Growing Cannabis Indoors-Intro

The basics necessary to grow indoors are easy. Find a secure location, plant good seeds or clones, create the proper climate—air, light water, nutrients, drainage, and growing medium—and start growing. Seeds soon turn into seedlings, and then put on leafy vegetative growth. They show male or female pre-flowers at the end of the vegetative growth stage. Once flowering is induced, your marijuana plants will be ready to harvest in about two months. Read on and fill your mind with images to learn all the details!

Seeds
Cannabis (aka marijuana or marihuana) seeds like these California Orange are easy to purchase via mail order. You can buy them from seed companies that advertise in the magazines High Times, Cannabis Culture, Soft Secrets, Weed World, Cañamo, Grow, Dolce Vita, etc. Or you can find them on the Internet by typing “marijuana seeds” into the www.google. com search engine. Sometimes you will find seeds in buds.

Clones
Clones are branch tips cut from female marijuana plants and rooted. Clones are desirable because they are female and will flower sooner than seeds. A crop of clones can be harvested in about three months. Clones are not available by mail order. You must get them from a grower, friend of a grower, or medical marijuana cooperative.

A Space to Grow
A grow space is easy to find in any home or structure. The grow space should be enclosed so that you can control the environment inside where the plants will grow. You can close off a corner of the basement, the attic, or a room on the main floor to make a grow room. Use plastic, wood or brick to enclose the room. You can also convert a closet into a grow room, or you can purchase a prefabricated grow cabinet or closet.

Temperature Control
The temperature and humidity in grow space will need to be con- trolled. The ideal temperature for cannabis growth is about 75°F (24°C). The ideal humidity for cannabis growth is 50–70 percent for pre-flowering and 50 percent for flowering plants. Chances are the environment will need to be heated or cooled a little to maintain the ideal temperature and humidity. Often a ventilation fan (see below) is all you need to keep the temperature and humidity perfect. Learn more about heating and cooling.

Air Circulation
Marijuana uses carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. The CO2 is used up quickly around foliage, and the air must be circulated so that new CO2 comes in contact with leaves. You will need an oscillating circulation fan to keep the air stirred up and CO2 readily available for plant intake. A circulation fan will also mix the hot air on top and cool air below so the temperature is even throughout the room.

Air Ventilation
Marijuana uses all the available CO2 in a room pretty fast. A ventilation fan expels used CO2-poor air. The vent fan also removes hot, humid air from the grow space. Fresh, cool, dry air rich in CO2 is drawn into the room via a fresh-air intake vent.

Light
Provide light with fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), metal halide lamps, or high pressure (HP) sodium lamps. Each lamp has positive points and limiting points. Fluorescent lamps are best suited to growing seedlings and clones. Inexpensive CFLs can grow small crops from start to finish. The best CFLs for growing are available in wattages from 65–125. More expensive and versatile metal halide and HP sodium high intensity discharge (HID) lamps are available in many wattages (from 150–1500) and color spectrums. Both can be used to grow crops from beginning to end.

Water and Drainage
Ordinary tap water is usually adequate to grow cannabis. If it is okay to drink, it is usually okay for your plants. If your water tastes bad and is full of sodium and other minerals, you may need to treat it with a reverse osmosis filter. Such control is usually not necessary when growing with soil.

Hydroponics
“Hydroponics” means growing in a soilless mix that serves to anchor plant roots. Hydroponics allows the grower to control fertilizer (nutrient) levels and uptake by plants. Hydroponic grow mediums provide more air space around roots, and nutrient uptake is faster than in soil gardens. Hydroponic gardens require more control of water, pH, nutrients, and the root-zone environment. Hydroponic gardens can be very simple and inexpensive or complex and expensive.

Soil
Growing in soil is simple and easy. Always purchase good soil that drains well. If you cannot find good soil, mix your own from quality components. Organic soil gardens boast the best flavor and fragrance.

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