August 03, 2020
We know that starting to grow medicinal plants indoors can seem overwhelming in the beginning we have created this practical guide for you. Our goal is to walk you through all steps needed to start out and grow like a professional. We cover infrastructure. We help you to select the right strains. We share all our knowledge and secret tips from years of experience.
This guide includes in-depth information on growing medicinal plants the right way, with tips that will make you a pro.
Genetics is just a fancy word for your medicinal plants seeds. The term can also refer to medicinal plants clones, but for the beginning grower, seeds are much easier to source. If you are interested in starting from clone stock, you can generally purchase them from a qualified local grower, assuming there are no laws against clone sales in your jurisdiction.
But which medicinal plants seeds to buy? That depends on your grow style and personal preference. You’re going to choose an Indica, Sativa, or hybrid or course, but do you want regular seeds, feminized seeds, autoflowering seeds, or some combination? With regular seeds you’ll have to remove any males before they mature and pollinate your females or you’ll end up with seedy, low-quality buds. Additionally, medicinal plants grown from regular seeds will only flower in response to a change in the photoperiod (how many hours of light they are exposed to) so farming these types of seeds requires a bit more care and attention than autoflowering strains (which produce buds when they are old enough, not in response to the light) or feminized seeds which eliminate the need to monitor for males. If you’re looking for the simplest type of seed, you can go with autoflowering, feminized seeds.
Soil is a great choice for beginners. It can be much more forgiving and requires less precision when watering and feeding plants. Less-frequent watering and a stable pH foundation can drastically increase the likelihood of a successful first harvest. Soil also contains beneficial microbes and nutrients that help keep plants healthy, though it also creates favorable conditions for pests, mold, and mildew to spread. Working with soil and hand-watering plants can also be messy, but it will allow you to get familiar with the pace in which your plants consume water and nutrients.
Soil can be much more forgiving and requires less precision when watering and feeding plants additional nutrients.
Hydroponics
Hydroponic media are viable indoor alternatives to soil, but they’re considered more advanced because they bring with them a set of challenges that may prove difficult for beginners. Then again, if going hydroponic is in your plans, it’s best to learn the method from the beginning.
Hydroponics is a blanket term for the growing of plants in a nutrient solution, with or without an inert medium to provide physical root support. Media such as fused basalt rock and chalk (known as rockwool), coconut fiber (coco coir), and clay pellets (hydroton) can drastically improve nutrient delivery. With a plant’s roots system exposed, hydroponically grown medicinal plants can grow faster and more efficiently, requiring less water and fewer nutrients but also requiring monitoring systems to ensure a stable pH.
Soilless Mediums
Rockwool, also known as mineral wool, is one of the most common forms of hydroponic media for the beginning stage of a plant’s life. Rockwool is an inert substance, and its composition of mineral or rock fibers provides a relatively sterile environment with a unique capacity to hold water. Rockwool will quickly expose any watering or feeding mistakes. Missing even one day of watering could be detrimental when using rockwool, especially for tender young plants.
3. Grow lights for indoor grow light
Since your plants are, well, plants they’re going to need light. If you choose to grow outdoors, you’ll want to check the growing schedule below to figure out when to plant based on local seasonal daylight hours. For indoors growers, LED grow lights are expensive but efficient. A cheaper but less energy-conscious choice are fluorescent bulbs, but really it’s up to you. Opting for light timers will make your life easier, and they’re usually pretty cheap.
4.Nutrients
With lighting and other environmental controls in place, indoor medicinal plants will require large amounts of fertilizer or nutrients throughout their lifespans. As a medicinal plants develops, its nutrient needs change. That’s why different nutrient lines are available for different growth phases. Most nutrient lines come with recommended feeding charts. If you’re just starting out, be sure to get to know your nutrients and their ratios.
Once you have these items, you’re ready to start growing medicinal plants indoors!
A Place to Grow (closet, indoor grow tent, spare room, bathroom, etc.)
Grow Light (LEDs or HPS recommended for beginners)
Grow Medium (soil, coco, hydro, etc)
medicinal plants-Friendly Nutrients (if using nutrients)
Seeds or Clones
I recommend beginners get a Eco Farm grow tent to create a waterproof, reflective, portable, “pop-up” grow area.
You know the basics about your plant and you’ve got your equipment. Now it’s time to plant seeds. Your plant is going to grow on a fairly predictable timeline, and it’s important that you check on it daily to make sure that you’re getting the right amount of light and nutrients to it during each of the four growth stages.
The easiest way to germinate seeds of medicinal plants is to use a starter cube (or seedling plug). Rapid Rooters are great. You simply put the seed inside, keep it warm and slightly moist and when the sprouts and root appear after a few days, put the whole plug, seed and all, into the soil in your seedling pot. That way you also don’t have to worry about handling the delicate seeds once they have sprouted.
If you don’t want to bother with the Rapid Rooters, you could also just germinate your seeds in the same container that you plan on using for your young seedlings. It could be a plastic cup or a 1-gallon fabric pot or whatever.
To do this, plant them the medicinal plants seeds about 1/2 to 1 inch deep (1.3 to 2.5 cm). The soil should be moist, but not soaking. Keep it that way during the entire germination process by adding water whenever it begins to dry out. You also want to keep the seeds warm, either with a heating pad or with a light that gives off some heat.
Try to keep the temperature during seeding around 73° F (23° C) and the humidity around 70%. Give them 18 hours of light per day, followed by 6 hours of darkness.
You don’t need a powerful LED grow light during this stage, but you can use it. Just hang it higher, to keep from harming the delicate seedlings.If you’ve only got a few, a CFL bulb will work just fine. This article tells you what you need.
Once your medicinal plants grows its first set of regular leaves (i.e. not the seedling leaves), it has officially entered the vegetative stage.
After growing its first full fan of leaves, that little dude is going to grow like gangbusters. Some growers call this stage, “the big stretch” because of how quickly the plant grows. This is the ideal time to repot the plant, increase the water, and introduce nutrients if you need to. This is also the time to introduce plant training, such as a trellis, which will help your buds in the next stage. Your 18 hour light cycle continues through the vegetative state, which happens from 3 to 16.
Unlike the other stages, when the plant flowers depend on you. To encourage your plant to flower, switch over to a 12 hour light cycle sometime between 8 and 11 weeks. A few weeks into the flowering stage, you need to separate any male plants from the females so the female buds don’t become pollinated (and go to seed.) According to Leafly male plants will have little knobby organs where the leaves meet the stem of the plant, and females will have hairy pre-flowers. The end of the flowering stage is harvest time.
Growing your medicinal plants can be an amazingly fun hobby. Once you really get into it, you’ll get a feel for what your plants need, and how to grow the best crop you can. If you ever need tips though, feel free to come back and reference this guide again.