It is essential to follow the requisite steps and tips when growing any marijuana strain. Whether you’re a newcomer or an experienced cultivator, simple mistakes can cost you ounces of weed, not to mention potency.
In this growing guide for Purple Haze, we include eight tips that will hopefully help you produce a fantastic crop of this classic strain.
Purple Haze is a sativa-dominant (60%) hybrid with a THC content of up to 20%. This robust, resilient strain traces its history back to the 1970s. It was the name of a type of LSD sold in the 60s which came with purple blotting paper.
The marijuana strain Purple Haze seemingly originated in Colombia, where it was taken and standardized from the Haze strain. Purple Haze is famous for the color it produces when exposed to extremely low temperatures in the flowering stage.
Legend has it that Jimi Hendrix popularized the strain in his Purple Haze song. However, there is a strong suggestion that he was referring to the LSD of the same name. Hendrix later said that the song was inspired by a dream where he was walking under the sea. This notion may have been influenced by “Night of Light,” which is a science fiction novel by Philip Jose Farmer.
Purple Haze is likely a cross of Purple Thai and Haze. This strain is known for providing a psychedelic high that is almost guaranteed to improve your mood. You should feel extremely positive and happy for hours after getting high. The euphoria you feel is something that must be experienced to be truly understood. Purple Haze makes you feel relaxed, enables you to shed your inhibitions, and boosts creativity.
Purple Haze may even be useful if you are looking to treat depression, chronic stress, pain, and insomnia.
1 – Should I Grow Purple Haze Indoors or Outdoors?
This is an open question and is one that will ultimately depend on where you live. If you live in a northern climate with colder nights, it is entirely possible to benefit from excellent yields outside.
Despite this supposition, growers have discovered that Purple Haze produces even higher yields when planted in a sunny Mediterranean climate. If you grow outdoors, your crop should be ready for harvest by the end of October. You are looking at a potential return of approximately 14 ounces per plant.
When grown indoors using a hydroponic system, cannabis can produce up to 19 ounces of weed per square meter. Best of all, this high yield is achieved after just 8–9 weeks of flowering.
Purple Haze is a pretty easy strain to grow overall, and one we recommend if you’re a new grower.
2 – Finding the Right Soil for Purple Haze
If you use soil as your growing medium, it’s crucial to find or create a blend that enables maximum growth. Soil is the top layer of earth in which your Purple Haze plants grow. It is comprised of clay and rock particles, along with organic remains.
If you’re an inexperienced grower, you may be shocked by the array of soil types available. They all vary in terms of drainage, nutrient content, texture, water retention, and pH level.
COMMON SOIL TYPES FOR GROWING PURPLE HAZE CANNABIS
| Soil Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Sandy | This soil type has large grains, possesses a low pH, and allows for good drainage and high oxygen levels. On the downside, it doesn’t retain water particularly well, and nutrients are easily washed away |
| Silt | This type of soil has medium-sized grains and retains water well. However, it also provides poor drainage |
| Clay | Clay has a high pH, retains water, stabilizes your plants, and provides minerals. Negative aspects include poor drainage and the fact it is difficult to work with |
| Loam | This is the preferred soil of growers. It is a mixture of silt, sand, and clay, and has an almost neutral pH. Its only downside is the expense involved in purchasing it. Loam soil provides great drainage, high oxygen levels, good water retention, supports microorganisms, and is really easy to work with |
3 – Feeding your Purple Haze Crop
Although each marijuana strain has unique requirements, you should be able to get away with similar methods of feeding them nutrients. As far as Purple Haze is concerned, less is more during the flowering stage in particular. It is also a good idea to increase Phosphorus at this point to boost overall yield.
No matter what, make sure you feed your Purple Haze plants conservatively; new growers seldom realize how often they overfeed their plants.
The ensuing nutrient burn damages the plants and reduces yield. A good comparison is to view nutrients for your marijuana plants in the same light as vitamins for humans. Yes, we need vitamins to stay healthy, but should you consume ten times the daily dose of multivitamins? Probably not.
Instead of retaining a slavish devotion to ‘feeding schedules,’ check your plants regularly. If their leaves are green and uniform, with no sign of discoloration, spots, or curling, there’s no need to feed! Overall, Purple Haze crops produce the highest yield when you provide a moderate level of nutrients.
If you are using soil, adding amendments like bat guano and worm castings should provide your plants with a boost. If you are growing hydroponically, you’ll have more control over nutrient intake. Just be careful to avoid falling prey to the overfeeding trap.
With Nutrients, Less Is Often More
As a general rule, ignore the feeding recommendations on store-bought nutrients. Begin with no more than 50% of the dose written on the package, and monitor your plants. Unless you spot signs of nutrient deficiencies, there is no need to increase the dosage.
Your plants tend to need more nutrients during the vegetative stage, especially nitrogen. Add potassium, phosphorus, and a few micronutrients such as magnesium and manganese. Pre-mixed soil/nutrient packages should have everything you need. Reduce nitrogen intake during flowering.
As harvest time approaches, it is normal for the lower leaves of your plant to start turning yellow. Reduce the nutrient intake from four weeks before harvest, or you risk getting a nasty taste from your weed.
Also, a quick tip for those growing in soil: Add a spoonful of blackstrap molasses to your water near the end of the flowering stage to boost flavor and fatten up your buds.
4 – Need Bigger Yields? Manipulate Plant Structure
The process of marijuana plant ‘training’ involves bending or slightly damaging your plants. This will help them grow flat and wide rather than tall and thin.
There are many High-Stress Training (HST) techniques designed for this very purpose. Super cropping consists of bending branches with firm pressure until you hear a slight snap. If you break the skin, tape it up with special masking tape.
If you are concerned about shocking your Purple Haze crop and inhibiting growth, try Low-Stress Training (LST). It consists of gently bending stems and tying them in place to alter the plant’s shape.
All you need are your hands and some patience. Bend the stem away from the center of the plant and towards the side. If you feel confident, you can then bend the main stem in a circle around the plant. When you do it correctly, numerous lower growth tips will rise to become colas with fat buds.
Overall, Low-Stress Training helps you get bigger yields in your Purple Haze grow without having to change your setup.
You have total control over the shape, height, and size of your plants. Your plants produce several large buds rather than a large bud supported by multiple small ones.
5 – What About Grow Lights?
If you grow Purple Haze indoors, you’ll need to invest in the right grow lights. If you don’t, your plants won’t achieve the desired yield and potency. Cannabis plants capture energy from light and utilize it to grow larger buds. As a result, it is tempting to overdo it and give your plants ‘light burn’.
Fluorescent grow lights, such as CFLs and T5s, are good options because they’re unlikely to overload your plants. However, if you use powerful lights such as LECs, LEDs, or HPS, be wary, as they can damage your plants.
The key is to position your lights in a spot where they provide maximum benefit. Although more light means typically higher yields, there comes a point where the law of diminishing returns comes into play. Let’s briefly show the right distance for each type of grow light.
BEST GROW LIGHTS FOR PURPLE HAZE CANNABIS
| Type of Grow Light | Description |
|---|---|
| Fluorescent | You can go wild with T5s and CFLs because they normally can’t produce enough light to cause lightburn. One quick tip is to place your hand where your plants will be in relation to the light. If your hand doesn’t feel too hot after 30 seconds, it’s a good distance for your precious crop |
| LED | Be careful not to place these powerful lights too close to your crop. If you have 1W bulbs, make sure they are 12 inches or more from the plants. 3-5W bulbs should be kept 18 inches away, while 300W+ bulbs should be at least 30 inches away |
| LEC & CMH | Light Emitting Ceramic and Ceramic Metal Halide lights are also powerful. You’ll only find 315W and 630W versions of LEC lights, and 400W, 600W, and1000W CMHs. As a rule of thumb, keep LEC 315W bulbs 18+ inches away, and ensure 630W lights are 24+ inches from your plants |
| HPS & Metal Halide | High Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide lights are among the most commonly used. The latter lights are ideal for the vegetative stage, while you can try HPS in flowering. While Metal Halide lights encourage short and squat plants, and HPS lights boost vertical growth and large buds, you should keep both types of lights approximately the same distance from your plants |
DISTANCE TO KEEP MARIJUANA PLANTS FROM LIGHT SOURCE (BASED ON WATTAGE OUTPUT)
| Wattage Output (W) | Distance to Keep Plants (Inches) |
|---|---|
| 150W | 8-12 in. |
| 250W | 10-14 in. |
| 400W | 12-19 in. |
| 600W | 14-25 in. |
| 1,000W | 16-31 in. |
We recommend investing in a Lux Meter, as it does a fantastic job of measuring brightness levels. However, this isn’t perfect because ‘lux’ measures how we see light, not how your plants perceive it.
This type of meter is accurate enough for indoor growing, no matter what kind of grow lights you’re using. One possible exception is LED lighting because of its unique color spectrum.
In the vegetative stage, you need the minimum reading to be 15,000 lux. 40,000 is considered ‘optimal,’ and you should not go above 70,000. During the flowering stage, the minimum is 35,000 lux. The ideal level is 60,000, and the maximum is 85,000.
6 – Pest Control
Pests have ruined many gardens. Aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, and fungus gnats have been the bane of many marijuana growers’ existence. Unlike humans, these pests don’t seem to mind the taste of raw cannabis. If you’re growing indoors, a pest infestation can quickly get out of control.
Although it is tempting to use commercial pesticides, it is safer and better for your crop to try organic solutions. Neem oil is one of the most effective natural pesticides around. On the downside, it leaves a nasty taste and smell on buds, so try to ensure it stays away from them!
Neem oil and water separate easily, so you can combine the two and mist the leaves of your plants evenly.
You can also make a mixture of vegetable oil and soap, and spray it on infested leaves of your Purple Haze plants.
This combination is effective against mites, beetles, aphids, and thrips. Garlic works as both an insecticide and an insect repellent. Puree two bulbs of garlic in a blender with water. Leave it overnight, strain, and add half a cup of vegetable oil and mild soap. Then, fill up with water until the full mixture measures a quart.
7 – Can I Get That ‘Purple’ Coloring with Other Strains?
Remember, Purple Haze has this color naturally. Some growers are obsessed by the beauty of this type of cannabis and try to reproduce the color.
DID YOU KNOW? It is possible to force a purple color on certain types of weed and heighten the purple hue of other strains!
However, it is a risky endeavor because it involves exposing your cannabis to cold nighttime temperatures. Other growers also increase the daytime temperature to ensure there is a massive difference between day and night.
It can work because exposing your cannabis to such temperature extremes will disrupt its phosphorus intake. In certain plants, this causes the upper leaves to turn purple or even red.
However, it doesn’t always work. This reddening or purpling caused by low-temperature exposure can also result in decreased yields. This is because non-green leaves might not be as efficient at photosynthesis as green leaves.
We don’t recommend the process. If you want to go ahead, make sure your plants are not exposed to temperatures below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperature falls any lower, you could permanently damage your crop. Even when you get it right and produce a purple color, you are likely to slow down growth and interfere with several aspects of a flower’s development.
It is also important to wait until just before harvest to reduce any potential damage to the yield. By the way, turning a strain purple does not increase its potency. If you attempt the scheme any earlier, you could ruin months of hard work.
In the end, if you want purple cannabis, purchase seeds with a true purple cannabis phenotype, such as Purple Haze! You get the color you love and get to grow the strain at temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees.
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