Growing cannabis can be both a challenging and rewarding experience, and every cultivator approaches the process a little bit differently. With so many variables and methods to consider, it can be hard to know where to begin.
One of the most important early decisions you’ll need to make is whether to grow indoors or outdoors. Each of these options comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, but we’re here to help.
Indoor Cannabis
If you’re trying to decide between growing indoors or take your plants outside, we’ve come up with a list of things for you to consider. Indoor Cannabis
Growing cannabis indoors is a popular choice amongst growers who don’t have outdoor space, live in an area with extreme weather, or otherwise just want to avoid the hassle of mother nature. Here are some benefits and drawbacks to growing inside.
Pros
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Environmental Control: Growing indoors gives you complete control of the growing environment, including temperature, airflow, humidity, light, and water. This makes indoor growing great for people who want their grow set up a certain way, but it also allows you to avoid the pitfalls of unpredictable weather.
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Product Consistency: Growing inside prevents the natural weather, light, and humidity variations from affecting your crop, ensuring that you have a more consistent end-product.
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Seasonal Flexibility: When growing indoors, you don’t have to worry about light cycles changing outside and affecting your crop, so it’s not a big deal if you start a little late or early. Bonus: if you’ve got the time and energy, you can grow one crop after another rather than stick to a specific growing season.
Cons
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Expense: Growing indoors can be pricey. You’ll spend money on everything: grow media, water, lights, and especially electricity. If you plan to grow inside, be sure to create a budget to avoid any nasty surprises.
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Monitoring: Because growing indoors involves setting up the entire environment from scratch, you’ll need to keep a close eye on your temperature, humidity, and light to ensure that your crops stay happy and healthy. The amount of monitoring that goes into an indoor grow can make it hard to leave the house for a vacation, so be sure to plan accordingly!
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Grower Error: Indoor crops rely solely on the cultivator to keep themselves going strong, which can be a problem for new growers. Since cannabis is a complex plant with a host of needs, it can be easy to miss something: lack of a vital nutrient, the quick spread of mold and disease, or even too much light or humidity. Be sure to do your research before taking on an indoor grow.
Outdoor Cannabis
For cultivators that have room outside, growing outdoors is a logical step that reduces cost, saves on maintenance time, and allows you to reap the benefits of mother nature’s gifts. Here are some things to consider when growing outside.
Pros
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Cost-Effective: Growing outdoors is easy on the wallet because growers can utilize the sun’s power to fuel their grow, free of charge. Going outside is a no-brainer for bargain-hunting growers with other ways to save money, including setup and even growing media.
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Environmental Impact: If you had the chance to grow more plants with a smaller carbon footprint, would you? Outdoor growing is the answer for many cultivators. If your climate is suitable, you can run a successful grow outside without negatively impacting power usage and hydroponic runoff.
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Mother Nature’s Expertise: Growing outside can be a big benefit to new cultivators since Mother Nature knows what she’s doing. By letting the plants do their thing and just making sure they have enough food and water to thrive, you can end up with an incredible crop. Many growers even consider outdoor-grown bud to taste better because it was grown with sunlight!
Cons
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One and Done: Outdoor grows are subject to the whims of the seasons and the regular light cycles of the sun throughout the year, and for cannabis, that typically means growers get one crop per year. Because plants won’t flower without the proper light cycle, starting too late or too early can result in huge differences in your crop’s quality, yield, and overall success.
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Slow Growing: Cannabis grown outdoors tends to grow more slowly when following natural light cycles. Growers looking for a quick turnaround on their crop will find disappointment in an outdoor grow.
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Environmental Challenges: We all know the sudden onset of a summer storm or local wildfires. Nature is unpredictable, and cannabis is sensitive, which means that outdoor grows can find trouble in inclement weather, hordes of pests, and outside sources of disease that indoor grows just don’t face in the same way.
The Choice is Yours
The choice to grow cannabis may seem like a no-brainer, but there’s a lot to think about when deciding how and where you want to grow. Start your adventure into cannabis cultivation with an eye on success by doing the necessary research and ensuring that you’re making the right choice for your particular circumstances.
For more growing tips, check out our blog.
