[Grower Бот]

Plant breeding is surely the most romantic aspect of the cannabis industry and, of course, the most important too. From these breeding and selection processes derive the new strains that later go on sale. And those who are responsible for making sure the whole process runs smoothly are the breeders. They are pivotal figures of seed banks as they are responsible for the creation and improvement of cannabis strains. We have talked to the team of breeders of Dinafem Seeds to learn about what goes on behind the scenes. How are new cannabis strains created? What does this job really entail? Keep reading to find out! What Does The Breeding Process Involve? The breeder sets their goal, that is, the ‘ideal plant’ they want to obtain, which they use to select the parents—plants which resemble the ideal he is after as closely as possible. Once they have selected the parental plants according to the desirable traits, they cross them to obtain the first generation, referred to as F1. They then assess the individuals of the F1 and selects the ones that most closely resemble the target plant. The F1 individuals that exhibit the desirable characteristic are either inbred (crossed between them) or backcrossed (crossed with the parents), according to the specific goal. The offspring of the F1, the second generation or F2, is assessed and the individuals with desirable traits are selected and crossed into the F3. The resulting third generation is normally a stable population, although in some cases—with autoflowering strains, for instance—a fourth generation may be necessary to ensure stability. What Is A Breeder? Dinafem Breeders are professionals that create cannabis strains whose traits stand out for some reason, bringing something new and different to the market. To put it simply, they seek to improve and diversify the existing cannabis strains. The parameters that define the traits that should be enhanced are very subjective though, as they respond to factors such as market demand and the economic profitability of the production process. The varieties available in today’s market are genetics recombinations of other strains created by breeders through selection processes. In that regard, one could say that breeders are the heart of seed banks, for without them there would be no new strains to market. What Do Breeders Look For When Creating A New Strain? Dinafem Vigor This feature is one of the most appreciated one by breeders, as vigorous plants tend to grow bigger and produce higher yields. Adaptability With cannabis being grown all around the globe and in very disparate environmental conditions, adaptability is definitely something to consider. Hardiness Hardiness is the ability of a plant to survive adverse weather conditions such as cold or hot temperatures, humidity and drought. Resistance to Pests and Diseases Just as with hardiness, strains can be bred to be particularly resistant to certain pests and diseases. Maturity Controlling the maturity time of plants is a fundamental aspect of cannabis growing. Whether for producing fiber, flowers or seeds, knowing when a plant has reached maturity is key for harvesting. Calyx-to-Leaf Ratio Closely linked to the yield of plants, this is another feature breeders pay close attention to. When assessing this parameter, attention should be given to the colas, that is, the main buds of plants. A calyx-to-leaf ratio of 1:1 is poor, 2:1 is acceptable, 4:1/5:1 is good and 7:1/10:1 is excellent. A good calyx-to-leaf ratio is often synonymous with a good crop—in terms of quantity, not potency—and means less manicuring work. Flower Traits Dinafem For obvious reasons, this is one of the most important aspects of breeding, and different factors need to be taken into consideration: Shape Calyx size Colour Cannabinoid amount Cannabinoid profile Flavour and aroma Durability of the aroma and the cannabinoids Trichome typology Resin quantity and quality Resin persistence Drying and curing times Shape of the leaves: This trait is important with regard to the plant’s adaptability to the environment. Morphology: A plant’s phenotype depends on several factors, such as the environment and the growing conditions. That said, genes play a key role too, morphology being a major point to take into account in breeding. Size: Determined by the growing conditions, the environment and the genetics, size is something breeders should always bear into account during the breeding process, particularly when creating strains that are well suited to indoor growing. In such cases, Sativa genetics are best avoided, as the resulting plants would grow too big, causing havoc in the grow tent. Productivity: In today’s increasingly competitive market, creating highly productive strains is a major focus for most breeders. Potency: Although we are experiencing a gradual paradigm shift, increasing the THC levels has been a haunting obsession for breeders in the last decades. More recently, however, many breeding processes focus on increasing the levels of other cannabinoids, such as CBD. The Musts of Breeding Selection Genetic selection is at the heart of all breeding processes. In the cannabis industry, these are based on Mendelian genetics, that is, on the analysis of the genetic patterns that are expressed in phenotype generation after generation. Controlled Pollination It is of utmost importance that only the pollen of the parents selected by the breeder for their characteristics passes on the genetic information to the next generation. Large Samples Obviously, results vary if the genetic selection is made from a large or from a small sample. The best plant out of ten specimens is less likely to differ materially from the rest than the best plant out of 1,000. Alternatives Using large samples for genetic selection requires having a big, covered space, plenty of time, dedication and money. Yet not all breeders have so many resources available. This is why many of them resort to early selection as an alternative, as seedlings take up less space than adult specimens and some basic traits such as vigor are already detectable in the first life stage of plants. Goals of Breeding Dinafem Breeding has many different applications and there are several reasons that might prompt breeders to engage in a genetic selection process: Improving and/or Fixing the Traits of a Strain Sometimes the progeny shows a trait that was not expressed in the parental phenotypes, but with the work of breeders, it is possible to fix it so as to ensure it is invariably present in the future generations. This is why there are many versions of the same strain available in today’s market. Creating a New Strain Market requirements urge breeders to be constantly on the lookout for new strains. Replicating a Lost Strain A tricky task with no guarantee of success whatsoever. If for whatever reason, the parents of a strain go lost, breeders may decide to gather all the genetic material available and try to replicate the lost genetic combination as accurately as possible. Although results can be very good, without the right lab equipment it is materially impossible to obtain the very same genetics. That said, hard work, repetition and lots of selection can lead to over 90% accuracy. It won’t be the same genetics, but it will be close. Creating Strains that are Suited to Different Environments Thanks to the great adaptability of the plant, cannabis is grown all around the globe, with millions of growers having the possibility to harvest excellent crops. In that regard, breeders can create strains that, because of their genetic characteristics, are better suited to certain environmental conditions than others. Dinafem’s technical team, for instance, worked very hard in the creation of Critical+ 2.0, an improved version of Critical+ whose characteristics make it more resistant to humidity and, thus, well suited to harsher climates. Increasing the Levels of Certain Components Some cannabinoids have been proven to be useful in the medical field. This is why so much breeding effort has been invested in creating strains rich in cannabinoids such as CBD. While for many decades breeders have focused on increasing THC levels, the scientific research demonstrating the medicinal properties of CBD has resulted in an increased demand for pure CBD strains. Dinamed, the first pure CBD feminized strain in the world, is a good example of a long and laborious breeding process in that regard.

The key to guerrilla outdoor weed growing is finding the right place to plant and only visiting your spot as often as necessary. Successful clandestine cannabis gardens must be practically invisible, so never leave any clues or litter in your secret planting bed. Tread lightly as to not leave a path to your plants and always leave the forest cleaner and healthier than you found it. Now it’s time to learn the ropes on outdoor weed growing guerrilla-style. Winter: Choosing Your Spots Winter is the perfect time to find new guerrilla outdoor weed growing spots. Where you choose to plant is by far the most difficult and important decision you’ll make. If you’re lucky enough to have secluded property of your own, by all means, plant there, however most growers will have to go “guerrilla” to get their crops. While we don’t encourage growing pot on public property, we recognize that it happens and all too often, growers are making misinformed decisions on where to plant that lead to plant discovery or worse. Find places that are unlikely to have visitors of any kind throughout the year, whether they’re hikers, hunters or campers. That clearing with the telephone or electrical lines may look like a great spot, but it won’t be so ideal when the grass mowers or wire repairmen show up midseason. The best spots are hard to get to – like the center of a thorny bush cluster or a remote cliff that’s off the beaten path. It helps to have an alibi such as bird-watching or fishing and carry things like binoculars or a tackle box to enhance the charade. Look for southern-facing slopes and keep in mind what your grow area will look like from above. Police choppers fly around in almost every state looking for outdoor grows and you don’t want them spotting your precious plants. Try not to make a path that’ll lead others to your plot – take different ways in and out if you can. Also consider a nearby water supply such as a river, creek or lake. Water weighs about 8 pounds-per-gallon so you’ll want to reduce the distance you have to carry it as much as possible. I’ve seen some innovative backpack watering systems that help ease the burden. Unless you get steady rain throughout the year, there will come a time that you’ll have to bring water to your grow. If you want to put out sizable plants, winter is the time to root the clones or start the seeds indoors under some growlights. It’s always better to put out larger more developed bushes for plants that yield pounds instead of ounces. The healthier and stronger the plants you put out, the more you will get in the end so keep them happy and thriving.

In Growing Exposed Episode 13, we take an exclusive look at a cultivation facility producing cannabis year-round as green as “green” can get in the Pacific Northwest. Sustainable gardening practices are a high priority for this aptly named facility, “Trail Blazin'”, as they carve their own path, growing cannabis under 100 percent LED light fixtures. Trail Blazin’ Owner and operator Juddy Rosellison has heard all the skeptics when it comes to LED and he isn’t bothered by it. “Who says LED can’t grow big buds?” says Juddy as he reaches into the canopy cradling one of the many chunky white tipped colas. Juddy goes on to explain his theory of how a magnesium deficiency might be causing his LED flowering rooms to exhibit this phenomenon. Magnesium is a huge player in the building of chlorophyll, but whatever the reason, I thought it was fascinating and went in for a closer look. First, I pulled out the macro lens, and it confirmed what Juddy had told me, which is that the trichomes were completely intact. It was actually quite beautiful. I couldn’t help but think of the fun you could have marketing a bud that was as rare and bleached out as the Kermode bear, aka “spirit bear.” Another unique thing about Trail Blazin’ is they pride themselves on being a pesticide-free garden. Juddy explains the only way they can continue this practice is by having policies of who goes in an out, in addition to staff adhering to a strict dress code. Outside visitors are rare and employees wear medical scrubs and gloves for the same reason hospitals require it, to prevent the spread of pathogens and pests. Keepin’ It Clean Not only does Trail Blazin’ pride themselves in how green their facility is, they also take great pride in how clean their facility is. The cleanest of the rooms I visited had to be the vegetative areas. Here they restock beneficial insects every two weeks, keeping it pesticide free and ensuring that the genetics stay as healthy as possible. Juddy likes to keep around three mothers of every strain that displays a unique spectrum of terpenes. Terpenes are extremely important when it comes to cannabis, as technology and science have seen. Advancements in the cannabis space, we’ve discovered, go far beyond just cannabinoids. About Terpenes Juddy brings up a good point: “If you don’t like a certain strain, you can always look at the strain’s terpene profile.” Terpenes work together with the THC to drive the high. This is often referred to as the entourage effect. What you feel can depend on the terpene profile. If you like a certain strain, you can look at the profile to find other strains that are similar, and you will most likely enjoy those too. Terpenes are so important these days that companies are now developing additives to help cultivators grow more aromatic and resinous buds. One such product is called Rezin manufactured by Green Planet Nutrients. “This is a very unique product exclusive to Green Planet Nutrients,” explained co-owner Justin Cooper. “Over the last ten years, we’ve really seen a dynamic shift in the industry; growers are now pheno-hunting, or finding the specific traits that really accentuate the aromas and the flavors in the plant.” Now, as more studies are done with cannabis, either by scientists or by experienced growers, we’re fully aware that we’re growing to create the trichomes. Trichomes are the small heads or “crystals” when you look at a flower and are really what determines the difference between a low-quality and a high-quality product. When you have a very sticky, resinous, frost-covered flower, that’s what people are looking for. It’s also worth mentioning that many terpene enhancing products have been pulled from shelves lately due to the fact that they have been found to contain plant growth regulators. Rezin, on the other hand, enhances all-naturally, using no PGRs, and can be used directly as an add-on to any base so the grower can really push the overall size, aroma and flavor. Before I walked out of my tour at Trail Blazin’, I wanted to scrutinize the final product. I was presented with 5-pound airtight bins that are stored using Boveda packs to maintain the humidity at 62% during a lengthy cure process. I opened them to inspect strains like 9lbs Hammer, Pennywise and Space Wrangler OG… which I discovered were all beautiful. This product was right up there in terms of quality with other world-class cannabis I’ve seen. Final Hit: Growing Exposed Episode 13—Trail Blazin’ Growing Exposed What I neglected to mention in the beginning was that one of those skeptics of growing 100 percent LED in flower rooms was me. Not because I didn’t think it would work at all. I was just skeptical of how the end product would compare with a higher-end product out there on the market. If you asked me now, I’ll tell you I am a be-“LED”-ver. And I think you will be too after watching Growing Exposed Episode 13.

Трава есть, а курить нечем — случалось такое? Трубка сломалась или кончилась бумага для джоинта, а ехать в магазин поздно, да и влом. Не беда — есть еще несколько способов нахлобучиться, не отходя от кассы. Гравицапа (он же водник, он же катапульта) Если хочешь надуться эффективно, то это точно твой вариант. Гравицапа унесет тебя в совершенно другое измерение гораздо дальше чем трубка! Мы рекомендуем использовать данный метод в больших компаниях и только если вы все решили надуться вхламину. КПД — максимальный, приход феноменальный. КАК: Берем пластиковую двухлитровую бутылку и емкость с водой. Отрезаем дно бутылки, а в крышке вырезаем отверстие и вставляем в него чашку из алюминиевой фольги. Затем наполняем стаффом. Бутылку погружаем в воду так, чтобы горлышко торчало из воды на предельно низкой высоте. Надеваем крышку и, поднимая бутылку из воды, взрываем. Клубы дыма заполнят собой объём. Снимаем крышку — теперь полученный напас можно вдохнуть, опуская бутылку на дно. Горячий нож До того, как появились вейпы и весь этот джаз для курения концентратов, единственным способом упороться без трубки или бумаги был «горячий нож». КАК: прогреваем конец ножа, на который наносим концентрат/смолу. Когда нож раскалится докрасна, смола начнет испаряться — вот тут-то и нужно вдыхать. Для облегчения задачи можно использовать верхнюю часть пластиковой бутылки — с ней будет проще улавливать веселый пар. Ништяки Один из лучших способов упороться — ништяки, в частности, так называемая «хлопушка», чуть ли не самый популярный рецепт. Трава не даст нужного эффекта, если ее не прогреть до нужной степени, а именно — до выделения декарбоксилата. КАК: в дело пойдут крекеры, арахисовая паста и стафф. Предварительно нужно прогреть духовку до 220 градусов. Измельченную в гриндере траву раскладываем на поднос и ставим в духовку на 1,5 часа. Температуру придется контролировать, чтобы она не повышалась, иначе все самое вкусное испарится. В результате получаем декарбоксилированный стафф, который надо смешать с арахисовой или шоколадной пастой. Затем полученную смесь наносим на крекеры (на каждый должно приходиться примерно по полграмма стаффа), сверху накрываем все еще одним крекером. Заворачиваем в фольгу, ставим в духовку на 250 градусов и ждем 20–30 минут. Ништяк готов! Скури меня полностью Фактически, все что понадобится — шишка и зажигалка. Правда, не с каждой шишкой пройдет такой фокус. Сухие шишки, к примеру, едва ли сработают. КАК: наглядный пример в этом видео от Bud Grower. Он просто берет конусообразную шишку за стебель и поджигает ее кончик, затем — вдох. Нужно проткнуть шишку, чтобы проделать отверстие для дыма, таким образом, получается аналог трубки. Только без трубки. Натурпродукт Наркот, помни, фрукты и овощи — твои друзья! КАК: в зависимости от того, что окажется под рукой — из яблока можно сделать сладкую трубку, морковь превратить в парогенератор, а арбуз — в бонг. Яблочная трубка С помощью длинного и тонкого предмета, типа ручки, вырезаем в яблоке отверстие — сверху и до середины. Проделываем то же самое с другой стороны яблока, но уже насквозь. Засыпаем сверху стафф, поджигаем и вдыхаем через второе отверстие. Далее — наслаждаемся мягким и сладким дымом. Морковный роллер Тут все просто — отверткой проделываем тоннель в центре морковки по всей ее длине, более широкий ее конец будет служить емкостью для стаффа, там можно вырезать подобие «чаши». Поджигаем, закрыв пальцем отверстие, набираем дым и затем вдыхаем. По схожей схеме можно замутить арбузный бонг, однако тут придется попотеть. Зато из-за большого количества воды в арбузе дым будет отлично фильтроваться. Сиги Один из самых простых способов дунуть превратит сигарету в полезную для здоровья вещь. КАК: аккуратно удаляем из сигареты весь табак, можно использовать для этого пинцет. Затем заполняем пустую сигу марихуаной и наслаждаемся. Спалиться почти невозможно — за исключением характерного запаха, со стороны будет выглядеть, будто вы просто курите сигарету. Боттл пайп Вариант для новичков: понадобится пластиковая бутылка и фольга. Чашку из фольги помещаем вместо крышки, внизу вырезаем отверстие, через которое нужно вдыхать. В общем, всем известный способ. Чтобы выжать максимум эффекта из минимального количества дудки, лучше использовать водник. Однако, не стоит часто выбирать этот способ — алюминий и пластик не самые полезные для организма вещества. Мы перечислили 7 разных путей к хаю, но это лишь варианты. Экспериментируйте самостоятельно, находите свои способы и подходы, и будет вам счастье!

Лучшие обложки очередной эпохи существования известного журнала. Журнал основан в 1974 году представителем американского контркультурного движения Томасом Кингом Форкейдом как периодическое издание, посвященное «пропаганде, защите и сохранению альтернативной культуры». Тема каннабиса сразу же заняла в нём важное место и к 1990-м годам стала доминирующей.

Growing crops using hydroponic growing methods is not a new concept by any stretch of the imagination. The origins of “urban farming” that we hear of today have long and deep-reaching roots emerging from as far back as the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the pre-Columbian Aztec empire. Cannabis plants can thrive in hydroponics (Greek for “growing with water”). Most cannabis strains take to water-based growing systems like a duck does to water. Marijuana plants are heavier-feeding plants from both a water and nutrient perspective, so the more water and nutrients they take up in a healthy growing environment, the bigger, heavier and stickier they can get. Optimal Root Environment Most of the root growth and nutrient-solution absorption by cannabis plants occur directly in the aerated nutrient solution rather than in the medium or substrate. A nutrient solution, in hydroponic terms, is composed of clean or filtered water that has exacting ratios of the elements required by plants for a given growth phase that is maintained at the correct temperature and pH level (the balance of acidity to alkalinity). Get in Touch With the Dark Side Erik Biksa On the flipside, think about the aerial environment of plants at the canopy level. When temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide and air exchange are met at optimal levels, buds grow big and healthy faster. Plants live in two very different worlds at the same time: the aerial environment and the root environment. Growers have a tendency to think mostly about what they can see, but it’s important to think about and understand what’s going on down below in the root zone. Supercharged Growth Rates A well-aerated hydroponic nutrient solution (from air pumps or recirculation pumps) contains higher levels of oxygen than can be found in soil conditions. Roots love oxygen, and the difference when enough is supplied can be profound; an oxygenating nutrient solution supercharges the root zone, making nutrient and water absorption incredibly efficient for plants. The exacting and optimal conditions created in the root zone via well-designed and constructed hydro systems provide uninterrupted nutrient and water absorption. One of the biggest advantages that hydroponics has in accelerating growth and development is the stability, consistency and replicable nature of the water, mineral and oxygen levels in the root zone. Grow More With Less Water & Fertilizer Erik Biksa Healthy cannabis crops can absorb lots of water when grown large or in high densities during the peak bloom cycle. If you aren’t growing in a closed hydroponic system, it’s a good bet that you’re losing a tremendous amount of the water through evaporation from the growing media in your beds, containers or planting holes. Most experienced growers who have grown in both hydro and soil/soilless growing methods will observe a near–50 percent reduction in the amount of water they apply for topping up reservoirs compared with irrigation of beds or containers filled with growing media. Another common observation by experienced growers using supercharged water-culture systems is that significantly lower fertilizer levels are required to support healthy and heavy-yielding crops of buds. Since the conditions for nutrient absorption and transport in the plant are optimal in these types of systems, there is no need to “force feed” plants as there is with soil and soilless conditions; hydroponic crops can take up as much as they desire at any time, uninterrupted. Hydroponics for Everybody You don’t have to be a master horticulturalist to reap the benefits and rewards of growing cannabis with water culture. As a matter of fact, there are plenty of first-time indoor growers who choose hydroponics and enjoy continued success with ease. There are almost as many system types as there are growers using them. Proven and well-built hydroponic systems are widely available at reasonable prices. Consider that a hydroponic system is a small investment relative to the value of the crop you stand to harvest over several years. Typically, there’s little to replace or throw away between crops with water-culture systems. Simply clean out tubs, scrub with a little bleach and water, rinse and plant again—this can all be done on the same day of your harvest, making your growing space more productive with potentially more crops per year, requiring less work and replacement costs. Hydroponic growing media like grow stones, lava rock or clay pebbles can be reused nearly indefinitely. Remove any old root debris and rinse well in a mild nutrient solution at the correct pH, and they are ready to fill into net pots or containers again. Rockwool is a popular hydroponic growing media, although it is best used as a propagation media where a relatively small amount is required, rather than a final growing media, because it is costly to replace and difficult to dispose of in a conscientious manner. Basic Hydroponic System Types DWC/RDWC (deep-water culture/recirculating deep-water culture) Basics: A small amount of growing media supports plants placed on a lid above a depth of a sturdy container holding well-aerated nutrient solution. Roots grow into the depth of solution and feed freely. If recirculated, a water pump draws the nutrient solution through the root zone and recirculates through connected pods or modules (containers with lids). Advantages: There are lots of them for this quintessential hydro system—basically all of the advantages we discuss in this article. It can be built cheaply and easily as a DIY system from available parts, and, for serious growers, there are complete and proven professional systems available. Limitations and challenges: Keeping the modules from overheating past 75°F under artificial grow lighting before the crop develops enough leaves to shade the lids is something to watch out for, although there are plenty of solutions to this common problem. Flood and drain or ebb-flow Erik Biksa Basics: Containers or grow cubes sit in a specially made “flood table” with grooved bottoms and raised sides. The majority of the plant roots will grow between the media and the flood-table surface. Nutrient solution is pumped into the table to a depth that will partially submerge the containers or cubes on a timed cycle. When the pump shuts off, the solution is drained back into the reservoir, ready for the next recirculation cycle. Advantages: This system is reliable and offers a good level of moisture-level control in the root zone; yields can be very good with high planting densities as with SOG (sea of green) high-density cropping methods. Limitations and challenges: It’s best for smaller-stature plants as the table height above the reservoir and average ceiling heights may limit growth space when used with high-output lighting. Flood tables can be bulky and cumbersome to ship or move around, and they take up a lot of space in the growing area. NFT (nutrient film technique) or tube systems Basics: A shallow depth of nutrient solution moves from a slightly elevated end on the inside of a supportive channel or tube across the entire length of the bottom then out through a drain on the opposite end of the channel or tube. The nutrient solution is recirculated continuously in NFT systems. Advantages: The system is highly scalable, and it allows for easy perpetual harvesting cycles. It’s possible to harvest 26 times per year using multiple stages of NFT cropping with high plant densities in a relatively small area. The system is very automation- and labor-friendly. Limitations and challenges: It’s best suited to smaller-stature plants in high densities. Power failures or clogged lines can be disastrous, although they are entirely preventable with the proper setup. Drip systems and top-feed bucket systems Basics: Plastic “spaghetti” lines deliver water and nutrients via a water pump from a reservoir, either recirculating or as a drain to waste applications to pots, cubes or buckets. There are many variations on these types of setups, and they use common irrigation emitters and parts, which make them popular with the DIY set. Advantages: They’re highly flexible, and a variety of growing media can be used or may be adapted for water culture, i.e., bucket systems. They’re great for reliable and effective low-cost hydroponics with a professional system. Highly precise moisture management is attainable. Limitations and challenges: They tend to be maintenance-intensive, as emitters and spaghetti lines are prone to clogging over time with “salt” buildup, even with proper filtration equipment. Aeroponics Basics: In a sense, these use fuel-injected and supercharged hydroponics. Plants can grow incredibly fast in a fine-tuned and well-maintained aeroponics system, which uses pressurized sprayers to deliver a fine mist or wide spray of fine nutrient-solution droplets to bare-rooted plants supported by a lid covering the internal root chamber. The large surface area of the nutrient mist creates dramatic oxygen levels with high levels of nutrient penetration directly into plant roots. Advantages: Incredible growth rates and crop development are achievable with aeroponics. Aeroponics are often a first choice for hydroponic growers interested in rooting cuttings for transplant into other systems. Limitations and challenges: Aeroponics can be unforgiving with errors (clogged sprayers, etc.). This system is best reserved for high plant densities with fast crop turnaround times; it’s built for speed. Getting Started With Hydroponics Having good-quality water out of the tap or well is a huge bonus for growing with hydroponics because your water condition counts. Impurities in water can react with the ingredients in your nutrient solution, which will hurt the performance of your plants. Water filtration for hydroponics is widely available with lots of selection for different-size applications—with reasonable prices. Reverse-osmosis filtration is optimal, although two-stage particulate filters that capture sediment and chlorine can do much to improve water quality too. For smaller systems, water can be managed with buckets from the source, while for larger setups you’ll want to be able to access your water supply for the garden within the growing area. Hydro Outdoors? Hydroponic growing performs great indoors or out. Sturdier and heavier systems are preferred for the outdoors when there is no greenhouse or shade structure. A strong wind can pick up a flood table and send it sailing if it’s not properly anchored into position. Shade structures are a good idea outdoors—anything that allows you to use different degrees of shading throughout the season can help prevent your nutrient solution from overheating while also providing some stealth for cannabis crops. In some situations, a water chiller may be required. Recapturing Pure Atmospheric Water for Hydroponics While the methods described here are not exclusive to hydroponic growing, they are most easily utilized for maximum benefit when cultivating buds with hydroponics. The fundamental principle at work in capturing water for reuse in growing systems is that plants transpire almost all of the water they take up through their roots as water vapor from tiny openings in the leaves. It’s the water that keeps plants upright—they don’t have any bones! All of this water has to go somewhere. Indoors or in greenhouses, it is either vented away by fans or captured and drained away as condensate by air conditioners and dehumidification equipment. Wait, stop right there! The water that plants transpire is pure and “alive,” as it has been filtered by the plants themselves. Collecting condensate from growroom air conditioners and dehumidifiers can drastically reduce the amount of tap water you will need to filter each time you top up your reservoir. As long as the condensate is discharged through clean appliances and is not exposed to strong light or organic debris, it’s an excellent source of water for your growroom. As a precaution, there are also compact water-treatment systems designed specifically for the purpose of filtering condensate in the growroom or greenhouse—for example, particulate-filtration and UV-sterilization systems. Techniques & Tactics of Expert Hydro Cannabis Growers Revealed Sanitation You may have heard that cleanliness is next to godliness. This certainly holds true in hydroponics. The solution inside your hydro system can be managed for an entire crop—with proper management, there is no need to dump and refill large volumes of solution. Experienced hydro growers do not add unrefined organic ingredients, and they typically stick with mineral solutions—although there are a few certified organic formulas that work very well in water-culture systems. Adding organic ingredients into a highly aerated solution with no growing media can be like throwing diesel fuel into a camp fire. It’s best avoided. Otherwise, you are looking at an unconfined explosion of microbial growth and organic residues that attract and harbor unwanted pathogens. Temperature The rule of thumb that most hydro growers who crop buds follow is not to let the nutrient solution get warmer than 72°F. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t. While lower reservoir temperatures help to prevent unwanted microbial growth and keep higher DO (dissolved oxygen) levels, lower root-zone temperatures slow a plant’s metabolism and may not always be practical to achieve—for example, when growing in a greenhouse during the hot months or under lights with cooling fans blowing in outside air. The solution: Keep organic-based fertilizers or nutrient additives out of your solution when you are operating a hydroponic system that will average over 72°F. Add hypochlorous acid (a special plant-friendly “bleach”), following the manufacturer’s directions. It’s usually best to apply lower dosage rates more often—for example, every three days. Hypochlorous acid is effective in keeping microbial populations in your hydroponic system low when temperatures are warm. Warm temperatures, microbes and organic materials, when combined together, are a recipe for trouble in most hydroponic setups. Organic Hydroponics Having a true water-culture hydroponic system that can consistently deliver good yields while operating with organic nutrients can be a reality, even for novice hydro bud gardeners. Historically, this was like skating on thin ice: It’s doable, but risky. That’s because growers made their own teas or used other less-refined or rawer organic ingredients that were prone to unpredictable biological reactions in a highly aerated root environment. The trick for successful and productive organic hydroponics is to use only highly refined organic nutrient solutions that are intended (and tested) for use in recirculating water culture. For example, five-stage fermented colloidal molasses nutrient bases have proven to be highly effective, and there are other organic complete-nutrient kits perfect for hydro cannabis now available.

Если вы подумали о будущем заранее и купили любимое вещество “про запас”, главная цель — уберечь его от потери своих свойств. Основные рекомендации по грамотному хранению психоактивных веществ: 1.Перекрываем доступ к воздуху. Неважно, что у вас в зипе — трава, таблетки или кристаллы. Сначала необходимо максимально выжать воздух из пакета, а только потом закрыть и отложить на полочку до удобного случая. 2.Если какая-то часть таблетки/марки/шишки испорчена, лучше отложить этот кусочек в отдельную упаковку. 3.Наиболее привередливы в хранении — порошковые радости, особенно амфетамин. Перед тем, как отправить его на хранение в долгий ящик, высушите вещество до максимального уровня. 4. Все гидрохлориды следует хранить в герметичной упаковке, которая не пропускает влагу (они ее моментально впитывают). Фольга — категорически не приветствуется. 5. Солнечные лучи — главный разрушитель всех свойств ПАВ, особенно марок. Оберните зип фольгой, изолентной или другим непрозрачным материалом. 6. Храним только в темном и прохладном и месте. Холод замедляет любые процессы, поэтому лучше всего будет отправить вещество в морозильную камеру. Если вы решили хранить наркотик в жидком виде, лучше всего раствор разбавить водой для инъекций или дистиллированной водой — это увеличит срок хранения. 7. Псилоцибиновые грибы можно спокойно хранить при комнатной температуре, например, сделав десерт. Просто поместите сухие грибы в мед — в таком виде они не потеряют своих свойств и будут стоять несколько месяцев. 8. Время хранения наркотика зависит от каждого конкретного вещества и его особенностей, например, шишки могут сохранять свойства вплоть до 6 лет, а стимуляторы теряют приходят в негодность очень быстро — за несколько месяцев. Мы любим только травку, остальное на любителя, найдено в сети, ни к чему не призывает и не обязывает, всем удачи!

Звезды мирового спорта — тоже люди! 1.Диего Марадона. Легенда мирового футбола принимал наркотики во время развития своей профессиональной карьеры. В 1991 году футболист был дисквалифицирован на 15 месяцев — в его крови обнаружили следы кокаина. Марадона утверждал, что принимал кокаин как средство снятия накопившейся усталости, а не как допинг. В 1994 году он был повторно дисквалифицирован за применение эфедрина. После окончания футбольной карьеры ему пришлось бороться со всеми пагубными привычками (помимо наркозависимости, Марадона был замечен в чрезмерном употреблении спиртных напитков и переедании). В 2015 году Диего Марадона заявил, что уже 12 лет не употребляет наркотики. 2. Майк Тайсон. Легендарный американский боксер супертяжелого веса Майк Тайсон рассказал, что впервые попробовал кокаин в возрасте 11 лет, а алкоголь — когда был еще ребенком в Нью-Йорке. В ноябре 2007 года Майк Тайсон был приговорен к 24 часам тюремного заключения и трем годам испытательного срока за хранение наркотиков и вождение в состоянии наркотического опьянения. 3. Андре Агасси. Знаменитый американский теннисист Андре Агасси признался в употреблении метамфетамина на страницах своей автобиографии “Open”. “Я никогда не чувствовал себя настолько живым, полным надежд и энергии”, — рассказывает Агасси о своих ощущениях. Легендарный спортсмен не скрывает, что употреблял вещество абсолютно сознательно. Многие теннисисты обрушились на Андре с критикой, однако АТР заявила, что не будет проводить расследования по этому делу. 4. Мартина Хингис. 1 ноября 2007 года в допинг-пробе швейцарской теннисистки Мартины Хингис был найден кокаин. Хингис заявила, что никогда в жизни не принимала наркотиков и что результаты теста шокировали её. В это же день она объявила о завершении карьеры. В 2013 году Хингис вернулась в теннис. Теннисистка продолжает успешно выступать в парном разряде. 5. Адриан Муту. В 2003 году Муту стал игроком лондонского “Челси”, а спустя год с позором был дисквалифицирован, когда в его крови были обнаружены следы кокаина. Футболиста обязали заплатить штраф в 20 тысяч фунтов, а также пройти специальную образовательно-реабилитационную программу. Отбыв 7-месячную дисквалификацию, румынский футболист вернулся на поле, впоследствии он снова был отстранен за запрещенный препарат, обнаруженный в его допинг-пробе. 6. Майкл Фелпс. Майкл Фелпс был дисквалифицирован на три месяца за употребление марихуаны после того, как британский таблоид News of the World опубликовал его фотографию вместе со специальным девайсом для курения каннабиса. Впоследствии команда Фелпса распространила заявление пловца, в котором он признал, что совершил “непростительный поступок, который подает дурной пример”, и извинился перед болельщиками. 7. ЛеБрон Джеймс. Звезда НБА и лидер клуба “Кливленд Кавальерз” Джеймс Леброн в своей книге рассказал, что злоупотреблял марихуаной уже в 17 лет, когда попал на обложку Sports Illustrated как одна из восходящих суперзвезд. Впрочем, марихуана когда-то вообще не была под запретом в Ассоциации, пока газета “Нью-Йорк Пост”не выступила с заявлением, что травкой балуются около 70% баскетболистов НБА. 8. Ришар Гаске. Допинг-скандал с участием молодого теннисиста разгорелся весной 2009 года, когда в его крови обнаружили следы кокаина. Несмотря на то, что сам Гаске отрицал факт приёма кокаина, ATP всё же дисквалифицировал его на два года. Однако, Международная федерация тенниса (ITF) скостила срок до 2,5 месяцев, приняв во внимание доводы Гаске о том, что кокаин попал в его организм через поцелуй. Прокатило! 9. Пол Гаскойн. Знаменитый английский футболист Пол Гаскойн тоже славится своей нежной любовью к наркотикам и алкоголю. Спортсмен был частым гостем в престижной британской клинике для безнадёжных наркоманов, алкоголиков и психов. “Я стал другим человеком, многое переосмыслил и понял, из какой ямы мне удалось выбраться”, — признается экс-футболист “Ньюкасла” и “Тоттенхэма”. 10. Роман Еременко. Полузащитник московского ЦСКА и сборной Финляндии по футболу Роман Еременко получил от УЕФА два года дисквалификации за употребление запрещенных веществ: допинг-тест, проведенный после матча группового этапа Лиги чемпионов между ЦСКА и леверкузенским “Байером”, выявил наличие в организме спортсмена кокаина и его метаболитов.

Недавно служба по контролю за оборотом наркотиков США опубликовала список самых популярных у молодежи мест для хранения запрещенных веществ. Разумеется, они подходят не только для юных любителей ПАВ, так что можно смело брать на вооружение. 1. Часы Не привлекают внимание и всегда на виду, а в отсек для пальчиковых батареек поместится небольшой пакетик. 2. Игровая приставка. Ноль внимания от взрослых домочадцев + много свободного места внутри. 3. Постеры на стенах. По словам представителей DEA, тинейджера лепят маленькие зип-локи с веществами позади постеров. 4. Вентиляционные вытяжки и отверстия. Места, куда обычно никто не заглядывает 5. Автомобиль. Множество мест для нычки дает безграничный полет фантазии — бардачок, обивка, сиденья и т.д.

In an effort to fight against the looming threat of cannabis corporatization, California weed farmers are challenging state grow regulations. Small-scale growers were dismayed when the regulations overseeing the legal cannabis economy were released by California state authorities last year, placing no effective limits on acreage that can be used by a single grower. This led to fears that agribusiness could convert huge holdings in the Salinas and Central valleys to cannabis cultivation, and force the traditional small growers of the Emerald Triangle off the market. Now the California Growers Association is challenging the regulations in the courts, demanding a one-acre cannabis grow cap. The California Growers Association Representing more than 1,000 cannabis cultivators and businesses in communities throughout the state, the California Growers Association filed its suit against the Department of Food & Agriculture regulations in Sacramento County Superior Court on Jan. 24. The group’s press release cites the text of Proposition 64, the 2016 initiative to establish a legal cannabis market in California. Prop 64 stated that it “ensures the nonmedical marijuana industry in California will be built around small and medium-sized businesses…” Prop 64, formally the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, and its enabling legislation, the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act, establish a five-year transition period during which small and medium-size growers are to be protected before the state may issue large-scale cultivation licenses. But the California Growers Association argues that the new regulations include a loophole that allows a single corporation “to obtain and aggregate unlimited smaller cultivation licenses to operate a cultivation site larger than the legal limit.” The regulations do limit the number of one-acre grow licenses to one per person or entity—but also allow an individual to apply for multiple licenses for smaller plots, making nonsense of that one-acre limit. Growers Association director Hezekiah Allen said Food & Agriculture violated the intent of the law. Its lawsuit calls upon the court to prohibit the state from issuing small cultivation licenses in cases in which the applicant’s total size would exceed one acre. The suit is also calling for the court to award attorneys’ fees to the Growers Association. The association’s director Hezekiah Allen said they had exhausted every other option after meeting with state regulators and staff from Governor Jerry Brown’s office over the past months. Allen emphasized, “Generally we think the agency is doing a good job, this is not a broad complaint. Our concern is very narrow in scope, but the implications are huge.” Final Hit: California Weed Farmers Are Challenging State Grow Regulations The specter of “corporate cannabis” was part of what led to the defeat of the 2010 legalization initiative in California, Prop 19, and also won Prop 64 its skeptics—including the recently departed Dennis Peron, arguably the state’s most prominent cannabis activist. At least keeping a market niche for the small producers of the plant that gives us THC will clearly now be a challenge for growers, advocates and policy-makers alike. California weed farmers are challenging state grow regulations, and if they do so successfully, it could help the industry keep true to its grassroots foundation.

Bob Marley’s youngest son doesn’t believe in using prisons to take the freedoms of people that grow, sell and use cannabis. Instead, Damian Marley is growing weed in an abandoned prison. We got our first look at the prison turned pot farm in Damian’s latest music video. His brother, Stephen Marley, joins him to drop lyrics dedicated to the glory of cannabis and a need for change. He illustrates the change he wants to see with mages of prisoners in their cells quickly turning to cannabis plants growing indoors or being harvested. Medication At the start of his latest single, you can hear recordings of people’s personal accounts with using cannabis to cure their diseases. Then, voices advocate legalizing cannabis before the reggae beat begins to play. The lyrics start by appreciating the beauty and capabilities of cannabis. “Your leaves of green, your purples and blue. Has cured little kids, and old women too.” In the first verse, Damian personifies cannabis, giving it a name and exclaiming, “I love you Mary Jane! You’re the prettiest of flowers, girl me can’t complain… And you no do people damage, like that bitch cocaine.” Hypocrisy In The Industry In the second verse, the lyrics focus on the hypocrisy in parts of the cannabis industry. “Babylon so duppy, dem fight you fi years, and now the whole a dem a buy shares,” Damian spits. Babylon is a way to refer to a corrupt system. The point he is trying to make is that large corporations that have been fighting to keep cannabis illegal are now buying shares to reap the benefits of legal cannabis.” Purity The third verse is about how he likes to grow weed indoors with “not a stick nor seed. And she never force ripe, it was a real slow speed. No fertilizer, natural baby feed. No cross pollination, she’s a real pure breed.” This verse sounds like a guide on how to grow organic weed. Damian has claimed that the integrity of his cannabis is important to him. He won’t sell something he isn’t comfortable using personally. His farm is expected to generate at least a hundred of jobs with other monetary benefits. Prison Pot Farm Bob Marley’s youngest son Damian partnered with Ocean Grown Extracts to purchase the Claremont Custody Center in the City of Coalinga. The facility was shut down in 2011 and sold in 2016. The town got $4.1 million for the sale which helped to alleviate their $3.3 million debt. City of Coalinga RFP for the Voter Approved Retail Dispensary #coalinga #regulating #cannabis #LI pic.twitter.com/TEuNAyJANc — Nathan Vosburg (@NathanVosburg) January 12, 2018 Final Hit: Damian Marley Is Growing Weed In An Abandoned Prison Damian Marley’s plan to turn a prison into a pot farm has become a reality. He is using both his farm and music to shift the perspective of cannabis as an illegal drug to a medicine. If you’re a fan of weed and reggae, you’ll love this track. Damian has been a performing musician since the age of 13 and he’s now using his art to illustrate a need for change. By turning a prison that once profited from cannabis being criminalized into a place where medicine is made, he paints a perfect picture of the type of change we need today.

If you don’t feel like spending your money on a grow tent or grow box, you can build your own space bucket at home. In fact, space buckets are ideal for small-scale home growers. They’re typically made with a bucket, some tape, fans, lights and wiring. However, there are several different ways to go about it. While there are guides on how to make them on the web, the accompanying photos tend to be lackluster. We’ve found that the best place to go for space bucket inspiration is on Reddit, in the SpaceBuckets subreddit. After spending time in that corner of the Internet, we came across some of the sickest space bucket designs we’ve ever seen. Morrigan’s Build One of the most high-tech space bucket designs we could find was made by Reddit user /u/Morrigan_Disapproves. The bucket is made of two Ropak brand 5-gallon buckets for their thickness. The lights are three 100w warm white LEDs running at 30W each. There are thermal switches and heat sinks on the back. The Morrigan’s build is one of the only space buckets we’ve seen with a junction box designed to hide the electronic components. There aren’t wires all around the bucket. The Morrigan’s Build is one of the most organized space bucket designs out there.

The best cannabis cultivators always seek new ways to improve the quality of the flowers they produce. Some will still debate that there isn’t a difference between marijuana grown with chemicals and flowers grown organically. But savvy connoisseurs and well-informed patients prefer naturally produced pot. That’s why we’ve provided this handy step-by-step guide on how to grow organic weed. What Does “Organic” Mean? An organic product can broadly be described as any product that’s derived from a recently living organism. To grow organic weed means that your growing medium and plant foods result from natural sources. Not from synthetic salt compounds conjured up in a lab. Organic particles are capable of decay or are sometimes the product of decay, unlike the concentrated chemical formulas designed to grow commercial crops cheaply. In a natural setting, plants, dead animals and animal waste all collect over time on the forest floor. They decay with the help of bugs, bacteria, worms and fungus to provide nourishment in the topsoil layer that is vital to plant growth. This process, referred to as the “soil food web,” is how recently living organisms feed their future selves and complete the cycle of life and death. Roots thrive, aided by mycorrhizal fungi that help break down nutrients for easy accessibility and uptake. This top humic layer of soil is teeming with beneficial microbes and bacteria. This is what we try to re-create when we grow organic weed. Examples of chemically-derived non-organic nutrients are Miracle-Gro, Peter’s and the popular General Hydroponics Flora Series three-part formula. These nutrients will grow plants with nice-looking, sizable flowers. But without implementing a long flush, these buds will burn like charcoal, with a black ash that continuously needs to be relit. I’ve smoked plenty of decent chemically-grown pot (and grown it in the past). But the same strains, grown organically, always win out in the final analysis.

“It all starts with a seed.” Learning how to germinate cannabis seeds is essential to all future growing success. Properly popping beans puts you on the road to healthy plants and heavy harvests. But there are a few things to consider in order to master how to germinate cannabis seeds the right way. Step 1: Choosing Seeds First, you must decide on what seeds to grow and where to get them. Seek out trustworthy seed companies that have been around and have a track record of successful breeding. Take a look at our НT Seed Bank Hall of Fame for a list of 50 of the most well-known and accomplished strain creators. Don’t have seeds mailed to the location where you’re growing or planning to grow. Beginners might want to start with an indica-dominant strain that will stay small and stocky with a short flowering time. Sativa-dominant strains tend to stretch more and have longer flowering times. If your seeds have been sitting around in storage for a while, check out these tips for germinating old seeds. Step 2: Sprouting Seeds Some people choose to use the moist paper towel method to germinate their seeds but I recommend just sowing them directly into the medium you plan to grow in. This reduces any stress the seedling will suffer through the transplanting process and secures the young plant firmly into your chosen mix. Moist Paper Towel: Place seeds on a plate between two moistened paper towels. Put a plate on top to cover and within a couple of days, you should see the seed cracked open and a taproot emerging. Immediately and carefully (using tweezers) place your seed into your growing medium taproot down and water it in. There’s nothing inherently wrong with using a moist paper towel, as long as you’re gentle with the emerging tap root and as long as you don’t let the taproot grow too long before planting. My belief is simply to start the plant in it’s own medium to reduce the likelihood of damaging the tender young roots and shoots. Straight Into Medium: Poke a hole in your pre-moistened grow medium of choice. Drop your seed in about a quarter- to a half-inch deep. Cover the seed with more of your medium and tamp it down gently. The important thing is to not plant too deeply and to keep the medium moist and warm for the best germination success rate. Clear plastic wrap placed over the top of the container helps maintain humidity. A heating mat underneath your plastic tray will increase your success rate as well. Step 3: Seedling Care Within a few days, you should see a minuscule green shoot emerging from the top of your medium. Immediately get your seedling under adequate grow lighting. Ideally, for the strongest growth rate, you want Metal Halide (MH) lighting, but Fluorescent or LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lighting works fine and won’t produce as much heat. No matter what lighting you choose, always remember not to keep your grow-light too high above your seedling as this will make it stretch to reach the light and leave your young plant looking long and lanky.Use a timer to make sure the lights are on for at least 18 hours per day. Learning how to germinate cannabis seeds also means treating the emerging seedlings with the proper care. Temperature and Humidity: You never want your seedlings to dry out. Keep your medium moist but not soaking wet. The air in your grow space should be kept warm, between 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit and with a relative humidity between 50-60 percent. Use a thermometer/hygrometer to keep track of these factors at all times. As your plant adapts to its new environment, you will see new foliage sprouting forth. Your plants are now well into their vegetative stage of plant growth. Final Hit: How To Germinate Cannabis Seeds Now that you know how to germinate cannabis seeds, you’re ready to begin the process of growing your own weed. Just remember, provide light, food and water to your plants when they need it and keep the environment within acceptable levels of temperature and humidity. You’ll avoid so many problems by simply maintaining the proper parameters. One last tip: Remember to label your seeds, seedlings and clones to avoid confusion and costly mistakes. Now get growing!

Looking for the basics of how to grow marijuana? Here are the tools and information on how to grow weed affordably and effectively. All you need is a small discreet space and a little bit of a budget to get started on your indoor pot production. Grow Tools Pinterest The first thing you’ll need is a place to grow. I recommend getting yourself a decent grow tent. They’re cheap, made to grow inside of and can be put up and taken down quickly by one person. Some tents come with packages that include all kind of complicated hydroponic equipment. Your best bet is to purchase only what you need inside the tent and to learn how to grow weed without the expensive plastic. Some even have separate chambers for vegetative growth and cloning, making them perfect for people living in one-bedroom apartments or studios with limited room to grow. First, you’ll need a growlight. I like HID (High-Intensity Discharge) lighting – HPS (High-Pressure Sodium) or MH (Metal Halide) systems with ballasts, bulbs and reflectors. If heat from these lights will be an issue, there are also LED (Light-Emitting Diode) and CFL (Compact Fluorescent) systems you can employ. Be sure to get a light that covers your tent’s footprint and invest in a decent timer to control when your light turns on and off. You’ll also need an exhaust fan and activated carbon filter to reduce heat and eliminate odors. Be sure to get one that’s rated for your tent’s size with the proper ducting size. A clip-on circulating fan will keep air moving and stop it from being stagnant. A thermometer/hygrometer is also a must for keeping track of temperature and humidity. If you don’t have access to marijuana seeds or clones from a dispensary or friend, you’ll need to get some cannabis seeds mailed to you. Don’t have them mailed to the same place you plan to grow if you’re not growing legally. Don’t just learn how to grow weed, learn how to be discreet and not brag or bring attention to yourself. A simple loose and airy soil mix in 3-5 gallon buckets are great for beginners and much more forgiving than any hydroponic system. Be sure to cut holes in the bottom of the buckets and use saucers under them to catch any overflow. You’ll need to purchase nutrients to feed to your plants as they grow and a watering can as well. How To Grow Weed After you’ve planted your seeds or rooted your clones, it’s time to get them growing. Lower your reflector so that it’s closer to the plants rather than making them stretch to reach for light. Raise the lighting system as your plants grow. Set your light timer to be on for 18 hours per day and off for 6 hours. During this vegetative stage, the plant will grow leaves and branches but no flowers (unless it’s an auto-flowering plant). Avoid overfeeding and overwatering your plants at all costs. Err on the side of caution as it’s always easier to add more nutrients or water than it is to take them away. Marijuana roots prefer a wet/dry cycle so lift up your buckets and you’ll get a better idea for if they need watering or not by the weight. The first sign of overfed plants is burnt leaf tips. The first rule of how to grow weed is to learn to stay off of its way sometimes. Anytime space is limited for growing, some basic rules apply: Since square footage is at a premium, plans must take full advantage of each available inch. This means choosing between growing indica-dominant strains such as Hashplant, Afghani #1 or planning on using drastic trellising and training techniques if growing out sativas such as Super Silver Haze, Jack Herer or Kali Mist. Pruning For Higher Yield When pruning, start early and often. Cut or pinch branches just above the node where two new shoots will emerge. If you stay on top of this process, you’ll have plants that look like bonsai bushes, with plenty of bud sites but not a lot of stretching out and big gaps between nodes. This is the efficient way to get bigger yields out of small spaces but your vegetating time will increase so factor that into your schedule. Don’t prune or pinch plants at all once they’ve begun flowering – you’ll only be decreasing your harvest at that point. If the branches are threatening to reach the light, bend them or tie them down to keep them from burning. A trellis system constructed from chicken wire at canopy level (aka the ScrOG or Screen of Green system), will further spread out bud sites and increase your yields considerably. Simply train growing shoots to grow horizontally along the bottom of the screen to fill empty spots. Flower Power Indoors, The decision of when to induce flowering in your plants is entirely up to you. If you want to learn how to grow weed, it’s important to determine how much space you have and to factor in the fact that your plants will stretch for at least a few weeks after flowering is induced. I usually recommend one week per gallon of container, so a plant in a five-gallon bucket should get approximately five weeks of vegetative time. When you’re ready to begin the flowering stage, switch your timer to a 12 hour on/12 hour off light cycle. Be sure never to interrupt the 12-hour dark period with any light. This confuses your plant and can cause serious problems. Change your feeding regimen to one suited for flowering. Plant nutrients generally come in vegetative or flowering formulations so switch over to a “blooming” solution. Depending on the flowering time of your strain, determine when you have two weeks or so left and begin the flushing process. If you’re growing a 60-day flowering strain, start to flush your grow medium with only plain water around day 46. Harvesting, Drying and Curing Pinterest Knowing when and how to harvest your buds is as important as knowing how to grow weed. Use a loupe or a strong magnifying scope to take a very close look at the trichomes; the tiny glandular stalk and head sometimes referred to as “crystals”. Up close, they resemble little glass mushrooms with a stem that forms a bulbous round clear top. Inside that gland head resides the psychoactive compounds (THC, CBD etc). Harvest when the majority of the gland heads begin to go cloudy white and before they’ve gone completely amber. Harvest when they’re mostly amber if you desire a more lethargic stone. Post-harvest, you will trim and hang up your buds to dry. This process should take about a week or two depending on the humidity and heat in your area. It’s always best to keep this process slower than 3-4 days in order to ensure you aren’t locking in that “green” chlorophyll taste. Add a humidifier to your drying room if you think your nuggets are drying out too quickly. Never leave a fan blowing directly onto your drying colas but make sure air is circulating to avoid mold and bud-rot. After you’ve determined that your buds are sufficiently dried you’re ready to jar them up for the cure. The stems should snap instead of bending and the outside of the flowers should feel bone dry to the touch. The truth is there is still plenty of water stuck in the bud and the curing process will slowly “sweat” out the remaining liquid. Always use opaque jars (ones you can’t see inside) and place them in a cool dark place. Open up the jars to determine the level of moisture and leave them open if there’s any condensation forming on the inside of the glass. Slowly but surely, if you open and close the jars once or twice a day, the moist air will be replenished by dry air and the water that’s stuck in the middle of your bud will work its way to the outside and then out into the air altogether. After three weeks to a month or so curing, your buds should burn and taste perfectly.

Looking for information regarding smart feeding? Whether you’re a novice or an advanced cannabis grower, this is the guide for you. НT Cultivation Editor Nico Escondido answers all of your grow questions in his weekly Nico’s Nuggets column. The Question: My Leaves Are Curling And Feel Dry. How Do I Fix This? Dear Nico, Happy New Year! For my new year’s resolution, I have started growing in a small closet growroom. My babies are about one-foot tall, and they were looking very healthy. Now, the leaves are curling at the edges and feel dry. I have good circulation and ventilation. I was wondering if this condition is being caused by too little or too much water, or are they not getting enough carbon dioxide? I water once a day until the medium is saturated. The soilless mix (Sunshine #4, as you have recommended in the past) has trace nutrient amounts in it. I have yet to add any further nutrients but plan to soon. Thanks for any help you can lend, and God bless НT! — John T. The Answer: Utilize Smart Feeding To Avoid Nutrient Deficiencies Happy New Year to you also, John! Congrats on the new endeavor and thanks for writing in and sharing. Your question is always a tough one to answer without seeing the plants in person, but you have narrowed down the possible culprits correctly. One—or multiple—aspects you mention can be the cause of sick leaves and/or plants. Generally speaking, plant leaves can be an excellent barometer for garden conditions and more often than not any discoloration or wilting of leaves point to nutrient deficiencies. That being said water, temperature and humidity also affect the development of leaves, stems and flowers. Incorrect ratios of these conditions can severely hinder food production and movement within the plant. Your description of daily watering sounds to be correct. Make sure your water source is not contaminated and be sure not to allow water to collect at the bottom of your containers, plant trays or saucers. Allowing ample time every few days for the medium to dry out completely and for air to permeate the medium is also a good idea. Sick leaves show signs of deficiency through color and texture. Going purely by your description, however, of curling leaf edges and dry tips, your issue sounds more like a nutrient deficiency—most probably potassium (K). Potassium is essential throughout all stages of plant development, and it is a mineral that is easily translocated from older leaves to younger, thus potassium deficiencies will first appear on the lower, older leaves. Additionally, nitrogen (N) and magnesium (Mg) deficiencies can lead to drying and turning or cupping upward of leaves, respectively. The trace amounts of N-P-K in your soilless mix is good to ride out for a week to maybe 10 days, but once your plants develop several sets of leaves—which yours have now that they are 1’ tall—it is time to feed them more regularly and substantially. My recommendation is to begin a mild nutrient regiment immediately. Look for a nutrient line that offers a complete N-P-K package as well as some of the smaller, “micro” nutrients such as calcium, zinc, magnesium, etc. Since your plants are young and still in a vegetative state, your N-P-K ratio should be higher on the nitrogen side—something like a 5-2-2 should suffice—with smaller amounts of the other trace elements to round out the menu. Always use reputable nutrient brands like General Hydroponics (GH) or Botanicare and be wary of heavily loaded brands (such as Miracle Grow), which generally have very high mineral (salt) values and can cause more problems than they solve. Proper dosages of nutrients are essential for healthy gardens. The best practice for feeding regiments usually follows a three-day cycle, with feeding on the first day, pure water only on the second day and then a half-watering on the third day (to help the medium to dry out and get oxygen to the roots); then, repeat. To help keep your nutrient program from getting too heavy and causing nutrient lock-up in the root zone (from excess buildup) or root burn, it is good advice to start by halving the dosage recommended on nutrient labels. Then, slowly work your way up to the full dosage as your young plants grow, mature and enter the flowering phase.

Are you a novice cannabis cultivator looking for a guide to grow mediums for indoor marijuana growing? Well, you’re in luck. НT Cultivation Editor Nico Escondido answers all of your grow questions in his weekly Nico’s Nuggets column, and this week, he’s focusing on grow mediums for indoor growers. The Question: What Grow Medium Is Best For New Indoor Growers? Dear Nico, Long-time reader, first-time grower here! As my wife and I begin our journey in growing, I wanted to get your take on the abundance of indoor grow mediums currently available on the market. As first time growers, we are leaning towards using soil and hand-watering the plants, as I have seen you recommend this approach for beginners several times over the years. However, we are open to doing a hydro system if the medium and system are easy enough to handle. Any advice is much appreciated! — Carlos & Melinda The Answer: The Most Popular Grow Mediums For Indoor Growing Thanks for writing in Carlos & Melinda—and congratulations on starting your first grow! That is music to our ears here at НT! To start, whenever discussing indoor grow mediums, I think it is important to differentiate between “soil” and “soilless” mediums. When we, as growers, talk about using soil indoors, we are actually talking about what is commonly known as “soilless” mediums. Correct medium choices help genetics reach their potential as seen with this pink Jah Goo. Actual mineral soil or topsoil is rarely, if ever, used indoors anymore (excluding greenhouse grows). This is simply because there are now better options that can do the same thing as mineral soil. These “soilless” mixtures are peat- or sphagnum-based. When one considers that real earth soil is generally not sold as a sterilized medium and may contain pests, molds or possible diseases/viruses embedded in it, the risk of bringing that into an indoor garden is not worth it—especially when these moss-based mediums look, feel and act very similar to actual soil. That being said, let’s take a quick look at a few of the most popular mediums for indoor gardens: Peat There are three types of peat used in agriculture: peat moss, reed sedge and peat humus. Peat moss is the most widely used and is derived from sphagnum and other mosses, varying in color from tan to dark brown. Peat has a high moisture-retaining capacity, being able to hold 15 times its dry weight in H2O, and contains small amounts of nitrogen. However, it has high acidity with a pH range of 3.2 to 4.5. Peat is almost always used in soilless mixtures, rather than as a stand-alone medium, with sphagnum, perlite, wood chips and coco being its primary partners. Sphagnum Very similar to peat moss, sphagnum is a moss composed of dehydrated acid-bog plants. Being perhaps the most desired moss for agricultural use, it is expensive to produce and as such, it is often used in soilless mixtures alongside peat moss. Sphagnum has very high water-absorbing properties and can absorb 10 to 20 times its dry weight in moisture. Sphagnum moss has a pH between 3.5 and 4.0. Much like peat, sphagnum offers excellent buffering qualities for the root structure, helping to prevent nutrient burn and making it very forgiving for beginner growers. A soilless, peat-based mixture with perlite mixed in. Vermiculite Chemically speaking, vermiculite is hydrated magnesium-aluminum-iron silicate. It expands quite a bit when heated, and once expanded, it is extremely lightweight. It is insoluble in water, inert and can absorb huge amounts of water, which is why it is often a key ingredient in soilless mixes. Furthermore, its high cation exchange capacity makes it very good for buffering and use with heavy nutrient programs. Perlite A gray-white mineral mined from volcanic lava flows, perlite is also heated and expanded into small, sponge-like kernels that are extremely lightweight with decent water-retention properties of three to four times its dry weight. Its best feature is that it is very neutral with a pH of 6.0 to 8.0. Unlike vermiculite, perlite has no cation exchange capacity and therefore is poor in buffering. This is why perlite is often used as a spread on top of soilless mediums to help keep moisture locked in below. Hardened Expanded Clay (HEC) Similar to vermiculite and perlite, clay can be heated and expanded. However, with clay, the medium becomes much harder after heating. Still, the clay aggregate is porous enough to give it some decent water-holding ability, though not enough for systems using a single daily watering. Rather, this medium is better suited for continuous-flow or multiple-watering hydroponic systems. Inert and sterile with neutral pH, HEC offers little to no buffering properties, but it is highly stable and capable of holding seedling or clone plugs in active hydro systems. HEC can also be used as a bottom layer for drainage in plant containers or as a mixed-in additive for soilless mixtures. Hardened expanded clay (HEC) being used in a flood-and-drain hydro table. Mineral Wool Most commonly known as Rockwool (a brand name), mineral wool is an extremely popular medium for rooting and growing plants, especially in heavy hydroponic systems. Spun from fibers created by melting various rock types, the “wool” is then pressed into various plugs, squares and slabs for growing plants. Mineral wool will hold a considerable amount of water while also allowing for good air permeation. Mineral wool is sterile and inert with a neutral pH, however, it has poor buffering and is generally regarded as a medium for advanced growers. Coconut Fiber/Coir Often referred to simply as “coco,” coconut fiber can come in a variety of forms including shredded fibers, small cubes or a finer, more granular medium. Coco is often mixed into soilless mixtures with peat and vermiculite, but it can also be used as a stand-alone medium for potted plants. Derived from coconut husks, coco is sterile and has good water-retention and buffering properties. Obviously, choosing one of the above mediums hinges a lot on the type of grow system being used in the garden. In terms of the question posed, I would concur that for a first-time grower, using a soilless mix (such as Sunshine #4 or Pro-Mix) and utilizing a daily hand-watering regiment is the best option. For those with previous experience looking to use a hydroponic system, soilless mixtures are still good for top-feed or drip-irrigation systems. Once you move into the more advanced hydro setups, such as flood-and-drain tables, deep-water culture (DWC) or nutrient film technique (NFT), mineral wool and HEC become better choices. Remember, whichever way you go, be sure your root zone is easily permeated by air so that roots can get the oxygen they love so much. And when it comes to buffering and choosing your nutrient program remember—less is more, as you can always up your dosages, but correcting a nutrient overload is much more difficult.

Looking for information regarding CO2 and cannabis cultivation? Wondering if supplemental CO2 will boost your yield? НT Cultivation Editor Nico Escondido answers all of your grow questions in his weekly Nico’s Nuggets column. The Question: Should I Add CO2 To My Indoor Garden? What’s up, Nico! First-time indoor grower here, but I am no noob. I grow BIG outdoors in NorCal, but this offseason, we are going indoors. My question is about CO2—should I add CO2 to my indoor garden? Will supplemental CO2 really help boost yield? I am used to growing 14’ outdoor trees, where yield is less of an issue than achieving higher quality, so now the tables are flipped, and I am indoors. I expect quality to be high, but what about yield? As always, you are da man! Thanks for everything НT! — JimmyGrowsBig The Answer: How To Use CO2 To Pack Weight Onto Buds Howdy, Jim, thanks for reading and writing in with a question! It is true that the ongoing debate over outdoor vs. indoor growing often really comes down to quantity (yield) vs. quality (potency and flavor), with outdoor holding the former position and indoor the latter. However, this is not to say that high quality and potency are not achievable outdoors, nor large yields impossible to achieve indoors. One step towards increasing yield in an indoor garden is to supplement with CO2, which does aid in packing weight onto buds. Let’s take a closer look at how plants use CO2 and the levels necessary for optimal plant (and flower) development. CO2 & Cannabis Plants Large-format indoor gardens utilize gas burners to create added CO2. When we talk about adding extra carbon dioxide (CO2) to marijuana gardens, the science behind the theory isn’t specific only to cannabis. All plants need CO2 to grow, develop and live healthy life cycles. However, for flowering plants such as marijuana, adding CO2 to a garden can greatly increase the yield of each plant. Over 90 percent of the dry matter of cannabis is carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The sole source of the carbon is from CO2 in the air. It is important to note that a plant only needs and uses CO2 during daylight hours. And the more light that is available to a plant, the more CO2 it needs for photosynthesis. It is in this process that the carbon-fixing reaction occurs, splitting CO2 molecules into carbon (C) and hydrogen (H) to create food for the plant in the form of sugars and starches. CO2 is measured in parts-per-million, or PPM. Ambient CO2 levels in the outdoor atmosphere average about 300 – 400 PPM, which is adequate for plants outside in nature. However, indoor gardens can control atmospheric conditions and sometimes choose to boost these levels in order to quicken plant development and pack weight onto buds. Increasing CO2 levels from 400 PPM to 1500 PPM can increase plant growth by nearly 40 percent. However, there is such a thing as too much CO2. Much like human muscles on steroids, plants that take in too much CO2 can start to have tissue deterioration issues. When plant flowers are pushed towards these limits, the quality of the buds may start to diminish. CO2 Garden Levels For smaller indoor gardens, a CO2 regulator and timer are used with CO2 tanks for supplemental CO2 infusion. Consider the following: In a California greenhouse, a plant in full sunlight at midday will receive approximately 5,000 lumens per square foot. At this light intensity, a cannabis plant can process up to 2,000 PPM of CO2. For 3,000 lumens per square foot, the plant could use up to 1,500 PPM. At 1,000 lumens per square foot, this amount drops to ambient levels of 300 PPM. However, it is important to remember that these guidelines use lumens as benchmarks, whereas PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) is the better barometer for measuring the ratio of light-to-C02 in your garden. This is because lumens measure all available light coming from the source, not the light that is actually utilized by the plants. Light that the leaves cannot sense for various different reasons becomes completely wasted as its photons do not get absorbed or used in the carbon-splitting process mentioned above. Thus, it would be better to calculate needed CO2 using PAR measurements. However, since PAR values within an indoor garden are difficult to ascertain (specialized equipment is needed), a safe recommendation is to keep indoor gardens around 1,000 PPM when supplementing your environment with CO2. This can increase garden yield by as much as 20 percent, while also keeping potency high and quality intact.

Oregon tokers are spoiled. It’s not an exaggeration to say that you can’t even give away shitty weed here. Bud that would trip everyone’s trigger in another state doesn’t even disarm the safety here. And sofresh farms’ products, with buds as dank as they get, are miles ahead of those of the state’s average grower. The farm has the best genetics, and its growers know how to maximize each strain’s potential. If you want the best pot products on the market, sofresh is the call. So sit back, roll a joint and come along on a trip through an award-winning Oregon farm. Driving up to sofresh farms is a little underwhelming. A large fence keeps the premises out of sight from prying eyes. Once inside, though, it looks like a standard farm, not unlike one you’d expect to see elsewhere in rural America. But, of course, the cultivated plants here are anything but average. The man behind the grow is Tyson Haworth, whose bond with the plants he cares for is palpable. Haworth’s passion for growing is infectious, and everyone around him feeds off his enthusiasm. It’s hard not to get caught up in his passion when he talks about growing cannabis, and his products are considered by many to be the best of the best. Although many growers focus on hydroponic solutions using synthetic nutrients, Haworth prefers 100 percent organic techniques. His farm has an outdoor grow area alongside a large greenhouse and several indoor growrooms. Everything is cultivated in naturally amended soil using proven organic methods. In fact, sofresh does more than just claim its products are organic; the farm has literally passed the test. Everything sofresh farms grows is Clean Green Certified—a program that regulates cannabis products to certify they’re grown organically. Generally speaking, organic growing methods work in harmony with Mother Nature. But sofresh farms takes this organic approach to a whole new level. However, even though a perfect organic environment ensures the best possible results from a given genotype, it you don’t start with the right genetics it’s all a waste of time. Plants maturing in a greenhouse at sofresh farms. (Photo by StinkBud/НT) And Haworth starts with excellent genetics—some of the best in the world. He acknowledges that growing the right strains is crucial to the foundation of any grow, and he’s always on the hunt for outstanding genetics. Selection is crucial to sofresh’s customers, so the company always keeps a couple dozen strains running. Additionally, sofresh makes sure that a few of their most popular varieties are always on hand—but even some of the farm’s most legendary strains sell out quickly. At sofresh farms, Haworth doesn’t run mother plants. He prefers to take his clones from vegetative plants instead. That way he can run a large selection of strains without having to waste valuable space and resources keeping the mother plants alive. In his experience, he hasn’t had any issues with genetic drift using this technique. In fact, Haworth claims that you can take a plant that looks like it’s been experiencing genetic drift and place it in a healthy environment, and the plant will take off like it was a brand-new seedling. Haworth feels that clones root better if you cut them right after the first week of flowering, as the plants are already in a transition phase and they tend to root more easily. He uses a hybrid cloning technique that utilizes a root plug inside a traditional aeroponic cloner. He takes cuttings from the healthiest plants, dips them in rooting gel and places them into the plugs. Buds are cured at the perfect temperature and humidity. (Photo by StinkBud/НT) Haworth takes large cuttings, looking for fresh, green stems with no woody growth, and he uses a razor blade to make a clean, sterile cut. The clone room is kept very humid with a large humidifier, and the cuttings usually take seven to 14 days to root. Haworth prefers fluorescent lights for clones, as they promote vegetative growth and are mild on the plants. He explains that too much light can cause the plants to wilt: “You want just enough light to promote root growth without killing the plants—we want roots, not leaves.” After the clones pop roots, they are moved into either 1- or 3-gallon pots, depending on the genetics. Haworth prefers to use smart pots for the vegetative stage of growth. He explains that smart pots help prevent transplant shock, which plants can experience for up to a week. Smart pots can practically eliminate this, and they also allow roots to breathe more easily and have the added benefit of air-pruning the roots. At sofresh farms, the veg plants are kept in a greenhouse with supplemental lighting providing 18 hours of light. A combination of sunlight and artificial light allows the plants to “harden” and acclimate to the sunlight. Plants can get sunburnt just like us humans, and hardening the plants is similar to giving the plants a base tan. Then, after they’re acclimated to the bright lights or sunshine, the plants are moved into the flower stage—and that’s where the real magic begins. The sofresh indoor growing area uses a closed-loop system with no-till raised beds. Haworth prefers to use high-pressure sodium (HPS) lights, but he’s always testing new systems and reflectors. Lately, he’s been researching three different light configurations to find the most efficient system possible. Haworth’s also been measuring the differences between a closed-loop system with supplemental CO2 and a hybrid system with fresh-air ventilation. In the winter, sofresh farms brings in cool air from the outside instead of using air-conditioning. This not only uses less power, but it also replenishes CO2 naturally. But during the hot summer months, sofresh farms runs air-conditioning to keep the temperature below 85°F. This keeps terpene loss to a minimum, which helps with fragrance intensity. The raised-soil beds that sofresh farms uses stand about 2 feet high and comprise a mixture of peat moss, pearlite, worm castings and compost, as well as other common additives, with the ultimate goal of creating synergy between the plants and soil. Haworth creates a “living soil” by building an environment that is perfect for both beneficial bacteria and the cannabis crop. He starts by inoculating the plants early in the vegetative stage and then carries it through to flower. Haworth brews his own tea, but instead of adding bacteria to the brew and letting it ferment, he adds the compost extract directly to the soil and lets the beneficial bacteria break it down. Basically, he’s feeding the bacteria that help his plants. This makes the beneficial bacteria very healthy and happy, and they respond by breaking down the nutrients the plants need in order to flourish. This symbiotic relationship is a key element to any successful organic grow. If you’ve ever hiked down a dirt trail, you already know how soil gets compacted by people walking on it. Haworth says that one of the worst things that can happen to soil is having it compacted so much that all the minute air pockets are destroyed. Those small spaces not only store oxygen, but they also act as water reservoirs and allow roots a place to grow. That’s why Haworth built wooden walkways above his flower beds, which help keep the soil fluffier than grandma’s pancakes and the buds as sweet as syrup. Environmental control is essential to success. (Photo by StinkBud/НT) Have you ever been out hiking when your feet get soaking wet, and then when you take off your shoes your feet look like a couple of raisins from hell? Plants don’t like their feet—their roots—getting that saturated with water any more than you do. That’s why keeping the soil’s moisture content in perfect balance is so important. Anyone can throw some water on the ground, but it’s a lot more complicated than that. Haworth is the master of moisture balance. How does he do it? First, Haworth uses a thin layer of straw mulch on top of the soil to keep moisture from escaping while still allowing the soil underneath to breathe. He’ll push aside the straw and stick his hand in wrist-deep, pulling out a clump of deep black soil that he compacts in his hands, making a small dirt clod. He explains that if the soil is too dry, the dirt clod won’t hold together. The clod should break apart easily. If it doesn’t, there’s too much moisture. This simple technique allows Haworth to keep the soil at exactly the right balance. Haworth feels that there are benefits to growing plants together in the same bed. They’re able to share microbes and worms, and they also communicate with one another. Plants need room to grow both above- and belowground. Haworth accomplishes this by preparing the soil deep below the raised beds so that the plants’ roots grow freely. Growing large plants in small pots is like trying to squeeze into last year’s swimsuit. You could pull it off, but no one is going to be happy about it. Whether you feed your plants synthetic or organic nutrients, the goal is usually the same: tasty bud! Haworth believes that an organic approach is best for both his plants and his customers. So not only does he hunt down the finest organic ingredients money can buy, he also makes his own. At sofresh farms, they take the leaves and stems from the thinning and trimming process and put them into large 55-gallon containers. Water and lactic-acid bacteria are added to the mix and allowed to stew until the concoction smells like an old gym locker. When the mix stops bubbling, the lid is removed and the alcohol is allowed to evaporate. What’s left is the perfect blend of nutrients in the perfect ratio. During the flower stage, Haworth adds more stems and less leaves. This blend, combined with naturally amended soil, makes for beautiful and healthy plants. Haworth’s sofresh farms takes organic pest control to a whole new level. It’s called “integrated pest management,” or IPM. Under a canopy of a cannabis growth, other plants such as grass and clover are planted. The purpose in growing cover plants is to provide an environment that is friendly to predatory insects, and it also creates a symbiotic relationship with the cannabis plants. Haworth explains the different types of plants he uses. “Trap plants” attract the bad bugs, and basically act as an all-you-can-eat buffet, featuring all kinds of yummy stuff for these bad bugs to eat. Haworth closely monitors the trap plants for any signs of pests that could mean an infestation for his crop. In addition to trap plants, the farm also uses “deterrent plants” that help keep pests away. Plants like rosemary, mint and peppers repel problem insects and mites. These deterrent plants are like growroom bouncers, keeping away any unwanted guests. Haworth views trap plants and deterrent plants as the first line of defense for the grow. But he also uses other methods to keep pests at bay. Flowers form on budding branches. (Photo by StinkBud/НT) Not every type of bug is bad for your plants. There are many types of predators that eat the insects that eat your plants. Most likely you’re familiar with many of the common types of predator insects, such as ladybugs and praying mantises, but you may be less familiar with nematodes or fungi. When these little fellas invade the host’s body, they eat it from the inside out, and then use it to eliminate other pests. This natural approach to pest management helps eliminate pesticide use and creates a healthier environment. The last line of defense against garden pests is the use of organic sprays such as soaps and neem, cinnamon, lemongrass and other types of oils. These sprays either suffocate the pests or make the plant taste bad to them. Neem oil has been used for centuries and controls virtually every type of pest, and a small amount of it is all it takes to make the bugs dine elsewhere. Haworth also uses PFR-97, an organic solution that contains a naturally occurring fungus which kills many of the bad bugs on leaves and in the soil. There’s a large greenhouse at sofresh farms in which budding plants are spread out as far as the eye can see. Some of the greenery resembles mini-skyscrapers, while other verdure grows low and dense. There are three levels of netting laid out into 6-foot x 6-foot grids, each with a 1,000-watt light over it. Haworth explains that the netting helps train the plants to create a solid canopy of dense buds roughly two feet thick. Haworth inspects the plant’s trichomes to determine the correct harvest time, looking for the heads to be mostly cloudy with some turning amber. He doesn’t like to wait too long for harvest, as a plant’s terpenes can start to degrade. Harvest time is strain-dependent, so over the course of a month, plants will be pulled and processed. There are multiple drying rooms set up to accommodate sofresh farms’ various crops. Some hold large, untrimmed outdoor plants, while others contain rows of buds hanging from the ceiling. These are from the indoor grow and already have their fan leaves removed. It looks like all it would take is a couple of good snips for these buds to be ready to enjoy. Haworth starts the buds out at a fairly low 40 percent humidity level and raises it over a few weeks to 50 percent, with the ultimate goal of hitting 60 percent. He explains that anything above that adds moisture to the bud, and anything below that dries it out. When the buds reach the perfect level of dryness, they are hand-trimmed by some of the best trimmers in the world, who cut a staggering amount of marijuana every day. The buds are handled very carefully; workers avoid touching the pot with their bare hands and only use the tips of their scissors. Every kickstand and crow’s foot is clipped with only frosty goodness left behind. Every flower is trimmed to the perfect size—not too big, not too small. Hanging branches to dry preserves delicate trichome glands. (Photo by StinkBud/НT) After the nugs have been trimmed, they’re placed in large totes to cure. This process takes from a few weeks to a couple of months’ time, depending on the strain. The totes aren’t airtight, allowing the buds to breathe and slowly cure to perfection. Cure time can make a huge difference in how the finished cannabis smokes. After spending time in the large totes, the pot is transferred into gallon jars. Haworth pulls a bud out of one and holds it up, bending the stem until, at a certain point, it snaps. That’s exactly what he’s looking for. If the stem bends but doesn’t break, it’s still too wet. If the stem snaps right away, the bud’s too dry. Haworth views the moisture content of the flowers as crucially important to the quality of the final results. The product from sofresh farms is legendary in Oregon, and for a good reason—it’s the best of the best. Sure, the farm has won many awards, but what really sets it apart is its staff. After spending time with the sofresh crew, I can’t help but feel amazed at their vast knowledge of growing technique. Plants come and go, and all those beautiful buds are just a hit away from disappearing in a puff of smoke. The farmer, not the plants, makes the farm, and Tyson Haworth is without equal. The next time you’re in Oregon, stop by the nearest pot shop and ask for sofresh farms.

Trying to figure out what type of container to use for your plants and medium? Well, you’re in luck! НT Cultivation Editor Nico Escondido answers all of your grow questions in his weekly Nico’s Nuggets column, and today’s piece is all about traditional pots vs. grow bags. The Question: Do You Recommend Traditonal Pots Or Grow Bags? Dear Nico, Thanks to you and НT for years of great grow advice! Quick question on plant containers—do you recommend using traditional pots or grow bags to hold plants and medium? I know there are advantages to each type, but I am leaning towards bag culture. Any thoughts are appreciated and keep up the good work! — Joel T. via the mailbag at [email protected] The Answer: The Advantages & Disadvantages Of Grow Bags Howdy Joel, Thanks for reading HighTimes.com and writing into the mailbag with a question. Fabric pots are a top choice of growers, offering breathability and great drainage. First, let’s explain to our readers a little bit about bag culture. Bag culture can be defined simply as growing a plant out of a bag, the same way one would utilize a plant container or a pot. But bag culture can also be defined as a method for extending or expanding the volume of media available to a plant’s root structure. In the latter scenario, an already-potted plant would be placed inside or on top of a bag filled with new grow media. The original pot would have holes in the bottom or several slits made in it so that the roots can grow down and out of the container into the extended medium of the bag. Because of these aspects, container bags are a preferred method for many greenhouse and indoor growers looking to expand root zone volume. However, whereas bag culture can be an add-on in this way, this is not the only use for grow bags. Grow bags can be your initial, stand-alone container for individual plants or for multiple plant sites within a garden or hydroponic system. There are many advantages of using bags as containers, including the fact that they are generally cheaper than pots—to the extent that they can be disposable with little monetary loss—though, they then have to be replaced, rather than being reused or recycled like pots can be. Perhaps the biggest advantage, however, comes with fabric grow bags, which are more durable than plastic bags and much more breathable than plastic containers or bags. This is an especially important consideration as many new growers underestimate the importance of getting air—specifically, oxygen—to the root zone. While the green parts of the plants (above ground) breath in CO2, roots actually breath O2, which is integral to their growth and development. It is for this primary advantage that many commercial growers chose fabric grow bags, as the size of the root structure is directly proportional to the yield of the plant. Plastic bags are a cheap and disposable option. All of that being said, grow bags have a few drawbacks. Sometimes drainage is less than ideal and additional holes need to be made at the bottom of the bags to aid in drainage. Additionally, grow bags may not be as durable as pots, lacking the structural strength that other more solid containers can provide. This can be especially true in heavy rain outdoors or in heavy-flow hydro systems. The larger bags can also be much more difficult to move because of the lack of sturdiness and the weaker fabric handles are prone to tearing with bags over 20 gallons. (Note: Fabric grow bags come in a variety of sizes ranging from 1-gallon to 200+ gallon bags for outdoor use.) Huge fabric containers like this can grow large outdoor trees above ground. Overall, for indoor table systems that require less mobility, fabric bags provide an excellent option for growers. The same can be said for large-scale outdoor operations where plants are grown to tree-size and will remain in a permanent location. But for systems that are high-impact or require frequent plant movement, sturdier containers might be the better option.

If you’re a wannabe pot grower, you need to be an expert on all things cannabis seeds. This knowledge needs to be gained before you even purchase your first marijuana seed in order to ensure a successful grow. While we’ve given guides on how to begin the plant process and how to see it through to a bountiful harvest, you may be seeking more information about the seed itself. And so, without further ado, here’s our intro course to cannabis seeds. Basic Plant Biology To put it in the most basic terms, a seed is a plant that is in its embryonic stage. Like animals, plants reproduce by, well, reproduction. The process actually isn’t totally dissimilar from that of animals. In order to produce a seed, a plant’s ovule (like an ovum, or egg) needs to be fertilized by pollen (similar to sperm). Once the ovule is fertilized by the pollen, a seed is formed. Like an embryo, a seed contains a wealth of genetic material. Inside that one tiny object is the future of the organism. And like animals, the fate and final outcome of the seed is almost entirely dependent on how you treat it in its early stages of development. Here’s how to set up your baby, er, cannabis plant, for health and success. How To Germinate Cannabis Seeds Before you plant your seeds, you’re going to want to germinate them. What is germination? It’s basically a process by which seeds become hydrated. When they are hydrated, the enzymes in them become activated and ready to grow. When a seed is properly and completely germinated, the beginning of a root emerges from the seed’s shell. So how do you germinate your cannabis seeds? First, you have to determine whether or not your seed is even viable. According to the experts, an ideal marijuana seed should be dark in color with black stripes. If you have seeds that look like that, great! Germination should be successful. There are a few methods of germination, but the easiest one is the paper towel method. Simply put your seeds between two damp paper towels on top of a flat surface, like a tray, and keep that on top of a warm surface. A root should break through the seed in just a few days. If a root isn’t showing up in the expected time, you may need to stick it in some water for a day or so. This will help soften up the exterior of the shell and make it easier for the root to emerge. What is a Feminized Marijuana Seed? You may have heard the term “feminized marijuana seed”. But do you know what it means? According to our very own cannabis strain expert, Danny Danko, “feminized seeds are the result of using “male” pollen from a hermaphroditic plant to fertilize a female flower, resulting in plants that can be female or hermaphrodites but never males.” Are Cannabis Seeds Legal? Okay, so now you know the basics of what seeds are and how to begin the planting process. Feeling inspired and planning your grow operation already? Great! But first thing’s first. You have to buy some. But where? Since cannabis is federally illegal, surely the embryonic form of cannabis is prohibited as well, right? Not necessarily. If you reside in a state with either legal recreational weed or a medical marijuana program, chances are, you will be able to purchase seeds without any issue. However, some medical marijuana programs do not allow the purchase or possession of cannabis seeds for home growing. So make sure you do your research regarding your state’s medical marijuana program or recreational cannabis laws. Buying A Marijuana Seed Supply Once you’ve done your research and you have determined that yes, buying cannabis seeds is totally legal, the next step is to actually make your purchase. So where do you buy them? More to the point, where do you buy quality seeds? Your best bet is making the purchase at your dispensary. You’ll have the peace of mind knowing that your seeds will be high quality. And if you need guidance on what kind of seeds to buy (ie what strain would work well in whatever environment or climate you live in), the people working in the dispensary should be able to help you out. It might be tempting to buy your seeds online. You’ve probably seen ads for websites claiming to sell superior seeds at an attractively low price. We strongly recommend that you do not fall into this trap. As with many things, keep the motto “buyer beware” in mind. Purchasing anything online has its risks. But cannabis seeds are particularly tricky because of the federal prohibition. Where you buy your seeds is ultimately up to you. But we recommend that you make your purchase at a dispensary or a trusted friend or colleague. Storing Your Seed Once you determine the legality of cannabis seeds in your state, have figured out what kind of cannabis you want to grow and have purchased your marijuana seed of choice, what’s next? You’re going to have to store your seed. But what is the optimal way to do this? It is ideal to store them before germination. To do this, you’ll need an airtight container that is either opaque or dark colored. Keep your marijuana seed in this container and then store the container in a cool, dry and dark area. To ensure absolute dryness, some cannabis growers like to stick one or two packets of food-grade desiccants in the container as well. If those kinds of chemicals scare you, however, some dry rice to soak up any potential moisture can work too. Final Hit: What Do You Do With Your Cannabis Seeds? So what do you once your seed supply is successfully germinated? It may just be time to plant it and begin the next phase of your cannabis grow process! This next phase involves choosing the right growing medium for your needs, the right environment (like a grow box or greenhouse) and the best grow lights (if you’re growing indoors) to ensure healthy plants.

Trying to figure out what’s new on the market for cannabis cultivators and connoisseurs? We’ve got you covered. Check out our list below—4 Hot Pot Products: December 2017. 1. Royal Flush $13.49, 250 ml.; $59.99, gal. (code FINISH10 for 10% off) suiteleaf.com During the final stage of growth, growers must flush the root zone in order to leach out excess nutrients and enhance essential-oil production in their plants. Improve the burnability and flavor of your terpenes by using Suite Finish from Suite Leaf Plant Nutrients. This amazing product has been formulated for soil or hydroponic applications using molybdenum and zinc as active ingredients. 2. Cure and Store Starting at $28.99 mypharmjar.com Growers and connoisseurs alike love the new UV-blocking, violet-light-enhancing Glass Curing Jars from Mypharmjar. These amazing containers have humidity and temperature sensors with a large digital display on the lid of every jar. The discreet, opaque 100 percent Miron vitality glass protects your herb, allowing you to store it properly and practically indefinitely. So stop the clock on the drying out and deterioration of your precious nugs. 3. Royal Soil Prices vary royalgoldcoco.com Cannabis roots love to grow in a loose, airy mix, and the variety of premium coco-based soils from Royal Gold provides farmers with plenty to choose from. Made in Humboldt County in small batches to ensure quality control, Royal Gold’s different blends are created using sustainably sourced materials. They can be used for a variety of applications, from huge outdoor beds to indoor buckets under lights. 4. Trim It Good Starting at $4,000 ultratrimmer.com Automatic trimming machines get a lot of flak for beating up buds and destroying trichome glands. That why we’re happy with the results from Ultra Trimmer, a unit that gently removes leaf from buds without violent tumbling. Preserve your essential-oil glands with these mechanical scissors that clip pounds in minutes and save the trim for hashmaking later. Check out demo videos at the Ultra Trimmer website.

The latest cultivation trend: growing lush pot plants in tiny grow chambers that anyone can build. Here’s how to make your own space bucket. Micro-Growing Space Bucket Style Space buckets are compact enough to hide in a tight closet. (Photo by Alex Royan/НT) In the finished basement of a rambling green home on a sandy residential street a stone’s throw from the blue-gray ocean of Massachusetts’s South Shore, John is ushering us down into the cramped bedroom closet where he keeps his space bucket. Let’s be clear: We’re not just peering into the closet—John, myself and my photographer are all crowded inside it, personal space at a premium, ducking to avoid clothes on hangers to check out the bucket itself, which is stashed against the wall next to a tackle box and some old boots. It’s about the size of a mini-fridge, fashioned from two Sterilite tote buckets, the top one wrapped in a layer of black duct tape to prevent light from a 300-watt Mars Hydro LED system mounted to the top from escaping. Three ventilation fans hum faintly, and a narrow band of purple light leaks from the seam between the buckets. John opens the lid, and inside is a 6-week-old female 707 Headband plant growing in the soil of a small pot, its pale buds just starting to flower in the otherworldly glow. Its minute size is striking: Indicas in particular, John says, will adapt to the constrained space, and he’s helped keep this one to a bushy height of about six inches with a combination of topping and low-stress training. When he harvests it next month, he expects it to have grown to no more than eight inches—and to end up with about an ounce of dank flower. Bucket Yields You can keep a plant bucket-sized with topping and low stress training. (Photo by Alex Royan/НT) “I’m not growing to grow pounds,” says John, whose kids are playing video games in the next room while his wife putters around upstairs. “I’m growing because it’s cool.” John, who asked us not to use his last name because he’s a small-business owner, is a member of a spirited new subculture of home growers who have congregated online in recent years to share information about—and instructions for building—tiny grow chambers cobbled together from 5-gallon buckets, totes, plastic barrels and materials you can buy at Home Depot or Lowe’s. They call them “space buckets,” and draw inspiration both from traditional closet growers and the hacker-inflected maker community, where the open-source taste for sharing knowledge and designs is deeply ingrained. Glow And Low Make use of low-wattage lighting by lining the inside of a bucket with reflective material. (Photo by Alex Royan/НT) The concept is undeniably elegant. Cannabis isn’t a difficult plant to grow, but it is notoriously picky about lighting. Unlike a closet-grow setup, which can call for hundreds of watts of power, a well-built space bucket reflects nearly all the light output back to the plant, and many growers have eked out defensible harvests with just 100 watts of LED or compact fluorescent lighting—with an electric bill uptick of just 10 or 20 dollars, depending on local rates. There’s also a certain erudition. John affects a Boston folksiness, but as he speaks confidently about vapor pressure, density and soil acidity, it becomes clear that he’s a deeply experienced gardener with a citizen scientist’s enthusiasm for documentation and experimentation—and that part of the space-bucket ethos that drew him in is the opportunity to control every input a plant receives. “It’s like playing God, man,” he says with a grin. In fact, John and a few friends are currently planning an experiment in which they’ll set up a handful of space buckets with identical conditions so that they can change one variable—the hours of light they give the plant during the flowering phase, say—and lab-test the potency of each harvest afterward to expand the knowledge base of effective indoor-growing praxis. Bucket Heads You can piece together a space bucket from parts available at any hardware store. (Photo by Redditor BudsForever) Space buckets were originally the brainchild of a pseudonymous Web developer in Buenos Aires who goes by the Internet handle Ekrof (who, though he takes pains to note that he later discovered a few similar designs that had been floating around the Web prior to his work, unquestionably popularized the concept). “My first plant failed to grow because of the little sunlight I got in my apartment,” Ekrof said in an online interview. “That is when I decided to add a CFL bulb to the lid of the bucket, and a couple PC fans to keep the air running. This basic design turned out to be very effective and easy to tweak and upgrade.” Ekrof recalls that he coined the term about five years ago, after photos of his space bucket and subsequent harvest he uploaded to a forum elicited astonishment from fellow growers. He ended up registering spacebuckets.com, a site that features user-uploaded space-bucket builds and grow guides, as well as a subreddit in which space bucketeers discuss the finer points of nutrition, lighting, carbon filters and more. Some have even documented experiments in growing plants other than cannabis: strawberries, wasabi, kitchen herbs and even avocado sprouts. “We are a community of learners, a movement of tinkerers,” Ekrof said. “Most importantly, we believe in the free flow of ideas and the unparalleled power of the Internet.” Building Buckets Repurposed fans provide cheap ventilation (Photo by Redditor BudsForever) Builds can be sophisticated—John designed his so that he can use his smartphone to check temperature and humidity, and even turn the lighting on and off remotely, using an Arduino board—but Ekrof emphasizes that a bucket doesn’t need to be that complex. His first prototype, the one that caught the interest of so many growers back in 2013, was cobbled together from a couple of 5-gallon buckets, reflective tape, a few small fans and a handful of CFL bulbs. You can grow your own quality bud today, he says, with a similar setup and a low entry cost. John’s space bucket, which is large and unusually complicated, cost about $300 including everything down to the plant food; a simpler setup, with fluorescent lighting, might run closer to $100. (Check out the guide at the end of this story for more info on how to build your own space bucket.) And if you’re not handy with tools, there are signs that a cottage industry has started to spring up of artisans who build and sell their own space buckets. CJ Cummings, who sells artisan space buckets through an Etsy store called MostlySafe out of Portland, OR, says that he sold about 20 units last year for $275 apiece, and hopes to move more going forward. Outer Space Space buckets let avid gardeners control all of a plant’s inputs. (Photo by Morrigan_Disapproves) “In five to seven years from now, you’ll see space buckets being sold like hydro grow sets,” Cummings says. “You need only look in the past to see how products have become mainstays.” Cummings first started thinking about tiny, controlled grow chambers when he was watching episodes of Star Trek: Voyager involving the airponics bay maintained by the alien character Kes; Cummings started Googling and soon ended up on the space-buckets subreddit. The rest, he says, is history. “If we are going to go into space, and I hope we do, we need to have ways we can grow bountiful amounts of food in a controlled environment,” Cummings says. The winter in Boston is long and cruel, and it’s lingered this year into a dismal gray spring. Back on the South Shore, as we watch the artificial sunlight spill out from John’s bucket, I’m overcome by the illogical urge to climb in, hunker down and bask in its warm brightness until the weather warms, the days lengthen and greenery creeps back into the landscape. Some growers use a combination of top and LED strip lighting. (Photo by Morrigan_Disapproves) Space Bucket Materials: 3 5-gallon buckets 1 5-gallon bucket lid 1 roll black duct tape 1 bottle Gorilla Glue 1 roll reflective Mylar 2 12-volt, 80-mm computer fans 1 12-volt power supply 4 wire nuts 10 small zip ties 3 bolts 3 nuts 1 4-socket light fixture [pictured] 4 23-watt compact fluorescent bulbs How To Make Space Buckets Controls range from a simple on-off switch to sophisticated automation systems. (Photo by Morrigan_Disapproves) Step 1: Wrap the exterior of one 5-gallon bucket in black duct tape. Use glue to coat the interior with sheets of reflective Mylar. Drill drainage holes in the bottom. Drill four small holes on the side and run zip ties through them to attach the power strip. Step 2: Use a serrated knife to cut two holes for the fans in the wall of the same bucket. Drill another small hole near each fan opening, then run zip ties through them to fix the fans to the bucket, one as intake and one as exhaust. Use wire nuts to connect the fans to the 12-volt power supply. Step 3: Cut the bottoms off two more buckets to create spacers to add height when your plant outgrows the first bucket. The 5-gallon buckets should nest perfectly, so no light should escape when the buckets fit together. Save the bottom of one of the spacer buckets to catch drainage. Step 4: Cut the bottom off the fourth bucket, the same way you made the spacers. Duct-tape the lid to it and cut a hole in the lid in the shape of your light fixture. Duct-tape the light fixture to the lid so that only the bulbs emerge inside. Finally, wrap the exterior in duct tape to keep light from escaping. You can find much more information about space buckets at Spacebuckets.com and Reddit.com/r/spacebuckets.

Want to know some specifics about breeding cannabis? Know the difference between regular and feminized seeds? Ever heard of an S1, F1 or F2? Do you have any idea what any of it means? I got the chance to link up with Compound Genetics in Portland, Oregon a few month back, and I was lucky enough to sit down with them and talk a little bit about different breeding methods and some terms that are commonly used. НT: Can you please explain what an F1 and F2 are when it comes to breeding cannabis? Compound Genetics: F1 is the first generation [of plants] from unrelated parents. You take a male and a female, you cross them and you create an F1. The F2 is when you work that first generation into the second generation. For example, you could take a Legend Orange Apricot F1, which would be an Orange Apricot male to a Legend OG female, which are completely unrelated parents. When you cross them, the seeds that come from that will be the Legend Orange Apricot F1 generation. To create the F2, you would take a male from that first generation that you selected from seed and a female from that first generation that you want to breed into the next generation. You would pollinate the F1 female with the F1 male pollen, and the seeds that will be produced will be the Legend Orange Apricot F2. If you work that into an F3 and F4, once you get past F4, you are in IBL. To do that successfully, you really need to make sure you don’t lock down too many of the same traits, and you’re not bottlenecking because you can create a big mess if you lock down too many of the same traits. You want to keep the gene pool open. Once you get past F1, it becomes really advanced breeding. F2’s can be a big mess if they aren’t done right. You can send it in the wrong direction by selecting bad parents. F2’s should be left to people who know what they are doing. Very few people work into the F2 and beyond anymore. More people are playing in the F1 generations. Legend Orange Apricot (Photo Courtesy of Compound Genetics) HT: What can you tell us about S1’s and feminized seeds? CG: It’s also called “selfing.” It’s a part of making feminized seeds in a sense. I think people confuse it with bag seeds sometimes. Bag seeds aren’t always S1’s. Bag seed can be an S1, or it can be from pollen on you floating around and you brush up against a plant. If it’s on you and you brush up against a plant, you just pollinated a plant. S1’s could be made other ways too. It can be caused naturally, like stressing the plant so it forces itself to make S1’s—whether it’s light leaks, feeding or mistreating. S1’s could be created by a breeder, by part of a reversal where they actually spray a mixture of chemicals onto a plant, and it will turn a female plant into a male plant over time. For example, if I took a Jet Fuel Gelato female and reverse it to force it to turn into a male, I collect the pollen from that reversal,and hit it onto a Jet Fuel Gelato female, the seeds from that cross would be the Jet Fuel Gelato S1’s, which would be the feminized version of Jet Fuel Gelato S1’s are feminized; 99 percent of feminized seeds will be female. S1 and R1 are considered different. R1 is the equivalent of a feminized F1. F1 is the regular version. Regular is the industry term for a male seed. Feminized is the industry term for a reversed seed or feminized seed. You get feminized seeds from reversing, and you get regular seeds from using a male. The method you would do for S1’s would be the same thing you do to make feminized seeds. You spray it on the plant in certain periods of the early flower cycle, and it makes the plant switch sexes. You can take any female plant and spray over a two to three week period. It won’t grow any female flowers at all. It will actually start to grow male flowers. The whole plant will turn into a complete male. It will release pollen, but reversed plants never release the same amount of pollen as a male plant. Male pollinations will almost always have more seeds. That’s why many breeders prefer males because you can get so many more seeds, and you can do a lot more with males. With reversals, it’s kinda hit or miss. You can get a small amount of pollen, or sometimes you can get almost no pollen. Some plants don’t want to spit pollen when you reverse them. If you are reversing a plant and you want to create a bunch of seeds, you going to need to reverse a lot more plants to collect enough pollen versus having a male around which dumps pollen. I would need two males to pollenate a grow room the size of this hotel room. It would take 20 reversed plants to do the work two males can do, and you would have to apply the pollen with direct contact, like brushing the pollen on the plants or hitting the females with a male branch. You have to actually work the plant to spread the pollen, because it’s not dumping pollen like the males plants would. There are a lot of different methods you can use to apply reversed pollen onto other plants. Jet Fuel Gelato (Photo Courtesy of Compound Genetics) Feminized seeds kinda have a stigma in the industry. People frown a little bit upon them as if they are made from Monsanto. Genetically modified, not natural, they really have their purpose. The fact that you can run a whole garden of feminized seeds, and you don’t have to worry about weeding out or selecting males. For a beginner grower, it’s perfect. For someone who doesn’t know how to select males, they can just take feminized seeds, run them, and know they do not have to worry about finding any males pollenating their crop and losing their crop because a male slipped through the cracks. HT: Can you tell me more about hermaphrodite plants? CG: It definitely is an unstable trait, and it’s definitely more prevalent in untested and unworked gear that is bred from unstable plants. If you are going to create a feminized seed, one of the most important things about fems is that you should never reverse a plant that is unstable. If you reverse a plant that has unstable traits, it’s going to continue those traits onto the next generation. HT: Can regular plants still throw out herms? CG: Oh, yeah. Definitely. It can be from that same factor from breeding unstable traits to begin with or environmental issues. In general, it’s usually a genetic trait. Strong genetics that are worked well won’t hermaphrodite under any circumstances. Sometimes when you run seeds from the first generation, some will hermaphrodite, but if you clone them and run them again, that trait won’t come out once you don’t run them from seed. I don’t know exactly why that is true, but it definitely happens. I advise anybody running from seed that experiences hermaphrodites, if it’s a plant that looks real good late in flower, run it again from clone and see what happens. Sometimes, those traits don’t come out in clone. You really can’t do anything to stop them. I don’t recommend people spraying “Switch” or anything like that. Same goes for any chemical product that’s going to revert your plant back. If your plant is showing that trait, you should either be prepared to live with that trait, eliminate that plant, try to breed it out by outcrossing or crossing it over a few generations, or reverse something onto it that’s going to help eliminate that trait. HT: What would be your preferred method for collecting pollen, and around what time is best to harvest pollen from the males? Do different males throw out pollen at different times? CG: Males throw out pollen usually between week 3.5 – 5. That’s usually when they are known to drop pollen. After week 6 or 7, they kind of get spent. If I was going to collect pollen, I would try to collect it around week 4. There are various ways you can collect it. You can just go up to the male and get a bag, box or something like that and collect it over time by leaving the bag or box open under the plant, or you can take a whole branch of the plant and just literally put it in a bag, just shake it, and all the pollen will come off. Then, you will be left with the male parts of the plant. What you can do with that is take the male pollen sacs, sift or filter it out, then you are left with this fine powder. Ultimately, you just want to have just powder, and storing it clean and dry. The key to saving pollen long periods of time is having it dry. Moisture is the killer for pollen. Light as well. Anything that is bad for dried cannabis will be bad for pollen. Sour Gelato (Photo Courtesy of Compound Genetics) HT: What’s the longest you can keep properly stored pollen viable before having to go through another round to collect pollen? CG: If it’s stored properly, you can keep it for a long time, but generally pollen tends to fade after a year or two. It’s not something that should be your long-term [plan] for saving genetics. To save them long-term, you have to save them in seed form. The best method is using a male of course, but to get the true genetics into seed form, if you can self it, that’s how you can really save anything. If you want to save all your cultivars, S1 everything. You will have pure versions of those clones only in feminized seed form. When you hunt those seeds, you can find the same traits and exact same examples of the mother plants you’re reversing, plus you might find versions that are even better. S1’s will have the same exact phenotypes that you reverse, plus it will have other unique versions. You can find some better versions of the clone-only mom in the S1’s. If you are trying to save your genetics for a long [time], S1′ s might be the way to go.

You’ve finally made the decision to grow your own cannabis under lighting inside. Now you need to know how to get a big yield in a small space. Here’s how to grow big buds indoors: Nature’s Way A plant’s natural habitat is outside in nature with full sunshine beaming down and roots planted firmly into the soil. The checks and balances of wind and rain, coupled with prime planting conditions, result in huge and strong weed trees laden with heavy buds. Indoors, a whole different set of criteria apply. Since there’s not nearly enough light, you must add it. Oscillating fans and watering wands duplicate wind and rain. Above all, understanding how to control the environment is the differentiating factor between the fruitful indoor pot producer and the ones who never seem to get it quite right. Frigid cold or searing heat does serious damage to sensitive plant tissues. A bone-dry humidity level or overly moist atmosphere can cause serious problems quickly and, many times, plant death is the result. Even those that don’t perish are never the same again. If you plan to cultivate cannabis without considering how to maintain a proper growing environment inside, you can expect diminishing returns. Maintain temperature at 70 to 80°F. Keep humidity between 40 to 60 percent. A good thermometer/hygrometer combo will let you know your temperature and humidity levels at all times so you can act accordingly to maintain them. Light Control And Options Indoors, you are recreating the summer and fall seasons by using a timer on your lighting. The “summer,” or vegetative stage, requires 18 to 20 hours of light per day, and the “fall,” or flowering stage, needs 12 hours of light and 12 full hours of darkness in order to trigger the plant to build buds on its branches. A typical vegetative time is three to four weeks, and flowering generally takes around eight to nine weeks so plan accordingly. Always fit in a week to dry and a few weeks to cure as well into your schedule. The best indoor growers keep copious notes and use a calendar to ensure their timing is right. HID (High Intensity Discharge) lights such as MH (Metal Halide) and HPS (High-Pressure Sodium) are most indoor growers lighting of choice—and for good reason. A variety of wattages, from 150, 250, 400, 600 to the mighty 1000-watt versions, make HID’s versatile and unmatched in their ability to deliver the essential lumens needed for plants to thrive inside. A mixture of the two spectrums is ideal, but the prevailing wisdom is that MH bulbs are better for stacking nodes during the vegetative stage and HPS more closely mimic the golden-red glow of autumn sunshine. 400 to 600-watts can cover a 3’ x 3’ to 4’ x 4’ footprint, while 1000-watts will light a 5’ x 5’ space properly. Circulate Air Moving air around your grow space, as well as removing the warm, spent and smelly air, is essential to successful indoor farming. Oscillating fans should ensure that all growing leaves wiggle in the wind, without getting completely blasted by a constant excessive breeze. An exhaust fan, located near the top of your grow space pulls air through an activated charcoal filter in order to clean it before setting it free. Pulling more air out than you have flowing in creates negative pressure, ensuring a fresh supply of CO2 and also won’t let odors escape through any cracks. Be sure to turn off oscillating fans before any spraying or foliar feeding to avoid getting liquid on your light bulbs that can deteriorate or break from contact with droplets. Low-Stress Training (LST) Increase Yields Instead of topping, pruning or clipping growing shoots, which can slow growth and requires significant recovery time, try a technique called Low-Stress Training or LST for short. LST means using string, wire or weights to bend and pull down the top branches so that primary light reaches more surface area. This means that what would have been lower branches get more light and air circulation and, as a result, fill out better. Not only does LST result in bigger yields, the technique also allows you to control the height and shape of your plants. This is a godsend for those with small spaces doing “micro-grows.” Manipulating your branches into the desired shape can help you maintain a level canopy which also results in a bigger harvest of nice-sized buds. The key to LST is to minimize stress on the plants by bending branches gently to avoid breaking them. New growth is easier to bend than old growth so start the bending process when plants are young. You’ll also need to factor in a couple of extra weeks of vegetative time, but the resulting increased yields will be well worth it. Indoor Yielding Grow Tips Rotate your plants a quarter turn every day to ensure all leaves get sufficient light. Secure your lights using strong adjustable hangers so you can easily keep the bulbs at optimal levels. Leave tap water out overnight to dissipate the chlorine before adding your nutrients and applying to your plant’s roots. Air-cooled HID lights remove much of the heat at bulb level and can be hung lower than non-cooled ones. CO2 enrichment using a tank, generator or other carbon dioxide provider can increase growth rates and yield significantly. Give roots room: Larger containers for your grow medium will result in bigger plants with higher yields. Use at least one gallon per week of vegetating times, and you’ll harvest more abundantly. Support growing branches: Even well-grown sativa tops will sometimes overwhelm their own ability to hold themselves up. Use a trellising system or attach branches to plant stakes. Get Growing! Now that you’re well on your way to getting started growing pot indoors, remember that part of your job is to stay out of the plant’s way and let them do their thing. Over-watering and over-fertilizing are the two biggest mistakes that novice growers make, so try to create a balance instead. Lift your containers when they’re fully watered and when they’re not, so you can get an idea of when they need another feeding. Raise nutrient dosages incrementally and keep experiments isolated to one or two plants. Above all, stay curious and enjoy the ride. Nothing’s better than consuming cannabis that you created yourself!