How to Grow Cannabis Outdoors
Outdoor cultivation of marijuana is getting attention due to the support of natural elements. But this practice is not as simple as it seems. Let us tell you the truth.
Growing marijuana outdoors sometimes gets equally challenging as indoors. This fact may surprise you, but you know we can’t control the external environment. This situation, sometimes, leads to difficulty.
Therefore, it needs to throw good attention on how to grow marijuana outdoors. Do you like to know the perfect procedure for healthy buds? Don’t worry about the more favorable strategy.
This article explores all the critical points in detail. So, you would not need to search for other platforms for perfect guidelines.
Are you ready to explore our instructions? Good! Let us start with the benefits of outdoor cannabis growing.
Benefits of outdoor cultivation of cannabis
- The outdoor environment supports larger plants.
- Plants get more space for wider blooming.
- You don’t need to spend over water as the rain needs no investment.
- Sunlight is the crucial element that nature offers free of cost and is more beneficial than artificial lighting systems.
- The plant gets a natural light cycle for the perfect range of time.
- Ventilation does its work in keeping mold at a distance.
- Growing marijuana gets the support of companion plants.
- The natural soil is filled with microbes and provides all the necessary nutrients.
- Cannabis plants get natural insects that support cultivation.
- Outdoor gardening will be relaxing and fun for you.
Important considerations to grow cannabis outdoors
Before going for Cannabis cultivation, it’s good to pick the best place as a growing point. For this purpose, the selected location should meet the following criteria to get the growth at optimum;
Sunlight
Marijuana plants demand plenty of sunlight for equally good growth. Typically, it needs to provide direct and indirect sunlight for at least 5 hours each. So, plant the cannabis in the area enjoying a good quantity of sunlight. In addition, don’t cultivate this plant near the street light. The intensity may harm its flowers.
Soil
Cannabis is a very demanding weed. For proper cultivation, the best practice is to choose soil with a good amount of drainage. If this requirement is fulfilled, you can grow marijuana on any soil with confidence.
Water
Provide your growing weeds with sufficient amounts of water, depending on their need. The natural rain is a bonus, but don’t leave it to the rain. Thus you have to water the growing weeds regularly for a nicer experience.
Convenient access
You would like to keep an eye on the growing weeds, and you should be. So, pick the site with convenient access to spend your leisure time or look for them.
Space
The larger the space is, the greater are the chances for cannabis expansion. But, it would help if you stayed within the legal limit for space. Place each growing weed four to five feet apart. So, each growing marijuana should enjoy a maximum amount of sunlight and ventilation without any hindrance.
Legal rules
Though growing marijuana is legal, its open cultivation is still prohibited. So, put an excellent focus on growing this weed in your personal space. It might be your garden, backyard, or any other similar area. Grow it outdoors, but keep the legal rules in consideration.
How to grow marijuana outdoors?
We have mentioned some tricks that would help you get a tremendous amount of marijuana buds. Just stay with us to explore more.
Kick start with seed or clone.
You can take a good start with seed or clone based on your requirements. Both respond differently in this scenario. Marijuana produced from seed is high in yield and has deeper roots. As a result, the environmental stress and pest attack did not impact them heavily. But here comes a drawback.
The plant at the germination stage demands good attention. You have to take good care of germinating seedlings. In addition, the removal of male plants is also crucial to bypass pollination.
Alternatively, clones can be a good option as they are readily available and perfect for newbies. Furthermore, its genetic lineage is known already. The dark side of the clones is the development of fibrous roots that minimize their ability to endure stress.
It’s time to pick the soil.
Arrange the soil that is dark in appearance. This kind of soil is rich in nutrients and very light in weight. You wonder, why do you prefer lightweight soil? Actually, fluffed and lighter soil can absorb water, which is a crucial need for cannabis growth.
For an additional advantage, check the soil pH with a pH meter. It should be slightly acidic at around 6.
Choose between ground or container.
Growing both in-ground and container comes with advantages and some limitations. So, you can select between two based on your needs. The containers are easy to shift from place to place to get more sunlight. In addition, you can save the growing weeds from the harsh environment very quickly.
Fabric containers are an excellent option due to their less weight and zero heat storage capacity. Alternatively, plastic and clay containers are not suitable. They leave the plant dry with stored heat. The roots get limited space to expand in containers.
Thus, the ground is also a good option as it provides an extended area for the roots to grow deeper and more robust. So, the plant can tolerate the environmental stress and gather more nutrients and water. But this tolerance level is up to a certain height. If the environment gets wild, you can’t shift the system to a safer place. Therefore, you have to take precautionary measures before time.
Take care of nutrients.
Marijuana is a delicate plant that is very sensitive regarding nutrients. For a comprehensive bud system, you have to supply it with more nutrients than other plants. No doubt, you have chosen the best soil loaded with nutrients for your weeds. But it gets less concentrated with nutrients with time. As a result, you have to add these nutritional elements from external sources to support the maturing plants.
Keep in mind; each growing phase needs a unique element for growth. Supply it with abundant nitrogen at a vegetative stage to promote leaves and root growth. When you notice the flowering stage is stepping forward, give your weeds potassium and phosphorus. At this stage, the plant needs less quantity of nitrogen.
Hey, stop. This fact does not mean keeping nitrogen at a low level. Ensure abundant supply to accommodate good growth. As an expert, we recommend you not to use all-in-one fertilizer as cannabis is a susceptible plant.
Don’t worry! Here is a solution for consulting cannabis nutrient charts for this purpose. We suggest you use organic nutrients as they bring supportive microbes for cannabis.
Water growing plants as per need
The requirement of water varies based on multiple factors. Your weeds may be in containers or ground. The local climate may be moisturized or sunny. All is the game of temperature and moisture content in the environment.
For the warm weather, larger plants need plenty of water. You can alter its amount based on the location that may be a container or an extended ground. Make sure to provide water carefully to the young weeds. Keep an eye on the plants in containers as the roots are not too deep to water themselves. So, don’t let them dry.
Alternatively, weeds in the ground have an excellent capacity to get water due to deeper roots. So, you do not need to add much water to the established weeds.
Keep pests and weeds at a distance.
Growing marijuana is a strong point of attraction for the pests. You have to take steps to abundant their attack. But the best strategy is to make the plant strong enough to defend itself. I think that is a great idea.
To keep the larger pest away, fence the growing areas. Therefore, larger animals could not attack cannabis. Adorn your marijuana bed with gopher wire to bypass the smaller animals like rats and more.
Another danger is the natural weeds that grow with it and compete for nutrients. You can pick the quick strategy to skip these weeds. So out this strategy in function, adorn the topsoil with mulch to avoid weeds growth.
We know you are thinking about synthetic insecticides at this point. Well, most cultivators use it to keep weeds apart. But avoid its usage over the growing marijuana. However, you can get the help of natural insecticides for spiders and other smaller insects.
Take good care of security.
No doubt, growing marijuana is legal in most states of the USA. But keep in mind, open cultivation is still illegal. Either it’s your form or a backyard, keep the growing plants away from the general public’s vision. Is that clear to you? Good!
Have preventive measures to keep the length of the plant shorter or the fence higher. Don’t tell your neighbors about this cultivation. Enjoy it secretly as medicine or for whatever you have grown them.
Additional tips
Don’t forget to harden off cannabis.
You know, cannabis is a sensitive plant. It is not wise to expose it to the external environment at a very young age. Here comes the need to apply the strategy of hardening it off. Do you know what it is? Well, it refers to making young plants use the external environment slowly.
So, start growing marijuana indoors within controlled conditions and put them in indirect sunlight daily for half an hour. After ten days, you can start to place them in direct sunlight with good airflow. This strategy would make the plant strong enough to persist in natural conditions.
Have some additional money? Arrange a greenhouse
As an expert, you have the idea that indoor and outdoor cultivation comes with some limitations. Would you like to have a mid strategy to enjoy the benefits of both sides while keeping limitations at far? Of course, everyone wants this strategy. So, let’s begin to tell you about the benefits of a greenhouse.
Though expensive, the greenhouse provides vital protection to your growing cannabis. Integrate a light depriving system with a greenhouse and enhance the harvesting cycle. Additionally, you can cover your greenhouse system to cut down sunlight. This practice is just like an indoor lighting system. Similarly, you can control the amount of water to your growing marijuana.
You can say it works between artificial and natural systems to avoid the complexity of both. An expensive yet effective strategy, a greenhouse would bloom your cannabis plants that would be enough up to the next growing season.
Final words
Now you have a deep knowledge of how to grow marijuana outdoors with some crucial features. Our study says that marijuana growth, either indoor or outdoor, is not straightforward. You have to consider multiple factors. Your location may be east or west and south or north; plan the growth accordingly.
You can get the support of a growing calendar or the nutrients cycle for a wonderful growing experience. But in addition to growth factors, you need to be conscious of the laws in your state. It’s your responsibility.
Are you cultivating it for the first or second time? Well, try our tip of hardening off for proper growth. You may have some mistakes at the start. Don’t be disappointed. Just learn from them and be an expert in the upcoming growing seasons. At this point, you can use a greenhouse for successful outdoor cultivation.
Apply preventive measures and get enough yield to enjoy its consumption till the next growing season.
I wish you good luck with successful outdoor cannabis growth!