Indoor vs. outdoor cultivation - advantages and disadvantages

Decide based on your priorities and possibilities.

Let me say right away that each of these areas, whether in the apartment , outside in an open space, in the garden house or on the balcony/terrace, offers its own special advantages as well as disadvantages.

It is essential to know the different characteristics of the different cultivation areas in order to be able to decide which of these cultivation options is the most suitable method.
Since this is about the budget you want to invest, the risk tolerance you want to invest and the know-how you have also play an important role, which you should consider, as well as the factors which cultivation method will deliver the best results for your needs and for later consumption of the buds.

An important note on this:

Please don't use cheap discount or hardware store soil, as it's often contaminated with pests. Instead, buy good soil that costs a bit more. You don't need overpriced special cannabis soil for this, but rather good, peat-free tomato and vegetable soil. This contains all the important nutrients cannabis needs and provides the same quality as expensive special weed soil. A 40-liter bag shouldn't cost more than about €10-12.

And it is precisely for these reasons that we will examine the different cultivation areas and start with the cultivation sector:

Outdoor cannabis cultivation (greenhouse, balcony, terrace):

I often hear that most people immediately think, "It's easiest in the garden and, apart from soil, seeds and water, all you need is a little patience until you can harvest."

And of course, this is the primary thought of every inexperienced cannabis grower who wants to try it for the first time when they have the opportunity to grow it in the garden (with or without a greenhouse) or on the balcony/terrace.

The advantage is clear: No energy source is needed to provide the plants with light, as the garden provides sufficient sunlight at the right time of year to cultivate cannabis into a respectably large plant.

However, this only works if you're not using automatic cannabis seeds , but rather regular/ feminized cannabis seeds . Automatics, with a lifespan of 8-12 weeks, don't have the opportunity to develop over as long a period as feminized seeds, nor can you top them so often that you continually encourage the shoots to form new ones to produce more flowers in the end result.
However, you can and should also grow automatics outside at the right time of year, when you have constant sunlight for 3 months, 18 hours a day, and temperatures are above 20°, to save energy.

If you want to grow outdoors, please consider the following risks and factors:

Seed germination should ALWAYS take place indoors, as cannabis seeds are "dark germinators" and don't require any sunlight. They do, however, require high humidity and temperatures of 25-30°C to germinate quickly. These conditions are easier to achieve indoors.
Also, you should never think about planting the plant directly in the garden soil, but ALWAYS grow cannabis in a pot with clean organic soil to avoid consuming any toxins that may be in the soil later via the flowers.

It's important to remember that hemp is a plant that consumes virtually everything it's given as "food," which it later deposits in its flowers. This applies to both pesticides and other substances found in the soil, as well as exhaust fumes and other toxins in the air.
Therefore, choose an area where the plant will grow where there are no exhaust fumes from cars, etc., because it can be toxic to you later.

Another reason why grass should be planted in a pot rather than in the ground is so that in the event of severe weather such as storms, hail, heavy rain, etc., the plant can be immediately moved to a secure area to avoid damage and stress to your green darlings.

You should also consider that in outdoor areas there is a much higher risk that the plant will be attacked by pests such as fungus gnats, spider mites and aphids, which is why you should check your plants regularly for pest infestation and react immediately if there is any danger.

If a pest infestation occurs, I would personally always use beneficial insects to combat the pests, as it is the safest and most effective method to quickly end the infestation.

The most common pests that can occur are fungus gnats, which are controlled with nematodes, spider mites are controlled with predatory mites, and aphids can be easily eliminated with either lacewing larvae or ladybird larvae.

This applies to ALL outdoor areas such as balconies/terraces/greenhouses/open spaces.
If you want to grow in a greenhouse and have the opportunity to do so, please remember to clean the windows as thoroughly as possible REGULARLY so that enough sunlight gets through and is not reduced by dirt on the outside and inside of the greenhouse windows.

In addition to the other problems we have already discussed, the garden house can become hot during the hot season.  The greenhouse effect can occur. Please keep in mind that weed grows best when it feels most comfortable. This happens at temperatures between 21° and 25°, and at a humidity of 40% and 70%. If these values ​​are exceeded, your green darling will experience stress, and you should immediately ensure adequate cooling and ventilation. Otherwise, mold growth, growth failure, and other problems can quickly arise.

On the terrace or balcony, it should also be mentioned that you should keep an eye on the temperature and sunlight, as the sun "moves" and there may be shadows and temperatures lower than 21%, which can inhibit the development of your pets.

Finally, please keep in mind that, regardless of your field, due to our climatic conditions, you can only harvest a maximum of two crops per year with autoflowering strains and only one with regular, feminized genetics. The seasons don't allow for more than that.

Please don't forget that even if the harvest is larger outdoors, you are still only allowed to keep 50g of it and have to destroy the rest.
This way you won't have more yield per year than with indoor cultivation, in fact the opposite is the case, but we'll come to that now.

Growing cannabis indoors (with and without a grow box):

Indoor cultivation offers the informed grower a whole range of optimization options to increase the quality - but also the quantity - of their own organic flower harvest, which cannot be achieved outdoors due to the circumstances.

It is worth investing less than €200 once to have a suitable grow box with ventilation and odor filter, as well as LED light, for future cultivation.

I will dedicate a separate post to the topic of everything needed for cultivation and harvesting in the near future, as otherwise it would simply be too much for today and we would rather focus on the essential differences and advantages compared to outdoor areas.

With a grow box, home growers can treat their favorite plants with additional CO2. This is also possible to a limited extent in a greenhouse, but could further increase the greenhouse effect. It would be pointless to use it outdoors in the garden, on the balcony, or on the terrace, as it would immediately evaporate into the air.

In the grow box, however, this is not a problem at all and it makes your Weed Lady more vital and strong and provides you with higher yields, so without.

I will also soon write a blog post about how you can produce your own CO2 for just a few cents, so you can avoid using expensive CO2 bags.

Another aspect is that your plants are protected, which keeps any stress from environmental influences or pests away from your babies.

The biggest advantage you can achieve with a grow box, however, is the frequency with which you can harvest per year. Whether you use automatics or regular female seeds, you can harvest at least four and up to six times per year.

Depending on the genetics, automatics take 8-12 weeks to mature from germination to harvest. For example, if you use " White Russian " autos, they're ready every 8 weeks, so you'll get 6 harvests per year, provided you germinate the next seeds about 7-14 days before harvest.

But even with feminized seeds, you can achieve at least 4-5 harvests per year from one box. It's enough to let the ladies grow for about 4-6 weeks and then switch the light from 18 hours to 12 hours for flowering to occur. If you opt for fast-flowering genetics, such as Cali-Purple Milkshake or Cali- Blueberry Bubba , flowering only takes 6-7 weeks before you can harvest. This results in a harvest every 3 months at most, with yields of 50g or more.

For beginners who want to play it safe and are worried that nothing will come of them, I would like to reassure you that you are best advised to use autoseeds with Girl Scout Cookies and feminiized cannabis seeds with Jack Herrer .

Both plants have very strong genetics, are relatively undemanding, and produce high yields. These genetics will germinate in EVERYONE and produce great results for EVERYONE.

As far as the quality of your buds goes, the box is of the highest standard available. Thanks to the activated carbon filter and protected area, as well as clean organic tomato soil, there are no toxins or odors that can settle in the flowers. This makes it the purest form of cannabis that can be cultivated.

Finally, let's address the question of whether you can successfully grow weed indoors without a grow box. In short, yes, it's possible, but the yield will be low. Keep in mind that the sun "moves," and the plant therefore needs to "move" as well, to receive 18 hours of light during the growth phase.

Anyone who wants to try it will certainly get results, but it will be less than 50g for three ladies. If I wanted to do it for myself, I'd probably prefer automatics, as they're more forgiving if they've had less light than photoperiod strains, and I can harvest the results after just a few weeks.

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We thank the author Jorge Rieger for this blog post on the topic of indoor vs. outdoor cultivation - pros and cons. Feel free to follow him on his Facebook account. --> Click here