How to Grow Medical Marijuana in Florida

Growing your marijuana plants is a fun and cheap way of getting high-quality flowers you need for medication. Cannabis is a hardy plant which can grow in different weather conditions, in the greenhouses, and even indoors. Here are the easy steps on how to grow medical marijuana in Florida:

Steps on How to Grow Medical Marijuana in Florida

Every cannabis grower should follow the right process of starting personal cannabis cultivation. You need to know and acquire the necessary tools and supplies before you can jump in and start cultivating.

Choose Your Marijuana Seeds

Cannabis seeds come in different forms: indica, sativa, and ruderalis, and hybrids. When choosing your cannabis seeds, you need to consider some factors. One is your purpose. Will you use medical marijuana for back pain or anxiety? Another is the climate in the area. Fortunately, Florida has a good mix of climate conditions suitable for raising different strains.

Know the Fundamentals

To grow healthy plants that will yield juicy buds, your plants will require a few fundamental things:

Lights

For healthy and fruitful vegetation, your cannabis plants need more than 12 hours of light per 24 hours. When grown indoors, you can easily control the lighting with timers. Outdoor germination should be delayed until your plants are left exposed to over 12 hours of daylight and receive 8 hours of direct sunlight every day.

Growing Medium

Organic growers use some types of soil each time in and out. However, the soil is not the only option. Neutral grow mediums which are completely nutrient-dependent are perlite, coconut noir, vermiculite, and rock wool. Purely hydroponics, aeroponics, and deep water culture don’t use grow mediums. The suspended root matrix obtains nutrients straight from the nutrient mix.

Your cannabis plants will also require fresh circulating air. If you cultivate them outdoors, this should not be a problem. But when you grow them indoors, you must invest in a fan and exhaust system for constant air movement. Still, environments encourage molds, pests, and poor growth.

Water

Like other living things, your marijuana plants will need water for them to grow and carry out their biological functions. Water your plants based on their size. Big plants are more likely to be thirsty. If you want your plants to grow bigger, then you must provide them water in between rains.

Temperature

Cannabis plants have the natural ability to withstand heat and cold temperatures. However, they can also get stressed and may fail to function well under extreme temperatures. Your plants may freeze or even die in the long run.

When growing your plants indoors, maintaining the temperature at 27 degrees centigrade is easy to achieve by using fans, aircon, heating, and cooling systems. The grow lights generate heat, and you must watch out for it.

In growing cannabis outdoors, you have to choose the time. Also, you have to examine the climate in Florida. You can use a sun cycle chart or app to be sure you’re getting the perfect timing.

Nutrients

Aside from water and light, your cannabis plants also need nutrients. A good friable mix of soil that is abundant in living organisms, compost, and nutrients will give your plants with ample food throughout their lifetime.

Watering with compost tea or any other organic mixes such as molasses will enhance soil quality and promote normal plant growth. With neutral mediums or hydroponics, your plants will reap pre-formulated nutrient blends. Specialized concoctions are exclusively for soil-less grow mediums.

Humidity

Most cannabis plants are weak or unable to protect themselves against mildew and mold. If you leave them consistently exposed to rainfalls, they may suffer from these issues sooner or later. However, humidity control is more important when growing cannabis plants indoors.

Choose the Best Grow Lights for Your Plants

With the legalization of cannabis cultivation, you can have several choices for grow lights. Just choose the most ideal option for your plants:

Grow Cupboards – these are fully customized lights for cannabis developed by cultivation experts.
Affordable Grow Lights – these include the most efficient CFL bulbs, small LED panels, HPS, and MH lamps.

When choosing to grow lights, don’t forget to consider the heat factor. Grow lights of any form can generate heat. That is why your indoor grow room should have an efficient exhaust system for keeping the space cool enough to achieve healthy weed growth.

Germinating Cannabis Seeds

This is the very first thing you need to do after preparing the necessary tools and space for growing cannabis. Keep in mind that seeds will not germinate until you meet its needs: correct temperature, water, and a perfect location.

Growing marijuana is somewhat an organic procedure without strict rules to follow. It’s an art you need to master. You can force your seeds to germinate in many ways. In the long run, you will find the easiest and most effective method for you.

Germination can take place through these methods:

Directly into the grow medium
Using paper towels
Using plugs, jiffies, and rock wool starters
In water
Using germination stations

The Vegetative Stage

After planting the seeds into the medium, the next phase will the vegetative period. If you grow your plants indoors, then leave them exposed to lights for 18 hours and then turn off the lights for the last 6 hours each day. Use organic soil to keep your plants happy and feed them with nutrients intended for the vegetative stage. Also, keep the temperature under your control with fan-forced breezes. You can also use something like carbon dioxide to achieve exotic disciplines. Scrogging and low-stress training will help boost the growth rate and flower potential of your indoor cannabis plants.

If you grow your plants outdoors, then they may likely grow taller and bigger than the expected. There should be enough room for the roots as they can grow bigger and longer. You don’t need to worry about the light cycle as your plants will rely on the natural transition of day and night.

The Flowering Phase

This is when you see your plants start to develop flowers. Sooner, you will start noticing enticing, fruity, flowery, or skunky and potent aromas from your plants. Also, your plants will look more beautiful at this phase. You will see eye-catchy floral arrangements, although it may differ from one strain to another.

Harvest Time

Your plants will no longer need nutrients once they are ready for harvest. You can start picking the flowers if they have trichomes and their pistils shrivel back and changed colors. The puffy resin sacks start to change color in waves across your plants. You will also notice the swollen flower clusters. All these things are telling you it’s time to harvest the fruits of your hard work.

Your buds may likely have more THC if their trichomes are 20 to 30 percent amber. If you want a wider cannabinoid profile, harvest your buds when the trichomes are 60 to 80 percent amber.

Conclusion

Growing cannabis plants seem to be hard when you’re doing it for the first time. By following these steps on how to grow medical marijuana in Florida, you may likely end up with a bountiful yield to enjoy for months. You must be physically, mentally, and even emotionally ready for the whole thing to succeed as growing marijuana plants takes weeks to months.