Growing Cannabis at Home: An Beginner's Guide to Growing Weed

Grass @Home: The Beginner's Guide to Legal Home Growing

Growing weed for personal use at home has so far been reserved for real enthusiasts who were not deterred by strict bans. But from April 1, 2024, this will change: adults will then be legally allowed to grow up to three cannabis plants for personal use But how does it actually work? And how can you, even as a newbie, achieve high-quality yields so that you can later enjoy rolling a few joints?

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn how to grow cannabis at home on the balcony, in the garden, or even in the closet under artificial light with minimal effort.

First things first: The new regulations

From April 1, 2024, the law allows all adults aged 18 and over to grow up to three plants. You are free to decide whether you want to grow them on the windowsill, on the balcony, "enclosed" in the garden or in the cupboard under artificial light. It is important to note that according to Section 10 CanG, the plants and the harvest must be protected from third-party access. This means:

• Indoor : Rooms must be lockable.
• Outdoor : The garden must be fenced or clearly marked.

The aim of the law is to cover personal needs. How much you ultimately need depends on your personal consumption habits.

How much grass do you really need?

• Occasional users (e.g. one joint every three weeks): A sunny spot, a few pots and some good soil are enough to harvest enough cannabis for the whole year with little effort.
• Regular consumers (almost daily): This requires a little more effort. However, with the right care, you can ensure a constant supply of your own.

The Basics: What you need for cultivation

To get started you need the following materials:

• 3–5 feminized seeds
• 3–5 peat pots for germination
• 3–5 small growing pots
• 3–5 large pots (11–16 liters, black)
• 50–70 liters of soil (preferably pre-fertilized special soil)
• organic fertilizer
• scissors for later trimming
• precision scale for weighing the harvest
• clothesline for drying the flowers

Instructions: How to grow your own step by step

1. The right choice of seeds

With legalization, you can buy feminized seeds either in other EU countries or in special cannabis clubs. These seeds guarantee that only THC-containing plants (female) grow.

2. Germination of seeds

• Place the seeds in peat pots and place them in a bright location.
• Spray them regularly with water to keep the soil moist.
• A mini greenhouse increases the survival rate.

Tip: In 2024, germination is only allowed from April onwards. However, the ideal time window for maximum plant development is February/March. Therefore, you may have to plan for smaller yields in the first year.

3. Repotting and growth

As soon as the seeds have germinated and are developing new leaves, repot them into small growing pots. Fill these with special growing soil, which you can get from a flower shop or grow shop.
When the roots reach the soil, they are ready for the large pots. The black color helps to warm the soil and promote root growth.

4. Location selection

• Windowsill or balcony : Place the plants in a sunny spot and water them regularly with clean water (rainwater is ideal).
• Outdoor garden : Make sure the area is fenced or clearly marked to comply with legal requirements.

Care tips: How to optimally care for your plants

1. Water : Make sure the soil never dries out completely. Hard tap water can hinder the absorption of nutrients - use rainwater instead.
2. Nutrients : Cannabis is a heavy feeder. Special organic fertilizers from the grow shop ensure healthy development.
3. Ventilation : Good air circulation is important, especially in humid autumn months, to prevent mold growth.

flowering and harvest

• Start of flowering : Depending on the variety, the flowering phase begins at the end of July or August. From now on, you should limit yourself to a maximum of three plants, as only three flowering plants are legal.
• Determining maturity : Use a magnifying glass or pocket microscope to check the resin droplets on the buds. Once 50% of the droplets are milky and the hairs are reddish brown, the plant is ready to harvest.

Be careful when storing

According to §10 CanG, both the plants and the harvested flowers must be stored safely from unauthorized access. Indoors, this means in a lockable cabinet. Outdoors, a fenced area is required.

Conclusion: Growing made easy

Growing your own cannabis legally offers many opportunities to become independent of expensive products on the market. With a small budget and a little patience, you can grow your plants on your balcony, in your garden or in your living room. Follow these simple steps and you will soon be able to enjoy high-quality, home-grown weed.

Drying made easy – and why it can still be complicated

Drying your harvest is actually a straightforward process: After harvesting, the plants are hung upside down in a dark, dry place. Once the stems are brittle and bone dry, the flowers can be separated. They are then stored in a well-ventilated, non-airtight container and turned regularly, ideally once a day. Depending on the climate and the size of the flowers, the drying process takes about two to four weeks.

But what sounds simple in theory can become legally tricky in practice – especially with regard to the applicable quantity restrictions.

The legal hurdles: Why drying is a "tightrope walk"

The law allows the possession of a maximum of 50 grams of dry cannabis from one's own cultivation. What seems to be clearly regulated on paper quickly becomes a problem in practice: three fully grown plants often produce significantly more than 50 grams of dry flowers, even without yield-increasing measures such as shoot division or thinning. Here every hobby gardener is faced with a dilemma:

• Successive harvest?
  The law suggests harvesting plants gradually so that you never have more than the permitted amount. However, this is almost impossible with outdoor plants, as they often ripen at the same time.

• Freezing as an alternative?
  In order to comply with legal quantities, the harvest could be frozen fresh and then dried in 50-gram portions. But this has significant disadvantages: the taste suffers and the flowers often become bone dry after thawing and lose quality.

Quality vs. Legal Compliance

Anyone who wants to preserve the full quality of their harvest will come up against legal limits here. Three legally grown plants can easily yield more than 50 grams - even without special techniques or particularly good conditions. The law forces hobby gardeners into an unpleasant gray area:

• Loss of quality due to freezing and subsequent drying
• Potential legal violations if the crop is dried in one go

Until the legislature improves this situation, harvesting three plants will remain a legally delicate or qualitatively compromised matter.

Cuttings: An alternative to seeds?

In addition to growing from seeds, the law also allows the cultivation and distribution of cuttings, i.e. offshoots of non-flowering plants. This method offers several advantages, especially under artificial light:

• Time saving : Cuttings shorten the growing time by about four weeks.
• Controlled growth : Cuttings grow uniformly and are easier to handle.

But there are restrictions: Cuttings may not be sold until autumn 2024 at the earliest - and then only by cannabis clubs. Growing your own cuttings under artificial light is also possible, but requires special equipment and experience. For beginners, growing from seeds, especially outdoors, is much less complicated.

Conclusion: Legal cultivation remains tricky

While growing your own cannabis is becoming legal, harvesting and drying it in particular poses some challenges. The quantity limit of 50 grams per household presents many hobby gardeners with difficult decisions: either they accept a loss of quality through freezing or risk exceeding the permitted amount. Growing from cuttings is also an interesting option, but due to legal restrictions it is only an alternative in the long term.

The hope remains that the legislator will make the rules more practical in the future - so that every hobby gardener can concentrate fully on growing their crops without having to worry about legal pitfalls.