My Experience Growing Photoperiod Cannabis Plants for the First Time

My First Cannabis Growing Experience: Lessons Learned

Let's jump straight to the part where one of my six photoperiod plants turned into a hermaphrodite and pollinated my entire tent in week four of flower.

So, now that you know the spoiler, let's talk about how we ended up there.

The Beginning

4 April 2024: Three days after the legalization of recreational cannabis in Germany, my wife and I planted our first seeds in Düsseldorf. I had bought a 10x5 tent (feet), roughly 2x4 (meters), an overkill 730-watt grow light, a ventilation system with a carbon filter, along with the best soil, fertilizer, and mycorrhiza I could buy.

I spent all of my free time watching YouTube videos from Mr. Canucks, Home Grow TV, Highigan, Basementganja, and anyone else I could find quality videos from. I invested hundreds of hours into learning everything I needed to know about pH values, light timing, light leaks, airflow, humidity levels, dry back periods, soil composition, and on and on. I knew my shit.

The Setup and Growth

Mid-June: Fast forward 10 weeks. Everything was growing beautifully—green, with no sign of deficiency. This is when I switched the lights to 12/12 to send the girls into flower. I set the light timer and then an alarm on my phone to go off five minutes before the lights turned on and off to ensure the timer was working properly. It was. I checked every single time for the first eight days in a row and it turned on and shut off exactly on time every day. So, I finally trusted my timer.

The Problem

Almost week four of flower and the humidity levels were rising. I wanted to keep the tent under 65% humidity, so I decided adding a small humidifier into the tent would help. I put the little two-liter humidifier in the back and turned it on. The next morning, I checked the humidifier and saw it was around 1/3 full, and the fan hadn't been turning on as much. Clearly, the idea was working.

The second day, I checked the humidifier again just before the light timer turned on. To my horror, I noticed a LIGHT ON IN THE TENT! The humidifier had a nighttime mode with rotating colored LEDs that stayed on during the dark period. The LED wasn't very bright, but it was right next to the Watermelon Indica plant. I knew it wasn't good, but I thought it would be fine and didn't dwell on it any more.

The Outcome

Three days later, I opened the tent for picture day, taking all the plants out to photograph them individually. My wife noticed something strange on the Watermelon plant that the others didn't have—pollen sacks that had already burst.

Two days later, after a half panic attack that this had happened to me on MY FIRST GROW and then accepting that my whole crop may be ruined, I saw seeds developing on all my plants. Some were worse than others, but in that moment I thought, "Well, this is only my first grow."

Lessons Learned

The moral of my story: if your first grow goes to shit, it's okay. It's your first one, and you call it your first because you plan to do more. I learned an incredible amount with these first six plants and have already started the cycle again.

Tip for Beginners: Consider auto flowers. Light stress won't destroy your crop if something like this happens. Until I have more setups, I'll be working with auto flowers.

Don't Stress: You can pick the seeds out of the weed and still smoke the rest. And you have free seeds and your very own hybrid strain. Stay positive!

Share Your Story: Have you had a similar experience? I'd love to hear your stories in the comments!

Thanks for reading!