What are the stages of cannabis growth?

Cannabis growth is made up of a series of stages that plants undergo during their lifecycle. Each stage during the cannabis cultivation process requires its own unique demands, including different levels of light, water, and nutrients.

It can take anywhere from 4 to 8 months to grow a cannabis plant, this varies based on where you’re growing. If you have an indoor grow room, your plant has the ability to flower after only a few weeks!

The quality of your plant depends on your knowledge of the cannabis growth stages and the lifecycle of your plants.

Generally. Cannabis growth is divided mainly in seed germination, seedling, vegetative, and flowering stages. Each one has its own environmental and nutritional needs, even different photoperiods.

1.Germination – This is where it all begins – where your tiny seed will swell and burst in the presence of warmth and water, until its hard, tough casing finally cracks.

2. Seedling – Once the seed cracks open you have entered the seedling stage, this is where the plant is at its most fragile, so take care and don’t be heavy handed. For optimal growth, 100% humidity is required as the seedling doesn’t have an adequate amount of roots yet, so it will take water out of the air through its leaves. This stage usually lasts for 2–3 weeks.

3. Vegetation – After 2 – 3 weeks of being a seedling, the plant has now entered its Vegetation stage, this is where the growth really takes off. Light cycle should be 18 hours on and 6 hours off. This is to imitate summer season. 50–75% humidity is all the plant requires during this stage, as its roots are now rooting deeper and sucking up more water. This stage can last 4–16+ weeks . If growing indoors, you have the power to control how long the plant stays in this stage. It is best to keep it in the Vegetation stage until you have filled out a canopy.

Key Points About The Vegetative Stage

1. Generally, cannabis plants grow vegetatively when they are exposed to 18 hours of light per day.
2. Indoor growers usually veg for around 1-3 weeks before switching to flower.
3. Young plants should be positioned close to the light to avoid stretching.
4. Lights used at this stage of cannabis growth should be a little more blue than those used in flower.
5. Lights with too much of a red/far-red spectrum may encourage stretching.
6. Outdoor growers have less control over day length, but can practice light-deprivation techniques to kick off flowering early.
7. The optimum temperature and RH for vegetative growth of cannabis is 68-86 F and 40-70%.

4. Flowering/Fruiting stage – After you are happy with how your plant has vegetated, you can now flip the light cycle to 12 hours on and 12 hours off.

What Happens During Flower Growth?

1. To flower most cannabis strains, all you need to do is switch the light cycle from 18 to 12 hours per day.
2. By around week 2 after switching light cycle, stretching should slow or stop.
3. Small, sparse flower calyxes and limited crystal will be present at this point.
4. By weeks 4 or 5, flowers should already be starting to plump up and form dense clusters.
5. Structure, density and other characteristics of your flowers depend heavily on the variety.
6. The generally-accepted optimum temperature and RH for flowering cannabis is around 68-82 F and 40-60% RH.

You do this because you want the plant to think Autumn has arrived. 40–55% humidity is optimal. During this stage the plant will start to stretch towards the light, it is not uncommon for plants to triple in height during this stage.

Here is a way to determine if your plants are ready for harvest is by checking the color of the hairs that grow inside of the pistils or calyxes.

If there is a high color ratio of white to red pistils your cannabis will provide a euphoric THC high.

If the color ratio is more red to white, your cannabis will provide a calmer, CBD-stoned feeling.

If you harvest once half the trichomes are opaque and the pistils haven’t turned brown, your cannabis will provide a balanced THC/CBD high.

They are the 4 stages of cannabis growth. There are more stages which are not part of the growth but part of the harvest. These include, Harvesting, Drying and Curing.