The Benefits of Indoor Growing Versus Outdoor Growing for medical marijuana in Colorado
While some may argue that one method is superior to the other,
Colorado medical marijuana growers are proving that both methods are tending to average about the same yields. Outdoor plants may tend to yield more buds at one harvest per year, due to the fact that outdoor plants tend to mature together.
Indoor plants, on the other hand, offer multiple harvests but yield less buds. The outdoor marijuana planting season in Colorado generally lasts from late March to early October and with the wider space allowed, plants tend to be larger in size and are able to spread out more. Indoor plants are generally grown in smaller areas such as one or two average size rooms under electric lamps and fans with basic garden supplies.
Although the typical harvest for an indoor marijuana crop is around three per year, the yield, due to the smaller bud amount, is about the same as an outdoor marijuana crop. For outdoor growers, the best way to determine canopy size is to wait until August when bud levels are at their highest, weed out all the male plants and estimate canopy size from there. For indoor gardens, growing conditions are different.
Plants must be separated between vegetative and flowering areas and with its sensitivity to light, barriers are extremely important to keep only a portion of the garden budding at one time, and will protect the Colorado medical marijuana patient or caregiver from having more budding plants than the legally determined amount at any given time.