Cannabis Growing Tips: How to Grow  the Best Buds

Welcome to the complex world of cannabis cultivation! Whether you're a seasoned grower or just starting out, unlocking the best cannabis growing tips can elevate your growing experience exponentially! 

In this article, we'll get into the essentials of how to grow the best weed plants, covering everything from choosing genetics to ways you can manipulate plant growth. 

With the right approach, you can unlock your plant's full potential and achieve a beautiful harvest.

Cannabis Growing Tips for Starting and Vegetative Stage

1. Genetics

Choosing the right genetics can really make or break your growing experience. There are many things to consider when choosing which strain to grow.

First, you want to make sure you choose genetics from a reputable breeder and vendor—this isn't the time to pinch pennies or buy based on price. Once you find a well vetted source, consider what you're looking for from your weed plant, as it's best to choose genetics that fit your needs.

If you're growing for medicinal or therapeutic benefits, you would benefit most from growing an Indica or Indica dominant strain. Indicas tend to contain much higher amounts of CBD and CBN than its counterpart Sativa, which are ideal for treating medical conditions like pain, insomnia, anxiety, stress, and naseau. Plus, Indica strains typically grow shorter and wider than sativas. So if you are working with a small or micro-grow setup, indica strains may be a better fit for your situation! 

Your next option is Sativa or Sativa-leaning hybrids. They have a much more energizing and uplifting effect, which is perfect if you're looking to treat issues like depression, fatigue, creativity, lack of focus, or migraines. Most sativas will grow much taller, thinner, and narrower than Indicas, and are said to yield more than most Indicas! 

Once you have decided between Indica and Sativa, consider whether you want to grow traditional photoperiod strains or autflowering strains. 

Autoflowers don't need a change in the light schedule to trigger flowering; they'll start to produce buds once they reach a certain level of maturity. While autoflowers require less maintenance, they come with a few caviats—they're typically lower in quality, and you have less control over their growth as you cannot train or trim the plant as you would with a normal photoperiod strain. This is due to the fact that if autoflowers are stressed, even a bit too much, they will start to flower prematurely (which will severely affect the yield of the plant). 

2. Lighting

Light fixture choice is crucial for growing the best weed. With today's innovation and tech, almost all growers have switched to using LED fixtures, and for good reason. LED lights are much more energy-efficient, which will help keep your utility bills down. They convert more energy into light instead of heat, which reduces the need for demanding environmental controls and keeps your growing costs down!

Choosing an LED fixture can be quite complex, making you feel like you need a degree to understand all the parameters involved. To keep it simple, aim for a full spectrum LED grow light that has a PPFD output capability of around 1,200-1,500 μmol/m²/s. Quality lights will meet this requirement with ease.

During the early vegetative stage, your cannabis plants won't require a super intense light. Start light intensity off in the lower range to get the young plant adapted, ideally at levels 2-3 if your light has adjustable settings (1-10). That won't shock or stress the young plant. As your plant grows larger, you can safely increase the light intensity every 7-10 days. By the time your plant is ready to transition to the flowering stage, aim to have your light intensity at its peak.

Be cautious of over or under-lighting. Too much or too little light can lead to issues like pale leaves, leaf "tacoing," or even burning. Stick to an 18-hour light cycle with 6 hours of darkness to give your plant the necessary balance between growth and recovery.

It's important to keep your light intesity balanced with the environment and feeding regimem. By the time you’re ready to switch to flowering, aim to have your light set at 9-10 if you're using a fixture with 10 levels. This ensures that any stress from adapting to light intensity is dealt with while the plant is still growing leaves and stems, not during the critical flower formation phase. 

To grow good buds, think of the plant as a battery with limited energy. You want it to spend that energy on growth and flower production—not on recovering from light-induced stress!

3. Feeding

Feeding the marijuana plant is very important, especially if growing hydroponically. If growing cannabis in hydro, the plant depends entirely on you to provide all of its nutrients since it lacks access to the natural nutrients found in soil. I highly recommend steering away from bottled nutrients and finding a solid salt-based nutrients program. Salt-based nutrients are much more concentrated and easier to mix—usually requiring only 3 or 4 ingredients!

EC Value

In the first 1-2 weeks of cannabis veg growth, start with a lower EC value. Between 0.7-1.2 is a good level! Once those first weeks are over, start giving full force feeding. Similar to what you did with the light intensity, you want the EC level to be equivalent to that desired in flowering. Shoot for 1.5-2.0 EC and maintain it throughout the rest of the grow cycle. 

Remember, the light, growing environment, and feeding regimen all interact and need to be somewhat harmonious to get the best results. Be cautious not to over-or underfeed your cannabis. 

pH Level

For hydroponic grows, keep the pH between 5.5 - 6.0 throughout the entire process. Do not try to manipulate the pH during different growth stages, in an effort to alter nutrient uptake—it can lead to nutrient deficiencies or toxicities, stunting your plant’s growth. Always water the medium enough to produce runoff, allowing it to dry back a bit between feedings. This encourages a strong and active root system.

If you're growing in soil, things are a bit different. Soil usually comes pre-enriched with nutrients, so you won't need to feed the plant for the first 4-5 weeks. Simply water the plant with a pH between 6.2 - 6.5. Around week 4 or 5, if you notice the leaves turning pale or yellow, it's a sign that the soil nutrients are depleting, and it's time to start feeding the plant or amending the soil. Whether you choose to add nutrients or amend the soil, make sure to provide a well-balanced diet!

4. Environment

The growing environment also plays a large role in how to take care of a weed plant. As previously mentioned, the light, feeding, and environment all interact to drive the plant to grow. Ideally, keep the temperature around 75°F-82°F, with 50%-65% humidity. It’s also essential to have proper airflow throughout the plant canopy.

The more humid the environment, the less your plant will transpire and drink; whereas the drier the environment, the more the plant will drink and transpire. The same goes for air movement. Insufficient airflow can create a "vapor barrier," which will restrict transpiration and slow down growth.

Temperature is another key factor. If it's too cold, transpiration rates drop, limiting growth. If it's too warm, it will force the plant to drink much more, which can overwhelm it, causing drooping, wilting, or even burning. 

5. Training

Another cannabis growing tip is training your plant, which is a great way to increase yield and even potency. There are many popular training methods like SCROG, MANIFOLD, LST and Topping. Most training techniques have the same goal: to create as many main branches and top flowering sites as possible! My personal favorite method starts with topping, which consists of removing the top few nodes from the main stalk. This encourages the plant to redistribute its energy more evenly, promoting lower growth sites to develop into independent branches.

Once you have the plant topped, you can then administer additional training techniques. My personal technique falls somewhere between SCROG and Manifold training. 

Training also helps manage plant height, especially during the flowering stretch when plants can double in size. This ensures your plant stays at a manageable size and safe distance from your grow lights. 

4. Environment

The flowering environment for cannabis plants requires a different approach than during the vegetative stage. The best way to grow cannabis now is to maintain temperatures between 80°F and 84°F (27°C to 29°C) and humidity levels around 40% to 50%, to maximize water and nutrient uptake. 

Additionally, ensure increased airflow throughout the canopy compared to the vegetative stage. This elevated airflow promotes higher transpiration rates, leading to greater water and nutrient absorption.

These environmental conditions should be maintained until about week 7 of flowering. As you approach this point, begin gradually reducing both temperature and humidity. Lowering these parameters will not only help the plant develop solid, dense flower structures but also mitigate the risk of mold and fungal issues, which are often exacerbated by high humidity and overwatering.

5. Drying

Image via Hey abby grower @SilverFox

Drying is often the most overlooked cannabis growing tips, but can also be seen as the most crucial. You can spend 12-15 weeks caring and looking after you plant, only for it to be ruined in a week by an improper drying process! 

When drying, ytry to keep the environment at around 60°F (15°C) with 60% humidity. Think about it like good BBQ, "low and slow." You want to dry the plant slowly, not only to remove the excess moisture and the proper rate (so it doesn't get crispy), but also to allow the chloropyll adequate time to fully break down. If the chloropyll isn't given this time, the flowers will certainly have a hay smell and burn much hotter than desired. 

Also, you don't need a bunch of fans or air blowing on the plant, as it will wick moisture out of the plant and dry it much too fast. But you may need a ventilation fan to remove humid air, and keep humidity as close to 60% as possible.

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