The Microgrowery Absolute Beginner's Guide to Growing Cannabis

So you want to get started growing your very own Cannabis plants? No idea where to start? Then read on to get a handle on the basics

Items you will need:

• Seeds - It is recommended that you get your seeds from a seed-bank but you can use loose seeds from your last bag, you will never know what your going to get from "bagseed" however. If you have access to clones they are also a great option for beginners to start on.
• A growing medium - A high quality soil (Fox Farm's Ocean Forest is an extremely popular choice), Rockwool, Coco, Perlite, and Clay Pellets.
• Lights and a light timer and / or a ballast
• Ventilation
• Nutrients
• Pots with good drainage
• pH Tester and/or PPM Tester / EC Meter
• A jeweler's loupe, microscope or a camera with a macro lenses for examining trichomes

Grow Area:

Next, you need to determine a suitable space to grow your plants. Will it be your closet, basement, custom grow box, grow tent, etc.? The ideal place needs to be well ventilated and large enough to grow plants to your desired height and width whilst having lighting, fans, and other equipment in there as well. Also, keep in mind that you don't want any light leaks, this is important for stealth and necessary to flower your plants correctly.

Once you have chosen your designated grow area, make sure you have thoroughly cleaned it, painted the walls white or hang reflective material.

Once you have prepared the room, you can now begin to install your lights and ventilation. Be sure that everything is sturdy and done properly. Badly secured equipment can fall and crush your plants or worse, start a fire.

Keep your lights close as you can. A simple test to see if they are too close is to place your hand at the top of your plant and hold it there for 30 seconds. If your hand does not burn from the heat, neither will the plant. You can also refer to this chart to find optimal distances for Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium lamps

Types of lighting to be used and how much to use:

• HID(High Intensity Discharge) Lamps - 50-80w per sq ft needed
• LED(Light-emitting Diode) Lighting - 50-80w per sq ft needed (actual watts not LED watts)
• CFL(Compact Fluorescent) Bulbs - 80-100w+ per sq ft needed
• T5 Fluorescent Lighting - 80-100W+ per sq ft needed

Planting your first seeds

This is usually where a lot of mistakes take place, so please read this carefully.

To germinate in dirt you want to start off in a small growing container. Wet the soil first, create a little whole about 15-30mm deep and drop one seed in. Cover the hole lightly, don't compact the dirt too much. Now, place it under your lighting for 24 hours a day. It may take up to 10 days before it sprouts, so be patient. Seeds don't always sprout, if it's been 15 days it probably safe to say that the plant wont sprout.

Once you have a sprouted seed, water as needed.

Other germination techniques include:

• The paper towel method
• Using a purchased "Seed Starter"

Vegetation Period

Soon, your plant will out root the small container it's in and you will need to transplant it into a much larger container. Prepare your new, large, drain-able pot. Take the container your plant is in, and gently bend the sides. What this does is separate any dirt or roots that are touching the inside walls. Now that you have done this, you can carefully and slowly turn the cup upside down and the contents of the cup will slide right out. You can break off some of the dirt, but do not let any of the roots be exposed to light. They will dry out and die. Quickly, place your plant into the new pot. Give it a nice watering and place it back into the grow room under 18-on/6-off hours of lighting (or 24/0). Your plant will probably not grow for a day or so, this is normal after transplanting. It is important that you keep your plants under a strict 24/0 or 18/6 lighting schedule during the vegetation period. If they get too long a dark period they will begin to flower.

Watering, Nutrients and pH

Water your plant when the soil is dry. This is the #1 mistake new growers make - they water too often. Overwatering is not "giving the plant too much water" it is "giving the plant water too often." There are two simple steps to watering cannabis:

• Wait until the soil is dry a knuckle or so deep (use your finger, poke a hole, feel the dirt).
• Add water until you see some drain out the bottom of your pot.

Nutrients should be used carefully and correctly. Follow the dosing schedule provided by your nutrient line, but ramp up the amount slowly. It is not suggested you start with the full dosage right away, but something like 1/4, then 1/2, and so on. Furthermore, it is also not recommended to use nutrients with every watering. Most alternate or put two plain-water feedings in between a nutrient-water feeding. pH testing is important as all the nutrients you are feeding your plant will only be absorbed by the roots under the proper conditions, and those proper conditions are dictated by the pH of the nutrient mix and the soil. Test your water before adding nutrients, test your nutrient mix, and test your run-off. You want the nutrient+soil mixture to be in the 6.3-6.8 range for soil. You want the nutrient mix to be in the 5.5-6.1 range for a hydroponic set up.

Flowering Period

In order to activate flowering, you will need to switch your lighting schedule to a strict 12/12 schedule. This means 12 hours of light and 12 hours of pure darkness Any light leaks can cause damage, please be sure it's dark. You will also want to start adding your blooming/flowering nutrients of your choice. Again, it might be a safe idea to start off small and work your way up to the suggested amount. After about a week or two, you will also be able to determine the sex of the plant (GUIDE COMING SOON™). It is a very easy thing to do. If you are not sure on the sex, post pictures and ask the community. If you get any males, you will need to chop them down and get rid of it. The reason for this is, if those pollen sacks pop, the pollen will spread and the females will become covered with his pollen. To simplify this, she will then produce seeds within her bud and the bud will be less potent. Ideally, you want a non pollinated female, she will produce the strongest and best weed. As flowering proceeds, you will notice translucent trichomes appear. This is how you determine when the plant is ready to harvest, trichomes should be fully formed and a cloudy to cloudy amber colour. This is ultimately up you depending on what type of high you are looking for. You can expect these to appear around 6-8 weeks or even 10-12 weeks on some strains. Patience is virtue.

Harvesting

GUIDE COMING SOON™

Closing Remarks

This guide was originally put together by Up_High, with updates/reworking by hsi__. Many thanks the original author, /r/microgrowery and everyone who contributed.

Original Source

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