Home Growing marijuana: Indoor vs outdoor
News

Growing marijuana: Indoor vs outdoor

marijuana
(© isavira – stock.adobe.com)

Over recent years, it seems growing cannabis plants has become more popular than ever before. With weed stores like this cannabis dispensary in Calgary NW and authorized grow stores both online and land-based supplying customers with top quality seeds, it’s no wonder the process is growing in popularity.

A lot of folks have found themselves with time on their side due to the ongoing pandemic, so to do something constructive, many have learned how to cultivate cannabis at home.

If you are thinking about growing weed from the comfort of your own home, one of the challenges you’ll be facing is whether you should grow indoors or outdoors? Both are different processes and you will have to know a lot of details about both methods before you start the growing journey.

Outdoor: Is the climate in your current location suitable for growing weed outdoors?

Unfortunately, growing pot successfully outdoors depends on the climate in your area. Some strains won’t successfully grow outdoors in certain conditions. The most popular types of cannabis strains are Indica and Sativa. These strains successfully grow in these areas:

  • Sativa: These crops grow best in warm climates. Sativa plants can be found growing in countries like Thailand, Mexico and Jamaica. These tall plants produce thin cannabis leaves. It normally takes around 60-90 days for these plants to fully grow. The bud that these plants produce tend to be lightweight. When a person consumes this type of weed, they can expect it to give them an uplifting feeling. Lots of people who suffer from anxiety and depression use the substance to help them to treat their mental health.
  • Indica: These plants grow best in colder conditions such as the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. These plants are small and sturdy, and produce large, thick leaves. The buds that grow on these crops tend to be dense. Those suffering from sleeping disorders like insomnia often use this type of weed to help them get a quality sleep at night.

Before you start growing outdoors, consider speaking to others in the area who have grown cannabis in your area. If they have successfully grown weed, perhaps asking them what type of seeds they used, what type of fertilizer worked best and how many weeks it took to flower will give you a good indication of what to expect.

Indoor growing is much more discreet than growing outdoor

If you live in a warm climate and you decide to grow a Sativa plant, keep in mind that these plants can grow extremely tall. If you don’t want everyone in the neighborhood finding out that you are growing weed at home, perhaps consider growing indoors instead.

Also, remember that when your plant starts to flower, the smell can travel. It is common for people living nearby or walking close to your property to smell the freshly grown weed. Even in areas where cannabis is legal to grow at home, most people want to avoid others knowing their business. Although cannabis is socially accepted within a lot of communities nowadays, some people are still very much against the substance. If you don’t want to make enemies, growing indoors is probably your best option.

Growing outdoors is cheaper

The cost of growing cannabis indoors, especially during your first attempt can cost you a lot of cash. Not only are you going to have to spend money on growing material such as the lights, tents, soil, and seeds going, you can expect your utility bills to increase significantly. It seems like the price of energy is constantly rising, which is one of the reasons many people opt to grow cannabis outdoors instead.

Because you use natural light when growing outdoors, your electricity bills won’t increase. Plus, you won’t need a grow tent or grow lights either. The main costs when growing outdoors are the seeds and fertilizers that you will need to grow top quality cannabis.

To grow good weed, you must invest your time. Although cannabis can grow naturally outdoors, you still need to keep an eye on the plant and tend to it on a regular basis.

The difference between the plant yield

One of the big differences between growing pot indoors and outdoors is the amount of bud each mature plant yields. When plants are grown outdoors, they are not restricted with space, so they can grow up to ten feet tall. Very few grow tents or rooms allow plants to grow to such heights. Sometimes growers like to stack their plants inside their grow tents, so they tend to grow significantly smaller strains.

More often than not, outdoor plants produce far more smokable buds in comparison to indoor plants. At the same time, some Indica plants take a much shorter time to flower compared to Sativa plants, so you might produce a lot more cannabis throughout the year if you are growing indoors.

Which produces better cannabis?

It is difficult to say which method produces better cannabis because it is a matter of personal preference. Both methods can get you really stoned, but in a slightly different way.

Normally, indoor cannabis produces dense nugs, which generally have a much higher trichome count, and experts claim that the weed is normally more potent. Marijuana that is grown outdoors produces less dense buds which normally has fewer trichomes. Although most claim they get higher from consuming indoor weed, some adore the taste of outdoor bud.

This isn’t always the case, as some cannabis grown outdoors is extremely potent. There are plenty of other factors to take into account such as the strain, the chemicals and fertilizers, the soil, etc. that all help determine the strength of the cannabis.

If you want to grow weed to produce dense, attractive looking buds, growing inside your home is probably your best option. At the end of the day, any weed that is grown well will get you high.

Is growing outdoor better for the environment in comparison to indoor growing?

Without doubt, growing cannabis outdoors is far better for the environment than growing indoors. Growing outdoors you need very little to no electricity whatsoever, so it is much less carbon footprint than indoor growing. Some indoor strains use 12 to 18 hours of electricity each day. Things like fans might have to be kept on 24 hours a day. If you are concerned about the environment, outdoor growing is a much better option.

Conclusion

If you are still wondering which is the best place to grow, inside or outside, consider sampling both cannabis that is grown both outdoors and weed that is grown indoors to see what you prefer. There are many sites that allow you to buy weed online. Most of these stores sell cannabis grown in different locations. If you like a certain strain, you should be able to find the seeds for sale easily in a grow store or on the internet.

Growing cannabis both indoors and outdoors can be a lot of fun. Although it might prove challenging, smoking a joint from cannabis that you have grown yourself is often one of the most satisfying feelings a marijuana enthusiast can have. With so much content published online helping growers to start the process, it is not surprising both methods of growing have become very popular.

Story by Brad Smith

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.