Best Techniques for Growing Cannabis

Marijuana is not difficult to grow. After all, one of its most popular names is weed. But if you want to grow healthy plants that produce the tastiest buds, a little extra care and using the best techniques and products will pay you back many times over.

The best growing techniques for cannabis are not necessarily difficult or expensive. Much depends on thinking about and planning your operation before you turn over the first shovel full of dirt. Whether you plan to grow a single plant for personal consumption or acres and acres of bud for a commercial venture, some thoughtful planning will save you lots of headaches and work and help you produce the greatest ganja ever.

There are many types of cannabis growing techniques. You can read about them online or in books or learn about them first-hand from friends or employers.

These growing tips from Dripworks.com can help you attain greater success.

Pick Your Site

A south-facing grow site or a flat area getting abundant sunshine is the ultimate for an outdoor grow. It helps but is not crucial that your site has good drainage. You can and probably will want to add plenty of new organic soil to max out the starter clones or seeds you will be using. You should also select a site where you can get water to it as easily as possible. If there is no municipal water available, does the property have a well? If there is no well, is a pond, river or stream available? It is also possible to build an artificial pond if your site has no readily available water.

Select the Best Seeds or Clones

This is no place to cheap out. Buy the best genetics you can from a reputable supplier. Decide whether you want a mellow Sativa, a heady Indica, a short-season Ruderalis or a medicinal-quality pot high in CBDs.

Discriminate Based on Sex

Female plants produce the smokable bud, so obtain feminized seeds or clones. The goal when growing ganja is to harvest an entire crop of sinsemilla. Just one male (pollen-producing) plant can pollinate your entire patch. Always be on the lookout for the possibility that one of your female plants has turned into a hermaphrodite. Sometimes to ensure procreation, one part of a female plant will put out a male branch of pollen-producing balls. These can open when you have your back turned. They can pollinate many buds or even entire sections of your garden, making the crop seedy and undesirable.

Get Your Plants Off to a Good Start

If you are starting from seed, first soak the seeds overnight to encourage them to sprout. This can be done in a damp paper towel or in glass of tepid water. Some growers will germinate the seeds.

Selecting Your Soil

A well-balanced and amended soil grows healthy plants. The best ganja thrives in soil made of aged compost with all the essential nutrients (NPK) plus bone meal, kelp, and blood meal. Add some coco coir for easy root penetration, its capacity to hold oxygen and its water-retention ability. As previously mentioned, adding powdered or water-soluble mycorrhizal fungi (aka microbes) will help make all the nutrients in the soil more available to the roots of the plants. If your soil is amended so the roots can easily go down 18 to 24 inches, your plants will get off to a great start. Regular feedings through a drip system that uses a fertilizer injector will pump the cannabis plants to their fullest.

Water: Drip or Spray Irrigation

Cannabis loves a slow delivery of water throughout its growth cycle. When it comes to even water distribution, long product life and near-zero maintenance, a drip system is best. If you are going to be top-dressing your plants with fertilizer, sprayers will be needed. The best sprayers are aimed horizontally or downward, allowing you the option of top-dressing the soil with fertilizer. Generally, you will want to water your plants every couple of days. If you have an outdoor grow, you should adjust your watering schedule according to the weather. Drooping or yellowing leaves are an indicator of a plant needing water, nitrogen, or both. But be careful not to overwater. That can suffocate and rot the roots.

Fertilization

To maximize your yield, regular fertilization through a fertilizer injector is the way to go. These injectors get connected to your drip system tubing and can fertilize every time the system runs. They can either be installed near your faucet or valves or downline closer to the crop. For large organic or professional grows needing the proper NPK ratio, the MixRite Injector is best. It is simple to install, operate and clean and is powered entirely by the water flowing through it. For smaller gardens, the economical EZ Flo injector with adjustable dilution rates is sufficient. You will want to use a 10-10-5 mixture during the vegetative stage and a 5-25-5 fertilizer during the flowering stage.

Best Products

Here is a list of the products most often used to deliver water.

1/2-Inch Emitter Tubing is a flexible tubing with emitters factory installed. The pressure-compensating emitters are spaced every nine, 12, 18, 24 or 36 inches — your choice. This tubing is perfect for long rows, circling many plants or going up and down uneven terrain or hillsides to provide an even flow.

Aqua Traxx Drip Tape is a thin-wall tubing is an economical choice for greenhouses or very long runs in a straight-line setup.

1/4-Inch Soaker Dripline is a versatile tubing that has factory-installed emitters spaced every six, nine or 12 inches apart. It is used mostly in raised beds and containers.

Down-Spray Sprinkler has a full circular 20-inch spray for fast top-dressing situations. I have often seen this product in many licensed grows placed between plants or three or four of them around large plants to water in nutrients. They water evenly with minimal surface disturbance.

1/8-Inch Spot Spitters are for use in a Smart Pot container or using three or four of them with big plants. This is an inexpensive way to irrigate.

DripWorks.com is a great resource for cannabis irrigation information, how-to videos and guides showing products in use and garden planners. We have an extensive product line, and a staff of knowledgeable, experienced people to talk to. The DripWorks catalog can be requested at 1-800-522-3747 or by going on the website.