he first time, you may be surprised to learn that, because of the way the laws about customs work in America, it is actually reliable and safe to buy your cannabis seeds online from a reputable seed bank as long as you get it from outside the US (sending seeds from one place to another in the US can get you in big trouble though!).
Step 6: Germinate Your Seeds
If you have already a rooted clone (a live canabis plant) please skip right to Step 7.
There are many methods for canabis seed germination.
Personally, I think one of the easiest ways to germinate a canabis seed is to place it directly in a specialized starter cube like a Rapid Rooter.
Just keep the Rapid Rooters moist (but not soaking) and warm. It can help to put your tray on a seedling heat mat. Seedlings should pop in a few days to a week.
So far Rapid Rooters with a heat mat have given me the best germination rates of any method. They work with any growing medium, too – once the seedling has emerged, you can stick the cube directly into your growing medium or hydroponic system.
Another popular way to germinate seeds is via the paper towel method.
Paper Towel Method:
You will need…
A place to plant sprouted seeds
NOTE: If seedlings seem to be “stretching” upwards or growing very tall, usually it’s because they want more light.
Once your plant grows the first “regular” set of leaves, it’s pretty much officially in the vegetative stage. How long is the vegetative stage?
Canabis plants keep getting bigger and bigger with long days (vegetative stage) and start making buds when they get long nights (flowering stage).
Young growing canabis plants grow fastest when the temperature is a bit warmer than a comfortable room temperature, around 70-85°F (20-30°C). But as long as it doesn’t get freezing cold or burning hot, your plants should be able to grow in a wide range of temperatures.
How often do I water my cannabis plants?
In this stage, your plant will focus ONLY on getting big and strong. Buds and flowers are not part of the plant’s vocabulary yet.
If you’re feeding your plant with additional nutrients, start at half strength as it can be easy to burn your young canabis plants. Bring to 3/4 strength one plant starts growing vigorously and if your plant displays signs of needing more nutrients even though the pH is in a good range.
Only feed nutrients at full strength if the plant is showing signs that it needs more nutrients (lower leaves are turning lime green, then yellow, then falling off – the first sign of a nitrogen deficiency, the most common type of deficiency – if the plant is not getting enough nutrients).
At this stage, you can’t tell if one of your canabis plants is going to be a boy or a girl yet.
Give plants 18-24 hours/light a day in the vegetative stage when growing indoors. 18 hours of light a day is preferable, 24 is for the experimental type of grower.
The size your plant gets in this stage will have a huge impact on the final size of your plant.
This is the stage where your plants start making buds. This stage will last until harvest!
During this stage, you will need to…
Change to 12-12 Light Schedule
Identify Gender of Canabis Plants
Get Rid of any Males
We’re getting to the exciting part!
Most strains of cannabis begin this stage once they’re getting at least 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness a night. Autoflowering canabis plants will start the flowering stage without needing a lighting change.
Indoors, you must change to a 12-12 light schedule, with 12 hours of light & 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness each day (usually accomplished by putting your lights on a timer) to get your cannabis to start flowering (making buds).
The flowering stage is where your plant goes through “puberty” and basically reveals whether they are a boy or a girl.
Unfortunately, for regular seeds, half your plants will end up female and half will end up male. That’s why a lot of growers prefer starting with clones or buying feminized seeds – all the resulting plants will grow into females.
As canabis growers, we’re only looking for females as female plants are the on