Growing in Your Own Basement

So you have decided you want to grow your own marijuana? Well you came to the right Blog!

This blog (and future blogs) will focus on growing with hydroponics. There are many different forms of hydroponic growing, and much to learn, so this guide is intended to give you a basic understanding of growing high grade cannabis.

Cannabis is an annual herb - that is to say it germinates, flowers, sets seed and dies in one year. Male and female flowering parts appear on separate plants (although it is possible to grow hermaphrodites).


STEP 1

Settin up your grow room. A grow room needs 3 things.

1. Light
2. Ventilation
3. Climate Control



The most commonly used and enery effcient form of growing is using HPS Lights. The price of these for a full system range from $80 to $600 depending on what you are looking for.
Some growers choose to use CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lights). CFL lights do not put out the same light intensity the HPS lamps do, however they generat far less heat. If hear, and space is an issue for you, go with CFL. Make sure you buy the correct bulb. You want a bulb with 2700-3500 Kelvin for flowering, and 5000-6500 Kelvin for Vegetative stage.

VENTILATION

Ventilation usually comes in the form of an exhaust fan. The best grow rooms exchange the air inside the entire room at least every 2 minutes. This is because the plants use up the Co2 in the air, and constantly require a fresh supply. Ventilation also serves to cool the room from the large amount of hear your grow lights will put out.

CLIMATE CONTROL

Cannabis grows best with a temperature of 70-78 degrees with the lights on, and 62-68 at night. It is important to keep the temperature near these ranges. Too hot or too cold, your plants will either grow slow, or even die.


STEP 2

Place your seed or clone rooted in rockwool directly into the plant container. Bury the seed about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep if using a growth medium such as rockwool or perlite. Make sure the growth medium around your seed remains moist, but not completely saturated. After 2-10 days you will see a little green seedling begin to appear. This is the most vulnerable moment in your plants life. Do not let it dry out! Also feed seedlings ONLY with PLAIN WATER and NO nutrients at this stage of their life.
Cannabis plants grown hydroponically like the PH level of your water to be in the 5.3-6.2 range. You need a good, reliable PH meter to determine your waters PH levels. You will also need some PH up and PH down solution. The most common beginners mistake is improper ph levels. If your ph is far too low or far too high, your plant will grow very slowly or possible even die.
All set? Congratulations, you have now passed the seedling/ clone stage.


STEP 3

Now on to the vegetative stage! This is where your plant begins to prepare for creating all those dank, delicious marijuana buds. To do this your plant needs size, and root structure.
At this point your lights need to be on 18 hours a day, and off for 6 hours. DO NOT keep the lights on for 24 hours a day. Your plant will not grow any faster, and may get stressed. Plants, like people, love their sleep.
Purchase some good hydroponic nutrients. Advanced Nutrients and General Hydroponics are highly recommended. Follow the directions on the label very carefully. It is very important to start with only 1/4 of the recommended dosage on the label however, and then slowly up the nutrient amounts. If you do not do this you will very likely experience nutrient burn with you plants, which may stunt their growth, or even kill them.
Vegetative stage lasts anywhere from 1 week to 3 months. The best way to decide when to switch to flowering stage is by how much space you have. If your plant is 1.5 feel tall, and you have 5 vertical feet of growing space, it is time to switch to flowering. this is because plants can double or even triple in height during the flowering stage. You do not want your nice pretty marijuana buds hitting the light and burning to a crisp, or blocking all the light from reaching lower down the plant.


STEP 4

Congratulations! Now we have reached the flowering stage. The flowering stage lasts anywhere from 7-12 weeks depending on what strain you are growing. This is always the fun part. To induce the flowering stage in your plants, turn the lights onto a 12 hrs on/ 12 off cycle.
If you are not using feminized seeds, and i recommend you do not, due to the higher likelihood of hermaphrodites, then you will have to check these plants every day or two for the males. You do not want a male plant pollinating your females. Male plants have little clusters of pods that look like balls. femals have longer thinner pods with white hairs poking out. when you see 1 female, you sill easily beable to identify the difference between a male and female marijuana plant.
It is important to avoid high humidity levels in your grow room while flowering. The last thing you want to do is lose your high grade crop wo mold. And you will, if you do not keep the humidity low. A good level is between 40-50%.
A easy way to tell when you harvest your buds are when about 50-80% little whate hairs on your plant have turned reddish brown. Look closely and you will see them.

STEP 5

Harvest time! Now is time to cut down all those dense marijuana buds you just grew.
Cut the buds at the base of the stem, then hang them by the stem on some clothesline or wire. Whenever they are drying, you want the room to be dark, relatively cool, around 60-70 degrees, and with very little humidity. The last thng you want after all that hard work is to find you lost all your hard grown marijuana due to mold. It has happened to plenty of people, including myslef a long time ago. Don't let it happen to you.
After 3-7 days the plants should be ready to be placed in an air tight containter. You will know when they are dready for this bending the stems you left on the buds. If they crack, they are ready to be placed in containers. If they bend easily without snapping, hang them up to dry again and repeat the next day.
Once placed in jars or air tight containers, you must remove the lid everyday for the next week or two. This process is called "burping," and releases the pent up moisture left inside the marijuana. This also gives your marijuana time to cure. It will taste far far better, and be far more potent. Connoisseur's like to cure their marijuana anywhere from 4-12 weeks for an incredible smoke. It can very hard to hold out that lon though, so about 2-4 weeks usually will suffice.


TIPS

Use proper electrical safety procedures. You do not want your grow room, and your house, burning down.
Growing Marijuana is an art. It takes years to perfect. But if you do your research, you can almost guarantee success your first grow. You WILL make mistakes, but everybody has. That's how we learn. But you will still haave some incredible good smoke afterwards to show for it. And the next grow will only get better. Thanks for reading and good luch growing!!