Cannabis plants transition through different developmental stages like any other living being. Each stage is different and vital for their growth.
Before you decide to grow cannabis plants, you must learn about the different developmental stages. Not only that, but you also need to educate yourself about the changing requirements of the plants at each stage.
You will find stages of bud growth pictures online. Going through these images will give you a better idea about eh lifecycle of cannabis plants.
Guide To Cannabis Developmental Stages
The lifecycle of cannabis plants can be divided into eight main stages. We will be discussing all the stages in this section.
- Seed storage
Properly stored cannabis seeds can stay viable for 10 to 15 years. For long-term storage, you must meet these important conditions:
- Dry
- Dark
- Cool
Expert growers suggest storing cannabis seeds in tinted jars, containing desiccant packs, in the refrigerator.
- Germination
Viable seeds will germinate under favorable environmental conditions. The ideal temperature for the seeds to germinate is 21-27 degree Celsius. Along with that it also requires sufficient water and oxygen.
The success rate of germination is usually around 95% during the first season, which declines over time.
- Seedling
In this stage, you will see the first leaf set emerging. Make sure your seedlings receive sufficient light during the seedling stage.
The growth stage of seedlings lasts for about 15 to 20 days. The first and second sets of leaves are single-bladed with serrate edges.
- Vegetative growth
After the seedling stage comes to the vegetative growth stage, where the plants have established a root system. The ideal humidity level during the vegetative stage is 65-70%.
During this stage, you will see the plants growing more mature leaves than before. Most growers will apply different techniques to increase the number of top flowers while controlling the plant height. Some of the common techniques used are topping and low-stress bending.
- Maturity
At this stage, the shoots and leaves of your plants will start to alternate. Plants might develop reproductive organs that will help you to determine the gender of your plants.
For your information, cannabis plants are dioecious. This means the reproductive organs of female and male plants occur on different plants. This allows you to select the female plants and remove the male ones.
- Early flower
Cannabis plants are either photoperiod or auto-flower plants. The former will start flowering if they receive 10-11 hours of uninterrupted darkness after every 24 hours. On the other hand, auto-flowering plants will enter this stage after 10-20 days of vegetative growth.
Once the plants are in the flowering stage, they will continue to elongate and grow taller. This period is often called the hyper-vegetative period. The ideal temperature requirement is 22-29 degree Celsius and 55-70% of relative humidity.
- Mid flower stage
After 20 days of flowering stage enters the mid-flowering stage, where the plants will grow new leaves.
During this stage, the plants will shift to flower expansion, which will last for about 35 days. The humidity requirement is between 50-60%.
- Later flower stage
This is the stage when psychoactive cannabinoids are synthesized. Around 20-30% of the dried flower weight is included during the ripening stage.
The ideal temperature is 27 degree Celsius, while the humidity requirement is between 50-60%.
In the end, comes the harvesting time. Cannabis plants should be harvested at the right time. Otherwise, you might lose the yield.
Final Words
Growing cannabis plants requires a lot of effort. You should commit to it, only if you are ready to put in that much work.
