Every successful marijuana grower and breeder started with a beginner’s hand. Luckily, marijuana plants are among the easiest to grow; there’s also no specific technique or method to grow weed, just take a pot, some seeds, and grow. But there’s a big difference between growing marijuana and growing high-quality weed. If you’re new to cultivating marijuana and you need a good grow book, let us help you with these top marijuana growing guides for beginners.
We have the seven top marijuana growing books for you. Each of these guides to growing marijuana books was written by an expert, professional growers, and breeders who want to share their ideas, techniques, and experiences on how to grow marijuana. Most first-time growers are not as confident and would like to use a simple, easy to follow grow guide. These best guide books can help you with growing marijuana in recreational, medicinal, indoor, outdoor, and all kinds of cannabis seeds in no time.
Top 7 Marijuana Grow Books
Here are the 7 of the best marijuana grow books which should guide to your cannabis cultivation adventure.
Growing Elite Marijuana by Ryan Riley
Ryan Riley is one of the most popular cannabis growing marijuana book authors and his guide to growing marijuana called “Growing Elite Marijuana” is considered to be the definitive guide to growing weed and is a bestseller among growers and breeders. It’s easy to see why this 516-page marijuana grower s handbook has had massive success. This guide was created by Riley to help cannabis growers who have had no success with traditional cannabis growing techniques. Riley recommends his readers to go on a journey of self-exploration when it comes to cultivating marijuana through his complete guidebook. The author introduces a unique system that will help readers grow not just any kind of marijuana but potent, powerful, and high-quality cannabis.
Riley is an “industry mastermind” and he’s willing to share special growing secrets to save his readers so many years of growing effort. The book is one of the easiest to read, with clear and easy to follow instructions plus, it’s available in hardcopy and paperback. Inside are amazing colored photographs. This marijuana grower s handbook was once available in downloadable format and had some extra content. Those who have downloaded the old content and purchased the hardcopy said that the latter lacked the free information.
View our Growing Elite Marijuana Review if you want to learn more.
Features
■ Author – Ryan Riley
■ Date Information/Date Released – December 1, 2016
■ Publication Type – hardcover and paperback
■ Pages – 516 pages
■ ISBN-10 – 1495812677
■ ISBN-13 – 978-1495812675
■ Publisher – Infinity Publishing
■ Language – English
Pros
■ Easy to read and understand
■ With lovely, colorful pictures
■ So many detailed growing information so you can grow great weed
■ Made for beginner growers, with detailed information
■ Available in hardcover and paperback forms
Cons
■ Lacked some content that the downloadable content had for cannabis grow
■ Complaints that some information was simply easy to find online like other grow guides
The Cannabis Grow Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing Marijuana for Recreational and Medicinal Use
Greg Green has created a complete guide to cultivating different kinds of cannabis: recreational and medicinal cannabis. Readers call this one, the most comprehensive guide to growing cannabis and because it’s now on its third edition, you can bet that the contents are updated and better than the original.
“The Cannabis Grow Bible” book is authored by Greg Green, an Irish cannabis grower who has traveled far and wide to learn more about marijuana. He knows a lot about cannabis and growing all kinds of plants and strains as he graduated with an advanced degree in Botany and horticulture. This is a guide with more than 700 pages of full-color photos, step-by-step instructions, guides, and techniques made for beginners and experts. The first two editions of this book were already exceptional and this final edition has additional 200 pages of new, quality information. The guide is clear, well-written, and explained in simple terms.
Every grower has his own best style and learning strategy and this guide help all growers and readers as it’s easy to read, understand, and remember. From our list, “The Cannabis Grow Bible” is the most comprehensive with step by step guides, instructions, and pictures. This guide is available in paperback only and has been recommended by many cannabis growers online.
Features
■ Author – Greg Green
■ Released – August 8, 2017
■ Publication Type – paperback
■ Pages – 720 pages
■ ISBN-10 – 193786636X
■ ISBN-13 – 978-1937866365
■ Publisher – Green Candy Press; Third Edition
■ Language – English
Pros
■ A lot of information in one book, including grow lights setting
■ With step by step guides for all stages of cannabis to grow in your marijuana garden
■ With colorful photos to easily see different cannabis grow methods
■ Easy to understand
■ Best for beginner growers
■ For people who want to cultivate weed for medicinal use
Cons
■ Available only in paperback
■ The topics are not clearly arranged unlike other grow guides
Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible
If you’re a visual learner then you’ll be glad to have the “Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible. This guide book is 512 pages but it has more than 1000 full-color images and illustrations which every reader loves to check out. This is already the fifth edition of Jorge Cervantes’ book which was initially released in 1983.
Cervantes has continuously updated his work and his readers are happy that they are getting more worthwhile content in every edition. This guide book may be one of the most accepted guide books on marijuana as it has sold more than 500,000 copies printed in Dutch, German, French, Spanish, and English. Additional chapters are in the fifth edition with info about greenhouse cannabis growing and outdoor marijuana growing. The fifth edition has 17 chapters, all updated with the best and the most significant information about cannabis growing. It is also loaded with information about medical cannabis growing.
The “Marijuana Horticulture” guide book and growers bible is available in paperback and spiral-bound edition. It is also in Kindle form and thus easier for people who want a digital copy. It is a colorful guidebook with step-by-step information, recommendations, special growing techniques and so much more. Now you don’t have to keep guessing when growing weed; you can use this colorful guide to get you properly started.
Features
■ Author – Jorge Cervantes
■ Released – February 1, 2006
■ Publication Type – paperback, Kindle, and spiral-bound
■ Pages – 512 pages
■ ISBN-10 – 187882323X
■ ISBN-13 – 978-1878823236
■ Publisher – Van Patten Publishing, 5th Revised Edition
■ Language – English
Pros
■ A lot of colorful photos for the visual learner
■ Complete information about cannabis grow methods
■ Updated information about growing cannabis
■ With new information about the greenhouse and outdoor growing
■ Available in paperback, spiral-bound, and Kindle edition
■ Easy to read and understand for the indoor-outdoor medical grower
Cons
■ Too large and thick to carry anywhere
■ Complaints that it is loaded with too much information
Marijuana Grower’s Handbook: Your Complete Guide for Medical and Personal Marijuana Cultivation
The “Marijuana Grower’s Handbook: Your Complete Guide for Medical and Personal Marijuana Cultivation” is a guide created by cannabis enthusiast, Ed Rosenthal. This will change the way you grow as it’s dedicated to both beginner and advanced growers. It contains updated information, methods, and tools for indoor and outdoor growing and some tips can help growers save time, money, labor, and energy as it can be very costly and time-consuming to grow weed.
Ed Rosenthal is a grower and author; with years of experience in coaching growers for more than 30 years. This book is the product of his experience and his knowledge which is why it is more than 500 pages long. It also contains colorful photos and so many illustrations for growers who learn visually. Rosenthal has also added scientific approaches to growing cannabis starting with how to select the correct seed varieties, preparing the grow room and the different plant stages. Ed Rosenthal is also popular for saying that marijuana is not addictive, but growing this plant is.
Features
■ Author – Ed Rosenthal
■ Released – June 8, 2010
■ Publication Type – paperback, Kindle, and spiral-bound
■ Pages – 510 pages
■ ISBN-10 – 978-0932551467
■ ISBN-13 – 0932551467
■ Publisher – Quick American Archives, Special Edition
■ Language – English
Pros
■ The product of the author’s 30 years of growing and coaching about cannabis
■ It contains updated information on how to grow medicinal and recreational weed
■ It has easy to read, easy to understand information including drying and curing
■ With stunning photos and easy to understand illustrations for visual learners
■ Included are scientific approaches to growing and marijuana cultivation
■ Available in digital and physical form, available around the world
Cons
■ Complaints that it lacked practical applications, more scientific approaches
The Sinsemilla Technique
“The Sinsemilla Technique” is a guide that covers everything about basic cannabis growing. In fact, it has inspired so many cannabis growers for centuries. It has been published and re-published and is now in easy to carry anywhere paperback form. This book was written by an expert named KAYO, an experienced grower who has dedicated his life to learning and discovering about the marijuana plant. In this guide book, there are tips on how to grow cannabis starting from seed and step by step guides on how vegging and blooming cannabis plants are cultivated. Also in this book is a peek at the successful cannabis homegrown industry in the US. Every grower and cannabis enthusiast knows that cannabis growing is not as easy as it looks because of various legal battles. But despite this, the cannabis industry is still expanding and now, it is one of the most profitable in the US and the rest of the world. This book is available only in paperback form.
Features
■ Author – KAYO
■ Released – January 1, 1750
■ Publication Type – paperback
■ Publisher – Last Grasp
■ Language – English
Pros
■ Grow bible written by an expert
■ With complete guides and instructions from seed to harvest time
■ Offers a closer look at the cannabis industry
■ Includes a brief history of cannabis
Cons
■ Available only in paperback
■ Not updated information
■ Lacks the latest methods and techniques
Cultivating Exceptional Cannabis: An Expert Breeder Shares His Secrets
The “Cultivating Exceptional Cannabis: An Expert Breeder Shares His Secrets” guide book may be more than 15 years old but it’s still one of the most trusted guides made by DJ Short. It is filled with time-tested techniques for growing, harvesting, and cultivating all kinds of cannabis strains. This book is not for modern growers as it only shares information on old-school techniques.
This guide book was written by an expert breeder, DJ Short, an experienced grower, and author. He talks about growing as well as refining your growing skills until you have achieved total mastery of marijuana growing. His writing style is friendly, like talking to a person you have known for a long time. This tone helps make the guide easier to understand even by beginner growers.
The “Cultivating Exceptional Cannabis: An Expert Breeder Shares His Secrets” guide book is divided into sections. The first one is about cultivation and all the environmental factors that a grower needs for successful grow. Short is more on organic growing methods and he introduces very important things like lighting, air circulation, watering, temperature, humidity, nutrients, and cannabis nutrients.
Meanwhile, the second part is all about breeding cannabis and this includes how to select plants for breeding, how to collect pollen, and stabilizing cannabis varieties. He carefully teaches about preserving quality and flavor for your cannabis plants. The book may be short but it is full of useful things that all breeders should know.
Features
■ Author – DJ Short
■ Released – January 29, 2004
■ Publication Type – paperback and Kindle
■ Pages – 102 pages
■ ISBN-10 – 0932551599
■ ISBN-13 – 978-0932551597
■ Publisher –Quick American Archives
■ Language – English
Pros
■ Short, to the point grow bible
■ With special sections on breeding and various gardening methods
■ With pictures of the author’s own plants
■ With colorful photos and illustrations
■ Easy to read and understand guide for medical marijuana and recreational weed
■ Made for beginner growers and breeders
Cons
■ More on indoor growing
■ No new versions/editions
True Living Organics: The Ultimate Guide To Growing All-Natural Marijuana Indoors
Growing cannabis indoors is the gold standard for preserving your plants, preventing pests and diseases, and saving them from extreme climate and weather conditions. This is a guidebook created by The Rev, an author who’s obsessed with organic cannabis growing. This book is available in Kindle and paperback editions.
This grow guide helps cannabis growers with organic cannabis cultivation. It will show you how to transform an existing growing room into an organic grow room with natural, chemical-free cannabis growing space. It will teach you how to change your nutrients, improve growing soil health, enhance lighting and air circulation and so many more. It provides details on the different things that a cannabis plant needs and at the same time, provides in-depth knowledge on how to care for plants in the best and organic way possible. This guide has easy to understand, step-by-step instructions as well as 200 full-color photos. Every small detail is easy to understand and this is why it’s a good guide for beginners or someone new to the regular cannabis growing jargon.
The Rev may be a weird name for an author but there’s nothing weird about his reputation as a cannabis enthusiast. He is an advocate of organic growing and organic living. The Rev is well-known in the cannabis industry in the US, started as a successful hydroponics farmer but decided to switch to organic farming. His organic line is one of the most successful brands. He is also a laid-back grower who loves to check organic soil before growing cannabis. Meanwhile, those who have read the book found it very informational and has a great mix of growing concepts and practical ideas. Some people think that this should have been longer as some chapters and sections may seem to be hurriedly done.
Features
■ Author – The Rev
■ Released – August 28, 2012
■ Publication Type – paperback and Kindle
■ Pages – 262 pages
■ ISBN-10 – 1931160961
■ ISBN-13 – 978-1931160964
■ Publisher – Green Candy Press; first edition
■ Language – English
Pros
■ A medical grower s bible with stuff that you need to know
■ With all details including grow lights setting
■ A good collection of tips for all types of growers
■ Comes with colorful photographs and illustrations
■ Available in paperback and Kindle form
■ Easy to read and understand guide book for cannabis cultivation
■ Easy to carry anywhere, portable guide to grow marijuana
Cons
■ Some commented that this book would have been longer
■ Only for indoor growing
How to select the ideal marijuana grow book for your needs?
To find the best cannabis books, here are the important factors you need to know:
Are you looking for a beginner guide book or a professional guide?
Some books are meant for beginner growers and mostly, this book has tips, techniques, and procedures starting from the very basic information. Meanwhile experienced growers should select books that offer updated or professional information they may also choose a beginner’s book to refresh their knowledge and skills about cannabis growing.
Are you a visual learner or not?
Visual learners will benefit from one of the best definitive guides with more illustrations and pictures rather than a guide with only tips, steps, and procedures. A guide to growing marijuana with illustrations is helpful for beginner growers as it’s very hard to describe some concepts about growing and breeding. Concepts like how to sex a cannabis plant could be hard to explain. It is a very crucial topic as failure to identify the female from male plants can lead to accidental pollination. Another concept is plant training such as topping, fimming, and SOG or SCROG methods. It’s hard to learn these concepts with just reading steps and procedures and thus, pictures and illustrations help a lot.
Do you want to grow indoors or outdoors?
Some growing books are focused only on indoor growing as this is one of the most widely used forms of cannabis growing. Indoor growing is more preferred by breeders, medical cannabis growers, and those who cannot grow outdoors because of space and legal issues. Some books also focus on outdoor growing and greenhouse growing; you should check specifically what the book is about as indoor and outdoor growing are two different ways to grow cannabis.
Do you want to grow medicinal or recreational strains?
If you want medicinal strains then go for a guide to growing marijuana that grows these kinds of strains. The two types of cannabis are different as these are also similar in more ways than one. Medicinal growing requires a tedious focus on cleanliness, preventing nutrient imbalances, pests, and diseases, and carefully considering climate and other environmental factors.
Do you prefer a digital format or physical growing books?
This is completely up to you. If you are comfortable with a physical book, something you can read anytime, anywhere then this should be your format. If you prefer to keep things paper-free then a digital, downloadable, or Kindle format could be the one for you you.
Where to buy these marijuana grow books?
Marijuana grow books are available everywhere on the web. Most people prefer to follow a particular cannabis author/grower/expert rather than just take any book. If this is you, check out the author’s official site or at digital bookstores like Amazon.
You can order a downloadable or digital or a physical book in most stores online. It is less likely to find a physical book that tells you how to grow marijuana from a local bookstore unless, of course, you live in a country where growing cannabis is permitted (Canada, The Netherlands, some states in the U.S., etc.). You may order or buy directly from bookstores if you live in any of these countries.
You may also find marijuana grow books in unlikely places like book sales, in trading forums, marijuana growing supplies shops, Craigslist, eBay, and other sites. And although these are possible places to buy this type of book, consider the quality of the book and if it’s worth checking out as most books are regularly updated by the author. Always select the most updated version or edition as this has the most updated information about the topic and has better content.
Final Words
Growing marijuana has never been this easy with the availability of marijuana growing guides available. All the books we featured in this list are the best of their kind and have gathered great reviews, ratings, and comments from those who have used them.
Whether you want to start cultivating marijuana indoors or outdoors or if you are a beginner, it is in your best interest to invest in a grow book as it will guide you through the whole process. These books are a compilation of techniques and ways of marijuana cultivation which has been perfected by experts in their years of growing the best marijuana they can produce.