In this blog, we will explore in detail how to go about growing your own cannabis plants on a balcony or terrace, making the most of the outdoor conditions. We will discover practical tips, from preparing the space to harvesting, so that you can successfully enjoy your own cannabis garden. Ready to embark on this exciting cannabis adventure and transform your balcony into a green and healthy oasis?
Cannabis growing usually starts in early spring, when the temperature rises and growing conditions are better. During the month of March the days are already longer and it will be perfect for the vegetative development of cannabis. This is why from this time onwards we can start growing cannabis on our balcony.
In our blog you will find “When to grow cannabis outdoors“, take a look at it to find out first-hand the best times for growing cannabis on a balcony or terrace.
But before growing cannabis plants there are many things to keep in mind.
Preparing the space on your balcony or terrace for growing cannabis
The first step is essential: preparing the space. Before starting, take time to clean and organise the balcony or terrace. We will remove unnecessary objects to ensure an optimal space for a good development, and that the plants can receive the right amount of sunlight during the day. It is advisable to clean and/or disinfect the floor for a better cleaning, avoiding possible mites, or unwanted spores that can ruin our growing.
Remember that a clean and tidy environment, together with the necessary hours of light are essential for the healthy development of your plants.
Lighting hours for cannabis plants
Cannabis plants need a certain number of hours of light for their correct development. For growing feminized cannabis plants, they need 18 hours of light for the growing phase and 12 hours of light for the flowering phase. If our plants receive a limited amount of hours, they will develop weak and so will the development of the buds.
On the other hand, there is the option of growing autoflowering cannabis plants, which do not need a change in the number of hours of light to flower. By providing 18 hours of light throughout the growing period, we will achieve a spectacular development, depending on the variety chosen.
When growing cannabis on a terrace, the plants usually receive quite a few hours of light, while on a balcony they usually receive fewer hours, depending on the orientation. Ideally, plants should receive between 5 – 8 hours of direct sunlight per day, so that they can develop optimally.
In addition to the hours of light the plants need to receive, the hours of darkness are also very important. Darkness is very important for the rest of the plants, so if they receive any light in periods of darkness our plants can become stressed, and even in the flowering period, they may not produce buds.
Light pollution
In urban areas light pollution is very common and can completely affect our plants. If you are growing cannabis on a balcony or terrace, it is very important that during the night they are in a period of maximum darkness. Illuminated signs, the neighbour’s light and, above all, the light from street lamps, can be the cause of the light pollution that our cannabis plants receive.
If we are growing feminised plants and suffer from light pollution, depending on the intensity of the light, we may suffer different disadvantages, more or less important. The plants may take a long time to develop their sex, so the stress level will be high and the development of the plants will be slower and they may even hermaphrodite.
In addition, during periods of darkness a hormone called florigen is developed which enables the plant to flower. In the case of receiving light rays, the plant is stressed and does not produce this hormone, so it will not produce buds. If we know that we can suffer from light pollution we can grow autoflowering seeds, as they do not depend on a photoperiod to produce flowers.
Choosing the right varieties for outdoor growing
In the world of growing cannabis on a balcony or terrace, the choice of strains is key. We must select strains that are well adapted to outdoor growing. If space is limited, consider growing autoflowering plants, which offer a short life cycle and flower automatically, regardless of the hours of light.
Growing autoflowering plants on a balcony or terrace
Autoflowering plants are perfect allies for growing cannabis on a balcony or terrace. Thanks to their ability to flower automatically and their fast growing, these strains are ideal for limited spaces. Find out how to maximise the performance of autoflowering plants and make the most of the advantages they offer in a balcony setting. Autoflowering plants, as their name suggests, flower automatically so they do not need to comply with a photoperiod to complete flowering.
Autoflowering plants have a predetermined growing cycle, i.e. if we grow an autoflowering variety for 8 weeks, the complete growing will take only 8 weeks. Therefore, we should not spend more time growing them than the indicated time, which makes them ideal for beginner growers. They are plants that adopt a small, more discreet size, perfect for growing on balconies.
Growing feminised plants on a balcony or terrace: Making the most of your outdoor space
Feminized plants offer the advantage of producing more buds, which translates into a more abundant and potent harvest. Growing them on terraces requires attention to detail to maximise growth and development. Growing feminised plants will take much longer than autoflowering varieties. Feminized plants need a photoperiod change to flower, i.e. we need to reduce the hours of light for them to flower.
A feminized plant will need 18 hours of light for its growth phase and 12 hours of light for the flowering phase. During spring and early summer, the amount of daylight hours is higher, so the plants will be in the growing phase. In late summer and early autumn, the days get shorter and the plants enter the flowering phase, developing buds until the harvest period. Depending on the growing strain, the harvest will be earlier or later, each strain has its own optimal harvest period.
As a result, our feminised plants will have a longer growing period, will adopt larger sizes depending on the time we grow them and we will get a higher yield. It should be noted that the longer the growing time, the more care our plants will need.
Find out which are the best strains for growing cannabis on a balcony or terrace.
Soil preparation and containers
The basis of growing starts with the soil and containers. We need to select a quality substrate and make sure the containers have good drainage. The health of the plants depends to a large extent on the quality of the soil, so it is advisable to take the time to prepare a solid base for our balcony cannabis garden.
If growing in pots, we recommend buying a substrate that ensures that your plants are fed with the optimal and necessary nutrients. During the first weeks of life, our plants do not need a large amount of nutrients, compared to 5 or 6 months of growing, which is why we recommend using Light Mix substrates. Once several transplants have been carried out, we can use substrates such as All Mix. A good substrate will have a positive effect on the development of our cannabis growing on a balcony or terrace.
In addition to the substrate, the containers we use for growing our plants will be very important. In outdoor growing, we recommend using pots with light colours, white, grey-brown, as dark colours absorb the heat of the light and can harm the development of the roots.
Types of pots for growing cannabis on balcony or terrace
The pots we use are very important for growing cannabis on a balcony or terrace. In addition to colour and drainage, we must choose the material and size. We can grow our cannabis plants in plastic, ceramic or even fabric pots. Each material will bring us benefits
- Ceramic pots: Ceramic pots are much cooler and allow the substrate temperature to be more stable. On the other hand, ceramic pots are much heavier.
- Plastic pots: Plastic pots are the most commonly used for growing cannabis on balconies or terraces. They are cheap, cool and guarantee an optimal development of the plant.
- Fabric pots: Fabric pots are one of the best options for growing cannabis, because the substrate is much more aerated and improves root development. On the other hand, it also allows transpiration more easily and the plants need to be watered more often.
Size of pots for growing cannabis
The size of the pots also has a lot to do with the size of the plants; the bigger the pot, the bigger the plant. When choosing the growing pot, we must take into account the genetics of the strain to be grown.
In the case of growing autoflowering seeds, we recommend using at least 18-25 litre pots to get a plant with a good development. If we grow with smaller pots our plants will be smaller, which is an interesting option for small balconies or if we want to be much more discreet.
If we are growing feminized plants, the size of our plants will depend largely on the size of the pot. The bigger the pot, the more root development the plant will have and the bigger the plant will grow, the smaller the pot, the less root development the plant will have and the smaller the plant will grow. Although if we want smaller feminized plants we recommend other techniques, such as delaying the growing or using pruning.
For feminized plants we recommend at least 45 – 50 litre pots, the bigger the pot size the more water retention we will get.
Daily care and watering
Growing cannabis on a balcony or terrace requires daily attention. Watering must be balanced to avoid problems such as waterlogging or dry soil. Efficient watering is essential to maintain the healthy development of plants in the outdoor environment. The substrate of our plants must be kept moist at all times and we must be vigilant to ensure that this is the case. Too little or too much water can cause damage to our cannabis plants.
During the periods when the plants are smaller, they are not as demanding of water, due to their low root development, but, as the size of the plants increases, they need greater absorption of both water and nutrients. A plant of one and a half metres in height needs much more water than a plant of half a metre. One way to tell if your substrate is moist is by the weight of the pot. If we lift it up and it is light, we should add water, if the weight of the pot is higher, our soil will be wet.
But cannabis plants need nutrients to grow, and although they can obtain many of them from the substrate, depending on the substrate we have used, there will come a time when the substrate will run out of nutrients, because the plant will have assimilated them all. Before this happens, we recommend adding liquid nutrients. This will ensure that the plant has access to the amount of nutrients it needs to feed itself, improving its vigour and development, improving the structure and strength of the plant, achieving a better final result.
Add nutrients to cannabis growing
Nutrients are essential for our cannabis plants to grow and develop their structure. The more access they have to nutrients, the healthier plants will be, with a stronger structure that will help to improve the harvest. Depending on what stage of life the plant is in, it will need some nutrients or others, which is why we find growth fertilisers and flowering fertilisers.
We can equate the life of the plant to that of a human being, if we do not provide nutrients to our body we become weak, just as it happens with plants. In addition, we must provide the necessary amount without over-fertilising them, just as we can have problems if we eat too much, so can they.
Each brand of fertiliser has a growing chart with the recommended doses and the amount of fertiliser to add at each stage of life of our plants, as well as the stimulators. Stimulators will help our plants to boost their development, maximising the results.
Safety and security
We need to consider security and discretion when growing in an outdoor space. We recommend investigating options for protection from prying eyes and being aware of the risks associated with growing cannabis outdoors. Proper precaution and planning will ensure a safe and discreet environment for your garden.
Protecting the growing area with concealment netting is one of the simplest and most basic actions to avoid prying eyes. Having our plants seen from the street or unwanted bystanders can be fatal for our growing on a balcony or terrace, as friends of the unwanted can make a sighting or even the police, something we don’t want. There is nothing worse than spending months caring for your growing and then having it disappear, with all the dangers that entails.
Hiding your marijuana plants from prying eyes will also serve to protect them from light pollution. This is why protecting them from prying eyes can have positive results.
Pruning for growing cannabis on a balcony or terrace
If we talk about feminised plants, some of them can acquire completely monstrous structures, and many times, this is not what we want, precisely because of discretion. In many cases it is advisable to use pruning techniques to avoid the vertical growth of plants, achieving lateral growth, forming much wider plants with limited heights. In addition, with many of them we can maximise production, achieving better results at the end of the harvest.
The autoflowering plants we don’t recommend pruning techniques. If we prune autoflowering plants we could stress the plant and paralyse its development.
Below, we explain some pruning techniques to control the height of the cannabis growing on a balcony or terrace.
- Apical pruning: Apical pruning consists of pinching off the upper part of the plant, dividing the head of the plant in two. This will create two upper heads, while at the same time the lateral branches will develop more.
- FIM pruning: FIM pruning is very similar to apical pruning, but instead of pinching off the entire top of the plant, we pinch off 70%. By not cutting the upper part of the plant completely, we stop vertical development and increase lateral development. This will allow us to form several upper heads and wider plants.
- ScrOG (Screen Of Green): The ScrOG (Screen Of Green) technique consists of bending the stems of the branches to intertwine them between a mesh so that the branches will grow laterally. This provides growth control and better light penetration.
- LST (Low Stress Training): The LST (Low Stress Training) technique consists of carefully bending and tying the branches to the ground, encouraging the branches to grow sideways.
Harvesting and drying
The culmination of our efforts comes with the harvest. We must learn to identify the optimal time and follow the best practices for drying and curing the buds. This final step is crucial to ensure a high quality end product, full of aroma and potency.
Every strain we grow has a harvest time that the manufacturer will tell us. Some of them, such as autoflowering seeds, have a specific growing period, so they will finish growing once the established weeks have elapsed. But feminised seeds can vary by months depending on their genetics. Seeds with more indica genetics will be harvested earlier than sativa genetics.
You will find faster feminised seeds that will be ready to harvest in early September, while there will be others that will mature later, such as in mid-October. All this should be taken into account before growing our plants, as even in the period before harvesting, the whole growing process can be ruined.
We recommend that you visit our blog to find out when to harvest your cannabis plants. In addition to harvesting, we must dry and cure our buds so that they are suitable for consumption, learn how to do it in how to dry cannabis buds.
Buy cannabis seeds for growing on balconies or terraces
After discovering the secrets of balcony growing, why not explore our wide selection of high quality cannabis seeds? From autoflowering strains to feminised seeds for outdoor growing, we offer everything you need for your next cannabis project. Discover new strains and start your journey to a cannabis garden of your own.
Growing cannabis on a balcony is an exciting and accessible experience. With this complete guide, you’ll be on your way to a successful harvest. Are you ready to transform your balcony into a cannabis oasis? Discover our seeds and start your journey today – your personal cannabis garden awaits!
