Perhaps the most rewarding incentive for any serious marijuana grower is its yield. Smoking your stash coming from your harvest is the equivalent to drinking that ice cold beer you’ve bought with your hard-earned cash. Many gardeners painstakingly check their cannabis strains day in and day out to see if their crops are doing well. Growing cannabis hybrid plants requires the same amount of effort (and sometimes more) than any other marijuana strain.
The bottom line here is that growing hybrid cannabis plants isn’t hard. However, it still requires a certain level of knowledge and understanding before you can call yourself a successful grower. According to Neil Bernstein’s advice, just ask nicely. You’re here right now because you’re seeking pertinent information about growing hybrid strains. We’re here to tell you that you’ve come to the right place!
Read on as we give you tips and tricks to help you grow hybrid marijuana strains.
Tip #1: Take Advantage of Feminized Seeds
Before you start planting seeds on your marijuana garden, think about this thought – do you want to use regular or feminized seeds? Regular seeds bring about a 50-50 chance of giving you male and female plants. On the other hand, cultivating feminized seeds guarantees you that you’re always going to harvest yields from nothing but female plants.
Know that the best harvests come from female strains. To guarantee your grow area to have nothing but female hybrid strains means that you can benefit from every bud.
What’s the deal with male plants?
Most male marijuana plants are useful but only for one thing – pollination. Simply put, the males are only good at helping females produce seeds. This marijuana gender tends to have smaller leaf sizes and less resin content than their female counterparts. Many marijuana gardeners even deem the “men” as nothing but dead weight in their crop area.
Tip #2: Always Maintain an Ideal Growing Environment for Cannabis Hybrid Plants
You can’t just plant seeds of your cannabis hybrid plants and call it quits. For starters, it’s essential to recognize the importance of lighting in cultivating your cannabis crops. Using the right light source is crucial as it needs to provide the right amount of heat to your plants without becoming a nuisance. Note that most cannabis plants, especially hybrids require the right living conditions to produce top-quality buds.
Many marijuana strains require temperature levels of between 66 and 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the amount of heat together and you’ll acquire high-quality buds by harvest time without using plenty of seeds in the process. If you’re growing hybrid strains in indoor environments like a basement or garage, then there might be drastic drops to temperature levels at night. In this case, it’s important to use the right lighting fixture for your plants. Choose from a range of grow lights like HID and LED variants.
Another element to consider when maintaining your hybrid plants is the number of nutrients. Many beginner growers tend to overfeed their plants thinking that more is better. Just like human beings, marijuana plants require a suitable amount of nutrients to bring about proper growth. Overfeeding your plants may result in unwanted outcomes. Giving your plants a balanced diet will let them grow to its fullest potential. For instance, giving your hybrid strains the right amount of nitrogen than phosphorous during the vegetative stage can help improve leaf and stem growth.
Tip #3: Take Time in Selecting Your Grow Space
The right grow space can lead to great yields. As mentioned in a previous section, cannabis plants require light to deliver great yields. It doesn’t matter if you’re growing marijuana strains indoors or outdoors; your plants need a sufficient amount of light and darkness for your crops to flower into bountiful harvests.
A grow space with access to the right amount of light and darkness should be one of your top priorities. If you’re growing indoors, then giving your plants the advantage of basking in the glory of grow lights will help you acquire bountiful yields. On the other hand, you can also try growing your strains right by the windowsill.
If you’re growing outdoors, then search for any area in your property where your plants will thrive in as plenty of sunlight as possible. Ask yourself these questions:
Are my plants free of branches, shrubs, or weeds?
Will my strains receive adequate daily sunlight?
Will there be pests (insects or otherwise) that might destroy my crops?
You’d want to clear as many obstacles as you can while you’re cultivating your crops. Do it properly and you can give yourself a good smoke of your personal crop after harvest time.
As a final note, when you’re trying out something new for your hybrid marijuana plants during their development stages, remember to do so in small batches. Brett Eaton, Director of Horticulture of the American Cannabis Co. in Denver, Colorado, says that changes done to plants can have negative effects if not properly implemented.