Summer is over and winter is just around the corner, impatient to make its entrance while autumn, as it can, delays its imminent, undeniable, unpostponable arrival.
If you are a grower, you will know that the summer not only took with him the days of beach, heat, loose clothing and mojitos. It also took with it the possibility of growing outdoors.
But come on, it's not the end of the world! Winter doesn't mean we can't grow our favorite plant, nothing like that. Today we bring you information about indoor growing so that you do not stay the winter without planting.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INDOOR AND OUTDOOR
Let's start by marking the differences between these two forms of cultivation.
The biggest difference is, logically, the light source. In the case of outdoor cultivation, our plant is nourished by sunlight, while in indoor cultivation, we will be in charge of simulating sunlight so that our plant does not lack any property during its growth.
This means that for indoor cultivation we will need to make an investment. It could be said that outdoor cultivation is more economical, while indoor or outdoor cultivation allows us to have a more rigorous control of our plants and run less risk.
And when we talk about risk, in the case of outdoor cultivation, our plants are exposed to several factors such as: pests, sunlight and moonlight, temperature changes, rain, wind, among other things. This can be seen at harvest time, where outdoor buds are usually darker and more worn, due to the climatic factors mentioned above, while indoor buds are usually lighter and more compact.
Another common difference that will let you know if the plant was grown indoors or outdoors just by looking at the buds is the size. The rule of thumb says that anything outdoor is bigger. And it is even clearer in the branches, where outdoor branches are usually wider and sturdier than the branches of an indoor plant.
INDOOR CULTIVATION
As mentioned above, in the case of indoor cultivation, our plant will depend completely on us. The result of our crop will be strictly related to the attention and care we have taken with our plant.
SPACE
If there is something that we are going to need to be able to grow indoor is space. We recommend to start with something small because it will be less expensive, it will bring you less problems and you will be able to dedicate more time to each plant, but it will always be necessary to set some room or area of our house for a correct cultivation.
Ideally, it should be a cool and dry environment, with low humidity so that pests and insects do not attack our plants. Stagnant air will damage our crop and we want to avoid it, so we recommend that the chosen environment has air flow or artificial ventilation. Along with this it will be necessary to check your plants daily and we even recommend doing it several times a day if it is your first time.
Another key point will be the lighting of the environment you have chosen to grow. It is VERY important to avoid any light leakage that may reach the crop. We want our plants to receive light only in the photoperiods of light of the plant and no more, as it can cause our plant to develop hermaphroditism. A common way to avoid this is to use an indoor grow tent.
LIGHTING
Once we have our space set up, we will have to take care of the lighting of our plants.
In this section we will find several options from which you can choose. Some of the most commonly used lamps for cultivation can be:
- HID (High Intensity Discharge) lights: one of the most widely used, they are usually a little more expensive than incandescent bulbs but produce much more light per unit of electricity used. They can be metal halide (widely used during vegetation) or high pressure sodium (most commonly used during flowering).
- LED lights: LED lights are becoming more and more popular and for a good reason, as they are more efficient than HID lights: not only do they spend less, but they can be more powerful and cover the whole light spectrum, which means that we can use the same lamp during the whole crop. The downside is that they are significantly more expensive than HID bulbs.
- Fluorescent lights: they are a very good option if we are on a tight budget. Low-priced, they are the most affordable and one of the reasons is because they produce between 20% and 30% less light than an HID bulb.
In addition to our lights, in the case of HID and fluorescent lights, we will also need a ballast to maintain a stable current flow.
OTHER TOOLS
Once we have the space to cultivate and its illumination we will be almost ready to cultivate. Some tools that will be useful to us are:
- Timer: it is very important to automate the light cycle and not have to be constantly aware of it.
- Pruning shears
- PH meter: important to control the pH of our plant.
- Pots: where to place your plants
- Fertilizers: there are a lot of different fertilizers. They will help our plant to have all the necessary nutrients to give us a great harvest.
CONCLUSION
Once everything is ready, we can start our uninterrupted cycle of cultivation, either winter or summer. Something very important is to know how to choose a strain for indoor growing. Nowadays seed stores usually specify everything about each seed so you will not find it difficult to know which plant is suitable or not for indoor, but if you are starting we recommend a rather Indica strain, as they bloom faster and are more compact.
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