Grow Guide

7 Things You Need To Know

1. Where to grow

The options:

Indoor Outdoor Greenhouse

All have their advantages and disadvantages

Pros Cons

• Controlled environment • Man-made lights can limit terpenes

• Year-round growth • May need pesticides
Indoor • Some varieties grow better indoors • Larger startup costs - lots of
• Easy to keep clean equipment needed
• Risk of contaminants/toxins

• Natural • Difficult to control

• Sun helps cannabis grow to • Risk of pest/animal damage
Outdoor its full potential • Season-dependent
• Cheap and sustainable • Hard to keep discreet

• Larger yields • Expensive investment

• Outdoor grow advantages but in • Needs to be in the right position
Greenhouse manageable, controllable space - best for optimal success
of both worlds • Risk of pests flourishing if not
monitored and eliminated fast
 2. Learn the plant’s growth cycle
24 hours
to 2 weeks
Germination
• A good seed should be dark brown, hard and dry.
• Take two pieces of kitchen towel, put the seed in
the middle, and lightly spray with water.
• Keep an eye out for its taproot.
6 to 14
weeks
Flowering stage
• The vegetative plant is fully mature and is ready
to start growing buds/flowers.
• The plant will need to be transferred to a
bigger pot.
• Plant needs 12 hours of light and 12 hours
of dark.
• Indicas tend to finish flowering in about
6-9 weeks, and sativas 10-14 weeks.
2
2 to 3
weeks
Seedling stage
• Two leaves that open outward from the stem to
start receiving sunlight.
• Seedlings should be kept at 77˚F with a humidity
of around 60%.
• 18-hours of white light per day once the leaves
have emerged.
• Use a nitrogen-rich fertilizer at this point.
3 to 8
weeks
Vegetative stage
• Transfer your mature seedling to a larger pot.
• Seedling is ready to be transferred when the roots
will outgrow the plant pot.
• Check for the sex of the plant. Females will
start developing two white pistils. Males grow
pollen sacs.
• Remove male plants from the vicinity before it
pollinates the females.
• Temperature between 68 and 77˚F.
• Humidity between 50% and 70%.
• 18 hours of light and 6 hours of dark.
• Light wattage of around and 125 Watts.
• More nitrogen (N) than phosphorus (P)
and potassium (K).
 3. Choose your strain
Cannabis strains tend to be broken down into “sativa”, “indica” and “hybrid”.
These terms don’t necessarily explain the plant’s effects, but can give a clue as to
the growth pattern (and occasionally the terpenes) of the plant.

Sativas
• grow tall and stretch out.
• from the equatorial region, and so reach
for the sun – hence why they’re so big.
• great for those who have lots of
space, and can do very well outdoors,
producing very high yields
• can have a flowering period of up to 14
weeks, and can be difficult to look after
Indicas
• shorter, stout plants
• from more mountainous regions like the
Kush Valley and Afghanistan.
• finish flowering after about 8-9 weeks,
although some varieties may take a week
shorter or longer
• better for indoor grows

Hybrids

• vigorous and hardy • you can select if you want a more sativa-
leaning variety or an indica one with
• able to tolerate difficult conditions hybrids, making them very versatile
• easier to grow • most hybrids tend to finish flowering
between 8 and 12 weeks

Seed types include:

Regular Feminized Autoflowering

(Cannabis ruderalis)

• Both male and female plants – ideal
for breeding
• Strong, hardy plants with good roots –
ideal for clones
• Both male and female plants means you
will require a bit more space and learn
how to sex your plants
• Guarantee of mostly female-only
plants, saving time and space
• Greater yields compared to regular
seeds, at least initially
• Not suitable for breeding
• Feminized seeds are not as vigorous
as regular seeds
• Quick and easy to grow
• Balanced THC:CBD profiles
• Short and compact – easy to keep
out-of-sight
• Lower yield compared to regular or
feminized seeds
• For those seeking THC, autoflowering
varieties may lack potency

For those who are new to cannabis, we These are easy to grow because:
recommend an easy-growing hybrid.
• Breeders have stabilized the genetics for easier growth.
You should try:
• They have hybrid vigor and are therefore more resistant
• Northern Lights • Blue Dream to pests and environmental changes.
• Skunk #1 • OG Kush • They are suitable for indoor, outdoor and greenhouse
growing.
• Blueberry

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 4. Feeding your plant
Sunlight is the main food source for plants, but they also get all sorts of nutrients from
the soil as well. Here are the main nutrients cannabis plants need to survive.
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N Nitrogen
• Nitrogen is a major component of chlorophyll, which the
plant needs to convert sunlight into food for the plant.
• Nitrogen is also found in the soil, which is fixed by
bacteria for the plant, allowing the plant to build amino
acids and proteins.
• Nitrogen deficiency is characterized by the lower leaves
turning yellow and falling off.
15
P Phosphorus
• Phosphorus is essential for the development of amino
acids (the building blocks of proteins) and adenosine
triphosphate (ATP), which is like the powerhouse of cells
in both plants and mammals.
• Phosphorus deficiency is characterized by weak, spindly
stems, stunted plant growth, and bluish-green leaves.
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K Potassium
• Potassium regulates the opening and closing of stomata,
and therefore regulates CO2 uptake. This makes
potassium essential for evapotranspiration, and helps
the plant “breathe”.
• Potassium deficiency is characterized by reduced root,
seed and fruit/flower development, and brown scorching
and curling of leaf tips as well as chlorosis (yellowing)
between leaf veins. The leaves may also display purple
spots on their undersides.
Vegetative Stage Feeding
Recommendations
• Early veg stage (N:P:K ratio):
2:1:2 – 4:2:3
• Mid-veg stage (N:P:K ratio): 10:5:7
• Late veg stage (N:P:K ratio): 7:7:
4
Ca Calcium
• Calcium plays a very important role in developing and
maintaining plant cell walls, helping the plant grow.
• Calcium helps to maintain chemical balance in the soil,
reduces soil salinity, and improves water penetration.
• Calcium neutralizes cell acids.
• Calcium deficiency initially appears as localized tissue
necrosis leading to stunted plant growth, necrotic leaf
margins on young leaves or curling of the leaves, and
eventual death of terminal buds and root tips.
• You can tell calcium deficiency by paying attention to
new growth spots in particular, as this is where a lack of
calcium shows up first.
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Mg Magnesium
• Magnesium plays an essential role in photosynthesis,
contributing to the plant’s green color and helping it fix
energy from the sun’s rays.
• Magnesium deficiency is characterized by interveinal
chlorosis, or yellowing between leaf veins, which stay
green, giving the leaves a marbled appearance.
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S Sulfur
• Sulfur helps form important enzymes and assists in the
formation of plant proteins.
• Sulfur is essential for nitrogen-fixing nodules on
plant roots, and is also necessary in the formation of
chlorophyll,
• Sulfur deficiency in plants is characterized by
yellowing or pale green coloring throughout the plant.
Younger leaves suffer from yellowing, with their tips
becoming necrotic.
Flowering stage Feeding
Recommendations
• Early bloom (N:P:K ratio): 5:7:10
• Mid-bloom (N:P:K ratio): 6:10:15
• Mid–late bloom (N:P:K ratio): 4:7:10
• Late bloom (N:P:K ratio): just use
water in the last week of the flowering
stage, to flush out
 5. Choose your growing method
When you read into growing cannabis, you will come across the terms Sea of Green (SoG)
or ScrOG (Screen of Green).
These terms refer to growing methods to maximize the yield of your cannabis plants
in a given area.

Sea of Green (SoG) Screen of Green (ScrOG)

• The SoG method requires having a “mother” plant
kept in permanent vegetative stages.
• From this plant, you take cuttings, which you can
put into flowering straight away.
• You take several cuttings from the mother plant,
pot them, and put them under a 12/12 light-dark
cycle straight away.
• You can grow many smaller cannabis plants using
SoG, and is particularly suitable for those with
limited space.
• The ScrOG technique focuses on producing
multiple bud sites using a wire grid, and involves
“training” your plant to form an even canopy over
the wire grid.
• ScrOG works better if you are just wanting to
maximize the yield of a few plants.
• For indoor grows, it works well when you have a
plant that’s growing quite large and you need to
prevent it from taking up all the space!

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 6. Choose your growing medium
What medium are you going to grow your cannabis in? Soil or hydroponics, coco coir,
or aquaponics? Let’s take a look at what these mediums mean:

Indoor cannabis soil grows

• Perhaps the easiest and most beginner-friendly way to start growing cannabis.
• Get some good quality soil, plant pots, lights and a grow tent, and you’re pretty much ready
to get started.
• With soil, you do not need to feed the plant too many nutrients, as the soil contains
most of them.

Hydroponic grows
• Hydroponics is where you grow cannabis using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent.
• The plant will usually be in a pot surrounded by inert growing medium (e.g. perlite, vermiculite,
clay aggregate, gravel or sand) and have a nutrient solution pumped through the inert material
and into the plant (continuous flow solution culture).
• In some methods, the plant is kept in a reservoir of nutrients (static solution culture).
• Hydroponic grows can produce large, potent yields, but the setup can be more complicated
and expensive.

Indoor coco coir grows

• Coco coir is an inert material. It doesn’t carry the nutrition content of soil, but is very
pest-resistant and helps develop strong roots.
• Like in a hydroponic grow, you are feeding your plants with nutrients, but by hand rather than
a water solution.
• It mixes some of the best aspects of both soil and hydroponic growing, but you have to keep
a closer eye on it for nutrient deficiencies when compared to soil growing.
• You will certainly need calcium and magnesium supplements.

Aquaponics
• This is where you essentially have an aquarium combined with a garden!
• The fish in the aquarium produce waste, which provides food for the plants, whilst the plants
help keep the water clean and oxygenated.
• It’s a very efficient mode of cannabis production. Aquaponics helps plants mature faster, is a
great growing medium for limited spaces, and is relatively pest-resilient compared to soil
grows. You save on water, too.
• However, the initial setup costs for an aquaponics farm can be pricey, it is not a medium ideal
for larger grows, and if the system fails you will require more technical knowledge to fix it.

• For beginners, we generally recommend indoor soil or coco coir grows as these mediums are more
forgiving of mistakes.
• For those wanting larger crops and yields, a greenhouse is ideal.
• Once you gain a little experience and technical know-how, you can choose to utilize hydroponic and
aquaponic mediums.

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 7. Chop, Dry and Cure Your Harvest
To get the best out of your cannabis, it is just as important to dry and cure your
produce as well.

Harvesting & chopping

• Some say you should harvest the plants when trichomes
70-90% of the pistils have browned.
• Others look at the color of the trichomes, which
start off white, then turn amber, and finally brown.
• Many say the ideal time to harvest is when around
about half (50%) of trichomes are amber. pistils
• The choice is ultimately down to you!

Drying
• You need to dry your cannabis plants in a dry room away from sunlight for about
7-14 days.
• Your cannabis plant will be ready for chopping into smaller buds for jarring once
the plant stem snaps when you bend them.
• This is an extremely important stage, as good drying will prevent your cannabis
from developing mold or mildew.

Curing
• After you’ve chopped, pruned and dried your cannabis, it is usable, but it is not at
its best.
• You will want to put your cannabis into a mason jar (no more than 3-quarters full)
with an airtight seal.
• You will then leave it in there for 2 weeks – 1 month, opening the jar once a day to
let the cannabis breathe.
• This will break down the sugars and chlorophyll in the bud/flower, and you will get
a far more flavorsome product with a well-defined effect.