Issue #6 - Sunday, May 27, 2012 |
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Dear Fellow Grower,
In today's main article, Nebula Haze answers an age-old question we get frequently here at GrowWeedEasy.com... How long does it take to grow weed?
Also in today's issue...
You'll learn where you can learn even more advanced techniques from some elite growers in Check it Out, a Quick Tip about where you can get a personal diagnosis for your sick plant, and the answer to a question about purple stems in Your Questions.
We hope you enjoy your issue of Grow Weed Easy!
To your success!
Nebula and Sirius
"Death has come for me many times but finds me always in my lovely garden and leaves me there, I think, as an excuse to return."
~Robert Brault |
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How Long Does It Take to Grow Weed?
by Nebula Haze |
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I get asked this all the time, so today I decided to answer, once and for all, how long it really
takes.
How long does it take to grow weed?
The short answer is, from Day 1 of your weed plant's life to actually smoking your harvest, it takes 8.5 weeks - 7+ Months.
But that's a huge range, right?
That's why most growers won't give you a straight answer. The honest truth is, many factors will affect the total time.
So a more fair answer might be to say that the average grower takes 3-4 months to grow, harvest and quick-cure a few ounces to a pound of buds per plant (depending heavily on your strain choice and setup).
And, for at least the first time you grow, you also need to consider the time needed to get your equipment and seeds/clones.
I'm going to give you the total breakdown, so you can plan out exactly what your grow needs to look like in order to achieve the times you desire:
Before You Start Growing
Total time needed: 0 days - 4 weeks
Here's the breakdown...
Get equipment - 0 days - 2 weeks
Get
seeds or clones - 0-4 weeks: if you have instant access, this doesn't take any
time. If you order from a seed bank, this step takes about 2-4 weeks to get seeds.
Time Needed to Grow the Weed, From Seedling to Harvest
Total time needed: 6 weeks - 5 months
Here's the breakdown...
Germinate your seeds: 1-5 days (skip this step if you start with clones)
Vegetative Stage: - 0 days - 2+ months.
The
length of this stage is a matter of personal preference. You get to
choose how long your plant spends in this stage, because you're the one
to 'flip the switch' and get your plant to enter the next life stage,
where she starts flowering.
Wait, how do I switch my plant from the vegetative stage to the flowering stage?
The
size your plant achieves in this stage has a lot to do with your final
yields, since bigger plants produce more.
Some people put their
seedlings or clones right into the flowering stage if they want to harvest quickly (and grow extremely small plants). For example, super-stealth growers who are growing in small hidden spaces, like out of a computer case, would want to put their seedlings into flowering right away to keep their plants as small as possible.
I personally recommend at least 3 weeks or more in the vegetative stage for the
best results, since plants flowered sooner than that don't yield much
compared to how much work you put in.
Also,
your plant will likely double in size (or more) from when you first put
her into the flowering stage, so make sure you end this stage before your
plant reaches half the final height you want, or she may overgrow your grow space during the flowering stage!
To give you an idea as to what your FINAL plant will look like depending on how long she spends in the vegetative stage...
 ← This plant didn't spend any time in the Vegetative Stage. She's so small that she spent her whole life in a solo cup.
 ← Generally what I prefer is 3-4 weeks in the vegetative stage for
well-managed indoor plants. That's about how long this plant stayed in
the vegetative stage before being changed over to flowering
 ← This girl (my very first plant actually, from 2004) spent nearly 2 months in the vegetative stage before I realized to turn her over. She got way too tall for her space and started falling over. Click for a closeup. :)
Article continues below....
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Flowering Stage: 6 weeks - 3 months
Here's the breakdown...
The
length of time needed to stay in the flowering stage depends heavily on
the strain. Once you have switched your plant into the flowering stage
Here's a list of popular strains by length of flowering period:
Short (6-8 weeks)
Medium (8-12 weeks)
Long: (12-14+ weeks)
- Almost
any Haze strain, including my all-time favorite Haze 1
As you can see, most strains are in the mid-range as far as how long they take to flower.
And
remember, there's a 2-3 week harvest window for most plants, and
keeping your plants in the flowering stage for a bit longer tends to
increase your yields. This is because the plants tend to really bulk up
their flowers once they've become 'ripe'.
So oftentimes, even though you could harvest at the shortest recommended time, waiting an extra week or two will give you an extra 20-30% more yields.
Note: Please
realize that a 6-week plant is going to produce just a few grams of
smokable harvest. With a 4 week vegetative stage, the time from seed
to harvest averages 3-3.5 months for me growing with CFLs in coco coir,
and with that setup I get 6-10 ounces per plant, depending heavily on
strain.
Post-Harvest (before you smoke you have to do this stuff too)
Drying - 3 days
Curing - 2 weeks - 2 months
2
weeks is considered the minimum time to cure your buds, but I
personally cure all my buds for a month or longer. Curing really seems
to make the effects of buds feel less 'speedy' and be better suited to
medical applications like treating anxiety, reducing pain, and improving
feelings of depression.
Total post harvest time needed: 2.5 weeks - 2 months
Total for everything (after you've bought seeds and equipment): 8.5 weeks - 7 Months
Average: 3-4 months from seed to smoking your harvest (at least with bubbleponics or growing indoors with coco coir)
I hope that answers your questions, and definitely keep them coming my emailing me at [email protected]
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