The short answer
OG Kush flowers in about 8 to 9 weeks, yields light to medium, and sits in the moderate difficulty bracket. It wants warm days, a real night temperature drop, dry-ish air in late flower, and a canopy you actually manage. If you can get a verified clone, do that. If you're growing from seed, expect variation and treat each plant on its own.
og kush vs kush weed
What you're actually growing
OG Kush is a clone-only cut, not a stable seed line. The lineage most people repeat is Chemdawg crossed with a Hindu Kush and Lemon Thai mix, and it came out of Florida in the early 1990s before taking over Los Angeles. That origin story matters because it explains the plant's habits: thin stems early, a big stretch when you flip, dense golf-ball buds, and a smell that leans into lemon, fuel, and pine.
OG Kush Strain Genetics: Lineage, Parents, and Famous Offspring
Every pack of OG Kush seeds on the market is an S1, a backcross, or a hybrid leaning on the original. Some are close. Some are basically a different plant wearing the same name. Judge what you're growing by how it behaves, not by the label on the pack.
more on this topic
Environment numbers that matter
- Veg: 75 to 80°F, 55 to 65 percent humidity
- Flower, weeks 1 to 3: 70 to 78°F, 50 to 55 percent humidity
- Flower, weeks 4 to 9: 68 to 76°F, 40 to 45 percent humidity
- Night drop: 5 to 10°F cooler than lights-on
- Airflow: constant, but not a wind tunnel aimed at the buds
OG Kush hates a wet root zone more than it hates heat. In soil, let the pots dry back between waterings. In coco, water more often but lighter. The night temperature drop isn't folklore. It pushes terpene development and keeps the flowers tight.
Feeding
It's a hungry plant in veg and a picky one in flower. Run a balanced veg formula and keep calcium and magnesium topped up, especially under LEDs, where the plant seems to pull more of both. Once you flip, keep nitrogen available for the first two to three weeks because the stretch eats it, then taper. Push phosphorus and potassium too early and you'll lock out calcium and watch leaf edges crisp.
An EC around 1.2 to 1.6 in veg and 1.6 to 2.2 in mid-flower works for most hydro and coco setups. In living soil, ignore those numbers and top-dress instead.
Training
Top it once in veg, then again a week later if you have the height for it. Low-stress training to open the middle is worth more than any bottle you'll buy. Expect 2x to 2.5x stretch after the flip, so flip earlier than you think you should. A screen or a set of stakes isn't optional here. The buds get heavy and the stems aren't always up to the job.
Flowering and finishing
Weeks 1 through 3 are stretch. Weeks 4 through 6 are where bud structure sets and the smell really arrives. Weeks 7 through 9 are ripening. Check trichomes on the calyxes, not the sugar leaves, and pull when they're mostly cloudy with a few amber if you want the classic heavy finish. Pistils will recede and darken, but pistils alone lie.
Skip the hard flush if you're in organic soil. A plain-water taper over the last week or two is enough in most setups.
Problems worth watching for
- Powdery mildew: dense buds plus stagnant air. Defoliate the lower third.
- Spider mites: check leaf undersides weekly from week 3 of flower.
- Overwatering: droopy, clawed leaves that stay heavy after dryback.
- Herms: light leaks and heat spikes will trigger them. Keep the room sealed.
Harvest and cure
Dry whole plants at 60°F and 60 percent humidity for 10 to 14 days if you can hold those numbers. Trim dry. Jar it and burp daily for the first week, then every few days for another two to three weeks. The fuel and lemon notes sharpen in a proper cure and go flat if you rush the dry.
Clones versus seeds
A verified clone gives you a predictable plant, a known finish time, and the smell people expect. Seeds give you variety and a taproot, plus no chance of bringing home mites or mildew from someone else's room. If you're new to the strain, run one seed pack and one clone side by side. You'll learn more in one cycle than in a month of reading.