Growing weed: guide for beginners

Looking for basic information on growing marijuana? Here you will find tools and information on how to grow marijuana cheaply and efficiently. All you need is a small, discreet space and a little budget to start indoor marijuana production.

Growing tools

The first thing you need is a place to grow. I recommend getting a decent grow tent. They are cheap, suitable for growing and can be set up and taken down quickly by one person. Some tents come with packages that include all sorts of complicated hydroponic equipment. It’s best to buy only what you need in the tent and learn how to grow weeds without the expensive plastic. Some tents even have separate chambers for vegetative growth and cloning, making them perfect for people who live in one-bedroom flats or studios with limited space for growing.

The first thing you’ll need is a grow light. I prefer HID (High-Intensity Discharge) lighting – HPS (High-Pressure Sodium) or MH (Metal Halide) systems with ballasts, bulbs and reflectors. If the heat of these lamps is a problem, you can also use LED (Light-Emitting Diode) and CFL (Compact Fluorescent) systems. Make sure you buy a bulb that covers the footprint of your tent, and invest in a good timer that lets you control when the light turns on and off.

You’ll also need an exhaust fan and an activated carbon filter to reduce heat and eliminate odours. Make sure you buy a fan that is designed for the size of your tent and is the right size for the pipe. A clip-on recirculation fan will keep the air moving and not stagnant. A thermometer/hygrometer is also a must to keep an eye on the temperature and humidity.

If you don’t have access to marijuana seeds or clones from a dispensary or friend, you will need to have cannabis seeds shipped to you. Don’t have them shipped to where you want to grow if you are not growing legally. Learn not only how to grow weed, but also how to be discreet and not brag or draw attention to yourself.

A simple, loose and airy soil mix in 3-5 gallon buckets is ideal for beginners and much more forgiving than any hydroponic system. Be sure to cut holes in the bottom of the buckets and use trivets underneath to catch overflow. You will need to buy nutrients to feed your plants as they grow and also a watering can.

How to grow weed

After you have planted your seeds or rooted your clones, it is time to let them grow. Lower the reflector so that it is closer to the plants so they don’t have to stretch to reach the light. Increase the lighting system as your plants grow. Set your timer so that the light is on for 18 hours a day and off for 6 hours. During this vegetative phase, leaves and branches will grow, but not flowers (unless it is an auto-flowering plant).

Avoid over-fertilising and over-watering your plants at all costs. Rather be careful, because it is always easier to add more nutrients or water than to take them away. Marijuana roots prefer a wet-dry cycle, so lift your buckets and you’ll be better able to judge whether or not they need watering based on the weight. The first sign of overfed plants is burnt leaf tips. The first rule for growing weeds is to learn to avoid them sometimes.

Whenever space for cultivation is limited, some basic rules apply: Since space is at a premium, every available inch must be fully utilised. This means that you have to decide whether to grow indica-dominant strains like Polaris or to use drastic trellising and nurturing methods when growing sativas like Megaton.

Pruning for higher yields

Start pruning early and often. Cut or pinch the branches just above the node where two new shoots emerge. If you stick to this process, you will get plants that look like bonsai bushes, with lots of flowers but without large gaps between the nodes and without spreading. This is the most efficient way to get bigger yields in a small space, but the growing time will be longer, so factor that into your schedule.

Do not cut or pinch the plants once they start to flower – you will only reduce your harvest. If the branches threaten to reach the light, bend them or tie them tightly so they don’t burn. A trellis system of wire mesh at canopy level (also known as ScrOG or Screen of Green System) will spread the flowers further and increase your yields considerably. Simply get the growing shoots to grow horizontally along the bottom of the trellis to fill empty spaces.

Power of flower

Indoors: The decision of when to initiate flowering of your plants is entirely up to you. If you want to learn how to grow weed, it’s important to determine how much space you have and to consider the fact that your plants will stretch for at least a couple of weeks after initiating flowering. I usually recommend one week per gallon container, so a plant in a five-gallon bucket should get about five weeks of growing time.

When you are ready to start flowering, set your timer to a 12-hour on/12-hour off light cycle. Be careful not to interrupt the 12-hour dark phase with light. This confuses the plant and can lead to serious problems.

Change your feeding to one that is suitable for flowering. Plant nutrients usually come in vegetative or flowering formulations, so switch to a “flowering” solution. Depending on the flowering time of your variety, determine when you have about two weeks left and start flushing. If you are growing a variety that flowers for 60 days, you should start flushing your growing medium with clear water only around day 46.

Harvest : Drying and Curing

Knowing when and how to harvest your flowers is as important as knowing how to grow weed.

Use a magnifying glass or a strong magnifying glass to look closely at the trichomes, the tiny glandular stems and heads sometimes called “crystals”. Up close, they look like small glass fungi with a stalk that forms a spherical, round, clear tip. This glandular head is where the psychoactive substances (THC, CBD, etc.) are found. Harvest when the majority of the glandular heads start to turn white and before they are fully amber. Harvest when they are mostly amber if you want a lethargic stone.

After harvesting, cut off the flowers and hang them to dry. This process should take about one to two weeks depending on the humidity and heat in your area. It is always best to keep this process slower than 3-4 days to ensure you don’t lock in the ‘green’ chlorophyll flavour. Place a humidifier in the drying room if you feel your nuggets are drying out too quickly. Never let a fan blow directly on your drying colas, but ensure good air circulation to avoid mould and flower rot.

Once you have established that your flowers are sufficiently dried, you can put them in jars for curing. The stems should break rather than bend and the outside of the flowers should feel bone dry. The truth is that there is still a lot of water in the flowers and the curing process will slowly ‘sweat’ out the remaining liquid.

Always use opaque jars (ones you can’t see into) and put them in a cool, dark place. Open the jars to determine the moisture content and leave them open if condensation forms on the inside of the jar. If you open and close the jars once or twice a day, the moist air will slowly but surely be replaced by dry air, and the water stuck in the centre of your flower will work its way out and then all the way into the air. After maturing for three weeks to a month or so, your flowers should burn and taste perfectly.

Tips for drying and curing

An important part of learning how to grow weed is mastering drying and curing techniques. Marijuana should not dry too fast or too slow, as the ideal drying time for a healthy and flavourful marijuana plant is 10 to 14 days.

You’ve just read this growing weed guide, you know the basics of growing marijuana from seed to harvest. Start by choosing a quality strain from our Nuka Seeds range.