A Beginner’s Guide to Germinating Cannabis Seeds

Before starting your grow, it is important to comply with provincial or territorial growing regulations. Currently, Manitoba and Quebec do not allow recreational growing. This does not apply to medical cannabis patients who are licensed to grow their own medicine.

What You Need to Know About Germinating Seeds

Sourcing Seeds: In Canada, seeds can only be purchased from legal retailers if someone wants to grow legal cannabis. Seeds purchased from legal retailers are feminized seeds, meaning they will grow female cannabis plants. Male cannabis plants will not produce cannabis buds but will wreak havoc on female plants.

Activating the Seed

There are multiple ways to germinate seeds from the old tried and tested paper towel method, the jiffy pellet method or even simply dropping them in distilled water; no matter how you prefer to germinate, you want to make sure you have clean sterile conditions and those key ingredients of air, warmth and moisture. Only then will the embryo begin to germinate. It will then develop a taproot that pushes out from the seed. This stage is particularly sensitive for the seed’s growth and establishment. It is important to maintain ideal conditions for it to continue its rapid early development.

Transplanting

It’s best to first plant the seed in a jiffy pellet to create a conducive environment for growth. Once the plant establishes a more extensive root system and you can see the strong roots poking through the jiffy pellet, you can transplant it to a larger container. Although there are many growing mediums, soil or coco coir are recommended. It’s important to handle the germinated seeds with tweezers or gloved hands. Be sure to only handle the actual seed casing and not the tap root coming out of the seed.

Cannabis Seedling Stage

Place the seedlings in a grow room with proper lighting. At this point they don’t technically need the light but providing but it will ensure that as soon as the seeds start popping out they stand a better chance to grow better. To do this, arrange a fluorescent source of light close to the growing surface. If you use a different source of light like HID or LED, the distance from the crop canopy should increase given the significantly higher heat these lights can emit.

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