Basics of Cannabis Cultivation – From Marijuana Seeds to Harvest – Part 1

An Overview On Growing Your Own Marijuana Plants

Now that many states and provinces have legalized recreational marijuana and dispensaries are popping up every day, cannabis culture has slowly become accepted by the public. The most recent trend among cannabis smokers across the country is homegrown cannabis. Marijuana smokers are shifting their focus on cultivating cannabis on their own because the process has been simplified. By providing the optimal environment, humidity, nutrients, and pesticides, their plants can offer a large amount of flower when considering the amount spent on supplies and materials.

When starting with cannabis cultivation, it’s best to stick to the basics. Use a 2 to 4-gallon bucket and fill it in with soilless mix or loose potting soil. Make sure the bucket has holes at the bottom for drainage. Using a few fluorescent bulbs or HID lights of around 250 to 400-watt should be sufficient for a small room. However, for larger spaces, High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lights of around 600-watt to 1000-watt are required along with Metal Halide or High-Pressure Sodium bulbs and ballasts. 

Keep in mind that while high-wattage lights provide more illumination, it also generates more heat. The solution for this would be LED’s because their technology generates less heat, and as a result, saves electricity costs. LEDs provide less illumination but still provide enough light so plants can grow without side-effects.

Understanding the Primary Variants – Indica & Sativa

Marijuana in use today can be easily classified into Indica, Sativa, or a hybrid, which is a combination of the primary two types. There is a less know strain called Cannabis Ruderalis, a low-THC variant mostly available in Russia or Eastern Europe but can’t be smoked. 

Indica strains are characterized by their fat leaf structure and short stature as compared to Sativa. It originated from the Hindu Kush region of Central Asia. It was earlier cultivated primarily to make hashish. Glandular trichomes layer the buds of Indica, often referred to as “Crystals” or “Kif.” The trichomes are removed before being pressed to make hashish. The users usually feel sluggish or fatigued after smoking indica.

Sativa strains typically have a longer growing season compared to Indica plants and are taller and have longer branches. The leaves and buds of Sativa plants are much thinner and elongated. It is native to equatorial regions and is mostly bred for hemp purposes or a wide range of medical applications, mostly taken through smoking or brewing tea. The characteristic ‘high’ Sativa offer is often termed as “ecstatic” or even “racy.” The veterans returning from Vietnam are credited with describing the high provided by smoking Sativa. These veterans smoked Laotian, Vietnamese, and Thai Sativa strains, some of the most potent variants found in the world. Smoking pure Sativa can often induce a feeling of paranoia or make the heart race abnormally, which is more so the case with unsuspecting smokers. 

Regular pot smokers are well aware that different hybrids would have other characteristics in terms of scent, taste, flavour, and intoxication levels. Various strains of cannabis offer different qualities, ranging from paranoia to giddy and from stoned to catatonic or even a simple high. One of the most significant factors that play a huge role here is personal preferences. It is well documented that humans have bred cannabis they prefer repeatedly. Indica would mostly be smoked at night, while Sativa would be suitable during the daytime. Most marijuana smoked today is a hybrid of Indica and Sativa, with one being not more than 60 percent or so over the other. 

Understanding the Characteristics of Male and Female Plants

When we smoke weed or marijuana, we are basically smoking the dried flowers from a female cannabis plant. The male cannabis plants are useless except for the breeders. The breeders use the male plants’ pollen to pollinate flowers inside the female plants, eventually producing seeds. The first thing to remember for pot production is to discard the male plants as soon as they are identified. In other words, it can seed the entire female crop. You must be wondering how to identify which plant is male or female, right?

It can be easily found out during the initial phases of flowering at the plant node, where male plants would show their sex. The plant node is the area where the stem and leaf meet. A male plant’s flowers would protrude, looking distinct like a spear’s tip, and then gradually incline downwards. It would appear as a small bunch of bananas, and if the growth is allowed further, the flowers will burst open, spilling its pollen all over. It would destroy your efforts to grow a seed-free pot. Make sure to discard all-male plants, no exception!

During the early flowering stages, when females would show their sex, they’re identified by their pear-shaped bracts and white hairs coming out of the nodes. The white hairs emerging out of the nodes are a clear sign that it’s a female. However, you need to be careful because cannabis plants are capable of being male and female at the same time. Some plants are known to appear as a female when determining sex but do grow male flowers too. It can ruin the crop entirely if such plants are not discarded at the right time. Keep a close watch on the growing flowers for any signs of hermaphrodite behaviour. 

Soil, Soilless, or Hydroponics?

Traditionally, cannabis plants are grown either in soil or in soilless potting mixes that replicate an earthly loam type of characteristics. Loam soil is usually a mix of 40% sand, 40% silt, and 20% clay. Hydroponic techniques allow cultivators to increase their harvest. Hydroponics is a way of cultivating plants with their roots immersed in a nutrient-based solution. Roots growing through the hydroponic system grow bigger and faster than when the same roots are “live” in soil. 

However, it needs to be noted here that hydroponics is an advanced technique and not for everyone. The hydroponic system’s success depends on many other factors, including the pH level of the nutrient solution, water temperature, environment temperature, etc. Moreover, the water temperature and the pH level needs to be closely monitored and checked several times through the day for optimal growth and desired outcome. While cultivating cannabis in a soil-type potting mix may not yield results as good as in hydroponics, it is still the recommended method for beginners. It is mostly because growing cannabis in a soil environment is much more forgiving, and any issue can be resolved in a matter of days. 

There have been many exciting developments taking place in the world of hydroponics. NASA pioneered an Aeroponics system in which the roots are sprayed continuously with nutrient solution. The system was primarily developed for long-term space missions. Another development is the 360-degree grow-units where the plant’s air-cooled roots are rotated to expose the plant to the maximum light footprint. It impacts the size of the harvest and quickens the growth rate.

Hydroponic cultivators are now using innovative ways to use organic nutrients for their plants, and one of the most interesting examples is Aquaponics. In this form of cultivation, there is a fish farm stacked right below the hydroponic plant trays. The fish farms feed the plant and vice versa.

The most preferred mixes for growing cannabis, especially for the beginners and the home growers, are coco coir or soilless mix, a combination of clay, silt, and sand. The coco coir is an organic, renewable product made out of the outer layer or hulled coconuts shells. The primary reason these mixes and methods for growing cannabis are more preferred is that there are far lesser hassles than the hydroponic system. As mentioned earlier, the hydroponic system needs constant maintenance and supervision in terms of water temperature, pH levels of nutrient solution, clogged tubes, etc. When using coco coir, the growing process is slightly different because its nutrient requirement and the pH profile is not the same as the soilless mix. When using coco coir, the pot needs to be watered frequently but in optimal amounts. If you are looking for a method that’s the best of both worlds (i.e, offering the benefits of hydroponics and the soilless mix), using coco coir would come reasonably close. Using coco coir can be termed one of the more straightforward and ecologically method to cultivate cannabis indoors.

Part 2 coming next week! For a detailed step-by-step process, you can read more about growing cannabis here.