How to grow cannabis in the desert. Is it possible to grow this plant in very hostile conditions? Where the annual temperature swings are from 26 degrees to over 125 degrees Fahrenheit?

Living in the southern Nevada desert most of my life I have grown many plants outdoors from tomatoes to peppers. Until just a few years ago I decided to start a cannabis grow outside. My first experience was with an auto flower. It was a strain I developed called Russian Glue a very fast growing plant.

I started with three plants two became males and one a female. The males were up to six feet tall in just over 2 months.

The female grew a little slower because I topped her early. She did something strange that I have not encountered before. Around 2 months she flowered, nice resins very sticky buds very skunky smell. But I made a mistake by treating her like a regular cannabis plant.

The buds started to dry up  I did pull some buds off. They had a great smell but the trichomes were not developed, I thought I killed her.

Over the next few months, she did not give up. For the next three months, she grew to a size of four feet tall and about three feet wide. I noticed in September she started to bud again this time the whole branch was a bud from top to bottom. She finished on October 15th with about six ounces of dried bud.

I have grown these plant in full sun with very little nutrients some days it was over 115 degrees.

I am now experimenting with high CBD plants now. In 3 months they are huge the stalks are bigger than my shovel handle they are over 4 feet tall 5 feet wide. Again I am not giving them many nutrients to prove how hardy they can be.

I have had the pleasure to grow both Cannabis and Hemp on the commercial level.

With a few big growers in the desert just north of Las Vegas. One company grew hemp on a 100-acre farm sorry to say it was not very profitable. The other was a 3-acre piece of land that grew over 8000 plants and produced over 5000 pounds of dried product. The conditions here were much worse than in Vegas. Some days were over 125 degrees in August and September.

It got down to 29 degrees in late November, there were some issues with some of the strains.

One strain froze after the temperature was under 32 for several days.

We had to use several techniques to keep most of the grow from freezing. From the beginning, there were many issues we faced over the months on this particular grow. We overcame insects from spider mites to russet mites. The watering of the grow was also a challenge each pot was over 30 gallons times 8000 plant. It took over 20,000 gallons of water to keep them happy. In the end, we harvested over 5000lb of product.

With the knowledge, I have gained in the incredible environment. I am sure I can overcome the problems most face in a cannabis commercial grow.

We here at Cannabis Cultivation Specialist are ready to help you with your grow. If you are new to growing or want to learn how to grow in the desert. Write to us at weedguy420og@gmail.com

Now back to the title of this article “Can you grow cannabis in the desert?”

I will be updating my latest experimental grow on youtube periodically. You can find it here at Cannabis Specialist   . Over the years of growing many different plants outdoors in the Nevada desert. I can say without hesitation that you can grow cannabis in the most extream conditions. Look how diversified cannabis can be.

The ruderalis a strain that has grown in southern Siberia has a short growing season. Three months to grow flower and die.

This ruderalis strain does not have much THC but more CBD than sativa or indica strains. I have mixed this strain with high THC strains and they grow very well in the heat of the desert. It takes very few seasons for cannabis to change its phenotype so it can acclimate to the zone it is growing in.

The trick to growing in the desert is to know someone who has tested how certain strains react to such conditions.

Growing cannabis or hemp in the outdoor desert is not for everyone. It will save energy by not having to use lights or air-conditioning to keep the climate to the parameters you desire. You might also think it will be more difficult to control insects or humidity.

To be honest it is not very difficult at all. The first thing you need to do is forget about most of what you think it takes to grow cannabis indoors.

Over the years cannabis growers have relied on what growers have thought was the best way to grow this plant. What is the ideal temperature what is the optimal humidity and how much light does a cannabis plant need? When really I think mother nature has figured this out already!

Yes, here at CCS we are experts at growing outdoors you will be surprised to see what we think are the ideal parameters to grow indoors.

I have had many arguments on what is the correct way to grow cannabis. It always seems to be the same within a few degrees or a few less or more percent humidity. If you are having a problem with insects or that almost fatal problem PM. I think you need to get a second opinion on the way you grow.

Do you know what temperature the trichomes become less stable? Is it at a higher than 100 degrees or is it below 40 degrees?

Also what makes cannabis have more trichomes is from nutrition maybe humidity or is all just from the strain you are growing? This is one of the most asked questions in the commercial cannabis industry.