10 Cannabis Growing Tips You Need to Try in 2022
With weed being legal in more than 15 states at the moment, growing cannabis is rapidly becoming a favourite hobby and a fruitful trade of the nation. Whether you’re a hobbyist or a professional marijuana farmer, tracking popular trends in the industry should be your top priority. This is why we’ve prepared you the list of cannabis growing tips by industry experts you have to try in the upcoming year.
Find a good strain
The quality of your yield heavily depends on the genetic properties of the plant. This is why it’s extremely important to know what you’re planting and where your seed is coming from. There are many reputable seed vendors online where you can find the strain that suits your needs. However, having a good strain doesn’t mean you should put in less effort during the entire cultivation process.
Automate trimming
Many growers take excellent care of their plants throughout the entire growing process, but have inferior buds. This happens because they’re carelessly trimming and hurting the bud. To make sure your buds are both aesthetically pleasing and retain the highest levels of TCH, you should look into automating the trimming process. We recommend purchasing the Centurion trimmer which is suitable for both hobbyists and large scale cultivators.
Separate veg and blooming spaces
Depending on which stage of the growth period your plant is in, it’ll need different conditions. If you have enough room in your growing area, you should separate the spaces in which your plants vegetate and bloom.
This way, you can make it easier on yourself so you don’t have to change the entire setups. Additionally, you may produce more – while one bunch of plants is vegetating you can have a different crop occupying the blooming area.
Nutrients are the key
Properly feeding your plant should be one of your top priorities when growing weed. Keep in mind that marijuana requires different nutrients at a different stage of life. When the plants are babies, you should be extra careful not to overfeed them.
At this level, you’ll need to considerably water down the nutrient making it less strong. It’s interesting that some growers don’t supplement their plants at this stage at all. As your plant grows bigger and stronger, you should use more potent nutrients to ensure they reach their full growth potential.
Use natural pesticides
Sometimes no matter how careful you are, pests will find your plant and make your life miserable. The obvious choice at that point is to kill them with the strongest pesticide on the market, right? Wrong! Using harsh chemicals to treat your plants is an extremely delicate job, you need to know the exact measurements so you don’t harm your crop.
The best option is to use natural pesticides which will not disturb marijuana’s pH factors. Another, more creative and sustainable method of dealing with pests is to find their natural predator and unleash it. The former method is surely more fun, but it’s also risky if you don’t know the exact species you’re dealing with.
Water is important
The quality of water you use is highly important for the health of your plant and the quantity of your harvest. Under no circumstances should you use tap water since it has a lot of chlorine and fluorine which can be detrimental to your crop. You may buy filtered water in bulk or you may invest into a water filter. If you decide on the latter, make sure you clean and change the filter regularly. If you’re growing your weed hydroponically, water’s pH is also very important so think about getting some pH-value testing strips.
More isn’t better
There are some people that lead their marijuana operations by following the mantra – the more the merrier. When it comes to weed farming this simply isn’t the case. Your cannabis plant will not produce higher quality buds if it gets extensive amounts of light. What is more likely is that you’ll burn your plant and have a low producing crop. Also, don’t drown your plant in water. This is a rookie mistake which may rot your plants’ roots and even attract the pests.
Combine LEDs and natural light
If you’re growing in a greenhouse, the best thing you can do for your plants is to combine the natural and artificial source of light. This way you will minimize energy costs while getting a premium product. Of course, if you live in a place which isn’t famous for being sunny, you can go all in with the LEDs. Another piece of equipment that is great for greenhouse growers is the environmental controller. With it you can manipulate the conditions your greenhouse provides to your plants, for example humidity and temperature.
Super-crop your plants
Super-cropping is a technique you can learn to maximize your yield. Unlike pruning which involves entirely cutting off some parts of the plant, super-cropping implies bending the branches without them breaking off. There are two key rules to super-cropping. The first one is to make sure not to break the branches and affect the flower. Secondly, make sure you bend the branches close to the top of the plant. The philosophy behind this practice is to trick the plant into thinking it has no tops so it produces more tops and eventually flowers.
Have a test crop
If you’re considering changing up your usual way of treating your plants, experts advise to test out the new practice first on a test crop. This crop should not include less than three plants, the test batch of only one plant is too small of a sample to draw your conclusions from. For example, if you get a new set of LED lamps, don’t use it on your entire crop from the get go. Test out the waters on a couple of plants so that you can figure out the perfect distance between the lights and the plant, whether you should dim the lights sometimes, and other similar issues.