Marijuana Growing Mistakes to Avoid
It seems that now there are more people than ever looking to learn how to grow marijuana from the comfort of their own home. With many states easing their laws on cannabis consumption and cannabis growing, now is as good a time as any to take up this new hobby.
Even though cannabis is a particularly resilient plant, there are still some potential blunders that you need to avoid if you are to grow it successfully. In this article, we will list the main marijuana growing mistakes that people commonly make and what you can do to avoid making them yourself.
Using too many nutrients
Overfeeding your cannabis plant may lead to it burning itself out as it will start to soak up far too many nutrients than it is capable of dealing with. This could potentially lead to the plant’s death, and you will have to start all over again, wasting your valuable time and money.
To avoid this, you need to be aware of the two types of nutrients forms that we can give to our plans, organic and non-organic cannabis nutrients. Organic forms of nutrients are the types that your cannabis plant would typically come across in nature, such as minerals in the ground and compost in the soil. These nutrients are released slowly and will very rarely do any harm to your crop.
On the other hand, non-organic nutrients are usually the culprits when it comes to overfeeding. These are the bottled products that you can buy in your local marijuana dispensary or even in garden stores. They claim that they will speed up the growth of your cannabis plant and it will give you healthier and larger wielding crops.
While this can often be true, there is a fine line between optimal dosages and overkill. Bear in mind, this is an unnatural source of nutrients, so the cannabis plants will not be equipped to deal with the high volume of nutrients coming its way in such a short space of time.
To avoid this, stick with organic nutrients and have patience with your crop.
Overwatering
Overwatering is one of the most common mistakes that people make when growing plants of any kind. Similar to overfeeding, giving your plants too much water will undoubtedly damage or kill them.
To avoid this, put your finger into the soil and make sure that the top inch or two is moist. If it is too dry, then give it a light watering – simple.
TIP: It’s better to wait for your plants to wilt slightly than to water them prematurely.
Not giving your plants enough light
Your cannabis plants need light to grow, that’s no secret. If the lights are positioned incorrectly or if there are simply insufficient light sources, then your plant will quickly become malnourished. This will cause the plant to become weak and unhealthy and could possibly lead to the plant’s death.
To avoid this, make sure that your lights are close enough to the plant to stop them from stretching higher to reach the light. If you don’t, this will result in long, skinny plants that will be weak and harvest a reduced yield.
On the other hand, if you keep it too close then you could burn and damage the plant which could stop it from growing correctly.
Adjust the light as the crop grows, keeping it at an optimal distance at all times.
Not managing the temperature
Cannabis needs to be within a specific temperature range for it to flourish and grow properly. Each strain will have its optimal growing temperatures, and you need to be aware of these.
Having the conditions too cold will slow down the rate of growth of your plants and will kill them if it gets severe enough. If you let it get too hot, the plants will curl up and can become discolored, and this is referred to as heat stress.
Typically, you should keep your plants between 70-85 °F, but make sure you research the particular strain you’re growing.
Harvesting too early
The real skill of cannabis growing is knowing when the right time to harvest is. If you harvest too early, then you can limit the amount of THC present in the cannabis, which will drastically reduce the psychoactive effects when you smoke it.
If you harvest too late, then your plants may begin to self pollinate and can even start to rot, we want to avoid that.
Get yourself some magnifying glasses and get ready to inspect your plants up close and personal. Look closely at the little hairs all over the bud. These hairs are called pistils. When the first flowering occurs, these hairs will be mostly white.
After a while, they will eventually start to go brown. When you see that around 60%+ of these pistils have changed color, it is time to harvest your crop. Another good sign is when the leaves of the plant start to turn yellow. This means that they have soaked up the nutrients well, and they are getting ready for harvest.
Look for a combination of these factors to help you spot the best time for harvesting.