How to grow Cannabis
The purpose of this page is to explain a few simple things that you must know to grow cannabis.
We don’t pretend to be exhaustive, we wanna help you to avoid avoid the most common errors (and there are a lot). After all, our success depends on yours. If you have already grown cannabis before, and had success, you can still read this page but its utility will be limited. If you are an expert, please understand that we have to compress information in one page, and this means that sometimes the accuracy is stretched for simplicity’s sake.
GERMINATION
To germinate the seeds in the correct way you will need two basic things: you have to keep the medium humid, and the temperature in the range of 18-27° centigrades, with the ideal temperature being 24°.
If you grow in soil, you can germinate the seeds directly in the soil by putting the seed about 0.5 cm deep. Make the soil wet and cover the top of the pot
with a plastic film to keep the environment nicely moist. If you grow in hydro, you can germinate directly into the rock-wool after the necessary preparation. The seeds should germinate in 2-10 days. Remove the plastic cover immediately. ATTENTION: You can also germinate the seeds into some cotton, into specific gel discs or between 2 paper napkins etc, however we discourage these methods and invite you to start directly in hour final medium. IF YOU GERMINATE THE SEEDS IN PAPER NAPKINS YOU WILL LOOSE EVERY RIGHT TO GET THE SEEDS REPLACED IN GUARANTEE.
VEGETATION
Most strains require that every young plant grow for at least 3-4 weeks before it can flower.
This stage normally happens outdoors in April-July and the plants respond to the short nights by accelerating their growth. For this reason, when growing indoors we give 18 hours of light and 6 of dark. For nutrition in this stage it’s common for the plant to require a greater amount of nitrogen. When the young plant reaches 20 cm or is 1 month old, the flowering can start. However, longer vegetation will give much bigger harvests.
FLOWERING
When the nights are long enough (end of July) the plant reacts by starting its flowering phase. Indoors we can provoke flowering by alternating 12 hours of light with 12 of total dark.
From the day that you change the light cycle start to count the number of days that is proper for the strain that you are growing. If you read on its description flowering in 8 weeks it means that after approx. 56 days they will be ready to be harvested. Female pistils will start to appear on the plant in 7-14 days. For nutrients the plant will need more phosphorus and potassium
MALE AND FEMALE
Cannabis grows as male and female flowers. Marijuana is the dried female flower (not pollinated) of the cannabis plant.
Once a plant arrives at the flowering stage it is important to distinguish between male and female so you can destroy the males and finish the flowering with the females.
The male at this stage develops balls, while the female shows a couple of white pistils for each calix. To clarify this, we have prepared the pic that you see in this page. It shows an example of male and female flowers in a really early stage, within two days after their appearance.
HARVESTING
After 6-11 weeks, depending on the strain, it’s time to harvest.
You can recognise the moment when the buds are fully ripened by carefully at the pistils. About 3/4 of them should be brownish. To be more precise you can use a magnifier. The best moment is when the resin starts to lose its transparency and become darker. Cut the plants at their base and take away all the big leaves. Now cut all the little leaves without resin around the buds. Let them cure in a dry, fresh and well aerated place. Hang the plants upside down, and provide a good circulation of air around them. The plant will start to be fully dried in 5-7 days. However, it shouldn’t be used before 20 days. Most of the strains give their best potential after 40 days from the harvest.
