With an estimated 70 million Americans able to access cannabis or medical marijuana, you are not alone by wanting to grow your own. There are so many reasons why you should grow and you probably know them: knowing what strain you smoke and how it will affect you is probably the most important to those who start to grow at home, but also saving thousands of dollars in expenses, and getting 100% pesticide-free plants are top reasons.
Once you start growing you will get attached to your plants. Some people give them names and swear by the plant-person relationship as part of the therapeutic effects of the plant.
Whatever your story, we support you and want to help you grow the world’s best cannabis.
If you are looking to find strains, Leafly has a great resource on what’s hot now. Blue Dream, Girl Scout Cookies, Sour Diesel are the top 3 strains. Some you could find by sharing seeds, others you might need to order online from a seed company. Maybe you don’t follow trends and lead your own. That’s cool too.
Now, cannabis plants are known to be hearty and stress-tolerant. They are considered weeds. One summer one of our parents threw a pile of pot seeds in our backyard, and the entire backyard became a bushy green jungle that had the neighboring teenagers sneaking into visit. But those who smoked that stuff said it was all leaf, no bud (flower).
Back in the days (of like our parents) people were used to smoking shitty grass. Not anymore. Even nuns are growing great pot, like the Sister’s of Mercy in California.
Our tastes and opportunities have blossomed along with cannabis science, thanks to millions of hydroponics growers in the US and Canada.
Today people smoke seedless, potent pot, that is grown into thick flavorful sticky buds. But getting there takes a lot of time and patience. No magic box solution will help you get there overnight, but if you avoid some common mistakes, and monitor carefully, it will take little time to get your plants perfect.
Why You Should Grow Hydro
Hydroponics is the superior way to grow cannabis at home, without detection, year round. You shouldn’t want to do it any other way. If you do go to soil outside, do it as a backup stash or hobby.
In many states you have to hide your seedlings as per the law, and then there are pests, summer storms, holiday time.
It’s way too much work. The best grow gurus use hydroponics for so many reasons. You can read 19 good ones here.
1. Don’t overfeed your cannabis plants
You can overfeed cannabis plants. You might be worried that the buds won’t grow fast enough so you add extra food here and there. Overfeeding does not promote growth, but can kill your marijuana plants.
Liquid nutrients are packed with everything the plants need all inside a tiny bottle and you need to be accurate about measurements so follow the grow charts. Non-organic nutrients are created to be instantly available for the plant to absorb, so too much will burn the plants. They will die or be drastically stunted. Follow instructions on the bottle.
Start slow. Observe how the plants look and increase amounts accordingly.
2. Do control temperature
It doesn’t matter where you put your hydroponic garden. On a roof in a greenhouse, in your basement, on your patio, in your backyard or garage. You need to simulate the best conditions for your cannabis to grow.
If your plants are too hot or too cold they won’t grow optimally. Cold will stunt. Freezing will kill them. If they are too hot, they will get stressed out and the leaves will start to curl. But there is a happy balance. And the wonderful thing about greenhouse growing or hydroponic systems, is that in greenhouses you can adjust, and in small stand-alone systems you can shift locations.
Here and there your plants can be exposed to extremes. Best for them is a steady 75°F but and upper 50s at night. Serious growers take stock of reservoir temperature.
3. Do control humidity
This is how much water is in the air. When the plants are seedlings the air should be humid and then it should decrease over time. Starting at 60% and then reducing it to 40% is about what you want. Small greenhouses like the one we use as a test lab are awesome because you can grow your limit of pot in one of those, with space for your friends (who wants to grow just one plant in a grow box or tent?).
We don’t always monitor humidity but tend to feel it. When the greenhouse gets too humid we can see it on our plants and open the window. If you have a large installation you might want to use a humidifier, but if you are growing hydroponically there is already so much humidity coming from the system you usually don’t have to worry.
4. Do get the pH right
Yup that high school chemistry class by Mr. White has come back to haunt you. But you need to know about it if you start a hydroponic garden.
You want to use water that is not too acidic or basic. You want water between pH 6.0 to 7.0. This region of pH opens ion channels in the plant roots allowing them to eat. Go above and below this too much and the plants miss out on vitamins and minerals.
5. Do handle electricity safely
Even if the only plug you are using is for your hydroponic reservoir pump, never be too cautious about mixing water and electricity. We’ve seen way too many scary grows that give us nightmares… wires everywhere. So grow safe. Build or choose a hydroponic system that doesn’t leak. Be careful with what other electronics and lighting you put in there, because high humid environments controlled by people who may be high, using electricity = scary stuff.
