Essential Supplies for Growing Cannabis Guide

Growing grass does not just refer to lawns anymore. As the trend to legalizing marijuana continues to roll on and gain steam, more folks around the country are coming to appreciate the joy of growing their own. This guide to the essential supplies for growing cannabis will help you get started, whatever your goal.

Cannabis for Fun or Profit

Some people grow just one plant to create their own personal stash and to save money compared to buying their recreational or medical marijuana at a dispensary. Others grow as many plants as their state and local laws allow so they can supply themselves and have some left over to share with friends and family.

Another, more business-oriented group grows pot for profit as well as for fun. These people have a lot of company. One estimate has it that by 2019, the legal cannabis industry in the U.S. was worth a cool $13.6 billion, employing 340,000 workers.

The Rush is On

Wall Street and big tobacco companies have taken notice and are making investments. Many small entrepreneurs are starting their own farms to produce THC or CBD. Many call it the Green Gold Rush of the 2020s.

Whether you want to know how to grow cannabis for your own personal use or are thinking about going into business, DripWorks is here to help with our Essential Supplies for Growing Cannabis Guide. This cannabis grow guide will give you a basic idea of what you will need to grow ganja successfully.

Where to Grow

Your first task when starting out with cannabis is deciding where to grow it. The decision comes down to two basic options: outdoors or indoors. Both have pros and cons.

Growing outdoors, your pot plants will benefit from free sunlight and rainfall. On the other hand, they will also be at the whim of Mother Nature. Drought, hail, damaging storms and lack of sunlight are all possibilities. In addition, growing your weed outside will usually make it visible to prying eyes.

Growing your weed indoors will let you control the plants' environment much better. This will come with a cost, however.

First, you will have to provide a structure for your plants. That might mean a grow room inside your home or another building, which would be relatively easy to build. It also could mean buying or building a greenhouse or high tunnel.

Starter Kits

Kits are an easy way to get most of the stuff you need for growing cannabis. A good beginner cannabis growing kit should provide you practically everything you need to grow one pot plant for personal recreational or medicinal use.

Those seeking to grow more plants for fun or profit might want to consider an expandable cannabis kit. They could use a kit like this to grow from 10 to 100 pot plants, expanding their output with their business.

Planting

If you grow your plants indoors in soil, planting them in containers is usually the best way to go. In addition to containers, you will also need potting soil to plant your seeds or clones in.

Outdoors, you will want to plant your cannabis in light, loamy soil. If your soil is heavy clay or overly sandy, you should add soil amendments to help your plants grow better. Depending on how many plants you have in mind, you will need a shovel and hoe, a rototiller, or a tractor to properly prepare your soil outside.

Nutrition and Irrigation

Once you have planted your cannabis, whether in the ground or in containers, you will need to provide your plants the right amount of food and water. Like nearly all plants, cannabis needs the proper levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, or N-P-K, for feeding.

Some fertilizers, like bat guano, are high in nitrogen. Others offer more tailored formulas. The recommended ratios of these nutrients can vary depending on what growth stage your plants are in. You can find special premixed fertilizers on the market intended specifically for cannabis growing.

Indoors, you will also need an irrigation system that can also fertilize when the system is on for your plants. It is also a good idea to have a watering method ready for an outdoor garden or farm. Even in areas that are usually rainy, dry spells can occur.

Drip Irrigation for Cannabis

One smart method of watering your plants indoors or outside is drip irrigation. This irrigation method can cut your water use by 30 to 50%. That will save you money while also conserving what is perhaps the Earth's most precious resource.

In addition, drip irrigation has other benefits. It will prevent over-watering and deliver the water precisely where you want it to go. That will discourage weed growth as well as boost your cannabis plants' growth.

Compared to hand-watering, drip irrigation can save you lots of time. With an automated timer installed in the drip system, you don't even have to be there to do the watering.

You can buy drip irrigation kits that give you everything you need to set up your own drip irrigation system. Alternatively, you can purchase drip irrigation tubing, tape and components separately and put them together to create your own custom drip system. However you build it, a drip irrigation cannabis system will cut your costs while benefiting your plants.