The Cannabis seedling stage – Growing marijuana can be challenging and confusing, especially when you don’t know what to expect. Sometimes, you think you have it all right until harvest time, only to find that you have produced much less than you wanted to, both quality and quantity-wise.
There’s no doubt that growing cannabis can be a complicated process, especially if it’s your first time giving it a try. However, if you follow the right process and guidelines on how to grow your own cannabis plant, then you can take pride in knowing that you can achieve a good and quality harvest every time. Bear in mind that growing cannabis is not something you do in the spur of the moment. Buying the right kind of seeds and growing your crop requires a lot of careful planning. The cannabis plant, like any other type of plant, also needs the right amount of preparation and ingredients for it to flourish and meet a certain standard of quality.
The Stages of Growing a Cannabis Plant
There are several stages to growing cannabis. Preparation starts from deciding what seed to buy and ends at harvesting. Here are the stages of growing a cannabis plant:
Choosing the cannabis seeds
- Germinating seeds
- Moistening seeds
- Seedling stage
- Vegetative stage
- Flowering stage
- Harvesting
Choosing where you want to grow your plants is the first main factor in this process. Many people choose to grow their plants indoors because of privacy and better crop control. Some people choose the outdoors because the requirements are simpler, and some say that cannabis grown outdoors has a better flavour.
Given that explaining each stage in-depth would take quite some time, we are going to be honing in on one very important stage today: the seedling stage.
Cannabis Seedling Stage
The seedling stage of growing cannabis follows the germination stage. It is the stage when your shoots start to grow a second set of leaves, which look slightly different than the embryonic cotyledons. While your cannabis plants are seedlings, you will have to keep a careful watch on them as this is one of the most vulnerable stages in the growing process. Seedlings are more prone to disease and damage than they are at any stage in the plant cycle.
There are three very important steps to mastering the cannabis seedling stage. Let’s take a closer look at them below:
Choose the right pot for the pot
Choosing the right container and growing medium for your cannabis plant is an important part of the process. Soil is the most common and popular choice to germinate marijuana seeds because of its simplicity.
If you are trying to grow a crop from auto-flowering cannabis seeds, any kind of pot that can accommodate a full-grown plant will be suitable. When you choose a pot that your auto-flowering seeds can grow into, you will be able to see considerable growth within the first three weeks of your seedling’s life.
The size of the pot should be between 1-5 litres, regardless of what growing method you choose or the strain you use. Growing from auto-flowing seeds means that size matters since the pot will have a huge impact on the size of your plant, the number of times you water it, and most importantly, its overall yield.
Air pots are ideal for auto-flowering seeds because they provide more oxygen to the roots. More oxygen means a healthier plant producing more buds.
If you are growing a crop from feminized seeds, you can opt for a smaller starting pot. Since it is extremely easy to transplant feminized or regular cannabis seedlings from pot to pot, starting pots do not need to be full-sized.
Regulate the environmental conditions
Cannabis seedlings are extremely delicate, which is why their environmental conditions must be fairly specific. There are two particular aspects that will require your attention: lighting and watering.
Seedlings may just be small cannabis plants, but they need a specific kind of lighting to grow properly. Their full-grown counterparts will need a higher light intensity, but during the early stages, you can use a simple CFL light in the blue light spectrum.
Watering cannabis seedlings can be fairly difficult. In fact, first-time growers often report it to be one of the most difficult challenges they face. Closely monitor how much water you pour, as it’s so easy to over-water your plants. The roots do not have the capacity to handle too much water and it will affect the quality of your plants. Pay close attention to the rhythm or cycle between wet and dry. Proper watering will ensure that your plant thrives.
Provide the seedlings with the right nutrients
Your cannabis plants will not yield quality and potent buds without the help of the proper set of nutrients. Cannabis seedlings, however, do well in producing their own nutrients without having much interference. That said, as your plant grows, it will need more nutrients than what soil alone can offer.
Do not overfeed your seedlings. Doing so will end your cannabis seedlings’ life prematurely. Check that you are supplying the right nutrients as some of the well-meaning nutrients available in the market could poison the seedlings.
Embarking on this new activity is both fun and rewarding if you simply follow the guidelines.
If you are looking for rqs seeds, hemp seeds or cbd seeds, get in touch with Coffee Shop Seeds to see how we can help!