How to Grow Cannabis Indoors This Spring

A photo of a young cannabis plant.

If you’re a lover of cannabis and houseplants, why not take your hobbies to the next level and combine the two?

It’s actually not too difficult, although staying up to snuff on the current laws is an important facet. But you’ve come to the right place! Check out our guide on leagally growing cannabis for the novice or experienced gardener alike. No previous growing expertise is necessary.

Know the law!

The law is simple: if you are 21 or older, you are able to grow up to 12 marijuana plants at home. You are also able to keep up to 10 ounces of marijuana flower in a secured location, like a lockbox.

Get marijuana seeds

You can get marijuana seeds in a variety of places, including Grow Weed Easy’s top recommended seed banks. They make sure to only recommend companies that have outstanding reliability, customer service and seed quality.

Germinate your seed

Once you have your seeds, to find out whether or not they’re viable, you can fold them in a damp (not dripping and not dry) paper towel. Gently place it in a ziploc bag (ideally clear) and place it somewhere out of drafts and a bit warm. If the seed is viable, within a few days a white tail will start to grow. If after five days there’s no tail, it is not a viable seed.

Plant your prepared seed

Once your seed has a tail, point the tail downward in your soil mix. Any standard high quality potting mix will work as long as your container has good drainage. This can be as simple as a plastic cup with holes in the bottom to a special pot you purchased just for this reason. Your seed should be approximately one inch deep and gently misted with water. 

Although you can grow weed in several types of mediums, soil-grown weed is considered to be tastier and more aromatic.

Watering

A spray bottle by a plant.

Don’t pour water directly on top when your plant is a baby (in its first several weeks of being planted). Use a spray bottle to gently mist it instead. If all is going well, you should see tiny leaves poking up from the dirt in several days.

For denser buds and more cannabis yields, you can get a water PH kit to keep the PH between 6.0 and 7.0. If that sounds like too much for you, distilled water (or water from your tap that you’ve let sit out for 24 hours) will work just fine.

Lighting

Use a grow light if you don’t have sunlight from a window; but placing it right by a window should work just as well. If your cannabis plant was growing outside, after all, it would be left to nature’s caprice for growth!

Cannabis plants (just like many other plants) require varying light for their various plant stages. In the cannabis plant’s vegetative state, it will need closer to 18 hours of light a day. When you want to trigger the flowering stage, this changes to 12 hours.

Vegetative growth: before it’s ready to flower

At this stage, which is at least three weeks, your plant needs to put its effort into becoming big, which is when you’re aiming for the 18 hours a day. Your plant needs to become sexually mature to produce the cannabis flowers.

Flowering: when it’s ready

A cannabis plant that is flowering.

When you think your plant is ready to flower, you switch to the 12 hour light cycle. Ideally for the dark 12 hours, your plant is left in total darkness. When looking for a good spot, favor a closet or room with thick curtains rather than just a room with the light off, but lots of ambient light. You can also buy a grow tent if that makes it easier for you.

But what if some light creeps in, or ensuring darkness for 12 hours is too difficult a step for you? It doesn’t have to be a big deal because all that means is that your female cannabis plants will produce pollen sacs and pollinate themselves, thereby creating seeds. This puts some of the plant’s attention into creating seeds, which takes away attention (ergo quality) from your flowers.

Harvesting your buds!

Your buds are ready when the pistil colors on the cola buds turn reddish orange, and the trichome heads turn opaque and then amber.

You can cut your cannabis plant into smaller pieces and hang them upside down (ideally a dark, cool room) to help with drying. Drying is important in order to avoid fungus from growing.Now you have your own homegrown weed. Enjoy in whatever method you prefer!

RELATED: Some Pros and Cons of Legalizing Marijuana Nationwide

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