Few things in life are more fulfilling than enjoying the results of your labor, especially when that labor involves high-quality cannabis. As the movement for wider legalization continues, taking care of marijuana plants has become more popular than ever.
If you live in a place where it is legal to grow marijuana plants, you are aware of how difficult the procedure can be. Many tips and tactics can make your journey easier, from growing your seeds to correctly caring for them during the important blossoming time.
Before we go into the flowering stage, let’s take a quick look at the various stages of marijuana cultivation.
Germinating Your Cannabis Seeds Correctly
A single seed is the beginning of every tremendous harvest. A healthy seed will have a brown appearance, be hard to the touch, and have stripes and striations across its body on occasion. Seeds that are weak, whitish, or pale green in color are most likely underdeveloped and should be avoided.
Cannabis seeds can be germinated both indoors and outdoors, though indoor producers may have more success. When germinating seeds, keep in mind that temperature changes, bugs, mold, and wind should all be avoided. It’s also recommended that you utilize a humidity dome to encourage faster growth.
How to Promote the Growth of Cannabis Seedlings
The seedling stage begins once your plants have germinated. Maintain a moist and reasonably warm environment for your weed seeds at this time. During the seedling stage, lighting should be present at all times (roughly two to three weeks, depending on the strain). Cotyledons, or little spherical leaves, will develop during this time. Your plant has reached the vegetative phase at this moment.
Growers can focus on providing the following to their plants to help them grow well during the seedling stage:
- Temperatures are expected to remain consistent between 72 and 79 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Proper Lighting — LED lights or low-wattage fluorescent bulbs with a low light intensity.
- Safe Handling – Keep the plants away from the lights to keep them comfortable. It’s critical to keep your seedlings in a compact pot with plenty of drainage during this stage.
- Seedlings just require a minimal amount of nutrients to help them grow.
- Nutrient burn occurs when there are too many nutrients in the body.
Marijuana Plant Care Tips During Vegetative Growth
The vegetative stage is one of your cannabis plant’s two basic growth stages. During the vegging period, your plant will lay the groundwork for a plentiful harvest in the coming weeks.
After your marijuana plant has developed its first set of fan leaves, it has entered the vegetative stage. The plant’s energy will be focused on extending roots throughout the growing medium as it continues to generate stems and leaves.
Weed will grow to the greatest height and size allowed by its growing environment at this stage. The vegetative stage is influenced by the size of your growing space, the intensity of your lighting, and the size of your container.
- Several significant findings about your cannabis will be made during the veg period.
- First and foremost, you must determine whether you are cultivating a male, female, or hermaphrodite plant. Male and hermaphrodite plants do not produce buds that are suitable for human consumption. Male preflowers emerge quickly and are the quickest way to tell if a plant is male or female.
- Calculate Pot Size – A variety of environmental conditions, including the size of your pot and the nourishment you provide to it, will influence the size of your plants. The larger the growing space, the more extensive the root system.
- Control Humidity – Maintaining a humidity level in the 50 percentile range will help your plants thrive during the vegging stage. To keep your growing area comfortable, use a well-rounded environmental control system.
It’s time to enter the flowering stage once buds form and you’ve secured your female plants.
How to Care for Flowering Cannabis Plants
It’s critical to stick to a strict schedule after your marijuana starts to produce buds if you want to get the most out of your harvest. What does this imply in terms of application? It means that during the final weeks of the plant’s life, you must pay close attention to lighting and feeding programs because they will have a significant impact on the production.
Let’s divide the blossoming process down into steps so we can better understand what we need to do.
Weeks 1–3: Initiation
Your plants will grow and stretch substantially when you transition to your lighting schedule (12 hours on, 12 hours off). During this stage, plants can double or even quadruple in size. Pay close attention to the white hairs known as pistils, which indicate when a female plant has started to develop pre-flowers. This is a wonderful omen for the future!
Plants will have grown solid bud sites amid the plant nodes by the end of the third week. Preflower clusters will be visible to observant gardeners.
Weeks 4–5 : Mid-flowering
Your cannabis should have ceased growing upwards at this point in the life cycle of your plant. Instead, you should now observe that your plant’s buds have started to thicken and the pistils have darkened. Maintain a consistent feeding plan with proper nutritional modifications as flowering progresses to keep this period of growth going strong. The stronger the fragrant and resinous components of your buds get, the better.
Week 6: Flowering and Ripening
Your buds will gain the most weight during the last few weeks of plant cultivation. Growers may almost taste their weed at this time, as it is sticky to the touch and ripe to the nose. Growers may detect white pistils with cream and brown striations depending on the strain. Trichomes can also change color, which can indicate when it’s time to harvest.
Week 8+: Harvesting Your Cannabis
Buds will finish bulking up after the seventh week of flowering. The production of trichomes will increase, and the color of the pistils will change. You can now cleanse your plant one last time before harvesting it. The last moment of harvest may vary based on the grower’s desired effects and flavors.