Tips for Growing Your Own Hemp CBD Flower

Some plants are easier to grow than others, but generally speaking, hemp (or cannabis sativa) is fairly easy to grow. It’s hearty and grows quickly but a few quick tips will help you avoid common mistakes and get the most out of the experience of growing your own hemp.

Getting Hemp CBD Seeds Started:

Germinating or starting your seeds is easy. A common method is to place them between the folds of a moist paper towel and place it on a dish with saran-wrap over it. Place the dish in a warm (but not hot) spot and they should begin to come alive. Once the seed ‘pops’ open, a tiny taproot will emerge and begin to look for soil. This is the right time to drop them gently into a shallow hole in the soil or a piece of rock wool and cover with a humidome or an upside-down piece of clear tupperware. The seedlings need to be kept covered and moist until they grow up out of the soil and shed the seed shell when the first leaves pop open. Once that happens you can remove the humidome and begin to acclimate them to more normal growing conditions. When they’re very tiny, keep the light close so they stay short, and provide a very light breeze (or even just blow on them) so the thin stems grow stronger and don’t fall over.

Hemp Seedling Care

Once a few sets of leaves have grown, the main stems should be sturdier and they may be ready for bigger lights or real sunlight. Just a few weeks later they may be ready for replanting into a bigger pot or even moving outside, depending on your climate. Hemp likes soil that is fast-draining or very sandy. It likes lots of water as long as it does not sit in wet soil for too long. If you use regular Potting Soil, add a lot of Perlite and/or Vermiculite to lighten the soil and increase drainage. Hydroton Clay Pebbles are also a popular choice because they drain very quickly yet hold a small amount of water while allowing air to get to the roots. If you use those, plan on using a pump to cycle water through them from a reservoir that drains back into itself. Hemp will grow very quickly in this environment.

Special nutrients are not required for fresh soil, but if you choose Hydroton, you will need some nutrients as the clay pebbles do not provide any. Amazon carries most of the common brands and they’re not too expensive.

Growing Healthy Hemp Plants

Once your little hemp plant gets a few more sets of branches, it’s time to sex the plant, which means figure out if it’s a male or a female. Males don’t produce flower buds, so we’re looking for females. At every branch junction, a small tear-shaped nodule (or calyx) will grow. In males, this calyx grows a tiny stem and eventually will hang down and open a small pollen packet. In females, this node grows fatter and small hairs will grow out of it. When you see the hairs, you’ve got a girl! Most people will cull the males and keep the girls. (But we’ve heard that the leaves of males can be rolled like cigars or juiced like wheatgrass, or ground up and added to animal feed.) You don’t want male pollen anywhere near the females as it will cause them to grow seeds which wrecks the buds quality.

Once you’ve got one or more females, the goal is to let her grow to her largest, fullest, potential before reaching the flowering stage. She needs as much light or sunlight as you can provide and will grow for months outside until the sun begins to change on June 21st. Around this time, the plant can sense that the days are getting shorter and when it notices less than 11 hours of sunlight it should begin to go into flower mode. If you’re in soil, this is a good time to give it some fertilizer so it has the energy to produce bigger flowers. Flowering can take many weeks and you may notice that some of the hairs on the buds turn from light yellow to

deep orange/brown. The leaves will begin to turn yellow and drop off. These are your clues that it’s time to harvest!

When your flowers are ready, cut the whole long stems down to the main trunk and hang them upside down in a cool, shaded area free from dust to dry as slowly as possible. It may take a few days or longer but when the smaller stems don’t bend easily, it’s time to take them down and remove the leaves off the body and trim sugar leaves off the buds. Buds should be crispy on the outside but still have a little moisture on the inside. If the buds bend when you touch them, they’re too wet to put away. Many people like to keep them in mason jars for preserving, but be sure to check on them in the beginning as they will mold easily if they’re too wet.

That’s it! There are many more details and methods than we can cover in this brief article, but hopefully this intro helps you see that it doesn’t have to be overly complicated and once you’ve tried it, you find that you can harvest almost more than you can use from just a plant or two. Share with your friends! Grind some up and treat it like loose-leaf tea. Simmer some in melted butter or olive oil to infuse for recipes and baked goods. Flower buds can be smoked, steeped, and/or extracted to give you unlimited possibilities.

Good luck and happy growing!
Here’s some Hemp CBD Flower options while you wait.