How long weed grows indoors

Conversely, they are not as efficient as LED lighting, but they cost much less. Some ballasts are designed for use with either MH or HPS lamps, while many newer designs will run both. Magnetic ballasts are cheaper than digital ballasts, but run hotter, are less efficient, and harder on your bulbs.

Digital ballasts are generally a better option, but are more expensive. Beware of cheap digital ballasts, as they are often not well shielded and can create electromagnetic interference that will affect radio and WiFi signals. This requires ducting and exhaust fans, which will increase your initial cost but make controlling temperature in your grow room much easier. Fluorescent light fixtures, particularly those using high-output T5 bulbs, are quite popular with small-scale cannabis growers because:.

Light emitting diode LED technology has been around for a while, and they are getting more efficient all the time. The main drawback to LED grow lights is their cost: well-designed fixtures can cost 10 times what a comparable HID setup would. But the benefits are great: LEDs last much longer, use far less electricity, create less heat, and the best designs generate a fuller spectrum of light, which can get bigger yields and better quality.

Plants need fresh air to thrive and carbon dioxide CO2 is essential to the process of photosynthesis. This means you will need a steady stream of air flowing through your grow room, which will allow you to move hot air out of the space and bring cool air in. This is easily achieved by placing an exhaust fan near the top of the space to suck out warm air—warm air rises—and adding a port or passive fan on the opposite side of the space near the floor to bring in cool air.

A complete air exchange throughout the entire grow space should occur once every minute or so. Without proper airflow, a grow space can experience rapid changes in humidity or develop pockets of CO2 depletion, neither of which are good for plant growth.

CO2 depletion can lead to nutrient lockout, and areas of high humidity are prone to pest infestation, mold, or mildew.

For small spaces or tents, clip-on fans can be attached to structures like walls, corners, or support beams. For larger grow rooms, use medium-sized oscillating fans or big floor models. Fans should be positioned to provide direct, even airflow throughout the garden.

This typically involves using multiple fans that work together or fans that have oscillation capabilities. Getting the right climate for your plants can be a delicate balance involving multiple pieces of equipment and also lots of electricity. This is part of what makes growing weed indoors more expensive than growing outdoors.

Fans are a must in a grow space to move air around, so buy some of those before an AC unit. You will definitely want to invest in a timer for your lights. For growers who have a little extra money to spend and want full control over their indoor garden, environmental controllers will allow you to automate the process.

You can connect a controller to fans, dehumidifiers, humidifiers, heaters, or air conditioners, and set thresholds whereby each device will power on and off based on your ideal environmental settings. Some units run autonomously, making changes based on set parameters, while others allow you to control each element via an app on a phone, tablet, or computer.

Finally, after all your hard work, the end is near as you turn to harvesting your crop. The harvesting period is exciting but it can also be very tricky especially if you are doing it for the first time. The exercise requires patience and care especially when it comes to the trichomes.

Also, be careful to harvest at the right time because if you harvest earlier than you should, then you stand the risk of having low yields. Harvesting too late may also ruin the potency of the weed. Weed harvesting in many cases takes 3 to 5 days. If you are harvesting in stages, the exercise can even go to 3 weeks.

When harvesting, choose the right methods to do so and be very careful when manicuring the plants. There are several harvesting tools in the market and you can choose between simple everyday trimming scissors or go for other pro trimming tool.

Make sure to get rid of unnecessary leaf material without bring any harm to the buds. After you are through with this stage, you just have two more phases before you enjoy the product of sweat. If you are an indoor grower, now it is time to turn your grow tent into a drying station for your weed.

Even though you may want to enjoy the fruits of your hard work quickly, you should not rush this phase. The process may seem boring to most people but do not rush it by using any other drying tools such as a microwave, a heater or a fan.

Dry your weed slowly over a period of 10 to 20 days by hanging the buds upside down on a string in your grow tent. You can also use drying nests or drying boxes. Whatever you choose, make sure the humidity levels are low and the place is clean. If you have popcorn buds and trim leaves in your harvest, you can dry them in just 3 to 5 days, otherwise the rest have to dry slowly for a longer period. Drying the weed naturally helps with the proper evaporation of water, organic compounds, and chlorophyll.

Drying too fast using other methods does not give the plants enough time to remove chlorophyll from them. Chlorophyll contains magnesium, which can lead to the weed having bitter and sharp smoke. When you are sure the whole stash is dry, then you can go to the final stage, which is curing.

To find out if the stash is dry, bend the stems and if they snap immediately, then they are dry. If they bend without snapping, then you could add a few more days of drying.

Before you go to this stage, you may be curious to find out if what you worked hard for is up to the standards you want. There is no harm in sampling some of it at this stage just to be sure.

You also need to feel the weed just to be sure that it does not have any mold or moist and that it is completely dry. This is the final phase to your journey. Curing your weed helps to add potency to the marijuana and enhance its flavor. It is also a very critical stage because it makes the difference between good and poor weed quality. In most cases when buds do not dry well and get enough cures, the quality goes down and this may lose you customers if you are growing weed for commercial purposes.

Curing is not a one-day affair and it can take anything from a few weeks to a few months. By properly cuing the buds, any leftover chlorophyll breaks down which gives the weed a pleasant taste.

Well dried and cured cannabis burns better and easier as compared to one that is dry and well cured. The best curing method is by using airtight glass jar. The space in the jar will ensure enough air circulation around the weed. Store the airtight jars in a cool dark place.

For the first 2 weeks, open the jars every day for short periods. During this time, check for any mold formation and move and rotate the buds to allow air to flow inside the jar.

When you open the jars, try to sniff the weed in order to find out if the curing process is going well. Cannabis plants intake nutrients at very defined pH levels — specifically, between 5.

There are different lines of nutrients on the market, but Pettit suggests this two-piece set from Canna the brand of coco he likes to grow in , which includes formulas to use during vegetative and flowering stages.

Use a pH meter to test the pH level of your water, and a TDS meter to test the nutrient levels in your plant when you are flushing it with water during the last two weeks of its grow cycle. Another indicator that your plant is ready for harvesting is when its trichomes the tiny little bulbous portions of the bud that produce THC turn from an opaque white color to a brownish amber.

When it comes time to harvest, Loki recommends cutting a plant down whole, and uses a PVC pipe cutter to get the job done. Sullivan agrees, noting to cut as close to the bottom of the stalk as possible. If you cannot cut the plant down whole, Loki suggests cutting it up into branches keeping each as intact as possible.

Following the initial dry, use the PVC pipe cutter to trim bud-bearing branches from the stalk if you did not already separate them before the first dry. Then use a pair of spring-loaded pruning scissors to cut buds from the branches. A four-ounce jar will hold roughly an eighth of an ounce of dried cannabis or about three and a half grams ; an eight-ounce jar will hold roughly a quarter about seven grams.

Keep the jars in the same place you initially dried your plant during its secondary dry. A secondary dry can last between five and ten days, according to Sullivan, who recommends novice growers use a moisture meter to help them determine when their buds are ready for long-term storage. The primary factor that determines how long a plant takes to reach harvest time is the strain. Sativa strains generally take longer, with an average flower time of 10 to 16 weeks.

Indica strains generally complete this stage in 7 to 9 weeks. Well, you can, but we would not advise it. You should dry it at the very least, but ideally you want to cure it as well. Curing weed eliminates the grassy smell and harsh flavor of dried buds. It also reduces the head rush aspect when smoking the buds, and makes them better at reducing anxiety, pain or feelings of depression. You should cure your buds for at least 2 weeks, but ideally a month or more.

Drying generally takes a week to 10 days, though you could do it in 4 or 5 days. But we always advise against rushing it. After all that time spent growing, why would you want to rush it now and end up with lower quality weed?

The strain of marijuana you grow has the largest impact on how long it will take. If you choose a fast-growing strain, you can speed up the process considerably. Here are a bunch of fast-growing strains. Autoflowers are always a good choice, if you are looking to reduce the overall time it takes to grow your weed. They start budding much faster. Of course, this will result in much smaller plants and correspondingly smaller yields.

We definitely do not recommend this, unless it is your goal to have small plants. You could also run your lights 24 hours per day. This speeds up growth, but also has negative effects on your plants.

We do not recommend this either. Growing from clones instead of seeds speeds up the process a bit, since the clones are already fairly well developed. You have to wait for them to root, but once they do, you have a huge head start over a seed.