Getting better buds with less light, cutting back on fertilizer, picking the grow medium that is right for you, and adopting drought stress to boost potency of your plants are some of the wonderful growing tips. Now we have more tips coming! Keep reading:
Choose Your Strain Wisely
Perhaps one of the most valuable cannabis growing tips is to keep in mind that not all cannabis plants are created equal. You need to think carefully about the type of plant you want before you begin planting. For instance, some strains produce purple buds, while other strains give you bright green buds. Similarly, some plants mature quickly while others take longer.
Cannabis strains also vary in terms of the size of the plants, the concentration of different compounds (CBN, THC, etc.), the aroma of the buds, as well as the effects one experiences after consuming them. It’s important to remember that resistance to adverse conditions, such as pests and diseases, overfeeding, underfeeding, extreme heat or cold, and even over-enthusiastic training, also varies from one strain to another.
This is why it is vital to do your homework when it comes to the different strains available and pick the strain that is best suited to your needs.
Harvest and Post-Harvest Handling is Critical!
What you do at harvest time and beyond can make or break your cannabis crop!
First and foremost, don’t harvest too early or too late. So, how do you know when is the right time to harvest? The clue lies on your buds.
If your buds aren’t “sprouting” any new white hairs, this means harvest time is close. Closely observe the hairs on the buds and begin harvesting when approximately half of those hairs have become dark in appearance. This dark color lets you know that the compounds in the buds have reached their highest level of concentration, so any delay will cause them to start dwindling.
After harvesting, take the time to dry those buds in a dark, well-ventilated location. Hang them upside down when drying them. You will know that they have dried if the stems snap rather than bend when you manipulate them.
Drying the buds is of course only half the work. Even more moisture is hidden inside those buds. This is where the curing process comes in.
Place the buds in dark containers and seal them, only opening the container once a day for about a minute to allow dry air to get in while moist air is expelled.
How long should curing last? Why not try some when you are opening the containers to let dry air in. Is there mold on the buds? If not, good! No condensation on the container’s walls? Good! Is the taste and smell satisfactory when you smoke a sample? Good! At this point, stop curing the buds and seal them tightly until you are ready to start smoking them. The curing process can last three weeks or longer.
Airflow, Airflow, and More Airflow!
It is critical to ventilate the grow space adequately. This piece of advice is so important that it should be included under cannabis growing rules instead of cannabis growing tips. Adequate airflow can prevent mold from growing on the buds. It can also prevent nutrient burn, because when where you are growing gets very hot, the plants “drink” more water to combat the heat.
As they take more water, they absorb nutrients as well, increasing the risk for nutrient burn. Spider mites, fungus, gnats, and other pests also thrive in places with insufficient airflow. As you can see, many of the problems that cannabis growers face can be sidestepped if the grow spaces are adequately ventilated for proper airflow.
Question All Cannabis Growing Tips
Many inexperienced cannabis growers tend to implement all the advice that they are given without pausing to digest the applicability and validity of said advice. Novice growers can be forgiven for this since they believe that they are getting sound advice from people who have more experience and are therefore better placed to know what should be done in each situation.
However, not all the advice you receive will be suitable or even applicable in your specific circumstances. Consider the following example:
Underfeeding your plants causes their leaves to become yellow at the tips before they turn brown. Unfortunately, overfeeding plants may produce a similar outcome. If you talk to someone whose plants were overfed and they showed signs of nutrient burn, they may advise that you cut back on the nutrients you’re giving your plants, yet the problem may actually be underfeeding!
Do you see how applying advice blindly can lead you down a dark alley? Learn to question all advice you receive, and only apply it after cross checking and confirming that it holds true in your situation.
Take Pictures and Write Detailed Notes
One of the most essential cannabis growing tips, especially for beginners, is documenting every stage of your plants’ growth. Take numerous photos and write detailed notes in a journal. This is especially important when you notice problems in your plants.
Those notes and pictures will come in handy as you look for help in dealing with the problem, and they will be a point of reference during future grows. This record will quickly alert you about a developing problem and the proper solution, instead of starting all over again on the next plant.
Don’t think for a minute that your memory will suffice! Misremembering even the most minute detail can be the undoing of your crop.
Always Monitor the pH and Unlock the Missing Link
Have you done everything possible, yet the buds you harvest are nothing to write home about? The pH of the moisture in your growing medium may be the silent culprit denying you a rich harvest.
The pH of your soil can make some nutrients unavailable to the roots of your plants, even if those nutrients are available in the medium. Find out what the ideal pH range for the specific medium you are using is and check whether yours has gone out of that range. Adjust accordingly, and your plants will thrive once more!
Don’t Shock Your Plants
One of the most fundamental of all cannabis growing tips is to be gentle with your plants. Avoid doing anything that will shock them. For example, don’t suddenly change from providing 18 hours of light to 12 hours of light. Increase the hours of darkness gradually until you reach your desired light schedule.
Similarly, when it is time to switch to the nutrients for the flowering stage, don’t stop providing those for vegetative growth one day and use only those for flowering on the next day. This abrupt change will shock your plants and decrease your growth rate.
It is better to introduce any change to your plants gradually so that they can adjust appropriately without any decline in their growth.
Growing cannabis is easy and fun, and with a little know-how your plants can yield an impressive bounty. If you’ve grown before, which of these cannabis growing tips have saved you from a ruined harvest? If you are just beginning, which do you intend to try?