Growing Hydroponic Marijuana – Quick Guide 1 & 2
HOW TO GROW HYDROPONIC MARIJUANA or WEED
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- Growing Hydroponic Marijuana Quick Guide Page 1 & Page 2
- Detailed Growing Weed Guide starts end of Page 2 or click here
- Advanced Hydroponic Growing Techniques for Massive Yields
What is Marijuana Hydroponics and How to Grow Weed with Hydroponics?
Growing marijuana hydroponically means that you grow the plants in an inert, sterile growing medium instead of in soil. All of the plants’ nutrient requirements are supplied with the water mixed with nutrients. Plants are 80% to 95% water; the remaining parts are carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. Plants extract these elements from the air and from water so nutrients are actually a very small amount of the total weight of a plant. It is the plant’s entire atmosphere that needs to be controlled to produce perfect crops.
Marijuana plants, and in fact all plants, do not need to be in a living soil, they require nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulfur (S). Those are the macroelements (the big ones) and the small elements known as microelements are iron (Fe), chlorine (Cl), manganese (Mn), boron (B), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and molybdenum (Mo).
On a side note molybdenum is a fantastic metal and creates some of the most impressively stain resistant and sharpest Japanese knives on earth.
Hydroponics introduces the water, nutrients and air to the roots through the mediums and as you bypass the web of roots and the energy required for the plant to acquire the nutrients you get faster growing plants.
Advantages of using hydroponics over soil to grow marijuana are:
- Cleaner;
- Less space required;
- Faster growing time, usually a crop is finished in 12 weeks;
- More automation means less labour;
- Avoidance of soil borne pests;
- More control over the growing environment such as vegetative and flowering times;
- Higher yields.
Disadvantages using hydroponics to grow marijuana can be:
- A higher initial set-up cost;
- More skill and knowledge required with management usually on a daily basis unless you have a very professional set up – but we are here to help;
- Easier for things to go wrong due to the technical side.
Hydroponic marijuana set up
All growing described on this page is done using the Ebb and Flow system. The Ebb and Flow system is one of, if not the most popular hydroponic methods for growing weed. It is simple and easy to use.
It works like this: A reservoir containing nutrient solution is located below a growing tray. The tray contains the plants that are in containers with growing medium like Rockwool.
The growing bed is filled with nutrient solution by a small pump on a timer to feed and water the plants. The timer then shuts the pump off and the nutrient solution drains freely back into the reservoir.
Ebb and Flow systems’ are favored because of their low maintenance, high productivity, and ease of use. Ideal not only for the beginner, but for the advanced gardener as well.
If you would rather buy a unit rather than grab all the gear from the hardware store (they will know what you are making), it may cost a little more but all parts will be included and you will save time by getting everything at once. I got a 10 plant unit for $250 USD. You can probably find something just as good or better for less money on eBay. More about hydroponic grow systems.
Marijuana lighting
Metal Halide (MH) or High Pressure Sodium (HPS) are the marijuana lights to get for growing hydroponic marijuana. Metal halide light is close to regular room light or cool fluorescent light (blue spectrum) and is best for vegetative (beginning) growth. While high pressure sodium is in the red end of the spectrum and is best for flowering (later) growth.
Expect to pay about $250 for a 250W HPS/MH digital ballast, bulb and reflector combo. Then there is the rest of the hydroponic marijuana setup and everything else you will need to raise your crop hydroponically. You can spend more or less than that, but another $200 to $500 would cover it nicely. Once you get things set up you can continue to raise new crops with your set up and only have to spend money on nutrients, bulbs, and other maintenance.
After a few crops (you will make mistakes at the beginning), your product will be better (if the seeds you used were good) than anything that you would normally buy, at a fraction of the cost.
If you do things properly, you will get about one to two ounces of premium tops per marijuana plant every three to four months. You won’t have to deal with people that you might not trust, and your stash will be clean and healthy as can be. Much more on grow lighting.
Marijuana growing seeds or clones
If you know someone who grows, ask them for a few clones. If you don’t have access to clones you will have to get seeds. If you don’t already have some, you can ask you friends to save you seeds out of any good weed they may come across.
The better the weed that the seeds come from is, the better your crop will be. If the weed the seeds came from was no good, your crop will probably not be any better.
If you need seeds we totally recommend reading this cannabis seeds page.
Germinate the marijuana seeds
Set up your hydroponic garden before you germinate the seeds. Make sure everything works fine. If you are using clones, skip this section.
The standard thing to do is use a Rockwool cube to start the seed on and surround it with whatever media you use. Keep the Rockwool cube so that the bottom 70% or so is submerged when the water is at max, but keep the top part above the water so that the seed is never submerged.
Another way to germinate seeds and more information, just follow the directions located here to germinate your cannabis seeds. After the seeds have germinated and the root is about a quarter of an inch long, place the seed, root down, on your grow cube or media that is in your hydroponic cups.
There are various types of media available to grow in. Rockwool is one, but there are many others. Media simply means the substance that the roots grow in. Since you aren’t using soil in a hydroponic garden, you need a substitute.
The media will provide no nutrition; it is just a support for the roots. All nutrition comes from the hydroponic solution.
Vegetative marijuana growth
The first phase of marijuana growth is called the vegetative phase. If you plan on using the MH or HPS right away, start with the light about 20 inches or more above the top of the plant and lower the light an inch or so daily until you think the height is right. Too close and the plants will dry and turn brown. Too far and the plants grow too tall as they stretch to get closer to their light source. That is a waste of space. Start high and lower the light an inch or two daily until you think the height is right.
During the first stage of growth, the vegetative stage, keep the light on 16 to 24 hours a day minimum. The longer it is on, the faster the plants will grow, but the higher your electricity bill will be. More on marijuana vegetative growth.
Marijuana flowering
Flowering is the phase of marijuana growth that produces the most THC (the active ingredient that produces the high). Once flowering begins, the height of the plants will taper off as the plant energy is used in the flowering process itself.
You can start flowering when the plants are a minimum of about 6 inches high and have at least 4 sets of leaves. This will take 2 weeks to a month of vegetative growth in most hydroponic gardens. When you want to start flowering, cut the light back to 12-13 hours a day.
The height of the plant will continue to increase for about two to four weeks after flowering has been started, after that all the plants energy will be used for flower production.
Limiting the height of a marijuana plant has always been a difficult task for me, so I just raise the height of the light as the plant grows. There are methods of limiting the height of a plant, but none of them have worked for me, so I’m not going to recommend one, the Marijuana Growers Guide has the most comprehensive descriptions I have seen on limiting the height of weed.
The flowering cycle lasts about two months, sometimes a little longer, depending on the type of seed. So the total length of time to raise a crop should be 3 to 4 months in a hydroponic garden.
During flowering the dark period must be perfectly dark. No room light, sun light, or any other light should reach the plant in the 12 hours of darkness that the plant must get everyday. The strongest light that should reach the plant during flowering would equal that of moonlight.
Stronger light than this will delay flowering, and if it continues there is a chance that the plant will not flower, but stay in the vegetative phase.
This is more important in the first 6 weeks of flowering. When the plants have started to flower for over a month, small amounts of light for short periods of time are not as harmful.
You will know the plants are flowering when you see what look like little white hairs developing at bud sites. They should be visible after about two weeks of the flowering light cycle. These will eventually be the red hairs that you see on good bud that you have probably smoked in the past or are smoking now. More about the flowering of marijuana.
Industry Friends
Hydroponic Marijuana – Grow unbelievable buds, which means you need to smoke less for a sensational stoned feeling.
Medical Marijuana- Find out the truth about growing medical marijuana blog.
Legalizing Marijuana – Arguments for and against the legalization of marijuana.
Marijuana Seeds – Fresh and straight from Europe direct to your door. Solid trusty source for more than a decade.
Cannabis seeds – We trust our man Herbie to deliver your cannabis seeds anywhere in the world, fresh and discreetly.
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[...] How to Grow Hydroponic Marijuana [...]
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO DISTINGUISH SEX IN CANIBUS?
There really isn’t a best way, just a female buds and males don’t, but if you know what you’re doing you can turn a male into a female.
The easiest way to determine the gender of an cannabis plant is to examine its flowers. To initiate flowering, most strains require 12 hours of day (=light) and 12 of night(=uninterrupted darkness). Female or Pistillate flowers are easily distinguished from the males by the long white ‘pistils’ protruding from the calyxii (bottom far right on the last picture). Male or Staminate inflorescences are like tiny bells hanging on the limbs of the flowers
Cannabis Seeds Worldwide
Ppl like you get all the brains. I just get to say tahkns for he answer.
How long does it take to grow and to be able to smoke it
How much water do i give her ? Shes about a foot long. Do i give her water every day? Its my first plant !!!
Ok so I’m grow some pot using hydroponic system Nd i started two days ago…the only thing is i don’t know if i started it right..i just put it in on of those rapied rooter and put it in the hydroponic system will it work that way..i kinda hope so cuz what a wast if not..lol of “money”
The best way to tell if a young plant is female is after the first couple pairs of food leaves, the leaves start to alternate. They no longer grow out in pairs, but single leaves shoot out from the main stalk, rotating around it.
hello all im a newb to growing hydroponic pot and i have built my own system but now i dont know where to go from there… what i need to know is what type of fertlizers(micro nuitrents)do i need? i live buy a store in gainsevillie fl, called gardners edege. heres the link – they have so many ferts/nutrients i dontknow what i need to run a basic 5 plant system. my system is a dip basket with pea pebbles/stones and insted of rock cube i used cotton balls. with a basic fishtank air pump. im going to that store as soon as i can figure out what things i nned to get for ferts.
so if anyone could please help me i would greatly appreciate it. i left the link so anyone who wants to help me can go on that website and see all the fert’s they have. if someone could just find what i would need on there and tell me that would help me so mch, and after that im going to buy the stuff. thanks – nick
I was told that you need a male plant to make a female plant bud is that true cause all mine are female?
i know why you clone from mother plant before flowering starts,but clones root in 10 days, mother only two weeks into flowering, flowering takes 8 to 10 weeks. clones will be to big for cloneing area ? im not getting how continuous rotation from ready to flower mom, cut clones , bye time mom is finished, clones will be moms there self. or is that the whole idea ! no because then you would clon twice . could someone help set me strait on rotation cycle and how it work , new at this ha ha! PLEASE HELP !!!!
I just set up my Aeroponics system, and my white widoe plant is only a half inch tall and it hasn’t grown in 4 weeks, the person that sold me the set up told me to use these dirt like shape hockey Pucks. the light I’m using is MH 600 wt. what am i doing wrong
thank steve
I have like silk worms or small caterpillars in my buds what’s up with that? They are very small
Okay I”m completely new to the growing. All I know is I have a lamp in my basement, and I’m probably gonna be getting some NY Diesel seeds. Someone wanna give me a tutorial so I can have a good first plant? Basically I need to know how to plant, how and when to water/give light, and how to progress from stage to stage. HELP PLEASE! Thanks.
my plants are kinda wilty whs up can someboby help?
Okay all you ppl who just one day wake up, ima grow ganja and do hydroponics. Do your fucking research first. I have taken many horticulture classes and have spent hours reading. Do your homework before you think you can grow. Also stealth is a big thing.
Lol I swear, I’m 16 and I know more about growing pot then most of you lol, do your homework. I’m not tryin to sound like a dick. I just have seen a lot of ppl put lots of money in and fail and loose a lot of money. Go to like hempfest and hempstock and learn from pros lol that’s what I did.
i’m a rookie grower as well and my plants r dying i got root rot due to me just sitting my plants in the resavor with nutriants…anyone know what i can do besides proxcide to fix…i also cut roots but still persistant and i flushed and cleaned resavor sereveral times already…plz i don’t wanna waste the money i spent on my clones cuz i’m a broke white boy…open to any suggestions..anything to improve my babies status..plz help
btw i do have 2 air stones so plenty of air…using led lights …what do i have to do !!! and how do u kill spider mites i’m using that soap spray now but its not working
broke off single head from plant in bloom. What can i do to try and save it
at this point your roots are going to determine your growth rate. Make sure no light is getting to the roots and that no damage has occured. I like to use floresence lighting so plant can be clocer to light without burning.
What shall the temperature around my plants be ?
What type of nutrients should I look to buy if I am growing in a water culture system?
if im using the ebb and flow monster (55gallon) reservoir and the 12 5 gallon buckets,,How much do i fill the reservoir and how much median goes in the 5 gallon buckets or does it just go in the netted bucket inside the 5 gallon,,im very confused still i need help,,please respond @ my email adress cjacksina@yahoo.com
I did a stupid thing. I was walking down the street here in Northern China and I spotted a plant growing out of the crack between a sidewalk and a concrete wall. I took a picture of it and then asked the people who owned the shop if I could have it. They didn’t know what it was so they said “yes”. I was in such a rush to get it out and get it home that I just pulled it up (stupid me!)… not really thinking about what I was going to do with it. I got only one half of a good root and a few small web-like roots. First thing when I got home, I put it in a vase where I have some hydroponic bamboo growing. But this should only be temporary. It’s about 26″ tall, with about 75 leaves and a stalk about 3/16″ diameter. It’s even got buds! It’s amazing that it lasted this long because the temperatures are almost down to “freezing” in the daytime. I walked down the streets of this major city, crowded with people, and even walked by the very front of police station, and “nobody” gave me anything more than a curious look, which is quite natural when they see an American. I’m a Viet Nam vet, so I couldn’t believe what I saw when I found it. What should I do? Did I kill it already, or can it be saved…poor little guy
Actually these people are wrong you can determine sex as early as a month old, look up what pistils are males have one pistole one each side females have multiple there little nodes that grow up against the stock by where new branches come out and such
grow marijuana, sunshine is most important,i think you can try to use led grow light
Just curious, but what is the reason for using aged water? I assume it’s to do with chlorine/chloramines in tap water but I’d like to know for sure.
The reason I ask is, say life gets ahead of you and you forget to put water out to age, and the reason for aging is indeed to allow time for chlorine etc to evaporate, could you use a dechlorinator intended for use in aquariums?
I run a planted aquarium and I age water for it too, but find the dechlorinators do work very nicely when I forget. I’m down with plant care, fertilisers, substrates etc. I don’t grow pot, but I’m researching. There was that fateful summer when I was away and my mother discovered a rogue plant in the garden(roaches flicked into flowerbeds make good germination pods? LOL), subsequently killing it when she attempted to care for it(she knew was it was, she thought it was pretty, bless her).
reading all this is kinda helpfull my self being a 16 yr old female yeah im hella interested in learning how to grow this lovely plant hmmm…i needa study on this shizz more
Been growin for 43 years-Refer to the guidelines in this web site- they are most accurate-The rest is a matter of trial and error on your own part.
Purified water/ Lights Mh first (Vegatative) HPS second (Bloom) Good air circulation and constant temperature-DONT be stupid and/ take pictures /tell anyone you are doing it/brag when you have had a drink/think that no-one will recognize that smell (Use air filters) Other than that HAPPY GROWING!!!
I need to know how u can i grow weed and if i can make weed grow faster please i need to know?
You can use de-chlorinated water, or you could just add H2O2 instead of aging the water. Much quicker, and more sterile that way.
I knew to this and I am growing in a wardrobe with a 600 watt lamp any advice for which soil to use?
@DeAndre – the only way to increase the speed is to induct CO2.
As far as water goes get some distilled water from the grocery store and add your nutes to that.
And for everyone on here asking how do i grow pot? for real go to a legit grow site, some were mentioned my personal favorite is rollitup.org, the growers on here have done it for years upon years, also if you are having problems i have posted pics to rollitup and gotten replies to what my plant problems are in less then two minutes after posting.
Find a site like that for all your NEW-B questions and buy a book or two. Dont get me wrong i remember the first time i started growing, but growing isnt just a quick get in get out, you have to take time. Your Plant= Your Baby. Respect them and they will respect you.
Never had a prob using water straight from the tap, spose to to age it, boil it, but doesnt make too much a diff.. if you found a plant in the street with buds on, smoke up, theres nothin to save..
is thier anyone in boston area that i can consult with that has a sucsessful grow. i have had several failed attempts with a1 seeds.
Hon’ble Sir, kindly inform easiest way to grow vegetable crops under
HYDROPONICS and which crops can be grown easily and successfully. THANKS
Hydroponic, working with some feminized, auto-flowering lowryder variant. Any benefit to trimming lower leaves, or have genetics predetermined height of these plants?
you can tell the sex of your seeds. Female seeds have a volcano like crater on one end. If the crater is a perfect circle then you have yourself a female seed, if its oval, or wavy, or not a perfect circle, then its a male.