On the other hand, other constraints may force your hand and compel you to start off growing hydro. If you’re a first-time grower and want to try hydro, know that you can be successful. Do your research but avoid telling your friends or acquaintances. Nothing can get you shut down quicker than blabbering about your hydro unit. Consider growing other plants hydroponically in addition to marijuana. Growing hydro doesn’t need to mean just growing weed. You can grow lettuce, tomatoes, or even mushrooms hydroponically. Experimenting with these crops first may teach you valuable lessons you can use when growing marijuana.
Marijuana seeds or clones White paint or mylar Hydroponic nutrients Pots Potting medium such as coco coir Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) A timer pH soil test
Painting your walls a semi-gloss or flat white is probably the simplest solution. The flatter the white, the better, as glossy white reflects roughly 55% of the light coming from your source. Titanium white might be your best bet if you do decide to paint. Mylar is highly reflective. It has a reflection rate of roughly 90%, making it a much more efficient coating material than something like aluminum foil. But because mylar reflects light and heat very efficiently, you’ll need to be sure that you have proper ventilation in your grow room.
Clamp reflectors are great for using CFLs. The socket is already attached, no wiring or electrical work is really needed, and the housing helps to reflect as much light as possible. [2] X Research source Remember that any excess light that doesn’t hit your plants is wasted light.
The absolute minimum needed to grow average-sized plants is around 3,000 lumens per square foot. Note that the actual amount of lumens that reach the bottom of your plant will fluctuate depending on the distance of the light source and the reflectivity of the surroundings. The ideal amount for a standard grow operation is somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 lumens per square foot. [4] X Research source To figure out how many lumens per square foot you’re working with, simply divide the total lumens by the total square feet. Say you’re working with two 300-watt CFLs — each with 40,000 lumens — in a 3’ x 3’ x 2’ area. Your total lumens is 80,000 and your total footage is 18’. 80,000 ÷ 18 ≈ 4,400 lumens per square foot.
To make a duct system, a simple squirrel cage fan (it looks like a hamster wheel) attached to 6" ducts will help mitigate rising temperatures and pungent odors. As with any operation, including an additional oscillating fan will help strengthen the stalks of the marijuana plants as they grow.
In the beginning, give your plants nutrients at quarter strength and work your way up to full strength nutrients over the course of a week or two. One of the biggest mistakes many new growers make is giving their plant too many nutrients which can hurt your plant. Most brands of nutrients will come with a hydroponic feeding schedule which can usually be followed exactly. You can get Fox Farms Hydroponic Nutrient Trio and follow their included instructions exactly if you’re not sure what to get for nutrients. The Fox Farms Hydroponic Nutrient Trio works great for growing marijuana. After you have added your nutrients to your water, you’ll want to adjust the pH of the solution to around 5. 5-6. 0 to ensure proper nutrient absorption. [7] X Research source
Ensure that at least a little extra run-off water comes out the bottom of the container whenever you water your plants to ensure that unused nutrients don’t build up in your medium. Coco coir and perlite are very forgiving if you accidentally over or under-water your plant, but make sure to adjust your watering schedule accordingly if you notice your plant’s leaves are wilting or drooping.
Your marijuana has two major grow phases after it’s a seedling, the vegetative and flowering stages. You will treat the plant differently depending on what stage it’s in. During the vegetative stage, your marijuana plants are only worried about growing and getting big. In order to keep your plants in the vegetative stage, they will need to get at least 18 hours of light a day. This simulates “summer,” when the days are long. You can give your plants as much as 24 hours of light per day during the vegetative stage, but you’ll find success as long as you stay within that 18-24 hours or light per day range. The height of the plant is often the main factor when determining how long to keep your marijuana plants in the vegetative stage. Your plant can double its height in the flowering stage, so you will want to keep the plant in the vegetative stage until it’s about half it’s desired final height. If growing in a closet, it’s a good idea to keep your plants in the vegetative stage until they’re 6-18" tall.
In the flowering stage, your plants stop worrying about growing as much, and start putting their energy into growing flowers/buds. You will need to tell your plants when it’s time to start flowering. In the wild, marijuana plants start flowering when the days start getting shorter because that’s a sign that winter is coming. In order to simulate the same conditions, you will need to switch your light schedule so that your lights are on for 12 hours a day, and off for 12 hours a day.
After making the switch in light schedule, you will start noticing the first signs of your plant’s gender about 1-2 weeks. Female plants will grow white hairs and males will start growing grape-like balls that eventually become pollen sacs. In order to maximize on the amount of bud you get, you will want to make sure you remove any male plants so they don’t pollinate your females. If male and female plants stay together, than your females will end up making lots of seeds instead of buds. You also don’t get any usable bud off of a male plant, only pollen. [9] X Research source
Towards the end of your plant’s flowering cycle, you may notice that some of the oldest leaves start turning yellow and falling off. This is totally normal and is a sign that your plant is taking nitrogen out of the leaves and putting them into the buds/flowers. This is a signal that it’s getting close to harvest time, and you’ll usually want to stop giving your plants nutrients with their water for the last 1-2 weeks to ensure the best possible taste of your final bud.
There are many methods to determine the right time to harvest your plant. Basically, you want to harvest when 50-75% of the white pistils/hairs have turned amber/brown. Another way to tell is when the trichomes (also known as crystals or resin glands) are either all white/milky or half white and half amber. Harvesting earlier will give a more thoughtful or in-your-head marijuana experience while harvesting later will give you a heavier or more relaxing marijuana experience. You will want to experiment to find what harvest time is the best for you.
