Hey guys,
I’m Zach and I’ve been growing medicinal marijuana (Cannabis Indica) for a few years to relieve some of the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder right before I left for college and have been seeking alternative treatments ever since.
At first, I was just glad to have a diagnosis and know I wasn’t going crazy. Once I was diagnosed my doctor prescribed Xanax (and then Klonopin). The drugs worked for awhile but every time I used them I felt like I was in a “zombie-like” trance. I’m not saying the prescriptions didn’t have any positive effects (and if they work for you, great!) but eventually I noticed intense headaches, dizziness, and poor concentration affecting my work and personal life.
Without my meds I was waking up throughout the night. I was having full-blown panic attacks, but couldn’t take any prescription pills because I would sleep through my alarm and miss work. I don’t want to feel the anxiety but I don’t want to live like that either… then I tried medicinal marijuana. For the first time in a long time I was able to “turn off” the anxiety and even get a full night of sleep!
After years of outdoor growing, I recently decided to start growing indoors – it’s legal to grow outdoors and indoors in Oregon. I’ve learned there’s a good bit of difference in the growing techniques and even in which strains grow better inside or out. Hopefully, some of the tips I am sharing will be useful or at least be good reminders for you old pro-growers.
The Strain Can Make a Difference: For my medical needs, I discovered early on that the cannabis indica strain provides me the most relief from my anxiety and is actually a little easier to grow than cannabis sativa. While I knew the cannabis indica plant is typically short and bushy, I did not know it is ideally suited for indoor growing more so than the sativa strain. This strain also flowers more frequently and produces a higher yield than the sativa strains. All good info.
The Grow Medium Choice: You can successfully grow marijuana plants in soil and other sorts of non-soil (soil-less) mediums, or you could grow your plants directly in water or even in moist air! Each growing medium you use will have different care and watering requirements. You may want to research the different options and choose something that's right for your grow area and experience level.
When growing outdoors I had the most success using PRO-MIX BX. It has a tendency to help the soil retain water around the root system¬–critical when you are dependent on Mother Nature. Before I found the PRO-MIX series, I tried several different mixtures (even mixtures of mixtures). Most of the mediums I tried were primarily composed of wood. I found the more wood a mixture contains; the more likely it is to pack down tightly when watered which can lead to root rot and a bunch of other issues. I encourage you to experiment.
After researching the difference between the two environments and learning more about the wide variety of grow medium options, I decided to give soilless a try for my indoor grow efforts. I also decided to stick with the PRO-MIX brand but use PRO-MIX HP (found at Home Depot – it’s the package with a tomato plant photo). This medium is soilless. They refer to it as a high porosity professional peat-based growing medium that contains a natural growth enhancer: Mycorrhizae (Glomus intraradices). In a nutshell, it is designed to increase plant resistance to stresses and maximize water and nutrient uptake for a better plant quality and improved flowering and overall yield. Ideal for indoor growing.
My experience with this product has been pretty good so far, but I am in the early stages so I am curious to hear from the seasoned indoor grower community. Have you had any luck using PRO-MIX HP? And, what else can you share about the differences between growing inside versus outdoors – without stating the obvious?
I’m Zach and I’ve been growing medicinal marijuana (Cannabis Indica) for a few years to relieve some of the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder right before I left for college and have been seeking alternative treatments ever since.
At first, I was just glad to have a diagnosis and know I wasn’t going crazy. Once I was diagnosed my doctor prescribed Xanax (and then Klonopin). The drugs worked for awhile but every time I used them I felt like I was in a “zombie-like” trance. I’m not saying the prescriptions didn’t have any positive effects (and if they work for you, great!) but eventually I noticed intense headaches, dizziness, and poor concentration affecting my work and personal life.
Without my meds I was waking up throughout the night. I was having full-blown panic attacks, but couldn’t take any prescription pills because I would sleep through my alarm and miss work. I don’t want to feel the anxiety but I don’t want to live like that either… then I tried medicinal marijuana. For the first time in a long time I was able to “turn off” the anxiety and even get a full night of sleep!
After years of outdoor growing, I recently decided to start growing indoors – it’s legal to grow outdoors and indoors in Oregon. I’ve learned there’s a good bit of difference in the growing techniques and even in which strains grow better inside or out. Hopefully, some of the tips I am sharing will be useful or at least be good reminders for you old pro-growers.
The Strain Can Make a Difference: For my medical needs, I discovered early on that the cannabis indica strain provides me the most relief from my anxiety and is actually a little easier to grow than cannabis sativa. While I knew the cannabis indica plant is typically short and bushy, I did not know it is ideally suited for indoor growing more so than the sativa strain. This strain also flowers more frequently and produces a higher yield than the sativa strains. All good info.
The Grow Medium Choice: You can successfully grow marijuana plants in soil and other sorts of non-soil (soil-less) mediums, or you could grow your plants directly in water or even in moist air! Each growing medium you use will have different care and watering requirements. You may want to research the different options and choose something that's right for your grow area and experience level.
When growing outdoors I had the most success using PRO-MIX BX. It has a tendency to help the soil retain water around the root system¬–critical when you are dependent on Mother Nature. Before I found the PRO-MIX series, I tried several different mixtures (even mixtures of mixtures). Most of the mediums I tried were primarily composed of wood. I found the more wood a mixture contains; the more likely it is to pack down tightly when watered which can lead to root rot and a bunch of other issues. I encourage you to experiment.
After researching the difference between the two environments and learning more about the wide variety of grow medium options, I decided to give soilless a try for my indoor grow efforts. I also decided to stick with the PRO-MIX brand but use PRO-MIX HP (found at Home Depot – it’s the package with a tomato plant photo). This medium is soilless. They refer to it as a high porosity professional peat-based growing medium that contains a natural growth enhancer: Mycorrhizae (Glomus intraradices). In a nutshell, it is designed to increase plant resistance to stresses and maximize water and nutrient uptake for a better plant quality and improved flowering and overall yield. Ideal for indoor growing.
My experience with this product has been pretty good so far, but I am in the early stages so I am curious to hear from the seasoned indoor grower community. Have you had any luck using PRO-MIX HP? And, what else can you share about the differences between growing inside versus outdoors – without stating the obvious?
