9 Time-Saving Tips for Busy Weed Growers
- 1. Grow outdoors
- 2. Avoid diy
- 3. Super soil and pre-amended soil
- 4. Bigger containers and the right medium
- 5. Proper lighting
- 6. Optimize your growing space
- 7. Choose strong strains
- 8. Grow autoflowers
- 9. Grow and learn
- 10. In conclusion
If you're a busy person and don't want your lack of time to affect your harvests, make sure to take a look at our time-saving tips for busy growers! If you’re very busy, it’s most likely that you don’t have enough time to take care of your cannabis plants, things like defoliating, plant training, or even just feeding your plants require time, and failing to do essential maintenance can end up affecting your harvest so here are some time-saving tips for really busy growers.
It’s easy to underestimate what it truly takes when it comes to growing feminized seeds. Before placing your first seeds into the soil, you likely had a vision of an easy and streamlined process that involves little more than a splash of water and a bit of nutrients. In truth, it takes a bit more than that to keep a cannabis plant healthy, pest and disease-free, and productive enough to make them worth growing in the first place. With that said, you don’t need to pour every ounce of your being into your plants throughout the growing cycle. Relax, you can still enjoy your free time and go about your normal daily activities! Below, you’ll discover a handful of tips that will make growing weed as easier and effortless as possible.
1. Grow Outdoors
When growing indoors you practically have to play mother nature to maintain and adjust your growing environment, this can take a lot of time depending on your experience so growing outdoors is the best way to save time. Growing outdoors at the right time ensures your plants get the best conditions possible without much maintenance, when growing in your backyard or balcony there’s not much you have to do other than feeding your plants and checking on them every couple of days, some growers even check on their plants once a week without affecting yields or quality of your harvest.
Nature will take care of many of your plant needs. You’ll receive free sunlight that does a better job than the vast majority of expensive growing lights. You’ll also get treated to plenty of rainfall (depending on your climate) which will keep your plants hydrated for free. On top of this, if you're lucky, your native soil will feature a good balance of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter. It’ll contain plenty of the nutrients that cannabis plants need to survive and thrive, as well as an intact soil food web of beneficial microbes that will cycle the nutrients within your soil and make them plant-available. However, you also need to be aware of some of the problems you could run into outdoors that can make things more challenging. Adverse weather events, including floods and droughts, have the potential to wipe out a crop.
Growing outside naturally comes with an increased risk of pests and diseases and the risk of frost. Luckily, there are several strategies that you can employ to counter these risks. A greenhouse and polytunnel can help to protect against pests and also extend the growing season. They’ll also protect against excess rains that can increase moisture levels in flowers and lead to the growth of mold. Plus, you can protect against pests by sowing companion plants in close proximity to your crop that will attract beneficial predatory insects. Finally, if your native soil is lacking in nutrients, you can always buy high-quality growing mediums and grow in containers. Likewise, you can also amend your soil with organic matter to boost the soil food web and send fertility levels through the roof.
2. Avoid DIY
Building things yourself or improvising with household items may be a great way to save money but you are also more prone to encounter problems along the way. Now, DIY is a great choice for cannabis growers but if you are lacking time to take care of your plants you won’t have time to fix whatever breaks down at that moment so make sure you buy good-quality equipment that can last long without needing maintenance.
3. Super Soil and pre-amended soil
Super soil is how growers refer to organic pre-amended soil, this type of soil is super useful to busy growers because there’s no need to worry about pH or nutrients.
When growing in super soil (or organic pre-amended soil), instead of mixing your nutrient solution, you are making the nutrients available in the soil in advance and the microorganisms present in it will slowly start to break down the minerals, making them available for your cannabis plants. So when growing this way, you just have to put your seed in the soil, water your plants when needed, and the organisms present will do the rest.
Remember that you don’t necessarily need to spend a lot to make your own super soil, you can always buy it at your local grow shop and you can even make it simpler. By using organic powdered nutrients you can grow cannabis organically from seed to harvest without even having to mix liquid nutrients, just top dress once during the vegetative stage, once during pre-flower, and once again during mid-flower, and your plants should have everything they need to produce beautiful flowers.
4. Bigger containers and the right medium
As you may know, there are different soil recipes that provide a better oxygenation or increase water retention and this can be used in your favor. Depending on the number of plants you are growing, watering your plants can be quite time-consuming so a common practice among busy growers is to use the right combination of soil, coco fiber, perlite, and bigger containers so you are able to water less often.
By using bigger pots, your plants will take longer to absorb the water because the medium can hold more water at a time, this makes it possible for growers to water around 2-3 times a week instead of watering every day or every couple of days.
5. Proper lighting
If you’re looking for a way to save time, choosing the proper lights will end up making your life easier. LEDs or a combination of MH/HPS (with the proper wattage) allows you to grow your plants from seed to harvest without having to install more lights or even adjusting their height, your only job will be to hang them and forget it, eventually adjusting them when transitioning from one stage to the other.
| LEDs vs Light Bulbs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Light Fixture | Pros | Cons |
|
LEDs |
Save up to 70% electricity. | Can cost up to $1000. |
|
MH/HPS |
Easier to find and cheaper. | Emit a lot of heat. |
Even though CFLs are cheaper, investing in good lights is a must if you are looking to save time, CFLs have to be kept around 10cm from your plants so you will have to adjust them every day, that’s why LEDs or good quality MH/HPS are a must for busy growers.
6. Optimize your growing space
Usually, indoor growers have limited space so it’s essential to have your growing space organized, things like getting water, having to move your plants around, or even just looking for essential tools such as a pH pen or shears can take a couple of minutes of your precious time.
Easy access to your water source
Watering is one of the things you’ll have to do more often and depending on where you get it, it can take quite a lot of time.
- From the sink
If you’re getting water from your kitchen sink, for example, make sure you’re using a container that fits perfectly or you have a hose nearby to facilitate the process of getting water. Depending on the number of plants, you’ll need to fill a couple of buckets so it’s essential you have a way to speed up this process.
- From your garden hose
If you’re getting water from your garden hose, you can have a hose extension ready to go, this will allow your hose to reach even closer to your growing room and if you have a window in there, even water your plants with the hose (or fill the buckets through the window).
Make it easy to dispose of water
When watering your cannabis plants, it’s essential you water until you see around 20% runoff water coming out at the bottom, this is the best way to ensure you are watering your plants thoroughly but this comes with a problem. If you are growing in containers, you’ll need to have a saucer to catch the runoff water, leaving your plants sitting in it can end up making your plants look droopy due to the excess humidity, so to save some time, you should find a way to speed up this process.
Depending on the space you have available and how much you’re willing to spend, you can invest in a plastic tray so instead of having individual saucers for each pot, you can buy a big plastic tray that catches all the excess water, making it easier to dispose of after. If you’re willing to spend a bit more, you can invest in a small water vacuum, this will make it easier to remove the runoff water without even having to lift your pots.
Easy access to your plants
To properly take care of your plants you need to have a good look at them to see if they need more water, nutrients, or even just a simple defoliation. This may seem simple but even a couple of extra leaves may block your view or difficult your access and moving them around can take quite a lot of time, so it’s super important you keep your garden tidy.
The idea is to take the least amount of time possible to check on your plants so you should organize your plants in a way you can easily walk between them and keep your plants properly defoliated or tie down the branches so you can see everything you need just by opening your grow tent.
7. Choose strong strains
Nowadays you can find strains that have been carefully bred to be quite resistant to harsher climates and pests, this doesn’t mean that you can mistreat your plants but it allows you to provide less-than-ideal conditions and still get great results.
For busy or first-time growers we highly recommend our OG Kush Auto, this tough strain can withstand hotter (or colder conditions), is super resistant to mold, and doesn’t need much maintenance at all.
8. Grow autoflowers
Autoflowering strains really give you an advantage if don’t have enough time to maintain your cannabis plants. Due to being shorter and growing compact, you can get away with growing them in a smaller space without having to perform any training technique, you also don’t have to worry about the light schedule because autoflowers grow on the same light schedule from seed to harvest, and the best of all, they’ll be ready for harvesting in around 8-9 weeks.
The only thing is that you will have to keep a close eye on them because autos can get stunted if they get stressed and that can end up affecting your yields, but other than keeping an eye on the, you won’t have to do any extra work. Just keep in mind that autoflowers still need food, light, and the right conditions to grow healthy so make sure to keep your plant well-fed and the humidity and temperatures within the recommended range. Remember that most fertilizers are designed for photoperiod cannabis strains so it’s highly recommended to feed your autos at 50% of the recommended nutrient dosage as the full dosage could be too strong for young autoflowers and can end up causing nutrient burn which will stunt growth and can ultimately affect yields.
9. Grow and learn
As you gather more and more experience, you’ll start to learn what works better and what suits you better, this is a must for all growers. Knowing exactly what you want, how you want it, and how to do it will save you a lot of time, obviously, when you’re just starting you will have to experiment and it’s most likely you encounter problems along the way but once you’ve established your growing style and setup, you won’t have to waste a minute more.
Remember that growing cannabis is not easy at all. Yeah, you’ll grow pretty decent flowers with the basics but if you’re looking to grow top-shelf weed it’ll take time, experience, and lots and lots of experimenting, but it’s definitely worth it. It may not seem like it but you’ll realize all that time was worth it once you’re smoking on those delicious flowers grown by yourself!
10. In conclusion
If you’re a busy person there’s no need to worry, you can still grow excellent cannabis plants without having to spend too much time taking care of them. Have in mind that your growing environment either indoors or outdoors will dictate how your plants grow so make sure you have everything properly adjusted and start growing! If you’re a busy grower and have come up with other ways to save time, feel free to share your tips and tricks with fellow growers, leave a comment in the comment section below!
External references:
- Soil improvement and amendments - soil testing. - Rana, Surinder. (2018).
- Soil improvement and amendments - soil amendments and drainage. - Rana, Surinder. (2018).
