The purpose of this guide is to help beginners supply themselves with hemp using standard items from hardware stores. If enough people grow their own, trafficking in hemp will be eliminated and quality will greatly improve.

To start you need a small space - a closet roughly 60x150x200 cm (that's 2x5x6 ft for the archaic). Cover the walls, ceiling and doors with aluminized Mylar (if you can find it) or aluminum foil, shiny side out. This saves light for the plants, ideally, the only light absorber in the room is plant. (Mirror tiles are an option for the really rich).

The next step is to put lights in the room. Fluorescents are the cheapest and most readily available. Shop light holders will hold two 120 cm (4 ft) bulbs. Each bulb is rated at 40 watts. 5 sets of shop lights will give 5 or 6 plants enough light for good results. That's a total of 10 bulbs or 400 watts. The type of bulb does not really matter, wide-spectrum grow bulbs if you can get them are great but regular shop lights work fine.

If the closet is already warm, some ventilation is required. Space under the door and an equivalent 10 square cm (~4 sq in) hole out the top of the closet is adequate. Alternatively, you can leave the door open a couple of cm and put aluminum foil along the wall near the door to prevent too much light leak. Do not let the room temperature get over 35 C (95 F) as this hurts growth. Optimal temperature is 27-30 C (80-86 F). Less than 21 C (70 F) is too cold for good growth.

Vertically mounting the lights is best as this provides light to the entire plant. Putting one in each corner and one over head will also work well. Use bricks or 2x4's to raise the lamps off the floor, or use the hangers to hold the shop lights up on the wall.

If you know how, buy sockets, boxes and 3 wire cable (14 gauge or better) and build an extension cord for all the shop lights. The boxes can also sit on the platforms holding the lights up or can be tied up above the floor. If you have a water accident you don't want your electrical components to be involved - it could kill you. If you don't know how and don't have any friends who do then buy the 3 ft extension cords with 3 sockets on the end.

 Use one socket to plug in the shop light and another for the next extension cord.
The reason for doing all this is for the timer you'll need to put on the lights and because most shop lights only come with a 6 inch cord. Once your room is set up it should seem BRIGHT since the walls are all mirrors.

Now we come to the planting. Rockwool is the best medium but is not universally available. Potting soil mixed with pearlite, lava, sand or Styrofoam in a 50% soil - 50% lava (or whatever) works best. Hemp grows best in sandy or loose soil, the roots need lots of air as well as water. For detailed instructions get a book (see High Times ads), but hemp is a weed which will pretty much grow anywhere with enough light and nutrients.

Plant 10 to 15 seeds at a time. If you get clones you can start with 5 since more plants will be light starved in this small a space. Keep the light on 24 hours a day if possible. The first stage of growth is called vegetative. Water the plants twice a day during this time. About 12 hours apart is best but a few hours either way is ok. Feed the plants once a week with a 15-10-10 plant food or a standard "Miracle-Grow" product from any K-mart. Again, to do better, get a book.

When the plants are about 60 cm (2 ft) high you can go into the flowering stage. To do this set a timer for 12 hours of light and 12 of dark. If you've left the door open for ventilation, close it during the dark period. The darker the plants are the better. Reduce the amount of water by half, watering near the time the lights come on. After a few weeks the plants will begin to differentiate. The males produce "balls" with pollen and the females produce feelers at nodal points (stems and branches).

For the best Sinsemilla you want to cut out the males before they release pollen. If you want more seeds this is not necessary. Reduce the number of plants down to the best 5 females. Use the rest in brownies or cookies. The leaf has too much vegetable matter to smoke but will work fine for eating.

The entire cycle takes about 4 months. Usually 4 to 6 weeks in vegetative stage, 2 weeks to differentiate and another 8 weeks to flower. Harvest when the large sun leaves begin to yellow and drop off.

Side Note If you add CO2 to your grow area, You can go from 3 harvest's a year! to 5 harvest's a year! 
& with a 40% increase amount each harvest! Adding CO2 is well worth the added cost!

To harvest, cut all the leaf off and let dry on a flat surface. Trim the leaf down near the buds and hang the buds to dry for about a week. This part can get fairly stinky so you may need ventilation to the outside or a room deodorizer.