Over a thousand of you sent in your real cannabis grow challenges in a recent survey. I read through them all. I noticed most problems actually come down to just a few specific patterns. Today, I’m starting a new series where each week I answer a few of the most common questions.

Seeds & Seedlings

• How do I get consistent seed germination?
• Why do some cannabis seedlings grow slow?

Autoflowers

• Do autoflowers need extra nutrients?

Bud Quality

• Why did my cannabis plants look healthy but grow airy buds?

1.) How do I get consistent seed germination?

Struggles with germination are extremely common. Luckily, seed germination is easy to master once you find the right technique.

Turn seeds into fast-growing seedlings.

Example question

“Only a only handful of seeds have opened up while soaking, and none have sprouted. What do I do?”

First off, if you buy seeds that don’t germinate, contact the people who sold you seeds. Most reputable seed companies have a germination guarantee, which means they will replace seeds that don’t sprout.

That being said, certain cannabis strains sprout stronger than others. In some tests, these seeds germinated faster than average: Purple Haze, Northern Lights #10, Green Crack, Do-Si-Dos, Black Cat Kush

In a recent test, Purple Haze seeds achieved a 99.3% germination rate (142 out of 143 sprouted).

Second, try a different germination method.

Don’t keep doing the same thing over and over if it’s not working.

In this case, the grower mentioned soaking seeds, which typically means they either put seeds in a glass of water or used the “wet paper towel method”.

These are both excellent germination methods, but some growers struggle with them.

Solution: Plant Seed Directly in Soil

If you’ve struggled with multi-step germination methods, try one of the simplest. This works for most growers if you just follow the instructions exactly as stated.

1. Plant the seed directly in the soil or coco about a knuckle deep. See the picture below.
2. Cover seed loosely with soil. The seed shouldn’t get direct light until it sprouts. Add no more soil than necessary to accomplish that.
3. Give water, warmth, and light – Give 2 cups (500 mL) of water so the soil and seed stays moist even with the light on. Keep your grow light turned on for warmth, but not too close.
4. Don’t touch – Once a seed is in soil, don’t mess with it. If it starts to dry out from the grow light, very gently dribble a few more spoonfuls of water, but otherwise leave the seed undisturbed to do its thing.
5. Sprouts appear 1-3 days later on average, though certain strains and older seeds might take up to a week.

Learn more about sprouting cannabis seeds directly in soil.

2.) Why do some seedlings grow slow at first?

Seedlings can feel so mysterious, but they’re actually simple things with simple needs. Give them a good environment plus a little bit of water, and they’re happy.

Example Question

“I use organic living soil (mild not hot) and organic bottled nutrients. I always see really slow growth during weeks 1 through 4 🤔 What can I do for faster seedling growth.

Slow growing seedlings in good soil are usually caused by one of these 3 things.

• Too Much Water <– Probably This – Watering too much or too often is the #1 cause of slow-growing cannabis seedlings. Underwatering makes similar symptoms, but is less common.
• Hot or Cold – Temperature should be between 70-85°F (20-30°C) for happy seedlings.If the grow space gets too hot or too cool on a regular basis, plants tend to grow slower.
• Light Starvation – If a seedling grows tall and stringy without many leaves, it needs more light. Either increase the light intensity or number of hours of light per day.

Droopy, small seedlings like this one in the middle usually aren’t getting the right amount of water.

Solution: Keep cannabis plants warm and breezy under a proven LED grow light the recommended distance away (or sunlight).

Insider Tip: If the pot feels heavy, give less water.

For the first week after germination, give seedlings just 2 cups (500 mL) of water every few days. For the second week, give just 3 cups (750 mL) of water every few days. Raise the amount as they get bigger.

Follow our day-by-day seedling watering schedule for fast-growing seedlings.

With good watering and environment, 3-week-old cannabis seedlings should be about this size.

3.) Do autoflowers need special nutrients?

Many of the questions we received involved autoflowers, including what nutrients to give them so they start fast and grow big.

Example Question:

Can you give autoflowers organic nutrients like you would do a photoperiod plant? I have good soil, which has some nutrients, but I want maximum growth. I heard to give autoflowers very small amounts of nutrients during the first few weeks.

Can you give autoflowers regular cannabis nutrients? Yes, when it comes to nutrients you can treat autoflowers essentially like photoperiod plants.

• Vegetative Stage – Give “vegetative” or “all purpose” nutrients until buds start forming. Example: FloraNova Grow or Pure Blend Pro Grow
• Flowering Stage – Once you see fluffy white buds, switch to “flowering” or “bloom” nutrients until harvest. Example: FloraNova Bloom or Pure Blend Pro Bloom (Soil Only)

Learn more about cannabis nutrients.

Note: Autoflowers can be extra sensitive to overwatering. Follow our day-by-day watering schedule for fast-growing autoflower seedlings.

These autoflowers got “regular” cannabis nutrients. See the grow journal.

Are you an autoflower grower (or want to be?): Learn 5 tips for faster-growing and higher-yielding autoflowers.

4.) Why did my cannabis plants look healthy but grow airy buds?

If your plant is looking healthy, but buds still aren’t as dense, it’s usually one of four things: light intensity, bud spacing at top of plants, genetics/seeds, or the flowering environment.

Example Question: 

• “My plants looked healthy and green, but the buds weren’t as dense as I wanted. I used nutrients, kept the pH at the recommended 6.1 pH in coco, and grew under 400W of LED light in a 4×4 tent with 6 plants. Is bud density more about nutrients, light, plant crowding, or something else?”

Why are my bud airy?

How do I make them grow dense?

It is unlikely that nutrients or pH are the problem because your plants are healthy.

Light Intensity or Quality

When buds are not getting dense, the most common cause is too-weak or poor-quality grow light.

A great 400W LED can make dense buds; however, a mediocre 400W fixture may not get the same density even if you use it properly. Here are some recommended LED grow lights for cannabis.

For a 4×4 grow tent, in general, 400W is an acceptable but relatively low amount of light power for cannabis plants, especially if the entire tent is filled with buds from end to end. For a 4×4 ideally you’d like a total of 450-600W to get the best density from corner to corner.

Bud Spacing at Top of Plants

You mentioned crowding. It’s not the number of plants that matters as much as the number of bud sites located in the top canopy. No matter what you do, the densest buds are always going to be the ones at the top of the plant.

Six plants can do great in a 4×4 if you keep the canopy wide and flat before you initiate flowering, ensuring you get a lot of bud sites spread out in a flat line.

Spread out plants as they grow. Each “star” from above becomes a main bud site.

With wide, flat plants, you get a “sea” of dense buds.

With canopy management, bud density suffers if you have lots of inner or lower buds, or an uneven height so only a few buds are located at the top.

Genetics

Some strains or individual plants make fluffier or more airy buds even in the best conditions. So it’s really important that you get the right genetics to create the buds that you want. Especially if you’re chasing density, the number one step is to get genetics and seeds that will produce plants that consistently make dense buds. With some strains, you’ll get dense buds even in sub-par conditions.

G13 x Hashplant buds tend to be on the denser side

Here are some examples of seeds that tend to produce dense buds, even if you make some mistakes

• Orange Glaze
• Super Boof
• G13 x Hashplant
• Permanent Marker
• Grave Candy Autoflower (learn about autoflowers)

Learn how to research strains to find what you want.

Flowering Environment

While buds are developing, your flowering environment matters. Things like high heat, high humidity, weak airflow can all reduce the quality of buds. Not just density, but also prevent them from reaching max THC and smell.

Buds like it not too hot, not too humid.

Ideal budding environment is around 70-80°F (20-26°C) and 50% RH.

Luckily, this is an easy one. If you set up your grow tent right the first time, heat and humidity should be taken care of already.

Learn more how environment affects cannabis bud quality.

Those are the first several questions in our “Grow Questions: Answered” series. Join our newsletter to get more answers delivered to you each Sunday.

The post Home Cannabis Grower Q&As appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Do you need an expensive LED grow light to produce exceptional weed? No. Even a tiny cannabis-friendly LED produces excellent bud quality with good seeds and plant care.

A $70 100W LED grew these Candy Games #38 buds.

Last week we talked about avoiding lots of the most common beginner mistakes when growing weed at home. Today I wanted to talk about how to save money on equipment, which can sometimes be the most expensive mistake.

The truth is you don’t need a crazy setup or exotic nutrients, you just need to ensure what you get is suitable for growing cannabis.

Example harvest under a Spider Farmer 100W LED (full setup with tent and filter is ~$290)

This is all you need to get to a top-shelf home cannabis harvest…

1.) Cannabis Seeds

Your seeds determine 50% or more of your results, so don’t choose lightly.

If price is the biggest barrier, this $5 seed menu by NASC has a limited rotating selection of top-quality genetics. If you’re looking to get good seeds for cheap, this is a great option. Here are my favorite cannabis strains for beginners.

Not sure?

• Easy (Hardy with Big Yields): Blue Dream, Godfather OG (very potent), White Widow
• Top-Shelf Buds (Sparkle & Smell): Mandarin Cookies, Blueberry Muffin, Crescendo RBx1
• Fastest Harvest (Autoflower Strains): Strawberry Cheesecake Auto, Special Queen 1 Auto, Purple Lemonade Auto

The seeds decide what buds look, smell, and smoke like.

2.) Bright, Direct Light

Light is food for cannabis plants, and they need a lot of light to produce big, potent, sparkly buds.

In general, more light equals more bud.

Outdoors, cannabis plants should be getting 6+ hours of strong, direct sunlight per day.

Lots of light + room to grow (this is an 11 lb harvest)

Note: There’s still time to grow outdoors this year.

Indoors, a strong grow light is needed to get significant yields.

For most indoor home growers, a LED grow light specifically made to grow cannabis plants is your best light option.

LEDs are easy to use, electrically efficient and don’t produce much heat. Even a small 100W LED can consistently grow high-quality, dense cannabis buds when kept the right distance away.

What about yields? When it comes to cannabis-specific LEDs, the wattage is a very good indicator of how much light it’s going to make.

That means higher-wattage grow lights increase the maximum yields you can expect.

100W cannabis harvest (this is 3.1 oz) – Full 2’x2′ setup ~$290.

300W cannabis harvest (this is 10.4 oz) – Full 2’x4′ setup ~$575.

600W cannabis harvest (this is 20.1 oz, or 1.3 lbs) – Example 4’x4′ setup ~$770.

Learn about the best LED grow lights for cannabis.

3.) Grow Medium (Soil, Coco, Hydro)

Soil or Coco is easiest for beginners since you can just plant a seed. Soil looks darker and has some nutrients, which lasts plants a few weeks. However, plants in soil grow a little slower and may be more prone to bugs.

Outdoor growers love soil: For cannabis growers powered by the sun, a recent outdoor cannabis grow study found the most successful outdoor growers typically grow in soil.

Grow weed in soil – nutrients last a few weeks

Coco is made out of ground coconut husks. Coco contains no nutrition, which means you need to add nutrients in the water from the beginning or plants won’t grow.

The pros are slightly faster growth, less prone to overwatering, and more resistant to some pests.

Grow weed in coco – slightly faster growth, but must add nutrients from the start.

Serious beginners can succeed at hydro on their first grow, too (that’s how my husband Sirius started growing weed). You just need to follow good instructions when establishing your seedlings so their roots grow healthy and strong. After cannabis plants are established, hydroponic maintenance may actually be easier than soil or coco.

Grow weed in hydro – add nutrients from the start, fastest growth.

Learn more: What’s the Best Grow Medium? Soil vs Coco vs Hydro.

4.) Cannabis Nutrients (Add to the Water)

Cannabis plants use a lot more nutrients than most houseplants and need a good source of nutrients (fertilizer).

During the crucial budding phase, buds won’t get as big as they could if they run out of nutrients during the flowering stage.

For most cannabis growers, adding extra nutrients in the water increases harvest results vs not adding nutrients.

• Regular soil contains some nutrients, but cannabis plants often quickly deplete the soil.
• Coco and hydro don’t contain any nutrients, so you must add nutrients to the water.

That means using a proven cannabis nutrient system is an easy way to maximize your results.

I use the General Hydroponics Flora trio. Fast growth, big buds, smooth smoke. Use at half-strength what it says on the bottle. If you want something simpler, the FloraNova duo uses just one bottle per stage.

Cannabis I grew from seed to weed in under 90 days with the General Hydroponics Flora trio (see the grow journal).

Learn about the best cannabis nutrients.

5.) Make Watering Easy

You should have a source of water close to your plants, because giving water regularly is your main job after getting everything set up. If you’re giving nutrients, you add it to the water before giving it to plants.

Follow a proven watering schedule for cannabis seedlings and make it easy to catch and remove runoff water. Established plants need to be watered every few days unless you provide extra water automatically, for example by using auto-watering pot bases.

When it comes to saving time, making it easier to water your plants is where to aim your focus. That’s because you can mostly automate watering and create an easy way to remove runoff water. That way you’re not spending much time watering your plants.

Auto-watering pot bases can water established cannabis plants for up to a week.

Learn how to water plants so it’s as easy as possible.

The post The Beginner’s Grow Setup: Minimum Supplies for Top-Shelf Weed appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7 Secrets to Healthy Cannabis Plants in a DWC Hydro Tub

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Make Hydro Life Even Easier

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

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

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

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

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

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

Never worry about spills

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

10-Gallon Tub or Bigger

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cannabis plants in buckets tend to stay smaller.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But can you grow cannabis plants in little hydro tubs?

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

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

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

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

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

A fun project!

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

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

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.

Got marijuana plants growing in soil? Most nutrients work, but cannabis plants grow best when your nutrients are designed to grow weed plants in soil.

3 Top Soil Nutrients for Growing Weed

• Fox Farms Nutrient Trio for Soil – professional marijuana soil nutrients, mostly organic ingredients.
• Botanicare PureBlend (Grow & Bloom) – pro nutrients for beginners, one bottle per stage.
• Dyna-Gro Grow & Bloom – cheap & effective, use in soil at 1 tsp/gallon.

The Fox Farm soil nutrients are the most popular nutrients for growing cannabis in soil.

Sirius grew these in good cannabis soil with Fox Farm nutrients and LED grow lights.

Quick Guide: When to Give More Nutrients in Soil

These are signs your cannabis plant in soil needs more nutrients overall. Giving soil nutrients to plants with the following symptoms typically solves the problem within just a few waterings. Other nutrient deficiencies are often actually a pH problem.

Pale, lime green cannabis plants in soil = you need to add more nutrients.

If many lower leaves turn yellow and fall off, especially while buds are forming, it’s a sign the plant is “stealing” nutrients from the bottom of the plant to give to the hard-working leaves at the top.

That means if many lower leaves are turning yellow and falling off on their own, you need to add more nutrients.

Add more nutrients if bottom leaves are turning yellow and falling off.

If the bottom of your pot looks like this, the cannabis plant needs more nutrients.

When the Nutrient Problem is Caused by PH

If you see these different symptoms, the cause is likely a pH problem, not needing more nutrients. See pictures of deficiencies caused by pH.

If you see brown spots, or yellow leaves are “stuck” on the plant, it’s likely actually a pH problem.

Another example of a nutrient deficiency caused by incorrect pH.

You can still get a great harvest even if you have some nutrient problems. But you get the best cannabis yields and bud quality when plants get extra nutrients while buds are forming.

Great nutrients grows healthy plants – see the grow journal.

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

Table of Contents

Do You Need Special Nutrients to Grow Marijuana in Soil?

What Type of Soil Should I Get?

Which Company Makes the Best Soil Nutrients?

Tips for Growing Marijuana in Soil

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

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

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

How to Get Enough Nutrients to Your Marijuana Plants

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

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

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

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

What Soil Should I Get to Grow Weed?

What Are the Best Soil Nutrients?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How Much Soil Nutrients to Give Cannabis?

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

Other Factors That Affect Nutrient Levels

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tips for Growing Cannabis in Soil

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

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

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

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

How to water adult cannabis plants in soil

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

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

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

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

Learn more about growing cannabis in soil!

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

“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.

If you’re a home cannabis grower, and buds just aren’t as big as you want, there is a reason why. Some strains like Blue Dream just produce way more weed than others, but there’s a lot you do as a grower that affects bud size besides genetics.

If your marijuana buds are staying tiny, you can fix it by following today’s tutorial!

With the right grow tactics, and you can consistently produce big, dense, and long cannabis buds (known as “colas”).

Strain is White Rhino

Follow today’s tutorial to grow a literal sea of cannabis colas. That way you can enjoy enormous yields of top-shelf buds every harvest!

Strain: Ultimate Auto

Cannabis plants are straightforward in the way that if you grow the right strains and treat them right, they consistently make big buds for you.

This tutorial breaks down the exact reason why cannabis buds stay small instead of growing big, dense, and long colas.

Look over this list to diagnose why your buds aren’t getting as big as they could, and simply address the issues that are affecting your garden. Soon, you’ll be enjoying your own huge cannabis harvests with big yields. And as a bonus, the things that make marijuana buds grow big are also the things that make buds grow dense, potent, and beautiful. You’ve got this.

How Grow Environment Can Make Small Buds

Your grow environment has a remarkable effect on how buds grow. A lot of cannabis growers may focus on other aspects of growing, and unintentionally treat their growing environment as an afterthought. If you make sure to avoid the following pitfalls, you greatly increase your overall bud size.

Weak light levels (most common reason)

• Indoors: The grow light isn’t strong enough. Make sure to get the right-sized grow light for your grow space. Learn how to pick the perfect grow light for your cannabis garden.
• Outdoors: The plant isn’t getting direct sunlight, or not getting enough light hours per day (should be getting 8+ hours/day of direct sunlight)

This plant was grown under a tiny LED grow light. Weak light levels are the most common reason for small buds.

Grow light is too far away

This is actually just another cause of weak light levels, and it can affect your bud size even if you’re using one of the best cannabis grow lights. Keep your grow light as close as possible without stressing the tops of plants.

Learn how far away to keep your cannabis grow lights.

Cannabis buds tend to stay small if the grow light is kept too far away.

Note: If the grow light is the recommended distance away, but plants are still getting light burn or top leaves look stressed, it’s likely that they’re actually suffering from a nutrient deficiency or other sub-optimal conditions like too high temperature. When a cannabis plant is under stress of some kind, symptoms show up first on the hardest-working leaves. Cannabis plants can take more light than almost any other plant if you give them ideal conditions and great nutrition. So if the manufacturer says to keep the grow light 18″ (45 cm) away, for example, but your plants are looking burnt at that distance, look over the rest of this list to diagnose why.

If your grow light is the proper distance away but the top of plants look stressed, there is likely another issue going on (like too much heat or a nutrient deficiency).

Heat or Cold

Temperature matters! If a plant is too hot of cold, it just can’t make big buds. You may also notice the plant drooping or growing slowly when it’s hot or cold. The ideal temperature for cannabis plants is 70-85°F (20-30°C). The further you get outside that range, the more it will affect your bud size. Note: Plants under HPS or other HID grow lights prefer it on the colder side of that spectrum, while plants under LED grow lights prefer to be on the higher end.

Learn about the ideal temperature for growing cannabis plants.

This cannabis plant is suffering from heat stress.

This plant is suffering from cold (cold is also a common cause of red leaves or stems).

High Humidity (or Extremely Low Humidity)

Though not nearly as important as temperature for bud size, very humid or dry air can also prevent buds from getting as big as they could. Ideally, you’d like to keep your humidity around 40-50% while buds are forming (this also helps prevent bud rot). Giving buds lots of airflow via fans can help if the humidity is too high, but it’s best to lower the overall humidity if possible. Usually, cannabis plants are more tolerant of low humidity, especially if they’ve grown with it their whole life, but once the air gets under 30% humidity, your buds may not fatten properly.

Learn more about humidity effects on cannabis.

When growing marijuana, very high or very low humidity can inhibit bud size.

Re-vegging (reverting to vegetative stage)

This is a common nickname for when a cannabis plant is re-vegetating or returning back to the vegetative stage. You know your plant is re-vegging if buds start growing, but suddenly you see your plant growing round, single-finger, or twisted leaves, and soon after the buds stop developing and start to die. Re-vegging is caused when a flowering plant is getting light during its dark period. Even small amounts of light (like a light leak, or checking on your plants during lights-off) can set re-vegging in motion.

Learn about cannabis plants re-vegging (and see tons more pics, as every plant looks a bit different when it happens).

If a budding marijuana plant gets light at night, it may “re-veg” and cause buds to stop growing.

Learn more about how the environment affects cannabis buds.

How Certain Plant Structures Tend to Grow Smaller Buds

Plant is too small when it starts making buds

Small cannabis plants simply can’t support big buds. For a photoperiod plant, this happens when flowering gets initiated too early (given a 12/12 light schedule too soon).

When a photoperiod cannabis plant is put into the flowering stage too early, it just can’t make big buds.

Autoflowering plants start budding on their own, so if they’re too small it usually means that they didn’t get optimal conditions when they were young, and therefore didn’t get big enough before they started flowering.

Learn more: What causes auto-flowering plants to get stunted?

Example of a stunted auto-flowering plant.

Small roots

You don’t need huge roots to grow big buds, but if you’re growing in a cup or a 1/2 gallon pot, they’re typically not able to get big enough to support really big buds unless you do a lot of extra work to make up for what the roots would normally be doing.

Some growers like to push the limits with small roots, but it takes work to overcome. Learn about the “solo cup challenge”.

As a super general rule of thumb, a cannabis plant can grow about an ounce of weed for every gallon of root space. Of course, this is different for each strain and depends on the nutrients, grow medium, and grow practices. But that gives you a very general idea of what to expect for most growers in most conditions. For a few ounces per plant, 2-3 gallons is good. To get 5+ ounces per plant, you should have at least a 5-gallon container for the roots.

Small roots tend to limit your overall bud size. This cannabis plant grown in a cup was allowed to get tall but the buds stayed tiny.

Too many lower buds

Buds that aren’t located at the top of the plant will never get as fat as the top ones even if everything else is the same. That’s why it’s ideal to use bending and other pruning techniques to make your plants grow flat and wide. This means all the buds are top buds, which helps them bulk up to their maximum size and density.

Notice in the following picture how the top buds get the biggest even though the plant is getting the same amount of light from top to bottom.

Lower buds won’t fatten like top buds.

Get cannabis plants to grow flat and wide (via plant training) to make it so all buds are top buds.

Overly leafy plants (especially if buds are hidden by leaves)

If your cannabis plants are so bushy that the buds are all hidden from the grow light, they won’t fatten. Only buds that receive direct light get big.

Learn how to defoliate your plants so buds are all exposed to the light.

Buds won’t get big if they don’t get direct light. Notice how there are barely any buds on these plants where there are tons of leaves.

Buds hidden by leaves just don’t develop to their full potential. Buds need light!

Not enough leaves

On the flip side, if growers over-defoliate (remove too many leaves), and the plant is bare without many leaves, it can’t conduct enough photosynthesis to power the growth of buds. Another reason you might not have enough leaves is if your plant has lost a lot of leaves due to nutrient deficiencies, heat stress, bugs, or other challenges.

If your cannabis plant has almost no leaves left, buds tend to stay small, especially if combined with other issues.

Don’t harvest buds early!

If buds are small, sometimes they just need more time. If you harvest cannabis buds before they’re fully mature, it reduces their final size. In fact, in some cases, buds can double in size in just the last 2-3 weeks before harvest, which helps explain why early harvesting can have such a devastating effect on bud size.

If there are still white hairs sticking out, it’s too early to harvest your cannabis buds!

How Nutrient Issues Affect Bud Size

Not enough nutrients overall

If plants appear pale or lime green all over, this is a sign the plant needs higher levels of nutrients overall, even if you don’t see nutrient deficiencies.

If your plant is pale or lime green all over, it needs higher levels of nutrients overall.

Nutrient deficiencies

A cannabis plant that’s showing lots of symptoms on the leaves can’t conduct photosynthesis, which is what it needs to do to make energy to grow buds.

Learn how to stop nutrient problems.

When your leaves have lots of nutrient deficiencies, cannabis buds may grow, but would otherwise grow bigger.

Pests and Diseases Can Greatly Reduce Bud Size if Left Unchecked

Bugs and diseases can take away energy from buds, especially if they are left untreated. Luckily, as long as you identify and get rid of pests early, your plant should bounce right back.

Learn more about cannabis pests and diseases.

This cannabis plant is suffering from a severe fungus gnat infestation, and buds aren’t reaching maximum size.

Some Cannabis Strains Naturally Grow Small Buds (even if you do everything else right!) aka “Small Bud” Strains

Some strains just won’t make big buds even if you give a perfect environment, plant structure, nutrients, and keep plants healthy and happy.

For example, I once grew an “Ocean Fruit” strain, and all the buds stayed small even though the plant was healthy and all the other buds with the same conditions fattened up beautifully. When I talked to other growers who’d grown the same strain, they had a similar experience. That being said, the buds were amazing, so it’s not always a terrible thing.

This Ocean Fruit cannabis strain tends to grow small buds even in perfect conditions.

The bud quality was excellent though, so not a total loss! Size isn’t everything.

On the other hand, some cannabis strains like Chamba will get big even if you make lots of mistakes. However, if buds get too big, typically the overall bud quality suffers, and you’re more likely to run into issues with bud rot.

In my opinion, the best cannabis strains are high-yielding, but not absolutely nuts, like Purple Ghost Candy. Check out my full review of this strain.

I believe this is about the optimal size for cannabis buds that gives you a good mix of bud size and quality.

The Purple Ghost Candy above produced good-sized, super-dense, super-potent bud

Here are some of my favorite strains that give you high yields, but still make dense, nugget-like buds.

3 more recommended high-yielding cannabis strains

Kushberry Moonrocks by MSNL – Remarkably Strong

Example of Kushberry Moonrocks plants (by Victor)

Growing tips: Make sure to top these plants when they’re young and spread out all the branches as it grows. Other than that, it’s overall easy to grow. Just keep it healthy and give it lots of light for the best results.

Buds: This enchanting new strain has remarkable effects and looks/smells beautiful.

Zweet Inzanity by Ethos – Big Yields!

Zweet Inzanity impressed us with her high-yielding power and big, round, hard nugs.

Growing tips: This forgiving strain is extremely easy to grow, and responds well to FIMing/topping/LST and other training methods. It gets to a nice size – not too tall, not too short – and about doubles in size after the switch to 12/12. This strain takes about 2.5 months to finish flowering, and rewards you with great yields and chunky, round baseball buds. It tends to do best at relatively high levels of nutrients – we got great results feeding her at full strength.

Buds: Big yields. Dense, hard buds that sparkled, and highly potent yet friendly social vibes when smoking. Our buds smelled sweet and delicious.

The post Why are my cannabis buds growing so small? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Every home cannabis grower knows that your strains make the difference between a ‘meh’ harvest and an amazing cannabis harvest that makes your eyes water with pride. At GrowWeedeasy.com, we are constantly growing, so we make sure to keep up with the latest developments when it comes to strains and strain breeders. That’s why I want to highlight a new strain breeder, Happy Valley Genetics, that offers stabilized seed versions of some of my favorite cannabis genetics that were previously only available as unstabilized crosses or clones.

Happy Valley Genetics is a new(ish) cannabis breeder.

Sometimes it’s hard to get information about new breeders, so I put together this page to share my research and experience with this breeder so far.

Happy Valley Genetics offers cannabis seeds that are stabilized and ideal for home growers.

Who is Ethos Genetics, and what do they have to do with Happy Valley Genetics?

Ethos Genetics is a Colorado-based company known for breeding high-quality cannabis seeds which I’ve been growing since around 2015. They offer great genetics, but the one downside (in my opinion) is they tend to release lots of “crosses” but don’t actually stabilize their strains. That means you could get 5 seeds of the same cross, and potentially produce 5 very different plants with different buds. This is amazing from the perspective of “phenotype hunting” and breeding your own strains. You get seeds of amazing genetics with lots of genetic variety to sift through.

However, for a home grower who isn’t planning on breeding seeds, it’s often more convenient to get a stabilized version of a strain when buying seeds. This makes planning a lot easier.

Advantage of using stabilized strains is you know…

• Plant size – Be able to anticipate how big plants get
• Time to harvest – How long they take before they are ready to harvest
• Bud quality – Know how buds look/smell, potency, density, etc.

With a stabilized strain, you can grow 5 seeds and all 5 plants will grow the same as each other, almost as if you were growing clones.

Stabilized strains are usually better for home growers.

That brings me to Happy Valley Genetics. They are located out of Massachusetts and have been collaborating with Ethos Genetics for several years. During this collaboration, Happy Valley Genetics won two High Times Cannabis Cup awards: Best Sativa Flower for Super Lemon Haze and Best Hybrid Flower for White Wedding.

As part of my research on this breeder, I learned that Ethos and Happy Valley Genetics primarily breed with only female plants, stating that the Y chromosome from male plants does not necessarily contribute a lot to female bud development. This unique technique of cutting out male plants lets breeders always choose two “parent” plants that produce excellent buds, and is combined with testing plant genetics to get objective data instead of relying on anecdotal observations.

Happy Valley decided to start stabilizing the best versions of Ethos strains, and entered a formal licensing agreement. Now they offer stabilized strains, based on Ethos genetics, in both feminized photoperiod and feminized auto-flowering form.

Recommended photoperiod strain (so far)

Candy Games #38

Recommended auto-flowering strain (so far)

Pineapple Diesel Auto

See other Happy Valley Genetics.

Let us know your experience with this breeder. If you’ve got pictures, don’t hesitate to submit them and we might feature them on this page!

The post Who is Happy Valley Genetics? (“Powered by Ethos Genetics”) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Hey cannabis growers! We all know how annoying nutrient problems can be. And obviously, the best thing to do for your cannabis plant to prevent growing problems is give them the conditions they need to thrive. But did you know some strains are naturally more resilient than others? Certain genetics are less likely to experience problems. Yes, some special strains can experience sub-optimal conditions and still thrive.

Some cannabis strains make amazing buds even if you make some mistakes.

But which ones? These strains typically share some features…

• Fast-Flowering Strains – Perhaps it’s because they just don’t get enough time to get sick, but fast-flowering plants are often ready to harvest before you start running into significant problems even in sub-optimal conditions.
• Buds Grow as Nuggets, Not “Colas” – “Cola” is Spanish for tail, some growers use the word cola do describe a long fat bud. Sometimes these types of buds are called “baseball bats” (or in less polite company, “donkey d**ks”). These strains are high-yielding, but also prone to bud rot because they focus energy on producing long, fat colas. And for the purposes of today’s subject, tend to take out literally everything they can from the plant to their own detriment. These strains happily kill themselves to make buds. Which is kind of cool in its own way, but if you’re just looking to get a solid harvest with high bud quality, you’ll find the strains that tend to grow buds as small nuggets tend to thrive and stay healthy while their cola-wielding friends are sucking out every last nutrient as the plant slowly dies around the buds.
• Stable, Established Strains – Strains that are well-bred to be predictable tend to be more resistant to problems than raw crosses or experimental strains. That’s because breeders often refine their best strains for years to ensure that every batch of seeds grows exactly the same – fast and healthy!
• Legendary Strains – Some strains become legendary for a reason. Often, it’s because they just have something special to offer. Strains like Blue Dream, Girl Scout Cookies, Bruce Banner, and others were developed over years by home growers and commercial growers together. They’ve stuck around because they are all around great strains, and that’s also why you see they are some prominent in the history of so many new strains. Although not all versions of these legendary strains are great, I’ve found when you get them from a good breeder, they’re more likely to perform above-average than when you’re growing a strain you’ve never heard the name of. I love a strain name like “Candy Pegasus” as much as the next person, but you need to be more wary of brand new strains.
• Direct-to-Grower Breeders – Strains from breeders that sell directly to customers are often a great choice. I think it’s because they’re also the ones answering questions when growers run into plant problems. The further removed the breeder is from the grower, the less they may be thinking about how plants grow, since breeders are usually growing in ideal conditions. These growers breed only for what the buds are like, and may not “stress test” their plants, unlike breeders who also consider growth patterns. Direct-to-growers breeders pay extra attention to ensure their strains tends to germinate quickly, efficiently use nutrients, grow fast, and never herm. For example, I have found the homegrown strains from Seed Supreme, Seedsman, and MSNL tend to be easy to germinate, fast-growing, and overall resistant to problems.

Looking for some specific recommendations? Let’s explore some hardy cannabis strains that can handle a challenge!

Blue Dream by DNA Genetics

Why It’s Resilient

• Fast-Flowering – Ready to harvest with a 8-10 week flowering stage.
• Stable, Established Strain – This version has been stabilized from the original clone-only strain over several years.
• Legendary Strain – Blue Dream is the gift that keeps on giving. Every year there’s a new, even better Blue Dream. It has that special something that can only be accomplished by growers all over the world working together to develop a strain for years.
• Direct-to-grower – Get is straight from DNA Genetics off their website.

Ideal For: Growers looking for a balanced high (strong yet extremely relaxing) with a forgiving growth cycle.

Get Blue Dream – Buds get tinges of purple with strong enough light

Growing Blue Dream Tips 

Ready to harvest with a 8-10 week flowering stage, this version is exceedingly easy to grow. Plants are just not picky. Responds well to training and can handle relatively higher levels of nutrients. Does well outdoors but really thrives indoors.

Girl Scout Cookies (GSC) by Seed Supreme

Why It’s Resilient

• Fast-Flowering – Ready to harvest with a 8-10 week flowering stage. These buds won’t “go long” on you.
• Stable, Established Strain – This version has been stabilized from the original clone-only strain over several years.
• Legendary Strain – Anyone who’s been watching cannabis cups or visits dispensaries has probably seen this strain many times. There are sooooo many “Cookies” strains that have been developed from this strain as well. It’s legendary for a reason, and this refined version may have even better bud effects and sweet “cookies” smell than the original clone.

Ideal For: Those seeking a strong, euphoric effect, sweet-smelling buds, and a resilient growth profile.

Get Girl Scout Cookies – Famous for a reason!

Growing Girl Scout Cookies Tips

Easy to grow, easy to train. Can handle warmer temperatures than some other strains, which makes it a good choice if you’re struggling to control the heat in your grow room, or live in a very warm climate. Great yields even if you make some mistakes.

Honorable Mention: Platinum Cookies is a Cookies cross that has that special something. Check out my full Platinum Cookies strain review.

Purple Ghost Candy by Seedsman

Why It’s Resilient

• Buds Grow as Nuggets – Chunky, dense nugs galore. Often grows with purple tinges all over the buds as long as you provide high levels of light.
• Stable, Established Strain – This strain was a banger from the beginning, but has been refined over the last few years into a gold standard stabilized strain.
• Direct-to-grower – Seedsman runs a full seed bank full of strains from many different breeders, but I’ve consistently found their in-house strains are just all around easy to grow with great germination rates and lower chances of problems.

Ideal For: Growers looking for a potent high and a sturdy plant with big yields. Best for growers with a bigger grow space. This plant needs room to stretch (either tall or wide). Performs great as a single plant as it tends to completely fill up the grow space available.

Get Purple Ghost Candy – One of my favorite strains lately!

Growing Purple Ghost Candy Tips

I’ve found this strains tends to grow big plants with huge yields, yet grows buds as nuggets so you don’t run into the same problems as other high-yield strains. Grows lots of side branches and responds very well to pruning, bending branches, and defoliation.

One of the reasons I chose this strain over the others I’ve grown from Seedsman is the outstanding bud quality. Buds tend to grow dense, beautiful, and POTENT. Make sure to wait until buds are totally mature before harvesting for the best bud quality. Not for the faint of heart or casual smokers!

Dirty Unicorn by Dirty Bird Genetics

Why It’s Resilient

• Fast-Flowering – Typically ready to harvest in about 9 weeks from 12/12.
• Buds Grow as Nuggets – Buds are dense and sparkly, and produce tight nugs.
• Stable, Established Strain – Dirty Bird Genetics took a famous Thug Pug strain (Unicorn Poop – a non-feminized strain that is always sold out) and worked with it for over two years to make an amazingly consistent strain that gives you the wonders of the original genetics but in feminized, stabilized form.
• Direct-to-grower – Get it straight from the breeders.

Ideal For: Those who want a clear-headed, energetic high with top-of-the-line bud appearance and smell.

Get Dirty Unicorn – Unusual name, memorable buds!

Growing Unicorn Poop Tips

Plants tend to grow on the taller side, with extra space between nodes, but that actually makes it really easy to train this plant to grow into whatever shape you want. Vigorous, fast growth. The seeds germinate fast and seedlings tend to start strong.

Bruce Banner by Seed Supreme

Why It’s Resilient

• Buds Grow as Nuggets – Dense, tight nugs galore!
• Stable, Established Strain – Developed over years
• Direct-to-grower – Get it straight from the source.

Ideal For: New growers, low-maintenance gardens, and those prone to minor nutrient mishaps. Offers a powerful, uplifting high.

Get Bruce Banner – Named after the Incredible Hulk for the sheet potency of buds

Growing Bruce Banner Tips

A robust strain that can take extra nutrients and warmer temperatures. Great yields, easy to grow, and overall just a pleasure of a plant.

Choosing the right cannabis strain can make a big difference. Hardy strains are known for their ability to thrive in less-than-perfect conditions, which makes them perfect if you’re looking for a consistent harvest with minimal issues. It can help when you opt for fast-flowering strains, those that grow buds as nuggets, stable and established genetics, legendary strains, and those from direct-to-grower breeders. Remember, the best cannabis strains are the ones that give you what you want, how you want it!

Happy growing!
Nebula Haze

The post Which Strains Get Fewer Nutrient Problems or Deficiencies? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.