Marijuana
Cannabis Growing Guide Part 1
A Marijuana Garden At Home
Table of contents
[Overview] [Genetics And The Marijuana Plant] [Germination] [Growth Stage] [Flowering Stage] [Grow Lights] [Male And Female Plants] [Sinsemilla] [Growing With Hydroponics] [Soil Growing Indoors] [Shelf Growing With Soil Indoors] [Soil Growing Indoors And Outdoors] [Growing Outdoors] [Guerrilla Growing] [Harvesting] [Storage] [Security] [Odors] [Pests] [Nutrients] [Foliar Feeding] [pH] [Carbon Dioxide] [Temperature] [Venting] [Transplanting] [Pruning] [Cloning] [Breeding] Overview
Rather than relying on this old guide, look at newer marijuana growing guides. If you want to grow indoors or outdoors with soil, check out this. If you want to grow indoors with hydroponics, check out this.
There are few things in life as good as growing your own marijuana, grown by yourself at home out in the garden or indoors with soil or hydroponically. Oregano, Dill, Basil, Sage and other herbs are all easy to grow.
Mint will take over the whole yard if you let it. Fresh mint is incredible in salads and oriental dishes. But it all comes down to a truly motivational herb that is your friend and mine, a great healer and teacher to those that know it well.
Most people think of gardens as a seasonal, yearly project, but it's actually less time consuming and more rewarding to keep the garden going year round. If one were to attempt to grow year round, indoor gardening techniques will be needed at least during winter to keep the garden producing.
You will have fresh marijuana at all times, there is no worry of mass storage thru the winter and spring, it requires less space, and once established, requires only minimal attention every week to keep it producing at optimal levels.
The best part of being a gardener is it connects you to the earth. It connects you with nature, and is spiritually enriching. Try giving your plants energy by beaming good thoughts and energy at them every time you visit them. I find this helps me as much as it helps them (my plants seem to respond to it favorably).
Genetics And The Marijuana Plant
It's very important to start with good genetics. You should attempt to find seeds that are well known. In the past In the past I have ordered from dutch seedbanks. Unfortunately some people (like myself and other growers) are paying for seeds and not getting them. At the present time, instead of ordering from holland (the netherlands, amsterdam, etcetera), it is safest to buy marijuana seeds through a seedbank that ships from Canada, especially if you are ordering from the United States or Canada.
When growing indoors with soil or hydroponically, a mainly indica strain that is easy to grow will have good characteristics for growth (indica plants are easiest for beginners to grow). Sativa strains are hard to grow indoors due to high light requirements, long maturation time, and the tall height of the plants.
The indica plant is easily recognized by its extremely broad leaves that are very rounded on the sides. The sativa has very narrow, finger-like leaves. A indica/sativa mix will have qualities of both and have leaves that are a cross of these two types, thinner than an indica, but much broader than a sativa.
An outdoor grower in a cool climate should select a strain that matures quickly. They mature quickly, produce a large yield, and don't grow too tall. Overall they are very good strains for growing outdoors in an area where the temperature will drop to freezing in or prior to november.
This includes many parts of the northern hemisphere including the USA and Canada. In fact, strains that mature quickly should be used to grow marijuana outdoors anywhere there is a winter where temperatures fall below 40 degrees, freezing weather will destroy a crop.
If, after harvesting a crop or two you notice there is still time left for plants to grow, you can get a strain that takes longer to grow for next years crop.
Germination
Germination is the first stage of life for the marijuana. A seed is provided with moisture and kept in the dark until it sprouts a root (usually within a week). Follow the directions located here.
If you are growing with soil, 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. Plants will suffer if continuously transplanted and this will delay harvesting.
Growth Stage
After the seeds have been germinated and sprout a root, they pass into the seedling stage. This is the stage when the plant establishes its root system. Once the root system has established itself (usually 1-2 weeks), the plant will really start to grow.
This means the plant will photosynthesize 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 plant, and every major branch.
All plants have a vegetative stage where they are growing as fast as possible after the plant first germinates from seed. It is possible to grow plants with no dark period (24 hours of light per day), and increase the speed at which they grow by 15-30%.
Plants can be grown vegetatively indefinitely. It is up to the gardener to decide when to force the plant to flower. A plant grown under artificial light should be forced to flower when it is somewhere between 8-30 inches tall.
The larger the wattage of the light, the taller a plant can grow before flowering. With a 250 watt light, start flowering when the plants are about 8-10 inches tall. 400 watts at 10-14 inches, 600 watts at 16-18 inches, 1000 watts at 24-30 inches.
When growing indoors, keep lights on at least 18 hours a day until the plants are ready to flower. If using fluorescent lighting, keep the light on 24 hours a day unless you need to turn it off for a few hours a day.
When using metal halide and/or high pressure sodium lights during the pre-flowering stages of growth, 18-20 hours of light per day is a good idea to reduce electricity costs (they use a lot more power than fluorescent lights). If the amount of electricity is of no concern, you can run the light for 24 hours a day to get the maximum growth possible.
Weak stems can not support the heavy flowering weight that the plants will. An oscillating fan will reduce humidity, circulate air, and improve the stem strength (the breeze strengthens them). The importance of internal air circulation can not be stressed enough. It will exercise the plants and make them grow stronger, while reducing many hazards that could ruin your crop.
Flowering Stage
When grown outdoors nature takes care of the flowering stage. When grown indoors, if the marijuana plants you grow get 18-24 hours of light per 24 hour period, they can be forced to flower (called flower forcing) by reducing the amount of light they get down to 11-13 hours a day. This simulates an oncoming winter in the fall as the days grow shorter.
As a consequence, it is a good idea to have two separate growing areas. One grow area is used strictly for the initial seedling and vegetative phases. It is lit with inexpensive fluorescent lighting that is turned on for 20-24 hours a day.
The second grow area is used strictly for flowering the plants. The flowering area would use metal halide and/or high pressure sodium lighting turned on 11-13 hours a day (12 hours on and 12 hours off is most often used for flowering).
There is no other requirement other than to make sure no light reaches the plants during the dark period. Any light at this time will delay flowering by days or weeks.
If you are growing outdoors in a greenhouse, the same effect can be created in the summer (when the days are long) by covering the top with a blanket to make longer night periods. A strict schedule of covering the plants at 8pm and uncovering them at 8am for 2 weeks will start your plants to flowering.
After the first 2 weeks, the schedule can be relaxed a little, but it will still be necessary to continue this routine for the plants to completely flower without reverting back to vegetative growth.
You can start plants indoors and flower them outside. During the spring and fall, the nights are sufficiently long to induce flowering at all times. Merely bring the plants from indoors to outdoors at these times, and the 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 flowering the plant indoors, 12 hours light and 12 hours dark is the standard lighting cycle during the flowering phase. However, 13 hours light and 11 hours dark will increase flower size (larger yield) while still allowing the plant to flower. But this will lengthen the time needed to harvest the crop.
An extended period of darkness can also be substituted for the standard 12-12 cycle. 11 hours light and 13 hours dark will reduce the time needed for the crop to mature and harvest, but it will also reduce the size of the crop.
A light proof 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 plants. This curtain can be tied with cord when rolled up to work on the garden, velcro can be used to hold it in place so 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.
I 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 plant that react to light. If you must work on the 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.
The schedule of the light cycle should coincide with your daily routine. It is best to keep the dark hours to a time when you would normally not wish to visit the garden. This is so you don't disturb the dark period.
Personally, I like my garden lit from 7pm to 7am. This allows me to visit the garden at night after work and in the morning before work. During the day (when the light is off) I'm at work and it lies unlit and undisturbed, flowering away producing THC.
If you spray your plants, keep it to a minimum during flowering. This will reduce the chances of developing mold and rot. Keep humidity levels down indoors when flowering, as this is the most delicate time for the plants in this regard.
Never spray when metal halide or high pressure sodium lights are on. One drop of water can cause a light to explode, if brought in to contact with the light while it is on (cleaning a light with water and a soft cloth is ok when the light is off but allow it to dry completely before turning it on).
When flowering indoors, flowering is noticed 1-2 weeks after reducing the amount of light to force flowering. Outdoors plants will start to flower when the length of daylight hours have dropped to low enough level (in late summer or early fall).
If all the plants are the same marijuana strain, male plants will probably start to mature before female plants. You need to identify male plants and remove them from the garden before they mature.
Otherwise the male plants will release pollen and fertilize the female plants. Once fertilized, the female plants will expend some of their energy producing seeds, rather than THC (not recommended because this decreases the potency of the marijuana).
3-6 weeks after flowering has started, your female plants will be covered with these white pistils emerging from every grow tip on the plant. It will literally be covered with them. These are the mature flowers, as they continue to grow and cover the plant.
At the point when you think there are enough flowers to provide a reasonable amount of marijuana, you can:
1) --- reduce the light to being turned on for only 8-10 hours per day. The plant will start to mature very quickly, and should be ready to harvest in 2-3 weeks.
2) --- let the plants remain on a 12-12 light schedule for the entire flowering process. This will increase the yield, but it takes the plants a bit longer to harvest (than it would if you turned the lights down to being turned on for only 8-10 hours per day).
3) --- if you grew the plant in a container with soil, you can bring the plant outside and mature with whatever natural day light is available outside.
After 6 weeks of flowering (when the plant is in full bloom) plants can be flowered in the final stages outdoors even if the days are too long for normal flowering to occur.
Once the plant has almost reached peak floral development, it is too far gone to revert quickly to vegetative growth, and final flowering will occur regardless. If needed, 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 remove the males, right?) to swell with resins. When most of the pistils have turned color, 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.
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Books Grow Great Marijuana:
An Uncomplicated Guide to
Growing the World's Finest Cannabis
If you find instructions and books about growing hydroponic marijuana overly technical and hard to follow, this book is a very good choice for simple and accurate instructions. It does not cover advanced techniques so if you already know how to grow, this book would be of little value. But if you are a first time grower with no experience, this is the first book to look at.
It will explain the steps involved from start to finish (with text and images). Includes information on where to grow, type of hydroponic system to use, selecting a seed strain, lighting, fans, nutrients, security, clones, vegetative growth, flowering, harvesting, stress, pests, and more. Recommended for beginners only, this will show you everything you need to raise a hydroponic marijuana crop.
Grow Great Marijuana Marijuana Horticulture:
The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible
Over 500 pages with more than 1000 color images. If you were only going to get one book about growing, this book would be the best choice. Describes growing marijuana outdoors and indoors (with hydroponics or soil).
Also provides information that you can refer back to when things go wrong. A very comprehensive reference book for anyone interested in growing marijuana, either indoors or outdoors. Recommended for beginners and more advanced growers.
Marijuana Horticulture The Cannabis Grow Bible:
The Definitive Guide to Growing Marijuana
for Recreational and Medical Use
A very good source of information covering all aspects of growing, from seed selection to harvest, curing and more. Over 300 pages with almost 200 color and black-and-white photographs, charts, and tables. Recommended reference book for indoor and outdoor growers.
A great marijuana growing and breeding guide. Includes chapters on seeds, propagation and germination, growing indoors, growing outdoors, hydroponics, pre-flowering and flowering, predators, pests and plant fungi, breeding, and more.
The Cannabis Grow Bible
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