Smoke Bud

Marijuana is grown before it is harvested and dried for consumption. That is to say; marijuana is comparable to most fruits where it isn’t really advisable to consume them unless they are ripe enough.

Ideally, marijuana, much like fruits, must be allowed to age and mature before harvesting them.

Can you smoke fresh-picked Bud? Yes, it is possible to smoke buds, but it is challenging to keep them alight since freshly picked buds tend to be damp.

This article will discuss marijuana cultivation and farming and how to grow and harvest the organic drug effectively.

Is It Safe To Smoke Freshly Picked Buds?

Cannabis plants have different stages of growth, and there is an optimal time for smoking or consuming cannabis.

While, technically, it is possible to smoke freshly picked cannabis buds, but the practice isn’t really advisable since cannabis experts say that THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) or the psychoactive component of marijuana will not become active unless it has been dried.

Also, it is not advisable to smoke them since cannabis buds tend to be damp, making them difficult to keep alight and smoke.

What Is Marijuana Cultivation?

The fact that marijuana is a plant is common knowledge around the globe. However, what isn’t common knowledge is how to grow and cultivate marijuana. Cannabis plants can start in two different fashions: seeds or clones.

They can be cultivated either by indoor or outdoor farming as well. To properly cultivate cannabis, different factors like growth mediums, optimal temperatures, light, hydration, humidity levels, and nutrient availability come into play.

Much like the cultivation of other flora, pests, winds, and extreme climate conditions can challenge growing marijuana. Cannabis or marijuana cultivation is defined as growing and producing cannabis flowers for harvest and consumption.

Cultivating Marijuana

Cannabis, as a plant, is somewhat flexible since they are capable of growing indoors or outdoors. That being said, it is advisable to cultivate cannabis indoors because you have control of many factors that significantly contribute to the growth of your plantation.

You have control of how humid your plantation will be. You will also control the amount of water and nutrients they receive without worrying about external forces affecting their cultivation.

Growing cannabis indoors also gives you more consistent harvests throughout the year. Not to mention, an indoor plantation will be safe from the eyes of judgmental neighbors. You will need to keep in mind some things to help you get started in marijuana farming.

Indoor Space

Your cannabis plants will need their own space. Unlike other indoor plants, cannabis plants don’t like getting moved around. It is advisable to place your cannabis plants in ventilated rooms because they tend to stink up their bubbles, especially when they begin to flower.

A good tip for beginners is to start small because that way, even if you make errors, it won’t hurt your savings or funds as much.

When designing or preparing a space for the cannabis plants, it is crucial to remember how much space they will need to grow and how much you will need to move around to care for them.

Keep in mind that cannabis plants can double in size, especially when they are flowering. Also, consider how much room the fixtures like lights, fans, and ventilation will take up.

Indoor Climate

Cannabis, like most indoor plants, requires conditions to be able to thrive. Factors like temperature, humidity, airflow, and light will need to be monitored and regulated to allow the cannabis plants to live through their different stages.

Since you’ll be growing indoors, that more or less saves you from one-half of your worries about climate control.

The other half would be the environment outside your grow space. It is advisable to choose a cool and dry area with access to fresh air from outside to be your grow space.

If the space is damp, it would be best for you to invest in a dehumidifier to stabilize the immediate environment around your plants. Conversely, if the grow space is too hot, it would be a good idea to bring in more fans and air conditioners to cool the space down.

Lights

Cannabis requires different intensities of lights depending on whether they are flowering or not. This should not be a problem if you are growing weed outdoors since the sun and the seasons will dictate that, but you will need to monitor and control the immediate climate if you are growing indoors.

Cannabis plants require 18 hours of light in their vegetative stage and 12 hours of light in their flowering stage. This reduction in light triggers the flowering cycle – when cannabis plants begin to grow buds.

Be aware that your indoor space needs to be light-tight because light leaks in the dark may confuse your plants and cause them to produce male flowers or revert their stages. There are three main types of lights that cannabis growers use for indoor growing.

1. HID (High-Intensity Discharge) Lights. Very popular among cannabis farmers because of their combined output, efficiency, and value. Two types of HID lights are used for different stages of growth.
   
   The MH (Metal Halide) light is primarily used for the vegetative stage and the HPS (High-Pressure Sodium) light for the flowering stage.


2. Fluorescent grow lights are popular with smaller-scale cannabis farmers. They tend to be cheaper to set up and hardly require a cooling system since they don’t produce nearly the amount of heat HID lights generate.
   
   However, they are less efficient, averaging about 20 to 35 percent compared to the output of HID setups.


3. LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights are also popular due to the sheer coverage of their technology. Though LEDs may be popular, their main drawback is that they can cost up to 10 times the HID setup.
   
   LED lights are not without their benefits, of course. LEDs last much longer compared to the other two. They also generate less heat and use far less electricity. Since LEDs also boast a full spectrum of light, this setup can also produce better yields and higher quality products.

Ventilation

Everyone knows that plants thrive by processing carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. Cannabis is no different in this case.

Your indoor space will require a steady stream of fresh air that helps your plants feed and help extract the hot air and introduce cooler air from the outside.

Ventilation is easily achieved by installing an exhaust in the higher part of your grow space to extract hot air and installing a port or a passive fan in the lower part of the space to bring in cool air.

It is also a good idea to bring in oscillating fans that will provide a constant breeze in your grow room to help keep the air moving and strengthen the plants’ stems.

Without ventilation, grow spaces may experience rapid changes in humidity and develop pockets of carbon dioxide depletion – both of which are bad for plants because carbon dioxide depletion may lead to nutrient lockout. Areas with high humidity are prone to developing infestations and molds.

Timers

You will also definitely want automatic timers for your growing space. We have tackled how important it is for cannabis to receive ample light depending on whether they are vegetative or flowering.

A timer is a perfect helper to help you give light to your cannabis consistently. Timers do not only apply to lights, however. You can also use timers for your fans and your thermostats to help you regulate temperatures much more precisely with less effort.

Humidity

You’ll need to make sure that the temperature and humidity in your grow space are ideal for your cannabis plants.

Typically, the advisable temperatures are around 70 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit when the lights are on and around 58 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit when the lights are off.

Different variants of cannabis prefer different conditions. Cannabis Indica prefers the colder side of the range, while Cannabis Sativas are more tolerant of harsh temperatures.

Usually, cannabis prefers these temperatures at different stages for optimal cultivation:

1. Seedlings and clones prefer 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit with ~70% relative humidity.
2. Vegetative stages prefer 70 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit with ~40 to 60% relative humidity.
3. Flowering stages prefer 65 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit with ~40 to 50% relative humidity.

Of course, all of this is much easier said than done, but inevitably, there will be fluctuations when it comes to balancing the temperature and humidity in your space.

These fluctuations may come from the different changes throughout the day or throughout the season. Aside from that, the balance also shifts when one of the factors detailed above overpowers the others.

Conclusion

Cannabis, as a plant, has different stages of growth and a different method of care for each respective stage. Knowing the right time and thing to do is key to being a good cannabis farmer.

Because it isn’t advisable to smoke fresh buds, it isn’t going to hurt to wait for them to bloom into actual flowers so that the experience you want is that much more rewarding.