I love almost every aspect of growing cannabis, but my least favorite part is testing the pH of runoff water (to prevent deficiencies). Enter hydroponics. In a “DWC” (deep water culture) hydro tub like this one, pH is the easiest part of growing. You just dip a PH Pen in the water, and you’re done.

Growing cannabis in hydro is surprisingly easy when you start plants right.

Yet it’s the results of growing cannabis in hydroponics that makes you feel like a “mad scientist”. This outrageous Purple Ghost Candy plant approached a pound by itself.

My favorite part of growing weed in a big hydro tub is how little time and work it takes from day to day. In some ways, it takes even less work than “just add water” soil because you don’t need to water plants every few days, and testing the pH is faster and easier.

A quick peek “under the hood” of a DWC hydroponic reservoir. Look at those roots!

Learn how to grow cannabis in a hydro tub like this (step-by-step tutorial).

For those who are already growing hydro (or want to start), here are some insider secrets from an experienced hydroponic cannabis grower. These tips prevent common problems in hydro, while saving you significant time and effort.

7 Secrets to Healthy Cannabis Plants in a DWC Hydro Tub

If you’re thinking about growing cannabis in hydro, or perhaps you already have, this section will make all the difference for you. Simply follow these suggestions and you’ll avoid 99% of the issues cannabis hydroponic growers run into.

1. Leave the roots alone – Don’t touch the roots, especially when they’re babies and the roots still look “feathery” and fragile. If you touch them or pick up the lid and move them around, they can easily twist up, which kills the roots below the twist point. When the roots look thick and sturdy, they’re way less sensitive and won’t twist anymore.
2. Don’t change the water for first 30 days, or at least not until plants have solid looking roots. Pumping out and replacing all the water (or otherwise disturbing the roots) is one of the most common triggers of root rot (dying roots), especially with plants under 30 days old. At first, just top off with new water to maintain the proper water level.
3. Use a root supplement – I personally use Hydroguard. This adds “good” microorganisms to the water that not only protect roots from pathogens or root rot, but also just helps them be more healthy overall. Hydro growers without a root supplement are way more likely to run into issues with unhealthy roots.
4. Don’t let light beam onto the tub or get into the reservoir. Both the light and the heat cause things to grow. If you see anything green growing in the reservoir, chances are light is getting in. Cool, totally dark hydroponic reservoirs are the best performing reservoirs.
5. Don’t let roots live in heat. The plant itself can be as hot as any plant, but without the protection of soil, if you heat up the water the roots get hot, and plants don’t like hot roots. If you happen to be an outdoor grower in the sun, if you have potted cannabis plants, put them into an even bigger pot. The extra layer of air between the roots and the sun’s beams makes plants much much more resistant to heat and overall stress.
6. Keep an air gap (don’t fill the reservoir too high) – Make sure there is an air gap under the net pot. This greatly increases root health. The air bubbles will be bursting, so that the roots are constantly getting a mist of water. But if you fill the reservoir so that it’s actually touching the net pots, it causes roots to get unhealthy, and then the base of the stem starts rotting.
7. Pump in plenty of bubbles – Hydro growers use an air pump with airstone to pump tons of bubbles into the water reservoir. This is key to root health as roots need oxygen to survive. It also fights pathogens like algae. I use an Eco Air 2 with 3/16″ ID tubing to connect to a large airstone to provide tons of air for up to two reservoirs.
8. Manage the pH (5.5 – 6.5) to prevent deficiencies. Learn how to check and adjust the pH. Make sure to get a pH pen so you can stick it straight in the reservoir and immediately know the pH. I use an Apera A1209 pH pen (it’s very accurate, measures the pH in seconds, and only needs to be calibrated every few grows). But even the cheapest pH Pen works well as long as you calibrate it regularly. One of my favorite things about growing in hydro is that it’s so easy to test and adjust the pH compared to soil or coco. I don’t particularly enjoy testing the pH in soil and coco (you need to test the input, the runoff, etc.) But with hydro testing the pH takes 1 second, is more accurate, and makes me feel like I’m doing science.

Roots are fragile at first, especially when they still look like “feathers”. Don’t move them like this grower did, or roots might get sick.

But once roots ‘harden” they’re extremely tough. You can move them around and they won’t even notice.

If you see green roots, it usually means light is getting into the reservoir. In this case, the lid was so thin it was letting in light. The grower covered the top of the lid with aluminum foil, and light stopped getting to the roots.

Make sure your air pump is making tons of bubbles in the water!

How to Make Hydro Life Even Easier

Here are some bonus tips and tricks to make your life as a hydro grower easier.

Make it easy to move water (Save your back!)

I never pick up my water container. It sits in front of the tent. I use the hose from the bathroom sink to fill it up, add nutrients, then use a water transfer pump to pump it into the reservoir.

• Faucet hose adapter – Stop lugging water around! Get a hose faucet adapter to use a garden hose from the faucet to get water to your grow space.
• Water transfer pump – Use a battery-powered water transfer pump to get your water from in your container to your reservoir. These are also awesome for watering plants directly at the roots (way better than a watering can!).

Use a faucet hose adapter to get water from your sink to your grow space.

Then use a water transfer pump to get water into the reservoir. Never carry water again!

Never worry about spills

• Grow in a grow tent, because they have a waterproof tray at the bottom which can hold many gallons of water. That means if something happens and there’s a spill, none of it will get on your floor. Bonus: if you get a grow tent you can also control smells and you get bigger yields because reflective walls bounce more light onto your plants

10-Gallon Tub or Bigger

For your hydroponic reservoir, use a tub that’s at least 10 gallons or bigger. Considering that you have to leaves several inches of air under the lid, a 10-gallon container holds about 5 gallons of water, which gives the roots tons of room to expand, and you won’t need to add water very often.

A 10-gallon tub or bigger makes your life way easier

• Faster-growing plants and healthier roots
• PH and nutrient levels tend to stay more stable
• Fill up the reservoir less often

Curious to learn more? Let me go a bit deeper into why I recommend bigger tubs for your hydro cannabis plants.  Specifically, some of the most popular DWC hydro kits sell you 5-gallon buckets, which can only hold about 2.5 gallons of water, and that’s before your roots get big enough to start displacing the water.

Why a bigger hydro tub instead of pre-made DWC buckets?

When you have the black buckets, they don’t hold enough water, plus you can’t easily test the pH. So you have to take a sample of water from within the bucket, which often involves moving the roots, which you want to avoid if possible

Big hydro DWC tubs like this don’t take much time or maintenance.

In the hydro tub you can easily adjust the pH without moving the plant. You simply need a second port to access the reservoir. That lets you look at the roots, take samples, use your PH or PPM pen, add or remove water, make adjustments, etc. WITHOUT ever having to move the plant.

Extra ports make it easy to check on roots and access water without moving the plant.

Cannabis plants in 5-gallon DWC buckets tend to produce less weed overall. But the real issue is that they don’t hold much water, and by the time plants get bigger, growers often find themselves refilling the buckets daily (or even more often!) to keep the plant from drinking themselves dry.

Cannabis plants in buckets tend to stay smaller.

But the main headache for a cannabis grower is that a 5-gallon hydro bucket doesn’t hold much water and needs to be refilled constantly. There is also no way to easily access the reservoir without having to move the whole plant, and moving roots on a plant is one of the most common triggers for root rot, especially younger plants before their roots “harden”.

This grower moved these plants to bigger tubs because they were drinking the entire reservoir of water in hours.

But don’t these buckets hold 5 gallons? Isn’t that enough?

Even though these are “5 gallon buckets” they cannot be filled to the top. You need to keep the water levels several finger widths below the bottom of the net pot. Then the roots themselves displace the water so you can add even less.

As a results, you can often only add a few gallons of water to these buckets, especially as the roots get bigger.

Check this picture: Notice that the list with the “basket” (called a “net pot”) goes deep into the bucket, and then you have to leave an air gap below that. That doesn’t leave much space for water.

You can only fill up a 5-gallon with a few gallons of water if you want to leave an air gap under the net pot for the fastest, healthiest growth.

10-gallon tubs hold up to 5 gallons of water at a time.

All that root space lets you grow monster DWC cannabis plants!

This Purple Ghost Candy plant produced almost a pound in hydro under a HLG Diablo 350.

But can you grow cannabis plants in little hydro tubs?

Yes, just make sure you can access the reservoir, and keep plants to an appropriate size (not too big).

But just remember, the bigger the tub, the easier your life will be. The smaller the tub, the more time you spend tending to the plants, on average.

Sirius grew this plant in a tiny reservoir under a Spider Farmer 100W LED grow light.

But by harvest, the plant was drinking so much he had to add more water every morning and night.

The small root space, and an early switch to 12/12, ensured the plant stayed small.

A fun project!

Ready to start growing hydroponic weed the DWC way? Check out the full tutorial!

The post Why Hydro Feels Like Cheating (Plus 7 Tips) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

GrowWeedEasy.com teaches you how easy it is to grow weed. Growing weed can be easy when you know what to do, but most “how to grow marijuana” tutorials make it seem like you need a degree in horticulture.

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Even first-time growers produce great harvests when they follow our tutorials.

Who Made GrowWeedEasy.com?

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

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

The GrowWeedEasy.com Ethos

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

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

Looking for a complete harvest system?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Learn How To Grow Top-Shelf Weed at Home!

Start Your First Class TODAY!

You may be asking yourself these common growing questions:

“How do I grow marijuana indoors?”

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

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

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

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

“Where can I get marijuana seeds?”

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

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

What do good cannabis seeds look like?

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

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

“How much will electricity cost each month?”

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

“How can I increase my marijuana yields?”

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

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

Even More Ways to Increase Cannabis Yields

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

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

“How can I grow weed privately?”

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

“What if my plants get sick?”

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

Growing Medical Marijuana

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

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

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

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

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

• A comparison between different cannabis grow lights including experience-based information about LED grow lights
• A page that teaches you the basics of how to grow weed
• Detailed how-to weed growing tutorials
• How to start growing weed tomorrow  (simplest cannabis growing guide!)
• Grow 4 oz with a 100W LED <– An Easy Way to Start Growing!
• Our famous grow guide that teaches you how to grow weed using bubbleponics (hydro).

Start Growing Weed Today!

Grow Weed Easy is run by a panel of experienced cannabis growers, including the founders Nebula Haze and Sirius Fourside, who originally teamed together to bring you GrowWeedEasy.com. Due to the demand for more marijuana growing information, we’ve also started an inbox magazine all about how to grow weed, with additional tutorials, tips, and tactics sent to you each week. Simply sign up to start getting free expert growing articles delivered to you! All the information available at GrowWeedEasy.com is completely free and we regularly update the site and make new additions.

Looking for a growing book?

If you are interested in doing a bit of reading or would like to know more about the science behind marijuana hydroponics or horticulture, I strongly recommend viewing our page of Marijuana Grow Book Reviews. Read reviews of marijuana grow books. We would love to hear about your experiences with growing cannabis. Whether you are a pro grower already or are just starting your first plant, we have learned so much from our readers both beginners and masters! If you have any suggestions, comments, concerns, or just want to ask some questions about your marijuana grow, please contact us!

Happy Growing!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside

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The post Grow Weed Easy – Learn How to Grow Cannabis Tutorials appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Fail-Proof Guide to Germinating Cannabis Seeds in Hydroponics
Plus, How to Care for Hydroponic Seedlings…

We have a cannabis seedling germination page which has everything you need to know about all the different germination methods, but this tutorial is different. In this hydroponic seedling tutorial I’m going to share exactly how I do my seeds from beginning to end in a DWC/bubbleponics setup!

Just follow these instructions and you’ll end up with healthy, fast-growing marijuana plants that germinate in just a few days. It’s pretty much fail proof!

Learn How to Start Seedlings So You Can Grow Hydroponic Cannabis Plants Like This!

Supplies Needed

• Seeds
• Hydroponic System (learn how to germinate in soil or coco)
• Rapid Rooters

1.) Get Cannabis Seeds

There are a few different ways to get cannabis seeds, with the most common being ordering seeds online and growing seeds you find in weed that you buy. Learn how to research and find the right strain.

If you’ve found seeds, learn how to tell if they’re good to grow.

Here’s a picture showing several healthy and viable cannabis seeds

2.) Germination for Hydroponics

I’ve tried a bunch of different germination methods over the years, and the technique I prefer is for hydroponics is starting with the “Paper towel method” to germinate, putting the germinated seeds into Rapid Rooters, and installing the Rapid Rooters directly into reservoir. Lots of other germination methods as well, but this has worked best for me!

Paper Towel Method

This method is hard to mess up if you follow the instructions!

1. Place your seeds inside a folded wet paper towel, and place it between two paper plates (or regular plates) so that they don’t dry out.
2. Check on your seeds every 12 hours but try not to disturb them. When they’ve germinated, you’ll see the seeds have cracked and there are little white roots coming out.
3. They should germinate in 1-4 days, though some seeds can take a week or longer (especially older seeds).
4. Keep them warm if possible. One thing you can do to get seeds to germinate a little faster is to keep them in a warm place (75-80°F). Some people use a seedling heat mat but in most cases that’s unnecessary.

These seedlings were sprouted using the paper towel method!

3.) Place Germinated Seed in a Rapid Rooter

The Rapid Rooter should be cut open lengthwise

Gently place the germinated seed inside, root down

Most seedling plugs will go back into place easily, and you’ll barely be able to tell it’s been opened 🙂

4.) Prepare Hydro System for Its New Guest

If you haven’t put your hydroponic system together yet, now is the time! Make sure your pumps are all running, and that you’ve made a reservoir with seedling-strength nutrients. You need a home to put your new plants!

Learn how to set up a Hydroponic System

Hydro Tips & Hints

• Air bubbles – have lots and lots of bubbles in your water reservoir. That means your air pump needs to be on all the time for the full grow. The main benefit of hydro is your plant roots are getting an unlimited amount of both water and oxygen. This is achieved by dissolving a lot of air into the water via an air stone and air pump. In order to get the fast growth, you want a lot of bubbles! A highly-oxygenated tank is also far less likely to get root rot, or suffer from other unwanted organisms growing in the reservoir!
• Hydroguard – This supplement contains a specific bacteria that was first found in rice paddies in Japan in the 40s! It’s been common in Asia for years but only in the last several years has it been available in the US from a company called Botanicare. I highly recommend, even insist, that all hydro growers get this cheap-but-effective supplement to keep plant roots healthy!
• Add seedling level nutrients from the beginning. A lot of growers, especially soil growers, will tell you not to add any nutrients for the first few weeks of the plant’s life. That makes a lot of sense in soil, because there are lots of nutrients contained in the soil itself for your young cannabis seedling, and giving more right at the beginning can end up giving way too much for such a young plant. However, in hydro, the only nutrients your seedling gets is what’s in the water, plus what little was contained in the seed itself. Because of that, I highly recommend giving seedling-strength nutrients to your plants from when you first fill your reservoir. Seedlings grow a LOT faster with light levels of nutrients than if you only give plain, pH’ed water at first.
• Always check the pH from the beginning of your plant’s life to end the of your plant’s life

5.) Install Rapid Rooter and water the seedlings until roots reach the water reservoir – Turn on light to keep seedlings warm for best results!

Make sure to always keep the Rapid Rooter moist but not soaking wet.

If you have a top-feed, place the tube near the bottom of the net pot so the water isn’t soaking the seedling’s roots. You just want water dripping out the bottom so the root can use it for oxygen and water until it’s fully established in the reservoir.

Add your Rapid Rooter(s), and fill around the edges with extra clay pellets to hold each one in place.

Since your seed has already sprouted and been in placed into the right growing position, it’ll often pop its head out within just 12-24 hours! Sometimes you see just the leaves, but occasionally you actually see the seedling push the shell above ground. I keep the grow light on even before the seedling appears. It helps keep it warm and guide it toward the light.

When this happens the shell usually falls off on its own as the seedling grows!

The Rapid Rooter in this picture is a little too wet, which makes the seedling prone to “damping off.”  If you ever notice the Rapid Rooter actually looks wet or shiny, it’s too much water. Try turning the top-feed off every few hours, or hand-watering the seedling at first. Too much moisture can kill!

Don’t use a humidity dome on seedlings unless it’s very dry where you live. If you do use a dome, consider keeping a vent open and watching the humidity. A young seedling doesn’t require high humidity, and they tend to get “wet feet” and stop growing in constantly wet conditions.

Now that your seedling in in the tank, it’s time to learn how to….

6.) Take Care of Hydro Seedlings

Here are tips for taking the best care of hydroponic marijuana seedlings:

• Leave roots alone as much as you can with young seedlings in a hydroponic setup. It takes them a little while to get all established in the tank, almost like a fish, and during that time seedlings are much more sensitive to their roots being touched or being moved around. If at all possible, try to let the seedling grow in the same place without being moved for at least a few weeks until you put them in their final home, or even just start them in their final home!
• Avoid reservoir changes for a few weeks if you can – Going along with what I said before about leaving the roots alone, I’ve found that young seedlings often don’t respond well to reservoir changes. Instead of changing the reservoir, just top off with pH’ed vegetative nutrient water until the plant is at least 3-4 weeks old. It won’t be using enough nutrients to mess with the ratios, and as long as you maintain the pH and use Hydroguard your young plant will be fine with the water being topped off instead of replaced.
• Check the pH daily to prevent nutrient deficiencies
• Warm but not hot temperature – I recommend hydro growers aim for 75°F, and try to stay between 73-80°F.

This is a time-lapse video of cannabis seedlings in hydro sprouting and growing over 13 days.

Get Answers to Common Questions About Growing Marijuana in Hydroponics or DWC

Cannabis seedlings just getting their bearings. Try to avoid moving or disturbing cannabis plants in hydro until they are growing fast, with new leaves every day!

These big cannabis plants are ready to switch to the flowering stage. Remember, most cannabis strains about double in height after initiating flowering, so don’t wait too long!

I thought hydro cannabis plants liked it cold?

Just like in soil, cannabis plants in hydro tend to grow faster in relatively warm temperatures. This is a somewhat controversial statement because a lot of hydro growers prefer to keep their temperature lower in the grow space to help prevent root rot. In fact, there are some growers right now who are reading this and shaking their heads at me.

There’s good reason to believe that hydro plants would grow better with a cool reservoir. For example, the bad microorganisms that make root rot don’t survive well at lower temperatures. Additionally, water can physically hold more oxygen at lower temperatures, which seems like it would be great for faster plant growth. Because of this, lots of growers will AC their room to 60°F, and/or get a water chiller to cool their water reservoir to a similar temperature.

I do agree that if the temperature is above 80°F, your plant is a lot more likely to get root rot. However, I personally have not found that cool temperatures are adequate to prevent root rot. Even if the temperature is 60°F, you still need lots of bubbles and a “good bacteria” supplement like Hydroguard to prevent root rot in many cases.

I’ve seen several growers buy a water chiller and still get root rot. So I personally don’t believe cold temperatures are the best way to go to keep roots healthy.

The other reason I recommend to keep it warmer is because the plants just grow faster around 75°F in hydro. If your roots go from 60°F to 75°F, you’ll see the plants start growing faster in just a day or two, just like how plants in soil grow faster when it’s warm!

Just like in soil or coco, cannabis plants in hydro grow fastest when it’s a little warm, around 75°F!

Although there may be more oxygen dissolved in the water at lower temperatures, at least in my grow tent that apparently isn’t the limiting factor to growth, because plant growth speeds up at warmer temperatures.

I’ve found that if the grow space feels cool to you, it also feels cool to your plant most likely, and it may not be growing to its full potential. Some Sativa strains are particularly sensitive to the cold, though some Indica strains from cold climates will still thrive at lower temps.
Autopsy: Why Aren’t My Seeds Sprouting?

If your seeds still aren’t sprouting and growing properly, consider the following factors.

If there’s no germination at all…

• Temperature may be too hot or cold – aim for 75-80°F
• Too wet – seeds and seedling roots should always be moist, but should not stay wet
• Too dry – if a root dries out the seedling can die!
• Bad seeds – It might not be you, it could be the seeds themselves! How can I tell if seeds are viable?

If seeds sprout, but then stop growing…

• Temperature is too hot or cold – aim for 73-78°F
• Too wet – even though your plants are growing with root directly in water, new seedlings don’t like “wet feet”. They don’t like for it to be too wet near the seed for too long, so make sure your Rapid Rooter or growing medium nevers looks shiny or muddy, as that means there’s too much water! Young roots that stay too wet for too long start to get mushy and die. For this reason, it’s also usually recommended to avoid using a humidity dome with seedlings unless your air is dry. Although clones love humidity domes (they need water from the air because they don’t have any roots to get water), seedlings like it a little more dry or roots tend to get mushy.
• Too dry – less common unless you live in a very dry area, but sometimes your medium dries out too fast if you’ve got a heavy-drinking, fast-growing seedling!
• Too much light – if the seedlings get blasted with high levels of light right away, it can shock them. They may need some time to adjust to higher light levels. Simply starting your grow light a little further away that normal is usually enough.Think sunny window at first, and start ramping up after a week of healthy growth.
• Not enough light – if seedlings are growing long and stretchy without growing new sets of leaves, it means it wants more light.
• No light for more than a day – if the sprouted seed doesn’t get light within 24 hours after sprouting, it may die. Once seeds are sprouted, get them in a Rapid Rooter and under at least some amount of light as soon as possible!
• Roots damaged – If somehow your roots got damaged, it can sometimes stop the seedling from growing

Unfortunately sometimes you will never know why certain seeds just don’t thrive! It’s all part of nature 🙂

The post How to Germinate Cannabis Seeds in Hydro appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

What makes hydroponic nutrients “good” or “bad?”

My favorite hydroponic nutrients for cannabis is the General Hydroponics Flora trio (just use at half strength what’s on the bottle) But… why are some hydro nutrients better than others for growing cannabis? What kind of hydroponic nutrients need to be avoided when growing marijuana? Do you need expensive nutrients to get good results, or will cheap nutrients get the job done?

With all the different bottles of marijuana nutrients out there, how do you know which one is best for your hydroponic setup?

When it comes to choosing hydroponic nutrients for growing weed, there are a few considerations that are really important!

Best Hydroponic Nutrients

• Made specifically for hydroponics
• No organic matter (nutrients are provided via minerals)
• Mineral nutrients are “chelated” (easier for plant to absorb at a greater range of pH levels)
• Contains rich sources of micro-nutrients (to make up for what might have been found in the soil)
• Optimum NPK ratios (more info below)

Worst Hydroponic Nutrients

• Made specifically for soil
• Contains a lot of organic matter (guano, worm castings, fish emulsion, blood meal, etc) – this stuff can completely mess up your reservoir and cause unexpected and unwanted bacteria/root problems. If it seems cloudy with lots of material floating in the water, don’t use it for hydro!

You can learn a lot about nutrients by looking at the label!

Optimum NPK Ratios for Hydroponic Cannabis Nutrients

N-P-K stands for Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium, which are the three most important plant nutrients. These are what the 3 numbers listed on the front of all nutrient bottles stand for (Potassium is represented by “K” because chemists use the symbol K in the periodic table for potassium).

In order to get the best results growing cannabis in hydroponics, it’s important to give the right ratio of these crucial nutrients so the plant gets what it needs at the right time. For example, if you give too much Nitrogen in the flowering/budding phase, it actually surpresses bud production and reduces your yields even if the plant is completely healthy! You don’t want that!

So what are the optimum NPK values for growing cannabis in hydro?
(N-P-K are the 3 numbers on the front of nutrient bottles)

Additionally, hydroponic nutrients should always include….

• Magnesium
• Calcium
• Iron
• Sulfur

Nice but not necessary micro-nutrients (contained in most water sources, but if using RO or very soft water you want these in your nutrients to prevent possible deficiencies)

• Boron
• Cobalt
• Copper
• Manganese
• Molybdenum
• Zinc

The main difference between NPK ratios for hydro and soil are….

• Hydro nutrients usually contain more micro-nutrients (in trace amounts), to make up for what the plant would have been able to find in the soil
• Hydro nutrients tend to contain higher levels of Nitrogen, which is abundant in soil but not in most water sources.
• Hydro nutrients tend to have lower levels of Phosphorus, because Phosphorus is more “available” to the plant in a hydroponic setting. In soil, there are microorganisms (as well as clay “colloidal” particles) which can ‘steal’ some of it, and soil nutrients compensate by adding more Phosphorus.
• Hydro nutrients rarely use organic sources of nutrients. Soil nutrients often contain organic material, which can can make it easier for bad stuff to grow in a hydroponic reservoir. Organic sources of minerals also usually need to be broken down by microorganisms before the plant can absorb them, which doesn’t happen as well in a soilless environment.
• Hydro nutrients are often made up of chelated minerals which have been specially treated so they are easier for the plant to absorb.

What are Chelated Nutrients? Manufacturers actually “wrap” the nutrients inside an organic molecule that is less affected by pH, making it easier for the plant to absorb even if the pH is too high or too low.

When set up right with good nutrients, DWC / Hydroponics can produce some incredible yields!

Optimum pH of 5.5-6.5 <—- Sooooo important in hydro

No matter which nutrient brand you’re using, even with chelated nutrients, cannabis roots are better able to absorb some chemical forms of nutrients than others. This is where pH comes into play. When the pH at the roots is too high or too low, it actually changes the chemical form of the individual nutrient compounds, making it more difficult for your plant to absorb the nutrients it needs.

With hydroponic cannabis nutrients, they’re designed to be most available to your plant when the pH is between 5.5-6.5. If you let the pH get higher or lower than this, you will start getting nutrient deficiencies even if literally everything else is dialed in!

Learn how to adjust your pH to prevent nutrient deficiencies
(It’s easy! It’s kind of like a supplement you add to your reservoir to get better growth)

Stay skeptical of companies that say their nutrients will “automatically” adjust the pH of your water. Although some nutrient systems may be better than others at stabilizing pH, you still need to check the pH regularly if you want to get the best results in hydro. Seriously, this is really important!

Depending on your starting water, “PH Perfect” nutrient systems sometimes aren’t able to correct the pH to the right levels, at least not consistently throughout the grow.

This could happen for various reasons. For example your source water likely contains minerals and other “stuff” that will change the pH of your water. If you start with highly purified water instead of tap water, it can actually make pH swings worse because there is no “buffer” in pure water to stabilize pH.

Plus, the amount of nutrients you use changes depending on your plant and its stage of life, and changing the nutrient levels will almost always change the pH, too!

If you check the pH and it’s in the right range, that’s perfect and there’s nothing else you need to do. But don’t skip checking the pH just because the bottle says you don’t have to! Or at the very least, make sure pH is the first thing you check if you start seeing nutrient problems!

Recommended DWC Nutrients & Supplements

These hydroponic nutrients systems are not just great as far as cannabis yields and quality, they won’t break the bank either! There are lots of great nutrient systems out there, but the truth is that you don’t need incredibly expensive nutrients to get incredible marijuana!

The following nutrient systems have proven to thousands of growers, big and small, that they have everything needed to produce star-quality cannabis!

General Hydroponics Flora Trio Lineup 

• Flora Trio
• CaliMagic
• Hydroguard

Note: These are the nutrients I use with my cannabis plants grown in hydro. Highly recommended for excellent bud quality and growth.

General Hydroponics Flora Series Nutrient Trio <– Recommended for Beginners.

This is the cannabis nutrient system I have been using to grow hydroponically for more than half a decade. General Hydroponics is a trusted nutrient company and their Flora Trio works very well for beginners and advanced cannabis growers.

One cool thing about the General Hydroponic Flora trio is it contains tons of micro-nutrients in trace amounts that often aren’t even found in other hydroponic nutrients. That makes this a great choice as a complete nutrient system for growers using RO (reverse osmosis) or very soft water that doesn’t naturally contain many common minerals. The GH Flora trio will work for just about any setup with just about any water.

Feel free to check out a grow journal where we pulled in over 20 ounces from a single 600W tent using just the Trio plus Hydroguard for the roots (pic below). We didn’t use anything else for the whole grow and were very happy with our results.

Here’s my custom DWC cannabis schedule for the GH Flora trio [PDF].

These plants grown using just the GH Trio + Hydroguard (formally known as Aquashield)
Feel free to check out the complete grow journal (over 1 lb harvest!)

General Hydroponics Flora Duo Lineup

General Hydroponics FloraDuo (Bottle A & Bottle B) <– From a grower: “This is a great choice by GH if 3 bottles from the Flora Trio seems like too much to deal with. You have less complete control, but it can be a better way to get a “sense” of what the plants need at each stage, since you’re only using two bottles.” Another grower said: “Flora Duo are foundation tools in my eyes. If you’re new and you really want success early on, a simple line like the Flora Duo is going to be good. Less bottles to play with, super simple feeding schedule, and you learn. People pick up on the fact that bottle A is high nitrogen, you use a lot of it the first half then it switches to bottle B that has more Phosphorus and Potassium. So you gain some understanding as to WHY you need both, and what different things do for the plant.” Here’s the FloraDuo Nutrient Schedule from General Hydroponics [PDF]

​ 

Hydroguard (formally known as Aquashield) – prevents and treats root rot.

 ​

House & Garden DWC Kit Lineup

Warning: H&G Products have been difficult to find online lately

The House & Garden line-up is expensive yet remarkably effective. Aqua Flakes A + B, Roots Excelurator, Algen Extract <– Get a custom nutrient schedule directly from the people at House & Garden via their free online nutrient calculator.

From a grower: “H&G was started by a top researcher from Canna. They are right outside of Amsterdam and because cannabis is legal there, so both Canna and H&G are able to do R&D using cannabis. I don’t know about Canna, but I know that House and Garden makes all their own nutrients in house and they work great.”​

​

Hydroguard (formally known as Aquashield) – prevents and treats root rot. No need for extra Cal-Mag with the Aqua Flakes line as it already comes with plenty!

 ​

The post Best Hydroponic Nutrients for Cannabis? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Table of Contents

1. Choose an Easy Setup
2. Get Gear to Make Things Easier
3. Re-Arrange the Grow Space
4. Grow a Time-Saving Strain
5. Train Plants the Right Way

Are you thinking about growing cannabis for the first time, but are afraid it will take too much time? Or maybe you have been growing for years, but feel like caring for your plants is too time-consuming.

Every single growing style has its pros and its cons. There are ways to grow cannabis that take a lot of time tending the plants, but there are setups that do a lot of the work for you so you don’t spend as much time on them day-to-day.

Even a few small adjustments can make a big difference!

As you go through this article you’ll realize that you can’t do all of these things at once, but this list will give you several ideas on how to shave off time depending on your personal grow style!

In addition to this article, you may also enjoy Sirius Fourside’s guide to saving time during your grow!

1.) Choose a Less Time-Consuming Setup

Your responsibilities as a grower change quite a bit depending on how you set up your garden in the beginning. I’ve included some info (and the pros and cons) for cannabis grow setups that tend to be the least time-intensive for growers.

Grow Outdoors

Growing outdoors is pretty much guaranteed to take less of your time each day than growing indoors. When you’re growing indoors, you take the place of mother nature, which means you have to maintain the perfect environment and tend to your plants regularly. No matter how efficiently you do it, maintaining a growing environment indoors is going to take more time than letting nature do it for you.

When growing outdoors you’ll still get the best yields and results by checking on your plants regularly, but once every week or two can be more than adequate for many outdoor growers. Some outdoor growers will spend weeks between visits to their grow sites.

Grow with Super Soil

“Super soil” is a term sometimes used in the growing cannabis community to describe amended & composted soil. Super soil is formulated to give cannabis roots an environment where you don’t need to worry about pH or nutrients.

In a lot of ways, growing with super soil is what people “expect” growing cannabis in soil to be like. You put your seeds in a pot with the soil, and water your plants when they’re thirsty. Other than that the soil takes care of providing nutrients to the roots.

Why super soil? Cannabis plants have unique nutrient needs and use such high levels of nutrients that you will quickly start seeing nutrient deficiencies when using other growing mediums (like regular potting soil or coco coir) unless you provide nutrients with your water and regularly check the pH (which makes nutrients more available to your plant). Measuring out nutrients and checking the pH can take several minutes every time you mix up your water.

With super soil, instead of adding nutrients to your water, you pack the soil with natural sources of nutrients that slowly break down over the course of your grow, feeding even the voracious nutrient appetite of a cannabis plant. Instead of managing the pH so nutrients are able to be absorbed by your plant, the composting process enlists the help of microorganisms in the soil to do that work for you.

Learn more about growing with super soil

Grow Hydroponically

Super soil and hydroponics are very different from each other. In fact, you could say they’re pretty much on complete opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to grow styles. Yet they have one thing in common; they are both good at doing a lot of the work on their own so you don’t have to, even if they save time in completely opposite ways…

In hydro, the cannabis roots are grown directly in a reservoir of nutrient water

When growing in a container, even with super soil, your plant roots enjoy wet/dry spells, and do best being watered every few days. (Learn how to water your plants perfectly every time) Each time you water your plants, you ideally need to wait for extra runoff water to come out the bottom, then remove the runoff so your roots aren’t sitting in it. For me, that can end up taking 10 minutes or more if I have a couple of plants (I’ll share some tricks below on how to make that process go faster).

With a hydroponic setup your plant roots live in a water reservoir so you never have to worry about runoff water, and because a water reservoir can hold a lot of water at once it means you can go long periods of time without having to water your plants. There have been times in my life where I only tended to my hydro plants on the weekends (which I don’t recommend, but life happens!), which would be tough to do with a container-grown plant.

With hydro, a large reservoir can hold enough water to last for days, or even weeks in the early stages of a plants life. Some days, all that’s needed is just a quick visual check-in if anything at all!

Additionally, if you make up big batches of water each time, you can often go a long time between having to mix batches. That way when your reservoir water does get low you can simply fill it up again with your “reserve” nutrient water. I’ll talk about this a little bit more below, but the type of non-organic nutrients that are used for hydroponics can be pre-mixed with water for several weeks without any problems. This lets you focus on caring for your plants and training them instead of worrying about mixing up new water all the time.

As a bonus, plants grow faster hydroponically than any other grow style, which means you spend less time waiting for harvest time!

Learn how to grow hydroponically

Get Nutrients That Let You Mix Water Ahead of Time

When you need nutrient water for your cannabis plants, it can take several minutes to make up a new batch every time you water.

Instead, as mentioned earlier you can make a lot at once and only use it as needed.

But how long can you store pre-mixed nutrient water?

• Nearly all nutrients can last at least 1 week after being mixed with water without any negative effects on your plants

• For nutrients comprised solely of inorganic ingredients, your pre-mixed nutrient water can last for 2-3+ weeks without a problem even if the nutrient water is just sitting in the container.

How do you know which is which? Look at the label of your nutrients where it says “Derived from”

All the ingredients in the above picture are inorganic minerals and “chemical salts.” They all have “molecular” sounding names. When it comes to hydroponic nutrients, you will almost always see these types of ingredients specifically because they will not cause reactions or problems even when sitting in water for long periods of time.

But it’s not just hydro! Lots of soil and coco coir nutrients also use the same sources of nutrients because these specially derived mineral sources don’t need to be broken down and are available to your plant immediately.

As long as you don’t see any organic ingredients on the label, you know your nutrient water can be premixed for 2-3+ weeks. If you do spot organic ingredients on the label (like “seaweed extract” in this next example) then you probably shouldn’t let your nutrient water sit as long because organic material tends to start up biological processes. Ultimately this could cause things to grow in your water, possibly altering the nutrient content or even introducing some nasty microorganisms to your plant roots.

If you see any organic ingredients listed, like “seaweed extract,” don’t let your mixed nutrient water sit for longer than a week.

Learn more about different types of cannabis nutrients

Note: No matter what nutrients you’re using, make sure any pre-mixed nutrient water gets stored in a cool, dark place!

2.) Get the Right Gear

When you choose the right gear it can help you save minutes here and there, which really starts to add up!

Get a Bigger Plant Container So You Water Less Often

One way to get away with watering your plants less often is to grow them in a bigger container. This is because your growing medium can hold more water at a time, so it takes longer for your plant to drink it all before needing to be watered again.

Some things to keep in mind: When growing in big containers, you’ll get the fastest growth by starting your plants in smaller ones first, then transplanting them to bigger ones as they grow. But that also takes time. It’s much easier to start your seeds directly in big containers from the beginning so you can skip transplanting altogether. The one downside to that is seedlings tend to start a little slower at first in big pots (why?), but once your plant gets going they grow just as fast as any other container-grown plant and you’ll still get the benefit of watering less often.

Read the full article about plant containers

Avoid Smart Pots & Air Pots

If your goal is to water less often, avoid using a fabric pot (Smart Pot) or a container with holes on the sides (air pot). Although cannabis plants tend to grow faster in these types of containers, the pots dry out much more quickly since the soil is getting air from the sides. This means you end up needing to water them much more often than a similar-sized “traditional” plant container.

Learn more about Smart Pots & Air Pots vs Regular Pots

Get the Right Grow Lights

If saving time is your main goal, you most likely want to go with an LED or MH/HPS grow light. These lights are powerful enough to grow your plant from seed to harvest with great yields, and don’t take a lot of adjustment on your part. You basically just hang the lights over your plants and forget about them, only needing to adjust the height of them a handful of times during your grow.

What you really want to avoid is time-consuming fluorescent lights. CFL and T5 grow lights used to be a great choice for a lot of growers, for example, if you were growing in a really height-limited space, or if you wanted to get started growing as cheap as possible. That means for many growers they were the perfect option for getting started growing, but they did end up taking more time and vigilance on the grower’s part compared to other grow lights. This is because fluorescent grow lights need to be kept within just a few inches of the plants. As a result, you needed to watch your plants closely and adjust your lights often to keep bulbs as close as possible while also preventing your plants from growing into the CFLs.

Fluorescents can be cheap and easy grow lights, but they are more time-consuming than LED or HID grow lights. Even in a setup like the one below, a grower will still spend extra time making sure the bulbs are within the 4″ (10cm) range.

In comparison, LED or HPS grow lights are kept a foot away from your plants or more, which gives you a lot more wiggle room if you need to spend some time away from your plants.

Learn more about different types of grow lights

Don’t DIY Everything

Although doing things yourself can save you a lot of money, having to make your own tools for the job almost always ends up taking more time. It’s like if you decided to use a rock to drive nails into wood instead of a hammer. You wouldn’t have to invest money in a hammer, but using a rock is going to take you a heck of a lot longer and not do as good a job!

One simple example when it comes to growing marijuana is using plant ties, which are a tool specifically made for bending and securing stems for plant training. Plant twisty ties unwind from a spool and an attached cutter lets you easily cut each tie to the perfect length in seconds. They are made to be strong enough to hook onto your plants and secure stems where you want, but not strong enough to accidentally hurt them.

Save time by using specially made plant twisty tie to secure your stems, not some random item around the house like wire or pipe cleaners!

If you wanted to save some money, you could skip getting plant ties altogether and just find something from around the house to secure your stems, like pipe cleaners. They both accomplish the same thing in the end, but with pipe cleaners you would likely have to tie several of them together each time you need to secure a stem. An extra minute here and there starts to add up after a while!

In addition to the time savings, DIY stuff often doesn’t last as long or work as well as tools made for the job. For example plant twisty ties are made of smooth plastic that is unaffected by water, while pipe cleaners are “hairy” and can easily start molding or running into other problems from being exposed to moist conditions. Unexpected malfunctions with DIY stuff can cause problems that take time away from your busy life!

Other handy tools specifically made for growing purposes include plant yo-yos (for holding up falling plants), a convenient grow tent (easier than building a grow space from scratch), and rope ratchets (adjust lights up and down with a few clicks). Each of these grow room accessories are cheap but can shave off a few minutes when you’re tending to your plants!

More growing tools you might not know about

3.) Optimize the Grow Space

Some of these ideas are little things and may only take a few minutes to set up, but can end up saving you so much time and frustration during your grow!

Make Sure You Have an Easy Way to Get Water

When it’s hard to get water, not only are you less likely to make up your water on time, it ends up taking more of your time.

• Learn how to get water from a too-small sink. If your grow space is near a sink, but you can’t fit your water container under the faucet, you can install an easy-release adapter that lets you easily “snap” a hose onto your sink. In my house, the only suitable place to fill up water is a little ways from my grow space, but with this adapter, I can use the bathroom sink on the same floor so I never have to lug water up a flight of stairs.

• Get a good-sized water container to mix up nutrient water. If you’re making up several 1-gallon containers of water at a time, consider getting a bigger container so you can make more at once.

• Don’t try to carry too much water at once. This doesn’t necessarily save time, but will save a lot of effort. If you can’t use a hose to get water directly to your grow space, try to think about how much water you’re expecting yourself to carry on a regular basis. I used to use a single 5-gallon jug to make up water for my plants because I wanted to make a lot of water at a time. The problem was that  I had a hard time carrying a jug with 5 gallons of water in it. I switched to using two 3-gallon jugs because they’re easier to carry/handle than a single 5-gallon jug and that works a lot better for me!

Make It Easy to Dispose of Water

When watering cannabis plants grown in containers, you want to give your plants enough water every time to get 20% extra runoff water out of the bottom. Making sure to water your plants thoroughly each time means you have to water less often, and cannabis plants grow faster when they get wet/dry cycles.

But in order to prevent soggy roots and plant drooping, you also want to make sure to remove that runoff water right away so your plants aren’t sitting in it. Sometimes that’s easier said than done!

If you’re growing with containers and each one has its own saucer, you have to physically pick up the plants every time you want to empty the saucers of runoff water. If you only have one smaller plant it’s not really a big deal, but the more plants you’re growing at a time and the bigger your plants get, the bigger of a pain this is.

You don’t want to have to empty each saucer one at a time after you water your plants

One solution is to put all your plants on a tray that will catch water, and put something small like a block of wood under the tray opposite you to make an incline. This makes it so all the runoff water drains to the front of the tray.

These trays are on a slight incline so runoff water immediately pools to the front

At this point, you can take something like a wet vac (I like this bucket vacuum attachment which hooks onto any 5-gallon bucket to make an ultra-cheap wet vacuum) to quickly suck up all the runoff water without having to move the plants at all.

Easy Access to Plants

This may seem simple but when it comes to making sure you pay enough attention to your plants without having to spend a lot of time on them, it’s super important to make sure you can easily access your plants. Every extra obstacle between you and your plants is going to cost a little extra time. So whenever possible try to make sure you have a clear path to the grow space, and that you have an easy-to-open grow tent, closet, or grow box.

The main idea is to make it so when you decide to check on the plants it only takes a second. That being said, don’t make your grow area easy to access for other people!

Make Sure the Tools in Your Grow Space Are Easy to Reach

You might not realize you’ve been wasting time going across the room every time you need to get your nutrients or a pH pen. When possible, you want every tool you use (measuring spoons, nutrients, pH testers, eye protection, grow journal, camera, etc) to be within arm’s reach so you don’t have to get up or move while tending your plants.

Taking a little time on a lazy afternoon to really think this one through and set things up right will save you a surprising amount of time and effort in the long run!

4.) Choose the Right Strain

Each strain grows and produces a little differently. Some strains may be better than others for your purposes!

Choose a Hardy Strain

Many strains have been specifically bred to be able to handle a wide range of conditions. These “easy to grow” strains can handle heat, cold, high humidity, and watering problems better than other strains. When you start with a known hardy strain, you can provide less-than-ideal conditions and care, but still get really great results. I’m not recommending you don’t care for your plants properly, but a hardy strain will let you get away with more without suffering as many consequences!

If you’re looking for suggestions, one highly recommended strain for first-time growers is Northern Light. It’s an award-winning strain that is easy to grow, potent, stays short, quick to harvest, and mold-resistant. It’s the first strain I ever grew and those plants went through a lot but still made it to harvest!

I Put This Northen Light Plant Through a Lot But It Stayed Healthy!

That’s one popular example, but there are tons of strains that are great for this purpose. When researching strains, the breeder will usually mention in the strain description if a plant is particularly hardy.

Learn more about researching to find the right strain. Also here are a few hand-picked heat-resistant strains and mold-resistant strains to help get you started.

Consider Growing an Auto-Flowering Strain

With auto-flowering plants, there is simply less for the grower to do. There’s little to no plant training (which can take quite a bit of time, more info on that below). There’s no light schedule to worry about and your buds will be ready to harvest in about 3 months without needing any special environmental conditions.

Another nice bonus is you have the ability to access your plants 24 hours a day (as opposed to flowering photoperiod plants that need 12 hours of complete darkness every day in order to make buds). This makes it so you can check on plants when it’s convenient instead of waiting for the lights to come on!

The one downside to auto-flowering plants is they can become stunted if they run into major problems during the first 3-4 weeks of life. So if you do go with an auto-flowering strain, you definitely want to try to make sure you keep a close eye on your plant until the first month is over. You may not have to do any extra work, but you still should be on the lookout for possible problems. If possible, choose an auto-flowering strain that is known to be hardy!

Learn more about auto-flowering vs photoperiod (“regular”) strains

5.) Plant Training

Growers train their plants because it’s a free way to dramatically increase yields indoors, sometimes up to 40% or even more compared to untrained plants. But although training increases yields, it does take time.

In my opinion, the best way to train your plant to get increased yields without wasting a lot of time is by using a technique known as manifolding.

Note: Manifolding adds extra time onto the length of your grow, but will minimize the amount of time and effort spent training your plants (while still ensuring exceptional results).

Example of a “Manifolded” Cannabis Plant With a Wide, Flat Shape & Many Colas

Why Manifolding?

All types of indoor cannabis plant training have the same goal – to create a wide and flat plant, with an even canopy like a table. This helps the plant get the most possible amount of light from the grow light. But there are many ways to accomplish this table-top shape, from simply bending stems (Low-Stress Training) to using screens (ScrOG).

Manifolding is one way to accomplish the table shape, and there are a couple of reasons I think it’s the best way to train your plants without needing a lot of time:

1. There’s less guesswork on your part compared to many other training techniques. You just follow the instructions exactly and it’s very clear without you having to think about anything.

2. It only takes two sessions to make your manifold, which takes just a few snips of the scissors.

3. After that, you’re pretty much done. As the plant grows, your only job is to arrange colas to make sure they all stay exposed to the light and none of them gets taller than the others.

Read the full manifolding tutorial

Note: Manifolding can only be done with photoperiod plants, not auto-flowering strains (why not?).

Or don’t train at all…

You might consider just skipping training altogether because you can still get great yields with untrained plants if you do it right.

Some growers use a technique called SoG (Sea of Green) to get the biggest yields without doing any training. Basically, the idea is to just grow a few or many untrained plants, and get them to make buds right away so you get a “sea” of plants with one main bud each. This can be a good choice for both photoperiod and auto-flowering strains, and in addition to taking no time training, harvest time comes quick!

SoG in action – This technique uses many small plants to create that flat shape with many colas, but without any training at all

One last tip…

Research before you start growing!

You can just put a cannabis seed in regular potting mix and deal with problems as you go along, and honestly, that’s how a lot of people start growing, including me! But doing it that way definitely ends up taking more time (and often money) because you end up running into problems or realizing along the way that you need to change up your setup.

I know this may be easier said than done, but if your goal is to grow cannabis without needing to spend much time each day caring for your plants each day, the best thing you can do is take the time to research before you even get your seeds!

Here’s a list of research topics to help you get started!

Jump to…

Growing Cannabis with Super Soil

How to Use Coco Coir as a Growing Medium

Top-Fed DWC (Bubbleponics) Tutorial

How do I produce top-shelf buds every time?​​​​​​​

The post 5 Time-Savers for Busy Cannabis Growers appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

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

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

Start Here – Beginner Grow Guides

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

Cannabis Life Stages

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

Choosing…

• Best Type of Nutrients
• Choosing the Best Grow Light
• Soil vs Hydro
• How Many Plants Should I Grow?
• What Part of the House Should I Grow In?
• What Setup Should I Get?
• Best Strains for Beginners
• Where to Get Seeds (including the U.S.)

Common New Grower Topics

• How Much Will Electricity Cost?
• Stealth Growing: How NOT to Get Caught Growing Weed
• What Equipment Do I Need?
• Germinate Your Seeds
• 7 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I First Started Growing Weed
• How to Save Money When Growing Weed
• How to Store Weed Properly (so it never loses smell or potency!)
• Ask Questions & Get Answers From Real Growers! (In Our Free Growing Community)
• Cannabis Grower’s Glossary

Problems & Symptoms

• Cannabis Problems Guide
  • How to Help Yellow Seedlings
  • How to Fix Yellow Cannabis Leaves
  • How to Fix Curling and Clawing Cannabis Leaves
  • What Causes Dry or Crispy Leaves?
  • What Causes Brown Spots on Cannabis Leaves?
  • What Causes Bananas (“Nanners”) on Cannabis Buds?
  • Is This Nutrient Burn on My Marijuana Plant?
  • What causes red stems in cannabis plants?
• Diagnose Your Sick Plant
• Bugs & Other Cannabis Pests
• How to Prevent Nutrient Deficiencies
  • Which Nutrient Deficiencies are Caused by pH? (picture guide)
  • How to Stop Flowering Stage Nutrient Deficiencies
• 7 Reasons Why Cannabis Plants Grow Slow
• 5-Step Remedy That Fixes 99% of Grow Problems
• All-Natural Pesticides – Safe Up to Harvest!

Plant Training (Indoor Tricks for Bigger Yields)

• Simplest Plant Training Guide Ever!
• How to Control Height of Indoor Cannabis Plants
• Complete Plant Training Guide
• Breakdown of Techniques​
  • Low Stress Training (LST) Tutorial
  • Topping vs FIMing Tutorial
  • LBH’s Famous ScrOG Tutorial
  • Supercropping: Magic Technique to Control Cannabis Plant Height
  • Sea of Green (SoG) Tutorial
  • 12-12 from Seed – Flowering Plants Early
  • Nebula’s Manifold Tutorial
  • How to Manifold Clones
  • Nebula’s Bud-Based Defoliation Tutorial
  • Alternate Defoliation Tutorial ​
  • What is Re-Vegging / Monstercropping?
• How Can I Train an Auto-Flowering Plant?
• 7 Unfortunate Plant Training Mistakes

Grow Mediums

• What’s the Best Growing Medium?
• Soil vs Coco vs Hydro
• Basic Soil Guide
• Organic Soil Compost Guide (Super Soil) – Just Add Water!
• Coco Coir Guide
  • Coco Coir: The Most Flexible Cannabis Grow Medium
• Hydro/DWC/Bubbleponics Guide
• “True” Organic Growing vs Just Using Organic Nutrients
• Can You Use Miracle-Gro?

Nutrients

• Which Nutrients Are Best For Growing Cannabis?
• Soil Nutrients
• Coco Coir Nutrients
• Hydroponic Nutrients

Grow Lights

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

Best LED Grow Light Articles

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

Environment

• Create the Perfect Growing Environment
  • Temperature Tutorial
  • 5 Secrets to Heat Control
  • Control Humidity for Better Buds
  • How to Use Reflective Walls to Increase Yields Indoors
  • How to Make Plants Grow Faster with CO2
• Where’s the Best Place in the House to Grow Your Plants?
• How to Control Odors
• How to Set Up an Exhaust
• How to Set Up a Grow Tent for Better Yields (and Stealth)

Plant Care Tutorials

• Cloning
  • How to clone weed in a cup of water (easy!)
  • How to make cannabis clones with an aero cloner
• Intro to Plant Training for Bigger Yields Indoors
• How Often to Water Plants
  • The Easiest Way to Water Plants & Remove Runoff
• How (and When) to Transplant Cannabis
• Male vs Female Plants
• When to Harvest?
• Drying & Curing

How to Improve…

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

Buying Seeds

• Where to Get Seeds
• How to Find the Right Strain
• What are “Feminized” Seeds?
• Which Breeders to Trust?
• Photoperiod vs Auto-Flowering Cannabis Strains
• Bag Seed vs Hype Seed: Is it worth it to buy cannabis seeds?

Recommended Strains

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

Auto-Flowering Strains

• Nebula’s Guide to Cannabis Auto-Flowering Strains (Photoperiod vs Auto-Flowering)
• Should I “Top” or Train an Auto-Flowering Plant?
• What’s the best light schedule for auto-flowering strains?
• Nebula’s Auto-Flowering Grow Journal (Topping vs Natural)

Edibles

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

Extracts (No Solvents Used in Any Recipe)

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

And Lots More!

• How Long Does it Take to Grow Weed?
• Vegetative vs Flowering Stage (Long Days vs Long Nights)
• Germination & Seedling Mistakes
• Simple Guide to Plant Training
• What’s the Best Pot / Container?
• Perpetual Harvest
• What Determines Yields?
• 5 Time-Savers for Busy Growers
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• 7 Gift Ideas for Cannabis Growers
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• How long can I store nutrient water?
• What is High-Frequency Fertigation?
• Where is it legal to grow weed in the USA?
• See EVERYTHING on the Site!

Safety & Preparation

• Fire Protection in the Grow Room
• Electrical Safety Tips & Tricks
• Prepare Yourself for Growing Emergencies
• Stealth Growing Indoors: How to NOT get Caught Growing Weed

Just for Fun

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

Submit Pics

• Submit Trophy Pictures of your Plants!
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• How to Fix Yellow HPS Pics

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Thanks for visiting! We hope our website helps you find the growing tutorials you were looking for. We’ve written hundreds of growing marijuana articles and unfortunately we can’t fit them all on this page, so we encourage you to use the search bar on the right side (or top of the page for mobile users) to search for articles you don’t see here.

Happy growing!
Nebula & Sirius

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The post Link Guide to Growing Cannabis Tutorials appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Have you ever heard of hydroponics? Although the term is sometimes used to describe growing cannabis plants in any inert or soilless medium (for example coco coir), it more commonly is used to describe growing with plant roots directly in water and that is what most people think of when they hear the word ‘hydroponics’.

Cannabis Plants Growing With Roots Dangling in a Reservoir of Water

Here’s what’s inside! Since the cannabis roots get everything they need without having to “search” for it like they would in soil, you end up with faster vegetative growth rates. This growth is supported by huge masses of happy, healthy roots like this!

“Deep Water Culture” (commonly referred to as DWC) refers specifically to the type of hydroponics where plants grow with the roots stretching out into a tub of nothing but aerated nutrient-water.

This roots-in-oxygenated-water setup is what gives Deep Water Culture its remarkable vegetative growth speed!

Why is it called Deep Water Culture? “Deep Water” because the plants are growing in a deep pool of water instead of in some sort of growing medium, and “Culture” is a word that can also mean “Cultivation”.

As DWC has gained popularity for growing marijuana, we have been receiving lots of questions from hydro growers of all experience levels. Today, I’m going to answer some of the questions we see the most, as well as give you some helpful tips that will make your next DWC grow much easier and more rewarding!

Sirius: Also, I’ve mixed in some pics of my current DWC grow. It’s like a quick timeline of a cannabis plant’s life in a DWC setup.

What is DWC?

In short, DWC is growing your plant with its roots in aerated nutrient-water (the air part, provided by bubbles, is very important). Like this:

(Click the picture below to see an animated version [3Mb .gif])

Do plants really grow faster in DWC?

Yes, plants grow noticeably (and I mean noticeably) faster in DWC during the vegetative stage than they do in soil or coco coir.

Why is that? Vegetative plants growing in soil spread out a huge system of roots, then they use those roots to search for and uptake nutrients from the soil in which they live. Roots in soil also need to find pockets of oxygen to prevent the plant from “drowning”(lack of oxygen is what causes plants to droop from being overwatered).

When growing hydroponically, the roots don’t need to spread out, and they don’t have to ‘search’ for the nutrients since everything the plant needs is readily available in the most absorbable form possible. The dissolved oxygen in the water gives the roots almost unlimited oxygen and prevents the plant from getting “overwatered” or droopy even thought the roots are living in a reservoir of water. This decreased effort in having to ‘find’ nutrients and oxygen translates into increased vegetative growth and lots of foliage, especially if plenty of light is provided!

However, while buds may fatten up more in the flowering stage due to great environmental conditions at the roots, possibly increasing your yields, they won’t be ready to harvest any sooner after the flip to 12/12. The time to harvest is mostly dependent on strain, and DWC-grown plants take the same amount of time as any other plants to fully ripen and be ready for harvest. (Why Aren’t My Buds Ready for Harvest?)

Is DWC harder to do than soil?

Nope! Every method has its own quirks you have to watch out for, but with a little experience and a good setup, DWC can be just as easy as soil (if not easier) since it ends up taking so little time to manage.

Here’s a DWC setup in action!
Barneys Farm Liberty Haze <—> Barneys Farm Critical Kush

Should I try DWC for my first grow?

Although DWC is a great (and my personal favorite) way to grow, I would definitely recommend trying coco coir as an introduction to growing cannabis. It is similar to a hydroponic grow in many ways, and will teach you most of the skills you will need to grow, but it a little bit more forgiving. I personally think coco is one of the best ways to get introduced to growing cannabis!

Once you‘ve completed a grow with coco, DWC will seem much easier. That being said, we’ve received many pictures from growers doing DWC amazingly well on their first grow just by following the tutorial!

I’ve already grown in soil. Do I need to be concerned with anything new when growing DWC?

When it comes to Deep Water Culture, the main difference if you’re used to a hand-watered growing medium is you need to pay attention to the reservoir. Peeking into the reservoir through an empty net pot hole lets you ensure the roots look happy and that the water level inside is properly maintained. It’s just like paying attention to your soil except that the conditions of water can change quite a bit faster. On the flip side, you have much greater control over the root environment in DWC than any other grow method!

Do I need an air pump?

Yes, it’s absolutely necessary! Your plant roots still need air, and without an air pump they will drown. Plant roots need oxygen, and the heavily oxygenated water in a DWC reservoir is a big part of why hydroponic plants grow so fast!

This is a time-lapse video of the seedlings from the last picture growing over 13 days.

Can I have the air pump turn off sometimes to save electricity?

I would strongly recommend against it; the air pumps should be running for 24 hours a day throughout your grow to give your plant roots lots of air and bubbles. Besides, it’s the grow lights that use the vast majority of the electricity.

If you’re worried about the noise, placing the pump on a solid, thick surface instead of directly on the floor will reduce the vibration quite a bit.

Is DWC safe to do?

Most definitely! Just make sure you don’t have electronics/plugs/outlets directly on the ground. This is a rule for all grows, however.

Is DWC as stealthy as other grow styles?

Slightly less so. A DWC setup requires an air pump to be running, and air pumps can make some noise depending on the model you get. Larger air pumps vibrate harder, which can become its own separate kind of noise!

Luckily, there are many models that pump out lots of air and run very quiet! EcoAir makes a pump that will run two large stones and you can barely tell it’s on. Placing the pump on something thick and solid (instead of directly on the floor) will reduce the noise even further!

Unrelated Tip: Exhaust fan too loud? Try hanging your exhaust fan from inside the tent instead of setting it on top; this will greatly reduce the amount of noise!

3 of the seedlings from before have been culled, and now only the strongest plant from each strain remains.

(Culled all but the two strongest plants; I prefer to have only one per container.)

How should I start seeds in DWC?

Rapid Rooters are – in my opinion – one of the best ways to start a seedling in DWC. They germinate successfully so often for us that that now if a seed doesn’t germinate, I assume the seed must have been a dud. The main thing to keep in mind with Rapid Rooters is to make sure they stay moist, but they should never look or feel wet. If it’s shiny, it’s too wet!

My second favorite germination method is the Paper Towel Method. It is simple but surprisingly effective at getting seedlings started fast.

Does my reservoir water need to be sterile?

No, but it has to be a good place for plant roots to live. Some people take the route of keeping their reservoir sterile – meaning it just has nutrients and water and no trace of anything alive.

Personally, I load my reservoir up with beneficial bacteria instead. This way, if bad neighbors like pythium (a fungus-like organism that causes root rot) move into my reservoir, they get out-competed by the good guys that already live there. There are a few good sources of beneficial bacteria for DWC, but I personally use Botanicare Hydroguard, which is a root supplement that is extremely effective at stopping and preventing root rot in a DWC environment.

With all the root space and light to themselves, two little plants soon turn into bulky shrubs!

Why does the pH of the nutrient-water go up right after I put it in the reservoir?

The pH of the water in a reservoir can change for many reasons, but when it happens right after you changed the reservoir, it may be because the water was sitting for a while and is now being agitated. Bubbles from the air pump move the water around, especially on the surface; this movement raises the pH of the water in addition to aerating it. This may be less noticeable if you shake your water up well before testing the pH and adding it to your reservoir.

In any case, after about an hour, you should notice the pH stays more stable (and that’s the pH level you should pay attention to).

There are a few other factors that change your pH over time. Your roots give off waste products that affect the pH, and as roots use up nutrients at different rates that can also alter the pH.

One thing you can do to help stabilize pH is keep your water level about 2 inches below the bottom of your net pots. A bigger reservoir has a more stable pH, so making sure your reservoir is always topped off will help improve pH stability. On the flip side, the air gap helps prevent the hydroton from affecting the pH, keeps stems from getting mushy, and also helps roots get more oxygen.

What is Top-Feeding?

Top-Feeding is something you add on to a DWC setup. It takes water from the reservoir and trickles it directly onto your seedling roots to encourage your seedlings to grow faster. This setup is what many people think of as ‘bubbleponics’.

Is Top-Feeding worth the trouble?

Top-feeding provides a very tangible benefit in the beginning of the cannabis plant’s life. Seedlings sprout and grow leaves faster in the beginning, but the benefits will definitely diminish after a few weeks. Once a plant is in ‘aggressive vegetative’ mode with a big root mass in the water, the effects of a top-feed will be practically nonexistent.

That being said, a grower can shave 1-2 weeks off of a grow with top-feeding, which makes the beginning stages a lot more exciting (and saves time / electricity)!

This is low-stress training. The stems are gently bent away from each other and held with twist-tie.

How many plants should I grow in a reservoir?

You can grow as many plants as you can fit, but 3+ will definitely be a crowded fit. As much as it pains me to say it, the most efficient configuration is to grow one plant per container. This gives the roots more room to spread out, but more importantly, it gives the leaves and buds room to spread out! It also gives you 5 extra ports to reach the reservoir without having to actually move your plants and possibly disturb the roots.

Do I really need to check the pH?

Checking the pH can be boring/tedious, but it’s also one of the most important factors in any grow, especially in DWC. Good pH management makes for pretty plants and bad pH makes for sickly plants. Think of pH adjustments like a supplement that makes your plants grow better and faster!

How often should I give new nutrient water to plants growing in DWC?

You can change your reservoir water for new nutrient-water every one or two weeks, but in the meantime they need to have the reservoir topped off with pH’d nutrient water at 1/4 strength. After a grow or two, you’ll notice that some strains (like BlackJack) will throw a fit if their water isn’t changed weekly, while others (like Wonder Woman) are hardier and can handle a wider array of conditions.

As a general rule of thumb, you should completely change your reservoir at least once every two weeks in the vegetative stage, and at least once a week in the flowering stage.

Cannabis plants respond well to low-stress training, like these ones from above. They filled up all of the empty spots we made!

How can I easily drain and replace the reservoir water?

A liquid transfer pump (also called a ‘water transfer pump’) is typically used to empty out aquariums or transfer gas between containers and a vehicle. If you’re growing cannabis in a DWC (Deep Water Culture) or similar setup, this type of tool can turn the often arduous job of changing your reservoir water into a quick 5 minute task!

The one I use is pictured here. This “battery-operated siphon liquid transfer pump” uses D batteries so you don’t have to worry about cords. This means that people who grow hydroponically don’t have to plan their grow area for the sake being able to empty/fill their reservoir more easily. It’s a good choice for hobbyist growers with 1 or 2 small reservoirs, though if you’ve got a big tank you’ll want something more powerful that can move a lot of water.

Learn about some other neat growing tools!

What are optimum nutrient levels for growing cannabis in DWC?

Always start with half of the recommended dosage on the schedule provided with your nutrient system. For example, I use General Hydroponics Flora Trio, so I just use the schedule on the back of the bottle divided by 2.

After that, dial it in! That means to watch your cannabis for signs of nutrient burn or deficiency. If it gets nutrient burn, reduce the nutrients from 50% to 25%. If it’s becoming lime green and the pH is between 5.5 – 6.5, increase the nutrients from 50% to 75%.

Buds are forming on the army of branches we made!

These plants are about to be defoliated one last time before harvest!

Can I mix up the nutrient water in advance?

If you’re using General Hydroponics Flora Trio, then the answer is yes! And that’s straight from the horse’s mouth! …the horse being General Hydroponics.

Although I haven’t confirmed this with every hydroponic nutrient company, colloquially, it seems that there is no problem at all with storing pH’d nutrient-water for up to a week as long as the nutrients don’t contain organic ingredients (like guano, kelp, bloodmeal, bonemeal, etc).

When in doubt, always contact your nutrient company to see how far ahead you can make your water! Most major nutrient companies have a contact form on their website and will get back to you in just a day or two. They know their products better than anyone!

What temperature should my reservoir water be?

Here’s the rule I use: If your grow room temperature is in a good range, then your reservoir temperature is also in a good range. You only really need to worry about your reservoir temperature if your grow room temperature is out of the acceptable range.

Many growers aim for their reservoir water to be between 60-68°F because cooler reservoir temps prevent some bad organisms from growing in the first place, and cool water can hold more dissolved oxygen in the 60-70°F range. However, cannabis can grow and thrive in much warmer reservoir temperatures as long as beneficial organisms are present to fight root rot. In fact, I personally have found that hydroponic plants tend to grow a little slower when their roots are cool, and grow fastest around 75°F (as long as you’re using a supplement with beneficial organisms to kill root rot).

In short:

• Maintain the temps in your grow room and the reservoir is fine

• I personally have found hydroponic plants tend to grow the fastest when the temperature is between 73-80°F, with 75°F being a good temperature to aim for. However, with warmer temps make sure you’re using a beneficial bacteria supplement to prevent root rot!

They’re just fattening up under the 600w HPS light! Due in about 4 weeks!

Jump to…​​

New Grower’s Shopping List

Top-Fed DWC Cannabis Setup Guide – Bubbleponics

Cannabis Growth Control – Topping & More

How Long Does It Take to Grow Weed?

The post Deep Water Culture: Your Questions Answered! appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

In this article, I will share how we were able to remedy a case of cannabis root rot in a hydroponic setup. Root rot is often thought of as being "incurable" and I've heard of several cases where growers throw away their cannabis plants that are hit by root rot. I know lots of growers who have tried hydroponic growing, and gave up after running into root rot for the first time.

I have to admit, I've actually thrown a growing cannabis plant away because of root rot – it was several years ago during my first ever try with hydro. I thought I'd tried everything to kill the root rot pathogen, including SM-90 and Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), When the plant wasn't recovering, I simply trashed it. Looking back now, I see that I could have easily saved that plant.

The real trick to getting rid of root rot is figuring out why it's attacking your cannabis in the first place. Once you know the root cause, fix that first! After that, you can use root supplements to help your cannabis plant recover from root rot as fast as possible.

Cannabis root rot isn't that difficult to cure if you have the right information. Let me share a story about root rot which was able to be fixed in just a few days. This allowed the plants to continue growing on until harvest. This method should also work for you if you're experiencing cannabis root rot in your hydroponic system.

Uh oh….

Heat problems!

We were struck by an intense heat wave during the middle of this grow. While we do have a very powerful exhaust fan to pull heat out of the tent and through a window, the temperature outside climbed above 100ºF (or 38ºC – unusually hot for where we live), and since we had no AC at the time, the temperature of the entire house was extremely high. Even though the fan was pulling hot air out of the tent, there wasn't really much cool air to replace it in the tent.

The temperature of the grow tent climbed to the 90s ºF (mid-30s ºC), which is far too hot for a grow tent, especially with a hydroponic setup. In this type of setup, it is recommended the grow area is kept at a comfortable room temperature (around 70ºF) for best plant growth.

In the reservoirs, we could see the plant roots showing signs of root rot.

Root rot 🙁

One of our plants was affected only slightly (her roots had slight patches of brown, but she didn't really show any signs of stress above ground). However, the other plant in the tent was struck much worse. She had recently been transplanted into a bigger container, and we suspect that moving her to a new reservoir may have stressed her out slightly, leaving her less resistant to root rot than her sister who wasn't moved at all.

Here is what she looked like on top (the more damaged plant right after she was struck by root rot):

Root rot is a condition that affects the roots of many plants including cannabis, most commonly in hydroponic setups when the plant is not getting enough oxygen to the roots.

When the heat rises, the water in the hydroponic reservoir physically cannot "hold onto" as much dissolved oxygen, and the plant roots can more easily become starved for oxygen.

A lack of oxygen at the roots (in this case caused by the hot temperatures) leaves plant roots susceptible to a type of bad bacteria that causing browning of the roots which is commonly known as root rot. A plant that is struck by root rot will wilt and show major signs of stress and problems with their leaves.

How did we beat the root rot?

We took a 3-step approach to beating root rot:

1. Reduce heat (high temperature is often a huge contributor to root rot)
2. Deliver more oxygen to roots (root rot has difficulty surviving in high oxygen environments)
3. Add "good" bacteria to out-compete root rot (certain bacteria is beneficial to your root health, and will help your plants overcome and be protected from root rot)

1.) Reduce heat

During the heat wave, we changed from a 24 hour light schedule to a 18-6 light schedule to help reduce the heat (18 hours of light, and 6 hours of darkness). This light schedule is still suitable for the cannabis vegetative stage, but allowed us to use a timer to turn off the light during the 6 hottest hours of the day. This caused the average temperature of the grow tent to drop dramatically.

While vegetative growth is slower on an 18-6 schedule than a 24 hour one, we decided to keep the 18-6 vegetative light schedule for the rest of the summer just in case we had any more heat waves.

2.) Deliver more oxygen to roots

One way we increased the amount of dissolved oxygen available to the roots (to help fight the root rot) was to lower the temperature of the grow room and therefore the reservoir, because water can naturally hold more oxygen at cooler temps.

We lowered the level of the reservoir water by several inches to leave a misty air gap of several inches to feed oxygen directly to the roots, similar to an aeroponic setup. Because of the roiling water below, the air in the tub remains at nearly 100% humidity, with plenty of oxygen to help the roots fight off root rot.

3.) Add good bacteria to fight root rot

Last, we drained the reservoir, then we mixed new nutrient water with a huge healthy dose of Aquashield (a source of beneficial root bacteria, which is a staple in our hydroponic grow room).

The combination of changing the light schedule to reduce the heat, the addition of an air gap by reducing the amount of water in the reservoir, and the addition of Aquashield did the trick.

What we didn't do: We did not add additional airstones or a stronger pump to increase the dissolved oxygen in the reservoir because we already have 2 large airstones and a relatively powerful pump. A grower could put a more powerful air pump to increase the number of bubbles in the reservoir which would help fight against root rot, but in our stealth setup, a bigger air pump would be a bit too loud. We also could have added an expensive water chiller to keep our reservoir cold, but since we have never encountered this problem before we decided that would be a waste.

3 days later – New healthy roots began to grow out of old brown ones

New roots started growing pretty much immediately and both plants slowly recovered, though the rot killed several leaves & slowed down growth for about a week.

One of the things I've learned is that every grow has it's own unique challenges. Every time you run into a problem, the best thing to do is learn from your mistakes and use that information to do even better in your next grow.

The plants recovered from the root rot, and the grow continued on without a hitch until harvest.

Jump to…

Learn about cannabis & root rot

Other cannabis root problems

Soil or Hydro?

How to grow hydroponic cannabis

The post Case Study: Root Rot Recovery appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Which cannabis growing medium is the best for growing marijuana, and which style of growing is right for you? Will you get the biggest yields growing marijuana with hydroponics, with soil, or a hydro-soil fusion (such as coco coir or other soilless potting mixes)? Which growing medium produces the highest quality buds?

This tutorial will teach you what to expect for each type of cannabis grow medium (including pros/cons, easiness, effect on yields, bud quality, etc). Get started growing weed today!

Table of Contents

Soil Guide

• Soil Pros vs Cons
• Soil Setup
• Soil Maintenance

Hydro Guide

• Hydro Pros vs Cons
• Different Types of Hydroponics
• Don't Use These Hydro Systems!
• Hydro Setup
• Hydro Maintenance

Soil-Hydro Fusion – coco coir & other soilless mediums

• Soilless Pros vs Cons
• Soilless Setup
• Soilless Maintenance

Intro to Growing Cannabis in Soil

Growing plants in soil seems to be what many people try first when it comes to growing in cannabis. If you’ve grown other plants in soil and/or have maintained a soil garden, this may be the best choice for you because you will already be familiar with a lot of what you need to understand to grow cannabis in soil.

Note: Do not use “Miracle-Gro” soil or any soil that has “extended release” nutrients for growing cannabis. These types of soil will continue to release nitrogen to your plant roots for up to 6 months. This can burn your cannabis plants in the flowering/budding stage and reduce your overall yields.

Pros vs Cons

Soil Pros for Growing Cannabis

Many Already Have Soil Experience – Growing cannabis in soil is similar to growing plants like tomatoes or corn – soil growing may be the most intuitive option for you, especially if you already have gardening experience.

Simple – hand-water your plants in containers

Outdoor Growing – most outdoor growers choose to grow with soil. In the wild, cannabis grows in soil, so growing outdoors in soil is most like a cannabis plant's natural environment. Many people find that when growing cannabis outdoors, soil is the simplest and most intuitive way to grow. Growing with composted "super soil" gives the grower the ability to grow outside without needing to add synthetic bottled nutrients or manage the pH of the soil.

Option 1: Store-Bought Soil + Nutrients – Growers can buy soil online or at a store, and simply add nutrients throughout their grow while watering for thriving, happy cannabis plants.

Option 2: Compost or Purchase "Super Soil" – For those who don’t want to worry about soil pH or adding nutrients throughout the grow, there is the option of amending and composting your own super soil (or buying it already composted) specifically made for cannabis plants. While this option takes more time before you start growing, it can be somewhat simpler especially for those who have composted soil in the past. Note: Some growers believe growing in organic composted super soil with a rich microbial life actually improves the taste and smell of cannabis by causing plant to produce higher levels of terpenes and terpenoids.

Soil Cons for Growing Cannabis

Pests – Soil is organic material, and there are many types of bugs that can live in soil. Often, soil-growers seem to suffer more often from pests attacking their plants than hydroponic growers.

Slower Growth – Growing in soil is not as fast as growing in a soilless or hydroponic setup – hydroponic plants tend to get better growth rates, especially in the vegetative stage.

Soil Setup

Setup Cost – Basically you just need soil and a container. Common cannabis soil mixes include Fox Farms Happy Frog and Fox Farms Ocean Forest. Any high quality organic soil mix will do in a pinch. Avoid Miracle-Gro soil or anything with “extended release” nutrients! If soil seems heavy, it can be beneficial to add 30% perlite and 10% vermiculite to aerate and loosen soil. One proven soil option is to compost your own super soil, which can be made organically and gets some of the best results of any soil. Common cannabis containers include classic plastic pots, terra cotta pots, smart pots (fabric pots) and air-pots. Standard gardening pots do best with soil that has perlite added so that there’s plenty of aeration for the cannabis roots. Smart pots and air-pots each add extra air to the root zones from the sides, so they don't require much (if any) extra aeration or perlite in soil mixes.

Setup Effort – Soil growing probably has the least setup effort of any method (with the possible exception of growing cannabis in a soilless mix). The biggest effort will likely be choosing your soil and nutrients.

Learn the basics of growing cannabis
 

Soil Maintenance

Maintenance Cost – After setup, the main cost of soil growing will be replacing your soil every grow (highly recommended – reused soil often does not get great results unless you know how to amend it with the nutrients that were used during your grow). Occasionally you will have to replaced used containers that crack or break.

Maintenance Effort – Watering your plants, providing cannabis nutrients as needed, managing the pH of your root zone (you should be managing your root pH if you’re not growing in composted super soil which has microorganisms in your soil to help manage pH and make nutrients available to your plant roots).

How long until harvest? Soil has relatively slower growth rates than hydroponic methods, but a tuned-in soil grow can achieve impressive growth rates if given a great environment and plenty of bright light. Most soil grows will require 1-3 months of vegetative time (depending on how big you want your plants) plus 2-3 months of flowering/budding (depending on your strain). Learn more about how long it takes to grow cannabis here. Some growers feel that cannabis grown in organic super soil has the best smell/taste profile, though this is highly disputed among hydroponic growers. 🙂

How long can grower be away? It’s important for a grower to always remain close by for their first grow, especially for inexperienced growers. Experienced growers can safely spend more time away from the garden. Bigger containers hold more water and therefore give growers more time away, since constant watering isn’t needed. In the best case scenario it is always best to check on your plants at least once a day. You never know when a pest infestation will take hold, a plant will fall over, or some other unexpected event will happen.

How to Grow Cannabis in 10 Steps

Growing with Hydroponics

Intro to Hydroponics for Cannabis

While technically any growing medium besides soil is considered hydroponics (including growing in a soilless medium like coco coir), when most people think of “hydroponics” they think of a water reservoir.

Technically any type of hydroponics with no inert medium is called a “solution culture” to differentiate it from other types of hydroponics.

Click Here for a Short Summary of Hydroponics History

This section focuses on types of hydroponics where the cannabis roots grow directly in water and/or the grower needs to maintain a water reservoir.

In the next section we will cover soilless mediums, which are technically a type of hydroponics, but which most people consider more like growing in soil.

We believe Hydro is one of the best ways to grow cannabis!
 

Pros vs Cons

Hydro Pros for Growing Cannabis

Faster Growth – Faster vegetative growth than any other growing method, which can result in harvests that come in sooner.

Bigger Yields – Experienced hydroponic growers usually get bigger yields than experienced soil growers – given the same conditions (light, nutrients, etc).

Less Likely To Get Pests – Of all the grow types, hydroponic growers are least likely have their garden attacked by bugs or pests (though it’s definitely still possible). Many pests need soil as part of their lifecycle, and many growers accidentally introduce pests into their grow room when buying new soil.

Some Options Are Low Maintenance – Some hydro methods are relatively low maintenance, and many growers believe some options are as simple as growing in soil (learn more about different types of hydroponic setups below).

Hydro Cons for Growing Cannabis

Setup Cost – Hydroponic setups are usually more expensive to set up initially, and some types of hydroponic growing may require some DIY.

Figuring Out Nutrients – Getting the nutrients “dialed in” can be difficult for some hydro growers (especially when combining nutrients and supplements from many different companies) unless you follow a proven formula. In hydro, growers have total control over nutrients, which means hydro growers can fix nutrient problems quickly, but also that nutrient problems should be monitored and fixed as soon as possible.

Root Problems – Many unprepared hydro growers run into problems at the roots, though it’s important to remember that there are several proven steps that can be taken to ensure happy, healthy roots – such as providing plenty of oxygen at the roots and keeping water temps around 70°F (20°C).

Some Options Are High Maintenance – Some hydro growing methods are relatively high maintenance, and may take lots of checking in for the best growth rates

Growing Hydro Outdoors Can Be Difficult – While hydroponic growing can be accomplished outdoors, many people find it difficult to control all the essential variables outdoors (sterile environment, controlling heat/cold, powering pumps, etc).

Best Hydro Methods For Growing Cannabis
 

Different Types of Hydroponics Systems

Learn which ones are and aren’t suited for growing cannabis

  ○ DWC (Deep Water Culture)
  ○ Top-Fed DWC (Bubbleponics)
  ○ NFT (Nutrient Film Technique)
  ○ Ebb & Flow (Flood & Drain)
  ○ Aquaponics (Fish for Nutrients)
  ○ Aeroponics (Misted Air)
  ○ Drip System (Automatic Watering)
  ○ Hand-Watered Hydro (Soil-Hydro Fusion)

DWC – roots in nutrient reservoir that is oxygenated by bubbling air through the water. There are lots of different variations of the DWC method.

We believe DWC is one of the best ways to grow cannabis!

Top-Fed DWC (Bubbleponics) – like DWC except water is also pumped to the roots via a top-feed – fastest growth of almost any hydro system

View tutorial on how to make a Top-Fed DWC hydroponic system for growing cannabis
(this is how we grow!)

Note: What’s “RDWC”? It stands for recirculating DWC, which involves many DWC units hooked together with pumps and a “controller” to make sure all the plants get what they need. Usually only used for very big grows with many DWC units – this method allows a grower to maintain many DWC reservoirs in one place, and have the water pumped to all the plants

NFT (Nutrient Film Technique) – roots in containers on a tilted surface (often PVC piping). A water pump drips water from a reservoir to the roots of the first plant, and a shallow stream of water flows down the ramp over the roots of all the plants, one at a time. At the end, the water is usually drained back into the main reservoir to be recirculated. It is called “NFT” or “nutrient film technique” because there is a film of nutrient water flowing over the roots at all times.

Flood & Drain (Ebb & Flow) – roots in container which is flooded with water and drained on a timer – get plenty of nutrient water to roots as well as oxygen.

Aquaponics – fish are raised in a tank, and their poop is used to provide nutrients for your plants. In return, plant roots help filter the water for the fish. This is all accomplished by building a colony of bacteria known as a "biofilter." The bacteria transform the fish waste from ammonia (which is toxic to fish and unavailable to plant) into nitrogen that the plants can use.

Learn more about growing cannabis with aquaponics!

Aeroponics – roots in misted air – this method gets more oxygen to roots than almost any other system. Can be difficult to get setup if you want to DIY (do it yourself) but there are lots of already-made aeroponics kits for growers interested in this style of hydroponics.

Drip system – Basically an automated watering system – can be used full hydro, with a soilless medium or even with soil. Plants are provided water via top-feed from a reservoir of water. There’s lots of variation on drip systems. For example, sometimes these systems are re-circulating, and sometimes the water is discarded after being dripped through the roots. Sometimes the water feed in on a timer, and sometimes the water flows constantly.

Soilless Mediums (Hand-Watered Hydro) – While growing with cannabis roots directly in a soilless medium like coco coir is technically considered hydroponics, I will go over it in the next section because as far as the grower is concerned, the experience of growing in soilless mediums is more like a fusion of soil and hydro compared to most other hydro techniques.

These Hydro Methods Are NOT Suitable For Growing Cannabis

Raft System – Only meant for small plants like lettuce, raft hydro systems keep plants on a "raft" floating in a nutrient reservoir.

No tiny hydro systems like ones made for growing herbs! These hydroponic systems are far too small for a plant like cannabis. They don't have enough room for roots, or enough light to get cannabis to properly produce buds in the flowering stage. Don't use an Aerogarden (Aerogrow)! It is a struggle to get cannabis to grow in one of these, and you will get a lot better results using almost anything else (never mind the fact that they're expensive).

Never Use an AeroGarden for Growing Cannabis!

Hydro Setup

Setup Cost – many hydroponic setups are very inexpensive, especially if growers are willing to DIY and build their systems from scratch. Most of the parts for hydroponic systems are readily available at the hardware store and usually aren't terribly expensive. The more complicated your system, generally the more it costs. So if you need lots of pumps, tubing and special pieces you may spend quite a bit to get everything. Luckily, these days there are many companies that sell kits with everything included, and often these kits are comparable in price to building everything yourself.

Setup Effort – When it comes to setup, you will benefit greatly from doing your homework. I highly recommend finding a grower with a proven setup already (a grower who has at least one grow journal showing a successful harvest), and copy them for your first grow. Many already-made hydroponic kits can be found online, and these are often easy to put together. Certain setups that use a timer usually take some tinkering to get everything to work the way you like (example Flood & Drain, certain Drip systems, etc). For aquaponics, the grower must also consider the time and effort it takes to set up a tank that can support fish.

Learn the basics of growing cannabis

Hydro Maintenance

Maintenance Cost – Once your grow is setup, the majority of your maintenance costs usually go towards your nutrients and your grow lights. Learn about hydroponic nutrients. Learn about different grow lights. However, you will need to replace tubing, pumps and air stones every few grows or as they wear out.

Maintenance Effort – Your first grow will likely take a lot of maintenance as you get a feel for how everything works together. As long as you do your research beforehand, you will avoid common growing hydro problems like root rot and figuring out your hydroponic nutrient schedule. The amount of long-term maintenance depends quite a bit on which hydro setup you choose. A dialed-in DWC setup with a relatively large reservoir can take as little as a half hour each week to maintain the reservoir. Most hydro setups are relatively low maintenance as long as the grower has grown in the setup before. Some hydroponic setups take inherently more maintenance, for example aquaponics (growing with fish) and aeroponics (growing in misted air – take a bit of maintenance to make sure spray nozzles are always working properly).

How long until harvest? All hydroponic grow styles generally achieve faster growth than growing in soil, especially when it comes to speed of vegetative growth. The fastest growth rates are achieved when roots have constant access to both nutrient water and lots of oxygen. That means that growers get the fastest cannabis growth by adding more bubbles and dissolved oxygen into their water, or exposed always-moist plant roots directly to air (like aeroponics). While vegetative growth is often faster with hydroponic setups, growing hydro does not reduce the time a plant needs in the flowering/budding stage – that’s determined mostly by genetics.

How long can grower be away? Depends on the setups. It’s important for a grower to always remain close by for their first grow, especially for inexperienced growers with DIY setups. You need to be there if there’s a leak, or something stops working properly. With safe & professional setups, experienced growers can safely spend more time away from the garden. Bigger water reservoirs (or bigger pots for soilless mediums – anything that holds more water at a time) give growers more time away, since constantly adding water isn’t needed. Highly tuned setups like aeroponics tend to need more constant checking in, while simple and direct setups like DWC can be left alone for quite a few days. In the best case scenario it is always best to check on your plants at least once a day. You never know when a bulb will go out, a plant will fall over, or some other unexpected event will happen.

Hand-Watered Hydro – Coco coir & other soilless mediums

Intro to Coco Coir & Other Soilless Potting Mixes

While technically any growing medium besides soil is considered “hydroponic”, growing in coco coir or other types of soilless mediums can feel a lot like growing in Soil.

Pros vs Cons

Soilless Pros

Faster Growth – Soilless growing mediums tend to achieve faster vegetative growth than growing in soil.

Less Likely To Get Pests – Soilless growers are least likely have their garden attacked by bugs or pests, but it’s definitely still possible.

Easy – Hand-water your plants in containers, just like soil. Many growers believe that growing in a soilless medium requires about the same effort as growing in soil. If your soil setup involves feeding nutrients in the water, growing in a soilless medium will be nearly the same experience.

Soilless Cons

Not As Fast As Full Hydro – Growing in a soilless medium will get faster growth rates in soil, but cannabis plants will not grow as fast as a hydroponic medium that is able to get more oxygen to the roots.

Figuring Out Nutrients – Getting the nutrients “dialed in” can be difficult for some soilless growers (especially when combining nutrients and supplements from many different companies) unless you follow a proven cannabis nutrient formula for your specific growing medium.

Soilless Setup

Cost – Soilless potting mix and container. One of the more common soilless mixes used for cannabis is “coco coir” which is made from coconut husks. Usually a soilless mix contains many different inert components to achieve just the right amount of aeration and water holding properties. I don’t recommend making up your own soilless mixes until you have some experience as it’s easy to make a mix that either holds too much or not enough water.

One proven soilless mix is to hydrate coco coir bricks and add 30% perlite and 10% vermiculite  to aerate and loosen the mix.

Common cannabis containers include classic plastic pots, terra cotta pots, smart pots (fabric pots) and air-pots.

Classic pots do best with a lighter soilless mix with plenty of aeration for the cannabis roots. Smart pots and air-pots allow for heavier mixes that hold more water, since each of these types of pots add extra air to the root zones from the sides (which adds more oxygen to encourage faster root growth, but also means potting mixes tend to dry out faster).

Setup Effort – Growing with a soilless mix has very little setup – just get the mix and your container. The biggest effort will likely be spent choosing your soilless mix and nutrients. Remember, a soilless mix is technically a hydroponic setup, so it’s important to get nutrients that are either specifically formulated for your mix, or formulated for hydroponic growing. Nutrients that are formulated for soil usually do not work well for growing in a soilless setup.

Learn the basics of growing cannabis
 

Soilless Maintenance

Cost – The main cost of soilless growing is replacing your potting mix every grow (highly recommended, reused potting mixes often contain a buildup of nutrient salts that are difficult to properly rinse out). Occasionally you will have to replaced used containers.

Maintenance Effort – Watering your plants, adding cannabis nutrients, managing the pH of your root zone (you should be managing your root pH if you’re not growing in a soilless mix in order to make sure nutrients are readily available to your plant roots).

How long until harvest? Soilless mixes has relatively faster growth rates than growing in soil, and a tuned-in soilless grow can achieve impressive growth rates when given a great environment and plenty of bright light.

How long can grower be away? It’s important for a marijuana grower to always remain close by for their first grow, especially for inexperienced growers. Experienced growers can safely spend more time away from the garden. Bigger containers hold more water and therefore give growers more time away, since constant watering isn’t needed. In the best case scenario it is always best to check on your plants at least once a day. You never know when a nutrient deficiency will take hold, a plant will fall over, or some other unexpected event will happen that needs your attention.

Learn how I grew my first cannabis plants in coco coir

Jump to…

Composted Super Soil Tutorial – Grow Organic Cannabis!

Simple Hand-Watered Hydroponic Cannabis Grow Guide

High-Yield Bubbleponics Cannabis Grow Tutorial

Grow Cheap and Stealthy With a $100 Space Bucket

The post Is it better to grow cannabis in soil or hydro? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Quick Grow Snapshot

4 plants in a 2'x2' grow area, Max height 17"

• Strain: Papaya by Nirvana (started with 4 feminized seeds)
• Grow Medium: Top-fed DWC hydroponic system, also known as “Bubbleponics”
• Nutrients or Additives: General Hydroponics Flora Trio + Botanicare Aquashield

Followed this bubbleponics growing tutorial:
https://www.growweedeasy.com/high-yield-bubbleponics-technique

• Grow Lights: CFLs
  Vegetative: 4x42W and 4x23W (a 50/50 mix of 6500k & 2700k colored bulbs)
  Flowering: 4x42W and 4x23W (all bulbs were 2700k colored)

Note: 6500k or "Daylight" colored CFL bulbs are good for the vegetative stage of growth, and mimics the color given off by the sun in spring/early summer. Using 6500k colored CFLs in vegetative will help encourage cannabis plants to grow short and bushy. 2700k or "Soft White" colored CFL bulbs are perfect for the flowering stage of cannabis growth; the red/yellow tones of 2700k bulbs mimic the color given off by the sun in the late summer and fall and promote bud formation in cannabis plants. You can find either type of bulbs at most grocery or home improvements stores, as well as online.

Learn more about growing cannabis with CFLs

The cannabis plants from this grow journal were grown under this CFL light setup

September 30, 2013: Seedlings sprouted and already placed in system
November 19, 2013: Flowering begins
January 7, 2014: Harvest!

Vegetative Stage: 50 days (1 months, 20 days)
Flowering Stage: 50 days (1 months, 20 days)

Total Time – Seedling to Harvest:
100 days (3 months, 9 days)

Final Yield
5 oz of premium BUD
(plus a lot of potent popcorn and trim for edibles)

Smell is sweet and citrusy.
Great smooth smoke and a tasty Vape.

View full grow journal below!

Vegetative Stage

Started with 4 feminized seeds of "Payapa" cannabis strain by Nirvana.

September 30, 2013 – here are the 4 Papaya seedlings

October 10, 2013 – here they are just a few days later

November 9, 2013 – out of control

Flowering Stage

November 19, 2013 – flowering begins

November 24, 2013 – first white pistils appear

November 25, 2013 – first defoliation

The defoliating tool

November 29, 2013 – buds forming

December 4, 2013 – getting sticky

December 9, 2013 – Soon

December 14, 2013 – getting icky

Just a few more weeks

December 21, 2013 – Close-up of lovely trichomes

By looking at the trichomes (resin glands – the sparkles that grow all over buds) under a magnifier, a grower can tell when a cannabis plant is ready to harvest. There are still lots of clear "heads" on these trichomes, which means that this plant has a little while to go before she's ready for harvest. Learn more here: https://www.growweedeasy.com/harvest

December 25, 2013 – The colas area really starting to fatten up

January 5, 2013 – 4 plants in a 2'x2'  grow area, Max height 17"

And some bud shots

January 6, 2013 – Trichomes check-in

Notice that almost all the trichomes are milky white, with basically no clear "heads" left. That means the harvest window is open! Learn more about trichomes and harvest time here: https://www.growweedeasy.com/harvest

January 7, 2013 – Harvest! I did it 😉

Here's a closeup of the colas hanging to dry – I need to wait a few days to get the final dry weight

Final Harvest Weight:

About 5 oz of premium BUD plus a lot of popcorn and trim for edibles

Very pleased with the Papaya strain – the smell is sweet and citrusy, a great smooth smoke and a tasty Vape.

Join the Grow Weed DWC Group on Google+

Jump to…

Growing Cannabis with CFL grow lights

Top-Fed DWC (Bubbleponics) Tutorial

How do I produce top-shelf buds every time?

Where can I get seeds?

The post First Timer CFL Bubbleponics Grow – 5oz in 3 months appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.