Growth Stage

Cannabis plants consume a lot of nutrients due to their fast growth, so you’ll need to keep an eye on their growth to give them the nutrients they need at all times.

Cannabis plant’s life cycle is divided into two main stages: the growth or veg stage, and the flowering or bloom stage.

During the growth stage, which is the one we’ll be looking at in this section, your plants grow (vegetate) and develop. They essentially become adults and prepare their structure to hold up a large number of flowers which should grow during the next stage, the flowering stage.

Keep in mind that these periods are essentially defined by the amount of light your plants receive (when talking about light-dependant plants). Autoflowering plants don’t grow this way, thanks to their ruderalis genes they don’t depend on light or darkness to begin flowering.

What Type of Fertilizers Do Vegging Cannabis Plants Need

When it comes to growing cannabis plants, the objective during the growth phase is to grow healthy, strong plants that grow to a certain size and produce adequately strong branches.

Why? Easy – small plants with few, weak branches aren’t going to produce many flowers. If they don’t grow healthy, they won’t have enough energy to produce high quality buds when it comes to the bloom period. This is why the veg period can directly affect the final result of your harvest.

Cannabis plants need fertilizers rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium during the growth stage, as well as micro-elements. There are various different brands out there that manufacture high quality fertilizer ranges designed specifically for cannabis plants. However, the grower will have a lot to do with how well these products are used and the final results.

Veg Fertilizer Cannabis Tips

• Increases doses gradually as your plants grow.
• Make sure to keep an eye on how your plants react to the nutrients used. Each strain reacts differently to certain concentrations; if you know how to interpret the signs, you’ll be able to fix issues before it becomes too late.
• Do not over-fertilize: giving your plants more nutrients than they need isn’t going to make them grow larger or better, it can cause issues when growing cannabis and maybe even block them from absorbing nutrients.

What Fertilizers to Use During the Veg Period

When using nutrients or fertilizers for the growth period, you’ll always need to keep in mind the amount of nutrients contained in your substrate.

Keeping this in mind, you’ll need to start using nutrients when the contents of your substrate have been absorbed. If you use high amounts of nutrients in your water when the substrate already contains nutrients may over fertilize your plants’ roots.

If this happens you’ll know; your plants will begin turning a darker green colour.

How to Use Growth Fertilizers in Inert Substrates

Inert substrates such as coco coir or rock wool, you’ll need to use nutrients right from the get go.

As well as growth nutrients, such as BioBizz Bio Grow or the efficient Pure Blend Pro Grow by Botanicare which both act as nutritional bases for your plants during the growth period. You can also use other products such as stimulants.

Growth stimulants like BioBizz Alg A Mic or Green Explosion by Top Crop guarantee better nutrient absorption and better growth in general.

Other metabolic stimulants such as Liquid Karma can be used to accelerate the growing process as well as give your plants a little extra energy.

This category contains bio, bio-mineral and mineral growth fertilizers and additives.

Recommendations for Using Growth Fertilizers

When growing in soil or any substrate mixture that contains nutrients, we recommend starting with using growth nutes once a week at small doses. Keep an eye on how your plants react and their general appearance to avoid nutrient accumulations (You can use enzymes to stop this from happening).

As your plants continue to grow, you can increase doses and even feeding frequency (we don't recommend going over the max. dose indicated by the manufacturer).

Shake products well before using and store in cool, dark areas. Do not use products that have been open for over 6 – 8 months.

Growth Fertilizer for Outdoor Grows

If you plan on growing outdoors in the ground or in flower pots over 40L, we recommend using slow-releasing powdered fertilizers such as the efficient Nitro Guano or Mega Worm.

Growth fertilizers and stimulants should be used until the first pistils begin to flow up (until the second flowering week). From this moment onwards you should switch to flowering stimulants and fertilizers.

Check out our post on how to feed cannabis plants or consult our team of experts.