The hemp plant is a fascinating, versatile crop with a rich and varied history. This renewable and sustainable plant has been put to use in a variety of ways over the centuries. Let’s take a look at some of the ways hemp can be used.
- Sustainable building methods (e.g. cob houses)
- Textiles Ropes
- Biodegradable plastics
- Health food
- Fuel
More recently, the use of hemp as a way to consume non-psychoactive cannabinoids like cannabidiol(CBD), cannabigerol (CBG), cannabichromene (CBC) and cannabinol (CBN). People use these cannabinoids from everything to pain management, insomnia treatment, and digestive disorders to anxiety treatment, eye health, brain function and improved mental well-being.
Additionally, hemp is quite easy to grow, even for beginners. There’s a reason the various species in the cannabis family are known as ‘weed’. It’s a hardy, robust and aromatic plant that is relatively simple to cultivate, even from seed.
We’ve seen interest in growing personal hemp surge in the past few months. Whether you’re looking for a new hobby or you like the idea of knowing exactly where your hemp is coming from, it’s never been easier to produce your own high-quality hemp. Candid Magazine has put together a simple, beginners guide on how to grow hemp indoors.
Grow Boxes
If you’re new to growing hemp you might want to consider using a grow box, especially in a U.K. climate. An indoor grow lets you control your environment to achieve optimal lighting, temperatures and soil composition. Unlike an outdoor grow, you’re creating the perfect conditions for your hemp plants without being at the mercy of the temperamental British climate.
More importantly, grow boxes and grow kits contain everything you need to get started. These self-contained indoor habitats are set up to give your plant the correct light, humidity, ventilation and soil along with a special container for the hemp plant to flourish in. A lot of these grow boxes or cabinets devices are designed specifically for the novice grower.
They will often come with step-by-step instructions designed to make the process easy to follow. Some of these devices are so foolproof they take a ‘set it and forget it’ approach where the device takes care of the plant without much intervention needed from you.
Growing Hemp Seeds
Spouting or germinating hemp seeds is a relatively easy process. Like most plants, hemp has four main different growing stages. Let’s take a look at them and then focus on growing hemp seeds.
Germination
Germination is the process by which an organism or plant grows from a seed. A seed must sprout to form a seedling. Seedling A seedling is a very young plant that has sprouted from a seed.
Vegetative
This is the period of growth where the seedling is in the development phase of its life cycle. During this phase, plants begin to photosynthesise and accumulate the resources they will need to flower and reproduce.
Flowering
Flowering is when your hemp plant has begun to bloom or blossom. Plants or flowers have reached maturity and are ready to reproduce. Or in our case, when the plant has flowered it is ready to be harvested.
Germinating Your Hemp Seed
The conditions for germinating a hemp seed is similar to sprouting a tomato seed.
Steps For Germination:
Pre-soaking seeds for between 8 to 12 hours will improve germination. The easiest way to germinate seeds is to place them between damp layers of paper towel on a plate. Store the plates in a dark, humid place.
The ideal temperature for seed germination is 18-21 degrees Celsius. We recommend checking the plate every day and moistening the paper towels when needed. Germination should take between 3-5 days.
Once your seedlings are ready to go, you can make a 1-inch deep divot in moist soil and place your seed in the soil in the grow box.
Plenty of Reasons You Should Invest in a Smart Grow Box
There are grow boxes so advanced that you can control all the settings like temperature, humidity, watering, lighting and ventilation from a device like your phone or computer.
Guidelines will be included to inform you what the optimal levels for all these things are at different phases in your plant's life cycle. It’s almost like employing a full-time gardener to tend to your crops. There is very little labour required once your plant is in the grow box as everything is automated.
Aside from some occasional monitoring to assess whether your hemp plants are on target, there is hardly any other effort than inputting the correct settings. The hemp yields you can get from smart grow boxes are fantastic. Not only in quantity but in quantity too.
The most important thing is that you’ve monitored your hemp from seed to usable bud, so you know exactly what you’re getting. Grow boxes are only a couple of feet tall and take up the space of a small-sized cabinet in your home. These easy to use devices almost guarantee a high-quality crop.
