Have you ever wanted to grow marijuana, but you didn’t know where to start? Or perhaps you tried growing marijuana in the past, but it didn’t meet your initial expectations. Or maybe you’re a beginner, and you’d like to find out which tools and resources you need before growing marijuana. Read on to learn about the essential tools and resources you’ll need ahead of time before growing marijuana.
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Things to Know Before Growing Marijuana
When first growing marijuana, there are several aspects you should be aware of beforehand. For example, you should ask yourself if you want to grow indoors or outdoors. Next, you must make sure that marijuana is either medically and/or recreationally legal in the location where you’ll grow your plants. If marijuana is illegal where you live, and you still want to grow it, you should inform yourself of the potential consequences that could occur if you’re caught growing marijuana.
Then, the next step is preparing and planning out the growing marijuana process. For starters, you must plan out the space, grow medium, light, nutrients, water, air, monitoring, and sanitation that‘ll take place when growing marijuana. If you decide to grow indoors, you’re presented with the opportunity to have complete control over every variable within your plant’s life. As a result, you’ll most likely achieve healthy and plentiful crops.
Necessary Growing Marijuana Tools & Resources
When first growing marijuana, it’s suggested to purchase a grow box and/or grow tent. Grow tents are all-in-one indoor canopies which provide a comfortable oasis for your marijuana plants. Many grow tents contain pre-made exhaust fans, 100 percent pre-built wall-to-wall reflective Mylar material, and easy-to-use hanging grow lights.
In addition, something important to keep in mind is that the plants will roughly double in size once they transition from the vegetative stage to the flowering stage. Therefore, it’s essential to give your plants enough room while also accounting for the overhead space that’s needed for light, ducting, and air filters for grow room set-ups.
Furthermore, before growing marijuana, you’ll need enough space and a designated grow medium. Keep in mind that the larger the space, the more work and money is needed to complete a successful grow. Regarding grow mediums, if you’re a beginner, you could use soil because it’s relatively affordable and more forgiving.
Additional Growing Marijuana Tools
When using soil as your growing medium, there are different additives you can implement like compost, bat guano, worm castings, peat moss, and rock dust. However, make sure you don’t re-use soil because salts (the waste product of marijuana) builds up within the soil, and this can end up damaging the plants. However, if you don’t want to use soil as your grow medium, there are soil-less options like coco coir, perlite, vermiculite, rock wool, or expanded clay.
Moreover, once you decide on your grow medium, you must purchase a container to grow your marijuana plants in. A couple of common options are buckets and fabric pots. Fabric pots are particularly beneficial for the plants because they allow more air to flow to the roots as compared to buckets. However, buckets work perfectly fine, and it’s best to punch holes in the bottom for drainage. If you decide to use buckets, place trays underneath them to catch excess water, and consider purchasing a quality re-usable bucket to use in the long-run.
Next, purchasing the right nutrients for your marijuana plants is essential. When growing marijuana, it’s important to not overdo the amount of nutrients you give your plants because it’s possible to accidentally burn them. The main nutrients your marijuana plants need are macro nutrients, which include nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.
Growing Marijuana Tools You Cannot Forget
Once you’ve chosen your grow medium, the location where you’ll grow, the container(s) you’ll grow your plants in, and the necessary nutrients the plants need, it’s time to calculate how much light you’ll need. Grow lights are the backbone to a successful harvest, and they’re also the biggest expense in your grow-set up and growth cycles. Finding the right grow lights is extremely important because you don’t want to use any lights that may break and/or ruin your harvest. Overall, it’s best to invest in the most efficient grow lights for your specific canopy size.
Aside from grow lights, proper air flow and circulation is needed, which will help the plants develop strong stems and support big buds. For small grows, intake fans will provide enough air circulation. Besides air circulation, the right amount of water is needed, but make sure you don’t over-water your plants. Also, testing your water and Ph levels are essential when growing marijuana.
Additionally, proper sanitation is crucial to prevent mold from occurring. However, monitoring your plants is also important. A handful of helpful tools to purchase for monitoring your marijuana plants includes a timer, a Ph testing kit, and a temperature and humidity sensor. Figuring out the desired temperature for your plants is essential, and once this is done, consider purchasing a thermometer to maintain consistent temperatures.
Lastly, carbon filters are useful because they help free the air of the potent marijuana smell, especially if you’re growing in a tight indoor space. Proper eye protection is necessary as well because the grow lights can put unwanted stress on your eyes. A magnifying glass is the last tool you’ll need for growing marijuana because you’ll need to look at your plants closely around harvest time to determine the right time to cut the crops down. The naked eye doesn’t always notice the difference between a fully matured and underdeveloped trichome head, but a magnifying glass will do this for you.
Overall, growing marijuana is a complex process, but once you have the proper resources and tools needed to complete a successful grow, you’ll be on your way to an abundant harvest. Don’t forget to do your research beforehand though, and maintain patience throughout the growing marijuana process.
To find out the electric cost of growing marijuana, check out the informative article here.
To inform yourself of the different marijuana growth stages, read the interesting article here.
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