Growing Different Strains In The Same Room

GROWING DIFFERENT STRAINS IN THE SAME ROOM

For a variety of reasons, many cannabis growers cultivate only one type of strain. Maybe you grow just one strain because you like its effect, aroma, and taste. When you grow several plants of the same strain, it means that your plants will require the same nutrients and watering regimen, and it ensures a fairly even canopy so that all your plants receive sufficient light for good yields. You can also expect to harvest your plants at about the same time. In short: If you grow only one type of weed, it can make things easier.

Although most cannabis enthusiasts have a favourite strain they enjoy best, smoking the same weed over and over can get a little boring. How about some variety and diversity in your grow room? There are many great cannabis strains available today, so you’re not really limited to smoking just one variety. What about growing a relaxing indica and an uplifting sativa, or having a diverse mix of flavours to choose from after your next harvest? If that sounds great to you, you could grow different strains in one grow room.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW WHEN YOU GROW DIFFERENT STRAINS

If you grow outdoors, growing several different strains should normally not be an issue since the plants will have enough space. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on growing indoors in a tent or grow room.

BEFORE YOU START

When you want to grow several different strains indoors, you need to understand that things might get a little more sophisticated. Different strains, due to their various flowering times, nutrient requirements, and growing speeds will need more careful attention. Then again, a multi-grow isn’t really something that requires superhuman skills. All you need to do is plan your grow well and be consistent with care. When you can finally enjoy a whole bunch of exciting strains whenever you want, you will likely agree that the effort is certainly worth it! Just know what to expect before you start growing.

CHOOSE YOUR STRAINS

If you have never grown multiple strains at the same time, we recommend that you start out with varieties of the same strain subspecies. For example, you could plant several types of indicas or hybrids. Even if you stick to strains of the same type, you can grow weed with different flavours, effects, and potencies without much trouble. The advantage here is that your plants will still grow quite similar, with only minute differences in growth pattern. Things will get a lot more complex if you want to grow sativas and indicas together, simply because these plants normally differ greatly in the way they grow and when they’re ready to harvest. So before you start, choose strains that you believe will grow somewhat harmoniously under the same roof.

THE PROS AND CONS OF GROWING DIFFERENT STRAINS IN THE SAME ROOM

PROS

Let’s look into the pros first. After all, this is why you want to do it in the first place, right?

MORE VARIETY

No cannabis smoker is the same. There are those who love their indicas all day long, while others can’t get started in the morning without the kick from a sativa. Others still may swear by hybrids that give them the best of both worlds. But despite the preferences everyone has, there is really no reason to stick to just one type of weed, seeing that there is so much variation out there. In the worst case, you might be missing out on a really great strain just because you never tried it before. And well, unless you grow it, how would you know?

Some folks may also want some variety when it comes to the effects of their weed. Maybe you want a jar with a knock-out hybrid that has a relaxing indica effect to help you sleep. On the other hand, you likely wouldn’t want to smoke this weed when friends come around. In this case, you might want a hybrid that’s more sativa-dominant so it doesn’t entirely knock you (and your friends) out. Maybe you also want a variety that is particularly rich in CBD so you have a medicinal strain ready. And lastly, maybe you want strains with different potencies; some lighter ones for “casual” smoking and some heavy-hitters that you can enjoy depending on the occasion.

BETTER YIELDS

Although this will depend on the strains you’re about to grow, growing multiple strains will often also result in increased yields. Here, it is important that you keep all your plants in a relatively flat shape (despite their differences) and that you aim for an even canopy. This is what can increase your indoor yields. If you grow different strains, but they are the same strain type, say only hybrids or indicas, maximising your grow so that all plants get about the same amount of light for an optimal harvest will be the best approach.

IT GIVES YOU GROWING EXPERIENCE

People are rarely born master cannabis cultivators, and even the best growers at some point were bloody novices. It’s as simple as that; grow skills come from experience and learning from your mistakes!

Growing different types of cannabis, especially if you grow strains like pure indicas and pure sativas together, will teach you lot about these varieties and their differences. As you see them growing side by side and attend to them during your grow, you will in time learn all about the unique nutrient requirements and growing traits of various strains, more so than if you were to grow a strain by itself.

CONS

Here are the disadvantages that you could face when growing different strains in your grow room.

MORE WORK

Growing a number of different strains will (likely) mean more work. Maybe you have experience growing indicas, but now you also want to grow a picky sativa lady along with it. Since both can vary greatly when it comes to watering and nutrient requirements, this can easily mean much more work since you now have cultivars that want to be treated quite differently.

And of course, you have to keep your eye on both varieties at all times. It's unlikely that you can just give the same nutrients to all your plants; the same is true for your watering schedule. This means you need to allocate time for both strains. If your plants display very different growing characteristics, such as when you’re growing sativas and indicas, training your plants so that all of them have a similar shape and can receive sufficient light can also be a bit tricky.

YOUR GROW ROOM MAY BECOME OVERCROWDED

If you grow indoors, your plants will almost always be limited in how tall and wide they can grow, depending on the size of your tent or grow room. With indicas, this is often less of a problem since they tend to grow short and bushy, which makes them well-suited for indoor growing. Sativas, on the other hand, are not really “indoor plants” at all since they can shoot up in height like crazy.

Some sativas can exhibit extreme stretching when they go into flowering, even tripling their height! Obviously, this can become a problem when space is limited. You will have to become good with training and bending your plants so that you can avoid massive sativas starving your other plants of light. Likewise, when it gets overcrowded in your grow room, this can also lead to other problems such as powdery mildew and mould, increasing the risk for pests in kind.

YOU CAN’T HARVEST ALL AT THE SAME TIME

You need to decide whether this one is really a disadvantage for you. Some growers prefer to harvest their crops all at once, which normally isn’t a problem if you grow the same strain. But if you grow quite different varieties, the harvest window for each plant can vary in weeks. Sativas take much longer for flowering as compared to indicas and most hybrids. If you still want to keep your harvest at about the same time, with maybe only a few days in between rather than weeks, then you should grow similar hybrids, making note of their flowering time before you plant your seeds.

GROWING DIFFERENT STRAINS—THE TAKEAWAY

Growing different strains in one room may be more time-consuming, but the effort will be more than worth it. Just don’t go all out in the beginning. If you’re still new to it, choose strains with similar growing characteristics so you can minimise your hassles. In time, you will have enough experience so that you can grow any strain with relative ease.