Today learn the universal principles that let you grow better weed than you can buy. 

I love these strains for home growers: Blue Dream (pictured here), Candy Games #38, and Purple Ghost Candy.

1.) Start with Extraordinary Genetics

What to Do: Start with the best seeds you can find. Good seeds germinate consistently and produce the kind of weed you want (density, smell, size, effects, strength, color, smoothless, etc.).

Why: Good seeds grow good weed with your desired effects, even if you make mistakes. Plants works with you instead of against you.

Quick Win: Use one of the following 3 methods to find great genetics for your next cannabis grow.

1. Choose a proven breeder and read the strain description to find what suits you. A good breeder always maintains quality for all their seeds. Some breeders I like lately are Happy Valley Genetics, Seedsman, Seed Supreme, and Ethos (all represented in my current grow journal). 
2. Copy what works – Get the genetics that you see people growing great weed with. For example, if you have friends that grow weed, or interact with growers on social media, take their lead if you like what you see. Find out what they’re growing and get seeds from the same source to copy their results.
3. Enjoy the gamble – The old fashioned method. Grow the seeds you have, or choose a strain that sounds good and go for the adventure! Good seed banks curate their seed selection and have seed germination guarantees, so any of their seeds should produce good weed.

The seeds you pick make a huge difference to results. For example, the following plants were grown together with the same grow medium, nutrients, and care. But look how different they’re turning out! The difference is 100% genetics, not anything I did.

Blue Dream and Candy Games #38 have wildly different genetics! Choose a strain that makes weed you want to grow.

2.) Use a Strong LED Grow Light (Cannabis-Specific)

What to Do: Get a proven cannabis grow light that’s designed for the size of your grow space.

Why: Light = food for plants. More light is better, up to a point. Spectrum (light color) matters too, affecting not only yields, but also density, color, and potency. Older grow lights, most especially “blurple” LEDs, don’t get nearly as good cannabis yields or bud density as newer “quantum board” style LEDs with pinkish or white light.

Modern cannabis LEDs usually produce white or pinkish light.

Quick Win:

1. Choose an LED grow light that’s proven to get great results with weed. The best thing you can do is use a grow light that growers are already using to produce great cannabis harvests. 
2. Good LED companies include… We’ve consistently found these are the most popular grow lights for GrowWeedEasy.com readers: Spider Farmer, Mars Hydro, and HLG. I’ve used multiple models from each of these companies and always had great results with growing weed. Which one to get? Choose the grow light that best fits your grow space and budget requirements. Spider Farmer and Mars Hydro get about equal results. HLG lights tend to be overpowered and cost a lot, and often have to be turned down even in a dialed in setup, but gets some of the best bud density of any LED we’ve tried so far. Even their tiny 65W and 100W LED lights have produced multiple ounces for us.
3. Check out our list of 9 recommended cannabis lights with yield estimates, and see pictures of real cannabis plants we’ve grown with them.

A HLG 65W LED is surprisingly productive in a 2x2x3 grow tent. Not bad for an LED that uses less electricity than my bedroom fan.

Or upgrade to a bigger grow light, like a HLG 350 Diablo (or two).

Or go BIG, like Max did here, with multiple lights including a Spider Farmer G5000.

Often it’s easier to combine multiple smaller grow lights than have one enormous grow light. That way you can adjust them independently and have more control over where light falls.

3.) The Right Nutrients at the Right Time

Whether you grow in soil, coco, or hydro, provide proper nutrients. Either use cannabis-specific nutrients and dole out to plants on a schedule. Or start with a cannabis-specific soil that slowly delivers the right nutrients at the right time (called “just-add-water” super soil). 

What to Do: Make sure plants get the right amount of nutrients at the right time.

Why: Faster greener growth, but more importantly, proper nutrition in the flowering stage greatly increases bud quality, yields, and potency. On the other hand, a plant that is starved of nutrients while buds are forming makes small, airy, non-potent buds. Most crucially, make sure plants have plenty of nutrients for the first 6+ weeks of the flowering stage, until hairs start darkening and curling in. Plants still need nutrients after that, but for the best harvest, it’s especially important to avoid significant nutrient deficiencies during the early flowering stage and initial bud formation.

Quick Win: Use cannabis nutrients and follow an already-tested schedule

1. Easy cheap option – Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom. Give at 1 tsp/gallon. Give “Grow” for seedlings until first 3 weeks into flowering stage. Then once the flowering stretch is over, give “Bloom” until harvest. These nutrients were initially designed for orchids, but growers have discovered they give surprisingly great results with weed. I was impressed when I tried them in coco.
2. Advanced nutrient system – General Hydroponics Flora trio. My personal favorite nutrients, I find the GH trio provides some of the fastest growth and biggest yields. No need to follow a special schedule. Just follow the amounts listed on the side of the bottle at half-strength, and only raise the amounts if plant seem pale. I’ve had good results in soil, coco, and hydro.
3. Use super soil instead – Use a “just add water” organic soil that’s made for a plant like cannabis. This kind of soil slowly releases nutrients over the course of the grow, so you don’t need to add any extra nutrients. Nature’s Living Soil is a proven super soil concentrate that makes super soil when used with Coco Loco soil. Just remember, super soil can be stinky at first! But the smell settles after the plants make themselves at home in the soil.

General Hydroponics Flora trio are my personal favorite nutrients for growing weed.

Follow the directions on the bottle at half-strength to grow green, happy, and abundant cannabis plants.

4.) Water Plants So They Grow Faster

Water plants regularly with the right amount at a time. It’s important roots don’t dry out, or stay overly wet for too long. Luckily, if you’re following all the other steps here, you can make some watering mistakes and plants still turn out great. Cannabis plants are remarkably able to recover from watering issues as long as you course-correct.

What to Do: Water plants properly. The easiest method is to follow a cannabis-specific watering schedule like the one below. Or follow proven general principles.

Why: Plants grow faster and get fewer deficiencies, especially seedlings, when given the right amount of water. Good watering practices helps plants start growing fast out the gate. 

Seedlings grow super fast if you give the right amount of water!

I use a battery operated water transfer pump to easily water plants.

Quick Win: Basically, give seedlings just a little water at a time, at first, in a small circle around the base, every few days. If you don’t want guesswork, follow the following seedling watering schedule that I use. It’s suitable as long as you’re in a 3 or 5-gallon pot (and works pretty well in most sizes). Never wonder again if you’re over or under-watering your seedlings!

Day 1 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant (at this point, your cannabis seedlings should have their leaves completely open and be in a 3-gallon or 5-gallon pot under the grow light)
Day 3 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant
Day 6 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant
Day 8 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per plant (every 3 days after this)
Day 11 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per plant
Day 14 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
Day 17 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
Day 20 – Give 5 cups (1.25 liter) water per plant
Day 23 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
Day 26 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
Day 29 – Give 8 cups or 1/2 gallon (2 liter) water per plant

At first, cannabis seedlings only need a little water in a circle around their base.

After the first 30 days, start watering like this…

(1+ Months) Cannabis Watering Schedule

1. Wait until top inch of soil is dry (for coco, wait until top is mostly dry)
2. Water until you get 10-20% runoff out the bottom
3. Remove runoff (test the pH if needed) and start over

P.S. Learn about auto-watering pot bases so you can water plants less often. I’m loving them lately.

5.) Harvest at the Right Time

Wait to harvest until buds have reached peak potency, size, and bud quality. Harvest earlier (speedier more “up” weed) or later (stronger relaxation effect) to achieve your desired effects. Dry and cure using a proven home method.

What to Do: Harvest buds based on their maturity level. After harvest, dry buds to make them smokable (buds are mostly water on the plant), and then jar them so they “cure”.

Why: Choosing the right harvest time maximizes yields, potency, and effects. Drying and especially curing increases density, appearance, potency, and effects, while enhancing the natural bud smell.

Quick Win: 

1. Follow our free harvest & curing guide on GrowWeedEasy.com
2. Check out our new digital book HARVEST. It’s perfect if you want a step-by-step harvest guide that’s available anywhere without the internet Growers who sign up for our Home Grow Masterclass next week get a free copy of HARVEST. And those who have already purchased HARVEST get a steep discount on the class! Make sure you’re signed up for our newsletter and watch your email for more info coming soon.

Wait until buds have reached maturing before harvesting for best effects…

Harvest time may be my favorite part of growing!

The post Grow Better Weed: The 5 Core Principles appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Do you want bigger yields of better weed? If so, you’ve come to the right place. Get 5 proven tactics to increase cannabis yields and bud quality with any seeds, no matter your experience level.

Fill your cannabis grow tent with buds using today’s quick wins.

1.) Maximize Your LED Grow Tent Strategy

Quick win: In a grow tent, raise LED lights first. Only dim if needed.

Improve your LED grow tent game with this strategy.

The walls of a modern cannabis grow tent are 90+% reflective. Extra light is reflected back and helps fatten buds deeper into the plant.

1. Full power at recommended distance – Keep dimmable LEDs at 100% power if you can. This makes the most light photons (“food” for leaves). Start at the recommended distance.
2. Raise lights before dimming – If top leaves look stressed, raise the lights first. Even to the top of the grow tent (zip ties are your friends).
3. Dim lights if plant health demands it – Dim the grow light if it’s too hot even with fans and venting, or if top leaves look stressed with the grow light at the top of the tent.

Even a relatively small 200W LED is effective 3+ feet (1 m) feet away in a grow tent. On the other hand, dimming to 50% cuts yields in half. Raise before dim.

Even 3 feet (1 meter) away, a 200W Spider Farmer LED produced over 10 ounces.

Insider Tip: If your top leaves are getting stressed even after the LED is raised to the top of the grow tent, don’t hesitate to dim your grow lights. And don’t hurry to raise the intensity again. Wait until discoloration stops spreading before turning back to full power, if ever.

Healthy leaves help power the growth of a lot of big, high-quality buds. Don’t sacrifice leaf health to maximize light intensity.

Keep leaves healthy for highest quality buds.

If the grow tent is always hot or top leaves appear yellow or discolored, you often get a better harvest simply by turning your grow light power down until harvest. Sometimes less really is more.

True mastery of LEDs is all about using them right for your particular setup. Maximizing light helps maximize yields, but lowering light levels can improve bud quality if it’s too hot or plants are stressed. Always listen to your plants first.

Learn more: How to Improve Bud Quality with the Environment

2.) Bend Over Tall Stems = More & Better Quality Buds

Quick win: Every time you check on your garden, bend any tall branches down and away from the center of the plants. This naturally creates a wide, flat “table-top” shape that increases the number of bud sites.

Bend over tall stems to create a flat “table-top” canopy, like I did in this grow journal.

This results in lots of buds sites about the same distance from the grow light. A sea of buds gives you the best yields indoors.

Why this works: The biggest, tightest, and most potent buds tend to grow at the top of a cannabis plant. A flat, tabletop canopy helps cannabis grow as many of these top buds as possible.

Insider Tip: Lots of big buds from plant training = sagging stems in late flowering (great problem to have!). Use specially-designed weed plant yo-yos to safely hook around buds so you can string them up to the top of the tent.

See those little yellow things on strings? Those are plant yo-yos holding up this well-trained bud-heavy plant!

Easy-to-adjust weed plant yo-yos hook right onto stems without disturbing buds.

Attach to the top of the tent and you can hold up your most bud-heavy stems exactly where you want them.

Learn more: Manipulate How Plants Grow (free way to produce more bud)

3.) Feed Plants Smart (Not Just More)

Quick win: Give cannabis plants the right amount of nutrients at the right time, and they reward you with faster growth, fatter/longer buds, and denser buds.

The easiest way to do that is start with good cannabis nutrients and follow a proven nutrient schedule. That ensures your cannabis plants always get what they need.

Why This Works: Nutrients are more like a multivitamin than food. Cannabis plants get their food from light, so you get the best harvest by giving plants the right amount of nutrients (not too much, not too little).

Insider Tip: Take the time to pH balance your water before giving to plants. This helps keep leaves green and healthy.

Harvest Rescue: How to Stop Flowering Stage Deficiencies

Learn more: Choose Great Cannabis Nutrients for bigger buds

4.) Give Plants a Bud-Building Environment

Quick win: Get a thermometer for the grow space to track the environment in your grow space. Proper temperature and humidity are key to good bud quality, and having a way to measure them is the first step.

The ideal bud-building environment is essentially a warm, sunny, breezy day. Aim for 70-80°F (20-26°C) and 40-60% relative humidity.

I hang up my thermometer so it’s easy to see when peeking on the plants.

Why This Works: A plant in a good environment is a happy plant. Without sweltering heat, high humidity, or stale air, cannabis has more energy to put toward bud-building.

Insider Tip: Use a small oscillating fan in the grow space to strengthen stems, prevent hot spots, and improve bud structure formation. I love this quiet little grow tent clip fan which hooks directly to the poles of a grow tent.

Learn more: Control Growing Environment (make the growing environment work for you)

5.) Harvest at the Right TIme = Improve Potency

Quick win: Choose the right time to harvest (around when all the hairs have curled in). A little patience goes a long way.

Why this works: Buds can gain 10-25% of their size in just the last week or two, and harvesting at the right time helps buds reach their full potential as far as THC, smell, and density.

Insider tip: Our harvest book turns harvest timing into the most fun and masterful part of home growing.

Get our complete cannabis harvest system.

About Nebula Haze & GrowWeedEasy.com

GrowWeedEasy.com was created in 2010 by Nebula Haze and Sirius Fourside to help people learn how to grow great weed at home. Our focus is helping growers get better results with simple, step-by-step cannabis growing tutorials based on real grows, real pictures, and real home grow experience.

You might like…

• How to Improve Bud Quality with the Environment
• Low Stress Training: Manipulate How Plants Grow
• How to Stop Flowering Stage Deficiencies

The post 5 Quick Wins for Bigger Buds in an Indoor Setup appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Table of Contents

1. No-Move Germination – Plant seeds directly in final pot.
2. 18/6 Light Schedule – Set timer to 18/6 ON/OFF
3. Water Seedlings Right – In a small circle every 2-3 days
4. Perfect Environment – Like a warm Spring day
5. Measure Your Success – How big to expect seedlings to be

Bonus: 7 Recommended Seeds for a Strong Start

How to Start Strong: Fast-Growing Cannabis Seedlings

Many cannabis growers struggle with seed germination and seedling care. That’s normal! But cannabis germination and happy seedlings are easy with the right techniques.

Give cannabis a great grow light, like this TSL2000 LED (8-14 oz yield – learn more)

Here’s how to get seedlings to grow: Follow the steps in this “fast start” seedling tutorial. Your cannabis seedlings will grow so fast that other growers won’t believe how big they are for their age.

These cannabis plants are just 1 month from germination. They got off to an ultra-strong start using the techniques in this tutorial.

Starting strong is an important aspect of achieving big yields with cannabis. Especially autoflower strains, which have an extra short seedling period, and start flowering (making buds) in just a month from germination. That means a slow start results in small autoflower cannabis plants that stop growing bigger when they only have a few bud sites.

No matter what you do, a tiny stunted plant can not compete on yields with a big cannabis plant with tons of bud sites positioned directly under the grow light.

1.) Germination – Plant Directly in Soil

My recommended germination method for a fast start is to plant the seed directly in the coco or soil. This way you never have to move your seedlings after they sprout.

Plant your cannabis seeds and keep them warm during germination. Warmth is key to fast, strong seed germination.

2.) Light Schedule – 18/6 ON/OFF

My recommended light schedule for seedlings is 18 hours light/day. You can give cannabis plants up to 24 hours of light a day, but giving a 6-hour night increases the overall hardiness of seedlings vs giving them no dark period.

Use a cheap electrical timer to turn your grow lights on and off for you. Set it to turn the lights off for 6 hours a day. Perfect for cannabis seedlings.

Give seedlings 18 hours of light a day by putting grow light on a timer.

Use a cheap electrical timer to turn your grow lights on and off for you. Set it to turn the lights off for 6 hours a day. Perfect for cannabis seedlings.

Just plug your grow light into the timer, and the timer into an electrical outlet. Now you’re good to go! The timer turns the lights on and off for you on the 18/6 schedule.

3.) Watering Seedlings – In a small circle around the base, every 2-3 days

The easiest way to stunt autoflowering seedlings is from poor watering. Give them the right amount of water (not too much, not too little) so they’re growing fast right out of the gate.

Give just a little water at a time in a small circle around the base of new seedlings at first. Water every 2-3 days.

4.) Environment – Like a warm Spring day

Analogy: Seedlings are kind of like the story of the 3 bears. Just like Goldilocks, seeds want the temperature just right. Not too cold, not too hot.

Ideal Environment for Seedlings

• Warm – 80-85°F / 27-30°C is a lovely warm-but-not-too-hot temperature range for new seedlings and young cannabis plants.
• Medium-high humidity – 50-65% RH is a good humidity range after the seedlings have popped their heads above the soil. Too low humidity and seedlings get stressed. Too high humidity and seedlings don’t grow as fast as they could because their leaves can’t transpire as much.
• Breezy – Make sure plants have fresh air, plus a gentle breeze to strengthen stems and help prevent the possibility of mold or stem rot.

5.) Measure Your Success – How big to expect seedlings to be.

Aim for 6 sets of new leaves by day 21 from germination.

If plants have grown at least 6 sets of leaves in 3 weeks (day 21) from germination, you’re perfectly on track. If plants have fewer leaves than that, it’s okay, but you may still have room to improve your start.

For photoperiod plants, a slow start isn’t a big deal; it just means you may need an extra week or two in the vegetative stage. However, for autoflowering plants on a tight schedule, slow start plants may not get as big or produce as much weed as they could have.

An average “strong start” looks like this. These cannabis plants are 21 days from germination. Some are bigger than others, but overall they’re all growing fast and healthy. Even the smallest one has 6 sets of leaves (though the 6th set has just started growing in on that upper right plant).

In perfect conditions, with fast-growing strains and a strong grow light, cannabis plants can get even bigger in that time. These autoflowering plants are also just 21 days from germination. Now that’s a STRONG start. I think this is the biggest I’ve ever seen seedlings get in that time period. Note: They were grown under an 4000k LEC/CMH grow light, which tends to get faster vegetative growth than other grow lights, in my experience.

Cannabis plants depend on you for a strong start.

For photoperiod plants, a strong start can shave a week or two off your total grow time, which is awesome.

For autoflowering plants (which start making buds when they’re about a month old on average), a strong start is key to getting good yields. If autoflowering plants start making buds before they reach a good size, they’ll stay stunted and puny, incapable of producing a big harvest. That means it increases your yields to avoid common pitfalls that slow down young plants.

By germinating seeds in their final destination, giving 18 hours of light a day, watering seedlings perfectly, and giving a perfect environment, you’ll get strong fast-growing seedlings that get big quickly and can start flowering as soon as possible to produce a big harvest.

Give great care to your cannabis plants and they reward you well!

Bonus: Recommended Seeds for a Strong Start

Standard Strains (Photoperiod) – These are my top 3 personal favorite strains right now.

• Candy Games #38 – Good germination, outstanding density and bud appearance. May be one of the most potent strains on the market, testing at over 30% THC. Smells amazing. Grows hard “nugs” of weed that are easy to dry.
• Mandarin Cookies V2 – I absolutely love the buds from this strain, including the appearance, but especially the effects. Buds are potent, relaxing and smell of pineapple and sweet to me. Produces stellar bud quality even if you make some mistakes. Absolutely encrusted in trichomes, and tests particularly high in relaxing limonene.
• Purple Ghost Candy – This strain is extremely easy to grow with massive yields and some of the best bud quality I’ve grown. Plants get big, and grow fast. Make sure to initiate 12/12 once plants reach half the final desired size. Responds extremely well to training. Will reward you with enormous yields, just make sure to give plenty of light and nutrients.

Four different examples of Mandarin Cookies V2 I’ve grown in different environments. Forgiving plants, and always an outstanding smoke.

And an example of the resulting Mandarin Cookies V2 buds after harvest. Like out of High Times magazine 🙂

Autoflowering Strains

• Banana Daddy Auto RBX2 – very potent but still relaxing effects (described as “euphoric) that may be a good choice for those with anxiety who still want to get high, with around 24% THC and 1-2% CBD. About 80 days from germination to harvest. Chunky buds and the plant stays a manageable height.
• Blue Dream Auto – Ready in as little as 62 days though THC improves over another 1-2 weeks, dense buds, low CBD to help the buds feel more potent.
• Creme de la Chem Auto – A personal favorite, ready in 65-75 days (mine was ready in 70). I love the bud effects, which feel strong yet mellow and relaxing.

Bonus: Pineapple Express Auto – One of the most famous auto-flowering strains of all time, this is ready to harvest in under 70 days from germination.

This Creme de la Chem Auto grown under a tiny LED turned into a bud ball.

The post 5 Steps to Give Cannabis Plants the Best Start appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

See Other Examples of Cannabis Growing Setups

Mars Hydro TSL-2000 Quantum Board LED Grow Setup for Growing Cannabis

• Average Yields: 8-14 oz ounces
• Plants: Recommended 2-6 plants
• Optimal grow space is a 2’x4’x6′ grow tent
• Actual Power Consumption: About 300W at full power, and can be dimmed down for younger plants or if the temperature is getting too high
• How Far to Keep from Plants: 24″ from the top of plants in the vegetative stage, and 18-24″ away in the flowering stage (watch plants for signs of light stress)

Mars Hydro TSL2000 LED grow light – great seed-to-harvest cannabis grow light.

Example of cannabis plants grown under the TSL2000 MarsHydro LED grow light (by Sandra, an alumni of our Home Grow Masterclass).

About the Mars Hydro TSL2000 LED Setup for Growing Weed Indoors

This is currently the LED I’m using for growing weed. Mars Hydro does testing on live cannabis plants and it shows. Cannabis plants grow fast and healthy under every Mars Hydro LED grow light I’ve tried, and it gets some of the best LED bud density and yields in the 2×4 footprint range.

Pros: The Mars Hydro TSL-2000 is a bar style quantum board with a great spectrum and ultra-high efficiency chips that seems to get better yields than some other LEDs for the amount of electricity. They’re gentle on plants and easy to use. The giant reflector does a great job of getting light through the whole tent so buds get fat right up to the walls.

Cons: The metal reflector is a bit sharp around the edges (at least mind is). I didn’t have any issues with it, but I did cover the edges with duct tape so I didn’t accidentally bump my head into it.

Setup Cost Estimates

Estimated Cost: $575+

• Ultra budget (no smell filtering): $575
• Ultra budget + smell filtering: $675
• Premium – higher quality fan plus optional extras: $850

Summary of what’s needed for this Mars Hydro TSL2000 LED cannabis grow light setup.

Complete Grow Supply List

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

Mars Hydro TSL2000 Quantum Board LED Grow Light (up to 350 watts)

Mars Hydro TSL2000 LED grow light (designed to be used from seed to harvest)

• Yields: 8-14 oz per harvest
• Simple to use and hang. Works exactly as you’d expect.
• Gets great growth on young plants as well as excellent bud formation.
• Only uses 300 watts of electricity (can be turned down if necessary)

Cost: $360

The Mars Hydro TSL2000 can produce up to 14 oz of weed when used as directed

The TSL2000 LED grow light is dimmable, so you have full control over the intensity.

Example of cannabis buds I grew under the Mars Hydro TSL-2000 (strain is Zweet Inzanity). Check out the full grow journal!

More cannabis plants grown under the Mars Hydro TSL-2000.

My most recent harvest of cannabis plants grown under the Mars Hydro TSL2000.

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. A grow tent is an easy and cheap way to instantly create a perfect cannabis grow space that can deal with water, light, heat, and smells.

• 2’x4’x6′ tent – an example is Mars Hydro 48”x24”x71” grow tent.

Cost: $110

This Mars Hydro tent is a good fit for the Mars Hydro TSL2000 LED grow light.

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 more than enough for a 2’x4’x6′ grow tent.

• Recommended:  6″ AC Infinity CLOUDLINE series of inline exhaust fans. These are quiet at top speed and completely silent at lower speeds.
  • S6 is the cheaper, simpler version which works well and gives you basic fan speed controls
  • The programmable T6 version has handy extras like a Temperature/Humidity Probe and Display Screen
  • I picked the 6″ fans because their 4″ fan struggles to keep this size tent cool if the grow room gets warm, though it could get the job done in a pinch.
• Budget choice (Cheap but loud): 6″ Vivosun fan
  • The Vivosun 6″ Fan – 440 CFM is significantly smaller and cheaper. However, it is also significantly louder and uses more electricity.

Cost: $80+ ($80-160)

The AC Infinity CLOUDLINE S6 6″ exhaust fan uses less electricity and runs quieter than most other exhaust fans of similar power. It is silent on the lower settings. The programmable T6 version is the exact same fan but has a digital screen that gives you more control over the fan settings.

(Optional) Carbon Filter – For smell filtering

When set up properly, a carbon filter removes 100% of odors but it must be attached to a good exhaust fan (like the AC Infinity above) to work.

• Recommended: AC Infinity 6-inch Carbon Filter, 6″ x 16″ version plus ducting/clamps

Cost: $100

I’ve had great smell filtering with the above 6″ AC Infinity Cloudline fan attached to a matching 6″ carbon filter with 6″ ducting.

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: $20

These 5-gallon fabric pots work great 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 beginners.

• Recommended Soil: One 2 cu ft 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 Beginner 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.

Cost: $20

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

Premium Nutrient Alternative: General Hydroponics Flora Trio. It costs a bit more and isn’t quite as simple as Dyna-Gro, but this is my personal favorite nutrient system for growing weed. Check out my cannabis growers’ guide to the Flora trio.

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) – $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
  • Advanced Alternative: These Govee Thermometers let you check the temperature and humidity from your phone. Convenient! – $32
• PH Test Kit – Prevent potential nutrient deficiencies by testing the water pH – $20
• Measuring spoons for measuring out your nutrients (many people already have these) – $9

Estimated Cost: $575-$850 plus the cost of seeds

• Ultra budget (no smell filtering): $575
• Ultra budget + smell filtering: $675
• Premium – higher quality fan plus optional extras: $850

More cannabis plants grown under the Mars Hydro TSL2000 LED grow light

By DD

By Andres

By Amanda

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

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

Why do growers cure weed in the first place?

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

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

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

This Purple Ghost Candy got ultra dense after curing.

A cannabis grower’s 3 best curing tools:

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

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

Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Cannabis Curing

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

Step 1: Dry and Trim Your Buds After Harvest

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

Why Dry Buds Before Curing?

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

Buds are dry and ready to jar when…

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

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

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

Why Trim Buds Before Curing?

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

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

Example of trimmed vs untrimmed cannabis buds.

Helpful Tutorials

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What containers to cure weed?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But they’re cheap and fun!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some strains like Platinum Cookies smell like a tasty dessert!

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

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

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

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

Step 4: Enjoy Your Cured Buds!

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

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

Is it worth curing buds for longer than 2 weeks?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What about long-term storage?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Growing!

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

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About the Author: Nebula Haze

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

Keep smiling and growing,
~Nebula Haze

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“Fimming” (also known as FIMing) is a cannabis grow technique to increase yields. Discovered by mistake, this unusual plant training technique increases the number and size of cannabis buds. When the fimming is done right, of course. This marijuana fimming tutorial shows you how to fim plants perfectly every time.

Fimming refers to removing the top growth of a young cannabis plant, like this.

The result of successful fimming? 4 branches from one spot.

Fimming can help make more bushy, productive cannabis plants.

What to remember: The ultimate goal of fimming is to create a bushy plant with lots of main branches. This results in many big buds instead of only one.

What is fimming cannabis? Growers pinch off the top of a cannabis plant when it’s a few weeks old. When timed just right, plants naturally grow more top buds once the plant starts flowering. The fimming process causes a plant to naturally grow more wide and bushy as it develops. When growing cannabis indoors, creating a wide, flat plant is key to getting the biggest yields from your setup. Fimming naturally helps create that ideal plant shape for you.

A freshly “fimmed” cannabis plant.

Does fimming increase cannabis yields?

Yes, usually. The results of fimming range from “no effect” to “very effective”, depending on whether it’s done correctly. The bonus of basic fimming is growers can’t really do it wrong. The worst that can happen is no effect. But if you follow this fimming tutorial, your cannabis yields consistently get a yield boost.

Is fimming better than “topping”?

“Topping” is a similar technique to fimming, also to increase cannabis yields. The difference is topping means removing the whole top of the plant. Fimming means pinching off a small amount of growth.

Both methods are effective to make plants grow bushy and produce lots of big buds. Topping consistently splits the main stem into two, but you can accidentally stunt plants if you do it at the wrong time. Fimming is less consistent, resulting in 1-4 stems coming from the same spot, though you should get all four when fimming is done right. If you fim cannabis plants wrong, the result is no effect, and you’ll have the same single main stem as before. You can’t stunt a plant by simply fimming, but if you do it wrong, it doesn’t work and you don’t get any of the benefits.

Learn More: Topping vs FIMing Cannabis Tutorial

Why is it called “Fimming”? Fimming was discovered by mistake, and the name “Fim” reflects that history. The story goes that a cannabis grower tried to cut off the top of the plant, but didn’t do a complete job. But he liked the results better, and named the technique “FIM” for “F*ck I Missed”. Fimming was born.

How to “Fim” a Cannabis Plant

The main idea behind fimming is to “mow” off the top growth of your plant. The goal is to split the main stem into 4 stems with one strategic cut. A plant with 4 main stems is easy to train to grow wide and flat with simple bending. When done right, fimming cannabis can give results somewhat similar to time-intensive manifolding without adding weeks onto your grow time.

Wait until plant has grown 3-5 sets of leaves. At the right time, you’ll noticed all the lower stems are starting to grow into little branches. Yes, it’s not just about the total number of leaves, but also the overall size of the plant. If a plant is still tiny and thin, you should wait even if it’s got plenty of sets of leaves.

Too small to fim – even though this has 3 sets of leaves, the plant is tiny. The lower growth has not started growing away from the stem yet. Wait until plant gets a bit bigger or it may get stunted from fimming.

Beginning of fim window – This plant is just barely big enough to fim. The lower branches are just starting to grow away from the main stem. You might get better results by waiting just a bit longer.

Ideal size to fim – A cannabis plant about this size is the perfect size to fim. It’s got about 4 sets of leaves, and the lower growth is starting to grow away from the main stem into little branches of their own.

End of fimming window – This seedling has 5 full sets of leaves, starting on the 6th. This is about as big a cannabis plant should be when you fim. If your plant is bigger than this (and still in the vegetative stage), you should use the “topping” technique instead of fimming. To top a plant, cut through the main stem right above the 5th set of leaves (check out the full topping tutorial).

Right after fimming your young cannabis plant, it should have a “mowed” top left behind. Look at the above diagram to try to make sure you’re cutting through at the best spot.

Look at your plant and compare to the diagram above.

Remove this much growth to “fim” a cannabis plant.

Leave this much behind.

When done right, fimming results in 4 stems coming from essentially the same spot on the cannabis plant. However, fimming is not always the most consistent. Instead of 4 tops, if you don’t cut at the right spot you might end up with 1, 2, or 3 tops instead of all 4. If you want total control with perfect symmetry, check out the “topping” technique instead.

It’s normal for the new growth right after fimming to look weird. Remember, you cut off 80% of these leaves before they got a chance to grow out! If you damage a young leaf, it becomes more and more obvious as the leaf grows. However, brand new leaves after these ones should look normal.

A few days later, those mowed leaves from fimming should look a bit funny growing in.

Plants that have been fimmed naturally grow more bushy, which helps maximize yields in the flowering stage.

However, to improve your results, bend over tall branches. Just regularly bend the tallest stems down and away from the center of the plant, and tie them down. This process is known as Low Stress Training, or LST for short.

Keep bending tall stems down, so plant grows wide and flat.

The result? Tons of buds at harvest time!

Advanced Technique: Remove all stems but the top 4 (Serious Fimming)

Some growers take their fimming to the next step. Instead of just splitting the stem into 4 and letting the plant grow naturally, some growers remove all the other stems on the plant. In other words, they remove all steps but the top 4 they want to keep.

A fimmed cannabis stem. All but the top 4 stems were removed off the main “trunk”. Source: Nugbuckets

This makes it so all branches come from essentially the same spot on the cannabis plant.

Another example of a cannabis plant that was fimmed and all other branches removed. Source:Tarzan

However, if you want to go this direction, you may enjoy a more consistent plant training technique known as manifolding.

Learn how to manifold your cannabis plants.

Manifolding – better than fimming for cannabis growers who want symmetry.

Now you know how to fim your cannabis plants, so you get bigger yields at harvest time!

Want to learn about other marijuana plant training techniques to increase yields? Check this out!

Complete Guide to Cannabis Plant Training Techniques

The post “Fimming” Cannabis: The Secret to a Bigger Harvest? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

It’s weed time! If you’re growing cannabis plants, then the flowering stage is when your weed comes in. But what do you need to know to make sure your flowering stage ends in a magnificent harvest? Find out today!

Buds are the dried flowers of a female cannabis plant.

An annual plant like cannabis normally grows from seed to maturity and dies over the course of one year. Like many flowering plants, there are 2 main phases of life for marijuana plants: the Vegetative Stage and the Flowering Stage. 

Vegetative Stage

First, a cannabis plant goes through a phase of vegetative growth, producing lots of stems and leaves. In this stage, the plant only gets bigger and does not make any flowers or buds. We recently covered the cannabis vegetative stage in depth.

In the Vegetative Stage, cannabis plants only grow stems and leaves. No buds.

Flowering Stage

Next, when a cannabis plant “senses” that the year is coming to a close, the plant completely switches gears from growing bigger/taller and begins a flowering phase of growth. During this flowering stage, the main goal of the plant is to produce flowers, which are the organs needed for sexual reproduction.

The Flowering Stage is when your cannabis plants grow buds (aka “weed” “marijuana” or “sinsemilla”).

At first the flowers looks like white hairs.

But they soon develop into familiar buds.

When buds reach peak potency, the branches are cut and hung upside down to dry.

Dried buds are jarred, and soon are ready to be smoked!

Nothing is more satisfying than smoking your own homegrown weed, like this Platinum Cookies.

Now that you understand the basics, let’s cover everything you need to know about the Flowering Stage of cannabis growth, including:

• What to Expect During the Flowering Stage
• Flowering Light Schedule: When to Start 12/12 Photoperiods

5 Keys to Flowering Stage Success

• Temperature – Not too hot or cold
• Light Spectrum – Mimic the Autumn sun
• Light Intensity – More light = more buds (to a point)
• Nutrients – Give bud-boosting nutrients
• Seeds – Start with great seeds to grow great weed

What to Expect During the Flowering Stage

With most cannabis plants, the “signal” that tells them when to start flowering is how much light and darkness they get each day, also known as their photoperiods. (The exception is auto-flowering strains)

Let me explain.

For most strains of cannabis, once the plant starts experiencing longer nights (when they’re getting 12+ hours of darkness each day), they enter into the flowering stage within a few weeks.

This is because the plant uses a special chemical process to sense how long the nights are. When night periods get long enough, the plant “senses” winter is coming and starts preparing to make seeds by beginning to flower.

Though all cannabis plants look the same when they’re very young, they reveal their sex in the flowering stage.

Yes, sex.

Most cannabis plants are either male or female, which is part of their genetic programming.

Home growers are often only concerned with female cannabis plants, because only female plants produce the beautifully sticky flowers (or “buds”) that we love so much. On the other hand, male cannabis plants grow pollen sacs instead of buds.

Male and female cannabis plants look the same until they start making flowers.

Note: Pre-flowers can also reveal a cannabis plant’s sex about 3-8 weeks from germination, depending on the strain.

When flowering begins, female plants start growing wispy white hairs at the base of each fan leaf. These hairs are actually the pistils of their flowers. The spots where these white hairs appear develop into buds, and are sometimes called “bud sites”.

Wispy white hairs = female plant

Male plants start growing “balls” that form into pollen sacs, in the same places a female plant grows wispy hairs. Most growers kill male cannabis plants on sight, to prevent them from pollinating the female plants (pollinated female plants focus on making seeds instead of buds, giving you seedy buds and dramatically reducing your yields).

Bunches of “grapes” = male plant

Important: Only Female Plants Make Buds!

In the flowering stage, only female cannabis plants make buds. In the flowering stage, watch closely to make sure all your plants are female.

Buds look like bunches of white hairs at first.

Watch Out for Male Cannabis Plants!

When a male cannabis plant starts flowering, it makes pollen sacs instead of buds. Pollen sacs look like little balls at first, and often have zero psychoactive effects.

Remove male plants quickly! If you see a male plant, it’s recommended to immediately remove it from the grow area. Otherwise the pollen can cause your buds to get seedy.

Male cannabis plants only make pollen sacs in the flowering stage.

After a few weeks, pollen sacs open and spill pollen everywhere, causing nearby buds to grow seeds.

Male cannabis plants are pretty…

…but you don’t want any pollen near your buds!

Use “Feminized” Seeds for All-Female Plants

Luckily, home growers can start with feminized seeds. All your cannabis plants are female with this type of seed, so you can be sure every plant grows buds, and only buds.

Start with feminized cannabis seeds to ensure every cannabis plant is female and grows buds.

As female cannabis plants continue to mature, their buds look more and more like the buds you buy.

Those bunches of white hairs form into solid buds over several weeks.

At harvest time, the hairs on buds have darkened and curled in.

Ready-to-harvest buds look mostly solid, like this. 

The Flowering Stage of cannabis can be a worrying time for growers because flowering plants are not as tough as they were in the vegetative stage. Flowering plants often have a bigger visible reaction to problems or stress.

Imagine what your plant is going through. Sure, it is a little stressed out trying to make awesome flowers. But a female plant just needs a little extra loving care in this stage to produce the biggest, most potent buds possible.

Don’t worry about minor slip-ups, but do watch your plants closely in the flowering stage, especially your first few grows, and you’ll be able to handle anything that comes up by using the information below.

Now that you know what to expect during the flowering stage, when should you initiate it?

Grow Light Flowering Light Schedule: When to Start 12/12 Photoperiods

It’s generally recommended to switch indoor plants over to the flowering stage when they’ve reached half their final desired height.

Switch to 12/12 when cannabis plants are half height.

Most cannabis strains about double in height before their buds are ready to harvest. “Short” strains tend to stretch less. “Tall” strains may triple in height. Learn more about the “flowering stretch“.

For indoor growers, set your timer so that the lights are off for 12 hours a day to “tell” your plants to start flowering. This is known as the 12-12 light schedule because you’re providing 12 hours of light, and 12 hours of dark each day.

Here are those same 3 cannabis plants at harvest. Twice the height and covered in buds.

However, strain makes a difference. Pay attention to the breeder notes for a strain to see if it tends to be particularly tall or short. The following example helps show the difference in “stretch” between a short and a tall strain.

“Short” vs “Tall” strain – How much does cannabis grow after initiating 12/12? It depends.

Why do cannabis plants need total darkness during their daily 12-hour dark period?

As I mentioned before, cannabis plants decide to start flowering in response to how long their NIGHTS are.

In fact, many growers mistakenly believe that 12 hour days are important, when what’s actually most important is the length of uninterrupted night, or darkness.

Cannabis plants need total darkness during their 12-hour dark period. Even a candle can prevent flowering or cause re-vegging.

Total darkness is needed because specific chemical changes happen during long nights that tell the plant to start flowering.

So for example, your plant would still start flowering if you gave your plant 12 hours of darkness then 24 hours of light, then 12 hours of darkness, etc.

Though this is a generalized rule. It’s important to keep in mind that cannabis naturally grows all over the world, in many different climates. This has caused a lot of variation between strains that can be confusing for new growers.

Some strains respond very strongly to different light cycles, and may be triggered to start flowering after only a few “long nights.”

Other strains, especially Sativa strains from equatorial regions, may need even longer nights to be triggered to start flowering. For these tall, lanky plants, you may need up to 14 hours of darkness each day before they “get the hint” and start flowering. Typically, a breeder will list this in the strain details so you aren’t surprised.

Certain strains may need extra-long nights (up to 14 hours a day) to flower properly.

For reference, these varieties of cannabis tend to be harder to manipulate using the light cycle:

• Moroccan strains
• Southern African strains
• Commercial hemp
• Hybrids developed for early outdoor harvests (September or earlier)

These strains are more likely to respond negatively to light leaks and more likely to show hermaphrodites in response to light stress. For some reason, they also tend to be harder to clone.

Want to Ignore Light Periods?

Some extreme northern varieties of cannabis, for example the Ruderalis or “auto-flowering” strain are actually not photosensitive at all. For these plants, the amount of time since germination (the age of the plant) seems to determine when to start flowering.

Auto-flowering strains automatically make buds without special light periods.

Learn about auto-flowering cannabis strains.

5 Keys to a Productive Flowering Stage

While the light period is your main tool to “tell” your plants to start flowering, other factors can have an effect on happy natural development of buds, (the importance of these “secondary” factors is dependent on the strain).

So in addition to photoperiod (i.e., day length), which we already discussed, factors such as light quality (spectral composition), light quantity (photon flux density), vernalization (exposure to a long period of cold), and nutrient and water availability may have some strain-dependent effects. Other strains are much less sensitive to these other environmental variables. Of course, the strain itself is crucially important as well, as genetics control how a plant grows and develops buds.

Cannabis plants need a good environment to grow big, beautiful buds.

In the wild, flowering can be initiated by stresses such as nutrient deficiencies, lack of water, or overcrowding. Why? This allows the plant to produce seeds in bad conditions, and seeds are much more likely to survive environmental stress than the plant itself (which only lives for one year in the best case scenario).

Yet as the grower, you don’t want to “stress” your plant into flowering. You’d much rather get plants to start flowering naturally. This also gives you more control over your garden.

1.) Temperature While Buds are Forming

Avoid Heat– High amounts of heat (especially above 80°F or 27°C) can cause several problems during flooding, including loose airy buds, as well as buds with low potency or smell. The heat both “burns off” the good stuff, while also preventing the plant from forming them in the first place.

Avoid Cold – Cooler temperatures are not as bad as too much heat, but you don’t want it to be under 75°F (23°F) during lights-on if possible. If it’s cold all the time, especially during the first 6 weeks of the flowering stage, buds won’t get as big as they normally would. There is some evidence that the presence of cooler temperatures can cause some strains to start flowering quicker, but does not necessarily increase how fast buds develop.

Quick Tip: For many purple strains, cooler temperatures at night are needed during the last ~2 weeks of the flowering stage for the buds to develop their signature purple coloring.

Cool nights during the last 2 weeks tend to bring out purple in many cannabis strains.

Freezing temperatures will kill most varieties of cannabis. In the wild they live their whole life cycle in one year and die when winter comes, so they have no need to become resistant to freezing cold.

2.) Light Color/Spectrum: Flowering Grow Lights Mimic the Fall Sun

For optimal bud production, growers often switch their grow lights to “warmer” colored lights with higher amount of red and far red. This combination simulates the Autumn sun and helps plants start flowering, stay in the flowering stage, and grow the biggest buds.

If you went for a MH/HPS grow light, now’s the time for that thin HPS bulb that produces yellow light.

However, most home cannabis growers these days are using LED grow lights. Each model is a little different, but here are some tips to keep in mind.

1. Get Flowering LEDs, If Possible – Some LED grow lights are labeled as “bloom” or “flowering” LEDs. These tend to get the best yields and bud potency in the flowering stage. Typically they appear to have a white-pinkish light.
2. Flowering Setting – Some LED lights come with a “flowering” setting that should be chosen during the flowering stage.
3. Choose a Trusted LED Brand – Certain LED manufacturers have created LEDs that are specially tuned to growing cannabis plants, and even test their lights on actual cannabis plants. These companies include Spider Farmer, Mars Hydro, and HLG. Any of their LED grow lights will produce spectacular weed if used as directed.

It’s important to note that any grow lights will work during the flowering stage. But extra strong lights with higher levels of red give you the best results.

Light from good modern flowering LEDs usually looks white to the human eye, often with a tinge of pink or yellow.

If you’re growing outdoors, you let the sun do its thing and just watch your plants for signs of problems or stress.

3.) High Light Intensity

Strong, intense light is what fuels the growth of buds. Photons are like “food” for cannabis plants. Plants use photosynthesis to turn light into sugar for energy to grow. As a general rule, if your plant is staying healthy, then more light = more buds during the flowering stage. However, too much light will start causing symptoms of light stress.

More light = more buds (to a point)

After you reduce all other limiting factors, there comes a point where even stronger light can’t be used by the plant to grow more buds and may hurt them. This is where some dedicated growers have discovered tricks (like supplementing CO2 in the grow room), which allow plants to use even more of the light, increasing yields beyond what would naturally be possible.

However, for most new growers, just mastering the basics and preventing problems during the flowering stage will cause a huge increase in yields even with a humble grow light. Often, this increase in yields from understanding the basics is more than you would get by upgrading your lights.

I’ve seen many dedicated growers get bigger yields in his or her first grow with a relatively small 200W LED grow light than other growers who start with an enormous 600W LED light and the most advanced equipment or nutrients available. That’s because it’s much easier to manage plants under a smaller grow light, so you maximize your plant’s potential. With a big grow light, growers may struggle with heat and light burn, reducing both their yields and bud quality while wasting electricity.

How to Maximize Light Intensity: Choose the right grow light for your space, and keep your lights the right distance away.

High light intensity is necessary for big, dense buds. Remember, light is food for plants.

4.) Bud-Boosting Flowering Stage Nutrients

Most cannabis-friendly nutrient systems have you change to a “flowering” schedule when buds start forming. Flowering nutrients contain higher levels of the nutrients a cannabis plant needs for the creation of buds. Flowering nutrients also contain lower levels of nitrogen, because too much nitrogen tends to make flowering cannabis plants more leafy with fewer and smaller buds.

Want effective and easy nutrients for bud formation? Dyna-Gro Bloom works well at 1 tsp/gallon for cannabis.

Full tutorial: How to Use Dyna-Gro Nutrients to Grow Cannabis

A lot of beginner growers add excessively high levels of nutrients at this stage thinking that the plant will take it in as food and grow bigger buds.

The hard truth is that adding too many nutrients will only burn your plant. Nutrients does not equal food for your plants. If anything, nutrients are more like their multivitamin, and light is their food.

Too much nutrients = nutrient burn

So as far as nutrient levels, you’ll want to keep doing things the way you have been, just with flowering-specific nutrients. You’ve already dialed into what works for this plant, don’t go totally crazy on it with nutrients now.

Only increase nutrient levels if your plant is showing signs of a deficiency, and only if you’ve ruled out pH problems as the culprit. Even then, increase nutrients slowly and watch plants for signs of nutrient burn. Adding more nutrients than needed during the second half of the flowering stage can give an unpleasant “taste” to your buds, even with organic nutrients such as compost/manure.

Towards the end of the flowering stage, it’s natural for there to be some yellow leaves near the bottom of the plant. No need to increase nutrient levels at this juncture. However, if top leaves are turning yellow, or bottom leaves are turning yellow early, try to figure out the cause and fix it quickly. Your plant needs a lot of green, healthy leaves until just before harvest in order to make the biggest and best buds possible.

5.) Start with Great Seeds (Ultra-Important)

This isn’t something you actually do in the flowering stage, but your seeds determine half your results at harvest, or more. You can’t grow great weed without great genetics.

Think about it, if you grow hemp seeds, the buds won’t have any potency whatsoever. If you grow seeds you find, you don’t know if they got the “good genes” from their parents, or whether they’re grow completely different from the buds you found them in.

3 Proven Cannabis Seed Sources

These are the 3 main cannabis seed sources I personally use when I’m growing weed.

• Seedsman – For growers who want the biggest selection of cannabis strains possible. They’ve got just about everything! Especially in 2025, they have continuously updated their offerings with some of the best breeders. They also breed their own top-tier in-house strains which are cheap seeds for what you get.
• North Atlantic Seed Co. – This seed company was started by and is run by home growers. They take genetics seriously, and heavily screen all breeders. You can feel confident any breeder on this website is a trustworthy breeder or they wouldn’t be there. A great source of rare American genetics.
• MSNL Seeds – This company is run by a geneticist. What I like about these strains is he thoroughly lab tests each strain for potency and smells, and freely shares that information about each strain. If you’re looking for consistent plants with particular potency or effects, this is an excellent choice.

Learn about other recommended cannabis breeders.

3 Recommended Strains for Home Growers

If you want more specific recommendations, let me share my 3 current favorite strains as of mid-2024. These are the strains I’ve grown before, and am currently growing again.

1.) Pineapple Chunk

Pineapple Chunk is a quintessential European strain that continues to impress me I grew it in 2012, then 2015, 2022, and recently again in early 2024. Every time the buds came out even better than the previous time. I personally think this may be Barney Farm’s best strain, and that explains why they keep refining it. This one was grown under a newer LED grow light and smelled like a mix of citrus with a hint of strawberry. Buds came out dense and sparkly.

2.) Liberty Haze

I am a huge fan of Liberty Haze. The bud effects remind me of the unique psychedelic “day” (uplifting) effects of now-rare outdoor Sativa strains. You never see them anymore because they get huge and need long hot summers in order to produce properly. Liberty Haze gives you access to those bud effects yet is suitable to grow indoors. It still tends to grow tall and stretchy, but as long as you top the plants when they’re small (cut off the tops, which forces the buds to makes many buds instead of one), you can wrangle them indoors.

The left plant here is the 2nd time I grew Liberty Haze. As you can see it got a bit tall, which I’ve come to expect, but it was otherwise easy to grow and produced excellent yields. The Critical Kush on the right was also a good plant, but the Liberty Haze buds won when it came to effects.

Example of a Liberty Haze plant sent in by a reader.

3.) Amnesia

This strain lives up to its name. Amnesia buds are known for making you forget what you were just saying. Not necessarily the best choice for social situations (unless you all just want to chill) but perfect for relaxation at the end of a long day.

Example of an Amnesia plant I grew in a hydroponic setup.

Closeup of Amnesia buds. Dense and chunky!

Here’s a detailed guide on how to research and find the best strain for you.

Now you have a complete overview of everything you need to master the flowering stage, the most important stage of growth for most growers. Now check out some specific tips and hints so you produce the best buds possible!

You might like: Week-by-Week Timeline: What to Expect in the Flowering Stage

About the Author: Nebula Haze

In response to the need for more tutorials aimed at new growers, Nebula co-founded GrowWeedEasy.com in 2010 with fellow grower Sirius Fourside.

Since then, Nebula has published hundreds of growing articles in print and online, teaches online video lessons, and continues to dedicate herself to serving the needs of the cannabis growing community.

“My mission is to show other cannabis enthusiasts how easy and fun it can be to grow pounds of killer weed out of your closet.”

The post Growing Marijuana: The Flowering Stage appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Like many flowering plants, there are two phases of life for marijuana. Note: The scientific name for the marijuana plant is “cannabis”.

First, a cannabis plant goes through a phase of vegetative growth, producing mainly stems and leaves.

Cannabis plants in the vegetative stage look like this. All leaves, no buds.

Second, the plant goes through a flowering phase of growth where it begins to produce the organs (flowers) needed for sexual reproduction. This is when your plant starts growing “buds”. These buds are what most growers want, but you have to make it through the vegetative stage first!

Did you know? “Buds” are the flowers of a female cannabis plant.

It’s a bit like how many animals are first non-sexual “youngsters” focused on growth, then become “adults” in order to sexually reproduce. In fact, before a cannabis plant “hits puberty,” you usually can’t tell by looking if the plant is going to be a male or a female!

For the vegetative stage, male and female plants look almost identical.

Today, I will cover everything you need to know about the first stage of cannabis growth, including:

• What Happens During the Vegetative Stage?
• How Long Does the Vegetative Stage Last?
• Tips and Hints: How to Avoid Common Vegetative Stage Problems

I shed light on everything you need to know about the marijuana flowering stage here.

What happens during the Vegetative Stage?

Many home growers start with seeds. After your cannabis seedling grows the first set of “real” cannabis leaves (the initial set of leaves are smooth, pictured below), the plant is pretty much officially in the vegetative stage of growth.

A seedling’s first leaves are smooth. After that, new leaves have serrated edges like “real” cannabis leaves.

Did you know? The smooth first set of leaves are called “cotyledon” leaves. These leaves were already fully formed within the shell. Germination just lets them free. That’s why they don’t look like the leaves a cannabis seedling grows later.

A happy, healthy cannabis seedling a day after germination.

Here are 10 day old cannabis seedlings.

Learn how to care for cannabis seedlings so they grow fast (mainly just water them on the right schedule).

If you started with clones as opposed to seeds, your plant is generally considered in the vegetative stage once you see new leaves start growing.

During the entire Vegetative Stage, your plant will grow big and tall, but won’t produce flowers or buds.

Plants keep growing more and more leaves in the vegetative stage.

Quick fact: Cannabis is considered an “annual” plant. In the wild, each new cannabis seedling goes through his or her entire life cycle and produces seeds over the course of one year. That means wild cannabis plants die naturally when winter comes, making room for the next year’s seedlings.

How long does the vegetative stage last?

As the gardener, you actually have a lot of control over how long the vegetative stage lasts. At least for standard photoperiod strains.

As the grower, you control how long the vegetative stage lasts (except auto-flowering strains). You can keep plants small or let them grow big.

This is because a photoperiod cannabis plant relies on environmental factors to know when to switch to flowering.

Environmental factors “tell” a cannabis plant to either stay in the vegetative stage or start flowering, and these factors are easy to control.

The main thing cannabis “pays attention to” is the length of light and continuous dark periods it receives each day. Long days keep plants in the vegetative stage, while long nights initiate cannabis plants to to start flowering.

Long days keep plants in the vegetative stage. Indoors, give plants 18+ hours of light per day.

This makes sense, if you consider that in the wild, a cannabis plant will need some way to know that winter is coming.

For photoperiod strains of cannabis, the plants “notice” the days are getting shorter. In response, they start flowering to make sure seeds get made before winter comes.

When growing cannabis outdoors, you have less control over the length of the vegetative stage since you can’t control the sun and how long it shines each day.

Most outdoor growers choose to plant their seeds or clones in the spring, allowing the plant to naturally go through its life cycle and start flowering as the days shorten and winter approaches.

One of the convenient aspects of growing cannabis indoors is that the light and dark periods experienced by your plants are easy to control. Indoors, you are the master of when lights go on and off.

As long as you ensure that your indoor plants get 18-24 hours of light each day, they stay in the vegetative phase of growth essentially forever. This gives you ultimate power over how long the vegetative stage lasts, and therefore how big your plants get before they start making buds.

Most indoor growers invest in an electrical timer to turn their lights on and off automatically.

Use an electrical timer to put grow lights on a 12/12 light schedule to trigger flowering.

In order to “tell” your plant to change over to the flowering stage, you change their light schedule to give them at least 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness each night. For your cannabis plant shorter days and longer nights is the signal to start flowering.

Long nights trigger flowering in photoperiod cannabis by “telling” the plant to start making buds.

Auto-flowering Strains Are Different

A notable exception to these principles are “auto-flowering” cannabis plants, derived from the non-psychoactive Ruderalis strain of cannabis, pictured here.

Auto-flowering strains are descended from non-psychoactive Ruderalis variety of cannabis, which automatically make buds.

Auto-flowering strains always start from seed. Here are some of my favorite auto-flowering strains. These special strains run on an internal clock that tells them when to start flowering. They don’t care about light period. For auto-flowering cannabis plants, you do not have any real control over how long the plant stays in the vegetative stage, it just naturally switches over to flowering after a certain amount of time.

If you didn’t particularly get an “auto” or “auto-flowering” seed from a seed bank, chances are your seeds are the ‘regular’ kind of cannabis that’s controlled by light periods, as discussed here. This light period sensitive strains are listed as “photoperiod” strains.

Therefore, the answer to how long should you keep your plants in the vegetative stage will vary with how big you want your final plants to be.

If you are trying to keep your plants smaller, you will keep them in the vegetative stage for a shorter amount of time. If you want a bigger final plant, you will need to invest more time letting the plant gain size in the vegetative stage before switching to flowering.

The time spent in the vegetative stage (which you control) determines the final height and size of the plant.

When growing cannabis indoors, a good rule of thumb is to change your plant over to the flowering stage once it reaches half the final height you desire. This is especially crucial when you’re a new grower or growing an unknown strain.

That bears repeating.

Change your vegetative plants to the flowering stage when they’ve reached half the final desired height.

As I mentioned before, you tell a cannabis plant to start flowering by changing your light schedule to give them 12 hours of darkness a day.

Depending on the strain and growing conditions, it’s not uncommon for cannabis plants to double in height after they’ve first switched over to the flowering stage.

Some growers turn their plants over to flowering when they’re barely more than a seedling, while others will wait until the plant is much larger.

It all depends on how big you want your final plant to be.

Learn about the various growth control methods you can use to control exactly how your plant grows during the vegetative stage, so you’re perfectly prepped to get huge yields from the flowering stage.

Next, what do growers need to look out for during the Vegetative stage?

Cannabis-Specific Tips and Hints: Vegetative Stage

How to Avoid Common Problems

The Vegetative Stage is the most forgiving stage in your cannabis plant’s life. Vegetative plants bounce back quickly from problems.

Your vegetating plants should be showing rapid healthy growth. If not, make sure you fix things now or your plants may become a disaster during the less-forgiving Flowering Stage.

Just the Right Amount of Light

If your cannabis plants seem green and relatively healthy, but just seem to be growing slowly, there’s a strong chance you need to increase the intensity of the light.

Another sign of light starvation is if you notice that your plants are growing taller at a much faster rate than they are growing branches and leaves. If you see your plant is ‘stretching’ upwards, the solution is to increase the light intensity.

Plants that get the right amount of light grow healthy and bushy. I love this Spider Farmer SF-2000 LED grow light (my review).

“Stretchy” tall plants usually need more light.

2 Ways to Increase Intensity of Light

• Move lights closer (watch plants closely at first).
• Upgrade to a stronger grow light.

Plants with stress only on the top leaves (light burn) often need less light.

3 Ways to Lower the Intensity of Light

• Move grow light further away
• Reduce light power (some grow lights let you dial down the intensity)
• Downsize to a smaller grow light

Small grow lights can produce a surprising amount of weed when used correctly.

Root Health Is Crucial For Healthy Growth

Root health is incredibly important if you want to get fast healthy growth. Your watering schedule is crucial and an incorrect watering schedule can kill your plants.

Drooping is the most common symptom of over-watering or under-watering. Learn how to water seedlings.

Over-watered cannabis plants droop and grow slowly.

When your once-healthy plants are drooping no matter what you do with your watering schedule, and you’re giving them enough light, it’s often a sign these plants have root problems. Root problems often come with a musty smell near the roots.

In addition to droopiness, root problems may also rear their ugly head with malformed, discolored or wrinkled leaves.

I’ve found that many “unexplainable” cannabis issues are often the result of overwatering or root problems. Overwatering can even cause nutrient deficiencies!

Root problems can cause unusual symptoms.

How to Water Cannabis Correctly

Cannabis loves well-draining soil or potting mix, hates mud. Seedlings only need a little water at a time.

For seedlings, give water in a small circle around the base of the plant.

Here’s a full tutorial on how to water cannabis seedlings perfectly every time.

But after your plants are bigger, here’s what to do:

• Every time you water your plants, keep adding more water until about 20% extra runoff water comes out the bottom.
• Don’t water plants again until the top inch (to the first knuckle of your index finger) of growing medium is dry.

Read the complete watering cannabis tutorial.

If you’re growing cannabis directly in water, other measures are needed to make sure your plant’s roots stay healthy. For example, the water must be oxygenated to give roots the oxygen they need, and you should use a proven root supplement like Hydroguard to prevent root rot.

Learn about growing cannabis directly in water.

Nutrients and pH of the Roots

With all nutrient systems that you’re trying out for the first time, I highly suggest starting at half the recommended nutrient levels when growing weed. That’s because many nutrient companies recommend too much nutrients for most cannabis plants.

If you’re not sure which nutrient system to get, Dyna-Gro Grow and Bloom gives you a simple cannabis-friendly nutrient system that works great for growing cannabis when used at half strength. Here’s how to use Dyna-Gro with cannabis plants.

Learn about great nutrients for cannabis plants.

No matter what nutrients you’re using, never increase the concentration of nutrient unless you see signs of nutrient deficiencies and have already ruled out pH problems.

(Wait… what about pH? Learn what you need to know about pH here.)

With nutrients, I’ve found over and over that I get the best cannabis yields when I lean towards the side of “too little” instead of “too much” nutrients. Often, what appears to be nutrient deficiencies end up being pH problems.

This is why I always start nutrients at half strength when growing with new nutrient system, unless I’m given a custom cannabis schedule, and only move up when I see deficiencies and have ruled out pH as the culprit.

Often a “nutrient deficiency” is actually a pH problem. The yellowing and spots here are caused by incorrect pH, not too little nutrients.

Watch Your Humidity

Avoid letting the humidity get too high or low in the vegetative stage, especially when plants are young seedlings or clones. This helps your plant live a stress-free, healthy life.

Extra dry (especially when combined with hot) conditions can cause plants in the vegetative stage to seem extra finicky. When it’s too dry, your plants will generally have more problems and need more care. In fact, in dry areas, cannabis growers often think you they nutrient problems, yet just raising the humidity in the grow room to the 40-60% range clears the problems right up. You can increase humidity of your grow room with a humidifier.

On the other hand, cannabis plants don’t drink much water and tend to grow slowly when the humidity is above 60%. High humidity levels are extra bad for plants that are growing buds, as we discuss in our tutorial about bud rot. You can reduce the humidity of your cannabis grow space with a dehumidifier.

After you’ve mastered the basics of growing cannabis, this is something to consider. I’ve found that you can get cannabis plants to grow faster and healthier during the vegetative stage by maintaining around 50% humidity if possible.

Humidity in the 40-60% range makes vegetative cannabis plants happy.

Summary: The Cannabis Vegetative Stage

Here’s what you need to remember about the vegetative stage.

Vegetative Stage Basics

• The vegetative stage of life begins after a cannabis seedling develops its first set of true leaves.
• During the vegetative stage, cannabis plants only grow stems and leaves. They do not produce buds.

For Photoperiod Strains:

• The length of the vegetative stage is controlled by you, the grower.
• You keep photoperiod plants in the vegetative stage by giving 18-24 hours of light per day.
• Keep plants in the vegetative stage until they’re about 1/2 the final desired height, then initiate the flowering stage.
• Trigger the flowering stage by giving plants a 12/12 light schedule (12 hours of uninterrupted darkness each day).

Learn about cannabis photoperiod strains.

For Auto-flowering Strains:

• Auto-flowering strains switch to the flowering stage based on time, not light schedules.
• Most auto-flowering plants automatically start flowering when they’re 4-6 weeks old (depending on strain) from germination.

Learn about growing cannabis auto-flowering strains.

Common Vegetative Stage Issues and Tips:

• Light – Give the right amount of light to prevent slow growth or stretching.
• Watering – Avoid over-watering or under-watering for healthy roots.
• Nutrients – Use good cannabis nutrients. Start with half the recommended dose and watch how plants react.
• pH – Keep an eye on soil pH to prevent nutrient deficiencies.
• Humidity – Keep humidity levels between 40-60% for optimal vegetative growth.

Key Takeaways:

• Proper amounts of light, water, nutrients, and humidity in the vegetative stage sets the foundation for a successful flowering stage.
• Understand and control these factors to prevent common problems and promote healthy, happy cannabis plants.

About the Author: Nebula Haze

In response to the need for more tutorials aimed at new growers, Nebula co-founded GrowWeedEasy.com in 2008 with fellow grower Sirius Fourside.

Since then, Nebula has published hundreds of growing articles in print and online, teaches online cannabis cultivation courses, runs a weekly growing newsletter, and continues to dedicate herself to serving the needs of the cannabis growing community.

“My mission is to show other cannabis growers how easy and fun it can be to grow pounds of killer weed out of your closet.” ~Nebula

The post Growing Marijuana: The Vegetative Stage appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

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

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

Why Let Your Cannabis Buds Embrace the Sun?

Why grow your cannabis outdoors?

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

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

Pros of Growing Cannabis Outdoors vs Indoor Growing

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

There’s something particularly beautiful about outdoor cannabis plants.

Cons of Growing Cannabis Outdoors vs Indoors

Cannabis Pests Want Your Plants

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

Local Climate Might Not Be Optimal

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

Artificial Light Can Cause Problems (Photoperiod Strains)

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

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

Stealth is Paramount

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

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

Lacewing eggs make GOOD bugs.

Less Control

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

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

Overview: Timeline of an Outdoor Cannabis Plant in This Tutorial

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 1: Source Quality Seeds

You have two main options, autoflowering or photoperiod strains.

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

Other factors to keep in mind:

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

Recommended Outdoor Autoflowering Strains

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

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

Recommended Photoperiod Strains for Outdoor Growing

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

Frisian Dew is the quintessential outdoor cannabis strain.

Step 2: Set Up Your Grow Spot

What Supplies Do you Need?

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

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

What’s the best soil for growing cannabis?

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

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

This is bad soil!!!

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

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

Check out more recommended cannabis nutrients.

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

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

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

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

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

Learn more about air pots vs regular pots.

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

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

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

Where should I grow cannabis outdoors?

Here’s what to consider.

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

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

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

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

Step 3: Start Seedlings Indoors

Easy method:

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

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

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

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

Step 4: Transition to Nature in Early Summer

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

Just transplanted to a 15 gallon pot.

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

A plant going out for summer in Australia.

Follow a Proven Watering Schedule and Nutrient Regimen

How to Water Plants in Pots

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

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

How to Water Plants in a Raised Bed or Giant Pot

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

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

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

How to Avoid Cannabis Nutrient Deficiencies

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

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

Step 5: Shield with a Midsummer’s Spray

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 6: Tend to Buds as they Grow

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

Defoliation

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

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

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

Make sure buds are developing normally

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some plants grow purple buds. Pretty!

Frisian Dew picture by hamburger

Step 7: Reap the Fruits – Harvest and Cure

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

When to Harvest Cannabis

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

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

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

Solid buds with almost no white hairs – ready!

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

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

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

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

Read the full cannabis drying & curing tutorial.

Cheat Sheet to Prevent the Most Common Outdoor Growing Problems

Remember these principles to prevent most problems growing cannabis outdoors:

How to Avoid Bugs Outdoors

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

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

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

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

Conclusion: The Rewarding Journey of Outdoor Cannabis Cultivation

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

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

More helpful outdoor growing resources:

Getting Good Seeds for Outdoors

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

Dealing with Plant Problems Outdoors

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

Outdoor Growing: Additional Tutorials

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

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

Cannabis plants can be male or female, but only female cannabis plants make buds. Female cannabis flowers are buds, and male cannabis flowers are pollen sacs, which contain low THC and are poor to smoke. Male pollen sacs eventually open and release pollen, which pollinates the female cannabis plants, and causes buds to grow seeds, which also results in smaller buds with lower THC levels.

These days, most home cannabis growers start with feminized cannabis seeds because they grow only female plants, which means every plant will make buds. Other growers watch their cannabis plants as flowers start developing, then identify and remove male cannabis plants.

Feminized cannabis seeds are the best way to ensure that every plant is female. This way you don’t need to worry about identifying the sex of plants!

But if you can’t buy cannabis seeds online, and must start with another source of seeds, there is a strong chance that about half the plants will be male and half will be female.

With standard, non-feminized cannabis seeds, plants grow 50/50 male vs female plants. That means half of the plants won’t make buds and, even worse, cause the buds you do have to make seeds.

If you’re worried some of your plants may be male, here is the easiest way to determine the sex of your cannabis plants while they’re still in the vegetative stagae.

How to Identify the Sex of a Cannabis Plant

Here’s how to identify the sex of your cannabis plants even if they’re still in the vegetative stage.

1.) Take a cutting (clone) from the unverified cannabis plant and put it in a glass of water.

I take stems off the plant and put them in a cup of water. You don’t need your cuttings to make roots before identifying the sex. As long as you give light and make sure the cup always has water, the cutting should stay alive long enough to identify the sex.

If you have extra stems, you can take multiple cuttings and put them in the same cup. Some cuttings will show their sex sooner than others, so taking multiple cuttings may speed up the process by a few days in some cases.

2.) Label both the clone and the mother plant with the name of the strain so you know which clone came from which corresponding mother plant.

I use disposable cups and write the name on the cup. You could also put a piece of tape on a cup and write the name on that. You should do this step if you’re identifying the sex of more than one marijuana plant at a time. If you don’t label your clones, then all your effort will be for naught because you won’t know which clone is which!

3.) Give clones a light schedule with 12+ hours of darkness every day to initiate flowering and get the cuttings to reveal their sex.

Again, you don’t need to wait for the clones to establish roots before changing the light schedule. You can start this immediately after you take the cutting. The cuttings will start flowering even if their roots haven’t formed yet. However, you should make sure they get at least some direct light during their “day” to keep them healthy long enough to reveal their sex.

4.) Clones will reveal their sex in 1-3 weeks.

Look to the joints where leaves meet the stem. Males develop balls and females develop white hairs. Click here for more information and pictures about how to sex a cannabis plant.

Female cannabis plant – The first flowers of a female cannabis plant looks like this. You will see white hairs coming where leaves meet the stem.

Notice the white wispy hairs at the “joints” where the leaves meet the stem. You can see from my fingers at the top, for scale.

This is what female cannabis flowers look like at the top of the plant. You will notice white hairs emerging from the leaves.

Male cannabis plant – The first flowers of a male cannabis plant look like this. You will see little balls, like grapes, that appear in the same place as female plants. Male pollen sacs often also appear at the top of the cutting.

Male pollen sacs are tiny and hard to see at first, but pollen sacs quickly start growing in bunches that are easy to identify. Look how tiny this pollen sac is compared to my finger.

Here are male pollen sacs after they start growing in bunches. You know for sure this is a male plant when you see bunches of balls without any white hairs.

5.) Remove male cannabis plants. 

Once you have determined the sex of your clones, you should make sure you throw away any corresponding male plants. Or at least move them to somewhere safe so their pollen can’t get to the buds of your female cannabis plants by accident.

Now you can grow your known-female cannabis plants with confidence. Once they start flowering, they will make the same type of flowers as the cuttings you took. Continue to care for your female cannabis plants with a ton of light, no nutrient deficiencies, and consistent 12-hour dark periods, and don’t let them get hot during the last 2-3 weeks before harvest.

Mission Complete: You know the sex of your cannabis plants and have only bud-making plants left.

It’s bud time!

Click here for a list of recommended beginner cannabis strains (all-female seeds unless otherwise indicated)

The post How to Use a Cup of Water to Identify Cannabis Sex in the Vegetative Stage appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.