Cannibus

What is Marijuana Hydroponics and How to Grow Weed with Hydroponics?
Growing marijuana hydroponically means that you grow the plants in an inert, sterile growing medium instead of in soil. All of the plants’ nutrient requirements are supplied with the water mixed with nutrients. Plants are 80% to 95% water; the remaining parts are carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. Plants extract these elements from the air and from water so nutrients are actually a very small amount of the total weight of a plant. It is the plant’s entire atmosphere that needs to be controlled to produce perfect crops.




Marijuana plants, and in fact all plants, do not need to be in a living soil, they require nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulfur (S). Those are the macroelements (the big ones) and the small elements known as microelements are iron (Fe), chlorine (Cl), manganese (Mn), boron (B), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and molybdenum (Mo).


On a side note molybdenum is a fantastic metal and creates some of the most impressively stain resistant and sharpest Japanese knives on earth.
Hydroponics introduces the water, nutrients and air to the roots through the mediums and as you bypass the web of roots and the energy required for the plant to acquire the nutrients you get faster growing plants.


Advantages of using hydroponics over soil to grow marijuana are:

• Cleaner;
• Less space required;
• Faster growing time, usually a crop is finished in 12 weeks;
• More automation means less labour;
• Avoidance of soil borne pests;
• More control over the growing environment such as vegetative and flowering times;
• Higher yields.

Disadvantages using hydroponics to grow marijuana can be:

• A higher initial set-up cost;
• More skill and knowledge required with management usually on a daily basis unless you have a very professional set up – but we are here to help;
• Easier for things to go wrong due to the technical side.

Hydroponic marijuana set up

All growing described on this page is done using the Ebb and Flow system. The Ebb and Flow system is one of, if not the most popular hydroponic methods for growing weed. It is simple and easy to use.
It works like this: A reservoir containing nutrient solution is located below a growing tray. The tray contains the plants that are in containers with growing medium like Rockwool.
The growing bed is filled with nutrient solution by a small pump on a timer to feed and water the plants. The timer then shuts the pump off and the nutrient solution drains freely back into the reservoir.
Ebb and Flow systems’ are favored because of their low maintenance, high productivity, and ease of use. Ideal not only for the beginner, but for the advanced gardener as well.
If you would rather buy a unit rather than grab all the gear from the hardware store (they will know what you are making), it may cost a little more but all parts will be included and you will save time by getting everything at once. I got a 10 plant unit for $250 USD. You can probably find something just as good or better for less money on eBay. More about hydroponic grow systems.

Marijuana lighting

Metal Halide (MH) or High Pressure Sodium (HPS) are the marijuana lights to get for growing hydroponic marijuana. Metal halide light is close to regular room light or cool fluorescent light (blue spectrum) and is best for vegetative (beginning) growth. While high pressure sodium is in the red end of the spectrum and is best for flowering (later) growth.
Expect to pay about $250 for a 250W HPS/MH digital ballast, bulb and reflector combo. Then there is the rest of the hydroponic marijuana setup and everything else you will need to raise your crop hydroponically. You can spend more or less than that, but another $200 to $500 would cover it nicely. Once you get things set up you can continue to raise new crops with your set up and only have to spend money on nutrients, bulbs, and other maintenance.
After a few crops (you will make mistakes at the beginning), your product will be better (if the seeds you used were good) than anything that you would normally buy, at a fraction of the cost.
If you do things properly, you will get about one to two ounces of premium tops per marijuana plant every three to four months. You won’t have to deal with people that you might not trust, and your stash will be clean and healthy as can be. Much more on grow lighting.

Marijuana growing seeds or clones

If you know someone who grows, ask them for a few clones. If you don’t have access to clones you will have to get seeds. If you don’t already have some, you can ask you friends to save you seeds out of any good weed they may come across.
The better the weed that the seeds come from is, the better your crop will be. If the weed the seeds came from was no good, your crop will probably not be any better.
If you need seeds we totally recommend reading this cannabis seeds page.

Germinate the marijuana seeds

Set up your hydroponic garden before you germinate the seeds. Make sure everything works fine. If you are using clones, skip this section.
The standard thing to do is use a Rockwool cube to start the seed on and surround it with whatever media you use. Keep the Rockwool cube so that the bottom 70% or so is submerged when the water is at max, but keep the top part above the water so that the seed is never submerged.
Another way to germinate seeds and more information, just follow the directions located here to germinate your cannabis seeds. After the seeds have germinated and the root is about a quarter of an inch long, place the seed, root down, on your grow cube or media that is in your hydroponic cups.
There are various types of media available to grow in. Rockwool is one, but there are many others. Media simply means the substance that the roots grow in. Since you aren’t using soil in a hydroponic garden, you need a substitute.
The media will provide no nutrition; it is just a support for the roots. All nutrition comes from the hydroponic solution.

Vegetative marijuana growth

The first phase of marijuana growth is called the vegetative phase. If you plan on using the MH or HPS right away, start with the light about 20 inches or more above the top of the plant and lower the light an inch or so daily until you think the height is right. Too close and the plants will dry and turn brown. Too far and the plants grow too tall as they stretch to get closer to their light source. That is a waste of space. Start high and lower the light an inch or two daily until you think the height is right.
During the first stage of growth, the vegetative stage, keep the light on 16 to 24 hours a day minimum. The longer it is on, the faster the plants will grow, but the higher your electricity bill will be. More on marijuana vegetative growth.

Marijuana flowering

Flowering is the phase of marijuana growth that produces the most THC (the active ingredient that produces the high). Once flowering begins, the height of the plants will taper off as the plant energy is used in the flowering process itself.
You can start flowering when the plants are a minimum of about 6 inches high and have at least 4 sets of leaves. This will take 2 weeks to a month of vegetative growth in most hydroponic gardens. When you want to start flowering, cut the light back to 12-13 hours a day.
The height of the plant will continue to increase for about two to four weeks after flowering has been started, after that all the plants energy will be used for flower production.
Limiting the height of a marijuana plant has always been a difficult task for me, so I just raise the height of the light as the plant grows. There are methods of limiting the height of a plant, but none of them have worked for me, so I’m not going to recommend one, the Marijuana Growers Guide has the most comprehensive descriptions I have seen on limiting the height of weed.
The flowering cycle lasts about two months, sometimes a little longer, depending on the type of seed. So the total length of time to raise a crop should be 3 to 4 months in a hydroponic garden.
During flowering the dark period must be perfectly dark. No room light, sun light, or any other light should reach the plant in the 12 hours of darkness that the plant must get everyday. The strongest light that should reach the plant during flowering would equal that of moonlight.
Stronger light than this will delay flowering, and if it continues there is a chance that the plant will not flower, but stay in the vegetative phase.
This is more important in the first 6 weeks of flowering. When the plants have started to flower for over a month, small amounts of light for short periods of time are not as harmful.
You will know the plants are flowering when you see what look like little white hairs developing at bud sites. They should be visible after about two weeks of the flowering light cycle. These will eventually be the red hairs that you see on good bud that you have probably smoked in the past or are smoking now