Welcome to Your Home Growing Journey!
Growing cannabis at home can be a rewarding and fulfilling hobby, especially here in New York State where it’s perfectly legal. Not only is it a fun and engaging process, but it’s also a much more affordable and satisfying alternative to purchasing from the recreational market. In this series, I’ll walk you through the step-by-step process I use to grow cannabis, sharing tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way.
Procuring Seeds or Seedlings/Clones
The first step in your cannabis growing journey is to obtain your plants. You have a few options:
- Seeds: You can purchase cannabis seeds online or from local seed banks. When buying seeds, you’ll encounter two main types: photoperiod and autoflowering.
- Photoperiod: These plants require a change in light cycles to trigger flowering. Typically, they need 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.
- Autoflowering: These plants flower based on age rather than light cycles, making them a bit easier for beginners.
- Seedlings/Clones: If you prefer a head start, you can purchase seedlings or clones from local dispensaries or growers. These are young plants that have already germinated and begun to grow. Clones or seedlings will be photoperiod plants.
Indoor vs. Outdoor Growing
Before you start, decide whether you want to grow your plants indoors or outdoors. Each has its advantages and challenges:
- Indoor Growing: Offers more control over the environment, allowing you to grow year-round. You’ll need a grow tent, lights, and proper ventilation.
- Outdoor Growing: Utilizes natural sunlight and can yield larger plants. You’ll need a suitable outdoor space with good sunlight exposure and protection from pests.
For this series, I’ll be focusing on growing autoflowering plants both indoors in a grow tent and outdoors in planters. This approach gives you flexibility and helps you learn about both methods.
For this grow I’ve got a few different strains from FastBuds. I’ve grown some strains from the before and I’ve had some good success. I’ll be starting Orange Sherbert Auto, Strawberry Gorilla Auto, and 2x Moby Dick Auto. My plan is to germinate them, sprout them and then grow them for the first few weeks in my indoor grow tent. Once they reach flowering (approx. week 5), I’ll send 3 out to finish outside and let one take over the tent space for flowering. This lets me control the conditions through the very fast vegetative phase of the autoflower lifecycle and maximize the usage of my small grow tent (3×3).
Stay tuned for the next entry where we’ll discuss the germination process in detail.
