Not a skilled plant-owner here.
A friend got some buds with seeds on them, and I’m trying to grow some. Tried two first, but both died right after sprouting. Now there’s this other one in the pic, planted last week and sprouted yesterday. Theres three other seeds next to it, too. I think they were either orange haze or godzilla cookies, if that matters.
It’s hot where I live, and there’s a good range of sunlight I can expose it to, from direct, harsh sunlight all day to partial, indirect sunlight, depending on where I place it in the apartment. I also got a cheap yellow+blue+red growlight that I can adjust the intensity of and set timers.
Other stuff I have lying around: a rooting agent, bokashi, and a substrate made of spaghnum, perlite and rice hulls.
What should I know about watering, light schedules, wind, temperature, budding care etc?
E: I should add, I’m not interested in a super-optimized,industrial scale high-yield techniques, this is just for hobby
Thanks!
When exactly is “beginning to mature”?
When they’re out of the juvenile phase and are about half the size you’d like them to be at full growth. You can also do very simple things like topping the plant when they’ve reached about 6 nodes so they produce two colas instead of one. Imo I’d recommend watching some videos / reading some guides, I’m an amateur grower at best and have just picked up tips from people over the years.
If you know what strain it’s supposed to be look up if it’s an autoflower or not, if it’s autoflowering then this doesn’t matter because it’ll start to bud on its own after like a month or so. Non auto flowering varieties start to flower when the seasons change, like october-ish, which if indoors you just mimic by reducing the duration you have grow lights/light exposure
Iirc i think you want to use blackout curtains and stuff then because light leaking in outside of the proper time can stress the plant and cause it to turn hermaphroditic and self pollinate which will reduce the potency of your bud and also fill it with seeds
As to “when” to switch the lights, it’s up to how big you want the plant and harvest to get. The first stage is vegetative growth, you’re letting it build a root system, stems and leaves that will support flowering. You can let it grow like that for a long time, so it’s up to you to be like “nah this is big enough/these are enough tops to produce what I want”
People are huge nerds over fertilizer and dirt but I think it’ll be fine with regular potting soil and occasional applications of a nitrogen based fertilizer like miracle grow. If the tips of your leaves start getting fucked up slow down with fertilizer and don’t use more than directed at a time because if it’s too concentrated it will “burn” the roots (and Ive heard the Nerds say it will "lock out other nutrients but that’s not a problem ive ever had). If the leaves start to yellow a bit 99/100 times that’s your signal to give it more of that sweet nitrogen juice
I’ve only grown one plant and it was unfortunately male but from that experience basically growing weed is almost exactly like growing tomatoes and about as difficult