You should be growing marijuana right now, during the cold months, this year more than any other year.

That’s right, 2020 has been so crazy, scary, and bizarre that demand for marijuana is at an all-time high. The growers on our team here are expanding their grow ops and cultivating more plants to supply fine buds and other cannabis products to the marijuana-loving masses.

And cold months are high time to grow marijuana. Here’s why:

  • During cold months, grow light heat is an asset that saves you money by heating your grow house, instead of a liability you have to spend money to get rid of via air conditioning.
  • During cold months, most marijuana pests and diseases are hibernating or a lot less active than they are during warmer months.
  • During cold months, when your lights go off during bloom phase, your cannabis plants can experience colder dark cycle temperatures, which leads to heavier harvests of more potent buds.
  • During cold months, your grow lights don’t heat the room too hot, and you can often keep the room in the ideal temperature and humidity sweet spot for marijuana growing just by drawing in cold air from outside and exhausting hot grow room air.
  • During the cold months, the grow room becomes a refuge of bright light, beautiful plants, filtered/oxygenated air, and terpenoid scents. It’s like a mini-day spa.
  • During cold months, it’s easier to make dry sift, kief, and bubble hash (icewater hash), especially outdoors where frigid cold cracks resin glands off of plant material so you can make cannabis concentrates more easily and efficiently, harvesting more resin glands per gram of bud.
  • During cold months, most people’s houses are closed up, so they don’t smell the potent weed smell coming from your grow op.
  • During cold months, you don’t as often have to use a chiller, or use one at all, to keep nutrients water at the right temperature (68-70°F) in hydroponics irrigation systems.

Those are just some of the reasons for growing marijuana this winter and every winter. Here are some things you should know about doing it:

  • Floors, especially basement floors and unfinished floors, can be very cold compared to ambient grow op temperature. Although you want your marijuana root zone to be 68-70°F, marijuana plants growing in pots sitting on bare floors and similar surfaces might be experiencing temperatures way colder than that. Cold temperatures below 68°F slows root growth and function. Some growers use horticultural heat mats to keep their pots, reservoirs and other systems from getting too cold. Others raise their plant containers off the floor.
  • In hot months, you might use a chiller in your hydroponics irrigation reservoir to keep nutrients water from being too hot. In cold months, you might have to use an aquarium heater or similar device to ensure the water isn’t too cold.
  • Be sure to have a professional dehumidifier. Cooler grow room temperatures are often great for plants, but they also carry the risk of high humidity, which can lead to gray mold. We recommend Quest dehumidifiers, built in America specifically for cannabis grow ops.
  • Some cannabis strains do great only in cold grow rooms, while others suffer. In particular, tropical Sativas prefer a hotter-than-average grow room and might suffer during a winter grow unless you’re willing to turn up the grow house heater. Conversely, Kush and similar marijuana strains that grow well in harsh, cold places like Afghanistan’s high mountain valleys do well in winter, especially when night temperatures drop about 4-8°F compared to lights-on temperatures.
  • You’ll be tempted to spend a lot of time in your warm, well-lit, beautiful grow room during cold months. That’s good for your plants, because you’re exhaling C02 that they breathe in. Just be sure not to vector contaminants, stray hairs, pests or diseases into your grow room while you’re enjoying it.

If you haven’t started this year’s cold weather grow op, there’s still time. Assuming you have a grow op already set up, consider using autoflowering cannabis instead of photoperiod. They require 18 hours of light from start to finish, and are usually ready for harvest 10-13 weeks after germination, at least a couple of weeks faster than photoperiod plants started at the same time.

Autoflowering cannabis doesn’t need special grow versus bloom phase light cycles, and they’re all going to grow out to be female plants.

Look here for the very reliable and diverse collection of autoflowering strains from New420Guy Seeds. Because they breed and ship from North America, you can order seeds today and have them real soon, much sooner than if you’re ordering from European cannabis seed sellers.

Also check out our article on the fastest-finishing cannabis strains.

What you realize from all this is that if you’re not growing marijuana during cold months, you’re missing out on saving money, having bigger and more potent yields, avoiding many pests and diseases, heating your home with your grow lights, and creating a sweet, summery palace for you to inhale terpenoids in…while snow, rain, sleet and coronavirus asteroids are falling outside.

Advertisement