On January 1st 2018, recreational marijuana finally became legal in California! This means that anyone over the age of 21 can walk into a recreational dispensary and legally buy weed. So is it still worth applying for a medical marijuana card or renewing your existing card? The simple answer is yes! Buying weed with a medical card from a medical dispensary has many advantages over buying recreational marijuana.
1. It’s much cheaper to buy weed with a medical card
Sales tax and other local taxes will apply when you purchase recreational marijuana. This means that on average you’ll save over 25% when you buy your weed from a medical dispensary. In some Californian cities where additional taxes are applied you’ll save even more! When you factor in these savings, most medical cannabis users will quickly offset the cost of their medical card. You could easily end up saving hundreds of dollars over the course of a year.
2. Getting access to medical weed is much more convenient than recreational marijuana
The issuing of licenses for recreational dispensaries is happening very slowly. There are currently only about 100 in operation around Oakland, San Jose, San Diego and Berkeley. On the other hand, there are well over 1000 medical dispensaries to choose from.
3. Medical marijuana gives you access to stronger weed and a greater variety of strains
Medical cannabis strains are specifically bred to treat all kinds of conditions including insomnia, fatigue, anxiety and depression. This means that buying from a medical dispensary gives you an incredible range to choose from in terms of strains, strength, THC and CBD ratios and the type of high you’ll get. A medical card also allows you to buy much stronger THC oils and waxes than those available from a recreational dispensary. In our experience, the staff at medical dispensaries are incredibly knowledgeable and can help you pick the exact type of weed you’re looking for.
4. A medical card gives you extra legal protection and you can grow and carry more weed
With a medical card you can legally grow up to 100 square feet of medical cannabis and carry up to 8 oz. In contrast, the new Californian recreational laws only allow you to carry 1 oz of weed. A medical card also gives you extra legal protection if you’re stopped by law enforcement when driving or flying with weed in your possession. Carrying a medical card is worth it for this extra peace of mind alone!
5. Medical cannabis is available to people aged 18 and above
The new cannabis laws in California restrict the sale of recreational marijuana to people over the age of 21. However, with a medical card you can legally purchase weed from a medical dispensary as soon as you turn 18.
How do you get a medical marijuana card?
Getting a medical marijuana card takes as little as 10 minutes and can be done completely online or over the phone! The lawmakers responsible for Proposition 215 intentionally wrote it to make sure that pretty much any adult can easily access the medical benefits of cannabis.
The service we recommend for getting your medical card is OnlineMedicalCard.com. They are the most popular medical marijuana clinic in California and have a team of super friendly doctors that will chat with you and approve your medical card in a couple of minutes. These guys are really compassionate and genuinely believe that cannabis can improve lives. If you need any more proof, their doctors have done over 250,000 evaluations since 2001!
How does the application process work?
Once you head over to their website, the application process is incredibly easy:
Create an online account (if you’d rather apply by phone you can easily do that as well).
Fill in a standard online medical form.
Talk to a doctor via video chat. The doctor is there to explain how medical cannabis might help you and can answer any questions you have.
Immediately receive a doctor’s recommendation letter (as a PDF) that you can take into any medical marijuana dispensary to buy weed whenever you like!
The doctor’s letter is all you legally need to buy medical cannabis but you can also pay a little more and they’ll give you a wallet sized ID card that’s much more convenient to carry around.
The legalization of recreational cannabis in California is a fantastic step along the road to recognizing the benefits of weed and seeing it fully legalized around the world. However, for the foreseeable future if you live in an area of the United States where medical marijuana is legal, we recommend that you hang on to your medical card because it will save you money and get you access to much better weed.
We often get asked where to buy cannabis seeds and whether it’s safe to buy seeds online. In this guide we’ll review and recommend the seed banks we use and trust as well as teach you everything you need to know about safely and discretely buying weed seeds online.
There are several advantages to buying seeds from a quality online seed bank.
Seeds banks offer a huge range of strains to choose from, including feminized seeds, autoflowering strains, medical strains and high THC & CBD strains.
They ship to almost anywhere in the world.
They offer a range of stealthy payment and shipping options to protect your privacy and allow you to stay as anonymous as possible.
We’ve personally used all of the seed banks on this list with the exception of AMS. The feedback we’ve received on their reliability and customer service means we’re confident to include them on our list.
Bank Transfer (not anonymous but there is nothing linking you to a specific product)
Cash
Postal Orders
Cheques
iDeal (Netherlands)
Sofort (Europe)
Shipping destinations
Worldwide
Stealth and privacy protection
Seedsman allow you to pay with bitcoin which is totally anonymous.
They also offer the option to remove any branded packaging from the seeds and to have your seeds shipped hidden inside an unrelated product for extra stealth. The product you get varies depending on what size package they need to ship you.
No mention of Seedsman or seeds is printed on the outside of the packaging and if you’re purchasing from outside the U.K., no identifying paperwork is sent with your package.
Advantages
Operating successfully since 2003 and have thousands of satisfied customers.
Over 3000 strains available including feminized, autoflowering, medical and high THC strains.
They almost always have some kind of promotion running where you can get discounts and free seeds. For example, if you pay with bitcoin you get a 25% discount, 8 free seeds and 15% off every subsequent bitcoin order you make. In most cases they’ll also let you swap out your free seeds with another strain you prefer from the same breeder.
In addition to their own line, Seedsman stocks seeds from over 100 other seed banks including well known players such as Sensi Seeds, Dutch Passion and Barney’s Farm.
Medical strains are categorized on the website by the condition they treat which makes it really easy to find a strain to suit your symptoms.
Disadvantages
The cost of shipping varies depending of which country you’re shipping to and it can get a bit pricey if you choose the stealth option and guaranteed shipping. For example, a small package of 9 seeds costs around $12.50 to ship to the U.S. with package tracking and guaranteed delivery. However, they sometimes offer free shipping promotions to different countries so it’s worth keeping an eye on the promotions page.
Bank transfer (pretty much anonymous as there is nothing linking you to a product)
Postal order (U.K. only)
International money order
Cash
Shipping destinations
Worldwide
Stealth and Privacy Protection
Although they don’t offer bitcoin as a form of payment, you can pay by bank transfer which is almost as good because your payment isn’t tied to a particular product. You can also choose to have your seeds shipped hidden in a stealthy unrelated item for an extra fee.
Advantages
MSNL are the oldest seed bank and have been operating their online seed bank since 2003.
Affordable, but this is partly because they have a much smaller custom selection and don’t carry seeds from other big seed banks.
Standard shipping is free if you spend more than $72 and the stealth shipping options become cheaper the more you spend.
Every MSNL order gets at least 5 free seeds included and if you spend more than $67 you can get 3 free feminized seeds.
The website has useful categories & filters such as low smell, fast growing and short if you have a shorter grow tent or limited space.
Disadvantages
Their selection of seeds is carefully curated and extremely high quality but they carry a smaller range of strains.
They don’t offer bitcoin as a form of payment, but bank transfer works almost as well if you’re worried about stealth.
Stealth shipping is expensive but gets cheaper the more you spend.
AMS offer bitcoin as a anonymous payment method. Their packaging is nine and discrete but they don’t offer the option to hide your seeds in stealth packaging like the other seed banks on our list. No mention of the contents is printed anywhere on the packaging.
Advantages
If any of your seeds don’t germinate you can send them back and they’ll replace them with fresh seeds – this is a nice addition that many other seed banks don’t offer.
Disadvantages
They only carry a small selection of strains.
No stealth packaging option available except for the standard discrete envelope.
Shipping is expensive outside of Europe ($20 U.S) and you pay the same regardless of how many seeds you buy.
Protecting your safety, privacy & anonymity
Is it safe to buy cannabis seeds online in the USA?
As everyone knows, the laws regarding cannabis in the United States are a complete mess. It’s illegal to possess, sell, cultivate and transport weed at the federal level, but many states have their own laws that make cannabis legal. The result of this confusion means that when you’re figuring out where to buy cannabis seeds, you won’t find reliable or reputable cannabis seed banks located within the United States. Sending seeds within the U.S. (even where weed has been legalized) is covered by federal law and the seed banks would be prosecuted.
All the seed banks we recommend are based in Europe. In the U.K. and Europe it is illegal to grow cannabis but it is legal to buy, sell and possess ungerminated cannabis seeds. We’ve never known anyone to have problems shipping seeds to the United States from Europe except for the occasional missing package.
In the extremely unlikely event that your seeds are intercepted at some point in their journey, the very worst that’s likely to happen is that your seeds are confiscated and destroyed. We can confidently say that the feds will not break down your door and you won’t end up in the big house if you order seeds online from a trusted European seed bank.
Having said that, there’s no reason not to be as discrete as possible when ordering seeds and seed banks that offer stealth packaging and anonymous payment options (e.g. bitcoin) should be at the top of your list when considering where to buy cannabis seeds online.
We also recommend paying extra for guaranteed shipping because this means if your seeds go missing for any reason the seed bank will replace them free of charge.
If I live in a location where marijuana is illegal, is it still safe to buy seeds?
The seed banks we recommend will ship to any country in the world, but they make it very clear that you are responsible for knowing the local laws in your area. The authorities in many countries where marijuana is illegal will happily turn a blind eye and aren’t the slightest bit interested in chasing people who order a few seeds online. Other governments take cannabis possession extremely seriously and if you live in such a country you should not order seeds online for your own safety.
What’s the best way to pay for seeds to remain anonymous?
When you’re weighing up where to buy cannabis seeds, if the seed bank offers bitcoin this is a good sign that they are discrete and care about their customers privacy. Bitcoin is completely anonymous and the transaction cannot be traced back to you. Having said that, we’ve seen evidence of many people from the US, Canada, Australia, Europe and elsewhere who happily purchase seeds using their credit card and have never had an issue.
I’m still too nervous to buy weed seeds online – where else can I get them?
The main advantage of buying seeds online is that you know exactly what you’re getting. You can buy strains based on your specific requirements – THC & CBD content, height, flowering time, medical applications and many other factors. If you don’t feel comfortable buying online for whatever reason then the best bet is to try and get seeds from someone you know. Failing that, there’s no harm in trying to grow the seeds you found in the bottom of a bag of weed!
Germination & strain selection
Will all my seeds germinate and what happens if they don’t?
Regardless of where you buy cannabis seeds, unfortunately there is no way any seed bank can guarantee that all the seeds they send you will successfully germinate. In Europe, the possession, sale and shipping of cannabis seeds is legal but germinating and cultivating them is not. For this reason, most seeds banks cover themselves by using the disclaimer that seeds are sold as ‘souvenirs’ and they won’t make any guarantees or refunds if the seeds you receive don’t germinate. However, high quality seed banks rely on satisfied customers to stay in business so you can be sure that they’ve done everything to ensure all the seeds they sell are viable. The exception is AMS that do offer a refund service and will replace any seeds that don’t successfully germinate.
In addition to having viable seeds, specific conditions are need to maximize the chance of your seeds successfully germinating. You can read our article about how to germinate weed seeds if you’d like to learn more.
If I buy feminized seeds are they guaranteed to be female?
Feminized seeds are more expensive because they have been specifically bred and treated to mature into female plants. If you look after your plants and give them the correct growing conditions, feminized seeds are 99% guaranteed to stay female. However, if your growing conditions are poor there is still a chance that feminized seeds can flip and turn into hermaphrodite or male plants.
Most seed banks also offer ‘regular’ seeds that are cheaper and come with no guarantees they will be female. In our experience, regular seeds turn out to be female around 75% of the time. If you have poor lighting or inadequate nutrient levels during your grow, you are much more likely to end up with a hermaphrodite or male plant when growing from non-feminized seeds. Weed plants turn into hermaphrodites in a last ditch effort to reproduce when they sense a poor growing environment.
What cannabis strain should I grow as a beginner?
We get asked this a lot and it’s not an easy question to answer. In addition to how easy the strain is to grow, you also need to consider the type of high the weed will give you when you smoke it! There’s no point in spending time and effort on growing an easy strain if you end up with weed that doesn’t make you feel good.
If you’re growing indoors, the best general advice we can give is to pick an autoflowering strain that will automatically enter the flowering stage of growth at a certain age, rather than rely on you to change the lighting conditions. Other advice to make indoor growing easier is to pick a fast flowering, short strain so you don’t find your plants trying to push through the roof of your grow tent!
If you’re growing outdoors, it can be easier because you’ve got mother nature to back you up and take care of lighting and (hopefully) watering. On the downside, you have a lot less control over the growing conditions and you’re at the mercy of the weather, pests, insects and thieves. Picking a strain that’s known to be hardy and disease resistant will give you the best chance of success.
It’s also worth paying a little extra for feminized seeds because this will give you the best chance of avoiding males or hermaphrodites ruining all your hard work.
Which strain should I choose to help with my particular medical condition?
When you’re deciding where to buy cannabis seeds online, you’ll quickly learn than some seed banks do a much better job than others at helping customers find strains for medical use. For example, Seedsman has an extremely handy filter on their website that allows you to filter strains by specific medial conditions such as anxiety, depression, insomnia or muscle spasms.
If you have any doubts about whether weed can help your health issue and what strain to grow, make sure seek medical advice from a qualified medical marijuana doctor.
Legal Disclaimer
We just want to make sure it’s clear that we’re not lawyers and all the advice we’ve given here on where to buy cannabis seeds assumes that shipping, receiving, possessing or growing cannabis seeds is 100% legal in your location. If it’s not then we can’t advise you to act on this information in any way and you should campaign your representatives to change the laws and make weed legal where you live!
We’ve compiled this list of videos to help beginners master some of the skills required to grow weed. If you’re thinking about attempting your first grow, hopefully they’ll give you a visual sense of some of the steps involved to understand if you might enjoy it. Some of the videos have been around for years and others are more recent, but we learned something useful from all of them and hopefully you will too!
The list is divided up into sections so you can skip to topics you’re interested in. Do you know any other informative videos that will help beginner growers? Let us know!
Germinating and planting seeds
Germinating and panting your weed seeds is where it all begins! There are several reliable techniques for germinating seeds and everyone has their favorite.
Planting seeds – Jorge Cervantes
Jorge Cervantes features a few times on this list of videos, and for good reason – he’s a master grower and literally wrote the book on cultivating cannabis. In this video he steps through the exact process he uses to plant germinated seeds into pots.
Starting from seed – John Berfelo
This isn’t the most highly produced video and there’s a bit of shaky cam going on, but John does a good job of talking through the entire process of seed germination and planting.
How to germinate cannabis seeds in water – Grow420Guide
This video is a nice demonstration of how to germinate weed seeds using a glass of water and a paper towel.
Cloning weed plants
If you’re lucky enough to have access to weed clones, they’re a great way to grow because you can guarantee female plants and you know that your mature plant will be identical to the plant your clone was taken from. If you have a favorite plant, taking cutting from it and growing clones can guarantee you an endless supply of awesome weed.
Cloning tutorial – School of Hard Nugs
This video is very nicely produced and will walk you through the entire process of cloning your favorite weed plant into rockwool cubes.
Taking clones (2 parts) – Jorge Cervantes
This is another great video from Jorge and will teach you everything you need to know to successfully clone weed. His demonstration of how to cut and prepare the end of the cutting is great.
Nutrients & pH
Plant nutrition is a complex topic and every grower seems to have their favorite techniques, recipes and ‘secret’ nutrient formulas that will grow the biggest buds. For beginners, if you buy a quality nutrient kit and follow the feeding schedule you’ll get it right every time.
The Best Cannabis Nutrient Feeding Schedule – It’s Chronic
This guy goes uses the General Hydroponics Flora series nutrients (which we highly recommend) but abandons the feeding schedule in favor of his own recipe. We haven’t tested it but it looks like it might work well and he does a good job of breaking it all down week by week. Let us know if you give it a try!
How To Mix a 3-Part Hydroponics Nutrient Solution – Everest Fernandez
This is a pretty simple video that shows how to mix the General Hydroponics flora series 3 part nutrient kit. Even though it might all seem obvious, Everest explains the process simply and clearly for raw beginners and gives a few good tips and tricks.
How to manage pH when growing cannabis – Nebula Haze from Grow Weed Easy
This video from Nebula Haze at Grow Weed Easy is a great explanation of how to test the pH of your nutrient solution before you feed it to your plants.
Humidity
Humidity – Growing Marijuana
This is a nice video from Growing Marijuana that will teach you everything you need to know about the science of how and why humidity affects your plants. The different humidity requirements of the indica and sativa strains are also discussed.
Soil and soil amendments
Mixing soil – Jorge Cervantes
In this video, Jorge will walk you through some of the different soil mixes and amendments he adds to make sure his soil is well aerated to support good draining. We’ve reviewed many of the soil mixes he uses in the video so check out our article on the best soil for growing weed if you’d like to know more. We’ve also included a pretty comprehensive list of the various soil amendments and their uses.
Watering your plants
How to water seedlings days 1 to 16 (2 parts) – Grow Pot Cheaply
We actually find it pretty difficult to find simple and clear information on how and when to water your weed plants, especially when they’re young and delicate in the seedling stage. This video does a nice of job of stepping you through the nutrient and watering schedule for the first 2 weeks until your plants hit the vegetative stage.
Harvesting your weed plants
After all your hard work, knowing when and how to harvest your plants to get maximum yield is extremely important!
How to Harvest your Cannabis (the whole process) – Pigeons 420
Pigeon 420 always features a massive bong rip at the start of his videos but he knows his stuff and we like his style. This is a really good video that walks you through the whole process of harvesting your weed.
Drying and curing your plants
In our final section, we take a look at videos that will help you correctly dry and cure your plants. Properly drying and curing your weed after you’ve spent so much effort growing is important to prevent mold, improve flavor and reduce the harshness of the smoke.
Drying Big Buds – Jorge Cervantes
Jorge makes his case in this video for wet trimming your buds before drying to save yourself work and speed up drying time. The bud he pulls out of his pocket is thing to behold!
When is your Cannabis Dry Enough to Cure – Pigeons 420
In this video, Pigeons420 gives a nice explanation of how to figure out when you buds are dry enough to put in jars and start the curing process.
Successfully growing cannabis for the first time is an awesome achievement but for first time growers it can be hard to know where to start. We’ve compiled this list of cannabis websites to help beginners find advice and more experienced growers hone their skills. The list is divided into 3 sections – websites focused on growing, weed forums and general blogs that have sections or articles about growing weed. Each section is listed alphabetically.
If you think we’ve missed any quality resources please let us know!
Grow Cannabis looks like it was put up the day the internet was born, but despite the simple appearance there’s useful information here. Everything is categorized logically to make it easy to find what you need. The weed nutrient deficiency table and the troubleshooting guide are nice additions.
Note that the weedfarmer.com grow guides are an exact copy of this site.
Grow Marijuana do strain reviews but they also have a section on growing that covers all kinds of beginner related topics. Some of the articles are more in-depth than others but there’s good stuff to be found. The article on male vs female plants is a good example of the kind of content they produce. Everything is organised by subject to make it easy to find what your interested in.
Grow Weed Easy is a hugely popular site that covers every aspect of growing weed you can imagine and will appeal to growers of all experience levels. The best way to find what you’re interested in is to go to the sitemap page where everything is laid out in a logical way. They also have a forum section and while it doesn’t have as many members as some dedicated forum sites the discussions are interesting and high quality.
How to Grow Marijuana cover a lot of product and seed reviews but they also have plenty of content on growing cannabis organized around growing indoors and outdoors. The guerrilla growing guide was a particularly enjoyable read. They also have a forum section and while it’s not as big as some other forum sites there’s some good discussions on a wide variety of topics.
I Love Growing Marijuana is a seed shop, forum and blog run by Robert Bergman, author of the Grow Bible. He’s written a huge amount of excellent content on growing for all levels and it’s nicely organized into categories such as grow guides, indoor and outdoor guides and plant care.
Weeds that Please is a retro looking site that would be easy to pass over but there’s some solid content to be found here. Their articles on cloning female plants and germinating seeds are good examples of what to expect.
The cannabis training university is an online school that offer courses designed to help you get a job in the marijuana industry. They offer a ‘Master of Marijuana’ certificate that covers growing, trimming and bud tending as well as many other subjects including cooking, medical marijuana and marijuana law. We’ve never done any of these courses so we can’t speak for the quality of the education but if you’re serious about getting into the cannabis industry professionally then maybe this will work for you.
Forums are filled with experts happy to share their knowledge. They can seem overwhelming at first but they’re generally sorted into logical sub forums that deal with a particular topic to make finding information easier.
420 Magazine has been around since 1993. The forums are where you’ll find lots useful information on growing and their how to grow marijuana section is a great place to start. The forum topics are all logically arranged into sections such as outdoor growing, watering, soil vs hydro, cloning and harvesting.
Cannabis culture has been around since the early 1990’s and first existed as a print magazine. The grow section of the website has some good info but it’s quite general and it can be difficult to track down posts specific to growing cannabis. However, they also have active forums where you’ll find lots of great discussions. The new growers primer is a good place to start if you’re a beginner looking to do your first grow.
Grass City is a popular Headshop and blog but they also have forums that are great if you’re looking to learn about growing cannabis. Within the Marijuana Cultivation forum there are threads for absolute beginners, indoor growing, outdoor growing, organic growing and advanced techniques to name just a few.
International Cannagraphic Magazine have been around for years and have a huge forum. For advice on growing, check out the marijuana growing section where you’ll find threads on all kinds of topics including threads for new growers and advanced growing science.
Marijuana Growing is a popular weed forum presented by Jorge Cervantes (George Van Patten), a horticulturist and weed growing expert who’s written many respected books on growing cannabis. Unfortunately the newbie forum has a lot of off topic posts but you can always search to hone in on what you need. There’s even a thread where you can ask Jorge questions directly and if he doesn’t reply (it would be impossible for him to reply to everything), another knowledgeable grower will.
Marijuana.com has been around since the mid 90’s and is now managed by Weedmaps. As well as having the most sought after domain name in the cannabis industry they also have a really good forum that covers all kinds of topics. Searching around in the growing section will no doubt get you any info you’re looking for.
Reddit is a great place to find experts on pretty much any topic and growing cannabis is no exception. There are obviously lots of subreddits that cover all aspects of cannabis news and culture but this is the best one for cultivation. There are some extremely knowledgeable expert growers here that will help you with whatever advice you need. The best way to find specific info is to use search and you can choose to limit the search to the r/cannabiscultivation subreddit.
The rollitup forums cover cannabis news and culture but they are mainly in the business of helping growers. There are sections specifically for newbies as well as advanced growers and all the topics are arranged logically to help you find the right information. The 101 already asked questions in the newbie forum is excellent and provides direct links to many common topics.
THC farmer is an online seed bank but they also have a forum. It doesn’t have as many members as the bigger ones but there are some very knowledgeable growers on here who write super detailed posts. The forum topics are well thought out and logical and like all forums the best way to find specific information is to use the search functionality.
Another active and very useful forum, THC talk covers everything related to the world of weed. All the forums stay on topic and the general growers forum has interesting topics like breeding, cannabis research and a nice infirmary section dedicated to helping growers diagnose diseases and plant issues.
General Blogs & Online Stores
These sites are all great but if you’re specifically interested in learning how to grow weed they probably add the least value because they’re focused on a wider range of topics or on eCommerce. However, many of them have good sections on growing where you can find useful information.
Cannabis Now is both a bi-monthly print publication and a website. They focus a lot on industry news and culture but they also have a cannabis cultivation section that contains some good content on growing cannabis. Because they’re more a traditional blog it’s harder to find posts on specific subjects but the search functionality works pretty well and they use some useful tags like how to grow marijuana.
The Dutch Passion Seed Company is a an online seed bank based in the Netherlands, but they also have a grow info section on the website. The information here isn’t super detailed but covers the high level basics such as growing indoors, growing outdoors and how to germinate seeds.
Green Rush Daily is a massive blog that focus on culture and news but their cultivation section has some good posts on growing weed. There’s no in-depth guides that we could find but lots of smaller articles that cover all kinds of interesting subjects. And some weird ones like how to grow weed out of a toilet bowl.
Herb has some high quality content in their cultivation section. If you’re looking for information on a particular topic, the best bet is to use their search function. The articles are also generally shorter but they produce a lot of entertaining and informative content.
High Times is one of the most famous weed publications and has been around since 1974. They cover all aspects of marijuana news and culture and they also have a grow category that contains a huge amount of content. As with most of these general weed blogs you won’t find in-depth guides but if you search around there’s lots of smaller nuggets on specific topics.
Leafly is a big (and ridiculously profitable) site that focuses on strain reviews and dispensaries. They also have a cannabis 101 section on the site that has heaps of articles for beginners on many topics, including growing. Unfortunately there’s no tags or categories specific to growing but once again if you use search you’ll find some articles worth reading.
As the name suggests, Medical Jane focus on information and resources for patients and care givers who use medical cannabis. They also have a growing advice section with lots of shorter articles that are well written and informative.
Royal Queen Seeds is a popular European seed bank and the growing cannabis section of their blog has some really well written content. The only issue we had is that the search functionality seems to favor products rather than articles (understandable as they are an online store) so finding specific information is a bit harder.
Seedsman is another online seed bank and the cultivation section of their blog has some good articles on growing cannabis. None of the posts go particularly in-depth but the amount of content means you’ll certainly learn something interesting if you search around.
The Cannabis is a popular blog that covers all aspects weed news and culture. Their cultivation section is small but many of the articles have been written by Jorge Cervantes so it’s worth checking out. This awesome image alone is worth a look.
The weed blog has a twitter feed vibe and they have a good growing section that’s updated fairly frequently. Robert Bergman is a frequent contributor.
Why should I be interested in growing cannabis at home?
If you’re reading this then you hopefully don’t need too much convincing but just in case, here are 8 reasons we think you should have a crack at growing cannabis.
Growing cannabis is a fun and rewarding hobby and you’ll learn a lot.
You can have a never-ending supply of quality weed!
If you keep things simple (like a single plant in a pot outdoors) it can be very inexpensive.
For those with bigger budgets there are endless cool options and gadgets to explore – lighting, hydroponics, grow tents and every other aspect of weed growing you can imagine.
You can pick a strain that will produce weed with exactly the strength, flavor and type of high you like.
Because you’re not buying weed, you’re saving money!
You know exactly what fertilizers and nutrients went into your weed and you can keep it as natural or organic as you wish.
Understanding how to grow weed could lead to potential business opportunities and future careers in the booming marijuana industry.
The grow lights you choose will have a huge impact on how much it will cost you to grow, how much extra equipment you’ll need for ventilation and cooling and the quality and yield of weed you can achieve. The best lights for growing weed will differ for each grower so today we’re going to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the most popular lighting types to help you choose which way to go.
LED grow lights
LED grow lights are the newest entry into the grow light arena and they’re rapidly growing in popularity. For us personally, we think LEDs are now the best lights for growing weed but another type of lighting might easily work better for your needs.
The advantages of growing with LEDs
On a ‘per watt’ basis LED grow lights deliver the biggest bud yields of any lighting type.
They’re the cheapest to run over the length of a full grow cycle.
Good quality LEDs last a long time – up to 90,000 hours!
Compared to huge amount of light they produce, they don’t generate a lot of heat
A fan and heatsink is built into the case.
LED’s don’t require a ballast and can plugged directly into a standard electrical socket.
They are ‘full spectrum’ lights which means they deliver perfect light for both the vegetative and flowering stages of growth.
They are environmentally friendly to dispose of and don’t contain any dangerous chemicals.
The disadvantages of growing with LEDs
Compared to other lighting types they are pretty expensive, but this will likely change as they become more popular.
The LED diodes are very sensitive to heat and will fail if it gets too hot. The heat sink and built in fan is very important to prevent this from happening.
As they age, cheaper diodes can shift color but good quality lights shouldn’t suffer from this issue.
Because of the huge amount of light they produce, LED lights need to be placed a long way (12 – 30 inches) from the tops of your plants to ensure they don’t burn them. This means that a taller grow room or grow tent is required if you want to grow taller plants.
Because different manufacturers use different light spectrums, lense angles and components to build their lights, looking at the watts produced by a light is not always a reliable measure of how much light it will produce. Comparing coverage area or power usage is a more reliable benchmark.
The best LED grow lights for growing weed
Check out our article on the best LED grow lights to read detailed reviews of the best options you can buy.
These two options are currently among our favorite LED grow lights. Both are available in a number of different wattages depending on how big you want to go.
Before LED lights became high quality and reasonably priced, HIDs were the best lights for growing weed. They’re still the most common and popular lighting choice but LEDs are catching up fast!
There are two main types of HID bulbs – High Pressure Sodium (HPS) that emit an orange light and Metal Halide (MH) that emit a cooler blue light.
HID bulbs can also be used with three different styles of reflector hoods. We recommend air cooled or cool tube reflectors which connect to your exhaust system and do the best job of managing the high heat produced by HPS and MH bulbs.
HPS bulb emitting orange light.MH bulb emitting blue light.
The advantages of growing with HID lights
They give excellent yields for the money you spend.
They are generally cheaper than LEDs (but not by too much these days).
HID grow lights are extremely powerful and give excellent coverage and penetration into the leaves of your plants. If don’t want too many plants, a 150W HID light might be all you need to grow.
The disadvantages of growing with HID lights
HID lights require a bulb change when switching from the vegetative stage to the flowering stage. MH bulbs produce a blue light that plants like during the vegetative stage and HPS bulbs give a more orange light that’s optimized for bud growth.
A separate ballast is required to regulate the current but this is normally included in the lighting kit.
HID lights create a lot of heat and anything over 150W is probably going to need a ventilation and heat extraction system to be installed in your grow space.
The high heat HID lights produce means they need to be placed further away from the tops of your plants to prevent burning. This means a taller grow space if you want tall plants.
The bulbs contain pollutants (such as mercury) and can’t be disposed of as easily as LEDs.
The best HID lights for growing weed
Read our detailed reviews to compare the best HID grow lights on the market. We’ve compared complete HID lighting kits that include a ballast, reflector and bulbs and also recommended the best individual components in case you want to build your own.
These are currently our two favorite HID grow lights kits you can buy. Both come with HPS and MH bulbs included.
Apollo Horticulture 400W HPS/MH Grow Light Kit (air cooled reflector)
There are a bunch of different styles of fluorescent light bulbs but the most popular for growing weed is the T5 bulb. The T refers to the fact that the bulbs are ‘tubular’ and the 5 refers to the diameter of the bulb in increments of ⅛ inch. So a T5 bulb is ⅝ of 1 inch in diameter.
The advantages of growing with T5 lights
T5s are the cheapest grow lights you can get.
They don’t produce much heat at all and may not even require a ventilation system in your grow space.
They don’t use much electricity
Excellent for beginner growers or those who just want to grow 1 or 2 plants.
Low power and low heat makes them a good stealth option if that’s important to you.
They’re available in different lengths and different numbers of bulbs which makes them scalable and great for many different sized grow spaces.
The disadvantages of growing with T5 lights
T5 bulbs don’t produce as much light as LEDs or HIDs
The light from T5 bulbs only penetrates 1 or 2 feet so they need to be placed very close to your plants.
Like HID lights they need a ballast to control the current but this is normally built into the light fixture.
Like HID lights, different bulbs are available that produce blue or orange light. Although a single bulb can be used for the entire grow cycle it’s highly recommended to switch from blue bulbs to red for the flowering stage.
The bulbs contain pollutants and aren’t easy to dispose of.
The best T5 lights for growing weed
We’ve covered the best T5 grow lights so check out our article to read detailed reviews and compare options.
These are currently our favorite T5 lights you can buy.
We hope this discussion has helped you choose the best lights for growing weed based on your needs. Let us know in the comments below what lighting system you use!
Whether you’re growing weed outdoors or indoors, in the ground or in pots, using good quality soil will make a huge difference to the quality and yield of your buds. In this post, we’re going to explain what makes the best soil for growing weed and why you’ll grow bigger buds if you use the right soil.
The benefits of soil vs hydroponics
At first glance it might seem that growing hydroponically is much better than growing in soil because it’s faster and the yields are generally bigger. However, there are also great reasons for growing weed in soil!
Growing in soil is generally cheaper than growing hydroponically.
Many weed fans argue that growing in soil is how nature intended and the weed tastes smoother and better.
Soil is an easy option for beginners because many of the nutrients your plants need are already in the soil. When growing with hydroponics, you need to provide all the nutrients your plants need and there isn’t as much margin for error.
If you’d like to understand more about growing hydroponically, check out these articles:
If you’re growing in soil, your plants have the same requirements whether you’re growing indoors or outdoors. The best soil for growing weed needs to provide 3 key elements:
Excellent drainage for the root system.
An acidic pH.
Nutrients to ensure healthy vegetative growth and big buds.
1. Drainage for roots
Good drainage is critical for roots so they get plenty of fresh oxygenated water and don’t drown. The best way to do this is to use a soil mix that contains an additive that will help with aeration (such as perlite, vermiculite or clay pebbles). These additives generally work in 2 ways:
The larger particles create pathways or channels through the soil to help the water keeping flowing.
They have tiny imperfections on their surface that trap oxygen rich water as it flows past.
2. Acidic pH
The best soil for growing weed has a slightly acidic pH of around 6.0 – 6.5. This environment allows the nutrients in the soil to dissolve more effectively in water and to be absorbed more easily by the roots.
All the soil mixtures we recommend in this post have the correct pH for growing weed. However, if you’re concerned about the pH of your soil you can easy check it by using a pH soil testing kit. We recommend these two options:
If you find your soil is too acidic, this can be corrected by using a lime additive such as the dolomite lime discussed below. If it’s not acidic enough (i.e. Alkaline), sulfur can be used to increase acidity.
3. Soil nutrients
Your plants need 3 key nutrients to grow:
Nitrogen.
Phosphorous.
Potassium.
1. Nitrogen (N)
Helps your plants grow vegetation (leaves and stems) during the vegetative stage.
If too much nitrogen is in the soil during the flowering stage your plants will waste energy growing vegetation when they should be growing big buds!
Avoid any soil mixes that contain slow release nitrogen as this can continue to be released during the flowering stage and lead to less bud growth.
Phosphorous (P)
Important for developing roots throughout the growth cycle and to help buds develop and grow during the flowering stage.
Potassium (K)
Helps control how your plants burn energy from photosynthesis and to grow bigger buds.
Additional nutrients
In addition to the correct levels of N, P and K, your plants also need a variety of other minerals and trace elements in the soil. Some of the mains ones are:
All of the following soil mixes are perfect for growing cannabis. In most cases you’ll need to add additional nutrients to the soil to give your plants the best chance of success. Our favorite nutrient system for growing in soil is the Fox Farm Liquid Nutrient Trio Soil Formula.
We’ve also compiled a list of additional nutrients and additives that your weed plants will love in addition to quality soil. Many of them are already present in the soil mixes but you should feel free to add extras where they’ll provide benefit or even mix your own custom soil blends!
The Fox Farms brand is well known with growers and we recommend it as the best soil for growing weed. The pH has been adjusted to between 6.3 and 6.8 which is right in the ideal range for cannabis plants and they’ve also added earthworm castings, bat guano, fish meal and crab meal. You can read about all the advantages these additives provide below. Peat moss, loam and humus have also been blended in to give the soil a light texture and ensure good drainage so your roots get plenty of oxygen.
When you use this soil, it’s not necessary to add extra nitrogen fertilizer when your plants are young. This is a good thing because when plants are small they are susceptible to nitrogen burn if they get too much.
Roots organics is also a quality brand and deserves a place on our list of the best soil for growing weed. Based on coco-coir, they’ve also added earth worm castings, fish meal, feather meal, soybean meal and many other additives. Aeration for this soil comes from perlite and pumice to ensure good drainage. Another cool feature is the fact that you can plant straight into the bag if you want.
This soil contains quite a lot of nitrogen so is not suitable for very young plants or clones.
Roots organics have also created a nutrient system specifically designed to be used with their soil.
Big Rootz soil is rapidly gaining in popularity with weed growers and has a loyal following. It’s has the perfect pH for growing weed, peat moss and coco-coir provide great aeration and worm castings and compost have also been added.
The ‘soil king’ is also a very entertaining character to watch!
Soil additives and fertilizers for growing weed
The fertilizers and additives listed below have many different uses including adding extra nutrients, minerals and trace elements, aerating the soil and adjusting the pH. Most of them are entirely optional as long as you choose a good quality soil mix and liquid nutrient system. However, if your soil has a particular issue, you want to blend your own soil mix or you just want to tweak your system for even better results then these additives will ensure you get big healthy buds.
Perlite is used to aerate your soil which promotes healthy roots and fast growth. Perlite is basically rock that’s been super heated until it forms glass like beads. The tiny imperfections on the surface of the beads trap oxygen and when mixed into soil it creates channels that allows water to more easily drain through the soil.
Vermiculite is also used for soil aeration and is often used in combination with perlite. Vermiculite has a softer and more spongy texture than perlite and as a result, holds more water than perlite but not quite as much oxygen.
Coco-coir is a very common soil additive and soil substitute for hydroponic growing. It also helps with soil aeration and root growth. Coco-coir is made from coconut shells, is completely natural and has a very similar appearance and texture to soil.
Worm castings are basically what you get after earth worms break down organic matter. It’s extremely rich in all the trace elements your plants need in a very water soluble form they can easily absorb. Worm castings are also high in beneficial bacteria and microbes that help convert fertilizers into more bio-available forms. Earth worm castings have also been shown to have lower levels of contaminants than other organic material that haven’t been processed by worms.
Bat guano is high in phosphorous. Phosphorous plays an important role in helping your weed plants develop flowers and roots. If you want big buds, definitely consider adding bat guano to your soil mix! Fox farm also adds 20 additional microbes to their guano mix that help to convert fertilizer into nutrients your plants can easily absorb.
This video clearly demonstrates the effect that bat guano can have on your plants. Imagine if those peppers were buds!
Fish meal and crab meal are both high in nitrogen and phosphorous. Nitrogen is needed to grow leaves and stems during the vegetative stage and phosphorous is important for growing healthy roots and bigger buds during the flowering stage.
Bone meal is another additive high in phosphorous that encourages the development of roots and buds. It’s made from exactly what you think – animal bones. Bone meal also contains calcium which is important for binding together the cell walls of plants.
Blood meal is made from the dried and powdered blood of animals and is very high in nitrogen. You plants need nitrogen for vegetative growth but blood meal shouldn’t be added to young seedlings or clones because they can easily suffer from nitrogen burn.
Kelp meal is extremely high in vitamins, minerals and amino acids that your weed plants need to support healthy growth and development. It also contains fairly low levels of nitrogen so is especially good to add to a soil mix for seedlings and clones because there’s no risk of nitrogen burn.
Azomite is an excellent source of trace elements and minerals such as calcium, magnesium, sulphur, iron and zinc. It’s mined in Utah from a 30 million year old volcanic ash deposit!
Dolomite lime is high in calcium and magnesium and it’s main purpose is to help regulate the pH of your soil. Adding dolomite lime to your soil will increase the pH and make it less acidic.
Super soil
Super soil recipes aim to mimic the natural soil environment of plants growing in the wild and the idea is that you don’t need to add any extra liquid nutrients. This potentially makes growing weed easier because you don’t have to think about getting the right nutrient dose to your plants at the right time. Super soil growers also believe their weed is smoother and tastes better because only the minimum amount of nutrients are used.
Choosing which lighting system to use for growing cannabis is hard because there are multiple options available with very different strengths and weaknesses. In this article we’re going to review and compare the best T5 grow lights you can buy as well as understand their advantages and disadvantages.
Previously we’ve covered the best LED grow lights and the best HID lights. You can read about those if you’re interested in understanding all the different options.
Product comparison tables
All the best T5 grow lights on our list come standard with 6400K – 6500K (blue light) bulbs. If you want to change these for red bulbs we’ve suggested some quality bulb replacement options for both blue and red light below.
Watts: 54 Watts per bulb x 4 bulbs = 216 Watts total
Bulb color temperature: 6400K (blue)
High output?: Yes
We think the the 4 ft Agrobrite FLT44 and the 2 ft version below are the best T5 grow lights you can buy for your money. They’re slightly more expensive than some of the other options, but the steel fixture has high quality construction and the faceted aluminum reflector gives excellent light distribution. Included is 4 x 6400K bulbs as well as a 10 ft grounded power cord. You can also hang the fixture vertically or horizontally in addition to the standard overhead position. We’ve seen growers hang one overhead and another horizontally facing into the side of their plants to get more light penetrating deeper into the leaves. Another useful feature is the ability to daisy-chain 3 of these lights together and run them off a single power outlet.
This light is also available in 6, 8 and 12 bulb versions if you have a bigger grow space.
Watts: 24 Watts per bulb x 4 bulbs = 96 Watts total
Bulb color temperature: 6400K (blue)
High output?: Yes
This is the 2 foot, 4 bulb version of the Agrobrite FLT44 above and has all the same features (except the ability to daisy chain) in a more compact form factor. If you have limited space or only want to grow a few small plants, these iare the best T5 grow lights to buy. Included are 4 x 6400K bulbs are included and an 8 ft grounded power cord.
The 2 ft light is also available in 2 and 8 bulb versions.
Durolux DL844s T5 Grow Light System (4 foot x 4 bulbs)
Watts: 54 Watts per bulb x 4 bulbs = 216 Watts total
Bulb color temperature: 6400K (blue)
High output?: Yes
The DL844s by Durolux are the best T5 grow lights on the market if you’re looking for a budget option. Everything you need comes with this kit including 4 x 6500K bulbs, hanging hooks, chains and a 15 ft power cord. Durolux also claim that their German reflector delivers 30% more light output than comparable systems, but we haven’t tested this feature and they don’t specify what ‘comparable’ means.
Durolux lights also give you the ability to control the amount of light by separately switching on and off the inner and outer bulbs. Cannabis plants generally like as much light as they can get so we’re not sure most growers will really use this feature, but it’s there if you want it. 5 units can also be daisy chained together to run off one power outlet!
This light also comes with a 5 year warranty for extra piece of mind.
Durolux DL824 T5 Grow Light System (2 foot x 4 bulbs)
Watts: 24 Watts per bulb x 4 bulbs = 96 Watts total
Bulb color temperature: 6400K (blue)
High output?: Yes
This Durlolux DL824 is the 2 ft version of the DL844s above and is pretty much identical except for the size and the amount of light produced by the 2 ft bulbs. Up to 12 of the 2 ft lights can be daisy chained together off a single power outlet.
The 2 ft light also includes the 5 year warranty.
Hydro Crunch T5 Grow Light System (4 foot x 4 bulbs)
Watts: 54 Watts per bulb x 4 bulbs = 216 Watts total
Bulb color temperature: 6400K (blue)
High output?: Yes
Hydro Crunch lights have a high quality feel to their construction and the aluminum reflector is 95% reflective to help maximize light output. The fixture also has louvered slots to increase cooling. Included is 4 x 6400K bulbs and an 8 ft power cord. Just like the Agrobrite lights, you can mount the Hydro Crunch lights vertically or horizontally and as many as you need can be daisy chained together. Hydro Crunch lights come with a 1 year warranty.
Watts: 24 Watts per bulb x 4 bulbs = 96 Watts total
Bulb color temperature: 6400K (blue)
High output?: Yes
This is the 2 ft version of the Hydro Crunch 4 ft featured above. It’s got exactly the same features but will fit in a more compact space. Because the bulbs are only 2 ft it will produce less light than the 4 ft version. Up to 6 of the 2 ft lights can be daisy chained together.
T5 replacement bulbs
Blue light
Apollo Horticulture 5 Pack of 6400K 4 foot T5 Bulbs
T5 grow lights are a type of fluorescent light. Fluorescent lights consist of a bulb (normally a tube) which is filled with mercury vapor at low pressure. When an electric current is passed through the vapor it excites (the molecules vibrate) causing ultraviolet light to be emitted. This ultraviolet light interacts with a phosphorous coating on the inside of the fluorescent tube causing it to glow.
Like HID lights, fluorescent lights need a ballast to regulate the current. If there was no ballast, the light would draw far too much current and instantly burn out. Generally the ballast in T5 lights is built into the lighting fixture that houses the bulbs.
What do the different ‘T’ ratings mean?
The ‘T’ designation simply means the bulb is ‘Tube’ shaped. The number directly after the T refers to the diameter of the tube in increments of ⅛ of an inch. For example, the diameter of a T5 bulb is 5/8th of an inch (15.9 mm). Some of the other common T formats include T8 (1 inch) and T12 (1.5 inches).
There’s no question T5 lights are the best for growing weed because they provide the most light relative to their size and the power they consume.
How long do T5 grow bulbs last?
T5 bulbs are relatively cheap, but they only last around half as long as LED grow lights. You can expect a T5 bulb to last approximately 20,000 hours. Unlike LED lights, a big advantage of T5 lights is that they emit almost the same amount of light for their entire working life.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of T5 grow lights?
Advantages of T5 grow lights
They’re cheap! (much less expensive than LED lights).
They best T5 grow lights don’t produce a lot of heat which makes them excellent for use in small grow rooms and shorter grow tents.
Heat management and ventilation in your grow space may not even be required.
Use little electricity – commercial growing operations often use them for this reason.
Great for beginner growers because they’re cheap and you can easily grow a few plants in a very small space.
Low power consumption and low heat makes them a really good option if you need to be stealthy.
Disadvantages of T5 grow lights
The lifespan of T5 bulbs is less than LEDs or HID lights.
Don’t produce anywhere near as much light as LED or HID lights. The useful range of light is around 1 – 2 feet so they need to be placed very close to your plants to be effective.
They require a ballast to control the current, but this isn’t a big deal and normally comes built into the light fixture.
Understanding T5 bulb colors & temperatures
T5 bulbs can emit light in a range of colors depending on which one you choose. This is important when choosing a light for growing weed because your plants prefer different colored light during the vegetative and flowering stages of growth.
Different light manufacturers sometimes describe the color of their lights in different ways but looking at the color temperature (measured in Kelvins) will always be a consistent comparison.
In the vegetative stage of growth, your plants prefer blue light and bulbs labelled ‘Cool” or ‘Cool White’ around 6500K are best.
In the flowering stage, weed plants prefer a more orange / red light so go for bulbs labelled ‘Warm White’ at 2500K or 3000K.
High Output (HO) T5 grow light bulbs
In addition to standard T5 bulbs, high output T5 bulbs are also available. They come in all the same sizes and color temperatures as regular T5 bulbs but use more watts and produce much more light. Because different manufacturers use different naming systems it can be confusing to tell what you’re buying but you can always figure it out by looking at how many watts the light consumes.
For a 4 foot long T5 tube:
A regular T5 bulb will use 28 watts of power and put out ~2900 lumens
An HO T5 bulb will use 54 watts of power per hour and put out ~5000 lumens
All of the best T5 grow lights we recommend use HO bulbs to give greater efficiency and more light for growing weed.
Tips for using T5 grow lights
Because even the best T5 grow lights produce less light than LED or HID lights, they need to be placed very close to your plants. You can safely place them 1 or 2 inches away from the tops of your plants without burning them.
Using a small LED or HID light to supplement the light produced by your T5 bulbs is a great way to get more light penetration into the canopy of your plants.
Many growers run blue T5 lights during the vegetative stage and then switch to HID or LED lights during the flowering stage. This can be a good way to get the best of both worlds and keep costs down.
If you stick with T5 lights through the flowering stage as well, the best advice is to keep your plants as short as possible so that the limited light can penetrate deeper into the canopy. You can make up for some loss in yield by training your plants grow bushy so more buds grow from the shorter plant.
T5 grow lights vs HID
The best T5 grow lights produce much less heat than HID lights and are much less expensive to run. As a consequence, T5 lights also produce a lot less light which means they are better suited for growing smaller plants.
T5 and HID lights both require a ballast to regulate the current.
T5 grow lights vs LED
LED lights last longer than T5 bulbs, but LED lights lose intensity over time. T5 lights will burn with pretty much the same intensity for their entire life. You can buy a lot of T5 bulbs for the cost of an LED light!
Many LED lights are ‘full spectrum’ lights which means they can be used for the entire growth cycle. Most growers using T5 and HID lights switch from blue bulbs to red bulbs during the flowering stage.
Equivalent LED lights are much more powerful than even the best T5 grow lights. They also get much better light penetration into your plants and don’t produce too much heat considering how much light they produce.
How does marijuana affect the body? Because cannabis has been lumped in with other dangerous drugs for so many years it’s easy to assume many of the effects are negative. This isn’t true at all! Cannabis use has improved the lives of thousands of people suffering from many types of physical and mental illnesses.
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Until recently, most studies looking at the effects of weed on the body have relied on less accurate methods of obtaining data (such as participant self-reporting). However, this is rapidly changing as the health benefits of weed are becoming more recognized and weed is becoming legal in more states and countries around the world.
While the evidence suggests that weed has no harmful effects on the body for casual users, there are downsides. It all depends on your physical and mental health, how much you use and how you consume it.
How does weed work?
Before we continue, lets have a quick primer on how weed works. Understanding this is the basis for all the affects of weed on the body and the brain discussed below.
Your body creates a natural cannabinoid called anandamide, that binds to the cannabinoid receptors and fires the neurons that regulate your memory, learning, coordination, pain and emotions.
THC is also a cannabinoid. When you smoke weed, you flood your brain and CNS with cannabinoids that bind to the cannabinoid receptors and massively amplify the effects of your natural anandamide.
Some people have a deficient endocannabinoid system and can suffer from a number of symptoms such as:
Increased sensitivity to pain
Nausea
Seizures
PTSD
Mood disorders
Depression
Migraine
IBS
Anxiety
The THC in weed can supplement this deficiency and help relieve their symptoms. This is why the potential for the health benefits of cannabis are so exciting!
How does marijuana affect the brain?
Positive effects of weed on the brain
Enhances your senses, including smell, taste and sometimes even colors.
Improves your sex drive.
Encourages deep sleep, which promotes healing and general health.
Can relieve anxiety and help with depression and other mood disorders.
Can help patients suffering from PTSD.
Evidence suggests it can promote brain cell growth.
Negative effects of weed on the brain
Feelings of anxiety, panic and paranoia.
Hallucinations, although this seems to be quite rare.
Decreased motor skills and coordination.
Decreased levels of concentration and interest.
Difficulty focusing and concentrating on tasks.
You might notice that weed can both help and cause anxiety! The human brain is a very individual and complicated organ. For some people, their chemical makeup means they’re susceptible to anxiety from high levels of THC. For others THC acts to relieve anxiety. Another cannabinoid (CBD), binds to the same receptors as THC and can reduce the anxiety caused by THC. Different strains of weed have different effects so if you suffer from anxiety when smoking strong weed, try a high CBD strain!
Effects of smoking weed on memory
Several studies have looked at whether cannabis use has an effect on long term and short term memory.
One study has shown that smoking weed does effect your short term memory, but unlike booze you won’t suffer from complete memory loss if you get wasted. Within 6 hours, your short term memory will return to normal.
For long term memory, the answer is less clear but there is evidence that suggests cannabis can actually help you retain memories and help fight diseases such as alzheimer’s.
This video is a great explanation of how weed affects your brain.
How does marijuana affect the body?
Effects of weed on the respiratory system
The effects of weed on your respiratory system are only relevant for people who smoke their weed. It’s easy to assume that smoking weed is as bad for you as smoking tobacco, but this isn’t the case! Smoking weed does not carry the same risk of lung cancer as smoking tobacco, and smoking in moderation may even have a positive effect on your lungs! One study showed that a user had to smoke a joint a day for 20 years before any decline in lung function was observed.
Negative effects of smoking weed on the respiratory system
Even though the risk of lung cancer is much lower when you smoke weed vs tobacco, there are still plenty of other respiratory conditions weed smokers might suffer from. When you smoke, you’re drawing a lot of smoke into your lungs and you don’t get that for free.
Asthma.
Bronchitis.
Coughing.
Extra mucus production.
Sore throat.
If you suffer from any of these symptoms, consider switching to a vaporizer for some or all of the time.
Effects of weed on the circulation
Weed has several effects on the circulation that can be positive or negative depending on the individual. For example, if you suffer from high blood pressure, lowering your blood pressure is a positive thing. However, many people also suffer from low blood pressure which make lowering it further less than ideal.
Lowers blood pressure.
Raises heart rate.
Lowers body temperature.
Effects of weed on the nervous system
The effect of weed on the central nervous system has many important positive benefits.
Chronic pain relief.
Reduction in muscle spasms from neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS).
Improved sleep for patients with pain and illness.
There is also some evidence for weed acting as an anti-inflammatory and an anti-oxidant.
Effects of weed on digestion
Increases appetite, which we’ve all seen when the munchies strike!
Can reduce nausea and vomiting and has been used successfully used for patients dealing with chemotherapy.
Effects of weed on the immune system
There is some evidence that cannabis can compromise the immune system and make your body more susceptible to certain diseases.
This awesome Ted talk by David Schmader lays out the case that marijuana is not a dangerous drug and all the health benefits we’ve discussed can really change peoples lives.
Is marijuana addictive?
Pretty much anything humans enjoy can be addictive to some people. Only about 9% of users form an addiction to weed, which makes it far safer than most drugs, including alcohol and tobacco. There is also evidence that addiction to weed might have a genetic component.
Just because you smoke a lot of weed doesn’t mean you’re addicted to it. Addiction is measured by how hard you find it to stop rather than how much you do it.
Symptoms of marijuana addiction
The symptoms of weed addiction are pretty much the same as for any other drug.
Continued use when it affects other areas of your life
Withdrawal symptoms (physical and mental)
Anti-social behaviour
Anxiety
Weight loss
Cravings
We hope this article helps you understand how weed affects the body. If you can, get your weed from a reputable source, or even better – grow it yourself! That way you’ll know you’re getting a quality product that’s as natural and good for you as it can be.
You’ve lost count of how many bong rips you’ve done when you suddenly realize it’s 3am on a weeknight and you have work or school in a few hours! This is the perfect time to ask the question – how long does a weed high last?
Check out our infographic below and read on to learn how long your weed high will last.
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How long does a weed high last?
There are a bunch of different factors that will determine how long you stay high, including your tolerance to weed, how much you’ve smoked, how strong your weed is and most importantly whether you’ve smoked or eaten your weed.
How long does a weed high last if I smoke or vape?
If you’ve inhaled your weed by smoking or vaping, your high will last between 1 and 3 hours.
When you first inhale, you’ll feel the effects almost instantly and they’ll be strongest after 15 to 30 minutes.
Even though you’ll only feel high for a few hours, your body could still be physically and mentally affected by the cannabis for up to 5 hours. If you’ve smoked a really strong strain of weed this could be as long as 18 or 24 hours.
A community member over at the marijuana.com forums did an informal survey many years ago that asked weed users how long they stayed high after smoking. We collated all the data from around 100 replies and got an average of 2.15 hours, which lines up pretty accurately with other data. On average, the respondents had been smoking weed 5 days a week for 4.1 years.
How long does a weed high last if I’ve consumed edibles?
If you’ve munched some edibles you can expect to stay high for much longer than if you’ve smoked – between 4 to 6 hours.
The effects of edibles take much long to kick-in and will also give you a much more intense high. You’ll feel the first effects of edibles between 30 and 90 minutes and the effects won’t be at their strongest until at least 2 – 3 hours.
Why do edibles last longer than smoking?
When you inhale weed through the lungs via smoking or vaping, the THC goes into your bloodstream and is delivered quickly and directly to your brain. Once it reaches your brain, the THC crosses the blood brain barrier and starts to get you high!
When you eat weed, the THC is absorbed through the wall of your stomach and instead of travelling directly to the brain it must first pass through your liver. In your liver, THC is processed into a different metabolite called 11-hydroxy-THC (abbreviated to 11-OH-THC). Because the THC has travelled via your liver and been converted into 11-OH-THC, it takes much longer to reach your brain to start getting you high. In addition, 11-OH-THC crosses the blood brain barrier much more easily than THC and so the high you feel is more intense.
This video has a nice explanation of the difference between THC and 11-OH-THC.
How long does weed stay in the body?
Even though you only feel high for a few hours, THC hangs around in your body for much longer than that. This is because your body stores THC molecules in your fat cells. What’s even more interesting is the fact that as you exercise and burn fat, the stored THC can be released back into your bloodstream! Studies haven’t been done yet to show whether this re-release of THC can get you high again, but it’s certainly a possibility!
In addition to being stored in fat cells, THC is also removed by the body in the normal ways via urine (30%) and faeces (65%). THC can be detected in urine for up to 6 days for new users and up to 2 months for chronic users!
Why do you get a weed hangover?
Although a weed hangover is never as crippling as a hangover caused by drinking too much, it can still leave you feeling very rough the next day. There hasn’t been a lot of solid research into what exactly causes a weed hangover. Most of the information available comes from anecdotal reports from weed users. This isn’t helped by the fact that different weed strains have different effects on the brain and body and each person experiences weed differently.
Some of the symptoms described include:
Dehydration
Nausea
Drowsiness
Vagueness (or brain fog)
Lethargy & fatigue
Red and dry eyes and or throat
The most common theory on why people experience some or all of these symptoms is dehydration, but there isn’t actually good scientific evidence that using weed causes dehydration. Red eyes are easily explained by the fact that THC causes vasodilation in the blood vessels of the eyes which increases blood flow and makes your eyes look red. Some people have also suggested that brain fog might be a result of the THC stored in your fat cells making you very slightly stoned as it’s released over time. There is no real evidence to support this.
How do you cure a weed hangover?
Like any other hangover, unfortunately there’s no magic cure. The best advice we can give is to drink plenty of fluids, eat well and get some sleep. After a day or two you’ll feel like your old self again.
How do you stop a weed high?
If you’ve gotten too high on weed you’re unlikely to be in any real danger but it can feel terrifying – especially if you’re feeling anxiety and paranoia.
The most important thing to remember is that the effects of weed don’t last long and you’ll feel much better in 2 or 3 hours. It might take up to 5 or 6 hours if you’ve consumed too many edibles. Make sure you’re around people you trust who will support and comfort you and just ride it out.
More tangible actions you can take include:
Breathing deeply and telling yourself to stay calm (this is often easier said than done)
Drink lots of fluids to flush the THC out of your body more quickly
CBD is a THC antagonist and can help stop THC induced anxiety
Eat some healthy food – this may be the last thing you feel like but having something solid in your stomach can often help
Cannabis indica and Cannabis sativa are the two main species of Cannabis plant. Both strains have high levels of THC which makes them awesome for getting high! There is also a third species called Cannabis ruderalis. Ruderalis has very low concentrations of THC and is only used for creating autoflowering hybrid strains with indica and sativa. In this post, we’re going to look at indica vs sativa and compare their physical appearance, effects and type of high, medical uses, and genetic origins.
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Indica vs sativa plant & leaf shape
It’s worth noting that very few of the weed strains you buy or grow to smoke are 100% indica or sativa. Almost all of them are hybrids that contain different percentages of sativa vs indica. Breeders combine the strains to create new varieties that have particularly desirable properties.
Indica plant and leaf appearance
Indica plants are shorter, bushier and more dense than sativa plants and can grow to between 3 and 6 feet in height. For this reason, they’re great for growing weed indoors because there’s much less chance they’ll grow tall enough to hit your grow lights in your grow room or grow tent.
Indica leaves are shorter, fatter and are a darker shade of green than sativa leaves.
Sativa plant and leaf appearance
Sativa plants are generally taller and thinner than indica plants with less dense foliage. They can grow up to 15 feet high! This makes them great for growing weed outdoors, because you’re much less likely to be worried about height restrictions.
Sativa leaves are longer, thinner and generally a lighter shade of green than indica leaves.
What type of high do you get from smoking Indica vs Sativa?
The Indica high
Indica strains give a full body high or body buzz and have a relaxing and sedating effect on the entire body. When smoking strong strains, this can lead to ‘couch lock‘, where you get so relaxed and sedated you literally can’t get off the couch!
Indica weed makes you feel relaxed, mellow, calm and sleepy.
When to smoke indica weed
Because of their sedative effects, indica strains are best smoked at night when bed is a short distance away.
The Sativa high
Sativa strains give an uplifting, energetic head high that’s felt much less in the whole body than indica strains. They also tend to have more ‘spacey’ hallucinogenic effects than indica.
Sativa weed makes you feel more creative, energetic, social and talkative.
When to smoke sativa weed
Because sativa strains give you an energetic head high and don’t sedate the body, they are much better for smoking during the day when you need to stay active and alert.
Medical uses of Indica vs Sativa
Indica medical uses
Indica strains generally have a high level of THC vs CBD. The high levels of THC means that some people can suffer anxiety or paranoia when smoking strong indica strains. For others, the relaxing full body effects of indica strains can be use to reduce anxiety.
Indica strains are commonly used to help with:
Insomnia
Pain relief
Appetite stimulation
Anxiety relief (if the high THC levels don’t make you anxious)
Muscle spasms
Sativa medical uses
Sativa strains generally have a high level of CBD vs THC. CBD has been shown to have anti-depressant qualities and this is an exciting new area of research.
Sativa strains are used to help people suffering with:
ADD
Depression
Fatique
Mood disorders
Appetite stimulation
Flowering times for indica vs sativa
Indica strains tend to flower much faster than sativa and can finish flowering in 45 – 60 days.
Sativa strains generally flower in around 60-90 days.
Sativa plants spend less time in the vegetative stage of growth before they begin flowering so the total growth time for indica vs sativa is roughly the same.
Indica strains mostly come from central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent (Northern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan).
Sativa strains mostly come from tropic regions around the equator (Thailand, Mexico, Southern India). Sativa is often considered the oldest ‘original’ strain but weed has been growing wild for thousands of years so there is unlikely to be one original strain.
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