How to Grow a Weed Plant at Home Without Equipment
Sometimes simpler is better and when it comes to growing weed, if you only want to grow 1 or 2 plants, then not having to buy all kinds of equipment might make sense. I say “might” make sense because there are indeed benefits to having all the equipment you need. I know when you are first getting started growing weed, you just want to get your feet wet and don’t need the hassle of expensive lighting or grow tents. So, how do you grow weed plants at home without equipment?
Understanding the requirements of a weed plants needs to produce a healthy plant with a successful yield is the first step in growing marijuana without equipment. Providing enough light and nutrients is essential. Watering enough to promote growth is vital as is ensuring your weed plants have enough uninterrupted darkness.
In this article, I will go over how you can grow weed without equipment, providing any helpful tips I can to help you succeed. Of course, you need to know the basic needs of your weed plants to ensure you have a good yield otherwise why even bother growing any? So, the rest of this article I will go over the basic needs to grow a weed plant and give you ideas on how you can meet those basic needs. Let’s get to it.
What are the Basic Needs of a Weed Plant?
All plants have basic needs for survival. These needs include but might not be limited to lighting, water, fertilizer and heat whether it comes from the sun or a light. If you can give your weed plants what they need to provide you with a large yield of buds, well, you will end up with a large amount of buds. That’s what we all want, correct?
Let’s go over a weed plant’s needs, individually.
Basic Light Requirements of a Weed Plant
Marijuana plants natively grow in the summertime and produce flowers or buds in the fall. This means that during the beginning or what is called the ‘vegetative’ phase, the plants will require a lot of light. It is recommended on average to provide the plants with 18 hours of light per day. That would mean that the plants need about 6 hours of darkness per day.
When the plants are in the dark, make sure they receive absolute darkness. This might mean putting the plants in a closet or cabinet during this time frame every day and making sure no light seeps into the area.
For a light source, if you can put your plants outside in the sunshine every day that’s a great option. Unfortunately, however, it’s not usually sunny every day and then there’s the issue of privacy and people minding their own business.
Another option is to use a compact fluorescent bulb. If you don’t have a grow light, then fluorescent bulbs are an option however they will not provide the proper light spectrum your weed plants crave. If you can afford $50 or so for a cheaper grow light, I would do that. I have used a 50watt grow bulb on a couple of Sativa plants and the yield was decent.
If you do use regular fluorescent bulbs keep them about 12” above the plants at all times. Because these bulbs don’t provide the best light spectrum (or will be quite bright enough) for your plants, if you have them too far away, the plants will really stretch and grow tall and lean.
Basic Water Requirements for a Weed Plant
The one thing you don’t want to do is let your weed plants roots sit in water for too long. The idea here for watering would be to water enough so you don’t have to water for another day or two. That is if you are using a soil substrate.
If by chance you are using a coco coir substrate, then watering every day will most likely be required and you really shouldn’t run into any over watering issues.
Chances are, though, you are using soil if you are trying to grow weed without any equipment. I also recommend you use soil if you’re not using all the equipment you should be for your weed plants. Make sure you use an organic soil if you have the choice.
You want to allow the soil to dry out as much as possible without the plants leaves starting to droop. If you do see drooping leaves, you know the plants are thirsty. Unless, of course, you peak at the plants at night where you will likely find the plants leaves and branches relaxed a bit while it sleeps.
If you stick a finger into the top of the soil and it feels dry, then water. If it feels like mud, then don’t water. If it’s in between still don’t water but check back in 4 or so hours.
Basic Fertilizing Needs for a Weed Plant
As you dive into growing marijuana a bit deeper, you will quickly see that there are many types of fertilizers you could spend money on to maximize the yields you reap at the end of your grow. The thing is that you can easily get a decent yield without the fertilizers.
Just think of the massive fields of weed growing in the Caribbean or South America. Do you think someone is adding fertilizer to those plants? Well, I guess if the field is small enough maybe someone is spraying them with something. Chances are, however, that the weed plants are growing naturally out in nature just as they have since they came to be.
When I was a teenager in the 70’s, I remember seeing pounds of weed that were brought into Canada from South America. As good as that stuff was, I guarantee it was never fertilized.
I think I got my point across.
Yes, fertilizers for veg or flower stage can improve your weed plants, but you really don’t need them.
If you make sure you are providing enough lighting and watching the amount of water you give them, you will have a successful crop.
Basic Heat Requirements for a Weed Plant
Weed originated from tropical regions where it gets very hot during the days and only cooling off slightly at night. The fact is that your weed plants will grow bigger if you make sure they receive warmer temperatures while growing than if you didn’t provide them with the heat they enjoy.
Depending on what region you are in, this might be easy to do no matter what time of year. If you are living in a northern Country like myself then adding heat is a good idea.
If you use a grow tent, it makes it easier to keep the heat up in a contained area. Depending on what type of light you are using in a grow tent, you might not have to worry about the heat at all as the light will heat up the area good enough. If you are just leaving the plants out in a larger room, then it might not be so easy.
Having a thermometer by your plants so you can monitor the temp is a good idea. If you want some good ideas, I would highly recommend you go check out my How to Heat a Grow Tent article when you are done here.
The temperatures you should shoot for are as follows.
- During the beginning (vegetative stage), try to keep the temp somewhere between 25 Celsius and 30 Celsius (77 to 86 Fahrenheit). This temperature replicates the hot summer months.
- When you have flipped your lighting over for flowering (growing buds), the temperature can drop a bit as it would out in the wild during the fall season. Keep the heat between 20celcius and 25celcius (68 TO 77 Fahrenheit). Do not go below 20 Celsius.
If you are wondering how you would achieve these temperatures without equipment, I recommend you go and read my other article entitled How to Heat a Grow Tent (link above).
Conclusion
The great thing about growing weed is it literally will grow like a weed. If you follow the directions provided in this article, you will have success. There is always a chance you will have some sort of plant deficiency but that’s just part of the hobby. The more plants you grow, the better you will get at identifying and solving issues.
Important to add here is getting the lighting down so you have buds growing eventually. There are two light cycles, veg and flower, make sure you learn these to ensure success.
I hope this article has been of help. Thanks for reading and good with your future grow.
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