Growing Cannabis; Vegetative Growth

A miniature greenhouse is the perfect environment to sprout Cannabis seeds or to grow very young clones. Home and garden supply stores sell these plastic boxes that are black on the bottom and have a transparent plastic lid. The kit that I bought had a plastic coated heating pad to go under the bottom section, to keep the sprouts at about 85 degrees, moist and happy. The heat causes the water at the bottom of the box to evaporate and condense on the transparent lid, then drip back down onto the seeds, sprouts or clones like a gentle rain.

Cannabis seeds normally produce both male and female plants. Only the female plants have the wonderful flowers with THC, so the male plants are destroyed as soon as they are distinguishable. “Feminized” seeds are available on the market from companies that claim that their seeds produce only female plants. They cost more, but save a troublesome step. Clones avoid the problem altogether, by being taken as a cutting from a “mother” plant that is known to be a high flower producing female.

I normally use one or two florescent tube lights that are “natural daylight” balanced at 5000 K. You do not want the standard florescent lights, as they produce light that is high in the green spectrum, and low in the red spectrum. Daylight balanced bulbs will produce a bluish white light that will cause the fastest vegetative growth. I keep these lights on 20 hours a day during the first two months of a plant’s life. Daylight coming through a window is my preferred light source for the mini greenhouse however, with the florescent lights only needed after dark.

The warm, moist environment will only stay moist as long as you continue to add water. Distilled water is best, but if you are going to use tap water fill your container and let it sit out overnight to allow the chemicals the government adds to the water such as chlorine to dissipate. Never put anything but room temperature or below on your plants, hot water will kill them.

I am a dirt farmer, I grow in potting soil and prefer miracle gro brand if I can get it as it has all the required plant nutrients already in the soil. I grow my marijuana in 5 gallon paint buckets from a home supply store, but I am also trying plastic “grow bags”, a heavy duty black garbage bag material container that allows more plants to fit in a tighter space than paint buckets. I like the paint buckets because of the handle to carry the plants from my indoor growing area to my outdoor growing area. The bags are harder to move. The paint buckets must be prepared with 5 or 6 holes punched into the bottom to allow water to escape, the inside edge is stronger and is better for the holes than the middle of the bucket bottom.

When the leaves of the seedlings or clones are touching the top of your miniature greenhouse, it is time to transplant them into the larger containers. I often use Miracle Gro Perlite to lighten the soil. Perlite is an amorphous volcanic glass that has relatively high water content. It makes the soil less heavy, and stores water after the soil is dry. I often put a two inch layer of Perlite in the bottom of my buckets, then add 5 inches of potting soil and mix that up with a stick. The top half of the container gets miracle gro potting soil up to about two inches from the top. I empty out an area larger than my root ball, and plant my clone or seedling an inch or two deeper than the top of the soil on the root ball. So my little plant is now half-way up its stem in soil, but it will soon reach for the light. The deeper start allows the roots to grow wider and faster.

Although some growers force their plants to start producing flowers when they are only a month old, I like to allow at least two months or more. The plants will stay in a “vegetative state”, growing like weeds, as long as you keep more than 12 hours a day of light on them. Drop to less than 12 hours a day, they will think the summer is ending, and they start to flower so they can produce seeds before they die. In the vegetative state, I like to keep the plants in sunlight all day, then with electric lights much of the night, 18-20 hours a day of light. When the plants are growing this fast, they use lots of water, so be sure to check the soil for dryness every day and water often. I add an organic fertilizer to the water once a week before the plants flower. The miracle gro potting soil comes with 6 months of plant nutrients already in it; however I am providing a rich environment.

If you are growing from non-feminized seed, then at the end of the vegetative state is when the male plants are pulled out. You identify male plants by looking for their balls. Yes, they are tiny, but male marijuana plants actually have balls at the plant’s nodes. They can be identified with a magnifying glass or loop, looking at the place where the plant stems branch and flower for tiny cannabis balls.

Once I have passed the sprouting or clone growing stage, and I have my plants in 5 gallon buckets, I use a stronger light at night. I have Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium 500 watt bulbs that I switch out depending on if I am in the flowering or vegetative stage. The MH light is blue / white, mine is 5600k, and looks like sunlight, while the HPS bulb has an orange / red color that helps the plants to flower. I often run the florescent tube lights along with the MH lights around the edge of my garden to lighten up the dark areas.

The distance from the top of your tallest plant leaves to your very hot and very bright 500 watt or 1000 watt light is vital! You must be able to adjust the height of your light at will, or you will burn the top leaves on your plants. As I am a photographer, I just happen to have many adjustable light stands, but one of my microphone stands is just as adjustable. I have a metal “century stand” with an arm on it, and I hang my 500 watt light on the arm, and can then adjust it from 3 feet to 12 feet off the ground at will. I try to keep the light about 12-14 inches above the top of the highest leaves. This gives them all the light they can handle, without burning.

I keep a gentle electric fan blowing on my garden anytime the light is on. This also keeps the heat from damaging the plants, and helps them to become stronger. It also keeps the smell from building up! Our next article will talk about the flowering stage, but just remember; it takes strong stems to grow good buds. Pay attention to the plants in the vegetative stage, make them strong and healthy. Take care of any mold, fungus, insect or leaf rot problems that you have quickly, or you will never get to the flower stage. Grow your own medicine!

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