Homegrown Cannabis Co's Top 10 Hacks for Growers and Tokers

Sometimes, the best pieces of advice are also the simplest.

Look before you leap.

Keep your car oiled.

Don’t eat yellow snow.

The same is true for 420 fans. A good shortcut can save time and effort in the grow room and make your toking life that little bit happier.

Less time stressing, more time enjoying the finer things in life, like top-quality cannabis.

We teamed up with the Homegrown Cannabis Co. to bring you ten life-hacks perfect for cannabis growers and tokers. 

To know more is to grow more!

Okay, this may seem obvious, but too many growers overlook the importance of the seeds. This is crazy! Nothing will ruin your indoor or outdoor grow quicker than bad seeds.

Buy the best seeds possible and make sure they come with a germination guide and guarantee. 

Also, if you’re growing in the US, buy from a US company! 

The Homegrown Cannabis Co dispatches from California AND they offer a germination guarantee with all sales. 

No more kicking your heels waiting for European deliveries (that often get stopped at the border anyhow) and no more worrying about what to do if your seeds don’t pop.

Buy smart. Buy American.

Losing your grinder doesn’t have to mean a cancelled session. Try these hacks to make sure you don’t miss out:

• Coffee grinder. Perfect for those who like a fine grind.
• Cheese grater. Watch your fingers!
• Metal sieve. Slow, but the results are VERY smokeable.
• Pestle and mortar. Old-school but effective.
• Pizza cutter. Not the finest of grinds but better than nothing.
• Shaker. Shake your buds in a cup with some small stones or coins.
• Fingers. Best to use your own :)

This basic piece of weed etiquette helps everyone get a better hit from the pipe, and will probably see you invited to more sessions. 

When taking a hit, focus on one area of the bowl and smoke downwards, rather than blackening the entire bowlful of weed. Everyone will love you and you’ll probably become the next president.

Test the pH of water going in AND the run-off. When the pH is out, your plants won’t be able to absorb nutrients properly, leaving them under-nourished and prone to disease. Take a look at Homegrown’s blog for articles about controlling, adjusting, and understanding pH.

We love this one—so simple and EASY.

Wrap a piece of bud in parchment paper and press it in the straighteners for 20 - 30 seconds, until you hear it sizzling. The bud will leach amber-colored rosin (also known as dab) that you can scrape off with a dab tool and store.

Keep the hair straighteners at 200 - 220 °F for optimum results.

Kief is made up almost exclusively of trichomes and too many tokers ignore it or throw it away. You can gather it by using a three-chambered grinder, a wooden kief box, staggered mesh or sieves. 

This is more for outdoor growers. The best time to harvest your plants is just before dawn, while it’s still dark. For growers in NorCal, this is usually around 5:30am. 

It’s the same trick that top wine producers use. Terpenes and cannabinoids reach peak concentrations just before sunrise, off-gassing all day, so get yourself a headlamp and a warm coat and prepare for your tastiest harvest yet!

With the popularity of cooler LEDs, cheaper AC units and more efficient set-ups, many indoor growers feel that fans are now redundant. 

They're mistaken! 

A good oscillating fan not only helps air (and CO2) circulate, it helps strengthen the growing plants too.

Fans mimic the natural breeze cannabis plants would normally experience when grown outdoors. This airflow encourages the stems and branches to strengthen; stronger branches carry bigger, denser buds!

Ratchet straps are fantastic for hanging lights and other equipment (like fans, see above). They’re easily adjustable and perfect for turning your tent into a drying room, once you’ve harvested your perfectly-grown cannabis plants.

Okay, so this isn’t strictly a hack, but we love phrases like this—clichés from the old days (aka: yore). 

When buying a horse, it was customary to inspect its teeth and gums; they’d usually give a fair indication of the creature’s overall health.

To do this when someone was giving you the horse for free was (understandably) ill-advised and frowned upon. 

Homegrown Cannabis Co. is one of those rare places you can read articles and guides, watch and download videos and absorb all manner of information about growing cannabis. For FREE.

Their experts and contributors include Kyle Kushman, Steve DeAngelo, Nikki Lastreto, Swami Chaitanya, Eric Goepel, and many, many more. 

They have a fantastic range of cannabis seeds, their own line of premium nutrients and a HUGE community of supporters pushing each other to get better and better at growing. Don’t look this gift horse in the mouth!