Hi everyone, how's everything going?
I found so many great articles in this forum, inspiring me to write something.Cannabis is light-loving and chilling Sensitive. From seeding to being mature, the growth requires plenty of temperature and sunshine. Unfortunately, I live in a dark and wet area. To grow qualified cannabis, I have no choice, but indoor planting.
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Maybe l can share some of my own experience of indoor planting, hope you'll like it.
Sprout
-
Many indoor growers choose hydroponic cultivation, cuz it’s easier to calculate the ratio of each nutrition. However,the best way is the most natural way, not liquid, not cotton, not paper, not rock wool or other material, but soil. Soil provides the highest success rate, and it won't cause any damages to fresh seeds.
Steps:
1.Get the soil wet
2.Make a 1-cetimeter hole
3.Put a seed in
4.Cover the hole with soil
Make sure you didn’t put the seeds too deep, the buds might fail to reach the ground surface. What’s more, don’t ignore the influence of light at this stage. Even though buried by soil, the seeds will still be affected by the light. Choosing a good light source for the seeds is crucial.
There are some grow light which are designed for sprouting on market, I’ll set a new article to compare each of them.
Lighting
-
HPS lights used to be the most widely used method for lighting supply. In a larger space where the temperature and humidity can be control appropriately, one 600 W light for every square meter will lead a good harvest. If in a room where the temperature and humidity can't be control easily, a 400 W light for every square meter will be good.
But for the recent years, LED grow light took the place of HPS gradually. I will talk about LED light in my after posts.
--
Growing Period
-
After sprout, plants will start to grow, which means the plants will spare no efforts in photosynthesis, grow taller, and some flower buds will grow out at the tops and nodes of the stems.
For some time, the plant will grow without being affected by any kind of light source. Differ from it , flower buds will be affected by the light. When put in a half/half optical environment(12 hours in light, 12 hours dark), buds will start to bloom.
The plants could be in the growing period indefinitely, but you can decide when to force it to bloom. The plants should be 10-250cm to be forced to bloom. You can decide when to force them according to the target height and the space.
-
Flowering
Only in a proper photoperiod, the plants will bloom and yield fruits. Cannabis is kind of light-sensitive plant, even street lights might affect the flowering. If in a 16/8 optical environment(16 hours in light and 8 hours in dark), the plants might stay in growing stage without flowering. With the lights on for 2-3 weeks, the plants will be covered by white pistils. The pistils will appear from the tops of the plants, then overspread to the whole plants. In a 12/12 optical environment, the flowering stage can last for 7-9 weeks. When there are enough flower buds, we can change the photoperiod to 8/10, after this, the plant will start to become mature.
I will start some topics focusing on photoperiod in the future.
Nutriments
It’s not difficult to get the nutriments and base materials for special plants. Good base materials could be rock wool, coconut or some plants, like sative and indica. If the cultivation is on soil, cow dung and horse dung can be a good choice.
The three main factors which determine a good plant location are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The three ingredients will appear on the label of the nutriment basket in the order of N-P-K. 20-20-20 nutriment contain 20% of nitrogen. The other ingredients are calcium, sulfur, magnesium and some micro-elements, like boron, bronze, molybdenum, zinc, iron and manganese. Different ingredients will meet the demand of different stages in growth. For example, in sprouting and rooting stage, the plants require a lot phosphorus, very little-nitrogen and potassium. In growing stage, less phosphorus is needed. In the flowering stage, much phosphorus and potassium is required.
PH Value and Fertilizer
PH value will affect the absorption of nutriments, usually a PH value between 6.7 and 5.8 will be good. If you choose hydroponic cultivation, more attention on the PH value should be paid. Phosphoric acid may raise the acidity, we can add lime and potassium carbonate to neutralize it. I extremely recommended a PH tester which can be used on both soil and liquid, to ensure the environment wouldn’t be too acid or too alkaline. Most of the fertilizers will change the PH value. The acidity will increase rapidly after the application of fertilizer. After some time, the soil will be more and more acid under the effect of salinity which is produced by the resolving the fertilizer. As a result, the growth will be inhibit, the leaves will turn yellow, even there will be difficulties for root to bring nutrition to the leaves.
Ventilation System
HPS lights will give out heat, so air pumps and shakable fans are needed. Air pumps can reduce the redundant heat and moisture and fans can prevent the flower buds from rotting. The air will go from outdoor to indoor, so no air pump is need at the entrance vent. The diameter of the entrance vent and exit vent should be equal, otherwise, the air pump performance might be affected.
Of course, all above in the premise that you use HPS lights as a light resource. With the widely use of LED grow lights in the recent years, ventilation system are no longer that much necessary, cuz LED lights don't give out extra heat.
Temperature and Humidity
The perfect temperature should be 82,no higher than 87, or lower than 62. We should avoid a large difference in temperature in case that it might affect the growth. If higher than 87,the flower buds would be fluffy, only very little THC could be produced. If lower than 62, the plants might stop growing, the stems might turn purple and the flowers wouldn't grow up. However, it's strange that, low temperature will cause a larger production in THC.
The humidity should stay between 50% to 60%. For asexually propagation, the humidity should be about 80% when there is no root. In growing and flowering stage, the humidity can't be higher than 60%, otherwise the carbon filters might be destroyed. On the other hand, a too low humidity could affect the harvest. If possible, you can add a steam machine to improve the humidity. In the and phase of harvest, we should low down the humidity as much as possible to prevent the flower buds from rotting.
Harvest and Drying
When the flowers get mature (the pistils start to turn brown or orange, and to the fake seed capsules), we can start to harvest. Mature flower buds have red and golden hairs.
Early harvest(only a few flower buds have changed their color) will produce purer THC with less cannabinol and cannabidiol. Late harvest could produce more cannabinol and cannabidiol. A high THC proportion will suscitate the brain, and a high cannabinol and cannabidiol proportion will make people numb. More THC, or more cannabinol and cannabidiol, it's depend on your need.
After harvest, take the whole plant, cut off all leaves around the flower buds(excluding the leaves inside the flower buds), then hang the plant upside down, dry it till the flower buds can be broke off easily. If in a dark ventilative room, the whole drying process would take 4-10 days. Remember, don't force the flower buds to be dry, this could destroy your harvest. You can cut off the flower buds when they get totally dry.
Well, these are just some very basic tips, we can make some further discussion in each point in the future, really hope the experienced growers can come to exchange our ideas. Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to let me know.
Gook luck!
I found so many great articles in this forum, inspiring me to write something.Cannabis is light-loving and chilling Sensitive. From seeding to being mature, the growth requires plenty of temperature and sunshine. Unfortunately, I live in a dark and wet area. To grow qualified cannabis, I have no choice, but indoor planting.
-
Maybe l can share some of my own experience of indoor planting, hope you'll like it.
Sprout
-
Many indoor growers choose hydroponic cultivation, cuz it’s easier to calculate the ratio of each nutrition. However,the best way is the most natural way, not liquid, not cotton, not paper, not rock wool or other material, but soil. Soil provides the highest success rate, and it won't cause any damages to fresh seeds.
Steps:
1.Get the soil wet
2.Make a 1-cetimeter hole
3.Put a seed in
4.Cover the hole with soil
Make sure you didn’t put the seeds too deep, the buds might fail to reach the ground surface. What’s more, don’t ignore the influence of light at this stage. Even though buried by soil, the seeds will still be affected by the light. Choosing a good light source for the seeds is crucial.
There are some grow light which are designed for sprouting on market, I’ll set a new article to compare each of them.
Lighting
-
HPS lights used to be the most widely used method for lighting supply. In a larger space where the temperature and humidity can be control appropriately, one 600 W light for every square meter will lead a good harvest. If in a room where the temperature and humidity can't be control easily, a 400 W light for every square meter will be good.
But for the recent years, LED grow light took the place of HPS gradually. I will talk about LED light in my after posts.
--
Growing Period
-
After sprout, plants will start to grow, which means the plants will spare no efforts in photosynthesis, grow taller, and some flower buds will grow out at the tops and nodes of the stems.
For some time, the plant will grow without being affected by any kind of light source. Differ from it , flower buds will be affected by the light. When put in a half/half optical environment(12 hours in light, 12 hours dark), buds will start to bloom.
The plants could be in the growing period indefinitely, but you can decide when to force it to bloom. The plants should be 10-250cm to be forced to bloom. You can decide when to force them according to the target height and the space.
-
Flowering
Only in a proper photoperiod, the plants will bloom and yield fruits. Cannabis is kind of light-sensitive plant, even street lights might affect the flowering. If in a 16/8 optical environment(16 hours in light and 8 hours in dark), the plants might stay in growing stage without flowering. With the lights on for 2-3 weeks, the plants will be covered by white pistils. The pistils will appear from the tops of the plants, then overspread to the whole plants. In a 12/12 optical environment, the flowering stage can last for 7-9 weeks. When there are enough flower buds, we can change the photoperiod to 8/10, after this, the plant will start to become mature.
I will start some topics focusing on photoperiod in the future.
Nutriments
It’s not difficult to get the nutriments and base materials for special plants. Good base materials could be rock wool, coconut or some plants, like sative and indica. If the cultivation is on soil, cow dung and horse dung can be a good choice.
The three main factors which determine a good plant location are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The three ingredients will appear on the label of the nutriment basket in the order of N-P-K. 20-20-20 nutriment contain 20% of nitrogen. The other ingredients are calcium, sulfur, magnesium and some micro-elements, like boron, bronze, molybdenum, zinc, iron and manganese. Different ingredients will meet the demand of different stages in growth. For example, in sprouting and rooting stage, the plants require a lot phosphorus, very little-nitrogen and potassium. In growing stage, less phosphorus is needed. In the flowering stage, much phosphorus and potassium is required.
PH Value and Fertilizer
PH value will affect the absorption of nutriments, usually a PH value between 6.7 and 5.8 will be good. If you choose hydroponic cultivation, more attention on the PH value should be paid. Phosphoric acid may raise the acidity, we can add lime and potassium carbonate to neutralize it. I extremely recommended a PH tester which can be used on both soil and liquid, to ensure the environment wouldn’t be too acid or too alkaline. Most of the fertilizers will change the PH value. The acidity will increase rapidly after the application of fertilizer. After some time, the soil will be more and more acid under the effect of salinity which is produced by the resolving the fertilizer. As a result, the growth will be inhibit, the leaves will turn yellow, even there will be difficulties for root to bring nutrition to the leaves.
Ventilation System
HPS lights will give out heat, so air pumps and shakable fans are needed. Air pumps can reduce the redundant heat and moisture and fans can prevent the flower buds from rotting. The air will go from outdoor to indoor, so no air pump is need at the entrance vent. The diameter of the entrance vent and exit vent should be equal, otherwise, the air pump performance might be affected.
Of course, all above in the premise that you use HPS lights as a light resource. With the widely use of LED grow lights in the recent years, ventilation system are no longer that much necessary, cuz LED lights don't give out extra heat.
Temperature and Humidity
The perfect temperature should be 82,no higher than 87, or lower than 62. We should avoid a large difference in temperature in case that it might affect the growth. If higher than 87,the flower buds would be fluffy, only very little THC could be produced. If lower than 62, the plants might stop growing, the stems might turn purple and the flowers wouldn't grow up. However, it's strange that, low temperature will cause a larger production in THC.
The humidity should stay between 50% to 60%. For asexually propagation, the humidity should be about 80% when there is no root. In growing and flowering stage, the humidity can't be higher than 60%, otherwise the carbon filters might be destroyed. On the other hand, a too low humidity could affect the harvest. If possible, you can add a steam machine to improve the humidity. In the and phase of harvest, we should low down the humidity as much as possible to prevent the flower buds from rotting.
Harvest and Drying
When the flowers get mature (the pistils start to turn brown or orange, and to the fake seed capsules), we can start to harvest. Mature flower buds have red and golden hairs.
Early harvest(only a few flower buds have changed their color) will produce purer THC with less cannabinol and cannabidiol. Late harvest could produce more cannabinol and cannabidiol. A high THC proportion will suscitate the brain, and a high cannabinol and cannabidiol proportion will make people numb. More THC, or more cannabinol and cannabidiol, it's depend on your need.
After harvest, take the whole plant, cut off all leaves around the flower buds(excluding the leaves inside the flower buds), then hang the plant upside down, dry it till the flower buds can be broke off easily. If in a dark ventilative room, the whole drying process would take 4-10 days. Remember, don't force the flower buds to be dry, this could destroy your harvest. You can cut off the flower buds when they get totally dry.
Well, these are just some very basic tips, we can make some further discussion in each point in the future, really hope the experienced growers can come to exchange our ideas. Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to let me know.
Gook luck!
