Auntie Janes Nursery
Well-Known Member
Working on a free open document to help new growers get started. Just key basic points that illustrate how the plant works and how to get kind of a quick basis to growing. Looking for any ideas for additions.
Key points new growers
Cannabis has grown outside without human intervention for 1000s of years.
- There are two phases to growing non autoplants. Veg and Flower.
- Veg is basically unlimited in time and is where you grow the base of your plant to how big you want it. You will want to maintain a light cycle of at least 18hrs on a day. Many people use 20hrs on and 4 off. Some go straight 24hrs of light. Pick your poison and remember electricity is a cost.
- The second phase and the one we all love is flower. In flower you want to have at least a 12hr period of complete darkness. (this is where a tent really helps to block out light). Flower is a timed cycle dependent on plant. Some strains will flower in 7-8 weeks, most now a days around 9, and some upwards of 12-16 weeks.
- One thing to keep in mind in Veg is that in flower your plants will double or even triple in height so you want to make sure you do not over veg and outgrow your tent in flower.
-When starting seeds or clones do not use soils with nutrient already in them like miracle grow. These are considered to hot (like a nutrient overdose) and will end up burning your seedling. Miracle grow does have a seed starting soil that works very well.
- Seedlings don’t really need much nutrients until the first set of true leaves (3-5 fingers). Straight water for the most part. Maybe a little kelp additive but the seedling itself has enough nutrients stored in it to thrive. Remember you do not want to overdose it.
-When starting your seedlings I find it best to soak them in room temp water for a few hours to help soften the shell. Then I poke 6 holes around the bottom rim of a solo cup and fill it with my medium. Then I soak the medium with water till it runs out the bottom. Then poke a hole in your medium about a half inch down and drop your seedling in. Then cover with your medium and lightly water directly over the seedling.
-I soak my medium first and then plant my seedling so when I water over my seedling it doesn’t
push it deeper into my medium
-After this just leave it in a warm semi humid area. Once you see it break the soil it will need light. Don’t water until the medium is about 80% dry. You can lift the cup and feel the difference in weight.
-When watering it is better to underwater than overwater. Over watering drowns roots (no oxygen) and will cause root rot.
- When first watering start off watering light. Maybe 50ml. Wait for the medium to dry about 80% before watering again. You want the roots to search for water and fill the pot. Also don’t water directly at the stem. This can cause stem rot and roots won’t search toward the outside walls of the pots
-Lighting needed for seedlings is minimal although you do want to keep the light somewhat close to limit the seedling from getting too lanky. Would be fine with a 26w flouro or even one of those spiral CFL bulbs. Keep the light about 2-4 inches away from the tops of the seedlings.
- To strengthen your seedling stems blow on them lightly or have a light fan blowing wind over the tops.
-Nutrients-
--What do those three numbers mean? The three numbers separated by dashes on the front of the nutrient packaging are the NPK ratios. N for nitrogen, P for phosphorus and K for potassium. These are your three main (Macro) nutrients for the plant. They also consist of micro nutrients such as calcium, iron, magnesium, boron etc…
- In Veg cycle you want to have a higher nitrogen to promote growth and in flower you want to increase phosphorous and potassium and decrease nitrogen to promote flowering and better tasting flowers. That is why you will see the different npk values on Veg and Bloom(flower) nutrients
- There are two kinds of nutrients. Organic and synthetic.
-Organic can be done in two methods. One is a super soil method where you build a base soil with a bunch of organic material that contain certain elements such as bat guano for phosphorous or Kelp for potassium. There are multiple super soil recipes online and some companies sell it pre made.
-The other way to feed Organic is through teas made by using the same organic material you would to build the soil and putting it in a little stocking like a tea bag and running a fish tank airline to aerate the water for about 24 hours. This gets the microbes going and makes a bomb nutient. Just a little extra work and a little more messier. You would then water this tea in. There are other methods of “organic” by top dressing the soil every two weeks. Roots Organic has their “Uprising” line just for this.
- The other form of nutrients are synthetic. These are more chemical based and are much easier to work with. Some great companies that have been around are General Hydroponics, Fox Farms, Advanced Nutrients(if you want to spend extra for the gimmick), House & Garden, and many more. I currently use Megacrop and Maxibloom.
- With synthetics nutrients you will have your base nutrients which is your main nutrient and then you may choose to use additives as well. Most base nutrients are more than enough. Sometimes depending on medium you may need to use extra calcium/magnesium often called calmag. One additive I always use is Silica.
- How often you feed with nutrients depends on what medium you are using. In soil since soil itself will hold on to some of the nutrients you want to alternate between watering with nutes and straight water. A lot of people will do Feed, Water, Water, Feed as a cycle where Feed is the only time nutrients are added.
In coco/soilless or hydroponics you will constantly be feeding since the medium doesn’t hold on to salts as much.
- The next thing in line is PH of the water after adding the nutrients. This only applies to synthetic nutrients. Organic nutrients feed the roots themselves. Synthetic nutrients need to be absorbed by the roots. The plant itself will only absorb nutrients at certain ph levels. The required PH will vary by medium. In soil you are looking for a ph of 6.5 to 7.0 in Coco 5.8 to 6.3 and in Hydro 5.5 to 6.0
- PH is measured by using either a ph meter (can get a good cheap one on ebay for $10) or you can use droplets. General Hydroponics sells ph test kits. I like the droplets because they do not have to be calibrated like the pens and even though not as accurate I fall in the window of ph I need but that is personal preference.
-PH is adjusted using some form of ph up or ph down. Add this stuff very lightly. A few drops at a time. It can adjust ph quickly.
- When adding nutrient remember always less is more. You do not want to over intoxicate your plant.
- Also when adding nutrients and using additives make sure you follow what should be added in what order. Some nutrient can interact with others and cancel them out if not added first. If you are using a three part like General Hydroponics always do Micro first. If you are ever using Silica or Calmag always add those before even micro. The silica being the first of all and best to let it sit for an hour before adding calmag.
- Watering should only done when needed. Remember not to over water.
Key points new growers
Cannabis has grown outside without human intervention for 1000s of years.
- There are two phases to growing non autoplants. Veg and Flower.
- Veg is basically unlimited in time and is where you grow the base of your plant to how big you want it. You will want to maintain a light cycle of at least 18hrs on a day. Many people use 20hrs on and 4 off. Some go straight 24hrs of light. Pick your poison and remember electricity is a cost.
- The second phase and the one we all love is flower. In flower you want to have at least a 12hr period of complete darkness. (this is where a tent really helps to block out light). Flower is a timed cycle dependent on plant. Some strains will flower in 7-8 weeks, most now a days around 9, and some upwards of 12-16 weeks.
- One thing to keep in mind in Veg is that in flower your plants will double or even triple in height so you want to make sure you do not over veg and outgrow your tent in flower.
-When starting seeds or clones do not use soils with nutrient already in them like miracle grow. These are considered to hot (like a nutrient overdose) and will end up burning your seedling. Miracle grow does have a seed starting soil that works very well.
- Seedlings don’t really need much nutrients until the first set of true leaves (3-5 fingers). Straight water for the most part. Maybe a little kelp additive but the seedling itself has enough nutrients stored in it to thrive. Remember you do not want to overdose it.
-When starting your seedlings I find it best to soak them in room temp water for a few hours to help soften the shell. Then I poke 6 holes around the bottom rim of a solo cup and fill it with my medium. Then I soak the medium with water till it runs out the bottom. Then poke a hole in your medium about a half inch down and drop your seedling in. Then cover with your medium and lightly water directly over the seedling.
-I soak my medium first and then plant my seedling so when I water over my seedling it doesn’t
push it deeper into my medium
-After this just leave it in a warm semi humid area. Once you see it break the soil it will need light. Don’t water until the medium is about 80% dry. You can lift the cup and feel the difference in weight.
-When watering it is better to underwater than overwater. Over watering drowns roots (no oxygen) and will cause root rot.
- When first watering start off watering light. Maybe 50ml. Wait for the medium to dry about 80% before watering again. You want the roots to search for water and fill the pot. Also don’t water directly at the stem. This can cause stem rot and roots won’t search toward the outside walls of the pots
-Lighting needed for seedlings is minimal although you do want to keep the light somewhat close to limit the seedling from getting too lanky. Would be fine with a 26w flouro or even one of those spiral CFL bulbs. Keep the light about 2-4 inches away from the tops of the seedlings.
- To strengthen your seedling stems blow on them lightly or have a light fan blowing wind over the tops.
-Nutrients-
--What do those three numbers mean? The three numbers separated by dashes on the front of the nutrient packaging are the NPK ratios. N for nitrogen, P for phosphorus and K for potassium. These are your three main (Macro) nutrients for the plant. They also consist of micro nutrients such as calcium, iron, magnesium, boron etc…
- In Veg cycle you want to have a higher nitrogen to promote growth and in flower you want to increase phosphorous and potassium and decrease nitrogen to promote flowering and better tasting flowers. That is why you will see the different npk values on Veg and Bloom(flower) nutrients
- There are two kinds of nutrients. Organic and synthetic.
-Organic can be done in two methods. One is a super soil method where you build a base soil with a bunch of organic material that contain certain elements such as bat guano for phosphorous or Kelp for potassium. There are multiple super soil recipes online and some companies sell it pre made.
-The other way to feed Organic is through teas made by using the same organic material you would to build the soil and putting it in a little stocking like a tea bag and running a fish tank airline to aerate the water for about 24 hours. This gets the microbes going and makes a bomb nutient. Just a little extra work and a little more messier. You would then water this tea in. There are other methods of “organic” by top dressing the soil every two weeks. Roots Organic has their “Uprising” line just for this.
- The other form of nutrients are synthetic. These are more chemical based and are much easier to work with. Some great companies that have been around are General Hydroponics, Fox Farms, Advanced Nutrients(if you want to spend extra for the gimmick), House & Garden, and many more. I currently use Megacrop and Maxibloom.
- With synthetics nutrients you will have your base nutrients which is your main nutrient and then you may choose to use additives as well. Most base nutrients are more than enough. Sometimes depending on medium you may need to use extra calcium/magnesium often called calmag. One additive I always use is Silica.
- How often you feed with nutrients depends on what medium you are using. In soil since soil itself will hold on to some of the nutrients you want to alternate between watering with nutes and straight water. A lot of people will do Feed, Water, Water, Feed as a cycle where Feed is the only time nutrients are added.
In coco/soilless or hydroponics you will constantly be feeding since the medium doesn’t hold on to salts as much.
- The next thing in line is PH of the water after adding the nutrients. This only applies to synthetic nutrients. Organic nutrients feed the roots themselves. Synthetic nutrients need to be absorbed by the roots. The plant itself will only absorb nutrients at certain ph levels. The required PH will vary by medium. In soil you are looking for a ph of 6.5 to 7.0 in Coco 5.8 to 6.3 and in Hydro 5.5 to 6.0
- PH is measured by using either a ph meter (can get a good cheap one on ebay for $10) or you can use droplets. General Hydroponics sells ph test kits. I like the droplets because they do not have to be calibrated like the pens and even though not as accurate I fall in the window of ph I need but that is personal preference.
-PH is adjusted using some form of ph up or ph down. Add this stuff very lightly. A few drops at a time. It can adjust ph quickly.
- When adding nutrient remember always less is more. You do not want to over intoxicate your plant.
- Also when adding nutrients and using additives make sure you follow what should be added in what order. Some nutrient can interact with others and cancel them out if not added first. If you are using a three part like General Hydroponics always do Micro first. If you are ever using Silica or Calmag always add those before even micro. The silica being the first of all and best to let it sit for an hour before adding calmag.
- Watering should only done when needed. Remember not to over water.
