From seed to flower: Why growing at home is going to be huge

Growing recreational cannabis, once exiled to dark basements and sheds, will soon be coming into the light. Don’t open your curtains too soon though –up until October 17, growing cannabis will remain illegal.

Under the Cannabis Act, you’ll be able to grow up to four plants per household — unless you’re living in Quebec, Manitoba, or Nunavut, as home cultivation is strictly prohibited in these provinces. However, provincial elections and legislation changes down the line could result in a different outcome.

Now, you might be asking: Why grow your own cannabis when it will be easy and legal to purchase from expert growers? First off, you get full control over what goes into your plants. You won’t be in the dark about what pesticides and herbicides were used, or how fertilizer was implemented. Whether you smoke, eat, or vape your herbs, you’ll know exactly what you’re putting in your body.

Secondly, gardening is great for the body and soul. When you grow plants from seed to flower, you can get a heady high off your accomplishment, akin only to the high you’ll get afterwards.

And lastly, cannabis plants are also great for eating up pollutants from the air. As long as you smoke outside, your living room is about to get much fresher.

Cannabis plant/Crop King Seeds

With that in mind, we’ve put together a handful of tips from expert growers to set you on the path to living your best organic herb-loving life.

Where to start

Since there is an overwhelming amount of information online, let’s start with an easy, but important factor for successfully growing your own personal cannabis plants: Light.

Choose a place in your home with lots of natural sunlight, some light air flow, and room for a large pot. If you want a big plant with a high yield, it will need lots of room to grow, so pots between three to six gallons work best.

With that done, it’s now time to get your seeds.

Seeds

This cannot be overstated: Buy. Good. Seeds. There are a thousand strains out there, and almost as many seed companies. It’s best to find a reputable company, preferably one with solid customer service. Some will ship seeds right to your door, like Crop King Seeds which guarantees 80% germination.

Good seed companies should also be able to guide you in the right direction if you’re truly starting from scratch. White Widow Autoflower seeds are a popular choice for first-time growers as they’re easy to grow and produce a sizable yield with a flowering time of eight weeks.

Germination

Most of us haven’t properly planted seeds since elementary school, so this bears repeating: You need to germinate your cannabis seeds before planting them in soil. For the White Widow Autoflower, this means placing the seeds in a cup of room temperature bottled spring water for 14-18 hours. Then place the seeds on paper towels that have been dampened with more spring bottled water, and keep them in a warm, dark place.

Once the taproots have grown to ½ to ¾ of an inch from the seeds, they’re ready to be potted in soil.

Growing up

You’ll want to place each (freshly germinated) seed in a hole about a half-inch deep in the soil, and sprinkle some more soil on top of them afterwards. Try to water the plant when the soil feels dry up to your first knuckle, so get used to poking your fingers in that soil for weeks to come.

Once you have your seeds planted, you’ll be ready to start caring for your plants as you would your family pet. These plants have a short lifespan from germination to harvest, which is when they need regular attention. You’ll want to keep temperature and humidity conditions within the right parameters for growth, never exceeding 85 degrees or dropping below 60.

Cannabis plant/Shutterstock

Everything you do will be trial and error the first time around, but we believe in you. Congratulations: You’re about to be a proud cannabis plant parent before the year is up.

If you want to learn more,  you can find everything related to growing cannabis here.

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