Marijuana Cultivation/Fundamentals/Inside vs Outside

Inside vs Outside

This is probably the single biggest divider of growers that there is. Do you grow outdoors under the big bright sun or indoors in a room or closet? There are definitely pros and cons to either method.

Outdoor

The benefits of an outdoor grow are obvious, you don't need to worry about ventilation or light. The sun provides 2000 watts per square foot of bright light and that is certainly more than any indoor grower is likely to have at his disposal any time soon. Make no mistake that light difference is important! The air is fresh and plentiful and will deliver all the CO2 that your plants will ever need. Organic nutrients can be found in the soil and if they can't in your location you can always prep your soil. Finally the roots of your plants will be able to spread far and wide. There are also downsides to be considered. You have no control over light cycles and must grow on the natural annual harvest cycle, you have absolutely no privacy and some areas require you to take privacy precautions in order to grow for medical use. Outdoors you have open ventilation which means your plants could be pollinated by wild pollen messing up your attempts to breed seed of a certain strain or avoid seed. You are also mostly limited to soil grows outdoors unless you have a greenhouse which is sort of a hybrid of indoor and outdoor growing.

Indoor

The benefits of an indoor grow are not necessarily immediately realized. It is obvious that an indoor grow affords more privacy but the biggest benefit of an indoor grow is control. You can control what type of light is provided, how often its provided and the hours. You can control the temperature and humidity of your grow environment to make them optimal for the plant. You can easily switch between hydroponic and organic growing. Indoors you will have a smaller harvest (plants simply aren't going to grow as large without a light as large as the sun) but you will be able to use lights to have plants in varied stages of growth at all times so you can harvest more plants more often. Indoors you might be able to harvest every two months in an established garden or even more often in a larger grow.