If you’re reading this article, most likely you or a close friend has decided to start growing your own cannabis plants at home, which is a great idea. Not only growing marijuana at home will reduce many costs of monthly or even weekly purchases at the closest dispensary, but it is also a fun way to keep you entertained and get a better understanding of cannabis culture.
The first thing you will need to consider when you are thinking about growing your own cannabis plants at home is the type of seeds you need to get.
The three main types of marijuana seeds are photoperiodic, autoflowering and feminized. To begin with, photoperiodic seeds are the ones in which the cannabis plants’ two main growing stages depend fully on the light cycle they receive, therefore the name photo, light, -periodic, period. This means that, if you have photoperiodic cannabis seeds, once you germinate your seeds, your plants will start the vegetative stage, in which they will grow their build and structure to be able to hold the buds later in the flowering period. Two things can happen with photoperiodic plants, if you are growing them outside, climate conditions such as the change of season or a rainy week may throw them into the flowering stage. Generally, once the plant receives a light cycle lower than 12/12 light-dark hours, the flowering stage will kick off. However, if the weather is too harsh on these types of plants, the sad news is they could even die before they finish the job.
On the other hand, there are the autoflowering seeds. As their name suggests, autoflowers will start from the vegetation stage and switch into flowering automatically, most commonly after 6 to 8 weeks, depending on each strain. For this reason, autoflowering cannabis plants are the ones employed by most people, who would rather know with certainty that their plants won’t fail to grow, even in the most severe climates. Although autoflower cannabis plants do tend to be smaller in size when compared to photoperiodic plants, this is usually strongly tied to the light source they get. When marijuana plants grow outside, normally they will grow bigger than indoor plants, which count with only a limited space instead of a big field for them to expand their roots below the ground, and their branches up in the sky. Nevertheless, when you grow cannabis indoors, chances are that the results will be of a much higher quality than the ones of those grown outdoors. That’s because outdoor plants have external influencing factors such as the weather, winds and humidity, while indoors’ have the ideal artificial growing environment and a much more monitored growth process, this is, of course, when the cultivator is already pretty informed and experienced on the subject.
Finally, before you go and buy whichever type of seeds you prefer, photoperiodic or autoflowerig, there is one last aspect to consider, if you are going to buy feminized seeds or not. The short answer would be, yes, do get yourself autoflowering seeds. But what exactly does a seed being feminized mean? Well, in cannabis cultivation, plants can be either male or female. When your final goal is to smoke or consume the plants’ buds either for medical or recreational purposes, what you should be looking for is female plants. Female cannabis plants are the ones in charge of giving birth to the beautiful, shiny, green buds everyone knows. Male plants on the other hand, are those that produce seeds, which is not precisely what we are looking for. Besides, when there’s a male plant between other females, it could even pollinate your female plants and turn them into hermaphrodites, something every grower dreads. The main use of male marijuana plants is to create your own breeds, but considering you’re probably a beginner at cultivation yet, this is a story for another day. As a new grower, the best advice anyone could give you is to get feminized autoflowering seeds, which you can get at banks specialized in such breeds, such as Fast Buds. By purchasing this kind of seeds you’ll ensure that your first cannabis plantation operates successfully, without any discouraging results.
One important aspect about growing marijuana plants at home is informing yourself about different growing techniques which will influence your overall results. When we say techniques, we are referring to nutrients and feeding schedules, special training such as trellising or main-lining. For example, one common mistake new growers make when growing their first autoflower cannabis plants is overfeeding them with nutrients, most likely thinking that the more the merrier, which isn’t exactly the case. When you overfeed your Mary Jane plants, this could lead to what’s known as a nutrient burn, where the plant’s leaves start to turn into brownish or yellowish tones, they might bend at the tips or look crispy and twisted. Keep in mind that yellow leaves are also signs of a Nitrogen deficiency, while browner tones can also indicate that your plant lacks potassium. Therefore, it’s essential that you can recognize the differences between these symptoms to address the problem correctly. When the case is actually one where you have overfed your plants, what you’ll need is to learn how to flush your autoflowers, which consists of washing your medium and roots thoroughly with clean, plain water for a couple of days until you recover normal pH levels.
Growing cannabis can be easy and contradictory hard when you aren’t well informed, therefore, investigate and learn the basics before you jump start your plantation. Once that you’ve learned the basics about marijuana cultivation, it’s time to sit and compare the different growing methods, the types of seeds and the growing techniques to find out what suits your preferences and abilities best. Only after you have decided whether you want to grow outdoors or indoors, photoperiodic or autoflower, you will be finally ready to go out and purchase your seeds, germinate them and begin the exciting process of growing cannabis at home.
