You might wonder what the stages of growing cannabis are. It’s more than just throwing some seeds in there and waiting for them to grow. There are certain requirements and phases, and it can play a part in how the plants are pruned and trained in order to offer the best product that you can. Here, you’ll learn about the different stages, what they entail, and how to properly train cannabis to give you the right cycle that you want.
The stages
It goes into different stages, and they are:
- Germination
- Seeding
- Vegetative
- Flowering
The duration is different based on the choices. If you cultivate inside, you have a faster vegging stage for this, but the sativa strains will have flowering that goes on for a lot longer.
Flowering and vegetative are two of the biggest parts of the life cycle, as they can take a long period of time.

When you do grow these outside, you can transition this from vegetative over to the flowering stages when the days start to shorten up.
When you’re growing this cannabis inside, you’ll want to change the lighting, with it being 12 hours of sunlight, and 12 hours of darkness, which mimics the behavior of the sun itself, offering cannabis a chance for its flower.
The exception to this are those that autoflower, as these are programmed to start to flower after a few weeks of this vegging out, so you don’t have to change the light cycle of these plants.
The type of seed, and the variety itself, are what help you improve the growing cycle that happens within your garden as well.
The Seeds Matter
If you’re going to buy seeds, you also need to understand that there are also different varieties of this, and this can play a part in this.
First, you’ve got the regular seeds, which have both male and female traits. Those that are within this stage do require a strict schedule of 18/6 all the way to the flowering stage as it gets to 12/12. By this point, you then get a half split of the different kinds of plants.

Then, you’ve got the feminized seeds that don’t have any male parts to this. They’re vegetative when you give them 18 hours of light, and then, when you lower this to 12, you’ll start to get buds on all of your plants.
Finally, you’ve got the autoflower, which is one that doesn’t require light to get the flowering stages started. These tend to be feminized. They usually start to bloom within 6 weeks of the vegetative stages. However, these need a round-the—clock 18/6 light period, as this is important for you to consider.
If you’re going to grow this from your own seeds, always make sure that you buy these from shops that are reputable and tell you about the genetics of this.
Some dispensaries and seed banks offer this too. They usually offer various strains, and even variants of this, and it’s one that fits a variety of levels of experience, and this is one that offers different methods, and can even have the seeds replaced if needed.
For most who grow this, you’ll notice that the shortest stage is the germination one, and it’s one that people can do even in their own home, as you just need a seed, the towel, some warmth, and also not any light, because this is what causes the hormones.
If you understand each of these seed-growing stages, you’ll be able to offer different cannabis plants to help too.