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15 Ways to Increase Cannabis Yields Indoors

Nebula Haze — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 11:01:47 +0000

by Nebula Haze

A lot of indoor cannabis growers struggle with yields. It’s fantastic to grow your weed, but you must grow enough that you never run out. Otherwise, growing may feel like a waste of time and effort.

Luckily, cannabis yields don’t have to be a mystery. There are specific factors that cause yields to be big or small, and nearly all of them are under your control. The following article contains a comprehensive list of what you can do (both before and after buds start forming) to increase yields.

Learn how to achieve bigger yields in less time with less effort

Before Buds Start Forming

Choose High-Yielding Genetics – Strain choice has a significant effect on yields, so it helps to choose a strain that naturally makes big buds. Learn what to look for, and get a list of recommended strains that produce fat, envy-worthy buds.
Grow Correct Number of Plants – Match the number of plants to your space and grow light. Often you’ll get bigger yields/faster harvests with many smaller plants as opposed to a few big ones.
Use The Right Plant Containers – Choose the right container type and size for your setup, so plants grow as fast and big as possible.
Use Coco or Hydro – Soil-grown plants typically grow slower than plants grown in coco or hydroponics. If you want to maximize the number of harvests each year, you should aim for fast-growing plants.
Manipulate How Plants Grow – Plant training in the vegetative stage is an effective and free way to increase yields dramatically.
Choose Good Nutrients and Supplements – Get cannabis-specific nutrients, and remember that sometimes less is more.
Grow Plants to Most Efficient Size – Too-big plants can cause considerable problems, but plants that are too small don’t have the structure to support big buds. Maximize yields by growing plants to the right size for your space.

After Buds Start Forming

Increase Light Intensity – Light is food to your plant, and giving more light will increase yields (to a point).
Use Suitable Flowering Lights – For the best yields, you should be using LEDs (best choice for most growers), LEC/CMH, or HPS grow lights while buds are forming. Avoid “blurple” LEDs or fluorescent grow lights.
Give Best Light Spectrum While Buds Form – Giving plants more red and far-red light in the flowering stage seems to increase yields compared to using the same grow light in a bluer spectrum. Learn which bulbs/lights work best below.
Follow a Recommended Defoliation Schedule – Remove specific leaves at specific points of bud development to “hack” the plant’s natural processes and cause buds to grow bigger and denser than they otherwise would.
Don’t Ignore Problems! Plants get much more picky about nutrient ratios and nutrient strength in the flowering stage, especially as harvest approaches. Make sure you quickly diagnose and fix any nutrient deficiencies, bug infestations, or other visible problems. An unhealthy plant doesn’t have as much energy to put into bud formation.
Create an Optimum Bud-Building Environment – Hot or humid air with poor air circulation in the flowering stage causes buds to grow more airy and loose (among other problems). Reflective walls can help you get the most from your lights, and some growers supplement their environment with CO2 to increase yields.
Harvest Plants at the Right Time – Especially don’t harvest early.

And Most Importantly…

Always Be Growing – If you don’t pause between harvests, your bud coffers will soon be overflowing. Along the same lines, never stop learning!

Grow a lot of buds so you never run out

Bonus: Many of these techniques also increase THC levels, bud density, and overall bud quality.

There are a few ways to think about increasing cannabis yields indoors. Some growers want to maximize the yields for their grow space, and don’t care what it takes to increase yields overall. Other growers are looking at returns from more of an economic perspective, wanting to get the best yields for the electricity/cost, but maybe aren’t as concerned with how much space it takes. Lastly, there are many growers just looking to grow huge impressive buds and don’t care about maximizing anything else. This article is going to talk about all three. No matter what you’re looking for, we’ve got you covered.

Without further delay, it’s time to learn how to increase your yields!

You know a bud is going to get huge if it’s already fat before the white hairs start darkening and curling in!

Before Buds Start Forming

These are the actions you can take to prepare for a fruitful flowering stage.

1.) Choose High-Yielding Genetics

A lot of growers focus purely on their setup, nutrients, growing technique, and other aspects of their environment, yet don’t pay much attention to strain.

Your genetics have a tremendous effect on yields. If you grow two plants in the same conditions, chances are one will produce more bud than the other. Sometimes the yield differences between strains are enormous. Bonus reason to care about genetics: They determine the effects the buds will have as well as the amount of THC/CBD produced (within a few percentage points). Make sure you start with good seeds!

Even though both of these plants were grown in the same setup and given the same care, the left plant (Liberty Haze) yielded 10 ounces, while the right plant (L.A. Confidential) yielded only 6 ounces.

To confuse things further, different strains perform best under different grow lights, grow setups, and grow mediums.

Here are some resources to get you started choosing the best strain:

And here are some suggested high-yielding strains that produce high-quality buds with excellent effects. Everyone will be asking for more, and you’ll have it!

Recommended Photoperiod (Standard) Strains

Most cannabis plants are photoperiod strains. Here are some of the highest-yielding strains we’ve grown:

White Widow – Enormous yields every time. A commercial producer with excellent buds and potency.
Platinum Cookies – In addition to excellent yields, the bud quality is out of this world. The beautiful purple buds tested at over 25% and almost 27% THC respectively when we sent buds to the lab. In smoke tests, the effects were a crowd favorite. This strain tends to get tall, but it can thrive in any setup if you use bending and supercropping to keep it short and flat. It has a longer flowering stage than average (about 12 weeks from initiating 12/12 light schedule vs about 10 weeks average for most strains). But the rewards are worth 2 extra weeks in my opinion.
Chocolope – This strain is easy to grow and produces big buds which produce strong “creative” mental effects. The smell has delightful hints of chocolate; a unique smell in the cannabis world.

The White Widow strain produced epic yields under a 600W HPS grow light. It also performs great under LED grow lights.

The Platinum Cookies strain rewards you with potent buds (the lab reported 25% THC from one plant and 27% THC from the other) and huge yields. Read my full Platinum Cookies review for more information and pictures of the plants. This was grown under a 300W LED grow light (check out the full 300W LED setup so you can copy these results).

This Chocolope cannabis plant was grown under a Spider Farmer SF-2000 200W LED grow light (read my review of the SF-2000) and the buds got huge.

Recommended Auto-Flowering Strains

Autoflowering strains have come a long way. Some modern autoflowering plants produce similar yields and bud quality to photoperiod plants, yet are ready to harvest about a month sooner on average. That means you can fit more harvests in a year without sacrificing yields per harvest. More harvests = more buds for you!

Big Bomb Auto by Bomb Seeds – Each autoflowering plant I’ve grown from Bomb Seeds has performed well in multiple environments (soil, coco, hydro, LECs, various LEDs, HPS). Buds are always potent and sticky, and Big Bomb has the best yields of their autoflowering selection. An all-around winner! Another great choice from Bomb Seeds is their THC Bomb Auto. It has slightly smaller yields but sparklier buds.
Ultimate Auto by Dutch Passion – Classic 90s mental and physical effects, easy to grow, impressive yields every time. Their Cinderella Jack Auto also gets excellent yields and has much more potent bud effects (may be too potent for some people).
Pineapple Express Auto by FastBuds – Another plant that always performs well no matter how you grow it. Stays short, easy to train, and all-around a joy to grow. For those who want the classic sweet-smelling delicious strain in auto-flowering form. Faster to harvest than most autos as it can be ready as little as 60 days from germination, though you should give it an extra week or two to really pack on the weight and maximize the smell and THC levels.

Example of a THC Bomb auto plant at harvest (Big Bomb Auto produces even bigger yields!)

The plant in the back left is an Ultimate Auto by Dutch Passion. It produced twice as much as any other plant in the tent.

Cinderella Jack Auto is another high-yielding auto-flowering strain by Dutch Passion. Plants tend to stay shorter than the Ultimate Auto so the yields aren’t quite as good, but it makes excellent dense buds with some of the highest potency I’ve grown from an auto-flowering strain.

Get huge buds with Pineapple Express Auto by FastBuds (stays short and quick to harvest, too!). This was a single plant grown by our friend Smarty! Look at that enormous main bud.

2.) Grow the Correct Number of Plants

The number of plants can affect your total yield in two ways:

More Plants – Growing a lot of small plants lets you fill a grow space faster, resulting in more harvests in a year if everything else is the same. If you increase the number of harvests, you’ll produce more buds in the same amount of time. This idea is the basis of the Sea of Green method.
Fewer Plants – You can achieve the same yields with fewer plants by letting them get big enough to fill a space, but it takes longer in the vegetative stage for plants to get to the final size. Depending on how much extra time, this can push back harvest time and reduce the total number of harvests you can produce in your grow space. If you must limit the number of plants (many growers have legal plant limits), you can maximize yields with training techniques such as manifolding.

What’s the Best Number of Cannabis Plants for my Space?

3.) Use The Right Pots

Choose the right container type and size for your setup.

Air pots and fabric pots allow air to get to roots from the sides, resulting in significantly faster growth rates. The one downside is these pots need to be watered about twice as often because they dry out more quickly.
Pots that are too big for your plant tend to slow growth, especially young plants that get overwatered. Learn how to water a small plant in a big pot so it grows as fast as possible.
Too-small pots restrict plant roots and keep plants from growing as big as they could. Plants in big pots can get huge!
If possible, it helps to start plants in a smaller container and transplant them to bigger ones after they’ve started growing vigorously. Learn more about transplanting.

Plants typically grow faster in containers that let air in from the sides (such as air pots and fabric pots)

What’s the optimal size for your final plant container?

A general guide is to have around 2 gallons per 12″ of the final desired height. Big plants often need a bit more. The following chart isn’t perfect since plants often grow differently, and some plants are short and wide instead of tall, but this is a good rule of thumb. If your final (desired) plant size is…

12″ ~ 2-3 gallon container
24″ ~ 3-6 gallon container
36″ ~ 5-8 gallon container
48″ ~ 7-10 gallon container
60″ ~ 8-15+ gallon container

Go bigger if you plan to spend time away from your plants! Bigger root space gives you more of a buffer if plants need to be unattended for days at a time.

These plants love their 5-gallon fabric pots!

4.) Use Coco or Hydro

Soil-grown plants typically grow slower than plants grown in coco or hydroponics because their roots have to work to pull the nutrients from the soil (as opposed to getting easily-absorbed nutrients delivered directly in the water). If you want to maximize the number of harvests each year, you should aim for the fastest-growing plants you can. More harvests mean more buds for you!

Plants grow quick and easy in coco coir. Coco is one of my favorite ways to grow!

It’s possible to get high-speed growth in soil, but it takes extra skill and care. I love how, in coco or hydro, your plants almost always grow fast as long as you keep plants healthy.

As long as you avoid root rot, plants in hydro typically grow faster than in any other grow medium

Hydro can be a bit tricky to get started with, but coco may be the easiest cannabis grow medium to use. I highly recommend first-time growers start with coco if they’re not drawn to any particular grow medium. You almost can’t kill your plants in coco as long as you remember to water them 🙂

Learn More About Soil vs. Coco vs. Hydroponics.

5.) Manipulate How Plants Grow

Plant training in the vegetative stage is an effective and free way to increase yields. But how does it work?

Without training, cannabis plants typically grow in a Christmas tree shape with one central bud

While your plants are still in the vegetative stage, train them to become wide and flat

Each growing tip at the top of the plant will turn into a big bud in the flowering stage

With more total buds, trained plants typically yield significantly more than untrained plants

Read the Complete Guide to Cannabis Plant Training and increase your yields for free!

6.) Choose Good Nutrients and Supplements

You’ll get the best results if you choose cannabis-specific nutrients. Most importantly, make sure to give low amounts of Nitrogen and plenty of Phosphorus and Potassium once plants start making buds. Luckily, most nutrients come with a schedule, so it’s simple to provide the right nutrients at the right time. If you get a good brand and look at their schedule, you won’t have to worry about nutrient ratios at all.

How can I grow cannabis without added nutrients?

When it comes to nutrients, sometimes less is more! It’s easy to go overboard, especially with certain strains. In general, it’s a good idea to start any new nutrients at half-strength and only increase the concentration if plants look pale.

Get cannabis-specific nutrients and follow their schedule at half-strength for the best results

If you give the right nutrients at the right time, plants explode with growth!

Tip: Try to get all your nutrients and supplements from the same company. This helps prevent unexpected interactions!

7.) Grow Plants to Most Efficient Size

It causes issues when plants are too big or too small. You can maximize yields by growing plants to the right size.

Too-big plants cause significant problems – Plants can grow into the light, and you may not have any room to raise it further. When buds are too close to a grow light, they can get bleached and grow airy with foxtails. The lack of density in your top nugs can hurt your overall yields. If plants are too tall, it also means you likely spent unnecessary extra time in the vegetative stage or didn’t train plants to grow flat and wide. Learn how to deal with plants that grew too big.
Too-small plants have small yields – When a plant is too small for a specific space, it won’t have the structure to support huge buds.

These plants have almost hit the ceiling and they’re still getting taller! The grower waited a little too long to initiate 12/12.

Small plants can’t support huge yields even if the buds are huge. It dramatically increases your overall yield if you can grow buds that are the same thickness but longer.

The following plant had several extra feet of height the grower could have used. If the grower gave this plant a few more weeks to get bigger in the vegetative stage, before switching to flowering, the plant would have produced significantly more bud without changing anything else.

This Aurora Indica plant had huge buds, but the total yield was just 3 ounces because the buds were only a few inches long. This grower would have gotten bigger yields if they let the plant grow a little bigger before initiating 12/12 so the buds could be longer.

How to grow photoperiod plants as big as your space can support, without letting them get too big:

On average, cannabis plants double in size after the switch to a 12/12 light schedule
Therefore, it’s a good rule of thumb to change to a 12/12 light schedule when vegetative plants reach half the final desired size

Learn more about the flowering stretch and how to prepare for it.

Note: Pay attention to what the breeder says about height to better estimate how much your plant will stretch. “Short” plants typically gain 1.5x their size, “Medium” plants double in size, and “Tall” plants grow to 3x their size. Don’t hesitate to contact the breeder with questions. Most breeders will happily any questions about their genetics.

You can use plant training to help control plant size, but only to a certain extent. Training and bending can’t keep plants small forever!

Autoflowering strains tend to stay small, so they may be an excellent choice if height is an issue!

After Buds Start Forming

Ok, your plants are already making buds. What can you do to increase yields at this point?

1.) Increase Light Intensity

To your cannabis plants: Light = Food = Energy. That means that your plants can produce bigger buds if they get more light (up to a point, you can go overboard!).

3 Main Ways to Increase Light intensity

Get a bigger or better grow light (more info about which one to get in a second)
Keep your grow light as close as possible without light-stressing plants
Train plants to grow flat like a table under the light. Plant training allows you to keep the grow light closer without burning the tallest buds.

Learn About Different Cannabis Grow Lights

2.) Use Suitable Lights in the Flowering Stage

For the best yields, density, and bud size, you should be using one of the following grow lights while buds are forming:

LED grow lights ← Best choice for most growers because they produce great yields, bring out bud colors, tend to stay cool, and have low electricity use. High-quality LEDs are incredible, but make sure to avoid low-quality LEDs as they get poor yields and tend to grow plants with a lot of nutrient deficiencies.
LEC/CMH grow lights ← Best choice for high terpenes and trichome production, but produces significantly more heat per watt than LEDs so they’re best suited to cool grow spaces and winter grows.
HPS grow light ← Best for cold spaces because they get hot. Cheapest grow light that can produce over a pound (a 600W HPS can yield up to 21 ounces and costs only $170; way cheaper than LEDs that get comparable yields).

Two phenomenal flowering grow light options: 315 LEC (top) and a 300W LED grow light.

3.) Give The Right Light Spectrum While Buds Form

Giving plants more red and far-red light in the flowering stage seems to increase yields compared to using the same grow light in a spectrum heavier in blue. Lights that contain significant amounts of blue are typically designed to be used only in the vegetative stage (blue light helps keep vegetative plants short).

LED Grow Lights

Choose wide-spectrum lights that include plenty of red and far-red diodes. The light from modern LEDs most suitable for flowering cannabis plants have a spectrum that should show plants in full color but look a little pink or yellowish (not purple as that means it contains too much blue for flowering cannabis plants). It’s common for suitable flowering LEDs to be listed with a “3000k” light spectrum, or listed as being high in reds.

The Mars Hydro FC-E4800 LED grow light is developed for high-yield flowering. Notice that the light appears mostly white with a tinge of pink. Modern LEDs designed for growing cannabis in the flowering stage usually have yellow or pinkish light, though the plants themselves should appear in full color.

LEDs that have a lot of blue and/or make plants look purple (“blurples”) are old technology and should be avoided. If the light appears purple, that means there is too much blue for proper cannabis flowering and yields will be reduced. If the leaves don’t look green (like the picture below) that means there is not enough green/white in the spectrum, which causes plants to grow less fast and healthy, reducing yields.

If your LEDs make this color light, it’s time for an upgrade. Your plants will reward you with faster healthier growth and bigger yields if you get a spectrum with more white/green and less blue.

Which LED grow lights work best for growing cannabis?

LEC/CMH Grow Lights

Choose an LEC/CMH bulb with a 3100k spectrum for the biggest buds (example)

Note: The 3100k bulb increases yield-per-watt, but may result in lower smell/trichome production compared to flowering under the bluer 4000k bulb.

The color of light from a 3100k LEC/CMH bulb appears orange/yellow

HPS Grow Lights

The spectrum of HPS produce huge cannabis yields in the flowering stage, but make sure to choose a high-efficiency bulb (“Super HPS” bulb) as they produce more light for the same amount of watts.

The light from an HPS is a garish orange-yellow color

4.) Follow a Recommended Defoliation Schedule

Many growers use targeted strategic “defoliation” to increase yields. The process of removing specific leaves at specific points of bud development actually “hacks” the plant’s natural processes and causes buds to grow bigger/denser than they otherwise would. This technique is most effective on very leafy plants. If your plant doesn’t have a whole lot of extra leaves, defoliation can slow down growth, so don’t go crazy with it!

The basic idea behind bud-building defoliation:

First defoliation at beginning of the flowering stage. Happens after the initial stretch is over (~week 3 after 12/12):
1. Remove all big fan leaves and leaves on long stems. This exposes your newly developing bud sites to direct light. Buds need direct light to grow fat.
Second defoliation 3 weeks later (week 6 after 12/12)
1. Do one more defoliation if the plant appears bushy. Exposing the main branches to direct light will help the plant “focus” on developing buds.
After the 2nd major defoliation, only remove leaves that are covering a bud site or if the plant starts getting too bushy through the middle and bottom.
Watch buds get huge
Harvest!

Here is a plant before its first defoliation.

Immediately After Defoliation

3 Weeks Later before 2nd defoliation

After 2nd defoliation

I did nothing else. Several weeks later, I harvested this!

Full tutorial on how to defoliate cannabis plants for bigger yields.

5.) Don’t Ignore Problems!

Plants get much more picky about nutrient ratios and nutrient strength in the flowering stage. Make sure you quickly diagnose and fix any nutrient deficiencies, bug infestations, or other visible problems. An unhealthy plant doesn’t have as much energy to put into bud formation.

Identify and treat plant problems immediately, so yields aren’t affected. This plant is showing signs of light stress from being too close to the grow light.

6.) Create an Optimum Bud-Building Environment

There are a few key factors that you need to remember about the environment in the flowering stage if you want to maximize yields.

Temperature – Keep the temperature between 65°F (18°C) and 80°F (26°C) if possible, especially the last few weeks before harvest when the most bud formation happens. Heat is associated with loose/airy buds, lower bud smell, reduced potency, and mold/bugs (especially if it’s also humid).
Humidity – Don’t let it get too humid after buds start developing. High humidity is associated with mold and bud rot, and can also prevent buds from growing as dense/big (high humidity makes it hard for water to move efficiently through the plant).
Reflection – When your grow space has reflective walls, it prevents light from getting lost. There are a variety of options for increasing reflectivity, such as painting your walls with flat white paint or covering them with a sheet of mylar. Ensuring more light gets to your plants will help buds grow as big as possible.
Air Circulation – In addition to maintaining the right temperature and humidity, it’s important to give plants a gentle breeze and plenty of fresh air. Efficient air circulation prevents a host of problems and makes plants grow faster, resulting in bigger yields overall.
Add Extra CO2 to the Air – Some growers supplement their air with extra CO2 to increase yields. Plants need CO2 to photosynthesize light, and (in certain situations) adding extra CO2 to the air can allow your plant to make more energy from the same amount of light. There are a variety of different ways to increase CO2 levels, some of which are more effective than others!

Many growers focus on trying to find new nutrients and supplements to increase yields, yet ignore known problems with their environment. If your flowering environment isn’t ideal, focusing on the tips above will likely make a far more significant difference to yields than any product you can buy in a bottle.

7.) Harvest Plants at the Right Time

Most importantly, don’t harvest early! Cannabis buds gain a significant amount of weight in the last 2 weeks before harvest. Harvesting even a few weeks early can cut your yields in half! Plus, buds won’t be as potent, sparkly, or smelly.

Cannabis plants are ready to harvest when most of the white hairs on buds have darkened and curled in

Some growers check the sparkly trichomes under a magnifier to ensure the right harvest time. Learn how!

Read the comprehensive harvest tutorial and see more pictures of ready-to-harvest buds.

And Most Importantly…

1.) Always Be Growing!

If you don’t pause between harvests, your coffers will soon be teeming with buds of different strains. Some growers even create two grow spaces for a perpetual harvest. You’ll soon have to figure out what to do with it all.

Never stop growing, and buds will be overflowing!

Along the same line of thought, never stop learning. Surprising discoveries arise every day, which means there is always more to learn about growing and increasing yields!

If you ever have questions about growing weed, make sure to use the search bar as we’ve covered hundreds of topics on GrowWeedEasy.com. Also, sign up for our email newsletter for weekly grow tips delivered to your inbox on Sundays, and join our grow forum for growing help by actual marijuana growers!

BONUS: Now that you have tons of weed, what should you do with it?

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 Tinctures
How to Make Hash Oil (aka Cannabis Extract Oil or RSO)
Rick Simpson Oil (RSO) – Alternate

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)

The post 15 Ways to Increase Cannabis Yields Indoors appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

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

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

by Nebula Haze

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

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

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

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

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

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

Example Plants Grown in This Size Tent

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

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

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

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

Overall Strategy

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

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

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

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

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

5.) Initiate the flowering stage, then…

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

6.) Harvest at the right time.

7.) Dry and jar buds properly.

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

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

1.) Start with a high-yielding cannabis strain

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

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

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

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

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

Autoflowering strains

Pros

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

Cons

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

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

Pros

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

Cons

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

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

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

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

2.) Get your big-yield supplies

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

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

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

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

Other hints for getting the highest yields in your setup:

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

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

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

Plant your marijuana seeds and keep them warm during germination.

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

3.) “Top” plants at a young age

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

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

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

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

These 4 plants were just topped.

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

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

Learn more about topping cannabis plants.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keep tucking branches under the net as plants grow.

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

5.) Initiate the flowering stage, then…

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

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

Defoliate – Follow a strategic defoliation schedule.

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

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

First Defoliation: 3 weeks after 12/12

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

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

Second Defoliation: Do this 4 weeks after the first defoliation

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

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

Read the full defoliation tutorial.

Other flowering stage tips

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

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

If using a net…

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

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

6.) Harvest at the right time.

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

Not Ready

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

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

Watch out for pollen sacs!

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

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

Still Not Ready

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

Ready to Harvest!

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

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

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

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

7.) Dry and jar buds properly.

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

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

Learn how to dry buds and cure them perfectly.

Time to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

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

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

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

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

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

You might enjoy the following cannabis growing tutorials…

15 ways to improve cannabis yields

How to increase bud density

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

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

Grow Weed Easy – Learn How to Grow Cannabis Tutorials

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

Grow Weed Easy – Learn How to Grow Cannabis at Home

GrowWeedEasy.com teaches you the secrets of 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.

Start Here: How to grow weed
Sick Plants? See the plant doctor
When to Harvest? Harvest guide

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

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

Who Made GrowWeedEasy.com?

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

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

The GrowWeedEasy.com Ethos

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

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

Looking for a complete harvest system?

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

Get our fool-proof harvest system.

FOR SERIOUS GROWERS ONLY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Learn How To Grow Top-Shelf Weed at Home!

Start Your First Class TODAY!

You may be asking yourself these common growing questions:

“How do I grow marijuana indoors?”

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

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

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

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

“Where can I get marijuana seeds?”

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

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

What do good cannabis seeds look like?

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

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

“How much will electricity cost each month?”

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

“How can I increase my marijuana yields?”

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

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

Even More Ways to Increase Cannabis Yields

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

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

“How can I grow weed privately?”

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

“What if my plants get sick?”

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

Growing Medical Marijuana

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get our fool-proof harvest system.

Home Grow Masterclass – FOR SERIOUS GROWERS ONLY

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

LEC vs Induction vs Plasma Grow Lights: What’s the Difference?

Nebula Haze — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 18:02:17 +0000

by Nebula Haze

In our GWE growing community, a grower recently asked…

“I’m confused about all the different types of grow lights. What’s the difference between an LEC grow light and an Induction grow light? What about Plasma or CMH grow lights? They all look sort of similar to each other… and how are they different from LEDs?”

It’s crazy how fast things change! Back in the early 2000s, there were basically three types of grow lights available that worked for growing cannabis indoors. There were Fluorescent lights, Metal Halide lights and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights.

Then a few years later LED grow lights started gaining a lot of traction in the cannabis grow light market.

And now it seems like new types of grow lights are popping up on the market every day! You may have come across names like CMH, LEC, Induction and Plasma grow lights, and possibly more. It can get confusing with all the new terms being thrown around! So today I will explain exactly what each term means, and to expect from each type of grow light when it comes to growing marijuana.

Cannabis needs lots of light to produce good yields, but which type of grow light works best?

Today we’ll cover them all! Let’s start with the newer types of grow lights, and then I’ll compare and contrast with some of the more traditional grow light types!
New(er) Types of Cannabis Grow Lights

Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH)

This is an improved version of a Metal Halide grow light. The main difference is it uses a ceramic arc tube like an HPS grow light, which makes it more electrically efficient. This is why some CMH bulbs look like HPS bulbs until you get close!

Ceramic Metal Halide lights get good results in the cannabis flowering stage, much better than a standard Metal Halide does.

And unlike HPS lights (which look very yellow), CMH lights produce a natural-looking spectrum of light that resembles light from the sun on a clear day!

This makes it easier to spot problems on your plants, and it’s also just nice to be able to see and take pictures of your plants in full color!

In addition, Ceramic Metal Halides produce UV-B light like the sun, which may possibly increase THC and trichome production! However, Ceramic Metal Halide bulbs need a direct path to the plants for the best results. Reflectors and hoods without glass are preferred (more on that in a second) because glass blocks UV-B light from getting to your plants.

Learn more about Ceramic Metal Halide (aka LEC) grow lights

Light Emitting Ceramic (LEC)

Despite the somewhat confusing name, this type of grow light has nothing to do with LEDs!

“LEC” is a brand name (trademark) for a specific model of Ceramic Metal Halide grow light by the company Sun System. LEC stands for “Light Emitting Ceramic” and is a marketing term, not a new type of technology.

That’s why the term “LEC” is often used interchangeably with “CMH” in online grow light listings.

However, the form factor of the 315 LEC model by Sun System (which uses 315W) seems to be particularly effective at growing cannabis. Part of this may be because it was designed to stay cool even without glass, so plants are able to get full access to all the UV-B rays!

In initial testing, the 315 LEC grow light yields about 4-9 ounces per harvest on average, but some growers have written in and reportedly yielded much more! Please contact us if you want to share your results with LEC grow lights and possibly get featured on the website!

Learn More About LEC Grow Lights!

Increased trichome production under LEC Grow Lights

Magnetic Induction Grow Light

A Magnetic Induction grow light is basically an improved fluorescent grow light. Instead of using a filament, it uses induction to power the light. This causes the bulbs to last significantly longer than a regular fluorescent light because the filament doesn’t burn out over time.

They come in bigger sizes than regular fluorescents, but otherwise get similar yields considering the amount of electricity used. They definitely can’t compete with the more powerful lights!

Although Magnetic Induction grow lights actually work pretty well for growing cannabis, I don’t really recommend them because I believe they cost too much (and use too much electricity) for the yields you get. You will get better bang for your buck with many of the other types of grow lights!

Learn more about Magnetic Induction grow lights

Plasma Induction Grow Light

Plasma grow lights also use induction technology, so you know the bulbs will last a long time. However, most Plasma lights on the market today are are obscenely expensive!

Instead of mimicking fluorescents, this type of induction light uses microwave radiation and excited sulfur plasma to generate light. This produces a greenish white light that looks beautiful to people, but unfortunately doesn’t work that great for growing cannabis.

Even worse, Plasma grow lights cause RFI interference which can alert someone to your grow! For security reasons alone, I highly recommend avoiding Plasma Induction grow lights Basically any other type of grow light is better!

Learn more about Plasma Induction grow lights

So how do these compare to more “traditional” grow lights? Let’s do a quick breakdown…

More “Traditional” Grow Lights

Fluorescent Grow Lights (CFLs & T5s)

This group includes CFLs and T5s and is one of the most common types of grow light for hobbyist growers of all types of plants. CFLs can be found anywhere, including gas stations, and T5s can be found at most stores with a garden section (like Home Depot or Walmart).

Outside the cannabis world, fluorescents are often used for starting seedlings, as well as for growing various flowers, herbs and vegetables. They are a little underpowered for growing marijuana, but offer a great spectrum and can actually get some pretty decent results when combined with diligent plant training.

Learn more about growing cannabis with CFLs

Learn more about T5 grow lights

Metal Halide

A Metal Halide (MH) is a very powerful grow light that gives off a bluish white light. It is often used for the cannabis vegetative stage and produces fast, healthy green vegetative growth.

The Metal Halide is Part 1 of the “golden standard” of grow lights, and is the most common grow light used by commercial growers in the vegetative stage.

Learn more about Metal Halide grow lights

High Pressure Sodium (HPS)

A High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamp is a very powerful grow light that gives off a harsh yellow light. It is often used during the cannabis flowering stage because its particular light spectrum stimulates bud production. HPS is also one of the most efficient types of grow lights available on the market, and produces amazing bud growth!

Because of these factors, HPS lights get some of the best cannabis yields of any grow light. That’s why HPS is Part 2 of the “golden standard” of grow lights!

Learn more about High Pressure Sodium grow lights

A combination of Metal Halide and HPS grow lights has been used by commercial growers for decades, and even though new types of light are on the market, MH/HPS are still by far the most common type of grow light for those looking to yield large amounts of bud. But that may change over the next few years as grow light technology improves!

LED Grow Light

You’ve probably seen these before! An LED lamp is basically a panel containing a bunch of tiny LED diodes. Although there are some full spectrum LED grow lights these days, the light from most LED models usually looks purple.

Although the LEDs from 10 years ago weren’t that great for growing marijuana, modern LED grow lights generally get yields almost as good as HPS grow lights!

Learn more about using LED grow lights for growing cannabis

Quick Summary of Today’s Article

Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) – Improved version of a Metal Halide grow light that uses a ceramic arc tube, which makes it more efficient. CMH grow lights can be used in both the vegetative and flowering stage.
LEC Grow Light – LEC stands for “Light Emitting Ceramic” and refers to a Ceramic Metal Halide grow light produced by the company Sun System. In other words, “LEC” is a marketing name for a CMH light in a specific fixture, not a new type of grow light technology.
Magnetic Induction – Basically a big, glorified fluorescent light. Although they last a long time and work well for growing cannabis, they aren’t much more efficient than regular fluorescent grow lights.
Plasma Induction – An induction light that produces a greenish light that looks nice but doesn’t get great results with growing cannabis. Even worse, they create RFI interference which is not good for security! Avoid Plasma Induction lights! Basically any other type of grow light is better for growing cannabis indoors.

Compare to More Traditional Grow Lights

Fluorescents (CFls & T5s) – Cheap to get started, very effective growing spectrum, but a little underpowered
Metal Halide (MH) – Powerful light most commonly used for the vegetative stage
High Pressure Sodium (HPS) – Powerful light most commonly used for the flowering stage. HPS lights are considered to have some of the best yields of any grow light. Together, MH and HPS are currently the most popular grow lights used by commercial growers.
LED Grow Light – These light panels house several small LED diodes and usually produce purple light (though some newer LEDs produce white light). The technology for LEDs has been improving quite a bit over the last decade, and they now get yields that are nearly as high as HPS grow lights.

I hope that helps clear up some of the confusion about all the different types of cannabis grow lights! But if you’re interested in learning more, read an even more detailed breakdown of cannabis grow lights!

Jump to…

More About Cannabis Grow Lights!

How Long Does it Take to Grow Cannabis?

10-Step Guide to Getting Started Growing Cannabis

How to fix 99% of cannabis plant problems

The post LEC vs Induction vs Plasma Grow Lights: What’s the Difference? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

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

Nebula Haze — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 22:20:43 +0000

by Nebula Haze

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.

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:

Set up your grow tent with grow light inside
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
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

250W Grow Light: $154

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!

250W Grow Light: $17-35/month

Total Hours/Month: 31 days x 18 hours on each day = 558 hours (total hours with 250W HPS turned on in a month)

Wattage: 250W

At $0.12/kWh – $16.74/month

At $0.25/kWh – $34.88/month

HOURS x COST/HOUR = Total Amount

558 x (0.12 x 0.250) = $16.74/month

558 x (0.25 x 0.250) = $34.88/month

Exhaust Fan: $7-14/month

Total Hours/Month: 744 hours (31 days x 24 hours/day)

Exhaust Fan: 75 watt

At $0.12/kWh – $6.70/month

At $0.25/kWh – $13.95/month

HOURS x COST/HOUR = Total Amount

744 x (0.12 x 0.075) = $6.70/month

744 x (0.25 x 0.075) = $13.95/month

2 Oscillating Fans: $6-12/month

Total Hours/Month: 744 hours (31 days x 24 hours/day)

Exhaust Fan: 30 watt x 2 = 60W

At $0.12/kWh – $5.36/month

At $0.25/kWh – $11.16/month

HOURS x COST/HOUR = Total Amount

744 x (0.12 x 0.060) = $5.36/month

744 x (0.25 x 0.060) = $11.16/month

The post Grow 4-7+ oz with a 250W HPS – Step-By-Step Beginner Tutorial appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Do My Cannabis Plants Need Side Lighting?

Nebula Haze — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:39:15 +0000

by Nebula Haze

Table of Contents

Is Side Lighting Worth It?

Side Lighting vs Supplemental Lighting

When Is Side Lighting a Good Idea?

Is Side or Supplemental Lighting Worth It For Cannabis Growers?

When growing a cannabis plant indoors, light usually comes from a grow light located at the top of the grow space. This means all the light is beaming down on the plant from above.

Most grow lights point light straight down at the plants

You may have noticed that by harvest time, buds close to the grow light are often the biggest. Should you give more light from the sides to increase the size of lower buds?

Does it make sense to add side lighting indoors? Can you copy the sun and give light from the sides to increase yields?

Is Side Lighting Worth It for Cannabis Plants?

So is side lighting worth it for indoor cannabis growers? The answer is unsatisfactory…

Maybe…

Side lighting can be helpful in certain situations, but it’s often unnecessary and may reduce yields/watt compared to adding light from above. Why is that?

It has to do with how cannabis plants respond to their environment. Although buds tend to grow bigger with more light, cannabis plants still favor the upper buds. A cannabis plant can “tell” which buds are at the top of the plant and puts more energy into these “high value” buds even when everything else is equal.

Even when cannabis gets the same amount of light from top to bottom, like with these old-fashioned Phototrons, the top buds are still bigger. That’s just how cannabis plants roll 🙂

Pic by magiccannabus

Cannabis plants naturally put the most energy into upper buds even when the plant is getting tons of light from the sides. Growers have competing theories about exactly why. Perhaps the top buds are most likely to get pollinated by the wind in nature.

To take advantage of this natural tendency, indoor growers often train plants to produce many top buds near the light (as opposed to adding side lighting). This ends up getting you more “bang for your buck” because you’ll get better yields/watt with free plant training than you would with side lighting.

Because upper buds grow the biggest, growers often train their plants to grow bud sites on a flat, table-top shaped canopy. This puts more bud sites at the top of the plant close to the grow light.

Growing “wide” cannabis plants with light on top results in better yields/watt than growing “tall” plants with the same amount of light on the sides

Side Lighting vs Supplemental Lighting

Side Lighting means specifically targeting the sides of the plant with light to try to increase bud size on the sides.
Supplemental Lighting means you’re trying to increase overall light levels or change the light spectrum. Supplemental lighting isn’t about giving light from the sides; in fact, generally supplemental lighting is given from above the plant because that gives you more bang for your buck.

Supplemental lighting is common in greenhouses. If you have a spot in your yard that only gets good direct light for a few hours a day, or if you have a lot of cloudy weather at your location, you could supplement with extra light from a grow light while still taking advantage of the free light you’re getting from the sun.

Example of a Greenhouse Supplemented by LED Grow Lights to Increase Yields (A Light Mover Moves Grow Lights Back and Forth)

pic by Heliospectra AB

Another common reason growers use supplemental lighting is to alter the light spectrum, or “color” of the light. Each light spectrum affects how your plant grows and some growers are using the power of LED grow lights (which allow you to choose the exact spectrum) to supplement either outdoor light or the light of other grow lights like HPS. These days it’s pretty common to see growers use LED grow lights to achieve a specific spectrum; it’s also common to see growers combine their LED panel with an HPS grow light to help get better yields and increased flower production.

This grower added red-heavy LED grow lights to help encourage flowering

Supplemental lighting can be a great choice in a lot of situations, but it’s not exactly the same as side lighting, which tends to be less useful most of the time.

When Is Side Lighting a Good idea?

Side lighting can be a good idea with fluorescent grow lights like CFLs and possibly T5 grow lights with untrained plants. This is because these types of light don’t reach far down into the plant. In fact, the light from fluorescents is so weak that it’s only good for a few inches. By the time a plant is more than a foot away the light is pretty much useless as far as bud fattening is concerned. Because of these constraints, side lighting can help make sure all buds are within a few inches of a light bulb.

Sometimes side lighting can help with fluorescent lights like CFLs, especially on an untrained plant where most of the buds are far from the top of the plant

However, if you train your cannabis plant to grow short and flat you can increase your yields with the same amount of light because you’ll be able to make sure every main bud is located towards the top of the plant while also getting full light levels.

In other words, even with weak grow lights, you’ll get far better yields by growing plants that are wide and flat as opposed to utilizing side lighting.

These buds got really fat even though they were grown under a small T5 grow light because every bud was near the top and close to the light, due to being trained to grow flat along a screen.

When you get to really strong types of grow lights like HPS and LEDs, their light reaches deep down into the plant. This gives you long, thick buds and without any type of side lighting.

To sum it up, it’s good to get plenty of light to your buds near no matter where they’re located on the plant, as buds that are exposed to light and air tend to grow the biggest. But ultimately you’ll get better yields/watt simply by making sure all main buds are located near the top of the plant and shining light directly down on them from above.

Learn how to train plants to grow flat and wide
(and get the best yields possible with your grow lights!)

Ready to learn more? Learn how to increase….

The post Do My Cannabis Plants Need Side Lighting? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Which Reflector is Best for My MH/HPS Grow Light?

Nebula Haze — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 21:22:12 +0000

by Nebula Haze

When growing cannabis under HID grow lights like MH or HPS, you want to take as much light from the bulb as possible and deliver it directly to your plants. This is important because maintaining strong light levels in the flowering stage is the only way to grow dense buds and get brag-worthy yields. Higher light levels (up to a point) are also associated with increased potency.

By using a reflector (especially when combined with reflective walls), you can get a significant amount of extra light to your plants without using any more electricity, resulting in faster growth and bigger harvests.

The hood / reflector focuses light down, increasing light levels experienced by the plants

But which reflector is best for your grow light and space? Is it worth it for you to get a better or more expensive reflector than what you have now, or will your results end up being about the same?

Let’s break it down!

Always Get an Air-Cooled Hood

There are three main types of hoods/reflectors: wing reflectors, cooltubes, and air-cooled hoods. Each of these types will reflect light down onto your plants, but they differ in how well they reflect the light, and how well they contain the heat of the bulb.

In order to get the highest levels of light to your plants you need to be able to keep your grow lights close, but that can be impossible when the heat from a naked bulb is beaming directly down onto your grow space like with a wing reflector.

Wing Reflector (sometimes called a “bat wing”) – Cheapest type of reflector, be careful of sharp edges! Wing reflectors are usually pretty good at reflecting light, but they can make it difficult to prevent heat from beaming down on your plants. Even if you have a fan blowing directly over the bulb you may not be able to keep bulb close enough for maximum light efficiency. Not recommended.

An air-cooled hood is a must to contain the heat from your MH/HPS bulb so you can safely bring your light close to your plants. The heat gets contained behind glass, and the hood itself can be easily hooked up to a fan to vent extra hot air outside the grow space.

If you take a bulb from a wing reflector and put that same bulb in an enclosed air-cooled hood, the overall temperature in the grow space will likely stay about the same (since the bulb is still giving off about the same amount of heat), but the temperature felt by your plants in the top canopy will be dramatically less since the heat is being enclosed near the bulb instead of beaming down. That means you often will be able to keep a bulb much closer if it’s in an air-cooled hood compared to a wing reflector, increasing light levels without causing extra heat stress to your plants.

Air-Cooled Hood – considered the “golden standard” of reflectors, they contain heat away from your plants by trapping it behind a piece of glass located at the bottom of the hood. They have holes in the side so they can easily be hooked up to an exhaust fan via ducting. Air-cooled hoods are the most effective type of reflector when it comes to reflecting light downwards while also keeping plants cool. They are even good at containing heat when not hooked up to an exhaust (though venting out the extra heat will certainly give you the best results). Highly recommended!

Cool Tube – A Cooltube is a variation of an air-cooled reflector that takes up less room so it can still contain heat but will fit in smaller spaces. Although these are great for cooling, they usually have a smaller (less effective) reflector than either a batwing or a full-sized hood. Only recommended if you can’t fit a full sized air-cooled hood in your grow space!

Summary: Why get an air-cooled hood?

Most effective type of hood for reflecting light down to your plants
Prevent heat stress by containing heat near the bulb (also giving you overall greater environmental control)
You are able to keep lights closer to plants for increased light levels using the same bulb/electricity
Can be easily hooked up to an exhaust system or a carbon filter via ducting
Ideal for grow tents as they have been specifically designed to work together to help growers create the perfect indoor growing environment

Get the Most Effective Hood for Your Light & Space – Narrow vs Wide Dispersion of Light

When growing cannabis in a tent or other restricted space, you want to get a hood that’s been specifically designed to get the most amount of light to your plants in a space like yours with the bulb you have.

Hoods either reflect light straight down or they disperse light in a wider area, and each type of hood can be a good option depending on your goals.

Hoods and reflectors that are more narrow/tall with straight edges tend to beam light down more directly, which means plants will experience a higher intensity of light (and increased penetration below the canopy), but in a smaller area. This can be helpful if you’re growing with big grow lights that must be kept further away from your plants, or if you’re growing in a tall space and want deep penetration.

Tall, narrow hoods with straight edges tend to beam light directly down, providing deeper penetration but also reducing the light footprint

On the flip side, hoods that are wide and short with angled sides tend to disperse light over a wider area. It’s helpful to get a hood that disperses light if you want to maximize the area that receives light (create a bigger light footprint, though light is less focused). A hood that disperses light over a bigger area can also be kept closer to your plants as long as heat is under control, thus increasing light levels without reducing the light footprint up to a point. This can help create strong, even light levels over your entire grow space even with a smaller sized light like a 250W or 400W HPS.

Hoods that are relatively short and wide with angled sides disperse light over a wide area

Get a tall, narrow hood with straight edges if…

You want to get deeper penetration below the canopy
You want a high level of light in a focused area
You plan on keeping lights relatively high above the plants

Get a short, wide hood with angled edges if…

You want more even spread of light coverage
You want to cover a larger area with your grow light
You want to be able to bring your light closer without sacrificing footprint (great for increasing light levels with some of the smaller HPS sizes without increasing electricity usage)

Although there are specific cases where a more narrow hood might be more effective, I personally believe most hobbyist growers would be better off with a wider hood, as it lets you give plants higher light levels by moving lights closer, without reducing the amount of space you can use to grow plants. However, wider hoods often cost more than narrow hoods so if price is an issue, that may be a consideration.

A few last tips…

Get Most Reflective Hood as Possible (95% Reflectivity)

Hoods commonly come labeled as having 85% or 95% reflectivity (though some may not say anything about reflectivity, which usually means it’s 85%). Although it’s often more expensive to purchase a hood with higher reflectivity, it’s not a bad idea if you can afford it! Although there’s not a huge difference in performance between the two types, the 95% reflective hoods definitely do reflect more light. Every bit of extra light received by your plants can make a difference!

A Good Hood Can Be Opened Up

This may be something you don’t think about the first time you’re getting a hood/reflector, but they each have different ways to get inside so you can screw in your bulb.

If possible, get a hood that’s been labeled as having either “hinges” or “sliding glass” (preferably hinged) in order to get to the light socket. Otherwise you might be sticking your hands in from the side air hole whenever you want to change the bulb. Not being able to get past the glass can also make it difficult to clean the inside of your hood if it gets dirty (and the glass should be as clean as possible to make sure it’s not blocking any light from getting through). However, although this is a matter of convenience for you, it doesn’t really have much effect on your plants.

Do I want a 6-inch or 8-inch opening on the sides?

Every air-cooled hood has an opening that can be used to connect the hood to a fan or ducting. These openings come in different sizes, so which do you choose? 6-inch is the most common size, and has the most options, but you may have reasons to want a bigger size.

6-inch – Effective for cooling up to three lights that are hooked together <— Most common sieze, if you’re not sure, get this!

8-inch – Necessary to get enough airflow when more than three lights are being hooked together, though you have fewer options

Make sure your hood has the right sized openings for the ducting you plan to use (if in doubt, get one with 6-inch openings)

Suggested Air-Cooled Hoods

In this section I’m only going to recommend air-cooled reflectors (no wings!) as they deliver the best results for cannabis growers.

“Narrow” Hood ($70) – Best for 2’x2′ or 2.5’x3′ space

iPower GLARCL6 Littlesun Hood Reflector, 6-Inch

I used this hood for a few months and it is great for containing heat and pointing light directly downwards. The dimensions are: 23″ x 17″ x 9″. However, the steep sides give it a somewhat narrow footprint that prevents you from being able to bring the light close without reducing the amount of space you can use to grow plants. At 12″ it can cover about a 2’x2.5′ area. At 18″ it can cover a 3’x3′, and at 24″ it covers a 4’x4′. This could be a great choice if you only want to grow a few small plants and want to make sure all the light goes directly to them.

“Cool Tube” Hood ($50) – For narrow spaces

iPower Cool Tube Reflector with Add-On Wing, 6-inch

This Cool Tube hood is perfect for growers who want an air-cooled reflector but don’t have the space to put a bigger hood in their garden (though if you can fit something bigger you should probably go with that for the better reflector).

The dimensions of this Cool Tube are 24″ x 12″ x 6″ which means it should even be able to fit even in a narrow closet or grow box as long as you have enough space lengthwise. The wing reflector can be removed if you need to make it fit in an more narrow space.

“Wider” Hood ($75) – Great light coverage for 2’x4′, 3’x3′ or 4’x4′

Hydro Crunch Large Air Cooled Grow Light Reflector with 6″ Duct & Glass Panel

This hood has a great light spread which allows you to bring the hood closer to the plants without reducing the light footprint. At 12″ away it covers about a 3’x3′ footprint, at 18″ it has a 4’x4′ footprint, and at 24″ it has a 5’x5′ footprint. Yet despite its wide spread it is small enough to fit in most setups (since the spread is helped by angled sides). Dimensions are 24″ x 21″ x 8″ so it can fit in a small 2’x4′ of 3’x3′ tent easily, and still give you complete coverage.

Brand Name “Wide” Hood ($180) – Perfect for 4’x4′ space

Sun System Blockbuster Air-Cooled Reflector, 6-Inch

This hood has a lot of really great features, though it comes with a big pricetag. This is the 3rd generation version of this brand name model, and it has been specifically designed for even light distribution in square spaces. This hood has 95% reflectivity, and the angles of the reflective materials have been engineered so the hood doesn’t create hot spots and disperses light most evenly. The dimensions are 25 1/2″ x 25 1/2″ which means it cannot fit in any space that has a 2′ width or less, so it’s not good for smaller setups. At a foot away it covers about a 3’x3′ footprint, at 18″ it has a 4’x4′ footprint, and at 24″ it has a 5’x5′ footprint. There is also an 8-inch version. If I was going to pick a new hood for a 4’x4′ tent and money wasn’t an issue, this is the one I would get 🙂

Now that you know a little bit more about different types of hoods and reflectors, are you ready to set up your light and start growing? Learn how easy it is to set up your MH or HPS grow light!

Jump to…

7 Tips to Growing Top-Shelf Buds

(Advanced Only) Cannabis Leaf Defoliation Technique

How to Grow Hydroponic Cannabis via Bubbleponics

Supercropping: Simple Secret to Bigger Yields

The post Which Reflector is Best for My MH/HPS Grow Light? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

600W MH/HPS Cannabis Grow Setup & Tutorial

Nebula Haze — Fri, 20 May 2016 05:56:41 +0000

by Nebula Haze

See Other Examples of Cannabis Growing Setups

600W HPS Grow Setup (For Hobbyist Growers)

Average Yields: 10-21 ounces
Recommended 2-8 plants
Grow space is 4’x4’x6.5’ or larger
See a grow journal using this setup

Estimated Setup Cost: $495+

costs more for premium version of cannabis equipment and optional accessories (that are nice to have but not necessary)

About This Setup

The 600W HPS is one of the most powerful and efficient setups you can buy to grow your own cannabis at home. Although the technology behind it is archaic, there’s no denying the high-yielding, high-potency power of the might 600W HPS. Part of the true power of this light comes from the fact that it can be kept so close to plants (as close as 8-10″) while lights of similar wattage have to be kept much further away (18″+).

Pros: Excellent yields, high potency, high bud density, most electrically efficient HPS, relatively cheap to buy especially compared to LEDs.

Cons: Old technology, emits suspicious yellow light, poorly-made models may emit RFI, can get pretty hot

Complete Grow Supply List

This cannabis grow room setup list includes all the supplies you need to get to harvest.

Grow Light

600 Watt MH/HPS Grow Light
- Example 1: Cheap but effective: HydroCrunch 600W HPS with wing reflector – $130
- Example 2: Much better reflector: iPower 600 Watt HPS Digital Dimmable Grow Light – $175 (I’ve noticed the price fluctuates on Amazon listings, so shop around if it’s more expensive than $175)

* Alternative LED Grow Light: Get the HLG Blackbird (specifically designed for a 4’x4′ grow tent)

iPower 600W Dimmable HPS Grow Light

Grow Space

Grow Tent Recommended Sizes
- 4’x4’x6.5′ – an example is the CoolGrows 48”x48”x80” Grow Tent
- Learn more about grow tents
- Cost: $80
Exhaust Fan
- When you’re growing enough weed to fill a 4×4 tent, you need to make sure that smell isn’t escaping. A good fan and a reliable filter will take care of this problem.
- Learn more about choosing and setting up an exhaust fan.
- Example: VIVOSUN 6 Inch 390 CFM exhaust fan. If you plan to use a carbon filter to stop smells, it’s typically cheaper to get a kit that contains both the fan and filter than to buy them separately.
- Cost: $75
Carbon Scrubber
- Must be used with an exhaust fan to effectively remove smells! Learn more about controlling odors.
- Note: it’s sometimes cheaper to get a kit that contains both the exhaust fan and filter than buy them separately.
- Recommended: 6-inch Carbon Filter, 6″ x 16″ version
- Cost: $80

Plant Pots

I prefer fabric pots or air pots because cannabis plants grow faster but need to be watered more often than standard hard-sided plant pots. Both types work great for growing cannabis indoors. Often the best plant pot is whatever is cheap and easy for you to get.

Recommended: Fabric pots between 2-7 gallons (any fabric pots work great so I pick whatever is cheap or looks the best to me)

Cost: $25

These 5-gallon fabric pots work great for growing cannabis in this setup.

Grow Medium (Soil, Coco, Hydro)

Grow mediums can include coco coir or soil (hydroponics for more advanced growers) but if you’re not sure, a coco-based soil like Coco Loco is perfect for beginnners.

Recommended Soil: One 2 cu ft bag bag of coco-based soil with perlite should be able to fill 15 gallons worth of pots. For example, it will fill 3 x 5-gallon fabric pots.

Cost: ~$40

Coco Loco is a coco-based rich airy soil that cannabis plants thrive in

Nutrients

Many nutrient systems have a nutrient schedule so you give your plants the right ratios for each stage of life. Basically, you use a “vegetative” or all-purpose plant nutrient for the first part of your plant’s life and a “bloom” or low-nitrogen nutrients when buds are forming. Tip: Always start at half-strength with a new base nutrient system since the recommended amount can be too high for cannabis plants.

Recommended Nutrients: Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom nutrient combo is excellent, cheap, and easy to use for growing cannabis indoors.

Dyna-Gro “Grow”: Give 1 tsp per gallon of water during the vegetative stage.
Dyna-Gro “Bloom”: Give 1 tsp/gallon of water after buds start forming.

Learn about other cannabis nutrients we recommend

Cost: $25

Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom is my recommended nutrient system for newbies. One bottle for veg, one bottle for after buds start forming. 1 tsp/gallon. Super simple!

Seeds

See a list of recommended seed sources here.

Other Supplementary Items

Get your seeds – $5-12/seed (on average, can be more or less depending on the breeder)
24-Hour Timer (to put your grow lights on a timer so the plants get a day and night period on a schedule). Why do cannabis plants need to be on a day/night schedule? What about autoflowering light schedules? – $10
Water containers (I personally use a 3-gallon or 5-gallon water jug to mix up nutrients, but anything can work) – Much cheaper at Wal-Mart ($5-15) than online!
Extra 1/8″ Rope Ratchets (sooooo handy) – These can be used to hang your grow light or carbon filter from inside the tent, and still be able to easily move it up and down without needing any strength. Your grow light usually comes with a set of rope ratchets, but it’s a great idea to get an extra set to hang the carbon filter – $15
Thermometer/Humidity Monitor with a probe so you can keep track of the temperature inside the tent – $15
PH Test Kit – Prevent potential nutrient deficiencies by testing the water pH: https://www.growweedeasy.com/ph – $15
Measuring spoons for measuring out your nutrients (many people already have these) – $10
Learn about other cool growing tools

Estimated Cost: $495+ (costs more to get optional items)

See Additional Grow Setups

A carbon scrubber prevents odors from leaking out of the tent in the flowering stage

On average this setup yields 10-21 ounces

Learn How to Grow 1 Pound of Weed Indoors (Proven Method) in this Setup

The post 600W MH/HPS Cannabis Grow Setup & Tutorial appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

400W MH/HPS Cannabis Grow Setup & Shopping List

Nebula Haze — Fri, 20 May 2016 05:45:39 +0000

by Nebula Haze

See Other Examples of Cannabis Growing Setups

400W HPS Grow Setup (For Hobbyist Growers)

Average Yields: 7-14 ounces
Recommended 2-6 plants
Grow space is 3’x3’x6′ or 4’x4’x6′ (bare minimum is 2’x4’x6′)
$495 to get the simplest version of this setup

About This Setup

When you’re just starting to foray into the world of larger grow lights, a 400W HPS is an appropriate first light to try. It’s energy efficient, relatively cheap, and makes for large colas than stretch far down the plant. These light are more popular than the 250W HPS, but less than the 600W HPS, and far less popular than the current line of LEDs or LECs. Still, these lights are a workhorse and will pay for themselves quickly in any medium-sized indoor cannabis grow.

Pros: Cheap, effective, high yields and potency

Cons: Not popular, yellow spectrum is easy to spot by nosy people, some models emit RFI which can alert HAM radio users to your grow

Cost Estimate: $495 to get the cheapest version of this setup (no premium equipment)

Check Out More Examples of Grow Setups

Complete Grow Supply List

This cannabis grow room setup list includes all the supplies you need to get to harvest.

Grow Light

400W MH/HPS Grow Light

This version is cheap but effective: iPower 400W MH/HPS All-in-One kit – $120
More expensive version but has an enclosed hood to help keep heat near the bulb – $190
Alternative LED Grow Light: HLG 350R LED grow light (a VERY powerful LED) – $550

The iPower 400W MH/HPS All-in-One kit can produce some intense yields for just $120. Much cheaper than LEDs for the amount of yield but gets much hotter!

Grow Space

Grow Tent Recommended Sizes
- 2’x4’x6′ (bare minimum viable space) – An example is the CoolGrows 48″x24″x72″ Grow Tent
- 3’x3’x6′ – An example is the CoolGrows 36″x36″x72″ Grow Tent
- 4’x4’x6.5′ (recommended) – an example is the CoolGrows 48”x48”x80” Grow Tent – plenty of room to grow!
- Learn more about grow tents
- Cost: ~$100
Exhaust Fan
- A quality 6″ exhaust fan works best. Avoid small cheap “booster” fans as they usually don’t have enough power to exhaust all the hot air effectively. Hang from inside tent to help keep quiet.
- Learn more about choosing and setting up an exhaust fan.
- Example 1: Cheap but loud VIVOSUN 6 Inch 390 CFM exhaust fan. If you plan to use a carbon filter to stop smells, it’s typically cheaper to get a kit that contains both the fan and filter than to buy them separately. Avoid “booster” fans that cost under $35. Although they seem like a good deal, they’re not powerful enough to properly vent heat or use a carbon scrubber. I’ve tried.
- Example 2: Quiet but expensive AC Infinity CLOUDLINE S6 or CLOUDLINE T6 (T6 version is the same fan but has a digital interface)
- Cost: ~$110 ($75-160)
Carbon Scrubber
- A carbon scrubber and an exhaust fan are used together to clean the air in your grow area. Learn more about controlling odors.
- Note: it’s sometimes cheaper to get a kit that contains both the exhaust fan and filter than buy them separately.
- Recommended: 6-inch Carbon Filter, 6″ x 16″ version
- Cost: ~$80

Connect the carbon filter to the fan inside the tent like this and smells get filtered before air exits the tent. Totally smell-free cannabis growing! (Click for closeup)

Plant Pots

I prefer fabric pots or air pots because cannabis plants grow faster. However, standard hard-sided plant pots also work well and can be watered less often.

Recommended: Fabric pots between 2-7 gallons (here’s the brand I used last but I just pick what looks good because any fabric pots work great)
Alternative: Regular plant pots between 2-5 gallons

Cost: $20

Plants grow faster in fabric pots compared to hard-sided pots, but need to be watered more often

Grow Medium (Soil, Coco, Hydro)

Grow mediums can include coco coir or soil (hydroponics for more advanced growers) but if you’re not sure, a coco-based soil like Coco Loco is perfect for beginnners.

Recommended Soil: One 2 cu ft bag bag of coco-based soil with perlite should be able to fill 15 gallons worth of pots. For example, it will fill 5 x 3-gallon fabric pots.

Cost: ~$40

Coco Loco is a coco-based soil that makes thriving cannabis plants

Nutrients

You need a “vegetative” or all-purpose plant nutrient for the first part of your plant’s life
You need a “bloom” or low-nitrogen nutrient for the budding phase
Many nutrient systems have a nutrient schedule so you give your plants the right ratios for each stage of life
Always start at half strength with a new base nutrient system because the recommended strength is typically too high for cannabis

Get examples of great cannabis nutrients

Recommended Nutrients: Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom nutrient combo is excellent, cheap, and easy to use for growing cannabis.

“Grow” bottle: Give 1 tsp per gallon of water during the vegetative stage
“Bloom” bottle: Give 1 tsp/gallon of water during the flowering stage

Learn about other cannabis nutrients we recommend

Cost: $25

Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom is my recommended nutrient system for newbies. One bottle for veg, one for bloom. 1 tsp/gallon. Super simple!

Other Supplementary Items

Get your seeds – $5-12/seed (on average, can be more or less depending on the breeder)
24-Hour Timer (to put your grow lights on a timer so the plants get a day and night period on a schedule). Why do cannabis plants need to be on a day/night schedule? What about autoflowering light schedules? – $10
Water containers (I personally use a 3-gallon or 5-gallon water jug to mix up nutrients, but anything can work) – Much cheaper at Wal-Mart ($5-15) than online!
Extra 1/8″ Rope Ratchets (sooooo handy) – These can be used to hang your grow light or carbon filter from inside the tent, and still be able to easily move it up and down without needing any strength. Your grow light usually comes with a set of rope ratchets, but it’s a great idea to get an extra set to hang the carbon filter – $15
Thermometer/Humidity Monitor with a probe so you can keep track of the temperature inside the tent – $15
PH Test Kit – Prevent potential nutrient deficiencies by testing the water pH: https://www.growweedeasy.com/ph – $15
Measuring spoons for measuring out your nutrients (many people already have these) – $10
Learn about other cool growing tools

Estimated Cost: $495+ plus the cost of seeds

See Additional Grow Setups

The post 400W MH/HPS Cannabis Grow Setup & Shopping List appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

250W MH/HPS Cannabis Grow Setup & Tutorial (Best for Cold Rooms)

Nebula Haze — Fri, 20 May 2016 05:33:53 +0000

by Nebula Haze

250W HPS Grow Setup (For Hobbyist Growers)

This cannabis grow kit is great if you have a cool grow space (for example during the winter) because an HPS bulb gets hot (which helps raise the temperature) and even when the temperature is the same, marijuana plants are more cold-resistant under HPS compared to LEDs. Plants need to be warm to get the best results with LEDs.

Average Yields: 4-9 ounces
Total time: 2-4 months from seed to weed
Grow space is 2’x4’x5’ or larger

Total Setup Cost: ~$400-500 ($500 includes professional smell filtering)

View a grow journal using this setup and here’s another grow journal in this setup.

About This Setup

The 250W HPS is a great option for small-scale indoor cannabis growing especially if you have a grow room that tends to get cold. It delivers good yields, high potency, and it’s easy to use. The 250W also escapes much of the heat issues that larger models of HPS have, though they still have that tell-tale color that can alert people to your cannabis grow if it escapes the tent.

Pros: Cheap, easy to use, great yields, awesome potency

Cons: Hard to find (they were popular before LEDs hit the scene), harsh yellow light is easily distinguishable as a grow light

My last harvest with a 250W HPS grow light (dry yield was 8.97 oz) – View a video of the plants just before harvest

Complete Grow Supply List

This cannabis grow room setup list includes all the supplies you need to grow from seed to harvest.

250W MH/HPS Grow Light

The only model I can find these days is this 250W HPS kit by HTG Supply. What’s nice is it comes with everything you need. Just plug it in and you’re good to go.

A 250W HPS is a great grow light for beginners who have a grow room that gets cold, for example during the winter. Plants grow quickly and produce excellent bud quality, density, and yields.

Cost: $120

* Alternative all-in-one 150W HPS – This light is significantly smaller (it uses 100W less), but if you want a cheap “all-in-one” grow light kit with the ballast and reflector built together…

150W HPS Complete System with Bulb – Alternative “All-In-One” Kit: Sun System 150W. Harvest up to 5 oz with an $85 all-in-one light.
2-5 oz harvest

Grow Tent (recommended sizes)

Just about any grow tent brand works great, but I’ve had good luck with the CoolGrows tents and they’re pretty reasonably priced.

2’x4’x5′ tent – an example is Cool Grows 48”x24”x60”
2’x4’x6′ tent (you’ll appreciate the extra height) – I use the CoolGrows 48″x24″x72″ Grow Tent
3’x3’x6′ tent (this is a good tent if you want a square space) – an example is CoolGrows 36″x36″x72″

Cost: ~$95

Learn more about grow tents

6″ Exhaust Fan

An exhaust fan vents hot air and can be combined with a carbon filter to stop all smells from leaving the grow space. The 6″ size is plenty for a 250W.

Example 1: Cheap but loud VIVOSUN 6 Inch 390 CFM exhaust fan. If you plan to use a carbon filter to stop smells, it’s typically cheaper to get a kit that contains both the fan and filter than to buy them separately. Avoid “booster” fans that cost under $35. Although they seem like a good deal, they’re not powerful enough to properly vent heat or use a carbon filter. I’ve tried.
Example 2: Quiet but expensive AC Infinity CLOUDLINE S6 or premium CLOUDLINE T6 (T6 version is the same fan but has a digital interface)
Learn more about setting up an exhaust fan

Cost: $75+ ($75-160)

Carbon Filter / Scrubber (optional)

Used with an exhaust fan to remove weed smell from the air. When set up properly, a carbon filter removes 100% of odors. Learn more about controlling odors

Recommended: 6-inch Carbon Filter, 6″ x 16″ version (for the cheapest option, get a kit that contains both fan and carbon filter instead of buying them separately)

Cost: ~$80

Plant Pots

I prefer fabric pots or air pots because cannabis plants grow faster. However, standard hard-sided plant pots also work well and can be watered less often.

Recommended: Fabric pots between 2-7 gallons (here’s the brand I used last but I just pick what looks good because any fabric pots work great)
Alternative: Regular plant pots between 2-5 gallons

Cost: $20

Plants grow faster in fabric pots compared to hard-sided pots, but need to be watered more often

Grow Medium (Soil, Coco, Hydro)

Grow mediums can include coco coir or soil (hydroponics for more advanced growers) but if you’re not sure, a coco-based soil like Coco Loco is perfect for beginnners.

Recommended Soil: One 2 cu ft bag bag of coco-based soil with perlite should be able to fill 15 gallons worth of pots. For example, it will fill 5 x 3-gallon fabric pots.

Cost: ~$40

Coco Loco is a coco-based soil that makes thriving cannabis plants

Nutrients

Many nutrient systems have a nutrient schedule so you give your plants the right ratios for each stage of life. Basically you use a “vegetative” or all-purpose plant nutrient for the first part of your plant’s life and a “bloom” or low-nitrogen nutrients when buds are forming.

Tip: Always start at half-strength with a new base nutrient system since the recommended amount can be too high for cannabis plants.

Recommended Base Nutrients: Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom nutrient combo is excellent, cheap, and easy to use for growing cannabis.

“Grow” bottle: Give 1 tsp per gallon of water during the vegetative stage
“Bloom” bottle: Give 1 tsp/gallon of water during the flowering stage

Learn about other cannabis nutrients we recommend

Cost: $25

Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom is my recommended nutrient system for newbies. One bottle for veg, one for bloom. 1 tsp/gallon. Super simple!

Seeds

See a list of recommended seed sources here.

Other Nice-to-Have Stuff

24-Hour Timer (to put your grow lights on a timer so the plants get a day and night period on a schedule). Why do cannabis plants need to be on a day/night schedule? What about autoflowering light schedules? – $10
Water containers (I personally use a 3-gallon or 5-gallon water jug to mix up nutrients, but anything can work) – Much cheaper at Wal-Mart ($5-15) than online!
Extra 1/8″ Rope Ratchets (sooooo handy) – These can be used to hang your grow light or carbon filter from inside the tent, and still be able to easily move it up and down without needing any strength. Your grow light usually comes with a set of rope ratchets, but it’s a great idea to get an extra set to hang the carbon filter – $10
Thermometer/Humidity Monitor with a probe so you can keep track of the temperature inside the tent – $15
PH Test Kit – Prevent potential nutrient deficiencies by testing the water pH: https://www.growweedeasy.com/ph – $20
Measuring spoons for measuring out your nutrients (many people already have these) – $12

Learn about other cool growing tools

Estimated Cost: ~$400-500 ($485-505 with professional smell filtering) plus the cost of seeds

Ultra budget (no smell filtering) – ~$400 plus the cost of seeds
Only the necessary stuff + smell filtering: ~$485
Get everything including the premium equipment and optional extras: ~$505

See Additional Grow Setups

Got a 6+ oz Harvest! Read the tutorial on how to grow exactly like this! (in this setup)

A hydroponic plant grown in this setup (6+ oz harvest!) – Read the grow journal!

These plants were grown under a 250W HPS. Here’s the grow journal (the 250W HPS beat LEDs in a side-by-side experiment, check it out!)

More plants I grew under a 250W HPS in this setup

The post 250W MH/HPS Cannabis Grow Setup & Tutorial (Best for Cold Rooms) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.