Beginners Guide to Growing Marijuana

What is Marijuana?

Marijuana is a psychoactive substance extracted from the cannabis plant. It is used for recreational and medical use and can be ingested via smoking or vaporizing. A standard dose can cause short-term memory loss, red eyes, dry mouth, and impairment in motor skills and its effect lasts for 30 minutes to 60 minutes. The impact of a high dose can last for two hours to six hours. Continuous intake of a high dose of cannabis may result in mental problems and addictions in teenagers and adults. Pregnant mothers taking marijuana can affect their child’s behavior as well as inflict on them many other medical issues.

Legalizing Cannabis

At the beginning of 20th century, many prominent countries imposed a ban on growing marijuana, the cultivation, use, possession, and transfer of marijuana. In many regions, the production of cannabis is legal but only for medicinal purposes. High penalties were imposed on the users of cannabis including imprisonment and hefty fines among other severe penalties. After all the sanctions and restrictions were either relaxed or removed by many regions, the use of marijuana began to increase day by day as is even witnessed today. According to a study, 128 out of 232 million people in the world have used cannabis. The percentage of users of cannabis was 43% in 2015, and the number increased in 2016 to almost 51%.

The stats show that this is indeed the most widely used illegal drugs. Such facts put the authorities in a challenging position with many of them believing legalizing marijuana is the only sure way of reducing its allure. Uruguay legalized the production, sale, and use of cannabis in December 2013 and became the first country to lift the ban on cannabis.  In October 2018, Canada also legalized the production, sale and use of cannabis (Malta & Thailand have recently followed suit.)

Many other countries, including India and Australia, started to work to legalize the production and sale of marijuana. Some countries recently legalized the manufacture and sale of marijuana though in a controlled amount. These countries include Turkey and Zimbabwe.

Various countries, after recognizing the benefits of growing marijuana, started to encourage people to raise their own plants. The benefits ordinary people consider are:

• They can control the quality of marijuana by raising their own.
• They can save some money they usually spend on buying marijuana
• They can grow as much of the substance as they want hence they will never run out

The exact benefits of growing marijuana are not our main focus in this article though; we are going to discuss some basic guidelines to grow marijuana.

Growing Marijuana

The growth of marijuana needs a particular environment. This kind of situation includes providing grow lights, grow tents, fans and specific filters. The primary requirement for the growth of cannabis is proper light.

The Best Grow Lights for Cannabis

There are three types of lights used in the growth of cannabis. These are HID lamps, CFL lamps and LED grow lights. Among these, LED lights are best. If you are a beginner grower of marijuana, the ViparSpectra Reflector Series 300W is one of the best LED grow light options.

ViparSpectra is a company that produces light panels used for small areas. They can also be used as a group of panels for a more extensive space. Each of 300w grow light covers a 2 x 2 area which offers an ideal lighting condition for the growth of marijuana plants. The light from this panel penetrates down to the canopies of the bud.

Each of the lights has 5W LEDs that provide a complete spectrum of light for the specific area. Each panel has many infrared and ultraviolet frequencies impossible to be seen by the naked eye.

The spectrum of V300 includes infrared light of the following wavelengths; 440nm, 445nm, 460nm, 475nm, 580nm, 595nm, 615nm, 630nm, 660nm, 3000K, 7500K. These wavelengths make it difficult for the grower to look at the product directly.

In order not to harm the eyes, the grower should wear safety glasses (such as Method Seven Grow Room Glasses). These glasses help growers to inspect the plants without disturbing the environment.

HID vs LED Grow Lights

In the past, growers used HPS/HID lights which are a specialized kind of lamp. These lamps need ballasts which reduce the flickering problem caused by this kind of light. However, one major issue in using these lamps is that they produce much more heat and consume much more power.

Then LEDs were introduced. The purpose of using LED’s in the growth of marijuana is they are less power consuming, and less heat producing. This means the grower can save money by using LED grow lights. Another benefit of using LEDs is due to their high energy-efficiency, they are unlikely to attract sanctions from the energy department.

The company ViparSpectra introduced an LED grow light named V300 which replaced the traditional 250 W HPS/HID lights. The main benefit of using the V300 is it does not produce heat as the heat is eliminated by the built-in fans. These fans also eliminate the need for ballast. The product is mounted at 90 degrees which makes it easier for the lights to penetrate to the ground. The bulbs used in the product are produced by some well-known companies and consume only 136 watts of energy although the rated output of the product is 300W.

The grow light produces both Lumens and PARs. Lumen is the light that can be observed by the naked human eye while PAR is the measurement of the light that cannot be seen by naked eye. PAR includes analysis of coverage of light and its intensity. Both of these lights are very important for the growth of marijuana.

The V300 panel needs to be hung at a particular distance to get good results. It should hang two feet above the plant’s canopy to give the best coverage of light for flowering and vegetation of the cannabis plant.

ViparSpectra is a well-known company that stands by its products. As such, the V300 comes with a 3-year warranty and money back guarantee for 30 days. It means the customer can check the product for any faults and observe its effect on the growth of the plants and if any irregularities are found, there is recourse in the form of the warranty and money-back guarantee. The V300 grow light is also long-lasting, and each panel can last for more than 100,000 hours. The panel can be controlled by a timer which makes it easier for the grower to take care of the plants more precisely.

Last but not least, the grow light has aluminum cooling sinks that help to cool down the panel before the heat can reach the plant. Customers are satisfied with the product and based on the many positive reviews; it is clear to see the V300 is a cut above the rest.

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