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

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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.

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

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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 Nutrients “Good” or “Bad” for Growing in Coco Coir?

What makes Coco Coir nutrients “good” or “bad?”

In other words, why are some nutrients better than others for growing cannabis in coco coir? What kind of coco 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 coco coir growing setup?

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

Best Nutrients for Coco

• Nutrients that are specifically made for coco or hydroponics tend to be the easiest to work with
• Coco does well with either mineral nutrients or organic nutrient sources. With mineral (hydro) nutrients the plants tend to grow bigger and faster because the nutrients get delivered to the plant in the most efficient form. It’s often said that organic nutrients result in buds with a more complex smell, but organic-grown plants are a little slower to grow. Both types of nutrients produce very high-quality weed, and any differences in the final product are relatively small and often very hard to pin down. In our growing forum, the side-by-side grow tests with organic vs hydroponic nutrients have given inconclusive results as far as bud quality! The most important thing to pay attention to when growing in coco is good watering practices and paying attention to pH.
• Contains rich sources of micro-nutrients (to make up for what might have been found in the soil)
• Optimum NPK ratios (more info below)

Poor Nutrients for Coco

• Made specifically for soil, especially if you look on the back and don’t see Magnesium, Calcium, Sulfur and other micronutrients on the label. A lot of soil-made nutrient systems will work for cannabis, but they often skip out on micronutrients which would normally be found in soil, but might not be available in coco coir. If you’re using filtered or RO water, it’s even more important to use nutrients designed for hydro or coco since there will be basically zero traces of other nutrients in the water.
• Low in Calcium – Cannabis is prone to Calcium deficiencies when growing in coco coir unless you supplement with extra Calcium and Magnesium (it’s important to always add Calcium and Magnesium at the same time because they rely on each other and too much of one will cause a nutrient problem with the other). Most coco-specific nutrients already have high levels of Calcium, but it’s also really common to add a Cal-Mag supplement to your regimen when growing weed in coco coir to add extra calcium just in case. Any Cal-Mag supplement will work, but it’s always good to get a Cal-Mag supplement from the company who makes your nutrients jf available. Sticking with the same company for all your nutrients helps ensure they will be compatible with each other.

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

Optimum NPK Ratios for Coco 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).

So what are the optimum NPK values for growing cannabis in coco? It depends on the plant’s stage of life (N-P-K are the 3 numbers on the front of nutrient bottles, like this)

In order to get the best results growing cannabis in coco, 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!

The most important thing is high Nitrogen in the vegetative stage, and low Nitrogen in the flowering stage

Cannabis plants grown in soil are not that picky about P & K. As long as there is an abundance of each, the exact ratio isn’t as important as the amount of Nitrogen compared to the others. Additionally, coco nutrients should always include….

• Magnesium
• Calcium
• Iron
• Sulfur

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

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

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

• Coco 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
• Soil nutrients tend to have higher levels of Phosphorus, because microorganisms in the soil (as well as clay “colloidal” particles) can ‘steal’ some of it

When set up right with good nutrients, coco can produce some beefy buds!

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

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 coco 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 coco. 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!

At the very least, make sure pH is the first thing you check if you start seeing nutrient problems!

If you think you have the best coco cannabis nutrients, tell us about your results!

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

Table of Contents

Emergency Ideas for a Power Outage

• Grow Lights Go Out
• Temperature Drops
• Hydroponic Air Pump Stops

Backup Sources of Power

There are many things you can do to help your cannabis plants during a power outage even if you’re totally unprepared. There are also lots of ways to prepare so things go even more smoothly next time!

What can I do for my cannabis plants when the electricity goes out?

Emergency Ideas for a Power Outage (and how to prepare for next time!)

Of course it’s best to have alternative sources of power, but here’s a list of things you can do right away during an electrical outage, even if you don’t have a backup generator or other source of electricity.
1.) What to Do When Grow Lights Go Out

The most important thing when grow lights go out is to make sure your plant is getting some amount of light during its regular light period.

A plant left alone completely in the dark for more than a day starts deteriorating quickly, but you’ll slow this process down by giving them even low levels of light!

During your plant’s normal “Lights On” period, try to give at least a little light to your plant

Although it’s best to have a constant source of light, even periodically flashing a flashlight over the plant for a few minutes every hour or two can help plants maintain their regular light cycles!

Your plants will obviously do better with full lights on, but your main goal is to prevent them from being in the dark for long stretches of time during their “day” period. With all the other stress that may be happening, you want them to think it’s a cloudy day, not the end of the world!

A single small light during the “day” period is enough to maintain your plant’s inner clock

Don’t forget to turn the light source off before the plant’s regular “dark” period, especially in the flowering stage! You most likely won’t have a timer so you must remember to shut lights off manually (or take the plant away from the window) before their dark period begins.

• If your plant is in the vegetative stage, it’s better to give extra hours of light as opposed to too little since your plant needs long days to stay in the vegetative stage.
• If your plant is in the flowering stage, it’s better to give extra hours of darkness if you have to choose between the two, since the plant needs short days to stay in the flowering stage.

For those wondering if vegetative plants will start flowering after a day of darkness, don’t worry, one day isn’t going to cause it to start flowering! But when the power goes out you want to try to cover all your bases as best you can to minimize stress by maintaining constant light cycles. Why not help keep the plant as happy as possible? 🙂

Prepare For a Future Emergency

Get extra sources of battery-powered lights! This is a good idea even if you don’t have cannabis plants to care for. No one wants to be left in the dark when the power goes out!

As far as things to get ahead of time to prepare in case you need a little extra light in an emergency, some ways to provide light without electricity include…

• Strong Flashlight (either left on continuously or used in intervals for a few minutes every hour or two; this one lasts 24+ hours on a charge)
• Battery-Powered Lantern
• Battery-Powered Christmas Lights
• Flameless Candle
• CFL bulb connected to a battery or other power source

Have more than candles on hand in case the power goes out!

2.) Temperature Starts Dropping

A common reason for the electricity to go out is winter weather, and this often comes along with freezing cold temperatures.

When your heat and grow lights go out, your cannabis plants may be exposed to cold temperatures. Each strain is different, but most cannabis plants start showing symptoms when the temperature reaches 50°F and lower, and freezing temperatures can be lethal!

When you’ve lost power, the name of the game is heat conservation since producing heat generally takes a lot of electricity. If possible, try to insulate the plant in some way while it’s still warm from the lights. Even throwing some blankets over the tent can help.

Do whatever you can to help keep plants warm!

Make sure plants are not sitting directly on a cold floor (like concrete), because if you can keep the roots a little warmer the plant will be more resilient to the cold. Just like with the rest of the house, avoid opening and closing any doors to the outside so you let as little cold air in as possible. Try to limit peeking so you can so you don’t let out heat from the grow space.

Keep cannabis plants away from cold windows if the power goes out. They want warmth, just like you.

Prepare For a Future Emergency

When it comes to helping plants stay warm, you generally have the same options you do as for humans. Unless you have a backup source of heat, there’s not a lot you can do other than to do the best you can and hope the plant comes out okay. You might be surprised at what conditions cannabis can come back from!

3.) DWC / Hydro Growers – Air Pump Stops Working

The main problem when the power goes out in a hydroponic / DWC setup is roots die from lack of oxygen.

You normally have air being bubbled through the tank but when the air stone shuts off, the root’s source of oxygen is gone!

The first step if the power goes out for more than an hour is to temporarily lower the water level to about half the normal level to help your plant roots get more oxygen with the top half of the roots.

If the plant is starting to droop after a few hours, drain all the water from the tank, then slowly pump it back in again. This gives your roots a huge dose of oxygen!

If the electricity stays off for more than a few hours, drain out all the water out and then put it back in, like doing a reservoir change without actually changing the water. I use a battery-powered water transfer pump (pictured above) but you should do whatever you normally do!

This will provide a lot of oxygen to your roots as the water is drained, as well as temporarily oxygenate the water as it gets pumped or poured back in.

Repeating this process every few hours while the electricity is out will help roots survive quite a bit longer!

If it’s getting really cold and you have access to a wood stove, you might consider heating up just a little of the water before you add it back, to help keep the water temperature above 55°F.

Avoid Letting Reservoir Water Get Really Cold!

You can use a wood stove or fireplace to heat up water if the temperature starts dropping dangerously low. Keep reservoir water above 55°F (13°C).

Note: Never add hot water directly to tank; mix in with cold water before pumping back into tank!

If the roots stay warm it will help the plants survive even if the air is cold. Although it’s important to provide oxygen, never, ever let any part of the roots dry out, as that will kill your plant a lot faster than no oxygen!

Prepare For a Future Emergency

If possible, try to invest ahead of time in a battery-powered air pump (originally meant for shipping fish) and a pack of D batteries.

A battery-powered air pump (comes with tubing and air stone) oxygenates water for up to 24 hours with a pair of D batteries

These battery-powered air pumps/stones provide your plant’s roots with air for up to 24 hours per battery charge, which means they’ll last as long as you have batteries for them. This way you don’t have to do manual reservoir changes every few hours to keep your plants alive.

Alternative Ways to Get Power

Inverter

Inverters that plug into the cigarette lighter on your car can be a good backup source of energy, but you need to be able to reach your grow space from your car with an extension cord, and they only provide up to about 250-300W of power. If you have a garage or carport with direct access to your grow space, this could be a great choice to temporarily run pumps or a small backup light.

Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)

An Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) is a great choice for protecting your computers during a power outage, but isn’t as great for your plants. A UPS is meant to give you enough time to safely turn off your computer/electronics after a blackout so they don’t lose power abruptly, but they’re incredibly expensive if you want one that supplies enough electricity to last a long time.

A UPS doesn’t last long or hold a big charge. They’re best for protecting equipment and computers, and aren’t that great as a backup power source unless you’re willing to spend a lot of money on a big one!

Gas-Powered Generator

Gas-powered generators are another way to power things until the electricity comes back. If you live in an area where the power goes out a lot I could see how a generator could be almost necessary.

Portable Power Supply + Bulb

These are intended for recharging phones or laptops on-the-go or while camping, but portable power supplies are strong enough to run a small lightbulb for quite a few hours, so you’re not leaving your plants in the dark.

This portable power supply holds 250W. Plug a 9W LED bulb into the power supply with a hanging light cord (or other light fixture you have around the house) and get continuous light for over 24 hours. You can even plug a timer into it to maintain a 12/12 light schedule.

Portable power supply (250W)

Plug in a light fixture or hanging light cord

Screw in an energy-efficient light like these 9w LED bulbs

Don’t give up until your plant is dead. Speaking from experience, you might be surprised at what they can survive.

Learn how to prepare your grow room for other kinds of emergencies!

Jump to…

12 Cool Growing Tools You May Not Know About

10 Odd Realities (With Pictures) About Growing Cannabis Plants

Teach me the basics of growing weed

Plant Problems Picture Guide

The post How to Help Cannabis Plants in a Power Outage appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Perfect Setup for Beginners & First-Time Growers

• 250W HPS Grow Light
• Coco Coir
• Auto-Flowering Strains

Getting Started

• Get Supplies
• Get Set Up

Seedling Stage

• Time Germinate Your Seeds!
• Seedling Care
• Common Seedling Problems

Vegetative Stage

• Daily Care & Tips
• Plant Training for Bigger Yields (Optional)

Flowering Stage

• Daily Care & Tips to Increase Yields

Harvest Time

• When to Harvest
• How to Dry & Cure (Make Buds More Potent!)

Introduction for First-Time Growers

Hundreds of cannabis growers have written in over the years and it seems that many, many growers are looking to produce about an ounce a month. There are lots of ways to achieve that yield, but how do you do it using the least amount of time, money and effort? How can you get to harvest as fast as possible?

Today’s step-by-step tutorial uses a 250W HPS, coco coir as a growing medium and auto-flowering cannabis strains. This combination makes it easy and relatively cheap to produce 4 ounces in 4 months…or even more!

You don’t have to know anything about growing cannabis to follow this beginner’s tutorial

This tutorial will give you a green thumb even if you’ve struggled with plants in the past, or just never grown anything! Everything that needs to be done will be explained step-by-step for each stage of your plant’s life. You’ll get a list of supplies with everything you need to grow, from measuring spoons to rope ratchets to seeds to your grow tent!

I have links to every item so you get exactly the same setup and get exactly the same results as you see in this tutorial. Once you’ve completed this grow, the next ones get easier and easier!

Here’s the breakdown:

• $652 Setup – Total setup cost for 1st grow including grow tent, seeds & all supplies (cost breakdown). Your 2nd grow will only cost about $112 for seeds and supplies.
• $30-60/Month Electricity – Average Cost of Electricity (based on $0.12/kWh – $0.25/ kWh). You may pay more or less depending on where you live; 12¢ is the overall US average, 25¢ is the big city average – (electricity breakdown)
• 4-7 Ounces – Average Yield/Harvest – if you follow all the instructions on this page and get the full setup you could possibly get even better yields!
• 3.5 Months – Average Time from Seed to Bud
• 1+ Ounce/Month – Comfortably grow this much (and probably a lot more) without needing advanced knowledge or experience!

Why a 250W HPS Grow Light?

A lot of cannabis growers think they need big grow lights to get the yields they’re looking for, and for some growers that may be true! But for growers looking for about an ounce a month, a 250W HPS may be the best grow light available. A 250W HPS doesn’t get even close to as hot as the bigger HPS grow lights like the 400W and 600W, but it still gets the improved yields, density and appearance of buds grown under an HPS.

A 250W HPS can easily produce 1+ oz/month. If you follow this tutorial you can expect to harvest 4-7 oz every 3-4 months.

Example Harvest in This Setup – 6.7 ounces
(plants pictured above – view the grow journal)

Why a 250W HPS is a Great Choice for Marijuana Growers:

• Bigger Yields for the Same Electricity – For the same amount of wattage, an HPS grow light gets (on average) 10-20% higher yields than LEDs, and 25-50% higher yields than CFLs or T5s
• Longer & Denser Buds – Buds grown under HPS are usually longer and often more dense than buds from other types of grow lights
• Low Setup Cost – HPS grow lights usually cost quite a bit less to get started with than LEDs, and the cost is similar to starting with CFLs or T5s. The entire grow setup from today’s tutorial including seeds and supplies will cost less than $700, which is cheaper than many similar-wattage LED grow lights are by themselves, and similar to what you’d pay for an equivalent CFL or T5 setup (at least on this scale; small CFL setups can be really cheap!).
• Manageable Electricity Cost – With a 250W HPS and the 3 fans recommended in this tutorial, you can expect to pay around an extra $30-60 in electricity/month (electricity breakdown).

Big HPS grow lights have a reputation for getting very hot, but a small one like the 250W is a lot easier to keep cool. In fact, a 250W HPS doesn’t put out more total heat than an LED that pulls 250W out of the wall!

A strong exhaust fan recirculates and constantly replaces all the air in a sealed environment like a grow tent. This keeps a small 250W HPS grow light cool enough without ducting. This technique works with both air-cooled hoods and “wing” style reflectors

What about outside the grow space? If venting into a closet, a 250W HPS could raise the temperature by 5°F (3°C) degrees or more. In a regular size room it has less of an effect and may only raise the temperature of the room by a few degrees.

I have my grow tent in my bedroom and a window fan keep temps cool enough to almost completely mitigate the heat created by the HPS.

In my experience a 250W light will raise the temperature of a large room by a few degrees. If you use a window fan to blow out hot air, that can help keep the room cooler.

In an ideal world it’s probably a good idea to set up your 250W light with a “real” exhaust system with ducting going from your light to a fan to a window, but in a pinch you can do without and upgrade later (that’s what I did!). Every grow you can make your setup a little bit better, but in the meantime you can harvest lots of beautiful and potent bud!

Why No MH (Metal Halide) bulbs in the Vegetative Stage? Many growers start plants under a metal halide (MH) bulb while the plant is vegetating, then switch over to HPS once their plants start flowering. MH encourages short bushy growth while HPS encourages long/stretchy growth and flowering. I personally use an HPS grow light from seed to harvest because it’s easier and I like how plants grow, but it definitely works either way!

Why Use Coco Coir for Growing Cannabis?

• Feels Like Growing in Soil – Coco coir is a soilless growing medium which gives the feel of growing in soil. Plants are kept in regular containers, and growers simply water their plants with nutrient water. Coco coir can be treated basically the same as (non-amended) soil for growing cannabis.
• Great for Plant Roots – Coco coir is effective at holding onto moisture and nutrients for roots, but also has a lighter texture that lets it hold onto more oxygen. This helps prevent over and under-watering. Coco coir tends to promote healthy and fast root development compared to other potting mixes.
• Does Not Attract Insects – Coco coir does not make a good home for many garden pests that affect soil growers. As such, cannabis growing in coco coir is much less likely to be attacked by pests or bugs.
• Benefits of Hydro – Hydroponics (growing plants directly in water while pumping in air to provide oxygen) is effective at making plants grow faster because it gives oxygen and nutrients to the roots in the most easily accessible form, saving the plant precious energy. However, hydroponics takes extra preparation compared to growing a potted plant and for those looking for a hand-watered experience, coco coir gives many of the benefits of hydro. This results in a quicker harvest and bigger yields compared to growing in soil, without having to manage a water reservoir.

Why grow an auto-flowering strain?

Auto-flowering strains are like regular cannabis plants except an auto-flowering plant will automatically start making buds around week 3-4 of its life (“regular” strains need a special light schedule to make buds). Most auto-flowering plants will be ready to harvest by the time they are 3-4 months old, making them one of the fastest ways to get to harvest.

Learn more about auto-flowering strains!

One nice feature of auto-flowering buds is they tend to be more relaxing and anti-anxiety because they naturally have slightly higher levels of CBD. This is because the ancestor of auto-flowering strains produced a lot of CBD. Although the original auto-flowering strains from years ago were not as potent as regular cannabis plants, the modern strains by trustworthy breeders are as potent as any non-auto (photoperiod) plant!

Auto-flowering strains are also really neat in the way that they act exactly how you’d think a plant should act if you’ve never grown cannabis before.

You plant a seed, water the plant while it grows, and harvest after it finishes making buds on its own. This simplistic approach can help get rid of some of the complication of learning how to grow cannabis. By the time you get to the end of your first grow, you’ll be expert enough to tackle any strain!

This bud is from an auto-flowering Lemon OG Haze plant

Getting Started

Ready to start growing an ounce of bud a month? If you follow this tutorial step-by-step I can almost guarantee you will have at least 4 ounces in your hands in 4 months, and probably more!

Supplies

4 Seeds – Get Seeds for 4 Feminized Auto-flowering Plants

The most important thing about choosing strains to grow is they should excite you! Learn more about picking the right strain for your needs. Below I recommend a few breeders and strains because I know these will work for you, but don’t feel stuck if you want something else! Any auto-flowering strain will work in this setup if you follow all the instructions 🙂

Make sure to get “feminized” seeds! That means that all the plants will be female and make buds. Non-feminized seeds have about a 50% chance of being male plants which don’t make buds at all (they’re only good for breeding)! Nearly all auto-flowering seeds are feminized, so they will usually say specifically if they’re “regular”/”non-feminized” seeds. Learn more about ordering cannabis seeds online.

Auto-flowering cannabis plants thrive under an HPS grow light!

You want to get seeds for 4 plants for this setup. If something happens to one or two of them, you’ll still be on track to get a nice harvest! That being said, if you follow this tutorial you shouldn’t lose any plants.

You can grow 4 of the same strain, or 4 different strains, it’s up to you. Generally it’s easier to grow all the same strain because they tend to grow more like each other, but if you’re willing to put in a little extra effort to control any unruly plants you can easily grow 4 different strains at the same time (that’s what I do).

Get seeds for 4 plants so you can grow a forest under your grow light!

Just try make sure that each strain you choose is ready to harvest within 3-4 months. That will help make sure they all stay about the same size. Breeders always list estimates about how long each strain needs to flower before harvest.

A Few Trusted Auto-Flowering Breeders (highly rated by auto-flowering growers)

These aren’t the only great auto-flowering breeders, but I know these ones get great results every time! Each one has strains that have been refined over many generations to lock in good genetics and make sure the plant grows exactly how the breeder tells you.

• Buddha
• Dinafem
• Dutch Passion
• Nirvana

When you’re growing auto-flowering plants from a trusted breeder, you know what to expect because the plant will grow exactly how the breeder tells you it will. With lesser-known auto-flowering breeders it’s more of a gamble. Sometimes you get great plants, but unfortunately sometimes you get something unexpected that you don’t want.

A Few Suggested Auto-Flowering Strains

These are some of my favorite auto cannabis strains, but there are hundreds of great strains to choose front. Learn more about researching strains!

• Dinafem Auto Critical Jack – This is one of the prettier autos with colorful buds that become covered with trichomes, and it also has very strong mental and body effects!
• Dinafem Auto Sour Diesel – Good yields and although buds are average looking, the effects were out of this world – this is my favorite auto that I’ve grown so far!
• Nirvana Auto Bubbleicious – Buds have a sweet smell that is almost like bubblegum, plus this strain is very easy to grow!
• Dutch Passion AutoBlueberry – Purple or blue tint to buds, amazing blueberry smell and above average potency.

Growing Medium – Coco Coir

• Pre-Made Coco Coir Potting Mix – You can also mix your own with dehydrated coco coir bricks, which is a bit cheaper since it’s easier to ship
• 4 x 3-gallon Smart Pots – If you need to spend longer than a day or two away from your plants at a time, you may want to get 5 or even 7-gallon pots. Plants grown in 3-gallon containers grow a little quicker for the first few weeks but you’ll have to water them more often than a bigger container.
• Rapid Rooters – to start seeds (these can be kept in the fridge between grows)

Environment Setup – Get a Grow Tent

• 2’ x 4’ x 5’ Grow Tent

• Air Circulation: Two small clip-on fans circulating air around and over plants

• Exhaust: Can Max 6″ Fan – 334 CFM. (You can use a window fan if the room gets hotter than outside. Temps should stay around 75-85°F (24 – 29°C) in the grow tent. Ideally, the temperature should stay closer to 75°F(24°C), but some areas just don’t allow for this without lots and lots of air conditioning.

250W Grow Light

• You need a Reflector, 250W Ballast & 250W Bulb.

• Any 250W HPS grow light set will work for this setup, even super cheap ones. However, these days I’ve noticed many grow light companies have stopped carrying 250W HPS lights in favor of 315 LECs (not the same as LEDs, these are a type of HID light). LECs can be a great alternative to HPS, but they initially cost quite a bit more (usually around $500 for a kit) and need to be kept a little further away than a 250W HPS (18″ away vs 12″ away). However they perform extremely well for growing cannabis and have some other neat benefits. Learn more about growing cannabis with LECs.

• Perhaps the easiest option is to get a dimmable 400W HPS ballast and dimmable 400W HPS bulb with your reflector. Although a 400W HPS light can get pretty hot, you will be able to dim the grow light to 50 or 75% to help keep things cool. This will also allow you to follow through with the tutorial, and you can always turn up the intensity later.

Get this Reflector, 250W Ballast & 250W HPS Bulb (Premium Equipment) – The light from an HPS appears yellow or orange, which happens to be the perfect light spectrum to encourage plants to make bigger buds.

Consider a 315 LEC grow light if you want an alternative to HPS. These newly-popular grow lights are still in testing, but so far they’ve been getting really great results with cannabis!

Get a dimmable 400W HPS ballast, dimmable 400W HPS bulb and a reflector, then turn ths grow light down to 50 or 75% to follow this tutorial. You’ll be able to increase the intensity later. Click pictures for closeup of a ballast with dimming options.

Nutrients

• General Hydroponics Flora Trio

• CaliMagic (Cal-Mag supplement, essential when growing in coco coir)

• Here’s the exact nutrient schedule I use (PDF) This is basically the regular General Hydroponic coco schedule for the Flora trio, but I cut the dosages in half and converted everything to imperial measurements (tsp, etc), along with a few small tweaks for auto-flowering strains in coco. With these alterations, you can use this schedule exactly as is for growing auto cannabis plants in coco coir.

Watering Your Plants

• 1-gallon water jug

• Trays to Catch Runoff Water (put these on a slight incline so all the water pools to the front so you can easily collect it

“How do I collect the water from the runoff tray?”

• Wet/Dry vacuum
• Water transfer pump

I use the “Bucket Head” attachment at Home Depot which costs about $25 and can be attached to any standard bucket, turning it into an ultra-cheap wet/dry vacuum.

Other Random Grower Tools

• Thermometer & Humidity Monitor

• Power strip & electrical timer

• Rope Ratchets to hang light

• Measuring spoons (I got this particular set because it goes down to 1/32 tsp)

• Dropper/Pipette (for pH testing)

• General Hydroponics pH Kit

• Plant Twist Ties for (optional) plant training

Environment – Setting Up “Exhaust” 

For some people this may be a good temporary solution until a real exhaust system can be made. And for some people, this might be a permanent solution to get your grow area temps the way you’d like.

What You Need

• Grow tent in a room with access to a window. I actually keep mine right in the bedroom with me, pictured below, because I don’t have a suitable closet.

• Exhaust fan – Can Max 6″ Fan – 334 CFM

• Window Fan – I use the Holmes Dual 8″ Blade Twin Window Fan because it moves a lot of air and actually fits my huge windows, but any strong window fan will work.

The main idea is to vent hot air out of your grow tent, then get the hot air out of your room via a window fan.

When it’s just a grow tent without any ducting, it doesn’t really look suspicious in your bedroom. Only a few people have seen my grow tent and every one of them thought it’s some sort of storage or way to hold clothes, if they even notice it at all.

Here’s what to do:

1. Set up your grow tent with grow light inside

2. Install your exhaust fan at the top of your tent, blowing air out. Make sure there’s an intake hole for new air to get in. The intake hole should be bigger than your exhaust, and should be located on the bottom of the tent on the opposite side of your exhaust fan. This way, the coolest air is being pulled in and the hottest air is being exhausted. This isn’t always possible, but ensures the best results. Most grow tents already have a suitable intake hole, so this is another reason I like grow tents – less work needed on your part to make a good environment for your plants

3. Install a window fan blowing air out in the same room as the tent. This window fan will be most effective if you have an intake hole, just like your grow space. The best way to accomplish this is to simply open another window in the room, or even a window or door outside the room somewhere else in the house as long as the fan gets access to new air. This causes the fan to blow all the air out, sucking in new fresh air to replace it. The window fan listed above can also be configured so one is moving air out while the other is moving air in, which is an option in a room with just one window. It’s super important to note that the smell of your cannabis will still be an issue! More on that below…

This may not be a permanent solution, but it gets air moving through the tent and keeps the air moving out of the house.

You’re basically building an exhaust system without the ducting. It’s not as efficient as using ducting, but for a lot of growers with just a few plants, it’s all that’s needed to control temps in the grow room and tent. As long as it’s cooler outside than inside, the window fan will cool down the room.

The window fan I use is called a “Bionaire BW2300 Twin Window Fan,” but any strong window fan will work. They’re available in hardware stores, Best Buy, Walmart and on Amazon.com. They have extenders so they’ll fit any window snugly, without gaps on either side.

What about smells? All the normal techniques used to control smells will work for this system. The best option to control odors is to create an exhaust system that gives your tent good suction/negative air pressure. Then have your air pass through a good carbon filter just before going through the fan and leaving the tent. With a good strong exhaust system and a quality carbon filter, this will prevent smells in the bedroom or outside except when you actually open the tent. Learn more about carbon filters and controlling smells
Setting Up Your Coco Coir

Fill your containers about 85% full of coco coir, then water the coco coir thoroughly in their pots before you start your seeds. It can be hard to get the coco wet all the way through if it’s completely dry, and it will get you ready for when you do it for your seedlings the first time!

Place your containers on your trays. If you want, put a block of wood or something sturdy under one side of the trays in the back. This will put them on a slight incline so that when you water them, all the runoff water will pool at the front. This will make it a lot easier to collect water after it runs through your plants.

Watering Your Coco Coir With Nutrient Water Before Using It

• Fill your 1-gallon container with tap water
• Add nutrients to your water following the nutrient schedule (PDF) for seedling strength
• Check the pH of the water with your pH test kit.
• If the pH is higher than 6.5 or lower than 5.5, you’ll want to adjust it. Just add a little bit of PH UP or PH DOWN so it’s between 5.5-6.5. This tiny step takes less than 5 minutes and will make your plants grow much faster and healthier! Learn more about checking the pH.
• For now, pour the water slowly over your containers, trying to wet the entire top of the coco. Keep adding water until you get about 30% runoff out the bottom, just to make sure you got everything.
• You want the coco to be evenly damp when you germinate your seeds; this will “charge it” with some extra nutrients so your new seedlings take off in growth!

Germination & Seedling Stage

Before starting this part, make sure your entire setup is ready for your new plants! You don’t want to start them if your setup isn’t ready yet 🙂

Make sure that you’ve set up your electrical timer so that it’s on for 18 hours a day, and off for 6 hours a day. You will plug your grow lights into this so your plants get a “night” every day. All the fans should be on 24/7. The light should start 3 feet away from the tops of the containers.

Checklist before you start:

• You’ve watered your coco coir thoroughly in their pots and removed all the runoff water
• Lights are on 18/6 timer
• Fans are set to be on 24 hours a day
• 250W HPS is 3 feet away from the tops of your pots

How to Germinate Your Seeds

It’s time to get your Rapid Rooters and your seeds! This is one of the most exciting moments in every grow!

Each cube or plug already has a hole specifically for you to place your seed. Just stick your seed into the precut hole. The seed should be about a half inch away from the surface so it doesn’t get too much light before it sprouts. Don’t worry, you really can’t mess this part up 🙂 As long as the seed makes it in there, you should be good!

Stick seeds in the hole in the Rapid Rooter, and make sure the seed goes at least 1/2″ down. That’s it! It’s started!

Place your Rapid Rooters on top of your coco coir, or dig a little hole in the coco and put the Rapid Rooters inside.

Now it’s time to turn on your grow light! It should be several feet above the tops of your containers, near the top of the tent. You want your seedlings to have light to grow towards, but if you keep the lights too close it will dry out your Rapid Rooters. You’ll move the light lower after you see the seedlings appear 🙂

At this point, the inside of your grow tent should look something like this

Make sure your grow light is set so that it’s on for 18 hours and off for 6 hours each day. Choose whatever time is most convenient for you to check on the plants.

Your fans should be on 24/7, even when the grow lights are off, to make sure your plants are getting a constant supply of fresh air. Make sure not to point any fans directly at your seedlings just yet as the Rapid Rooters will dry out too fast. As they get a little bigger they’ll be able to handle a lot more wind.

Check Rapid Rooters twice a day to make sure they stay moist (but not soaking). Water with more pH’ed seedling strength water if you need to re-moisten. 

Your new sprouts should show their faces in a few days!

Seedling Care

Seeing those first few leaves is exhilarating! The very first two leaves you see will be round (called “cotyledon” leaves) but all the leaves after that will be “real” leaves with serrated edges.

After you see those leaves peak above the surface, it’s time to move your grow light down, so it’s about 2 feet above your plants.

Checklist:

• Move grow light to 2 feet above seedlings after they appear
• Watch for any signs of discoloration or drooping (refer to common seedling problems list below to fix most seedling problems)
• Make sure Rapid Rooter never dries out all the way

During these first few weeks of a young marijuana plant’s life, you want to be careful. Make sure you’re checking on your plants every day! Once you get used to growing, you can check less often, but in the beginning you will get the best results by checking on your plants at least daily. That will let you react quickly if you somehow run into any problems.

Marijuana seedlings, especially seeds from some of the most potent strains, tend to be a bit delicate and you want to make sure you’re taking care of them as best you can.

When the Rapid Rooters feel like they are starting to get dry to the touch (they should be a little moist at all times), it’s time to water your plants for the first time!

Watering Your Plants the First Time

• Fill your 1-gallon container with tap water
• Add nutrients to your water following the nutrient schedule (PDF) for seedling strength
• Check the pH of the water with your pH test kit.
• If the pH is higher than 6.5 or lower than 5.5, you’ll want to adjust it. Just add a little bit of PH UP or PH DOWN so it’s between 5.5-6.5. This tiny step takes less than 5 minutes and will make your plants grow much faster and healthier! Learn more about checking the pH.
• For now, pour the water slowly in just a little circle around the plant. Pouring slowly will help the water absorb into the coco better. You want to make sure the Rapid Rooter gets nice and moist, and wet the coco coir for at least a few inches around the edges of the Rapid Rooter so that seedling roots are getting plenty of water. You want to avoid giving too much water at a time just yet, as your seedlings can’t drink much water until they get a little bigger, and if they keep getting “wet feet” it can stunt their growth. As long as you share  the 1 gallon between all four plants, over-watering shouldn’t be a problem!

Fixes to Common Seedling Problems

Here are the 5 most common seedling problems:

   1.) Overwatering

• Symptoms:  Drooping, yellow leaves, not growing and/or damping off (dying)

   2.) Underwatering

• Symptoms:  Drooping leaves and/or wilting

   3.) Nutrient Problems

• Symptoms:  Leaves are yellow, burnt, discolored, crispy or have spots

   4.) Too Much Heat

• Symptoms:  Leaves fold in the middle so they look like canoes/tacos, leaves turn up at the edges, wilting, strange spotting, symptoms usually appear after temperature starts climbing

   5.) Light Too Close or Too Far

• Symptoms ( light too close): burned or crinkled leaves
• Symptoms (light too far): seedlings are too tall with too much space between nodes. Looks stretched/leggy and tends fall over

Vegetative Stage

The “vegetative” stage is the stage of life where you cannabis plant is growing only stems and leaves, without any buds. Once your plant has grown 3-4 sets of leaves, you can consider it officially in the vegetative stage!

When plants have a few sets of leaves (nodes) move 250W HPS to about 1 foot above plants. Place the back of your hand over your babies for 30 seconds to make sure it’s not too hot.

For an auto-flowering plant, the vegetative stage only lasts for about 3-4 weeks before the plant starts making buds. However, even after buds start forming the plants will still grow vegetatively and increase in size until they’re 5-6 weeks old.

Now that your plants are a little bigger, you should start watering your plants this way from now on:

• Wait to water plants until the top of the coco is dry up to your first knuckle
• Alternate each time between giving plants nutrient water and plain water
• Water plants thoroughly (always check pH right before watering plants even if using just plain water), until 10-20% extra runoff water comes out the bottom
• Remove all runoff water about 5 minutes later (to give it all a chance to get out)

Learn more about how to water cannabis plants
Daily Care & Tips for the Vegetative Stage

• Follow the nutrient schedule when watering plants, but make sure you’re giving plain pH’ed water every other watering. Always check the pH of water immediately before giving to plants.
• Check on plants daily – look over the plants for problems, discolored leaves, droopiness or any other symptom
• Immediately diagnose any problems and fix them as soon as possible! If you just pay attention to your plants daily and quickly respond to any problems you will get above-average results! The most common reason to see deficiencies is the pH is too high or low.
• Water plants as needed. Never let the coco coir completely dry out or it could kill your plants!
• Make sure 250W HPS is about a foot away from your vegetative plants – put your hand where the seedlings are for 30 seconds; if it’s too hot for you it’s too hot for your plants and the light should be moved up a little bit. If you have a new bulb you may have to keep your light slightly further away than an older bulb.
• The main thing is to avoid any major stress because these first few weeks are important!

Your seedlings should look something like this during Week 2 from seed

Plant Training for Bigger Yields (Optional)

You don’t need to do this part! You can skip it altogether and your plants will grow just fine. But a little plant training can help increase your yields for free, so why not?

The idea behind plant training is to manipulate your plants while they grow so they tend to grow more short and wide as opposed to tall and thin. You want to “spread out” the plants under the grow light instead of growing tall Christmas Tree shaped plants.

The main way to do that with auto-flowering plants is to watch the plants as they grow and bend any tall stems down and away from the middle of the plant. Then secure the stems in place with something that isn’t sharp, like plant twist ties. By constantly bending over the tallest stems whenever you spot them, you’ll make it so all parts of all the plants are about the same height as each other, in a flat, table-top shape.

Here’s an example of some light LST (low stress training) on a very young seedling to pull the main stems down and away from the center. This was the tallest seedling of the bunch so the grower is trying to keep it about the same height as the other plants. It’s starting the process of getting the plant to grow wider.

You can secure twisty tie to your smart pots with a safety pin

By the end of Week 2 or 3 your plants should look something like this

Around Week 3-4, your plants should be nice and flat from the training. Sometimes you’ll have plants that just grow faster than others. You can see the back right plant is much smaller than the others here, but it actually ended up yielding just as much! It just had a little bit of a slow start. As long as your plants are growing and appear green and healthy you know you’re doing good by them!

Flowering Stage

Once your plants are around Week 3-4 from seed, they’ll start showing the first signs of buds growing. The new buds will initially look like wispy white hairs at all the joints of the plant, but these hairs (pistils) will soon start turning into buds with weight to them!
Daily Care & Tips

Around week 3-4 you’ll start seeing wispy white pistils at all the joints where fan leaves meet the stem.

Around week 5 they’re still growing lots of new leaves and stems, and those “buds” are still mostly just a bunch of white hairs at the joints

Notice how from the side they have been maintained in a flat, table-top shape. By constantly bending the tallest stems down and away from the center of the plant, your plants will automatically be growing in this shape.

Here are the plants at the beginning of Week 6

A view from the side

During Week 6 you may notice the main stems look sort of “stretchy” as all the bud sites have lengthened. By this point you’re basically just watering your plants and waiting until harvest time, because there’s not much left to do. You can still gently bend tall stems down, but after week 6 your plant is going to focus primarily on buds and stop growing new stems and leaves altogether.

Up close your buds might look something like this around Week 6

Example of Training at Week 6 – Before Bending/Training

After bending – Notice how all the stems have been bent down so the plant appears flat like a table. Week 6-7 is around the last time you want to train with your plants. After this it’s mostly a matter of letting them fatten up.

Here are the buds at week 8

Patience 

The hardest part about growing (at least for me) is waiting for the plants to finish flowering and making buds. It’s exciting while the plant is still growing and changing shape, but there is going to be at least 4-6 weeks where the plant isn’t growing vegetatively anymore and all growth is just buds fattening up and gaining in potency.

It’s hard to be patient while the plant is growing buds, and it’s really easy to take the plant down early. However, if you harvest early your yields and potency will be greatly reduced!

Most autos take about 12-14 weeks from seed before they’re ready to harvest (~3 months), though some strains take a few weeks longer. When choosing strains, you can see from the breeder’s estimations how long they think this strain will take.

Most autos are ready to harvest about 12-14 weeks from seed (~3 months)

If you want to get the best yields and highest potency, it’s been my experience that your auto will usually take 2-3 weeks longer than the breeders recommendation. However, sometimes they’re right on target so it’s important to watch your plant!

You don’t really need to do much else from now on besides water your plants and just check on them for possible problems.

What if a plant doesn’t auto?

One time I grew an “auto-flowering” plant that didn’t automatically start making buds. This happens sometimes, especially with less experienced breeders. This is why it’s so important to purchase auto-flowering strains from a trustworthy breeder! I learned my lesson 🙂

Even though I lost one plant because it didn’t auto (again, make sure you always buy from a trustworthy breeder!) this setup is so effective I still yielded almost 7 ounces with just the remaining 3 plants. You can see the “hole” in the canopy where that 4th plant used to be.

If one of your plants isn’t “auto-ing” you can choose to toss the plant (that’s what I would do if you have limited space and several other plants)

Your other option is to keep it in the same tent until the other plants are ready to harvest, and then put it on a 12/12 light schedule to force it to start making buds after you’ve already harvested the other plants (you can force any cannabis plant to start making buds if you give it 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness every day).

However, if it doesn’t start making buds, that means it’s going to keep getting bigger, making more stems and leaves every day (stay in the “vegetative stage”). It may be difficult to “tame” a plant like that while your other plants have stopped growing vegetatively, but it can be done.

Despite missing a plant, there were still lots of developing buds from the other three!

Don’t want to put any auto-flowering plant that has automatically started making buds on a 12/12 schedule because it will hurt your yields. Your plants can make a lot more bud under 18 hours of light a day than 12 hours of light a day. This is one of the main reasons autos are able to yield so much bud so fast!

As buds mature they fatten and become more dense. The white hairs that used to be sticking straight out start to darken and curl in.

Harvest

Oh boy! You made it! Time to harvest your plants!

These are the same plants a little over 3 months from seed (13 Weeks)

How to Know Exactly When to Harvest

There are two main ways to determine when to harvest, either by looking at the pistils/hairs, or looking at the trichomes (“glitter”) on the buds under a magnifier.

Your plant is ready to harvest…

• After most of the white pistils (hairs) have darkened and curled in
• After most of the trichomes have turned milky white

These buds are ready to harvest
(learn more about how to harvest at the right time)

Here’s a video of the trichomes from a plant the day before harvest under a digital magnifier. Most of the trichomes are opaque and white, which means these buds are ready to harvest

The structure of one of the plants “under the hood” after it’s been harvested

Learn more about when to harvest!

Here are those 3 auto-flowering plants from above at harvest (I pulled them on 3 different days)
(6.7 oz yield in total – check the grow journal!)

How to Dry & Cure Buds for Better Potency

Now that your plant is harvested, you need to dry and cure your buds for the best results! By drying buds slowly and letting them sit for a few weeks before you smoke them, you will dramatically improve their taste, smoothness and perceived potency! Don’t skip the dry and cure because it can make up a great deal of the final quality of your buds. You’ve come way too far to give up now!

The main idea of drying and curing is to slowly dry your newly harvested buds, then let them sit in a sealed container for a few weeks for the “green” stuff to start to break down and other important chemical processes. This dry/cure process will make buds taste better, smell better, and feel more potent!

Learn how to dry and cure your buds here!

Jump to…

Auto-Flowering vs Photoperiod Strains

Plant Training for Bigger Yields

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

5 Ways to Increase Yields When Growing Indoors

Cost Breakdown (Including Electricity)

Total Cost for Setup & Supplies: $652
($742 if you get all the optional stuff)

Cost for Complete Setup & Supplies First Grow: $652

Setup Cost for Setting Up 2nd Grow: $122 ($50 for new seeds and $72 for new containers and coco coir)

Most of this stuff can be purchased for cheaper if you shop around online or in person!

Seed Budget: $50

• In general you can expect to pay about $12/seed for feminized auto-flowering seeds, though some cost more or less. Generally most seedbanks will also throw in a few free seeds with every order.

Growing Medium & Containers: $85

• $40 – Pre-Made Coco Coir Potting Mix (or make your own for cheaper)
• $21 – 4 x 3-gallon Smart Pots
• $11 – Rapid Rooters
• $13 Trays to Catch Runoff Water

Nutrients: $52

• $35 General Hydroponics Flora Trio
• $17 CaliMagic

Grow Tent: $216-276

• $80 2’ x 4’ x 5’ Grow Tent
• $26 2x small clip-on fans
• $110 Can Max 6″ Fan – 334 CFM
• $60 (Optional) Window fan

250W Grow Light: $154

• $65 – Reflector
• $80 250W Ballast
• $9 250W Bulb

Random Grow Tools: $95-125

• $20 Thermometer & Humidity Monitor
• $20 Power strip
• $10 Electrical timer
• $10 Rope Ratchets (best way to hang lights, don’t skip these!)
• $10 Measuring spoons
• $5 Dropper/Pipette (for pH testing)
• $20 General Hydroponics pH Kit
• $5 (Optional) Plant Twist Ties
• $25 (Optional) Bucket Head Wet/Dry Vacuum

Total Cost of Electricity: $30-60/Month

This includes the cost of running the grow light and fans. The average electricity price in the US is $0.12/kWh, and the average price in a big city is $0.25/kWh. I’ll make estimates for both. If you have cheap electricity where you live, your amounts will be even less!

The post Grow 4-7+ oz with a 250W HPS – Step-By-Step Beginner Tutorial 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]

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

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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.”​

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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!

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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 LED Grow Lights

For most home growers, the best choice is LED grow lights to grow weed. LEDs grow great weed, are electrically efficient, and cheap to get started with.

If saving time is your main goal, get a simple, proven setup. That way you don’t have to think about the lights.

This 2’x4′ footprint makes it easy for you to reach all the plants, and fits in a corner of a bedroom.

This 300W LED grow light kit on Amazon grows about 8-14 oz of buds on average.

Learn more about different LED 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 Northern 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
• Breeding Techniques
• 7 Gift Ideas for Cannabis Growers
• Grow Journals
• How long can I store nutrient water?
• What is High-Frequency Fertigation?
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Table of Contents

What is Aquaponics?

3 Major Obstacles to Growing Cannabis in Aquaponics

Tactics for Growing Marijuana and Aquaponics

Introduction: What is Aquaponics?

In order to get high yields with aquaponics, a cannabis grower needs to familiarize themselves with the basics of how an aquaponic system works. To grow cannabis successfully in aquaponics, the system must be configured to produce the high levels of nutrients needed by a plant like marijuana, and that takes a little extra know-how!

Aquaponics is the art of combining aquaculture (growing fish in tanks) with hydroponics (growing plants in water). It’s sort of like organic hydroponics!

In an aquaponic growing system, fish are raised in a tank and the nutrients they produce (contained in their poop and produced by their gills) gets converted by bacteria into nutrients for the plants. The plant roots help clean the water before it is re-circulated back to the fish tank, completing the cycle.

Aquaponics creates a tiny ecosystem – fish make nutrients for cannabis while cannabis cleans the water for the fish!

Although fish are the most common species used for aquaponics, other aquatic creatures like shrimp, crayfish or prawns can also be used. Both edible fish and ornamental fish can be used successfully in an aquaponic system. Generally you want to pick a species that is hardy and can tolerate crowding. Tilapia is an edible fish that adapt very well to aquaponics, and koi or goldfish are great choices for ornamental fish since they are nice to look at and can thrive in sub-optimal environments.

Aquaponics may be the most efficient way there is to cultivate both fish and plants at the same time because combining them together reduces the cost of farming each one individually! In big commercial operations, aquaponics is used to produce profitable combinations like tilapia fish and lettuce. In smaller setups, aquaponics is a sustainable, low-technology and efficient way to create food even with infertile land and low resources – aquaponics dramatically reduces the amount of water needed for raising fish, while producing high-nutrient plants at the same time!

You feed the fish, they feed the cannabis!

When it comes to growing cannabis in aquaponics, one of the big goals is to set up a system that produces high levels of available nutrients. Growing cannabis plants gobble up nutrients, especially in the flowering stage, so you need to ramp up an aquaponics system to optimize it for high nutrient output! That means that you need to make sure you have a high density of fish, as well as a really great bacterial colony to convert all that fish poop into nutrients for your plants!

Life Cycle Inside a Cannabis Aquaponics System

Fish

The Rearing Tank / Aquarium is where the fish or other aquatic creatures live. These creatures produce waste containing nutrients that are vital for plant growth. Common fish used in aquaponics include tilapia, koi and goldfish, but there are many other hardy species that can adapt to an aquaponic environment including blue gill and catfish.

Plants

Your system will have a Hydroponic Sub-System, which is basically the tank or reservoir where cannabis plants grow with their roots in the water. In many ways, you grow your cannabis plants in aquaponics just like you would with a traditional DWC/hydro setup. The main difference is the fish produce nutrients instead of you having to add them!

Bacteria

Bacteria make up your Biofilter, the “heart” of your aquaponics system. The bacteria biofilter is the missing piece that allows you to run a symbiotic relationship between the fish and the plants like in nature. When you create a nice home for the bacteria, they work hard to convert fish waste into usable nutrients for the plants. The biofilter can be its own separate component in the system, or you can cultivate a biofilm of bacteria inside the actual fish tanks and hydroponic reservoirs. Without a colony of bacteria, your plants will be unable to use the nutrients in the water from the fish (and fish will die from too-high levels of ammonia)!

The Secret to Success with Marijuana & Aquaponics is Patience

The secret to any successful aquaponics system is patience! You need to create a balance between the fish, bacteria and plants, and this takes time. Unfortunately, there’s not necessarily a lot of ways to speed things up while your bacteria is being colonized.

It’s like growing a cannabis plant in a way, you can do things to get the plant to grow faster, but no matter what you’re still going to have to wait for the plant to grow until you get to harvest. You can help your bacteria grow, but they need time to build up their numbers and form a robust colony.

That means in a young/new aquaponics tank you have to spend time cultivating your bacteria, and in the meantime you may have a lot of adjusting to do to maintain a balance that will keep both plants and fish alive: adding nutrients, changing the water, testing nutrient levels, managing pH and possibly adding/removing fish.

But as you create more of a balance, and your tank becomes more mature, you will have a lot less to do. In fact, over time you can set the system to do most of the maintenance by itself!

3 Major Obstacles to Growing Cannabis in Aquaponics

1.) Cannabis Has High Nutrient Needs

Growing cannabis in aquaponics is similar to hydroponics, except fish and bacteria make the food! Your plants can’t use nutrients directly from the fish. Fish waste actually has to be converted to a usable form by the bacteria in your biofilter. Building a robust colony of bacteria for your biofilter can take 6 months or more, which means that additional nutrient supplementation by natural sources will likely be needed to grow a cannabis plant in aquaponics for the first few months.

The appetite of a cannabis plant for nutrients is especially voracious during the budding/flowering stage. When your plant is making buds, it’s sucking up nutrients like there’s no tomorrow! Fruiting plants with similarly high nutrient needs to cannabis (like tomatoes) have been successfully grown in aquaponics, but it’s much less common than growing something with simple and low nutrient needs like lettuce or herbs.

While “getting your feet wet” with aquaponics, don’t beat yourself up if you run into nutrient problems!

2.) May Need Separate Vegetative & Flowering Chambers

Vegetative and flowering cannabis have different nutrient needs for the best growth. So in order to completely optimize an aquaponic system for cannabis it may be necessary to maintain different tanks.

It may be possible to simply supplement your tank with extra nutrients during the flowering stage, but it can be harmful to fish to add an excessive amount of extra nutrients unless the plants use most of it up before the water is re-circulated back to the rearing tank! Extra planning and water testing may be needed to manage which nutrients are currently available.

3.) What to Do with Extra Fish

Aquaponics is spectacular at producing fish and plants at the same time. If a cannabis grower would like a constant supply of fish to eat or sell, an aquaponic system simply can’t be beat!

But if a cannabis grower does not want to actually harvest their fish, they need to plan on what to do with the extra fish as they die and need to be replaced. In order to maintain the equilibrium of your aquaponics system, it’s a good idea to regularly be adding new young fish as old ones mature and die.

Tactics for Growing Marijuana with Aquaponics

How to Produce the Nutrients Needed by Cannabis

Even after your biofilter is established, you may still need to supplement with extra calcium, iron, potassium and possibly phosphorus to keep up with the needs of your cannabis, especially during the flowering stage.

Luckily there are natural sources to get extra nutrient supplementation without seriously affecting your fish. For example Maxicrop is a common nutrient additive made out of seaweed that works well in an aquaponics system to add potassium and trace minerals without hurting your fish.

Other common additives include cycling calcium hydroxide (hydrated lime or builder’s lime) and potassium carbonate (bicarbonate), which add calcium and potassium to the system while also raising the pH (since low pH is common in an aquaponics system that’s not well-established).

No matter what, when dialing in your aquaponic system it’s important to test your water throughout the process to see what nutrients are currently available. This lets you know where you’re running into nutrient problems, and also will help you know what to do to fix it. Not only will this help you take better care of your plants, it will also help you take better care of your fish!

Want to create a complete ecosystem with basically no input from you?

Some growers will introduce a worm farm (vermicompost) to the system to supplement nutrients naturally while breaking down the solid waste from fish which can’t be processed by bacteria. This is one way to actually “complete” the cycle inside the system.

Normally in aquaponics, these extra solids are filtered out and thrown away, but worms can liquefy it while providing an extra source of nutrients that can help bridge the nutrient gap and make sure cannabis is getting everything it needs without any extra supplementation.

At this point your main input into the system would just be fish feed. If you want to get even more sustainable, you could grow duckweed or another plant that fish eat and you wouldn’t even have to buy fish feed anymore! As the system gets more and more balanced, nearly all the energy input to the system can come from the sun or grow lights, producing a food/plant generating machine!

Ready to start growing cannabis with aquaponics? The following incredibly high-rated book will teach you everything you need to know so you can get started today!

Learn how to grow cannabis with aquaponics with Aquaponics Gardening: A Step-By-Step Guide to Raising Vegetables and Fish Together available on Amazon!

By following the tutorials and setting up your system to grow high-nutrient, flowering plants plants like tomatoes or corn, you will be giving your cannabis plants everything they need to succeed!

Jump to…

How to grow cannabis in hydroponics

Which plant nutrients work for growing cannabis?

Beginner’s Guide: How to Grow Weed Indoors

Where can I find seeds that deliver to me?

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