BY: TED. S
The advancement in grow light technology has made it possible to take the growing of plants indoors. If you are located where marijuana is legal and you want to become an indoor growing expert – read on.
The first and the foremost fact you should be aware of is that growing marijuana will have advantages and disadvantages. Keep yourself ready to handle both cases. It’s important for you to know the types of Marijuana before starting with the rest: Indica marijuana is best for growing indoors as it has short and wider plant growth. Sativa marijuana is another type that has tall and thin growing plants and is more difficult for an inside set up.
Most importantly, for harvesting indoors your success lies mostly in the type and quality of grow lights used. No matter what you grow and what quantity you grow, unless you use the right grow lights, you will not achieve good results. The indoor growing market and the horticulture market are fascinated with LED grow lights these days. Light Emitting Diodes took a rough start but the long advances have made them the most likable innovation in indoor grow lighting.
For a home grown location it is absolutely essential to choose the right lights and set the system right. You should, however, be aware of all the growing stages of marijuana in order to use the right light at the specific growing stage. Generally this strategy applies to all plants grown indoors. Marijuana plants have two stages of growth; vegetative stage and the flowering stage.
Here’s what you need to know about cannabis’s growth stages:
The Vegetative Stage of Cannabis
The vegetative stage of cannabis starts as soon as the seed of marijuana is planted and it grows out the stem for budding and flowering. Vegetative stage of cannabis lasts for 40-45 days with the required light cycle of 18 hours on and 6 hours off. If you wish to achieve quicker and faster growth you can even have a 24-hour light cycle for the vegetation process of cannabis. Either duration with an LED grow light should work fine, but giving plants 6 hours of rest will lead to healthier plants and higher quality buds.
The Flowering Stage of Cannabis
As soon as the vegetative stage ends (it can be 40-45 days, or less depending on your choice) the light cycle will move to a 12 hours on and 12 hours off set up. Use the right judgment for deciding when to enter the flowering stage after the budding stage starts. Generally, most of the plants enter the flowering stage during this time interval if the plant is healthy and tall.
Which Grow Light to Use for Cannabis?
Remember that various growing techniques can be used with different strains for producing different results. Some strains can take a longer time to mature and get ready for the flowering process, while some strains such as auto-flowering cannabis plants might just take a few weeks for all the stages.
The best grow light for an indoor growth of plants for any stage would be the LED grow light. For a cannabis plant especially, the targeted and narrow bands of light that produce minimal to no heat will give the best results. LED grow lights have been tested and approved by various researchers for resulting in increased production of various plant nutrients.
University of Tennessee found increased production of anti-oxidants, aroma compounds, taste compounds, photosynthesis boosting minerals and nutrients in plants that are exposed to an optimal formulation of various bands of light. The optimal formulation will have ultraviolet, violet, blue, orange, red, far-red, infrared and white light in a weighted average proportion to what is necessary for photosynthetic radiation. LED lights which have seven to eight bands of light in the correct proportions will produce the healthiest and highest-yielding cannabis plants.
A properly designed LED grow light can yield as much, or more, than heat producing, high-pressure sodium light. G8LED grow lights have proven to give heavy yields and are a great way to save money with one time investment. These LED lights are used by professional growers for their ability to reduce the amount of kilowatts required to operate a grow facility and due to their low heat output.
