HOW TO GROWBeginners Guide to Cannabis Seeds

Beginners Guide to Cannabis Seeds: It all starts with a seed, and there are many from which to choose. Many prospective growers bulk at the number of cannabis seeds, but we can make it easy for you to pick the right cannabis seed. Cannabis use affects each user differently, but there are general principles most people follow when buying cannabis seeds. The main question you need to answer is what type of high or stoned you want. If you like to stay active after consuming cannabis, a sativa dominant to stimulate your mind and energize your body might be ideal. However, if you want to be more stoned than high, indica strains and their associated couch lock features might appeal to you more. Opting for a hybrid is a possibility worth considering and is often difficult to avoid. Through modern breeding, over 90% of cannabis seeds are hybrids of indica and sativa.

Germinating Cannabis Seeds

Germinating cannabis seeds is not the most tricky thing to do, but don’t expect to throw your cannabis seeds at the ground and for them to sprout into large trees of THC gold.

There are many known methods for germinating cannabis seeds, but we believe one of the simplest is the most effective. There are three things that cannabis seeds need to sprout: moisture, warmth, and darkness. We advise placing cannabis seeds in a glass or cup of mineral water in a room at no lower than 20 degrees. Over the next 2-3 days, the cannabis seeds will absorb water and soften the outer shell, allowing the seedling to hatch. Sometimes, it can take up to 7 days for cannabis seeds to germinate, but in most cases, they will pop within the first few days. The cannabis seed will sprout a long white tale,  meaning it’s time to plant the seedling.

The success rate for germinated TB Seeds is 98%,;sometimes germination fails, but this is not due to an issue of quality. Cannabis Seeds are live plant matter, and nature will also take its course. We extensively test every batch of The Bulldog cannabis seeds and only work with the best.

Planting Cannabis Seeds

The white tale is popping from the shell, and it’s time to plant a cannabis seedling. Remember the top tip from earlier? Preparation is the key to success. To sow your cannabis seedling, you will need suitable potting soil or substrate like coco. The size of the pot depends on how much space you have, but little pots mean tiny flowers. When choosing a medium to use, it’s best practice to get a neutral one without fertilizer. A lot of the time, you won’t need to add food in the early to mid stages, and adding it to your harvest will require research about nutrients. A cannabis seedling will sustain itself for the first seven days. What you do after that is down to learning and experience.

Once ready, water your pot of soil before planting the seed, do not soak it, as it increases the risk of the seedling rotting. Then plant the seedling with the growing sprout facing down about 1 – 1.5 cm from the surface. Follow that by gently sprinkling soil over it before placing the plant directly under a light source, such as a lamp, to stimulate growth and prevent the seedling from stretching for light once it has popped above the surface. You can do this using a LED lamp available online and in grow shops.

Watering Cannabis Seedlings / Plants

Top Tip: Using a plant sprayer during the early stages of the growth cycle helps prevent overwatering.

Watering cannabis plants correctly is vital to the success of your harvest. You will need to pay close attention to the water timetable of your plants throughout the growth cycle. Watering starts by moistening the soil in which you will plant your seed. Ensure it is moist and not soaking wet because too much water will cause the infant seedling to rot. To begin with, your plant will not need much water, but how much depends on the environment in which it is grown and how big the pot is. Small plants need less water than big ones, and plants grown in more humid climates will require more than ones in dryer locations.

How Much Water Does A Plant Need

Some growers advise as little watering as possible during the early stages of growth to make the roots work harder for their food. A strong and well-formed root system means healthier plants, but be wary of the balancing act between watering and root strength. Underwatering your plants can lead to stunted growth and other plant deformities.

How to Tell a Plant Needs Water

The best foolproof to check if your plants need to drink some water is by lifting them. If your pot is heavy, it has retained water and is OK, but if it is light to pick up, you should feed that thirsty plant.

The Appearance Of The Leaves

You can also tell if a plant needs watering by the look of the leaves. It won’t take long to notice if the leaves look slack, a sign of dehydration. A lack of water can cause a plant to go limp very quickly and can signal the end of a growing cycle before it has got going.

 

Top Tip:

Preparation is the key to success. There are tons of information and step-by-step guides on how to grow cannabis. You can also find a wealth of expertise in books like the Cannabis Grow Bible and other publications by acclaimed growers like Ed Rosenthal. So, there is no excuse not to be prepared. Our preparation tip is to keep a calendar and mark events from germination to harvest to keep track of the progress of your growth.

Feeding Cannabis Plants: Nutrients and Fertilizers

No matter where you grow, indoors or outdoors, feeding your plant organic fertilizer is vital to achieving the best results. You can use nonorganic nutrients, but we advise you to avoid them. What are the best results? We are sure you have read the yield stats of all your favourite strains and saw that most come with a scale of what the plant is capable of. You might have seen things like, in optimal conditions, this plant can yield up to 700grams. In the best case, you will get that much weed from a harvest, but most growers are happy to get to the end of a cycle and have a finished female plant full of ripe cannabis flowers.

How Much to Feed a Cannabis Plant

How much feed or nutrients to give a cannabis plant depends on a few things. The soil you use, the food, and the stage at which you plant is at. A seedling will feed itself for seven days, and after that, you can use root stimulators and other products for the vegetation period. Many growers rely on the food in the medium and only begin feeding once the plant has entered the flowering stage at 4-6 weeks.

What to Feed a Cannabis Plant

There are many types of food and nutrients for cannabis plants, but we advise using an organic feed. Organic is the best way when feeding cannabis plants. You can buy all sorts of organic products from root stimulators, growth boosters for the veg period, and to improve flower growth. 

When To Stop Feeding a Cannabis Plant

When using organic fertilizers, stop feeding your cannabis plants 2-3 weeks before you plan to harvest. For the rest of the plant’s cycle, you should only water it, and as you enter the last days before harvest, you need to flush your plants by intensely watering them.

 

Switching from 18/6 to 12/12

You only have to worry about light cycles if you’re growing indoors. Outdoors, nature provides its timetable using the sun. When cultivating indoors, however, you will need to make a switch to put your plants in bloom (flower). Typically during the vegetation period (first 3-4 weeks), a plant should be subject to 18 hours of light and 6 hours of dark. To make the plant enter the blooming stage, you need to switch from 18/6 to 12 hours of lightness and 12 hours of darkness. The benefit of growing indoors is that you control when your plants begin to flower, so you can extend the vegetation stage for as long as you like. You will notice as the plant flowers that it develops little white pistils. They are what will produce the aroma and terpenes as the growth progress. The scent of which only increases as you near harvest.

When to Harvest a Cannabis Plant

There are a few ways to determine if it is time to harvest. The best and simple way to check is to look at the trichomes using a mini microscope. If you’re unsure what trichomes look like, they are the sugar-like crystals that cover the flowers. On closer inspection, rows of transparent white glands appear on the sepals with a stem and a ball on top.

These are all see-through at first, but as the plant flowers, they fill with cannabinoids. Then gradually, they become opaque or non-transparent and then turn to milky white, gold, and amber. If most trichomes (glands) turn this way, you know it is time to chop your crop. Other signs include the discoloring of leaves, which turn yellow, and when the plant no longer absorbs the same amount of water as before.

How to Cut Down a Cannabis Plan

It might be tempting to hack away and chop down your plant in one go, but you should cut it into sections. We advise leaving the top flowers and colas on the stems when cutting and trimming all protruding petals and sepals, leaving the truck of the buds attached. The large leaves are the easiest to remove and can either be thrown away or kept with the smaller leaves packed with trichomes to make tea. Trim carefully at all times. How well you trim the flowers will directly impact how the finished product will look.

How to Dry Wet Cannabis

When you cut down your cannabis plant, the flowers will be wet and fresh. One of the most important steps of growing cannabis is drying the crop once you have harvested it. Now you’ve heard the old saying, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. Well, the same goes for drying wet cannabis. The tried and tested method is to leave the cut tops of the flowers on the stem and hang them upside down in a well-ventilated space such as an attic or the tent you cultivated. There’s another adage that applies when drying your harvest. Good things come to those who wait. And the longer you wait, the better those good things will be. Take your time drying your weed, and ensure the space is dark and at room temperature. You should dry your harvest for at least a week, if not two, before you begin the curing stage. The curing stage starts once your flowers are at least 80% dry and then put in glass jars to ripe.

How to Cure Cannabis

So your buds are 80% or more dry, and it is time to enter the last stage of growing cannabis, the curing stage. When it is time to cure your cannabis, you have completed most of the hard work, but you still have a job before you can enjoy the fruits of your labour.

The slow drying and curing of cannabis flowers ensure the flavor and terpene profile fully develop, and you get the most out of your cannabis harvest. When dry enough, cut the tops and flowers from the stems and put them in a large glass jar. It might be tempting to fill it to the top and show off your big jugg of high-grade, but you only use 3/4 to prevent the weed from sweating when the lid is on the jar. Afterward, shake the jar and remove the top daily to expose it for around an hour before closing it.

Do this until the buds are dry enough to snap, and smell so good you can’t help but try them.