Everything You Need to Know About Cannabis Nutrients

Let’s start with the primary cannabis nutrients, the ones known as the macronutrients. There are three of these cannabis nutrients, and without a sufficient amount of them, your cannabis plants will struggle to thrive. The macronutrients are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. What do these cannabis nutrients do? Well, nitrogen is responsible for your cannabis plant’s development during the vegetative stage. Phosphorus, meanwhile, sort of opens the door for all the other cannabis nutrients. It helps make it possible for the plant to absorb all the other necessary nutrients. Then, there is potassium, which is used by the plant to regulate the systems it uses to keep itself healthy and growing. Clearly, these three cannabis nutrients are vital to your plant’s growth, and you will want to make sure all your plants get nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

Alright, so those are the macronutrients. What are the other nutrients that are considered vital to the process? After the “big three” come the “small three,” which are calcium, magnesium (different from manganese!), and sulfur. Calcium gives humans stronger bones, and it gives cannabis plants stronger cell walls. Magnesium helps the plants absorb sunlight or the artificial light you use if you are growing your marijuana plants indoors. Sulfur helps a little bit here and there, be it by supporting root growth, metabolism, and more. Don’t skimp on calcium, magnesium, and sulfur just because they aren’t considered macronutrients! All six of these cannabis nutrients, and more, are important when growing your cannabis plants. Cannabis nutrients are arguably as vital as water and light.

Regardless of your growing medium, you will likely want to add cannabis nutrients to it to help your plants reach their full potential. Now, most people go with soil as their growing medium, and sometimes soil will have nutrients infused in it, especially if it is potting soil or soil used for gardening. That being said, do you know what is used as a source of nutrients for plants? Fertilizer. The cannabis nutrients you need can be found in fertilizer. How you get your cannabis nutrients will likely depend on if you are growing your cannabis plants indoors or outdoors. If you are growing your plants outdoors, you will likely use powdered fertilizer, the kind you would put in your backyard. When you buy a bag of fertilizer, it will indicate the percentage of the macronutrients found in the bag. It will likely be written as “N-P-K,” representing the elemental symbols for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium respectively. When your plant is in the vegetative state, get a fertilizer that is heavier on nitrogen. Once your plant’s flower, though, moves to a mixture that leans toward phosphorus and potassium. Just mix the fertilizer in with the soil when planting your weed outside, and you can top it off if need be.

If you are growing your cannabis plants indoors, they will need the same cannabis nutrients. However, you will distribute them in a different way. Indoor growers tend to use liquid cannabis nutrients. There are liquid mixtures of the necessary cannabis nutrients out there available to buy. These liquid cannabis nutrients are mixed in with your water for when you water your cannabis plants. However, do not use liquid cannabis nutrients every time you water your plants. Just use them one or two times a week. On top of that, save the liquid nutrients for indoor growing operations solely. You don’t want to use liquid nutrients intended for indoor growth on outdoor plants. If you do, the mineral salts can damage the bacteria found in the soil, and that’s not good for the soil or the plants. When you are growing your cannabis plants, cannabis nutrients are a key part of the process. However, it’s also clearly quite easy to handle giving your plants the nutrients necessary. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and all the other nutrients are available in powdered or liquid form, and whether or not you are growing your plants indoors or outdoors, your cannabis nutrient needs are easy enough to fulfill.