Cannabis grows best in soil with a light airy texture and great drainage. Look for a soil mix that contains compost and isn’t too heavy or dark.
If your garden has poor drainage, it’s likely going to cost you more in the long run as it will often lead to root rot and fungi.
Watering
When it comes to growing cannabis, proper drainage is essential for healthy growth. If the water doesn’t drain properly, it can leave behind a stagnant layer that prevents root development and makes your plants susceptible to pests and diseases.
Whether you’re using organic or commercial soil, it’s important to ensure that the soil is well-drained so that the roots can reach it and absorb enough water. The best way to do this is by adding perlite or vermiculite to your grow medium to aerate the soil and improve its drainage ability.
Another way to make sure that your soil is well-drained is by checking its tension with a tensiometer. This will let you know how saturated the soil is and whether it’s ready to be watered.
In many cases, it’s not necessary to add any extra water to the soil; however, it’s important to remember that excess water can reduce aeration and make pathogens more likely to enter the medium. To avoid this, always aerate your soil before watering and make sure to collect runoff from your pots so that the roots have somewhere to go when they’re thirsty.
One of the best ways to keep your cannabis happy and hydrated when you’re not there is to use an irrigation system. These systems have timers and controllers that will automatically send water to your pots when they need it.
While these systems are a little expensive, they are incredibly convenient and can keep your plants thriving in your absence. They’re also easy to set up, and they can be very safe if you use them correctly.
A common mistake that some cannabis growers make is overwatering their soil. This can lead to nutrient lockout or nute burn, which in turn can affect the flavour and smoothness of your buds.
If you’re worried about overwatering your cannabis, consider using a specialized grow medium or planting in containers with breathable walls and holes in the bottom so that excess water can run off. This will also help to prevent root rot and other issues that can arise from water that sits in the soil for too long.
Light
Lighting is a key component to any successful cannabis cultivation. Whether you’re growing indoors or outdoors, using artificial light is an efficient way to ensure consistent, full-spectrum lighting.
The light intensity you use will depend on the stage of growth your plant is in. During the vegetative phase, cannabis plants need at least 18 hours of light per day. During the flowering phase, they need 12 hours of light per day.
You can choose the exact light intensity you need by adjusting the lighting wattage. For example, you can set your lights at a low wattage during the veg phase and increase the wattage during the flowering phase.
During the vegetative phase, you can also use a tier system to separate your plants into different light levels. In this way, you can control the amount of light your plants receive at each stage and maximize yield.
A tier system can be very beneficial in cannabis cultivation. For example, if you have two tiers of plants, you can divide the space between them accordingly to allow your cannabis plants to grow as tall as possible without outgrowing the space they’re allowed to occupy.
Once your cannabis plants have reached their maximum height, you can then reduce the wattage of your grow lights and focus on the photosynthesis process. This will help the cannabis plants produce more buds, which is essential for maximizing marijuana yield.
In order to maximize the light energy that your cannabis plants receive, it is important to keep the vapor pressure deficit at 0.9 to 1.3 kPa. This will prevent the water from becoming too saturated and creating a breeding ground for mold, bacteria, and other fungi.
Another important factor in light is the photoperiod. Cannabis requires 12 hours of light per day during the flowering phase and 18 hours during the vegetative phase.
As with watering, the photoperiod plays an important role in how your cannabis plants grow. The photoperiod is a measure of how long the plant’s canopy can absorb light before it becomes overly saturated with it.
Temperature
Cannabis plants need proper temperature in order to thrive and produce the best possible harvest. Temperature plays a major role in the growth process, affecting the rate of photosynthesis and transpiration. It also affects the plant’s nutrient uptake and the production of resins and terpenes.
In order to have the best cannabis cultivation experience, you need to know how to control your temperatures and humidity levels. This can be done with a variety of tools, but one of the most important is your grow room’s climate control system.
Your grow room’s temperature should be regulated at each stage of the plant’s life to ensure healthy growth. This will help your crop avoid problems such as mold, mildew and fungal infections.
The vegetative stage of a cannabis plant’s life requires a slightly warmer temperature than during flowering. This is because the young plant doesn’t have a strong root system and needs to uptake water and nutrients at a faster rate.
To encourage healthy growth, your grow room should be kept at around 70-85 degF (20-30 degC) during the day when the lights are on and no more than 10degF warmer during the night (venting is recommended to prevent hot air from recirculating). This temperature will allow your plants to convert sunlight into energy for growth.
When it comes to bud development, however, the ideal temperature for cannabis is slightly cooler, around 65-80 degF (18-26 degC). This will help your buds develop the best color, trichome production, density and smell.
The ideal cannabis growing humidity is between 40% and 60% during the flowering phase. This will help keep your plants from becoming dry and stressed out, which can result in lower yields.
Humidity
There are many important elements involved in successful cannabis cultivation, but one of the most critical is proper humidity control. Without this, a grower’s entire operation is at risk of losing out on quality production.
Cannabis requires varying levels of relative humidity (RH) across its lifecycle. A good indoor growing facility will be able to maintain ideal moisture levels throughout all stages of the plant’s growth cycle, helping to maximise the health and production of each plant.
The key to effective and efficient humidity control starts with right-sizing environmental control systems like heating, ventilation, air conditioning and dehumidification (HVACD) that are tailored to your specific cannabis growing needs. This ensures that the right amount of moisture can be managed at all stages, with a balance between capital costs and the risk to meet the demands of your operation.
Proper drainage is another essential component of successful humidity control, as plants often experience moisture retention in their roots that can lead to nutrient deficiencies and other issues, including root rot and fungus. The type of growing medium a cannabis cultivator uses largely determines how much water the soil can hold, so drainage is key to keeping cannabis in top condition and producing high-quality harvests.
For example, a soil mix that is rich yet airy and fluffy can hold more water than a compact soil mix, which will require less frequent watering. Soil drainage is a fundamental part of healthy and successful cannabis cultivation, so make sure your grow room has adequate ventilation and that it has a proper drainage system to allow the moisture to escape from the soil.
It is also important to consider the temperature at all times, as it can affect the amount of water a plant is able to draw from the soil. Low temperatures can cause plants to close their stomata, which can slow the photosynthetic process and reduce CO2 output, leading to stress and compromised yield.
