How to grow cannabis: a beginner’s roadmap from seed to jar
Indoors, cannabis takes roughly four to seven months or longer from seed to cured flower. It goes through sprouting, seedling, vegetative growth and flowering, then drying and curing. Four things matter most:…
On this page
Growing cannabis mostly means raising a fast, hungry plant, then handling the harvest carefully. This page is the map. The other guides go deeper on each step.
The stages at a glance
| Stage | Typical length | What you’re doing |
|---|---|---|
| Germination | 2 to 7 days | Getting the seed to sprout |
| Seedling | 2 to 3 weeks | Gentle light, small drinks of water |
| Vegetative | 3 to 8 weeks (you choose, for photoperiod plants) | Building roots, branches and leaves |
| Flowering | 8 to 11 weeks | Buds form and ripen |
| Drying and curing | 1 to 2 weeks to dry, 2 to 4 or more to cure | Preserving smell, flavor and smoothness |
Lengths are typical, not exact. Seed catalogs usually count only the flowering weeks.
The four things that matter most
- Light. In controlled trials, indoor yield rose in step with light intensity. That held within the tested conditions; it doesn’t mean unlimited light always helps. Raise intensity gradually and watch for plant stress.
- Root-zone pH. A hemp study in peat-based substrate found reduced growth below about pH 5.0. Use the targets for your own medium instead of applying that result to every system.
- Water. Overwatering is a common beginner problem. In potting mix, judge watering by pot weight and moisture. Coco and water-culture systems need a different routine.
- A slow dry. Rushing the dry costs you smell and flavor. ASTM guidance for dry flower specifies a water activity of 0.55 to 0.65. Drying time alone doesn’t prove you’ve reached that range, and curing can’t make moldy flower safe.
Where to go next
Pick your growing space and seeds first, then follow the guide for the stage you’re in. If something looks wrong, use the troubleshooting guide or the Leaf Doctor.
These timelines are planning estimates, not promises. Before you start, check the current cultivation, plant-count and security requirements where you live, and plan for electrical and moisture safety.
Sources (5)
- Llewellyn, D., Golem, S., Foley, E., Dinka, S., Jones, A. M. P., & Zheng, Y. (2022). Indoor grown cannabis yield increased proportionally with light intensity, but ultraviolet radiation did not affect yield or cannabinoid content. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13, 974018. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.974018/full [Evidence access: FULL TEXT VERIFIED.]
- Veazie, P., Cockson, P., Smith, J. T., Schulker, B., Jackson, B., Hicks, K., & Whipker, B. (2025). Impact of substrate pH and micronutrient fertility rates on Cannabis sativa. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment, 8, e70044. https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.70044 [Evidence access: ABSTRACT VERIFIED; full-text access limited.]
- ASTM International (2022). ASTM D8197-22: Standard specification for maintaining acceptable water activity (aw) range (0.55 to 0.65) for dry cannabis flower intended for human/animal use. https://store.astm.org/d8197-22.html [Evidence access: PUBLIC ABSTRACT/SCOPE VERIFIED; paid full standard NOT VERIFIED.]
- University of Minnesota Extension. Starting seeds indoors. https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/starting-seeds-indoors [Evidence access: EXTENSION TEXT VERIFIED.]
- University of Maryland Extension. Growing vegetables in containers and salad tables. https://extension.umd.edu/resource/growing-vegetables-containers-and-salad-tables [Evidence access: EXTENSION TEXT VERIFIED.]