- ADHD
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Anorexia
- Anxiety
- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Auto Accident
- Back and Neck Problems
- Bipolar Disorder
- Brain Injury
- Cachexia
- Cancer
- Chronic Nausea
- Chronic Pain
- Colitis
- Crohn's Disease
- Depression
- Epilepsy
- Fibromyalgia
- Gastrointestinal Disorders
- Glaucoma
- Hepatitis C
- HIV/AIDS
- Hypertension
- IBS
- Kidney Failure/Dialysis
- Migraines
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Muscle Spasms
- Muscular Dystrophy
- Parkinson's Disease
- Phantom Limb Pain
- PMS
- PTSD
- Seasonal Affective Disorder
- Sexual Dysfunction
- Sleep Disorders
- Spinal Cord Injury/Disease
- Tinnitus
- Tourette's Syndrome
- Section: Wellness
The answer isn’t easy. With cannabis being one of the hardest crops on the planet to successfully produce, it isn’t surprising that homegrow comes with a set of its own specific challenges. Of course, most of these can be circumvented with a little education. Particularly, one will need to apply five elements – genetics, location, substrates, fertilizers and basic plant maintenance – to the process.
Finding good genetics
The very first thing homegrowers must consider when looking to start a crop is genetics. Cannabis genetics can come in the form of a clone, usually sourced from the mother plant of a trusted cultivator, or seed. Because clones are often tricky to procure, many growers start from seed. Cannabis seeds can be purchased online or in many head shops. Once germinated, these seeds can be propagated and serve as the first step to setting up a grow.1
Choosing a location
Where the environment permits, cannabis can be grown nearly anywhere. This explains why cannabis cultivars have evolved in places where the plant grows well and wild. Most homegrows can easily be set up outside, though this is not the best way to mitigate variables like pests and pathogens. To minimize these factors, many homegrowers find a place inside – a room or closet – to grow. But one of the most popular options is a grow tent, which will allow one to hang lights and feed their plants without creating a mess, or a risk to a home investment.
Selecting a substrate
After genetics are procured and a location is picked out, the next thing homegrowers need to figure out is what medium, or substrate, to grow in. These options span from the simple, like soil, to the incredibly complex, like aquaponics. For the most part, homegrowers use a substrate made of coco, hydrocorn, a mix of the two, or some formation close to that. Other growers, still, use more traditional substrates like rockwool, which remains popular in this day and age.2
Fertilizers and feeding
Equally confounding as substrates for most homegrowers is choosing a fertilizer and learning to feed the plants. Many fertilizers, or nutrients, come in two or three-part solutions that typically include a vegetation and bloom feed. There are quite literally hundreds of fertilizers available to homegrowers, and it does take some trial and error to determine what nutrients work best for the environment, and what the feed schedule and cycle for the plant looks like.3
Plant maintenance
The last thing that needs to be factored in when starting a homegrow is plant maintenance. After the genetics have been procured, fertilizer and substrate selected, and an ideal location to grow has been found, plants can now begin sprouting. One need only take care of the plants’ watering, feeding and pruning, to attain a successful crop. But, again here, a little trial and error may be needed to dial in best practices.
- Why are cannabis genetics important? https://zenpype.com/why-are-cannabis-genetics-important/
- Substrates for growing cannabis. https://www.alchimiaweb.com/blogen/substrates-growing-cannabis/
- How to use cannabis nutrients. https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/blog-how-to-use-cannabis-nutrients-n329
This article is now marked as read.
Was this article helpful?
Review this article to help us continue creating and sharing relevant content.
Please note it may take up to two business days for reviews to be validated and published.
Reviews
Review this article to help us continue creating and sharing relevant content.
A short history of tinctures
The history of tinctures is rich in texture. Humans have been using tinctures since 1000 AD when alcohol was first distilled by the ancient Egyptians. After distilling alcohol became common practice, using the mixture to preserve plants and create pl...
Can cannabis help alleviate chronic pain?
If there is a condition that cannabis has been proven to help alleviate, it’s chronic pain. Several studies have demonstrated cannabis’s efficacy in turning the dial down on chronic pain, and Cannvas.me interviewed several experts in the field to lea...
Can CBD help count sheep?
Insomnia, sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome are but a few of the ills that fall under the category of sleep condition. Though not quick to receive much attention from the healthcare community, the threat associated with sleep conditions – from...
Cannabis and the Gateway to the Soul
There is a laundry list of eye conditions – macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, hypertensive retinopathy, uveitis and colour blindness, among others – that affect millions of people globally. Every year, that list becomes more extensive, as ev...
Cannabis as Helpful Medication for Athletes Recovering From Injury
Cyclist Floyd Landis relied on opioid-based painkillers for years, both before and after he was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France victory for taking synthetic testosterone. He soon realized smoking cannabis could help him kick his opioid habit, and...
Cannabis Helps Patient with ADD and Migraines
When Charlie Thompson smoked his first joint at 13, he didn’t feel anything at all. Thompson thought, "Why is this such a big deal?" But a few years later when he tried it again, he felt its psychoactive effects and knew he had found something he wou...
Cannabis May Help Women Enjoy Better Orgasms
A new study found that female respondents to a survey overwhelmingly found cannabis use to be associated with better sex, giving the plant another boost in its role in wellness and sexuality.
Decarboxylating using cannabis accessories
Having a working understanding of the myriad accessories available to patients is a good start to being able to properly medicate using cannabis. Equally important to the conversation of what products there are, is knowledge of how to use those acce...
Examining different devices for patients
Like accessories, devices can be a nuanced topic in the discussion about how best to incorporate medical cannabis into a therapy. Oftentimes, these products – particularly the traditional tools – don’t come with a user’s manual. Newer products, lik...
Exploring how – and if – cannabis can be addictive
As more people around the world are prescribed (and self-prescribe) cannabis, there is a pressing question deserving of deeper analysis: Is cannabis addictive?
Grappling with Seasonal Affective Disorder
December brings with it a flurry of things to be grateful for: the first snowfalls, the holiday season, time with family and friends, and a reprieve from the hustle and bustle that characterizes most every other month of the year. But for people who...
How Cannabis Can Help Treat Repetitive Stress Injuries and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Repetitive stress injuries can disrupt daily life and cannabis can be one potential treatment to relieve this neuropathic pain.
How to avoid paranoia when consuming cannabis
Though no products yet exist that will eliminate the unwanted effects of cannabis paranoia, there are certainly cultural tips, adopted as truths, that are reported to be able to help. In case you ever find yourself up against that rare, but scary,...
How-To: Grow Cannabis at Home
Homegrow is easily one of the most popular components of the budding cannabis industry. Something of a footnote to the present conversation, growing at home – like homebrewing – is reserved, not for the most skilled aficionados, but for those who are...
How to talk to your family about medical cannabis
The decision to adopt cannabis as a treatment option is, like most significant changes in life, very personal. Whether you’ve decided to incorporate medical cannabis into your routine to treat chronic pain, sleep issues, cancer symptoms or social a...
Insurance and the Cannabis Conundrum
The fact that cannabis has long posed challenges to the people who consume it, even for medical reasons, is a foregone conclusion. What hasn’t changed in the 20 years since the first prescriptions for the drug were issued is the treatment of cannabis...
Investigating the Relationship Between Cannabis and Mental Illness
To the contemporary cannabis conversation, the connection of the plant and its extracts to mental health and wellness is a tenuous and contentious topic. While a wealth of anecdotal evidence suggests that medical cannabis may well hold the answers to...
Looking at different delivery methods
As it has been established, medical cannabis doesn’t need to simply be smoked or baked to be incorporated as part of a healthy routine. There are also concentrates, topicals and edibles on the market that have started to pique the interest of recre...
Medical Cannabis and Crohn's and Colitis
Concrete scientific evidence that cannabis can aid or alleviate symptoms associated with specific conditions is still inconclusive for many ailments. But there are a number of areas of research that physicians, clinicians and patients can turn to for...
Myths and Facts About Sperm Production and Cannabis Use
Cannabis has been dragged through the mud for many decades. Even today, myths that suggest cannabis is linked to everything from an increase in crime rates to cancer deaths still prevail. Because of its long history as a controlled substance, cannabi...
Please disable your ad blocker to avoid issues using social plugins on Cannvas.Me. Thanks.
Close
Share Article