Archives

Grow Your Own Series

1. Intro
   What to expect and what not to expect from the Grow Your Own series

• Buying Equipment
  Some “rules” regarding buying equipment
• Item Lists/Seeds
  Actual equipment/gear for growing marijuana, how it’s all used, and a note on buying marijuana seeds
• Let’s Grow Something
  Discussing the general life cycle of marijuana from seed to ash and perpetual growing
• Back to Security
  Reminder on maintaining security once you’re already set up and growing

Other Grow advice

1. Managing Small Plants
   Although growing small plants is more of a hobby, there are a lot of useful skills that you may use in managing a larger garden.

Essential Knowledge

• Books
  Every good grower should have some literature handy for quick reference. Try Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible by Jorge Cervantes

• Marijuana Forums
  I can’t tell you everything. A book can’t even tell you everything. But, thousands of growers on a marijuana forum should be able to tell you anything. Join one. Try International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums. Sign up, read the forums while you wait for approval, ask questions only if you can’t find the answer through a search.
• Local, State, Federal Laws
  Never do anything unless you thoroughly foresee, understand and accept the consequences of your actions. Growing marijuana is still a crime even in California. As long as you can be prosecuted for it by someone, it’s a crime. It’s best we all know and accept that reality. Sure, we can go into a whole debate on it and I’ll agree, under the US Constitution, it is legal. But, guns and money run the United States, not the US Constitution. When you have DEA agents with assault rifles pointed at you and your family, you won’t have a chance to debate anyone legally. And, your chances surviving court are slim to none. Know your rights and the law. If you know what they can and will do, you won’t act recklessly. Find out what the laws are in your state.

I will be updating this from time to time.

So, you’ve got your equipment from various places. You didn’t raise any red flags. You’ve started growing and your first crop was AWESOME. You even rolled a 2-gram joint of your own homegrown and it had you floored.

Now that we know how and where to buy our marijuana growing supplies, it’s time to get some…

Marijuana’s time schedule depends heavily on the strain and the grower. Overall the time can be anywhere from 2.5 months to 6 months. Indica strains are usually faster growing than sativa strains by about 4 weeks. Hydroponics is faster than soil by about 2-4 weeks. I can rattle off a million examples but it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to find your perfect strain and perfect growing method. It’s al up to the grower.

Lighting, air, and nutrients are important issues. Remember, we are trying to mimic nature.

During germination, the seed will need complete darkness and a warm place as if it were in the earth during Spring when this warm up.

During the seedling and vegetation phases, the plant will need a lot of light to mimic those Spring/Summer days and plenty of nutrients. This is why you’ll need a light timer because you can’t expect to be there to turn the lights on and off appropriately. You can set your timer to 18 hours of light and 6 hours of dark. Some growers use 24 hours of light straight. You’ll stay in the vegetation phase for as long as you like, typically 2-4 weeks.

Flowering occurs when the normal day/night cycle is about even – during the later summer through the fall finishing in the early winter – 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. You’ll be in flower from as little as 4 weeks to 12 weeks depending on the seeds you have.

Germination/Seedling

This phase simply covers the first week or so from seed breaking out of its shell to sprouting a taproot up to the first set of true leaves. This will all happen in the first 7 to 10 days. There are many ways to germinate a seed. Personally, I like the tissue paper method.

1. Wet some tissue with warm water
2. Fold about 5 to 10 seeds in that tissue
3. Place the tissue in a plastic bag or baggie
4. Leave it a dark and warm place
5. Wait 24-48 hours for the seeds to pop
6. When you see about a 0.25 inch of taproot, place it in your media (dirt or rockwool)

You’ll come across other methods online, many are good. I’ve tried them all and don’t think there are any that don’t work.

The seed will provide enough nutrients for the plant to grow in this phase. They will look like bean sprouts at first. After you’ve planted them, you’ll see the top of the sprout, open up with these rounded leaves and green up within a few hours. You’ve given birth to a seedling. YAY, but it ain’t over! As the grower, simply water the seedling and let it “eat” its own resources. The plant will use this time to grow its roots into that complex web you may see weeks or months later. You’ll know the plant is ready for feeding when you see the first set of true leaves. Proceed with a very light nutrient solution, 10% of the recommended dose.

The germination phase will take place over a 2 to 3 day period. The seedling phase will happen over the next 4-5 days.

Vegetation

The seedling phase is pretty much over when you start feeding or when the cotyledons start withering. This is when the plant will begin to show vigorous growth. You can start feeding your marijuana and just let it grow. Remember to mimic nature – plenty of light and air.

If you’re in soil, make sure air is flowing through because those roots need to breathe. That means do not overwater or else your roots will be sitting in mud. The roots will use up all available oxygen after which they will suffocate. So, make sure to have set up good drainage.

If you’re in hydroponic solution, make sure your air stone, tubing, and air pump are all working together to keep that water full of air for the roots to use. And, make sure your hydroponic solution is healthy. Don’t be afraid to change out the water and so on.

At the end of vegetation we come to flowering. You’ll reach the end of vegetation when you want. A marijuana plant can stay in vegetation for long time. Since, flowering is dependent on you, flip your light timers to “12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark” aka 12/12. Now, you’re in flower.

Flower

This is where all the fun begins. You’ll spend another week or two as the plant transitions into flowering. Growth hasn’t stopped, it’s just changing tracks, so to speak.

Instead of building more roots and leaves, it’s going to start getting prepared to procreate – pistils and pollen. You will be able to tell a female marijuana plant by its pistils, sometimes referred to as the “hairs”. They’ll be white and coming out of a sort of tiny pouch called a calyx. The pistil catches the pollen which then slides into the calyx. The seed process begins and the calyx is the “womb” for that seed. They’re small but visible. On the other hand, the male will start showing pollen sacks aka “balls” because they hold “plant sperm” and they’re kind of round. Get rid of the males. Remember, they have no THC. We want to concentrate on the females.

At this point, you want to just let the plant keep doing what it’s doing. Keep the top layer and root zone healthy and the plant itself properly fed.

The females will start to grow buds which is just a collection of calyxes with pistils. The fun part starts when those buds and the surrounding leaves start producing THC in what are called trichomes which look like tiny poles with a ball on top. They are much easier to see with a microscope which I hope you’ve purchased from the list of items to get. You’ll be relying on it in a minute.

Harvest, Dry, and Cure

You can tell when the marijuana is ready to be harvested by looking at the color of the trichomes. At this point, it’s all about the trichomes. Trichomes start off clear. As the plant matures, they become cloudy and eventually turn amber or yellowish-brown. You want to harvest around when most of the trichomes in a sample have turn mostly cloudy with a touch of amber.

There are benefits to pulling a plant earlier than later. Without getting into the different sciences that apply, pulling marijuana a little early may benefit those looking for a “head high”. Pulling marijuana a little late may benefit those looking for more of a body high. However, don’t full assume this is how you get the difference between a head high and body high. The real difference is in the type of marijuana you are growing but pulling a little early or late does help depending on what you want.

Once you’re happy with your plant’s progress, cut her down. You have to prepare the plant for drying. Mold is your enemy here. Mold likes warm and humid places. Stagnant air only helps their process even more. There are many methods to drying but hanging them upside-down in a cool, dark, dry, airy place does the trick. Depending on how much marijuana you have, this may take weeks. But, we’re growing personal and if you don’t have too many plants, it may only take a few days.

Pull a sample bud from your plant. Record the weight. I hope you bought your scale. You’ll know when you’re plant is dry when that bud’s weight is about 20% of the original weight. It will go down quickly. You don’t want it to go down too fast however, too slow may bring problems. Just remember to keep air flowing and the area dry. You may want to check your buds from time to time just to make sure they’re ok.

After you’ve reached that all important dry weight, this is where you want to cure your marijuana. Curing is not necessary to smoke the marijuana. Once it’s dried properly, it’s smokeable. Curing is important because it brings out the taste and flavor of marijuana. Curing has other benefits as well. You cure by keeping your marijuana in large containers. Whatever moisture is left in the buds will become equally distributed throughout the plant matter, drying out some parts and rehydrating others. You don’t want completely dry marijuana. It will be like dust and harsh to smoke. A little moisture is good for a smoother smoking session.

Perpetual Growing

Perpetual growing is simply a way to grow marijuana in its different phases, concurrently. Remember the processes that marijuana goes through – seedling, vegetation, flower, and harvest. While one plant will experience all of these processes in order, this does not mean that all of your plants have to go through it at the same time.

Let’s “walkthrough” a typical grow period of 4 months or 16 weeks.

• Week 1: Germination/Seeding
• Weeks 2-6: Vegetation
• Weeks 7-14: Flower
• Weeks 15-16: Harvesting/Drying/Curing

To run perpetually, look at the longest grow period which is the flowering for 7 weeks. You could be germinating and vegging plants in that time period since it’s only 5 weeks. So, when you move your first set to flower, you’ve got 2 weeks to rest and start a new set of seeds. At the end of the flowering time for the first set, you can immediately move the second set into to flower. You’ve just shaved 5 weeks off the initial 4 months. You can’t rush flower but you can start a third set in another 2 weeks.

It’s easier to view the process on a calendar

• 01/01: Germination/Seedling
• 01/08 – 02/05: Vegetation
• 02/06 – 03/19: Flower
• 02/20 – 02/27: Germination/Seedling of 2nd set
• 02/27 – 03/20: Vegetaion of 2nd set
• 03/19 – 04/02: Harvesting/Dry/Cure
• 03/21 – 05/09: Flower of 2nd set
• 05/09 – 05/23: Harvest/Dry/Cure of 2nd set

As we can see, the time between the harvests of the first and second sets of crops is less than 2 months (April 2 to May 23) as opposed to 4 months if we started the cycle again from Week 1. If we continue to run the veg, flower, and harvest at basically the same time, the next set of crops will be ready to smoke by July 13th and again by September 3rd. In this way, a grower can literally pull 5-6 crops every year as opposed to 3 crops the regular way (April, August, December).

Continuing from yesterday, I want to let folks know exactly what they should be focusing on when purchasing items to start their own marijuana grow op. Let’s get started.

Example Grow Op Item List

For this, I am going to use one website – Better Grow Hydro – for example purposes. Personally, I think their pricing is a bit high. Besides, it’s the internet AND a grow shop. What did I say about diffusion and paper trails? Don’t shoot yourself in the foot on that option. Let’s continue.

Well we have to start with the size of our grow room. Can’t start buying stuff without knowing what we have to work with. Let’s say it’s 4′ x 4′ footprint; 6′ in height. This is something you can build with wood from Home Depot; just be careful of light leaks. Or, you can buy a ready-made grow room. Check out the GrowLab 120.

1. Lighting
   400 watt HPS and check out other Grow Lights. And don’t forget you’ll need a timer as well.

• Air Quality
  Fans. Air Filter hooks into the Exhaust. Use a passive air intake.
• Buckets/Flower pots and Media
  …will depend on the type of system you want to use. Let’s go with hydroponic set up, specifically, Deep Water Culture or DWC.Seeds will go into Rockwool (media) which will be nestled in Hydroton (media) in a Waterfarm (bucket).
• Nutrients
  We could go Organic, but let’s go chemical with General Hydro 3-part nutrients – Grow, Bloom, Micro – since it’s easier for a first timer. As you grow up in the marijuana growing game, you’ll want to invest in cloning nutrients and other stuff that will keep your plant healthy.
• Misc
  I wish I could list everything off the top of my head that a first time grower would need but there are too many to name. As it pertains to DWC, you’ll need air pump and air stone as well as a water pump and tubing for everything. You’ll also need testing supplies to test your water’s pH (acidity vs alkalinity) and so on.

The pricing on everything may seem somewhat daunting especially since you don’t even know if you’ll do a good job the first time. But, that’s all part of the learning experience. I did pretty well my first time growing because I kept it all simple and easy. I still have some of the same stuff I used before so the cost over time gets much lower. Eventually, I came to a point where I didn’t have to even look at the garden shop again.

In fact, I haven’t been to any garden shop in two years. Besides all the time and effort pays for itself after you’ve reaped what you’ve sewn when you take the first puff of your own homegrown marijuana.

You can always start smaller, too.

Other Places You Can Find These Items

Remember, you don’t have to, and shouldn’t, get all your items from one spot or even a garden shop. Here are some other places where you can find these items:

• Home Depot – light timers, wiring, fans; wood; garden dept – miraclegro, potting soil
• Petland – air stones, air tubing, air pumps
• Radioshack – digital temperature/hygrometer, microscope
• Amazon.com – measuring spoons, scissors, digital food scale, book
• e-conolight.com – all your lighting needs but requires some electrical work
• ebay.com – homemade carbon scrubbers
• bascousa.com – buckets but you will need to rig them like the WaterFarm [PDF Instructions]

Don’t be afraid to look for those out of the way mom and pop shops as well. A lot of those places don’t even register with police as places you would be buying marijuana growing supplies. In fact, I found a small paint store in NYC that sold lawn watering kits and other garden supplies. I purchased some Superthrive and 1/4″ tubing there. Totally off the grid and out of the way of any cops.

Do you see why I haven’t even stepped foot inside of a garden shop in 2 years?

A Note on Acquiring Seeds

Seeds aren’t difficult to get. However, it can be a nerve wrecking situation, especially if you have no choice but to order online which is the case for many people.

• MexiBrick Marijuana
  Unfortunately, the best place to get seeds comes from an ounce of marijuana from Mexico. But, that’s not your fault; blame every federal government administration and prohibitionist since 1936. Grown under controlled conditions, you can have pretty potent, cerebral high causing marijuana. It won’t be the MOST potent but for damn near free seeds, it’s not a bad option at all. You can probably pull 20-30 seeds per ounce. Expect 50% to fail thanks to Mexican growing methods. It’s not perfect but it’s the easiest and fastest way to obtain seeds cheaply.
• Seeds Online
  There are dozens of sites online, usually overseas, that will gladly sell you marijuana seeds. Remember the first rule about buying equipment, pay cash. Your best bet is to use money orders, not credit cards or checks. Unfortunately, the pricing can get very high for the more popular strains like super silver haze and sour diesel. However, the other strains that aren’t as popular or high-priced are just as good. Don’t get caught up in the “branding” game. If you’re a first timer you might just end up losing hundreds getting the “best”. Concentrate on the name after you’ve grown your first successful plant. Unfortunately, not all seed dealers are reputable because you are committing a crime by ordering seeds into the US. So, what agency gets your complaints if your money is stolen? Exactly, no one! And, the seed dealers know this. But, don’t let that discourage you. Surprisingly, there are more good dealers than bad. So, do your research at the marijuana forums and don’t spend too much your first time. You’re still in practice mode. Pick up something cheap and resilient to learn with.
• Fellow Growers
  If you’re lucky enough to know another grower, you can definitely bum/buy some seeds. However, if you already know a grower, you probably don’t need to read this at all. HA! You’ll get a very viable seed stock and know exactly what kind of marijuana you should be getting. You don’t have to worry about shady dealers or potentially being arrested for ordering seeds through the mail.
• Luck
  It’s totally possible to find a seed (one, MAYBE two) in a bag of high quality marijuana. Not every grow op is going to be perfect. Things happen and you may benefit from it. However, the viability of that seed may be very low so don’t expect too much from it. Sometimes, what appears to be a seed could really be a dud. Good luck, though.

Always expect 50% of your seeds to be males. Males do not contain much THC, if any at all. When growing marijuana they will have to culled or destroyed when identified unless you’re harvesting pollen but if you’re doing that, you don’t need to read this. But, you don’t want the pollen “impregnating” your females.

In my efforts to teach folks how to grow their own marijuana safely away from criminals (police included), I realize most people don’t have an idea of where to start. So, I’m here to help you out with that in a 4-part series from Tuesday to Thursday, May 12 to May 15th. Today, I just want to introduce it all.

Take a rest, relax! Tomorrow’s a new day!