Marijuana
How To Grow Marijuana Indoors With Soil
By Dr. Clone
Disclaimer: The author does not condone any illegal activity. Don't grow in a country where it is illegal to do so. This is one method of growing marijuana indoors. It is based on growing indoors with soil using fluorescent lighting during the first stages of growth and metal halide lighting for flowering.
I've written this with the assumption that the reader has a basic understanding of marijuana growing. Absolute beginners will need to supplement the information here with other grow guides or books.
Even if you already have an understanding of how to grow, it is suggested you read other marijuana growing guides to get alternate views of how to grow. These methods work for me, but you may wish to alter some of the methods presented to suit your particular needs.
So you've decided to grow pot, but you don't have the money to buy several 1,000 watt halide lamps, and, unless you steal power (not a good idea, legal wise) four 1,000 watt metal halide lights will cost a few hundred dollars every two months in most areas. That's a bit unwise, if your previous electric bill was $50 for two months.
Then there is the large problem of massive amounts of heat, humidity and smell. And you might be concerned with all this equipment and activity and its association with a legal problem.
Even if growing small amounts of marijuana for medical or personal use is legal, growing marijuana on a large scale will probably be considered manufacturing or cultivating with the intent to distribute.
A simple way to solve this dilemma is to use one or two 400 watt metal halide fixtures instead of 1,000 watt metal halide fixtures. Some growers will tell you that this is way too little or you won't get anything worth while out of that wattage.
I say hogwash to them. A 400 watt bulb will not give as much light as a 1,000 watt set-up, but the bulbs are cooler, last 2 to 3 times longer, and the color spectrum is the same as a 1,000 watt.
Let's start with your house. If your landlord lives upstairs, don't do it. If the landlord visits unannounced, don't do it. A bedroom with a closet works best. The closet should be a minimum 50 inches wide for 4-foot fluorescent fixtures. This will be your vegetative clone room.
Keep this room open while the metal halide(s) are turned on. With a 400 watt lighting system, you will not need to rewire your house unless you live in a very old house with fuses.
Your Grow Room
White plastic is to be used in both the closet and the walls surrounding the plants in your metal halide grow area. Since you want to contain as much light from the halide(s) as possible, it will be necessary to put a corner post where two walls (that do not now exist) will meet (so you can hang white plastic to reflect light back to the plants).
In your veg/clone closet, hang 1 or 2 fluorescent fixtures above where the plants will be growing. The light(s) should be about 3-8 inches above the top of the plants. 3-5 inches is best but you may have to raise the height of the fixture so all plants get an equal amount of light.
Soil & Pots
I prefer one gallon nursery pots (containers to grow plants in). For a good soil less mix, I use 50% peat, 50% perlite. To the dry mix add one tablespoon of fine dolomite lime and three tablespoons of bat guano per cubic foot of soil.
Mix the soil, lime, and guano well (use a dust mask). When ready, put the soil in the containers the plants will grow in and lightly water. You want the soil to be slightly damp, not soaking.
Growing Marijuana
If you have no source for clones or seeds, talk to someone you know who grows. They might either be able to supply you with seeds or tell you where to get some.
If you have seeds, germinate them. When the roots are 1/4 inch long, place them (root down) in your soil and cover with about 1/4 inch of soil. If you are starting with clones, place them in your soil containers (one per container) and let them remain in darkness for 8 hours.
When ready, place the seeds or clones under fluorescent light (on for 18 hours per 24 hour period) until they are 6-8 inches tall. After they reach that height, transfer them to the metal halide bulb area, two feet (or more) from bulb. Set the light timer to turn the metal halide on for 18 hours per 24 hour period.
In a few weeks (under metal halide) the plants will be anywhere from 10-36 inches tall, depending on the strain and sex. At this point (before flowering), take two clones off of each plant (long, lower branches are best.)
You won't need a fan in the closet with fluorescent light. But a fan in the doorway will force hot air out of the grow area (an ugly box fan works fine). You will also need an oscillating fan in the halide bulb grow area, blowing at the bulb and providing a slight breeze for the plants.
Watering
Marijuana prefers a dry medium. Always. Don't keep plants saturated. Empty trays after watering, to keep humidity low. Low humidity will promote shorter, bushier plants. Water temperature should be about 70 degrees F. pH factor will not be a problem if you have used fine dolomite lime.
Never use hot tap water. It will kill your plants. Fill a pail with water and let it age for at least 3 days prior to using it to water your plants. Get fertilizer from a garden supply center. You should get fertilizer for both the growing (vegetative) stage and the flowering (budding) stage.
For the first few feedings, fertilizer should be applied at half strength of what is recommended on jar or container. When the plants have established a solid root system and really start growing, give them full strength feedings.
Flowering
You can flower 6 large plants (about 2 foot tall at the start of the 12-12 cycle), but the 2 foot tall plant will not flower as profusely as a one foot tall plant, nor will light reach all parts of the plant.
I like to flower the plants when they are about one foot tall. This will allow you to flower 12 plants per 400 watt bulb. If you want to, you can flower 6 large plants in the same space with a 400 watt bulb, instead of 12 smaller plants.
To start flowering, you set the timer on the metal halide light to turn on for 12 hours per 24 hour period (12 hours on, 12 hours off). Plants must have complete darkness during the 12 hours when the light is off.
Place 6 marijuana plants on tomato juice cans, coffee cans, etc., in a circle around the bulb. There will be large spaces below the plants on the cans for the other 6 to sit in. A 400 watt bulb should be a minimum of two foot away from the plants.
If the parts of the plants closest to the light start to dry out, the plants are probably too close so you will need to raise the height of the light. If you have started from clones you can skip the next part as the clones you obtained were female.
Just keep the plants in the 12-12 cycle til you are ready to harvest them. But if you have grown from seed, you will have to separate the male plants from the female plants before the male plants flower.
If you have started from seeds, when they flower, the male plants will produce pollen that will fertilize the females and cause them to produce seeds. The production of seeds reduces the production of THC. There is approximately a 50% chance a seed will be either male or female.
Assuming all the seeds are of the same strain, the male plants will probably mature before the females. The male plant will have small oval pollen sacks that the female lacks. Once you see these sacks, remove the male plants from your garden unless you want to produce seeds.
Male plants from some marijuana strains may be potent, while other strains are worthless for smoking purposes. If you remove male plants from your garden, try cutting 6-10 inches off the top of the plant. Dry it and try smoking, sometimes it's worth the effort.
At harvest time, each female plant will yield around 1/2 to 3/4 of an ounce of buds per 400 watt metal halide bulb. With most varieties, if you grew 6-12 plants at a time, you should be able to harvest a minimum of 3-4 ounces every 90-120 days (depending on the marijuana strain).
If you have an exceptional marijuana strain (like big bud for example), it is possible to harvest up to 7-8 ounces of marijuana per 400 watt metal halide bulb (using the methods described above).
When To Harvest
The question of when to harvest tenderly cared-for plants is a question that puzzles many new growers. Most farmers' goal is to pluck the fruit at the exact moment when the potency of the bud is at is peak.
Realistically, the skills needed to detect the specific day (or even hour) when a plant is at its peak can only be acquired through years of experience. However, even the novice grower should be able detect the window of time during which the harvest results in premier crop of outstanding bud.
0) Maturity and THC
Although some growers are interested in fiber content, most people consider the plant to be mature when the percentage of THC found in the plant reaches its maximum. It is not practical for the average grower to actually measure THC in a plant, as the chemistry is somewhat complex.
In a growing plant, each successive pair of leaves contains more THC than the previous pair. The budding tips of the plant contain the most THC of all. Both male and female plants contain THC. In fact, some research has shown that in the early stages of growth the males actually contain more THC than the females. From The Marijuana Growers Guide.
Even connoisseurs believe it is worth cutting and sampling shoots before the THC has reached its maximum. Clarke suggests that the best test for pot is to roll joints of several different strains, invite all your friends over, and see which pile of joints disappears first. From Marijuana Botany.
1) Plant Size The size of the plant has little to do with its maturity. Outdoors, a plant might reach a height of over eight feet (2.5m) and still not be ready for harvest. Indoors, mature, budding plants can be under 18 inches (.5m) tall.
2) Photoperiod - The Key to Maturation
The chronological age of the plant has little to do with its maturity. How quickly a plant matures is mostly dependent on the amount of light the plant receives each day (photoperiod). Typically, a plant will transition from the growing (vegetative) stage to the flowering (budding) stage when the light per day drops below 12 hours.
This is not to say that a 3 week old seedling will begin to bloom when the light is cut. As a general rule, a plant must be a minimum of 40 days old before it is mature enough to respond appropriately to decreased light.
For indoor growers, the decision on when to cut the photoperiod depends on available growing space, as well as the need to harvest weed. Some growers report that clones (cuttings) can be forced to bloom prior to 40 days old, perhaps since the cutting itself is somewhat mature at the time it is rooted.
3) Male Versus Female
Almost always, male flowers will show prior to female buds. Thus, once the males in the garden are detected, you can be sure that the female budding process will start soon, usually within 1-2 weeks.
4) Different Varieties
Many gardeners report that certain cannabis varieties take longer to mature than others. In particular, the narrow-leafed sativas take significantly longer to initiate and complete budding, as compared to the wide-leafed indicas. Under some conditions, sativas will require an additional month or more to mature after the Indicas have been harvested.
5) Time of Year
Obviously, indoor growers cannot use the seasons as a guide to harvesting (though a cold winter time grow room can significantly retard the growth of the plants). Outdoor growers on the other hand can use the seasons as a predictor of the ideal harvest time.
Outdoors, in the fall (once the length of day drops below 12 hours) the count-down to harvest will be begin. Weather conditions will affect the exact harvest day from year to year, but generally you can expect to harvest within the same two week window each year. If you can avoid it, don't harvest during or immediately after a rainy spell.
6) Monitoring Buds
The best way to tell if the plant is ready is to examine the bud. In the paragraphs below, the terms pistil and stigma refer to the white hairs in the center of the female bud. The term calyx refers to the pod that would surround the seed (were the plant to be fertilized). Many growers elect to pick each bud individually, as it reaches it prime.
Buds are at their peak potency about one week after flower formation slows...Harvest the plants when about half the stigmas in the buds have withered... When the plants are left in the ground, the resinous qualities of the plant may become more apparent. The bracts and tiny leaves may swell in size...The resin content of these buds may be higher, [but] the grass will smoke more harshly than if the buds were younger when picked.
From The Marijuana Growers Guide.
In the primordial calyxes the pistils have turned brown; however, all but the oldest of the flowers are fertile and the floral clusters are white...Many cultivators prefer to pick some of their strains during this stage in order to produce marijuana with a clear cerebral, psychoactive effect.
From Marijuana Botany.
Eventually the pistils start to turn color from pale white to red or brown...When the glands have swelled and the pistil has receded into the false pod, the bud is ready to pick.
From Closet Cultivator
At the peak of florescence, all but the oldest of flowers have white pistil development...Another indicator is bouquet. When a plant is at the peak of florescence, it has a sweet and musky fragrance. Later, it loses the sweetness.
From Sinsemilla Technique
The best way to harvest is to examine the resin glands on each bud. As they turn from clear to amber, that is the optimum time to pick. Buds usually mature from the top down, if grown under artificial light, and you will end up with more high quality pot if you pick each bud when ready. However, the plant will not just continue to produces buds at the same rate.
Like any other plant, the flowering cycle lasts a specific period of time. If you wanted a further harvest of buds, the plant would need a second cycle of vegetative growth. This can be achieved indoors by simply turning the lights back up to a 24 hours on, 0 hours off cycle for a few weeks. Outdoors though, you are dependent on the seasons. Frost and long nights will usually kill the plant.
Of course, such a strategy is only viable if growing a few plants. If your operation runs on an industrial scale, just drive the combine harvester through the field. (alt.hemp posting)
Books 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
Marijuana Related Books About Growing Marijuana More Marijuana Articles Various Marijuana Links