How Long Does It Take to Grow Marijuana Indoors?

When growing weed there are a lot of things to consider. Cultivating this plant from seed is something that can be a challenge and particular conditions will need to be met in order for it to grow to the utmost quality for consumption.

Most of those who grow marijuana vegetate indoor plants for between 4-8 weeks and this will depend on the desired size of plant. Depending on the strain of cannabis plant, some are ready as soon as 4 weeks to harvest whereas others may take a little longer to flower and use. Giving your plants a lot of vegetative time will allow them to grow bigger and will result in a higher yield. When growing marijuana indoors, you can buy plant timers and change these to a ratio of 12/12 meaning that the lights will be on for 12 hours of the day giving rise to maximum photosynthesis and growth.

How Long Does It Take For Weed To Grow marijuana indoor?

As we stated above - it can take up to 8 weeks for plants to grow depending on the strain, however, it may even take as long as 5-6 months before you are able to produce good quality weed for smoking. So what are the different stages of cannabis plant growth?

Today we are going to break down the different stages of growth and show you what to look for and how long each of these stages might take. This will allow you to follow along with your journey and keep track of your cannabis growth - ensuring that you have a rough estimate of when your crops will be ready to go.

Preparation: 0 to 4 weeks

When starting to grow marijuana indoor from scratch the first thing you will need to do is gather all of the equipment and the supplies you need to grow effectively. There are many great seed banks across Europe that you can use and some also have US offices to help cut down on shipping across the world - and therefore give you a better chance of good seeds.

Once you have everything you need to grow weed it is time to put it all together and start growing. This can take a few hours to set up but it won’t take long for you to be in a position to grow your weed.

Germination: 1 to 7 days

When starting your weed growth process with seeds you will need to germinate them and get the process going. Germination is the first stage of plant growth and it sees the outer shell of the seed break apart and give way to a seedling. This can take up to a week to happen depending on conditions and once the root has made its way out of the seed shell and it has grown 5mm, you can plant your new seedling in a medium soil - unless you have already done this before germination.

Rooting: 5 to 10 days

The next stage of the growth process for a plant is the rooting stage. The roots of your cannabis plant are where it will get all of its nutrients, and when growing, the roots will form quicker than the sprout because the plant is trying to gather as many nutrients from the soil as it possibly can. Rooting will take a little while and the aim of this stage for cannabis growth is to ensure that they are strong. If you are using clones instead of seeds, you will skip the germination stage and you will focus on getting the clones to form roots so that they can function as their own independent organism.

Vegging: 3 weeks and above

Once you have seedlings that are sprouting and have grown roots - it is time for vegging. You may not have heard this before but it is used to describe when your plant starts to form more branches, strong stems, and more leaves to become a stronger plant. Essentially, this is the growth stage of your plant and it will see your plant mature from a tiny little sprout to a plant that has all of the known characteristics of a cannabis plant, including those signature leaves. This is a long process as it requires a lot of energy to complete so be patient here.

This stage can actually last indefinitely when you are growing marijuana indoors because you control the conditions and you are the one who will give the plant a signal that it is time for it to flower.

In the outdoors, shorter days will signal your plants to start flowering and this means if you shorten the light timer indoors you can achieve the same effect. This is a helpful indicator and it will trick your plants into flowering at any time of the year.

Why long vegging for marijuana plant?

When going through the vegging process you may consider after 3 weeks that you should immediately make your plants start to flower. Because after all, why waste any time?

Well, one important reason not to rush the vegging process is to allow your plants to grow bigger and stronger. The bigger your plant grows the more flowers it will be able to produce and this will allow you to grow bigger buds for use. Of course, when growing cannabis indoor plants the size they will grow will be determined by the size of their container as well as nutrients available in the soil so this is something for you to consider as well.

It is important to note that during the flowering stage your plants won’t simply stop growing - in fact they will grow up to twice the size they were before this stage began. As a grower of weed it is important for you to know your limits on size of tent and strength of grow lights and grow your crop according to these things.

Another thing that may affect the way your plants grow is the humidity in the air. You may be aware that warm and humid conditions are important for cannabis growth and you should try to ensure that the cannabis plants are surrounded by warm conditions.

Flowering: 5 to 16 weeks

The flowering (or bloom) stage is one that will take a long time and this is due to the sheer amount of energy it takes your plants to grow at home a whole new part of them. The flowering process will begin the first time that you change the light schedule from 12 hour on 12 hour off to something more like 6 hours on and 18 hours off. This will begin the process for your plants to stop vegging and get ready to reproduce by creating flowers. This is the stage where you will see whether your plant is female, male, or hermaphrodite.

The bloom stage is actually made up of a few smaller stages that take place throughout these weeks and each of these stages will help you determine when it is time to harvest the buds. As we mentioned at the start of the article, because there are many strains of cannabis plant indoor, the flowering and bloom stage will vary by a lot and they will take various times to flower and get ready for harvesting. Satisfaction strains will usually take the longest with an estimated time of 10-16 weeks, whereas Indica strains will often take around 7-9 weeks.

Post Harvest: 3 to 7 weeks

Once you have gone through all of the growth stages above, it is time for you to harvest your weed and then dry it out to prepare it for smoking. You can also try to cure your weed as well and this will allow you to get the best out of your weed.

Curing weed will help to eliminate that signature grassy smell of weed and it will also serve to help get rid of the bitter flavour of a dried bud. Another benefit of curing your weed is that it will stop you getting a painful head rush when smoking, and will reduce the anxious feelings that can sometimes go alongside smoking this drug.

Curing: 2 weeks at least

When curing your buds from your harvest, it is ideal to cure them for between 2 weeks to 1 month to get the full benefits of this process. Once you have dried your weed, which normally takes around 5 days, you can go ahead and get ready to cure your weed and ensure it is of the best possible quality.

How To Make Weed Grow Faster

It will be clear that the process of growing and cultivating weed takes a long time as well as a lot of due care and attention. It is important for you to take your time with the process and ensure that you grow the best possible weed for smoking.

However, there are a few ways that you can speed up the growing process and ensure you can grow your weed and harvest it at maximum capacity.

Choose A Faster Strain

The most simple way to grow marijuana that harvests quicker is to choose a faster strain that will give you bids in a shorter space of time. This means that you will gain a higher yield in a shorter time and it will make life a little easier for you. Most of the fastest growing strains are autoflower strains and these are a great choice for speeding up the weed growing marijuana indoor process.

Veg Less for your plant

As we discussed earlier, vegging takes anywhere from 3 weeks onwards and this means that after the initial 3 weeks is over you can start to look at options for flowering early. If you choose to change your lighting cycle immediately after 3 weeks this will accelerate your time for flowering and hence you’ll get bids earlier that you can use.

Start With Clones

One way to speed up the process by a week or so is to start with clones instead of seeds. This means you can skip the germination process altogether and this will be much easier for you to handle.

Growing from clones instead of seeds speeds up the process a bit, since the clones are already fairly well developed. You have to wait for them to root, but once they do, you have a huge head start over a seed.

Do sex plants affect the growing?

In some cases when you are growing cannabis plants indoors, the sex of the plant will actually determine a few of the characteristics of your plant. For example, female plants will grow buds whereas male and hermaphrodite plants will not. So if you are looking to grow buds, only allow the female plants to grow and let the others die off.

Provide Humid Conditions 

As with any plant you try to grow, it is important for you to provide the best possible conditions for them to thrive. This means that for a cannabis plant you will want to ensure that the growth environment has lots of light, warmth, and humidity at all times to mimic what it would see in the world. By using string lights, a good tent, and heaters, you can create a space that is ideal for your weed and this will allow it to grow big and strong. Also, make sure that you use the best possible nutrients for your weed and this means using great soil.

In conclusion, it can take a varying amount of time to grow weed and it will depend on several important factors. If you are looking to start growing weed this year it is important for you to take a look at the above tips and tricks and use these to cultivate the best possible crop of weed for smoking. Make sure to keep the climate-controlled, lighting strong, and be patient at the most crucial stages to ensure that you get the most out of every single plant. Use these helpful tips and these stages to grow your own weed this year of great quality.