Making Your Own Cannabis At Home

Legal cannabis will likely lead to more cannabis cultivation

In New Zealand, the leading reasons people grow cannabis are personal use and to share with their family or friends. This suggests that the amount of small-scale cannabis cultivation in New Zealand is largely a means of social supply of the plant. It also suggests that growing cannabis is mostly for recreational use.

Support for cannabis legalization has continued to increase in recent years. Around 60% of New Zealanders would vote to legalise cannabis for recreational purposes. With the 2020 referendum right around the corner, Kiwis may  be able to make legal cannabis a reality sooner rather than later.

Legal cannabis would make cannabis cultivation an even more common practice. Any legalisation act would probably include measures authorizing the growth of the crop. This means an increase in the open practice of cannabis cultivation, for both business and personal purposes.

Here, we take a quick look into the cannabis growing process.

How to get seeds?

Growing cannabis requires cannabis seeds. The simplest way to get these seeds is to receive them from someone who already grows the crop. If you don’t have this option, you can find it from somewhere else.

For example, many people buy seeds online. If you’re taking this route, it’s important to know the cannabis growing and possession laws in your country or region, as well as the country of origin. Online shopping can be a risk and may not get you quality seeds. Or worse, you may never receive your seeds at all, as getting scammed is a very possible occurrence online. So be cautious when buying cannabis seeds online.

Knowing the basics of growing cannabis at home

• Seeds

Traditional cannabis plants are either female or male. If you buy regular seeds, each seed has a 50% chance of growing into either male or female. Male cannabis plats are recommended if you want your plants to produce more seeds. However, female plants, which possess bigger flowers with comparatively a higher level of cannabinoids, are the ones you want to harvest.

Experts recommend growing from feminised seeds for beginners. These feminised seeds aren’t supposed to sprout any male plants.

• Temperature and lighting

Generally, cannabis plants need a temperature of nearly 80 degrees during the daytime and nearly 50 degrees at night. About 18 hours of light is required for the healthy growth of cannabis seeds in the vegetative cycle.

To flower, the cannabis plant needs an even 12-hour split between darkness and red-orange light.

• How long does the cannabis plant take to grow?

The growing process differs for cannabis depending on the location and weather. Generally, it takes a minimum of four and a half month for a small grow.

On the other hand, auto-flowering plants, which stem from different strains, need only 70 or 75 days to grow and flower. These cannabis plants do not need changes in the lighting period. However, the faster process causes these small plants to produce less in terms of harvest.

• Growing cannabis indoors

If you are planning on growing cannabis indoors, you need to replicate outdoor conditions in a well-controlled environment. If the place you are considering has bad lighting, you may think of high-wattage lights, which can be pretty inexpensive.

Experts recommend a ceramic metal halide lamp for beginners, for high intensity discharge. Alternatively, HID lights are very energy efficient and best used for growing the cannabis plant. If your crop is at the flowering stage, a red-orange light is required. In this case, a high pressure sodium lamp is another kind of HID light you can use as a handy option.

Other lighting options include inexpensive fluorescent lights, which are less efficient. Alternatively, you can use LED lights, which can be a bit pricey.

A small tent is needed to maintain the right conditions and keep your plants’ odour from intruding into your home. You need a fan for proper air circulation. You can also use a carbon filter to prevent the smell from escaping the tent.

• Growing cannabis outdoors

A small, outdoor cannabis grow doesn’t require complex setup. However, it is important to consider the laws required to grow cannabis in your area. You must keep all legal requirements in mind while growing plants outdoors.

You need organic nutrients to make a good outdoor grow, but naturally, how well your plants are, depends on the other important factors – excessive humidity and rain

Lots of rain and humidity could leave you cannabis plants moldy and vulnerable to fungus. An outside grow often requires keeping plants clean and constantly checking it against pests.

Conclusion

Growing cannabis at home isn’t that difficult. However, it requires a lot of attention and care. With the support for cannabis legalisation in New Zealand, as well as the 2020 referendum around the corner, there’s a good chance that growing cannabis will soon be even more common, and possibly legal. Knowing the ins and outs of the task will be necessary for a successful grow.