A survey that was recently run by car-buying website Instamotor asked a couple of questions about marijuana and its connection to the general workplace. The survey found that nearly half of the weed users they polled stated that they sometimes attend work under the influence of cannabis. 

The sample size of this poll was only 600 people, plus you have to factor in that this was only in the USA and in states where pot is legal, but its still true that 48% of users said they’d gone to work stoned, and 39% of them admitted to being high on the job at least once a week. 

What’s even more surprising is that 50% of those who to work stoned agreed that they would be terminated if they were found out, and yet 73% states that their job performance was improved when they went in high. 

This does not mean that half of all cannabis smokers are stoned on the job.

Of course, 600 people is not really a tremendous majority - this does not mean that half of all cannabis smokers are stoned on the job. And to be clear, I love weed and I smoke it myself, but under no circumstances should a person be ‘high’ while doing something that requires their full attention, like driving or using heavy machinery, or doing anything else for that matter that could injure them or someone else. 

As Instamotor says, it's vital to keep in mind that even if you don't get caught at work today, driving to work high is illegal, smoking in your car is illegal even in places where recreational use is tolerated, and any employer can drug test if they choose to. 

You can live in whichever way you like, and if living with the risk and knowing you could get fired at any minute is the way you choose to live, then go ahead. But I love cannabis, and I still choose to leave it at home when I’m going off to work. If your job is so awful that you need to get high to get through it, perhaps it's an even better idea to stay sober and spend your free time searching for a new one. That way you can find a job you actually enjoy, and then come back home and celebrate with a bong hit or two afterwards.

For many people, the relationship between marijuana and anxiety is a complex one at best. For a few, cannabis can provide long-awaited relief from stress, worry, and panic. On the other hand, some people find that smoking weed can actually heighten their anxiety and induce paranoia, sweats, and even panic attacks. The latter reaction is in actual fact very common and can be credited to a variety’s THC content. However, a lot of smokers don’t realize that you can actually access strains with little to no THC whatsoever. Instead, strains that are usually more suited to those with anxiety related conditions are those which are CBD potent. 

Which strain to choose to fight anxiety? 

The first stage of deciding which strain you’re going to use to fight your anxiety is self-awareness. You need to be sure of how high your tolerance is, and how sensitive you are to different varieties of cannabis. The two main ‘types’ of cannabis are, of course, indica and sativa, but keep in mind there are also hybrids out there too. 

One strain that’s said to be a life-saver for those who suffer from the anxiety related is Granddaddy Purple, commonly known as Granddaddy ‘Purp.’ This strain apparently relieves symptoms of stress, insomnia, and depression. Cannatonic is another strain for the THC-sensitive, which has a 1:1 THC to CBD ratio. Cannatonic is reported to have high levels of the terpene myrcene, which can aid relaxation. A further example of a variety with high CBD content is ACDC. ACDC often contains around twenty times more CBD than THC and so its psychoactive effects are minimal. This makes it much easier for users to keep clear-headed and avoid seemingly uncomfortable social situations. 

Remember though, it’s not just low THC strains that can aid in reducing anxiety.

Remember though, it’s not just low THC strains that can aid in reducing anxiety. One high THC variety of cannabis that can help calm your nerves is the blissfully relaxing Jack Herer. Jack Herer, unlike other high THC strains that can increase the heart-rate, actually induces calming effects, with many users reporting that it leaves them feeling incredibly restful, happy and focused. The extremely famous and multiple Cannabis Cup award winners, Girl Scout Cookies, has also been praised by many. Users who suffer from PTSD report that it's tremendously therapeutic given its happy and calming effects, it is also said to reduce night-terrors. 

Buy the best Girl Scout Cookies seeds online here! 

All in all, if you suffer from anxiety and are searching for something to help you keep the worries away then some of these strains might be for you – but please do your research first. There are thousands of different varieties out there, all with varying percentages of CBD and THC content, so find the type that works for you.

Arthritis is a disease which affects a huge population of people, contributing to ongoing pain and stress the body which can eventually lead to people having to resort to pharmaceutical drugs to help with the extreme pain they experience. Fortunately, it has been suggested that cannabis can actually be shown to lessen the symptoms of the illness in those who regularly involve it in their daily routine in some way. When cannabis is used by sufferers, the cannabinoids bind to CB2 receptors, regulating the pain signals firing from the person's joints to their brain which, in turn, relieves some of their pain. 

Strains that relieve pain

There are some specific strains that can aid in relieving arthritic pain, these include the incredibly popular Amnesia Haze and the lesser known Strawberry Cheesecake. The latter is especially good for combating symptoms because it’s a strain made specifically to alleviate pain. Strawberry Cheesecake is an indica, meaning it can help its user to relax, as well as having CBD mixed into its 20% THC content. 

Alternatives for smoking

There are a variety of other weed-related options out there for those who don’t wish to partake in smoking it. In fact, there are lots of salves and creams out there that utilize CBD and THC to help arthritis patients with their symptoms. Maintenance and Repair Salve by Ricky Williams is a great one, containing 350mg of CBD it helps to relax joints – it smells good too, containing lavender and menthol. Another product out there is Soothing Cream by Double Delicious Topicals, a cream which permeates the skin and is reported to instantly relieve pain with its 80mg of THC content. 

Research has shown that cannabis can and does relieve some of the symptoms of arthritis. 

Research has shown that cannabis can and does relieve some of the symptoms of arthritis, but it is important to remember that it hasn’t been totally proven. Hopefully, there will be more studies done in the future, but in the meantime, I hope these recommendations are able to help some people ease their arthritic pain.

Most people, when they think of pot, think of relaxation or lazy stoners – pretty much anything that doesn’t involve activity. However, some strains can actually provide you with a decent amount of energy, enabling you to keep active and keep fatigue at bay. 

One strain that’s great for raising energy levels is Durban Poison. This strain is a Sativa and has high ratings from users of feeling uplifted, happy and energetic. Another variety of sativa that’s great for keeping you awake is Harlequin. Harlequin is a high CBD sativa which gives off very little psychoactive effects, which makes it a good choice to smoke when you have stuff to do that requires a clear head. People who would benefit from smoking harlequin are perhaps people who are sensitive to THC, which make them dizzy or anxious – the strain also benefits people who deal with chronic pain. 

Another strain that can aid in wakefulness and motivation is, excuse the crude name, Green Crack. This sativa has been named as a miracle for people who need extra motivation to get up and go. It has to be said that the intensity of its high can be a bit much for those who are prone to anxiousness, for regular users this strain yields amazing stimulating effects. You may have also heard of Ghost Train Haze, a strain with an insanely high THC content which should only really be used by people who smoke on a very regular basis. For people that can handle this extremely strong sativa, try going on an outdoor adventure and you will not be disappointed. 

Hybrid strains (a mix of indica and sativa) have actually been said to have stimulating effects just as good as pure sativa strains.

Many people think that indica strains are only good for putting you to sleep – which may be true in some people’s case, though everyone is different. Hybrid strains (a mix of indica and sativa) have actually been said to have stimulating effects just as good as pure sativa strains. Take Jillybean for example, a tangy, fruity hybrid variety that yields uplifting effects. This strain is said to make the user very sociable and productive. 

Weed strains that boost your energy

So there you have it, five sativa-dominant strains which effects will leave you motivated, uplifted and euphoric. Strenuous activities do sometimes require a bit of an extra kick up the butt to get you going, but oftentimes just getting out of bed for some people is a monumentally difficult task. Getting the right strain could hopefully provide your body with the boost of energy it needs.

When deciding on where to hide your stash, it's important that you consider where your weed would fare best. According to ZenPype, a website run by a team of cannabis enthusiasts, cannabis should be stored in a place where there are little light and very little moisture. It should be stored in a dark place because light actually destroys the trichomes in your bud overtime. Many individuals don’t consider it necessary to have their weed hidden away from light, but it really is true that putting it somewhere light can damage the potency. 

Keep your weed dry

The point I’ve made about the place having to be dry may seem pretty apparent -wet weed is gross, not to mention the fact that it doesn’t really burn at all. However, experts say that you shouldn’t store it somewhere that’s too dry either. If there is a constant air flow then you could actually induce mold and you could also hurt the structure of the plant since it would be having to deal with constant changes in temperature and humidity. So, to put it simply, keep it dry but do not dry it out – this can be dangerous. 

Another point about weed storage is that you should always be sure to keep it in a solid container. 

Another point about weed storage is that you should always be sure to keep it in a solid container – even though, when you purchase it, it’ll most likely be in a plastic baggie. If weed is kept in a plastic baggie the plastic can absorb some of the trichomes and anything that drops off of the core bud will stick to it and become difficult to get out of the baggie.

In my opinion, an airtight glass jar kept away from sunlight works best, this will help to regulate the hydration of the weed for maximum potency over the long haul. Obviously, once your weeds been cured there’s not really anything you can do to make it more potent than it was, to begin with, but taking better care of it will help it keep its initial strength. It’s time to say goodbye to the teenage ways of storing bud in your pockets or in your socks and find some more adult ways of storing the good stuff.

A solid grinder is vital to a good smoke because it ensures that you break your bud down to the smallest of pieces, which, in turn, makes sure you get the most out of your weed. 

The first decision you want to make is whether you want a two-piece, a four-piece, or something more than that. A two-piece grinder is the simpler of an option, you twist the top part to grind up your stuff and the bottom part catches the ground up bud for you. Two-piece grinders, then, can be made of robust and sturdy materials and can grind a lot of cannabis in very little time. It has to be said that they can be a tiny bit messy to use, but there’s also minimal separation which means that your bud won’t get lost or stick to any other compartments. 

A step up from the two-piece is the four-piece grinder, which has extra layers to catch the tiny bits of kief your bud produces. This enables you to separate different parts of the flower. I prefer to use a four-piece grinder because of this reason – I save up all my kief over the period of a few weeks and I put it all into one big mega joint. 

When choosing the perfect grinder for you, as important as practicality is, it is good to choose something fun. There are numerous different logos, stickers, and colors – some even come transparent, so you can see the bud while it grinds. Size is also an important thing to think about. Consider whether you need something compact so that you can use it discretely and take it out and about, or whether you want something bigger that will grind up more product with less effort. Something else people like to do is go electric on the grinder-front, though these devices may be too good at their job and grind your weed way too finely, meaning you could lose your kief. 

Hopefully, with this advice, you’ll be able to find the perfect grinder, one that’s right for you. Some may say that grinding up your bud is a tiny part of the process, but it really is one of the most important and overlooked parts of weed smoking. Finding a decent grinder is completely worth taking the time to. 

consider the wide range of options out there. I mean, if you buy some fantastic weed but you use a crappy grinder to break it down, you really are ruining the experience for yourself and whoever you might be smoking with. So be sure to buy good weed, and if you start off with seeds, be sure to buy the best seeds on the market.

 Happy smoking!

1. Location is incredibly important. It is vital to factor in light, temperature, space, and humidity as these can all influence how well a plant grows. For people who are new to growing, it is best to start small. A place such as a spare cupboard or small walk-in wardrobe would do the trick.

Keeping your grow space small enables you to maintain your grow easier and more accurately manage the space, keeping at bay the burden of making costly errors. The bigger the room, the higher the number of factors needed to think about. Choosing a small area will minimize the need for large and costly humidifiers, air conditioning, and lights.

For people who are new to growing, it is best to start small.

2. Environmental elements are incredibly important when growing cannabis plants. Learning how to adjust the light, temperature and humidity will help you be able to adjust conditions in real time. It is also integral that you come aware of a plant’s indicators that something is wrong – your plants will tell you if you’re not doing something right. Investing in a timer for your lights is a fantastic idea as it helps automate the process and leaves less room for error. 

3. Soil and Seeds Any decent quality soil should work for a grow, as long as it doesn’t have in it any artificial extended release fertilizers. Make sure that you never use a soil that already has nutrients in it. There are three nutrients needed to produce a healthy plant; potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen. All of these naturally occur in soil anyway.

Seeds are the more interesting part of the process, but keep in mind that choosing the right strain for you can be difficult. Whether you decide on Indica or Sativa, always remember it's vital to begin with feminized seeds so that the cannabis will produce buds.

I think that Indica strains are best for beginners because they are easier to work within a small space – the plants tend to be smaller, though bushier, which optimizes your space usage. 

4. TLC may sound stupid and obvious, but don’t forget to check in on your plants and give them some love and care once in a while. In doing this, you’ll get to know your plants and be able to pick up on indicators they may display if they need extra care.

A plant that’s doing well is beneficial for more than just financial gain or personal use of the end product as gardening has been linked to reducing stress, decreasing depression and other mental health issues as well as lowering blood pressure.

Cannabidiol is a very common natural remedy used in many places in order to treat illness and other common ailments. More generally known as CBD, it has helped hundreds of people all over the world and, unlike THC, it is not psychoactive and doesn't possess the same habit-forming properties.

This quality makes CBD a viable option for pain relief without inducing any mind-altering effects. The oil is made by extracting CBD from the plant and then diluting this with a carrier such as coconut oil. CBD oil is really taking off in the medical and wellness world, with some studies attributing it to helping treat a variety of illnesses, such as anxiety and epilepsy. 

One of the pain benefits of CBD is its pain-relieving properties.

One of the pain benefits of CBD is its pain-relieving properties. The human body contains a specialized system called the endocannabinoid system, which is mostly involved in the regulation of appetite, pain, and sleep.

The body produces neurotransmitters that bind to receptors in this system, and CBD may help to reduce pain by impacting the activity of these receptors. There are many studies involving rats that seem to back this up.

For example, a study which took place in Brazil involved injecting rats with CBD and this study actually found that there was a reduced pain response to surgical incision. Another rat study also had these same positive results, finding that oral CBD treatment greatly reduced nerve pain and inflammation. There have, of course, been human studies too. These experiments have found that combinations of THC and CBD are incredibly effective in reducing the discomfort related to arthritis and multiple sclerosis. 

Another benefit of CBD is its potential to reduce anxiety and depression in individuals.

Another benefit of CBD is its potential to reduce anxiety and depression in individuals. These illnesses are usually treated with pharmaceutical drugs such as beta-blockers, fluoxetine or sertraline. All of these drugs come with uncomfortable side-effects including drowsiness, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, and migraines. CBD oil is another effective method that could possibly treat anxiety and depression without these horrible side effects. In one study, a number of individuals with anxiety were given either 600mg of CBD or a placebo before the test which consisted of speaking to a crowd. The CBD group were found to have significantly less anxiety and discomfort during the test than the placebo control group. CBD has even been used to safely treat insomnia and anxiety in children with PTSD, as well as producing anti-psychotic effects and helping inhibit substance abuse in adults. 

A less commonly known function of CBD is that it may be able to effectively reduce acne, a common skin condition. Based on recent scientific discoveries, CBD oil may help to treat acne due to its anti-inflammatory properties and ability to reduce sebum production. There haven’t been many studies on this, but there definitely should be in the future. 

All in all, the benefits of CBD oil usage are vast and expansive. While they haven’t been explored to their fullest potential, we are getting there! The increased legalization of cannabis there is definitely hope that more research will be done in the field in the near future and hopefully many lives can be changed for the better, or even saved.

If you are going to grow your own cannabis plant for the first time it can be difficult to select the right nutrients, because there are so many options to choose from. As a novice grower, you can quickly become overwhelmed.

But with a little knowledge about the needs of cannabis plants and how they absorb and use nutrients, you can confidently select the products you need to grow a healthy and strong plant.

Have a look at a wide range of high quality fertilizing products here.

A cannabis plant needs certain elements that together are called macronutrients. These macronutrients are the most important elements a plant needs. Minor, or trace, elements are nutrients used by plants in very small amounts but that is still essential to plant health.

Here's an overview of the mineral and non-mineral elements you need to feed your plant.

Non-mineral elements from air and water

-Carbon

-Hydrogen

-Oxygen

Macronutrients that are obtained from the soil

-Nitrogen (N)

-Phosphorus (P)

-Potassium (K)

-Calcium

-Magnesium

-Sulfur

Nitrogen (N) fuels new growth.

Phosphorous (P) promotes root development, which helps strengthen plants. It also increases blooms. This is a very important nutrient, especially as plants start out.

Potassium (K) is essential to many plant functions and their overall health. It also helps plants withstand stressful weather and defend against diseases.

Calcium (Ca) improves general plant vigor and promotes the growth of young roots and shoots.

Magnesium (Mg) helps regulate the uptake of other plant foods and aids in seed-making. It is also important to the dark green color of plants.

Sulfur (S) helps foliage maintain a dark green color while encouraging vigorous plant growth.

The three numbers on the fertilizer packaging indicate how many of the three most important elements (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) are available in the product.

For example, if on-pack it says ‘10-4-4’ it means that it contains 10% available nitrogen, 4% phosphorus and 4% potassium by weight. These are always displayed in the order N-P-K.

Minor elements, or trace elements

All other mineral nutrients are grouped in the micronutrient category because they are used in much smaller quantities.

Iron (Fe) is the one you will commonly see added to fertilizer because it is often lacking in poor soils; it aids in the conversion of sunlight to energy and helps plant foliage maintain dark green color.

Manganese, boron, zinc, copper, and molybdenum are sometimes present in fertilizer. Chlorine and cobalt are also needed for plant growth and are sometimes added to fertilizer, too.

Buy a high-quality fertilizer

If you are going to grow cannabis, make sure that you use plant nutrients of high quality. It would be too bad if you give your precious plant poor quality.

When dosing, always keep to the prescribed amount. To little nutrients is bad, but there is also such a thing as over-feeding. Too much plant food is very harmful to your plant. But if you just stick to the feeding schedule provided, nothing could go wrong.

For every main phase your plant is in (seedling phase, growth phase, flowering phase) your plant needs other nutrients. Adding the right elements can make a big difference between a weak plant and a strong, healthy bush with a large harvest.

Buy the best fertilizer for weed plants here!

Kief (sometimes also spelled keef) is a fine, dusty material that you often see on high-quality cannabis flowers, and it consists of fallen resin glands which contain terpenes and cannabinoids.

If you have a cannabis grinder that you use often, you most likely have a kief chamber at the bottom of the grinder. Grinders usually have two or three chambers which hold different-sized pieces of weed.

The top chamber is where you put the weed before grinding it, and it holds the biggest pieces after grinding.

More expensive grinders have a middle chamber that gathers the most weed and sifts kief through a filter to the bottom chamber.

When you grind weed, the bottom chamber collects kief. Simple as that.

You’ll see that, above the chamber, there’s a very fine filter which can be up to several microns.

This filter is in charge of allowing the resin glands (trichomes) to fall to the bottom chamber.

So, in a way, kief is naturally concentrated cannabis. It is well known that hash and other concentrates made from kief are often stronger than those made from the flower.

Kief is best when fresh, however, it doesn’t go stale quickly, so you can keep it in your grinder for a while.

Are kief and hash the same?

No, although it’s pretty close.

Kief is made by sifting cannabis flowers and collecting the resin glands that fall off.

Hash is the product of compressing the sifted kief, and there are multiple ways to do it. Each of these ways is unique to a country or a region.

Concentrates come in many, many varieties. So let’s dive into the differences. In this episode: Bubble hash and Kief. What are they and how are they made? Read on and find out.

Bubble Hash

The grandaddy of concentrates for the older crowd, bubble hash has sadly begun to wane in popularity as stronger concentrates with more advanced technology take over dispensary shelves.

As with butane, CO2 and rosin extraction, making bubble hash involves separating THC from plant matter — but instead of using a solvent like butane or CO2, this process uses ice water.

The most common way to make bubble hash is by putting the marijuana in mesh bags and then filtering a mixture of the plant matter, ice and water through them until a poopy substance collects at the bottom. After it dries, you have bubble hash.

Bubble hash can be smoked in a pipe by itself, crumbled over a bowl or — my personal favorite — rolled into bars and mixed into joints.

Although not as expensive as other concentrates, bubble hash is now a rare find in dispensaries. The streets are a different story, though: Because it doesn’t require an explosive solvent and can be made with household appliances such as buckets or a washing machine, bubble hash remains relevant on the bootleg market.

Sift (or kief)

More commonly known as kief, sift is a very basic form of cannabis concentrate with very intense results.

It’s made by sifting dried flower over mesh screens and collecting the trichomes at the bottom.

Despite not being bonded like hash, sift is easy to use over bowls, in vaporizers and as a garnish for joints.

Some shops even make “live sift,” which is sift made with the same frozen plant matter as live resin, giving it a tastier, smoother hit than traditional kief.

Because of its lower profit margins and potency compared to solvent extracts, sift is harder to find nowadays than it was in years past, but you can still collect your own at home with a filtered grinder or kief box.

Everything that is alive on this planet, has a life cycle and follows a life path. The marijuana plant starts off as a single seed, to become a seedling, kicks off the vegetative growth stage and eventually reaches the flowering stage.

Germination of marijuana seeds

Germinate your seeds in sterile soil when you grow outside. You can also use a hydroponic medium of rockwool or vermiculite.

Planting in vermiculite gives the marijuana seedling a lot of oxygen and the roots of the plant love it. Rockwool cubes also work extremely well. When the marijuana seed sprouts, place the rockwool cubes into larger rockwool cubes. No repotting or transplanting and no soil mixing!

You can germinate marijuana seeds just by placing them in a bowl or plastic cup with a little water at the bottom. Then cover it with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. Put the bowl in a warm area... for example on top of the gas stove, the water heater or close to warm lamps. Check regularly if it is still moist.

Once the root has come out (about 1 to 2 inches), put the germinated seed with the grow tip up in a growing medium. Be very gentle and do not touch the root tip.

It is best to transplant as little as possible by germinating in the same container as you intend to grow the marijuana plant in. Then you reduce the risk of damaging your little plant.

It depends on where you live, but often there are substances like chlorine in normal tap water that can damage your baby plant. So be sure to use distilled water, when germinating your seeds. You can also buy bottled water from the supermarket.

Warm temperatures are very important. Many marijuana growers experience low germination rate if the temperatures are out of the range of 72 to 80°F (22 to 25 °C). So keep things nice and warm, just compare it to a warm summers day.

Germinating marijuana seeds don’t have to be in direct light, but seedlings do, once they have sprouted. Plan on transplanting as little as possible by using the biggest containers possible right from the start.

Vegetative growth of the marijuana plant

Once sprouted, the marijuana plant starts the vegetative growth. This means the marijuana plant will be photosynthesizing as much as possible to grow tall and start many grow tips at each pair of leaves.

It is possible to grow marijuana plants with no dark period, and increase the speed at which they grow by 15 to 30 inch (37.5 to 75 cm). A marijuana plant can grow from 12 inches to 12 feet (30 cm to 3 meters) before being forced to flower, so there is a lot of latitudes here for each gardener to manage the garden based on goals and space available. It is up to the gardener to decide when to force the marijuana plant to flower.

The flowering period of a marijuana plant

The marijuana plant will be induced to flower with dark cycles of 11 to 13 hours that simulate the oncoming winter in the fall as the days grow shorter. There is no other requirement other than to keep the dark cycle for flowering very dark with no light interruptions, as this can stall flowering by days or weeks.  

Once a marijuana plant is big enough to mature (12 inches/ 30 cm or over), dark periods are required for most marijuana plants to flower. This will require putting the lamp on a timer, to create regular and strict dark periods of uninterrupted light.

In the greenhouse, the same effect can be created in the summer (long days) by covering it with a blanket to make longer night periods.

A strict schedule of covering the marijuana plants at 8 pm and uncovering them at 8 am for two weeks will start your marijuana plants to flowering. After the first two weeks, the schedule can be relaxed a little, but it will still be necessary to continue this routine for the marijuana plants to completely flower without reverting back to vegetative growth.

Outdoors, in spring and fall, the nights are sufficiently long to induce flowering at all times. Merely bring the marijuana plants from indoors to the outside at these times, and the marijuana plants will flower naturally. In late summer, with fall approaching, it may be necessary only to force flowering the first two weeks, then the rapidly lengthening nights will do the rest.

When most of the pistils have turned color, the flowers are ripe to harvest. But don't touch the buds as the THC will come off on your fingers and reduce the overall yield. If you want to inspect the buds just hold on to the big leaves, so nothing will be damaged.

Add high-quality fertilizer to your growing medium

If you give your plant extra nutrients, it will become stronger and produce a higher yield. So add high-quality fertilizer to your growing medium in each growth phase your plant is in.

If cannabis and coffee fit well together? Well, if you know to appreciate a wake and bake you know the answer for sure. Because what is it you do besides rolling one up in the morning? Right, make yourself a fine shot of espresso or a steamy latte.

And then there are the famous Dutch coffee shops. They owe their name to the fact that people secretly bought cannabis in a coffee house (where people actually came for coffee in the first place), in times that there was no regulation yet.

So you don’t have to search for evidence that long to see that coffee and cannabis fit well together. 

The flavors of various cannabis strains melt together beautifully with the delightful bitterness of coffee.

The flavors of various cannabis strains melt together beautifully with the delightful bitterness of coffee. The aroma’s, effects and flavors can complement each other perfectly.

There are even coffee-flavored marijuana strains that are known to have the aroma of coffee and derive their name from it, like Cappuccino 420 Feminized.

Buy Cappuccino 420 Feminized seeds here

And then there are people who enjoy a high energy stain in the morning instead of coffee. They experience the same uplifting effect known to caffeine and traded marijuana for coffee.

So, actually, you can ask yourself if you want to pair the two in terms of flavor, or by an effect. Combining coffee and cannabis is all about your personal taste. 

Does a cannabis plant grow without adding extra plant food?

A plant that is raised with only water and the nutrients that may already be in the ground, will clearly become less strong and healthy than a plant that does receive extra plant nutrition. By adding extra nutrients you give the plant the chance to become stronger and healthier.

Without extra nutrition, your plant develops less quickly, will stay smaller and less strong. Leaves can turn yellow easily. The plant wastes a lot of energy on all sorts of things, instead of transporting it to what it is all about: a good harvest.

What kind of nutrients does a cannabis plant need?

A plant needs different nutrients in every stage of growth to become big, healthy and strong. This is also the case with cannabis plants. In addition, for many cannabis growers, the focus is on the end result: a large harvest that is also high in quality. And for this applies: the stronger and healthier the plant gets through its growth phases, the better the end result will be. In short terms: If you are going to grow cannabis, adding fertilizer is a very important part of the whole process.

What kinds of nutrients for cannabis plants are there?

There are different types of plant nutrition. For example, you have root stimulator, which accelerates the growth of the roots and creates a firmer and better root system. This benefits the cannabis plant because it can absorb more nutrients.

There are also different types of plant nutrition for the growth phase and the flowering period of the cannabis plant. In both periods of growth, other nutrients are needed.

Nutrition for the growth period of the cannabis plant

In the growing period, a cannabis plant needs potassium and (fresh) air. If there is not enough of it your plant will gradually develop more and more yellow leaves. The growth of the cannabis plant is a very important period that ultimately also determines whether you have more or less yield.

Nutrition for the flowering period of your cannabis plant

During the flowering period, a cannabis plant mainly needs nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. A mix of these nutrients gives the plant a boost to produce a big yield. There are Bloom boosters for sale that have been developed specifically for this phase. Such fertilizers contain all nutrients that the plant needs to produce better buds.

Buy fertilizer for your weed plant.

The easiest way is to simply order your fertilizers online. With Flower Power Fertilizers you are assured of the best quality. They have a whole range of products, specially developed for different crops and growth phases that are also ideal for cannabis plants.

Flower Power Fertilizers are in a dry form. All you have to do is add water. Unlike jerry cans with liquid fertilizer, it saves you from carrying around. The packages are much smaller and therefore also take up less space when stored. 

The small and lightweight packages are delivered right to your home quickly and reliably. There will be no content on the package, so nobody will know what is inside. Enough good reasons to have a look at their website, right?

Buy the best fertilizer for cannabis plants here!

Cypress Hill’s B-Real reveals his 5 most favorite marijuana strains.

When almost 25 years ago Cypress Hill dropped their album Black Sunday it debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. Who quickly scans the tracks on that album, understands that the band members love a hit from the bong every now and then. Almost all tracks are somehow related more or less with the herb.

One of Cypress Hill’s MC's, B-real (aka Dr. Greenthumb) recently opened a cannabis shop of which you could have guessed the name… Dr. Greenthumb’s Dispensary. 

In an interview that Cannabis platform Leafly recently did with him, B-real reveals his top 5 marijuana strains. Check out the whole interview in this podcast. And in the meanwhile check out B-real’s all time favorite strain OG Kush in our online seed bank at AMSbank.com.

Buy the best OG Kush weed seeds here!

The sick Illustration below is made by @farken.dope. 

If you are planning to grow autoflowering seeds, you will have to make a few preparations. Auto’s are the ideal seeds for growers who seek a less strict light schedule. But the plants grow fast and they automatically go into flower - whether you want it or not. So you better be ready for it.

In this article we tell you everything you need to know, so you will certainly be able to grow an amazing cannabis plant from autoflowering seed.

What is the best light schedule for autoflowering seeds?

Autoflowering cannabis can survive with only a few hours of sunlight a day. But if you want powerful and healthy plants that grow optimally and produce a good harvest, then you have to give them as much as light as possible.

Autoflowering seeds need light just as any other plant, but its grow cycle is not dependent on light. In fact, it is embedded in the DNA of the plant. Autoflowering plants are always ready for harvest within ten weeks.

Indoor growers can choose to expose the plans to 24 hours of light per day, or to give them 18 hours of light and six hours of darkness.

For example you can use 120-watt LED lights in the first two weeks for 21 hours a day. When you have potted the older plants, you can change to larger lights and 18 hours of light (and 6 hours of darkness).

Outdoor growers can usually start their seeds in the spring. However, we do recommend that you germinate your seeds indoors. Then plant your plants outside, if they are strong enough, and the soil is warm enough for it.

The lifecycle of an autoflowering cannabis plant

The main difference between an autoflowering seed and a regular seed is that with auto the clock starts running from the moment the seed germinates.

Autoflowering species have a life cycle of eight to twelve weeks. They do not need a change in the 12/12 light cycle to switch to the flowering period.

As the name suggests, with an autoflowering strain everything goes automatically. Well, almost everything. Regardless of the number of hours of light/darkness, an autoflower completes its life cycle. But of course there are a number of things you have to do to make the seed grow into a strong and healthy plant.

Feeding your autoflowering plants

Autoflowering plants have a short vegetative period and remain relatively small. This is why they don't need so much plant nutrition. Make sure you choose a high quality plant food for the vegetative phase. Wait until the flowering period has started before you give fertilizers that have been specially developed for the flowering period.

Autoflowering seeds and climate

Many people start growing their autoflowering plants outdoors early in the season (somewhere in March). After all, you do not have to stick to the light schedule of the photoperiod. But if you start early in the season, it is important to realize that the plant still needs enough warmth. Therefore do not start too early, and wait until the soil in which you grow is warm enough. Another option is to grow in a greenhouse.

When to harvest autoflowering seeds?

As soon as the first pistils appear, you can assume that your plant will complete the flowering period within about 45 days. After this, your patience and hard work will be rewarded: at last you can start harvesting.

When the flowering period has started, nutrients for vegetative growth, can be replaced for nutrients that are especially suitable for the flowering period. You do not have to change anything on the number of light hours. You can keep the same light schedule until the harvest.

Keep in mind that not all auto’s remain small and bushy. Most do, but some species grow easily up to your ceiling. Always read the descriptions first before you order your autoflowering seeds so you know what to expect!

There is a big variety of autoflowering seeds to choose from. Which one you choose can depend on the type of growing conditions, the ratio of THC and CBD you like, and the taste and smell you are looking for.

Feel welcome to browse our wide collection of high quality weed seeds and we wish you lots of fun with growing your own cannabis plant.

Just like here in Amsterdam, it can be quite cold in many places around the world in this time of year. As temperatures drop and days get shorter it is not uncommon for the winter blues to set in.

Say bye bye to the winter blues with these cannabis strains.

Warm hats, gloves and scarves help, but are not always sufficient. All you want to do is stay in, crawl under a warm blanket and wait until the dark days are over. These cannabis strains, however, will help brighten things up and get you feel cozy. Even on the coldest day...

Pineapple Express autoflowering-feminized

Pineapple Express will transport you straight into the tropics. This strain is a mix of our powerful White Widow x Limoncello Haze x Strawberry Ice x Ruderalis genetics.

Perfect for lounging around on a cold day or a lazy winter evening. Pineapple Express marijuana is easy to grow indoor and outdoor with high yields of large, sticky, sweet buds.

Buy Pineapple Express autoflowering-feminized here

Amnesia Trance feminized

With earthy, peppery flavors and a fresh touch of lemon and citrus, Amnesia Trance will get you through the winter with a smile. The uplifting, energetic buzz is one you want to relive, over and over. Amnesia provides you with an energizing and uplifting feeling when you need some motivation. With so little daylight and so much cold, the winter blues is almost a given. But if someone can beat the winter blues, it is Amnesia Trance.

Buy Amnesia Trance feminized here

Cappuccino 420 feminized

Freezing temperatures, snow and rain are now upon us. In a lot of places winters can be pretty harsh. Let Cappuccino 420 warm you up. Just take a taste of this sweet, coffee-like joint. The flavor resembles freshly roasted coffee beans, the hashy overtone will stay with you for a long time, on your tongue as well as in your mind. Cappuccino 420 will help you make the most out of winter, whether you’re using for recreational or medicinal purposes.

Buy Cappuchino 420 feminized here 

Please visit Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank for more first class weed seeds. We ship fast and worldwide. 

Countries worldwide and US states are increasingly legalizing cannabis. But it still isn’t mainstream enough to make it to the Super Bowl, which attracts more than 100 million viewers annually. CBS rejected a proposed TV-commercial about the benefits of medical marijuana use.

Showing a cannabis ad during the Super Bowl would have been historic.

The ad is made by an US-based cannabis firm, named Acreage Holdings. It features patients who benefit from cannabis for medical purposes. The commercial focuses on how medical marijuana has helped all kinds of people cope with pain. The ad doesn’t promote any products but it calls for the legalization of marijuana for medical use.

That the commercial has been rejected, does not come as a surprise, as marijuana is still seen as drugs. Many companies make controversial advertisements that they know will not be broadcasted in order to grab attention. Acreage too, knew its commercial would not make it to the Super Bowl ads. But they did manage to create a lot of  buzz around the ad becoming a viral video with a lot of exposure.

In the US marijuana is now legal for medical use in 33 states. Hemp just became legal under the new Farm Bill, too. About six-in-ten Americans say the use of marijuana should be legalized.

Watch the rejected TV ad yourself and let us know how you think about it.

There are roughly three types of cannabis seeds; regular seeds with female and male plants, feminized cannabis seeds that only grow female plants and autoflowering cannabis seeds.

In this article we will dive into the last category to learn more about the pro’s and con’s. The biggest difference between autoflowering cannabis plants and the rest is that autoflowering seeds will automatically flower. They don’t mind the change in length of days. The flowering period starts automatically after about three weeks.

Check out our collection of high quality autoflowering seeds here

What you need to know about autoflowering weed seeds.

The light schedule also plays a role in this type of cannabis plant. Most autoflowers develop the best with eighteen hours of light and six hours of darkness. Some strains like even more light.

Autoflowering cannabis plants usually do not grow as big as plants from other seeds, which makes them easy to grow in pots. Be sure to start with a container right away that can be filled with at least 10 liters of soil.

Harvest of autoflower plants is usually not as much as the regular version of the same plant.

Because the time from start to finish is short, you could harvest three times per season. You can grow autoflowering weed plants until the end of August.

The growth period lasts about four weeks. After which the flowering period automatically sets in with a duration of six to eight weeks. So after a few months you can start harvesting.

What are Autoflowering cannabis seeds?

Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank has a large assortment of autoflowering seeds. These seeds are of the highest quality in terms of genetics and growing qualities.

Easy to grow and of good quality

Because autoflower seeds will automatically go into flower stage, regardless of the light schedule, it are very easy plants to work with.

Autoflower cannabis plants can be harvested several times per season. The size of the plants and the yield will usually be somewhat smaller, compared to regular seeds. But the time from seed to weed is much shorter. Autoflowering seeds are in general suitable for all climates.

Which autoflowering weed seeds do you choose?

In addition to the autoflowering properties, there are plenty of other characteristics that you can consider when making your choice.

For example: the time it takes to get from seed to harvest, the amount of weed you can expect per plant, how high the plants become on average, and the intoxicating effect or the medicinal effect based on the amount of THC and CBD in the weed.

Choose the cannabis seeds that suit you best.

If you already have some experience with cannabis, you will probably already have a favorite strain. And there is a good chance that your favorite cannabis seeds are also available as an autoflower variety. Some weed strains make you feel energetic, while others make you feel more creative or relaxed.

Popular autoflowering strains are:

White Widow autoflowering-feminized

AK 47 XTRM autoflowering-feminized

New York Turbo Diesel autoflowering-feminized

Feel free to browse through our seedbank on your hunt for the perfect autoflowering cannabis seeds. We guarantee you the highest quality at an affordable price.

With a few exceptions, we ship worldwide. In addition, we ship your package anonymously; there is no cannabis-related information on the outside of the package.

Have fun finding the right kind of seeds. And have even more fun growing them into beautiful plants! 

Baby it’s cold outside! So what could be more comforting than a steaming cup of hot chocolate. And if you want to give your health the boost it certainly can use in these harsh days. Then you would do well to add a few drops of CBD to your delicious cacao brew.

The cannabinoids and terpenes from the hemp, wherefrom CBD is extracted, go great with the bitterness and spiciness of the chocolate.

Ingredients

1 oz chocolate (dark)

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 cup of milk

1 pinch of cinnamon

1 pinch sea salt (optional)

1 pinch of sugar (optional)

2-3 drops of your favorite CBD tincture

Here is how you mix all ingredients into a comforting CBD hot chocolate...

Preparation

Mix the chocolate in a small pan with the cocoa powder and 1/2 cup of milk on low heat until the the chocolate is melted. Keep stirring slowly. 

Add the remaining milk, cinnamon and salt. Add the CBD tincture as well. You kan stir in a teaspoon of sugar if you like it sweet. Stir a little more. 

Pour the drink into a mug and top it with whipped cream. To make it even more festive, you can also pour hot chocolate sauce over it. Or you can put marshmellows or other sweets on the whipcream. 

Settle under a warm blanket near the fireplace and enjoy ;-)

If you are going to grow your own cannabis, and scan the web for cannabis seeds, you often come across the term 'autoflowering'. But what does this mean and why would you, as a grower, choose an autoflowering strain?

What is autoflowering?

The idea behind autoflowering cannabis is simple. These cannabis plants will automatically flower, instead of waiting for a change in the light cycle. After a short vegetative period the plants will flower all on their own.

This process of autoflowering has been achieved by crossing Indica or Sativa plants with the Ruderalis species. Ruderalis, is a subspecies of the cannabis plant, which is known for its autoflowering properties and the fact that it remains quite short. Ruderalis comes from areas where summers are very short, and that is why it’s in the DNA of the plant to get into flower very quickly.

The result of combining Indica and Sativa with Ruderalis is a plant that does not depend on photoperiods but determines itself when it starts to flower. This in contrast with a non-autoflowering species that waits to flower when the light cycle changes. Usually autoflowering plants will automatically switch to the flowering period within 2 to 4 weeks of growth. And the average period between seed and harvest is 10 weeks.

To put it briefly: autoflowering strains flower quickly, have a strong top formation and produce a lot of THC. In fact, only positive qualities. Start your search for autoflowering seeds now!

Medical marijuana is becoming more and more popular these days. Finally laws are adapted for the purpose of medical marijuana use worldwide.

An increasing number of people with chronic pains and ailments immerse themselves in the effective functioning of the CBD value of the cannabis plant.

Medical marijuana seeds are low in THC and high in CBD. These strains are especially bred to help with illnesses including pain, nausea and appetite loss. There is an increasing number of studies on the effects of the THC/CBD level on many different diseases and syndromes and many people say they benefit from it.

Medical weed can be used in many ways. The best known is the smoking or vaporizing of marijuana. You can press weed oil or make a tincture. There are also delicious recipes for preparing marijuana in your food. 

We have made a selection of the best marijuana strains for medical use. These strains were selected on the THC and CBD content and the grow skills. The plants are easy to maintain and require basic gardening skills.

Medical marijuana strain: Medijuana

For pain relief we can highly recommend Medijuana, according to many the most powerful medical marijuana seed strain worldwide. This overwhelming Indica has several fine qualities, making her very popular among medical marijuana users. Because of the high percentage of THC and the narcotic effect, this strain is highly recommended as a medicinal herb.

Medical marijuana strain: Narco

The Narco strain is a cross between BIG Black Indica and White Widow XTRM. It has a lot of power and gives you the ultimate relaxation. Perfect for a night on the couch or if you have problems falling asleep.

At Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank we have many more medical seeds for you. Just browse through our seedbank and see which one is best for you. So choose your medical strain today and start growing your own medicine.

Taste the smoke of Caramelicious weed and the first thing that comes to mind is 50 Cent’s Candy Shop. Caramelicious marijuana is oh-so-seductive and as sweet as candy. The beautiful Caramelicious strain gives you loads of crystals and a happy high. This plant is easy to grow and therefore perfect for beginners.

Sweet as candy

This delicious strain with big fat sticky buds and sweet caramel flavor is a favorite after dinner smoke for many cannabis lovers worldwide. What is better to end your dinner with than an excellent dessert that tastes like vanilla and coffee?

You can enjoy your Caramelicious right away because the high kicks in after the first couple of hits. A nice, happy high that softens the edges.

With its sweet smell and milky smoke, the Caramelicious strain honors its name. You will be impressed with the smoothness of this strain. But do not underestimate it as it may hit you hard. See for yourself and order your Caramelicious seeds now. We bet this delicious strain is going to be one of your new favorites.

“Caramelicious is

also perfect if you want

to grow your own medicine”

Some of the buds of the Caramelicious strain are colored with purple and red trichomes and it has great CBD and high THC levels. Therefore, Caramelicious marijuana is also perfect if you want to grow your own medicine. With a THC level up to 21%, Caramelicious weed is great for medical users who are longing to a relieving body high.

Buy Carameliscious seeds online

Order your Caramelicious seeds now at Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank. The good news is we ship worldwide. And your delivery is anonymous: all our packages are blanc and do not state any marijuana-related content.

You only have to focus on growing your seeds into a colorful and strong Caramelicious strain. With the Caramelicious seeds, you can grow your own delicious dessert, which can be enjoyed every day.

Happy growing!

From CBD-infused coffee to massage oil, lollipops, gummy bears, chocolate, bodylotion and even dog treats... CBD pops up in all kinds of products and in all sorts of places. 

But what about the effects and medical benefits of this antioxidant packed, super cannabinoid, that is taking the world’s healthcare by storm?

 "CBD doesn’t make you high

like marijuana, but it is creating a

worldwide buzz."

While the popularity of CBD is increasing rapidly, questions remain about the effects.

There is no prove yet from a traditional medical perspective, but there is plenty of proof from people who use CBD in some kind of form and benefit from it.

CBD supplements are not tested, approved or regulated but CBD fans who seek treatment for all kinds of conditions are not waiting for prove. 

Get to know more about this topic in this video report from NBC news.

Join a gym, read more, live healthier and be friendlier to others are the typical resolutions people make on the first day of the year. Why not add ‘grow your own cannabis’ to the list? And learn something new? With our high quality cannabis seeds and grow guides it couldn’t be easier!

Growing your own cannabis has a number of advantages. The main advantage is that you know exactly what you smoke in the end. After all, you grow your plant yourself, so you have complete control over the end product: your harvest.

"If you buy from a dealer or coffeshop, you don't exactly know how the plant was grown."

If you buy pot from a dealer or coffeeshop, you do not know exactly how the plant was grown. Have chemicals been used? Did the plant have a certain fungus or other plant diseases? If you grow a marijuana plant from start to finish, you know for sure you get good quality and a pure end product. After all, you were there yourself during the entire growth process.

Start 2019 with growing your own marijuana.

You can not start 2019 better than with growing your own stuff. It is a fantastic new hobby that you also learn a lot from. In contrary to what people often think, it is not difficult at all. Actually, nothing can go wrong, as long as you stick to a number of easy to follow guidelines.

In addition, as a novice gardener you do not have to make such a big investment. There is, of course, a difference between growing indoors or outside. But assuming you want to start right away, and you do not live in a hot, tropical climate, you will start indoors.

So be our guest and start with choosing one of our indoor marijuana strains. Read the descriptions that go with the different strains, to know what exactly is needed to grow them as healthy and strong as possible and what kind of effects the flowers have.

According to many people who grow cannabis themselves, nothing gives as much satisfaction as smoking your own home-grown weed. 

The new year hasn’t even fully started yet and it already feels fantastic, doesn’t it? We wish you a happy, green and flourishing new year with lots of ‘high’lights and a rich harvest!

Thailand is the first Asian country that allows medical weed.

The Thai Parliament has approved the legalization of marijuana for medical use. The medical weed that has high CBD levels is among other things used against chronic pain.

The trade in and possession of marijuana for recreational use remains strictly prohibited.

Thailand is the first state in Asia that legalises the use of cannabis for medical purposes, although opponents say there are doubts about the effects and side effects.

In many Southeast Asian countries, drug laws are strict. In Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, marijuana traders can even get the death penalty.

"This is a New Year's gift from the

National Legislative Assembly to the

government and the Thai people,"

said a parliamentarian on Thai television.

Thailand is now the first Asian country to tap into the burgeoning cannabis market, as stated on CNBC. The move allows Thailand to take advantage of a rapidly expanding industry.

The global medical marijuana market could reach $55.8 billion by 2025, according to an analysis published last year by Grand View Research.

Some Thai advocates hope that this approval on medical use will pave the way for legalization for recreational use, too. 

President Donald Trump signed a new agricultural law, better known as the Farm Bill, that will legalize hemp in all states. This could also ease legislation issues around CBD, the massively popular healing supplement made from hemp. The legislation will officially go into effect in the beginning of 2019.

As stated on Huffpost, the Farm Bill contains a section that removes hemp from the Controlled Substances Act. This clears the way for commercial cultivation, research and further development of hemp.

According to Bloomberg, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating how it can oversee the expected explosive growth of all kinds of products containing CBD, now that hemp is legal.

"CBD has quickly become popular

as a treatment for conditions such

as anxiety and pain"

Previously, hemp was considered a substance in addition to more powerful marijuana types, as well as other (hard)drugs like heroin and LSD.

While other cannabis strains with higher concentrations of THC can get people high, hemp does not. Industrial hemp is very useful and knows thousands of ways to process it. 

Under the new bill, hemp is defined as a part of marijuana with a THC concentration less than 0.3 percent. According to Bloomberg, this results in the fact that hemp is removed from a list of federally controlled substances. And this means a lot for companies like Coca Cola Co. that see opportunities to put drinks and products containing CBD on the market.

"Coca Cola Co. told it will wait

to market CBD-infused drinks

until all regulations are clear"

The legal cannabis market is booming. According to Marketwatch it is worth roughly $2 billion. And now CBD goes mainstream, big food and beverage companies have begun to take serious interest in it. (source: Marketwatch). 

Merry Kushmas everybody! From all of us at Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank.

We want to give a shout-out to all our clients and all the people we’ve worked with in the past year! Thank you for your trust in our company. It has been a pleasure to work with you and we hope to be of service again next year.

We are already looking forward to 2019, because we will introduce a lot of new, fresh strains again. Plus that we have a lot of spectacular promotions ready for you right from the start of the new year.

From everyone at Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank, we wish you happy holidays, full of joy, warmth, laughter and... ‘mass-munchies’.

Have loads of fun if you go ‘Kushmas Carolling’ and don’t forget to sing your stoner-Christmas repertoire with songs like ‘Rudolph the red eyed stoner’ and ‘The 12 Days of Kushmas’ ;-).

Ow, and if you want to get your home really Christmas-cannabis-ready… get these beauties ;-) (here!)

Stir up the fun with this strain

Want to spice up your Christmas a bit? We have exactly what it takes. Green and red are the official Christmas colors, but there’s always lot of shiny silver too. So Super Silver Haze has to be in your cannabis rotation during the upcoming days. This strain produces a lot of energy, so it will get (and keep!) you and your Christmas companions in the festive mood for sure. ‘Ho, Ho, Haze!’

And then only this… ;-)

Hava 420 X-mas!

There are so many seed strains to choose from, so which one are you going for? Is your preference an Indica, Sativa or a Hybrid? Are you going to grow outside or indoors? Is it about one single plant, or a larger amount?

If you are talking about cannabis, and in particular about growing cannabis, a large number of questions arise.

Let’s find the answers and narrow down which cannabis strain will work best for you. So read on!  

The Cannabis Indica and Cannabis Sativa variety

If you are on the hunt for a marijuana seed strain, the large amount of seeds that are offered can be quite overwhelming.

But looking at all these different strains basically leads you down two paths: the cannabis Sativa variety and the cannabis Indica variety.

What is Cannabis Sativa?

The cannabis Sativa grows to be a tall plant with narrow, light green leaves. This variety can grow to be as tall as 20 feet (6 meters) in just one season if grown outside. And it also grows much faster than other varieties.

Sativa originally comes from areas such as Southeast Asia, Mexico, Colombia and Thailand.

Flavors of Cannabis Sativa range from sweet to fruity to earthy, depending on each crop and it will give you a cerebral and energetic stone.

What is Cannabis Indica?

The Cannabis Indica variety stays much shorter and denser than the Sativa variety of cannabis plants.

Indica came to us from area’s like Morocco, Tibet and Afghanistan.

The buds of an Indica plant will be quite dense and thicker than its counterpart and the aroma and flavor can be sweet with a hint of fruit or more sour-like. These buds do not mind cooler weather conditions.

The Cannabis Indica variety makes you feel relaxed and works well in social situations. It helps you to easily make contact with other people.

About Hybrid marijuana strains

When you combine two different varieties of cannabis and have two parent plants that are pure and unrelated, you will wind up with a hybrid marijuana plant and hybrid marijuana seeds.

Mostly, people will combine a strain, like sativa, that has a smooth taste with another strain, like Indica, that gives a higher yield. The seeds will then reproduce multiple generations with the same characteristics.

Growing marijuana plants indoor

When you grow indoors, you keep all elements in your own hands. As a grower you can control light, wind, humidity and use the soil or grow medium of your choice. The indoor weed seeds sold by Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank are specially designed for growing in-house in a grow room.

Growing cannabis plants outdoor

Is the climate where you live cold and wet? Or do you live in a hot, Mediterranean place? At Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank we have outdoor cannabis seeds for sale that give a fantastic result in any climate.

How big will a cannabis plant grow?

One thing to keep in mind is how high your weed plant can get when it is mature. Indoor plants give growers the ability to control how much growth occurs before the flowering phase. And using artificial light allows growers to keep their plants shorter.

Once a grower flips the lighting schedule to 12 hours of light followed by 12 hours of dark, marijuana plants will begin to flower in one to two weeks. Your marijuana plants will keep growing, usually 6-14" | 15-35 cm, while getting ready to flower, but once flowering starts, growth will stop.

How much Indica and how much sativa you have in your plant will usually give you a good idea as to how much growth to expect, with the sativa variety of marijuana plant growing the most.

Flowering usually starts when the plants are 18-24" | 45-60 cm so they will stop growing around 36" | 90 cm. But the amount of time this takes will depend on what mixture your marijuana plants have, and how you have conditioned your growing location.

THC-potency of cannabis plants

Every variety of marijuana seed is potent. Just how potent your marijuana crop becomes, depends on how you grow your marijuana seeds into plants and how mature you let your marijuana plants become.

THC comes from the glands of the marijuana plant that creates resin when the plant is maturing. The purpose behind these resin glands is to shield each marijuana plant from becoming too dry under the heat of sunlight.

It stands to reason that a hot and dry environment is going to give more of the resin than a hot and moist environment, so keeping the humidity down where you grow your marijuana while it flowers is going to give you the best results.

Yield of marijuana plants

Each variety of marijuana seed is going to give an approximate yield, but it all depends on how each marijuana plant is grown and how the growing environment is conditioned. If you grow inside, then your lights are not going to penetrate as far down into the plants, so you will get a better yield if you grow a lot of small plants.

You will see that your best yield will come from the Indica variety or from a hybrid. Sativa marijuana plants often give a lower yield but a stronger stone.

Indoor yield is basically limited by how well lit each growing environment is, not by which variety of marijuana seeds you use. Conditioned growing environments will give a yield that directly relates back to how much Indica and Sativa varieties of marijuana are in the hybrid mixture.

Each grower can maximize the potential of each marijuana plant by experimentation on how to grow each variety of marijuana best.

Flowering times for marijuana plants

The length of time it takes a marijuana plant to flower will give you an idea how long it will take the plant to mature, but indoor plants can be forced to flower so this is not always accurate.

All growers have to do is strictly regulate the light of the plants to 12 hours of light and 12 hours without light. Each marijuana plant is different, but this seems to be built into the DNA of the plant species as a whole.

You will find that Indica varieties of marijuana plants flower quite quickly compared with the sativa variety of marijuana plants. A hybrid mixture will flower based on how much of each variety is in the hybrid.

Good luck with picking the right kind of seeds and lots of fun with growing your own weed plant! 

Here she is, the most famous name in the business: White Widow XTRM. It is among the strongest weed in the world. Born and bred here in Amsterdam. Although many countries claim to have created White Widow, we can state the fact that here in Amsterdam White Widow first saw the lights.

White Widow XTRM is a very strong plant. This great Indica hybrid packs a power punch. The buds have so much THC on them that it is hard to see the bud at all. It is a white strain, the buds can be completely white, covered in nice sticky resin crystals. The high is extreme and the taste divine.

White Widow XTRM can grow anywhere. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner, even inexperienced growers can successfully grow a crop. Buy your White Widow XTRM seeds today as regular, autoflowering or feminized.

Happy growing!

From cannabis plants that are disguised as Christmas trees to funky (and cheesy!) cannabis X-mas decorations. Show the love of the plant and throw yourself a marijuana-themed Christmas party. Happy holidaze!

Look smoking hot in this weed suit

Wanna make a real impression this Christmas? Go check out this joint venture between cannabis and fashion, and show 'em who is boss during the holidays. Suitable for both recreational and medicinal use. Buy it here and dress up in style as your favorite plant.

Wow your guests with a statement-making tree

If you want to add cannabis to your Christmas in a creative way, why not decorate a cannabis plant instead of the usual pine tree. Use decorations like lights and ornaments that reflect your taste to give it a warm and cozy glow. Whether you keep it natural or go over-the-top-glitzy, a cannabis Christmas tree will shine in any home.  

No Christmas without a movie

Maybe ‘Gremlins’ doesn’t officially qualify as a Christmas movie, but it is set during the holiday, so that should cover it. And for most stoners it’s a cult classic anyway. Just remember: keep ‘em out of direct light, don't give them water and most important - even if you’re having hardcore munchies - do NOT feed ‘m after midnight!

Make it cozy at home with weed ornaments

Christmas just can’t do without decorations. But are you tired of hanging up the same things every year? Then decorate your house with weed ornaments! Weed themed decorations are a great way to make your holidaze even more fun.

Treat yourself to this snowflake or THC-molecule ornament. 

Keep the holiday cheer alive with Northern Lights XTRM

Northern Lights XTRM is perferct for a Christmas holiday. It is a social strain that will leave everyone warm and fuzzy. Northern Lights XTRM has a delightful aroma and provides a very relaxing high. Just make yourself a cup of hot chocolate and curl up with a blanket somewhere close to the Christmas tree. Or enjoy it in the company of good friends. Northern Lights XTRM transforms every Christmas-gathering into your onw Winter Wonderland.

As the cannabis market is growing, so are the investment opportunities.

Big companies see opportunities as the cannabis market is rapidly expanding. Now that marijuana shakes off its stoner image, acceptance is growing, and as a result the willingness of large companies to invest in the cannabis industry is increasing. 

The growth of recent times is set in motion by further expansion of legalisation for medical as well as recreational use, in several states in the U.S., as well as Canada. The growing cannabis industry creates opportunities for businesses to develop new technologies and bring new products to market. Probably it is only a matter of time before a multinational buys a cannabis company, as BBC reports.

Reportedly, Altria, the company that produces Marlboro cigarettes, is exploring the possibilities of investing in the cannabis industry. The tobacco industry stagnates as tobacco sales haven’t changed much recent years. This is why the cigarette giant closely looks at the booming cannabis industry and its many opportunities. The BBC recently published an article on this topic, read it here.

Reuters reported earlier that Altria showed interest in the Canadian company Cronos Group, which is a forerunner in the field of cannabis-related products. This caused stocks to rise significantly. Check this video in which CNN interviews Michael Gorenstein, the CEO of Cronos Group.

Also according to CNN, Coca Cola’s CEO James Quincey stated that the company doesn’t have a special interest in cannabis and the CBD-market at the moment, but at the same time there were rumors that the company is in talks with Aurora, a Canadian cannabis company, about a potential investment.

Last year, Corona beer, invested $200m in the cannabis business to develop a cannabis-based drink without alcohol. Now, reportedly, the beer brand is set to inject a multiple amount into well known cannabis company Canopy Growth in Canada.

Like many companies Corona tries to capitalise on the further expansion of the legalization of cannabis and the increasing popularity of CBD. Uruguay and Canada are the only countries so far that have legalized cannabis nationwide.

In the U.S. a limited number of states have legalized marijuana for both recreational as well as medical use. These states include Washington, California and Nevada. In Europe countries as the Netherlands, Spain and Italy are on the list to probably legalize marijuana in the near future.

Marijuana inspired gift ideas for Christmas

The holiday season is coming and before you know it trees, Christmas sweaters, fake snow, twinkling lights and cheer are all over us. But the most wonderful time of the year also comes with a bit of a downside... because here we go again...which presents should you buy this year for your friends and loved ones? 

We all know searching for the perfect gift can take hours and hours of your time - if not days! - every year again. And that can really be a bummer just before the start of the so-called season to be jolly, doesn’t it? Well, we’ve got news for you. Shake off the stress that comes with the search right this moment, and stop your time-wasting hunt for the perfect present. Because we have got it all covered.

That is, assuming the people you give a gift to, love cannabis as much as you do. And if not, they will from now on! We have a number of marijuana strains for you that will certainly spark the fun during Christmas time... 'ho ho ho, cough, chough chough'. But also for the non-smokers we've found some truly desirable cannabis-related gifts.  

So here is a list of presents everyone would love to get. Nice to give away, but also perfect for keeping to yourself ;-). Have a cannabis Christmas!

A classic cannabis sativa strain, perfect as a Christmas present

Silver Haze is the perfect gift for people who appreciate real classics. The strain was immense popular in the eighties and is nowadays on the rise again. Silver Haze is not very extreme and hard-hitting, but provides a balanced bright and euphoric high, also described as a delightful floating feeling. It boosts a relaxed, long-lasting body high which gives you the energy to enjoy your evening to the fullest.

Silver Haze is a cannabis strain with character, exactly what a classy Christmas party needs; its characteristics contribute to the warm and cozy gathering. Silver Haze is a gift that fits perfectly with the Christmas spirit. 

Impress your loved one with a THC molecule necklace

If you really want to amaze a special someone, you go for a stylish and appropriate jewel. This 'cannabis chic' necklace displays the molecular formula of THC: tetrahydrocannabinol. How cool is that?

A true piece of art. And it is a wonderful addition to any wardrobe. There are different versions in gold and silver available in different sizes. You can purchase them on amazon.com but we found the most beautiful and refined one, made of sterling silver, on gerniferm.com

Christmas lights will twinkle even more with Northern Lights

Have you ever thought of it like this… if you give cannabis seeds as a gift, you don't just hand over the seeds, but you actually give someone a whole experience. After all, the lucky recipient can still enjoy your gift for a very long time - from germination and sowing, all the way up to the harvest. And certainly also in the period that follows! Growing your own marijuana plant is an unforgettable experience that comes with a lot of interesting and fun moments. And all of this is being initiated by none other than... you.

All you have to do now is to sort out the right kind of cannabis seeds...

With Northern Lights you truly can’t go wrong. It is one of the most famous and well known strains available. A few puffs will take you on a mind-blowing trip and gives a relaxed body buzz. The perfect gift for a marijuana enthusiast who wants to grow a plant from start to finish. So wait no longer and buy the best Northern Lights seeds available. 

Nicely designed, airtight zippers to stash your goods

Looking for an appropriate and stylish gift for someone who is always on the go? Then this might be it.

You can easily take this specially designed zipper case with you wherever you go. And it fits easily in your bag or suitcase. The best feature: it is airtight, so it ensures that the otherwise delicious smell of flowers doesn’t spread through the air everywhere. Check 'm out on originalstashbag.com

Ugly Christmas sweater

In the category ‘ugly Christmas sweater’ we have found the ultimate knit for you. An awesome Christmas gift for a stoner friend who loves the green stuff, and a joke too, right? Get it here. But you can also keep it to yourself, so it will be you who catches all the compliments about your stylish clothing choice ;-). We won't tell!

Have a canna X-mas everybody!

Don't make these rookie mistakes when you grow marijuana

Most first-time gardeners decide they’ll learn along the way and be fine. They just start growing and do minimal research. There is nothing wrong with that, because as we all know, you learn the most from your own mistakes. But what if you can avoid these rookie mistakes? And have better yields and smoke your own stash of homegrown marijuana much sooner?

So here they are, a bunch of commonly made mess-ups that easily can be avoided. From the germination process (or even before that), all the way up to harvest.

They are not in a specific order, but just criss cross through each other. And we’ll spread them over several blog posts, so make sure you take a look here again soon.

#1. Know when to start growing your marijuana plants

This is true for many reasons. If you grow outdoors, you want to aim for June 1st. Many people think if they start their plants outside earlier that they will be rewarded with bigger buds from their marijuana plants, but this is not true.

If you start your marijuana plants in the early parts of spring, you will end up with large plants that take quite a bit longer to flower.

The best vegetative period is when sunlight lasts longer than the darkness. Then when the times start to balance out is when the plant realizes it is time to flower.

If the plant is started earlier, it still has to wait for balancing of light and dark to start flowering.

The sunlight having gone down some is going to create thinner plants instead of the bushier and fuller plants and buds that would have come from a plant that was started earlier.

On the other hand, marijuana plants that went outside later, would grow like crazy due to the strong sunlight that comes during the heat of summer. This would leave you with heavy plants that give you a better end result than ones started early in the year.

Indoor plants have the same issues but for differing reasons.

With indoor marijuana plants, lights stay more shallow on the plants and stunt the growth, making the marijuana grower wait longer for a smaller yield.

 #2. Stay zen and try to keep your hands off

As a gardener you need patience and stay as zen as you can possibly be. It can take up to ten days to sprout marijuana seeds (but usually it takes place within two days).

If staying relaxed isn’t your thing, we have a tip. If possible, use a growing medium instead of paper towels to germinate seeds because of the touching required with paper towels. A simple trick to keep your fingers off! 

Just take it easy and you'll be fine. 

More information about how to germinate your marijuana seeds? Check out this article.

#3. Hold your horses… don’t harvest too early.

We understand your temptation of wanting to harvest your beautiful buds and leaves as soon as you see it all coming together.

But if you wait, you will be rewarded.

The last 25% of weight gains for your crop will occur over the last two weeks before harvesting should occur.

You want your marijuana plants to be completely done growing and your pistils to have gone from all white to 50-75% brown before you harvest your crop.

Yep, it is all about timings. So know when you should or should not do something. And just keep in mind: with every plant you grow, your knowledge about growing plants grows too...

Buy your marijuana seeds online today

Can't you wait to grow your own plants yourself? Buy your seeds here and get started! Growing marijuana plants yourself is fun and a lot easier than you think.

There are a lot of cannabis strains that have been given creative names, but Candy Kush is by far the sweetest of them all. Just listen to it when you say it out loud: Candy Kushhhh. Delicious, ain’t it? And you wouldn't be surprised if we told you that this marijuana strain is as sensational as the name itself.

The name Candy Kush is derived from the appearance of the flower bud. It is a loose, soft flower that looks very like cotton candy. And because the taste is sweet and has something like berry flavor, you also feel like you are actually eating the fingerlicking, sticky delicacy.

The effects of Candy Kush

The Candy Kush strain is a mix of OG Kush and Medijuana. Crossing these classics makes a tasty Indica dominant hybrid. When you are in search of good times and ultimate relaxation, then this is the one for you.

Candy Kush is great to smoke because of its natural calming and relaxing effect. The effect when smoking is often described as a very happy, giggly high. It’s a very nice feeling. Beware that it produces an unusually high amount of THC so it can hit you very hard. It may give you the kind of laziness you want to stay on the couch forever. For this reason Candy Kush is also popular among medicinal growers. It gives a strong high, helps to relax and sleep better, and it reliefs all kinds of pains.

Buy your Candy Kush seeds online

Get your fluffy, sugary treat today! Order your Candy Kush seeds at Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank. The Candy Kush strain is a relatively small, but very stable plant with a high yield in a short amount of time. Good care and conditions are very important when you grow marijuana. But even more important is the quality of your weed seeds. So when you buy your seeds be sure you pick the best bank there is. All our seeds are selected and developed by Dutch top breeders.

If you buy your cannabis seeds at Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank you will get the best quality seeds to grow strong plants. Tip: Equip the soil in which you place your plants with nutrients. This is a fundamental part of a good harvest, it can increase your harvest up to 30%. So don’t forget to check out our assortment of fertilizers.

Do you want to stay up to date on your favorite seed bank? Sign up for the Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank newsletter. That way you won’t miss our newest weed seeds, other helpful products and sharp discounts.

Have fun growing your own plants. Check our blog regularly for canna updates, news, tips and spectacular offers. See ya!

When you grow own marijuana plants, you want them to be as healthy and strong as they can get. And likely the most important part of all: you want a big yield.

Depending on the strain and stage of growth you can feed your plant varying amounts of nutrient concentrations. But be aware, you have to stick to a feeding schedule. Feeding too many or too few nutrients can do harm.

This is where our feeding schedules come in handy. Here you can see clearly, from week to week, what your plant needs. And how much of which nutrient product should be applied.

Recommended: Flower Power Fertilizers

For your plants to flourish, we recommend Flower Power Fertilizers. Flower Power Fertilizers has an extensive range of plant food products that give your cannabis plants exactly what they need.

The nutrients in Power Flower Fertilizers products will trigger the right responses from your plants. It provides your garden with a better and healthier growth for more than 20%.

Feeding schedules for marijuana plants

Check the marijuana grow schedules below. They are, of course, guidelines. With the mentioned dosage and products, your cannabis plants will grow better for sure. But all circumstances are of course different, so keep that in mind.

Buy Flower Power Fertilizers here and... grow, grow, grow! 

Confusing marijuana related terms explained (episode 1)

Scratching your head about the difference between Haze and Kush? Confused about White Rhino and White Widow? Don’t freak out. You are not the only one who gets lost in stoner jargon sometimes. 

We're here to shine a light on the often confusing, absurd and funny cannabis terminology. Many words have multiple meanings and some marijuana slang terms can have different meanings in different parts of the world.

Just browse through our regular updates and find out what all these marijuana related terms mean. We’ll keep it to 3 terms in each update, so you will not be completely overwhelmed. But it must be just enough to show off next time you hang out with friends ;-). 

#1 - Bong

A bong (aka water pipe) is used to smoke marijuana, herbal substances or just tobacco. It’s made of glass, plastic or ceramic and filters smoke through water so it may be cooled before it is inhaled.

In its simplest form a bong consists of a bowl and a stem (slide) which guides air downwards to below water level whence it bubbles upwards during use. More sophisticated bongs can also feature ash catchers, ice holders, and percolators, intended to further purify and cleanse the smoke.

#2 - The vegetative stage

The primary period of the marijuana plant’s growth cycle is called: vegetative stage. This is the phase when your plant is actually growing leaves and stems and does not grow bud/flowers at all. In the summer, plants outside get over 12 hours of sunlight. In this period they will remain in a vegetative stage. But as the seasons and the light cycles change, the plant will begin to flower.

When you grow indoors you can control the transmission from the vegetative period to the flowering period by changing your light schedule yourself. This gives you as a grower more control over the proces.

#3 - CBD oil

The popularity of CBD oil has grown enormously in recent times. But what is it? And more importantly, what do you use it for? CBD, in full cannabidiol, is an active substance extracted from leaves and flower tops of industrial hemp (hemp fiber), a hemp variety that is legally grown. It is a food supplement, mostly in the form of oil. CBD oil is used for a variety of medical issues. It is a natural antioxidant and it is often used by many people with sleep problems. It helps relax muscles, allowing you to sleep deeper and wake up more rested. Besides that one of the most well-known uses of CBD oil is as a reliever of anxiety and stress. You can also take it preventively if, for example, you have to speak in public and want to reduce your sense of discomfort.

CBD oil can be consumed by adding a desired amount to food and beverages. Most people drip a few drops under the tongue. This ensures that it is absorbed more quickly in the bloodstream and that the effect is felt faster.

Our CBD oil

The CBD oil in our webshop comes from organically grown hemp flowers and is 100% natural. The oil comes in little bottles with pipette to make dosage easier. There are three different percentages that you can choose from. We always recommend starting with the lowest percentage, especially if you are going to use it for the first time.

While most people are still paying with real, physical money, there are several new cryptocurrencies in town. These crypto’s are all safe and easy payment methods with great benefits.

At Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank we accept Bitcoin, Etherium, Litecoin and many other crypto’s. The most well known is Bitcoin and this one has become the most popular alternative to other currencies.

The benefits of using Bitcoins to buy marijuana seeds

Use Bitcoins when you buy marijuana seeds online. Here is why:

It’s free. Banks all charge transaction fees for international payment. Bitcoin doesn’t, it’s practically free.

It’s anonymous. Even though we only ship to countries where cannabis seeds are legal, there could be a reason that you don’t want other people to know what you bought. With Bitcoin your privacy is guaranteed.

It’s independant. Paying by Bitcoin means you don’t need a third party (bank).

It’s easy. Setting up an account (Bitcoin wallet) and paying is as simple as sending an email. It really is a matter of minutes.

Where to buy Bitcoins

Coinbase is a reliable partner for processing Bitcoins transactions. You can open an account at Coinbase.com within a few minutes. But there are a lot of other reliable Bitcoin partners, just browse the internet. Depending on where you live, there are also local traders.

If you have any requests, or you suggest a new payment method, you can always send us a message.

Many people ask us which strains they should try and what kind of plants they should grow.

That is always a bit of a tricky question because it depends on the person, the situation, and the area where someone is living.

But as always, we’ve done our very best to inspire you and bring you to new ideas.

In this shortlist you will get to know 3 marijuana strains you must have tried at least once in your life.

These are the strains that our regular customers keep coming back for.

We don’t know if those return visits are due to the high quality of our seeds, sharp pricing, or the supreme level in customer service (hey, we just like to treat everyone as our close friend!) but apparently we are doing something very good ;-).

Check them out and pick the strain of your choice.

M.O.A.B Mother Of All Buds feminized

This exceptional strain has no equal. Created especially for all the growers who are looking to smoke a strain that offers everything you have been looking for all your life. When it comes to taste and flavor, M.O.A.B is phenomenal and one of a kind.

The feeling you get from smoking her can only be described as complete utter happiness, combined with a blissfully stoned sensation.

Go on, buy your seeds today and start growing your own beautiful M.O.A.B.

Super Nova

Super Nova is named after a star because its crystals shine brighter than any other plant. This Indica dominant hybrid will blast you away with its smooth taste, powerful aroma and high THC level.

The combination of these characteristics give Super Nova a strong body buzz when smoking. And therefore, this star among Indica hybrids, is an excellent choice for painkilling and other medical purposes.

The effects come on pretty much right away with a nice uplifting buzz. But be aware… when this powerful Super Nova explodes, make sure you are comfortably seated.

Breeding Super Nova seeds to an adult plant is not too easy, let’s say moderate. But with our grow guide anyone can do the job.

Blueberry 420 Kush

No other strain gets as close to the taste of blueberries as Blueberry 420 kush. The high is just as great: relaxed like a true Indica but euphoric at the same time.

When it comes to the eye, Blueberry 420 marijuana is a stunner, a strong-looking plant with bushy leaves. It’s an elegant sight: blue and violet shiny crispy buds. Aand with plenty of resin.

Blueberry 420 kush is a nice colorful plant and easy to grow, as long as you have the right conditions and good nutrients to breed.

She’s worth growing, if only for her looks!

Buy your marijuana seeds at Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank

Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank is the right place if you are looking for everything from the heaviest Indicas to the brightest Sativas and perfectly balanced hybrids.

Our customer service is always available to answer your questions about marijuana seeds, marijuana in general or shipping issues. Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank is known worldwide for high-quality products and excellent service.

And also good to know: our packages are shipped stealth to make sure you’ll receive the best quality seeds. We deliver packages without marijuana-related content on it so it’s only you who knows what is inside.

Stay tuned for more updates, and in the meanwhile: happy growing!

The are loads of terms that have to do with cannabis and cannabis use. To name just a few: bong, hybrid, kief, OG, landrace, blunt, M.O.A.B, ganja. Probably you’ll know most of these, even if you’re not a great marijuana lover yourself. But a lot of terms get mixed up. Often stoned and high are use for the same thing - to describe the same feeling. Yet there is a difference, so let’s take them apart.

Stoned: your body feels heavy

Being stoned refers to the more physical experience. It refers to the effect on the sensory perceptions (taste, sense of touch, hearing, smell and sight). It has to do with an intoxicating and relaxing effect and the heavy feeling in arms and legs (like a stone).

When you get stoned, you just want to sit on the couch and stay there. If it hits you hard you’ll even get couch locked and get the feeling that you actually become part of the couch, impossible to move or do anything. Usually followed by eating a whole bag of Doritos and playing Grand Theft Auto or watching Scooby Doo.

Being stoned is basically all about chillaxing, watching a movie, preferably in good company of friends and laugh about stupid things.

Life just can’t get any better ;-).

High: the effect on your mind

As stoned is more about the effects on the body, being high refers to the psychological effects of cannabis. Being high is about the more cheerful and laughing feeling. And the feeling of having more imagination and creativity, or experiencing a greater clarity of mind and deeper insights.

Before you get really high, you become really giddy and will laugh at the slightest things. Your appetite will increase and you’ll find that every bite of food tastes awesome. Being high fits more with an active, party mood. Stress and worry will be reduced by a large amount. 

What happens quite often is that you find yourself thinking about something deeply and directly after completely forget what you were thinking about. Then try hard to remember what you were thinking about, to forget that you were trying to remember something you forgot and just start to think about something completely different. Still follow?

Check our collection of marijuana seeds

How these effects are caused in the brain and body will be followed up in another article, so stay tuned. In the meanwhile, check out our extensive collection of high quality marijuana seeds. Read through the descriptions to know about the different effects they have. There is something for everyone, so let the good times roll!

In most countries summer is over. Many people find the sunny season much more fun, but autumn has a lot more to offer than falling leaves and rainy days. There are a lot of reasons to ‘fall’ for this time of year. Especially when you throw a bit of cannabis in the mix.

The following strains help you through the colder days and give you that wonderful fall feeling.

Girl Scout Cookies XTRM feminized

With a sweet and earthy aroma, Girl Scout Cookies XTRM marijuana launches you straight to dreamland for a full-body relaxation. Girl Scout is the perfect medicine for stress, lack of appetite and it also helps with all sorts of pain. 

But the strain suits a perfect party as well. Be happy, enjoy the company of those around you and don’t forget to bake some cookies before inviting your friends over – the munchies are coming!

This strain should provide all the comfort you need for a brisk fall afternoon.

Medijuana

We all know that the change from hot to cold days has an effect on our mental condition, but also on our physical condition.

Medijuana is an all-natural medicine for pain relief. This medical strain has fine qualities and a powerful narcotic effect. It’s a real painkiller.

The THC level of 25% creates a powerful high and it hits you with euphoria. These characteristics make this medical marijuana very popular among medical marijuana users. Keep in mind that this is a strain for the more experienced user.

It’ll give you a physical and mental boost, just what you might need this time a year.

Cappuccino Feminized 420

The cappuccino 420 strain is a plant that even the most experienced grower will love.

The flavor resembles freshly roasted coffee beans, and the hashy overtone will stay with you for a long time, on your tongue as well as in your mind.

You will be fascinated by her beauty. This marijuana strain is designed for enthusiastic experts to the curious beginners. Just taste the sweet, coffee-like aroma and it will get you into that real autumn feeling.

More than marijuana

The above strains work well for fall, but the colder days also pave the way for other goodies. So is fall a great time to try cannabis-infused coffee, tea or hot chocolate. But more on that in an upcoming article!

Buy your marijuana seeds online

First make sure you get your seeds. Buy them from Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank, as we are offering you high-quality seeds, excellent service, and guaranteed delivery.

Our strains are selected and grown with love and care. We work with the best growers from Amsterdam who love to share their passion.

We cannot guarantee that you won’t catch a cold this season, but there’s no doubt our products will make you smile. Even on rainy days.  

So, welcome the shorter days and cooler temperatures!

Do you speak Smokemoji? 

Do you want to take your text messages to a higher level? Well we’ve got just what it takes. With the following smokemojis you’ll say more than a thousand words.

There are many weed themed emojis to be found on the web. Just check out #smokemoji in social media and they will pop up. Several emoji keyboards can also be downloaded from for instance the App Store or Google Play.

A lot of these images are nicely designed and truly funny. They range from toasted bread with stoned eyes, bikinis made out of leaves, to a dizzy looking pile of poo. Ideal for potheads to communicate to one another!

Here’s a few… which one is your favorite?

Are you unable to find these weed themed emojis on the internet, or can’t download them for some reason? Not to worry. You can also use emojis that are already in your phone - they were not intended to be about marijuana but with a little imagination can be used for it. What to think about the comet emoji or the rocket? It’s included in all iPhones. Use that just to tell how skyrocket high you are. Or use the twinkiing stars to express your euphoric feeling. The nice thing about using the standard emoji’s is that it’s a bit secretive and inconspicuous - and that comes in handy when your mom accidentally finds your phone... ;-)

Grow your own marijuana

Anyhow, are you looking for something that brings you into the right mood and gives you an euphoric feeling? Just check out our extensive list of high quality cannabis seeds. Before you know it you’ll be smoking your own homegrown marijuana - and your face will look just like the smokemoji with the swirly eyes, red cheeks and big smile.  

Happy growing!

Many vets seek alternative treatments and more and more find a solution in medical marijuana. All cannabis strains are suited for medical use but some people choose a combination of different strains to ease their problems. Strains that are rich of CBD can offer medicinal effects without getting high. 

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THC AND CBD? 

To answer this question, let’s first talk a bit more about these two separately.

WHAT IS THC? 

The full name of THC is tetrahydrocannabinol. Now you know why everyone just refers to it as THC. Despite this difficult name, THC is the most popular cannabinoid. It is the stuff in marijuana that gets you high. But there is more to it. THC is also known to relieve pain and muscle strain, stimulate appetite and reduce nausea. 

WHAT IS CBD? 

CBD is the abbreviation from cannabidiol and is the second most well-known cannabinoid. Where THC is praised for its psychoactive effect, CBD is known for its ability to help a wide variety of health issues. CBD is not psychoactive and will not make you feel high. It won’t directly alter your perception or mood. CBD is trending thanks to the ever-growing list of medical benefits it offers. 

MEDICAL MARIJUANA SEEDS

Research shows the need to combine both cannabinoids, THC and CBD, to gain the maximum effect. Particular medical strains are better for certain conditions than others. Choose a Sativa for when you need to stay alert or want to gain an uplifting effect and an Indica for relaxation, sleep or pain relief. 

BUY MEDICAL MARIJUANA SEEDS ONLINE

The medical seeds of Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank give you the possibility to grow your own remedy against pain or disorders. And also very important: it’s 100% natural, you know what you grow. 

So why not start today with easing your pain? Our online shop has a wide variety of medical marijuana seeds available. Benefit from the powerful effects as well as the lowest price and highest quality. 

At Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank we promise you that you will receive your package safe and sound. It is send in a discreet package and we will handle your order with military precision.

HEROES DESERVE THE BEST: BRAND NEW STRAINS

To honour our heroes we will introduce brand new medical strains on Veterans Day 2018. They all have a high CBD value and help cure various medical conditions. 

So make sure you check back soon!

We salute you!

So you have chosen your seeds and know what kind of plant you are going to grow? Then it is now time to bring those seeds to life. Let the fun begin!

Germination is a natural process and it actually only needs the right environment to take place. At the beginning there are three main principles. It is very important to ensure that there is sufficient light, heat and moisture.

To get the best germination rates, keep your seeds warm, but not too hot! Just think springtime, or a little above room temperature. Make sure the temperature stays approximately the same.

The germination process begins when a seed receives enough moisture. At that point, it will increase in size, breaks open and there you have it: your baby plant.

Just like any other plants, cannabis seeds can sprout in a variety of ways. Some will insist you soak the seeds in warm water to let them germinate. Others will suggest you plant the seeds directly into a small pot of moist soil. Whichever route you take, there's really no wrong way. As long as you treat your baby plants gently.

Like everyone else, we also have our preferences when it comes to germinating marijuana seeds. In our view, the best way to let the seeds germinate is to use a cup filled with a little amount of water. Another way is to put the seeds between wet paper towels or cotton pads. Let’s discuss both ways- just read them through and decide for yourself which method you use.

Germinating Marijuana seeds using cotton pads or paper towels

Here is a step by step guide.

First step: ensure a good setup

To create a good setup, all you need are two plates and a couple of wet (not soaked!) paper tissues. Instead of paper tissues you can also use cotton pads, the method remains the same.

Place the seeds on top of the moist towel and make sure the seeds have enough space between them. Then place another moist paper towel on top of the seeds.

Lastly, cover everything with another inverted plate to form a clam-shell shape and put it somewhere at room temperature. By this you will create a moist environment, necessary for germination.

You’re on a roll! Now that you have everything ready-set-go, you can proceed to the next step… the real germinating.

Second step in germinating marijuana seeds

Check the seeds every day to ensure that the towels (or tissues or pads) don’t dry out. Just lift the top plate to check if the towels are still moist. If not, spray them with a little water. Do not soak with water like in the shower, but just moisten lightly.

Within 72 hours most cannabis seeds should open. Less commonly, some seeds take up to 10 days to put out a root. When the shell has cracked and the first few millimeters of root has popped out, each one should then be transferred to soil (or another growing medium like rockwool).

But first we have to congratulate you. Seems you have a true talent in growing!

Now your newly sprouted seeds are ready for a starter pot. So go on and continue with the next step.

Third step in germinating marijuana seeds: the potting

Let’s get your sprouted seed in real ground. You can also use coco-mat, rockwool, or another growing medium available at your local garden center.

Make a hole in the soil and place the cannabis into the hole. Plant the seed with the pointy end of the seed up. The root tip will grow down and push the seedling up. A freshly sprouted cannabis seed is super vulnerable, so make sure you treat it very carefully.

Be sure the seeds are about 2,5 mm below the surface and then cover it with a small amount of growing medium (just enough to block the light).

After planting a marijuana seed it usually takes a few days to emerge from the ground. Put it in a place with sufficient light and then just wait until the magic happens. Ta-da, and there you have it… your own alive and kicking little cannabis plant.

After emerging, be sure your plant has access to full, bright light and keep the soil moist at all times. If your plant has grown a few centimeters large, it can start hanging down. If that is the case, just plant it a bit deeper in the ground (up to the neck) so that your plant is firmly in the ground again.

Germinating Marijuana seeds using a (drinking) cup

Here is another way to let your seeds germinate. For this method, fill a cup with slightly warm water.

Important: use distilled (purified) or bottled water

For the best germination results use distilled (purified) or bottled water that offers consistent content. It is free of chemicals and salt that could harm germination and is often recommended by agricultural experts.

Once you've filled your cup with water, add your seeds to it, and simply put it in the living room so that it shifts to the temperature of the environment.

Once you see the radicle, it is time to plant the seeds in a suitable growing media.

And even though we’ve already mentioned it… treat your little ones very carefully. Treat them gently when checking the seeds and when you have to move them. The taproot is very fragile so avoid touching it as it easily snaps of.

Each grower has its own preference when it comes to germination and growing. The key point is to understand the needs of the plant. That, and a little bit of patience...

Enjoy!

Breaking news: Canada can not handle run on legal marijuana

Recreational marijuana is now legal across Canada. If you have not lived in total isolation in recent weeks, you can’t possibly have missed it! But now there’s another issue: stores are often empty because of slow procedures and a lack of government-grown cannabis. Even if new companies with a license have everything in order it can still take almost a year before they can deliver to consumers.

There are currently six hundred applications from government companies to sell cannabis to consumers. With the growing demand for cannabis in Canada since the legalisation, pot producers quickly get through their already small stocks.

Massive marijuana orders 

The Ontario Cannabis Store, led by the government, received 100,000 orders for processed plants and pre-rolled joints in the first 24 hours after the legalization of marijuana in Canada. That is more than what all provinces together received as requests beforethe legalization. In Quebec, 140,000 orders were made in just one week.Because of the illegal trade it was not clear how big the demand would be. According to the Canadian government, there are few companies that can meet the demand. Almost all provinces receive less cannabis than they have requested.

Why not grow your own marijuana?

Whether you live in Canada, or in an entirely different part of the world... nobody wants to be totally dependent on his or her supplier, right? So why not grow your own! Growing marijuana (or cannabis, or pot, or weed, or whatever you want to call it) from seed to plant is not nearly as difficult as you may think and it is really fun to do. You take care of your own stach, fully control the quality and you’ll even have a fun new hobby. But as experts we have to warn you about that last one... the growing process itself is already very addictive!

Buy cannabis seeds online

Amsterdam Marijuana Seedbank has a large range, high-quality seeds in stock. For newbies, but also for the more experienced gardeners among us. So which strain to choose? It’s almost impossible to make a wrong choice. The choice is endless and every strain has its own qualities. Just browse through our website, check the descriptions and choose the marijuana seeds that suit you best.

Go ahead and before you know it you are your own, independent supplier. Sounds good, right?

Have fun growing!

Giving marijuana plants too much water will kill them. You only need to water when the top 2-3" of soil becomes dry. If you choose to grow through hydroponics, you will likely never over-water your plants due to how well rockwool drains. So long as your rockwool cubes aren't submerged in water, you will not realistically over-water your plants. This includes both the drip method of hydroponics and the flood then drain method.

2. Being too talkitive

We recommend you do not tell anyone-especially because you will only make them jealous. Keeping this information to yourself is the best route to avoid the wrong person finding out.

3. Keeping your hands off!

Marijuana plant growers need patience. It can take up to ten days to sprout marijuana seeds. If possible, use a growing medium instead of paper towels to germinate seeds because of the touching required with paper towels. Proper marijuana germination

4. Using seeded marijuana for new marijuana plants

This is a common grower disappointment. Remember how much genetics play into what your final product becomes. It is far more important to buy good seeds than to use the perfect environment. Most marijuana seeds will create hermaphroditic plants with many late-flowering females and early-flowering males. Otherwise this would mean that the grower had an unusually late-flowering male plant that the marijuana plant grower overlooked. If you are trying to avoid this outcome, buy reputable marijuana seeds from legitimate seedbanks.

5. Over-fertilization

This is easy to do because not everyone keeps accurate notes as to when fertilization occurred. Once you have two spiked leaves coming out of the seedling, follow what your fertilizer bottle says. DO NOT USE FERTILIZER WITH EVERY WATERING! Begin with a 25% dilution rate and slowly increase the fertilizer. Use organic fertilizers when possible because it burns better and has better flavor. Leaves that fold or twist need watering with pure, fresh water.

6. Under-fertilization

While this does not happen as often, it still does happen. If you prefer using "just enough" fertilizer, then make sure you are using organics to optimize what your plants receive. Blood meal, bone meal and slow-releasing fertilizers will help your plants get the proper nutrients.

7. Avoiding cloned marijuana plants

Begin your new plants from marijuana seeds. You do not want to go through the pains that bugs or diseases will cause to your marijuana plants. Growers have grown marijuana plants indoors for many years without any pest problems. Now, if you think about where a cutting may come from, you have to include the potential problems and sprays that the other grower has been using, which will change the final product you get and how that product tastes.

8. Know when your plants should be started-indoors and out!

This is true for many reasons. If you plant to grow outdoors, you want to aim for June 1st. Many people think if they start their plants outside earlier that they will be rewarded with bigger buds from their marijuana plants, but this is typically incorrect. If you start your marijuana plants in the early parts of spring, you will end up with large plants that take quite a bit longer to flower. The best vegetative period is when sunlight lasts longer than the darkness. Then when the times start to balance out is when the plant realizes it is time to flower. If the plant is started earlier, it still has to wait for balancing of light and dark to start flowering. The sunlight having gone down some is going to create thinner plants instead of the bushier and fuller plants and buds that would have come from a plant that was started earlier.

On the other hand, marijuana plants that went outside later would grow like crazy due to the strong sunlight that comes during the heat of summer. This would leave you with heavy plants that give you a better end result than ones started early in the year. Indoor plants have the same issues but for differing reasons. With indoor marijuana plants, lights stay more shallow on the plants and stunt the growth, making the marijuana grower wait longer for a smaller yield.

9. Negative environments can harm marijuana plants

Proper air circulation is a must for healthy marijuana plants, no matter if you are leaving light on for 24 hours a day or doing 12 hours of direct light and 12 hours without any light. The air should be replaced around all of your marijuana plants at most every ten minutes. The ideal humidity is between 30 and 70%, and the ideal temperature ranges are between 75°F and 85°F | 24°C and 29°C. Seedlings also require wind or a fan to help strengthen the plant's stems.

10. Early harvests

We understand your temptation of wanting to harvest your beautiful buds and leaves as soon as you see it all coming together, but if you wait, you will be rewarded. The last 25% of weight gains for your crop will occur over the last two weeks before harvesting should occur. You want your marijuana plants to be completely done growing and your pistils to have gone from all white to 50-75% brown before you harvest your crop. 

Yellowing of young leaves

Suspected element

Iron [Fe]

Symptoms:

Marijuana leaves on growing shoots turn pale and veins remain dark green. pH imbalances make iron insoluble.

Solution

Foliar feed with chemical fertilizer containing Iron [Fe] or rusty water.

Manganese [Mn]

Symptoms

Necrotic and yellow spots form on top marijuana leaves. Magnese [Mn] deficiency occurs when large amounts of Magnesium [Mg] are present in the soil.

Solution

Foliar feed with any chemical fertilizer containing Magnese [Mn].

Yellowing of middle leaves

Suspected element

Molybdenum [Mb]

Symptoms

Yellowing of middle marijuana leaves.

Solution

Foliar feed with chemical fertilizer containing Molybdenum [Mb].

Yellowing of older leaves

Suspected element

Nitrogen [N]

Symptoms

Pale marijuana plants, red stems, smaller growth. Rapid yellowing of lower leaves progressing up the marijuana plant.

Solution

Add any chemical fertilizer containing Nitrogen [N]. Treated marijuana plants will recover in about a week.

Pottasium [K]

Symptoms

Affected marijuana plants are usually tallest and appear to be most vigorous. Necrotic spots form on lower marijuana leaves. Red stems. Leaves appear pale or yellow.

Solution

Add chemical fertilizer containing Potassium [K].

Manganese [Mn]

Symptoms

Necrotic and yellow spots form on top marijuana leaves. Magnese [Mn] deficiency occurs when large amounts of Magnesium [Mg] are present in the soil.

Solution

Foliar feed with any chemical fertilizer containing Magnese [Mn].

Molybdenum [Mb]

Symptoms

Yellowing of middle marijuana leaves.

Solution

Foliar feed with chemical fertilizer containing Molybdenum [Mb].

Yellowing between veins

Suspected element

Manganese [Mn]

Symptoms

Necrotic and yellow spots form on top marijuana leaves. Magnese [Mn] deficiency occurs when large amounts of Magnesium [Mg] are present in the soil.

Solution

Foliar feed with any chemical fertilizer containing Magnese [Mn].

Manganese [Mn]

Symptoms

Necrotic and yellow spots form on top marijuana leaves. Magnese [Mn] deficiency occurs when large amounts of Magnesium [Mg] are present in the soil.

Solution

Foliar feed with any chemical fertilizer containing Magnese [Mn].

Old leaves drop

Suspected element

Nitrogen [N]

Symptoms

Pale marijuana plants, red stems, smaller growth. Rapid yellowing of lower leaves progressing up the marijuana plant.

Solution

Add any chemical fertilizer containing Nitrogen [N]. Treated marijuana plants will recover in about a week.

Leaves curl over

Suspected element

Magnesium [Mg]

Symptoms

Lower cannabis leaves yellow and may even turn white while veins remain dark green. Blades die and curl upward.

Solution

This can be quickly resolved by watering with one tablespoon Epsom salts per gallon | 3.5 of water. Until you can correct nutrient lockout, try foliar feeding.

Leaves curl under

Suspected element

Pottasium [K]

Symptoms

Affected marijuana plants are usually tallest and appear to be most vigorous. Necrotic spots form on lower marijuana leaves. Red stems. Leaves appear pale or yellow.

Solution

Add chemical fertilizer containing Potassium [K].

Over fertilization

Symptoms

Causes marijuana leaf tips to appear yellow or burnt.

Solution

To correct soil should be flushed with three gallons | 10 liters of water per one gallon | 3.5 liter of soil.

Copper [Cu]

Symptoms

Fungicide, sulfate [Cocus]

Solution

Apply foliar.

Tips burn on young leaves

Suspected element

Boron [B]

Symptoms

Growing marijuana shoots turn grey or die. Growing shoots appear burnt.

Solution

Treat with one teaspoon of Boric acid [sold as eyewash] per gallon | 3.5 liter of water.

Tips burn on older leaves

Suspected element

Nitrogen [N]

Symptoms

Pale marijuana plants, red stems, smaller growth. Rapid yellowing of lower leaves progressing up the marijuana plant.

Solution

Add any chemical fertilizer containing Nitrogen [N]. Treated marijuana plants will recover in about a week.

Zinc [Zn]

Symptoms

White areas form at the marijuana leaf tips and between veins. Occurs in alkaline soils.

Solution

Zinc [Zn] deficiency can be treated by burying galvanized nails in the soil. Chemical fertilizer containing Zinc [Zn] can also be used.

Young leaves wrinkle and/or curl

Suspected element

Pottasium [K]

Symptoms

Affected marijuana plants are usually tallest and appear to be most vigorous. Necrotic spots form on lower marijuana leaves. Red stems. Leaves appear pale or yellow.

Solution

Add chemical fertilizer containing Potassium [K].

Boron [B]

Symptoms

Growing marijuana shoots turn grey or die. Growing shoots appear burnt.

Solution

Treat with one teaspoon of Boric acid [sold as eyewash] per gallon | 3.5 liter of water.

Zinc [Zn]

Symptoms

White areas form at the marijuana leaf tips and between veins. Occurs in alkaline soils.

Solution

Zinc [Zn] deficiency can be treated by burying galvanized nails in the soil. Chemical fertilizer containing Zinc [Zn] can also be used.

Molybdenum [Mb]

Symptoms

Yellowing of middle marijuana leaves.

Solution

Foliar feed with chemical fertilizer containing Molybdenum [Mb].

Necrosis

Suspected element

Magnesium [Mg]

Symptoms

Lower cannabis leaves yellow and may even turn white while veins remain dark green. Blades die and curl upward.

Solution

This can be quickly resolved by watering with one tablespoon Epsom salts per gallon | 3.5 of water. Until you can correct nutrient lockout, try foliar feeding.

Iron [Fe]

Symptoms

Marijuana leaves on growing shoots turn pale and veins remain dark green. pH imbalances make iron insoluble.

Solution

Foliar feed with chemical fertilizer containing Iron [Fe] or rusty water.

Pottasium [K]

Symptoms

Affected marijuana plants are usually tallest and appear to be most vigorous. Necrotic spots form on lower marijuana leaves. Red stems. Leaves appear pale or yellow.

Solution

Add chemical fertilizer containing Potassium [K].

Zinc [Zn]

Symptoms

White areas form at the marijuana leaf tips and between veins. Occurs in alkaline soils.

Solution

Zinc [Zn] deficiency can be treated by burying galvanized nails in the soil. Chemical fertilizer containing Zinc [Zn] can also be used.

Manganese [Mn]

Symptoms

Necrotic and yellow spots form on top marijuana leaves. Magnese [Mn] deficiency occurs when large amounts of Magnesium [Mg] are present in the soil.

Solution

Foliar feed with any chemical fertilizer containing Magnese [Mn].

Growth stunted

Suspected element

Nitrogen [N]

Symptoms

Pale marijuana plants, red stems, smaller growth. Rapid yellowing of lower leaves progressing up the marijuana plant.

Solution

Add any chemical fertilizer containing Nitrogen [N]. Treated marijuana plants will recover in about a week.

Phosphorus [P]

Symptoms

Slow or stunted growth, red stems. Smaller marijuana leaves that are dark green. Lower marijuana leaves are yellow and die.

Solution

Add chemical fertilizer containing Phosphorus [P]. Affected marijuana leaves will not show recovery but new growth will appear normal.

Dark/purple color

Suspected element

Phosphorus [P]

Symptoms

Slow or stunted growth, red stems. Smaller marijuana leaves that are dark green. Lower marijuana leaves are yellow and die.

Solution

Add chemical fertilizer containing Phosphorus [P]. Affected marijuana leaves will not show recovery but new growth will appear normal.

Pale color

Suspected element

Nitrogen [N]

Symptoms

Pale marijuana plants, red stems, smaller growth. Rapid yellowing of lower leaves progressing up the marijuana plant.

Solution

Add any chemical fertilizer containing Nitrogen [N]. Treated marijuana plants will recover in about a week.

Molybdenum [Mb]

Symptoms

Yellowing of middle marijuana leaves.

Solution

Foliar feed with chemical fertilizer containing Molybdenum [Mb].

Mottling

Suspected element

Zinc [Zn]

Symptoms

White areas form at the marijuana leaf tips and between veins. Occurs in alkaline soils.

Solution

Zinc [Zn] deficiency can be treated by burying galvanized nails in the soil. Chemical fertilizer containing Zinc [Zn] can also be used.

Spindly

Suspected element

Nitrogen [N]

Symptoms

Pale marijuana plants, red stems, smaller growth. Rapid yellowing of lower leaves progressing up the marijuana plant

Solution

Add any chemical fertilizer containing Nitrogen [N]. Treated marijuana plants will recover in about a week.

Soft stems

Suspected element

Nitrogen [N]

Symptoms

Pale marijuana plants, red stems, smaller growth. Rapid yellowing of lower leaves progressing up the marijuana plant.

Solution

Add any chemical fertilizer containing Nitrogen [N]. Treated marijuana plants will recover in about a week.

Pottasium [K]

Symptoms

Affected marijuana plants are usually tallest and appear to be most vigorous. Necrotic spots form on lower marijuana leaves. Red stems. Leaves appear pale or yellow.

Solution

Add chemical fertilizer containing Potassium [K].

Hard/brittle stems

Suspected element

Phosphorus [P]

Symptoms

Slow or stunted growth, red stems. Smaller marijuana leaves that are dark green. Lower marijuana leaves are yellow and die.

Solution

Add chemical fertilizer containing Phosphorus [P]. Affected marijuana leaves will not show recovery but new growth will appear normal.

Pottasium [K]

Symptoms

Affected marijuana plants are usually tallest and appear to be most vigorous. Necrotic spots form on lower marijuana leaves. Red stems. Leaves appear pale or yellow.

Solution

Add chemical fertilizer containing Potassium [K].

Tips die

Suspected element

Pottasium [K]

Symptoms

Affected marijuana plants are usually tallest and appear to be most vigorous. Necrotic spots form on lower marijuana leaves. Red stems. Leaves appear pale or yellow.

Solution

Add chemical fertilizer containing Potassium [K].

Molybdenum [Mb]

Symptoms

Yellowing of middle marijuana leaves.

Solution

Foliar feed with chemical fertilizer containing Molybdenum [Mb].

Bad roots

Suspected element

Phosphorus [P]

Symptoms

Slow or stunted growth, red stems. Smaller marijuana leaves that are dark green. Lower marijuana leaves are yellow and die.

Solution

Add chemical fertilizer containing Phosphorus [P]. Affected marijuana leaves will not show recovery but new growth will appear normal.

Wilting

Suspected element

Copper [Cu]

Symptoms

Fungicide, sulfate [Cocus]

Solution

Apply foliar. 

The availability of too much or too little of one or more required nutrients causes nutrient disorders. There is a golden rule for the proper absorption of nutrients namely, the pH standard is between 5 and 7 [healthy ph] and TDS between 800-300 - pmm.

The elements

Marijuana needs more than 20 elements to grow into a healthy plant. There are elements which are regulated by the plant itself such as oxygen, carbon and hydrogen. the plant absorbs this from air and water. The minerals are added by the grower as a nutrient solution.

The primary or macro- nutrients. Nitrogen [N], Phosphorus [P] and Potassium [K] are the elements marijuana plants use the most. Calcium [Ca] and magnesium [Mg] are secondary nutrients and used in smaller amounts. Iron [Fe], sulfur [S], manganese [Mn], boron [B], molybdenum [Mb], zinc [Zn] and copper [Cu] are micro-nutrients or trace elements.

Trace elements are found in most soils. Rockwool [hydroponic] fertilizers must contain these trace elements, as they do not normally exist in sufficient quantities in rockwool or water. Other elements also play a part in marijuana plant growth. Aluminum, chlorine, cobalt, iodine, selenium, silicon, sodium and vanadium are not normally included in nutrient mixes. They are required in very minute amounts that are usually present as impurities in the water supply or mixed along with other nutrients.

Note!

The nutrients must be soluble [able to be dissolved in water] and go into solution.

Macro-nutrients

Nitrogen [N]

Nitrogen [N] is primary to marijuana plant growth. Marijuana plants convert Nitrogen [N] to make proteins essential to new cell growth. Nitrogen [N] is mainly responsible for leaf and stem growth as well as overall size and vigor. Nitrogen [N] moves easily to active young cannabis buds, shoots and leaves and slower to older marijuana leaves. Deficiency signs show first in older marijuana leaves. They turn a pale yellow and may die. New growth becomes weak and spindly. An abundance of Nitrogen [N] will cause soft, weak growth and even delay marijuana production if it is allowed to accumulate.

Phosphorus [P]

Phosphorus [P] is necessary for photosynthesis and works as a catalyst for energy transfer within the marijuana plant. Phosphorus [P] helps build strong roots and is vital for marijuana flower and seed production. Highest levels of Phosphorus [P] are used during marijuana germination, seedling growth and flowering. Deficiencies will show in older marijuana leaves first. Leaves turn deep green on a uniformly smaller, stunted marijuana plant. Leaves show brown or purple spots. Note: Phosphorus [P] flocculates when concentrated and combined with calcium [Ca].

Potassium [K]

Potassium [K] activates the manufacture and movement of sugars and starches, as well as growth by cell division. Potassium [K] increases chlorophyll in foliage and helps regulate stomata openings so marijuana plants make better use of light and air. Potassium [K] encourages strong root growth, water uptake and triggers enzymes that fight disease. Potassium [K] is necessary during all stages of marijuana growth. Deficiency signs of potassium [K] are: Marijuana plants are the tallest and appear healthy. Older cannabis leaves mottle and yellow between veins, followed by whole marijuana leaves that turn dark yellow and die. Potassium [K] is usually locked out by high salinity.

Secondary nutrients

Calcium [Ca]

Calcium [Ca] is fundamental to cell manufacture and growth. Soil gardeners use dolomite lime, which contains calcium [Ca] and magnesium [Mg] , to keep the soil sweet or buffered. Rockwool gardeners use calcium [Ca] to buffer excess nutrients. Calcium [Ca] moves slowly within the marijuana plant and tends to concentrate in roots and older growth. Consequently young growth shows deficiency signs first. Deficient leaf tips, edges and new growth will turn brown and die back. If too much calcium [Ca] is applied early in life, it will stunt growth as well. It will also flocculate when a concentrated form is combined with potassium [K].

Magnesium [Mg]

Magnesium [Mg] is found as a central atom in the chlorophyll molecule and is essential to the absorption of light energy. Magnesium [Mg] aids in the utilization of nutrients, neutralizes acids and toxic compounds produced by the marijuana plant. Deficiency signs of magnesium [Mg] are: Older marijuana leaves yellow from the center outward, while veins remain green on deficient marijuana plants. Leaf tips and edges may discolor and curl upward. Growing tips turn lime green if the deficiency progresses to the top of the marijuana plant.

Trace elements

Boron [B]

Boron [B] is necessary for cells to divide and protein formation. It also plays an active role in pollination and marijuana seed production.

Copper [Cu]

Copper [Cu] is a catalyst for several enzymes. A shortage of copper [Cu] makes new growth wilt and causes irregular growth. Excesses of copper [Cu] causes sudden death. Copper [Cu] is also used as a fungicide and wards off insects and diseases because of this property.

Iron [Fe]

Iron [Fe] is a key catalyst in chlorophyll production and is used in photosynthesis. A lack of Iron [Fe] turns marijuana leaves pale yellow or white while the veins remain green. Iron [Fe] is difficult for marijuana plants to absorb and moves slowly within the marijuana plant. Always use chelated [immediately available to the marijuana plant] iron [Fe] in nutrient mixes.

Manganese [Mn]

Manganese [Mn] works with marijuana plant enzymes to reduce nitrates before producing proteins. A lack of manganese [Mn] turns young marijuana leaves a mottled yellow or brown.

Molybdenum [Mb]

Molybdenum [Mb] helps form proteins and aids the marijuana plant's ability to fix Nitrogen [N] from the air. A deficiency causes marijuana leaves to turn pale and fringes to appear scorched. Irregular marijuana leaf growth may also result.

Sulphur [S]

Sulphur [S] is a component of marijuana plant proteins and plays a role in root growth and chlorophyll supply. Distributed relatively evenly with largest amounts in marijuana leaves which affects the flavour and odor in many marijuana plants. Sulphur [S], like calcium [Ca], moves little within marijuana plant tissue and the first signs of a deficiency are pale young marijuana leaves. Growth is slow but leaves tend to get brittle and stay narrower than normal.

Zinc [Zn]

Zinc [Zn] is a catalyst and must be present in minute amounts for marijuana plant growth. A lack of Zinc [Zn] results in stunting, yellowing and curling of small marijuana leaves. An excess of Zinc [Zn] is uncommon but very toxic and causes wilting or death.

These nutrients are mixed together to form a complete marijuana plant fertilizer. The mix contains all the nutrients in the proper ratios to give marijuana plants all they need for lush, rapid growth. The fertilizer is dissolved in water to make a nutrient solution. Water transports these soluble nutrients into contact with the marijuana plant roots. In the presence of oxygen and water, the nutrients are absorbed through the root hairs.

Solutions to nutrient deficiencies [the nutrients]

Nitrogen [N]

Marijuana plants need lots of Nitrogen [N] during vegetative period, but it's easy to overdo it. Added too much? Flush the soil with plain water. Soluble Nitrogen [N] [especially nitrate] is the form that's the most quickly available to the roots, while insoluble Nitrogen [N] [like urea] first needs to be broken down by microbes in the soil before the roots can absorb it. Avoid excessive ammonium nitrogen, which can interfere with other nutrients. Too much Nitrogen [N] delays marijuana flowering. Marijuana plants should be allowed to become N-deficient late in flowering for best flavour.

Phosphorus [P]

Some deficiency during marijuana flowering is normal, but too much shouldn't be tolerated. Red petioles and stems are a normal, genetic characteristic for many varieties, plus it can also be a co-symptom of Nitrogen [N], Potassium [K] and Magnesium [Mg] deficiencies, so red stems are not a foolproof sign of Phosphorus [P] deficiency. Too much Phosphorus [P] can lead to Iron [Fe] deficiency.

Potassium [K]

Too much sodium [Na] displaces Potassium [K], causing a Potassium K deficiency. Sources of high salinity are: baking soda [sodium bicarbonate "pH-up"], too much manure, and the use of water-softening filters [which should not be used]. If the problem is Sodium [Na], flush the soil. Potassium [K] can get locked up from too much Calcium [Ca] or ammonium nitrogen, and possibly cold weather.

Magnesium [Mg]

Magnesium [Mg] deficiency is pretty common since marijuana uses lots of it and many fertilizers don't have enough of it. Magnesium [Mg] deficiency is easily fixed with ¼ teaspoon per gallon | 3.5 liters of Epsom salts [first powdered and dissolved in some hot water] or foliar feed at ½ teaspoon per 0.25 gallon | 0.8 liter. When mixing up soil, use 2 teaspoons dolomite lime per gallon | 3.5 liter of soil for Magnesium [Mg]. Magnesium [Mg] can get locked-up by too much Calcium [Ca], Cl or ammonium nitrogen. Don't overdo Magnesium [Mg] or you'll lock up other nutrients.

Manganese [Mn]

Manganese [Mn] gets locked out when the pH is too high, and when there's too much Iron [Fe]. Use chelated Manganese [Mn].

Iron [Fe]

Iron [Fe] is unavailable to marijuana plants when the pH of the water or soil is too high. If deficient, lower the pH to about 6.5 [for rockwool, about 5.7], and check that you're not adding too much Phosphorus [P], which can lock up Iron [Fe]. Use Iron [Fe] that's chelated for maximum availability. Read your fertilizer's ingredients - chelated Iron [Fe] might read something like "iron EDTA". To much Iron [Fe] without adding enough Phosphorus [P] can cause a Phosphorus [P] deficiency.

Boron [B]

Growing marijuana shoots turn grey or die. Growing shoots appear burnt. Treat with one teaspoon of Boric acid [sold as eyewash] per gallon | 3.5 liter of water.

Calcium [Ca]

Lack of Calcium [Ca] in the soil results in the soil becoming too acid. This leads to Magnesium [Mg] or Iron [Fe] deficiency or very slow stunted growth. Treat by foliar feeding with one teaspoon of dolomatic lime per 0.25 gallons | 0.8 liter of water until condition improves.

Zinc [Zn]

Also gets locked out due to high pH. Zinc [Zn], Iron [Fe], and Manganese [Mn] deficiencies often occur together, and are usually from a high pH. Don't overdo the micro nutrients lower the pH if that's the problem so the nutrients become available. Foliar feed if the marijuana plant looks real bad. Use chelated Zinc [Zn].

Check your water

Crusty faucets and shower heads mean your water is "hard", usually due to too many minerals. Tap water with a TDS [total dissolved solids] level of more than around 200ppm [parts per million] is "hard" and should be looked into, especially if your marijuana plants have a chronic problem. Ask your water company for an analysis listing, which will usually list the pH, TDS, and mineral levels [as well as the pollutants, carcinogens, etc] for the tap water in your area. This is a common request, especially in this day and age, so it shouldn't raise an eyebrow. Regular water filters will not reduce a high TDS level, but the costlier reverse-osmosis units, distillers, and de-ionizers will. A digital TDS meter [or EC = electrical conductivity meter] is an incredibly useful tool for monitoring the nutrient levels of nutrient solution, and will pay for itself before you know it.

pH

The pH of water after adding any nutrients should be around 5.9 to 6.5 [in rockwool, 5.5 to 6.1] . Generally speaking, the micro nutrients Iron [Fe], Zinc [Zn], Manganese [Mn], Copper [Cu] get locked out at a high pH [alkaline] above 7.0, while the major nutrients Nitrogen [N], Phosphorus [P], Potassium [K], Magnesium [Mg] can be less available in acidic soil or water [below 5.0]. Tap water is often too alkaline. Soils with lots of peat or other organic matter in them tend to get too acidic, which some dolomite lime will help fix. Soil test kits vary in accuracy, and generally the more you pay the better the accuracy. For the water, color-based pH test kits from aquarium stores are inexpensive, but inaccurate. Invest in a digital pH meter, preferably a waterproof one. You won't regret it.

Over fertilization

Causes marijuana leaf tips to appear yellow or burnt. To correct soil should be flushed with 3 gallons | 10 liters of water per one gallon | 3.5 liter of soil.

General feeding tips

Marijuana pot plants are very adaptable, but a general rule of thumb is to use more Nitrogen [N] and less Phosphorus [P] during the vegetative period, and the exact opposite during the flowering period. For the vegetative period try a N.P.K ratio of about 10.7.8 [which of course is the same ratio as 20.14.16], and for flowering marijuana plants, 4.8.8. Check the pH after adding nutrients. If you use a reservoir, keep it circulating and change it every two weeks. A general guideline for TDS levels is as follows: marijuana seedlings = 50 to 150 ppm [parts per million]; unrooted marijuana clones = 100 to 350 ppm [parts per million]; small marijuana plants = 400 to 800 ppm [parts per million]; large marijuana plants = 900 to 1800 ppm [parts per million]; last week of flowering = taper off to plain water. These numbers are just a guideline, and many factors can change the actual level the marijuana plants will need. Certain nutrients are "invisible" to TDS meters, especially organics, so use TDS level only as an estimate of actual nutrient levels. When in doubt about a new fertilizer, follow the fertilizer's directions for feeding tomatoes. Grow a few tomato or radish plants nearby for comparison.

Other things

Cold

Cold weather [below 50°F | 10°C] can lock up Phosphorus [P]. Some marijuana varieties, like equatorial sativa's, don't take well to cold weather. If you can keep the roots warmer, the marijuana plant will be able to take cooler temperatures than it otherwise could.

Heat

If the grow lights are too close to the marijuana plant, the tops may be curled, dry, and look burnt, mimicking a nutrient problem. Your hand should not feel hot after a minute when you hold it at the top of the marijuana plants. Raise the lights and/or aim a fan at the hot zone. Room temperatures should be kept under 85°F | 29°C or 90°F | 32°C if you add additional CO².

Humidity

Thin, shriveled marijuana leaves can be from low humidity. 40 to 80% is usually fine.

Mold and fungus

Dark patchy areas on marijuana leaves and marijuana buds can be mold. Lower the humidity and increase the ventilation if mold is a problem. Remove any dead marijuana leaves, wherever they are. Keep your marijuana garden clean.

Insects

White spots on the tops of leaves can mean spider mites underneath.

Sprays

Foliar sprays can have a "magnifying glass" effect under bright lights, causing small white, yellow or burnt spots which can be confused with a nutrient problem. Some sprays can also cause chemical reactions.

Insufficient light

Tall, stretching marijuana plants are usually from using the wrong kind of light. Don't use regular incandescent bulbs ["grow bulbs"] or halogens to grow marijuana. Invest in fluorescent lighting [good] or HID lighting [much better] which supply the high-intensity light that marijuana needs for good growth and tight marijuana buds. Even better, grow in sunlight.

Clones

Yellowing marijuana leaves on unrooted clones can be from too much light, or the stem may not be firmly touching the rooting medium. Turn off any CO² until they root. Too much fertilizer can shrivel or wilt marijuana clones. Plain tap water is fine.

Symptoms

Yellow upper leaves

Suspected element

Iron [Fe]

Symptoms: Marijuana leaves on growing shoots turn pale and veins remain dark green. pH imbalances make iron insoluble.

Solution: Foliar feed with chemical fertilizer containing Iron [Fe] or rusty water.

Sulfur [S]

Symptoms: Marijuana plants suffering from Sulfur [S] deficiencies exhibit yellowing of new growth.

Solution: Mix one tablespoon of Epsom salts per gallon | 3.5 liter of water until condition improves.

Yellowing of middle leaves

Suspected element

Molybdenum [Mb]

Symptoms: Yellowing of middle marijuana leaves.

Solution: Foliar feed with chemical fertilizer containing Molybdenum [Mb].

Yellowing of lower leaves

Suspected element

Nitrogen [N]

Symptoms: Pale marijuana plants, red stems, smaller growth. Rapid yellowing of lower leaves progressing up the marijuana plant.

Solution: Add any chemical fertilizer containing Nitrogen [N]. Treated marijuana plants will recover in about a week.

Pottasium [K]

Symptoms: Affected marijuana plants are usually tallest and appear to be most vigorous. Necrotic spots form on lower marijuana leaves. Red stems. Leaves appear pale or yellow.

Solution: Add chemical fertilizer containing Potassium [K].

Red stems

Suspected element

Nitrogen [N]

Symptoms: Pale marijuana plants, red stems, smaller growth. Rapid yellowing of lower leaves progressing up the marijuana plant.

Solution: Add any chemical fertilizer containing Nitrogen [N]. Treated marijuana plants will recover in about a week.

Pottasium [K]

Symptoms: Affected marijuana plants are usually tallest and appear to be most vigorous. Necrotic spots form on lower marijuana leaves. Red stems. Leaves appear pale or yellow.

Solution: Add chemical fertilizer containing Potassium [K].

Necrosis

Suspected element

Magnesium [Mg]

Symptoms: Lower cannabis leaves yellow and may even turn white while veins remain dark green. Blades die and curl upward.

Solution: This can be quickly resolved by watering with one tablespoon Epsom salts per gallon | 3.5 of water. Until you can correct nutrient lockout, try foliar feeding.

Iron [Fe]

Symptoms: Marijuana leaves on growing shoots turn pale and veins remain dark green. pH imbalances make iron insoluble.

Solution: Foliar feed with chemical fertilizer containing Iron [Fe] or rusty water.

Pottasium [K]

Symptoms: Affected marijuana plants are usually tallest and appear to be most vigorous. Necrotic spots form on lower marijuana leaves. Red stems. Leaves appear pale or yellow.

Solution: Add chemical fertilizer containing Potassium [K].

Zinc [Zn]

Symptoms: White areas form at the marijuana leaf tips and between veins. Occurs in alkaline soils.

Solution: Zinc [Zn] deficiency can be treated by burying galvanized nails in the soil. Chemical fertilizer containing Zinc [Zn] can also be used.

Manganese [Mn]

Symptoms: Necrotic and yellow spots form on top marijuana leaves. Magnese [Mn] deficiency occurs when large amounts of Magnesium [Mg] are present in the soil.

Solution: Foliar feed with any chemical fertilizer containing Magnese [Mn].

Spots

Suspected element

Manganese [Mn]

Symptoms: Necrotic and yellow spots form on top marijuana leaves. Magnese [Mn] deficiency occurs when large amounts of Magnesium [Mg] are present in the soil.

Solution: Foliar feed with any chemical fertilizer containing Magnese [Mn].

Growing shoots die

Suspected element

Boron [B]

Symptoms: Growing marijuana shoots turn grey or die. Growing shoots appear burnt.

Solution: Treat with one teaspoon of Boric acid [sold as eyewash] per gallon | 3.5 liter of water.

White leaf tips

Suspected element

Magnesium [Mg]

Symptoms: Lower cannabis leaves yellow and may even turn white while veins remain dark green. Blades die and curl upward.

Solution: This can be quickly resolved by watering with one tablespoon Epsom salts per gallon | 3.5 of water. Until you can correct nutrient lockout, try foliar feeding.

Zinc [Zn]

Symptoms: White areas form at the marijuana leaf tips and between veins. Occurs in alkaline soils.

Solution: Zinc [Zn] deficiency can be treated by burying galvanized nails in the soil. Chemical fertilizer containing Zinc [Zn] can also be used.

Stunded growth

Suspected element

Nitrogen [N]

Symptoms: Pale marijuana plants, red stems, smaller growth. Rapid yellowing of lower leaves progressing up the marijuana plant.

Solution: Add any chemical fertilizer containing Nitrogen [N]. Treated marijuana plants will recover in about a week.

Phosphorus [P]

Symptoms: Slow or stunted growth, red stems. Smaller marijuana leaves that are dark green. Lower marijuana leaves are yellow and die.

Solution: Add chemical fertilizer containing Phosphorus [P]. Affected marijuana leaves will not show recovery but new growth will appear normal.

Deformed new growth

Suspected element

Phosphorus [P]

Symptoms: Slow or stunted growth, red stems. Smaller marijuana leaves that are dark green. Lower marijuana leaves are yellow and die.

Solution: Add chemical fertilizer containing Phosphorus [P]. Affected marijuana leaves will not show recovery but new growth will appear normal.

Yellow leaf tips

Suspected element

Over fertilization

Symptoms: Causes marijuana leaf tips to appear yellow or burnt.

Solution: To correct soil should be flushed with three gallons | 10 liters of water per one gallon | 3.5 liter of soil.

Twisted growth

Suspected element

Boron [B]

Symptoms: Growing marijuana shoots turn grey or die. Growing shoots appear burnt.

Solution: Treat with one teaspoon of Boric acid [sold as eyewash] per gallon | 3.5 liter of water. 

Heat stress on marijuana leaves typically shows up by a browning of the edges of marijuana leaves. Nutrient burn and heat burn look very similar, however, heat burn on marijuana leaves will show up only near marijuana plant tops that are nearest to heat lamps. The only way to remedy this situation is by moving your marijuana plants and your light sources away from each other.

Burn from nutrient solution on marijuana leaves

Our guess would be the marijuana bud shown here experienced burn from the nutrient solution. You will typically see results like this on your marijuana plants when your concentration of nutrients is a bit too high. You can also see these symptoms if you accidentally get some nutrient solution on your marijuana leaves while you have your HID lamps turned on, burning the marijuana leaves.

This is a common ailment to see on homegrown marijuana plants. Early stage nutrient solution burn indicates your marijuana plants are full to the brim with nutrients and you are still feeding them a bit more. If you lower your concentration within your nutrient solution slightly, most instances of this issue should disappear. If you never see your plant look worse than this example, you will not likely have any issues with your marijuana plants.

Over-fertilization. Giving too much fertilizer will allow the excess nutrients to build up within your marijuana leaves, leaving them dry and burnt. To remedy this issue, flush your marijuana plants with clean and pure water as soon as possible, allowing your roots time to recover, preventing future damage.

With a drip system, continuously pumping the nutrient solution through the growing medium this usually saturates the root system. You may find better success with occasional feedings of around 30 minutes during each 2-3 hour cycle. This change would give your marijuana plants the ability to get air exposure which will help prevent rotting of the roots, among other issues. They are sitting within an H² O² solution that is being used in an attempt to fix the issue of nutrient solution burn. Fish tank air stones can also help add necessary oxygen to your nutrient solution.

The fluctuation of pH

Over-fertilization or an imbalanced pH look almost the same. An imbalanced pH arises because of salts that do not dissolve around your marijuana plants, leaving a potentially toxic mixture surrounding your marijuana plants. The concern that usually arises with this issue is the grower's attempt to fix the problem by adding additional fertilizers, continuing the cycle and increasing the salts. Most growers see this problem when using soil mixes because improper mixing left "hot" spots within the soil.

Damage to marijuana's ozone

You will typically notice this rare problem near your generator. If you happen to believe your marijuana plants are experiencing the symptoms of this issue, it will often appear looking like a deficiency of Magnesium (Mg) right around your generator. The first sign is a yellowing that usually turns to brown on older marijuana plant leaves, with the second sign being chlorosis on the veins of those same leaves. The problems will begin on the margin or the tip of the leaf and move toward the leaf in between veins.

Stunting of marijuana plant roots

You will typically only see this happen if your marijuana plants are low in Calcium (Ca) or acid, or if your plants are experiencing a copper or aluminum toxicity. Occasionally you may find a species of marijuana plant that will show this behavior when it is deficient in Boron (B). First you will notice your marijuana plant's roots growing thicker and more peg-like. Then you will typically see the root system discoloring to a grey or brown color.

Occasional plant symptoms localized to shoot growth points:

• Baby leaves becoming distorted, killing off the leaf tips, or a marijuana plant that is pale green in color = a deficiency of Copper (Cu)
• Stem collapse, stunted growth of shoots, dead petiole, collapsed stems or new growth coming out withered = a deficiency of Calcium (Ca)
• Marijuana plants dying back, new growth coming out a yellow or pale green color, or dead leaf tips = a deficiency of Boron (B)

Mobile elements

You will typically see the effects of mobile elements in the oldest leaves of your marijuana plants due to the demand that new growth would require.

Nitrogen (N)

Organic and Inorganic forms of Nitrate-Ammonium can be found within marijuana plants because it combines with oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and occasionally sulfur (S) in order to create the amino enzymes, amino acids, chlorophyll, purine bases, nucleic acids and alkaloids the marijuana plant requires. This is one of the highest rated proteins as far as molecular weight goes within the tissues of the plant. While you will have to feed quite a bit of Nitrogen to a plant growing vegetation, it is possible to feed it too much. If you have accidentally done this, flushing your growth medium with pure water will help remove any soluble Nitrogen (N) which typically accumulates on or within the shallow layers of the marijuana plant's roots. You do not want to give your plant too much ammonium nitrogen because it can make it to where your marijuana plant cannot get enough of the other necessary nutrients. Excessive Nitrogen (N) will slow flowering of your plants, and withholding Nitrogen (N) before harvesting will increase the flavor of your crop.

A Nitrogen (N) Deficiency

The symptoms of a Nitrogen deficient marijuana plant include weakness, stunted or slow growth, or a lack of vigor for the plant. Overall yield and quality will decline with this issue. A lack of necessary chlorophyll will cause the oldest leaves to turn yellow and eventually die off and drop off of the plant. There will not be a noticeable curling to the leaves, but the discoloration will slowly take over the entire marijuana plant. The last symptoms of this problem include some lower leaves, stems or petioles turning purple.

Nitrogen (N) Toxicity

Early symptoms include dark green marijuana leaves, but if the excess quantity of Nitrogen (N) is great enough, the leaves of your marijuana plant may dry and eventually fall off. You will not have sufficient roots with this issue, and eventually the roots will deteriorate. Once the tissues begin to slow the intake of water and nutrients, the ability of the plant to resist stress is greatly diminished.

Phosphorus (P)

This component of plant proteins and enzymes is required for proper genetic formation and energy transfer within the plant. Phosphorus (P) is a major part of these components: deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), phytin, ribonucleic acid (RNA) and adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP).

A Phosphorus (P) Deficiency

There are numerous symptoms of phosphorus (P) deficiencies. Some examples are leaves that are curled under, browning and dying, fanned marijuana leaves that are purple or yellow, or smaller marijuana buds than a standard crop. You will almost always see weak marijuana plants when you have this issue, along with stunted or slowly growing plants that show a dark pigmentation to the oldest leaves and stems on your marijuana plants.

A bit of deficiency when your marijuana plant is flowering is considered normal, but you do not want this to go too far. This deficiency is difficult to diagnose because some symptoms are normal depending on the variety of marijuana plant you are growing. Excess phosphorus will sometimes lead to an iron (Fe) deficiency as well, leaving your marijuana plants purple, red or even blue. Different species of marijuana plants may show a yellow color to the leaves and stems instead of purple, so you have to make sure you know what you are treating before doing any harm to your plants.

A deficiency of Phosphorus (P) during growth of vegetation is commonly thought to be a fungus, but that is inaccurate. The damage on the end of the leaves, the brittle texture and the discoloration are your cues with this issue.

Potassium (K)

Potassium (K) is considered a part of what helps your marijuana plants hold their water, open and close their stomata and maintain the pressure within each cell. This element is also required to allow carbohydrates to accumulate and move around the plant's cells. A plant deficient in Potassium (K) will have a lower quality and yield.

A Potassium (K) Deficiency

When your marijuana plants are deficient of potassium (K) then you will first see yellowing of the leaves with a quick change to dead tissues on the leaves. The tips and the margins of your marijuana leaves are affected first, with the weakening of branches and stems coming next. Your marijuana plants will then become more easily diseased or suffer toxicity. You will notice the appearance of an iron (Fe) deficiency with the tips of your leaves curling up and the leaf edges beginning to burn and then die. Typically this issue is caused by a build up of sodium (Na) that is replacing the necessary potassium (K). If you have been using baking soda, excessive manure or a water-softening style of filter (which is a big no-no!) then flush the growing medium to remove the excess salinity. Avoid cold weather for your plants along with excess calcium (Ca) and ammonium Nitrogen (N) because these can all cause this issue.

A Potassium (K) Toxicity

This is not a typical problem for marijuana plants. Too much potassium (K) can influence the uptake of elements such as Manganese (Mn), Magnesium (Mg), Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn) and Calcium (Ca).

Magnesium (Mg)

This element is required for necessary plant enzymes and the plant's chlorophyll.

A Magnesium (Mg) Deficiency

Again you will see a yellowing (and possible browning) of the older marijuana leaves along with a chlorosis of the veins first. It will start along the tip or margin of the leaves, slowly moving in toward the veins. You will still see some green on the veins. A simple way to remember this is if you see a curling of the leaves toward a praying position, the marijuana leaves are praying to receive Magnesium (Mg)! Sometimes the tips of the marijuana leaves will twist, but this issue has an easy remedy. Water your marijuana plants with one gallon (3.5 L) of water that has had 1 tablespoon of Epsom salts dissolved in it. Foliage feeding is recommended until you fix whatever is causing the issues with your plants uptake of nutrients. This watering solution will give your marijuana plants the required Magnesium (Mg) and Nitrogen (N).

It is recommended that you feed your plants through their foliage at this point with a diluted Epsom salt solution of � teaspoon of Epsom salt per quart of water. When preparing your growing medium, make sure to add 2 teaspoons of dolomite lime for each gallon (3.5 L) of growing medium you use. If you are using water that has more than 200 parts per million (ppm), it is considered hard water. The negative effects of this is a lock out of some elements (like Magnesium) due to the high concentration of other elements (like Calcium) in the water. Either the Epsom salt mixture or the lime in the growing medium will reduce the effects of the lockout, or you can purchase a water filter that does reverse osmosis. Magnesium gets locked out from too much of one of three main elements: Calcium (Ca), Ammonium Nitrogen (N) or Chloride (Cl), but adding in too much Magnesium will have the same effect on other nutrients.

Magnesium (Mg) Toxicity

Although a toxicity to Magnesium (Mg) is quite rare and hard to detect, it can harm the ion levels within your nutrient solution when it happens.

Zinc (Zn)

Manganese (Mn) and Magnesium (Mg) do some of the same functions as Zinc (Zn), especially when you look at the quantity of enzymes that require zinc (Zn) to properly function. Chlorophyll formation and repair is vital to the marijuana plant, and zinc (Zn) is an important element in those processes. Processes such as Carbonic Anhydrate is known to become activated by the use of zinc (Zn).

A Zinc (Zn) Deficiency

A zinc (Zn) deficiency will typically appear as banding around the marijuana leaf, or as chlorosis around the veins of new marijuana growth. The size of marijuana leaves usually declines with this deficiency, and internode length typically shortens. Growers tend to notice wrinkled and/or distorted leaf margins, and if left untreated, branches that bear fruit will begin to die back. Due to how marijuana plants lock out similar elements when the plants get a high pH level, growers will usually see a deficiency of Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn), and Manganese (Mn) together. Over doing the micro-nutrients can make it to where plants are not able to get the nutrients they otherwise would, so this is not a good option either. Feeding your marijuana plants through their foliage works if they are looking quite sickly by using chelated zinc (Zn). Marijuana plant growers will notice little leaves when their plants are suffering from this deficiency, often producing "rosetting" where the leaves bunch behind each growing tip, resulting in a rose-like appearance of tightly bunched leaves.

Zinc (Zn) Toxicity

Too much zinc (Zn) will quickly kill off your marijuana plants. Too much zinc (Zn) will stop iron (Fe) from being absorbed, causing signs of chlorosis, especially in the more sensitive forms of marijuana plants.

Immobile elements

Symptoms from immobile elements typically first appear on new growth and young marijuana plants, later progressing to the rest of your marijuana plant.

Sulphur (S)

Protein synthesis requires sulfate, which is a portion of some amino acids, namely thiamine and cystine. These building blocks are active within the marijuana plant's structure and regulate the metabolism from within the plant. Respiration for the marijuana plant requires sulphur (S), as does the breakdown and synthesis of essential fatty acids.

A Sulphur (S) Deficiency

If you see your marijuana leaves turning yellow, including the veins, especially on new growth, then chances are you are experiencing a sulphur (S) deficiency. The tips of the leaves typically turn yellow and begin to curl down toward the roots due to the lack of nutrients and succulence from the deficiency. Woody stems, extended roots and purple stems tend to also appear with this deficiency. It will usually take over the entire marijuana plant, not just stay right at the top of the marijuana plant.

Sulphur (S) Toxicity

Marijuana plant growers will usually notice yellow leaves, sometimes with scorching around the edges of the leaves, along with stunted growth or a reduced leaf size on the marijuana plant.

Calcium (Ca)

Cell membrane permeability and integrity is maintained by Calcium (Ca).

A Calcium (Ca) Deficiency

Marijuana plant growers will usually notice the effects of a calcium (Ca) deficiency on the youngest marijuana plants, showing distortion through irregular spotting, margins or necrotic tissue. The development of marijuana buds will stop, and bud rot will also likely occur from the inside of the plant, out. Roots also tend to remain undeveloped or die because of a lack of calcium (Ca). The main symptoms to watch out for include marginal necrosis, chlorosis, curling of leaf tips and root tips to begin to die back. You will likely also see smaller symptoms like crinkling of the leaves, distortion of the leaves, stopping of shoot growth, a strap-like shape developing on the leaves and a miniaturization of the leaves as they grow.

Calcium (Ca) Toxicity

This form of toxicity is difficult to spot, but it tends to cause a clouding of the nutrient solution. This toxicity is usually a precursor to sulphur (S) showing up in large quantities and will typically cause a deficiency in Magnesium (Mg) or Potassium (K).

Iron (Fe)

The electron transportation within the processes of terminal respiration and photosynthesis require iron to be within marijuana plant's enzymes. This catalyst helps boost the production of chlorophyll and reduces the amounts of nitrates and sulfates within the plant.

An Iron (Fe) Deficiency

Similar to what you'd see if you had a magnesium (Mg) deficiency, an iron (Fe) deficiency will cause chlorosis on the veins of young marijuana plant's leaves. The yellowing that growers will see on their marijuana leaves is usually between the main veins, and usually starts at the bottom of the plant and works its way up. This deficiency is typically caused by anything that would interfere with the plant's ability to absorb iron (Fe) from the roots, like excessive salts, pests, inadequate water drainage, over-irrigation, nematodes or a pH level that is too high. An iron (Fe) supplement added into the next watering of the marijuana plants will usually correct this issue. If the pH is too high, however, iron (Fe) is locked out, so you will need to fix your pH level first. Do not use phosphorus (P) to correct the pH as this will also lock up the marijuana plant's ability to soak up iron (Fe). Chelated iron (Fe), which is usually listed as "iron EDTA", will give the plant the best ability to soak up the necessary iron (Fe). Just keep the amounts of iron and phosphorus close so that you do not allow your marijuana plants to become deficient in different element when trying to correct the first one.

Special Warning!

When you add iron (Fe) to your nutrient solution, skip the fertilization treatment for that particular watering to avoid any negative reaction between the iron and other components within the fertilizer. You will avoid any additional form of lockout of elements, and you will avoid any adverse reaction from a combination of the supplement and fertilizer.

Iron (Fe) Toxicity

Bronzing or little brown-colored spots on your marijuana plants leaves could be a sign of excess iron on your marijuana plants.

Manganese (Mn)

Reducing oxygen through the transportation of electrons during photosynthesis is the main job that manganese (Mn) has with marijuana plants. This element is crucial for the membrane of chloroplast, plus it serves as a catalyst for many different enzymes.

A Manganese (Mn) Deficiency

Common symptoms of manganese (Mn) deficiencies include necrotic lesions, leaf shredding and chlorosis. Excessive levels can make the chlorophyll distribute unevenly, giving your marijuana plant a blotchy look. Failure to thrive and slowed or stunted growth are also relatively common symptoms. If the pH level is too high or the iron (Fe) levels become excessive, manganese (Mn) will become locked out. To help a deficiency, try using chelated manganese (Mn).

Manganese (Mn) Toxicity

The tissues of marijuana leaves will look blotchy or yellow (chlorosis) if this issue occurs because there is not enough synthesis of chlorophyll happening. The vigor of the marijuana plant will decrease, as will the growth rate.

Chlorine (Cl)

During photosynthesis, chlorine (Cl) becomes necessary for oxygen to evolve into the essential element each marijuana plant cell requires for healthy roots and leaves. The chlorine (Cl) increases the osmotic pressure within the cell, regulates stomata and also increases the ability of the tissues of the marijuana plant to hydrate. So long as your water has fewer than 140 ppm, your water should be safe for your marijuana plants. If you happen to be growing marijuana plants with a chloride sensitivity, you need to keep the levels below 20 ppm in order to avoid leaf burn around the margins of the leaf or tip burn.

A Chlorine (Cl) Deficiency

A deficiency of chlorine (Cl) will typically cause your marijuana plant leaves to turn a bronze color and have wilted leaves. Root growth is slowed or stunted completely with tip thickening, and the marijuana plant as a whole will be paler with wilting around the plant from this issue.

Chlorine (Cl) Toxicity

Common symptoms of chlorine toxicity include a bronze or yellow color to the leaves, splitting of the marijuana leaves, burnt tips or leaf margins, a decrease in leaf size and a slower rate of growth for the marijuana plant.

Boron (B)

The main functions of Boron (B) are largely unknown, but the one guess that most scientists have is it helps synthesize the building blocks for RNA creation. There may be additional cellular activities that it performs, like differentiation, division, respiration and maturation. Boron (B) also aids in pollen germination.

A Boron (B) Deficiency

Brittle shoot tips along with failure for the root tips to grow properly are the two most common symptoms of a Boron (B) deficiency. There is commonly death of the stems and root stems with this deficiency, along with discolored roots that do not allow the internal tissues to thrive properly. There are often times fungal problems that come in after the rot begins as well. The leaves of your marijuana plants will also show symptoms, like thickening, distortion, necrotic spotting, leaves that dry out and chlorosis.

Boron (B) Toxicity

Leaf tips that turn yellow and then die (necrosis), slowly progressing toward the inside of the plant until the entire plant begins to die are common symptoms of a boron (B) toxicity. Occasionally plants are quite sensitive to any excess boron (B).

Copper (Cu)

Copper (Cu) is required for most enzymes and some of the proteins that marijuana plants need. The function of Copper (Cu) is to assist in the metabolism of carbohydrates within the the plant, fixing the nitrogen (N) and reducing the oxygen within the plant.

A Copper (Cu) Deficiency

The first symptoms you will see if your marijuana plants are deficient of copper (Cu) would be stunted growth, with common distortion of new marijuana plant growth, or a dieing of the leaf tips. Growers often notice the dark green, twisted appearance of new growth with this issue. Necrotic spots also can appear from this deficiency. A final yield will be decreased with this deficiency as well.

Copper (Cu) Toxicity

Only minute amounts of copper (Cu) are required for normal marijuana plant growth. This means that just a little copper (Cu) can be toxic to your plants. Excess copper (Cu) can create an iron deficiency, causing a suppression of root growth, stunted plant growth, abnormal darkening of the plant's roots and chlorosis.

Molybdenum (Mb)

The process that turns nitrates into ammonium requires molybdenum (Mb).

A Molybdenum (Mb) Deficiency

The first symptoms of a molybdenum (Mb) deficiency is chlorosis, similar to other deficiencies, but it typically happens in the older marijuana growth. The difference here is that the twisting that follows the chlorosis is severe, eventually killing the marijuana leaves. With as closely as this deficiency looks like a nitrogen (N) deficiency, you have to look at which growth is affected first to differentiate between them.

Molybdenum (Mb) Toxicity

Excess molybdenum (Mb) causes the marijuana leaves to become discolored. Even through this toxicity is quite rare, it can happen simply by a continuous accumulation during application because of how little the plant actually requires. Excess typically will not harm your marijuana plants, but it may not be in your best interest to smoke the crop if the levels were exceedingly high.

Silicon (Si)

Salicylic acid is how most plants come in contact with silicon (Si). The typical use of silicon (Si) is for the epidermal cell walls, but it is also used in other cell walls throughout the marijuana plant. This element is found in both soil and water, and if the levels of the silicon (Si) are too low, yields can suffer a reduction of nearly 50%. Occasionally the symptoms of excess silicon (Si) includes deformed marijuana leaves, but no known toxicity symptoms have been found on a regular basis.

A Silicon (Si) Deficiency

The main effects that a silicon (Si) deficiency can cause include a negative development of stems, roots and leaves, a reduction of photosynthesis and a thicker cell layer on the epidermal cells. The main symptoms a marijuana plant grower would see include: lower resistances to diseases, smaller crop yields and droopy or soft marijuana leaves.

Cobalt (Co)

This element is essential the the bacteria that benefit the nitrogen (N) fixation of your marijuana plants. It helps increase the effectiveness of vitamin B12 within your marijuana plants, allowing necessary enzymes to form around the aromatic portions of the marijuana plant. The additional benefits of Cobalt (Co) are not yet known, but the increase that it shows in the health of animals makes it potentially quite beneficial to marijuana plants as well. 

Marijuana bugs

Spider mites

Most marijuana growers will encounter spider mites on their marijuana plants, no matter if they are grown in an outdoor garden or an indoor grow-room. Spider mites use their whip-shaped mouths and damage the plant cells, allowing them to ingest the plant sap. When you notice a speckled appearance on the marijuana plant leaf, you will likely already have a serious infestation. With severe infestations, your marijuana plant leaves will show discoloration of either bronze or gray on the leaves. The worse the infestation becomes, the worse the problems will be, ultimately stressing out the plant prematurely or killing the plant.

Thrips

Thrips appear longer and bigger than most mites with a body shape that is more linear. Their bites leave yellow or white marks behind in small clusters, leaving a more defined problem area behind than those that a mite would leave behind. You will likely notice feces left behind after thrips that appears black and clustered.

Whiteflies

When you see little insects flying around your marijuana plants, you will likely have a whitefly infestation. This is especially easy to see when the plants get moved around by the grower or wind. Whiteflies are quite small, only growing to be about the size of pencil lead, and they are just white. They drink the juices from the plant, leaving residue behind on your marijuana plant that fungi love to eat.

Fungus gnats

Fungus gnats have many related species that can cause equal amounts of damage. These flying insects cause root and soil infections, making it much more difficult for marijuana plants to feed or get the necessary nutrients. Fungus gnats are quite dark, very small and easily mobile from plant to plant. Crane flies, a close relative, look like mosquitoes that fly around and damage your marijuana plants.

Budworms

There are two things you will likely notice with budworms: they will rarely spin a web around a cluster of flowers (or buds), or more frequently, they will burrow their way right into ripe flower clusters. They enjoy eating flowers from the inside of the cluster, out. This leaves an opening for gray mold-a common and deadly fungal disease that marijuana plants come down with, also called botryis. Caterpillars are not as easy to spot as budworms are because they blend in with the leaves that they are eating. They usually manipulate the leaves before consumption so they can eat small portions of leaves between the veins or so they can get larger portions of the leaves right into their mouths.

Fungus [Fungi]

Almost all marijuana plants and leaves will show signs of good bacteria and fungi, but it is the bad fungi you need to worry about. Botryis is the deadliest form of fungi that marijuana plants regularly experience. This fungi is more commonly called gray mold. The ability to detect this fungus early on is almost non-existent, and it usually attacks the biggest and ripest buds of the marijuana plant from the inside of the bud, out. You will not see gray mold until you have marijuana flowers that are quite dense and very well developed because this is when this mold takes out the core of the bud and the stem of the flower. You will notice a gray-colored garbage on the bud that will quickly destroy the appearance and vigor of the bud. You can also be affected by gray mold when you have harvested marijuana, and even if you place your harvest in a freezer. This form of mold can cause problems anywhere that has humidity over 50% and a lack of proper aeration near the tops of the marijuana plants. Downy mildew should be considered nearly as deadly as gray mold is, but it does not cause quite as much damage and is typically more difficult to notice. You will usually see downy mildew begin with yellow or white spots across the tops of the leaves with little bumps that correspond on the underside of each leaf. Most leaves will begin to curl or mutate when the mildew begins to take hold of the plant. Another mold, known as powdery mildew, usually shows up as little bumps on top of each leaf with the leaves quickly looking as though they have a dusty grit covering them. Occasionally the powdery mildew will appear to look like resin glands of the plant, but that will quickly change. Molds that are called "damping off" molds will attack a marijuana seed at all forms of planting. Seedlings are also in danger from "damping off" molds if the mold allows the seedling to even sprout. Sometimes a "damping off" mold will rot the stem right out from a seedling at its base.

Viruses and Bacterias

Both people and plants are susceptible to viruses, especially the kinds that jump back and forth between people and plants. The deadliest marijuana viruses are considered to be "mosaic" and "streak" forms of viruses. Both of these cause a swirling of yellow and white on the marijuana plant leaves in an artistic fashion, but you will quickly notice wilted leaves falling off of your plants. Bacteria is also common among marijuana plant leaves, with most forms showing up as "blight" diseases. This will cause spots to show up on the leaves, followed by a wilting, rotting and decaying of the marijuana plants or even the harvested material.

Eliminating insects

Many marijuana plant growers use beneficial mites that prey on spider mites in their growing locations prior to the spider mites establishing themselves on their marijuana plants. These predatory mites help to defeat spider mites should they try and infest your marijuana plants because once you get an infestation of spider mites, you will likely have them for the rest of that crop. Sanitizing the growing location with all of the plants removed is your only realistic option once spider mites rear their heads. Organic sprays and soaps can sometimes also help kill spider mites, especially if the sprays contain garlic-cinnamide.

Toxic poison use on marijuana plants is dangerous and unethical, especially if used when the plant is flowering. Most bugs can be controlled between the use of a non-toxic spray or a predatory organism that will feed off of the harmful insects. Thrips are able to be killed with sprays that combine nicotinic acid, organic soap, pyrethrum and garlic-just make sure to coat the growing medium as well because this is where thrips reproduce. Whiteflies are attracted to yellow colored objects, so many marijuana growers use sticky strips that come in bright yellow to trap the bugs on the strips. Some growers prefer using wasps that feed on whiteflies, releasing them just before whiteflies can infest their growing location. Pyrethrum sprays and organic forms of gardening soap can also help destroy airborne whiteflies.

Always be sure to spray the top and bottom side of the leaves completely to make sure you get all of the pests off of the plant. Growing mediums harbor quite a few other pests, especially if there is heavy water and fertilizer use on the medium. If you happen to use organic fertilizers then you will likely end up with a gnat infestation. The best way to kill off gnats is by using one of the following methods: heating the soil, mixing up the soil, wasps that prey on gnats or a spray application of the following liquids-garlic, rotenone, neem and insecticide soap. Caterpillars and budworms can be knocked off of the marijuana plants by a thorough shaking daily. If your marijuana plants are growing vegetation, then you can spray insecticidal soaps or organic toxin sprays on them, but these should be avoided if your marijuana plants are beginning to flower. It is a much better option to simply remove the infected bud or section where the worm lives than to take a chance with a toxin on your buds that are ready to be harvested.

Controlling viruses, bacteria and molds

Most growing locations need to be cleared out of all plants if they become infected with any type of bacteria, virus, mold or fungi. If your crop is nearly ready to harvest, the only way to even partially salvage your crop may be by making water hash. Other than this, the remainder of your crop will need to be destroyed if it is infected, including sterilizing or destroying all of the clothing and tools that have contacted the infected plants.

Warning!

Handling or smoking any marijuana that has been infected by mildew, mold or fungi can harm your health! 

A common mistake often made by first-time growers of marijuana is over-watering the growing medium that is holding new marijuana plants. The general rules are, when first potting your marijuana plant, give your best guess as to how much it weighs when dry. The best way to do this is by hefting. Then, soak your marijuana plant thoroughly until you can see water running out through the drain holes. Once the water stops running out, heft your plant again and notice the difference between the two. Once you heft the plant again and it feels similar to when it was dry, then you know it is time to water your plant again.

Over-feeding the plant

Another common mistake is putting too much plant food on the marijuana plant. If you are unsure of how much to feed, then just follow the directions that the bottle says; then you will not have anything to worry about.

Over-analyzing the growth of the plant

Another common mistake that new growers tend to make is over-analyzing every little difference in their marijuana plant as it grows. This can be everything from thinking the plant is not faring well to thinking that you are making mistakes in the growing process. The best thing to do is watching how the plant is growing and still understanding that a yellow leaf does not automatically mean that your plant is dying. Watch for big signs that something is wrong and then try and see what you can do, but don't go so far as to flush the medium of a plant unless you know that is the only possible remedy for the problem. It often times causes more problems than it solves, especially when done to a plant that is just trying to adjust.

Over-spending on unnecessary supplies

The best way to avoid this mistake is to take the time to educate yourself on the growing process before starting your first growth. This will allow anyone that is learning the process to buy only the necessary equipment and supplies and save the extra investment until the process is understood and easily replicated.

Over-posting about marijuana questions

If you look around on the internet, you will likely find that all of the questions that you would really need answers to are already there and answered. Just make sure you only talk to people who need to know about what you are doing and no one else. The more people that know, the more likely it is that your growth will come to light. 

Climate is the weather conditions at a specific place on the earth in the atmosphere just above the surface of the earth. When a surtain area in the world has the same weather circumstances like temperature and rainfall and identical recurring seasons for more than 30 years it can be called a "Climate". The climate of a region determines which marijuana strains are able to grow and which will not. So it is very important to choose a suitable strain for the climate you live in.

Tropical climate

A tropical climate is a climate found in the tropics. The tropics are the region between the tropics (two imaginary lines around the earth where the sun reaches position southernmost (tropic of Capricorn) and northernmost (tropic of Cancer) once a year). This area is characterized by a slight difference between the length of day and night. The Indonesian archipelago, the northern half of Australia and most of the continents of Africa and South America fall within it.

Strains for a tropical climate

Dry climate

A dry climate is a climate where the growth of trees is not possible because there is so little rainfall and where permanent rivers can not have their origin. A dry climate is also referred to as a B-climate. This is classified by a so-called drought index that is based on the annual evaporation of moisture. This index also determines the boundary between the very dry desert climate and less dry steppe climate. A dry climate is found in southwest areas of the USA, most parts of South America, most continents of Africa and the central part of Australia.

Strains for a dry climate

Temperate climate

The temperate climate is characterized by variable, moderate temperatures that lie between the poles and tropical climates. It has seasonal characteristics with four distinct seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, with not too hot summers and no extremely cold winters. Northern Europe, northern part of the U.S., Eastern Canada and northeastern China, Korea and Japan are part of the zone of the northern hemisphere. South Chile, Southeast Australia and New Zealand cover the southern hemisphere.

Strains for a temperate climate

Cold climate

The climate also known as continental climate characterized by large temperature differences between summer and winter. Because the areas where the influence of large water areas such as seas and oceans is lacking, the temperature in the summer months goes up to extremely high values and it can be extremely cold in winter. In the absence of the cooling effect of seawater in the summer and warming effect in winter nature has almost free reign to provide cold and heat. Of all climates, cold climates are the most fickle. The long-term averages of temperature and precipitation are only a guide with reasonable tolerances. There can be a big difference in minimum and maximum temperature within a period of 24hours. The climate can be found in large parts of China, Russia and Japan. A cold climate does not necessarily lies inland. In the northern hemisphere, some coastal areas of East Asia, Northern Europe and Canada also have a cold climate.

Strains for a cold climate

For those who are lucky enough to live near the Equator, you will want to use marijuana seeds that come from Madya Pradish and Tamil. These south Indian varieties of the marijuana plant grow vigorously and flower heavily because of the intense heat and dryness of India's summers. These specific varieties of marijuana seeds are already adapted to begin to flower in November and finish up in December when grown in India. However, the shorter days that other areas have may cause them to bloom slightly earlier, reaching full maturity during November.

There are other varieties of cannabis seeds that you may consider growing. These varieties typically come from Cambodia, Brazil, Thailand, Jamaica and some countries around central Africa.

The classic marijuana strains

There is also the option of certain commercial versions of sativa marijuana seeds. Some of these seeds work in higher level latitudes, allowing them to flower quite a few months sooner in their transplanted location instead of their normal end of year timeframe. You can expect to see blooms between the end of September and beginning of October with these marijuana seed varieties. Specifically, the different Haze varieties of seeds can also help with higher latitude issues. The best approach may still be the sativa marijuana seeds, however, because of their incredible adaptive properties. Crossing your own seeds between a sativa variety and an Indica variety will give you a hybrid with the best of both plants, giving you a more controlled version of a cannabis plant that stays shorter. Another benefit of this hybrid combination is the fact that you will have mature, flowering plants during October instead of the one to two month wait that purebred plants will require. 

There are many disagreements on how to store marijuana seeds: cold environments like freezers or cool, dark and dry locations. Our perspective is something a bit in between. We think that a fridge works best to keep the seeds viable longer, but that does not mean that this is the only option that works. A seed is just a small portion of the marijuana life cycle, so when placed into a cool or even cold environment, this slows down the life cycle that the marijuana seed is going through. However, this also has the benefit of slowing down the degrading process that a seed would normally go through. This benefit means that your marijuana seeds are going to last you longer than normal because of this near-pause of the marijuana seed's life cycle. It has to do with the same mindset that tells us to put fresh produce and herbs in our fridge: it prolongs their life!

What to do

The easiest thing to do is find some type of a small, airtight container. Film canisters that keep all light out are ideal for this purpose. Then put a few grains of uncooked rice or a few crystals of silica on the bottom of the container to soak up any moisture that may seep in. You can either use a bag or an envelope for your seeds, but we prefer the envelope method due to the fact that any trapped moisture can escape from around the seeds. You can buy seed envelopes at specialty nurseries or organizations that work with seed-savers. Make sure to label your seeds on the outside of the bag or envelope so it does not get confused with any other seeds in your collection. You will want to include the variety, quantity of seeds in the container and the date to make planting next year easier. Once the bag or envelope is in the container, place them in your fridge. This will control all of the enemies of your seeds: light, moisture and excess humidity. A list of your seeds that stays out of the fridge will also minimize the exposure that your seeds would face if taken out of the fridge to itemize your seeds.

Good rule of thumb

When you want your seeds to last through storage, then you need to track temperature and humidity around your seeds. The relative humidity can be most devastating out of these factors, so watch it closely. There is a bit of a conundrum when it comes to marijuana seeds as they can both absorb humidity from moist environments and dry out in arid environments. The more you can decrease the humidity, the more your marijuana seeds can last. A good rule of thumb is every 1% of decreased moisture equals a doubling of storage time that marijuana seeds can survive. The higher the moisture content of the marijuana seeds, the harder germination is to hold on to. If your marijuana seeds have moisture above:

• 40% to 60% germination will typically occur
• 18% to 20% heating may occur
• 12% to 14% fungi growth begins on and in the seeds
• 8% to 9% insects become active and begin to reproduce

Keeping the environment dry will help prevent all of these issues, including heating. This is when the marijuana seeds respire and become no longer viable. Increases in temperature and moisture will quickly kill off your marijuana seeds just like an invasion of micro-organisms or insects would. The general rule of thumb for temperature is for every 41°F | 5°C decrease, you will also double the storage life of your marijuana seeds. A constant refrigerated temperature around 41°F | 5°C is ideal, but this is typically a bit warmer than most fridges. If you go too cold then vitality can cease, leaving no viability to your seeds when you go to plant them. Rumor has it that seeds have lasted and been viable up to five years after starting storage if stored properly, so keep that in mind when you think about storage for your marijuana seeds. This may not be able to be accomplished by everyone, but it is a good goal to strive for.

Special note:

Some websites recommend that you store your marijuana seeds in a freezer, but we do not believe this is a good idea. Freezing typically causes damage to marijuana seeds on a cellular level which will leave them unable to sprout or germinate when you go to plant them. 

There are numerous questions that arise when talking about marijuana seeds. Do you know what varieties you prefer? Or is your preference a hybrid of more than one variety? Where is the best location to grow, and which location are you actually going to be able to use? What is your intent for growing, simply hobby use or sharing and experimentation with your friends? Is your growing preference within a Sea of Green (also known as SOG) or would you prefer to grow larger marijuana plants? We are here to help you find the answers to these simple questions and more, plus we will help you narrow down which marijuana seed variety will work best for you. Read on!

Indica and Sativa seeds

Don't get overwhelmed when looking through the huge selection of available marijuana seed varieties that the internet has to offer. It really can be a simple process to choose which marijuana seeds to buy. Looking at the different varieties will lead you down two paths: the sativa marijuana variety and the Indica marijuana variety.

Sativa marijuana strain

The first of the two extremes is the Sativa marijuana plant. This plant looks more spindly and gaunt than its counterpart. The sativa grows to be a tall marijuana plant with narrow, light green leaves. This variety can grow to be as tall as 20 feet | 6 meters in just one season if grown outside, and grows much faster than other varieties. The sativa variety came from areas such as Southeast Asia, Mexico, Colombia and Thailand. Once your marijuana plants have started to flower, it can take as little as ten weeks or as long as 16 weeks to reach maturity. You will notice flavors that range from sweet to fruity to earthy, depending on each crop. You will also enjoy a cerebral and energetic stone from this variety of marijuana.

Indica marijuana strain

The Indica variety of marijuana plant came to us from Tibet, Morocco and Afghanistan-places in the world known for their ability to grow hash. This variety of marijuana plant stays much shorter and denser than the sativa variety of marijuana plants. Once your plants start to flower, maturity is typically reached in much less time, from six weeks to eight weeks. The buds of this variety of marijuana plan will be quite dense and thicker than its counterpart and the aroma and flavor can be sweet with a hint of fruit or sourer like a skunk. These marijuana buds do not mind the cooler weather conditions of higher latitudes, but you will notice a pungent aroma with the buds of the Indica variety of marijuana. The smell is often likened to that of body odor, and the smoke of the buds will typically make you cough. However, the best parts of the Indica variety of marijuana plant will give you a social high that will usually help relax you, allowing you to become more in tuned with the environment around you without the negative side effect of over-analyzing or over-thinking about your experience.

Hybrid marijuana strain

When you combine two different varieties of marijuana plants and have two parent plants that are pure and unrelated, you will wind up with a hybrid marijuana plant and marijuana seeds. Most people do this for the type of growth that works with their growing location. You will need the pollen from the male strain of marijuana plant to pollenate the female strain of marijuana plant of a different variety in order to make a hybrid. Typically people will combine a strain, like sativa, that has a smooth taste with another strain, like Indica, that gives a higher yield. The seeds will then reproduce multiple generations with the same characteristics so long as the parents were true breeders to begin with.

Indoor vs. Outdoor

Where you live and the climates you typically experience will determine if the variety of marijuana plants you want to grow can be grown outside or not. When you buy seeds that say "outdoor" or "indoor/outdoor", they will list when the marijuana seeds should flower. You need to pay close attention to this so that you know if you can grow your marijuana plants outside. If they are hybrid marijuana seeds, you will find that the Indica vs. sativa ratio will determine this time. It is important to make sure your marijuana plants can mature before frost will hit your area or harsh weather will become your reality. Keep in mind, if you have a sativa-heavy hybrid, it will take longer to mature and be ready to harvest. For those with a longer growing season, you should be able to grow almost any variety of marijuana seed outdoors. Each determination is only a guess and will change depending on your local weather conditions during the growing season. If you have a long growing season then you just have to go off of each plant's description when figuring out which variety to grow.

Height of marijuana plants

One thing to keep in mind is that when you see the height of the marijuana plant on the package that it is for mature marijuana plants. Indoor plants give growers the ability to control how much growth occurs before beginning the flowering process, and since an artificial light cannot get to leaves that are 3 feet | 90 cm or deeper, this allows growers to keep their plants shorter. Once a grower flips the lighting schedule to 12 hours of light followed by 12 hours of dark, marijuana plants will begin to flower in one to two weeks. Your marijuana plants will keep growing, usually 6-14" | 15-35 cm, while getting ready to flower, but once flowering starts, growth will stop. Again, how much Indica and how much sativa you have in your plant will usually give you a good idea as to how much growth to expect, with the sativa variety of marijuana plant growing the most. Flowering should usually be started when the plants are 18-24" | 45-60 cm so they will stop growing around 36" | 90 cm, but the amount of time this takes will depend on what mixture your marijuana plants have and how you have conditioned your growing location.

Potency of marijuana plants

Every variety of marijuana seed is potent. Just how potent your marijuana crop becomes depends on how you grow your marijuana seeds into plants and how mature you let your marijuana plants become. THC comes from the glands of the marijuana plant that creates resin when the plant is maturing. The purpose behind these resin glands is to shield each marijuana plant from becoming too dry under the heat of sunlight. It stands to reason that a hot and dry environment is going to give more of the resin than a hot and moist environment, so keeping the humidity down where you grow your marijuana while it flowers is going to give you the best results. However, even if you force a lot of resin out of an Indica variety of marijuana plant, you will still not get as strong or pure of a stone as you would out of a sativa variety of marijuana plant. Just keep this in mind when choosing which variety of marijuana plant to grow

Yield of marijuana plants

Each variety of marijuana seed is going to give an approximate yield, but it all depends on how each marijuana plant is grown and how the growing environment is conditioned. If you grow inside, then your lights are not going to penetrate as far down into the plants, so you will get a better yield if you grow a lot of small plants. You will find that your best yield will come from the Indica variety of marijuana seeds or a hybrid of an Indica. Sativa marijuana plants often give a lower yield but a stronger stone. Indoor marijuana seed yield is basically limited by how well lit each growing environment is, not which variety of marijuana seeds you use. Conditioned growing environments will give a yield that directly relates back to how much Indica and sativa varieties of marijuana are in the hybrid mixture. Each grower can maximize the potential of each marijuana plant by experimentation on how to grow each variety of marijuana seed best.

Flowering times for marijuana plants

The length of time it takes a marijuana plant to flower will only give you an idea as to how long it will take the plant to mature, but indoor plants can be forced to flower so this is not always accurate. All growers have to do is strictly regulate the light of the plants to 12 hours of light and 12 hours without light. Each marijuana plant is different, but this seems to be built into the DNA of the plant species as a whole. You will find that Indica varieties of marijuana plants flower quite quickly over the sativa variety of marijuana plants, and a hybrid mixture will flower based off of how much of each variety is in the hybrid. You also need to include how long the marijuana plants were allowed to mature before you started the flowering process. The sativa variety of marijuana plant can quickly outgrow its environment which can make it to where flowering is not going to give the same yield for that plant. If you compare the time it takes for both varieties to get to the right maturity and then flower, you will likely end up with a very similar time schedule for your plants no matter which variety of marijuana plant you choose. 

For successful germination of marijuana seeds, growers must adhere to three main principals. The seeds need warmth, darkness and of course, plenty of moisture. Distilled water will help maximize your results in comparison to rain or tap water, but is not required. Most municipal water supplies go through a chlorination process which removes parasites from the water as well as cleaning and neutralizing the pH levels, making it a good alternative to distilled or bottled waters. The rule of thumb when considering what type of water to use is if it is safe enough to drink it is good enough to use.

To achieve the best germinating results

Placing your marijuana seeds on a clean bed of paper towel saturated with fresh water on room temperature will aid growers in obtaining greater germination results. Growers will also want to cover their marijuana seeds with a second layer of saturated paper towel. The seeds should then be left alone in a warm, dark place for roughly 48 hours. Make sure that you check on your seeds every 12 hours to evaluate the water content of your paper towels. If they begin to feel dry, rehydrate your paper towels by adding more water. You will also want to make sure that the temperature remains constant, around 65°F to 80°F | 18°C to 26°C, usually a kitchen cabinet or cupboard will suffice. Once your seeds begin to split and you can see the small, white roots stemming from the seed, you want to discontinue soaking and prepare your seeds for planting. If you continue to soak your seeds, you will cause unneeded stress and damage to the fragile roots of the marijuana seeds. Ensure you plant your seeds in a clean, pH balanced mixture. The mixture should be light weight, loosely kept and allow for a high level of drainage. We highly recommend a blend of vermiculite, sphagnum moss and Perlite.

You can purchase this premixed and use it right out of the bag or mix it with a sterilized potting soil. You seeds should be planted ¼ to ½ inch | ½ to 1 cm deep. The container should allow for a total depth of approximately 4 inches | 10 cm. This will allow your initial tap roots to grow straight down. The container should also have ample drainage holes to prevent the seedlings from downing. The planting mixture should be kept thoroughly damp throughout the growing process, but ensure you do not soak the mixture. High humidity levels are crucial for favorable germination rates. Covering your crop with clear plastic will help maintain higher levels of humidity. Place your planted cannabis seeds within a cold frame or under horticultural lights, within a warm and humid environment, between 67°F to 78°F | 19°C to 25°C. Once the marijuana sprouts have cleared the surface level of the soil and have serrated leaf formations, it is time to remove the plastic covers. It is important for you to use quarter or half strength vegetable fertilizer during this stage of growth. Also remember to maintain good moisture levels through the process to ensure proper growth of the plants.

Special note:

There are a few kinds of marijuana seeds that will not properly germinate, or at all, at room temperature and they will have no problem germinating at 90 °F | 32 °C. This is approximately 20 °F | 6 °C higher than standard room temperature. Make sure to always keep your seeds moist, and never use any type of bleach or bleach combination-this will kill off your seeds! 

Typically you will see this due to the body's dehydration after smoking marijuana. Most people have cotton mouth, dry eyes and never sweat when they are high, but they do not connect the dots that it is from dehydration. The water from your body gets drained out, but you can quickly fix this effect with eye-drops and water. Make sure to only use three drops per eye because more drops can increase the red-eye effect. If you forgot your eye-drops and for some reason cannot visit your local drug store (Eckerd, Walgreens or CVS style stores), then make sure you drink as much water as possible. This will stop the munchies, relive your cotton mouth and lessen the effects of red-eye. You will, however, need to drink at least five glasses to get the desired effect.

The weed smell

We have heard people say that stoners smell of weed, when there is little or no smell, simply due to suspicion of drug use, but in all reality, the scent dissipates within minutes off of both hair and clothing. The one part of your body that will have the smell linger longest is your hands, however. We believe this to be because the hands have come in contact with the marijuana while sorting through the bags, rolling the joints or blunts, packing the marijuana down into the bowls or holding the sticky (and smelly) roach that is covered in the oil. This is an easy fix. If you can, wash your hands with warm, soapy water. If you can't, just cover that smell with another that smells stronger. We suggest you cover your fingers in buffalo sauce from some wings!

The weed smell on your breath

Most people who say they can smell it on your breath are either suspicious of you using drugs or they walked in as you finished smoking. If it has been more than five minutes since you smoked, there is no smell on your breath. If you must cover the smell quicker, use a breath mint.

Your stance

Many stoners act as though they're being talked to when high, wavering all over the place. The best thing to do is simply stand still. Leaning against a wall for support is an easy way to remain stationary.

Your patterns of speech can give you away

This is difficult to combat. Even if your eyes are clear and you smell good, the way you talk can be a big clue. The best way to avoid these tell-tale signs is to say nothing at all. Smile when appropriate and continue eye contact with people around you.

Hopefully this will help those who cannot smoke openly in their home hide their little habit.

Most people could look around a marijuana grower's yard and never even notice the marijuana plants growing in the back because of how well these plants blend in. If you happen to start your crop outside later on in the growing season, your plants will likely never even be noticed if they are grown near plants that are the same size or taller. You can even grow taller marijuana plants within a bunch of trees and have them blend in to the point of invisibility. All you really have to do is limit who has access to the area and your plants will be able to grow in peace. If you randomly place your plants, spacing them apart from each other, in your current landscaping where they can get hit by the sun for extended periods of time, you will have a good growth and plants that blend right into their environment.

If you can, look around to find marijuana varieties that look like plants you have in your current landscape. If you need your marijuana plants to have greener coloring to blend right into your current plants, a bit more nitrogen [N] will do the trick. We have even heard of growers who pin flowers to their marijuana plants to allow them to blend in with surrounding bushes. If your neighbors happen to notice you outside at night on a full moon, act as though you are simply mowing your lawn or doing random yard work and you will blend right back in instead of raising suspicions. All you have to do is dig an appropriate sized hole for your plant and put your marijuana plant inside the hole. If you bury your pot deep enough, you can cut as much as a foot (30 cm) off of the height. You can even take the tops of your marijuana plants and run them along opposing trellises to have them grow horizontally. This will keep your plant under 3' (90 cm) for its lifetime, which will definitely blend in no matter how nosy your neighbors are. These varieties of marijuana plants can even grow right out in plain view without anyone noticing. After all, how often have you heard about neighbors being invited over to enjoy a barbeque without anyone ever noticing the beautiful marijuana plants growing along the fence? 

Whenever possible, you want to abstain from drug-use prior to any drug test with a recommended two month break before you take the test. If this is not possible, then you might require other methods of passing a drug test.

The first rule

Drink a lot of water this can help you in more ways than you know.

The second rule

Purging impurities from your body. Making sure you urinate every time you need to before the test will remove more of what your body is holding on to. Always avoid having to test with the first urine you create each morning as this is the most potent and concentrated. With the occasional shy-bladder, most testers will ask you to consume large quantities of water to make the test easier-take their advice!

The third rule

Adjust the cycle your body normally sleeps through. The earlier you are up and out of bed, the more times you will use the bathroom prior to the test. Sometimes it helps to stay awake all night long drinking water.

The fourth rule

Using your glands. If you happen to know where you could crank up a sauna, you will excrete many impurities through your sweat. Some metabolites, including THC, are held within fatty tissue, so you can try a vigorous exercise routine to help pass the test. Remember, increasing your water intake will not cover up your illicit drug use, but if you dilute the concentration in your body, you might still pass the test. This will boil down to your bare-minimum defense strategy.

Notification of medication

Another basic strategy will be making sure to list possible medications that could show up on your drug screen, so when you are asked to sign the consent form, write in the word 'month' where it says 'within the last week' and let them know that there is a chance of a flu medication you consumed about three weeks ago showing up so they do not argue your strategy.

Compounds and approximate retention times (days)

How long your body retains traces of drugs is shown in the list shown below:

• Amphetamines 20-25 days
• Barbituates 10-14 days
• Cocaine 2-4 days
• Ethyl Alcohol 1-2 days
• LSD 20-40 days
• Marijuana 14-30 days
• Methaqualone 14-21 days
• Opiates 10-14 days
• PCP or Phenocyclidine 10-14 days

Many factors can cause variation in the lenght of retention, these factors include the metabolism, the weight of the body, BMI and how much you actually took and the drug's concentration.

There are counterparts in the form of Over The Counter drugs for almost every prohibited drug. Below you will find a list containing cross-reacting drugs. You should list those drugs on your consent form.

Testing procedures

First you need to find out which test the facility uses. The three most common tests are the Abuscreen (RIA), the ToxiLab (TLC) and the EMIT test. Unfortunately, if you facility uses Gas chromatography or mass-spectrometry, then there is no way to pass a test if you have been using drugs. It cannot be cheated on and it will find anything and everything within your system. Typically this test is only used to confirm a positive test, so it should not be feared in most circumstances. RIA will screen for LSD but the EMIT test doesn't. RIA doesn't scan for barbituates or ethyl alcohol but the EMIT test will. There are no current tests for Ecstasy, nicotine, Psylocybin or mescaline. The military uses the RIA test and most government agencies use the EMIT test. Individual companies typically use an equal combination of TLC and EMIT, but both can be equally beaten.

Slight of hand

About 5% of the population cannot urinate with an audience within ear shot and even more people cannot urinate with someone watching. This is known medically as 'blushing kidneys'. There is no way to know if you fall into this category or not, so most people being tested persist that they cannot go while being watched, thus ensuring more distance with observation. Using your body as a way to block their view can help, including making sure your hands obscure what the observer can see. Distracting the observer can also help, such as a polite request to run some water in the sink. Make sure to practice each procedure at home if you plan to use any for a test. Most observers are equally as embarrassed as the person taking the test, so use that to your advantage when you can. If it takes you a while to go, then the group of people next in line will grow and the observer may be more apt to allow you the privacy you require for your 'slight of hand' to take place. Just remember the point of all of this is to put someone's clean urine in the cup instead of your own, without being caught.

Correct temperature

Most tests include the reading of the temperature of each sample, so make sure the urine you use will pass this test. Tests look for a range of 90.5 °Fto 99.8 °F(33 °C to 37.5 °C). The first thing you need to do is make sure the sample you are using is pure. Make sure your source is not going to get you caught, using only the purest of possible samples. You will want a fresh sample whenever possible, only storing it in the fridge or freezer if necessary. If you make it to two months of drug-free existence, then freezing your own samples in preparation may be your best bet. The substitution of yellow-colored water or animal urine is not recommended as they are incredibly easy to detect.

Bathroom Switcheroo!

Now you have the pure sample that is at the right temperature. Next, how do you get it where you need it? We recommend using a disposable drainage bag that you can buy from a drug store for patients who cannot wait to use a bathroom. The different sizes allow you to find what is going to work best for you, but the large leg size is going to fit most easily around your waist with the least amount of detection. Adding a piece of rubber tube can make the cap and tube assembly a bit easier to fill. When you know the test is coming, fill the bag with your sample, sealing it without air inside. With the maximum time that a sample can sit being 18 hours, put it on when you are about an hour away from taking the test if possible. If your test gets delayed, make sure to put the bag back into the fridge to store for when your test is no longer delayed. Just make sure the bag has as much contact with your skin as is possible.

The flatter you are able to make the bag, the better. You do not want it to be easily seen. Gravity can help conceal things better, that is why the abdomen is recommended over the leg. Taping the bag in place will help keep it where you want it, but there are options outside of using tape as well. Sometimes the use of panties or boxer briefs can hold the bag in place, just make sure the bag does not fall out when those articles are removed for the test itself. Incontinence items can also be used instead of tape to hold the bag in place. We do not recommend the use of panty hose unless there is a specific hole cut into them for the tube to go through when doing the test. When performing the test, get the tube from its place and bring it down near your crotch. This is when practice will have made perfect. Using the cap to adjust the flow, empty your sample into the cup or jar and make sure to not attract attention.

Once you have given your sample, make sure to put the cap back on and go about your normal routine. If you happen to drop a little on the seat or your shoe, most observers would consider this a normal part of the routine for someone that is not trying to beat a drug test. Most people who have to observe this procedure will be looking for something bulky or for you to pull something from your pocket. They are not looking for something that comes out only when you are actually trying to urinate. Plus, while they can ask you to remove a jacket or sweatshirt, a strip search or even frisking you is not allowed, so this is a great method to try and use. The little hose is almost automatically concealed, so you are really the only one who knows about its existence. The normal stance of a person trying to urinate will typically hide this procedure without you needing to do anything extra and the body-heat will give you an authentic result when all is said and done.

It takes about an hour for a refrigerated sample to be the proper temperature, longer if the sample has been frozen. However, if you prefer a different method than the bag, condoms come in a close second place. Non-lubricated, reservoir-tipped condoms provide a great method of transport for those not wanting to use a bag. Fill one condom and tie it, then slip a second over the top to make sure nothing leaks or bursts. Next you will want to tape it to your body as near to the crotch as is humanly possible (or place it inside the vagina for women). Then you can either use a pin that you have concealed for the test or a fingernail that you have sharpened to a point, and poke a hole in the condom, allowing the sample to fill the cup. Make sure you take the time to practice this at home with water so that you are sure you have it down pat before a test is performed.

Diluting your urine

If you can dilute your sample once in the jar, you will find increased effectiveness over diluting your sample while inside your bladder. That is why Edwin Meese required every federal toilet to have blue dye put into it prior to a drug test. Many people used the toilet water to dilute their sample, so this became required in order to catch more people who would otherwise have tested positive. Now, if you have a test sprung on you, there are still options. One, try using toilet water if the water is clear. Half of the cup filled with water and the other half filled with your sample should be plenty to dilute you below a positive result. Make sure you shake up the sample when done so that it mixes evenly. Warming the jar up before turning it in will also help it appear to be the right temperature. Use your finger if necessary to check the temperature, and just be sure to wash up once done. Two, if the toilet is dyed, try carefully (and quietly) using water from the toilet's tank. This is a source of clear water that most people tend to forget about. The same procedure works with this. You can even try using a bit of warm water on the outside of the sample jar to warm it up if your hands are not warming it up quickly enough, but don't overheat it or you could get caught based on that. Remember not to flush if you are told that you are not supposed to, and never use saliva to try and dilute your urine. Your spit will get you caught quite quickly if you try and use that because of the metabolites that come along with the sample. Just be creative if you are caught off-guard with a drug test you were not expecting. A little dilution can go a long way!

Urine colors

Each person will have slightly different colored urine than the next, and that color will change from morning til night. The one constant, however, is the yellowish tinge that most urine comes in. Most observers tend to look for a stronger color of urine, so if you dilute yours and it tends to look too pale, here are a few tips that will help bring back that strong color that may help you pass your test. Vitamin C tablets or capsules give your sample a darker coloring, so when diluted, it looks quite normal. Your vitamins typically also increase odor, so that will also be cut back down to normal when diluted. Iodized salt will also deceive the EMIT tests for nearly every substance when used in a concentration of three tablespoons to one sample and quickly stirred to dissolve the salt. The point behind this is the salt will increase how conductive the sample is, which makes the reagents used for the test unable to bind with what would normally make the test return as positive. You do have to make sure every bit of salt is dissolved, however, as leaving some in the bottom will definitely make your test incriminate you. You can also use one of these ideas to pass the test: 3-4 tablespoons of chlorine bleach mixed with the sample, 3-4 tablespoons of ammonia mixed with the sample or ¼ cup hydrogen peroxide mixed with the sample should also have the same results as the salt. 

Marijuana and the car

The glove box within your car is a bad place to keep your marijuana. Every police officer will ask for license and registration, which most people keep in their glove box. Officers are trained to look for drugs as the glove box is opened.

Roaches should never be left in an ashtray within your car. Officers look there as well if there is a suspicion of drug use.

It would be a good idea to hide any marijuana or similar paraphernalia from open view within your automobile. Even a feathered roach clip should be put away instead of being hung from some type of mirror. Officers notice the hanging feathers before your car even comes to a complete stop and may even be part of what you are getting pulled over for. You would be open to search and seizure if this is hanging within plain sight as it is still considered illegal contraband. There are even officers known to collect things like these feathers on the walls within their office.

Constantly check the lights on your car to make sure that none of them are out or else you may get pulled over for a broken headlight or signal light, only to have the officer notice you are possessing marijuana.

It is best to always leave your marijuana in a container in the car when you have to go into a store. If they happen to think you shoplifted anything, you are automatically subject to a body search.

Make sure you do not speed, weave in your lane or run any stop signs while driving because if you are doing these things and happen to have marijuana in your car, the police will be more apt to pull you over. If you do get pulled over, you are then more likely to be arrested as well.

Play the good citizen

You will want to focus on how your eyes look, how your breath smells and how much smoke is in your car when you are driving around. The last thing you want is to look like you might be stoned and have a cop arrest you for DUI.

You should always use a briefcase, sealed container, suitcase or backpack to carry your marijuana because according to the United States Supreme Court, officers cannot open these items without a search warrant or your permission, just like if you were at home.

Makeup compacts, toothbrush cases or soap containers are good places to keep your marijuana as well because most people would not consider that a viable container for drugs. Something like this placed inside another sealed object, like those mentioned above, would be ideal.

You will always want to avoid having marijuana on you if you plan to drink. You do not want to catch the police's attention and have them notice you having any drugs on you.

Always have your stickers on your license plate current and all other requirements up to date so that you have no additional reasons to be pulled over for a traffic stop.

If you happen to be carrying marijuana while publicly intoxicated, make sure you do not look or act that way.

Make sure you are careful to follow peace laws when carrying marijuana as well to avoid the police being called to settle a disturbance.

While carrying marijuana, do not have any type of negative attitude with the police. The last thing you want is to give off a vibe that gets their attention focused on you.

Marijuana and drug paraphernalia

It is recommended you leave your drug paraphernalia at home when possessing marijuana. If an officer has already taken notice of you, this could fall under probable cause to a police officer to suspect you have drugs on you.

All of your paraphernalia and drug contraband should be kept in a single location, no matter where you are. If you ever get stuck being searched, knowing there is only one location to be concerned with will help you stay calm.

If you are going to carry marijuana, know what your weight limits are within your state. If you have too much, your charges may be bumped up to a felony level, so you never want to carry this much if possible. Most misdemeanors an officer will look past if you are polite about the scenario and only carrying a little bit.

One small bag of cannabis should be all you ever carry. Multiple bags can subject you to new felony charges such as intent to distribute even if you combine the weights of all of the bags and they are under your state's weight limit for misdemeanor charges. Plus, carrying multiple drugs can increase your charges if you get arrested, so this should be avoided.

You never want to carry any illegal items on your person, such as a weapon, when you have marijuana on you because if a police officer spots that illegal item, they will be able to use probable cause to do a deeper search, potentially finding your stash.

Air purifiers can help those who live in secluded environments where the smoke from marijuana could be a potential problem for others.

Only carry what amount of cannabis that you absolutely need when leaving the house because a tiny amount can be concealed better and allows you to potentially get out of charges if caught holding it.

No matter whether you possess marijuana or not, attorneys advise that you never voluntarily give consent for a search of you or your property. Most times, officers ask for permission because they have realized they do not have any right to search without you agreeing.

Roaches and other evidence should not be left out even if you happen to be at home when you smoke.

A helpful tip for those trying to find a good hiding place: the police have every right to look around where you are when you are arrested, including anywhere you can jump, reach with your hands or crawl to, without needing a search warrant. This includes those arrested in their homes

When referring to guerrilla farming, most people are talking about growing something on property that is not your own or on the "back 40" of your property where outsiders would not see anything. You can find places that aren´t readily accessible or that people own but do not use, which makes these ideal locations to grow your cannabis plants. This way, if anyone locates the crop, you will not be immediately questioned about it. Police will not readily be able to prosecute you for anything so long as they cannot find any evidence of you having been at the location (hair, fingerprints, footprints, trails that lead to your home, etc). Another suggestion would be making sure no one knows that you are growing marijuana plants. Police won´t be able to do much if you tell them you were simply passing nearby and they cannot directly tie you to the growth. You can also bring some binoculars or a fishing pole while on your walk, so you can tell anyone who asks that you were going to fish or watch for birds. You will also want to make sure that no one ever visits your crop with you unless you will be harvesting within the next 24 hours. Always make sure that your marijuana crop is never where anyone can see it. Each time you visit, walk a different path so that you do not trample any surrounding plants and cover any trail you do have to make so that no one is able to discern any trail by looking at it.

If you decide that cut backs are the way to go, then you will want to make them so that people walking the trail won´t be able to see where you made them. Always park off to the side but not somewhere that will not gather attention. It is a good idea to know someone in the local vicinity of your growing location so that should you need a safe place to go, it is near where you are, especially if you have chosen to grow your crop far from home. Make sure you plan out your reasoning for being there before you show up so that if asked you do not stumble over the answer. Make sure to also include any items you have to bring with you in your story so that it is able to be easily explained should the need arise. If you happen to find a place that has poison oak and briar patches, then that will keep almost everyone away from your crop, keeping it safer. There is soap on the market that can help deactivate the effects of poison oak prior to the reaction called Teknu. If you happen to come in contact with it, then apply this soap immediately and shower exactly thirty minutes later.

Train your plants to camouflage

Make sure you keep your plants in small clusters and near trees and bushes when possible to help them camouflage. Training your plants to grow along a trellis or cutting them so you can control their growth will help your cannabis plants be less detectable. If you tie the top of your marijuana plant down to a stake in the ground, the branches will grow toward the sun and the yield will increase, assuming the plant has adequate growing time and light. If using trees, make sure your cannabis plants get angled sunlight for at least five hours each day. For proper growth, five direct hours of light and five indirect hours of light is optimal for marijuana plants. Another suggestion for covering your tracks is buying shoes that you will not mind throwing out at a later date so you can hide your footprints some. Surgical gloves leave no traceable fingerprints on your pots or any other item that may be at your location, which will help you if someone happens across your growing location.

Fencing against wildlife

Fences are good ideas when you are trying to keep local wildlife away from your plants, such as squirrels, deer and little chipmunks. Nylon forms of chicken wire or a wire mesh will work really well for this and they are very easy to wrap around trees when you have some near your location. This is strong and durable. Checking your fence often is a must to make sure it stays that way. Fishing line works really well at keeping away deer as well, with one horizontal line at a height of 18" (46 cm) and the other line at a height of 3´ (90 cm). If you are in very high latitudes, then you can buy Gopher Granola to keep gophers and wood rats from eating your plants. The best thing you can do to try and keep rats from your growing location is to avoid the use of dear away or soap as they both attract rats. They find the fat that the soap contains to be like dessert. If you choose to use rat poison, place it in a very small feeder that will only allow the smallest or rodents to enter, that way you do not have to worry about deer or birds eating anything bad. It is best to lay this out before you do any form of planting so they are away from your spot before you put your marijuana plants into the ground. It may end up being easier to use a shed or homemade greenhouse out of your backyard than to try and keep your growing location free of rats. If you are going to grow away from your home, however, you must first consider the security of a location followed immediately by finding a water source that your plants can drink from. If you want big plants, they´ll need a lot of water. If no water source is available then you are going to have to carry water to your plants regularly. Backpacks are the tool of choice for this so you can pass yourself off as a hiker instead of illegal pot grower.

Wait for early sexing before transfer

When growing marijuana plants outside, getting the sprouts to your growing location is typically the hardest part. If you are able to start your seedlings inside or in a garden, that is going to give them the best chances at being strong and healthy. Many growers wait until they can take the male plants out of the group and only transplant the females of the species. This saves you time and energy when you do not have to care for the male versions of the cannabis plants. Some have found success using 3" (7.5 cm) rockwool cubes when starting their seedlings, placing 20 of the plants inside a litter box and covering that with a second litter box. This is then the transport vessel to get your marijuana plants to your growing location. You just put the cubes directly into your soil and let them grow. If anyone asks why you have litter boxes, you can just use the excuse of having to bury a family cat to keep most people from inquiring further. 

If you want to try and regenerate a harvested marijuana plant back to a vegetative state, it is possible. You can get your plant able to be harvested again in just 6-8 weeks because of the formation of the stalk and the marijuana plant's root system. If this is your goal, change the harvest routine to only include the top third of your plant, leaving all of the healthiest fan leaves surrounding the middle of the plant. You will want to remove the buds very carefully. The lowest leaves will require you to pull off each end flower, but you will want to leave the little flowers on the rest of the branch. This will help the plant regenerate. The more of these buds you can leave on your cannabis plant, the quicker your plant will be able to regenerate. Give your marijuana plant a food that is high in Nitrogen immediately as this will help your leaves stay on the plant instead of falling off. You can either bring your plants indoors for a 24 hour light bath to regenerate, or you can use the natural sunlight during the summer to help your plant grow naturally.

You will usually see your first signs of growth in 7-14 days. You will see growth starting on the lower branches first. Once you get a small amount of vegetation, you can then move your plant into a flowering state again right away. You can also take cuttings from the vegetation of this regenerated plant to increase your viable plants. You can then grow multiple plants and have harvests recurring every 30 days. Just make sure you keep your pests outside if you are moving around plants between indoor and outdoor growing locations. Using Mother Nature to your advantage can also help you get multiple harvests off of the same plant by using sunlight to help each plant regenerate faster. Just remember to always feed lots of Nitrogen when feeding vegetating plants and keep the light on the plants as long as possible, so the plant will want to flower again very soon! 

Everything that is alive on this planet, has a life cycle, including the marijuana plant. Every living organism is born, follows a life path and eventually dies. In order to be able to start this life cycle again. The marijuana plant starts of as a single seed, to become a seedling, kicks off the vegetative growing stage and eventually she starts blooming, reaches the flowering stage [maturity has been reached].

Germination

Germinate seeds in sterile soil [for planting outdoors] or a hydroponic medium of rockwool or vermiculite. DO NOT [!] use a Jiffy cube #7 to germinate your marijuana seeds. Informal tests and experience show these peat cubes do not work well and stunt the marijuana plants growth. Planting in vermiculite gives the marijuana seedling so much oxygen and are so easy for roots to grow in, that the marijuana plants look large one week after germination! Keep them moist at all times, by placing marijuana seeds in vermiculite filled 16 ounce | 450 grams cups with holes in the bottom, placed in a tray of weak nutrient solution, high in phosphorus [P]. Rockwool cubes also work extremely well. When the marijuana seed sprouts, place the rockwool cubes into larger rockwool cubes. No repotting or transplanting and no soil mixing! You can germinate marijuana seeds in a paper towel. This method is tricky; it's easy to ruin roots if they dry out, or are planted too late after germinating. Paper towels dry out REAL FAST! Place paper towel in a bowl, saturated with weak nutrient solution [not too much!] and cover with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. Put the bowl in a warm area... top of the gas stove, water heater closet or above warm lamps.

Cover with black paper to keep out light. Check every 12 hours. Put the marijuana plant germinated seeds with the grow tip up [if possible] in a growing medium as soon as the root coming out of the seed is 1 to 2 inches | 2.5 to 5 cm. or longer. Use tweezers and don't touch the root tip. Transplant as little as possible by germinating in the same container you intend to grow the marijuana plant in for a significant period of time. Just put the cannabis plant in vermiculite or rockwool. You will be amazed at the results! 90% germination is common with this method, as compared to 50% or less with Jiffy Cubes. [Your milage may vary.] 5 | 55 | 17 plant food such as Peter's Professional will stimulate root growth of the germinating marijuana seed and the new seedlings. Use a very dilute solution, in distilled water, about 1|3 normal strength and keep temperatures between 72 to 80 °F | 22 to 25 °C . Warm temperatures are very important. Many marijuana growers experience low germination rate if the temperatures are out of this range. A heating pad set to low or medium may be necessary, or a shelf constantly warmed by a light may do, but test it with a few marijuana seeds first, before devoting next years crop to it. No light is necessary and may slow germination. Cover germinating marijuana seeds with black paper to keep out light. Place seedlings in the light once they sprout. Plan on transplanting only once or twice before harvest. Use the biggest containers possible for the space and number of seedlings you plan to start. marijuana plants will suffer if continuously transplanted and delay harvesting.

You will suffer too, from too much work! Thirteen two liter plastic soda bottles filled with vermiculite | pearlite will fit in a cat box tray and will not require transplanting for the first harvest, if you intend to grow hydroponically. Transplant the marijuana plants for a second regenerated harvest. Cut holes in the bottom of containers and fill the last few inches at the top with vermiculite only, to start seeds or accept seedling transplants. Since vermiculite holds water well, wicks water well, but does not hold too much water, roots always have lots of oxygen, even if they are sitting in a tray full of water. A hydrogen peroxide based marijuana plant food is used to get extra oxygen to the marijuana plants when the pans are kept continuously full. The water can be allowed to recede each time after watering, before new solution is added. This allows the marijuana plants roots to dry some what and make sure they are getting enough oxygen. Use Super Soil brand potting soil, as it is excellent and sterilized. If you insist on using dirt from the yard, sterilize it in the microwave or oven until it gets steamy. [NOT RECOMMENDED] Sterilize the containers with a bleach solution, especially if they have been used a previous season for another marijuana plant.

Vegetative growth

Once sprouted, the marijuana plant starts vegetative growth. This means the marijuana plant will be photosynthesizing as much as possible to grow tall and start many grow tips at each pair of leaves. A grow tip is the part that can be cloned or propagated asexually. They are located at the top of the marijuana plant, and every major internode. If you "top" the marijuana plant, it then has two grow tips at the top. If you top each of these, you will have 4 grow tips at the top of the marijuana plant. [Since it takes time for the marijuana plant to heal and recover from the trauma of being pruned, it is faster to grow four smaller marijuana plants and not top them at all. Or grow two marijuana plants, and "train" them to fill the same space.] Most growers find all marijuana plants have a vegetative stage where they are growing as fast as possible after the marijuana plant first germinates from seed. It is possible to grow marijuana plants with no dark period, and increase the speed at which they grow by 15 to 30 inch | 37.5 to 75 cm. Marijuana plants can be grown vegetatively indefinitely. It is up to the gardener to decide when to force the marijuana plant to flower. A marijuana plant can grow from 12 inches to 12 feet | 30 cm to 3 m. before being forced to flower, so there is a lot of latitude here for each gardener to manage the garden based on goals and space available. A solution of 20 | 20 | 20 with trace minerals is used for both hydroponic and soil gardening when growing continuously under lights. Miracle Gro patio or Formula Flora plant food is good for this.

A high [P] plant food is used for blooming and fruiting marijuana plants when beginning 12 hour days. Epsom salts [one tablespoon] should be used in the solution for magnesium and sulfur minerals. Trace minerals are needed too, if your food does not include them. Miracle Gro patio or Formula Flora plant food includes these trace elements, and is highly recommended. Keep lights on continuously for sprouts, since they require no darkness period like older cannabis plants. You will not need a timer unless you want to keep the lamps off during a certain time each day. Try to light the marijuana plants for 18 or more hours, or continuously at this point. Bend a young marijuana plant's stem back and forth to force it to be very thick and strong. Spindly stems can not support heavy flowering growth. An internal oscillating fan will reduce humidity on the leave's stomata and improve the stem strength as well. The importance of internal air circulation can not be stressed enough. It will exercise the marijuana plants and make them grow stronger, while reducing many hazards that could ruin your crop.

Flowering

The marijuana plant will be induced to fruit or flower with dark cycles of 11 | 13 hours that simulate the oncoming winter in the fall as the days grow shorter. As a consequence, it works out well indoors to have two separate areas; one that is used for the initial vegetative state and one that is used for flowering and fruiting. There is no other requirement other than to keep the dark cycle for flowering very dark with no light interruptions, as this can stall flowering by days or weeks. Once a marijuana plant is big enough to mature [12 inch | 30 cm] or over, dark periods are required for most marijuana plants to flower and bear fruit. This will require putting the lamp on a timer, to create regular and strict dark periods of uninterrupted light. In the greenhouse, the same effect can be created in the summer [long days] by covering it with a blanket to make longer night periods. A strict schedule of covering the marijuana plants at 8pm and uncovering them at 8am for two weeks will start your marijuana plants to flowering. After the first two weeks, the schedule can be relaxed a little, but it will still be necessary to continue this routine for the marijuana plants to completely flower without reverting back to vegetative growth. Outdoors, Spring and Fall, the nights are sufficiently long to induce flowering at all times. Merely bring the marijuana plants from indoors to the outside at these times, and the marijuana plants will flower naturally. In late summer, with fall approaching, it may be necessary only to force flowering the first two weeks, then the rapidly lengthening nights will do the rest. Give flowering marijuana plants high [P] plant food and keep them on a strict light regimen of 12 hours, with no light or no more than a full moon during the dark cycle. 13 hours light | 11hours dark may increase flower size while still allowing the marijuana plant to go into the flowering mode. Use longer dark periods to speed maturity toward the end of the flowering cycle if speed is of the essence [8 to 10 days]. This will however, reduce total yield.

Two shelves can be used, one identical to the other, if strictly indoor gardening is desired. One shelf's lights are set for 12 | 13 hours and one is lit continuously. Marijuana plants are started in continuous light and are moved to the other shelf to flower to maturity after several weeks. This flowering shelf should be bigger than the "starting" or vegetative shelf, so that it can accommodate larger marijuana plants. Or some marijuana plants can be taken outside if there is not enough space on the flowering shelf for all of them near harvesting. A light tight curtain can be made from black vinyl, or other opaque material, with a reflective material on the other side to reflect light back to the marijuana plants. This curtain can be tied with cord when rolled up to work on the garden, and can be vectored down in place to make sure no light leaks in or out. If the shelf is placed up high, it will not be very noticeable, and will fit in any room. Visitors will never notice it unless you point it out to them, since it is above eye level, and no light is being emitted from it. Flowering marijuana plants like very high [P] level foods, such as 5/50/17, but 10/20/10 should be adequate. Nutrients should be provided with each watering when first flowering. Trace elements are necessary too; try to find foods that include these, so you don't have to use a separate trace element food too. Home improvement centers sell trace element solutions rich in iron for lawn deficiencies, and these can be adapted for use in cultivating the herb. Prices for these mass produced fertilizers are significantly cheaper than the specialized hydroponic fertilizers sold in indoor gardening shops, and seem to work just fine.

Hydroponic flowering solutions, per gallon | 3.5 liter

• High [P] plant food15/30/15 or 5/50/17 1 teaspoon
• Epsom salts ½ teaspoon
• Trace element food 1 teaspoon
• Oxygen+ plant food 1 teaspoon

We cannot stress enough that during the [flowering phase], the dark period should not be violated by normal light. It delays flower development due to hormones in the marijuana plant that react to light. If you must work on the marijuana plants during this time, allow only as much light as a [very] pale moon can provide for less than 5 minutes. Keep pruning to a minimum during the entire [flowering phase]. A green light can be used to work on the garden during the dark period with no negative reactions from the marijuana plants. These are sold as nursery safety lights, but any green bulb should be OK. It is best to keep the dark hours a time when you would normally not wish to visit the garden. We keep the garden lit from 7pm to 7am, since it allows us to visit the garden at night after work and in the morning before work, and all day long, while we are too busy to worry about it, it lies unlit and undisturbed, flowering away... Flowering marijuana plants should not be sprayed often as this will promote mold and rot. Keep humidity levels down indoors when flowering, as this is the most delicate time for the marijuana plants in this regard. Early flowering is noticed 1 to 2 weeks after turning back the lights to 12 hour days. Look for two white hairs emerging from a small bulbous area at every internode. This is the easiest way to verify females early on. You can not tell a male from a female by height, or bushiness. 3 to 6 weeks after turning back the lights, your marijuana plants will be covered with these white pistils emerging from every grow tip on the marijuana plant. It will literally be covered with them. These are the mature flowers, as they continue to grow and cover the cannabis plant.

Some marijuana plants will do this indefinitely until the lights are turned back yet again. At the point you feel your ready to see the existing flowers become ripe [you feel the marijuana plant has enough flowers], turn the lights back to 8 to 10 hours. Now the marijuana plant will start to ripen quickly, and should be ready to harvest in 2 to 3 weeks. The alternative is to allow the marijuana plant to ripen with whatever natural day length is available outside, or keep the marijuana plants on a constant 12 hour regimen for the entire flowering process, which may increase yield, but takes longer. Marijuana plants can be flowered in the final stages outdoors, even if the days are too long for normal flowering to occur. Once the marijuana plant has almost reached peak floral development, it is too far gone to revert quickly to vegetative growth, and final flowering will occur regardless. This will free up precious indoor space sooner, for the next batch of clones to be flowered. Look for the white hairs to turn red, orange or brown, and the false seed pods [ you did pull the males, right?] to swell with resins. When most of the pistils have turned color [80%], the flowers are ripe to harvest. Don't touch those buds! Touch only the large fan leaves if you want to inspect the buds, as the THC will come off on your fingers and reduce the overall yield if mishandled. 

You can usually tell the gender of your marijuana plants relatively early, enabling you to remove your male marijuana plants from the growing location before pollination occurs. All you have to do is cover the lowest branches of the plant for 12 hours each day during a 24-hour light phase. Using something like a black bag (paper preferably) to cover these branches will still allow for ample air circulation and keep the light from reaching the leaves. You want to make sure the routine is solid because if there is still light hitting these branches, they will not likely show you which gender they will turn out to be. While using a magnifying glass, you will need to look at the end of these branches. Males will have what looks like a club on a playing card at the end with a little stem protruding underneath, while females will have what looks like a singular or double pistil coming out of an immature calyx.

Removing the males

Some growers use light to force early flowers from plants only reaching 8 inches (20 cm) so they can remove the males. Most growers also do not want to waste any of their time, energy or other resources on dealing with male plants so they just put their marijuana plants into a 12 hour cycle of light and dark for two weeks, enabling them to see which plants are male and which are female. Once the males are removed, these growers then put the plants back into an 18-24 hour light cycle to help them grow vegetation. This can put your harvest back by the two weeks if you use this method, however, so we recommend you do not force your marijuana plants to flower early. Covering the lower branches works well for us and it keeps the plants healthy 

You can create cuttings from specific varieties of marijuana plants that can grow and mature to flowering quicker than other varieties. Some varieties are better for this process than others, so you can go through and pick the most potent and quickest growing and flowering plants, too. You will want to breed your fastest growing marijuana plant with your greatest "high" male marijuana plant for quick flowering and potent strains of cannabis. Just keep cloning your mother plant for single garden of quick-growing plants. This will save you time down the road when trying to get to a mature harvesting point. Once you notice your male plants getting ready to flower (2-3 weeks prior to females), you should remove them so the females do not get pollinated. They should be moved to a new area that just gets a little bit of light, like a secluded windowsill somewhere in your home. You will want to have either newspaper or some glass beneath the plant to catch the pollen. If you want to keep your male plants alive, bend its top back severely, placing the plant into shock and delaying the maturity of the plant. You can also take the top of the plants off, putting it into water and then putting it over some glass. With this method you need to shake the branches daily to let the pollen drop on to the glass, collecting it with a razor.

The best way to pollinate

Your male marijuana plants can be pruned like this to allow them to produce more flowers when left in the dark. This is a much better option than freezing your pollen as fresh pollen works the best. If you have to save some pollen, keep it in a bag that is air-tight, in the freezer. This will allow it to last approximately one month. You may have a span of a few weeks before your female marijuana plants are ready to be pollinated. Female marijuana plants are ready for pollination two weeks after female flowers start to appear. If pollination happens too early, the chances of success decrease. You want your flowers well-established on the female, but you want each of the pistils (hairs) to still show. Make sure all fans are turned off and use a bag to pour the pollen over a branch of the female plant. We recommend you use two different male specimens on two different branches of your female plants. Wrap part of the bag around the stem you are trying to pollinate and close it around the base of the branch. Shake the branch as vigourously as possible without causing damage. Dampen the paper bag once a few minutes has passed and carefully take the bag off. Use a big bag to slip over the male branches and shake the plant gently to remove the excess pollen. Use caution when removing this bag and zip it closed when done. You should see a lot of dusty pollen in the bag. To pollinate another plant, use this bag and place it over another branch of a female plant, sealing the bag around the stem so not pollen can escape.

At this point you need to shake the stem and bag simultaneously, allowing an hour or two of settling after. You should then shake a second time and repeat the settling time. After the second settling time, remove the bag from the branch. The branch should be really well pollinated after this, and you should see seed production within two weeks. You should see ripe seeds between three and six weeks after pollination. Each branch can easily create a few hundred seeds, so one or two branches should be more than enough. If you are using two different varieties, you will get a bit of a third variety in between both branches. You will need a few different marijuana plants to be able to see which variety holds the characteristics you were breeding for. You will see mostly the dominant traits on the new plants, so occasionally you will need to re-breed these plants to get the recessive genes to show through, giving you a potential that may not otherwise be available.

The hybrid vigour

Most growers choose to cross only two varieties of marijuana plants that show great differences. This will leave one plant showing more growth, making it the "hybrid vigour". You will find the best varieties of marijuana plants from this type of breeding. Varieties of marijuana plants that are less robust is what you will typically find when you interbreed, especially when recessive genes begin to appear. This can also give you less potent plants. You will get varied offspring when you breed hybrids due to the combination of dominant and recessive genes. You will then need to try each product from the different varieties of marijuana plant completely separately in order to decide what flavors each plant will give you. If you happen to come across a marijuana plant that gives you early flowers, a high yield and a good buzz, then you will want to create clones of this plant indefinitely. More in-depth explanations of genetics will not be covered in this guide

Sinsemilla

When you have female marijuana plants that are not able to pollinate, they will swell with resin that was intended to help make marijuana seeds. The fake seed pods will then swell up with even more of the resin and the pistils (hairs) will change to red or orange and pull back into each pod. At this point, a marijuana plant can be harvested, dried and cured. There are no seeds with the bud of this form of plant, and this is then called "sinsemilla", meaning "no seeds".

Create your own female variety

You can even create a new variety of marijuana seed that will produce nothing but female marijuana plants from your two favorite female marijuana plants. You should have two different varieties of marijuana plants so you are not inbreeding the plants. You will get the greatest offspring from this mixture. You will find it much easier to figure out the type of quality you will get from female plants over male marijuana plants because the smoke is much more potent, making each quality show up more robustly. You will end up with only female seeds using this process because no male flowers were used. If you can apply Gibberellic Acid to a single branch of your female marijuana plant, it will induce a few male flowers. You need to spray your marijuana plant daily for 10 days with a diluted solution of 100 ppm (100 mL) Gibberellic acid. Once the male flowers form, you need to pollinate your female marijuana plant (or plants if you want a lot of seeds). Take the branch that has the male flowers attached and root it in a rooting solution and water. Put glass under this new plant to catch all of the pollen you will need. We recommend you follow the cloning method (above) to start the new plant. Take a paper bag and collect all of the pollen you can, including scraping off the glass so you don't miss any. You can use the pollen on different plants or the same plant you started the flowers on, effectively breeding a plant with itself. This will help hold the dominant characteristics, but it could lead to issues with inbreeding, so the process needs to be considered carefully. 

Every time a grower trims or clips the tip of one of their plants, that particular stem breaks off into two new shoots. They then begin growing from the closest leaf axis. The process of pruning your growing plant is the easiest way to help control uneven or wild growth without harming your precious marijuana plant. You want to make sure that you do not prune the tip of any seedling until the first set of five-bladed leaves formed properly, and the plants vegetative phase has clearly begun. Many growers will prune the tips approximately four or five weeks into the plants growth cycle to assist in the development of low growing branches. These low growing branches will rapidly fill any and all horizontal space that the plant is given. The highest potency of your growing marijuana plant will be found within the growing tips, which by approximately three months, will provide you with a top quality smoke.

Be patient, your plant needs to recover

You are able to prune the growing tips throughout virtually any stage of the plant's development, however, do not go overboard in doing so. If you over prune your plant, you will harm the growth and development of your marijuana plant. It is advisable to have a pruning strategy created to increase the development of your plants instead of haphazardly cutting the growing tips from the plants. After every pruning, the marijuana plant requires several days to fully recover before any form of growth is able to resume. The more you continue to prune a plant, the more you limit its ability to grow. This is due largely in part to the genetic structure of the plant as well as the environmental conditions of the plant. To obtain more favorable results from your pruning, it is recommended that you prune your plants during the early stages of development as well as during the end of the marijuana plant's vegetative stage, or while the plant is flowering. You should also make sure to prune your plants in the early hours of the day instead of the evening, as it allows your marijuana plant the entire day to heal and recover from the stress of pruning.

Trimming the right branches

If you are looking for a smaller or bushier marijuana plant that requires less pruning, than you will want to consider the marijuana Indica variety plant as opposed to the marijuana Sativa species, which is larger variety of plant. Take care that you never prune a singular growing tip as well as avoid pruning the highest node from any branch of a growing plant. The highest node of any non-pruned plant will be far more potent than the upper-most buds of a similar pruned plant. This holds true, despite having similar growing conditions and growth schedules. When you prune the tallest branches you will ensure that your lower branches will grow upwards. This will form a larger surface area for light to assist in the development of the plant. The clear fluid that you will notice flowing from the end of any pruned branch is normal and contains the substances needed to seal the cut and assist the plant throughout the recovery process. While it is important to remove any and all wilting leaves from your plants, you must resist the urge to remove too many of your plants healthier leaves.

Growing only female plants

When growing seedless plants, you should make sure to remove any of the male marijuana plants the moment they are identified. This can be done by simply pruning the plant's main stem just above the ground, assuming it is grown in soil. You can also just remove the plant from your hydroponic garden if you so wish. While a pruned cannabis plant is going to be better developed than it's non-pruned counterparts, it may not always create more buds than the plants that have not felt the stress of regular pruning. The primary reason to prune your plant is to take the cuttings from your strongest, favorite plant and further it's hydroponic development. Often times growers will prune a cannabis plant to avoid detection by limiting the height of the plant. Alternatively, a grower can gently bend the tops of these plants and anchor them down with a wire or string.

Note:

Pruning the growing tip of your marijuana plant results in the removal of the most potent portion of the plant thus ruining the plants ability to reach full maturity. 

No matter what species of marijuana plants you are growing, you will have either female or male plants. Male plants will produce the pollen that will pollinate the flowers of female plants. (See pictures below) Once pollinated the female plants will begin to produce seeds. If you have no male marijuana plants near the females, they will continue to flower and bud, as well as produce THC. These non-pollinated female plants are known as sensemilla, which basically means seedless. Approximately 30 to 50 percent of marijuana plants end up as males.

Taking all males out of your garden

If you grow your cold weather cannabis plants in the outdoors, you will notice the plants begin to produce pollen and flowers in July. Those who are closer to the equator and similarly warmer climates will notice that the plants will not begin this process until mid-September. The difference depends on the various budding cycles of your specific variety of marijuana. Some species will bud sooner than others making it difficult to give a specific time to cut your male plants. If you are cross-pollinating various strains of marijuana, you might be required to visit your plants weekly from mid-July to mid-September. The ability to quickly identify your male plants is critical to the success and size of your harvest. If you are lucky enough to have had exceptional weather during the flowering stage of the male plants but failed to notice the signs of the flowering process, you may end up with very little herb, and a large quantity of seeds.

About the female plants

Female marijuana plants will generate sizable seedless buds, a large bud riddled with seeds, or a bud with a small handful of seeds. The first outcome can be achieved by removing male plants before any of the flowers begin to open. The second outcome is a result of mistiming the flowering of the male plant. This is catastrophic if you are lucky enough to have a large female plant because you might loose up to 90 percent of any harvest-able marijuana to it's seed production process. This can be used in a positive way to generate an excess of seeds for a future crop rather than being viewed as a total loss. The last outcome occurs once a small handful of male flowers have begun to open and they are all removed before the rest can open.

Spot a male plant

Hardy marijuana seeds can be difficult to obtain, so if you find yourself with a particular strain you enjoy, it is important to plan accordingly, and have several hundred seeds for future crops. The ability to spot a male marijuana plant is one of the more difficult skills to learn or explain to someone, as it relates directly to the look and growth of the plant during its development. Even the most experienced of growers can become unsure and will have no choice but to wait until the second or third visit to correctly identify the males. During the flowering stage of development, male marijuana plants will have small ball like buds that lack fine white hairs. The female plants will lack the balls that the males have but will have the fine white hairs that the males are lacking. Often times male plants are taller with stout stems, fewer leaves, and sporadic branching. These plants are typically harvested before the pollen can be shed, except for the select few that are kept for breeding. When you attempt to harvest a male plant, more so if it is near a female plant, you want to cut your plant off from the base taking special care to shake the plant as little as humanly possible. This will prevent accidental pollination by previously undetected flowers. 

Typically a marijuana plant can be female or male, but occasionally you will find a hermaphrodite in the mix. Male cannabis plants will produce a pollen that, when combined with female flowers, will produce seeds. Female cannabis plants will either be pollinated by the male and make seeds or not be pollinated and produce THC within the flowers and buds. A female cannabis plant that does not get pollinated is called sinsemilia, which means without seed. Growers typically find 30-50% of their cannabis crop is male.

Male marijuana plants

The typical look of a male marijuana plant is tall, showing stout stems and sporadic branches with only a couple leaves. (See picture below) Most males end up harvested unless they are used during pollination for breeding once they are known to be males but before pollen comes off of the plant. During harvesting, especially if you happen to have these plants near the females, you will want to cut the plant off right at the stem. You will want to keep the plant as undisturbed as is possible to avoid accidental pollination. Once males enter the flowering stage, each branch tip will have tiny buds (balls) that do not get the hairs that female plants will get. Outdoor male marijuana plants can start flowering as early as the middle of July for some varieties. The specific varieties that are used to the hottest southern climates may wait until the middle of September. Each variety has a slightly different cycle to determine when this happens, so cutting off the male at the right time will be different for each variety.

For growers who are not sure about the variety of marijuana they are growing, you will have to dedicate time weekly to visit your plants from the middle of July until the middle of September to ensure you do not miss the proper window to harvest these plants. Sexing the male marijuana plants is crucial to any chance at a successful harvest. If you do not time this right, you will end up with quite a few marijuana seeds and little harvest to show for your work.

Female marijuana plants

The female marijuana plant will not have any buds (balls) but it will have some tiny white hairs growing off the ends of the branches. (See picture below) Many varieties of marijuana plants that are used to more temperate climates will start to show off their gender around the end of July (or the end of January if you live below the equator). Some female marijuana plants will end up never producing pollen buds but instead will be purely sinsemilia, so harvesting these plants will allow for a sweet and gentle smoke. It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to remove all of the male plants at the right time because you do not want to risk pollination of your female plants. At early stages of flowering, male plants look quite different than female plants when looking at the tips of the branches. The best indicator of gender is the primordial, which will come out along the side of either the third or the fourth internode along the main stem. Growers will notice a "V" shaped pistil when looked at closely. Males, when grown outside, will typically begin to show their characteristics about three weeks ahead of the female plants. When the plants are grown indoors, the time is decreased to 7-10 days. We have heard every urban myth out there about how anything from the stage of the moon to chemicals added into the soil can help you determine the sex of your cannabis plants, but we would recommend looking it up from a reliable internet source (such as here) or a book until you have the experience yourself.

Hermaphrodite marijuana plants

A Hermie, also known as a hermaphroditic form of marijuana plant, is a cannabis plant that is truly one gender that somehow has developed the sexual organs that should be on the other gender of plant. Typically you will find a female cannabis plant in bloom that has developed staminate flowers, but you can find the opposite occasionally as well. Most growers will not recognize a male hermaphrodite due to the fact that only a handful of growers will even allow the male marijuana plants reach flowering to where they would see the pistillate. Most growers do not favor their hermaphroditic marijuana plants because they can release some pollen, ruining an entire sinsemilia crop (including themselves) and the seeds that come from this pollination are considered totally worthless. The seeds will end up with mostly hermaphroditic plants so it will end up being a poor crop. [Please note that rarely a staminate marijuana flower will show up near the end of flowering on a female marijuana plant, but this is not considered deleterious hermaphroditism because no pollen drops.] 

Most species of indica have a short stature, an early maturation and a bushier look to them. They also have increased chlorophyll and less of the pigment that helps to protect the plants from too much sun, called accessory pigments. The increased amount of chlorophyll can help this variety of marijuana plant mature and grow more quickly. The mature size of an indica marijuana plant is typically under 6' (180 cm) tall and almost never get over 8' (240 cm). This variety produces leaves that are short and wide, with a bit of purple at the edges of the deep green centers. When an indica marijuana plant reaches maturity, you will often notice an increase in purple on the leaves. The short branches will be thick and heavy with marijuana buds. The maturity of this plant usually occurs around early September. The buds will be any color between dark green and purple, similar to the leaves themselves. If your plant was grown during colder conditions, you will see even more color on the leaves and buds. The buds on this variety of marijuana plant have a more difficult time reaching maturity if the climate is too cold, so it does not always grow well in Northern climates or higher elevations. Buds of indica marijuana often smell like horrible body odor and most smoke from them will induce coughing, but a good Indica will give you a relaxing social style high. This means you will not be analyzing your entire experience but rather increasing your senses within your environment.

Other forms of Indica will give you a high that will put you right to sleep. Most Indica varieties derive from Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, plus their surrounding areas. Due to where this variety began, it is used to the variable climates of many portions of the world. The gene pool for this variety of marijuana plant is heterogeneous. Each phase of growth is going to determine how the final product comes out. Some plants will do better while others will struggle, no matter how perfect the weather is when the plants are grown. This is part of why most UK growers choose Indica plants. The ratio of THC and CBD is also going to vary. The lower quality hashish or marijuana from Indica marijuana plants come from the plant having too much CBD. This is the same reason that a smoker may become instantly sleepy after smoking.

The high of Indica marijuana

Most smokers of Indica marijuana plants tell of a stony, heavy high that is usually relaxing, and this form of marijuana also seems to help with many medical conditions. The common terms associated with Indica smoke is a "body buzz" that is quite pleasant. If you want to relax, relieve some stress and become more serene and calm, you are looking for an Indica high. Most smokers also notice that their high includes quite a bit of pain relief over the entire body and a relief from any insomnia. Many smokers have Indica to help them sleep through the night. A few of the varieties of pure Indica smoke can cause what is referred to as the "couch lock" due to the high THC levels, leaving the smoker totally still so they can revel in the experience.

Sativa marijuana plants

The taller counterpart to the Indica variety is the Sativa variety. This marijuana plant matures more slowly, has increased accessory pigments over Indica, and they have a bit less chlorophyll. This lack of chlorophyll creates a plant that grows more slowly, matures more slowly and requires additional light. These marijuana plants can grow from 6 feet (180 cm) to 25 feet (7.5 m) or occasionally more. Most marijuana plants grow between 8 and 12 feet (240 and 360 cm).The leaves are thin and long, a pale green color and more yellow pigment than other varieties of marijuana plant. This is due to most varieties coming from near the Equator, where extra protection from the sun is a must. This variety of marijuana plant has long branches, with a reach of 4 or more feet (120 cm) from the main stalk. The shape is similar to that of a Christmas tree. The buds from this marijuana plant are also thin and long, and much more sparse than its counterpart, the Indica. Most growers report a purple stoma when this plant is grown in a colder climate and a red or orange stoma when grown in a hotter climate. Your marijuana plants can mature during many different times. Some varieties that have low THC levels can mature between August and September, while other, higher THC level varieties don't mature until November through January. Increased amounts of light will help these marijuana buds swell up and thicken with resin. Decreased light, such as what is found over most of the UK, will return skimpy or thin buds, but the resin is usually quite potent. The buds themselves smell almost fruity, like an Apple pie, and they are heavily perfumed. The smoke is easy to inhale with a smooth finish.

The Sativa variety of marijuana plant can be found in many locations around the world. Many commercial varieties are included in this list: South Africa, Nigeria, Mexico and Columbia. The high from a Sativa bud is considered highly cerebral. It gives you a rush of a lot of energy, where you whole body can feel the buzz. This is ideal for those who need a boost to get housework (or other chores) done. Many Sativa plants are used as industrial hemp. Artificial lights will better benefit an Indica variety of marijuana plant than it will with a Sativa. Typically a Sativa needs 4 or more additional weeks of light to reach full maturity. The weight of a Sativa plant is typically much less than that of an Indica plant. This is why most marijuana sellers grow Indica varieties instead of Sativa. Each grower is basically able to tailor their desires to their individual plant with the numerous varieties of marijuana plants available right now. It used to be much more difficult to grow good smoke because the seeds came from a place that had more natural heat and light, making quality growth more difficult.

Thankfully today that is no longer the case. You can buy seeds from plants that have a specific month that they will flower in to fit your schedule best. The marijuana business is growing quickly, so growers are doing what they can to try and keep up with specific customer demands. With indoor growing, people can now grow whatever type of marijuana they want, when they want, because they can recreate the plant's natural environment. There would not be a marijuana Cup or hybrids for seed companies to sell if not for crossbreeding. So if you get the chance to visit Holland (or just order from a company there), do yourself the favor of buying some seeds that are pure Sativa and Indica, and then buy a 50/50 hybrid seed to try out for yourself. You should be able to taste the different highs!

The high of Sativa marijuana

The high of a Sativa marijuana plant is quite cerebral, giving the smoker energy and stimulation to both the body and mind, potentially causing hallucinations. This type of high is considered both energetic and uplifting. The high gives smokers a feeling of well-being and optimism, and can help with many types of pain all over the body. Pure Sativa can also have incredibly high levels of THC, making the smoker quite hallucinogenic or spacey. This variety is ideal for smoking during the day.

Crossbreed marijuana plants

When we say crossbreed, we mean a grower took two totally different strains of marijuana plant and bred them together. The grower is trying to combine optimal growing characteristics. The pollen comes from the male and the flowers from a different variety of female combine to make the new hybrid. Consider the combination of a Sativa that grows incredibly tall and an Indica that has incredible taste and outstanding yields. This will produce younglings that share some characteristics. The true-breed strains can either be:

Pure marijuana breeds:

These are species that have only ever been bred with similar varieties of marijuana plant so all of the genes are nearly identical.

Or stabilized hybrids:

Hybrids were created by specific growers that wanted specific characteristics, and then inbred for numerous generations until the grower was consistently able to get the same characteristics from each generation of seeds. An F1 will denote a seed or marijuana plant that has two parents who are true-breeders. This means the offspring will not have exact characteristics to either parent but they will share some similarities. Occasionally marijuana seed varieties will be bred hundreds of times in a row in an attempt to create the perfect strain of hybrid marijuana seeds. The overall shape that a hybrid's leaf will have is totally dependent on the ratio of Indica and Sativa in the plant.

The high of a crossbreed

The high you get from a hybrid will depend on how much Indica and Sative each plant has in it. When both varieties are used, both highs will be represented. One example would be the energy from a Sativa combining with the body buzz from an Indica variety of marijuana plant. 

One amazing thing that marijuana plants are capable of is vegetative regeneration even after the initial harvest. Some plants can give two or three different harvests in the same year. Second harvests usually happen about 6-8 weeks after the first. This is due to how much formation of the plant is already completed from the first time around. It takes just over half of the time for future harvests as it did for the initial harvest. You will want to remove only the top third of your marijuana plant when harvesting the first time. Cut off necessary branches very carefully and leave on as many of the fan leaves that are healthy as you can. Take the end flowers from the branches around the bottom third of your marijuana plant, leaving behind any of the tiny flowers that are covering the branches. This is where most of the regeneration will come from. You will have much more rapid regeneration if you can leave these buds on your marijuana plant. Give your marijuana plant a high-Nitrogen food as soon as you're done harvesting so it can keep its leaves intact. If it loses all of its leaves, your plant will die after harvesting. You can either regenerate your marijuana plants under the sunlight outside if the weather is warm, or you can bring your plants indoors so they have access to continuous light.

After 7-14 days, you will begin seeing signs of growth on your marijuana plants. The first growth will show up at the bottom of your plants, so look there first. Once you have some new vegetation established, your marijuana plants can return to the outdoors for another flowering phase. You can also keep this plant indoors if you plan to clone it. If you keep plants continually growing in all phases, you can end up getting a new harvest every 30 days. Just make sure you keep your plants healthy if choosing to go this route. Bringing plants in from the outside, or vice versa, can cause a lot of problems with pests infesting your entire crop, including your new clones or seeds. We recommend that you keep a separate area within your home to quarantine plants before they join up with the rest of your crop to ensure there is no cross contamination. Using the sun's light outside is a great alternative to bringing plants back and forth inside your home. Just try harvesting in June, following that up with the regeneration process and heavy Nitrogen foods. By the time fall rolls around, your plant will be immense and ready to begin flowering again on its own!

How CO² can intensify plant growth

If you can increase the CO² levels within your growing location, you can nearly double the growth rate of your marijuana plants. When marijuana plants originated, the natural levels of CO² were much higher than they are now. Every marijuana plant requires CO² in order to perform photosynthesis, where the plant produces the necessary sugars for plant tissue growth. The more of these sugars can be made through photosynthesis, the quicker the marijuana plant can grow. It is difficult to safely, conveniently or inexpensively manufacture CO², plus tanks of CO² can get quite costly, so this has to be something only a serious and experienced marijuana grower tries. Unless you plan to use a greenhouse, growers who put their marijuana plants outdoors for flowering do not need to worry about using CO² on their plants. Sealed rooms are the only rooms that can even benefit from the use of CO² on marijuana plants. A room that isn't sealed won't have the CO² around long enough to affect the growth of the plant. Burning off natural gas will give off CO², but it will also give off CO and heat that will need to be vented away from the marijuana plants. Welding supply companies can also lease or sell you a CO² canister if you want to set up a regulated system for the long-term. Just tell them you have some old mig welder back at your house that you are going to be using to repair something like a trailer or a lawnmower. A small tank should be able to last you for about two months if being used within a small closet, assuming you release just a little at a time and have the growing room properly vented. You will also only want to release gas when your plants have light on them in order for the plant to be able to use it.

Most closets do not need a constant CO² flow whenever the lights are on and the fans are off, but bigger rooms could definitely benefit from this setup. Conserving your CO² is a good idea, but it can end up costing you a pretty penny. When you do not have lights on, do not give your plants CO² because they will not use it. If you set up the release of your CO² to your light timer, during flowering you will only end up using half the CO² you would use at other times. Make sure you do not waste CO² by having any released when your fans are turned on. Seeing as how fans are needed regularly during light cycles, this can also affect how much CO² you end up using. Using bottle forms of CO² is better for the environment because manufacturing CO² can add to the greenhouse effect. Many other processes create CO² so using the bottled forms that capture this byproduct will end up doing the most to help the environment. You can also use a CO² generator or the fermentation process to give your plants their needed CO². Propane heaters are the most common and inexpensive form of CO² generators out there. You just need to make sure the growing location does not get too hot. Rooms that end up requiring venting half of the time will not get much of a benefit from CO² because it will just not sit with the plants long enough to give much of a boost. If your growing location can survive without venting for a few hours, then you will have much more success. Large-scale growers will have to use a CO² generator to get any boosts.

If your room needs little or no venting, you can try either baking soda and vinegar or fermentation. All you do is pour the vinegar over the baking soda and shut the door to the growing room. Once you want the CO² gone, just turn on your vent and it will dissipate. This process cannot be automated, so it is highly impractical for most circumstances. Fermentation will work a little better than vinegar and baking soda, but it will take up much more space than most closets will easily allow. During the fermentation process, yeast is always dying off, so there is constantly some CO² coming out, but this requires the use of a large bin and a lot of sugar. 10 lbs (5 kg) of sugar will last between two and three weeks. Plus it's next to impossible to see how much CO² your plants are actually getting from this process. You can get an idea on how much CO² your plants are getting if you have a tube coming off of the top of your bin that goes into the bottom of a glass jar filled part of the way with water, as the bubbling will give you an idea how much CO² you are able to produce. 1 teaspoon (5 mL) of sodium bicarbonate mixed with a little vinegar will give you a frothy CO² mixture that can help your cannabis plants if you put it in a small growing location. The cheapest way to offer CO² to your marijuana plants is sterilizing a 2L bottle filled mostly with water, combined with 2 oz. (55 g) of sugar and a few cc's of human urine. You could also replace the urine with yeast from a home brew store. Shake up the mixture and keep it around 77°F (25°C) for the next two weeks. You will then notice an increase of about a half an ounce (15 g) for each ounce (30 g) of sugar that you used originally. If you start a new bottle like this every 3-4 days, you will continually be able to cheaply add CO² to your marijuana plants. Supplemented CO² is a huge growth booster to marijuana plants. Our experiments under 250 watt HPS lights showed 15 inches (38 cm) of growth over just eight days with supplemented CO². We recommend using sterilized 1 gallon (3.5 L) plastic milk cartons with a pin-hole poked into the top. If you use tubing that runs into the jar to show your fermentation levels, you will be able to ensure microbes are not getting into your system due to how it is set up.

Alternately, you can use seltzer water sprayed on to the leaves of your marijuana plants two times each day. Some growers do not like this method while others believe it is better than any other method. Logistics say that this is only good in a very small growing location, but if that is how you are able to grow then give it a try! It would be quite expensive if you are using this method on a large crop. Club soda should be avoided whenever possible due to its high levels of sodium that could cause harm to the stomata of your marijuana plants. After 2-3 sprays with seltzer water, make sure you wash the plant down with pure water. This process cannot be automated, but that ends up being beneficial when you consider how closely it makes you pay attention to your marijuana plants. If you MUST use club soda, clean off your plants twice as often. Diluted plant foods can also be sprayed on your marijuana plants while you are giving them more CO². We recommend Formula Flora or Miracle Gro. Just keep in mind that you will be adding to your humidity levels of the room by using seltzer water, so vent off the excess humidity on a regular basis or you may end up with fungi infested plants.

Caution!

You do not want to spray water over the top of a hot light bulb. Make sure your lights are turned off before spraying. The CO² benefit may not be worth all of the extra time, hassle, danger and expense that an increased yield could offer to some people, so keep that in mind before starting this process. You need to make sure your marijuana plants can get at least 200 parts per million CO² or it will not do them any good. You also need to make sure the environment is ideal for this increased growth, such as proper food and water levels. Some metropolitan areas offer increased CO² sufficient for making supplementation unnecessary. We have heard some growers note a reduced potency when CO² was supplemented around harvesting, so you should likely keep your supplementation to earlier phases of growth.

Increasing growth through foliar feeding

If you are looking for a simple way to increase your growing speed, quality and yield, try foliar feeding. This works with and without increased CO² around your marijuana plants. Simply create a worm casting tea mixed with bat guano or fish emulsion and any balanced plant food that gives benefits during early growth. (Do not use this later or the mixture will be going into your mouth!) Spray this on your plants until 2-3 weeks prior to harvest. Make sure you rinse off all of your marijuana leaves weekly while this is being used so nothing clogs the plant's stomata. This mixture can be fed to your plants daily, or if you'd prefer, every other day. You will want to spray your plants between 7 and 10 am and again after 5 at night. This is when the stomata of your marijuana leaves are the most open. Try and keep your growing location around 72°F (22°C). If you go beyond 80 °F (27°C), you will likely always have closed stomata. You will want to keep the temperature as close to that as possible with every spraying to keep the benefits maximized. You want to use the best sprayer you can find for this job as the particles need to be incredibly small. You want your pH levels between 6.2 and 7, ideally at 6.5. Baking soda will increase the pH or vinegar will lower it if your pH is slightly off. Spraying small quantities more often is best for your marijuana plants. This will help your plants absorb what they need as they need it instead of drowning them and making them try and cope. Spray when your light is cool to avoid burns to you or your marijuana plants. A combination of seltzer water and liquefied plant food is the best you can offer most plants when feeding through the leaves. Using this type of feeding will also help you totally avoid the lockup of nutrients that often happens with marijuana plants.

Warning!

If you intend to ingest your marijuana leaves, make sure you clean them off before you dry them so you do not ingest the nitrate salts that cover each leaf.

Negative ion generators

A negative ion generator has a few benefits. It can help remove some of the odors that come from within a grow room, but they are also known to increase yields and speed of growth. There is not any scientific evidence proving this, but it has been a common outcome for many marijuana growers. With the benefits that both animals and people feel around these machines, it stands to reason that plants would have a benefit of a similar reaction. If nothing else, give it a try. It isn't going to harm anything if you have one in your growing location. Some growers have noticed a decline in the scent coming from marijuana buds when they are picked, but many growers prefer this. All you have to do is clean off the foil plate monthly (and any foil put on your wall near the machine). If you choose not to use grounded foil near your ionizer, you will likely notice the walls around the machine getting darker, requiring a new paint job at some point in the future. 

For those who are unfamiliar with the benefits of drying or curing your marijuana plants, it is considered a three-step process. It will taste better when dried and cured, and will help you not damage your lungs. Drying can take up to two weeks, and curing can take 14-60 days, depending on the variety. Drying time is dependent on variety, weather in the drying location and where you put your plants to dry. Desert locations will dry marijuana plants faster than tropical locations. After you harvest your marijuana plants, step one is to dry them. You will want to dry your marijuana plants upside down, allowing the fan leaves to cover your marijuana buds. You will want to place them in a dark and cool location that is not humid and has plenty of ventilation. You will want to check your buds daily so you can spot signs of mildew or mold immediately, allowing you to correct any problems right away. Once the fan leaves break off crisply, it is time to trim off those fan leaves. This part can also be done before you dry your marijuana buds as cutting them after they are dry is much more difficult.

We recommend that you cut those fan leaves off prior to drying your marijuana leaves to simplify the process. The goal with drying is to dry evenly and slowly. Drying too quickly will cause your marijuana buds to smell like hay or pine needles, or can give them a bad taste. You do not want to dry too slowly, either, because they will be more susceptible to mildew or mold attacks. You will need a fan in the drying room to ensure your plants get adequate air circulation. After those fan leaves get trimmed up, your marijuana buds will have to be hung upside down again to allow the buds to completely dry out. They will again need a cool, breezy and dry location to finish drying to a crisp point. Once the leaves and buds are crisp, you want to remove them from the stems and get rid of the unnecessary leaf materials. This is known as a "manicure" for your marijuana buds. This is still easier to have done prior to the drying process, so we still recommend it. You will likely notice your marijuana buds being slightly moist, both on the outside and the inside. Some varieties are able to be smoked now, but you will get a better taste and smell if you follow these additional two processes.

Bagging your marijuana buds

After your moist marijuana buds have been trimmed, you will want to use a paper bag to try them a bit more. We recommend using grocery store paper bags because they have not been bleached and you don't want something you plan to smoke having bleach in it. This step can be a little tricky. First you want to place your trimmed marijuana buds about 3-4" (7.5-10 cm) deep into a paper bag, loosely. You will want to leave the bag open to still prevent mildew and mold. Check your buds daily and rotate the buds around so your marijuana buds can dry evenly. Turning the buds now and again or shaking the bag gently will accomplish this task. You will notice that as your buds dry, they naturally shrink down into a state that preserves the buds best. Once this happens, the bag can be closed and the buds will naturally compact down. This should leave you with buds that can be smoked, even if there is still a little moisture within the center of the buds. Remember that your climate and environment will potentially change the timing of this step, and only regular checking can prevent any type of damage to your beautiful crop of marijuana buds.

Curing your marijuana buds

Your final step is creating the best flavor and smoke you can from your crop of marijuana buds. You will want to use either an air-tight container, like a jar, or something that will protect your crop from air and light. You will want to loosely place your marijuana buds that are totally dry inside the jar. You do not want them compacted down. For the first week to ten days, you will want to open the jar, remove and replace your marijuana buds, and exchange the air daily. This ensures they finish drying evenly and would let you spot a mildew or mold problem immediately. After this time period, you will still want to still open the jars daily for a while to look for mildew and mold. If you happen to notice some, you should remove the affected buds and place the rest back into the paper bag for a couple days before attempting the jar-step again. The longer you check them daily (up to two months), the more flavor characteristics you will impart on your marijuana buds, and the better the results will be. You will know your marijuana buds are totally dry once the stem in the center of each bud can snap easily with just your fingers. The more you practice this, the easier it will be for you to tell. Once it is completely dry, the marijuana buds can be sealed and stored for quite a long time. You will find many different opinions on how to dry and cure your buds, but this is the best method we have ever found and it has not failed us. 

You will regularly read forum posts from novice marijuana plant growers referring to harvesting a crop when the hairs are at 50% of a color change to either brown or red, but that is not always an accurate read. If you notice a color change in Calyx hairs it can mean a readiness of the plant, but it does not have to mean that. Now if you notice those same Calyx hairs withering, that typically means the plant is very close to complete readiness. The hair color shows that the ripening process is happening, but is not always a good indicator on just how ripe the marijuana plant really is. You can harvest Sativa strains when 90% of the hairs have changed colors and Indica strains when only 60% of the hairs have changed and still have them both fully ripe. The withering is a much more tell-tale sign of ripeness. You must rely on the color of the trichome to indicate ripeness above anything else.

The entire process: from flushing to curing

We would recommend that before you harvest, you flush your marijuana plants with clear water or start a reverse-osmosis filter 2-3 weeks before harvesting. If you can't filter, then use tap water with a clearing agent. This will allow most toxic chemicals to flush out of the soil after 10 days.

Plant's moisture level before cutting

Before you cut down your crop, you may want to let the soil dry out some. You do not want to starve your marijuana plants for water, but closer to how dry your plants should be when they need more water. This will help you speed up your drying time.

24 hour period without light

We recommend that you give your plants a 24 hour period without any light just before harvesting to help your plant produce more resin. With potency being lowest during the full heat of midday, darkness will allow your marijuana plants to show their full potential. You will notice some marijuana plants respond incredibly well to this, such as those in the White family (like White Widow or White Queen). Even if your plants do not respond favorably to where you can see a difference, it does not cause them any harm to try. The only thing it can potentially do is help, so why not, right?

Cutting, trimming and drying 101

Here is the part you have been waiting for! Hopefully you are ready for sticky scissors! You're going to need some good, sharp, trimming scissors for this part. You can usually find varieties with small blades and a comfortable handle at most hardware stores or garden centers. We recommend bonsai scissors for this. Closets and small rooms are usually plenty for personal harvests. Larger crops typically require more room, however. Rope or clothesline that can be strung up across a room will do for your hanging needs, but make sure each end is securely fastened to the wall. The last thing you want is your crop taking a nose dive down to the floor.

Temperature

You will want to keep your temperature in the range of 70-80°F (21-26.5°C), ideally staying near the bottom or middle of that range. The drying room should also remain dark. Your two biggest enemies to the THC formed on your marijuana plants are UV rays and heat. You will also want a small fan that oscillates. A humidity gauge is recommended, but not essential for smaller crops in dry climates. We would say it is essential for more humid climates or damp basements so it does not increase your drying time or infect your marijuana buds with mold.

The cut down

The way you are supposed to cut down your crop totally depends on the method you chose to grow it. Some growers choose to cut the entire marijuana plant down, only trimming up the biggest leaves, while other growers will cut off single branches. We have even experienced some growers who cut and trim it down in two parts: first the top and then the bottom. We typically do singular branches for smaller crops. You just cut each branch off of the main stem of the plant, taking the time to trim off smaller leaves so they have a quick drying time. We trim off the excess leaf as we go through each branch, helping to cut down on later adjustments. You will sometimes find growers that leave the leaves on the branches to protect the trichomes under each leaf, but we think it makes most sense to do it all as one job. The job becomes much more messy if you try and trim later after the crop has dried, so we try and get everything done in as few steps as possible. (We tried doing if after the dry once, and it will never be a process we repeat!!) We have also found that trimming before drying makes the drying process a bit easier to boot.

Hanging

You can use paperclips poked through the stems and curled around the clothesline or even clothespins to hang up your branches and colas. You just have to keep in mind that everything needs to be secure as the weight of your marijuana plants is going to be ample.

Air circulation

You can let your marijuana buds hang around for an entire day without air movement so long as you can keep your humidity levels at or below 50%. This allows your buds to dry slow enough to not cause them harm. If you have the humidity too low (30% or below) or you dry your buds too quickly, you will end up with a crunchy and crispy harvest. Starting on day two, we leave a fan in the drying room that does not oscillate to hit the harvest directly. You want air movement around the harvest, just not hitting the plants. You want even drying, and a fan can mess that goal up if it hits the plants. Your goal for humidity should be between 45 and 55%, and we also recommend you carefully move around the plants each day so they dry evenly.

Drying out before curing

In order to cure your harvest, first your buds must be dried out. If you have too much moisture within your marijuana plants that go into jars, you will end up with mold, negating all of your effort thus far. Learning when your marijuana buds are really dry involves a few markers. First you want to make sure it has been at least 5-7 days. This is a good marker usually for curing preparedness. Second try snapping one of the stems that is holding your marijuana buds. If you are able to crisply snap off the stem, that is another good marker that your buds should be dry enough. Finally, you will want to compare the feel of the bud from when you first started drying them. You will notice a distinct difference from soft to hard when they are dried out. If your harvest fits all three of these markers, you are ready for your curing jars!

The overall curing process

If you are storing your marijuana buds for up to one year, clear glass mason jars along with canning lids should do the trick. You can find these at many department stores, hardware stores and supermarkets, no matter where in the world you live. While gently holding the buds, you will want to cut them off of the stems and place it within the jar. Don't put too much force on anything or you will push the glands off of the plants. You will want to pack your marijuana plants gently into your jars without putting too many in to where they get smashed. Once your jars are full and covered, you will want your jars stored in a dark place that stays between 65 and 75°F (18 and 24°C) so you can avoid any damage from heat or light. Every day for the first five days we recommend you open your jars up completely for approximately 15 minutes each day, allowing any excess moisture to escape. Once those five days are complete, you can leave your buds undisturbed until you choose to smoke them. If you smoke them immediately, you will get decreased potency and flavor, but if you wait about two months, you will notice that nearly all varieties have smoothed out to a better product. This product will taste better, give you a better high and be more smooth, and it will stay that way so long as you keep it away from heat or light changes. 

Learning how to harvest marijuana plants properly is essential when cultivating your crop. It could be equally as important as the growing process itself. Each grower is responsible for the crop's flavor and aroma, plus drying and curing the crop right for improvement in each category. If you cure and store your marijuana properly, you will end up with a better end product. Every marijuana plant product improves with age, similar to wine. If you have not cured your crops by now, wait until you get the opportunity to taste the new results. To help you get an accurate method for your garden and crop size, we are going to offer three perspectives on how to harvest based on growing style and garden size. We will also explain additional information about curing, timing, potency and our personal recommendations about how to store your personal marijuana plant stash

How essential proper timing really is

Now that you made it to the end of the process, you are facing time to harvest. Instead of just wondering how to or when to harvest, we are trying to offer the insight to be a successful marijuana plant grower and harvester. We plan to show you the "do's" and the "don'ts" of a successful harvest and cure. First we will focus on harvesting. Timing here is crucial. You want to make sure to harvest when your marijuana plants are fully ripe. We have experienced a 5-7 day opening when your marijuana plants will be fully ripe without being overripe. To best ensure you are there, we recommend using a jeweler's magnifying lens, called a loupe. The better the magnification, the better you will be able to see the heads of the trichome at the ends of the resin glands, but do not go below 30x.

Resin glands: their color, potency and style of high

The color of the glands will vary depending on how ripe the THC glands are. They will start out clear, evolve to milky and wind up amber. There are a few exceptions, however, such as occasional outdoor varieties or "Purple Power" plants. The glands of these will be darker, almost appearing purple in color. You will notice that these three stages apply to nearly every variety of marijuana plant. Stage one is harvesting when the glands are clear. This will offer an "up" high that is cerebral, without much effect to the body. This is often considered too early because the THC is not mature enough to pass the psychoactive properties along to the smoker. We recommend you wait until at least 50% of the trichomes have turned milky. Stage two is the creamy or milky stage. Your plant has reached its potential, genetically, now. The trichomes that are still milky will give a combination of a cerebral and physical high at this point. Stage three is the amber stage. This will offer a much more physical stone with a sedative effect. If this is the goal you want, we commend using a hybrid of sativa/indica or using an indica dominant marijuana plant. The high off of a sativa plant is lessened once the glands become amber in many cases. This picture depicts a ripe marijuana plant where over 50% of the glands are milky with a few remaining clear and a few turning amber. Two days after this photograph was taken, the plant was harvested. 

Most new marijuana plant growers have to decide between using seeds or using clones from other marijuana plants. This is an important decision. If you choose marijuana clones, you will be able to harvest sooner, and if you know other growers, clones are often easy to come by. You can also buy marijuana plant clones from sellers who focus on growing clones in a vegetation garden. These sellers have a good variety of marijuana plant mothers to choose from, growing them under lights left on for 18 hours a day. These sellers make a good income selling both clones or their more expensive cousin, rooted clones.

Cuttings vs Seeds

You will often find people buying trays of marijuana plant cuttings when first starting their garden because of the decrease in time required to get to harvest. Even though this is a sensible idea, you should still take the time to learn how to grow from seed because of how much you will learn about your marijuana plants during the process. If you choose to grow from seeds, you will be able to choose which plants will suit your growing needs best. Our recommendation is before you send your plant to flower, you always take two marijuana clones off of the bottom leaves. Mark the clones to match the mother they came from and mark off the date. Then get those clones to root and set them up to grow in a vegetative state for later cloning should you like the harvested results. You can create an entire crop from a single mother plant, and the plants will all appear relatively uniform. You should end up with an increase in quantity and quality over your previous yield this way. All growers should clone their own plants when they find a successful plant to grow. We will now go through and explain the easiest way to take clones off of a mother plant so you can enjoy this process and be successful at it.

How to take cuttings

To begin, you will need these materials: a misting sprayer for water, a growing medium, some type of tray with a see-through lid, a clean and sharp razor blade, and possibly a jar of commercial rooting hormones. You can clone marijuana plants successfully using only water, but most growers of marijuana plants opt for using rooting gels or powders. We recommend you cut each branch under water so you can avoid air forming bubbles within the new stem because it can stunt the growth of the new cutting, causing it to die. Rooting hormone dips will avoid this consequence all together. Gels will stick immediately, but powders require a wet area to stick to. Prepare a small hole in the growing medium to put the cutting into using a pencil eraser or toothpick. Just make sure you don't bend or crush the new stem. The hole should be approximately the same size as your stems so less work has to be done around the cutting's base. Once all of your tools and necessary accessories are prepared and your growing medium is damp, the next step is to choose a small, soft branch near the bottom of your marijuana plant for cutting. You would want to choose one that would not impact the growth of this plant anyway. If your goal is simply to grow this plant as a mother and not let it go to flower, then pick stems with 2-3 nodes. You can choose cuttings that are anywhere from 2-8" (5-20 cm), but the softer the branch, the more likely you are to be successful. Woodier stems are much more difficult to root from. Next you will want a diagonal cut, made evenly through your branch with the razor blade. Take off the lowest leaves, apply the gel or powder and immediately plant the cutting. If you were lucky enough to find a cutting place above an existing node, then you will end up with two new branches where the one you cut originally was, just like if you pinched off that part of the plant. With this procedure, you can take more new cuttings every two weeks, allowing you to give away or sell the additional rooted clones you have created.

How you should root your cuttings

Once those steps are completed, you should place the lid over the tray you chose and move the tray to your light source. Fluorescent light bulbs work well for this. The lights should be put about 6" (15 cm) from your cuttings at first, slowly moving them closer daily until they are about 2-3" (5-7.5 cm) away. You will want to keep your cuttings about 75°F (24°C) as much of the time as possible to help them grow. You would rather go a couple degrees under than potentially go over and scorch your plants. Lights that directly hit your marijuana plants could do more harm than good because there are not enough leaves or roots to keep up with the levels of transpiration that your marijuana plants would be requiring. With transpiration being such a vital part of marijuana plant growth, you do not want to disrupt this process. It helps feed nutrients to your marijuana plants, aids in photosynthesis, allows the plants to "sweat" out toxins and lets the air carry the negative chemicals off of the leaves. If the tray you chose did not have a lid, you would not be able to stop the wind from affecting the transpiration of your new cuttings and they would not be very likely to survive. You can try spraying a wax on the cuttings to slow transpiration, but lids often work better and have less consequences. We also recommend you cut tiny holes in a couple corners of your lid to allow for a slight amount of ventilation, and corresponding holes in the bottom of your tray to allow excess water to seep out. Too much water will kill off new roots and keep the necessary oxygen from reaching your plants.

Supplements and needed supplies

We love using Oasis Foam as a growing medium because it's light and airy, allowing for quick drying of the root system. Plus you do not have to worry about it changing your pH level as it is neutral. We also regularly use rooting gel, and while they all seem to work about the same, we prefer Olivia's. Soaking your tray prior to planting is often enough for the cuttings to stay moist until they are forming roots on their own. You may see nutritional additives and rooting powders at your garden center, but neither are essential for cloning in our experience. You will likely see products like these, but we have found that water works just fine! Super Thrive, Power Thrive, Nutriboost, Spray & Thrive, Olivia's cloning solution, seaweed solutions or many different products can help, but are not typically necessary for this process.

After-cutting care

If you lift the tray and it feels light, it likely needs some water. If you notice your new marijuana plants looking dry, try misting them with water. After the first three days, look at the bottom of the plants for new roots. You will find some varieties of marijuana plants root quickly while others are much slower, ranging from 3-14 days. Once you can see roots coming out the bottom of your growing medium, you need to transplant your cuttings into your growing medium. You will have to choose between a medium that lacks soil, such as hydroponics, or a medium made up of soil and draining elements to ensure healthy plant growth. You will find hydroponic options will increase yield and speed up production, but ease of growth has to go to soil. Hydroponic system setup is simple, but little missed details can spell disaster for your marijuana plants if you don't immediately correct them. There is a lot of monitoring for hydroponic system, which is significantly decreased when using soil. Soil really only needs water when it becomes dry for a happy and healthy plant. Most growers have also noticed a better flavor from soil-grown marijuana over hydroponically-grown marijuana, but that is a personal choice for you to make.

Occasionally marijuana growers try combining both mediums by using organic hydroponic solutions, but you can buy an inexpensive solution that should have everything your marijuana plants require. You will end up buying fertilizer salts that you put in with your hydroponic solution, but you may end up tasting a bit of metal in your final product. Some experienced growers of marijuana plants have found that leaching their plants prior to harvesting can help remove a bit of this metallic flavor, but it takes a few times of leaching to really give your plants a pure taste. If you use a milder nutrient solution, you will not be as likely to have any fertilizer salt build-up within your buds. Some growers will leach for only a couple days while others will leach for a couple weeks, but that is ultimately up to your sense of taste. You can also leach with clear water or a very diluted nutrient solution.

Clones are fantastic!

No matter which system you choose, you will likely end up trying the cloning process at some point. This process can improve your efficiency and give you a steady supply of your favorite buds. You can even take an exceptional marijuana plant that you have already flowered and return it to a mother state. All you need is a little vegetation left around the bottom of your marijuana plant that can be put under lights for 18 hours a day so all of those bits of vegetation can grow out into new shoots. You can then take a cutting to grow an entirely new mother plant from a clone and use it as your source of new clones for all of your growing needs. This will give you an indefinite number of repeats of your favorite harvest! 

If you are planning to grow marijuana, then the first thing you need to do is acquire good-quality marijuana seed strains. This becomes even truer when you are not often around marijuana herb aficionados. The general rule of thumb then becomes the higher you get off of the supply, the better the seed is to grow. Marijuana buds offer up the marijuana seeds, and these are typically hardier to grow due to the acclimation of the current climate and growing season of northern latitudes. The sativa varieties common to Jamaica and Columbia cannot be replicated in northern latitudes due to the late-season production of the bud. This results in minimal, if any, bud growth before frost stops the growing season within most U.S. latitudes.

The sativa marijuana variety will typically grow taller than its indica (or indica-sativa hybrid) counterparts. Some view this as a drawback, especially later in the season, when this makes the marijuana plant stand out from other plants that are beginning to die off. Occasionally growers from southern climates have found a little success crossing sativa varieties with indica, creating a hybrid sativa variety that produces a bud a little earlier. Growers should begin to look for buds between October and February so they are prepared for the beginning of the growth season in March. This gives the grower time to prepare, gather information and have the proper seeds available. Make sure you always purchase your seeds from reliable and reputable seed banks so that your seed stock is most likely to grow, especially considering this is the most fundamental step of the growing process.

BLEND IN YOUR PLANTS BY USING A TRAIL

One good way to ensure success with your growth is creating trails that blend into their natural surroundings. This is sometimes easier said than done. The ideal location would be an area that has dense undergrowth and a lot of direct sunlight. This is due to the rapid growth that can continually hide any damage you cause to the vegetation when you check your plants during the spring and summer growing seasons. If you intend to grow your marijuana plants where it could easily be seen by others, then make sure you weave your trails so the plants are more likely to blend in. This is very important so that you do not have your crop stolen or worse-spotted by law enforcement. Hikers wander off the beaten path on a regular basis, so make sure your trail is hidden well, along with the plants you are growing. You want to plan your trails thoughtfully ahead of time to limit the access of other people around your crop. Make sure you do as little damage to your entrance as possible when accessing your crop, especially later in the growing season when your plants may stand out more. Later in the season, if you damage plants near your entrance, the damage will stand out even more due to the stoppage in vegetation growth. Make sure to keep your plants as covered as you can, keeping these two things in mind for your trail to your site:

1. Are you able to see your trail? If not, then you did a good job, but if so, then is there a way to cover your trail better so it blends in?
2. Is it easy for you to get to your site? If not, then you did a good job here as well, but if so, then it may be easy for others to stumble across your site as well.

FINDING THE RIGHT SITE

Other than finding the right seeds, choosing the best location to grow your crop is the next most important part for a marijuana grower. One of the top locations that marijuana growers tend to choose is grasslands with small trees or bushes spotting the landscape. An ideal location is an abandoned farm field that has had no crops within the last 10+ years. Another good spot would be a flood plain along a river or a stream, but make sure you include the risk of losing plants and seeds to flooding when choosing a spot like this. When marijuana growers live in more rocky terrain, they have even been known to grow their crops from within buckets or similar style planters. This will allow the plants to grow where the plants get some good sunlight but where the soil would not normally allow a plant to grow. Another suitable location that is often overlooked is where there is dense plant growth that stays short, similar to locations that are abundant with sticker bushes. The bushes will grow high enough to hide your crop and they can deter both people and animals from coming into contact with your crop. Marijuana growers regularly use animals and bugs to their advantage by having bees, green flies and ticks deter activity in the area that the crop is growing. A prime site will include good soil and water, plus direct sunlight and suitable cover from above. Everything else comes in second place when considering the right site for your crop. Even though it may take time to find a good spot, the importance of quality soil cannot be stressed enough. If you have bad soil, you will have a bad harvest. If you find a location that is great in all areas except soil, you may want to think about carrying in your own soil to help your crop stand a chance. The more established grasslands you find in your location, the better the soil likely is and the better your crop will likely be. Grasslands help move the nutrients around in the soil, leaving behind a nice, thick layer of quality organic materials.

If you are able to discover a grassland location, you will have very little prep work to do, but other sources of soil will require some work. Sandy soil will usually need potting or top soil and some lime to increase fertility. Soil that has a lot of clay will need materials that will break it up some, such as peat moss. We prefer the natural approach that does not agree with planting along a roadway. The chemicals that can be found in that source of soil should deter anyone from growing a consumable product anywhere around. If you have no other choice, then a roadside could be used, but it should be a last resort. You will also want a source of water that is very close to your crop, so your site should ideally have access to a water table nearby. You do not want the dangerous job of transporting water back and forth where you could be spotted with your crop, and the more area you have to cover, the more tiresome this job will become and the more damage you could do to your trails. This will be especially true during the hottest summer months when you have to water the crop even more often.

The biggest threat of having to transport your own equipment to your crop is the potential of being seen, especially be law enforcement. The second biggest threat would be any destruction that you could potentially cause the vegetation by walking through it with bucket after bucket of water. The more trips you make, the more noticeable your trail will become. You will have to make sure that even during the dry months of summer you will have a regular water source, which can become difficult if small areas of water dry up. You will have to check your crop regularly during the hot, dry months of summer so that you know how much to water your plants and how often. Every trip that you take to water your plants puts you and your crop in harm's way. You do not want to be around your crop regularly if you want it to stay hidden. You will also want to make sure that your plants are getting at least 5 good hours of direct sunlight each day, with morning sun being preferable due to how well marijuana plants respond to this type of light. If you choose to scout out a location during the winter, remember to envision how much trees will shade the site. You want a good combination of sunlight and protection from outsiders who could steal your crop or call the local authorities.

You are going to want cover that is tall enough to hide the crop and thick enough to deter people from getting too close to your crop. The best way to get this accomplished is by using sticker bushes to your advantage. Most people or large animals will not wander near those types of plants. If you cannot find any sticker bushes, look for plants that grow 6-8' (180-240 cm) by fall and are far enough back to where most people would not wander too close. Your ability to hide your crop among the rest of the local vegetation will improve with time and practice. Marijuana growers tend to prefer placing their marijuana plants on the south side of other plants or bushes. This makes it more difficult for people walking past to notice the plants. Plus the marijuana plant will still get enough light despite the appearance of being crowded out by other plants. The ideal location is a place that looks impenetrable from the outside. In places where plant growth stays under the 3' (90 cm) mark then you will need to trim your crop or tie it down to keep the bushes smaller. Fields that have a lot of small vegetation may have bad soil or may be too dry, so use a cautious eye before planting here. If you can make your marijuana crop blend in with other local vegetation, then you will find fewer risks in the growing process. If you choose to grow marijuana plants outdoors, then make sure you know how to blend the crop into its surroundings effectively.

DON'T RISK IT

Pretend with us for a moment. You have some family visiting from out of town and one of your cousins-a marijuana aficionado-could potentially give you some good growing advice. You consider taking him through your trail, but we would caution against this idea. Even if your cousin could be considered an expert on the herb, it still may end up too dangerous for you and your crop. Your cousin does not know the area like you do and may not have any idea where to go if local law enforcement officers approach. Plus, walking through a field could attract some unwanted attention. After all, the bigger the group, the better the chances are of being seen. Plus you may widen your normal trail to where it becomes more noticeable. The last thing you want to do is put your crop and potential harvest at risk. The risk is going to be larger in more open spaces than it will in other areas, but either way, it is not worth the risk at all. There is no place that is completely safe. We would recommend that you do not bring anyone in to your site (other than your growing partner) unless it is an emergency where you must bring in a specialist or lose your entire crop. This reduces your risks and that of your crop.

PREPARING THE SOIL [EARLY MARCH - MID APRIL DEPENDING ON CLIMATE]

We recommend that you buy 40 lb (18 kg) bags of soil, preferably organic potting soil, and mixing this in with the existing soil from your chosen site. It may take a little bit of looking to find the right soil, but the effort is worth it when it comes time to harvest. You want potting soil over top soil because the soil is richer, which makes your base soil for your plants even better. If your area has acidic soil, then you may want to include some lime with your blend. If you have clay in your soil, then peat moss is the right additive. It is a good idea to avoid chemical fertilizers because of how much toxic waste is made when companies produce these types of fertilizers. Plus we prefer the benefits of organic farming anyway. We also recommend that you put up a small fence when you prepare for your crop. A fence around 2' (60 cm) high will keep small animals away from your growing crop. Using human hair or dried blood will also help keep deer away from your crop. Using a fence with gaps smaller than 2" (5 cm) will be ideal. Use sticks and stake up the fence about every 2' (60 cm). Use string or wire to tie the fence to the sticks and cut the outer parts of the fence to protrude outward, deterring animals from trying to jump your new fence. Camouflage your site and fencing as best as you can before you leave your site behind.

PLANTING MARIJUANA [EARLY APRIL - EARLY MAY]

There are numerous ways to plant a new marijuana crop:

OPTION 1: THE MARIJUANA SEED INTENSIVE METHOD

This specific method should only be considered when you have an over-abundance of the seeds you intend to plant. What you will do is plant many marijuana seeds in a small growing area. This can limit your risk because you have all your supplies (the seeds and trowels needed) hidden in your pockets. Once at your site, plant the seeds about 1/2" (1.5 cm) deep (unless in clay soil, which makes proper depth ¼" (0.5 cm)). If your site allows for small sites of 3'x3' (90 cm x 90 cm) square, then you should plant three rows with a seed every 1.5" (3.5 cm). That is about 72 marijuana seeds in each site. Typically most marijuana growers do not have this many seeds to start a new site with. If a grower does have the right amount of seeds and four sites of this same size, he or she is nearly guaranteed a quality harvest at the end of the season. Some crowding will happen and is expected, and nearly half of the plants will be male so extra trimming will be necessary before the end of the season, but this trimming will help the female plants grow more ferociously and give you a better harvest. This option tends to create smaller marijuana plants, but it will ensure a harvest for you every season. This smaller sized site will also help you avoid detection by cameras used from above. If you use the herb regularly then you will need enough sites to create a year's worth of harvest, but if you only dabble for experimental or hobby purposes, then one site may be perfect for your needs.

OPTION 2: PLANTING SMALL MARIJUANA SEEDLINGS

Most people who use this method argue that you get the best opportunity to choose which plants to plant in your crop by starting off the seedlings at home. The people who choose not to use this method argue that this option is too risky because the transportation of the seedlings is dangerous. You will usually need a box of some sort to conceal the seedlings while outside, but the size of the box could be totally unrealistic if you plan to plant a large crop. You could also risk shocking your seedlings if you move them around too much or expose them to cold climates, potentially damaging your final harvest. If you have the opportunity to create an enclosure around your site that is not insulated, then this option is ideal for your marijuana crop. This shelter could be as little as 18" (45 cm) or big enough for a person to walk through; it just depends on what type of safety your structure would have from onlookers. Your seedlings will gain the benefits from adjusting to outdoor climates if you use this method, plus they will also be protected from the unexpected late spring cold-snaps.

OPTION 3: PLANTING SEXED FEMALE MARIJUANA PLANTS

The obvious advantage of using this method is that each plant will produce cannabis buds. Once a plant reaches 4" (10 cm) high, the sex can be determined by a simple reduction of light to 8 hours per day. Male plants will be able to be identified within two weeks. As long as you are able to control the amount of light your plants receive and you can start them a little early indoors (late February to early March), then you will be able to reap the benefits of this method. The secondary benefit of being able to use this method is that you can plant much smaller sites over bigger areas, making your crop much less noticeable. For example, using about two dozen female marijuana plants over a farm that is about ten acres (4 ha) of single sites will nearly guarantee a great harvest. The only difficult part of this method is remembering where each one of your sites are at the end of the season. Having a map of the area that can be hidden will help in case you forget, but putting anything in writing can risk your crop and attach you to your crop should the authorities find it.

WEEDING

After about three weeks from your initial planting, you will need to return to your sites and remove the newly growing weeds that will be trying to crowd out your new seedlings. After another three weeks, you should make sure to weed your sites again. If you want to do an additional weeding in another three weeks, you can, but it is not necessary. It really depends on the site you chose and how heavy the weed population is in the area. Occasionally throughout the rest of the growing season you should cut the weeds back, but this all depends on how big they grow and how often you are at your sites. Some weeds will help conceal your plants, so don't chop them all to the ground. You will want to keep a few within the 3' (90 cm) radius of your plants to deter both curious lookers and animals from discovering your plants. If you have some vegetation near your crop, it will also help the soil hold a bit more moisture, lessening your need to continuously water your crops. Just make sure you are careful to not destroy your seedlings or their roots by pulling out the necessary weeds in your sites.

REMOVING MALE MARIJUANA PLANTS

[If the seeds you are growing are already sexed and only female seeds, then disregard these tips.]

Marijuana plants that are male will begin producing flowers and pollen in mid-July if the species you are growing is already acclimated to the climate you are growing them in. The varieties of marijuana plants that are used to the warmer climates may not flower until mid-September. It all depends on how long your budding cycle is with your variety of marijuana plant. Some bud early while others bud later, so you have to keep checking your plants to be sure if you are a new marijuana grower. The sooner you can identify the male species of the variety of marijuana plant you are growing, the better your harvest will be in the end. If you happen to miss the early flowering of your plants, you may end up with far more seeds than herb when you harvest your crop. You will notice your female plants can either produce a large bud that totally seedless, a large bud with only a few seeds inside or a large bud that is exploding with marijuana seeds. If you remove all of the male plants before their flowers open, you will end up with the seedless variety of buds.

If you see a few male flowers open but remove the majority of them without them opening, you will get a bud with a few seeds. If you totally missed the flowering of the male marijuana plants then you will end up with buds that are simply overflowing with marijuana seeds. You could end up losing nearly 90% of the plant that you can smoke should you allow all of your female plants to go to seed like this, but you will have more than enough seeds for next season's planting. Letting one or two of your plants do this per season will keep you stocked with seeds each year without having to buy more. Trying to explain the difference between male and female marijuana plants is difficult, especially to a new marijuana grower. The tops of new male varieties of marijuana plants are difficult to differentiate, but the easiest way to tell the difference is looking at the bud that forms at the top of the plant. It looks exactly the same as a female bud, but the female plant will have white hairs protruding from the bud.

THE FUNGUS AND YUOR CROP

If you are trying to find success with growing marijuana plants, then you have a few obstacles to avoid. The common obstacles are law enforcement, animals, insects and thieves, but there is also a fungus that can steal your crop right out from under you. Bud rot, or a common fungus to half-developed marijuana buds, can kill off the important parts of your crops leaving you without anything you can harvest at the end of the season. The ideal temperature for growing this horrible fungus is between 60 and 80°F (16 and 27°C) with high humidity, and when it hits, it spreads quickly and is very destructive to the plants it encounters. With the fact that this fungus can spread its spores via the wind, it is nearly impossible to stop or even prevent if the weather allows its growth to begin in the first place. If you see it starting on a single plant, then you must remove that infection immediately in hopes of sparing any other plants on your site, but this is not a guarantee that it will work. You can remove the infected buds or the branch as a whole, but removing the branch will give you better chances that you have removed the entire infection. If you want, you can take this sampling and try out your crop ahead of time, giving you a secondary reason to keep a close eye on your plants. Just make sure you are incredibly careful with the removal of the fungus, as it can spread all over again with the dropping of a single spore on to a healthy branch. You can also spread the fungus with your hands, so be sure to not get any of the infection on your hands to where you could just touch another, healthy bud, once again starting the cycle.

KEEP AN EYE ON EVERYTHING

You will notice that both the construction and real estate industries are currently conspiring to find your crop, so make sure that you keep a close eye that not too many people are investigating near your sites. Now, natural disasters such as hurricane or tornado with incredibly heavy winds would also require a much closer monitoring of your crop. A drought would also be something that would require you to visit your sites more often. You have to understand when starting to grow marijuana plants that there are times when you will have to visit your plants unexpectedly, but that does not mean go running out to your site every time you get a heavy rainfall. Keep your emergency visits to a minimum as you are dealing with a hardy plant that can take a bit of punishment.

THE HARVEST: DO IT IN THE NIGHT TIME

Harvesting at night will lower your chances of being seen while doing things such as carrying the freshly cut herb back to your car. If you can time your activity to the same time as police are changing shifts then you can increase the chances of getting your harvest done unseen. Use flashlights as little as possible if you harvest at night so you do not attract unnecessary attention, but make sure you bring enough batteries in case you do need your flashlight more than you thought you would. A small pocket knife can make the job a lot easier (and faster) if you are harvesting more than just a few simple plants. If you do not plan to use the big fan leaves to cook with, leave them in the field to minimize the space you need for the plants you intend to keep. If you happen to have multiple varieties, make sure you bring different bags to put everything in and something to mark each bag with. A backpack makes carrying all of this much easier and looks less suspicious when walking around with it on out in a field.

WHEN TO HARVEST

Each plant has a few factors that decide when harvesting should occur. You have to include factors such as bud development, fungus, thieves and the weather when you consider the timing of your harvest. You also have to consider which variety of marijuana you are growing when you consider harvesting because some strains have different maturity rates than other plants. Your location is also a factor that you must include, because some latitudes will mature before others. The indica varieties need to be harvested in late September, while other varieties need to be harvested in late October. If you happen to notice a bad frost in your forecast then you may need to harvest a bit earlier than you planned so that you do not harm your crop. The opposite weather can also factor into harvesting early, because if it gets to warm then the risk of fungus grows and it may not be worth taking a chance that you could end up with a damaged crop. Another circumstance that may force you to change your harvest is the threat of someone finding your crop sites. You do not want to chance losing out on your crop or being found out, so you must take precautions when deciding when to harvest. You will want to make sure that you will not have hunters wandering around your crop later in the season and you will not want cold weather to harm your marijuana crop, so keep a close eye on both through monitoring the internet. Now, if you accidentally miss the first frost and your plants do get some damage, then you can still harvest your crop, it may just not be as full as it would have been prior to the frost hitting. Balancing when to harvest is not always easy, but more practice will help you learn when the time is best. When you consider the weight of the situation, make sure you do not forget the factors that should be most important at harvest time: variety of marijuana plants (some mature sooner than others), weather (current and near future predictions), bud size, site location, etc. The prime time to harvest any marijuana varieties that have acclimated to the Northeastern latitudes will be late September through mid-October.

When you are growing a variety that is not accustomed to the Northeastern latitudes (such as sativa), the crop should be left until the later part of October through the middle of November, weather permitting. Make sure you do all that you can to avoid harvesting in the rain as well. The moisture can cause issues when it comes to the drying process, and the last thing you want is your harvest collecting mold or fungi. The more moisture that is already out of the plants when you harvest, the better the end result will be. Keep in mind that you want to use seeds accustomed to your weather and terrain, because otherwise you could end up with a crop that will never make it to maturity from a harsh cold snap. The first time you start a marijuana crop, you may have to experiment a little to learn what varieties to use and when to harvest, but the time will help you learn the right steps to take and which steps to avoid next time. You do not want your harvest left in their bags longer than a few hours, so make sure you have your drying facility planned out before harvesting. Mold and fungus will begin to grow rapidly if the harvest is left in a bag for 12 hours or longer. Preparing your harvest includes removing the fan leaves that you do not need, along with any other large leaves. If your drying room has a temperature higher than 85°F (29°C), then leave a few large leaves around the buds to keep them from drying out too quickly. Attics, dresser drawers, basements and closets are standard places that can be used to dry your harvest. Hanging the harvest upside down will allow proper air circulation, speeding up the drying process. Keep in mind if you use a dresser drawer or other confined space that you do not want to double stack your buds or this can cause a damaged area on the bottom of the marijuana buds.

You will want to rotate your marijuana buds daily so the harvest dries uniformly, and this will allow for a close inspection to warn you for signs of fungus or mold. If you are able to get the entire plant including the root ball, then you can hang this upside down to dry in the same procedure as mentioned above. This will not increase the quality of your yield, however. THC is formed within the resin that coats the marijuana buds, so the roots do not have any impact on how potent your product will be in the end. You should be able to complete the drying process within 4-6 days, depending on which variety of marijuana plants you used, the temperature and humidity of the drying location, and how big the plants were at harvest time. If you dry your marijuana buds too fast, then you will notice a harsh flavor of your crop and the THC levels may never reach their full potential. If you did not dry your marijuana buds fast enough then a similar effect will occur. This will happen through mold or fungus forming on the buds, still decreasing flavor and potency. You need to make sure you monitor your progress on a daily basis, no matter what method you use to dry your harvest. If you are able to keep your humidity low, then you can even use a room left at room temperature to dry your harvest, but if this is not possible, then make sure you install some type of heater and or a fan to aid in the process.

If you have to choose between growing marijuana indoors or outdoors, you should always pick outdoors. The natural sunlight makes the end result more robust plus there are far fewer problems you have to contend with. There are no worries about light leaking in or times where your grow room has to remain pitch black, making your room unusable. Direct sunlight tends to reach all parts of the marijuana plant, which makes it more developed all around. If you have the option of growing in a greenhouse, this provides the best of both worlds. You get the natural sunlight your marijuana plants will thrive off of, plus you get the protection from animals (such as deer, rodents and chipmunks) that your plants require. Outdoors without protection, your marijuana plants will be exposed to bugs, wind and rain storms and other forces beyond your control. This is the only benefit that indoor growing can provide that outdoor cannot. However, the best flavor will come along with the marijuana plants that were blessed by the sun.

YOUR VISITS TO THE GROW SITE

To avoid some of the outdoor pitfalls for people who do not have a greenhouse, try putting up a fence that is stable. The more often you can visit your site safely, the better, but don't ever go longer than two weeks between checkups on your crop. If the weather is going to require more watering, then you will need to visit even more often than that. If you do not have a greenhouse, then you are surely going to want to plant your marijuana plants in soil over hydroponics, as the water is likely going to simply evaporate faster than you will be able to keep up with it. When you decide on what location you want to use, make sure it has the proper lighting. You will want to know how long the plants will be exposed to direct sunlight and find a place that offers morning light if possible. The more morning sun your plants are exposed to, the bigger the plants will grow. If you are growing marijuana in your backyard, make sure to include the privacy factor into your decision so nosy neighbors do not cause you any trouble. If you can give your marijuana plants a full 8-12 hours of direct sunlight each day then you will have more chances at a successful harvest. This becomes difficult the farther north you go where the amount of sun your plants receive will change depending on the season, but you can still plan out a good location that will maximize the plants' exposure. Use your terrain to your benefit: southern sides of hills typically get more sun and eastern and western exposures often have good morning and afternoon exposure options.

AVOID SNOOPERS BUT INVITE THE MORNING SUN

Most growers agree, as do most books on the subject, that morning sun is preferable when it comes to the best end results of marijuana crops, so try and keep this in mind when choosing a location. If you are able to find or make a greenhouse, you can also try and disguise it as something else (ie. a toolshed or something similar). This can be done with different materials (such as opaque plastic, glass, PVC or Filon) or with different techniques (such as painting it to look like a metal shed). If you can make the structure look distressed, like it has been around a long time, then it is less likely to catch anyone's attention. You want a structure that the sun easily reaches, while people do not. Using clear greenhouse sheets that you whitewash will allow more sun to reach the plants than a fiberglass or PVC alternative. You can easily give the whitewashed effect with a light coating of paint or an epoxy resin that you tint white or light grey. This will give your plants a good environment to grow with the protection from view they require. Epoxy will help the materials last longer than paint, and often times gives you more options than paint would. Make sure you do not use more than necessary because that will not allow as much sun to contact the plants. If you are unsure of the quality of the topsoil where your greenhouse is located, dig a hole so that you can fill it with the right kind of soil for this job. Most people do not know the quality of their own backyard's soil, so it's better to not take chances.

NATURAL GROUND OR POTS

These slight differences can spell the difference between a crop that averages 5' (1.5 m) tall and one that averages 10' (3 m) tall. Growing out of a pot will pale in comparison to using the natural ground because there is no concern for root binding when the ground is used. Marijuana plants that get to grow out of the ground typically grow much taller, but they also grow wider so make sure you plan for this type of expansion. After all, they're stuck once they're planted! Another option is digging a hole and putting a potted plant down into it, which will reduce the overall height of the plant. This works especially well if you notice the plant is outgrowing the height of your fence. Most growers like the ability to move the plant if some type of emergency occurs, such as someone has to come and inspect your property for some reason. If you have marijuana plants outside then you should definitely figure out a way to cover them. It will help them stay hidden, especially if you are trying to train your plants to remain below a fence line.

GROWING IN THE WILD

If you are growing your marijuana plants out in the wild, water should be equally as important as soil quality. You need a healthy source of water nearby or you will have to bring a lot of water in to your site to keep your plants hydrated. If you have higher terrain then you can also try and re-route some water close to where your crop is so as not to attract any attention. A similar option would be to take a 5 gallon (20 L) can, put tiny holes around it and bury it near your crop site. Bury a hose that leads into the can so that it cannot be seen and use that to keep the can full when your plants need water. This is totally dependent on how close your sites are to your home, however.

The first thing all marijuana seed growers need is a good location to grow the crop in. This location should be somewhere where humans and animals are not likely to disturb the crop. You will not want to grow a marijuana crop near a railroad track, trail, power line, road or any other man-made structure. You should, however, look for mud, steep hills, picker bushes and water because of how well these all deter disturbance. If you can find some small pine trees, this can also help you hide your marijuana plants as they grow, especially during the fall when other vegetation turns brown. Under trees will also help keep you crop safer from hunters who may begin to invade the area later in the year, helping your crop stay undetected. With as much sunlight as marijuana plants require, you will need to make sure you get at least three, preferably five, hours of direct sunlight per day-the more light they have, the quicker they grow. On the other hand, if they get less than three hours of direct sunlight each day, the slower your plants will grow, leaving you with less yield come harvest time. One simple trick that can help if you do not have enough light will be tenting the outside of your marijuana plants to reflect the sunlight back to the leaves, but this could increase the visibility of your sites, so be careful. If you find an area with direct morning light, then use this area over another that has sunlight later in the day as the marijuana plants respond better to morning sun.

The next factor to make sure you consider when figuring out the best site to grow your cannabis crop is the soil. Marijuana plants prefer a well-drained soil with a constant pH that is in the 6.5 range. The soil should be able to compact when squeezed but break up when poked, so you may need to put in a few additives to get it just right. If the soil does not drain well, then you can add vermiculite, perlite or sand. If the pH does not stay in the right range, then there are additives to help that as well. If your pH is too low, you can add lime about a month before planting, but if it is too high, then you should add sodium bicarbonate to lower it some. This will help give your marijuana plants the best possible chances at success. You also need to consider how your plants will get water. If there is too much water, then your roots will not develop well and your seedlings may drown, but too little water could cause them to dry out very quickly, making you have to water them on a very regular basis. Proper water and soil will help increase the oxygen that the marijuana plant receives, giving you a better crop come harvest time. Using pots to grow your plants is another alternative, in which case you should use a 1" (2.5 cm) layer of pea gravel to increase the drainage of the plant.

Above the pea gravel, you should use a good quality potting soil and water with a high-quality source of fresh and clean water. If you are not able to easily water your plants, you can also partially bury a large bucket or barrel to collect water from the rain that you can use on your plants. If you must bring your own water to your crops, then make sure you bring the water to your marijuana crops at night to decrease the chances of being seen, then come back in the morning to water the plants. This will minimize the damp effects that your plants could suffer and decrease the chances that your plants will begin to grow a fungus or mold. Any of your equipment that can be stored inconspicuously at the site will benefit you and decrease the amount of time that you need to spend at your sites. Make sure to take as many precautions as possible to decrease the chances of your new marijuana plants becoming lunch to animals. Some simple ideas include leaving human hair or dried blood around the plants to keep deer from wandering near the plants and fencing in the area with fishing line hung about 8" (20 cm) and again at 3' (90 cm) off the ground will also deter bigger herbivores. Hair from other big predators can also be used to keep smaller prey away from the plants. When your marijuana plants are still seedlings, you can use a drinking glass as a humidity tent over the plant to help keep extra rodents or deer away from your plants as well.

SELECTING THE PROPER MARIJUANA SEEDS

There are hundreds of different varieties of marijuana plants to choose from because of the thousands of years that humans have been cultivating the marijuana plant. This can make the choice of which variety to use a difficult one. No matter what, make sure you choose a cannabis plant that has the ability to grow in your climate. Marijuana plants that are native to southern climates, such as the sativa plant, will have a difficult time growing if planted in a northern climate, so this is an important decision. You will also need to pay attention to the first frost so that you can be sure to harvest before that happens, potentially damaging your crop. If you have plans to grow cannabis commercially, then you are also going to need to keep an eye on the average yield for each variety of plant. Each variety of marijuana plant has a different average yield, so do your research before buying. If you want to grow the larger yield varieties, then you need to pick and plant varieties that would typically grow near the equator. These plants grow much larger due to the increase in sunlight and warmer temperatures. If this is the kind you choose to go with, then you may need the assistance of a greenhouse to keep the temperatures warm enough to get the yield you desire.

SELECTING VIABLE SEEDS AND SPROUTS

When your site is prepared and your seeds are in hand, you can then start sprouting your marijuana seeds. You can choose between two methods for this process. First, you can plant the marijuana seeds directly into your site, or second, you can sprout your marijuana seeds in some paper towels and then transfer the sprouts into Jiffy-pots. If you want to plant directly into your site, make sure you are planting only viable marijuana seeds. A good seed will not have any deformations or cracks, and it will not be green as this signifies an immature seed. You should take your thumb and gently press on each seed to ensure that these seeds do not have any cracks in them before planting. When you go to plant your marijuana seed, you should take a pencil and place the point ½" (1.5 cm) into your prepared soil. Place one seed into the hole, cover it loosely with your soil and water it with a ¼ strength mix of fertilizer that has high levels of phosphorus (P). You may want to also mark where you put the seed so you do not forget later on. Each seed should have 3' (90 cm) square of growing space to avoid them crowding each other out when they mature, thus stunting their growth. While letting them sprout, make sure that you water them each time the soil feels dry. You could damage your marijuana seeds or crop as a whole if you let them dry out during this phase.

You will notice your first stems along with the cotyledon within the first week. You will want to keep watering when the soil dries out during this time, and by the second week, you should notice your first spiked nodes of leaves. If you made the choice to sprout your seeds in paper towels, then make sure you use a flat pan that is covered in multiple layers of paper towels (we recommend three layers). Once these layers are thoroughly wet, you can spread your marijuana seeds out and cover them with another three layers of paper towels. Once this step is complete, cover the pan and all of the paper towels with plastic wrap and leave the pan where it is dark and warm. Make sure you look each day for any sprouts and always keep your paper towels moist. Once you see root sprouts that are ¼" (1 cm) long, then you can put the seedlings into Jiffy-pots. You will want to make sure these pots are filled up with the same soil content that the mature plants will be grown in so as not to shock the seedlings when they are moved. Use a pencil and poke about ¾" (2 cm) into the soil, the put your new sprout into it, root side down. Loosely place soil over the sprout and gently water with ¼ concentrate high-phosphorus (P) fertilizer. Make sure the soil does not dry out during this time, and within a week you should once again see the cotyledon. After two weeks, you should again see the spiked nodes coming from the new seedling.

FROM SEEDLINGS TO EARLY SEXING

Once your marijuana plants are on to their first to second set of spiked nodes, you will want to make sure you continue watering whenever the soil shows signs of drying out. You will not need fertilizer during this phase. At this stage, it is crucial that you protect your seedlings from predators that would munch on them, so make sure animals cannot come in contact with your seedlings. You will also want to make sure that there is no mold or fungus growth on your baby plants. If you notice any, you must remove the infected plants without delay. Do not shake the plants when removing them or the spores will spread to healthy plants, potentially wiping out your entire site. If you chose to plant into Jiffy-pots, then wait until you have four sets of spiked nodes before transplanting them to their permanent site. Put the Jiffy-pot directly into the soil and cover, watering when done. This will allow the pot to break down on its own as the roots pass down into the soil during growth. All marijuana plants that have six to seven spiked nodes need to be fertilized with a complete 20/20/20 fertilizer. If you prefer, you can use a different mixture, just make sure it has Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) in the mix. This is also the stage that marijuana plants can begin to be sexed. We recommend you use a black garbage bag to give the plants an even 12 hours of sunlight and an even 12 hours of pure darkness. During the next three weeks, the male forms of the marijuana plants will begin to show bud growth at the end of the branches. Females will show similar growth, but their buds will have two small white hairs coming out the end. Removing all of the male marijuana plants will ensure that you have a full crop of female marijuana plants, giving you the most yield come time for harvest. Taking the black garbage bag off will begin the female marijuana plants growth cycle again.

VEGETATIVE GROWTH

Now that your marijuana plants are established, you should be watering when the soil feels dry about 3" (7.5 cm) below the surface. You can spray gingerly with insecticide, reapplying after rainstorms, if you need to at this time. Every three to four weeks, reapply the fertilizer to help the plants grow to their full potential. If the plants are getting enough light and nutrients, then you may see as much as 2" (5 cm) of growth each day. If you begin to notice that the growth of your marijuana plants slows, then you may want to check the nutrient table of your fertilizer to see if the plant is growing deficient of a vital nutrient. You do not want to over fertilize, so make sure to keep an eye on how often you do it and check the pH balance monthly so that it is staying in the proper range. It should have dropped slightly by now, but that is because of the fertilizer being used and is normal. Just do not let the pH drop below 6.2. If it is dropping too low, then water with wood ashes to help raise it back up to the 6.5 level. The growing marijuana plants' root system slowly declines in its ability to properly feed the plant, so you may need to spray some of the nutrients that your plant needs directly on to the leaves for the rest of the season.

You will find that the leaves absorb those vital nutrients as well, if not better than the roots, so your plants should once again begin to flourish. Just make sure if you spray your plants, you lower the concentration of your fertilizer to half. You will want a super-fine mist from your bottle and you will want to spray between 5-9 am. This is when the stomata on the leaves are open, giving the plant the best ability to soak up the nutrients. Later on in the day, you may find the stomata totally closed, giving your marijuana plants no nutrients from the feeding. You will want to gently coat the leaves two times per week to allow the plant to absorb what it needs gradually or else you could risk the health of your marijuana plants. The day after you spray, you should also wash your plants off with a little water so the leftover nutrients are not harming the leaves of your plants. Pruning can be a very good idea now as well. The more you prune, the more branching the plant will do naturally, keeping your marijuana plants smaller overall and making them easier to blend into their surroundings. Not all varieties need pruning, so make sure you know if your variety does or not. Some avid marijuana growers choose not to prune their plants claiming that the stress placed on the plant can stunt the growth of the plant, but research shows that gentle pruning can actually increase yields on top of letting them blend in better. Using sharp and clean scissors to cut each branch will make pruning go quickly and leave your plants looking their best, but make sure you do not ever cut more than 6" (15 cm) off of your plant when you prune.

FLOWERING

Each variety has a trigger as far as when to begin flowering, and it is determined by how much darkness each plant gets during a certain portion of its growth. Most plants respond to an even 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of pure darkness, but you must be careful at this stage. If you visit your crop at night, even a weak light (such as a flashlight) can damage the hormone the plant creates to start flowering, and force the plant back to vegetative growth. The best idea is to simply visit your site during daylight hours to avoid this type of damage. If you took out all of the male marijuana plants earlier in the season, then right now just checking the water is all you really need to do. If you did not, then make sure you remove them as soon as you can determine the plant to be male to avoid pollination of the female marijuana plants. Do not use any type of insecticide during flowering or you will taste it in the final product. You should also severely decrease or stop fertilizing during this time for the same reasons. If you must fertilize, use ¼ strength concentrate of a 15/30/15 mix, allowing for the plant to get the extra phosphorus (P) it needs for flowering.

HARVESTING AND DRYING

You should be seeing the marijuana buds and resin forming at rapid rates by this time, telling you that your hard work is about to pay off. The right time to harvest your marijuana plant is when about ¾ of the pistil hairs have gone from white to brown. You can also use a magnifying glass to look at the resin crystals that have formed on the marijuana leaves. If the crystals are amber in color, then the time to cut is here. If the crystals are clear, then you are not quite ready yet. If the color is brown, then you are past when you should have harvested and you are losing potency quickly. You will want bags and backpacks when you harvest to hold everything and carry the plants to your drying location. Place the cut branches into paper bags, removing the large fan leaves and leaving them at the site. Make sure to harvest gently because shaking the plant could cause the resin crystals to dislodge. Once home, place your marijuana plants in containers and leave them alone. You will want to stir them two times each day and only remove them when any sign of mold begins. Once this happens, take the marijuana plants out and spread them loosely to finish drying. Make sure you keep the buds in a dark place as light will degrade THC. In about three weeks' time, the buds should be removed along with any leaves that are covered in large amounts of resin. Take the nearly dry leaves and buds and place them in newspaper in a warm and dry location. After one final week of waiting, the stems should be able to be broken up with your fingers, leaving the final harvest ready to enjoy.

THE FORMULA

The formula for converting Watts to Amps is:

Watts = Amperes x Volts

The formula for converting Amps to Watts is:

Amperes = Watts/Volts

SAFETY WARNING!

Only use 80% of the circuit breaker capacity! Common conversions North American and other 110 volt countries.

[GROW] LIGHTS 110V

• 1000W / 110V = 9.1 Ampere
• 600W / 110V = 5.4 Ampere
• 400W / 110V = 3.6 Ampere
• 250W / 110V = 2.3 Ampere

CIRCUITS

• 10 Ampere x 110 Volt = 1100 Watts [80% safe usage is 880 Watts]
• 15 Ampere x 110 Volt = 1650 Watts [80% safe usage is 1320 Watts]
• 25 Ampere x 110 Volt = 2750 Watts [80% safe usage is 2200 Watts]
• 30 Ampere x 110 Volt = 3300 Watts [80% safe usage is 2640 Watts]

[GROW] LIGHTS 240V

British Common wealth and other 240 volt countries

• 1000W / 240V = 4.1 Ampere
• 600W / 240V = 2.5 Ampere
• 400W / 240V = 1.7 Ampere
• 250W / 240V = 1.1 Ampere

CIRCUITS

• 10 Ampere x 240 Volt = 2400 Watts [80% safe usage is 1920 Watts]
• 15 Ampere x 240 Volt = 3600 Watts [80% safe usage is 2880 Watts]
• 25 Ampere x 240 Volt = 6000 Watts [80% safe usage is 4800 Watts]
• 30 Ampere x 240 Volt = 7200 Watts [80% safe usage is 5760 Watts]

NOTE!

Remember that a circuit services more than one power outlet. A two outlet wall plug will use only one circuit. There will be more outlets on 240V systems per circuit than there will be in 110V systems.

The pH levels within a plant will directly affect a marijuana plant's growth as well as nutrient availability. The pH levels can also affect a plant's ability to absorb nutrients through its roots. PH levels that rise above 7.5 will cause manganese [Mn], boron [B], copper [C], iron [Fe], and Zinc [Zn] ions to become less abundant for the marijuana plant. PH values that fall before 6 will cause solubility issues for phosphoric acid, magnesium [Mg], and calcium [Ca]. PH values that range between 3 and 5 promote the development of numerous fungal diseases when paired with temperatures above approximately 79°F (26°C).

WHY PH CAN VARY

The ratio of uptake in anions and cations [which are the negatively and positively changed nutrients respectively] by your marijuana plants might cause a substantial shift in pH. Generally, an excessive amount of cations over anions, will lead to decreases in your pH, where as any excess in anion over cation will lead to a spike in the pH. Nitrogen [N] [which is required in large doses for healthy plant growth] might be supplied as either cation or anion in nutrient solutions and may have drastic effects on the rate direction and rate in which the pH changes. This shift in pH can happen remarkably fast, making it difficult to monitor and adjust correctly. Photosynthesis produces ions made of hydrogen, causing nutrient acidity to spike [dropping the pH]. Once the sun goes down and the photosynthesis stops, cannabis plants will increase their respiration rate. The respiration of various micro-organisms as well as the decomposition of any and all organic matter will consume the hydrogen ions causing the acidity of your solution to decrease [pH rises]. Most strains of marijuana grow the best in a nutrient rich solution with a pH within the range of 6.0 and 7.5, as well as an environmental temperature between 68°F and 71°F (20°C and 22°C). Indoor plants [or plants grown outdoors, and encounter heavy overcast] will absorb more phosphorous [P] and potassium [K] from nutrient solutions causing the acidity to rise [pH drops].

THE TWO WAYS OF CONTROLLING PH

Extreme levels in pH may result in precipitation of specific nutrients. Marijuana roots will still be able to absorb these nutrients but they have to be dissolved in a solution. This precipitation process [the opposite of dissolving] will result in the solution clumping or forming solids within it, thus making it impossible for the plants to get the nutrients they need. Not all of the precipitation will settle at the bottom of your tanks, some may occur as very small suspension, which is invisible to the human eye. Often times, marijuana plants will tell us these problems through changes in their leaves, typically when it is too late to be fixed. Iron is one of the essential nutrients that marijuana plants require, who's solubility is directly affected by the pH. This is why iron is added daily as a chelated form. When your pH value is greater than 7, less than half of the iron that the marijuana plant needs is available. Once the pH level reaches 8, there is no iron within the solution thanks to iron hydroxide precipitation, which over time will transform into rust. If you are able to keep your pH level below 6.5, more than 90 percent of your iron will become available for the plants. If you vary the pH of your nutrient solutions you can change the solubility of the phosphorus and calcium. When your pH levels are above 6.0 the amount of calcium and phosphorus that is available for your marijuana plants decrease. Poor quality water may also increase various precipitation reactions, which is why it is important to use fresh, clean water for your solutions. If you can maintain a pH balance between the range of 4.0 and 6.0, virtually all essential nutrients will become available to your plants.

ADJUSTING PH

The addition of alkalis or acids to your nutrient solution is perhaps the most practical means to adjust your pH, and can be automated rather easily. You can also find several different ways to minimize your pH variations and are worth serious consideration. Nitrogen is the single largest quantity inorganic nutrient required by marijuana plants. Most species of marijuana plants are capable of absorbing both nitrate and ammonium as their sole source of nitrogen. Some types of plants will yield better if they are supplied with a mixture of nitrate and ammonium when compared to using just nitrate alone. This combination may also be used as a buffer against constantly changing pH levels. Marijuana plants that are grown in a nitrate solution for its nitrogen requirements tend to increase the pH level of the solution, thus requiring the addition of acids into the solution. When 10 to 20 percent of the nitrogen is provided in the form of ammonium, your nutrient solution will stabilize around a 5.5 pH level. Ammonium concentrations will need to be closely monitored since it has been proven that micro-organisms that grow on the plant roots will convert ammonium to nitrates. It is now possible to accurately monitor these levels through the use of a hand-held ion-selective device. You can find two different forms of fertilizers that contain both phosphorus and potassium. Equal parts of both potassium and phosphorus can be used to easily maintain the pH level at approximately 7.0.

A buffer is a solution which can resist the pH change and can be used to calibrate your pH electrodes. Buffers can also be added into your nutrient solutions to help maintain a stable pH level. An example of one of these buffers is called 2 [N morpholino] ethanesulfronic acid, which is commonly called MES. A large number of companies that claim better control over pH levels through use of their 'specially' formulated solutions, add MES into the mixtures. It is important to bare in mind that whenever using an MES based product that your pH level will be low and requires adjusting through the use of an alkali, to bring the pH back to your required level. You can also use chelating resins and ion-exchanges to stabilize the pH. Generally speaking, these resins are produced as small beads that have the nutrients already absorbed or chelated into them. As your marijuana plants begin to absorb the nutrients, the resins activate and release even more nutrients. The goal is to obtain a controlled release of these nutrients into the solution in hopes of mimicking the way your growing soils would release the nutrients. In an ideal setting these nutrient releases will be able to adequately supply your growing plants with the nutritional demands of the plant while maintaining a stable pH.

IS THE ADJUSTMENT OF PH CRITICAL?

The pH level is not as crucial as most hydroponic growers believe it is. The goal is to try and avoid the extreme levels of pH on either side of the scale. Marijuana plants are grown in soils with a wider range of pH levels than most hydroponically grown plants. Most plant species have an optimum pH level within the range of 5.0 to 6.0.

Grow lights usually lose about 30% of their lumen output during the first 9-12 months of use, giving you 30% less yield for the same electrical cost. We recommend you regularly update your lights.

SEEDLINGS AND USE OF ROCKWOOL

When your system uses rockwool for seedlings of marijuana plants, you will want a different nutrient solution. You will want your stock solution to have a TDS/CF reading of between 10 and 12, then you will want to adjust the pH down to a pH of 5.5. Put this in a bottle allowing you to decant your rockwool as it needs it. Make sure to shake up the solution before using it and only use what is needed. You never want your rockwool sitting in a nutrient solution puddle.

GROWING MEDIUM

obligation conversation with a staff member with the training to answer and explain your options to you so you are successful.

DO NOT OVER DO ANYTHING WITH HYDROPONICS

You have to make sure to minimize everything when it comes to hydroponic growing. Do not over-feed, over-fertilize or over-light your marijuana plants. If you happen to do too little, you will just lower your final results, but if you over do anything, your plants will likely just die.

YOUR LIGHTING

The general rule is the more light your marijuana plants get, the better your yield will end up. If you can double your lux, you should be able to double your yield! The coverage for each light is approximate:

• 400W is 1m²: 5 to 10 marijuana plants
• 600W is 1.5m²: 7 to 14 marijuana plants
• 1000W is 2m²: 15 to 20 marijuana plants

THE NIGHT CYCLE

When your plants need darkness, make sure it is not interrupted for any reason. This is incredibly important during flowering and fruiting phases of growth. Any extra light hitting your plants has the potential of stopping the phase entirely. Make sure if you go in there, it is dark outside and you have zero light, not even an LED screen!

LIGHT MOVERS

If you end up using a light mover, we recommend you use 600W or 1,000W light bulbs. Anything lower will not give your environment proper light, especially with the tracking motion back and forth of the light trying to cover that six foot span. When possible, use the 1,000W bulbs.

NOISE

If you use LTI/RVK extraction motors, you will notice they're silent, but the flow of the air does make noise. If this becomes a problem, you can try placing a carbon filter on the first end and a silencer on the second end, giving you the final product of an odor-free extraction unit that makes no noise.

WATER TEMPERATURE

Water heaters should only be used in the coldest of environments, and even then, should be used sparingly. You simply want to take the chill out of the water. Marijuana plants do not do well when cared for with warm water.

DIGITAL METERS

Make sure to calibrate your CF and pH meters on a regular basis. You will want to use the conductivity standard on your CF meter and buffers of 4 and 7 on your pH meter. Without this calibration, your meters could be giving you false readings and you could harm your marijuana plants.

PLANTING SEEDLINGS

You don't want to plant your baby marijuana plants into a system until you can see significant root development. Make sure to not rush this process because premature planting can prohibit the growth of your marijuana plants.

PH UP AND PH DOWN (WARNING)

You do not ever want to put pH up and pH down directly together into a single concentrate. This combination can be quite dangerous if not handled properly. You want to use separate pipettes for each solution and you will want them color-coded differently to tell them apart.

Where you grow your marijuana plants is important, whether you choose inside or outside. You should make sure you choose a good spot that is not frequently used, such as your basement, an attic or a small closet. The growing location will need electrical outlets inside or nearby. You should plan for any repairs to be done prior to starting your grow room so that no one stumbles across your secret. Once you have chosen a growing location, it then becomes time to prepare. We are going to assume that a closet was the location of choice for the purposes of this guide. First you will need flat white paint covering all of the walls You do not want to use aluminum foil as that can reflect light poorly, damaging the leaves. Next you will need to cover the entire closet floor with plastic so that you do not wind up with water damage on the floors.

CONTAINERS AND POTS

You will need a container of some sort to grow your marijuana plants. Most people use plastic pots. The bigger the pot, the larger your final plant will be. Cover the bottom inch (2.5 cm) of the pot with gravel to increase drainage. Follow that up with good-quality top or potting soil with a mixture of sand. If you decide to use buckets, make sure you drill drainage holes in it first. Make sure each pot you use is totally sterile before starting this process. We recommend using alcohol or bleach, rinsing it clean when done.

LIGHTING

You will need lights to mimic sunlight to your marijuana plants. You can choose fluorescent bulbs, which are cheaper, cooler and efficient, metal halide (MH) bulbs which are a bit more expensive but much brighter on your plants, or High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) bulbs which are equally as bright as MH bulbs but not quite as warm. Both the MH and HPS bulbs require you to buy a ballast in order to use them. You will also need a good source of ventilation.

FLUORESCENT LIGHT

If you want cheap lights, then go with fluorescent lights. There is little heat coming off of them so you may not need to vent the space, unless it is tiny. The spectrum of lights that are given off will work during all growth phases for marijuana plants. Due to how large of an area that is covered by these bulbs, you will need to keep them within 2-4" (5-10 cm) of your marijuana plants so that each plant gets enough light. What this boils down to is mounting your lights so they are mobile, allowing for constant readjustment.

METAL HALIDE (MH) LIGHTS

If you want a lot of light, you will want to go with metal halide (MH) lights. The problem is, they also make the room very hot. You will need proper ventilation if using these lights. There is a lot of blue spectrum lights coming from these bulbs, so they are ideal during vegetative growth. They can also be used when your marijuana plants are flowering if you want to have only one set of lights. You will need to buy a ballast to use these bulbs. You can get these bulbs in anything from a 40 watt size to a 1,000 watt size. If you buy a 1,000 watt size bulb, it will work for a closet with four good size marijuana plants.

HIGH PRESSURE SODIUM (HPS) LIGHTS

If you want a good source of light but with lower amounts of heat, you want a high-pressure sodium (HPS) bulb. You will still need ventilation but the temperature will not be as difficult to control. You will get more of the orange and red spectrum of light, which works well with flowering marijuana plants. You can use these bulbs during vegetation growth but the leaves will come out a bit slower. You will also need a ballast with this setup. Many marijuana growers use this in combination with the MH bulbs so they have the right light spectrum during each phase of growth. You can even start your seedlings with fluorescent bulbs, then go to MH bulbs for vegetation and HPS for flowering. Fluorescent bulbs will stress out the plants the least due to how weak they are. You will ultimately have to choose what is best for your growing location, no matter if it is a closet or an attic.

PHOTOSYNTHESIS AFFECTING FACTORS

You will notice changes in photosynthesis with more than just the differences in amounts of light. Growers have learned how to change these factors to increase growth rates and yields.

HUMIDITY

The quantity of water vapor your growing location has in the air represents the humidity. You will want to stay below 85% to avoid bud mold. You will also want to make sure to watch your humidity closely during the most fragile stages of seedling development. You will want to try and stay above 80% to keep the medium moist for germination to occur. If you want to increase the growth rate of your marijuana plants, try and keep the humidity between 65% and 80%. If you go under this amount, your plants will be thin and fragile, and if you go over this amount, your plants will not be able to remove chemicals through the evaporation process.

TEMPERATURES

Even though marijuana plants have the capabilities of survival in anything from 32 °F to 100 °F (0 °C to 38 °C), your marijuana plants will have the best growth rates between 70 °F and 75 °F (21 °C and 23 °C). Temperatures that are too high or too low will affect photosynthesis and cause a breakdown of the plants.

CARBON DIOXIDE (CO²)

The gas that is considered essential for every light reaction within plants that go through photosynthesis is carbon dioxide (CO²). The stomata of the leave absorbs CO² and then mixes with light energy and water to produce glucose and oxygen. Glucose is used by plants as energy, and the oxygen is released into the air. This means that if you increase the CO² around your plants, photosynthesis will speed up and your marijuana plants will grow faster. Growers have also found that if you supplement your marijuana plants with CO², they can live in higher temperatures without a decrease in photosynthesis.

WATER

You never want your marijuana plants to dry out because a lack of water will slow down photosynthesis. When your marijuana plants do not have enough water, the plants will close their stomatas, keeping the toxic chemicals within the plant. This can either significantly slow down photosynthesis or it can stop the process entirely.

SEA OF GREEN (SOG)

A sea of green (SOG) is when growers harvest a bunch of tiny plants on a frequent basis instead of growing a lot of bigger plants that they harvest less often. The setup for SOG is typically within a closet that has two separate lit areas. The upper portion has a timer giving your marijuana plants 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark, while the lower portion has a timer set to give your marijuana seedlings 18-24 hours of light. Fluorescent bulbs are the lights of choice for this setup because it is safe for all phases of growth. The upper portion is used when the plants are flowering while the bottom portion is used for germination or cloning seedlings. This allows for monthly harvesting.

VENTILATION

All plants remove waste through the stomata on their leaves, and marijuana plants are no different. When plants are grown outside, the weather helps the evaporation process with the sun, rain and wind. However, when plants are grown inside, it is up to the grower to mirror this process to allow the plants to detoxify. A fan is usually sufficient for this process. If your growing location is large enough, you can get a fan and leave it on. If you are using a small growing location, you may not need a fan. Some small locations only need the change of air that opening the door to the location can create. A timed fan that goes on and off can also work. If you happen to have a large crop, you may also need a dehumidifier to keep the humidity below mold-growth levels.

CO² SUPPLEMENTATION

Occasionally, growers will add CO² into the growing location to help increase the growth rates of their marijuana plants. This will also allow your marijuana plants to continue growing at a high rate of speed even if they are in temperatures of up to 95 °F (35 °C). Some growers have noticed a decrease in potency when CO² is supplemented during flowering, so we would recommend you stop this process when you flip the lights to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark.

EARLY SEXING

Due to how easy it is to control how the lights cycle around your indoor marijuana plants, you should have no trouble determining sex. Flip your light cycle to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark once your marijuana plants hit 8" (20 m) high. Examine the flowers with a magnifying glass and remove all of the male plants before they are able to pollinate the females.

SUPPLY YOURSELF WITH GOOD MARIJUANA SEEDS

It may be a good idea to allow a couple of females to be pollinated because then you will get seeds for future crops. Or choose feminized seeds. This can be done with a few plants and will allow you to still have a good harvest with the rest of the females. All you have to do is gather some pollen from the best males (those that grow quickly, do not get sick and have a potent smoke to them) by shaking some of the branches over a plastic bag or sheet of dark paper. If you need to store the pollen until you can use it, we recommend old film containers. Then you take a paint brush and brush the pollen on to the females lowest branches. We recommend you do not harvest those branches you pollinated because then you are assured you will get a viable crop of marijuana seeds.

HARVESTING YOUR MARIJUANA PLANTS

Once you are ready to have your marijuana plants go to flower, you simply need to flip your light cycle to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. This part is difficult for some people because the only thing you can really do during this time is be patient, allowing for the flowers to bud and mature. If you can avoid watering in the last week prior to harvesting, it can help the drying procedure slightly. Get rid of the largest of the fan-style leaves and compost them for good soil for your next batch. Take the portions of the marijuana plant that can be smoked and put them into either paper bags or shoe boxes, then you stir them around each day. After approximately three weeks, your harvested buds should be completely dry, leaving you with a product that is ready to smoke.

A standard closet can be broken up into sections. The bottom section is smaller and lit for 24 hours a day, holding the main marijuana plant and all the cuttings, using a fluorescent light. The bigger top section is holding the marijuana plants that are flowering because of the 12 hour light cycle, and is using a metal halide (MH) bulb of either 250 watts or 400 watts, depending on your closet size. If you grow a variety that is quick to mature (6-8 weeks) then you should be able to get 6-7 crops within a calendar year. You can also use an old refrigerator that is sitting in your basement or garage for this. It is easy to incorporate a hydro or CO setup within this environment. You can hold from 6-12 marijuana plants this way, with each plant producing about one ounce (30 g) per cycle of 6-8 weeks. If you are new to growing or experienced with growing, this simple space guide will help you start a private, personal marijuana farm. You just need a space that is 2'x4'x5' tall or larger that can be divided into smaller sections and will not leak light outside of the space you are using. This is what makes a fridge such a great option! The lighting will require you to have one 4' (120 cm) fluorescent tube or more, depending on the space you are working with, and one ballast to use above the plants you are trying to grow the vegetation. You will also need to buy a 250 watt or 400 watt MH bulb for when you begin to flower your marijuana plants.

Next you will need to buy a fan that is small enough to fit within your space to carefully blow a bit of air around your growing marijuana plants while you have the lights on. The fan will also keep the room at the right temperature 77 °F (25 °C) and give your space a fresh supply of CO² . You can use a fan to blow the air out or suck new air in, but either way this is a necessary step. The initial harvest will take approximately three months to go from simple seeds to a harvested crop, so make sure you buy the best seeds to begin this process with. The better seeds you start with, the better your end result will be. Seeds that are started directly into growing medium with 24 hours of direct light will have the best chances at successful growth. The fluorescent lights can be placed just 2" (5 cm) from your new seedlings to help them grow. It takes about three weeks to get the first pair of marijuana leaves to sprout, and this is when you should begin fertilization. Use a 20/20/20 fertilizer, preferably Formula Flora, but dilute it to approximately 25% to start the fertilization process. You can also use organic fertilizers, but just be careful that you do not over-fertilize.

After another three weeks from fertilization, you will want to move your marijuana plants into bigger pots or rockwool cubes. This is when you decrease the light to 12 hours on and 12 hours off, signaling the marijuana plants genetic code to flower. Keep watering and fertilizing when necessary, but only during the lit hours of your growing location. The dark times need to be left undisturbed or else you risk delaying the flowering of your marijuana plants. Within approximately one week, you will begin to notice male marijuana plants. You can tell these apart by the little green hanging pods. Once you are sure the plants are males, remove them to allow for a better crop of females. Keep the male plants in a different location and harvest them prior to the release of pollen for a potent boost to your normal harvest. The females of the crop will begin to become more obvious as they grow bushier, producing numerous small, white pistils. Females will eventually develop a cola that the males will not. If your marijuana plants grow too tall, make sure to bend them instead of pruning them. The best strains are going to be those that mature quickly like an autoflowering type or a pure indica strain.

LEARNING HOW TO ACHIEVE A 5-7 CROP A YEAR AVERAGE

Once you have completed your first harvest, take your most potent, vigorous and best flowering female plants and prune them back to where you leave a few flowers and 3-4 sets of branches near the bottom of the plant. Put your prized females under 24 hour lights again to bring them back to a vegetative state. A couple weeks later, you will notice some really quick growing shoots appearing. These are great to take cuttings from to begin new marijuana plants. Cut off a few 3" (7.5 cm) of these shoots and re-root them under 24 hour lights. Make sure you keep the females alive so you can take future cuttings from them as well. After another three weeks for vegetative growth, move these new plants once again to the 12 hour cycle section of your growing location. Following this procedure will allow you to bring in a new harvested crop every 6-8 weeks in rapid succession. Just keep following the same time line so that you are able to constantly keep another crop growing while you wait to harvest the crop that is in the 12 hour light section. You will constantly produce new buds and always have a new stash available!

HOME-MADE CO² GENERATOR

No matter what type of plant you want to grow, it will need carbon dioxide (CO²). Now, standard air is 0.5% carbon dioxide already, but plants are able to thrive off of five times as much, giving them five times the growth when this environment is achieved and there are enough of the necessities available to the plant (nutrients, lights and enough water). Now, if you add in the natural abilities of yeast, a living, breathing and reproducing carbon dioxide machine, you can get the perfect environment for nearly any plant. All you need is a sugar and water combination for the yeast to help produce enough carbon dioxide to help all your plants thrive. Brewer's yeast is a simple and cheap way of achieving this goal. All you'll need is a jug, a cork that fits the jug and some flexible rubber tubing to put the carbon dioxide where you want it. We recommend between six and ten feet (180-300 cm). These can easily be found at many stores. Just ask the person helping you to direct you to either brewing equipment or the area that has supplies for boosting the carbon dioxide for standard house plants. This will give you everything you need in one place.

1. Put some water in the jug that is slightly warmer than room temperature to wake up the yeast.
2. Add your sugar to the water in a one part sugar-five parts water ratio.
3. Empty the container of yeast into your jug and stir the mixture together.
4. Observe the jug after a few hours to look for bubble formation-this is the carbon dioxide.
5. Every 10-14 days, throw out a small portion of your yeast solution and add new water and a little sugar (2 teaspoons should do it) to keep your solution from turning stagnant.
6. In theory, this should keep your yeast alive indefinitely.

Taking the time to determine the electrical design within your specific house will help you know the proper information on which types of grow lights, outlets and switches are connected to which circuit, fuse or breaker of your home. It will also allow you to be sure of what your electrical limits are going to be for each one of those circuits.

BENEFITS

• You will save money by not needing an electrician to show up at your house and draw this out for you for any current or future projects.
• You will know what amperage rating your house has within each set of circuits.
• You will know how much electricity you can safely use within your grow room.
• You will know if you need to move high-power draw devices to different circuits. A prime example of this would be an air conditioning unit.
• You will also know how many circuits you are able to use just for your grow room.

MAKE YOUR MAP

Having a trusted friend that you can have help you with this project will help the entire process go more smoothly and more quickly than trying to do it on your own. Just make sure you save this information in a safe and private location.}

• Start off by drawing up a floor-plan map of your entire home on a piece of paper, making sure to mark off each outlet and light fixture. As you mark off each one, make sure nothing is left plugged in.
• Locate your fuse box or circuit breaker panel.
• Use a volt meter, outlet tester or small appliance (such as a small lamp or radio) once you start turning off the different circuits. We recommend an outlet tester due to the increase of information you can get from these, such as polarity, grounding faults and a notification of potential electrical problems.
• Be sure to take note of which outlets are controlled by a light switch and note if both outlets are controlled by the switch or if just one plug is.
• Try out your testing method on a working outlet so you know what you are looking for.
• Now go to your fuse box and turn off one breaker making sure that it is not the main breaker for the entire house.
• Next, you need to take your testing method and go around checking every outlet in the house, noting which outlets are directly controlled by that breaker. The outlets that are turned off are controlled by the breaker you just switched off.
• When that step is complete, make sure you turn that breaker back on again.
• Repeat these steps until you have checked each breaker (or fuse) of the house and marked off each outlets' control breaker. Make sure you turn the breakers back on before you start with another so you do not get any outlets confused on your map.
• Take the time to write each bit of information on the breaker panel (or fuse box) in permanent marker so you will know for future reference. A good reference for this is the main room that the outlets are located (bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, etc). Once you decide which room will house your marijuana grow room, make sure to add that notation as well.

NOW THAT YOU HAVE YOUR MAP

[amperes x volts = watts or ampere = watts/volts]

• Make sure that between what you have constantly plugged in and the additional equipment needed for a marijuana grow room, you won't overload your circuits.
• We typically would recommend that you do no more than 75% of the total amperage rating of your circuit with everything plugged in.
• For example, if you are using a 15 amp circuit, then your maximum load should be 11.25 amps and not ever go over. The last thing you want is any breakers tripping when your equipment starts up.

SPECIAL NOTE

• If you plan to grow a large crop, then we would recommend that you place your grow room in the basement where the circuits or fuse box is located. This will shorten the length of cording needed and allow all of the equipment to run better.
• Smaller crops can even be grown near 220 volt appliances such as a clothes drier or an oven. If you can look through a hydroponic store, you can typically find timer boards that are ready made to be plugged into a 220 volt source with the correct 110 volt outlets.
• If you are looking for compact growing spaces, cabinets and vegetative marijuana room grows can often be used. Extreme care needs to be taken, however, to use different circuits for this type of grow room. Using an extension cord off one circuit and a plug off of another may be what is required to get the equipment set up properly without overloading any circuits.
• Keep in mind that breakers will trip when they are heated by exposure to a current that is higher than what the breaker is rated for, and older houses may not have wiring that can handle the heat of this experience, so keep your circuits under the rating to avoid this potential problem.
• Make sure you check the normal temperature of the plugs you use with the back of your hand when you make electrical additions. If your plug is noticeably warm or even hot to the touch, unplug the appliance or device immediately. You do not want to risk a fire hazard by overloading any of your houses' circuitry.

No matter if you grow your marijuana outside or inside, in pots or in a garden, the taste and experience really is better with homemade. If you are one of the majority that believes gardens are only seasonal, you may find that you enjoy it quite a bit if your garden stays able to produce all year long. There are some alterations required for winter-time production, but you will have the benefit of fresh herbs and spices anytime you need them. Growing all year long will also allow you to grow foods as you would consume them instead of having to mass produce all summer and store them all winter. Each week you will still have to tend to your garden, but it takes up just a little space and time once you get the garden going. You will also be able to increase your potential connection to your skill once you learn how to use it year-round. The spiritual connection and enrichment you will receive from gardening will help not only produce better plants, but it will also help your own well-being.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT MARIJUANA TYPE

Everything in life wants to start out with the best genetics. Finding marijuana seeds that will grow well in your area and still give you the best characteristics florally is what you should strive to find before starting to grow. The characteristics you want to compare are growth rates, maturation rates, bug and fungus resistance, aroma and potency. These factors should be considered before planting by the grower so that you can successfully grow marijuana for as long as you want. If you are lucky enough to locate an Indica and Sativa hybrid, then you are good to go! This will work for outdoor and indoor growth and give a good high once mature. The Indica variety will provide a robust, euphoric high, while the sativa variety is typically harder to grow inside because of the necessary sun and long growing season requirements. Hybrids provide a cerebral high with an energetic component that matures earlier than the sativa would on its own. Indica's have broad leaves with rounded edges while sativa's have incredibly narrow leaves, so you should expect a hybrid to have qualities that are a mixture of both parent plants. You will often see leaves a bit larger than a sativa but smaller than an indica on a hybrid, which makes them easier to recognize once you are familiar with how they look. Dark brown and light grey are the most common colors of marijuana seeds, so make sure you get the right seeds for a hybrid. Striped seeds are fine for marijuana plants, but white seeds should not be planted as they are still too immature for planting.

THE STRATEGY THAT ALLOWS CONSTANT HARVESTING, BOTH INDOORS AND OUTDOORS

We recommend that you use natural light as much as you can to help curb your energy expenses when gardening at home. Natural outdoor light works wonders for flowering plants, while indoor light that is able to stay on continuously is great for early germination of your plants and growth of the vegetation. The natural cycle of dark and light will be used if you try this method, which will lower your energy bills. Even building a tiny greenhouse from PVC or Filon fiberglass can work, especially if you know how to make it blend in or look like it's more of a shed. If you happen to have a shed in your yard already, you can convert the roof over to glass, PVC, plastic or fiberglass and simply use that so that no one is any wiser of what you are up to. This type of shed will allow people to fly overhead without raising suspicion, and it will work for marijuana plants that are not light hogs as well, so you get the best of both worlds. If you use a greenhouse of some sort, it will also help keep many rodents away from your growing plants, keeping them safer, and you can lock it to keep out other "unwanted guests". Greenhouses without flooring can also provide you with the opportunity to grow directly out of the ground, giving you bigger harvests and allowing your plant to reach all new heights.

Indoor gardening is typically done during the cold of winter to start the new marijuana seeds up so they can be transplanted outdoors when spring comes. This gives the plants access to natural sunlight as soon as they can go outside, allowing you to harvest up to three times annually. Depending on how much growing room your home has, you can even exceed this and start new batches more often, giving you a new harvest every two months, and allowing you to bring some plants in during the winter to harvest them as well. The only thing you really need to know is that marijuana plants have two different cycles of growth. When you germinate a marijuana plant, it immediately begins trying to mass-produce vegetation, using every ounce of light up that it can find. This allows you to keep your lights on all the time, not having to worry about specific timers. This also allows your marijuana plants to grow much quicker than they would outside where the evenings would stop the photosynthesis. While it is not required, it is recommended that you try and keep the plants as lit as you can during this phase. Once your marijuana plants reach 12-18" (30-45 cm), your plants can already be forced into flowering, assuming your weather allows for you to place your cannabis plant outside. This is only possible during the spring and the fall. If you are trying to do this during the summer, then you need to shorten the light the plants receive so that the plants will believe it is time to flower. See the flowering section for more details.

Marijuana plants require even periods of both dark and light to flower, so if you are planting outdoors make sure there are no nearby lights that will disturb this cycle. The closer to 12 hours of both dark and light, the better results you will find. Plants will mature to be 2-3 feet (60-90 cm) by harvesting time. Marijuana plants that get moved from constant light to this new schedule will automatically flower, thinking that winter is coming soon. If you get your marijuana plants outside around March 1st, then your crop should be ripe by May 1st. The same goes if you move your crop outside May 1st then you can harvest July 1st. It takes about 60 days for the plants to mature to harvesting; it is just that during winter months, the crops are indoors and typically raised for small yield, winter stashes or just raised for seeds for next season.

PLANTING YOUR MARIJUANA PLANTS INSIDE

You will need to find a suitable indoor place that you can germinate your marijuana seeds in. This will allow your marijuana plants to go outside as soon as the last frost hits, getting them ready for harvesting sooner. It does not matter if you use an area within your basement or bedroom, an unneeded bathroom, or even a closet to germinate your marijuana. Some people have gone so far as to use entire rooms of their house for growing, so long as those rooms can be completely sealed from light escaping and ventilated for fresh air. Room size will determine how much and what kind of ventilation system you should be using. A small closet will only require a door be opened now and again, while a big room will require a full fan system. If you are able to provide a separate exhaust vent and fresh air vent, that is ideal. We recommend one in the top of your room to exhaust heat into the attic space or right out your roof, and another lower that brings the fresh air into the room. Cabinet fans from old computers can even be enough if the room is the right size for it. We recommend using a dimmer switch so you can control both the speed and the noise of each fan you use. Silicone works great at securing each fan to the 4-6" (10-15 cm) pipe required for the vent, which can then just be worked through a hole in the flooring or ceiling. Silicone will also help lessen the vibrations each fan gives off, making the sounds not audible through the walls. Going so far as to use the dull side of aluminum foil to wallpaper you walls can help diffuse your light sources, preventing hot spots from forming in your room, can also be quite helpful. Bright white paint can be used to reflect the light back to your plants if you wish, but mirrors are not recommended as they suck up the light. Make sure you also have plastic on the floor as well to prevent damage from spilled water.

Putting in sockets that will interrupt voltage and ensuring your electrical wiring can handle the lights you want to use is another thing on the to-do list. Ballasts used for HID lights should always be over floor level so they do not get damaged if water leaks on to the floor, but something as simple as a spacer can work as well. If you put in a new shelf above where you grow your marijuana plants, it will allow you to begin your cuttings there, germinating new seedlings. This shelf will effectively double your working and growing space and give you storage for your supplies when you are not working on new seedlings. Good things to put on that shelf include spray bottles, your marijuana plant fertilizers and foods and any other gardening supplies you may use on a regular basis. The benefit of using this shelf to germinate is no heating pad will be required due to how warm it will stay naturally, saving you time and money. If you are going to be flowering your plants indoors, then make sure you add a curtain to this shelf allowing the light from it to not escape and throw off your other marijuana plants. Velcro is a great idea when you need to keep this curtain stationary, and ties or grommets can be used to hold the curtain up when not being used. We recommend a black vinyl curtain with a white back. The next step is lights, and we recommend you just use a few simple shop lights if the marijuana plants will be going out to a greenhouse once large enough. Shop lights come with the bulbs and without, and are relatively easy to find on sale. The best light combination is one warm and one cool white light bulb between the two shop lights, giving your plants both forms of light they need. The expensive bulbs, such as Grow-Lux, are not worth it for this type of set up, so do not waste your money on them.

GROWING MARIJUANA ON A SHELF

Futuristic trends are looking like they will head toward using fluorescent bulbs due to cost and availability. Shelves are a great way to combine this type of lighting with marijuana plants as well. Each shelf has a fluorescent light and there are numerous shelves lining the wall. If the shelves are set up properly then each shelf can have its own timer for how long the light should be on without it affecting any of the other plants. You can use two areas or three, depending on if you need an area devoted to germination and getting marijuana seeds. There is an automatic assumption made with growing on shelves, however. You will keep your plants at or below 3 feet (90 cm) when you plan to flower them, which is why shelves are placed at 3-4 foot (90-120 cm) intervals. Less light will be needed for these shorter plants, especially when they are being forced into flowering. You will notice this particular style to be quite time consuming with the constant daily adjustments the lights will require, so do not plan for any vacations any time soon. The good news is: this is short lived. Once your marijuana plants are out of the vegetative phase (where growth slows significantly from 1" (2.5 cm) each day), there are less time constraints on the grower. You will typically move the lamps up daily because you do not want your marijuana plants to touch the lamps, but your marijuana plants need to stay within about 2" (5 cm) of the lamp for optimal growth-with growth slowing down the further away the lights are situated. Now, if you go on vacation and do not account for the right growth, your plants could be fried before you get back, ruining your entire crop. If you make sure to use enough lighting to cover the entire shelf with fluorescent light, then you can space the plants out however you want without getting spindly growth problems.

Another idea you can use is to germinate, clone or grow your small plants on a shelf inside a closet, only switching to HPS when the vegetative growth requires it. If you use a full shelf at the top of the closet and the light does not leak below, you can also use the main portion of the closet for flowering. Move your HPS so that it should never require adjustments, which is typically the top of the main area within the closet. If your marijuana plants require being closer to the light for some reason, an old box or small shelf will work for you. If you use a shelf, it should be 18" (45 cm) wide to 24" (60 cm) wide. Paint the walls bright white or use aluminum foil, as mentioned above, to reflect the light back to your marijuana plants.

You should also paint your shelves white, too, or use some type of material that is silver in color (other than mirrors) to help reflect as much light as possible. Space blankets and aluminized mylar are both good options for this type of project. Make sure to hang your shop lights from sturdy chains in a way that will allow easy adjustments to keep your marijuana plants close to the light without allowing them to get burnt. Marijuana plants that are kept too far away from the light will become long and spindly from them attempting to reach the light source, and this will decrease your final yield come maturity. The length of stem that is seen between each set of leaves, or internode, will be longer if you keep the light source too far away. Shorter internodes are what you are hoping to achieve because this will give you more branches and eventually, more buds. Some people refer to shelf marijuana growing as sea of green, or SoG, because so many different marijuana plants are able to be grown in the same small space and all the growers can see are the green plant tops blurred together. Clones of your marijuana plants should be grown at first with constant light and then moved to the 12 hour cycles once there is sufficient vegetative growth.

SOG OR SEA OF GREEN

The theory that says harvesting a bunch of little marijuana plants that were forced into maturity early to get quick bud harvests is called the "Sea of Green" or SoG. Basically is means that instead of a few big marijuana plants, the grower chooses a lot of small marijuana plants because this can be done quicker and in the same size growing location. This may be ideal when trying to cut down on electricity use for some growers. This allows for a harvest to happen continuously, year round, with one set of seeds being started while another approaches maturity. When starting seedlings, you can easily fit four little marijuana plants in each square foot (100 sq. cm), but once the plants begin to grow, you should lower this to one plant in each square foot (100 sq. cm). The top of the plant will grow nicely even though you won't see a lot of branching off of the bottom. Do not worry about this because marijuana plants grown indoors have shaded bottom branches anyway unless there are horizontal lights. Most indoor gardeners realize very early on that most marijuana plants do not give the grower enough leaves near the bottom of the plant to make the time or energy usage worthwhile.

The only real exception to the above rule is if you plan to place your marijuana plants outdoors in the near future because the light and shading your plants will get outside will negate this issue. If you start your marijuana plants around the same date, you will likely create a "green canopy", trapping the majority of light near the top of your marijuana plants. Concentrating the light levels on top of your marijuana plants will help your plants gain as much growth as possible in this limited bit of time. Many growers have found that a trellis or nylon chicken wire will help support their marijuana plants if they happen to droop prior to the transplantation outdoors. Stakes are another option, but those tend to be used less frequently because of the difficulty reaching the plants in the back of your growing location. Many people prefer bigger marijuana plants because of the increased yield they provide, but smaller spaces lend themselves more readily to smaller marijuana plants that have a faster maturity time. Holland is where the SoG originated because they were the first to figure out that four huge marijuana plants placed in a room did not produce the same yield as a dozen tiny marijuana plants placed on a set of shelves above another set of shelves with another dozen tiny marijuana plants. The time to reach maturity for these tiny marijuana plants is only about 9-12 weeks from when they were germinated, and this process can be repeated constantly to allow for a new harvest every few weeks.

Just remember to focus on the quality of the final product when growing marijuana plants, not how big the plant gets. Two times the plants produce a harvest that can happen nearly two times as often. If you learn to harvest only the ripest of buds, you will find you are getting only the best quality of final product. If you are going to grow your plants in the four plants in each square foot (100 sq. cm), make sure you use pots that are no bigger than six inches (40 cm) across. Passive hydroponics will also help if you use a growing tray. Cat litter boxes are great for starting your plants as well. In a closet that is 12 sq. feet (1 sq. meter) you can grow 48 seedlings per shelf. If using rockwool cubes of 4" (10 cm) each, you can fit a dozen cubes in each tray. Getting 5 pans on a shelf that measures 12 sq. feet (1 sq. meter) allows you to have 60 baby seedlings per shelf. Once you are forcing the plants to flower, one plant in each square foot (100 sq. cm) is the best route to take. Fewer marijuana plants will require more time to fill your growing location which will cost you more time and money to get to your harvest. If you use too many plants to fill the growing location, your internode growth will start to take over, lowering your final yield. Make sure not to "top" your marijuana plant if your plan is accelerated growth. You will find a better result with a multiple of plants versus letting the plants grow to their maximum size because your yield will be greater and arrive in less time.

You may also find success with twist ties being used to train your marijuana plants to become bushy instead of growing taller. Twist ties made of paper or plastic can be used to wrap around the plant, pulling it down to 90° or 180°, followed by the twist tie being attached to the pot or your marijuana plant itself. You only have to keep this tied for a week, and then you can take off the tie. This will force your marijuana plants to bush instead of grow tall, filling your growing location quicker and allowing your lower branches to grow toward the canopy. This allows the plants hormones to take over, forcing each lower internode to try and bush out. Using the SoG method gives your plant top, or cola, the majority of the energy when growing, and the lower branches the best air flow to keep growing. Anything you trim off the bottom can be used as a clone as you will find a good deal of the plant will root easily, and the plant will grow quite quickly as that is what the plants hormones are pre-programmed to do.

RECYCLING

You will find using square containers to pot your plants much easier. The square pots fit together more easily in the same space, allowing more plants than when circular pots are used, plus there is more area within the pots for the roots. This allows your garden to recycle old containers, like water jugs, and save you money. You could also use 2L bottles from soda, but those are circular, so you would not fit as many plants. You can fit thirteen pots in a litter box, and that is enough room for a 3' (90 cm) mature marijuana plant if grown hydroponically. If your closet can hold four kitty litter boxes, then you can fit 52 plants in this fashion while growing the vegetation. They will need more room when flowering, however. Old plastic buckets that are 3-5 gallons (10-20L) can also give you success. Old garbage cans or even garbage bags can be something that can work in a pinch, so use your imagination. You will want something sturdy enough to be sterilized, so avoid paper for something like plastic to help protect your marijuana plants. All containers need to be sterilized before you can plant anything, and we recommend a two tablespoons of chlorine bleach to a single gallon of water mixture for this procedure. The longer this can sit, the better the results, so numerous hours of soaking before you rinse off the sterilizer is recommended.

PLANTING OUTDOORS

If you want the strongest and best tasting marijuana plants, you will want to plant them outdoors. There are no problems with light leaking out, no necessity of darkness that will keep you away from your growing location, no increase in electricity costs and better plants! More of your marijuana plants will be hit when using natural sunlight, so you will end up with a bigger yield and more developed plant overall. The only thing you need to remember is if you grow outside without the aid of a greenhouse, your crop will be more at risk to pests, bugs, animals and the weather. If this is a problem where you live, you may need to grow your marijuana plants indoors. It all boils down to your own personal preference, but our opinion is sun is by far the best. Fencing can keep out many animals, so that may help you depending on your situation. Keeping a close eye on your crop, especially during the heated dry seasons, is recommended as well. If you are growing outside and are not using a greenhouse, then you should plant in soil as the water can evaporate far too easily when hydroponics are attempted. When you are looking for a growing location, you need to look at the amount of sunlight your plants will receive first and foremost. Next you will need to factor in privacy and ease of use of the area. Your marijuana plants will need sun from at least 10:00 am until 4:00 pm, but we would recommend 8:00 am until 5:00 pm. If your latitude is above 30 degrees, this may not be possible, but it is the target you are trying to achieve. Most growers do not like using greenhouses during winter, but you can still get a good judge of sunlight during this time so you know how to plant for spring through fall. Southern sides of hills often get the greatest amounts of sun followed by open northern sides of your property.

Eastern and western sides of your property can also work so long as they have a lot of direct morning or afternoon sun combined with a solid stream of mid-day sunlight. No one is completely sure, but some growers recommend having morning-only sun as they say it is more effective than afternoon-only sun, so if you have areas with both, you may want to choose morning-only sun. If you can disguise a backyard greenhouse as some type of shed by having the roof and one side made of opaque plastic and the rest of the shed painted to match, it will draw less attention. Your goal is to make it appear as a structure that has been long-standing, covered with tree branches or vines, so it looks more natural. Just make sure you do not cover it too much or you may restrict how much sun can reach your plants that are going to be growing inside. You can use corrugated fiberglass known as Filon, or PVC style plastic sheets to cover up your garden-grown marijuana plants. It is easiest to buy clear sheets intended for greenhouse use and make them opaque with a white wash of lime or a tinted epoxy resin that is put on as a very thin sheet. This option allows more light to shine through than Filon or PVC would allow, and it will still hide your marijuana plants. Epoxy has the ability to help preserve the Filon sheets for a long time, helping it last longer than standard. It will also give your shed a more realistic look if you are trying to pass it off visually as metal. Paint also works, but is not as protective. Only use a little bit of epoxy so that the sun can still penetrate the sheets. Make sure you dig a hole that is big enough to hold your plants through maturity because the roots cannot always penetrate the rubble and clay layers within your garden. Plus then you can fill this hole with quality topsoil, ensuring you know what your marijuana plants will be growing in. Most grassy fields have a good layer of topsoil, but there are not often backyards with the same quality of soil. The soil can, by itself, help you go from a 5' (1.5m) marijuana plant up to a 10' (3m) marijuana plant come harvest time. If you get to choose between growing within the ground or within a pot, choose the ground every time because there is no risk of root binding when the ground is used. Marijuana plants that are grown within the ground will also grow much bigger, so make sure you plan for the extra space that each plant will need. Remember, once a plant is in the ground, it can't be moved! If moving is something you think is important, then you should choose pots so moving remains possible. You can still put a hole in the ground to put the pots in, allowing them to not grow over the top of most privacy fences.

Planting in pots does have its advantages, like if a person has to come to your house unexpectedly for repairs or appraising. You should also make sure your marijuana plants are covered if they live outside. One time when I was a kid, we were growing marijuana plants in our backyard. We tried to build a roof to cover our plants and a police officer saw us moving the wood around. He assumed we were stealing the wood and looked into our backyard. It was then that we were busted, but had the officer only seen a roof, we likely would not have been. So, if you take anything away from my life, build your roof prior to your marijuana plants getting taller than your fence or train them from a young age to stay below the fence line... If you choose to grow marijuana plants out in the wild, you need to make sure your plants can get watered and stay safe. The source of water you use needs to be close enough for you to get it to your plants or you will have to carry it in to your plants regularly, which is a pain in the back! If you can find a growing location that has a water source, then that is your best bet. Just make sure you have a bucket hidden at your location to water your marijuana plants with. Ideally, finding a clear source of water at a higher elevation than your location that can be routed down close to your plants is best. You can force the water through a hose and direct it right to your plants using this method. You just need to use a 5 gallon (20L) can with tiny holes punched into it. Then you take the hose and run it out of the can's main hole, securing it tightly, then bury your can beneath a stream or river's rock-bed, keeping it submerged and well hidden. The hose should be buried as well, covering the hose's length downhill to your marijuana plants. This can save you time, money and work, plus you have the ability to use this contraption annually with each new crop.

SOIL GROWN MARIJUANA PLANTS

If you are on the West Coast of the USA, make sure you use the soil called Super Soil because it is the only soil with a guarantee. Other brands are often too moist, do not have the right nutrients or contain a lot of wood filler. If you need to increase aeration or drainage, add some sand, perlite or vermiculite. Many organic growers will combine their own compost for their marijuana plants (usually made from a manure and a household waste combination). We do not recommend you use dog hair in your household waste if you plan to plant outside of your own property, however, as DNA tests could prove the hair belonged to your dog and incriminate you. P4 water crystals can be added to the soil around your marijuana plants to help them go a little longer between watering if the need ever arises. The crystals swell up when they get wet and hold on to water, slowly releasing it to the surrounding soil as the roots need it. This is a great back-up plan if a drought happens. Just make sure you do not use too much as it can suffocate new roots at the bottom of the pot, stunting growth in your marijuana plants. You just need to make sure you swell it with water before adding it into the soil, following the directions on the package. The size of plant you will get in the end is related directly to the size of the pot you plant in, so keep that in mind when picturing how big you want your final results to be. A pot that is 0.5 gallon (2L per foot) is usually sufficient, but a 6' (180 cm) plant would need at least a 3 gallon (10L) pot. Square pots are recommended for larger plants as well due to the increase in volume the roots would be given. The ground will always be a preferred method for soil-grown marijuana plants because of the plant's ability to grow to any size it wants without the concern of root suffocation. Organic farmers have many different options for fertilizer, including chicken manure, worm castings or bat guano. Keep in mind that manures are flammable, so they need to be mixed for a few weeks prior to planting with a good-quality top soil. You can also use sea weed to give your marijuana plants a slow and constant flow of trace minerals as it breaks down. Outdoor growing allows the gardener to put nitrogen-rich leaves in the hole to help feed the plants as they grow, too. You can then combine those leaves, some composted fertilizer and a bit of dolomite lime to give your marijuana plants a great start. You can also use minute amounts of plant food, like Formula Flora or Miracle Gro, to help your plants start out strong. If you are trying to grow primarily organically, you should avoid commercial plant foods, however, due to the waste that these companies produce. Mulch is also a good idea when trying to keep moisture around your marijuana plants, and it is easy to make from leaves.

SECURITY

You will be amazed just how camouflaged your marijuana plants will be when planted along with other plants. It is nearly impossible to discern them from other plants when they are all the same approximate size. The hardest thing you need to do when planting outside is to keep everything away from your crop while not attracting attention. Placing your marijuana plants more randomly is a good idea. You want them to be able to grow and not turn into some noticeable pattern. Putting them where plants are already growing will help them blend in even more. You just want to make sure they still get the sun they need while blending into their surroundings. Use what is around to your advantage. Plant a small cluster around a tree to blend them in, or use a fence to hide your plants from view. If you can, locate marijuana plant varieties that look like plants that you have in your area anyway. Giving extra nitrogen to marijuana plants will help them become greener if you need to blend them into another plant. You can also try putting fake flowers into your plant to make it look like something else. If you can visit your crops during full moons, just make sure you are doing something that onlookers would not think twice about, such as pruning a tree or mowing the lawn. If you dig a hole big enough to put your marijuana plant in, you can reduce the overall height by at least one foot (30 cm). Occasionally you will find gardeners who prune the plant once it reaches one foot (30 cm) high because the two tops that form after this pruning can be trained to grow in opposite directions along a fence or trellis. This will keep your marijuana plant from exceeding 3' (90 cm) in height. Most neighbors would not ever notice a plant of this height, even if you happen to invite nosy neighbors over for a BBQ!

NUTRIENTS AND PLANT FOODS

The three most important nutrients for your marijuana garden are Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K) and Nitrogen (N). Most fertilizer labels show them as N P K in a format like 20/20/20. The next most important nutrients for your marijuana plants are Sulfur (S), Magnesium (Mg) and Calcium (Ca). Trace amounts of copper, zinc, manganese, boron, molybdenum and iron are also required for growing marijuana plants. Each growth phase requires different nutrients. During germination and rooting, Phosphorus needs to be high while Nitrogen and Potassium need to be lower. During vegetation, Nitrogen needs to be high. One simple way of getting enough Nitrogen into your marijuana plants is to add human urine to your watering source at a ratio of 8 oz. (225 g) to one gallon (3.5L) of water. This is not all your plants will need, but in conjunction with a fertilizer it should be appropriate for hardy growth. Keep an eye on your magnesium, sulfur, iron and calcium levels as well. For hydroponic growers, a single tablespoon of hydrated lime, known as dolomite, is usually all that each gallon (3.5L) of growth medium will need. This will provide necessary calcium, magnesium and nitrogen to new plants. If you need to increase magnesium or sulfur levels, try using Epsom salts. Most people have noticed how flavors increase with the use of potassium nitrate (PN or P2N3), so you may want to include Formula Flora or Miracle Gro into your growing medium for that benefit.

If you are trying to grow vegetation, these fertilizers will be quite helpful. They can be used during flowering as well. One thing to keep in mind, however, is the effects of Salt Peter, or potassium nitrate. This combination is used to create impotence in men, especially in a medical capacity, so if you intend on eating these plants, you should change your fertilizer at least during the last few weeks of flowering to avoid this consequence. We recommend fish emulsion as a good alternative. If you are using hydroponics, you want to stay in the range of 150-600 ppm of dissolved solids with 3-400 ppm being ideal. You can use a conductivity meter to see a breakdown of the nutrients you are feeding to your marijuana plants, but you need to remember that most readings of dissolved solids range on the lower end, so do not take the reading as perfect. If you use passive hydroponics, you will want to keep your nutrients in check so they do not build up to a dangerous level within your growing medium. Every now and again, a drink of clear water is important. You should do this just until your plant loses a slight amount of green and then you should go back to your normal feeding regimen. When you "pump" up your marijuana plants, you water them in a way to help them grow faster. If you are not careful, this can harm your plants and their roots. This process must be done in a slow and watchful manner to ensure the marijuana plant is not drowning. Plant food should be diluted to 25% so your plants are not getting nutrient burn, and you need to rinse the plants with clear water about every other watering.

This is especially important if you are growing marijuana plants in soil. Using just a little Oxygen Plus style plant food or even a hydrogen peroxide that is food-safe will allow you to have more oxygenated roots, lessening the chances of over-watering problems. You will regularly need to make sure that the pH of your soil stays neutral if you use hydrogen peroxide. Some growers refuse to use hydrogen peroxide in their growth mediums due to pH issues, but as long as you are regularly checking your pH level and correcting any abnormalities, your cannabis plants should be fine. Check your marijuana plants for adequate drainage and adjust your watering accordingly. If your soil is draining well, you can move up your watering schedule from one time per week to every 3-5 days. Lava rock and perlite are often used to help increase drainage of growing mediums. This would start the "pumping" process as you are forcing extra nutrients to the plants and oxygen to your roots. You always want to make sure that your growth medium is nearly dry before you water again because this will help your plants grow faster. A different option would be adding a stronger version of plant food one out of every three times you water. This suspends the nutrients within the growth medium, allowing it to be stored to be used by the plant as it needs it. This process flushes out the excess nutrients with the two times of using clear water so you do not have to worry about a build-up of salts within the soil. (This does not pertain to hydroponics.) Make sure you stop using plant food for the last two weeks prior to harvesting because if you don't, your harvest will taste just like plant food. (This does pertain to hydroponics.)

WARNING!

Do not use too much fertilizer!! You will kill off your cannabis plants if you do. Make sure you follow the fertilizer's instructions carefully. If you are going to fertilize during each watering, use only half-strength for both hydroponics and soil. You will want to slowly increase your dosage over time. Most new growers accidentally over-fertilize cannabis plants, leaving a build-up of salts and dissolved solids. If you think that your plants are experiencing a build-up, then make sure you use a little straight water for an occasional feeding. Marijuana plants grown in pots need to be leached monthly. If you notice your marijuana plants turning too-green, then you may need to stop feeding them for a short time so you know your plants are not getting too much food.

FERTILIZERS AND PLANT PH

The success or failure of your nutrient solution can be determined by its pH. You want to stick between 6.2 and 6.7 so all of your nutrients are free flowing. A staple requirement for hydroponics is proper pH before the plants become exposed to the solution. Phosphoric acid brings down pH while potash or lime brings up pH. A pH meter that is useable in hydroponics, water and soil can be your best friend in making sure your marijuana plants have the best chances of success. A neutral growing medium can have a bit of vinegar added to give the pH a boost from 7 down to about 6.5, so keep that in mind. Many times when you add fertilizer to a growing medium it will change the overall pH, so check your pH often. If you are getting brown foliage then you are likely facing acidic growth medium that has not been corrected. You may also notice older plants needing additional food because of the ineffectiveness of the roots. Between these two maladies, feeding through the leaves sometimes becomes necessary to give your plants the best food possible, giving you the best final result. You can feed your marijuana plants through their leaves starting about about 1½ months by dissolving some fertilizer in a little warm water and then spraying that mixture directly on to each marijuana leaf. The veins absorb the fertilizer. If you end up doing this then make sure you are not giving your plant too much fertilizer.

FOLIAR FEEDING

As long as you have a well ventilated growing location, you can increase the speed your marijuana plants grow, the quality of your harvest and increase your yield simply by foliar feeding. The only thing you have to do is to make a tea of plant food and water and then feed it to your marijuana plants during the vegetation and beginning flowering phases of growth. You can use bat guano, fish emulsion, worm castings or an over-the-counter plant food for this process. You do not want to do this later in flowering or you will end up tasting it with the final results a bit later on. Usually a break for the last 2-3 weeks is sufficient. You will want to make sure you clean off the leaves with clear water weekly to keep the stomata from clogging. Daily or every other day for feedings is usually plenty. Between 7 & 10 am and after 5 pm are the best windows to feed during because that is when the stomata are most open and will accept the most of what you are spraying on. You should also feed when the location is at 72 °F (22 °C). Above 80 °F (26 °C) and the stomata are typically closed. The easiest way to do this is to find a cooler portion of the day when it is hot outside or vice versa when it is cold. It may involve you spraying your plants at 2:00 in the morning, but you signed up for doing whatever your plants needed when you planted them. You want a sprayer that can mist the plants with an atomized solution. You want to make sure your pH stays between 6.2 and 7, using baking soda to increase pH or vinegar to decrease pH. The rule of thumb is to spray more often with a little bit of food rather than less often with a lot of food that could damage your plants. A wetting agent should be used to help your plants not get beads of water on them because that can damage your plant leaves. You should try and spray only when the light bulb is cooled off. You may also want to try and combine your plant food with seltzer water so that you are giving your marijuana plant all of its requirements at the same time. This is considered the best route to avoid nutrient lockup for marijuana plants.

WARNING!

Make sure you wash your leaves from harvest before they dry because those leaves that are eaten could contain nitrate salts.

VENTING

When using HID lamps, you must vent often, but not very often when using fluorescent bulbs. The build up of humidity will also make it to where you must vent regularly throughout the day. Ideally you want your vent to clear out your grow room within five minutes, and then you want the fan off for the next 25 minutes. This would then repeat every half hour. You could also find a three minute vent timer with a 12 minute off time if you prefer 15 minute cycles. You will need to find a timer that can perform these actions, which may not be easy or cheap, but it can be done. You can also use a window-style fan that turns on and off at certain temperatures, but this is more difficult because it is regulated by temperature instead of CO² needs. You may end up dispersing too much or too little to your marijuana plants. You can sync up a relay that senses when you are releasing CO² and then starts a fan a while later, but this is difficult and expensive, so you may want to stick with something that is controlled by the environment. All you are really going to need is a switch that can turn on or off your CO² tank and your fan, and a way to clear the room in just a couple minutes. If your grow room does not have a fast heat build-up and you are able to vent your room very quickly, then you may be able to leave your CO² on continuously to allow a build-up of CO² between venting cycles.

You could try syncing up two timers, but you will likely only be able to find the timers with 48 trips during a 24 hour period for a reasonable amount of money. This would make it to where your fan was on for a half hour, then off for a half hour. This can also be set up to work with your light so you aren't venting when your plants are dark. This will allow you to also set your CO² to turn on when your fan is off or the other way around. It might be possible to sync them closer together, but it will be difficult. Many types of venting fans are quite expensive, but many local liquidators of electronic parts will have what are called muffin fans, at a great discount. Garden stores often carry the same fans brand new, but they are more expensive. You want a fan that is good enough to keep down not only the temperature, but also the humidity, distributing CO² evenly to your marijuana plants. You will need movement within your grow room as well. Oscillating fans work really well to distribute the CO² and circulate the air within your growing location. This will help you reduce the fungal risk within your grow room as well by lowering the humidity within the room. If you mount it on the wall, it keeps your floor space open which is always at a premium in growing locations. The ideal growing location will have a lot of circulation within it from many directions.

TEMPERATURE

You must be sure to maintain the proper temperature when growing marijuana plants, but this is not always an easy task. Most growers believe the ideal temperature is between 70 and 80°F (21 and 27°C), but there are times where that temperature range is too low. When you do not have to factor in genetics, some plants just seem to have the ability to absorb additional light when placed under higher temperatures, even up to an astounding 90°F (32°C). Increased CO² and light could even extend this range up to 95°F (35°C). Some growers are even putting their marijuana plants in extremely high light situations with 1500 parts per million (ppm) CO² and perfect venting that keeps the humidity down and keeping them around 95°F (35°C). No one is sure how the potency is affected by these increased temperatures, but you may want to lower the temperatures once your marijuana plants begin to flower to hold on to the potency. This may slow growing speeds, but it would be worth holding on to the potency. Increased temperatures will grow the vegetation of marijuana plants much quicker because it increases the plant's metabolism whenever the increased light and CO² are able to be absorbed. The humidity of the room must also stay low for this to work. If you keep normal CO² levels around your marijuana plants and you have really good venting, you should go no higher than 90°F (32°C), but we think that 85°F (29°C) is ideal for most situations. Anything above 95°F (35°C) will hurt your plant growth.

If you try and grow marijuana plants below 70°F (21°C), growth will not occur. This is only acceptable at night, but should never drop below 60°F (15°C) or growth could stop all together. Shock will start below 50°F (10°C) and death will happen if your plants are repeatedly exposed to temperatures below 40°F (9°C). If you believe that the ground temperatures are pulling any heat out of the roots, make sure you have your plants elevated. This can be an issue outside or even on a cold basement slab. With increased temperatures, so does the air's ability to hold on to water, reducing your room's humidity. This means that higher growing location temperatures should also have the ability to help you avoid marijuana plant fungus. The only time you want high humidity around marijuana plants is when germinating or rooting your new plants. The lower the humidity, the better ability your marijuana plant has to transpire CO², reducing the risks that your flowers will get mold. Most growers and researchers agree that potency decreases as temperature increases, so make sure your plants do not get too much heat when they are flowering.

TRANSPLANTING

The quicker and gentler you can handle each of your cannabis plants, the less shock you will expose them to. You only want to transplant your plants once if you can, twice at the most. The transplanting process will slow down your growth and your final results. It takes up your time, it isn't easy, and it is a lot of work. This is all on top of the threat to the plant. The bigger container you start your plants in, the lower the chance you will have at needing to transplant them down the line. We recommend using a square 16 oz. (450 g) plastic container. You can also use other things, such as a 2L soda bottle bottom, or even a 1 gallon (3.5 L) milk gallon. This works even when using hydroponics. You can also start your seeds off in 16 oz. (450 g) plastic cups. You would have much better success having fewer seedlings than more seedlings that require a lot of transplanting. The larger your cup, the less transplanting will be required prior to your initial harvest. You will want to make sure these cupped plants are transplanted into 1 gallon (3.5 L) containers before you try and force flowering. If you want to regenerate any of these plants, you will want to wait until it starts growing vegetation again and then put it into a 5 gallon (20 L) bucket. If your growing location cannot hold that large of a container, use 2-3 gallon (7.5-10 L) containers.

ONE MORE TIP:

A research study out of Russia has shown that marijuana seedlings that have 4 inches (10 cm) or more of growing medium when started tend to end up female. This study says "this may be why some farmers get female to male ratios as great as 80% to 20%."

NEGATIVE IONS AND ODORS

Many growers use negative-ion generators to remove the odors from grow rooms, but now growers are noticing an increase in yields and growing speeds. We are not sure how true this is, but we know that people feel better in this type of environment, so it makes a bit of sense that plants could as well. It won't hurt anything to place one of your plants near one and see what you find out. Some growers have noted a milder scent at harvest time, but most do not complain about this. You can go with one of the cheaper models to just try out the process. Some can even collect dust on to a plate within the unit or a nearby sheet of foil. All you need to do is clean off the foil or plates monthly and see if it helps any. Just make sure your unit is grounded and that the wall behind your unit is covered to avoid any discoloration from the dirt in the air.

OXYGEN [O²]

Marijuana plant roots require a l ot of oxygen to remove the plants toxic chemicals and they need it to help absorb the nutrients into the plants. Growers often use food-grade hydrogen peroxide within the water being fed to the plant to help increase the amount of oxygen each plant gets. Plants quickly use the extra oxygen atom that H² O² has, and that's why the plant food Oxygen Plus (with 25% H² O²) is so popular. This in combination with an aerated growing medium can be the perfect solution for plant growth. You want proper drainage from either gravel or Perlite within your growing medium so that your plant does not drown. If you have too much water, you can reduce the oxygen your plant can absorb. We will discuss that more in the hydroponic section of the guide. Adding oxygen through aeration prior to watering is also helpful. Bubble pumps put in your water source is often more than enough for growing marijuana plants, or else you can use a cup that has a lid and vigorously shake it up just before watering your marijuana plants.

PRUNING

Most varieties of marijuana plants will require pruning to help increase production and health, no matter if the plant was cloned or grown from seeds. If you prune the lowest limbs, it will give the plant more air circulation and give you cuttings you can use as clones. The secondary benefit is also giving the plant the ability to focus on the top limbs, increasing yields. If you regenerate your marijuana plants, they will need pruning so the plant's energy can be focused on the main stem. This boils down to clipping off anything that is shaded below the canopy of your marijuana plant, and clipping off the growth in the canopy that is not robust. This allows the strongest parts of the plants to survive. This can offer the grower a small harvest of a few buds that did not sprout any new growth during the regenerating process. Your marijuana plant might even give you a lot of material to smoke if you can catch it right before the old flowers have dried up completely or died during the growth of new vegetation. You will need to prune regenerated plants twice. The first is when the plant starts to show new growth, allowing you to cut off the parts that are not regenerating new growth for smoking. The second is when you have lower plant growth or too much upper plant growth, allowing the grower to thin out the plant to increase its yield at harvest. If you choose to not prune your regenerated plants, you will have a lanky plant that will have only tiny buds with a much smaller yield than most marijuana plants.

HARVESTING AND DRYING

When you reap the bounty of your garden, that is called harvesting. You will likely enjoy this time with your crop more than any other time. You need to harvest your marijuana plants when the flowers are completely ripe, and this is usually when the pistils (hairs) go from white to red, brown or orange and they start to pull back into what looks like a seed pod. The pods will then swell with the resin that is usually saved for producing seeds. When you harvest will determine the levels of "high" within the buds. If you harvest early, with just a couple pistils having changed color, your buds will have a higher pure THC level, leaving less THC to turn into CBD or CBNs. Those substances help to create the bouquet within the pot, which controls how stoned or stupid a person acts when high. The purer the THC, the more cerebral the high will be. The higher the levels of THC that has turned into CBD or CBN, the more hazy the buzz will be. Marijuana plants that are harvested later will have higher CBD and CBN levels, which may not be the kind of high you prefer after you have gotten to taste the different varieties.

Make your own decision about what you like the most, no matter what the proposed experts are saying. You have to remember that a fully ripe bud will weigh more and is what you will most often see being sold. However, you can take buds earlier than when fully ripe and make the choice for yourself on whether or not you like the flavor. If you are going to sell your product, you want to make sure that it is fully ripe, but if you prefer smoking an earlier product, pick some early for yourself. Novice growers usually pick a little product early due to their own impatience, and that's alright. Just make sure if you do that you take your buds from the middle or top of the marijuana plant. The rest can then continue to mature. The tops of your marijuana plants are usually ripe first. If you can harvest those and allow the rest of the plant to mature, you will increase the yield that can be sold. The buds lower on the plants will get fuzzier and larger when they approach full maturity. This will help give you a bigger yield because these buds will then be getting more direct light. If you can take your harvest as each portion of the plant is mature, it will increase your yield greatly over a single harvesting. You will want to take a magnifying glass to look at the THC crystals on the trichomes to check the color. Mostly clear crystals means that full potency is nearly at its peak. If you have mostly brown crystals, then your levels of THC are falling along with the potency of your plant due to wind and light exposure.

NOTE

Make sure to not harvest your marijuana plants too late. It is common and easy to harvest too late from being too careful. Learn when your plants are at full potency by watching them closely. Make sure you do not leave your curing marijuana plants in the sun or you will lose even more potency. Buds that are hanging upside down in a well ventilated place will cure more slowly and keep more of their potency. You can also dry using a paper bag, and some people find this process more convenient. You will likely enjoy the flavor of a bud that has been slowly cured for at least 1-2 weeks. If you cannot wait, there is always the option of drying a couple of buds between paper towels using a microwave. This is a slow process that requires constant monitoring to avoid burns. The defrost setting works better for this process. You will get a harsher smoke using this method, however. You can also use a food preserver or dehydrator to dry out your crop, but the taste will not be as good as drying things slowly (although we find it to be pretty similar). This will help speed up your harvest as well, and avoid the stress of hanging marijuana around your home. You want your marijuana buds dried to the point of snapping stems before curing them in sealed containers that are opened for turning and air exchange daily for two weeks. We have also heard the recommendation of using an area within your home that is not insulated, such as your garage, so that the temperature changes can affect your drying marijuana plants. Allowing for these changes makes your cannabis plants use up a bit of its chlorophyll, creating a less harsh smoke.

ONE FINAL COMMENT

You can get positive results even if you find yourself in a negative situation (like a 4"(10 cm) pot having nothing more than a skylight to help it grow). If you have a nutritious medium that drains well, some good light and ventilation for your plants, a solid fertilizer applied regularly, some pest control and you can avoid being detected, you can, too, find success growing marijuana seeds to a harvested crop.

You really can grow a marijuana plant inside while using a fluorescent light bulb and produce a potent and mature crop. If you understand the specific cycles that a marijuana plant naturally goes through and can mirror this environment, you will find success. You will not be able to recreate this environment perfectly, but emulating the environment should still provide you with success. You will need to mirror natural light, growing medium, rain, temperature, nutrients and humidity. Standard 40 watt, 4' (120 cm) fluorescent bulbs are easy to buy and use for this process, especially when combined with a 40 watt aquarium bulb to create a good combination of light to mimic sunlight. You will want to keep your marijuana plants 2-4" (5-10 cm) away from your light fixtures during all phases of plant growth to ensure the best growth. Dampened paper towels is one way of germinating marijuana seeds, covering the layer of seeds with more damp paper towels. This setup can be set inside a dresser, only needing to be monitored every day or two for water. This should be enough for the seeds to sprout in a week or two. Take your new sprouts and place them 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) deep into your growing medium (preferably soil combined with sand or perlite), with the shell facing up. 3-4" (7.5-10 cm) pots should be more than sufficient to start your plants.

FROM SPROUTS TO MATURITY

24 hours of constant light is the best route to take for these sprouts. As each sprout breaks through the surface of the soil, moving up toward the light, you will want to adjust the light so there is always 2-4" (5-10 cm) of space above the plant tops. You will need to transplant your plants into 6" (15 cm) pots once your marijuana plants outgrow the small pot, which is typically around the third week. Once you hit four weeks, putting the light cycle to 14 hours of light and 10 hours of darkness will help you determine the sex of your plants. Certain varieties prefer the 12 hour on and off cycle to show which gender the plant is, but this depends on which strains you are growing. The same goes for growing the plant's vegetation. Each strain is going to need a different amount of time to grow to flowering maturity. Most varieties need about four weeks, but some require more, especially if the plant is struggling with growth under fluorescent lights. You will be able to differentiate between male and female plants by the pollen packets on the males or the pistils on the females.

GROW MEDIUM

You will notice the huge variance in growing techniques with something as simple as a growing medium and a few seeds, but then if you include different equipment and hydroponic systems, the possibilities become endless. Each different environment will produce a slightly different plant, even with the same seeds, so you just have to streamline your growing, developing and budding procedures to achieve a successful crop. Really it is as simple as germination, planting in growing medium, watering and fertilizing the plants when they need it during growth, flowering your marijuana plants and then harvesting to get a crop you can be proud of.

When looking at the three most common forms of growing marijuana, you will find inside, outside and greenhouse growing. Which route you choose will likely boil down to what kind of weather your area has and what your local legislation says about growing marijuana. Most countries share the same thoughts on owning or growing marijuana, so we will focus on growing marijuana plants indoors to help you avoid legal consequences. The best marijuana plants come from the best marijuana seeds, so browse our seedshop if you do not already have the seeds you want to start your crop with. Look for a variety that you would enjoy watching grow until you can smoke it, paying close attention to the length of time it will take your plants to grow and flower.

MAKING PREPARATIONS

You will want to prepare your home before starting to grow marijuana plants so that you do not have run-ins with your neighbors. You will want to make sure your growing location will not leak light or any smell to avoid any unnecessary attention. Ideally you want a lightproof growing location that can also be made smell-proof and waterproof. Carbon filters will help with the scent and fans will allow fresh air to flow around the plants. With the room needing to be lightproof and also not leak any light, a black plastic sheet that is thick enough to not show light either direction may be your best investment. Buying a high-quality sheeting is something that can be reused for many years, so the overall money can be quite minimal after time. With as much light as marijuana plants crave, you can increase the benefit of the sheeting if you line it with a white plastic, paint the growing location white or use aluminum foil on the walls to reflect the light back on your marijuana plants.

CHOOSING BETWEEN SEEDS AND CLONES

A single mother plant is used to clone new and smaller plants by using cuttings taken from that female plant directly. You will want to choose a mother plant that had good resilience, strength and a good yield so that your new marijuana plants will offer you the same potential outcome. Some marijuana growers find cloning difficult and they are unable to reproduce the same results, so they choose seeds. You will want to make sure the seedbank you choose has a solid reputation because not all seedbanks are created equal, nor are their products.

GROWING MARIJUANA PLANTS FROM SEEDS

You will want to start at least two times as many seeds as there is room for the final plants because the plants will either become female or male plants, and you are striving for only the strongest of female plants. To germinate marijuana seeds, you can either place seeds between wet sheets of paper towels or you can put the seeds directly into your growing medium. Both methods will require a few days for germination to start, but keeping the seeds moist and covered with plastic wrap will help the process happen quicker. Once you see the beginning of the seed popping out, placing the new seedlings under a light will help them take off. The plants should stay 4-8" (10-20 cm) away from the light, adjusting as the marijuana plants begin to grow. This process should involve 18-24 hours of light per day and will usually take up to two weeks to produce seedlings, depending on which variety you have chosen to grow. When your marijuana plants hit the 3-4" (7.5-10 cm) mark, allow the soil to dry up some before giving the plants more water. This will encourage root growth. New growers often over-water their marijuana plants, so make sure only to water when needed.

LEARNING TO GROW AND FLOWER A MARIJUANA PLANT

Similar to house plants, flowering and growth depend on just how much light (or lack thereof) each plant gets. In the case of marijuana plants, the lighting will tell the genetics of the plant that spring has sprung and that makes it grow-time. Just like in nature, later on during the growing season the light will decrease, telling the internal genetics of the plant to flower by the release of the hormone phtyochrome. This allows the plant to focus entirely on flowering. Mimicking this pattern is the point of regulating lights in a growing location.

USING GROWTH LIGHTS OR LAMPS

If you want a great yield, then you need to supply great light. A single fluorescent bulb will work for growing some seedlings, but for flowering you will need one 400 watt bulb for each four plants you are trying to get to flower. The stronger light you have, the better yield you will get, so many professional growers will use 600 watt sodium bulbs instead. A room that is white from top to bottom will help reflect the most light back to your marijuana plants. Ensuring that your outlets are able to handle the necessary draw that a growing location would create is another fundamental step to preparing your grow room. A good way to test this is if you can use a light, the vacuum and your washing machine without having a fuse blow. If you are using the 600 watt bulb, it will likely draw about 6 amps with a 110 volt service, so you want to be sure this will not cause trouble in your house. If you use this bulb and it starts a fire within your wires, your insurance company will end up not writing a check to you to cover the repairs after this illegal activity. We tend to avoid incandescent bulbs because of their inefficiency, and go with fluorescent bulbs because of their availability and price. You should put at least 25 watts in each square foot (30 sq. cm) of growing space, with as many different shades of white tubes as you can find to help mimic sunlight. Metal Halide (MH) bulbs have grown in popularity recently with growers because of their brilliant white light which most marijuana plants thrive off of. You will have greener plants that are stronger than ones grown under a fluorescent lighting system. Using sodium lamps will give off an orange or bright yellow light, similar to a streetlight, which many growers use for the flowering process.

CHOOSING BETWEEN SOIL AND HYDROPONICS

If you don't mind dirty work, we recommend soil because of the increased flavor that your harvest will have. Hydroponics is much cleaner, but your entire crop can be ruined by a simple mistake or two. You will find that taste often leaves something to be desired when using hydroponics, but experienced growers can achieve good flavor with this method. You also need to keep in mind that you cannot move a hydroponics system where you can move pots if it becomes necessary. Many marijuana plant growers have gotten caught due to the oversight of their hydroponic system starting to leak, causing attention to be drawn to their activities.

CHOOSING NUTRIENTS AND FERTILIZERS

Marijuana plants require 14 main chemicals for healthy growth. Three of them are considered macro-nutrients: phosphorous (P), potassium (K) and nitrogen (N). Marijuana plants require vast amounts of these nutrients and are listed on most fertilizer packages as NPK. Secondary nutrients, such as sulfur (S), magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca), need to come in as the second most abundant, and the micro-nutrients need to come in third. These nutrients are zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), molybdenum (Mo), chlorine (Cl), boron (B) and copper (Cu). You will likely only see the macro-nutrients listed on packages because of the minute quantities required of the other nutrients. When focusing on growth, you will want a nitrogen-heavy fertilizer, like a 20/10/10 mixture, and when focusing on flowering, you will want a phosphorous-heavy fertilizer, like a 5/20/10 mixture. You want to make sure not to over-fertilize your marijuana plants because this can ruin an entire crop. Curling leaves is a common sign that too much fertilizer is being used. All natural products are required for marijuana plant growing because smoking your harvest is your ultimate goal. Avoid fertilizers that are supposed to be for marijuana plants as they are typically little more than a tomato fertilizer that someone put a new label on and then increased the price tag. Manure is the best organic fertilizer you will likely be able to find. Avoid using fish emulsion, however, unless you have a powerful air filtration system due to the smell.

CHOOSING POTS AND GROWING CONTAINERS

Keep in mind how much oxygen the roots of marijuana plants need when you are combining your growing medium. You will want to make sure that there is some perlite or sand in your mixture, giving the necessary oxygen and holding on to more water so the plants do not dehydrate. You will also want to make sure your pots are large enough for large plants, which will have large root balls. The pots will need small holes near the bottom of them so that excess water will be able to drain out because excess water will harm the roots, potentially killing your plants. Using clay pots should be avoided as well because of their tendency of hyper-evaporation.

MONITORING THE PH LEVEL

It does not really matter which kind of pH meter you use, because they all do the same basic actions. You will just want to make sure you get the most accurate meter you can find. There are paper strips that are used once, or electronic meters that can be used repeatedly. Each shows you where your soil and water come on the scale of acidic (zero) to basic (fourteen), with balanced being a pH of seven. The electronic meter is a good investment if you plan to grow marijuana plants long-term to save money over having to replace the strips. The probe simply goes into your soil and you get a reading, instead of having to wait for the strips, saving you time. If your solution is too basic, or alkaline, you can bring the scale back down by using nitric acid, vitamin C, vinegar or sulfuric acid. If your solution is too acidic, lime, wood ashes or bicarbonate of soda will bring the levels back to balanced. Use a few drops at a time to adjust the pH and measure after some time is given for the solution to combine. The last thing you want it to cause chemical burns to yourself or your marijuana plants.

TEMPERATURE

Stability is the key to a strong marijuana crop. Even though the plant can withstand temperature extremes, it will slow down all growth or flowering. Keeping your crop around 68 °F (20 °C) is ideal because growth will stop below 57 °F (14 °C) and bugs and fungi will become a problem if the room is over 75 °F (24 °C). Your grow room will be quite warm if you use the 600 watt (or higher) bulbs, especially during the hot summer months, so you may need a fan for the room. During cold winter months, you may need a heater when the lights get turned off at night to avoid your plants getting too cold. If you plan to use fans, make sure they only blow gently on your plants so that it does not stress the plant into creating a thick stem when you would rather it focus on better growth and flowering.

HUMIDITY

You will want to try and keep your grow room at about 50% humidity so that your marijuana plants are not going to the extreme. Keeping your humidity monitored is the best way to avoid a humidity that is too high, creating a breeding ground for many pests and plant diseases.

CUTTING OR PRUNING YOUR MARIJUANA PLANTS

Once your plants reach a few inches (cm) high, and your plants have three sets of leaves growing, you should cut the top two leaves allowing the marijuana plant to split into two branches. This will create a bushier plant, especially if repeated with a recovery period in between each cutting. If done properly, this can help boost your yield exponentially. However, if not done properly, this can harm the plant, slowing down the growth to focus on plant repair.

FLOWERING

Once your marijuana plants reach the height you desire, you can flip the light cycle to 12 hours of bright light and 12 hours of pure darkness. This will start the flowering process within your marijuana plants, getting you one step closer to harvest. Once the little hairs on your marijuana buds have turned about 75% brown (or red or orange, depending on variety), it is then time to harvest your crop.

HARVESTING

Removing the leaves with your marijuana plant still sitting in the pot tends to make the process a bit easier. Make sure to remove any pointed leaves that are sticking out of your marijuana buds as those tend to make the flavor harsh and sharp, hurting your throat when you smoke. After the bad parts of the plant are removed and only smoke-able material remains, hang your marijuana plants upside down with good protection and ventilation so that no rodents or other pests can harm your crop. Rodents love munching on marijuana plants and seeds, so keep a close eye on your crop. Follow the lead of your marijuana plants during the curing process, giving as much time as is necessary for proper curing, so that you do not end up with a sharp-flavored crop, but instead you have the heavenly smoke that you desire. Heaters should be avoided during this process so that you do not ruin the flavor of your crop.

This also includes, of course, the criminal aspect of selling and purchasing marijuana. It is just as illegal to buy, sell or smoke marijuana as it is to grow it. Although growing a marijuana plant is something that anyone is able to accomplish within their homes without requiring the risk of dealing with people you do not trust or know, that does not make it legal. One of the most rewarding reasons for cultivating your own plants is watching the delicate, tiny marijuana seeds that you purchased grow and turn into incredibly lush plants, more so than you have ever seen throughout your house.

THE 4 BASIC STEPS

We all have to start somewhere, so it does not matter if you have prior experience with growing a marijuana plant at home or not. It is still possible to have a reasonably successful crop by following these easy-to-follow directions of this guide. Even if you have experienced some problems prior with the cultivation of marijuana, it is highly possible that you will find solutions within this guide. There are four basic steps everyone should follow when attempting to grow marijuana plants:

1. Obtain marijuana seeds. The good news is if you do not currently have any seeds to start your crop with, you can purchase several varieties of seeds through our private seed shop.
2. Germinating your marijuana seeds. While it is possible to simply place marijuana seeds within moist soil, it does not necessarily guarantee that it will produce a marijuana plant. By first germinating the seed, you can ensure that your seed will in fact produce a plant. In order to germinate the seeds, put a small grouping of seeds between several damp paper towels or within the larger pores of your everyday-style damp sponge. Make sure the sponge or towels stay damp while also making sure they are not soaked. Some seeds can germinate in as little as 24 hours, but some others are known to take a few days, a week, or longer to germinate.
3. Planting marijuana sprouts. Immediately upon noticing the opening of the marijuana seed, place the seed within moist soil, then immediately sprinkle soil across the top.
4. Offer your marijuana plants some light. While fluorescent lights happen to be known by many growers to be the light of choice, any type of growing light will do. You will want to make sure that your lights hang 4-8" (10-20 cm) from the soil after your plants begin to appear through the soil.

It really is just that simple. By following these simple four easy steps, you can have your very own marijuana plant in no time. If you are looking to ensure exceptional quality and higher-yield volume, there are a few additional details that should be noted and followed.

SOIL

Your first major concern after you choose the proper marijuana seeds becomes choosing the appropriate soil. You do not want to pinch pennies when it comes to selecting a soil. Ideally you would like to use the richest soil that you are able to get your hands on. If, for some reason, you end up using an unsterilized-type of soil, you can almost guarantee yourselves that you will find parasites within it that will likely harm or kill your marijuana plant long before you can transplant or save the plant. You can typically find several excellent types of soil available at various plant shops or nurseries. Some grocery stores, as well as full convenience stores (like K-mart or Walmart) will also carry exceptional soil for marijuana plants. Growers should make sure that the prospective soil not only drains well, but also has a pH level between 6.5 on the low end and 7.5 on the high end. This is important because marijuana plants do not thrive in acidic soil. By having sand, sponge rock and/or Perlite as components within your soil, you can be assured that it will be a solid draining soil. High levels of acidity within soil lead to plants becoming predominantly male within each specified species, which is a highly undesirable trait for a marijuana plant.

Your soil will also need to contain humus, which is a key component for containing nutrients and moisture. For those do-it-yourself types, you can create your own unique soil mixture using the following recipe: take two parts peat moss, one part draining sand, one part of Perlite (also known as sponge rock) and mix that with four gallons of potting soil. Use soil testing kits or litmus paper to test your soil's pH level. If you find that you need to increase the pH within your soil, add ½ lb. (20 kg) of lime to approximately 1 cubic foot (28 L) of soil in order to effectively increase the pH by a single point. For those who are absolutely adamant on working with dirt from your backyard or driveway, first you will have to sterilize the dirt by placing it within a 250 °F (120 °C) oven for an hour. Ensure that you moisten the dirt thoroughly first, as well as open several windows. You will also want to get yourself ready for a rapid egress, just in case. Baked soil will turn your kitchen into one of the worst smelling things that you have ever had the experience of cooking, so you have been warned. Once it has finished baking, add approximately 1 tablespoon of premixed fertilizer per gallon (3.5 L) of soil, mixing vigorously. This is an awful lot of work for little reward when compared to the low-cost of purchasing soil, but to each their own.

CONTAINERS

Once you have finished preparing your soil, the next thing you are going to need is some sort of a container to place your cannabis plant into. You will need to make sure that the container itself is well sterilized, more so if it has been used by other plants previously. Considering how large of a container you choose will directly affect the growth rate and size of the plant you wind up with, you will want to choose carefully. You will only transplant your plant once. This is because the transplanting process for a plant will cause most plants, including a marijuana plant, to go into a state of shock. Once transplanted, there is a recovery time where growth will be slowed or come to a complete halt. It is recommended that the first pot you choose has a diameter of 6" (15 cm) or less, and be plastic or clay.

Before you decide to transplant a marijuana plant, prepare the secondary pot with soil, plus also dig out a hole the size of the current pot. Take your planted pot and invert it while tapping on the rim of the pot to release the plant. The soil and base roots should come cleanly out, and the soil will likely retain the same shape as the original pot without disturbing the roots. If you wish to avoid the transplanting process, it is recommended to use Jiffy-pots. A Jiffy-pot is made from compressed form of peat moss, making it able to be planted directly into damp soil. Once planted, they decompose, allowing the roots to penetrate the walls. The volume of whatever second container you choose should be a minimum of 3 gallons (11 L), as marijuana plants do not like being in a position to where their roots begin to bind or get confined. It is really hard to move or transplant a 5' marijuana plant, so make sure to plan accordingly. Smaller marijuana plants will be ready for transplantation into a permanent location in approximately two weeks. After their first week post-transplant, you will want to monitor the growth closely and avoid binding of the roots as this will stunt the growth and productivity of the plant.

FERTILIZERS

Marijuana plants require a lot of nutrients but if you are heavy handed with the fertilizer, it can damage or even kill your plant. Some fertilizers are known to burn your plant, causing damage to its roots when used improperly. Most store bought soils have the nutrients needed to feed your marijuana plants for approximately three weeks. It is at this point that you will want to begin fertilizing the plants. One very important thing you need to keep in mind during this process is that you will want to begin introducing the fertilizer concentrate to the plants gradually. You will want to begin with a diluted, or watered down, fertilizer solution, gradually increasing the dosage and decreasing the water. Formula Flora and Dutch Pro are two popular fertilizers for marijuana growing. Formula Flora is considered great for widespread use in marijuana cultivation and is readily available throughout the United States and North America. Formula Flora has special uses when it comes to marijuana plants as it contains ingredients that prevent your soil from getting too acidic. Fertilizers change the pH level of soil by increasing the level of acidity. During this process, the salts produced through the breakdown of fertilizer can stunt the growth of your plant and brown the foliage.

Avoiding deposits of those salts within your soil will help ensure your plant is receiving every one of the nutrients it needs. At approximately six weeks, growers can begin feeding through the leaves of their plants. To do this, simply dissolve your fertilizer in some warm water, then spray directly onto your plant and its leaves. Remember to slowly increase the amounts of fertilizer that you feed your plants. Marijuana plants have stomachs similar to a black hole and will eat all of the fertilizer you will give them, if done gradually. For the first two or three months, you will want to fertilize the marijuana plants every couple of days. Pay special attention to monitoring your plants' growth rate because as the growth rate of the plant and foliage slows, the plant is beginning to prepare for seed production and blooming. Your marijuana plant should have its fertilizer intake slowed as well to mimic its growth. Never attempt to fertilize your plant prior to harvest. The fertilizer will make your plant increase its foliage production, thus decreasing resin production.

Worm castings are second to none when it comes to organic fertilizers. Worms are often raised commercially now, specifically for gardeners and breeders to put the commercial worms into organic composts. While these worms reproduce, they eat all sorts of organic matter, eventually expelling what most consider the food for marijuana plants in the world today. Once they have devoured all of the available organic matter, they are removed, sold, and the remains are sold off as what one would call worm castings. When used as a fertilizer with your soil, it can provide your plant with an abundance of nutrients. While it is possible to grow your plants in nothing but worm castings, the cost makes this approach highly impractical.

LIGHT

All plants need light. Whether it is sunlight or moonlight does not matter because without it, they cannot grow. Countries that are well known for marijuana growth have long periods of intense heat and sun exposure. Many parts of the United States and North America do not have this type of intensity or an extended growing season to provide a similar quality or growth of plants. To bypass the problems of winter months or shortened sun exposure, many growers have turned to indoor simulated conditions. Generally, the rule most follow in regards to light is the more available light your plant is exposed to, the better the yield. One instance showed how an 8' (240 cm) Very High Output Gro-Lux fixture was used with 8 marijuana plants. These marijuana plants began to grow at an alarming rate. The fixtures required readjusting and raising daily. There are several forms of man-made light, with each one doing something different to the marijuana plant. An incandescent style of light bulb gives off several colors of light that your plant is able to use, as well as a lot of far-red and infra-red light. These types of light force a plant to grow and stretch toward the light, resulting in a tall, frail plant that is so weak that it topples over.

An incandescent plant spotlight gives off more blue and red lights over your standard light bulb. While this is a minor improvement, it still has its drawbacks. It generates intense amounts of heat and can't be set near marijuana plants. As a result, the plant is forced to once again strain and stretch upward and is still at risk of falling over. Red forms of the light boost stem growth. This is not what you are looking for when growing marijuana. You want to boost foliage growth to give your plants more yield. Gro-Lux lights should be considered some of the most recognizable fluorescent lights on the market. There are two types of Gro-Lux lights: the standard and the wide-spectrum, and they range from 1-8' (30-240 cm) long. This makes them ideal for setting up a marijuana growing room within a small closet or an industrial-sized warehouse. Wide-spectrum forms of these lights emit infrared, which stimulates stem growth like we have already discussed, but when used as an extra, supplementary form of light source with standard Gro-Lux lights, you can achieve favorable growth. For individuals who are looking to grow a larger scale crop, standard fluorescent lights and their fixtures, the types of used in most commercial lighting settings, work incredibly well when paired with regular Gro-Lux lights. This form of commercial light fixture is referred to as "Cool White" and these fixtures are by far the cheapest form of fluorescent lights. They also emit the same amount of blue light when compared to Gro-Lux standards. A key component to stimulate foliage growth over stem growth is this blue light.

When struggling with the decisions about light intensity, Gro-Lux lights are available in three different intensity levels. There are regular output lights, high output (HO) lights and a very-high output (VHO) variety of lights. You will likely enjoy the results you get from regular output lights, but you will notice a difference when choosing the HO or even the VHO varieties. The higher the output of the lights, the quicker your crop will grow. Using a VHO light, you will get nearly three times normal growth rate you would with a regular output light. It is possible to have a 4' (120 cm) plant in eight to ten weeks with a VHO bulb, gaining 2" (5 cm) of growth per day. There are few drawbacks with these bulbs. The first is readjusting the bulbs daily for your plants, and the second is the cost. The cost is about twice that of regular bulbs, but we consider them to be well worth the price.

Now you need to decide on how much light to supply your crop with. When you will be able to harvest your plant is totally dependent on the amount of light your plants get each day. The more darkness the plants get, the sooner you will see them blooming. The rule of thumb is you do not want a lot of light within the initial six months of growth because older marijuana plant blooms will have better flavor. Once your marijuana plants can bloom, the plants metabolism slows down so the quality of your harvest will no longer mature. The older you can let your plant get before you make it bloom, the better your quality will be. If you want a simple solution to keep your plants growing for as long as possible, then just keep the lights on the plants all of the time until the time comes for the plants to go to bloom. Rarely will you find a plant that has bloomed anyway, as this is definitely the exception to the rule. Marijuana plants that get 12 hours each day of light will typically be matured by 8-9 weeks, whereas plants that got 16 hours each day of light will mature by about 10-12 weeks. 18 hours each day of light gives growers a mature marijuana plant in 14-16 weeks, so it is ideal to leave the lights on if you want an older plant come blooming time. If you do not want them on all day and all night, then you can easily and inexpensively find a vacation or away from home timer to use to regulate your light schedule.

TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY

68-78 °F (20-25 °C) is the ideal temperature during lit hours of the day with an expected drop of 15 °F (10 °C) during the darkened hours of the day. The location you choose to grow your marijuana should be kept relatively dry to encourage a coating of resin on all of the leaves. In order to accomplish this goal, you need to trick your plant into believing that it needs to defend itself from getting dehydrated. If maintained in a humid environment, the marijuana plant will develop wider leaves and produce lower amounts of resin you seek. You need to take special care to ensure the temperature of the dry room does not become excessively warm since your marijuana plant will not assimilate water as quickly as it needs to through the roots for proper recovery, causing the foliage to turn brown.

VENTILATION

Making sure that your growing location is properly ventilated is also rather important. The larger number of plants sustained in a single room, the greater the importance ventilation becomes. Since marijuana plants use their leaves to breathe and remove poisons, proper and well maintained ventilation is a must. If these criteria are not met, the tiny pores within the leaves will get clogged, killing the leaves. The more air that is able to circulate, the quicker the poisons evaporate off of the leaves, leaving you with a healthier the plant. Small rooms can typically be ventilated by simply opening a door to the room to inspect growth and to cover watering needs, but larger rooms need a more organized ventilation system. While you can grow plants that appear healthy in rooms with poor ventilation, it is safe to say they could be bigger and lusher with fresh air. The more time you spend within your growing location, the better your marijuana plants will grow. This is due to your body releasing carbon dioxide every time you exhale. It can be difficult to get a fresh air supply into your growing room since it is typically tucked away in a quiet corner within the house. In cases like this, using a fan to generate air movement will help to a degree. This will also cause your plants to grow a healthier, sturdier stalk. Typically when grown in indoor environments, a marijuana plant's stem fails gain strength and rigidity due to lack of elemental exposure to rain and wind. There is a silver lining to this approach though. It allows your marijuana plants to use most of their energy to produce resin and leaves rather than fortifying stems.

DEHUMIDIFICATION OF YOUR GROW ROOM

A marijuana plant that grows within a hot and dry room will have much more narrow leaves than one grown within a more humid environment because the level of evaporation is accelerated in the dry room. Humid environments cause the evaporation process to be slowed leaving the plant with wider leaves to try and achieve the same evaporation results. Broad leaves will produce much less of the resin than their narrow counterparts even with a fuller appearance, but this will not produce better quality marijuana in the end. The point of the plant creating the highly desired resin is to protect the plants leaves from getting dry, so the more the plant believes it is in peril, the more resin it will produce. Most dehumidifiers are a bit expensive, so this is not always achievable for a hobby grower of marijuana.

WATERING

If you are lucky enough to live on or near a crystal clear alpine stream, you should completely skip this part on water quality. However, for the rest of us, please continue to read.

Most of our water supplies come by means of city pipes where chemicals have been added to our water by others. Typically they add chlorine in differing quantities based on location. The human body has learned to expel this chemical from the body, whereas marijuana plants have yet to learn to do the same. The chlorine within the water will evaporate within 24 hours if left sitting out in a container that is uncovered. This has a dual benefit. First, it allows the water to adjust itself to standard room temperature, avoiding a cold shock to the marijuana plants, and secondly it helps limit or remove the chlorine from the water. If you find out that your water contains excessive amounts of chlorine, you can always purchase anti-chlorine additives or drops from a local fish store or a local pet store. Another important thing to keep in mind when watering is making sure you water very thoroughly. A marijuana plant grown within a 3 gallon (10 L) container can be watered with up to 3 quarts of water at a time. The idea behind this is to ensure that the soil is well moistened from top to bottom and the excess water will just drain away.

If you fail to use enough water or do not water them often enough, the water will fail to penetrate to the lower parts of the soil. This causes roots to turn and grow up to reach the water, rather than continue to grow downward, stabilizing the plant. The second thing growers will want to keep in mind is the drainage ability of their chosen container. There ought to be several holes at the base and bottom of the container to allow excess water to be expelled from the container. If your container is unable to drain properly, it will develop water pockets within the soil that will rot your roots from your plant or cause the soil to grow mildew. As mentioned earlier in the guide, water must be allowed to flow-freely through the soil to help prevent it from becoming packed or hard. If you made sure your soil had both Perlite and sand, then your drainage should be more than adequate for a thorough watering. Feeling the soil is the most trusted way to see if your plant needs watering. If it feels moist, wait one or two days before watering. Your plant can tolerate going a day without water much better than it can tolerate being submerged into too much water, so make sure you watch your plant carefully when watering so as not to overwater.

MARIJUANA BUGS AND PESTS

Avoiding bugs is the ideal situation for all marijuana growers, but this is not always easy. Once you get one plant infested with bugs, your entire crop will typically end up with the same infestation. Using sterilized soil along with sterilized containers is your first line of defense from bugs, and keeping all of your plants in one location is another. If you bring in new plants from another location, you can potentially contaminate your entire crop unknowingly. Keeping pets away from a growing room is another way to lessen your chances of getting bugs in your plants because of the potential transfer from animal fur. Always keeping an eye out for spots, insects, browning leaves, droopy branches and holes in the leaves will help you stay ahead of an infestation. If despite your best efforts you find bugs, then using a non-toxic insecticide on the marijuana plant is going to become necessary. After all, you do not want to ingest potentially lethal insecticides when enjoying the smoke from your harvest!

Spider mites typically cause quite a bit of damage to marijuana plants if they gain access to them. Since spider mites are nearly microscopic, they become extremely difficult to spot. They leave a substance behind that resembles a web that clings to leaves as well as tiny spots across the leaves, which will likely be your first clue. Since these mites drain the enzymes from plant leaves, they will lose much of their glossiness and may even lose some of their green coloring. Occasionally the leaves will look as though they have a fungus coating them. Spider mite eggs resemble small black dots, which will require the use of a magnifier of some sort and a scrutinizing eye to detect. When inspecting your plants, make sure you examine the bottom of each leaf as well. To kill spider mites chewing on your marijuana plants, "Fruit and Berry" spray by Ilers is a very effective insecticide to use. "Ortho" also manufactures several insecticides which can kill spider mites, but the ingredients are lethal to all living creatures, not just the bugs they are intending to kill. The insecticide detoxifies itself in approximately ten days, then you will be able to safely smoke from your crop about two weeks after spraying.

Most insecticides only work on adult mites, and require you to spray at four day intervals for roughly two weeks, ensuring all of the adult mites are dead. During this time you will want to keep your eye on your plants, as just one mature adult mite can re-infest your marijuana plant and potentially your entire crop. If you happen to notice small bugs zipping around your marijuana plants, you are likely looking at white flies. Adult white flies are completely immune to nearly all insecticides except for "Fruit and Berry". While this will not destroy the eggs or the larva, it will kill the adults. Unfortunately the larval form of the white fly causes the most harm. They also suck the enzymes out of your plant, and if left unchecked, will quickly kill your plants. You will need to set up a regular spraying schedule with this just as you would have with the spider mites. If you want an organic alternative, then you can try soap suds. Ivory soap flakes dissolved in lukewarm water, agitated to create suds that can go all over the entire plant is going to be the most advantageous approach. You will want to ensure to wash off the soap suds before harvest, however, or you will taste the results when the harvest is smoked.

PRUNING

In regards to marijuana plants, pruning is only occasionally necessary. Considering the main reasons that anyone chooses to prune is to promote secondary leaf growth and give immature leaves access to light, some marijuana strands that naturally will grow thicker and bushier than other varieties will never need to be pruned. In fact, those strands if not pruned will allow for the sap to flow uninterrupted all the way up the plant, where it produces flowers that are covered with resin. If the marijuana plant seems spindly or tall for its age (3 weeks), it may be a good idea to do a little trimming. Once your plant is three weeks old, it should have a minimum of two pairs of branches or a total of four leaf clusters. To prune your marijuana plants, use a razor blade to cut the top of the plant off roughly where two of the branches are facing the opposite direction of each other. If you wish, you can take the top that you just removed and set it in a little water until some roots appear at which time you can replant it. If you plan to do this, you are going to want to cut the bottom on a diagonal to uncover more plant surface, exposing it to the water or the chosen rooting solution. Whenever you cut the top off of a marijuana plant, the plant will regrow two new top branches from the bottom of remaining branches. Plus, pruning will also encourage the lower branches to grow quicker.

DRYING AND CURING

Now that you have successfully grown your own marijuana plant, there is really only one step left: to dry and cure it. You want to make sure that you cure it properly to provide a clean, smooth smoke. We are aware of different systems of curing marijuana that provide a mild, mellow flavor instead of a harsh, choking smoke. First, you will want to pull your marijuana plants up by their roots, hanging each plant upside down. This should be done for 24-48 hours. Next you will want to put each plant into a paper bag and leave it unsealed for three to four days, until the foliage is dry to your touch. After that, you will want to strip the resin-coated leaves from the stem, placing them within glass jars-preferably jars with lids. Take care not to pack your leaves in too tightly as you want to allow air to be able to reach each of the leaves. One of the largest dangers during the curing procedure is mold. Leaves that are moist when placed in the jar will generate mold, and with mold destroying resins, it will also ruin the marijuana crop. Check your jars daily by checking the scent of them. If you detect a pungent aroma, remove the marijuana from the jar, loosely spreading it across newspaper to dry quickly. Another method is to uproot each marijuana plant and hang it upside down, taking burlap bags which are damp from water, slipping them up and over your marijuana plant. Try to keep each bag damp while leaving them exposed to sunlight for a minimum of one week. Then place the plants inside of paper bags for three to four days until it is dried out enough to roll. Similar to fine wines and cigars, marijuana mellows with age. You will find the benefit of the aging process to be that it removes that home-grown chlorophyll taste that will rattle your teeth and make you think your fillings have dissolved.

WHAT EXACTLY IS HYDROPONICS?

Well the definition of hydroponics is literally "working water". All it boils down to is growing plants without soil or any kind of dirt. There are a total of six types of hydroponic growing systems with a few hundred variations on these basic systems.

IS GROWING HYDROPONICALLY NEW?

It was a new form of technology when Egyptian Pharaohs used it to grow their produce. If you look at history, one of the amazing "Seven Wonders of the World" includes the Hanging Gardens. This was the first known hydroponic garden. This proves that hydroponic growing is not a new thing, just something most people are not familiar with.

IS HYDROPONICS UNNATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL?

We all know that marijuana growth is happening naturally all around the world. Each of these plants requires a few natural ingredients for optimal growth. All hydroponics is doing is giving your marijuana plants everything they need, exactly when they need it. The nutrient solution does not mutate the plant or cause it to fill up with mysterious chemicals, it just helps them grow quicker and stronger!

DOES HYDROPONICS HARM THE ENVIRONMENT?

If you are looking for an "Earth-friendly" approach to growing, hydroponics is the best approach there is. Marijuana plants grown hydroponically lose 70-90% less water over soil-grown plants, and they do not lose any fertilizer to run-off from rain. That alone can show just how friendly hydroponics is to Mother Nature.

CAN NOVICE GROWERS USE HYDROPONICS?

A hydroponic system can be totally sophisticated or incredibly simple. Disney World has an exhibit called "The Land" that is incredibly high-tech. The hydroponics of this exhibit control each aspect of the plant's life, from when to plant to harvesting. (We suggest you look it up if you have not seen it!) Even though Disney has shown the sophistication of high-end hydroponics, just keep in mind that it can also be a simple system that can be set up by almost anyone.

IS HYDROPONICS GROWING EXPENSIVE?

The beauty of hydroponics is that the system can be as expensive or inexpensive as you make it. Each system has simple materials or more elaborate materials, allowing you to choose which best suits your budget. You can even go out and create your own grow system based off of a hydroponic model!

HOW WIDESPREAD ARE HYDROPONIC SYSTEMS?

You can find hydroponic systems used world-wide for many different reasons. Hydroponics works really well when climates can limit the growth of different plants, where the soil cannot support crops due to poor nutrition or countries that no longer have fertile soil from abuse or neglect. British Columbia is a prime example because 90% of their greenhouse industry has turned to hydroponics.

IS THERE ANY WAY TO USE HYDROPONICS OUTDOORS?

Yes! Hydroponic systems can be used both indoors and outdoors. The only real reason that hydroponics work so well indoors is because the grower is in control of what Mother Nature would normally control outside. You can control the light, heat and evaporation, making the system work well for these plants. Plus, if you need to replace sunlight, it can be quite expensive!

ARE PESTICIDES STILL REQUIRED IN HYDROPONICS?

Unfortunately, yes, some pesticides are still required, but the benefit of hydroponic systems is that you can sustain healthy marijuana plants on an organic form of pesticide. This allows you to go with products that do no damage to the environment and still have healthy plants! Double bonus!!

CAN I GROW HUMONGOUS MARIJUANA PLANTS FROM HYDROPONICS?

While hydroponically grown marijuana plants have superior yields, it really depends on which variety of seed (or clone) you used. Each plant has a genetic predisposition to grow to a certain size no matter what method of growth is used. This means that no matter which growing medium you choose, there is only so big your plant will ever get. Now, you will end up with healthy plants that live up to their potential more often than not when using hydroponics. This does not often happen when using soil because each soil has a different makeup that has variables that no one can account for 100% of the time. When using hydroponics, these variables can be controlled much more easily, leaving you the freedom of knowing your plants are getting the proper nutrition they need, unlike you would have with soil.

ISN'T HYDROPONIC GROWING MORE OFTEN USED FOR ILLEGAL GROWING?

Law enforcement officials want us all to believe that most growers of illegal substances are the only ones using hydroponics, but this is simply not true. When comparing total percentages, hydroponic growth is used for illegal activity as often as a Ford is used by a bank robber trying to flee the scene of the crime. The majority of legitimate hydroponic operations just do not end up making the 6:00 news each night. Yes, you will notice that many marijuana plant growers use hydroponics but it is because of the same reasoning traditional hydroponic growers use the system: a better quality crop!

After your marijuana plants have sprouted, they will begin growing vegetation. This will help your marijuana plants grow really tall through photosynthesis, allowing a lot of tip growth to occur above each set of marijuana leaves. Grow tips are the portion of the marijuana plant that can be cut off for clones, or asexual reproduction. Each major internode on the top of the marijuana plant will have a grow tip. Pruning the marijuana plant in a process known as "topping" will give your plants additional grow tips, growing two at each internode instead of one. However, you should know that the recovery time that your plants will require after this type of pruning will make it more worthwhile to grow smaller plants that do not need "topping".

The other option is to grow two plants in the same space and "train" them to fill the entire location. After germination, marijuana plants grow incredibly quickly during the vegetative stage, but giving your plants the ability to bypass any dark period will help them grow even quicker. You can indefinitely grow a vegetating marijuana plant, allowing you to decide when you want to make your marijuana plants flower.

Marijuana plants can be anywhere between 1 and 12 feet (30 cm and 3.6 m) when you begin flowering, which gives growers a lot of wiggle room when deciding how to fill their growing space. A 20/20/20 fertilizer solution that contains trace minerals works with both soil-based and hydroponic gardens that stay under constant lights. If you want a plant food, we recommend Formula Flora or the patio formula of Miracle Gro. Extra phosphorus (P) is recommended when you flip your light cycle to 12 hours for starting the flowering process. We also recommend using a tablespoon of Epsom salts within your nutrient solution for the added magnesium (Mg) and Sulfur (S) you need. If your plant food does not have trace minerals, you need to include them as well. That is why we recommend the plant foods we do, as all of these are contained within one place. Sprouts require 24 hours of light. If you choose to have slightly less light, you can use a timer, but do not go below 18 hours of light each day. You also need to bend the stems of young marijuana plants back and forth to help them be strong, allowing them to hold up heavy flower growth. Make sure you also circulate the air around your marijuana plants regularly because it reduces hazards that evaporate off of the plants and makes the stems stronger.

HYDROPONIC SOLUTION FOR VEGETATION (PER GALLON [3.5 LITER])

• Epsom Salts- ½ teaspoon
• Oxygen Plus formula Plant Food-1 teaspoon (this is optional)
• Urine from Humans- ¼ cup (this is optional and may create indoor odors)
• Patio formula of Miracle Gro-1 teaspoon (contains trace elements)

This particular combination ensures that your marijuana plants get each nutrient they need, a solid source of potassium (K) nitrate for a better burn and it gives your plants increased oxygen around the roots. A secondary option includes mixing ¼ tablespoon of your 20/20/20 plant fertilizer into a gallon (3.5 L) of water, along with the necessary trace elements, oxygen and a fish emulsion solution. If you are able to keep your marijuana plants outdoors or in a greenhouse where the smell of a solution is not going to cause an issue, then this is the perfect solution for you. If smells can be a problem, then this solution is not recommended.

The basic system we are discussing is based on commercial use for growing marijuana plants. The intent is only for a mono-cultural style of cultivation, and would not work with a mixed garden. The design recirculates the nutrient solution, so if you plan on using a total-loss system, you must find a bigger tank and make adjustments for run-off. There will be differences between the recirculation method and the total-loss method.

We highly recommend this system for larger marijuana gardens as a basic hydroponic system that uses rockwool in combination with these provisions:

• You will need upper level support for the vines of your marijuana plants for this system.
• This system is designed for using aqua trays placed within steel channels. The trays are 4.3' (130 cm) long and each contains a single slab. Each crop will determine plant spacing, but typical range is 2-6 plants on each slab.
• Steel channeling is what we recommend most for holding the aqua trays. You can use whatever you find at your local sheet metal workshop. You will need the lightest gauge they carry and you will need it galvanized. You will also need plastic sheeting to protect the nutrient solution from the metal. You will also need a bit more to collect the run-off from the end of your channels to return your nutrient solution to the tank.

LAYOUT

• The way your system is set up will tell you where your tank needs to go. It has to be lower than the ends of your channeling and placed near the end of a hose or a spigot.
• You will want at least 2L of nutrient solution for each marijuana plant within your system. If you have room for more volume, that is preferable.
• You want each dripper to flow at the same rate whenever possible. A stopwatch and a jug should help you get this timing down. Big systems may not have equal pressure among all plants, leaving some under-nourished, so you will need PVC piping to connect your joints to equalize the pressure within your system. Each dripper needs to be able to get the right amount of solution to each plant when you feed. If you need an extra pipe, just make sure you cap off the end to avoid spilling.
• Between your pump and drippers, you will need a pump to remove impurities and avoid any blockages. Check it often to keep it clean.
• Don't forget to include a bypass between your tank and your pump. It is required to help control the supply that goes to your drippers and to ensure your pump is running freely and adding in the most oxygen possible to your nutrient solution. Adjust the gate valve located on your bypass to control your water supply as necessary.

We know this system is incredibly simple, but you do need to keep a few things in mind. You want the largest tank you can practically have in your location. This is to lessen the effects of any pH or conductivity changes within your nutrient solution. This will also allow you to get a lot of oxygen within your solution, helping your plants grow even better. The extra pumping that a large tank can offer will help with all of these issues.

SUMMARY OF COMMON HYDROPONIC SYSTEMS

POT CULTURE

ADVANTAGES

• Inexpensive set up
• Simple design
• Adaptable for nearly any plant you would want to grow
• Plants remain mobile to help optimize plant spacing
• Plants are not vulnerable to power outages or failures of pumps

DISADVANTAGES

• Often requires you to water by hand
• Requires a lot of washing of pots and Perlite
• Labor intensive

NFT (NUTRIENT FILM TECHNIQUE)

ADVANTAGES

• Wonderful performance
• Can usually be completely automated
• High yields from plants
• Little or no waste

DISADVANTAGES

• Setup costs more than Pot Culture does
• System works the best with just one crop within each system
• Plants are quite vulnerable to a pump failure or a power outage
• Requires users to have some basic mechanical knowledge

ROCKWOOL (SLAB CULTURE)

ADVANTAGES

• Excellent performance
• Can typically be automated
• Less vulnerable to a power outage than an NFT system

DISADVANTAGES

• Setup of the system can be difficult
• Plant mobility is greatly reduced

This overview was intentionally brief so that you could get the basic ideas of how hydroponic systems work. You will need to decide which to use based on which crop you intend to grow and how much money you can invest into the system. We recommend you read up more on each system before making a decision or spending money. The many books on each topic are a good idea to consult.

Over the last several years, hydroponic systems have come a long way. It is not some big secret technique or lost mystery. Instead it is a reliable and relatively simple way to grow marijuana plants. It is far easier and a more consistent method than growing in soil. It only requires the mastering of a handful of basic principles employed through a step-by-step basis. The foundation of all hydroponics is the nutrient solution. It is the key to your growing success and it is the most important thing for any grower to grasp. To put it simply, the nutrient solution is what you water your marijuana plants with. Any marijuana nutrient solution must be created in the correct proportions as well as contain all of the essential mineral elements required for healthy marijuana plant growth. There is not a single thing that can be left out-even something as simple as micro-nutrients such as molybdenum {Mb}, which is required in your solution in a ratio of less than one part per million {ppm}. Fortunately for you, now-a-days, there are a large number of nutrient solutions available and all you have to do is choose the product that suits your required needs the best. We highly recommend Formula Flora as a marijuana fertilizer.

HYDROPONIC NUTRIENT SOLUTIONS

The mineral salts used in a nutrient formulation react with one another in concentration, which is why most nutrient solutions are commonly formulated in an A, B & C pack. These packs are only mixed together in a working solution. By keeping specific salts separated from one another, it allows the chemist to have limited or no restrictions and supplies his plants with exactly what they need. Most professional cannabis growers will use separate A, B & C tanks, which has allowed home growers to maintain their own version of professional standards.

HYDROPONIC SYSTEMS

Hydroponic systems are divided into two very distinct types: active and passive systems.

ACTIVE SYSTEMS

Active hydroponic systems use a pump to supply the solution to the various marijuana plants on timed intervals. The solution is typically recirculated throughout the system and the plants, which is the biggest difference between the management of systems. Active hydroponic systems are divided into three different types: Rockwool, Flood and Drain and NFT. All three systems have been proven and each has their own unique advantages in certain situations. It is up to each individual cannabis grower to determine which system best meets his or her purposes. All of the major techniques are going to be examined within this guide with the sole intention of assisting growers in determining which will suit them best.

The three main types of hydroponic growth systems are adaptable for a hobby grower. Each has advantages and disadvantages, and can only be decided upon by each individual grower. This is simply an overview of what these systems consist of to allow the grower to decide which system to use. You can recirculate nutrient solutions or use it once, throwing out what is left. It is totally up to you. You must decide which you plan to use before beginning to create your system. If you are choosing to recirculate your nutrient solution, your solution will collect in a tank for reuse later. On the other hand, total loss systems allow the excess to simply turn into waste. Smaller marijuana growers often choose a recirculating system because a total loss system is much harder to scale down to size. Total loss systems are recommended for greenhouses and outdoor operations. We will evaluate recirculating systems because that is what most small marijuana growers will choose.

FLOOD AND DRAIN [EBB AND FLOW]

Flood and drain systems are designed to handle marijuana plants set up in individual units. Management is efficient and easy, but requires work when initially setting this system up. Flood and drain systems are based off of a table with relatively short sides that only hold a limited amount of nutrient solution. Your nutrient solution should get pumped to this table regularly, allowing it to drain as fast as it can. Your marijuana plants will stand on this table allowing the growth medium to soak up this nutrient solution, similarly to pot culture. Your nutrient solution will be soaked up from the bottom pushing the roots to grow down, stabilizing the plant and removing stale air from around the roots. As the plant releases the excess nutrient solution it will pull oxygen-rich air down towards the roots from the top of the plant from a form of suction that this process creates. The interaction of air and moisture around the roots makes this system very effective. The only difficult part to this setup is getting the plumbing right, to where your nutrient solution can once again be pumped in at a later time. Not all pumps allow this to happen, which can make setup more difficult.

One thing to keep in mind is the table needs to be totally level, allowing each pot to absorb equal amounts of the nutrient rich solution. There are tables designed for this purpose on the market, such as the Future Garden and Nutriculture Flood and Drain Tables. Clay pebbles are undoubtedly the best sort of medium for this type of system. The overflow pipe must be set to a level that is half the depth of the pots, allowing each pot to be flooded to that depth with each feeding. You should be sure to control your floods with a timer or automated release valve. In order to set your timer you will have to water your pots to know when the nutrient solution is flowing back out of the pots. It may take several feedings in order to properly time this process and may require future adjustments as your plants continue to thrive and grow. The timer should activate the pump for the appropriate allotted interval at a minimum of four times a day, and potentially twice during each hour during the hottest months of the year.

IMPORTANT POINTS TO REMEMBER WITH FLOOD AND DRAIN

The table you buy or create must be incredibly strong. You must calculate the weight of your pots, your marijuana plants and the volume of water to ensure your table is strong enough to support all of the weight. Here is a simple equation to help:

Length x Weight x Max Depth {inches} = volume in gallons = weight in pounds {0.25 gallons of water = 2 pounds

The difficult part about this system is covering the table before the pots go onto it to prevent algae growth. Ideally, simple white or black plastic can be pulled across the table top before the pots go on. Then all you have to do is cut a small hole for each pot. The effects of this system can improve if you take the time to aerate and warm your solution before you give it to your marijuana plants. An aquarium heater is typically enough to maintain the proper temperature for your medium solution, 65-72 °F (18-22 °C). If you use an aquarium air stone, you will also have the proper oxygen to improve your results. If you would like to improve your oxygen further, Oxy can also be added to your tank. The flood and drain system can also include rockwool cubes, and is also recommended when handling large quantities of marijuana plants. If you plan to use this, however, your guidelines will change because of the high fluid retention levels. First, you will only need to flood your pots to just touch the bottom of the cubes. This will change even the way a table is designed, placing an overflow pipe much lower than on standard tables. The timer will also need to be set for shorter periods of time. You will want your rockwool cubes placed on something to keep them up off of the table, allowing excess moisture to efficiently drain after each flooding. It is crucial when using rockwool cubes that plants receive the same exact amount of your nutrient solution.

NUTRIENT FILM TECHNIQUE [NFT]

This system is often called NFT and allows marijuana growers to grow their plants in shallow plastic gullies filled with streams of flowing nutrient solution. This system is amazing and is widely accepted when growing large plants such as marijuana plants. It can be adapted for smaller plants, but it is not recommended to downsize when growing larger plants such as marijuana. If you plan on using this system for commercial marijuana growth, we suggest you reference "The ABC's of NFT" by Alan Cooper. Initially NFT designers must decide what type of channeling to use. Any piping should be fine, so long as it is lined with or coated with plastic. Ideally, for larger plants such as marijuana plants, your gullies should be up to 8" (20 cm) in width. If you place a strip of plastic film within the gully and around the marijuana plants, it will act as not only a liner but also a cover to prevent light from reaching the growing channels. This basic setup for an NFT system shows how inexpensive and easy this system really can be.

Once each of your marijuana plants are in the channel, you should pour your nutrient solution into the top of the channel, allowing the solution to flow downstream where it can be collected in the tank. Even with the simplicity of this system certain things must be taken into account before you begin. First, you want your tank as large as you can possibly and practical get it. The reason for this is the pH and conductivity of your nutrient solution will constantly fluctuate, and the bigger the tank the less your plants will feel the negative effects. It also decreases how often you need to check your solution. For large, commercialized marijuana crops you should have at least one half gallon (2 L) of volume in your tank for each marijuana plant you have within your system. Smaller marijuana growers should increase their volume to 0.8 to 1.5 gallons (3-5 L) for each plant in their system. In other words, the bigger the tank you can get, the better. You will still need to make sure your nutrient solution is properly oxygenated, but this should be an easy goal to achieve. Normally the second valve is always open which allows the marijuana plants to come in contact with a constant supply of the nutrient and the first value is closed enough to control the flow of water. As the solution returns to the tank, that process should be enough to easily oxygenate it.

The plumbing for this system allows it to easily adjust for other systems like rockwool. If you need to make any adjustments to the nutrient solution, you can easily close the secondary valve, stopping the flow of water to the plants. During the adjustments open the first valve fully to increase agitation, allowing adjustments to almost instantly take place. Just make sure there is not more water in your system than what you tank is able to hold because if you somehow lose power, your entire system can flood. Your nutrient solution should flow down the gullies at a rate of one quarter to one half gallon (1-2 liters) each minute. You can use an empty plastic drink bottle to measure how long it takes to fill, in order to adjust your water flow. Remember this will need to be adjusted through your first valve while your second valve stays open. We recommend you run the NFT system for one to two days before adding plants in the gullies to make sure nothing leaks.

NFT SYSTEM MANAGEMENT

Very quickly after your system starts functioning you will notice root mats within the nutrient channel. This allows bare roots to come in contact with the nutrient solution directly, making this the biggest asset and biggest downfall of the NFT system. You will find incredible growth and unparalleled marijuana plant performance, assuming your nutrient solution can meet these requirements:

CORRECTLY FORMULATED FOR NFT

In regards to nutrient solution, NFT is considered the most demanding form of hydroponics. With no medium in place to work as a buffer, the solution demands a near-perfect balance with all elements required for good plant growth. It is recommended that growers insist on a dual-pack, liquid formulation like Optimum or Power Grow, which is specifically formulated for NFT systems. Making sure that you select a solution that is fully chelated of trace elements, is one of the most important things for an NFT system.

CORRECT PH AND CONDUCTIVITY

Once more, pH and conductivity are far more important to an NFT system over a passive system. Your pH level should be maintained at 6 and requires checking and adjustments on a daily basis. Your conductivity needs may vary during various stages of the crop. If you are looking for a solid starting point, you want to be around 2 milliSiemens, which is typically full strength for various products, such as Formula Flora and Power Grow. Be advised that you may need to increase this with your crop when the plants are producing buds. Your nutrient solution needs to be constantly agitated. This will ensure maximum aeration as well as temperature when heated with an aquarium heater to 65-72 °F (18-22 °C)

ROCKWOOL SYSTEMS

Once your marijuana plants are in the SBS cubes, you need to treat them in several different ways. If you wish to continue growing in rockwool, the next step would be to transplant your marijuana plants into larger 3" (7.5 cm) cubes. You will want to soak the wrapped cubes in a fairly weak, slightly acidic solution such as Formulex. This will ensure that cubes are properly wetted. Carefully remove smaller cubes from your SBS trays and place them in holes at the top of the wrapped cubes. Keep in mind that it is important to label your plants clearly. You will want to place the plants in a warm, sunny place to grow. Be sure to check the moisture daily, and provide your plants with a sprinkle of your nutrient solution as needed. Check the bottom of the larger cubes regularly and once you notice new roots, it is time to consider planting them once more. Now that your marijuana plants are further along and a good bit bigger, you may want to consider selling or discarding your smaller, less desirable specimens before continuing the process. Same as before, you have the option on how to plant your marijuana plants. You can use a garden or pots of soil, but the best way to grow them is with rockwool.

CULTURE SLABS

Rockwool culture slabs are available in a great variety of shapes and are well suited for commercial growers. Ideally a home grower will use a 3" (90 cm) or 4' (120 cm) slab. These culture slabs will be wrapped in plastic, which will provide superior performance. By no means should this plastic ever be removed. Make sure to place your culture slab on a thoroughly cleaned surface. Ideally, this would be its final location as well, because once everything is planted, it will become impossible for it to be moved. Special attention should be paid to your drainage. You can easily achieve this by placing a small board under the rockwool culture, forming a slope from end to end. The easiest way to handle slabs is to use the Aqua tray, which will hold the slab firmly and also has drainage holes built in. Carefully place your culture slab into an Aqua tray. At this point you want to mark out the locations of your marijuana plants. Once you have traced an outline of the cubes on the desired locations, take a sharp knife and gently cut an X within the square. Do this to all of your marijuana locations drawn on the slab. Mix up a minimum of 2.5 gallons (10 L) of your nutrient solution and pour this slowly into one of the openings on the top of the slab.

Continue this process until the slab is full. Note that the side will bulge out, making it abundantly obvious that the slab is full. It is recommended that you let the slab sit overnight, but you can plant in as little as one hour. Before you plant, lift the lower end of the slab from the tray and use a sharp knife to make several small puncture holes within the plastic, to allow excess solution to drain. The best way to supply nutrients to your slab is through a dripper system, which growers should activate at least twice a day and should be left to run until excess solution is flowing out of the slab. You can also use a watering can to water your slab on a regular basis if you so choose. If you decide to use a watering can, the same rule of thumb applies: watering it until excess water begins to flow from the slab.

PASSIVE SYSTEMS

A passive hydroponic system will supply the nutrient solution to the marijuana plant periodically and gets distributed by hand. It is also allowed to sit in some sort of reservoir and can be used by the marijuana plants as they need it. Pot culture, which will be fully explained below, is the simplest of all passive systems. These systems are not favored by commercial-grade marijuana growers due to the increased difficulty of properly watering a large number of marijuana plants. However, these systems have much to offer smaller marijuana growers in regards to greater results through simple pot culture. There are fewer things that could potentially go wrong with a passive system, and it also requires a lower financial cost than active systems.

POT CULTURE

Pot Culture is referred to as the safest and easiest way to grow using hydroponics. It is a true passive system. This means it is ideal for beginners yet still favored by seasoned marijuana growers due to the remarkable results that can be obtained if the system is set up and used properly. It is very favorable for all species of marijuana plants and virtually all growing situations. It is fairly cheap to set up and extremely difficult to fault as an effective, well-versed growing system.

THEORY OF POT CULTURE

Due to the basic principle of capillarity, pot culture is remarkably simple. In essence, it is just filling a pot with a proven medium and using a reservoir to supply the nutrient solution to the marijuana plant. The medium will bring your nutrient solution up into the plant by capillary action, and will maintain a favorably moist environment around the roots of the marijuana plant at all times. While the plant's medium will always be damp, it is going to retain a lot of air spaces near the roots. These high levels of air in combination with constant moisture and free flowing nutrients create the perfect zone for self-optimized marijuana plant growth. This and this alone is what makes pot culture work as well as it does.

THE POT OR CONTAINER

The first choice a grower must make is which pot and saucer to use. Growers should always use plastic pots. If you choose to use artificial light, white pots are preferable due to how well they can reflect the light back to the marijuana plants. Large marijuana plants will grow best in a pot around 4 gallons (15 liters), but smaller plants will only require a pot about half that size. The reservoir under the pot should be deep enough to hold the necessary water for the marijuana plant. The Hydro pot is great for large marijuana plants, and is found at most hydroponic suppliers. The pot has a 3.5 gallon (13 L) limit, plus comes in a bright reflective shade of white and comes with its own saucer. This Hydro pot is ideal for large marijuana plants. If you would like more information regarding how pot culture works check out the Simple Steps to Successful Pot Culture that is a bit further along in this guide. Most garden centers have multiple choices available for medium sized plants; just do not forget the saucer, as it is a key component to this particular method of growth.

GROWING MEDIUM

Once you have chosen your pot the next choice is growing medium. The purpose of the growing medium is to hold air around the roots, keep the medium moist and hold the plants root system in place. If your medium performs all of these tasks effectively, your hydroponic growth system will produce successful results. This shows why the right growing medium is so incredibly important. The three main options for pot culture as far as growing medium will be chosen by each individual grower by the variety of marijuana plant, the cost and local availability of each of the supplies.

PERLITE [PEARLITE]

This medium is, simply put, just awesome! It is incredibility effective, extremely light weight and cheap. Through the process of exfoliation, volcanic rock is processed through a furnace and becomes Perlite. The capillarity of Perlite is exceptional, thus making it highly recommended for use as a marijuana plant growing medium. The process of lifting moisture from your water reserves to keep your growing medium moist is capillarity. Occasionally Perlite will attract algae, which will make the Perlite look green, but it is no cause for concern. If it starts to look unsightly you can sprinkle dry Perlite on top to cover it. Perlite is available in quantities up to 25 gallons (100 L).

GREEN MIX

This medium, developed in Denmark, is specially blended from various types of rockwool to give growers the best combination of air to moisture within their pots. That is what makes this growing medium stand apart from its competition today and will for years to come. It holds exponentially more water than its competition without losing its air to water ratio. This growth medium may not be as viable as its current competition when it is compare simply by cost. Check out your local nurseries to find out which ones carry Green Mix.

EXPANDED CLAY [CLAY PEBBLES]

Clay pebbles are specifically made for planting. They are sterile, reusable indefinitely and light weight. Clay pebbles are perfect for nearly anything grown in small containers, especially marijuana plants.

SIMPLE STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL POT CULTURE

Assuming you currently have marijuana to be transplanted, you can delve into pot culture with your seedlings or cuttings.

POT CULTURE [PERLITE]

You must make sure the holes within the bottom of your pot are small enough to where Perlite will not wash out. If the holes are too large, something as simple as duct tape can be used to shrink the holes but not cover. You will still need small holes in the pot to get the nutrient solution to the roots. Once Perlite is in the pot, make sure it is thoroughly damp with water from a watering can or your personal hose. Once your Perlite is wet, you will no longer have to worry about Perlite's dust [warning below]. Use your hand to make a hole in the middle in the pot for your seedling or cutting. Add more Perlite if needed to firmly pat down your marijuana plant, similarly to how you would plant with soil. Make sure to water until the saucer below the pot is full, topping off as necessary. With young marijuana plants, they will typically only need water every three to four days, but as they grow the watering could become as often as daily. Between watering's, allow the saucer to become completely absorbed by the plant without allowing the saucer to become bone dry. We recommend you flush your marijuana pots with clear water until the water comes out of the bottom of your pot, about once a month, removing loose sediment and salt deposits.

WARNING!

Perlite contains a lot of dust and should only be handled outside. Take special care to ensure you to do not inhale any of the dust, as it is hazardous to your health. Green Mix is also a known skin irritant and should only be handled with gloves.

MAINTENANCE OF MARIJUANA PLANTS IN POT CULTURE

Maintenance of marijuana plants when using pot culture is incredibly easy. The only tools you really need are a drum filled with nutrient solution and a large watering can; simple huh? Marijuana plants should be watered every two or three days. Your saucer should become dry but not completely dry out between waterings. Ideally, you will want to water just as the saucer becomes empty, allowing for maximum air around the roots. If you would like to automate your hydroponic system, you can formulate drippers which can lead to each pot that you have, and pump the nutrient solution in on a timer. We typically do not recommend this because each plant requires different nutrient amounts. Greenhouses can be the one exception to the rule, but regular home growers should think of pot culture as a hand watering system. Marijuana plants require nutrients to be fed to them containing a CF value of 2mS {20 CF} along with a pH level of 6. You will want to check your reservoir solution weekly, although the values should remain stable throughout your growing season. If you notice the conductivity increasing in your solution, use clear plain water for a few days until your saucers show a decrease in conductivity levels. The best way to check the conductivity levels in your saucers is by using the Conductivity Truncheon. If the levels get too high, you may have to flush your entire crop to lower the levels. Several gallons (liters) of water may be required to remove the excess salt buildup.

POT CULTURE [GREEN MIX]

Green Mix blends multiple fibers within the medium to both repel and absorb water at the same time. This allows the soil to hold moisture incredibly well yet still remain aerated around the roots. Lignite and clay are also added to allow a neutral pH to be easily maintained. At that point, the grower simply needs to use a high quality nutrient solution when watering their marijuana plants. This is part of what makes Green Mix so nice to use. It is very similar to how you would grow marijuana plants in soil. If you would like to transplant new marijuana plants into Green Mix, here's how. Find a suitable pot and fill it half way with Green Mix. Use the same size and depth recommendations as previously mentioned. Use your nutrient solution to water the Green Mix until thoroughly wet. Gently place your marijuana seedling into the pot, adding additional Green Mix if necessary until your plant is fully supported. Water the plant again with the same nutrient solution until it runs through the pot and drains from the bottom. Now place your pot within the saucer, making sure that the saucer has nutrient solution. You will want to add more nutrient solution to the saucer instead of the pot when watering the Green Mix solution. This is because of its extraordinary capillarity. Green Mix fed marijuana plants will drink larger quantities of the nutrient solutions than marijuana plants using other growing mediums. The saucer should be near empty when you water it again.

RECYCLING THE GROWING MEDIUM

Perlite should be flushed thoroughly between each set of crops, making sure to remove all old roots. Some growers may opt to use a simple diluted bleach solution to further assist in sterilizing the Perlite, although this will require an additional flushing to ensure the bleach does not taint the upcoming crop. If you chose to not reuse your Perlite, mix it into your personal garden. In order to use clay pebbles indefinitely you must gently bleach them in between crops, flushing them thoroughly to remove any and all traces of bleach. We do not recommend that you reuse Green Mix. Instead, add it to your potting soil or garden bed and enjoy the wonderful results that this additive will give you.

There is a consensus among marijuana plant growers that hydroponically grown cannabis plants grow at a much faster rate than soil, if all other conditions are the same within the environment. This is presumably due to the controlled nutrient solution feeding the plant is given and increased oxygen available to the plants. There are even reports out there stating that cannabis plants that were started in prepared soil were ready for harvest later than their hydroponic counterparts that were started a full two weeks after the soil plants. This quick growth method gives more harvests because each crop needs less time to mature. Soil-grown marijuana plants also typically end up slowing down once their roots become bound. Using hydroponics will give the grower even and quick growth without the hassles that come with soil growing. If you grow with rockwool, your plants will not end up experiencing shock from transplants either. The simplest system to use when working with hydroponics is the system that uses wicks from reservoirs. This is considered a passive method of hydroponics because it has no active water distribution requirements. This means you do not need to concoct a system of pumps, drains, meters for flow and a path for it all to take. This just means your marijuana plants will "wick" up the water they require from the "reservoir".

THE WICK SYSTEM

The wick portion of the system is a bit more complicated than the reservoir portion of the system because you need to cut and place wicks within each pot. This means you need to cut a hole in each and every pot that will hold your marijuana plant, and you need to figure out a way to keep the bottom of your marijuana plants above the liquid that will come into the base of the pot. You can do something as simple as put bricks into the bottom of a kiddie pool for your pots to sit on, or you can use nested buckets in the same way. We recommend the ease of the reservoir system over the wicking system. The setup when starting a wick system is a pain, plus your marijuana plants sit up higher in your growing room. This means that you have less vertical space that you can use. You have to take special care when trying to stabilize the bases of your marijuana plants because if one happens to get knocked over, it will never grow the same because of shock and stress needed to help the plant recover. We recommend using rockwool slabs because a half slab fits perfectly within a litter pan for cats, leaving substantial room for root growth.

Growers will end up with very robust marijuana plants when this is their growing method because of how much oxygen the roots are able to get. If you use a reservoir you will end up with almost the exact same rate of growth as the wick method, but you will not have as much work to do. All you have to do to water and feed your marijuana plants is add some nutrient solution to your reservoir a few times a week. The kitty litter pans can be easily moved and do not take up precious vertical space. Traditionally, hydroponic marijuana pots are full of a lava and vermiculite mix in a ratio of 4:1. You will then add one tablespoon of Dolite Lime for each gallon (3.5 L) of growing medium that you use. These mixtures will then soak up and retain a lot of water for your marijuana plants while still offering incredible drainage and oxygenation for the roots. The only downside is this mixture cannot really be reused because there is no real way to sterilize the mixture. We recommend small pieces of lava, between 3 and 8 inches (7.5 and 20 cm), that have been thoroughly rinsed until the dust is gone. You will need to moisten the vermiculite as it is dangerous when it is dry (always have a mask on) and then mix this into your growing pots.

WATERING

A square pot will hold more than a round pot will. You will notice the vermiculite settling down after continuous watering from above, so make sure this only happens occasionally. Add extra holes into the bottom of each pot so the roots can wick up what they need as they need it. You will want 1.5-3 inches (4-7.5 cm) of water within your reservoir to start, allowing the liquid to evaporate some between each watering. You will have more success using less water and just watering your plants more often because this gives the roots additional water. If you need to go anywhere, you can fill your reservoir completely, allowing your plants to be self-sustaining for 2+ weeks.

GROW MEDIUMS

The floral foam made by Oasis is an exceptional medium for hydroponics. Aerating it with holes will make it perfect for germinating new plants or clones. This will let growers use Rockwool once roots are established. Floral foam will not change your pH, making it ideal to many growers. The expense of floral foam is the only real drawback for most growers. It is not easily reused, but it is definitely quite popular. Rockwool is now beginning to take over in popularity for having many of the same benefits but also being reusable. You cannot overwater Rockwool and you do not need to transplant when you are using this medium. All growers need to do is put the starter cube on top of a bigger growing cube and that's it! Some prefer saving money and using soil, so if you're going that route, we recommend using Perlite.

You can use Perlite with lava or instead of it to avoid the dust rinses that come with lava. Even though Rockwool is a little more expensive, it often takes a grower wasting days transplanting for them to fully appreciate the usefulness of Rockwool. The expense also decreases when you calculate in the savings of having a reusable medium and decreased time from no more transplanting. Rockwool easily holds 10 times the water as soil can, but you never have to worry about overwatering your plants. It is as simple as starting off with a Rockwool cube and then moving that cube to a slab when the plant is too big for the cube. When you break down the cost over 3-5 crops, Rockwool costs the same or less than lava and vermiculite. Vermiculite also brings the danger of using it while dry (or the dust drying on your skin when it is used wet) so Rockwool is our medium of choice for hydroponic growth.

PH LEVEL

The only real downside to using Rockwool is the pH. It is alkaline, so growers must use an acid within the nutrient solution to bring the pH from about 7.7 to about 6.5 for marijuana plant growth. We recommend using vinegar. Rockwool can also slightly irritate skin when it is dry, but this is not a problem when it is moist. If you are going to use Rockwool, you will need to pretreat it by soaking it within fish emulsion combined with a solution of trace minerals and phosphoric acid (to lower pH) for approximately 24 hours, and then rinse the slab off. This will create neutrality within the Rockwool. You should use hydroponics for either greenhouse or indoor growing to help you achieve harvest sooner than other methods. Daily watering while using hydroponics will also help you have increased growth. The primary difference between soil and hydroponics is the medium's ability to hold water yet oxygenate the roots of your marijuana plants and pull only the necessary nutrients from the nutrient solution into the plant, increasing the health of your plants.

NUTRIENT SOLUTIONS

Using hydroponics will make it to where you have many less worries about your marijuana plants, such as oxygen problems or mineral buildup over time. You can use smaller growing containers with hydroponics than you can with soil for equally sized plants. One example is how well a 0.75 gallon (3L) container can be used until harvest for hydroponically grown plants but not with a soil-grown plant. It would cut off the plant's ability to eat and breathe properly, causing root binding. The nutrient solution gives hydroponically grown plants the necessary oxygen even if the plant does become root bound in a smaller container, allowing the plant to grow strong. Each marijuana plant gets its food from the watering of the nutrient solution, giving the grower the ability to give their plants only the nutrients the grower wants to or the plant needs, helping boost each phase of growth from the increase in elements. You can add in a bit of automation for this type of growth as well if you start a drip system. You will end up with faster growing cannabis plants when using hydroponics, giving you an earlier harvest. It does make a lot of sense to use a hydroponic system when you can so that you end up with the most desirable end result possible from your marijuana plants.

CAUTION!

Do not ever let your plants dry out completely with a hydroponic system because this will instantly cause root damage. If you have to be gone for a day (or longer) make sure the reservoirs are filled before you leave. The active methods of hydroponic growth are not mentioned here because we are trying to stick with the simplest methods of growing marijuana plants. If you end up using a pump, make sure to change your nutrient solution monthly, but reservoir systems get to avoid this step. You only have to rinse off your medium monthly to keep salt build up at a minimum. Pure water poured over your plants works perfectly. Changeup which plant foods you use regularly so that your marijuana plants can pull in different nutrients as they need them. Each phase of growth should have at least two types of plant food so you can avoid deficiencies. If your pH is going down too quickly, you will need to change your nutrient solution more often than monthly.

Cationic exchanges between the solution and the marijuana plants usually create an acidic ph within your nutrient solution, starving your plants for nutrients. This is why you must regularly check your pH levels-preferably with every watering. If you notice algae growing over your medium, do not worry. It is quite unsightly but not harmful. If you want to avoid having a green Rockwool slab, you can cover the slab with plastic and just cut out the necessary portions for exposure to grow your marijuana plants. It is a simple process to cut a slab into two halves and then it already has plastic on it to help you out. You can then cut out 2-4 inch (5-10 cm) holes in the plastic on top for your starter cubes and then put the whole ensemble into the litter box, creating an environment perfect for pre-treatment (described above) and then growth! Rocks on the top of growing medium can help you avoid algae if you are not choosing to use Rockwool.

You can realistically use almost any portion of your house, garage or shed to grow indoor marijuana plants. Just remember to keep the most basic of plant needs in mind when setting up your growing location. If you are not sure what your marijuana plant requires, then just imagine looking at your garden in the middle of a sunny, calm day during the summer. This is typically the ideal setup when growing marijuana plants, so you must strive to duplicate this environment when growing marijuana plants. You will need each of the conditions listed under the following headings: Light Source, Proper Temperature, Low Humidity and Atmosphere.

LIGHT SOURCE

All growing locations need the proper light before anything else. Depending on where you grow your marijuana plants, you will either be able to use sunlight or you will have to provide the light to your marijuana plants. When trying to duplicate the light of a summer's day, it will take a lot of light positioning to have the right environment. We are going to help you get the right amounts of light by assuming your growing location is pitch black. Windows or skylights are typically not enough light to affect marijuana plant growth either direction. When you are providing the light to your cannabis plants, you must also take into account the dark hours outside. We recommend you use a light-less growing location and set up all of the lighting yourself, leaving nothing to chance. If you use a greenhouse, the darker portions of the year would be the only time additional lighting would be necessary. Ideal growing locations will offer white walls to reflect the light back at the plants from all directions and plenty of light to help the plants grow quickly.

PROPER TEMPERATURE

You must be able to keep a constant temperature within a growing location for marijuana plants because temperatures that are either too high or too low can kill off your marijuana plants. The ideal range for most marijuana plants is between 68 and 83°F (20 and 28°C), trying to stay as close to the middle as possible. You can use the heat emitted from your lights to help your grow room stay the proper temperature, as long as you can vent off the excess if the room gets too hot. You can easily set up a fan with a thermostat to have this process automated for you. Once your lights are turned off, it is normal to experience a gradual decline in temperature. During the coldest portions of the year, you should expect temperatures to dip significantly below your optimal growth range. This drop has the potentially to negatively effect the productivity and shape of your final marijuana plant. If you can keep a constant temperature during both day and night cycles, that is ideal. Many growers install a propane heater of some sort and attach it to a thermostat, keeping the room between 68 and 86°F (20 and 30°C).

You can then set up your thermostat to work in connection with your lights and the fan to always keep the optimal growth temperature going. You will also notice that your propane heater will significantly increase the carbon dioxide that your marijuana plants receive, helping your cannabis plants grow exponentially larger. The one piece of equipment that you will buy that you cannot live without will end up being your minimum-maximum thermometer. You should be checking it daily and always making sure it is calibrated properly. You will want to keep track of what your lowest and highest temperatures were during each day so that you can continually adjust everything within your grow room so you have the ideal growing environment. If you notice your temperatures are going too high, you will need to adjust the fan and settings for when it turns on. If your temperatures happen to dip too low, then take a look at the settings on your propane heater. Everything within an indoor growing location screams about needing the proper control to duplicate the growing environment these plants require. You can also use a thermo-hygrometer within your growing location to monitor highs, lows, temperature and humidity. This will realistically be your only opportunity to recreate within your home what Mother Nature has provided outside.

LOW HUMIDITY

Humidity is still quite important to serious marijuana growers. If it is not monitored, the humidity can get high enough to damage your room and your crop of marijuana plants. You mainly want to avoid getting grey mold, or Botrytis. The higher the humidity, the more this type of mold will thrive and spread. You never want to forget to monitor the humidity within your growing location, and you should always install a hygrometer to keep tabs on humidity levels. You ideally want this to be mounted up on your wall near your thermometer, allowing you to have constant humidity reading. You want to keep your humidity around your marijuana plants to just over 50%. High above this level will damage your plants, so your fan should be used until the humidity levels drop. Keeping excess water out of your growing location can help keep your humidity levels under control. Just make sure you clean up any spills of nutrient solution or water as soon as they occur, and always keep the tank holding your nutrient solution covered. This will keep evaporation to a minimum, and help to keep humidity levels low. Just keep your growing location constantly dry!

ATMOSPHERE

The air within your growing location needs to also be considered before starting any marijuana plants. This is also where you are going to run into the biggest debate. All plants need fresh air, that is a given. Marijuana plants, however, also need a constant stream of CO² in order to keep growing. While normal air has approximately 330 parts per million (ppm) CO², this is simply not enough for optimal growth of marijuana plants. They will constantly be starving for more CO² until this need is met, declining overall growth. The grower can continually run a fan to always bring in a new supply of fresh air, to help with the problem slightly, or the grower can add CO² into the growing location. If the grower chooses the fan, more heat is going to be required to avoid cold harming the growth of the marijuana plants. Plus, depending on the weather, leaving something within the home open to gain access to fresh air may not be feasible. Supplementing CO² is typically what serious marijuana plant growers resort to in this circumstance. The grower can either add CO² by using a propane heater or they can regulate the levels with CO² bottles bought from hardware stores.

CO² FROM BOTTLES

There are many locations that sell CO² because of its many uses. Most places have it on hand to help pressurize a beer keg. Even though you can buy CO² in many different sizes, we would recommend using a medium sized bottle for ease of use. You will not want to try and carry one of the large bottles up a flight or two of stairs-take our word on that! Aluminum cylinders make transporting CO² much lighter. You will also need to purchase a regulator to help control just how much gas comes out at a time and goes into your growing location. There are amateur regulators that anyone can handle or professional-grade regulators for those with CO² experience. These will make injecting CO² into your growing location much more simple.

GENERATING YOUR OWN CO²

A Growth Gas Generator is a machine that just creates CO² to help plants grow better. It is meant to be used in a small growing location like a closet or greenhouse. It simply takes propane and burns it, creating all of the CO² your plants could need. Electric solenoids control this machine, so it makes using a timer to control it quite simple. This makes it even easier for a marijuana plant grower to provide all of the CO² the plants can possibly use. You will want your grow room filled with CO² during the hottest and brightest parts of the day, when each plant will be able to use the most. Growers can also use CO² sensors to help stabilize the levels and keep them under control. This machine is recommended to be used in an area that is less than 141 sq. feet (43 sq, m) because its only objective is to produce CO². It really produces no heat when compared to how much CO² it can create.

Each Growth Gas Generator is made up of high-grade stainless steel, and has been crafted to survive many years of use, even in the humidity of a greenhouse type environment. You will not find the same drawbacks with Growth Gas Generators as you would with a heater meant for a greenhouse, because these machines are able to be set to create CO² during the day. Heaters would create the most CO² at night because they only give off CO² as a byproduct of creating the much needed heat. If you are able to maintain CO² levels of 1500 ppm or potentially even more, you will notice humongous changes in the growth of your marijuana plants. If you want to be a serious grower who can produce a yield that past growers could not have imagined, then you will want to give your marijuana plants the ultimate in lighting, hydroponic growing solutions and the amazing benefits that a little extra CO² can provide.

MEASURING YOUR CO² LEVELS

Due to recent technological advances, novice marijuana plant growers are now able to measure just how much CO² they have within their growing locations. CO² Analysis kits are available on the market now, so you do not have to guess anymore. CO² can be detected with the use of a pump-action analyzer syringe combined with analyzer tubes. They are set to detect anywhere from 300 to 5,000 ppm. Each kit will come with the full instructions on how to properly use it, and a quick check of your growing location ought to tell you just where your room stands. Serious marijuana growers will consider CO² almost as important as the water to a marijuana plant, so they will take the time to make sure the room is optimally controlled for the benefit it will have on their marijuana crops.

NEGATIVE IONS

Many growers will also install a negative ion generator within their growing location. These little devices are typically quite inexpensive and cost very little to operate. These machines can refresh the air within your growing location and remove harmful particles, such as bacteria, pollen, cigarette smoke and dust. The ability of these machines to revitalize each particle of air is just amazing, and you will notice these benefits when you see the boost to yields and quality within your marijuana plant. They can also help stop the overwhelming smell of foliage within your home.

PEST CONTROL

This topic is far too large for us to cover in depth here, but we can give you a few ideas on how to deal with some of the most common issues most marijuana growers face. This is one of the most highly debated topics among marijuana growers over the years, so we are going to go through this brief description on the assumption that each marijuana grower prefers avoiding all toxic chemical usage whenever they can. The changes in all aspects of marijuana growing have been immense, but these tips have been tested numerous times by experienced marijuana growers so we feel comfortable sharing them with all growers. The change to biological forms of pest control is showing where the future with all plant growing lies. It comforts us to think that within just a few years we will be able to avoid the use of pesticides altogether and grow everything without the worry of contamination of our environment. The simplest way to explain the biological form of pest control is through the use of bugs and other creatures that are good to plants to fight back against the forms of creatures that harm plants. Even though they are little, they work as incredibly effective predators. Here are just two simple examples:

TWO SPOTTED MITE VS. THE SPIDER MITE

Even though it is nearly impossible to see spider mites with the naked eye, they can do a ton of damage to a marijuana plant crop. Most growers do not find them until their numbers are incredibly high, plus they can multiply at devastating rates. Under the right circumstances, spider mites can destroy an entire marijuana crop. Growers will first notice tiny dead spots showing up in small clusters on any leaf that has become infested. As the number of spider mites increases, the foliage will also begin to go bronze. The higher the number goes, the easier it will be to see the fine webbing that they leave on the bottom of each infested leaf. These particular mites have always outsmarted other methods of control due to how resistant they are to all poisons in general.

The increase in toxicity has come as the way that most humans have begun to respond to the increase in pests, but the success of these horrid chemicals is on the decline. Plus these chemicals destroy the good creatures that are normally there to help control the number of pests, allowing the pests to grow out of control. Biological forms of pest control would suggest that we use a different type of mite, referred to as the "phytoseiulus-Persimilis". These mites exclusively live on the Two-Spotted mite. When pest numbers are high, predator numbers increase in relation to how much food they have. Once the food supply decreases, the numbers of predators will decrease as well. At that point, there should remain a balance among the levels of pests. If the number of pests happens to be too large for the predator to control, all the grower has to do is change around the environment slightly in favor of what the predator needs instead of the pest. Commercially, these predatory mites are referred to as "Spidex".

WHITE FLY

The majority of marijuana growers are familiar with the tiny white flies that cloud around marijuana plants when they are affected. They should be looked at as a major pest, especially when looked at on a commercial level. Chemicals have once again failed to stop these pests, so we must once again turn to biological forms of pest control. A small wasp known as "Encarsia-Formosa" is the whitefly's predator. These minuscule wasps are considered harmless to all other creatures except the white fly. It looks quite a bit like a fruit fly, just on a smaller scale. If not for the white fly, these wasps would not be around because it is white fly larvae, which is used for laying the wasps eggs and feeding the growing Encarsia larvae. Basically all new white flies come out as wasps who can then lay additional eggs on any remaining larvae. These predators are commercially known as "En-Strip".

To use simple terms, hydroponic growing involves growing your marijuana plants without any soil, but instead using water or another growth medium that is able to be combined with a nutrient solution to feed all of the necessary nutrients to your marijuana plants through their roots directly. It really is that easy!

THE INCREDIBLE RESULTS

The easy answer boils down to how the nutrient solution is able to provide exactly what each plant requires at the moment the plant needs it. What this means is each plant can focus solely on growth and plant production instead of any nutrient it might be a little low on. Many marijuana plants end up with bound root balls due to their search for food, but a cannabis plant that is grown hydroponically will not have this issue. More focus is able to be put into the leaves, the buds, and down the line, the flowers of the plant. You will end up with extremely large plants in a small amount of time with a larger yield of buds and flowers. All hydroponic systems require being automated, but this can really help the grower in the long run, as well as the plant. You will never have to worry about giving your marijuana plants too much or little water ever again.

HOW DO I GO ABOUT GROWING MARIJUANA HYDROPONICALLY?

There are many different methods, so you have to choose which you prefer first. They range from super-simple to extremely difficult, so your opinion on what you want to invest in it must be the deciding factor. Every system requires some easy assembly and a bit of mechanical know-how, but it is easy for anyone to do. Each of the methods can be built from home with just everyday tools and pieces of equipment that you can find at almost any hardware store.

HYDROPONIC NUTRIENTS

Your marijuana plants will require 16 nutrients. The three most detrimental elements are called your macro-elements, and they are Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). You will even see these listed on most fertilizer containers at nurseries. The other 13 elements, known as micro-elements, can be found in most soils, even if they are not familiar to you.

BUYING READY-MIXED NUTRIENTS

If you grow marijuana on a small-scale or hobby level, you should really consider investing in ready-mixed nutrients as they have each nutrient that your marijuana plant is going to need right at your fingertips. The directions are super easy: combine water with the nutrient concentrate in a container, and then put that mixture in your system. If you use a nutrient solution that is made for hydroponics, you will find the best success rate. You will find these nutrients in one of five forms: one-part powder, two-part powder, one-part liquid, two-part liquid or three-part liquid. We have found the best results from General Hydroponics three-part system. With each growing phase needing a slightly different mixture of nutrients, this formula allows you to combine them properly for the best end-result for your plants.

CREATING A PERSONAL NUTRIENT MIX

Those growers with experience in hydroponics may consider creating their own unique nutrient combination. Each cannabis plant will consume only what nutrients it requires, so this could save money for the grower due to the lack of wasted nutrients. If you plan to do this, we recommend you get some basic chemistry knowledge first. You will also need a bit of mixing equipment to put these elements together. With as many growers as have researched formulas before you, you can easily find a useful recipe that will give marijuana plants good results. Look around until you find one that will work with the way your system is set up and go from there. If you need to make adjustments over time, you can do that so that the solution you use can match the conditions you have your plants growing in. We still recommend that only those growers that have the right experience and knowledge to do this even try.

DUTCH-PRO OR FORMULA FLORA

Even though you will get amazing results in soil from Dutch-pro, it will not give you the same results as a hydroponic solution. The micro-elements are not the same as your marijuana plant would require. At first, your marijuana plants should look alright, but soon your marijuana plants will begin showing signs of nutrient deficiency. You will want to stick with a nutrient solution that is made specifically for hydroponic use, even if the cost is slightly higher than the soil version. Think of this as a sports car. You would not want cheap gas or truck tires on your premium machine just as you would not want inferior quality solution fed to your marijuana plants. This is why we always recommend the use of Formula Flora when growing marijuana plants, both in soil and hydroponically.

THE ADDITIVES YOU WANT IN NUTRIENT SOLUTIONS FOR MARIJUANA PLANTS

Most nutrient solution additives have blood meal, bone meal and kelp extract in them. You will find that many companies say they will boost "organic" growing mediums by adding in additional amino acids, sugars, enzymes, hormones, plant acids or vitamins that most other growing mediums simply do not contain. We have found these claims to be false. Once we are able to perform more tests down the line using bigger control groups, we will post the results so you can see how we have come to these conclusions.

THE PROPER PH LEVEL

This refers to how much base or acid you have within the growing medium that you test. If you have a pH of one, your solution is very acidic, but if you have a pH of 14, your solution is super basic. You are aiming for a pH of seven if you want neutrality, but marijuana plants need something in the range of 5.8-6.5 to ensure the roots can absorb all of their nutrients properly.

MEASURING PH

You can measure pH both chemically and electronically. If you are using chemical means, you will have to replace the strips from the kit because they do get consumed with testing. If you are using electronic means, you will have to pay a bit more upfront but you should not have to replace your tool. To use an electronic measuring device, simply put the pen into your solution and you will be shown a readout on the LCD of what your pH is.

ADJUSTING YOUR PH LEVELS

You will need to increase your acid if the pH levels of your solution go too high, so you can use either nitric acid, phosphoric acid or sulfuric acid. These break down when used, leaving you with a little extra Nitrogen, Phosphorus or Sulfur, which your marijuana plants need anyway. You will need to increase your base if the pH levels of your solution go too low. We recommend using either Sodium Hydroxide or Potassium Hydroxide because when they break down, you will get extra Sodium or Potassium, also needed by your cannabis plants.

QUICK POINTER!

Use only a little base or acid at a time to adjust your pH levels within your solution because the solution will only need a little bit to change the overall pH level. When making an adjustment, make sure you wait a half hour before re-checking your pH levels because it needs time to cycle through all of the solution. The further from your target zone your pH level is at, the more acid or base you will need to get it back to the right place.

THE USE OF ORGANIC SOLUTIONS

With everyone's attempts to find green growing solutions, hydroponic growers are seeking out solutions as well. Most guidelines that are needed for "organic" growing include the elimination of refined chemicals in any form. That means growers can only use waste from animals or compost. While soil-using growers will end up benefitting, hydroponic growers will end up with a counter-productive cycle. The easiest way to explain why this happens is to give a brief explanation on how marijuana plants get all of their nutrients. As we have already mentioned, marijuana plants require 16 elements. Each one of these elements requires further breaking down to be absorbed by a marijuana plant, and this usually happens when the elements become chemical salts. What needs to be done is putting one necessary element (like Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Oxygen or Calcium) with a corresponding element, allowing the two elements to combine to form a salt. That salt is what your marijuana plants need to absorb through the growing medium.

Now with each of the processes described above being turned over to an organic form, we have to explain how the plants absorb from the roots on up. Composing is where we shall begin. Every part of the compost already has the necessary chains inside it to create the chemical salts out of the elements. Once that all gets put into the soil, bacteria breaks down the chains and create the necessary chemical salts, feeding your cannabis plants. Basically it looks like this: compost plus specific bacteria equals marijuana plant chemical salts. This is why we love Mother Nature and her bounty so much. She gave us the tools to feed our plants. Hydroponic systems, however, there is not the same breakdown from bacteria. That is why we must use a nutrient solution to feed each of our cannabis plants. The end result of this method typically ends up being limited growth, which totally opposes what hydroponic growing systems are all about. You can still get the benefit from organic growth with marijuana plants, but it needs to be done in soil. Just fertilize anything your plants may require into the soil, giving you the same end result.

Most of the trichomes are located within the buds and flowers of mature female marijuana plants. However, you can also find some hidden within the trim and leaves of all mature plants, male or female. The trim and the leaves of most marijuana plants are typically just thrown out due to their miserable smoke, but simply throwing them away could be costing you nearly 10% of the resin of your entire marijuana plant. What a waste! Making hash yourself is starting to gain in popularity for growers to be able to maximize what they get out of each crop. These are just a few of the most common ways to create homemade hash. We are not including any forms of hash making that requires the use of isopropynol or alcohol style solvents.

THE GREATEST VARIETIES FOR HASH MAKING

When making hashish, there are the varieties we recommend:

• Afghan
• Master Kush
• Rainbow Kush

NUMEROUS METHODS

There are numerous methods for hash making. Using a flat screen or a blender to make hash are relatively simple and cheap, but you will find more contaminates with these methods in your final result than you would if you tried bubble bag or drum machine hash. However, the latter two methods will require a financial investment. Hash can make wonderful use of what would otherwise be thrown out, no matter what way you try. The levels of THC will vary between marijuana varieties, but if you are looking for high potency, you will want to stick with only using gland heads. Many hash makers incorporate the stalk with the gland heads and some contaminates also get included. Any contaminate will decrease your potency.

SUPER SKUFF

Anything that would normally be discarded (trim, leaves, etc.) is collectively called "skuff". The kind of hash you wind up with is only going to be as potent as the materials that start the process. This means that you should carefully inspect each piece of skuff before use. Just because you see frost on your marijuana leaves does not mean that it has THC on it. You need to inspect it with a magnifying glass for the resin "mushrooms" on the trichomes. If you do not see any, discard the leaf and move on to the next. If you use that leaf, you will only contaminate your hash. Try and avoid any alterations to your skuff like grinding or crushing the leaves because this is going to cause the loss of the trichomes and add to your contaminate levels. You want your skuff dry but not to the point of crumbling. The texture needs to be considered more carefully when you are trying a drum machine or flat screen method.

FLAT SCREENING

The flat screen method takes off the trichomes by taking your skuff and rubbing it on a silk or fine steel screen. This process is quite simple but how the hash turns out depends on how skilled and patient the maker is. This method breaks down to pushing only the small trichome heads through the screening while the rest of the plant matter that is too large remains behind. You will require a flat screen to start. Printing supply stores carry these readily, or you can create one at home. Four pieces of your chosen wood fastened together in a frame shape with the screening glued to the bottom is really all you need. The screen holes should be between 125 and 137 lines per inch (2.5 cm). You will want either a mirror or some glass beneath the screen to gather the trichomes. You will also want something to push the skuff across the screen and the trichomes to one place (we use credit cards) and you will need your personal stash of skuff. You want dry (not brittle) skuff so only the right particles fall through your screen. Once your glass or mirror is below your screen, just start pushing your skuff gently across your screen.

The less pressure you use, the better your hash will taste! The original layer you get from this method will have the greatest potency and purity. Due to the fact that your skuff must touch the screen, pure hash from this method is next to impossible. This is why many growers use a larger screened method first to remove some of the small plant material and the trichomes. Panty hose work well for this. You will end up with the smallest bits of broken off plant material and your trichomes, which can then be processed through the smaller screen for better results. You may even be able to just tap on the smaller screen to separate the trichomes from the excess plant matter. Even though this method is incredibly cheap and easy for even a novice grower, you will likely end up with quite a bit of contaminate using this method.

DRUM MACHINES

Drum machines look like the insides of a dryer with its cylindrical shape and electric power source. Inside that drum you will find a screen that your skuff will tumble up against. The same principles that worked in flat screening still hold true here. The main difference is the drum does the rubbing instead of you. You can either buy a drum or build one if you have the mechanical inclination. Mila's Pollinator has the greatest popularity currently. Mila has pioneered hash-making from Amsterdam, creating many different sized drums for all of your hash quantities. The same size screen should be inside your drum (125-137 lines per inch [2.5 cm]). Put your dry skuff into the drum and turn the machine on low. The less time the machine runs, the purer the hash powder you will be able to collect. If you remove this first batch, you can then turn on the machine again and get a lower grade hash powder. This can sometimes be done a few times if you had enough quantity to start with, but each batch will be more contaminated. You can also add a ball into the drum after your first collection is complete if you want to release more hash powder from the biggest leaves.

BLENDER

This method goes by the principle that your resin glands weigh more than the rest of the plant materials, so you can filter off your trichomes and get the rest of the plant material separated more easily. You will need water, ice and some agitation to help break off the trichomes. The ice water will make your trichomes more brittle, allowing the glands of resin to snap off easily. Due to their weight, the resin glands will sink while the rest of your plant material will float. The list of materials this method requires is: one blender, trays of ice cubes, either a coffee filter that is reusable (metal) or a silk screen, paper coffee filters, and a substantial glass jar. First you will want your blender about half full with skuff. Then you will want to cover this with a tray of ice and cold water. Blend this for 45-60 seconds until it is a frothy green mix. Pour this out into your metal filter or silk screen placed over the substantial jar. Pour water over this filter so you do not lose any trichomes in the mix. After you have filled your jar, place it inside the fridge for 30 or more minutes. After the mixture cools and settles, a blonde or white substance should start settling along the bottom of the jar. That is what you are looking for: trichomes.

While being as careful as possible, pour or siphon off the top 2/3 of the green colored water without disturbing your trichomes. If you still have skuff to blend, do it at this point, adding in the new froth to the jar you just started to empty, repeating the cooling process and the siphoning process until you are done. After all of your blending is complete, add some ice to your jar and allow this to completely settle one final time. If you want only the purest of hash, blend this entire mixture one final time prior to the last settling. Once settled, pour everything through the paper coffee filter(s), allowing the water to pass through but leaving the resin glands stuck on the paper. Allow this to completely drain and then thoroughly dry. This is what you need for premium hash!

BUBBLE HASH

Filtering your skuff through ice water is rapidly gaining in popularity when it comes to hash makers. It has the best parts of the blending and screen methods by making trichomes brittle with ice, agitating the gland heads off and screening the heads through different filters so you have high quality. Some hash makers refer to this method as "bubble hash" because of how the hash bubbles when it gets hot from the increased purity. If you follow this method carefully, the result will be more potent than any other type, to where even a small bit of hash will be enough to get a small crowd of people high. There are two common filtration systems that use ice available commercially. The first is the "Ice-o-later" developed by the aforementioned Mila, and "Bubble Bags" available from Fresh Headies. They both use the same basic principle of filter bags plus cold water in order to isolate your trichomes. You could even sew together your own ensemble of mesh bags of differing sizes. For homemade bubble hash, you will need your filtering bags, a small hand mixer, and a couple of five gallon buckets that are clean and sanitized. Each method will vary slightly, but you will essentially be performing the same actions. The "Ice-o-Lator" has two filters, with the trichomes being left inside the second filter.

The Fresh Headies kits come with 3 and 6 different colored bags, allowing you to create many different hash grades simultaneously. When beginning a bubble bag kit, you will first place all of your skuff inside one of the buckets. If your skuff is dry, you can use up to 100 grams, but if fresh or still moist, you can double that quantity. Next you will want to add a minimum of six ice cube trays, more if you can fit it. This is followed by filling the bucket near to the top with cold water. You want a little space so you are not spilling all over when you agitate the mixture. You will then start hand mixing. You will want to run your mixer at least 15 minutes, but it can run much longer (an hour or longer). The longer you mix, the higher the yield but the lower the potency. Every few minutes you will want to allow your mixture to settle. After your mixing is complete, you will want the entire frothy mess to settle at least 30 minutes. If your ice is melted, make sure you add more. If you have a freezer big enough to hold your bucket, this is ideal. You can also use outdoors if you happen to live where it is cold when you make the hash. The goal right now is to keep the water cold. You will then want to place the "work bag" inside the second pail. The screen size for this bag should be between 200-250 microns (Fresh Headies is 220 microns).

Slowly pour this green smoothie-like mix into your work bag inside of the bucket, then lift the bag out slowly, squeezing out excess water. Set this bag aside for a secondary rinsing. You are now looking at a bucket full of green liquid that has many trichomes floating around in it, among other things. Anything that was tinier than 220 microns made it into that liquid. Next you will have to set up the rest of your bags inside of the original bucket. You will want the smallest mesh bag in first, fitting the larger meshed bags inside of the first bag. For example, the Fresh Headies kit means you will put the bag measuring 25 microns in first, followed up by the 73 micron bag. Now you are going to pour the remaining green liquid into the original bucket with the new bags in it. Next you lift the bags out in succession, allowing total drainage before moving on to the next bag. The tiniest bag (25 microns) will drain incredibly slowly, so just stay patient. Make sure you squeeze out all excess water from every bag after it finishes draining. This will leave you with a bunch of brown sludge remaining in the bottom of each bag.

Spoon what is left in the bag into a plastic bag or scoop it with your credit card. Blot out the excess moisture from the sludge using a towel and leave it to dry for 12 hours at the very least. If you can be patient long enough, it could dry and cure for an entire week before using it so that you have the most potent product. You want to ensure that all of the moisture is gone so there are no mold issues later on. The 25 micron bag will not have much product, but it will be quite potent and unique when you consume it. The person who created the bubble bag method believes these to be the smallest of trichome heads, not immature trichomes. These tinier heads are usually associated with the Sativa variety of marijuana plants. Bubble Man, as he is referred to, believes that Indica marijuana varieties have larger trichome heads with shorter stalks than its Sativa counterpart. Strangely enough, hybrids of these varieties do not create trichomes of medium size, but instead some large and some small trichomes. While this is backed up by initial research, more research is required to figure this out conclusively. Now, you need to return to your original bag that was set aside and give it another rinse to get every possible trichome out of the bag. The final result from about 200 g of skuff will be between 6 and 20 g of product, with the average being right around 10 g. The better quality product you started with, the better quantity and quality hash you will end up with!

PRESSING

Each of the explained methods will leave you with something that looks like sand when it's dried. It is actually a bunch of trichome gland heads and stalks combined into one product. Holland calls these heads "polm" or what would be pollen in English. This is often confusing because this product has nothing to do with pollen. Due to how potent of an extract this marijuana powder really is, some people lovingly refer to this product as "hippy crack". The only thing left to do with this "sand" is to combine it into a solid product. This can be done quite simply by rubbing it together until you get a small ball like ancient humanoids did many moons ago, just make sure you wash your hands really well first. You could also press this "sand" into a cake or bar shape. Make sure there is absolutely no moisture left in the product before you begin to press it. If you leave even the slightest bit of moisture in it when you store it, you will likely lose your entire product to mold. Freezing it can help the residual moisture come to the surface and gather as ice that can be removed, if you want an easier way.

If you are going to press your product, these are the supplies you will need: heavy-duty plastic wrap, newspaper, a rolling pin, cardboard, a frying pan and a marble or tile surface to roll everything out. First you need to trim down your cardboard to the size you want your final product to be. You're going to need to create a bag around your piece of cardboard and then remove the piece of cardboard. Fill the created bag with your dry trichomes and then seal and wrap the bar inside of numerous layers of damp newspaper. Put this bundle inside of your frying pan and keep it on its lowest setting. Keep turning the bar often and open it occasionally until every one of the trichomes are fully melted. Do not let any of the newspaper get too dry or start a kitchen fire! After everything is melted, take your bundle out of the frying pan and leave it all wrapped up inside the newspaper. Move the bar over to your rolling surface and start to press it all out beginning with the center of the bar. You want to roll it for 30-45 minutes. Remove the newspaper and place this bar into the freezer for 60 minutes or more. At this time, remove the plastic and appreciate your final product!

HASH BASH

You can enjoy hash through smoking, eating or for those more daring folks, a suppository! This type of product is also easier for smuggling across borders. Creating this fine hash product, you are connecting to your ancestors, so enjoy the work that went into it and the affects you get out of it!

Most people would not be able to guess how long marijuana's history goes back in time. Thousands of years ago is when cannabis was first cultivated. There is written documentation that dates back to 28 B.C. talking about the medicinal use of marijuana in China. This equates to over 2,000 years of proven marijuana growth among the world's cultures. There are also different forms of evidence showing that marijuana may have been used by Egyptians before then with mummies containing traces of THC, which would mean that marijuana has been around for over 3,000 years. Now, the THC could have come from another source, but as of right now, that source is unknown. Most people throughout the world would recognize Cannabis-Sativa as the shape shows up everywhere from drug-prevention campaigns to the media, and clothing to school textbooks. Marijuana leaves typically radiate out from the center, similar to fingers radiating out from the palm of a hand. While most people recognize this plant, they simply do not know or understand the history about the horticulture of cannabis.

THE CANNABIS-SATIVA

The Cannabis-sativa plant is thought to have come from India, where it appears to have begun slightly north of what we now call the Himalayan mountain range. It is an annual that grows to 13-18' (4-5.4 m) each year, with flowers blooming between early September and late October. There are typically only male and female plants, with the occasional hermaphrodite. The flowers on male plants have long pollen clusters with leaves that become yellow and immediately die after the plant blossoms. The female has flowers that look like clusters of spikes, remaining dark green nearly a month after they blossom. This is when the marijuana seeds ripen. The more powerful counterpart to marijuana, hashish, is created by the resin that each marijuana flower creates. A marijuana plant has over 400 chemicals in it, and at least 60 of them are considered cannabinoids. THC is one of those chemicals, but it happens to be recognized most often when it comes to marijuana's side effects. Some of the other chemicals are eugenol, piperidine, choline and guaicacol. The potency of each crop is dependent on growing environment, the genetics of the variety you are growing and how you process your final crop. We will explain the potency of marijuana and THC later in this guide.

THE EFFECTS OF MARIJUANA IN THE HUMAN BODY

The only way for THC to enter the human body is by ingestion, either inhalation from smoking or absorption through eating the marijuana. Once in the bloodstream, these chemicals flow to the brain, followed by the other parts of the body. THC, also known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, is considered the most intense chemical found within marijuana because of the ability of this chemical to produce a "high" that people often associate with marijuana. Most people who use marijuana, smoke it. It is the quickest way to get THC into the bloodstream because as people inhale, the lungs immediately absorb the chemicals, including THC. The alveoli, or sacs of air within your lungs that exchange oxygen for gasses, make the exchange of THC and the other chemicals incredibly easy. That is due to how much surface area the alveoli have. It is equivalent to about 90 times the surface area of your skin. If you eat the marijuana, your stomach is what absorbs the THC and other chemicals. If you happen to eat as your form of marijuana ingestion, you will notice lower levels of THC within your body, but the "high" will last longer than if ingested through your lungs.

THE EFFECTS OF MARIJUANA ON THE HUMAN BRAIN

THC is considered quite potent in the line of psychoactive drugs. So much so that a dose via IV of just one milligram will have a serious effect on a patient, giving him or her psychological and mental effects. THC can reach the brain in mere seconds after a person inhales the smoke, and it immediately goes to work. Most users describe their experience as euphoric with a mellow and relaxing overtone that is often associated with a light-headed and hazy feeling. Sometimes the pupils will dilate, creating a more intense color experience, giving the user a feeling that all senses are enhanced. Some users also experience panic and paranoia when the mellow relaxation wears off. These feelings are usually caused by the process of THC interacting with different brain chemicals. In order to understand just how marijuana can affect your brain, the first step is understanding the different portions of the brain that can be affected through THC use. 

THIS IS A BASIC OVERVIEW:

• The cells that are responsible for processing information within the brain are the neurons. Neurotransmitters are what allow the different neurons to speak with each other.
• Neurotransmitters fill up the synapses, or gaps, between the different neurons, binding with protein receptors, enabling different functions and allowing the body and brain functions to turn on or off.
• Some of the neurons have a few thousand receptors that look for a specific neurotransmitter.
• THC and other chemicals can block or mirror these actions, causing interference with the body's normal functions.

Each grouping of cannabinoid receptors within your brain is concentrated within numerous different locations. That allows the receptors to have differing effects on many different physical and mental activities, 

SUCH AS:

• Coordination
• Problem-solving
• Short-term memory
• Learning

The main neurotransmitter that activates these cannabinoid receptors is called anandamide. This neurotransmitter is part of the cannabinoid chemical line along with THC. THC can mirror the same actions and reactions that anandamide creates, allowing THC to attach to the cannabinoid receptors, activating these specific neurons, adversely affecting a human's body and mind. The hippocampus, basal ganglia and cerebellum are responsible for holding the greatest number of cannabinoid receptors. The brain's hippocampus, located in the brain's temporal lobe, is partly responsible for short-term memory. This allows THC to interfere with the ability to recall recent events when it attaches to the receptors here. The cerebellum is responsible for coordination, allowing THC to affect this portion of the body as well. Then when you refer to muscle movements that are totally unconscious, then you are under the control of the basal ganglia portion of the brain. This is part of the reason why motor skills are not as coordinated when people are "high" on marijuana.

ADDITIONAL PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS

In addition to the brain, the side effects of marijuana reach many other parts of the body. Marijuana is filled with hundreds of chemicals, and when it is burned, hundreds of additional compounds are produced. When marijuana is inhaled or ingested in some other form, several short-term effects occur. 

SOME OF MARIJUANA'S SIDE EFFECTS ARE:

• Increased heart rate
• Anxiety, paranoia and panic attacks
• Distorted perception
• Loss of coordination

The chemicals created by marijuana stay within the human body quite some time, even if the symptoms appear to be worn off after 1-2 hours. The half-life that THC leaves is anywhere from 20 hours to an astounding 10 days, depending on how much marijuana was ingested and how potent the crop was. This boils down to still having 0.031 mg of the THC in your system an astonishing 4 days after ingesting just one milligram of marijuana. The more potent the crop, the longer you can still have THC surging through your body.

People are still arguing over how addictive marijuana really is. Some studies are starting to show withdrawal symptoms after people stop using marijuana. The symptoms of withdrawal typically include nervousness, anxiety, irritability, anger and even depression. The rare symptoms can include significant changes in a person's appetite, interrupted sleep patterns or insomnia, restlessness or violent outbursts. There is also the dependence of the mind, creating a situation where the mind craves that same high that the body is trying to find. Then you also have to include the same risks to your health that other smokers face, like emphysema, bronchitis or bronchial asthma. The smallest symptoms that nearly all users face are red eye, impaired ability to concentrate, motor skills that are not as quick as normal or dry mouth.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA USE

There are known benefits of using medical marijuana. Doctor's know that using marijuana can relieve eye pressure for glaucoma patients, relieve or suppress nausea, decrease the number and severity of muscle spasms, reduce convulsions, increase the appetite and nearly eliminate the pain of menstruation altogether. There is now evidence that other conditions can be effectively treated with marijuana use, including: epilepsy (convulsions), multiple sclerosis (muscles), cancer and AIDS treatment (increasing appetite and decreasing nausea) and glaucoma (eye pressure). The problem is figuring out which effects to focus on the good for helping or the bad for the potential harm it causes. Twenty-one states currently allow marijuana use in a medical environment or legalized marijuana in general, and hopefully others will follow soon. 

THESE STATES INCLUDE:

THE POTENCY OF MARIJUANA

There is a lot of argument over the potency of today's marijuana compared to the marijuana of just a few decades ago. According to the government, today's marijuana crops are 10-25 times more potent than marijuana was in the 1960s, but no one is completely certain if this is true or not. We all know that the potency of current marijuana plants has increased, but the doubt comes in as to just how much. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Director, Alan Leshner, "There's no question that marijuana, today, is more potent than the marijuana in the 1960's. However, if you were to look at the average marijuana potency which is about 3.5 percent, it's been relatively stable for the last 20 years. Having said that, it's very important that what we have now is a wider range of potencies available than we had in the 1970's, in particular." This was said under testimony in 1999 to the United States House Subcommittee on Crime. This is under debate by those who would like to see marijuana legalized because there were only select locations that had testing during the 1960s and '70s, so the information that is being represented may be skewed.

Many people believe the testing was only done on a specific variety of Mexican marijuana specifically grown for its low THC levels of just 0.4-1.0%. When you compare the results from this variety to other varieties of cannabis, the results look as though potency has dramatically increased over the last three decades. Standard THC levels range from 0.3% on the low end to 4% on the high end, but a few select varieties can have THC levels that top out around 15%. When determining potency, make sure you include the following information:

• The genetics of the marijuana plant you are testing
• The environment, including climate, that the marijuana grew in
• How the marijuana was harvested and then processed

Some of the other factors that can determine potency include the time when each marijuana plant was harvested, if the plant was a male or a female as females have higher THC levels, the maturity of the plant at harvest time and how many different cross sections were taken to test with. If the plant was not fully mature at the time of testing, the cannabidiolic acid would not have converted fully to THC yet, making the results inaccurate. The same goes with tests performed on male plants, further skewing potential results. Back in the 1960s and '70s, cross sections were not tested with, so the accuracy of any comparison would be able to be questioned.

For ease of explanation, we will refer to hemp by "Cannabis sativa". Other marijuana plants can also be called hemp, however, the cannabis variety of hemp is considered to be most useful. The name, "Cannabis sativa" even means "Useful Hemp" when broken down. Hemp actually boils down to any plant with extreme durability that early humanoids used centuries ago throughout history. We often think of fiber as the most common product, but "Hemp" can simply refer to twine or rope that comes from twisting the strands of a hemp plant. It can also refer to the stalk of a hemp plant that the rope or the twine came from.

WHAT IS CANNABIS?

The cannabis plant is considered to be the most resilient out of all of the hemp plant varieties. It will produce cloth that is even sturdy enough to be used as sails as it was early on in the history of the shipping industry. This type of cloth is called "canvass" and was strong enough to not deteriorate when it was hit with the spray from the ocean. There are also three incredibly important things that a cannabis plant can create: medicine, seeds and pulp. Other varieties of hemp plant do not make these in any useable form, again setting the cannabis plant apart from its counterparts. The medicine can be used for numerous purposes when you mix the sticky resin found within each blossom and on each leaf with other medicines. Pulp from the cannabis plant can be made into paper or used as a form of fuel. The seeds have dual purposes as well. First animals and humans can eat the seeds, and second, paints and varnishes can use the oil extracted from the seeds.

WHERE DID THE TERM MARIJUANA ORIGINATE?

Originally, the term "marijuana" came from Mexican slang. The term increased in popularity during the 1930s due to American government and media programs currently referred to by the term "Reefer Madness Movement". The term refers to the medicinal portion of the cannabis plant that soldiers from Mexico smoked. Currently, hemp in the United States is totally legal to own. You can't be arrested for owning or wearing a shirt made of hemp or paper made of the pulp. However, in most places, if you possess the buds, leaves or flowers of cannabis plants, also known as marijuana, you can face a lot of legal trouble. You could face possible jail time and stiff fines just for having any of these materials on your person.

Now if you plan to eat the seeds, that practice is totally legal so long as the seeds are completely sterilized to where they cannot grow to reach maturity. Considering it is impossible to grow hemp from cannabis without ending up with the marijuana as well, the United States chooses not to produce products from industrial hemp. Instead, the United States substitutes other plants or imports the hemp from other countries. If you want to look into growing hemp plants legally, then you will need to fill out an application with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). While it has happened, it should be considered rare that the DEA will give this type of permission. Even though this practice is illegal, many people still produce and use marijuana. It has even climbed to the top of the list of cash crops due to the incredible prices it can fetch when listed on a black-market.

HEMP AS A FOOD

Nowadays Hemp seeds are "labeled" a Superfood! So if you are in need of fatty oils and large amounts of protein in your diet, then hemp seeds are the way to go. The most common form of food made with hemp seeds around the world is gruel, which looks quite a bit like what we would call oatmeal. You can also enjoy the leaves as roughage. You may experience slight side effects that result in a psycho-active experience, but the seeds will not make you high. If you look at the protein that is found within human blood, you will see a similarity to proteins found in hemp seeds.

The nice thing is hemp seed's digestibility is so incredible that quite a few doctors will even give patients having trouble with standard foods hemp seeds to eat. Scientists used hemp seeds, also known as "edestine" as a model for different vegetable proteins. For those who need to increase their body's fatty acids, the oil from hemp seeds is the perfect solution. Eating hemp seed oil can help reduce your risk for heart disease as well. Adults can get an adequate supply of both proteins and those essential fatty oils by simply eating a single handful of these little hemp seeds daily, and vegans (and vegetarians) will be able to get the proteins they need without adding any saturated fat to their diet.

THE BENEFITS OF HEMP

The benefits when growing hemp are simple: the plant is able to be grown in many different environments and it requires very little fertilizer. The plant itself is pest-resistant and does not often require the use of pesticide. The roots of the hemp plant run deep which helps aerate the soil, and as the hemp plant loses its leaves, nitrogen and minerals are able to be absorbed by the soil. There are cases of hemp growing in the same place for two decades straight without any problems arising in the soil. The ability to use fewer fertilizers and chemicals is much more cost effective and easier for growers, plus it allows the growth to be advantageous to the environment.

HEMP VS SOY

When comparing the protein of hemp plants and soy plants, you will get more protein from soy, but the quality of hemp protein is better. Considering how well the plant grows agriculturally, we may see more hemp plants grown in the future. Hemp plants are UV-B light resistant, unlike soy plants, so as the ozone continues to be depleted, hemp plants are going to survive much better than soy plants will. We may wind up in a situation where we need to grow hemp plants for survival, much as different civilizations have done in the past. If there were not so many political factors in place currently, many people in under-developed countries who are currently starving could take advantage of hemp's benefits. Sometimes growth is halted by the use of the term "marijuana" while other times it is stopped because the farmers have to grow plants to produce heroin and cocaine by force of local drug lords. Either way the shortage could be ended if modern techniques were able to be taught by the Peace Corps for farming hemp seeds.

THE PROCESS FOR MAKING HEMP INTO CLOTH

The hurd and the bast are the two parts that make up the hemp stalk. The bast is considered to be the fibrous portion of a hemp plant, and it is able to be woven into cloth of many different varieties. This cloth has such a strong durability that Levi's were originally made from hemp. Out of all of the different natural fibers on the market, the hemp plant's fibers are often more suitable to many different applications. If you are trying to harvest hemp plants for fiber, here is how you do it. First the hemp plants must be grown closely together and matured to the point of losing the leaves. You then cut the hemp plants down, leaving them in the field to get a few good washings from rainfall. After a few bouts with rain, the hemp plants are turned over allowing both sides to get the same treatment. This process also allows the hurd, or cor's pulp, to soften and return a good portion of the minerals to the ground. Growers call this "retting", and this is considered the final step before separating the hurd from the bast. Thankfully this final step no longer needs to be done by hand as machines are able to do this now.

WHAT MAKES HEMP SUPERIOR TO COTTON?

The biggest thing that makes hemp superior to cotton is the durability. Even though most hemp products are not as soft as cotton ones, it can be grown or treated to be equally as soft. Another thing that makes hemp superior to cotton is the fact that hemp requires little or no pesticide use, whereas cotton uses approximately half of all pesticides used in the United States. Cotton also damages the soil and requires a great deal of fertilizer.

HEMP MAKES GOOD PAPER

Hemp plants are able to be used in their entirety to make paper by using the pulp, also known as the hurd, and the fiber, also known as the bast. Ancient China made the first batch of paper out of hemp fibers, and it has been used ever since. While fiber paper often appears rough, brittle, thin or tough, the pulp-made paper is just not as durable. Pulp-made paper is able to be made thicker, softer and easier than fiber-made paper, and most common paper users prefer the results of pulp-made paper. Most paper made today uses chemicals to break down the pulp from cut down trees, but pulp-made paper from hemp plants is able to be made entirely without chemicals. Many of the papers made from hemp plants combine the bast and the hurd, leaving no waste. Hemp baste is used to create a very strong fiber-made paper, and the entire process requires no chemicals.

Hemp-based papers are also able to be made without the acids that are required when making tree-based papers, keeping the environment cleaner and keeping the paper more affordable. However, the responsibility ultimately falls on consumers to make choices that are going to benefit the environment and remove the hazardous chemicals from the environment. It can be simple choices such as not buying bleached toilet paper or paper towels to make a difference. Just keep in mind that publishers, archives and libraries order paper that is acid-free on a regular basis to keep their documents from falling apart and discoloring from the chemicals, while paper that was originally made from hemp would have lasted these companies' centuries.

WHY HEMP INSTEAD OF WOOD-BASED PAPER?

There are no positive effects in the future for the planet if we continue to use chemicals such as those needed to make wood-based paper. We have known that dioxin and the rest of the nasty chemicals that are used for this process will harm both people and wildlife, but there are also agricultural concerns that should persuade us to consider using hemp instead. One instance where we can already see damage is the minerals that are taken from the ground when trees are uprooted. When hemp plants are pulled, minerals are left behind for the ground to end up in better shape. Someone once made a comment about a squirrel being able to go from New England all the way to the Mississippi River's banks without ever having to put its foot on the ground during the entire trip, but that is no longer the case. When settlers moved to the United States from Europe, this was no longer an option.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been concerned with the supply of trees since the origination of wood-based paper becoming a high-profile industry. Hemp plants would easily be able to replace the wood required for paper without damaging soil or the current forests we have in the US. Some people say that forests are on the increase, but this is simply inaccurate. If these statistics were able to accurately depict what the real world looked like, we would not need hemp plants for this purpose. It takes decades for all of the natural cycles to return to a forest after it has been chopped down, and let's face it, tree farms are just not a forest no matter how you "cut" it. The USDA has looked into alternatives, like kenaf, but no other plant had the same type of survivability that a hemp plant does. In just three months, hemp plants can grow more plant matter than nearly any other plant on the planet.

In 1916, the USDA calculated that just one acre growing hemp could replace the growth of forest from four acres. Plus this single acre of hemp would be able to produce rope and other textiles while improving soil quality. A mere 4% of the old-growth forests that America used to have are still standing today, and even that is in danger from new roads and the logging industry. We all just have to hope that the people in charge figure out how simple of a fix hemp could be before it's too late.

HEMP USED AS GREEN FUEL?

The hurd, or pulp, of hemp plants can be used in two ways: it can be processed and made into charcoal, gasoline, methane or methanol or it can simply be burned in its natural state. We call the breakdown of hurd "pyrolysis" or "destructive distillation". This is how biomass fuels are created. The charcoal made with this process can be used in electric generators that are coal-powered, while methanol can work as automobile fuel. It is already used by racers in professional races, and has the potential to replace gasoline. Grain alcohol, or ethanol, can also be made from hemp, using the additive created by cellulosic biomass. The nice thing is, cellulosic biomass can also be created using hemp, so it can be self-sustaining. Hemp seed oil is another way hemp can be used as a fuel. Diesel engines are also being designed to run purely on oil from the hemp seed that has been pressed out. While it is possible to power a great number of vehicles this way, the oil from hemp seeds are often more useful in other applications.

HEMP SEED OIL VS PETROLEUM

Fossil Fuels create huge quantities of air pollution, which is just part of what makes biomass fuels a good choice. Metal and sulfur are not side effects of these fuels, leaving the environment cleaner when these fuels are used. Plus using biomass fuels means that no extra carbon dioxide is poured into the atmosphere. On the other hand, petroleum products create carbon, potentially making global warming worse through what we commonly call a "Greenhouse Effect". A simple visual is of these carbons creating a quilt that holds the heat on to Earth instead of allowing it to escape into space. Taking carbon dioxide out of the air is the first step in the process of making biomass fuels. This naturally occurs by the growing of many different plants across the globe. Biomass fuels also have the distinct advantage of being able to be created within the United States, making us able to be self-sustained instead of requiring more importation of fuels.

We could save a great deal of money paying farmers along with local delivery drivers instead of having to pay tariffs, drillers, ships and soldiers in order to get the fuel we need. While trees could also be used as biomass, this would end up being more damaging than beneficial. This process would end up damaging the forests and the soil, leaving no nutrition in the soil after the trees were pulled up. Some parts of the US are beginning to burn trees simply because the power created by this process is cheaper than when they have to buy coal. Researches from Australia have recently started trying to burn hemp and they are finding that both the quantity and quality of biomass is greater from hemp than from trees.

HEMP AND MEDICINAL TREATMENT

Cannabis extract used to be available in the United States until 1937, and it still has numerous medicinal qualities. It used to be sold under the guise of "nerve tonic". However, we know that this type of "relaxer" has been used by civilizations for centuries. Wise men and ancient scholars have written about the benefits of marijuana for as long as books have been around, often falling under the category of "panaceas" or cure-all. If you are wondering which diseases cannabis extract can help treat, here is just a short list: cancer treatment, glaucoma, dystonia, pruritis, severe pain, migraines, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and AIDS. Now keep in mind this is just a list of diseases that people will either eat or smoke marijuana for and does not include medicines made from marijuana directly. Over 60 different chemicals found within the marijuana plant have medicinal qualities. It is not a difficult process to extract these chemicals into different foods or beverages, and may even help people with insomnia.

A chemical derived from premature marijuana buds, called "cannabidiolic acid", is also a powerful disinfectant. People suffering from herpes can help control the sores that appear on their skin by dissolving marijuana into rubbing alcohol. A salve similar to this mixture was known to be a very early medicinal use of cannabis. Marijuana leaves used to be placed inside bandages and even a mild herbal tea created from tiny stems of the cannabis plant has been helping people for centuries. Nausea with or without vomiting is also able to be controlled by marijuana use.

Scientists have found a correlation between being able to eat well and responding well to AIDS medications AZT and Foscavir, and the same goes with chemotherapy patients. The ability to sustain the body with food can make a difference between living through the treatments or dying from them. Marijuana use has been found to be incredibly effective when fighting back nausea. The success of this method has prompted some to create a "buyer club" giving patients access to a steady and reliable supply. Some municipalities within California openly look past these clubs as a way to help these patients cope. The same goes with glaucoma patients and multiple sclerosis patients because the marijuana can help control the pressure within the eye, avoiding blindness, and the spasms that multiple sclerosis creates, helping patients not deteriorate further.

HEMP VS PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Prescriptions that are currently on the market are expensive and difficult to create, plus they are not always effective. If you look at the quantity of drugs that marijuana could potentially replace, you would be taking numerous drugs off of the market that have horribly negative side effects. Medicines made out of cannabis are simple to make, safe to ingest and inexpensive to make. There is a controversy saying that a drug called dronabinol should replace the potential benefit of marijuana use, but there is a problem. While it is nearly an exact replica of one portion of the cannabis extract that makes marijuana so effective, it is difficult to get from both doctors and pharmacies. Most stores refuse to fill out the pages of paperwork that the DEA requires. Another downfall of dronabinol is how ineffective it is when you are nauseous and throwing up. Dosages are hard to determine with this pill and this pill is not effective against all of the same diseases because not all of the same chemicals are shared between this and marijuana. Dronabinol does not contain the same calming effects that marijuana does, which makes it difficult for some patients to take.

HEMP FOR OTHER USES

Currently, hemp has begun being used to create "press board" and "composite board" for construction. To make these boards, fibers are glued together from the hemp stalks while under pressure, producing a board which is more durable and elastic than its hardwood counterpart. Press-board is a perfect application for hemp due to the long fibers that the plant creates when growing. Plastic is one of the more unknown applications that hemp has due to the high-cellulose levels that come from the hurd of hemp. Varnishes and different kinds of lubricants can be created from the oil of hemp seeds, and this is just a small sampling of the many uses that hemp has. Bridges were built with mineralized hemp stalks that were made into cement according to French Archeologists, showing that hemp has been used for centuries for building materials. The bridges contained no man-made chemicals and yet somehow still produced a material that acted as building filler during the construction process. Isochanvre is what this is called, and the process is becoming more popular in France. This material can be a drywall substitute, insulating walls against excess noise and heat loss, and the material lasts a very long time. Since the introduction of Bio-plastics by Henry Ford in the early 1930s, where a car's body was created with them, bio-plastics have been a part of many different industries. The lack of pollution gives bio-plastics a benefit over standard plastics, but it is difficult for current plastic companies to create these new types of plastics. They either have to compete with established petrochemical companies, import all of the materials that this process would require or do something illegal in order to make them; none of which are good options in the eyes of these companies.

HOW AND WHY DID HEMP BECOME ILLEGAL?

This is a great question. The only way we can explain how this amazingly useful plant became illegal is to also explain the reasoning behind how marijuana became illegal. We really should go back to around the turn of the century and examine a close relative of heroin known as opium and another drug we know as cocaine. Opium was considered a highly addictive drug mainly used by Chinese people, but compared to what drugs can do today, the effects of opium were very small. As the Chinese immigrated to the US, opium was packed along with their most precious belongings. It was regularly used to make mundane daily tasks more interesting, especially for laborers. Opium also has the side effect of making it to where the body does not notice pain or physical exhaustion. During the Industrial Revolution, Chinese immigrants were capable of working those long and exhausting hours because of these effects. This allowed the workers to bring home a better wage than most jobs were offering at the time, and with the diligent focus that Chinese workers seemed to have (from the opium effects), Chinese immigrants secured many of the industrial jobs that were available at the time.

Many American's resented this fact, especially once the Great Depression hit and so many jobs just up and vanished in the blink of an eye. This is part of what led so many working-class white Americans to hate Chinese immigrants, even with the political advantages that white Americans often held. Chinese immigrants rarely spoke more than heavily broken English, and they had no allies within the government, which gave the white Americans the power to put restrictions on immigration. The only way these restrictions would work was if racial boundaries existed between Chinese immigrants and white Americans, so much of the focus went to this opium use that most Americans did not understand. The same pattern emerged with cocaine with the only major difference being that it was not the Chinese-American, but instead, the African American community that got targeted. There is a lot of doubt behind cocaine's benefits within the working environment, however, with the success that white American's found with the original restrictions, they chose to mimic the same behavior in order to keep African Americans from finding success within the workplace.

A lot of the damage was done through the use of newspapers at the time, painting African Americans as some type of savage beast that could not be controlled when they were high on cocaine. Some even compared a single African American man high on cocaine to the same strength as four to five police officers. Remember the ads? Well these campaigns ended up first banning opium, followed shortly thereafter by banning cocaine. Unfortunately, marijuana showed up next on the list. Everyone knew that the soldiers from Mexico who fought against the soldiers from America smoked marijuana. It was even documented from Poncho Villa who had rowdy soldiers who smoked vast amounts of marijuana and from the original lyrics of "la cucaracha". (This song was written from the perspective of a soldier from Mexico who was refusing to march unless his superiors supplied him with marijuana.) Thankfully, once the war was over and people began emigrating from Mexico to the South-eastern portion of the US, almost all of the racial tension calmed. Between the abundant job options in both industrial and agricultural sectors, many new Mexican-Americans found work and began to work toward the American Dream. However, once the Great Depression took away many jobs, all of a sudden the racial tension showed right back up and caused a lot of violence. This violence was eventually at least partly blamed on marijuana use which caused the banning of this substance as well.

Even though statistics showed that Mexican-Americans were less violent than their white American counterparts, marijuana took the brunt of the blame and most states enacted laws prohibiting the use of cannabis. Unfortunately this is only the beginning. Aside from all of the racial tension mentioned previously, other factors played into the banning of marijuana as well. Some contribute a portion of the banning to Prohibition, where the United States banned the making, sale or consumption of alcohol. This can be traced back to Puritan ethics that the original European settlers left behind when they immigrated to the New World, but the ethics did not stop a black-market from forming to sell and trade alcohol at ridiculously high prices. Crime statistics went through the roof over people trying to smuggle alcohol, so the police tried to make their presence known in a big way. The numbers of officers grew exponentially until Prohibition ended with the government giving up the fight and allowing people to consume and buy alcohol legally. Most government officials did not realize just how much power they unwittingly put into local thugs and that effect is still felt today. Once Prohibition ended, the US had little to show for all of the fighting it caused other than many police officers who had to be laid off.

If you were a police officer during the times of Prohibition, you were able to earn a decent wage, the community respected you, some immunity to certain laws and some people chose to accept bribes, but after Prohibition ended, many of these officers had no idea how to leave behind the lifestyle they had become accustomed to. This is about the same time that the "Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs" (FBNDD) showed back up with Harry J. Anslinger appointed the leader thanks to a family member who happened to be Secretary of the US Treasury at the time, named Andrew Mellon.

After many years of campaigning for more narcotics officers, Anslinger ended up retiring. He joked that his former institution, the FBNDD, allowed young men to do little more than legally rape and steal with a badge. We now call this institution the DEA, which is what we can attribute all of the new drug laws back to. Anslinger tried for years to find a way to get uniform laws against drugs within each state and up to the federal level, but he did not end up being able to do this. He became somewhat consumed with his dream to arrest each jazz musician across the country to justify his hatred of the music genre and each musician who made that type of music, so that distracted him from reaching his goal of the uniform laws before he retired. During the period we now call Reefer Madness, Anslinger often attended meetings with parents and teachers to scare them with speeches spelling out what he believed the dangers of cannabis to be.

THE 1937 MARIJUANA TAX ACT

Well, let's make this part short and sweet: Opium was only illegal so Chinese immigrants would stop taking jobs away, Cocaine was only illegal to keep African Americans repressed, and the same goes with marijuana and the Mexican-American community. Each law was created to fuel emotional racism but had very little substance to back up the claims that the laws were founded upon. Look for yourself... just peek through some of the state legislatures' logs and you will see what we mean. Then you add in all of the police officers who were left without a job other than trying to help enforce drug laws. With these police officers needing Americans to believe that these laws were important, scare tactics were often used about the dangers of drugs. This is what made the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act possible. This Act put a large tax on marijuana and products made from the same plant, creating an impossible situation for business making hemp products. Kentucky used to have a good-sized industry based around hemp, even before the breaking machines came out that separated the core and fiber. When the entire job had to be done by hand, the industry in Kentucky was still successful, but once 1937 came, the entire American industry that worked in hemp was no longer able to function.

Currently, chemical pulping is the way we have to make paper, but in years past, the process was called mechanical pulping. The older version was incredibly expensive but that was not enough to encourage paper makers to switch to using hemp hurds. Normally, these hurds were simply discarded after all of the fiber was stripped, so all of these leftover hurds could have easily been used in the paper-making process, cutting down the final costs of paper making. Ironically, the magazine Popular Mechanics believed hemp would quickly become the top crop within the United States before this Act took place, even having printed up their cover story for early 1938 talking about it. Little did they know that the end of 1937 would see the Marijuana Act that would put a stop to this entire industry.

THE 1937 MARIJUANA TAX ACT INTO PLAY

Is it really possible that the government couldn't come up with a better law that would allow hemp to be grown commercially while still banning marijuana? Well, yes, but here is why. Dupont Chemicals created chemical pulping during this same time period, which became a portion of a deal worth many millions of dollars between the chain of newspapers that William Randolph Hearst owned and a timber holding company, providing Hearst super-cheap paper. This gave him a distinct advantage over anyone else in the newspaper industry. The problem is if paper was able to be made with hemp, he would lose this advantage, so he was bound and determined to stop this from happening. This is where the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act came into play. Drug laws were typically much more powerful than this act, but this bill went through and was approved anyway; much to the dismay of many historians. Hemp then became illegal because of how businesses were able to take advantage of both the racist climate of the time and the anti-drug campaigns. This made the 1930s one big conglomeration of a mess that brought together timber companies along with railroads, with a splash of Dupont on top. What makes the scenario even more messed up is that the Dupont deal was completely financially backed by the same family member of Aslinger who happened to be Secretary of the US Treasury, Andrew Mellon. The connections in place allowed the Marijuana Tax Act to pass, however unorthodox, but it all boils down to lack of information getting out to anyone who could potentially protest the bill.

Unfortunately, it was only two days prior to the hearings when the AMA (American Medical Association) found out what was being proposed. The AMA sent someone to object who showed up alongside a man who sold bird seed made from hemp seeds to object, but that was not enough and the bill passed. Harry J. Anslinger was predominantly responsible because of his testimony. Many Americans would have had little or no opinion on the bill even if they had been informed simply because they did not know that marijuana and hemp made from cannabis is ultimately the same product, but that was the intention of the people proposing the bill. They intentionally used a new word (marijuana) to confuse people and make it seem more dangerous than a word people were familiar with. It was much easier to make the word seem negative just like they had done with earlier tactics instead of trying to push a negative image on everyday products that people were used to, like shoelaces. The influx of synthetic fabrics also played a part in the loss of this natural product. Then you add in the confusion between hemp and other fabrics commonly mistaken as hemp, like jute, and people did not realize at the time what they were really losing. This confusion is still a problem currently. The term "hemp" was even removed from textbooks in the US in the 1970s to try and keep the entire product line away from children, and the Smithsonian has even gone so far as to remove the same term from all exhibits as a way to not confuse children or get them to ask too many questions about hemp. Hemp activist Jack Herer even was able to find a film created by the US government titled "Hemp for Victory\', that the government has denied existed. This particular film showed how the US government grew large quantities of hemp during World War II in both California and Kentucky despite the Tax Act to encourage the war effort. (Nice job, Jack!)

WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THIS HISTORY LESSON?

The first lesson you should pull from this is how hate has destroyed many things for all Americans. The "divine justice" of this outcome is showing Americans just how detrimental hatred really has been to the older ways of life. Tolerance would have saved lives, money, time, and preserved a way of life that is no longer available, instead of having the focus of fear and intolerance of people that had different racial backgrounds. The second lesson this should teach you is how to properly use Democracy. Had people chosen to be more informed, which is easily possible with today's technology, some of these effects would not be a problem today. People need to stay informed of what their government is up to and take the time to make their opinions known before it is too late. The final lesson you should learn from this is how little the banning of marijuana had to do with any type of public safety issues and how much it was all politically fueled. Most people believe that cannabis should have stayed legal from the very beginning. Look at it this way. If Prohibition did not need to be in place and it was easier for lawmakers to give in to public demand, couldn't the same reasoning stand for marijuana? Keep in mind that laws on paper are different than laws in practice, and we have experienced the US passing laws that mean more than just what is written down on paper, so always ask yourself what the possible ulterior motives could be behind a law before deciding it is a good thing.

Laws should be specific, not generalized allowing for police to take the law as they see fit, and unfortunately, many different laws concerning drugs are incredibly generalized. Most drug laws were put in place to fight kingpins, not the everyday recreational smoker. The scariest part is most of these laws created for kingpins will never be used against one. That is why the US prison system is overflowing with casual smokers or other drug users that got caught. Now, if this bothers you or you disagree with how these laws are being put into effect, then start to focus closely on what your local legislature is up to and make your opinions known.

Hemp is an amazing plant that has been cultivated for thousands of years. It is incredibly versatile and valuable, but it is also incredibly controversial as well. When most people think about hemp, a picture of marijuana pops into their head because these two plants are often confused as the same product. Hemp products, such as clothing or purses, is not made of a material that is illegal to own, nor is it made of anything that can get you high. That is only marijuana.

THC [TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL]

The smoking of female marijuana buds (or flowers) will cause the smoker to become high, but the same procedure with hemp won't have that effect. There is less than a single percent of THC within hemp, while the female of the marijuana plant has 10-20% of THC. The THC is what gives the person smoking the marijuana the high. Male plants are solely used for marijuana seed production. The hemp plant and the marijuana plant look different and both plants are harvested in different ways. A marijuana plant is usually short with a bushy appearance. The females of the species grow buds and flowers that have orange or white hairs, known as pistils, and they develop THC crystals. Hemp plants, on the other hand, are quite tall (up to 25'), have small flowers, and get covered in a pollen that holds the seeds. Marijuana has many fewer uses than hemp, which can be used to manufacture over 25,000 products. You can find hemp bird food, diapers, insulation, perfume, conditioner, paper and carpeting. Rope is also a common use for hemp, and it does not rot, making it more useful than traditional rope. Hemp can also be used as a highly digestible food, allowing you to have a happier and healthier life.

CONFUSION

Many people confuse hemp and marijuana. People who are focused on legalizing hemp often refer to the uses and lack of pesticide requirements when trying to prove their side of the debate. People who are focused on the opposing side, however, usually refer to their worry that marijuana would soon be legalized as well due to the same plant being the basis for both. There are also opponents who say other materials can be more cheaply made than hemp, but that argument is easily disproved. The cultivation of hemp is still illegal within the United States, but hemp is still being imported in many different forms, including food. Marijuana cultivation is supposed to be illegal due to the health effects, but this argument is quickly fading as well with all of the proven health benefits that many studies have found. The argument is now that the benefits that could come from marijuana legalization may not outweigh the concerns that intoxication brings up. These effects, however, have been proven to be much less than that of someone who drinks alcohol or smokes a cigarette. Most debates concerning the legalization of marijuana end up being the same arguments that are used for hemp legalization, but we have to keep in mind that these products are simply not the same.

ABOUT THE SIMILARITY OF HEMP AND CANNABIS

The biggest thing they have in common (and the biggest reason for the confusion) is the fact that both plants are different varieties of the same plant: the Cannabis Sativa. Hemp is grown legally in 29 different countries world-wide, with China, Russia and Korea leading the production. In the United States, however, it is not legal to grow marijuana or hemp. You can own products made of hemp that's why you find hemp-based products on store's shelves. The aroma of both plants is quite similar when blooming, but marijuana is the only plant with enough THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) to make a person high. The traces contained within the hemp plant are not enough to cause a traditional "high".

Good nutrition starts with smart choices in the grocery store. Cooking up healthy meals is a challenge if you don't have the right ingredients in your kitchen.

But who has time to read all the food labels and figure out which items are the most nutritious and the best buys? Grocery shopping can be a daunting task, simply because there are so many choices.

"Markets perform a great public service, but keep in mind they are designed to get you to buy (and, therefore, eat) more food, not less," says Marion Nestle, PhD, MPH, professor of nutrition at New York University and author of What to Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating.

But with a little guidance, healthy choices are a cinch to find in any supermarket.

Plan Ahead for Success
The process starts even before you head to the grocery store, experts say. Before you set out for the market, plan your meals for the week, and create a list to shop from. It takes a few minutes, but saves time in running back to the store for missing ingredients.

To save money, use coupons, check the weekly grocery ads, and incorporate sale foods into your meal planning. And don't shop hungry: An empty belly often results in impulse purchases that may not be the healthiest.

Boomers made their mark with fast food in the '60s, fern bars in the '70s, microwaves in the '80s, take-out in the '90s, and a trend toward healthier foods today, according to Harry Balzar, NPD's vice president. As the boomers age, they are coping with health and weight concerns that drive their eating patterns. But boomers aren't the only ones behind changes in food buying habits. "Increasing Latin populations have had an enormous impact on our food trends," says supermarket guru Phil Lempert, editor of the Facts, Figures and the Future newsletter. "They don't drink sodas with high-fructose corn syrup, and their diets are more abundant in fruits, vegetables, and fresh foods."

Colors play a very vital role as per weather and we should always consider this point when shopping for our baby girl. There are many colors that looks awesome in winters but looks very harsh and feel uncomfortable in summers. Therefore, while buying any outfit we should always keep two things in mine i.e comfort and style.

It’s a gorgeous net flare dress which also has beautiful 3D flower applique on waistline. The main focus is the stylish bodice design which makes it look more trendy. It’s a different small layered style which looks pretty amazing. The leafy look belt completes the attire and add more charm into it. As every little girl, your princess must be a fan of Disney fairy and Disney princess as well. So, to make her smile and style her like a Disney fairy princess this dress is perfect. It is very smart looking and gives a very stylish look. The net flare gives it a fairy look. You can easily match it up with headband that has 3D rose applique and cute white bellies. You can easily style your baby girl in this dress when planning to go for a birthday party or even a family gathering. It’s a very attractive dress that has all the elements required to look adorable and fashionable.

Just grab your laptop and start searching kids party dress online and you will find plenty of options but do not forget to search for an Aubergine color attire. Hope you have liked our cute and trendy dress and will surely going to purchase it for your little diva.

Brown Gray Checkered Baby Vest Coat Romper

If you like to style your baby boy like a handsome hunk then this romper is a perfect choice. The cute bow tie and baby vest coat looks very adorable and stylish. It’s a smart piece to buy for your little boy. Your little baby will look stylish and extremely handsome.

Gypsy Soul Cute Baby Romper

White is the color of summer and looks very soothing on any little boy. This gypsy romper is very stylish and the print is very trendy. It’s easy to wear and comfortable. Your little adorable champ will look very cute in this attire. It’s a must buy attire to style him like a fashionista.

Stripes & Ruffles Shirt Cute Baby Boy Romper

This is a very cute and stylish romper and the best part is, it comes with a cute cap. Your baby baby boy will look extremely cute and adorable in this attire. Strips are very much IN and ruffles look very charming, so this combo is going to make your baby  boy look very handsome and cute.

Stay fashionable with comfort !!

Some benefits of mirrors for babies :

• Helps baby to focus on movement, targets and can track images.
• Baby imitate and makes plethora of different facial expressions when standing in-front of the mirror which is a positive way to get introduce speech.
• Mirror give them the chance to get introduced with their face, features, expressions and functions.
• The best way to develop their sense of object perpetuation is playing peekaboo in front of the mirror.

Precautions to follow when playing mirror games with your baby :

• Always use unbreakable mirror.
• Properly analyze the loose ends and small parts that are attached to the baby’s toy mirror and immediately discard them to get saved from any misshapen.
• Inspect the cracks and chips in the mirror you use to play with your baby and replace it immediately.
• Give your baby full support while he is looking into the mirror and playing with expressions.
• Never leave your little one in unsure hands and always try to be with him when he wants to play mirror games.

It’s an era of technology which does not support the myth related to mirrors when it comes to babies. So, try to get over it and make your baby enjoy the mirror games. It will help in enhancing his cognitive skills and brain development. But you should always be more cautious and take every precautions before letting your baby play the mirror games. It’s safe and fun, therefore, enjoy your baby’s childhood without carrying the burden of myths. Let him grow with confidence and liberty.

Stay Safe and Enjoy With Your Baby !!

Comfort and color make a perfect combo in summers. Therefore we have created a set that will enhance the personality of your baby girl and will make her look super gorgeous. Let’s check it out:

Roses Are Red Peach Kids Dress in Cute Bow Pink Sandals and Lovable Pearl Polish Headband

This combo depicts the different shades your baby girl can try this summer. From peach to pink and all time favorite red, you will get these shades in this set. The gorgeous pink color dress with red rose print looks very refreshing and the fabric is hand picked just to make your little diva comfortable with style. The self-print is very IN these days and you will find charming self-print all over the dress. The subtle pink color is perfect to look super fashionable in summers and give a cool feel as well. The cute bow pink sandal is a perfect match with this dress. Pink and peach look awesome together, so it’s a very adorable and stylish combo to wear in any occasion – a birthday party or family get together. The cute bow is enhancing the charm of the sandals and the stylish design looks mesmerizing. Now what you need is a matchable headband with it, so here comes the gorgeous looking headband i.e lovable pearl polish headband. It has a very beautiful red color flower with pearl embellishment. The elasticated fit makes it comfortable and the color adds a bright element in the set. It’s a must try combo for your little baby girl.

We have created this combo to make your search for kids party dress easier and you don’t have to think about what to match with this gorgeous dress. Click and get every thing you want to style your girl under one roof.

Classic Cream Bloom Love Tutu Dress

A classic cream color tutu is what your baby girl need this summer for any occasion. Be it friends birthday party or family occasion or a wedding or even her own birthday. This dress will spread all the charm she has and will make her look like a princess. The flower appliques and crocheted bodice looks amazing. The tutu flare is so graceful that your baby girl will just love wearing it and will thank you for choosing this dress for her. You can match it up with a pearl embellished headband. For footwear we have come up with this baby pink flower kids sandal.

We all know that cream and pink color complements each other a lot and will very graceful. This baby pink color sandal looks very feminine and has cute flower appliques on it which makes it look more cute. The comfort and the look both are just awesome. The combination of cream color tutu dress and baby pink color sandal is going to enhance the look of your baby girl’s personality and will make her look more adorable. It’s surely a very good combination to wear and buy for your little diva.

You don’t have to search a lot for that one pretty dress and a perfect footwear to match with the dress. We have solved your problem and shown you the gorgeous tutu dress with very cute baby pink sandal. You just have to search for a pearl embellished headband and your baby girl is ready to rock the party. Explore baby girl tutu dress online and enjoy the feel of shopping a great dress for your girl.

Kids are very delicate and sensitive, therefore in summers every parent should think more deeply regarding their clothing. Irritation and suffocation from bad dark color clothes can degrade their energy and make them feel low. Colors and fabric plays a vital role when you are shopping clothes for your kids. We have compiled some white color dresses for baby girl that you can consider while shopping.

Style is not for big boys only, even new born and little dudes need to look extremely trendy and fashionable. These days styling and fashion has become very common when it comes to styling your little baby boy. Every mother has become very keen about latest clothing trends and trending colors available for little babies. You will get various options for baby boy clothes online and that too very stylish. We have compiled some options that you can consider while shopping for your little boy.

Superman Muscleman Baby Romper

Every little boy grow up watching superman and do admire him a lot. So, why not style him like his favorite super hero. It’s a romper with button opening at inseam which makes it an easy to wear attire. The cute print and comfortable fabric is what makes it a must buy attire for your little baby boy and style him like a superman.

I Love Cars Stripes T-Shirt

Every boy has a fascination towards cars, so why not buy a t-shirt that has car printed over it. This t-shirt has cute stripes and little cars printed on it. It looks very stylish and will make your baby boy look like a adorable star.

Brown Gray Checkered Baby Vest Coat Romper

If you like to style your baby boy like a handsome hunk then this romper is a perfect choice. The cute bow tie and baby vest coat looks very adorable and stylish. It’s a smart piece to buy for your little boy. Your little baby will look stylish and extremely handsome.

Gypsy Soul Cute Baby Romper

White is the color of summer and looks very soothing on any little boy. This gypsy romper is very stylish and the print is very trendy. It’s easy to wear and comfortable. Your little adorable champ will look very cute in this attire. It’s a must buy attire to style him like a fashionista.

Stripes & Ruffles Shirt Cute Baby Boy Romper

This is a very cute and stylish romper and the best part is, it comes with a cute cap. Your baby baby boy will look extremely cute and adorable in this attire. Strips are very much IN and ruffles look very charming, so this combo is going to make your baby  boy look very handsome and cute.

Be it his first birthday, you can style him with any of the above attire to make him look smart and stylish.

Superman Muscleman Baby Romper

Every little boy grow up watching superman and do admire him a lot. So, why not style him like his favorite super hero. It’s a romper with button opening at inseam which makes it an easy to wear attire. The cute print and comfortable fabric is what makes it a must buy attire for your little baby boy and style him like a superman.

I Love Cars Stripes T-Shirt

Every boy has a fascination towards cars, so why not buy a t-shirt that has car printed over it. This t-shirt has cute stripes and little cars printed on it. It looks very stylish and will make your baby boy look like a adorable star.

Brown Gray Checkered Baby Vest Coat Romper

If you like to style your baby boy like a handsome hunk then this romper is a perfect choice. The cute bow tie and baby vest coat looks very adorable and stylish. It’s a smart piece to buy for your little boy. Your little baby will look stylish and extremely handsome.

Gypsy Soul Cute Baby Romper

White is the color of summer and looks very soothing on any little boy. This gypsy romper is very stylish and the print is very trendy. It’s easy to wear and comfortable. Your little adorable champ will look very cute in this attire. It’s a must buy attire to style him like a fashionista.

Stripes & Ruffles Shirt Cute Baby Boy Romper

This is a very cute and stylish romper and the best part is, it comes with a cute cap. Your baby baby boy will look extremely cute and adorable in this attire. Strips are very much IN and ruffles look very charming, so this combo is going to make your baby  boy look very handsome and cute.

Be it his first birthday, you can style him with any of the above attire to make him look smart and stylish.

Personal style bloggers sometimes get a bad rap -- caricatured as pretty, brainless girls who dress up for their camera-wielding boyfriends and post their results to a WordPress blog. But over the past decade, these independent publishers have become a real force in the fashion industry -- not just snapping up front row seats at fashion shows, but landing major campaigns and collaborations with brands, becoming regular guests on TV shows like "Today" and "America's Next Top Model," and turning their blogs into multimillion-dollar businesses. Some have become household names.

Continuing in our annual-ish tradition, today we're releasing our 2015 ranking of the most influential personal style bloggers in the world. This list looks wildly different than it did in 2013. Here's why. For one, we excluded every blogger who has expanded her empire to the point that the blog is no longer only about her. (Leandra Medine, Garance Dore and Emily Weiss fall into this category.) We also chose to focus on those who write more about personal style than anything else. (That means leaving out lifestyle and photography bloggers.) We took more international bloggers into consideration, since the Internet is global and all. And we narrowed it down to blogs that cover womenswear more regularly than menswear. 

Why did we change it up? Because the role of #influencers is changing, and we felt like this list is a better representation of what's happening within a particular niche of celebrity. 

To determine the ranking, we considered:

• Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest followers, as well as website traffic. These numbers gave us a snapshot of how many people these bloggers are reaching every day. 
• Brand extensions. We gave props to bloggers who have used their influence to create original products. 
• It factor. We talked to industry insiders about whom advertisers are loving right now, and who is moving the most products via affiliate links. 
• Google News searches. Headline makers were rewarded for extending their reach beyond their own network. 

After crunching the numbers -- really, numbers were crunched, via Excel -- we were rewarded with this list: