When talking about growing crops, the first thing that usually comes to mind is a farm. When it comes to hemp, farmers traditionally grow them outdoors. But with the rising demand for CBD products, farmers have to keep up, and thus they have to grow their plants indoors to increase yield. The debate over indoor-grown hemp vs. outdoor-grown hemp has been around since.
There was a time when the standard quality for CBD was growing buds outdoors. With the emergence of modern technology, the same quality can be achieved by growing plants indoors. Both methods have their respective strengths and weaknesses, given their unique factors.
Bud structure, yield, potency, terpene, and cannabinoid production are just some factors affected by the growing environment. It's essential to understand the advantages and disadvantages of both methods so that you can make an informed choice as a grower or a user.
What is The Best Way to Grow Hemp?
Hemp can grow in practically any environment, but you need to pamper this plant to achieve the best results. You need to think about the following in building the ideal environment to cultivate your hemp:
- Exposure to light
- Watering methods
- Access to nutrients
- Temperatures (both daytime and nighttime)
- Exposure to environmental contaminants
- Presence of pests
- Harvesting methods
If you're growing outdoors, it's difficult, even impossible, to control these factors. Your plants will be at the mercy of natural cycles and agricultural operations in the surrounding areas. These can ruin all your crops or the quality of your outdoor-grown buds.
You must cultivate your hemp with utmost care for the best results. It is essential that you choose a method that will allow you to control these cultivation factors as much as possible.
What is Indoor-Grown Hemp?
Indoor-grown hemp, as the name implies, is cultivated in controlled, indoor environments. This kind of cultivation does vary in terms of scope and complexity. They include fundamental features like artificial lighting, ventilation, water and nutrient delivery systems, and indoor horticultural mediums, like soil pots or hydroponic systems.
If you wish to take your indoor grow to the next level, you also need to add more features, such as :
- Hermetically-sealed cultivation chambers
- Ideal ventilation systems
- Spectrum-specific lighting systems
- Perfectly balanced humidity levels
- Pinpoint-focused nutrient feeding schedules
- Advanced pest management protocols
- Organic, microorganism-rich cultivation substrates
- Additional atmospheric CO2 for fast growth and higher yields
By investing in the right technologies, you can fine-tune your indoor grow environment to meet the needs of your hemp plants.
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How Do You Cultivate CBD Indoors?
To make your hemp plants rich in CBD, you must germinate the hemp seeds or clones in Rockwool or other recommended substrate for germination. Afterward, you have to transfer these germinated seedlings into bigger substrate containers.
When growing hemp indoors, you also have to observe careful timing when applying nutrients to your hemp seedlings and when altering the light spectrums throughout the seeds' maturation process.
When it comes to harvesting, you have to do it when the plants are at the point of peak terpene and cannabinoid expression. Lastly, you must dry, cure, and trim the mature buds as cleanly and carefully as possible.
What is Outdoor-Grown Hemp?
Outdoor-grown hemp is cultivated in uncontrolled outdoor environments. Growers place their seeds in a field and let nature do the rest of the work, at least most of it. Almost all outdoor hemp cultivation environments depend on the intermittent presence of sunlight.
These environments are exposed to contaminants produced by agricultural operations surrounding their land. They also deplete the soil with continuous monocropping, producing low-quality and possibly contaminated hemp buds almost every time.
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How Do You Cultivate Hemp Outdoors?
Outdoor growers usually use crude methods compared to stringent techniques used by those who grow their hemp indoors. Outdoor hemp growers start by scattering the seeds into cultivated fields and leaving them to germinate in the soil. The large areas of growing plants are then sprayed with nutrients.
The hemp seeds depend on natural sunlight for their growth throughout the maturation cycle. Harvesting is done all at once, either by hand or a combined method. These plants are then dried inside barns or warehouses. Trim jobs are sometimes done, but the practice is less common.
Which is Better, Indoor or Outdoor Hemp Cultivation?
It will depend on the circumstances. For instance, investing in a hermetically-sealed indoor controlled environment would be inefficient if you cultivate low-quality biomass or hemp for extracts.
However, some varieties should be grown indoors, such as smokable hemp. There is just too broad a difference between indoor-grown and outdoor-grown hemp in terms of contamination potential, cannabinoid content, and terpene content.
Growing smokable hemp in uncontrolled conditions will produce disappointing results, which can be dangerous. Make smokable hemp reach its true potential by growing it indoors. It will guarantee that you get nothing less than sticky and potent nugs that can be compared to high-quality recreational or medical cannabis flowers.
Pros and Cons of Growing Hemp Indoors
Control is the primary reason why plants are being moved indoors for cultivation. Indoor growing means you can easily adjust the plants' primary resources for growth. But this means investing in the tools and technology necessary to make these ideal environments. Ventilation and temperature control systems can cost you plenty.
The investment eventually pays off since it allows you to test and filter the air for contaminants and regulate the temperature however you wish. Is the weather too cold? No problem. Turn the heat on. Within the concrete walls of your greenhouse, you don't have to worry about hails, rains, and even hurricanes.
The use of advanced lighting systems is another major boon to indoor growing. Even if you have only the most basic lighting setups, it's still better in terms of control than outdoor growing.
You have to invest in energy and materials, but the trade-off is that you can easily adjust light spectrum and timing, which is handy for photo manipulation.
It doesn't matter how cloudy or how long the winter day is - your lightbulbs will still do the job and set the ideal spectrum and light for your hemp plants' particular growing stage.
Growing your hemp indoors also means saving your plants from greater factors that affect soil quality, especially contaminants. The control and automation apply to your water supply as well.
Pros and Cons of Growing Hemp Outdoors
Outdoor growing also has its share of pros, making this cultivating method the better option for specific situations. Aside from conserving energy and water, outdoor growing is also best for those who want to take in more of the natural forces that affect agriculture in certain regions.
Like cultivating fine wine and heirloom vegetables, this way of growing cannabis is intended to affect the quality and characteristics of harvest. When it comes to environmental effects, there are both pros and cons to consider.
For example, the air supply is free when growing your plants outdoors. But that free air can make your plants susceptible to pollution, pests, and contaminants. You also risk unintentionally pollinating your plants, which means disaster for cannabis.
Temperature is another consideration. If you're growing your hemp in higher areas (such as Colorado), you will have to deal with off-season freezes that have become the bane for growers in the region.
Which Tastes Better, Indoor-Grown Hemp or Outdoor-Grown Hemp?
The flavor profile of your hemp buds will be affected by the following factors: terpene oxidation, terpene concentration, environmental conditions during cultivation, and the drying/curing process used. Out of these factors, the one that will affect the flavor the most is the terpenes concentration.
The higher the terpene concentration, the tastier the flower will be. Low terpene concentrations produce bland-tasting flowers. Growing hemp indoors leads to higher concentrations of cannabinoids and terpenes.
It makes indoor-grown CBD flowers taste better than those grown outdoors. Also, the terpenes in outdoor-grown buds can become damaged while cultivating because of rain, wind, and rough handling.
Imagine that the hemp is basically like a sponge during the cultivation process - it absorbs the aromas of everything in its vicinity. That is why hemp grown outdoors usually tastes like leaves, grass, and dirt.
How outdoor plants are dried and cured (which usually focuses on quantity rather than quality) can cause the terpenes to oxidize. The careless handling harms the flavor of outdoor-grown buds.
Which Bud is Better for Smoking?
Because indoor-grown hemp plants are grown in controlled environments, they produce smoother, safer buds that taste better than those cultivated outdoors. Aside from having higher terpene concentration, indoor hemp buds are ideally moist and contain minimum contaminants. They also get better trim jobs than the outdoor variety.
If you want optimum potency and a full flavor profile, it's more reliable to go for indoor-grown nugs. It doesn't matter what strain it is - those grown outdoors are likely less potent, taste duller, and may have dangerous contaminants.
The debate on indoor-grown hemp vs. outdoor-grown hemp's pros and cons may never cease, but it helps to know that each method has its ups and downs that will help growers and users decide the difference between indoor and outdoor hemp.
Large batch production in the world of CBD is meant for making isolates and distillates (concentrate for edibles or topicals for THC) in which base material is less important. In this regard, outdoor hemp plants are considered essential.
For offering the best product for retail, professionals prefer indoor techniques. Indoor-grown cannabis is used as the benchmark for quality standards. That is the sort of cannabis that you can find in most dispensaries.
FAQ
What is indoor hemp?
Indoor hemp is any cannabis grown inside a building. It usually involves equipment and can be costly in utilities. You will need a light-tight room and bulbs to control the plants' daily supply of light. You will also need fans, a dehumidifier, AC, or other equipment.
Is it hard to grow hemp indoors?
It's not that difficult, although it can initially get quite complex. It requires having a timed lighting apparatus to grow the plants and make them flower. You will also need a ventilation system to contain the smell of the plants. Using a grow tent kit is an easy solution to cultivate hemp indoors.
Is indoor or outdoor hemp better?
It depends on what it's intended for when discussing indoor vs. outdoor. For industrial use where the base material is less critical, outdoor hemp is more practical, as it's cheaper to produce. For making CBD isolates and distillates, and THC concentrates for edibles or topicals, indoor hemp is the sensible option.
Meanwhile, professionals prefer indoor hemp plants for retail use, particularly the craft cannabis you can find in most dispensaries.
How long does it take hemp to grow fully?
It can take 4 to 8 months to grow cannabis plants, depending on where you're growing them. If you're growing indoors, you may see an indoor hemp flower plant after only a few weeks.
Buy Only the Best Hemp Products At Apotheca
If you're in the North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia areas, Apotheca can give you the hemp products you need. Our mission is to provide clean, affordable, and sustainable alternative remedies to modern medicine for people and plants.
Apotheca's team researches, tests, and curates partner brands that put people first before profit through intent and action. No product reaches our store shelves without being thoroughly tested for quality and potency.
Every partner brand provides full test documentation and educational materials to support the customers' purpose of buying all-natural products to lead a healthier lifestyle.
Apotheca provides a safe, secure shopping experience in an industry full of uncertainty. Visit the Apotheca Store Locations to see what's in store for you.
