Marijuana is a plant with many benefits and one that yields many products that can be used for all kinds of benefits. As marijuana becomes legal in more countries, there is a growing trend for growing cannabis.
Moreover, we are also experiencing a high demand for CBD oil, THC oil, and Hemp which are derivatives of the cannabis plant.
For commercial farmers, the cannabis plant is a much more fruitful option to grow as the products that are derived from this plant are far more valuable than any fruit or vegetable. Plus, as the demand for these products rises, this is the ideal time to invest in a cannabis farming setup.
However, as is the case with any agricultural product, the quality of the final product has a big impact on the price that the final goods can be sold at and at the profitability of the entire process.In order to get the most value from farming, farmers tend to choose regions in which the natural conditions will favor their crops.
For instance, those looking to grow grapes for wine will want to be in regions like Spain or France where the environment is already suitable for that crop.
In the case of Cannabis, it requires a rather warm and tropical climate but more importantly, it requires a consistent temperature throughout the growing process.
Regions like South America, South Africa, and even parts of Asia have this climate naturally.
If you are looking to grow cannabis then growing them in these areas will be very profitable. It might be a little troublesome to relocate to these regions but it will save you a lot of money that you would otherwise have to invest in hardware.
Especially if you are already in a very cold climate or a climate that doesn’t favor this plant, it can get very expensive to grow cannabis.
Moreover, when you are growing at a large scale, producing it by the tons, it becomes so expensive to grow it artificially that it defeats the profitability of the business.
Here are a few things to keep in mind to ensure that you get the most output from your crop and the highest quality final product.
Choosing The Right Medium
Growing anything properly requires you to give the plant the right environment for it to flourish. Among the most important things is the soil that the plant grows in.
The soil plays a very important role as that is it acts as the store of all the things that the plant needs.
Some plants require a higher amount of fertilizer and water while others require significantly less.
The soil is where you will add all the things that the plant needs and the texture of the soil will dictate how much of that material is available to the plant.
Cannabis plants do well in soil that is airy and light, something that has a sandier feel to it than a clay-like texture.
Fertilizer Intake
The reason why Cannabis is also known as ‘weed’ is because it quite literally is a plant that just grows on its own.
Previously, when it wasn’t understood it was termed a weed because it would naturally occur and was commonly removed.
Being a weed it is an extremely resilient plant and doesn’t need too much fertilizer. In fact, feeding this plant too much fertilizer can be counterproductive, especially later on as the plant matures.
Using fertilizers and compost is great to give to the plant a good start but cannabis can do reasonably well even without it.
Overfeeding the plant fertilizer as it gets close to maturity will leave a bad taste in the final product.
Moreover, it can also hinder the amount of product that the plant is able to generate.
Lighting
Another very important resource for the plant is light. This is also something that needs to be monitored and adjusted as the plant grows up.
Generally, the highest requirement for light is in the early stages of the plant’s life. When it is just starting to germinate and develop leaves it can need as much as 22 hours of light per day.
Light requirements will also vary depending on where you are growing and the kind of strain at hand.
If you are growing Cannabis seeds in South Africa and you are growing it outdoors you might not need to provide them with any additional light.
If you are growing them outside in the UK, you will need a lot more light because while the number of daylight hours is similar, the intensity of the light is very different.
As the plant matures these requirements will reduce a lot and near the harvest, a plant will only need 12 hours of light.
Strains
The kind of strain will depend on what you want to use the plant for. If you are looking to create marijuana out of it, there are a lot of strains that are designed for this purpose.
If you are looking to create CBD or hemp out of it, there are other strains that are stronger in these departments.
While your requirements are important when choosing a strain you also need to consider other factors that influence the development of that plant.
Ideally, you want something that does well in the natural climate of where you are planning on growing it.
If you choose a strain that has very different requirements it will be a long and expensive process to give the plant what it needs.
If nothing else your output and the quality of the output will also be compromised.
Water
Water plays an important role throughout the growth of the cannabis plant but it’s for this plant to overdose on the water as well.
Just like all other elements that the cannabis plant needs there is a certain amount of water that is ideal for the plant at every stage of growth.
In fact, reducing the amount of water available to the plant as it gets closer to the stage of maturity actually induces more growth in the plant.
Also, putting the plant through a phase of controlled dehydration helps eliminate all excess toxins and chemicals in the plant that have accumulated throughout the growth process.
The end result is that everything from the bud to the leaf is much cleaner and creates a much purer final product. This dehydration is also very important for getting a more potent product.
Post-Harvest Handling
Post-harvest care is just as important as the growth itself. You don’t want to waste the weeks of effort you have put in just because you weren’t careful in handling the final product or you rushed through the post-grow phase.
Take your time in drying out the plants till they reach the desired texture and then let the plants spend at least two weeks properly cure.
This will let all the excess moisture leave the buds.
Be careful during this process as you don’t want mold and fungus to develop on the buds and ruin the batch.
Chances are that when you start growing cannabis the first two batches are not going to turn out that great if you reach the point of harvest.
In many cases the seeds never make it to fully grown plants, and that’s fine. You will learn what works in your conditions and what doesn’t.
The one thing that is important in every environment is ventilation. You want to make sure you have enough airflow and also be sure to not overcrowd the space with plants.
Airflow will help protect your plants from nutrient burn and will stop a lot of natural pests like gnats, mosquitos, and fungus.