Thanks to recent changes in California law, cannabis users can now legally grow up to six plants in the privacy of their home. This has the potential to be very convenient, although some people tend to hesitate because of the assumption that growing your own cannabis has to be complicated or difficult; this doesn’t have to be the case.
The first thing to sort out is whether you want to grow indoors or outdoors. Next, you’ll want to decide whether to grow in soil or with hydroponics. Plants – including veggies, fruit, flowers – generally tend to grow a lot faster with hydroponics, which is a form of growing that doesn’t include soil. Instead, the roots of the plant have direct access to water and the nutrients they need, so the energy that’s usually spent trying to get nutrition goes directly into growth. This can be as simple as using buckets to create a deep water culture, or DWC. It’s important to make sure to clean out the water every week or so to prevent root rot. It will also be important to maintain pretty specified temperatures and lighting schedules, because cannabis plants have a few different stages that require precise maintenance.
If you choose to grow outdoors, you can use regular soil, although it’s important to add the right nutrients. If you’re using synthetic nutrients, don’t use them more than once a week. Growing outdoors will basically be a lot more like gardening; if you’re good at that, you’ll be fine at this.
If you’re starting out and deciding what strains to try, keep in mind that Indicas tend to mature more quickly, while Sativas need both more time and space. Because there’s a limit to how many plants can legally be grown, there are some pretty great ways to get the most production out of your plants. Screen of Green, or ScrOG, is one such way. ScrOG is a way of training your plants to grow horizontally to create a canopy through securing it to a grid. This will encourage more buds to form on normally unproductive stems. It’s also a good way to ensure that the plants are getting the most use from the light sources you’re using.
This is obviously a very brief intro to growth, but if you’re interested in learning more, there are some pretty excellent resources available online for more information. How to Grow Marijuana is a very thorough site that’s been up since 1996, and has information on everything from choosing the right seeds – CBD, autoflowering, THC, hybrids, you name it – to the right lights, to different growing techniques. Potguide is a great site for a beginner’s intro…they walk you through different kinds of growing techniques and have sections on types of growing, maintenance and harvesting.
Happy growing!
