Grow Your Own Windowsill Weed From Seeds

By: Loren Lee Chiesi

With spring in full swing and summer on the horizon, more people are looking forward to spending more time outdoors.

Whether you cultivated a green thumb during quarantine or looking for fresh, organic buds on the cheap, making your own homegrown weed planters can be a fun and rewarding experience.

With low start-up costs and high rewards (pun intended), planting cannabis might just be the best way to celebrate 4/20 this spring. These are some simple steps to consider if you’re thinking of creating your own windowsill weed garden.

How to grow cannabis at home

Finding the Light

The full spectrum that natural sunlight makes is ideal for growing cannabis. Location is everything.

Because we’re growing outside in a stabilized container, not directly into the earth, where you choose to grow is flexible, but crucial.

First, consider the climate. Luckily, cannabis is called weed for a reason – it’s a hardy plant that can thrive with humble beginnings.

However, extreme weather, such a freeze, excessive heat, gale winds, and flooding can destroy even the most robust plants. Consider your environment and select an outdoor location where you can feasibly grow.

Mild, temperate, arid climates are ideal to try sprouting in spring and early summer. A sunny spot in a private yard, terrace, patio, balcony, or rooftop can yield a plentiful personal harvest.

Find an area that receives as much direct sunlight as possible, optimally during midday, when the light quality is most vibrant.

Consider ventilation as well. A constant breeze is healthy for plants, especially in warmer, drier climates. If your growing space is too windy, create barriers to block plants from harsh blows.

Think Outside of the Box

There’s a wide array of potting vessels to choose from when growing weed at home.

When deciding which to choose for growing outdoors, consider your growing space, the amount you are hoping to grow, and the roots of the weeds.

The weed plant gets all of its nutrients and hydration from the roots, so choose a planter that retains water so that the roots stay consistently moist.

The tried and true standard pot with saucer is a great choice for most outdoor growing. The pit of the pot is long enough to allow the roots to spread and extend into the soil, and the saucer helps to reserve extra water to keep plants continuously hydrated.

If going for the standard pot, choose pots made from clay or ceramic. Not only are these pots better for the environment than plastic pots, but they also allow for increased aeration through the tiny pores of the material.

Another great option is the Smart Pot. These plastic-free pots are lined with fabric and other biodegradable materials that absorb heat and retain water much more efficiently than a standard pot.

Also, the design of Smart Pot allows for more airflow, which increases the amount of oxygen that is essential for growing healthy weed from the root.

When selecting a size for your pot, consider the potential size of your plant. Larger weed plants will need taller, bigger containers.

However, smaller plants can tolerate more compact vessels. Keeping in mind that, just like people, all plants are slightly different, the general rule is to have two gallons of potting space for 12 inches of plant height.

Some plants will inevitably grow a little bit wider than taller, so be sure the pot has a wide rim to increase the surface area for sunlight and lateral growth.

Down & Dirty

Think of soil as a buffet of food for your plant. Soil surrounds the plant with nourishment, but what that plant chooses to take in from the soil affects the plants’ overall health and growth.

But, again, cannabis is a weed, so it can grow well in most kinds of soil. However, for optimal plant growth, there are four main soil factors to consider: drainage, texture, pH value, and nutrients.

Cannabis grows best in light textured soil with good water retention and drainage. The plants need enough moisture to grow, but excessive water can cause root rot, mold, and bacteria growth that can damage – and even destroy – plants.

Light loose soil, as opposed to a tightly packed, rocky or grainy texture, promotes root growth and allows oxygen to easily pass throughout the potting vessel.

The pH balance of the soil is also important for growth. Weed grows best in soil that is slightly acidic in a pH range of 5.6 -6.3, and large fluctuations outside this range can kill off even the more hardy plants.

Little weed seedlings need nutrients in order to grow. However, once your weed plants begin to flower, most of the nutrients in the original potting soil will begin to deplete rapidly.

It’s important to continuously enrich the soil with nutrients so that your plants remain vital. Incorporate plant additives such as guano, humus, compost, perlite, coco coir, and other organic matter into the soil’s microbiome. You can find soil enriching nutrients at most plant nurseries and greenhouse supply stores.

Loam soil is the best type of soil composition for growing cannabis. Loam is a type of friable soil composed of silt, sand, and clay particles.

It holds nutrients well, and it is a well-draining soil, which allows water to flow all the way to the root but does not pool and clump at the bottom, causing the roots to drown and rot.

The loose, crumbly texture of loam soil allows the plants to breathe and absorb nutrients more efficiently.

Seedy Business

Never before in the history of botany has there been so much diversity, hybridization, and availability when it comes to cannabis seeds.

When deciding what seeds to plant, you need to consider the chemovares (the scientific name for strains) you want to grow.

Beyond the desired chemovare effect, you want to select seed variety for aroma, taste, and growing season.

The best way to acquire seeds is through online cultivators. Be sure to research your state’s rules and regulations regarding buying seeds online so that you do not violate marijuana laws in your home state.

You can also buy seeds directly from most local cannabis distribution centers.

Once you’ve chosen a plant, look for seeds that flower quickly, have high yields, and are feminized.

The more quickly the plant grows, the better chance you will have to begin harvesting by early September, when plants are at their peak.

Seeds that promise higher yields are ideal for beginners and outdoor cultivators because you’ll have a greater chance of a bountiful harvest even if you make some missteps in early cultivation.

The best time to begin planting in temperate climates is mid-spring, after the rainy season has stabilized and the sun begins to gain its summer strength.

True gardening novices should look for autoflowering seed varieties, because these types of plants are designed to mature quickly.

In order to grow one or two plants outdoors in one standard 2-gallon potting vessel, you’ll need about a dozen seeds, and at least half should be feminized seeds.

The germination rate for weed seeds is almost 90%, so when it comes to planting seeds, the more the merrier!

You can always prune back or repot later on if your plants are outgrowing their vessel. You may want to begin germinating the seeds in moist paper towels indoors before potting them in soil outdoors.

Growing Girls

Plant seeds have two sexes in order to reproduce: male and female. However, only female plants contain enough of the magical cannabinoid composition needed for medicinal and recreational purposes.

So, it’s important to cultivate the female plants and weed out the toxic masculinity. Luckily, it’s easy to identify male and female plants.

Male plants have thicker, sturdier stalks, and they tend to show their sex within the first three weeks of growing outdoors. Tiny bulbs will sprout in the joints of the plants.

The male bulbs will remain naked, whereas the female bulbs will grow fine, light hairs. After about six weeks of growth, you will notice a distinct difference between male and female plants.

The females are much more robust and have shorter, brushier frames, with more leaves growing closer to the top of the plant. The fine hairs on the bulbs of the female bulbs, called pistils, will begin to flower.

Conversely, the male bulbs will begin to produce smooth pollen sacs. Some plants may grow both pollen sacs and pistils, and these should be treated as males for cannabis cultivation purposes.

You can also buy 100% feminized seeds directly from a harvester to avoid this process entirely. Unless you want to germinate seeds, discard the male plants so that they do not continue to pollinate your harvest.

TLC & Maintenance

Just like us, cannabis needs consistent hydration to thrive. The best and most economical way to water a small outdoor potted plant is with a handheld watering jug.

The amount of water your weed plant needs mostly depends upon its size and environmental conditions. If you are growing in a spot that gets intense direct sunlight, you might need to water more frequently.

During the initial vegetative stage, weed plants should be watered constantly, making sure the top layer of soil is never completely dried out. As the plant begins to develop its taproot, it will need less water.

Once you start seeing leafy head growth, you can moderate hydration levels by checking the leaves. If the leaves begin to wilt and the soil dries up, it’s dehydrated. Sagging leaves or water pooling in the soil are signs of overwatering.

Be on the lookout for natural predators, too. Unfortunately, humans are not the only animals who enjoy cannabis. When growing outdoors, pests and other animals are a natural, and unavoidable, part of the process.

The best course of preventative action to take is to create natural buffers. Keep your plants in a location out of reach of pets, birds, and rodents, who might nibble on leaves and deplete your yields.

You can even add a protective wire fencing around the rims of the pots to prevent direct access to the leaves.

Cannabis is also vulnerable to spiders and mites. However, avoid using any pesticides or insecticides on your plants, especially when they are flowering.

Even with thorough external cleaning, toxic chemicals in pesticides can be absorbed through the water and soil directly into the plant, tainting the cannabis from the inside out.

Instead, cultivate natural pest predators like ladybugs and or other endemic insects that keep hungry bugs out.

You might also want to consider keeping a grow journal to mark your progress and challenges along the way.

Keeping track of what is working for your particular plants in your specific environment is a great way to catalogue the evolution of your weed-growing process as well as creating a handy resource for future harvests.

Loren Lee Chiesi is a writer who focuses on cannabis culture and lifestyle.