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A Quick Guide to Growing Marijuana For Beginners

The global market size for legal marijuana is expected to reach $13.5 billion in 2021, up from $9.1 billion in 2020. The skyrocketing growth of the market is mainly due to the legalization of cannabis in the US and many other parts of the world.

Thanks to the lucrative profits to be made in the cannabis industry, more people across the country are growing marijuana. The truth is growing weed isn’t as complicated as some people make it seem.

If you’re interested in learning how to grow marijuana, you’ve come to the right place. This step-by-step guide shows you how to grow weed in a way that perfectly suits your budget, grow space, and desired yields. Let’s get started.

Choose a Suitable Grow Space

One of the most critical marijuana growing tips is to grow it in the right space. Generally, you can opt to grow the plant indoors or outdoors. Let’s examine each option more closely.

Indoor Growing

Choosing to grow marijuana indoors offers you more control over your plants. It also affords you privacy, if that’s an important thing for you. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how easy and affordable it is to get started and maintain your grow, particularly if you’re starting with only a few plants.

So, which indoor space is most suitable? The options are endless. For instance, there are several autoflower strains suitable for indoor cultivation, each with its unique characteristics and growth requirements. Consider factors such as available space, lighting setup, and ventilation when selecting the right strain for your indoor grow. You can use a spare room, a grow tent, your garage, a closet, and so on, as long as the space has access to fresh air, water, and light.

Outdoor Growing

You can also opt to grow your green or purple cannabis outdoors, which is a much cheaper option. That’s because you don’t have to worry about grow lights or creating an indoor grow space.

The challenge, however, is that growing weed outdoors means you have to sacrifice privacy. There’s also the danger of pollination, theft, and insects. Besides, you have no control over the weather.

Choose the Ideal Grow Light

There’s a wide variety of grow lights you can choose for cannabis. If you’re growing your marijuana outdoors, you have the sun as your source of light. For the best results, make sure that your plants get at least eight hours of direct sunlight per day.

For those who opt to grow marijuana indoors, there are many household lighting options you can use for the plant. Many people choose LED grow lights for their impressive results for growing cannabis. Note that each LED light model is unique and must be kept a specific distance away from the plants.

Choose a Growing Medium

The type of growing medium you choose will determine the watering requirements and care you need to give your cannabis. Soil is arguably the commonest growing medium used by cannabis farmers today. If you opt for this medium, ensure you add the necessary cannabis nutrients for the best yield.

You can also opt for a soil-less mix as your medium. Examples include perlite, coco coir, and vermiculite.

Some people choose to grow their plants directly in water (hydroponics). Others opt to grow cannabis with roots suspended in misted air, also known as aeroponics.

Whichever medium you opt for, be sure to provide sufficient nutrients for your plants.

Pick the Cannabis Plants You’re Going to Grow

Now that you have a grow space ready and have the right medium for your marijuana, it’s time to pick the cannabis strain you’re going to grow. You can then get seeds from cannabis collectives or dispensaries in your area.

Consider buying rooted cannabis plants instead of seeds, as this means you don’t need to germinate the seeds. But if you do choose to purchase seeds, you can germinate them by placing them directly in specialized starter cubes. Provided you’re keeping the cubes warm and moist, the seedlings should pop in days.

Keep Your Plants Healthy

As soon as your seedlings get their first set of regular leaves, they’ve entered the vegetative state. From this point, the plants grow bigger with long nights and come to the flowering stage, start to make buds with long nights.

Keep temperatures around 20-30°C for the fastest growth if you’re growing your cannabis indoors. If you’re using additional nutrients, regulate the amounts, so you don’t burn your young plants. During the vegetative stage, give your plants between 18 and 24 hours of light per day.

Once the plants enter the flowering stage and start making buds, change the light schedule to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness per day. This is also the time to identify the gender of your plants and remove any males. Note that your plants may need more nutrients at this stage as they focus their energy on making buds.

Harvest Your Marijuana

The moment you start to white hairs on your buds, your weed is getting ready for harvesting. By this time, you’ll also notice that the buds are fragrant and plump.

Wait a while until about 50-70 percent of the white hairs have darkened and started to curl in. At this point, your cannabis has the highest levels of THC, so you can harvest it if that’s what you’re looking for. But if you’re interested in the more relaxing CBN, wait until 80-90 percent of the white hairs have darkened.

Dry and Cure the Newly Harvested Marijuana

The final step of the cannabis growing process is to dry and cure your harvested buds. That’s done by hanging the buds upside down in a cool, dark, and well-ventilated room. For the best results, dry the buds slowly and keep checking for mold and overdrying.

Once the buds are dry, cure them by putting them in mason jars and storing them in a cool, dark room. Each day for the first two weeks, open the jars for two seconds to release moisture. Switch the routine to once a week.

After about a month, your marijuana should be fully cured and ready for the market. If you decide to process it even further, i.e. into rosin then it’s important to compare flower rosin vs hash rosin to ensure that you know the correct way to process the exact product that you want to make.

Growing Marijuana Doesn’t Have to Be Hard

Some people interested in growing marijuana give up because they think it’s a complicated endeavor. As you’ve seen from this guide, all you need is to set the right conditions for and pick the right marijuana strain to get started.

Would you like to read more great content on growing cannabis? Please keep visiting our blog.

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