Growing Tips GROWING THE HEALING HERB | GROWING THE HEALING HERB |
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This is the straightforward approach. It is very easy, but requires 3-5 months of privacy. Stick some super hybrid seeds in some soil or other planting medium (just covering seeds, pointed end down), give them moderate water, moderate fertilization, and lots of light for at least 18 hours a day. When at least 18 inches, give 12 hours light and 12 hours dark until flowers form. Weed out the males. Grow until buds' potency stops increasing, air-dry slowly, smoke. Get fucked up. For more information: I wrote a "grow guide". Then I reallized some things I was repeating and hadn't tried. Worst of all, it was dead boring. It was more entertaining to write in the first person about the very successful and fun-filled growing adventures of a fictitious character called "I" (possessive "my"). When I was a young teenager in the 70's a few addicts lay in faraway alleys, and all anybody else had was reefer. (Not like today, when it's easier to buy injurious, addictive, deadly drugs than to find a little mind-soothing pot. Thanks, idiot government, for replacing the good with the terrible (with the failed drug war). Baby pot plants grew out of cracks in the sidewalks, and the lawns in front of apartment buildings. Then, it was reefer in the bags people would show you, and they were nice, mellow people. (Not like the armed poison-pushers of today). My first high was a bag of Mexican. The first highs were always the best. A nickle of good Mexican filled a film case, but you could get Bo from Columbia, Hawaii or somewhere for ten. One day I got a quarter pound of Colombian gold, which was by far the best I had ever smoked. This is how my first growing attempt started. I planted a bunch of the gold seeds outside, and they came up. Too bad my Mom found the plants. But, to my great surprise, she suggested I grow them in my closet... so I did. I started with an incandescent grow bulb, and eventually added 4 fluorescent tubes. I made so many mistakes. Two plants survived, one male and one female. I knew you should kill the male for Sinse, but I couldn't bring myself to. The plants grew taller than I, and I grew and flowered them many, many months too long. I ended up with some sawdust-colored, dried out seed bracts that were brittle and easy to crumble. I was lucky they got stolen, so I didn't smoke much of it, because it was really bad shit, and had been terribly over-fertilized. The second attempt was much more successful. I saved the seeds separately from the ten best bags I smoked over 2 years. I grew them under fluorescent light. They produced myrriad long, thin flowers, with white hairs that turned to rusty brown. How beautiful they looked, alive and dried. The only mistake was flowering when they were too tall, over 5 feet when mature. I fussed with ropes and screw eyes and many banks of fluorescent bulbs, and used over 1000 watts of electricity, for a long, thin closet. I cloned plants and bred them. I gave plants from each bag ("strains") a different name. One of the better strains was a hermaphrodite. Sativa-sativa hybrid seeds were produced. The only problem was that the weed wasn't very good. It wasn't nearly as good as the bags I grew the seeds from. The buds all came out more fluffy than the original, and were not compact and potent. Decent, but not great. I tried different methods of drying and curing. Nothing helped at all, not even a desperate attempt using dark rum to dampen the buds then re-drying. I would ask people why. Every now and then, someone would say "you have to start with good seeds". Well, of course you do, but I was starting with seeds from the best shit going around, some really good shit. I brought to harvest a second crop, some of them the crosses between strains. The genetic differences were interesting, and my technique improved, so there was modest improvement in the yield and quality, but it was still disappointing. Then, a friend brought me to someone's house who had a few plants under a metal halide. He smoked some of it with us. It was incredible! Better than anything you could buy. He told me "you have to start with good seeds". This time I listened. I read grow magazines, and heard that a new strain, called skunk, was by far the best thing around. (not to 'spam', I hear there are many excellent strains now). I used a mail drop box under an inventive name. Back then, a commercial seed company in Holland, called the SSSC (now defunct), sold to the U. S. $70 for 10 seeds (ouch). All 10 seeds grew, under my fluorescent setup. The leaves were wider than what I had been growing. The plants were stockier, bushy, with lots of sturdy side-branches (they were partly indica). About half were female (under 12 hours of light). I saved the male that smelled the best, in a closet with a little light (you only need a little pollen). The females began oozing flowers like bullshit at a presidential debate. When the white hairs first started turning rusty brown, the skunk buds began to really smell. They had a pungent, deep, aromatic scent, which you could inhale through your nose with gusto. Puddles of sticky resin glands bristled on the bracts and even the bud leaves, like I'd never seen. The ten sativas had had a light coating of weak, white resin glands. I laughed with glee. I brushed some pollen on two lower branches of each female (while the hairs were still white). I cloned the male (named "B"), to preserve it, and the females. Those buds grew nuggets! Some as thick as paper towel rolls (after drying), and even longer "donkey-dicks". There was quite a difference in the buds on different plants. Some were like that, and others were smaller, tighter more ball-shaped, and a darker green. They were also more pungent. I ran two (expensive) air filters with charcoal, for peace. I watched as the buds expanded gracefully. When most of the hairs had turned rusty, it was time to harvest. The entire buds were coated all over with sticky resin glands. The smell, and the feel of the resin that dries on the fingers to a kind of crystal can't be described. Interestingly, the huge, "donkey-dick" buds were worlds above the old sativas. The smaller, round, dark green, more pungent skunk buds, were way above the "donkey-dick" skunks, in taste and in potency. I gave some to someone, who accused me of drugging the bud (that's how much THC there was). I never sold such a treasure, and when friends begged me to, I would only give it away (a few grams, for free). All this, with exactly the same technique that had produced below-average sativa. The only difference was the seeds I started with <--- !!! . Well, now I knew what I was doing! I had lots of seeds, labeled as to which female they were from, and a couple of clones from each. Very importantly, I knew which females had been the best. Two of the five had been equally superior ("A" and "D"). The next crop was grown from their seeds (crosses with male "B"), and I had their clones. A cross between the skunk "B" male, and the best sativa was also grown. It turned out, not surprisingly, to be half-way between the poor sativa and the excellent skunk in potency (still much better than the sativa). Surprisingly, it tasted terrible, and was brutally harsh, making you cough with one hit. This strain was not maintained. So, now I had a new crop, of two clones each of skunk females A and D, and plants from seeds, (A or D, crossed with male B). They were grown under fluorescents until 2 or 3 feet tall, with sturdy side branches. Many cuttings were taken from both clones of female A and female D. The top 3 inches of side-branches were cut off with a razor blade, any really large leaves were cut off the cuttings and chucked, and the stem dipped in liquid rooting hormone. Stems were stuck into damp growing medium (peat/perlite, or other), fertilized with high phosphate fertilizer (for root growth), and rooted under cool conditions with subdued lighting, under 18 hour days. In the meantime, a 400 Watt metal halide was purchased (with cash, using someone else's car). After rooting, plants were grown under the halide to about two feet, with side branches, in gallon jugs. The halide covered about 7 feet by 7 feet. With 400 Watts, the plants grew better than under fluorescents, using over 1000 watts, with few rope and pulley hassles. Near harvest, it was incredible! About 30 all-female skunk plants, each 3 feet tall, very bushy, the best skunks from the last crop, all decorated with dense buds like christmas tree ornaments, heavy with crystallized resin, and reeking to high heaven, except for the air filter. Almost the entire room was filled, with a canopy about chest height, with green. Nugget buds from base of stem to colas on the tops of each branch. The best in the world at that moment. And you know what? All that blissful, soothing bud, and only nice, mellow people around me. (No poison-pushing people packing pieces). THE GROW GUIDE: SEED STRAINS: Unless you know a grower with great seeds, buy from a seed company. Don't use seeds from a bag. Even excellent bags yield mediocre seed stock, almost invariably. Your closet or backyard doesn't provide the environment that South America provides a South American strain, or Africa provides an African strain. Buy an indica or indica/sativa hybrid strain because they are the most potent, and grow bushier, which is better than tall and spindly, especially for indoors. Your closet is perfect for an indoor strain perfected by a seedbank. SPROUTING THE SEEDS: Use water that has sat out at least a day, to remove chlorine. Put seeds between several layers of paper towels, and keep very moist, but not floating in water. Don't allow to dry. In from 2 days to 3 weeks, a white root primordium will come out of each viable seed. To prevent mold and bacteria, replace the paper towels and the water every few days until seeds sprout. As seeds sprout, plant them. (If mold develops before sprouting, plant the seeds and hope they grow anyway.) Click to See Seed Sprouting PLANTING SPROUTED SEEDS: In disposable plastic cups, make drainage holes, put a thin layer of gravel, then soil with perlite, or other growing medium. Put cups on trays or a plastic sheet, water thoroughly and allow water to absorb (overnight if necessary). Pack dirt down gently. Poke a narrow hole in the soil in the middle of each cup. Gently, plant one seed per cup, root primordium down, so the soil just covers the top of the seed. (Give the seeds love and harmony, and blow a few puffs of sacred herb over them, if the spirit moves you.) After planting, water again, careful not to stir up the seeds with the water. Do not allow bottoms of cups to sit in water. Initially, the soil may be very wet, but should be allowed to get almost dry, but not completely dry, between waterings. FERTILIZERS: If the growing medium isn't full of organic fertilizer, water with fertilizer. Miracle Grow is one of several complete fertilizers good for vegetative growth. Instead of feeding with full-strength fertilizer every few waterings (according to manufacturer's directions), feeding is more consistent if you water with 1/4 strength fertilizer every time you water. Besides important trace elements, fertilizers provide 3 major elements, nitrogen (N), potassium (K), and phosphorus (P). A high N:P ratio is good before the plants begin to flower. Switch to a lower N, high P fertilizer just before inducing flowering by shortening the daylight time (discussed later). BEGINNING GROWTH: As soon as each seed is planted, give it 19 hours of light, followed by 5 hours of dark, each day. Electrical timers are inexpensive. Light helps the seeds poke up out of the soil. Fluorescent tubes are good for starting plants. Use two 40 Watt tubes per line of cups. Keep tubes 3 inches from the soil, and from tops of plants as they grow. Standard fluorescent tubes work well. Incandescent bulbs work much more poorly, even incandescent "grow" bulbs, and should not be used. They are also less efficient, and generate more heat. Do not expose plants to light, even for a minute, during the dark cycle. VENTILATION AND HEAT: One or more fans should be run when the lights are on. This keeps the temperature down, replaces CO2 used by the plants, and strengthens the stems. If using a long closet, an exhaust fan, and a fan blowing air in, are good. VEGETATIVE GROWTH AND LIGHTING: Two round leaves first appear, on the end of a white stem one to four inches tall. Next, two spearhead-shaped leaves, and then, several days later, clusters of leaves start growing. When the plants reach about 8 inches tall, do one of two things. Either add side-lighting with fluorescent tubes, or switch to high emission (HID) lighting: metal halide or HPS (high pressure sodium). Plants will produce very well and highly potent under fluorescents, but you will need huge banks of lights, on the top and the sides, which burn a lot of electricity. Maybe 1,200 watts for a small closet. Fluorescents also need constant adjustments to stay the best distance from plants, and require several screw eyes in the ceiling. The only reason to use fluorescents is if you have a space that is too small for high emission lighting, or you only want very few plants. High emission lights, on the other hand are perfect. You can install one 400 Watt light with reflector with one screw eye, and it can bring to harvest at least 8 feet by 8 feet of space. You can grow many more plants, also highly potent. You only have one light to raise periodically. The wavelengths of light are great for the plants, it generates less heat, and uses a fraction of the energy. All for something like $250. I've heard that using 1000 Watts and more works better, but 400 works excellently. However, you can't use even 400 watts in a very small space, say a 3 X 3 -foot closet, because the heat and light are too much.) Plants in Vegetative Growth. TRANSPLANTING: By the time the plants are about 6 inches tall, the roots will start crowding in the cups. Time to transplant into a larger (1 or 2 gallon) container. One-gallon milk or water jugs with their tops cut off work great, and so do pots, or boxes lined with heavy duty garbage bags (but boxes can't have drainage holes). Again, use drainage holes (except for boxes), a thin layer of gravel, and then fill with a growing medium. Keep watering, with 1/4 strength fertilizer, if being used, under 19 hour days. Plants will put out side branches. Do not prune (pinch off) the plants. It is time to induce flowering when the side branches are rugged and well- developed (when side-branch stems are getting sturdy, and may be about 6 to 18 inches). Plants that are 2 1/2 feet tall are quite tall enough to flower. Even shorter, if sturdy and bushy, and you have a lot of plants. Many such plants are better than a few really tall plants. 5 or 6-foot plants inside are not the most efficient way to grow (although they certainly produce). One problem with hand-watering is you have to do it no less often than every 3 days, sometimes daily. If I do it again, I would look into automatic watering systems, or hydroponics. FLOWERING: To flower, do 2 things: About a week before you intend to flower the plants, switch to a lower nitrogen, high phosphate (P) fertilizer, and continue using it until flowering is almost completed. More importantly, flowering is induced by suddenly giving the plants 10 hours of light and 14 hours of complete, un-interrupted darkness for 2 or 3 days, and then maintaining them at 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness until they are ready to harvest. Interrupting the dark for even a minute confuses the plants to think they have short nights (long days), and can weaken the flowering process if done too often. GENDER IDENTITY CRISIS: As soon as the sex of your plants is apparent, kill the males. If you want a few seeds, put a couple of the best-smelling males in a separate grow-room with a closed door, for producing pollen. You can brush some pollen onto a female flower on some of your females later, for seeds. Seeded female flowers produce lots of seeds instead of lots of THC. If you see a few white "hairs" (pistils), at the nodes of the plants, these are females. Pistils are maybe 1/4 inch long, and fairly thin. You may only see 2 at a node, at first. If you see anything like a ball on a stalk, these are males. Don't mistake it for a seed. Male flowers are green or yellow. They start out closed, and when they open, are sort of star-shaped and release yellow pollen. Too late. Kill the sphere producers. The white hair producers are your "ladies". Click to See Images of Male and Female Flowers COMPLETION OF FLOWERING: Depending on strain and environment, flowering can take between 6 and 12 weeks from flower induction to mature, potent buds. Just maintain plants under 12 hour days, watering as usual with high phosphorous fertilizer. During the last 1 or 2 weeks of flowering, stop fertilizing, and use only water. This assures that the plants are healthy for you to smoke, and don't have excess chemical fertilizer in them. So, you need to know when the buds are ready to harvest. After doing it once, you can guess when they are 1 or 2 weeks until harvest. Buds are ready when about 80% of the hairs (pistils) have turned brown or orange or red, and about 20% are white. This is not an exact science. Trichomes (resin glands) form a coating on parts of the small leaves of the buds, and on the calyxes (empty seed sacks), from which the pistils grow. The resin glands are very tiny compared to the 1/4 inch pistils. Resin glands might appear as a thin coating or sheen on small bud leaves and calyxes, unless you use a magnifying glass. Magnified, they have a bulb at the end of a stalk, and are clear on young buds, but darker on more mature buds. Pistils are pretty, but aren't where the THC is at. I smoked a bowl, and didn't even get a buzz. Use your nose, your sense of touch, smoke a little dried bud. You are the connoisseur. Judge when the bud is ready. When the buds are no longer getting more and more smelly, more and more sticky, or more and more potent, they are ready to be harvested right away. The resin glands start darkening as the bud matures. They might turn a brownish yellow, or an amber color as the bud matures. Don't let the buds get too mature, or they begin to lose potency. Don't harvest buds with many white pistils, or that are still improving, because they, too, won't be as kick-ass. Deprive the plants of water a couple of days before harvesting. Timing is the trick to harvesting. Just cut the buds off the plants while they are still in the pots, and then cut off any big leaves. This is much more easily done before the buds dry. Throw away the really big leaves that aren't part of the bud. They are no good. Cut off and save the medium leaves that were on or near the bud.Awesome Pictures of Harvest CURING: There is nothing to curing. Rumors like heating in the oven, dipping in rum, etc., just make it worse. The manicured buds should be dried at warm room temperature, avoiding high heat and intense light. Try not to touch the buds, only their stems. Hanging the buds from string by the bud stem, with clips or masking tape, works well. Hang them until absolutely, completely dry, several days. Some say the taste improves after a few weeks storage, sealed in a cool, dark place "curing", but I don't notice a difference. If the seeds were good, and the bud was excellent on the plant at harvest, the dried bud will be excellent. If seeds or buds were so-so, no trick of "curing" will improve the taste or potency. Storing bud in glass jars is good. Plastic bags are O.K., but the resin glands stick to the plastic more. If it's your first harvest, and you got those hybrid or indica seeds at a seed bank or from your grower friend, you will probably be stoned in awe and disbelief at the potency of some of the best bud in the world. CLONING (TAKING CUTTINGS): There is a lot of complicated hype about it. It's so easy a baboon can do it. Cloning of heavily flowering plants doesn't work well. Do it as soon as you know the sex. Even better is to clone plants before they flower, but then you also waste space cloning males, but that's not a big problem. You can also set a female back into 18 hour days until she stops flowering, and then clone her, but this is very time consuming. I've heard it can produce weaker clones, but my clones from re-vegged plants seem as good as my other clones. If you have, say, 10 plants from seed, you can take lots of clones from each, then flower the plants from which you took the cuttings, and you'll know which clones are which sex. You can also wait until the clones are established, and flower one clone from each plant, to find out the sex of the large plants and their clones. Or, just flower them all at once and kill the males. Only, you will have to adjust the lighting for large and small plants, which will be finished at different times. I once tried rooting in aerated 1/4 strength nutrient solution, with no support medium, and it worked, but clones looked sickly and had to recover, and too many died. The technique described below works much better, and is easier. Make cups, just like for growing sprouted seeds, but use very well-draining, well-aerated growing medium (extra pearlite helps). Nitrogen is good, and some potassium, but extra phosphorus helps with root formation. A normal, balanced fertilizer will work, though. Poke deeper holes in the soil. Set up fluorescent lights for an 18 hour day (in a separate room from your flowering plants). Hold the part of the branch you will cut under water while cutting, and keep the cut stem of the clone under water. Using a new razor blade, cut off the growth tip of a lower side branch of a female (about the end 3 1/2 inches of the branch), at a 45 degree angle (slanted cut). Cut off any leaves on the 1 inch closest to the cut, and any very large leaf clusters, and dip the bottom 1 inch of the stem in rooting hormone (liquid or gel work well, but powder such as Rootone works too), and put the stem of the cutting into the hole in the soil in the cup. Press the dirt in around the stem. Put the cutting under 18 hours of somewhat subdued light per day, mist lightly, and water normally. Cuttings should take with almost 100% success rate. Cuttings will be the same sex as the plant they were taken from. Grow and flower as if from seeds, only you have all females if you cloned from females. Cloning is a great tool for breeding the best plants, too. What's more, a few female clones in a secluded spot outside in early summer, and you don't have to weed males, just come back in autumn. Oh, and don't forget to smoke it only with nice, mellow people. |
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