Beginner's guide: What do you need to grow your own cannabis at home?

The process of growing your own cannabis can be one headache after the other if you don’t have the right supplies and knowledge.

Before embarking on the journey, make sure you can answer some basic questions. How much light do plants require during the vegetative stage? What’s the best pH range for soil? How do you cure cannabis? What’s the best way to store the buds?

To get started, you’ll need a clone, lighting kit, a timer, pre-fertilized organic potting soil, perlite, a wall-mounted fan, a pH meter, oxygen peroxide, Humidipaks, Mylar bags or Mason jars, a screen, and a fabric or net pot. You can pick up most of the materials, besides the lighting kit and clone, at your local nursery and home improvement store.

The industry standard for lighting is a 250- to 1,000-watt High Intensity Discharge (HID) bulb, either high-pressure sodium or metal halide. But because this won’t screw into home fixtures, it requires a ballast and hood/reflector. You can buy the pieces individually, but we recommend you purchase a kit. Many online shops specializing in gardening offer complete lighting kits.

The cannabis you’ll grow won’t be as good as connoisseur-grade stuff, but it can definitely be as good as what your local dispensary sells.

Happy growing!

Humidity is your enemy. “Humidipaks” make curing easier because they regulate humidity. Curing can take 1 1/2 weeks to three months. (Courtesy of Boveda)

Soil and perlite: Pre-fertilized organic potting soil mix and perlite, in a 70-30 percent ratio, is popular. “Soil-less soil” — such as peat, coco, vermiculite or sphagnum-based mediums — also works. And it’s more resistant to root fungus. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay Area News Group)

Mason jars: Curing is essentially just slow and extended drying. And once cannabis is cured, it can be stored indefinitely. Do this in a dark, cool and dry place. Use a plastic bag used for cooking turkeys, or use Tupperware or Mason jars with sealed lids. It will keep the buds fresh and help remove the unpleasant green taste found in noncured buds. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay Area News Group)

Screen: You don’t want to lose your flowers to mold. To let their flowers dry slowly, some people cut the stalk and suspend it from a clothesline in a dark room with good ventilation. Others will trim the buds and let them dry on a screen or dish. The screen is easy and inexpensive to make. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay Area News Group)

Pot: Your container needs to drain well. You can also use a fabric or net pot. Pick a pot with holes and a saucer to catch runoff. Start with a 1-gallon pot; if you wish to transplant to a larger pot later, feel free. (Courtesy of Smart Pot)

Mylar bags: These are great for curing and storing buds. Do not use Ziploc bags — they are porous and allow too much drying. In the first two weeks, quickly open the container — perhaps once a day — and agitate the flowers to allow uniform drying. (David Royal/Monterey Herald)

Hydrogen peroxide can help combat mold when growing cannabis. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay Area News Group)

Lighting and timer: The weaker the light, the weaker the plant. The industry standard is a 250- to 1000-watt High Intensity Discharge (HID) bulb, either high-pressure sodium or metal halide. But because this won’t screw into home fixtures, it requires a ballast and hood/reflector. HID bulbs also put out a lot of heat, so consider an air-cooled hood. During the vegetative phase, give the plant 16 to 20 hours of light every day for two to four weeks. To trigger budding, reduce the light to 12 hours a day. A timer can ensure the lights turn on and off at the same time each day. (Courtesy of iPower)

Fan: A wall-mounted circulating fan creates a breeze that reduces mold and pests. Just don’t point the fan directly at plants; this causes windburn. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay Area News Group)

pH meter: pH is measured on a scale of 1-15 — seven is neutral, the lower end is acidic and the high end is alkaline. Any imbalances in the soil and water can lead to misdiagnosing nutrient deficiencies and all too often, to growers overloading the plant with more nutrients than it can handle. The correct pH range for cannabis depends on the medium. When using soil mix and perlite, a good range is 6 to 7. (Ray Saint Germain/Bay Area News Group)