How To Grow Your First Marijuana Plant [Complete Guide]

Growing a marijuana plant is not a complex process. There are hundreds of thousands of stoners across the world who are growing their own weed. While it is not a hard task to master, there are a number of things you need to keep in mind. Let us take a detailed look at how to grow a marijuana plant – everything that you need to know about it.

Before you begin growing the marijuana plant, try brushing up on your basic biology a little bit. It helps. Knowing stuff about a plant’s growth cycle, as well as functions such as photosynthesis, etc. will help you understand what you are doing and why you are doing so.

How To Grow Your First Marijuana Plant [Complete Guide]

Let us first take a look at the cycle of growth of a marijuana plant

Marijuana Plant Growth Cycle: The Phases of Growth

• The plant begins its journey with a seed.
• The seed is then germinated using warmth, moisture and often soil.
• The germinated seed, which has a little root, is then planted into a small pot and allowed to grow for a while till it grows into a seedling – which is basically a tiny plant with a couple of leaves and a thin stem.
• This seedling is then transplanted on to the main container where it grows in a room created specifically for indoor growth of marijuana.
• It takes about 3 to 4 months on an average for flowers to emerge, which are then used for smoking up. However, different plants and strains take different times to grow.
  

Check the best guide on, How To Choose the Best Nutrients for your Marijuana Plant.

Life Stages of a Plant

• The vegetative stage – this is the early stage where the plant is growing – this phase lasts for a little over a month after the plant starts to grow.
• The transition stage – this is the stage between the vegetative state and the flowering stage, a period of two weeks where the growth would be the quickest.
• The Flowering stage – this is what you’ve been waiting for! The flowering stage is when the flowers are at their full bloom and once it’s done with, you can harvest them!

How To Grow Your Own Marijuana Plant

Before We Begin

• Check out our guide on how to choose marijuana seeds
• Check out our guide on how to germinate marijuana seeds

Here, we begin with the assumption that you have chosen your seeds and germinated them.

Step 1: Choose Your Seeds

Seeds must be chosen wisely before you begin planting your marijuana plant. This is the very first and basic step.

• Ensure that the seeds are hard
• Avoid taking green seeds and go for the darker ones
• Buy feminized seeds if you want to grow female plants (only female plants have flowers)

Step 2: Germinate Your Seeds

Germination of the seeds can be done in various ways

• Pre Soaking them
• Paper Towel Method
• Planting them directly in soil

Read in detail about each of these methods here.

Step 3: Preparing the Soil and Nutrients

While your marijuana seed grows into a seedling, it is time for you to prepare the soil and keep it ready so by the time the seedling is ready you can easily transplant it. Let us take a detailed look at the preparation of soil and providing proper nutrients to it.

When it comes to marijuana, it can grow pretty much in most types of soils. This is why it is often called ‘weed’. However, understanding the process of soil preparation will help you grow a better plant.

The soil that you choose and prepare needs to be easily drainable. This is the most important, vital characteristic feature of the soil that needs to be kept in mind. If the soil is not easily drainable and allows water to accumulate, the plant might begin to rot. However, you also need to see if the soil can retain some water. Not a lot of water – but some water, which the plant would need for survival. Keep in mind that organic soil has the best capacity to produce quality marijuana.  

Another point that needs to be kept in mind is that of the texture. The soil needs to be fluffy and light – which is another indicator that it will not retain a lot of water.

The soil alone won’t do the trick. The soil needs to be rich in nutrients as well.

Transplanting your Seedling

Now that your seed has become a seedling – it is time to have it transplanted into a container where it will grow indoors. Transplanting is basically the process of taking the seedlings from smaller containers and putting them in a larger one. If you are practicing outdoor growing of marijuana, you can transplant them to the garden directly.

Transplanting is usually a simple process on paper. However, when it comes to practically doing it, you need to be more careful. Transplantation is done like this:

• Carefully take the seedling out from the smaller container. Make sure you are taking it out along with all its roots and a portion of soil that surrounds the roots. In the next container where you are transplanting this seedling to, make sure you have dug a hole at the exact center of the container.
• Avoid doing this in the sunlight hours as this gives the plant enough time to rest before sunlight hits and the plant starts the process of photosynthesis again. However, in case of indoor growth you can do it anytime, just don’t turn on the grow lights for about 8 hours after transplanting the seedling.

Growing the Plant

Now that you have transplanted it, the seedling is ready to become an actual marijuana plant. You will now need to constantly monitor the growth and health of your plant.

• You must ensure that your marijuana plant is getting proper nutrition. The plant that you are growing must not get excess or less of nutrition than required. This becomes evident when spots begin to appear or leaves begin to turn yellow. This is a sign of either providing too much, or too less nutrition. This excess of nutrition is called ‘Nutrient Burn’. Leaves may begin to curl if you continue providing excess nutrients. This is bad for the crop.
• You also need to provide nutrients based on the gender of the marijuana plant. A male cannabis plant needs high nitrogen levels while a female cannabis plant would need more of it.

There are three broad methods of growing cannabis plants. These methods are:

• Growing in a container
• The Cloning Method
• Hydroponics

Growing it in a container is the easiest method and good for beginners. We shall address the cloning and hydroponics methods in detail in chapters to follow.

Growing Marijuana in a Container

This is the easiest and the simplest method of growing marijuana, especially if you are a first-time grower.

This process involves preparing of a container which is where your plant will grow. You can use any type of a pot, even one which has been used to grow plants in the past. You can also use small buckets or even boxes. Paint your container black to ensure light does not reach the roots. This container that you choose needs to have some small holes of about 1 centimeter on the bottom which will allow excess water to drain out and let air enter the soil.

Keep providing regular water and nutrients to your plant and keep checking for signs of excess or less of nutrition. Make sure you are not watering it too much.

When it comes to lighting, make sure you are using proper grow lights. Plants, when grown indoors require lighting in the following manner:

• For the first 4 weeks, the plant would require about 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness
• Following the first 4 weeks, you can bring that down to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.

Flowering and Harvesting Your Cannabis Plant

Now that you have prepared it and looked after it for months, your marijuana plant is finally ready to provide you with the sweet, sweet bud that you have been waiting for.

In the early flowering stage, the plants will appear white in color. However, when they become ready for harvesting, they begin to turn brown. The browner your plant is the more stronger psychedelic effect it is likely to have.

However don’t get excited. There’s still time before you can smoke your harvest. Check out our detailed chapter on how to prepare your plant for smoking here.

Check out more posts on,

• Harvesting Your Marijuana: What Is Harvesting and the Tools You Need!
• The Complete Guide on How To Harvest Your Marijuana Buds