants watered and happy. Then let them do their thing.

How to Avoid Cannabis Nutrient Deficiencies

• Cannabis Nutrients – Give good cannabis nutrients in the water.
• Check PH – Check the pH of your water with a kit
• React to Symptoms – Use our Plant Doctor tool to diagnose your symptoms and quickly fix the problem.

Check our free cannabis plant doctor tool if you see nutrient deficiencies or bugs.

Step 5: Shield with a Midsummer’s Spray

Spray cannabis plants in mid-summer to prevent bugs in the flowering/budding phase. You can spray plants now without any consequences, but once they start making buds you don’t want to spray them with anything because it may leave residue on the buds. If possible, it’s good to spray your plants proactively for common local pests, especially caterpillars. Other common outdoor cannabis pests are aphids, grasshoppers, crickets, leafhoppers, and planthoppers. As your local garden center what the worst local pests are in the garden.

Note: If you live in a place with sparse vegetation, for example in a desert or at very high altitudes, plant-eating bugs like caterpillars are less common. In that case, you may not need to do any preventative spraying for cannabis pests. However, always stay vigilant for any signs of bugs and be prepared to respond quickly if they appear.

• 1st spray at first site of pistils/white hairs/buds: BT Spray for Caterpillars
  • This biological insecticide contains the bacillus thuringiensis (BT) bacteria which kills larva and prevents caterpillars from being able to eat. Make sure to get something labeled for caterpillars, as there is a different type of BT that’s good for killing mosquitos but isn’t as effective on caterpillars. BT is harmless to humans. Although BT spray almost instantly stops caterpillars from being able to eat, it doesn’t kill them directly. So, although you may see the caterpillars alive and apparently unharmed after spraying, the BT is still doing its dirty work because they’re slowly starving to death.
• 1 week later: Spray with a horticultural oil or insecticidal soap, which kills or deters many insects from being on your cannabis plants.
  • Neem oil is the most popular organic insecticide for cannabis plants, by far. It’s effective against many cannabis pests and widely available all over the world. However, some people don’t like the smell or have adverse reactions. Learn more about neem oil for cannabis pests.
  • Insecticidal soap works by weakening the outer shell of bugs. Not as long-lasting as neem oil but some cannabis growers like it because it doesn’t leave much of a residue. This version comes as a concentrate and needs a sprayer to apply properly.
  • Lost Coast Plant Therapy is ridiculously expensive, but really effective on cannabis plants when used with a sprayer.
• 2 weeks later: One more BT spray (be careful not to spray any developing buds, which likely look like little white puff balls by now).

Recommended: Monterey BT Spray – Any caterpillar BT product should work, but I know Monterey BT works from experience. You can save money in the long run by getting the BT Caterpillar Spray concentrate, and mixing it with water in a mister to spray your plants.

I know it’s a pain, but spraying plants now will save a lot of headaches and frustration later.

Caterpillars don’t just eat cannabis leaves. Some caterpillar species known as “bud worms” burrow into the stems and cause entire branches to die. Spraying your plants ahead of time with BT spray helps prevent this from happening. There is nothing more heartbreaking than losing the branch with your biggest cannabis buds because some caterpillar burrowed into the stem.

Step 6: Tend to Buds as they Grow

How do you tend cannabis plants to ensure the buds are taken care of?

Defoliation

If plants look leafy, remove extra leaves in the middle of the plant, especially during the first few weeks of the flowering stage. Learn more about strategic flowering stage defoliation.

This plant just showed its first white hairs where buds will be. In addition to defoliation, this plant would benefit from being transplanted to a new, bigger pot with fresh soil.

Speaking of transplanting… Once you see actual buds on your plant, it’s recommended not to transplant it, because that could stress it out and mess with bud formation. Luckily, as long as you water plants with nutrient water, they can typically handle being in a too-small pot.

Make sure buds are developing normally

Here are the first sign of buds growing on a plant. They are often called pistils and look like white hairs at first.

The white hairs soon turn into puffballs. These are cannabis flowers. Yep, your buds are coming in!

Start giving flowering nutrients at this point, when you see buds look like white puffs (“budlets” as I think of them). Flowering nutrients are characterized by being low in N (Nitrogen) while being high in P (Phosphorus) and K (Potassium). 

IMPORTANT! If you see male pollen sacs or “hermie” bananas where buds can be, you need to remove the plants or they may cause your other buds to get seeds. Learn why you need to get rid of male plants and hermies.

Throw away any cannabis plant that grows pollen sacs where buds should be. This is a male plant. Male flowers look like bunches of grapes and won’t turn into buds.

This picture shows a hermie banana, which looks like a yellow growth on your buds. These can cause seedy buds just like male plants, so any plants with bananas should be removed right away. What causes bananas on cannabis buds?

Inspect plants regularly for any symptoms or signs of unhealthy or unusual growth.

As cannabis buds form, check plants regularly to make sure all the leaves look green and healthy. React quickly to any symptoms on the leaves like nutrient deficiencies, holes, or bites.

Watch out for bud rot! If you see random buds dying on your plants, especially if it’s been wet or humid recently, investigate closer as it may be the buds are molding.

As you’re regularly inspecting your plants, don’t forgot to take a moment to admire how beautiful your plants are!

This cannabis plant shows what you can accomplish with amazing plant care, a ton of light, and getting flowering nutrients every watering.

If you plant cannabis in the ground with fertile soil and give it a ton of light every day, you’ll end up with monsters!

Smaller pots restricts the roots, which tends to keep plants smaller, on average.

Some plants grow purple buds. Pretty!

Frisian Dew picture by hamburger

Step 7: Reap the Fruits – Harvest and Cure

Harvest by cutting down plants, drying the buds, and putting dried buds in jars.

When to Harvest Cannabis

Harvest when all the white hairs on the buds have darkened and curled in. The buds should look solid. I’ve got some examples below, and check out more pictures of read-to-harvest outdoor cannabis buds.

Not Ready – This White Widow is not ready to harvest. Notice that all the hairs on the buds are still white and sticking out. This bud has about 4 weeks left before it’s ready to harvest.

Ready to harvest – The following buds are all ready to harvest. Notice that the white hairs have darkened and curled in. Additionally, the buds look solid. See more pictures of ready-to-harvest outdoor cannabis buds.

Solid buds with almost no white hairs – ready!

This outdoor cannabis bud is at the beginning of the harvest window as no white hairs are left. It’s normal for outdoor buds to be a bit more leafy than the same strain grown indoors.

It’s easy to tell when no white hairs are left when the cannabis buds are bright purple!

In this ready-to-harvest plant, the buds didn’t change color, but all the leaves turned purple. Some strains do this naturally, and it also often happens in response to big temperature fluctuations, especially hot days or cold nights.

Cut down plants and dry the buds by hanging them upside down. Trim off all the leaves. Then put the buds in jars, so they “cure” and improve for 2+ weeks to further increase the bud quality.

Read the full cannabis drying & curing tutorial.

Cheat Sheet to Prevent the Most Common Outdoor Growing Problems

Remember these principles to prevent most problems growing cannabis outdoors:

How to Avoid Bugs Outdoors

• Keep area clean. Don’t leave piles of leave around. Keep everything trimmed and clear. If you have other plants in the grow area, don’t let them get infested with bugs.
• React quickly at the first sign of bugs or bites in the leaves. If your plant leaves start looking unhealthy with spots, you see bite marks, or you physically see bugs on your plants, don’t ignore it! Diagnose your plant using our plant doctor tool, or identify the pests via this page. You can treat most bugs successfully as long as you spot it quickly and don’t ignore it until it gets worse.
• Learn about IPM (Integrated Pest Management) – Essentially, these are steps you can take to make your grow space less hospitable to pests, and a paradise for the types of bug predators that tend to eat common cannabis pests.
• Take time to learn about your local pests. See if your local gardening center offers any information or resources on common pests where you live. Often locals have some of the best insight.
• Don’t forget to spray plants with a safe insecticide right before they start flowering, or right after you see the first signs of buds. Especially a BT spray for caterpillars, and some kind of horticultural oil or horticultural soap to deter most other pests. It will save you so many headaches later from horrible pests that are hard to treat after buds start forming.
• Consider row covers if you struggle with insects that are eating your plants, such as caterpillars and grasshoppers.

How to Avoid Other Common Problems That Hurt Outdoor Yields or Bud Quality

• Don’t put out plants too early. Wait until 1-2 months after the Spring Equinox (when days are 12 hours and nights are 12 hours) to prevent plants from flowering immediately due to the long 12-hour nights. The reason you don’t want plants to flower early is they will start re-vegging as soon as the days start getting longer. When photoperiod cannabis plants go outside, day length should be about 13.5 hours (and nights about 10.5 hours long), whenever that is in the Spring where you live. In addition to making sure nights are short enough, the temperature matters too. When cannabis plants go outside, it should also be safely after the last frost, because freezing temperatures or frost can kill young cannabis plants. In the Northern hemisphere, the earliest time to put cannabis plants outside is typically late April or early May. In the Southern hemisphere, the time to put plants outside is late October or Early November.
• React quickly to nutrient deficiencies. If your plant leaves start looking unhealthy with spots or otherwise don’t look green healthy, react to it immediately! Diagnose your plant using our plant doctor tool if you’re not sure what’s going on. You can fix almost any problem as long as you don’t ignore it until it gets worse.
• Watch out for male plants and hermies. Watch your plants closely when buds start forming to make sure they all look like little white puffballs, without any signs of male pollen sacs or hermie bananas.This will maximize the amount of good buds you produce, especially by reducing the chance of harvesting seedy buds.
• Pay attention to the weather and try to protect plants from extreme heat or rain. Shake off the plants if there is rain or dew. Consider harvesting early if plants are close to harvest and the weather looks rainy or cold for the next few weeks.
• Know the signs of bud rot, such as random yellow/brown/red/purple or dying leaves that appear overnight on the buds, especially if the symptoms are in patches instead of affecting buds evenly. Also just make sure to just overall watch the buds for signs of healthy development. Remember, if buds or leaves look funny, or very different from what you see in pictures, oftentimes it’s a sign of something wrong. Take a little time to research and see what other outdoor growers say on the symptoms you’re seeing.

If plants get put out too early, they do something known as re-vegging (pictured here), which will stunt your plant’s growth.

Conclusion: The Rewarding Journey of Outdoor Cannabis Cultivation

If you’ve made it this far, you already have the knowledge you need to start growing weed outdoors and achieve a good harvest. The resources on GrowWeedEasy.com listed below can help ensure you stay on track, and help you deal with any issues you encounter.

Are you ready to turn your outdoor space into a thriving cannabis garden? The perfect time to start is now!

More helpful outdoor growing resources:

Getting Good Seeds for Outdoors

• Where to Buy Cannabis Seeds Safely Online
• Cold-Resistant Cannabis Strains
• Heat-Resistant Cannabis Strains
• Best Outdoor Autoflowering Strains for 2024

Dealing with Plant Problems Outdoors

• How to Deal with Heat and Humidity Outdoors
• Prevent Outdoor Cannabis Heat Stress
• How to Prevent Bugs Outdoors with IPM (Integrated Pest Management)
• Complete Guide to Cannabis Bugs, Mold, and Pests
• Cannabis Plant Doctor: Diagnose Your Symptoms

Outdoor Growing: Additional Tutorials

• Stealth Ideas for Growing Weed Outdoors
• Is it Time to Harvest My Outdoor Cannabis Plants?
• Outdoor Cannabis Growing Basics by LuckyAcres

The post How to Grow Cannabis Outdoors (Easier Method) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Outdoor cannabis harvest season is here! But when should you harvest your gorgeous outdoor marijuana buds?

When to harvest outdoor cannabis plants? Find out in today’s outdoor harvest tutorial.

When it comes to growing weed outdoors, figuring out the perfect time to harvest is both an art and a science. However, getting the harvest timing just right rewards you with maximum yields of the best quality buds. Today’s tutorial on when to harvest outdoor marijuana plants first tells you what to look for when it comes to bud maturity, so you harvest buds when they have max THC, CBD, and terpenes (smells). After that, I’ll show you a ton of pictures so you don’t have to do any guesswork, even if your buds don’t look like most other strains.

What to pay attention to when harvesting outdoor cannabis plants:

1. Appearance of buds – Hairs should have all darkened and curled in. This is the best way to know when to harvest your buds. Learn what your strain looks like when outdoor buds are fully mature, and pick that moment. Today’s article will focus on how to choose when to harvest buds based on how they look.
   • Trichome color – The tiny mushroom-shaped trichomes (“glitter” on the buds) typically look white or gold (“amber”) when the buds are ready to harvest. You need a magnifier to see the trichomes clearly, and trichome color is not as consistent an indicator on outdoor plants compared to indoor buds. Therefore, checking the trichomes is not a bad idea, but also not as important as the other factors on this list. Learn how to look at trichomes with a magnifier.
   • Watch out for round leaves – Pay attention to the leaves touching your buds for signs of re-vegging (re-vegging causes round leaves), which causes your cannabis buds to stop developing.
2. Strain-specific harvest time – Different strains take more or less time before buds are ready to harvest. Typically when you buy a strain, the breeder gives an estimate as to how long the buds will take before they’re ready. When in doubt, it can’t hurt to contact the breeder directly and ask if they have any info about when to harvest this particular strain outdoors. I’m often surprised at how helpful breeders are if you ask about their strains.
3. Weather conditions – Keep a close eye on weather forecasts because you don’t want to let some bad weather ruin your whole crop. If you see predictions for heavy rain, frost, or freezing temperatures right as buds are looking mature, it might be best to harvest early to avoid bud rot or other damage.
4. Bud density and size – Big fat buds are more susceptible to mold and pests. If you have very big buds on your plant, consider harvesting those ones early just in case.
5. Mold and pests – Inspect your plants regularly for signs of bugs, webbing, mold, or spots of major discoloration. It’s always better to harvest a little early than harvest buds covered in bugs.

Over time, cannabis growers gain experience and a sense of intuition about the best time to harvest their outdoor marijuana plants. I recommend writing down any observations for next year, pay attention to the plants, and trust your gut. Don’t hold it against yourself if you make a mistake. Gardening (and life) is a learning process.

Until you gain that cannabis grower’s intuition, here’s a bunch of pictures to help.

Pictures of When to Harvest Outdoor Cannabis Plants

First, let’s look at outdoor cannabis buds that are NOT ready yet. You can tell because the hairs on the buds have not fully darkened and curled in.

Outdoors Cannabis Buds – Not Ready Yet

You can tell that these outdoor cannabis buds are still not ready to harvest because they still have lots of white hair sticking straight out.

Still a lot of white hairs. Getting close but still a few weeks until harvest.

Outdoors Cannabis Buds – Ready to Harvest

These outdoor cannabis buds are ready to harvest. Sometimes outdoor buds look a little different than indoor buds from the same strain. For instance, outdoor buds are often leafier (though not always).

Beginning of outdoor cannabis harvest window – buds are mostly solid and most hairs have curled in.

This outdoor cannabis bud is also at the beginning of the harvest window. It’s normal for outdoor buds to be a bit more leafy than the same strain grown indoors.

The hairs on these cannabis buds have all curled in and turned purple. Ready to harvest.

There’s still a few white hairs left on this next bud, but they’re a very small percentage of the total number of hairs. This purple bud is in the harvest window and can be harvested now if necessary.

3 Signs It May Be Time to Harvest Immediately

Sometimes it’s better to harvest cannabis buds a little early to prevent other kinds of damage to them. Here are the 3 most common reasons to harvest buds earlier than you normally would.

Bad Weather is Coming

These cannabis plants are getting close to the optimal harvest time, but still have a lot of white hairs left. However, a huge rainstorm is predicted in a few days, and then it’s going to be cold. Best to harvest now, because you don’t want to lose your harvest to bud rot!

What’s the matter with a little bad weather? The biggest issue is wet and cold weather can trigger bud rot, which can decimate an entire outdoor harvest almost overnight. What do outdoor cannabis growers need to know about bud rot?

Bud Rot

If you see bud rot, harvest now! This problem is caused by a fungus and spreads quickly, especially outdoors.

The first sign of bud rot is usually the leaves around the buds get discolored.

If you look at the base of the discolored leaves, you’ll see the cannabis bud is rotting at that point. It may appear moldy, brown, gray, or otherwise have dead patches.

Bud rot is most common after wet weather (or a lot of dew in the mornings) as it’s caused by a fungus.

A cannabis bud with bud rot will often “open up” or split open where it’s rotting.

Learn more about cannabis bud rot.

Pest Infestation

If your buds are already close, and you’ve got bugs, it’s best to harvest now before they reduce your bud quality further.

Harvest now if your cannabis plants are overrun with bugs.

Learn about “bud washing” to help clean buds that were infested by bugs.

Conclusion – Pick the Perfect Time to Harvest Outdoors

With outdoor growing, the visual appearance of the buds is often the best method to know when to harvest. The most important things to keep in mind…

• Watch the Hairs – Wait until the white hairs have all darkened and curled in. This is the most consistent indicator of cannabis bud maturity for most strains.
• Watch the Weather – Watch the weather forecast and harvest before days of heavy rain or freezing temperatures
• Watch the Plants – Check your plants and buds closely to immediately identify any issues that mean you should harvest early.

You’re now armed with the information to harvest your outdoor cannabis buds at the perfect moment.

Learn how to dry and cure your buds after harvest.

About the Author: Nebula Haze

Nebula Haze is a cannabis enthusiast and co-creator of GrowWeedEasy.com, your ultimate resource for cannabis cultivation. Nebula has over a decade of hands-on experience growing cannabis at home, and uses her knowledge to create simple, easy-to-follow tutorials that make learning to grow weed easy and fun. Her tutorials and online classes have helped countless growers use simple methods to achieve outstanding yields and professional bud quality.

In this article, Nebula demystifies the art and science of harvesting outdoor cannabis, providing insights into the visual cues and environmental factors that ensure perfect timing for maximum yield and quality. By focusing on bud appearance, strain-specific harvest times, and weather conditions, she guides growers to make informed decisions that lead to successful harvests.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to improve your results, Nebula’s expertise and enthusiasm are here at GrowWeedEasy.com to guide you every step of the way.

Nebula Haze wishing you abundant harvests!

Don’t miss out on the latest tips, tricks, and expert advice from Nebula Haze! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get the best cannabis cultivation tactics delivered straight to you every Sunday morning at 4:20 am.

The post Is it Time to Harvest My Outdoor Cannabis? (Outdoor Ready-to-Harvest Weed Picture Gallery) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Summer is coming in the northern hemisphere, and the outdoor cannabis growing season is about to begin. Have you considered growing autoflower cannabis strains outside in 2026? There is still plenty of time to order autoflower seeds and start your outdoor grow.

Some great fast outdoor autoflower strains that are easy to grow and perform well outside:

• Everglades OG Auto (loves hot/humid)
• Pineapple Daddy Auto (epic bud quality)
• Fantasmo Express Auto (sativa effects)
• Alien vs Triangle Auto (colorful)
• More outdoor autoflower strains below!

Auto Bloody Skunk plants grow beautifully purple and skunky outdoor weed.

Autoflower cannabis strains race from germination to harvest in 2-3 months. They’re perfect for a quick outdoor harvest. Autos also offer other major benefits for outdoor marijuana growers compared to typical photoperiod strains.

White Widow XXL Auto thrives outdoors. Ready to harvest ~80 days from germination.

Autoflowering strains give cannabis growers a lot more choices and flexibility. You can achieve multiple harvests in one grow season. You can time your harvest so buds form and ripen during the summer, when light levels are very high, causing buds to get bigger and be more potent than if they’d matured in the fall (like with photoperiod strains). If your climate has a short summers or a lot of rain during fall, autoflower strains allow you to grow your plants when environmental conditions are still ideal.

Night Queen Auto by my friend LuckyAcres. Early summer harvests resulting in big, potent buds.

Autoflower plants love growing in raised beds (grown by our student Raymond)

Skunk #1 Autoflower plants under guard by a fierce protector.

Benefits of Autoflower Strains for Outdoor Cannabis Growers

• Faster harvest – Autoflower cannabis plants are ready to harvest faster than photoperiod strains, especially outdoors. Photoperiod plants are ready to harvest in mid-to-late fall (the exact timing depends on the genetics and your latitude), no matter what time you put them outside. If you put photoperiod plants outside in the spring, they won’t be ready until the fall, which can take 5+ months. On the flip side, most autoflowering strains are ready to harvest just 2-3 months from germination, no matter the time of year.
• Multiple harvests per grow season – Autoflower strains are great for getting the most from your sunny season, no matter where you live. While you can only ever have one photoperiod harvest per outdoor growing season, you can produce two or even three full autoflower cannabis harvests.
• Control harvest time – Gain the ability to ensure buds ripen when the weather is still ideal. No need to worry about short summers or your rainy season starting early and messing up your cannabis harvest. As long as you have a few months of good weather, you can grow autoflower cannabis plants outdoors. As a bonus, when buds ripen in the summer, the extra light and UV rays means buds tend to get bigger and more potent than if they ripened in the fall.
• Great yields – As long as autoflower cannabis plants get a strong start, good soil, and plenty of warm sunny days, they tend to be extremely productive as far as yields and potency when grown outdoors. Many autoflowering cannabis strains are specifically developed to thrive in an outdoor environment.

Before the advent of autoflower strains, one of the main problems for outdoor growers was losing their harvest to bud rot or mold in the fall. Autoflower cannabis strains let you choose the harvest time so that never happens to you.

On top of that, the crucial few weeks of ripening before harvest are when buds pack on the most weight and THC. You get the best results in this stage when maximizing light levels. Autoflowering strains allow you to time your harvest so buds are ready right as the sun’s rays are the strongest. And best of all, the harvests come quick!

Grease Gun Auto by SkunkSquatch

These outdoor-grown Amnesia Haze autoflowers are 9 weeks old. The buds are getting fatter every day, but won’t be fully mature until they reach ~12 weeks old (for this particular strain).

Recommended outdoor autoflower cannabis strains

I chose these autoflowering strains based on these criteria: mold/pest resistant, beginner friendly, high-yielding, and quick-to-harvest:

Ultra-Fast Outdoor Autoflower Strains – 2 Months to Harvest (for last minute planting)

These strains are when you have the least amount of time. They’re as fast as you can get to harvest with cannabis plants!

Black Cream Auto by Sweet Seeds

Ready to harvest in about 70 days. The Black Cream Auto strain tends to stay on the smaller, yet still produces surprisingly big yields as long as it gets a lot of light. The buds tend to grow in chunky purple nuggets with an appetizing sweet, fruity smell. Once dried, the dark purple nugs in particular are a unique sight to behold.

Purple strains like Black Cream Auto are delightful to see in person. Bud colors range from purple-tinted to almost black.

LSD-25 Auto by Fastbuds Seeds

This strain is ready to harvest just about 2 months from germination. It produces beautiful purple buds with psychedelic potency, combined with an easy-going plant that can handle a tough environment. Altogether, this is a great autoflowering choice for growing outdoors.

Review from outdoor grower Bigbeardygrows: “What a beautiful, stunning plant. I’ve never gone such dark purple/inky black buds!! I gave this plant a very rough start in life. Neglected and in a small pot for the start of its life, which stunted it, but the bud colour is out of this world!!! Mouthwatering aromas of red wine, spice and hints of burnt rubber ????????????. Can’t wait to grow this again.”

LSD-25 Auto by Fastbuds is ready to harvest about 2 months from germination, with vibrant purple buds on most plants.

Pineapple Express Auto by Barney’s Farm

This strain tends to grow into compact, bushy plants that produce big yields with huge, long buds. A hardy plant that thrives indoors or outdoors. Buds have hints of pineapple smell, with relaxing effects sometimes described as “soothing” or “comforting”. Typically ready to harvest just 2 months from germination.

Grower Smarty with his glorious Pineapple Express Auto plant at harvest!

Outdoor Autoflower Strains – 2-3 Months to Harvest

Blue Dream Auto by Seed Supreme

This autoflower version of the classic Blue Dream cannabis strain thrives when grown outdoors. It tends to germinate well and start quickly, which is ideal for any auto. Overall, a forgiving strain for beginner outdoor growers even if you make some mistakes. Takes just under 3 months from seed to harvest when grown outdoors for max yields.

Blue Dream Auto is a beginner-friendly strain with professional results.

Dos Si Dos Auto by Barney’s Farm

75 days from seed to harvest, the buds are about 20% THC and smooth, relaxing effects. Dos Si Does Auto produces above-average yields and buds smell of citrus, or even pie. Sparkly big buds. Easy to grow.

Dos Si Dos auto is an extremely popular strain due to yields, bud quality, and fast growth.

If you start this strain properly and get the plant in the ground with amazing soil, the plants can get humongous. Like this Do Si Do autoflower grown outdoors by Leathergal that got 10ft (3m) tall.

Cream Cookies Auto by FastBuds Seeds

This strain is considered to be an Indica-dominant strain (its “body high” is greater than its “head high”) with high resin production. It has a THC level of a little over 20% and buds have a caramel and creamy flavor. It grows well outdoors and is ready about 10 weeks from germination.

Many auto-flowering cannabis plants, including Cream Cookies Auto, tend to stay on the smaller side.

Girl Scout Cookies Auto by Humboldt Seeds

I love this auto-flowering strain for a bunch of reasons. For one, this strain is true-to-its-roots and gives you true Girl Scout Cookies buds with the effects you would find in a photoperiod version of the strain. Buds look gorgeous with high levels of THC, and plants area easy to grow, but the standout trait is extreme yield. Overall has a great entourage effect and possibly higher levels of d-Limonene in the buds. Note: D-Limonene is a lemony terpene that may add to the entourage effect and make buds feel more relaxing and social. Ready to harvest about 70 days from germination.

Planet of the Grapes Auto by Ethos Genetics

Easy to grow, good yields, smells great, STRONG bud effects. Best for experienced tokers. Tends to take a bit longer than most autos (up to 90 days) and gets bigger (up to 2-3 feet tall) but will reward you for your patience with amazing yields of top-quality buds. When growing outdoors, you want to plant this strain a full 3 months before it gets cold or rainy outside where you live.

Planet of the Grapes Auto grows with a natural bushy structure and the buds sometimes have tinges of purple.

Kushberry Moonrocks Auto by MSNL

Easy to grow, hardy enough to grow in hot or arid climates, and great yields make this a gem in the outdoor autoflowering strain world. Ready to harvest about 2.5 months from germination. I absolutely love the photoperiod version of this strain, and the autoflowering strain lives up to the same standard of bud quality. Truly an example of getting photoperiod buds in autoflowering form.

Kushberry Moonrocks Auto cannabis bud quality is in a league of its own.

Mint Jelly Auto by Humboldt Seed Company

This strain is an autoflowering version of the popular Mint Cake strain, but it may have turned out even better than the original. It has a THC level of up to 27% and a peppermint and cake flavor. It grows well outdoors, and is ready to harvest about 75 days after germination.

Mint Jelly Auto produces up to 27% THC – one of the most potent outdoor autoflowering strains!

Grease Gun Auto by Atlas Seed

This strain produces the best bud quality, resin production, and potency if you allow buds to continue to mature until a full 12 weeks from germination, though it can be harvested earlier in a pinch. Here’s an outdoor Green Gun Auto grown by SkunkSquatch: “Plant is grown in a 7 gallon grow bag about 22 inches tall.”

Grease Gun Auto by Atlas Seed does well in outdoor conditions and grows sparkly buds dripping in resin.

Auto Duck by Dutch Passion

“Duck” strains (also called “Ducksfoot” strains) look different from other cannabis plants. Unlike typical cannabis leaves, the leaves of these strains are the shape of a duck’s foot. This is due to a natural mutation that an enterprising cannabis grower noticed and bred into a strain. As a result, these plants don’t look as much like cannabis plants to most eyes even after buds start growing. That makes these strains a coveted choice for outdoor growers looking for a little extra stealth.

This strain takes a full 3 months outdoors from seed to harvest, but rewards you with excellent buds. This particular version of Duck has been crossed with a high quality White Widow, giving you White Widow buds from a duck leaf cannabis plant.

Auto Duck by Dutch Passion is a cannabis strain that grows unique duck’s foot-shaped leaves. Stealthy!

Check out those leaves up close.

A Ducksfoot strain has less of an overall “cannabis” aesthetic.

Now that I’ve shared some examples of great autoflowering cannabis strains for outdoors, let’s talk about some tips to get the best results with your outdoor grow.

When is the Best Time to Germinate Autoflowering Cannabis Strains Outdoors?

This is based on the idea you want to get one perfectly-timed outdoor harvest. Of course, you can keep planting autoflowering cannabis seeds all summer and harvest them when each plant is ready.

• Germinate outdoor autoflowering seeds in late spring – Plant autoflowering cannabis strains in late spring for the best results with autoflowering strains outdoors. That is June in the northern hemisphere, and November in the southern hemisphere.
• Aim to harvest plants in late summer – This maximizes the amount of light your plants are getting during the crucial last few weeks of growing, which increases yields and THC vs if the buds finish fattening in the fall. Harvesting plants in late summer also helps ensure your buds won’t get exposed to rain or snow, since most parts of the world are more likely to get precipitation in the fall. Before the advent of autoflowering strains, one of the main problems for outdoor growers is losing their harvest to bud rot or mold in the fall. Autoflowering strains allow you to time your harvest so buds are ready at the perfect time.
• Consider your local weather and the strain flowering time – I gave general suggestions, but each strain has a slightly different flowering time, and different parts of the world may have different months that are the warmest and sunniest. If that’s the case, for example, if your local climate is only warm from August-September, you would want to start seeds indoors in July and put them outside after it’s already warm.  I gave several recommended autoflowering strains above, and each one has details from the breeder about the expected “time to harvest” from germination. So make sure to calculate backward so that plants go out during the warmest months and are ready to harvest before it gets cold. Luckily, most places in the world have at least 2 months of decent weather, so just about anyone can grow an autoflowering strain, especially if you pick an extra-fast one.

You can plant autoflowering seeds at any time during the year as long as you have at least 2-3 months of warm sunny weather. The goal is to try to get them to be ready to harvest while it’s still sunny and warm.

Tips for starting outdoor autoflowering seeds.

• Start autoflowering seedlings indoors so they get a nice start, especially if it’s still chilly outside at times. Plants will be small at first so most people will be able to find a place for them (for example in a closet with a small grow light). The first 3-4 weeks of growth are crucial to helping the seedling gain size, which will maximize your yields outdoors by giving your plant more and longer branches to grow buds on.
• Plant seeds directly in the soil – I recommend starting seeds by planting them directly in the soil to avoid having to move them much. Here’s a tutorial on how to plant seeds directly in soil. A small LED like the HLG 100 is a great way to start seedlings and get them growing fast.. Just hang it over the babies and give them 18 hours of light a day.
• Plant them in a 5-gallon fabric pot so you won’t have to transplant them. If they’re in a smaller pot their size will be limited. However, when starting seeds in a bigger pot, you need to be extra careful not to overwater them until they start growing fast. Here are tips on how to water cannabis seedlings in a big pot. Basically, just only give 1-2 cups of water every other day at first, and then slowly build your way up to more water as plants get bigger. Any pot will do, but I prefer fabric pots because plants tend to grow faster, get bigger, and are less likely to experience overwatering since the soil can dry out from the sides.
• Don’t put autoflowering plants outside until it’s consistently warm, and bring them inside for the night if it gets cold. Frost may kill them, and even cool weather can slow them down.

Start outdoor autoflowering seedlings indoors for the best results. Seeds tend to take longer to sprout and grow slower if grown outside from germination.

Plant your cannabis seeds and keep them warm during germination. Keeping seeds warm while sprouting is really important. In my tests, even I was pretty shocked at how important heat is to germination. I’ve found 80-85°F (27-30°C)  is an ideal temperature for germination. Even germinating them at a still decently warm 70°F (21°F) will lower germination rates and seeds germinate days slower. So take a little time to

Cannabis seeds germinate much faster and get better germination rates if they’re kept warm around 80-85°F (27-30°C). Seedlings also grow faster when it’s warm.

Tips for growing auto-flowering cannabis plants outdoors

Unfortunately, I have very limited experience growing autoflowering plants outdoors. I live in a condo in a high rise so I’ve only grown them on my balcony, which is somewhat similar to outdoor growing, but I don’t have to worry much about bugs or animals since I’m high off the ground. Growing on a balcony is basically the same as growing indoors except I just have to pay attention if it’s going to get hot, windy, or cold, and bring my plant in.

However, I have some talented outdoor friends who have made some helpful guides.

Growing Help

• How to grow cannabis plants outdoors – Straightforward outdoor growing guide (by my outdoor growing friend LuckyAcres).
• Stealth ideas for growing cannabis outside – Even if cannabis is legal in your state, it’s always a good idea to conceal your grow to prevent people looking in your yard. Another issue is if someone knows when cannabis is ready to harvest, they may wait until harvest time, and steal your plants.

Dealing with Outdoor Problems

• Dealing with heat and humidity outdoors – Many outdoor growers deal with heat and humidity that may stress their plants. Read this guide for tips and tricks to help!
• How to Prevent Bugs (Outdoor Cannabis Pest Guide) – A holistic and natural way to prevent bugs (by my outdoor growing friend Jenny).
• A list of safe insecticides – Here is a list of natural and safe insecticides that are harmless to humans and plants, but deadly to bugs.

Growing outdoors is similar to growing indoors, except for weather and outdoor pests. Master these two issues to help ensure the best harvest possible!

PSA for Outdoor Growers: Watch out for caterpillars!

Caterpillars (including inch worms and loopers) are one of the most common outdoor plant pests. Luckily, caterpillars are also one of the easiest pests to prevent if you follow these instructions.

• Use all-natural BT spray to kill caterpillars – It’s safer and more effective than most other caterpillar treatments. BT spray is gentle on plants when used as directed, is harmless to humans, but will prevent caterpillars from being able to eat (so they leave your plant alone).
• Spray the moment you see the signs of caterpillars eating your leaves. Pictures below.
• Spray your plants at the first sign of buds (white hairs appear at the joints) – This prevents caterpillars from attacking buds during the flowering phase (they love to eat the inside of buds, the monsters!). Spraying at the beginning of flowering also reduces the chance you’ll have to spray your plants after buds have already formed.

Note: BT spray does not kill caterpillars instantly so don’t be alarmed if they’re still alive after being sprayed. What it does is prevent caterpillars from eating. As a result they immediately stop munching on your leaves and will starve to death and die after a few days.

Spray plants with all-natural BT spray to prevent caterpillars.

Spray plants if you see caterpillars, and also just before buds start flowering even if you haven’t seen any caterpillars yet. Ideally, you don’t want to spray anything on the plants after buds have started forming, and treating your plant early helps prevent caterpillars before they come for your plants.

Try to spray plants right when they start flowering to reduce the chance of caterpillars eating the inside of your buds later.

A quick summary of the bonuses auto-flowering strains give outdoor cannabis growers going into the 2026 season:

Multiple harvests possible – Outdoor growers who normally harvest photoperiod plants in the fall can still germinate some auto-flowering seeds and get an early harvest. This allows a grower to get multiple harvests in one summer.

Take advantage of short summers – With a photoperiod plant, buds are often not ready before winter in climates that have a short summer. That means that many people just didn’t have the option of growing outdoors. Autoflowering strains let you ensure buds are ready before winter. Some strains are ready in as little as 6-8 weeks, which means as long as you have 6+ weeks of warm weather, you can be an outdoor grower.

Are you ready to start growing outdoor auto-flowering marijuana plants? Let us know what you think of this tutorial, share your favorite outdoor autoflowering strains, and don’t hesitate to send us pictures of your outdoor auto-flowering plants if you’d like to see them featured on GrowWeedEasy.com!

The post Best Outdoor Autoflowering Cannabis Strains (2026) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Quick Answer: Water plants when the soil feels dry up to your first knuckle (or if the pot feels light).

That’s the short quick answer. If you do that, you get great results. However, read the rest of this soil watering tutorial for detailed step-by-step instructions with pictures. Learn exactly how much water to give, and how often!

Water plants properly for fast-growing cannabis seedlings and adult plants.

Keeping plants watered properly helps them move nutrients through the plant. Proper watering helps prevent nutrient deficiencies and also lets cannabis plants be closer to grow lights without light stress, resulting in your plants being able to make more energy from light. Altogether, this means watering cannabis properly makes them grow faster and produce bigger buds.

Today’s cannabis watering tutorial will teach you exactly how much water to give plants, and when. It’s really simple to water plants right when you have the right information.

How to water cannabis plants in soil

Here are directions on how to water marijuana plants in soil. First I’ll share some tips for seedlings, and then tips for older plants that are already established.

How to water cannabis seedlings in soil

We have a complete “how to water” tutorial but check out this example schedule for watering seedlings in 5-gallon fabric pot.

• Day 1 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per seedling
• Day 3 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per seedling
• Day 6 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per seedling
• Day 8 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per seedling (every 3 days after this)
• Day 11 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per plant
• Day 14 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
• Day 17 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
• Day 20 – Give 5 cups (1.25 liter) water per plant
• Day 23 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
• Day 26 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
• Day 29 – Give 8 cups or 1/2 gallon (2 liter) water per plant
• Continue giving 1/2 gallon (2 liters) per plant every 3 days. You may need to give more at a time or more often as plants get bigger. If you’re getting a lot of runoff out the bottom (more than 20%) or plants droop after watering, it means you should be giving less water at a time. If plants get droopy before being watered, you should give more water at a time, or water more often.

Note: This is the schedule that I use for a 5-gallon fabric pot, but your environment will affect how much plants drink. If plants are in hard-sided pots as opposed to fabric pots, you may need to water less often or give less water at a time.

Learn more about how to care for cannabis seedlings

How to water cannabis vegetative and flowering plants in soil

It’s a 3-step process to water vegetative or flowering cannabis plants.

1. When to water: Wait until the topsoil feels dry about an inch deep (up to your first knuckle – just use your finger to poke a hole in the soil and see if it feels dry). Another option is to pick up the pot to see how heavy it feels. When a plant is well-watered, the plant pot will feel heavy. When the plant has drank all the water, the pot becomes surprisingly light.
2. How much water to give:
   1. If using nutrients: If you regularly add cannabis-friendly made-for-soil nutrients in the water, give enough water that you get about 10% extra runoff water from the bottom of your pot. Just add a little at a time nutrient water until you get an idea of how much water that ends up taking. Getting 10% runoff water coming out the bottom prevents nutrient buildup in the potting mixture. Otherwise, you are continuously adding more nutrients to the system. Make sure to remove runoff water instead of letting plant pots sit in it.
   2. If not using nutrients: If you’re growing in properly amended soil like “just add water” super soil, you want to avoid getting any runoff as this will wash away precious nutrients in the water that you’re trying to save for the plant. Try to give just enough water to fill the pot all the way to the bottom but only get a drop or two of runoff at most. Just add a little bit of water at a time until you figure out the proper amount for your plants and setup.
3. When to water again: Go back to step 1 and wait until the topsoil feels dry again (or the pot feels light).

Here are some tips and answers to common questions about watering cannabis plants in soil.

Why is soil taking a long time to dry out?

It’s good to aim to water every 2-3 days in soil. If pots take a long time (4-5+ days) to dry out before the next watering, you may need to give less water at a time until plants are bigger and drinking more. Soil taking a long time to dry out is especially common in a cool grow room. Plants tend to grow faster and drink a lot more water when they’re warm. Another reason soil might take a long time is some kind of problem with drainage, for example if there are no holes to let water out the bottom, or if soil is thick and muddy instead of fluffy and airy. What’s good soil for growing cannabis? If your cannabis plants are small compared to the size of their container, give water sparingly until plants get bigger.

What’s the easiest way to water cannabis plants in soil?

When I first started growing, I gave my plants water using a watering can. A watering can works great, but it’s hard to water a bunch of plants with one watering can because you have to keep filling it up.

An old-fashioned watering can gets the job done, but they typically don’t hold a lot of water at a time, which is inconvenient if you’re growing a lot of plants

I personally like using a Battery Operated Liquid Transfer Pump to water the plants. You can pump water from a bigger container to your plants. This is a 3-gallon water container from Wal-Mart, and the pump just reaches the bottom. My grow tent is 2 feet deep and this reaches the plants in the back. However, I don’t think the tube is long enough to reach the back if your space is deeper than that.

This water transfer pump can reach into a shallow grow space to water all your plants more easily.

If you’ve got a deeper tent or grow space (like a 3’x3′ or 4’x4′), you want a pump with a longer tube to reach all the cannabis plants in the back.

Another option is to set up a drip feed system to pump water directly to plants. This can be a great choice if you have a lot of plants you can’t easily reach.

Learn more about automatic watering with pumps.

Automated watering systems can be helpful in many situations.

Let us know if there’s something we missed. Growers get creative!

What’s the best way to collect runoff water?

It’s important to keep plants on saucers or trays so you can remove the runoff water instead of letting roots sit in the water and get “wet feet”. “Wet feet” just means that the roots are staying wet too long. This prevents nutrients from moving freely through the plant. Stems or roots may rot. Fungus gnats come to fest on the fungus that grows in too-wet soil. When using plant saucers, you can collect the saucers one by one and dump them out, but that gets inconvenient with many plants.

It’s inconvenient to empty saucers one by one if you have a bunch of plants, but you don’t want to leave plants sitting in runoff water. So what do you do?

A plant saucer catches water but should be emptied.

One idea: Use trays on an incline so runoff water pools to the front.

If you put your plant on plastic trays, and then put the trays on a slight incline by putting something small underneath in the back, it will cause all the runoff water to drain to the front for easy collection. The item in the back only needs to be about half an inch (or even less) thick, for example, a piece of plywood, a bottle cap, etc. If you can find something more water-resistant, like plastic, that’s your best option to prevent the chance of anything growing.

These 1’x2′ plastic plant trays work well if they fit your space. You can fit four of them in a 2’x4′ grow tent (this is the grow tent I use) with up to two plants each as long as your plant containers are 11″ wide or smaller at the base.

Put trays on a slight incline by placing something underneath the tray in the back. This causes all the water to come to the front for easier collection. Each of these trays has a small plastic board (which we found around the house from something else) under the back. Anything that’s about half an inch high will do the trick. These particular trays accommodate plant containers up to 11″ wide at the base.

Put trays on an incline

Not sure how to remove runoff water after watering your marijuana? Wet vacuums can be a great choice, especially if you already have one in the house. I didn’t have one, so I got Bucket Head attachment which can turn any standard 5-gallon bucket into a wet vac. You can buy one online but it’s $10-15 cheaper if you get it in person at a Home Depot. A downside to the Bucket Head and all wet vacuums are they’re loud, just like most wet vacs.

A wet vacuum like the Bucket head style wet vacs can be used to collect the water when combined with a 5-gallon bucket.

Learn more about how to remove runoff water

Make Sure Pots Have Good Drainage

It’s very important to make sure that water can drain freely from the bottom of the pot, otherwise, the plant can get waterlogged and become overwatered (causing the plant to droop).

In addition to making sure the actual container has drainage (holes on the bottom, or some other way for extra water to escape), it’s also important to make sure your growing medium drains freely. If it takes several minutes for the water to come out the bottom of your pot when you water, it means that there isn’t enough drainage in the actual growing medium (it’s too dense, so water is having a hard time getting through).

Example of great cannabis soil

How to improve the drainage of your growing medium

• Never use dirt you find outside. Chances are it does not have the correct properties for vigorous cannabis growth.
• Use an organic potting mix – It’s not necessarily the fact that it’s organic but that organic potting mixes are typically high quality with a fluffy quality that cannabis plants love.
  • If you’re willing to invest a little extra money, get a cannabis-specific soil like Fox Farm Ocean Forest, which is a rich soil full of nutrients and cannabis plants grow well in it.
  • Looking for “just add water” soil? Learn more here.
• Mix in extra perlite to loosen the soil and allow water to drain through more easily.
• Bark or wood chips are not the best choice for growing cannabis plants, even though they’re sometimes recommended to improve drainage in soil for some types of plants. It may not be possible, but try to avoid using soil that contains bark or wood chips. What makes soil good or bad for growing cannabis?
• Use fabric pots – fabric pots (or any pots that let in from the sides) help get oxygen to your roots, which gives you faster growth. Fabric pots also make it harder to overwater your plants. A cannabis plant growing in a tan fabric smart pot is pictured to the right.

This is an example of great soil for growing for cannabis – rich, composted, and well-draining Even better if you add 20% perlite (airy white rocks) to increase the fluffiness and amount of air that gets held in the soil.

What are examples of good soil for cannabis?

What do I do if cannabis plants are drooping?

If your cannabis plants show signs of drooping, often the plant is getting too much or too little water, but not always. Drooping can be caused by….

Overwatering

• Giving too much water at a time
• Giving water too often

Learn more about overwatering.

Underwatering

• Not giving enough water at a time
• Giving water too infrequently

Learn more about underwatering.

Other reasons for drooping cannabis plants

• Too hot – Drooping can occur in hot conditions. Learn how to deal with heat.
• Too cold – If it gets cool (under 65°F/18°C), plants may droop. They’re also more prone to overwatering. What’s the best cannabis light for a cold grow room?
• Humidity – If it’s too humid or dry, the plant isn’t able to move water properly through the plant, causing drooping. Aim for about 50% humidity (40-60% is fine). But if it’s super dry or really wet in there, take steps to fix the humidity. Dry air is especially hard on plants if it’s hot. Humid/wet air is harder on plants that are cool
• Right after watering for plants that were underwatered – Plants sometimes get even more droopy if they are given a lot of water after being allowed to dry out for too long. This is due to the stress of the water pressure quickly changing at the roots. Give them some time.
• Root problems – If a plant develops unhealthy roots (root rot in hydro, or as the result of chronic overwatering/heat/other stressors on this list), they will droop even if you’re giving the right amount of water and good conditions. When a plant has root problems, it typically takes them some time to recover. In rare cases, plants may not be able to come back, but usually plants recover if you just take great care of them for a while.
• Leaves go down right before grow lights go out – Plants put their leaves down a bit during their “night”, and you’ll notice the leaves actually start getting a little droopy right before lights go out. That can sometimes be mistaken as drooping when its actually part of the plant’s natural rhythm. If plants look fine during the rest of the day, this is totally normal.

Signs of Overwatering/Underwatering

Droopiness is the main sign. Here are examples of leaf symptoms that also commonly appear when plants are over-watered vs under-watered.

This seedling is droopy and getting nutrient deficiencies due to overwatering

Sometimes brown edges can be mistaken for nutrient burn. If you’re seeing the edges turn brown, that may be a sign of overwatering, especially if combined with droopiness.

Example of an underwatered plant. Underwatering is very similar in appearance to overwatering. The main clue is the plant is getting droopy before being watered (not after).

If you’re seeing droopiness, it almost always means there’s some sort of issue with the roots or watering

How do I avoid nutrient deficiencies?

Nutrient deficiencies can be really hard to pin down at a times. It often has to do with watering habits (and occasionally your environment).

5 ways to prevent nutrient deficiencies:

1. Avoid over/under watering (this is surprisingly the most common reason for nutrient deficiencies in younger plants)
2. Give the right nutrients for grow medium (don’t give soil-specific nutrients to plants in hydroponics, etc.)
3. Check the root pH if you notice spots or discoloration on your leaves
4. Be aware of light burn, which is often confused for a deficiency
5. Use the free plant doctor tool whenever you’re stuck!

What do nutrient deficiencies look like on cannabis leaves?

Use our cannabis plant doctor to diagnose sick plants!

The post How often to water cannabis plants in soil? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Brrrr it’s getting cold in the cannabis grow room. When temperatures drop, cannabis plants can start growing slowly and sometimes even stop growing altogether. You can heat the grow room (and here are some cold climate tips) but it can also help to make sure you choose the right genetics because some cannabis strains handle the cold much better than others. It’s always a smart choice to pick a cold-resistant marijuana strain if you know that your grow area will experience chilly temperatures on a regular basis. Learn where you can get seeds.

7 recommended cold-resistant photoperiod strains (6 auto strains below!)

• Amnesia Blue Head Band
• Frisian Dew
• Hindu Kush
• Matanuska Tundra
• Midnight Mass
• Orange Candy (aka Naranchup)
• Tangie x Chocolope

Frisian Dew is an excellent strain for outdoor growing

6 recommended auto-flowering strains for the cold

• Blueberry x Mazar Auto
• Blue Cheese Auto
• Dutch Blue Auto
• Lemon Haze Auto
• LSD-25 Auto
• White Widow x California Snow Auto

One advantage of cold temperatures is it tends to bring out colors like purple and pink

The post 13 Cold-Resistant Cannabis Strains appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Recently we’ve received a few emails about “bud washing” or essentially giving cannabis buds a “bath” to clean them after harvest.

Is bud washing necessary to grow the best cannabis?

Do marijuana buds need a bath after harvest?

Possible reasons to wash your buds

• Pesticides were used while buds were forming
• Plants had a bug infestation (bud washing can help remove bug poop and dead insect bodies)
• Remove large amounts of any other contaminants including hair, dust, fur, etc.
• Buds were grown outdoors and exposed to contaminants from nature

Essentially, bud washing is a last-resort option when buds need to be cleaned and you’re not willing to throw the weed away.

Bad reasons to wash your buds

• Most other reasons

➡ Jump Right to How to Wash Your Cannabis Buds

Some growers wash buds because it seems like a good idea. For example, you wash an apple from the store right? There’s a big difference. We wash produce from the store because we don’t know what it comes in contact with before it reaches our home. Most produce you buy was also grown outdoors without a personal touch. If you’ve grown your buds indoors in a clean environment, they shouldn’t be exposed to contaminants that need to be washed off.

Bud washing is a last-resort option when buds are dirty and you’re not willing to throw them away. In my opinion, the time to “wash” your buds is in the process of making bubble hash 😉

Not only is it unnecessary to wash clean buds, you run the risk of triggering mold. If you’re going to treat your buds with anything, stop to consider why. The best way to grow clean weed, in my opinion, is to grow weed in a clean environment.

How to grow clean weed indoors

• Grow tent – Growing plants in a tent typically produces cleaner weed than if the plants were grown in an open room.
• Air filters – There are air filters that proactively clean dust and pollen from the air. An intake filter is used to clean air that is coming into the grow space.
• Keep the grow room clean – It helps to be organized and put things away in their place. A cluttered grow room tends to get dirty over time.
• Vacuum – If you are seeing dust or pet hair on your buds, it makes a huge difference to vacuum the grow area on a regular basis.

You don’t need to wash buds that are already clean

What about outdoors?

Growing cannabis outdoors is one of the times where bud washing may be helpful. Unfortunately, nature is full of fun surprises including fur left by deer rubbing your plants, nettles or pollen, webbing from the occasional spider, and more. There are few outdoor environments that can produce weed as clean and pristine as what can be grown indoors.

For outdoor growers, bud washing can remove some natural contaminants from nature and give you cleaner buds. The jury is still out on how well bud-washing removes mold, fungus, or spores. Please contact us if you’ve ever done any lab tests that demonstrate the efficacy of this technique.

The dangling eggs on these cannabis buds are lacewing eggs. It’s good to see these eggs in the garden because lacewings are a natural predator of many cannabis pests. But you might want to wash them off after harvest.

What about pets?

It’s a good idea to keep any shedding animals away from your plants, but I love hanging out with my cat while working in the garden. However, I’ve noticed that as long as I vacuum and use a grow tent, buds come out clean. However, I’ve grown an autoflowering plant in a window before, and I noticed the buds had pet hair on them even though I vacuumed.

Use a grow tent in the flowering stage to keep pet hair off your buds

What about bugs?

Bugs are a fact of life. They love cannabis just like us and when they invade your grow room it feels violating. It’s relatively straightforward to get rid of bugs when plants are in the vegetative stage because you can use most pesticides and you don’t have to worry about anything getting on buds.

Learn about common cannabis pests

Can you save plants after an infestation? (these are aphids)

But if plants have already started making buds when pests move in, you have some hard choices to make. Do you throw away the plants? Do you treat them? Will buds be safe to smoke?

• Bad infestation – If the infestation is particularly bad, you might consider throwing the infested plants away. A really bad infestation is often hard to treat. Once bugs have taken over your plants, they seem impossibly good at surviving. This is especially true for spider mites (aka “The Borg”), broad mites, and hemp russet mites. Most other pests are survivable.
• Small to medium infestation – Look at the safe insecticide list and see if there are safe options for the type of bug you have. Some bugs are easier to get rid of than others. Additionally, bugs that come from other species of plants are typically much easier to get rid of than if your bugs came from another cannabis grow room. If you get thrips on clones you bought from the dispensary, they’re probably going to be much tougher to get rid of than some random thrips that wander onto your cannabis from outside.
• Flowering stage – The more buds have developed, the more it’s recommended you either toss plants or harvest them early and cut your losses. Even if you successfully treat an infestation without getting pesticides on the buds, the buds may still be covered in bug poop, eggs, webbing, dead insects, etc. Some growers choose to wash their buds at this point, but I personally recommend tossing plants just to be safe.

These buds are covered with mealybug bodies and the white fluff produced by their babies. Not good to smoke.

How to prevent bugs

1. Start with seeds – The most common reason growers get a bad infestation is because they brought an infected plant into the grow room from someone else’s garden. For example, a clone or plant from a dispensary or other grower. The best way to ensure you are not importing bugs with your plants is to grow cannabis with seeds. If you have no other choice, consider spraying or dipping new plants with a safe insecticide like a horticultural oil. After treatment, quarantine plants for 14 days to ensure they’re bug-free before bringing them into your grow space
2. Avoid using soil – You are much less likely to get bugs when growing in an inert medium like coco or hydroponics because many bugs need soil for their life cycle. The few times I’ve gotten bugs in my growing career were always when I was using soil (I’m pretty sure they were coming from my neighbor’s roses through a bad window screen…). It’s possible to get bugs in coco or hydro, but it’s much more rare. However, if you follow all the other tips on this page you can easily grow plants in soil without bugs.
3. Grow indoors – It’s much easier to protect plants from bugs when you’re growing indoors because you have much more control over the environment.

How to identify and get rid of cannabis pests

It’s easy to avoid bugs when you start with seeds, avoid soil, and grow indoors (especially in a grow tent)

Other tips

• Grow tent – Even indoors, a grow tent can help prevent outside bugs (for example your neighbor’s rose bush) from getting to your plants. However, this is only marginally effective because you’re still going to be opening the tent to check on plants. Plus some bugs are small enough to crawl through the mesh air holes.
• Keep grow room windows closed – If you have a lot of plants around your home, it can help to make sure the windows are closed in the grow room.
• Don’t walk into the grow room from outside – Along the same lines, don’t check on plants as soon as you get home. Avoid going from outside directly into the grow room.
• Inspect new plants or flowers – If someone gets a bouquet of roses or a new houseplant, take a minute to make sure they don’t have bugs before you let them in the house.

A grow tent offers some protection from bugs and greatly reduces dust/hair getting on buds

Now you know how to grow beautiful, sparkling buds without a hint of contamination. No bud baths are required.

But if you have read through this tutorial and bud washing your cannabis seems like the right choice for you…

How to Wash Your Buds (tutorial by Doc Bud)

This forum thread goes into some of the specifics of bud washing (which I haven’t personally tried myself), including commentary from Doc Bud, the self-described creator of the technique.

Directions from Doc Bud from this thread (posted October 5, 2013) – The following text is the property of Doc Bud and is published here for reference purposes. 

I’m glad to see people are adopting my bud washing technique!

Yes, I “invented” it. I shared it with you folks here on 420….and nowhere else. I’ve never met, spoken to, or heard about anyone else doing it before I tried it…..and I enjoy freaking people out by putting fresh buds in a bucket of water….

But as many have said here, the results speak for themselves!

Let me put it to you like this:

Let’s say I grew lettuce, cucumbers, tomatos and carrots in my basement. It’s dusty down there, I’ve got fans flowing all around….battled with some PM, had some mites…..every now and then I get some rot or other disease on my plants….bugs flying around, dead skin cells, hair…..and I spray the plants with compost tea, fish fertilizer, kelp meal, etc.

So, you wanna come over for a salad? We’ll just pull the veggies out of the ground, plop ’em in a bowl and start eating! No need to wash…..right?

The first time you wash your harvest and see all that brown crap left behind you’ll begin to see the light! Then, when you smoke your first washed harvest, you’ll understand.

For those who are new to this, here’s my method:

4 buckets total. (5 gallon buckets are perfect)

Bucket 1: 3 parts RO water to 1 part 3% H202.
Bucket 2: 5 gallons of RO with 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup Lemon Juice
Buckets 3 and 4: RO only.

Cut down plants, pull off fan leaves by hand, remove any necrotic leaves. Leave sugar leaves and anything with frosting on the plant.

Fully submerge in bucket 1 (H2O2) for 30 seconds. Submerge for a full minute if you had ANY sign of PM or bud rot. Let water drip from buds and then…..

Fully submerge in buckets 2 through 4 for 30 seconds each…lightly agitating the whole time.

Allow produce to drip dry. You can blow a fan on it if you like, just make sure it’s blowing clean air.

Hang and dry per usual.

Final manicure of buds is best done after they dry. It goes very fast and you’re left with washed, highly resinous trim….makes superb joints. I’m also educating my customers to select untrimmed buds, which are actually better than the manicured ones because they still have sugar leaves attached. The trichomes in the leaves have more THC than those in the buds…..so it’s good to get the whole spectrum in there.

I give instructions for this in my journals, as I do it every single week, on every single harvest. Once you try it, you’ll never go back.

This works so well for a couple reasons:

1. takes off dirt, foliar sprays, bugs, fiberglass dust, etc.
2. fully hydrates the leaves, allowing photosynthesis to occur for a day or two on cut and trimmed buds. I recommend leaving a light on the buds for the first day or two after washing.

This results in very, dense, clean burning, smooth tasting produce! That’s the basic recipe….and I’m tweaking and changing it all the time.

Warning: Do NOT use an “organic produce wash” that is based on oils! They sell these in grocery stores and health food stores, and while they might be good for lettuce and cukes….the oil removes resin from the plants…..don’t use it!

Water will not harm resin….oil can and does.

Anyone who wants to know more about my methods is welcome to ask me about them anytime!

Doc Bud

Ben’s Experience with Bud Washing

I recently received this email from a reader sharing their experiences and processes for washing cannabis buds. I thought it was helpful so I’ll share it here.

Hi, I liked the article on bud washing and thought I could add my experience.

When I Wash Buds: I wash all plants grown outdoors and all indoor plants that were sprayed for any reason or if there was mould any where in the grow.

Water Source: If the plants have not been sprayed and don’t have bugs on them I just use rain water to wash.

Mould: I have often washed buds over the years and have not had a mould problem and the end result does not seem degraded. I have regularly had bud in storage for over two years that does not get mould. ( I don’t recommend keeping bud that long. No matter how well cured or stored, it seems to start degrading after a year.)

Process: In my washing process I have a step where I soak buds in a 3:1 mix of rain water and white vinegar for 20 to 30 minuter then do a rain water rinse.

Drying Buds After Bud Washing: When I have finished the wash I put the buds in a salad spinner to remove the water. From the spinner the buds go on racks in an air conditioned room where I run the air conditioner on the dehumidifier mode. If there had been any indication of mould I also run an air purifier that has an ultra violet function in the room during the drying stage.

Making Extracts: An air conditioner on dehumidifier mode also works well for drying keif if you are making bubble hash or rosin.

Thank you for all the great articles.

Regards,
Ben

There you have it, straight from cannabis growers with bud washing experience.

What do you want to learn more about next?

• Bigger yields
• Better bud quality
• Higher THC
• Higher CBD
• More trichomes (sparkle)
• Bud density

The post Bud Washing: Should Cannabis Growers Wash Their Buds? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.