Common Errors in Growing New Cannabis Strains

Cannabis cultivation is such a laborious and time-consuming task to do for both seasoned and newbie cultivators. Although many sources of information regarding this matter are now found in books, social media, blogs, and video tutorials uploaded on the internet, some other growers still want to make their own way to successful cultivation in which some common errors seem inevitable not to commit.

Cultivation itself is easy. However, if growers have one main focus and goal to achieve, that's where the complication comes in. Growing cannabis requires identifying some good strains to become parents wherein the process of selection is somehow what causes the difficulty and prolonging.

With the right information regarding the proper cultivation of marijuana varieties, the process could be a lot easier than what you think it was. Now that marijuana has been legally accepted and approved in almost all states in the US and in all of Canada, the spread of information regarding its cultivation is made more accessible to everybody.

To help you with your first-ever cannabis cultivar, here is a simple list of the basic steps taken when growing weeds on your own.

1. Decide where to grow your cannabis. There are three possible choices, but only two are the bests. Indoors, the yield is just as high when using artificial lighting and a source of air. It allows for some privacy that growing it indoors would make it easier to control the spread of its strong, pungent smell. Outdoors, however, some cannabis strains thrive better due to the natural resources that are available in the area.
2. Choose the best source of light for your chosen strain. Depending on the area you have available for cultivation, the light source may be artificial or natural. Indoors, everything, including the lighting, is provided by the growers based on their preferred speed of growth and how much resinous they like the buds to have on harvest time. It can be through LEDs, fluorescent lights, or HPS types. Outdoors, the best and only source would be the sun, which emits a very strong ray of light, especially between 10 am to 2 pm during the daytime.
3. Look for the perfect medium to use, such as soil, soilless milk, and hydroponics.
   • Soils provide natural nutrients also that it has been made of, as well as the ability to aid in the drainage and holding of water.
   • Soilless Mix is, of course, the process that does not use soil but rather coco coir, perlite, and others that can support cannabis growth.
   • Direct and indirect hydroponics is a process contrary to those that make use of unique materials like water and fishes in the process. Aquaponics and aeroponics are an example of those which are also as effective.
4. Decide what nutrients to be added for assisting in the cultivation process. For soil growers, they may use those that are best suitable for soil cultivation. During the flowering or budding stages in the life of your crops, nutrients should have already been added.
   For soilless cultivators and those using hydroponics, there are specific cannabis nutrients also that are dedicated uniquely for such a form of cultivation.
5. Get the seeds or clones and begin the planting. If it is a regular type, germinating the seeds first, then identifying their gender is what needs to be done. Once gender is known, growers must make an effort to separate the males from the females so that contamination can be avoided. This is to ensure that the genetics resulting from the crossbreeding process is clear and noted by the breeders. Proceed with planting and wait for them to mature successfully after a certain period of growing.
6. Harvest the buds if and only if they already start growing some white new hairs or more commonly known as pistils. Those white hairs should have turned into a different color, darker due to the development of THC inside.

Because time is precious and all resources used in cultivating a favorite are not always cheaply available, it pays to know the right process of doing it. In order to avoid repeating similar errors in the planting of weeds, whether indoors or outdoors, always look at the most common ones committed before.

1. Using the wrong type and amount of manure. This is often committed by growers who are too worried about how their crops are doing. They'd like to make sure that their precious buds will be as healthy as they want them to be. However, too much of everything sometimes cause some adversities, too, like hindering the absorption of water and the passage of other nutrients from reaching each and all of the plant's leaves.

To prevent this, some EC devices may be utilized to tell how much manure needs to be put as well as the pH and water. When using manure, too, make sure that the medium is not too dry or too wet, just damp.

2. Discovering the presence of harmful pests and molds within the grow area. Some types of such pests include thunder bug, spider mite, powdery mildews, and downy mildews are some of the common, undiscovered pests that may lurk within any kind of grow area. Certain insecticides do wonders for this kind of bud but only lasts for a short period. Novice growers often do not realize this until it is already too late, as in pests' are very much visible through the naked eyes in the leaves and body of the crops.

3. Lamp is positioned in the wrong spot. The placement of things for indoor cultivation is highly vital. It can be fatal if lamps are not placed properly within the growing area, and photosynthesis cannot take place as well. Buds may not be as resinous or might as well die without enough light. The distance between the lamp and the crops should just be appropriate because the farther they are from each other, the less effective is achieved. On the contrary, lamps too close to the buds may also lead to sudden burning.

4. The belief that a little more added is just fine is false. When it comes to external elements like watering, picking off leaves, transferring of pots, etc., are all forms of plant stressors. Each time such activities are done, plants tend to feel the pressure for growing fast and healthy. Pampering and caring are undoubtedly part of successful cultivation but should not exceed one or twice each day. Doing so may result in hampering the plant's full development. Beginners often commit this error for having observed some unusual changes in the color of leaves and other stuff like that.

5. Too much humidity and coldness within the grow area also are not healthy for the growth of the crops. Such conditions may attract more infesting elements to be present in the area. Molds and pests most of the time exist in this kind of situation, so growers have to be prepared for that if they are stuck in it.

6. Resistance to advice and belief in some wrong advice are two crucial and common errors that humans commit, especially for beginners who tend to believe everything that they hear without actually verifying its truth and effectiveness. The problem with breeders having some years of experience in cultivation, however, is that they tend to close their ears from the reminders and tips of other breeders, thinking that they know better.

7. Bad parent strains used in the beginning. Some inexperienced growers commit the mistake of using only the strains they believe to be the best without observing and studying further about such strain. Great parent strains are those that have a high yield, faster grow period, delicious flavors, and aroma. Such traits can only be known if examinations and testing are performed.

8. Impatience and harvesting too early results in an unfinished, pre-mature bud. This is a problem encountered by those who are not willing to wait for the right time before collecting the beloved buds. Fewer effects, potency, and of its sought-after aroma and taste are acquired if this is what growers do.

There are several more errors that each cannabis grower does in every cultivation activity that they do. However, imperfect, those mistakes just show how much newer things we learn about this precious herb that we love each time. May you have an exciting and wonderful bud cultivation after reading this!