Seed to Flower Instructions for Growing Cannabis

Growing cannabis is fun and rewarding, but before you flex your green thumb and designate your entire basement as a grow-op, understand that growing your own weed presents a unique set of challenges. Here are some considerations for beginner growers.

First, Is Growing Cannabis Legal?

Familiarize yourself with the legalities of growing cannabis in your area. There will be different guidelines based on your location, such as the number of permitted plants, whether you can grow for recreational or medicinal purposes, and traveling with cannabis.

Next, Is it Worth it?

Gain a sense of the commitment (time, effort, and money) that is required for a home grow. Expect to spend at least $100 for the most basic setup, and don’t forget about electricity costs. Growing cannabis won’t just cost you money; these plants require a lot of time and effort in order to reap a good harvest.

Cannabis plants have regular, almost daily demands. Weeks of growth can be lost by missing a grower’s guide step and ignoring something a cannabis plant needs for a couple of days. While growing cannabis will initially feel laborious, tending to the plants will eventually become part of your daily routine and a source of pride. 

Finally, Tips to Get You Started

Here are a few grower’s guide tips we think you should consider before learning how to grow weed:

To stay in or to go out? That’s the first decision we’ll help you determine in our cannabis grower’s guide.

Growing Cannabis Outdoors

Whether you even have the option to grow outdoors obviously depends on where you live and the climate (we don’t recommend trying to grow cannabis outdoors in Alaska). While outdoor grows do minimalize costs and setup effort, you’re going to be dealing with environmental variables like the temperature and relative humidity (RH). Outside, your grow will also be exposed to all of nature’s pests (including fungus gnats and nosy neighbors).

Growing Cannabis Indoors

Choosing an indoor grow setup has the primary advantage of more easily controlling the environmental conditions. Cannabis plants don’t respond well to stress from sudden or extreme variations in temperature, humidity, and nutrient levels. These factors can be better managed inside where you can set up the right equipment to maintain a consistent grow environment. Because of this, our grower’s guide to growing cannabis from seed to flower focuses on how to grow marijuana indoors.

An indoor setup can be any indoor area that is repurposed for a grow. Some people designate a closet, cabinet, shed, or garage as their grow space. More advanced DIY growers will often set up shop in a spare room or basement. With these repurposing options, keep in mind that you will likely need to drill holes for ventilation (or use a window in the case of a grow room), hang lights, and seal in the space to keep it light-tight. You may also want to line the floor, ceiling, and walls of these grow areas with material that is waterproof and reflective to keep things clean and maximize your light coverage. There are many other things your indoor grow space needs, such as enough square footage for the plants you intend to grow, a power supply, and a water source.

After you’ve considered all that a cannabis grow entails and decided on a grow area that best suits you, you’ll need to purchase the appropriate materials and equipment for an indoor grow setup.

Before we cover the materials and equipment in detail, you should know that there is much debate over what is needed versus what may be optional. At a minimum, we think you should consider getting the following items for an indoor grow:

There are lots of additional items that are not strictly necessary but will make your life easier and help guarantee a hearty harvest. We’d like to suggest:

Ready to learn how to grow weed easy? Our grower’s guide covers each of the cannabis growth stages and all of the care needed along the way, from seed to flower. We simplify the steps so that even a first-time gardener can get a great harvest.

When the conditions are right, cannabis seeds will wake up and germinate, which means they will swell and crack, and a white taproot will emerge. Germination of cannabis seeds takes 1-2 weeks and requires moisture, warmth, and darkness. Our grower’s guide to germinate marijuana seeds recommends the paper towel germination method from our friends at Crop King Seeds. Once the seeds are in water, and the germination process begins, a dry period will cause the seeds to die, so do not let the seeds dry out. You can skip our germination process and place the seeds directly in the soil, but there’s no guarantee that they will be in constant moisture, and germination is not as likely to be successful.

How to Germinate Marijuana Seeds

• Submerge your seeds in distilled water in an opaque container, place in a dark, warm location, and wait 18-24 hours.
• Rule of green thumb: Seeds have started to germinate when they sink to the container’s bottom when poked.
• Check your seeds after 18 hours and remove them if there are signs of germination (seed cracking or white taproot emerging), but do not leave them in water for more than 24 hours.
• After 24 hours, you can dump the seeds and water onto a plate (or a plant tray) lined with paper towel. The paper towel should be damp but not soaking wet, so remove the excess water while being careful not to discard any seeds. Also, don’t seal the seeds into anything airtight like a plastic baggy as they need air to breathe.
• Fold the paper towel over the seeds and return them to the container in a dark, warm location for 2-7 more days in the dark, until a root (of at least ¾”) forms. Check on your seeds every 12 hours and remoisten the paper towel with water as needed.

Plant Your Germinated Seeds

• Before you start, make sure your container of choice has plenty of drainage holes in the bottom.
• Pre-moisten your soil, then add your soil mix to your small seedling pot, leaving a 1” gap at the top.
• Rule of green thumb: The soil is wet enough if you squeeze it in your hand, and 2-3 drops of water are released like a damp rag.
• Make a small indent in the soil and gently place the cannabis seed in with the root down.
• Cover each seed with ¼” soil and lightly water the seed in. Tag each container with the date and variety of seeds.

How long does it take for seeds to sprout? It may take a couple of days after planting a germinated cannabis seed in soil to see it start to sprout (stem and green leaves appear above the soil). During the seedling stage, the seed leaves (cotyledon) will first emerge from the soil then the true leaves, which look more like marijuana leaves, begin to develop. Plants will appear to be growing slowly at first as they’re mostly working on developing their root structure.

Light is needed as soon as the seedling emerges from the soil and must remain on for at least 18 hours a day, then off for 6 hours a day. Follow your light manufacturer recommendations for the distance between the grow light and plants.

It is crucial during this stage of growth that the temperature and humidity levels remain in their ideal ranges. High humidity is crucial as the plants do not have a very developed root system to take up water from the soil. Check on your plants daily and give them a mist of water if needed. If you do not have a Humidome or humidifier to keep the humidity level high, place a plastic baggy over the top of the cup (unsealed).

Once your plant has developed two sets of true leaves, it is usually considered to be in the vegetative stage of growth. During the vegetative stage of growth, your plant needs plenty of light, water, air circulation, and nutrients (especially nitrogen) to help with good foliage growth. If you’re growing a photoperiod plant, you can keep it in the vegetative stage for as long as you want until you change the light cycle.

Rule of green thumb: Provide more light if the sets of leaves spread out along the stem instead of growing very closely on top of each other.

Cannabis Watering Technique

A good watering technique is key to learning how to grow weed. Many beginner growers overwater, but in our grower’s guide, we recommend you water the plants less frequently, but when you do water them, drench the entire medium.

• Allow the soil to mostly dry out (at least the top inch of the medium) before watering again.
• Use half the capacity of the container of water (e.g., if the container is 4L, use 2L water).
• Water with half the total amount of water (e.g., 1L), wait about 10 minutes, then use the other half of the water (e.g., another 1L). If you water the full amount at once, the water can run quickly out of the pot rather than fully saturating the medium.
• After watering, you should see about 10% water runoff (e.g., 100ml).
• Rule of green thumb: You have an overwatering or drainage issue if it takes more than 10 minutes for the pot to drain after a watering or if it takes as long as 4-5 days for the soil to dry out after watering.

Nutrients During Vegetative Stage

Depending on your growing medium, you may not have to add additional nutrients until your plant has been growing for several weeks or months. Most growers start supplying supplemental nutrients to their plants in soil after about three weeks of growth. Please don’t add more nutrients than what is needed, thinking it will help, because it generally does not. Less is more, and you can always add additional water and nutrients, whereas it’s really difficult to adjust for too much of these things by flushing out nutrients or drying the medium.

• If you purchased a complete fertilizer set, add the nutrients intended for the vegetative stage to your water. Start with ¼ or ½ the recommended dose, increase slowly, and monitor for signs of nutrient toxicity.
• Test the water pH and ppm before feeding as well as the collected runoff after feeding.

Our grower’s guide recommends a feed-water-feed schedule, which is when nutrients are only added to the water every second time the plants are watered.

Transplant Time (Repot Your Pot)

• Signs your plant is ready to be transplanted:
  • The plant is drying out quickly and needing daily waterings.
  • Plant growth has started to spread out over the sides of your first pot.
  • You see white roots emerging from the bottom of your container.
• Transplanting is moving a plant from one container to another, usually to a larger container, when the plant has outgrown the previous one.
• Loosen the plant from its grow pot by squeezing the sides, then transplant by transferring the plant to your next container (2-3 gal). Starting with pre-moistened soil, fill the larger pot 1/3 full, then add your plant and top with more soil until the soil meets the plant’s base.
• If your plant is at all leggy (indicated by a tall and weak stem), this is a good opportunity to bury the stem deeper in the soil. Just like tomato plants, when you do this, a more robust root system will form along the stem that’s planted in the soil and will help steady your plant. A great root system is also essential for nutrient and water uptake. However, new plant growth (the new stems) will continue to grow weak and thin if you don’t improve the lighting, and you need strong stems to support big, heavy buds!
• Please don’t wait too long to transplant; when plants are root-bound, their growth can be stunted. Preferably only transplant during the vegetative stage as transplant shock can be detrimental to bud development during the flowering stage.
• Depending on your plant growth (usually when it doubles in height or you see signs of it being root-bound), you can transplant to your final container (5-7 gal) in a couple of weeks.

Vegetative Stage Grooming & Maintenance

• After a few weeks of vegetative growth, it’s time to start grooming and training your cannabis plant.
• You can top your plant by gently pinching or cutting off the very tip. A week or so after topping, you will see two new stems start to grow from where you clipped the tip. This technique helps create multiple main stems instead of one main cola. This is a good time to even out your plants’ heights by taking off more or less of each plant’s tops.
• LSTing (low-stress training) is another beginner-friendly technique but requires patience and a gentle touch. This process is bending and tying down the branches of the plant with the goal of the side branches to then have new growth vertically to create an even canopy. You can start this technique anytime, but most growers start when the plant has five nodes, and it has been planted in its final grow pot. This is a great training strategy to use if your grow space has height restrictions.
• Begin LSTing by carefully bending your plant stem toward one side of the pot and securing it with string. LSTing will manipulate your plants to grow more like a bush with a good base of leafy growth and the flowers all the same distance from the light source.

Induce Flowering

When you are happy with the plant’s size, or it has started to outgrow your grow space, you can induce flowering in your photoperiod plant by changing the light schedule.

A decrease in the time your plant is provided light will mimic autumn’s natural changes and indicate that it’s time to flower. The flowering stage is when your plant starts to produce mature plant parts in the nodes, either male pollen sacks or female pistils. You should be able to determine the sex of your plant a week after you switch the light cycle.

The plant will still grow vertically for 2-3 weeks into flowering. This is called the stretching phase, and plants may double in height, so consider this before forcing flowering. A few weeks into flowering, the plant will focus its energy on bud development for the remainder of this stage. The flowering period usually lasts 6-10 weeks on average in photoperiod plants.

Grooming During Flowering Stage

During weeks 2-3 of flowering, you can start the lollipopping training method, which consists of removing the lower plant growth that is no longer getting much light so the plant can focus its energy on the growth of the upper bud sites. By removing the underdeveloped lower buds and energy-sucking foliage on the lower part of the plant, the main bud sites’ yield will be more plentiful. To lollipop, prune the bottom third of the plant, including leaves, stems, and small bud sites, using clean scissors or pruners. This should only be done up until day 21 of flowering, then stressful grooming should be avoided.

Nutrient Needs During Flowering

Monitor your plant closely at the beginning of the flowering stage for nutrient deficiency as nutrient uptake will be significant. It is normal at this stage to have some yellowing or sickly looking leaves as your plant channels its energy toward maturing the flowers.

Before you harvest, you should flush your plant during the last two weeks of flowering by providing it with only pH-balanced water. Flushing your plant of chemicals will help improve the taste and smoke of your final product.

One of the biggest challenges for beginners learning how to grow weed is deciding when to harvest their crop. Unfortunately, most beginner cannabis growers harvest their plants too early due to excitement, meaning lower yields and less cannabinoid potency.

There are three primary methods to determine when to harvest cannabis:

1. Breeder Guidelines

Most will provide an estimated flowering period for the strain you purchase, which will be anywhere between 6-10 weeks. If the flowering period is eight weeks, then at the eight-week mark into the flowering stage, you should be able to harvest. However, this is just a general guideline as your growing methods, and environment can impact how quickly your cannabis matures, so it can’t be too precise. Many breeders will also provide a flowering range like 6-8 weeks, which isn’t very helpful with pinning down an exact harvest date.

2. Visually Checking Pistils

Some experienced growers can simply look at their cannabis and determine if it is time to harvest. They just visually check the buds and look at the pistils (the small hair-like fibers that grow out of the bud). These hairs start off white but usually turn orangey-brown and start to curl up close to the bud when it’s time to harvest. Our grower’s guide does not recommend this method because it’s tricky for beginners to recognize these signs, and the pistils of some strains turn brown early while others remain white even when it is time to harvest.

3. Trichome Method

The best way to determine whether it is harvest time is by examining the trichomes on the buds. Trichomes (aka trics) are the crystal bits on the buds and sugar leaves. They’re the resin glands that are filled with all the good things you want, like cannabinoids and terpenes. These slender, resin-filled stalks with bulbous heads look sort of like tiny mushrooms and grow all over the buds’ surface. Trichomes are very small, so you can’t see them well enough with the naked eye – you’ll need a magnifying glass or scope in the 20-60x range.

You should start monitoring your trichomes about two weeks before the expected harvest provided by the breeder (around the same time as your start flushing your plants). The resin starts off clear, then as the plant ages, it turns milky and finally amber. Ensure you are checking the trichomes on the actual bud as the ones on the sugar leaves tight to the bud will mature faster and aren’t the best indication of the bud’s ripeness.

When the trichomes are completely clear, the plant is not ready to harvest. When almost all of them turn milky, the plant has the highest THC levels and can be harvested. While opinions vary regarding the exact ratio of each type for harvesting, as a general rule, when the majority of the trics are milky, and 10-20% of them are amber, it is probably time to harvest the plants. People often say that an early, milky trichome harvest produces more of a head high, whereas the more amber trichomes give a more stoned effect or a body high.

When you’re trying to decide when to harvest your cannabis plants, try to remember that this should be a fun process – you’ve finally made it to the finish line. Many growers worry about harvesting at the exact right time to achieve desired effects. But the truth is, your genetics (i.e., the strain you choose) will primarily determine the cannabinoid content and type of high you feel, although you should still wait at least until you see some clear maturity signs like coiled orange pistils and milky trichomes. A couple of days may seem to change the color of your trichomes dramatically, but this should only slightly impact the effects.

Now, you are itching to try your home-grown cannabis. But don’t even try to roll a joint with these freshly harvested buds. The water content of raw cannabis is much too high, so you probably couldn’t get it to light, and even if you could, it would taste and smell like skunk.

Wet Trim Vs. Dry Trim

You need to dry your weed before you can smoke it. Whether you trim your buds before you dry (wet trim) or after you dry (dry trim) comes down to personal preference. Having a good pair of trimming shears available makes this job easier, though some people merely snap off the leaves with their hands. If you are using shears, keep some rubbing alcohol nearby to clean them as required.

To harvest your plant, you should first remove the whole plant from its container by cutting it at the stem’s base. You may need some strong pruners or garden loppers. You can cut individual branches to hang or, alternatively, just hang the whole plant. We recommend at this stage that you trim off all the larger fan leaves before you hang the branches or full plant.

Cannabis Plant Drying Conditions

You will need a place that is dark and cool with fairly low humidity. If you used a grow tent for your cannabis grow, it can also dual as a great drying closet. You may need to add a humidifier or (more likely) a dehumidifier to keep the RH around 40-60%, depending on how leafy your plant is during the drying stage. If you wet trim your cannabis plants, they’ll have less foliage and will dry faster, so you’ll want to keep the humidity level closer to 60% to prevent them from drying out too quickly. You’ll want to maintain a much lower humidity level, closer to 40%, if you are drying a full, bushy plant to prevent mold or mildew from developing and rotting your bud.

Drying then involves hanging the plant upside down in your drying closet until you can hear a snap when you bend a stem, and it breaks easily – this normally takes somewhere between 7-21 days. Regardless of how you hang your harvest, leave room between the plants to allow for sufficient airflow.

Speaking of airflow, don’t try to speed up the drying process by using a fan. Fans cause the plant to dry unevenly, and all kinds of plant material are blown around, making a huge mess. On the other hand, if you are using a tent, you can keep your venting fan on to pull fresh air into the tent and run the skunky air through your carbon filter.

Some people try to speed up the process by using heaters or ovens. This is not recommended as the results will be very stinky and, again, uneven. Do not force the drying process by running excessive air conditioners, dehumidifiers, or fans.

Trimming Your Bud

After drying but before curing (or consuming!), you will need to trim your buds. This process involves cutting off each bud from the branch and any remaining excess plant material such as fan leaves, leaving beautifully manicured nugs. If you don’t have access to a machine trimmer, welcome to trim jail. Trimming can be a very timely process, but if you’ve gotten this far in learning how to grow weed, you’re almost there. One plant can easily take an hour or more to trim, but if you want to do it faster, consider inviting some friends over for a trim party! A word of advice: always wear nitrile gloves when trimming as cannabis resin is very sticky. In fact, it is a good idea to cover your entire table surface with disposable plastic sheets if possible.

You can certainly smoke your bud after trimming, but to really achieve the maximum potency and flavor, consider curing your cannabis first.

The role of curing is to allow the dried buds to outgas the remaining chlorophyll in the plant. This is done by loosely packing your buds into some sort of airtight jar or bucket (we prefer glass mason jars) and then opening the jars periodically for at least a couple of months. If you have children or vulnerable adults in the home, ensure your cannabis is stored in childproof cabinets or containers to avoid accidental ingestion.

While you don’t need anything besides a jar to cure your cannabis, consider purchasing some curing sachets. These small pouches (about the size of a sugar sachet) are intended to keep the RH in your jar to a very precise level. For curing, we recommend around 55% RH bags, but prior to using the product, up the RH just a little by using a 62% pouch.

The regular opening of the jars is called burping, and we recommend that for the first week or so, you vent your storage container 1-2 times a day for 15 minutes. After a week, do the same for a couple of minutes a day for about a month, then once a week for another two months. This allows the buds to lose most of their skunky odor and replace it with the plant’s true terpene flavor profile, allowing the cannabinoids to reach full potential. Once you start curing, you will find uncured cannabis to be harsh and stinky.

You can cure for up to 12 months, and the buds will just keep getting better and better, assuming you can leave it on the shelf for that long! As with drying, it’s best to store your curing containers in a dark, cool place if possible.

Your buds will grind up beautifully and burn perfectly. Well-cured cannabis at the proper RH has a lovely odor that shouldn’t offend anyone.

As you can imagine, the processes described above take patience and a no-rush attitude. It will, though, reward you for your efforts in the end with the top potential.

You’ve completed your first home grow, and with experience, you will be able to manage several crops each year. Take the time to improve your space, your skills, and ultimately, your grow.

Space – Look back on your last grow and reflect on the problems and successes you had. What worked and what didn’t? Were you missing some tools that would make your life a lot easier like automated controllers for fans/lights or water testing tools? Make the required changes to your space.

Skills – You now know your strengths and weaknesses as a home grower, so take the time to research and practice anything you struggled with. Were there training techniques you had difficulty executing? Do you know the signs and symptoms of nutrient problems and common pests?

Strain – Should you try a new strain better suited to what you’re looking for as a recreational or medicinal crop? Maybe you chose the perfect strain last time, so you can learn how to save seeds or clone your plant to help ensure you get a similar harvest next time.

It’s called ‘weed’ for a reason – if you plant a cannabis seed in the ground, it will likely find the strength to grow. Growing high-quality weed, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated. As you’ve learned, you can’t neglect your plants and expect them to thrive like your common lawn weeds.

But remember that the more you grow, the more you’ll know! Enjoy the experience of learning how to grow weed, have fun, and take the time to reach out to seasoned growers who can help you learn and grow.