By Max Sargent


When you think of cannabis cultivation, you may imagine a foil-lined room with large, powerful lights hanging from the ceiling. However, this sort of setup may not tally with the more quaint notions of cannabis cultivation you have for yourself.

Maybe you just want to put a plant on the windowsill without dedicating a whole room to it, or perhaps you can’t afford a good set of artificial lights.

The good news is, you can do it. But your plants will still need light. Light, along with carbon dioxide and water, is crucial for photosynthesis—the process whereby plants create carbohydrates for themselves. So you can’t grow weed without light, but you can without artificial light!

Can You Grow Cannabis Indoors Without Lights?

Despite all the hype around creating the perfect grow space, it is possible to cultivate happy and productive cannabis plants indoors without grow lights. In fact, it’s possible to put a couple of plants on a windowsill and watch them thrive.

That being said, high-tech growing spaces are no fad. Providing the optimal environment for your plants comes with huge benefits, and likewise, growing outside of the optimal environment will reduce the size and quality of your yield. Still, a low-tech indoor grow can yield respectable results, especially for the casual grower or the grower on a budget.

But if you’re wondering if a weed plant can stay alive without light, the answer is no. If you grow without artificial lights, you’ll need a good amount of natural light to compensate.

Pros

First, let’s look at the benefits of growing cannabis indoors without lights. For many looking to grow weed, especially those who haven’t tried it before, these benefits will be enough to make this option very appealing.

Cheap

First and foremost, it’s cheap.

High-quality lights, whether you go for LEDs or HIDs, are expensive—as is power consumption, rigging equipment, and so on. The sun coming through your window, on the other hand, is free!

In the vast majority of cases, those growing without lights will also be growing without a tent, which makes the endeavour even cheaper. Tents, exhaust systems, and so on all add up to at least a few hundred pounds—and often much more.

Using an available room and natural sunlight reduces the cost of growing weed to purchasing the following:

  • Seeds
  • Pots
  • Soil
  • Fertiliser
  • Water
How to Grow Weed Indoors Without Lights
Freedom
Not using lights or a tent can be very liberating. Sure, these pieces of equipment get the most out of your grow, but there’s no denying that fitting out a room (or part of a room) with all the equipment to grow a crop of weed can take up a lot of space, make noise, and emit light. This makes this kind of growing operation quite the commitment. A couple of weed plants on a windowsill, however, are much less of an intrusion into a person’s life. Apart from their smell (and sometimes considerable size), they’re no different from any other kind of house plant when grown in this way.

When you grow more simply, you’ll find that much less of your time is taken up by tending to your plants, adjusting lights, and so on.

Simplicity
Which all boils down to simplicity!

Growing cannabis without lights is a much simpler endeavour compared to growing with lights. Less equipment, less power usage, and less dedication all make growing indoors using natural light much, much simpler.

Cons

As with all things, each positive has a negative. And while it’s true that growing weed without artificial light is simple and easy, it’s also true that you have to expect some downsides too. 

Stretching

Unless you have a window that faces in the perfect direction (south, south-west or south-east) and is very large and gets uninterrupted light, your plants will probably stretch.

Cannabis plants stretch when they are unsatisfied with the amount of light they are getting. In nature, this is an attempt to rise above an obstructive canopy and find direct sunlight. Indoors, you’ll probably just find them long, spindly, and pressed up against the glass. If plants stretch too much, they can fall over. And even if they only stretch a little, they can end up being pretty tall, meaning they require more space.

You Need Windows

Realistically, to get a satisfying haul, you’re going to need south, south-west or south-east-facing windows, and they’ll need to be big and unobstructed. For some, this won’t be a problem. For others, it could be game over.

Below, we’ll go over exactly what you need in terms of windows to grow cannabis indoors without lights. But for now, just know that a small, north-facing window probably won’t cut it!

Smaller Yields
The numbers seed banks advertise can be difficult to achieve even in optimal conditions. If you’re a novice growing on a windowsill, don’t expect your plants to yield 750g/m²—or anything close to that! Depending on your strain and setup, expect between one (28g) and a few ounces per plant when growing indoors using natural light.
Smell

Tents and exhaust systems go some way to trap and remove odour. If you’re growing on a windowsill, there’s little you can do to stop your house from smelling like weed, beyond opening the window.

If this bothers you, there are strains that are less stinky. Plus, the reduced yield of plants grown on windowsills means that they won’t emit the extreme stench of plants grown beneath lights.

Stealth Issues

Depending on where your windows face, your neighbors might be able to see what’s growing there.

If this is the case, seriously consider how they will react if they spot your cannabis plants. It’s not worth a visit from the police!

Dedication

When you grow indoors, you’ll have to move your plants in a number of situations.

  • As the light is coming from one angle, your plants will lean toward it. This means you’ll have to turn them fairly regularly to keep them upright.
  • Photoperiod cannabis plants need periods of absolute darkness. Unless you can draw the curtains and commit to complete darkness, photoperiod plants will need to moved into dark spaces (such as cupboards) every day.
  • You might also choose to chase the light. If you live somewhere that has both south-east and south-west-facing windows, you might start your plants in the former at the beginning of the day, and move them to the latter after noon. This will allow them to receive as much light as possible per day.

How to Grow Weed Plants Naturally Indoors

With the pros and cons out of the way, let’s find out how to grow weed plants indoors with natural light.

  • Grow in the Summer

You need all the help you can get! The dim days of winter won’t cut it if you’re growing using natural light. The days between the spring and fall equinox offer the light levels necessary to grow weed.

Plants need at least six hours of direct sunlight a day, and more indirect. So a gloomy day with six hours of light total will leave your plants stunted and exhausted, if they live at all.

  • Choose a Suitable Strain

Depending on the environment, certain strains will be more successful than others.

As a general rule, sativas love real heat. So if your windowsill bakes in the summer months, these strains will thrive. If it’s cool, or you use air-conditioning, consider indicas, which tend to prefer cooler environments. Picking the right cultivar will make a big difference regarding the overall success of your grow.

  • Find a Big Window

The larger the window, the better, as you want to maximise light exposure.

Some people won’t have much choice when it comes to choosing the best window, but whatever your options, know that bigger is better!

However, if natural light is inconsistent or limited, using a high-quality growing tent can help create a stable environment by optimizing light reflection and maintaining airflow.

  • Direct Sunlight Is Perfect

In the same vein, the more direct light a window gets, the better. If there’s a building that obscures the sun, then try to choose a window that gets more direct light. Direct sunlight is what plants thrive on; they’ll be grateful for it!

  • South-Facing Windows Are Best

Ideally, your windows will have a south-facing orientation. It doesn’t need to be exact. South-west and south-east-facing windows are (almost) equally ideal candidates in the summer months, as they get the strongest and most direct light.

Otherwise, east and west-facing windows can also work. They won’t get as much light as south-facing ones, but it should still be okay.

Generally, north-facing windows make poor growing spaces, as they get very little direct light.

How to Grow Weed Indoors Without Lights
  • Higher Is Better

Windows higher up in the house will get more light, and are more likely to be free from obstruction.

If you have a choice, and it fits the criteria, higher windows make better growing spaces.

  • Open the Windows Sometimes

Opening the windows from time to time can help to replenish fresh air supplies and avoid stagnation. High humidity and stale air is a killer for cannabis grows, so getting some air exchange going can be really helpful. It also helps to stop the smell from building up too much.

  • Move Them From Window to Window

As mentioned, certain windows may be more suitable at certain times of day. If you have windows with various orientations, then try to move your plants around to follow the sun, even if it’s not every day.

  • Rotate the Plants

To keep plants growing upright, rotate them at least once a day. This stops them from leaning to one side in an attempt to find more light.

  • Water Minimally

Compared to growing under artificial lights, evaporation will be minimal when growing on a windowsill. Given that, it won’t be necessary to water your plants very often.

In fact, to avoid the growth of fungi and pathogens, you’ll want to water your plants just enough to support growth, and no more. To determine when to water, consider weighing your pots and substrate to see how saturated the medium is when dry versus hydrated.

  • Complement With CFL Lights

CFLs are on the cheaper end of the spectrum. Especially if you don’t have the perfect setup, supplementing with CFLs can get blue light to your plants, which is especially helpful when it comes to helping young plants establish strong root systems.

How to Grow Weed Indoors Without Lights

Is It Possible to Grow Weed Indoors Without a Tent?

Yes, in this article we’ve assumed that if you’re growing indoors without lights, then you’re probably not using a tent either. In fact, growing with a tent, but without lights, is probably going to be pretty challenging, as cannabis grow tents tend to be opaque.

If you grow without a tent, you have two options:

  • Transform a room into a grow room (and use artificial lights). This is a big commitment.
  • Just grow on a windowsill, which is what we’ve been focusing on here.

What to Expect When Growing Weed Indoors Without Lights

When growing marijuana without grow lamps indoors, your plants will lack the powerful, direct source of light they need to really optimise performance. As a result, plants may not end up as vibrant or abundant.

Based on our setup, plants will have light coming from one side, and it will vary in strength from day to day. As such, you’ll need to accept that the growth won’t be uniform. If you can deal with tall, wonky plants, you should be good!

Should I Grow Photoperiod or Autoflowering Cannabis Without Lights?

So far, we’ve mainly spoken about growing photoperiod cannabis strains, but you might be better off growing autoflowering plants indoors without lights. This is because this type of cannabis does not require a specific light/dark cycle in order to grow properly.

Therefore, you needn’t worry about a little light at night, and you don’t need to move your plants around so much.

Moreover, autoflowering plants tend to have much shorter life cycles compared to photoperiod plants. This means that you can grow them from May–August (autos often take just 2–3 months from seed to harvest) when the light is the strongest and the days are the longest.

Consider Alternatives

If you want to grow cannabis without artificial light, there are several alternatives available to you. Depending on your situation, one of the following options may suit your setup very well.

Greenhouse

Cannabis thrives in greenhouses. Not only do these environments use natural light, but they help to maintain an artificially stable environment. Humidity and temperature are much more reliable in greenhouses compared to outdoors or on windowsills.

If you have a greenhouse that gets a good amount of sunlight, this is a prime growing environment.

How to Grow Weed Indoors Without Lights

Garden

Growing cannabis in the garden doesn’t mean you need large beds at your disposal. A patio, veranda, or terrace will all suffice too!

All you need is a space that gets a good amount of sunlight and offers a little discretion. To help keep your operation under wraps, consider growing companion plants to camouflage your weed plants.

How to Grow Weed Indoors Without Lights

Balcony

Likewise, growing weed on a balcony is a great option. Just ensure that anyone who can see your balcony isn’t going to take issue with your cannabis grow-op. As with growing on a windowsill, situating plants on a south, south-east or south-west-facing balcony is best.

How to Grow Weed Indoors Without Lights

Courtgarden

You could also grow in a courtgarden, if your neighbors are okay with it.

The main issue with courtgardens is that many can be pretty dim. So only grow in this type of space if it receives enough light to satisfy your greedy plants.

How to Grow Weed Indoors Without Lights

Growing Cannabis Without Artificial Lights: It’s Possible!

Growing cannabis indoors without lights is definitely possible. You might not get the gigantic, highly potent yields that you've been advertised, but you can still get satisfactory returns.

For beginner growers, or those who want to embark on an easygoing project, growing indoors on windowsill is a very valid option, and you don’t need to spend loads of money to get good results.

Cookies settings

We are requesting your permission to use your data for the reasons stated below:

Functional cookies

Functional cookies help our website to function optimally and allow us to personalise certain features.

Preference cookies

Preference cookies allow us to remember information that influences the way our website looks, including your preferred language based on your region.

Analytical cookies

Analytical cookies give us insights into website traffic and customer behaviour, including how many people visit our site, how long they browse for, and which parts of our site they visit.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small pieces of data from a particular website that get stored on a user’s computer while they’re surfing the internet. Cookies have several different functions. Some of them track browser activity that enables businesses to deliver targeted advertisements. Other cookies serve to remember user login details to different websites to make jumping on social media, or other sites, a more fluid process. Because each cookie has its own unique ID, these pieces of data allow website owners to measure the unique traffic coming into their site.

Why do we use cookies?

Cookies come in handy when you visit our website. They ensure you stay logged in, that you can shop safely, and that the items you add to your cart stay there before you make a purchase. But cookies also help us. The data they provide allow us to improve our website and enable us to present you with targeted advertisements that are compatible with your interests.

What kind of cookies do we use?

Functional cookies

Functional cookies help our website to function optimally and allow us to personalise certain features.

Preference cookies

Preference cookies allow us to remember information that influences the way our website looks, including your preferred language based on your region.

Analytical cookies

Analytical cookies give us insights into website traffic and customer behaviour, including how many people visit our site, how long they browse for, and which parts of our site they visit.

How can I disable or delete cookies?

Not a fan of cookies? No worries. You can disable them (with the exception of necessary cookies) in your browser settings. However, blocking cookies may impact your browsing experience and prevent you from enjoying all of the technical features of our site.

Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: