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Seed to cure. Every number here comes from a real source.
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Keep seeds warm, between 72 and 80 F. Plant about a quarter to a half inch deep.
Most seeds pop in 1 to 3 days. Some take 7. If nothing happens in 2 weeks, it is a dud.
A short soak is optional. Keep it under about a day.
Seedlings want gentle light on an 18/6 schedule. Keep humidity around 65 to 75 percent.
In soil, plain water is enough at first. In coco, start feed very light, EC 0.3 to 0.6.
Run your lights 18 hours on and 6 hours off. This is the 18/6 schedule.
The plant focuses on leaves, stems, and roots here. This is when it builds its frame.
Flip the lights to 12 hours on and 12 hours off. Cannabis is a short day plant.
The long dark period is what triggers bloom. Most cultivars flower for 8 to 12 weeks.
Autoflowers do not need a light flip. Keep 18/6 from seedling to harvest.
They run seed to harvest in about 9 to 11 weeks. Some finish in as little as 9 weeks.
Soil likes 6.0 to 6.5. Coco likes 5.6 to 6.2.
Wrong pH locks out nutrients even when your feed is perfect. Check it every time.
Published EC guides vary, so treat these as starting points. Seedlings 0.8 to 1.3. Veg 1.3 to 1.7. Flower 1.2 to 2.
PPM scales differ between meters, which is why growers prefer EC. Pick one scale and stick with it.
Too much feed shows as burnt leaf tips, curling, and dark green leaves. Too little shows as yellowing and weak stems.
I get asked what I feed more than almost anything. It is Crop Salt. Here is why I stay with it.
It is dry powder, not bottles of water. Two parts for veg. Two parts for flower. One finisher at the end. That is the whole line.
The mix never changes week to week. Same grams every time, start to finish. No guessing, no new bottle to buy every stage.
It carries more than one kind of calcium, so I never add cal mag. And Cake runs by itself for the last two weeks. That is where the color, the weight, and the frost come from.
Weigh it. Mix it. Feed. Done.
Full strength mixes to about 2.2 EC. Feed at pH 6.2. In soil and peat, go feed, feed, water so salts do not build up. In coco, feed daily and let some run out the bottom.
Pick your plant, pick your stage, tell it how many gallons you are mixing. It does the math.
Rates are the Crop Salt feed chart, the same chart they have run since 2016. Full chart and grow documents at cropsalt.com.
This is the living soil I mix for my own plants. Pick a batch size and every amount changes to match.
Mix it all together. Wet it down until it feels like a wrung out sponge. Cover it and let it sit for 2 to 3 months before it touches a plant.
Keep it moist and turn it now and then. The microbes wake up. The guanos cool off. Raw soil turns into living soil that is gentle on roots.
This blend carries enough slow food in the soil itself to take a plant from seed all the way into flower with just water. The meals and guanos break down slow and feed the plant all season.
You can add nutrients on top if you want. It can make it even better, but it is not required. It is fully organic, and one mix gets you through a whole season.
Spider mites are the most common pest. They are tiny, about 0.4 mm, live under the leaves, and leave white dots and fine webs.
Also watch for aphids, thrips, fungus gnats, whiteflies, and root aphids.
Prevention beats treatment. Seal your room. Change clothes before you go in. Keep pets out. Use sterile tools and fresh media.
Judge ripeness with a 60x loupe. Check the trichomes on the calyxes, not the sugar leaves, in 3 to 5 spots.
Clear trichomes mean it is too early. Milky or cloudy means peak. Amber means it is starting to decline.
Many growers harvest at 80 to 90 percent milky with 5 to 10 percent amber. Some wait for 10 to 15 percent amber.
As a backup cue, about 90 to 95 percent of the pistils should be brown.
The common target is 60 F and 60 percent humidity. Growers call it 60/60.
Keep gentle, constant airflow moving. Overdrying costs you weight and quality.
Cure in the dark at 60 to 70 F with humidity between 58 and 62 percent.
Below 55 percent humidity the cure stalls. Plan on 2 to 4 weeks minimum, longer if you can.
Burp the jars regularly in the first weeks. Good buds can keep curing for a year or more.
Overwatering is the number one beginner mistake. Let the top inch go bone dry before you water again.
Overfeeding burns plants. Start with less than you think.
Keep lights 30 to 50 cm away. Too close burns, too far stretches.
Watch your light schedule and your airflow. Both are easy to neglect and hard to fix later.
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