OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

The process of growing successful cannabis is a lot more involved than one may think or assume simply because it is “just” a plant. There are many factors to consider if one is to start a successful grow with top-tier quality cannabis from your new indoor garden – but don’t despair, this step-by-step guide will get you well on your way to getting those dank,  terpene covered quality buds.

WHY GROW CANNABIS INDOORS?

  1. Year-round harvest.
  2. Complete control of your environment.
  3. Complete control and consistency in crops.
  4. Complete control over Veg and Flowering cycles.
  5. Most importantly – PRIVACY!

TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT NEEDED TO GET STARTED

  1. Designated grow space
    1. It can be a DIY room, cupboard, basement, garage, or one of our Complete Grow Kits**
  2. Seedling Starter Kit
    1. This is an essential step/item if you are to even get started with your garden
  3. Lighting system
    1. The market is full of lighting choices from HPS, HID to the more popular and inexpensive LED lighting systems.
  4. Nutrients
  5. Containers/Pots
  6. Trimmers/Shears
  7. Timers
  8. Thermometer, Hygrometer, PH and PPM Meters
  9. Dehumidifier/AC Unit
  10. Trellis Nets, String and Tie-downs (For plant training)

CHOOSE THE BEST PLACE TO SET UP YOUR GROW

As a new grower, you have plenty of options when it comes to selecting an area to start your  growing. Creativity is your limiting factor along with where you reside. Are you in an apartment complex with “stealth” as your best option or do you live in a single-family home with a basement or garage? Each of the following are great areas to start with some benefits to each:

  1. Basement
  2. Garage
  3. Attic
  4. Closet
  5. Grow Box
  6. Build your own Grow Room

GROWING ENVIRONMENT OPTIMIZATION

Once you have selected where you want to get your garden started you will need to ensure that the following variables are accounted for to start your “ladies” off right.

  1. Lighting
  2. Temperature
  3. Humidity
  4. CO2
  5. Ventilation
  6. Smell
  7. Sound

GROWING MEDIUM

Soil – Growing in this medium is arguably the easiest way for beginners to cultivate their first crop. The easiest and fastest way to eliminate any guesswork for this step is to invest in high-quality made soil. As your knowledge and experience progress – you may want to try your hand at creating your very own living soil (aka Super Soil). There are multiple recipes online to start with and eventually, you can end up making your own that best suits your individual goals/needs. A word of caution here – You need to be proactive in this step as you have to allow time for the soil to “cook” for a couple of months to fully capture the “living” characteristics of this super soil. There are many other factors to consider but that can all be covered in detail through our tiered packages.

Hydroponics – Hydroponics is the use of water or soilless substrates such as peat, coco coir, or some other mix of inert substances as the main growing medium. In this approach, you feed your plants water-soluble nutrients as there is no soil to buffer the feed.

UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS OF INDOOR CULTIVATION

What to expect during your first grow

  1. Germinating
  2. Optimal Environment
  3. Vegetative Phase
  4. Flowering Cycle
  5. Flushing
  6. Curing/Drying

GERMINATING

There are  several ways to germinate cannabis seeds. Most growers, however, wrap their seeds in some moist paper towel and keep them in a dark cupboard for 2–3 days until the seeds split. For the best results when germinating seeds, use one of our Starter Kits. Complete with a propagator, Easy Start seedling pods, and three seeds (feminized or auto), these kits make germinating and growing healthy seedlings super easy. Seedlings like high humidity levels (65–70%) and temperatures of 20–25°C.

This section is purely for research purposes. To stay compliant with Virginia Law, Crezco Premium Consulting will NOT be germinating any seeds as we WILL NOT sell any seeds.

 

OPTIMAL ENVIRONMENT

Like any other plant, cannabis thrives in specific environmental conditions. Temperature and humidity are arguably the biggest external factors influencing the health and growth of your plants. During veg, daytime (or lights-on) temperatures should be kept between 70–85°F, while relative humidity should sit between 40–70%. Sativa strains can tolerate slightly warmer, more humid conditions than indicas. Lights-off temperatures during veg should sit between 65–75°F.

During flowering, you’ll want your room temperature to sit between 65-80°F. Your humidity shouldn’t exceed 50% to avoid bud rot and other fungal issues during this critical time. In the last 2 weeks of flowering (as you flush your plants), consider dropping your temperatures even further to 62–75°F, with humidity levels of 30–40%.

VEGETATIVE PHASE

Cannabis plants enter the vegetative phase roughly 2 weeks post-germination. This is also known as the seedling stage. Crezco Premium Consulting will have 2 seedlings ready to go for all subscription levels and will be 2 weeks into the vegetative phase.  How long you let your (photoperiod) plants veg for is up to you; most growers, however, flip their plants to flowering after 4 weeks to prevent them from becoming too big. The service we provide will let you keep your immature plants in the veg phase up until it meets Virginia’s law definition of an immature plant, where it states that an immature plant can be no bigger than 8 inches tall and 8 inches wide in its container. As your plants veg, they’ll want plenty of nitrogen and potassium to develop healthy foliage and strong roots. A common NPK (N – Nitrogen P – Phosphorus K- Potassium) schedule for vegging plants is:

• 4:2:3 during week 1 of veg

• 10:5:7 during weeks 2 and 3

• 7:7:7 during week 4

The vegetative phase is also when you’ll want to use any training methods like LST, ScrOG, or defoliation to help control the shape of your plants and improve their access to light. Once you’re happy with how your plants look, you’ll be ready to change their light cycle and transition them over to the flowering phase. Even though this may seem daunting to any beginner, Crezco Premium Consulting is there to walk you through every step of the process.

FLOWERING PHASE

The flowering phase is an exciting time for growers. For the first couple weeks of this phase, your plants will go through a period of accelerated growth or “stretch”. By the second week of flowering, your plants should display their sex (keep an eye out for male pollen sacs to avoid pollination) and begin developing their flowers. You won’t have to worry about this because all seedlings are feminized. Feminized plants are the ones that produce buds whereas male plants don’t produce any flowers. Male plants are used to pollinate females to create new strains. How long a plant takes to reach maturity varies among strains; some Iindicas are ready to harvest in 7–8 weeks, while some  Sativas  can take over 12 weeks to reach maturity. During flowering, you’ll want to feed your plants more phosphorus to support the growth and density of their flowers. Again, each grower has their way of feeding plants, but a common NPK schedule might look like this:

• 5:10:7 during early flowering (weeks 1 and 2)

• 6:15:10 during mid-flowering (weeks 3 and 4)

• 4:10:7 during late flowering (weeks 5 and 6)

During this stage, you can’t transplant or do much training for your plants. Some light defoliation is okay, but any major stress you inflict at this point will just interfere with their ability to produce flowers

FLUSHING

Flushing is a super important step in preparing for harvest. It involves cutting off all nutrients and administering only pH-controlled water for the last 1–2 weeks before harvest. This forces the plant to use up any nutrients, resulting in cleaner, better-tasting smoke. As you flush your plants, keep a close eye on their trichomes using your jeweler’s loupe. You’ll know your plants are ready to harvest when around 70% of the trichomes are cloudy, with the rest being a light amber brown. Simply put – this is the last part of the process before cutting the plant down. All you will have to do is administer water every 2 or 3 days without nutrients.

CURING/DRYING

Drying, as the name suggests, involves drying fresh buds so they contain less moisture and can be smoked or vaporized properly. When you begin the drying process, you will need to cut the plant and perform some “wet trimming” to remove any excess fan leaves to give the buds more room for airflow. Upon completion of this, the grower must hang the plant upside down. This is done so that the calyxes/buds “hug” themselves closer to their central points while upside-down, rather than right side up instead of spreading open as they dry – providing for a tighter, more dense nug. Curing, on the other hand, involves storing your buds in closed containers  for at least two weeks. This helps develop the flavor and aroma of your buds as they mature. Curing is preferably done by putting all your trimmed nugs in mason jars and “burping” them daily for 30 minutes. Everyone will have their time gauge and reason, however, 30 minutes is sufficient to expel the gasses.

KEEP THINGS CLEAN

CONGRATULATIONS!! You have completed your very first indoor grow. If you followed all these steps you are moments away from partaking in the fruits of your labor. This is a very enlightening and fulfilling endeavor and is the gift that keeps on giving. This is something that “you will get out what you put into”, so I suggest you give it your best and in turn, your efforts will be greatly rewarded. ALWAYS REMEMBER to keep things clean! Your grow room and your “ladies” are a reflection of you so keep that in mind. You are now ready to start this process all over again. Good luck and most importantly – HAVE FUN WHILST DOING IT!!