How to Grow Cannabis Indoors: A Beginner’s Guide

One of the most beautiful things about cannabis is that it’s a plant that can grow in your own backyard. California devotes hundreds of acres of farmland to the growth and harvest of that sweet Mary Jane. But even if you don’t have a 100-acre backyard, you can still enjoy home-grown cannabis. In fact, you don’t even need a backyard; you can grow cannabis indoors!

Growing cannabis indoors is not the cheapest or the easiest process, but once you have the basics down, you can enjoy a new hobby (and save some cash on buying and shipping cannabis products!)

Here is what you need to know in order to start growing cannabis indoors as a beginner.

Set Up Your Space

You can grow cannabis in a house, basement, or apartment, but you’ll need to set aside the proper amount of space to guarantee that your plants will flourish. Marijuana plants, on average, grow up to four feet tall and thrive best in a gallon pot. This is a considerable amount of space for one plant - and in California, you can have up to six plants in your home.

Section off a closet, corner, or space in the house where you can control the temperature, airflow, and lighting. Even if you have to buy extra equipment to manipulate these factors, you will at least have an enclosed space where no extra light or air can get in.

Get Your Equipment

Some growers like to control lighting, temperature, etc. by buying a grow room or a grow tent - these are enclosed spaces that may have lighting or temperature controls set to best nurture growing cannabis plants. These grow tents can be expensive and aren’t necessary to get the right heat and light for your plants.

Consider buying equipment that allows your space to be an optimal environment for growing:

Lighting

At certain points in a plant’s lifecycle, they will require 12-24 hours of light to flourish. That isn’t always possible when your roommate’s trying to sleep or the days are shorter. Consider buying grow lights that can be monitored (or even scheduled) to give plants the light that they need. Grow lights may be CFLs, HIDs, or even LEDs. The right type of light will depend on your space, your budget, and even the stage of growth that your cannabis is in.

Heat Lamps

Cannabis likes moderate to high temperatures. During their lifecycle, you may need to keep your space heated between 65-85 degrees Fahrenheit. No one wants to hang out in a stuffy apartment that is 85 degrees, so space heaters or heat lamps may be the best choice for your space. Remember to create a space that is enclosed so that the heat from these heaters doesn’t escape into the next room!

Air Flow

Plants need water and light to grow - but they don’t need that moisture to stick around for too long. In rooms that rise up to 85 degrees, you need some sort of air circulation. This prevents root rot and other complications from moisture sitting for too long. In order to achieve optimal air flow, you may need to purchase a fan, exhaust system, or put your plants near a window or area where they have access to fresh air. If you are recruiting outdoor air to help with circulation, consider screens or other equipment to prevent bugs from enjoying your plants, too.

Buy Your Seeds and Soil

We won’t give you too many details on how to set up your space - YouTube tutorials are a great resource for learning the specifics of how to install all of your equipment.

Once the area is set up, you can start to buy the fun stuff - seeds! You can pick and choose seeds based on the strain they produce and the care they may require. Sativas and indicas, for example, tend to look very different when they are fully grown: while indicas tend to be short and wide plants, sativas are taller and thinner.

Not all seeds will be available at all dispensaries, so do your research online before you place an order. In some cases, you may be able to have cannabis seeds delivered right to your door so you can get started without leaving your home!

Consider the type of soil and water that you want to buy for your plants. Yes, you read right - water. Since you’re growing inside, you may not be able to access enough rainwater to nourish your plants; but that doesn’t mean you can just take water from the tap. Rainwater, distilled water, and other types of “soft water” are best for your cannabis plants. If the water coming out of your tap is “hard” (which means it contains higher levels of calcium or magnesium,) you may want to buy distilled water at the grocery store for your plants.

In order to get the most out of the water you’re buying, consider organic, loamy soil that retains and drains water effectively.

Enjoy the Results!

Growing cannabis from seed takes anywhere between three and eight months. (Depending on the type of seed you buy, you might find yourself waiting longer to harvest and smoke your results.) During different stages of growth, you may want to change the lighting in your grow space or crank up the heat. Again, YouTube tutorials and books on growing cannabis can assist you as you make your space your own and adapt to the needs of your plants.

In that three to eight months, you may find that you make mistakes, kill a plant, or let a bunch of bugs into your basement. That’s all part of the journey, so be sure to have some extra seeds around if you need to replace any plants in your space.

As you wait, you can attend to your plants and indulge in some already-harvested medical marijuana without leaving your home! Shop through seeds, buds, and everything you need with The Herb Collective.