Let’s be honest: growing cannabis is tough. Cannabis isn’t a plant you can just plant and forget about; in fact, it’s the total opposite. These kinds of plants require around-the-clock care and attention, making it easy to make a few mistakes your first time around. Unfortunately, these mistakes can ruin your grow entirely if you’re not careful. That’s why Luna Cultivation is here.
Today, we’re talking all about the biggest mistakes to avoid when growing cannabis and how to look out for them. When you can avoid these big missteps, your road to cannabis cultivation is a whole lot smoother.
#1: Improper Germination
Sometimes, your mistakes don’t happen during flowering or harvesting, but they occur right at germination. When you improperly germinate your cannabis seeds, your yield is doomed before it starts.
You cannot just find any old cannabis seed, plant it in the ground, and call it good to go. During germination, you must ensure that your seeds are held in dark, humid environments with humidity levels between 70-90%. Touching your seeds too much can damage or contaminate them, so avoid handling them as much as possible. When doing so, wear proper gloves to ensure ultimate protection.
Oh, and you want to establish your germination technique long before actually starting. In the cannabis world, you can germinate your seeds in myriad ways, it just depends on what is most appealing to you. Whichever method this is, make sure you’re prepared with the proper equipment and tools.
#2: Using the Wrong Light Techniques
So many yields are ruined simply because growers utilize the wrong light techniques during growth. While you can use various types of lights to grow your cannabis depending on what you can afford and what works best for your setup, it’s usually the technique that causes issues.
In cannabis cultivation, high-wattage lights are sought-after because their power allows for better growth. However, these powerful lights can also easily damage your plants if you’re not careful. Light burn is a very common mistake made by growers: when your lights produce excess heat and are too close to your plants, they will yellow your plant’s leaves, wilt the flowers, and degrade terpenes along with THC.
This kind of damage can be irreversible for your plants. Avoid this and do proper research into ideal distances from your plant to your lights themselves. Every type of light will be different, so take the time to ensure your cannabis plants are properly distanced from your light sources.
#3: Using the Wrong Soil
Again, growing cannabis isn’t as simple as growing some carrots in your backyard. Even the soil you use has to be specific to the cannabis plant and have various specifications that typical soil doesn’t. One of the biggest mistakes new growers make is planting their cannabis in soil that doesn’t have any nutrients. When you try to grow cannabis in nutrient-free soil, it isn’t going to get the nourishment it needs to grow healthy and strong.
Along with forgetting to use pre-fertilized soil, some cannabis growers think they can save some time and reuse potting soil for their plants. Don’t do this! This can be extremely harmful to your plants, as they require fresh, uncontaminated soil to grow properly. Reusing potting soil is only subjecting your plants to damage. Always turn to new, pre-fertilized soil that is totally free of contaminants.
#4: Too Much Water, Too Many Nutrients
All plants require water and nutrients to survive. However, that doesn’t mean that more water and more nutrients will make your plants grow any bigger or more potent. In fact, when you overwater or overfeed your plants, this will harm them and stunt the growth process. Nutrient burn is a very common mistake made by new growers wherein your plants are confused and overwhelmed by the number of nutrients they’re given and they start to deteriorate. If this happens, you have to totally flush your plants and restart.
When it comes to watering, always make sure your soil is dried out before adding more. Too much water is detrimental to your plants, so a great way to ensure that they need more hydration is to check the dryness of the soil. Still moist? Don’t add any more water!
#5: No Ventilation
Often, growers can be extra careful about lighting and watering but still make one huge mistake when cultivating: no ventilation. Just as you wouldn’t want to live in a house without any ventilation, your cannabis plants don’t either. When your plants do not have proper ventilation or airflow, they’re exposed to stagnant, moist air. This stale, moist air is the most common cause of bacteria and mold growth on plants. Mold can completely ruin your plant, as it is not only unsanitary, but it’s dangerous and must be thrown away.
Always ensure that your grow space has proper airflow. Whether this is through ceiling fans or windows is up to you, but any sort of ventilation is absolutely crucial to your grow.
#6: Neglecting PH Levels
Finally, the last mistake we’ll discuss is neglecting your plant’s PH levels. When your plants don’t have the proper PH levels, they will get sick easily and cannot produce the potent buds you’re needing. Always take the time to check the PH levels in your plant’s soil or grow medium to ensure you’re in safe, healthy levels. Continue to check these levels as your plants grow, and adjust amounts if necessary. When you do this, your plants can truly thrive.
Practice Makes Perfect
At the end of the day, practice is going to make perfect when it comes to growing cannabis. During your first few tries, you will definitely make some mistakes. Thankfully, these are mistakes that you can grow from, learn from, and, hopefully, never make again.
Let Luna Cultivation help you during every step of the growing process. With some extra practice and a whole lot of patience, you’ll get your plants just right (as long as you avoid these super-common mistakes).