Marijuana Lighting

When growing Marijuana plants you may have the most success by using two different types of lights for different stages of growth, or simply at the same time. These lights are called high intensity discharge lights. Marijuana grows well from 420 to 730 nanometre, all of which using this method covers.

When choosing your light for vegetative growth you need to look for Metal halide light which is close to regular room light or compact fluorescent light which is more abundant in the blue or green spectrums.The flowering stage will benefit most from high pressure sodium which offers light in the orange, amber and red end of the spectrum.

Possible Solutions would be the following lights:

• • HPS – High Pressure Sodium Grow Lights

• LED Grow Lights

Although the lamps mentioned offer a lot of light, you can imagine how much energy is wasted through emitted heat. To manage the heat and avoid damaging your plants you’ll need a god ventilation system and a ballast to operate.The ballast regulates the current to the lamps and supplies sufficient voltage to start the lamps, this is essential in operating your lamps. The cost of this is around $250 for a 600W HPS/MH digital ballast, bulb and reflector combo.

Full spectrum LED lights are the commonly recommended lights to use. This is because they’re low cost, low power usage and the color spectrum they produce is perfect for growing marijuana plants. The advantages the full spectrum LED lights have over the high intensity discharge lights are:

• They cover all stages of growth from seedling, vegetative and flowering.
• Run on approximately half of the electricity.
• Bulb life of around 50,000 to 60,000 hours.
• Emit very little heat.
• Do not require a ballast.

As you can see lighting systems grow and change with the times, like everything. The full spectrum LED lights are a great step forward from the high intensity discharge lights, make your life a lot easier!

Marijuana Growing Seeds or Clones

You may know someone who grows marijuana plants, in this case you can ask them for some clones. You may have some friends who can save you some seeds out of any good marijuana they come across! If you don’t have access to clones then you have to look for marijuana seeds for sale.

Germinate the Marijuana Seeds

Before germinating your seeds you’ll need to get everything set up and tested to ensure it works unless you’re using clones, if this is the case you don’t need to germinate your seeds. You must choose your growing medium first before germinating your seeds.

For instance, if you were to use rockwool cube you can start the seed on and surround it the growing medium of your choice. Remember that your seeds won’t be getting any nutrients from your growing medium, just support.

To germinate your seeds you must keep around 70% of the rockwool cube submerged in water when it’s at its maximum. It’s important to keep the top portion above the water so that the seed doesn’t submerge.

Once your seeds have germinated at the roots have grown to around a quarter of an inch, you can place the seed so that it’s root down on your growing medium, in your hydroponic cups.

Vegetative Marijuana Growth

The vegetative phase is the first stage of growth. When considering your lighting options you must understand that if the position of your light is wrong it can cause your plant to either dry out and turn brown if the lights too close, or grow too tall to stretch to the light source if it’s too far away.

If you plan to use LED, metal halide or high pressure sodium from the very start then you must start with it being around 20 inches or more above the top of the plant (although this is less for LED). You should lower the light around an inch daily until you believe it’s in the right position and your plants are receiving the correct amount of lighting.

During this first stage of growth you should keep the light on for a minimum of 18 hours a day, even better if you can stretch to 24 hours a day to begin with. The longer you can keep the light on, the faster your plants will grow, but of course you’ve got to consider the cost of this.

Marijuana Flowering

The vegetative phase is the first stage of growth. When considering your lighting options you must understand that if the position of your light is wrong it can cause your plant to either dry out and turn brown if the lights too close, or grow too tall to stretch to the light source if it’s too far away.

If you plan to use LED, metal halide or high pressure sodium from the very start then you must start with it being around 20 inches or more above the top of the plant (although this is less for LED). You should lower the light around an inch daily until you believe it’s in the right position and your plants are receiving the correct amount of lighting.

During this first stage of growth you should keep the light on for a minimum of 18 hours a day, even better if you can stretch to 24 hours a day to begin with. The longer you can keep the light on, the faster your plants will grow, but of course you’ve got to consider the cost of this.

The best thing to do is leave your plant alone during this time and don’t be tempted to go and check on it so that you avoid any chance of light reaching it.

The strongest light that should reach your plant during the flowering stage is a light equal to moonlight. If a light source any stronger reaches your plant you risk delaying the flowering stage, you may even be at risk of the plant not flowering if light exposure continues and your plant will be stuck in the vegetative stage.

The flowering stage is easy to spot, just look out for what looks like little white hairs developing at the bud sites. This should become visible after about ten to fourteen days of the flowering light cycle, so keep your eyes peeled!

When you can visualize this stage then it’s time to remove the mail plants (this isn’t required if you have female clones).

The red or white hairs that you see are pistils, they will turn into big buds if your plants are growing healthily.  

Seven Tips on How to Determine Sex of Plants

1. Female plants tend to have more complex branching as they grow, whereas males tend to be slightly taller and less filled.

2. Male plants will reach maturity and grow taller around two weeks before female plants.

3. Male plants pollen sacs, they grow taller so that they can drop the pollen on to the females reproductive organs.

4. The pollen sacs the males possess will eventually open up to be yellow flowers. Females have hair whiteish pistils which will be sticky so that it can catch the pollen dropped from the flowers.

5. The best way to determine the sex before the plant reaches maturity is to take a cutting from a number of plants and place it in soil to grow for a few days. Force flowering by using the 12 hour on 12 hour off light cycle and you’ll be able to determine the sex, this is called cloning. You must keep track of which clone came from which plant as they’ll be the same sex as their host.

6. If the plant sprouts from the top or bottom of the seed it’s generally a female. If the plant is sprouting from the side they’re generally male. This method of determining the sex of the plant has a 90% success rate and may not be reliable used by itself.

7. Hermaphrodites occasionally occur and can make it very difficult to determine whether the plant is male or female. Hermaphrodites are plants which exhibit both male and female reproductive capacities. They can be the result of environmental stress and can send mixed signals. If you start to notice flowers and pistils on the same plant, try pruning off the flowers to ensure that the marijuana plant doesn’t self-pollinate (or pollinate other surrounding females).

The flowering cycle generally lasts around two months, but depending on the type of seed it can take a little longer. It should take around three to four months in totally to grow a crop in a hydroponic environment, it’ll take much less time if you’re using the sea of green or screen of green methods.

Important Facts to Remember for Flowering Stage

1. Less than 12 hours light will reduce flowering speed and overall yield.

2. Putting the lights on during the 12 hour dark period even if it’s a short period will harm your plant and leave them stuck in the vegetative stage.

3. If you want to work in your grow room whilst it’s dark then you can use a green light bulb, green light doesn’t effect the plants.

4. You can leave your plants in 36 hours of darkness to send the message that it’s time to flower. This can decrease the time in which flowering begins.

Harvesting, Curing and Storing Marijuana with no Smell!

This stage is crucial to producing high quality marijuana. There are 3 key steps you need to take to produce the perfect buds.

1. Timing Your Harvest

This stage is crucial to producing high quality marijuana. There are 3 key steps you need to take to produce the perfect buds.

How Can You Tell It is Ready?

You may notice that the larger fan leaves are beginning to turn yellow and wilt, there’s no need to worry your plants aren’t ruined! You can in fact remove these leaves to allow more light to the lower parts of the plant.

The list above notes the signs that harvesting is approaching, however many people go by the color of the trichomes. This is the tiny structure on the flowers and trim leaves that produce resin and is where THC resides! To inspect these you’ll need some form of magnifier. There are three changes that the trichomes go through as they mature that you’ll be able to observe:

• They swell and their heads flatten (also known as ‘mushroom’).
• Turn from being clear to milky or clouded.
• Turn amber or brown.

The changes in trichome color can provide a good guide to the levels of THC and CBD in each bud and determine whether your plant is ready to be harvested.

For many, harvesting when trichome is clear is too early, although you’ll still get high the effects may be light because it hasn’t had as long for the active ingredients and molecules to peak.

When the trichomes are milky you’ll get a good hit without it being too heavy. Finally once the trichomes begin to turn amber, depending on when you choose to harvest they effect will become heavier and heavier the more the trichomes change color.

Flushing Your Plants

Marijuana plants can suffer from a build-up of salts or nutrient residues which is why it’s essential to flush your plants. A common method is using plain water every 10 days throughout the grow to help clear out this build-up.

If you plan to flush your plants 3 – 7 days before harvest this will improve the quality of your buds. To do this with your hydroponic system you should run clean water through the system for the last few days, pH your water to about 5.8, although pH is not as critical at this stage as there are no nutrients to lock out.

Don’t worry if you experience some leaf yellowing, it’s perfectly normal!

Chopping Your Plants

If you have the time and patience to cut your plant in sections, this will give you the best results! The smaller leaves protect the trichomes and would be best to leave on throughout the cutting and drying stages.

To cut your plants effectively remove the fan leaves first and handle the branches extremely carefully, otherwise the trichomes could fall off. Using a sharp pair of secateurs or fiskars cut each branch from the plant.

2. Drying Your Buds Properly

To preserve the terpenes in your buds it’s essential to dry slowly, this will preserve the flavor, weight and smell. You should prevent mold and fungus growing and ruining your bud by ensuring there is good air circulation where you’re drying your buds.

You should have a drying area prepped and ready for your freshly harvested branches. It should be a dark area with clean fresh air and ventilation, with enough room for your branches to have plenty of space surrounding them.

Ensure you hang your branches with plenty of space between one another. You can purchase custom made drying cabinets or boxes to provide the perfect environment to dry your buds. It is possible to purchase commercial drying boxes or simply make your own if you’re a dab hand at DIY.

When drying your buds you should turn them around so that the air flow meet all of the buds. Be sure to inspect your plants regularly, drying can take from a few days to a couple of weeks. The branches and stems will begin to crack rather than bend between your fingers when your plants are dry.

3. Curing your buds properly

Trimming

Before the final cure you must trim your freshly grown marijuana, you can use a clean sharp pair of scissors to do this. Gently remove any remaining leaves that could be shielding the buds.

Curing

To cure your marijuana you need to separate the individual buds from the stems and place them in a glass jar. Open the buds up twice a day to allow them to breathe for fifteen minutes for the first week or two that they’re in the jar. By doing this it allows a complete air exchange and removes any remaining moisture.

You’ve now completed the finishing touch to your marijuana and we’re sure it’s going to make all the difference to the quality of your smoke! Well done for having the patience to follow every step through!

Conclusion

We hope this hydroponic marijuana grow guide has given you all the information you need to grow high quality plants. Remember to read through the guide before you start to ensure you have all the equipment you need to get the best results! Happy growing!

Soil Medium

Most growers use soil for their cannabis growth and it’s the most suitable option for beginners. Many different potting soils are available from your local gardening store.

Most will work for your operation, though it is advisable to avoid Miracle Gro since it contains artificial extended release fertilizer that harms the cannabis plant. Compost potting soil, while more expensive, is the best option. Compost soil sometimes referred to as super-soil, allows cannabis plant growth from seedling to flowering without the need for added nutrients.

Compost soils are also available at the local gardening store, though it is possible to make your own by mixing a few ingredients like bat guano and worm castings together.

Soilless

Soilless growing  is popular indoors. Also known as Hydroponics, this medium feeds the plant using concentrated mineral salt nutrients that the plant absorbs through its roots during the osmosis process.

If you plan to use a hydroponic grow system for growing, you’ll need to choose a type of material to grow. Choices include expanded clay pebbles , rockwool cubes , and vermiculite . Most of the soilless mixes soil include two or more mediums to ensure optimized growing experiences.