DISCLAIMER:

Everything taught and sold by BudTrainer is to be used strictly for legal purposes. We absolutely condemn the production of illegal substances, and it is your duty to ensure that you are complying with the law. The words "hemp", "cannabis", "weed", and "marijuana" are used interchangeably to refer to the same plant (legal hemp with less than 0.3% THC) for the purposes of this lesson.

Planting for Success: Optimizing Hemp Growth from the Get-Go

Understanding the "why" behind proper planting techniques is essential for ensuring a healthy and bountiful harvest. After all, a strong start is the foundation of a successful growing experience. BudTrainer's mission is to empower you with the knowledge and premium gardening accessories necessary to grow your own high-quality, massive buds with confidence. So let's get started on this important lesson and set you on the path to becoming a master cannabis cultivator!

1. Tools & Materials

2. How to Plant Marijuana Seeds

Step 1 - Prepare your BudCups

Drop the bottom plate inside your BudCups and make sure it sits flat around the edge, with the convex, pointy end facing up. This last part is very important, as using your bottom plates upside down can lead to water-logging.

Step 2 - Prepare your soil

Fill your solo cup with your enriched soil, up to ¼" from the top. Make sure to break down any dense chunks of soil, and do not push your soil down. Roots need oxygen in order to grow, and loose soil creates oxygen pockets for that to happen (contrary to popular belief, roots in too much water get rotten).

Step 3 - Water your BudCups

The best time to water your media is before planting, so that you don't disturb your seed with the water once it's planted. Using 150ml (5oz) of dechlorinated tap water, moisten the soil slowly (ideally, over 60 seconds), until a small amount of runoff starts coming out of the bottom the holes. This means your BudCups are fully saturated and your seed will grow its roots over the next 2 weeks in search of all that water, thus growing in all directions.

Step 4 - Plant your seeds

Make a small hole, ¼" deep, in the center of your soil. Place your seed into the hole, with the pointed end of the seed facing downward and the crown facing up. Cover the seed with a small amount of growing medium, just enough to cover the ¼" hole.

Step 5 (optional) - Cover Your Seed

If you are growing from seed, it's important to provide it with a high-humidity environment in the beginning. For this reason, you can use either a humidity dome (with the window open) or a simple transparent plastic cup (make a hole in the top) flipped upside down on top of the soil. The dome or the transparent cup will make sure that the humidity stays high inside, and that the light can still come through. You can remove the transparent cup or the dome once the seedling reaches more than 3" in length, at which point they will be strong enough to continue growing.

Pro Tip: Provide Warmth & Light

Place your new plant baby in a sunny location (like a windowsill) or under a fluorescent grow light (if you are growing under LEDs, start in the lowest setting). Marijuana seeds need warmth and light to germinate, so try and keep the temperature between 70-79°F (21-26°C) and provide 18-20 hours of light per day. If you are growing in a windowsill, you can still supplement it with artificial lighting after the sun goes down. Weed plants need long days in order to thrive.

Now that you have planted your seeds and created the perfect environment for them to thrive in, it's time to leave them alone for at least 2 weeks, at which point you will be watering them again.

Behind the Leaves: Why Not Plant in the Final Pot?

The reason why we don’t plant our cannabis seeds directly into their final containers is because they end up developing weaker root structures than if we transplant them into gradually larger containers as they grow. Here is why.

When your seeds start in the BudCups, the tap root (the main root that comes out of the seedling) reaches their edge within a couple of days, which forces more roots to be produced from the center of the rootball. This allows for multiple root tips to form, so that when the young plant is transplanted into the next pot, those roots are ready to shoot out in every direction.

Conversely, if you were to plant your seed in the final container right away, the tap root would grow all the way to the bottom, and root tips would only form around the bottom because that is where the water always ends up.