Information purely indicative, the cultivation of cannabis in France is prohibited
Learning the basics of growing cannabis is a good starting point for growing weed. Making informed decisions will help you maximize your end returns.
7 basic steps to becoming an expert weed grower.
Step 1 :
Choose your seeds
The choice is impressive. Sativa, indica, ruderalis and many hybrids, all at your fingertips. You know what you like because of your personal preferences. What types have you delighted in the past? Which types have provided a satisfactory remedy for your particular condition? This is probably a good starting point.
When thinking about your personal tastes, consider your growing conditions. Are you going to be growing in a small closet, where small, fast-maturing plants such as autoflowering strains or Indicas will use your space most efficiently? Or do you have a large garden where you can grow one or more monsters in the ground or in large pots?
2nd step :
Cannabis Fundamentals
In order to grow better and reap juicy buds, your beloved cannabis needs some basics.
the light :
Plants need more than twelve hours of light per day for healthy vegetation. You can organize this indoors with timers. Outdoor germination should be delayed until the plants are exposed to sunlight for more than 12 hours per day and at least eight hours of direct sunlight each day.
The culture environment:
Organic growers will always use different types of soil, both indoors and outdoors. But the floor is not the only choice. There are neutral media totally dependent on the supply of nutrients, such as coconut, perlite, vermiculite or rock wool. No medium is used in aeroponics, hydroponics or deep water culture. The hanging root matrix receives nutrients directly from the nutrient blend.
The air :
For its potency and good gas exchange, cannabis needs fresh, moving air. This is not a problem outdoors, as your plants will then be exposed to wind and breeze. Indoors, your plants need a supply of fresh air, a hood for stale air, and a fan for air circulation. Static overhead environments promote pests, fungi, and poor growth. A buildup of gases will stunt plant growth.
The water :
Like all living things, cannabis needs water to grow, thrive and perform its biological functions. If you live in an area with frequent rainfall, your outdoor plants may get all of their water directly from nature. Large cannabis plants are notorious for being thirsty. If you're growing giant plants, you'll probably need to water between each downpour.
Inside, the water becomes the substrate that holds the nutrients. Pure water is used for regular flushing of hydroponic and bottomless systems. The pH of your water is very important. The experienced cannabis grower has a good pH meter in their grow kit.
Temperature :
Cannabis is a very hardy plant that can survive cold and hot weather well. But just like you and me, he can be stressed and not perform well in extreme conditions. Cannabis can freeze or boil and die. It may stop growing or enter stasis. It goes into survival mode when temperatures are too high or too low for too long. Twenty-seven degrees Celsius is the sweet spot for vigorous cannabis growth. Indoors, this can be easily achieved with fans, air conditioning, heating and heating mats. The lamps will certainly produce heat which must be ventilated.
Outside, timing is everything. Know your climate well. Buy an app or a map with the solar cycles to correctly determine the calendar. Too early and you run the risk of the plants flowering immediately and vegetating again as the day length increases. It is not desirable. Your flowers will not form properly when flowering resumes. Too late and you will have small plants with fewer places to bloom.
Food :
Like all living organisms, cannabis needs food to live. Good crumbly soil that is rich in compost, living organisms, vitamins and minerals can provide your plants with adequate nutrition throughout their life cycle.
Watering with compost tea and other organic mixtures such as molasses or feather meal will improve soil quality and promote healthy plant growth.
In hydroponics or a neutral medium, you provide all the nutrition to the plant with pre-compounded nutrient blends. Usually designed specifically for weeds. Specialty breweries, exclusively designed for the above-ground environment you have chosen.
Humidity :
Outdoors, you have little control over this factor and are at the mercy of the climate. The advantage is that the fluctuations in humidity and the robust biological functions needed to adapt to a changing growing environment make your plants exceptionally resilient!
Indoor humidity control is very important, from seed to flower. Leaves absorb moisture as part of their daily functions. Well-balanced humidity ensures a healthy environment free of pests and fungi.
In a closet, grow tent, or grow room. Directly in the garden or in pots outside. Even in a garden with companion plants, you need to take care of all of your weed's needs so that she provides you with high-quality, resin-filled buds.
Step 3:
Indoor Cannabis Lighting
there is an explosion in the choice of lights and grow rooms for growing cannabis indoors. Your budget will be the deciding factor.
GROW CABINETS
There are state-of-the-art, fully cannabis-compatible, ready-to-use grow boxes produced by people with decades of experience. If you have the thousands of dollars you need. Lamps, fans, separate compartments for cloning, vegetation and flowering, timers and carbon filters, everything is ready and waiting to be connected.
LAMPS FOR EVERY BUDGET
At the bottom of the scale, you have the rudimentary but very effective CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) panels or the small LED (Light Emitting Diode) panels for less than 280 euros. Enough to grow beautiful heads in a small closet. Other compact fluorescent lights, such as T5 lights, are available in different spectra for veg and bloom and can fit well in a small space.
HPS (high pressure sodium) and MH (metal halide) lights are the traditional grow lights. A 1000W HPS with reflectors can effectively illuminate a 1.5m x 1.5m area and produce an excellent crop. Likewise, a 600W MH lamp will light up a room of the same size and give you first-class flowers at the end of the growth cycle. The heat generated by these lamps must be taken into account. If not properly disposed of, your grow space will quickly become too hot for healthy cannabis growth.
Step 4:
Germination and young cannabis plants
Cannabis seedlings
The start of your cannabis growing adventure is germinating your seeds. Each viable seed contains all the information you need to grow your chosen plant species. They just need the right conditions and their life cycle will begin. Seeds will only germinate if three specific conditions are met. Water, good temperatures (warm) and a good location.
Cannabis cultivation is a biological process, with no strictly defined rules. It is not a linear learning system, but an art to be mastered. There are many equally effective methods for germinating cannabis. In time, you will find the one that suits you best.
Directly in the middle
Place the seeds directly in the medium to avoid the stress of transplanting. It is often easier to start germinating in a small pot with your chosen substrate and then transfer it to the garden or larger pots.
Paper towel
The seeds are placed on a damp paper towel on a plate and then stored in a dark, warm place. Usually covered with plastic or another plate to keep moisture in. Your seeds will germinate in a few days to a week.
JIFFY, BLOCKS AND CUBES OF STONE WOOL
Easy to maintain as you can have 50 germinating seeds in a small space. Once seedlings are firmly established, they can be transferred to their final location without damaging the roots.
IN WATER
Simply soak the seeds in enzyme-enriched water until the root emerges, then place them in your growing medium. The plant will soon emerge from the ground, about a week later.
Germination stations
These types of germination stations provide significant control over the germination environment, with humidity and temperature control, which can speed up germination time.
When your plants have emerged from the ground and the cotyledons have detached from the pod and split open, exposing the first pair of true leaves, photosynthesis has begun.
Step 5:
The Vegetative Phase Of Cannabis
Photosynthesis really begins when green leaves receive light. Your plants begin to metabolize and the vegetative phase is initiated.
INDOORS
The lamps are regulated at eighteen hours of light per day, six hours at night. No need to coordinate with the actual day cycle, you can leave it for as long as you want. Running electrical equipment during off-peak hours can save you money.
Your plants will be happy in organic soil or when fed nutrients designed for the vegetative phase. Plenty of wind from fans will help keep temperatures under control and strengthen your young plants. Exotic inputs can be used, such as adding carbon dioxide to the environment. Low Stress Training or ScrOG can be used to increase the growth rate and flowering potential of cannabis indoors.
How Long Does Vegetative Growth Take?
Vegetative growth can last as long as you want depending on what you desire. You might want a lot of small plants like with the Sea Of Green growing method. Or, you could choose a few large, topped and uniformed plants to produce large clusters of flowers.
OUTDOORS
Cannabis grows rapidly once day length begins to increase in spring and summer. Unlimited root space and good genes can result in plants that are three or four meters tall during the vegetative phase.
Most contemporary plants are topped and trimmed continuously throughout the growth phase. This encourages an even canopy that will fill with evenly sized buds during the flowering period. Cannabis will continue to veg as long as there are more than twelve hours of light per day. The farther you are from the equator, the shorter your vegetative period will be before you begin to flower.
Step 6:
The Healthy Cannabis Flowering Time
Flowering, bud development, or flower appearance are all terms for the same growth phase of the weed plant. The following months will be very interesting, as the aromas begin to develop. Captivating floral arrangements will also emerge, depending on your chosen strain. The flowering phase has distinct chapters that are common to all cannabis plants and begin when vegetation ends.
Outdoors the first stage of flowering can be seen when the summer heat has passed and autumn is approaching. Indoors, you control when flowering starts by changing the light schedule to a twelve hour day, twelve hour night photoperiod. Depending on the species, cannabis can flower in response to three possible characteristics.
Depending on the species, cannabis responds to hormonal changes that cause it to continue vegetating or start flowering. There are two types, APD and autoflowering:
APD Photo Absolute Determination plants depend on a light-sensitive hormone to continue vegetating. This hormone prevents flowering when active. It is rendered inactive by low light levels and when nights get longer. Twelve or more hours of night trigger flowering.
With autoflowering strains, the same hormone is age dependent. The plant stops producing it when it reaches a certain specific age and flowering starts regardless of the photoperiod. This time frame can be as short as two weeks after germination.
The Different Stages Of Flowering
At the very beginning of the flowering phase, there is a noticeable change in the growth pattern. Rather than the vegetative symmetry that stretches and grows upwards, the branches begin to grow in a zig-zag and compress, with a smaller distance between nodes. The difference is very noticeable.
Bloom
Flowering follows the same stages for all species, but for different periods. A fast indica will be cured and ready to smoke weeks before a long cured indica.
Shortly after differentiation, flowers will begin to form. The calyxes will emerge from the nodes between the branches, quickly forming balls covered in pistils. The much-loved resin is already forming in the young trichomes on the pistils, calyxes and on the surface of the leaves.
The small balls of the chalices begin to stretch. This gives room for cool fluorescent clusters and bud-specific little leaves. These new leaves are thicker, smaller, and often heavily screened and covered in trichomes. They end up being partially submerged by the swelling flower clusters.
Over the weeks, these clusters of flowers multiply and form large colas, covered in trichomes swollen with resin. When allowed to mature longer, calyxes and trichomes swell with copious amounts of desirable resins. Full maturity is rapidly approaching.
Step 7:
Harvesting, Drying & Curing For Higher Quality Buds
During the final weeks, the nutrients are skipped and the plants are flushed with clean water. This guarantees a pure fragrance, without the taste of nutrients or the accumulation of mineral salts.
When Did My Cannabis Mature?
Now covered in an abundance of trichomes, the pistils curl up and change color. Orange, mauve, brown or red can even appear depending on the species. Swollen resin glands change color in waves all over the plant. First from transparent to milky, then from milky to amber. The flower clusters are now so swollen they look like they have been turned upside down.
These are the signs that it is time to reap the fruits of your labor.
For higher THC content, harvest when trichomes are 20-30% amber.
For a broader cannabinoid profile, harvest when trichomes are 60-80% amber. Watch the differences carefully, as they can completely change in twenty-four hours.
Harvest the Weed
Some prune on the vine, ie they remove all the leaves when the plant is still in the ground, then they cut the plant. Hang the branches to dry, or put the severed heads on a drying net. Some cut only the large leaves and hang the entire plant.
There are no fixed rules except to be careful when handling. You want to disturb the delicate trichomes as little as possible.
Drying And Curing Cannabis
Dry your buds in a cool, dark place with low humidity. Ideally, it's a very slow process that takes a minimum of two weeks.
Check often for mold or over-drying
When they are dry, the small branches break easily. Thick branches will always be slightly flexible.
The chlorophyll degrades and the green of the growth is replaced by different colors depending on the variety. Tawny, bronze, a pale green or even dark blue or purple, so many colors can emerge as the true colors pop up in the dry buds.
Storing Cured Heads
At this stage, loosely fill a well-sealed glass jar with your treasure. Open the lid of the jar to make it "breathe" once a day for the first two weeks. This releases accumulated moisture that could mold your buds. Once the flowers are dry to the touch, only breathe the jar once a week. You wouldn't want weeks of hard work to be wasted by a lack of attention.
How Long Does Curing Cannabis Take?
You can extend the curing as long as you want. Remember that psychotropic compounds lose a molecule of water with good curing and thus become more psychoactive. This takes a minimum of six weeks under ideal conditions. The longer the curing, the better. Keep your jars in a cool, dark place. THC breaks down into other cannabinoids when exposed to light.
If you're unsure how dry your buds are, taste samples as you go for future reference. Dried cannabis never looks completely dry, due to the waxiness of the resins. You will quickly develop the habit and the sensations.
Enjoying your own home-grown cannabis isn't that difficult. With attention and patience, you can really achieve great results, even in the smallest spaces.
Over to you now, happy growing!
