-==GROW FAQ SUBMISSIONS==-

[00420]

How do I tie down my outdoor plant?

How do I tie down my outdoor plant?

Contributed by: tOkE_tHe_DoPe

Benefits of tying down:
* Increases yield
* Security
* Promotes branching (increases bud sites)
* More sun coverage

All these are positive attributes. Which in the long run, will distribute light to your plant/plants evenly (Instead of one side receiving morning light, and the other receiving the afternoon light).

You can start tying down whenever you want. But preferably when the plant starts to produce branches. Tying down now will enhance branching. Why? The sun can easily penetrate the canopy, which will distribute light equally.

When your plant is ready to be tied down:

week 1: Start off lightly

Tie string or fish line approximately 1/3rd down from the top. Tie the other end of the line to an obstacle on the ground, making sure your plant isn’t straining

5 days later: Inspect growth

By now if your plant has received quality amounts of light, you will notice your leaves facing upwards (reaching for the sun). Your plants will try to receive as much sunlight as possible. Obviously it would have grown a certain amount as well; this is why you will need to attach more line to the middle of your plant, tying the rope down more than you did previously.

Several weeks later

Keep tying your plant down as necessary until branches start to pierce the canopy. Leave these branches to grow.

When branches start to flower, you will have to be cautious. Branches that get too long will not be able to support the heavy bud it is producing. This is when you will have to start tying the branches either down, or pulling them up, depending on the circumstances.

Suggestions:

* Make sure you determine if your plant is female before you commence tying down!

* Figure out where the sun is casting its shadows before commencing. Remembering to tie down in the direction the sun is mostly cast upon through out the day.



first day, behind first day, front behind (1 week after)


1st plant (1 week after) bud sites showing (2 weeks later) front (week 6)


Comments by: ixnay007

Tying down has about the same effect as topping, although with much less stress on the plant. That said, tying down can be done during early flowering, but if you can you might want to do most of your tying during veg, and when you get to flowering, you can do some minor adjustments.

When you tie down, the growth hormones are relocated to lower branches, so you probably don't want to be doing too much to change the plant's focus during flowering. That said, I don't think it's going to change all that much, but in general, trying to keep your plants as unstressed as possible is always good.

 

[Guest]

What are common mistakes made by first time growers?

First time growers frequently:

Overwater their medium based plants. When you pot your plant, judge its weight dry by hefting. Then, water the plant thoroughly, until water runs through the drain holes. Heft it again. When your pot feels as nearly as light as it did dry, its time to water again.
Overfeed their plants. As MrSoul says, beginners rarely under do anything. When all else fails, follow the directions on the fertilizer bottle.
Overanalyze their grow. A first grow is like a first born child: you pay attention to every little thing that happens. Further, you worry at the first sign something may be wrong. Pay attention to what happens in your grow, but do not try and find a remedy for every yellow leaf. Frequently, the remedy-like flushing your medium-causes more problems than it solves. Be responsive when things go wrong, but be conservative in your remedies.
Overspend on grow supplies. New growers frequently commit themselves to unrealistic and expensive first grows. It is much more efficient to learn to grow and then invest in high end equipment rather than the other way around. Most experienced growers don't have room for all of the grow paraphernalia they aren't using. As you will see throughout this FAQ: K-I-S-S.
Overpost. Try the search engine first. Chances are good that any question you can think of has been asked and answered before.
Talk about their grow. Don't tell anybody that does not have to know. How can you expect anybody else to keep a secret that you cannot.

Part 2: Contributed by: BushGrower

1. Don't Overwater Overwatering kills marijuana plants. Water once the top few inches of the soil dries out. Hydroponics is harder to over water than soil, due to the abundance of water roots.
2. Don't Tell People Why? They will only be jealous. People love to feel important and that is why they will tell other people; because others will listen to them. Keep it to yourself.
3. Touch/kill Germinating Seeds It can take up to 10 days for a seed to sprout. The paper towel method is not recommended because you must handle the seeds when transferring them from the paper towel to your growing medium.
4. Grow seeds from seeded marijuana (hermaphrodite seeds) Unless you are prepared for possible disappointments don’t use "unknown" seeds. This is why people buy seeds from seedbanks. Self-seeding MJ is produced from hermaphrodite plants or a very stunted and late flowering male the grower did not notice. Flowered hermi seeds will produce tall late flowering females coupled with early flowering males.
5. Don't Over-fertilize Fertilize after first 2 spiked leaves appear. Start with 25% of recommended label strengths and work your way up. If the leaves suddenly twist or fold under, Leach and Spray with pure water for several days! Don’t fertilize your plants every time you water! A common watering schedule is to fertilize at full strength, then water at half or quarter strength. This prevents excess salt buildup, leaf and root burn. In addition, don’t water at full strength if the medium is too dry – root burn can occur. As a precaution, leach the plants with lots of pure water every 2-4 weeks.
6. Don't Under-fertilize Under-fertilizing is less common. If you prefer to give the plant ‘just enough nutrients’, use a organic soil mixture with blood meal and bone meal or some slow release fertilizer with micro nutrients.
7. Don't Start with Clones Start with seeds. Bugs are a pain, as are plant diseases. Many growers are able to grow indoors without pest problems for years. Another grower’s cuttings are almost guaranteed to have diseases &/or pests.
8. Don't Provide A Bad Environment Always provide air circulation and fresh air even during the night cycle. All the air indoors should be replaced every 5-10 minutes. Humidity between 30-70% temp aim for around 75-85' Even seedlings need a gentle fan to strengthen the stems.
9. Don't Harvest Too Early 25% of the weight will form in the last 2 weeks. Begin flushing with 100% pH’d water when the pistil are 25% brown. Harvest when the plants have totally stopped growing and the white pistils are at least 50-75% brown.

* NOTE: Outdoors if security is a factor make your own call on when to sacrifice the fields. Also take buds continuously in case of thieves.

Common questions:

Q. Can marijuana grow in a northern climate? Marijuana plants can grow anywhere corn can grow. All it needs is three growing months - seed to harvest. 2 if started indoors!
Q. Why do I have to buy seeds? Why can't I use my own that I picked from my own stash? Most people desire, and want to be guaranteed, certain characteristics in their mature female plants. The seeds from any weed will all grow into something different. This is unprofitable and inefficient. As opposed to knowing the single set of requirements for your entire crop, you must provide a different set of requirements for each of your plants.
Q. What is better for a new grower - hydroponics or soil? I believe the all around "better", more convenient setup is soil. Hydroponic grows faster, yet does not produce extra potent buds. Hydro should be attempted after you have a few successful soil crops under your belt. If you are starting from seed and growing for personal, soil is the practical growing medium. If the crop is started with clones and is commercial, a hydroponics setup is more practical.
Q. Why are my seedlings stretching? Low light conditions. They also need a gentle wind. Plants will also stretch when subjected to conditions of high humidity.
Q. What kind of lights should I use?
Cheap 4 ft. cool white fluorescent tubes : for germination/seedlings
400 watt Metal halide/HPS : for personal home growers
1000 watt Metal halide/HPS : for some personal growers and commercial growers.
* Use at least 40 watts per sq. foot of grow space.
Q. How far should the lights be from the plants? Fluorescent: tips of leaves almost touching bulbs 400 watt halide : two feet away from seedlings and one foot away from grown plants 1000 watt halide: four feet away from seedlings and two feet away from grown plants
Q. How often should you water?
Once a week or once every two week for soil and twice a day with a hydroponic flood and drain system.
* When top 2 inches of the soil dry out.* Occasionally provide periods of extra dry and wet soil.
* Allow 10% extra water to drain out of the bottom of the tray.* This will prevent toxic fertilizer build up.

 

[00420]

How do I paperclip train when not using soil or media?

How do I paperclip train when not using soil or media?

Contributed by: TaoJones


Using nuts or other weights at the ends of paperclips just resting on the lid of a hydro tub wasn't getting the job done, and even when you use media, that's a pretty narrow radius in which to try to stick paperclips, with or without weights.

The answer I found was to use small eyehooks (the kind that look like a question mark except that the question mark is a closed circle) as anchors for the paperclips. Screw the small eyehooks in a circular pattern around your netpot, or, in the case of not using media at all, around the hole used for the plant's stem.

The circle of eyehooks (you can use 6 or 8 to get started) serves as a good start.
Note that you can use these eyehooks not only to secure paperclips, but to secure twine used during training through veg and 12/12.

Nute changes are easier since when you lift off the lid, the eyehooks provide extra support for the plant.

Further, you can always screw in another eyehook exactly where you want to put a paperclip or to tie off a new piece of twine at just the right angle.

Finally, in the case of hydro grows without media, you can also screw in the eyehooks from the bottom of the lid to help provide more support for netbags you might use to hold the roots of each plant in the tub.

 

[whereami]

bonsai mums

bonsai mums

"Tired of huge unweildy mothers that take up too much space? As I've shown before, a fully established bonsai mum only takes 8 inches x 8 inches."

- Oldtimer1

This bonsai mother, if well fed, produce 10 to 30 good cuttings every 14 days under an HID or every 20 days under fluorescent shop light. This means a 4 ft x 2 ft shoplight with 18 mums, could produce an output of over 9500 cuttings a year.

We are not talking about intensive production here but it shows just how flexible and efficient the system can be. What it does for the connoisseur is allow them to keep a good selection of varieties in a relatively small space. If you don't fancy growing one for 6 months or a year it doesn't matter. All she will need is regular maintenance.

Lets start with Mumming up a plant from a rooted cutting, once again this is simple. You will find that with every batch of cuttings a few will stand out, being sturdier and generally looking better all round, pick one or two of these for your mums, not some wimpy left over reject. Remember this mum will provide you with cuttings 4 to 6 times a year for the next 5 to 15 years, so only the best will do. Pick a fully rooted through cutting from the plug tray and pot on into a 2.5 inch square pot. I find square pots much easier to deal with when it comes to root pruning, as you will see later.

Grow it on for a few days so it can start rooting through then trim it back to 3 or 4 side shoots. These little branches to be will make the main framework of your Mum. Ideally as they grow they should form an open cup shape. The top 2 will grow the fastest and when they get to about 5 inches pinch or snip out their growing tips to just above a leaf node. This will allow the second pair to catch up in a day or so, then pinch them out as well. This will encourage side shoots to form, any that grow into the central cup shaped space pinch out.

You will now have 6 to 8 leading shoots coming up. When they reach 4 to 6 inches they can be taken as your first set of cuttings. You cut them back to just above the first leaf node of the new growth. So after the cuttings have been taken the mum is only a tiny bit larger than the last time she was cut back but the main branches will be starting to get thicker.

Now is the time to move up to the next pot size and a 3 inch sq is ideal. The next set of leading shoots will tend to be 12 to 16, plus there will be others coming up from lower nodes so in total there may be 30 or more. Any really thin ones or any growing into the centre either cut back to one node or remove altogether.

In the picture [one], is the trimmed cutting. [two], Has had 2 sets of cuttings taken off and is more than ready to move to a 3 inch pot. As you can see it is a little short of N showing its better to move after only taking one set of cuttings. [three] in a 3 inch pot 12 cuttings have been taken with 2 left on to show where to cut back to. [four] is a five year old Mum that has just had 32 cuttings taken off and could do with some more small twiggy bits removed. She is in a 1 litre pot and has been since she was 3 months old.

Note how all have an open centre this allows light to both the centre and the outside. It will fill in between taking cuttings but if pruned back to this form, makes better and more even growth giving more good cuttings each time. Water only is used while forming the mums and no fertiliser. It is not until they are in their final 1 litre pots and a set or two of cuttings have been taken that feeding starts.

The general care and maintenance for fully formed mother plants.

Enough fertiliser to keep them healthy, a feed of half strength fertiliser twice a month, using say a 6-2-4 fish mix is about right! This keeps them in good general health but doesn't overfeed them and if you want faster production at any point change to a full strength feed once or twice. Every 2 to 4 weeks a new batch of cuttings are taken even if they are not needed and just put in the worm bin. You can think of it as being like having to mow the lawn and keeps the mum the same size and form for years. Because so much is taken away they can get short of macro nutrients so every month or so give them a foliar spray using maxicrop. Judge this by how the plants are looking not by a time table.

One of the main things that all growers need to learn is regular close observation. To know when they are healthy and need nothing to the first signs of deficiencies appearing. The one thing they may run short of is magnesium even if dolomite lime is used in the compost, this is easily dealt with by one watering plus a foliar spray, using 1 ounce of Epsom salts dissolved in a gallon of water.

They will need root pruning once or twice a year. This depends on how intensively they are fed and how good your water quality is. Despite what is normally quoted it is virtually impossible to flush out salt build up from a root ball. A temporary over fertilisation yes but the gradual crystallisation of salts and carbonate deposits no! If your water supply is heavily contaminated with minerals I recommend a small Reverse-Osmosis filter to clean your water for both your mums and your production plants.

Now to root pruning and mum renovation. "

Here we are dealing with a 7 year-old mum that hasn't been root trimmed for nearly a year. I have deliberately neglected her for the last 10 weeks for purposes of showing you the recovery. She has been on a diet of R/O water only, no other feed of any sort. This is to show you how tough Cannabis is and how far you can let things slide and still get a mum back into productivity. Its not a recommended practice and continual abuse like this will eventually kill a mum.

As you can see there is little residual fertiliser left in the compost. It is what we call spent (worn out). The first thing we do is trim back nearly all the top growth back to the main framework branches. Leaving one or two tiny shoots at the tip of each branch to draw sap and keep the branch alive. If all the shoots and buds are removed, 99 times out of a 100 die back sets in-- and once that starts the whole plant usually dies within a month or two. It doesn't matter if the small shoots are yellow from lacking N, they will soon start to grow and green up as the new roots start forming!

Next the rootball should have 3/4 of an inch cut off each side and an inch off the bottom. This reduces the 4.5 x 4.5 x 4.5 inch rootball to 3 x 3 x 3.5 inches high after the loose compost is scraped from the top. This means that two-thirds of the soil is being replaced. A good full strength organic compost is used when repotting and it only takes a day or two for the roots to really start growing into the new compost.

Set the bottom of the rootball on about 3/4 of an inch of compost then pack out the sides and finally cover the top with a 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch. This means the mum is planted round a 1/4 inch deeper every time root pruning is done about 1/2 an inch a year. In a couple of years from now I will cut down vertically and split the plant in two as the side branch will have a root system of its own. Using this method the roots are constantly being replaced and as well the main trunk replaced slowly. This seems to keep the mums healthy for many years.

The second mother of our "ES" varietal lasted for just over 15 years using this method. Interestingly if you want to hold a plant long term in a small pot say a 2.5 inch sq this can be root pruned the same as the 1 litre plant but only taking off about 1/4 of an inch all round. I keep Dads in this pot size and some are over 5 years old.

NOTE: it is very important to make sure there are no voids or air gaps left when packing the sides, use a pencil or small dibber, fill slowly and firm lightly.

The last picture is 12 days after the root and top pruning- It tells it's own story! Already there are enough nice leaders to make 10 good cuttings. I have to admit to putting her under an sodium light to speed up her development and make this Issue's deadline. Even so, the recovery wouldn't have taken much longer in the mum box.

I have had some interesting feedback so next issue I will cover the most frequently asked questions from the cuttings and mums series. Unfortunately there has been a glitch in the schedule of following the last batch of cuttings through their grow, so we will be following the next batch starting a few issues from now.

 

[00420]

What is the correct definition of Organic Gardening?

What is the correct definition of Organic Gardening?

What is the correct definition of Organic Gardening?
What is OG? Well it very controversal based on who you talk to. Some OG people are strictly conservative in their gardening methods, while others are more adventureous and experimental. Some OG ideas are classical, ancient, and mystical. Other ideas are more modern, scientific, state of the art. Well what is it then?
This is not the best, but it is a good laymen definition of OG:


"ORGANIC GARDENING - the science and art of gardening by incorporating the entire landscape design and environment to improve and maximize the garden soil's health, structure, texture, as well as maximize the production and health of developing plants without using synthethic commercial fertilizers, pesticides, or fungicides."

One of our forum members, Organic_Johnny, used this statement also to help define organic gardening from an ecological point of view:


1. Choose your plants to fit your garden, rather than insisting on growing picky and tempermental plants that require constant fertilizing.

2. Amend your soil with organic materials, e.g, break up clay with compost, rather than reaching for the gypsum right away.

3. Plant things that will attract and maintain a population of beneficial insects, etc., and cultivate the soil in such a way as to encourage good fungi and bacteria that will fight off the bad guys.

4. Never throw organic material in the trash...re-introduce it to your local slice of the biosphere!



Both organic and natural soil amendments are slow release, contain organic matter, and usually have a NPK ratio whose sum of the top 3 major nutrients is less than 20. They are usually designed from decomposed animal or vegetable remains or mineral rocks. They are designed to feed the soil microherd insoluble OM, not supply lots of available soluble plant nutrients.


Synthetic fertilizers have higher NPK because they are designed to chemically build the soluble nutrients of the soil without any organic matter. They also are not designed to feed the soil microherd. Synthetics are normally made from petroleum products or mineral salts.


There are actually 3 major classes of environmentally conscious gardeners today. (Note: none of these 3 classes believe in the use of synthetic fertilizers) They are all similar but also quite different:


1. Organic Gardening - these people don't use anything in their garden that has any potentially harmful chemicals, preservatives, colorings, etc. in their gardening strategies. The modern idealogies of this philosophy are based from men like Sir Albert Howard and J. I. Rodale and his family and company. They garden all year round regardless of weather or climate conditions. Economics, common sense, and environmental concerns drives the focus of this philosophy. All composting and green manuring techniques are key to this philosophy. Organic soil amendments are grass clippings, hay, straw, animal manures, human urine, leaves, dolomitic limestone, greensand, etc.


2. Biodynamic Gardening - these gardeners believe almost the same as the OG people, but they go to the next level. This philosophy was founded mainly by Rudolph Steiner. They believe strongly in gardening during appropriate astrological signs, religion, critical seasons of the year, etc. They are even very adamant about what organic materials goes into their compost at certain specifc times. (i.e. Special uses of comfrey and stinging nettle in compost piles during special times of the year) Their focus is not maximizing crop production like the OG people, but maximizing the physical and spiritual needs of nature. They use special soil amendments like stinging nettle, comfrey, yarrow, and dandelions in many of their gardening functions.


3. Natural Gardening - these gardeners are similar in the basic philosophy of the OG people, but not as strict in their choice of soil amendments. They will use a safe natural product that has good organic matter in it, even if it contains a minimum use of preservatives, colorings, etc. Natural soil amendments are blood meal, bone meal, fish emulsion, kelp spray, cottonseed meal, cattle feeds, etc.


4. Permaculture and other forms of sustainable farming - Permaculture in laymen terms is basically an extreme form of organic gardening where the farmer can only use materials on his/her farm to recycle to make compost, soil amendments, fertilizers, etc. for his farm. No buying or getting of organic material or natural fertilizers from outside or commercial sources.


To make things even more complicated, the USDA has redefined certain guidelines and regulations for any farners who want to be classified as "USDA certified organic"!


The truth is, almost all environmentally conscious gardeners cross over back and forth between these 4 major classes. You as a gardener have to decide for yourself which philosophy style best fits your needs.


Happy Gardening!


Entered by CaptainCompostAL

 

[00420]

How do I prune and start supercropping ?

How do I prune and start supercropping ?

How I like to prune...


This branch's top is less than half the way to the top, so it's useless to me.
First, I like to start at the bottom of the plant. I make sure that there's nothing to stop airflow under the plant. Air flow is extremely important in getting healthy plants with good yields. As the leaves use up the CO2 and produce O2, small pockets of useless O2 are collecting under the leaves. If your garden has good circulation, this won't be a problem, the air is constantly moving throughout the entire surface of every leaf, however gently. So, I start by cleaning up useless leaves and branches that are at the bottom four to five inches of the plant. NO GREEN will exist here except for the branches themselves.



Snip the bastard right off!



I am not very conservative in my pruning. I will attack a healthy plant just as it shows first signs of flowering. This is also the last time I prune any branches. I know at this point how much taller they will get, and I am trying to keep them at a certain height and a certain thickness.



This is a better scene, but...


I will go on to make sure that none of those tiny branches starting at the bottom of the plant remain. NO GREEN!



This is also when I attack the leaves...


All I am interested in at this point (first signs of flowers) is exposing as many bud sites as possible here in the first stages of flowering. This exposure to the light source early on will establish many more prominent bud sites than just letting the plant overgrow itself. Carefully look at the plant from the top, where the light comes from, and look for bud sites that are not exposed to your line-of-sight because of a leaf. Take that leaf off.



All this vegetation will return soon, don't worry about that.


Can you see what was stuck in the shadow of the leaf in the above picture? Not any more! Notice the lighter shade of green the shaded leaves and bud site have. That's from lack of direct light. This should darken up and fatten up now that it has access to more light.



This is an example...


of what happens when you prune branches for the effect of making your plant bushier. Notice I sniped the center branch about a week ago. Back then, those two side branches were just barely visible tufts of green, not yet leaves or branches. Now they're doing exactly what I had pruned for, to produce two branches at the same top level where before there was only one. Access to the greatest amount of light by the greatest amount of branches, and therefore bud sites, is a way to ensure heafty harvests in healthy plants.



I supercrop to increase yields


I have supercropped before and have recently come to the personal conclusion that it does really work. My largest and most developed colas last crop were on supercropped branches. Just take a tender branch in your fingers and pinch and twist at the same time until you feel the insides start to collapse under the pressure of your fingers. The branch might droop slightly, but this is what you want. You're actually damaging the insides of the branch. We are trying to damage the vascular (water and nutrient carrying "veins") tissues so that they double in size after a week or so of healing themselves. As in human muscle, we must slightly damage our muscle tissue (by exercise) before it heals, larger and better able to move fluids to and from places in the body that need them. So by supercropping, you're creating body builder Pot plants!



This is the flowering...


area after pruning leaves, branches and supercropping. I didn't take a picture before, but if I had, you'd see that they used to be very very cluttered with light blocking leaves and useless bottom branches which never catch up to the producing branches, and actually cause a drain on resources more than anything. In a week these will be covered in young but well-lit bud sites. The front half of these girls are Yankee Platinum clones the back are NL.



To help increase yield...


and to decrease overall height of the plant, I top (snip the main growth shoot) when the plant has four to five sets of leaves. This is at the fourth set. This action will cause your plant to react by extending those tiny green tufts of green on the side of the stem into full-blown branches.



Proof that it works...


This is what happens after about 5 days to a week after topping. You can see the great increase of side shoots. These will, with some training and future pruning, all compete for light at the top of the plant, instead of being relegated to the middle or bottom of the plant, shadowed by the main cola that you didn't snip when you had the chance to do so.

 

[Guest]

Indoor Marijuana Cultivation

Introduction:

Growing marijuana indoors is fast becoming an American Pastime. The reasons are varied. With the increased interest and experimentation in house plant cultivation, it was inevitable that people would apply their knowledge of plant care to growing marijuana. Many of those who occasionally like to light up a joint may find it difficult to locate a source or are hesitant to deal with a perhaps unsavory element of society in procuring their grass. There is, of course, the criminal aspect of buying or selling grass; Growing marijuana is just as illegal as buying, selling, or smoking it, but growing is something you can do in the privacy of your own home without having to deal with someone you don't know or trust. The best reason for growing your own is the enjoyment you will get out of watching those tiny little seeds you picked out of you stash sprout and become some of the most lovely and lush of all house plants.

Anyone Can Do It

Even if you haven't had any prior experience with growing plants in you home, you can have a successful crop of marijuana by following the simple directions in this pamphlet. If you have had problems in the past with marijuana cultivation, you may find the solutions in the following chapters. Growing a marijuana plant involves four basic steps: Get the seeds. If you don't already have some, you can ask your friends to save you seeds out of any good grass they may come across. You'll find that lots of people already have a seed collection of some sort and are willing to part with a few prime seeds in exchange for some of the finished product. Germinate the seeds. You can simply drop a seed into moist soil, but by germinating the seeds first you can be sure that the seed will indeed produce a plant. To germinate seeds, place a group of them between about six moist paper towels, or in the pores of a moist sponge. Leave the towels or sponge moist but not soaking wet. Some seeds will germinate in 24 hours while others may take several days or even a week. Plant the sprouts. As soon as a seed cracks open and begins to sprout, place it on some moist soil and sprinkle a little soil over the top of it. Supply the plants with light. Flourescent lights are the best. Hang the lights with two inches of the soil and after the plants appear above the ground, continue to keep the lights with two inches of the plants. It is as easy as that. If you follow those four steps you will grow a marijuana plant. To ensure prime quality and the highest yield in the shortest time period, however, a few details are necessary.

Soil

Your prime concern, after choosing high quality seeds, is the soil. Use the best soil you can get. Scrimping on the soil doesn't pay off in the long run. If you use unsterilized soil you will almost certainly find parasites in it, probably after it is too late to transplant your marijuana. You can find excellent soil for sale at your local plant shop or nursery, K-Mart, Wal Mart, and even some grocery stores. The soil you use should have these properties for the best possible results: It should drain well. That is, it should have some sand in it and also some sponge rock or pearlite. The ph should be between 6.5 and 7.5 since marijuana does not do well in acidic soil. High acidity in soil encourages the plant to be predominantly male, an undesirable trait. The soil should also contain humus for retaining moisture and nutrients. If you want to make your own soil mixture, you can use this recipe: Mix two parts moss with one part sand and one part pearlite or sponge rock to each four gallons of soil. Test your soil for ph with litmus paper or with a soil testing kit available at most plant stores. To raise the ph of the soil, add 1/2 lb. lime to 1 cubic foot of soil to raise the ph one point. If you absolutely insist on using dirt you dug up from your driveway, you must sterilize it by baking it in your oven for about an hour at 250 degrees. Be sure to moisten it thoroughly first and also prepare yourself for a rapid evacuation of your kitchen because that hot soil is going to stink. Now add to the mixture about one tablespoon of fertilizer (like Rapid-Gro) per gallon gallon of soil and blend it in thoroughly. Better yet, just skip the whole process and spend a couple bucks on some soil.

Containers

After you have prepared your soil, you will have to come up with some kind of container to plant in. The container should be sterilized as well, especially if they have been used previously for growing other plants. The size of the container has a great deal to do with the rate of growth and overall size of the plant. You should plan on transplanting your plant not more than one time, since the process of transplanting can be a shock to the plant and it will have to undergo a recovery period in which growth is slowed or even stopped for a short while. The first container you use should be no larger than six inches in diameter and can be made of clay or plastic. To transplant, simply prepare the larger pot by filling it with soil and scooping out a little hole about the size of the smaller pot that the plant is in. Turn the plant upside down, pot and all, and tap the rim of the pot sharply on a counter or the edge of the sink. The soil and root ball should come out of the pot cleanly with the soil retaining the shape of the pot and with no disturbances to the root ball. Another method that can bypass the transplanting problem is using a Jiffy-Pot. Jiffy pots are made of compressed peat moss and can be planted right into moist soil where they decompose and allow the passage of the root system through their walls. The second container should have a volume of at least three gallons. Marijuana doesn't like to have its roots bound or cramped for space, so always be sure that the container you use will be deep enough for your plant's root system. It is very difficult to transplant a five-foot marijuana tree, so plan ahead. It is going to get bigger. The small plants should be ready to transplant into their permanent homes in about two weeks. Keep a close watch on them after the first week or so and avoid root binding at all costs since the plants never seem to do as well once they have been stunted by the cramping of their roots.

Fertilizer

Marijuana likes lots of food, but you can do damage to the plants if you are too zealous. Some fertilizers can burn a plant and damage its roots if used in to high a concentration. Most commercial soil will have enough nutrients in it to sustain the plant for about three weeks of growth so you don't need to worry about feeding your plant until the end of the third week. The most important thing to remember is to introduce the fertilizer concentration to the plant gradually. Start with a fairly diluted fertilizer solution and gradually increase the dosage. There are several good marijuana fertilizers on the commercial market, two of which are Rapid-Gro and Eco-Grow. Rapid-Gro has had widespread use in marijuana cultivation and is available in most parts of the United States. Eco-Grow is also especially good for marijuana since it contains an ingredient that keeps the soil from becoming acid. Most fertilizers cause a ph change in the soil. Adding fertilizer to the soil almost always results in a more acidic ph. As time goes on, the amount of salts produced by the breakdown of fertilizers in the soil causes the soil to become increasingly acidic and eventually the concentration of these salts in the soil will stunt the plant and cause browning out of the foliage. Also, as the plant gets older its roots become less effective in bringing food to the leaves. To avoid the accumulation of these salts in your soil and to ensure that your plant is getting all of the food it needs you can begin leaf feeding your plant at the age of about 1.5 months. Dissolve the fertilizer in worm water and spray the mixture directly onto the foliage. The leaves absorb the fertilizer into their veins. If you want to continue to put fertilizer into the soil as well as leaf feeding, be sure not to overdose your plants.

Remember to increase the amount of food your plant receives gradually. Marijuana seems to be able to take as much fertilizer as you want to give it as long as it is introduced over a period of time. During the first three months or so, fertilize your plants every few days. As the rate of foliage growth slows down in the plant's preparation for blooming and seed production, the fertilizer intake of the plant should be slowed down as well. Never fertilize the plant just before you are going to harvest it since the fertilizer will encourage foliage production and slow down resin production. A word here about the most organic of fertilizers: worm castings. As you may know, worms are raised commercially for sale to gardeners. The breeders put the worms in organic compost mixtures and while the worms are reproducing they eat the organic matter and expel some of the best marijuana food around. After the worms have eaten all the organic matter in the compost, they are removed and sold and the remains are then sold as worm castings. These castings are so rich that you can grow marijuana in straight worm castings. This isn't really necessary however, and it is somewhat impractical since the castings are very expensive. If you can afford them you can, however, blend them in with your soil and they will make a very good organic fertilizer.

Light

Without light, the plants cannot grow. In the countries in which marijuana grows best, the sun is the source of light. The amount of light and the length of the growing season in these countries results in huge tree-like plants. In most parts of North America, however, the sun is not generally intense enough for long enough periods of time to produce the same size and quality of plants that grow with ease in Latin America and other tropical countries. The answer to the problem of lack of sun, especially in the winter months, shortness of the growing season, and other problems is to grow indoor under simulated conditions. The rule of thumb seems to be the more light, the better. In one experiment we know of, eight eight-foot VHO Gro-Lux fixtures were used over eight plants. The plants grew at an astonishing rate. The lights had to be raised every day. There are many types of artificial light and all of them do different things to your plants. The common incandescent light bulb emits some of the frequencies of light the plant can use, but it also emits a high percentage of far red and infra-red light which cause the plant to concentrate its growth on the stem. This results in the plant stretching toward the light bulb until it becomes so tall and spindly that it just weakly topples over. There are several brands of bulb type. One is the incandescent plant spot light which emits higher amounts of red and blue light than the common light bulb. It is an improvement, but has it drawbacks. it is hot, for example, and cannot be placed close to the plants. Consequently, the plant has to stretch upwards again and is in danger of becoming elongated and falling over. The red bands of light seem to encourage stem growth which is not desirable in growing marijuana. the idea is to encourage foliage growth for obvious reasons. Gro-Lux lights are probably the most common flourescent plant lights. In our experience with them, they have proven themselves to be extremely effective. They range in size from one to eight feet in length so you can set up a growing room in a closet or a warehouse. There are two types of Gro-Lux lights: The standard and the wide spectrum. They can be used in conjunction with on another, but the wide spectrum lights are not sufficient on their own. The wide spectrum lights were designed as a supplementary light source and are cheaper than the standard lights. Wide spectrum lights emit the same bands of light as the standard but the standard emit higher concentrations of red and blue bands that the plants need to grow. The wide spectrum lights also emit infra-red, the effect of which on stem growth we have already discussed. If you are planning to grow on a large scale, you might be interested to know that the regular flourescent lamps and fixtures, the type that are used in commercial lighting, work well when used along with standard Gro- Lux lights. These commercial lights are called cool whites, and are the cheapest of the flourescent lights we have mentioned. They emit as much blue light as the Gro-Lux standards and the blue light is what the plants use in foliage growth.

Now we come to the question of intensity. Both the standard and wide spectrum lamps come in three intensities: regular output, high output, and very high output. You can grow a nice crop of plants under the regular output lamps and probably be quite satisfied with our results. The difference in using the HO or VHO lamps is the time it takes to grow a crop. Under a VHO lamp, the plants grow at a rate that is about three times the rate at which they grow under the standard lamps. People have been known to get a plant that is four feet tall in two months under one of these lights. Under the VHO lights, one may have to raise the lights every day which means a growth rate of ate least two inches a day. The only drawback is the expense of the VHO lamps and fixtures. The VHO lamps and fixtures are almost twice the price of the standard. If you are interested in our opinion, they are well worth it. Now that you have your lights up, you might be curious about the amount of light to give you plants per day. The maturation date of your plants is dependent on how much light they receive per day. The longer the dark period per day, the sooner the plant will bloom. Generally speaking, the less dark per day the better during the first six months of the plant's life. The older the plant is before it blooms and goes to seed, the better the grass will be. After the plant is allowed to bloom, its metabolic rate is slowed so that the plant's quality does not increase with the age at the same rate it did before it bloomed. The idea, then, is to let the plant get as old as possible before allowing it to mature so that the potency will be a high as possible at the time of harvest. One relatively sure way to keep your plants from blooming until you are ready for them is to leave the lights on all the time. Occasionally a plant will go ahead and bloom anyway, but it is the exception rather than the rule. If your plants receive 12 hours of light per day they will probably mature in 2 to 2.5 months. If they get 16 hours of light per day they will probably be blooming in 3.5 to 4 months. With 18 hours of light per day, they will flower in 4.5 to 5 months. Its a good idea to put your lights on a timer to ensure that the amount of light received each day remains constant. A "vacation" timer, normally used to make it look like you are home while you are away, works nicely and can be found at most hardware or discount stores.

Temperature and Humidity

The ideal temperature for the light hours is 68 to 78 degrees fahrenheit and for the dark hours there should be about a 15 degree drop in temperature. The growing room should be relatively dry if possible. What you want is a resinous coating on the leaves and to get the plant to do this, you must convince it that it needs the resinous coating on its leaves to protect itself from drying out. In an extremely humid room, the plants develop wide leaves and do not produce as much resin. You must take care not to let the temperature in a dry room become too hot, however, since the plant cannot assimilate water fast enough through its roots and its foliage will begin to brown out.

Ventilation

Proper ventilation in your growing room is fairly important. The more plants you have in one room, the more important good ventilation becomes. Plants breathe through their leaves. The also rid themselves of poisons through their leaves. If proper ventilation is not maintained, the pores of the leaves will become clogged and the leaves will die. If there is a free movement of air, the poisons can evaporate off the leaves and the plant can breathe and remain healthy. In a small closet where there are only a few plants you can probably create enough air circulation just by opening the door to look at them. Although it is possible to grow healthy looking plants in poorly ventilated rooms, they would be larger and healthier if they had a fresh supply of air coming in. If you spend a lot of time in your growing room, your plants will grow better because they will be using the carbon dioxide that you are exhaling around them. It is sometimes quite difficult to get a fresh supply of air in to your growing room because your room is usually hidden away in a secret corner of your house, possibly in the attic or basement. In this case, a fan will create some movement of air. It will also stimulate your plants into growing a healthier and sturdier stalk. Often times in an indoor environment, the stems of plants fail to become rigid because they don't have to cope with elements of wind and rain. To a degree, though, this is an advantage because the plant puts most of its energy into producing leaves and resin instead of stems.

Dehumidifying Your Growing Room

Cannabis that grows in a hot, dry climate will have narrower leaves than cannabis grown in a humid atmosphere. The reason is that in a dry atmosphere the plant can respirate easier because the moisture on the leaves evaporates faster. In a humid atmosphere, the moisture cannot evaporate as fast. Consequently, the leaves have to be broader with more surface area in order to expel the wastes that the plant put out. Since the broad leaves produce less resin per leaf than the narrow there will be more resin in an ounce of narrow leaves than in one ounce of broad leaves. There may be more leaf mass in the broader leafed plants, but most people are growing their own for quality rather than quantity. Since the resin in the marijuana plant serves the purpose of keeping the leaves from drying out, there is more apt to be a lot of resin produced in a dry room than in a humid one. In the Sears catalog, dehumidifiers cost around $100.00 and are therefore a bit impractical for the "hobby grower."

Watering

If you live near a clear mountain stream, you can skip this bit on the quality of water. Most of us are supplied water by the city and some cities add more chemicals to the water than others. They all add chlorine, however, in varying quantities. Humans over the years have learned to either get rid of it somehow or to live with it, but your marijuana plants won't have time to acquire a taste for it so you had better see that they don't have to. Chlorine will evaporate if you let the water stand for 24 hours in an open container. Letting the water stand for a day or two will serve a dual purpose: The water will come to room temperature during that period of time and you can avoid the nasty shock your plants suffer when you drench them with cold water. Always water with room temperature to lukewarm water. If your water has an excessive amount of chlorine in it, you may want to get some anti- chlorine drops at the local fish or pet store. The most important thing about watering is to do it thoroughly. You can water a plant in a three gallon container with as much as three quarts of water. The idea is to get the soil evenly moist all the way to the bottom of the pot. If you use a little water, even if you do it often, it seeps just a short way down into the soil and any roots below the moist soil will start to turn upwards toward the water. The second most important thing about watering is to see to it that the pot has good drainage. There should be some holes in the bottom so that any excess water will run out. If the pot won't drain, the excess water will accumulate in a pocket and rot the roots of the plant or simply make the soil sour or mildew. The soil, as we said earlier, must allow the water to drain evenly through it and must not become hard or packed. If you have made sure that the soil contains sand and pearlite, you shouldn't have drainage problems. To discover when to water, feel the soil with your finger. if you feel moisture in the soil, you can wait a day or two to water. The soil near the top of the pot is always drier than the soil further down. You can drown your plant just as easily as you can let it get too dry and it is more likely to survive a dry spell than it is to survive a torrential flood. Water the plants well when you water and don't water them at all when they don't need it.

Bugs

If you can avoid getting bugs in the first place you will be much better off. Once your plants become infested you will probably be fighting bugs for the rest of your plants' lives. To avoid bugs be sure to use sterilized soil and containers and don't bring other plants from outside into your growing room. If you have bets, ensure that they stay out of your growing room, since they can bring in pests on their fur. Examine your plants regularly for signs of insects, spots, holes in the leaves, browning of the tips of the leaves, and droopy branches. If you find that somehow in spite of all your precautions you have a plant room full of bugs, you'll have to spray your plants with some kind of insecticide. You'll want to use something that will kill the bugs and not you. Spider mites are probably the bug that will do the most damage to the marijuana plants. One of the reasons is that they are almost microscopic and very hard to spot. They are called spider mites because they leave a web-like substance clinging to the leaves. They also cause tiny little spots to appear on the leaves. Probably the first thing you'll notice, however, is that your plants look sick and depressed. The mites suck enzymes from the leaves and as a result the leaves lose some of their green color and glossiness. Sometimes the leaves look like they have some kid of fungus on them. The eggs are very tiny black dots. You might be wise to get a magnifying glass so that you can really scrutinize your plants closely. Be sure to examine the underside of the leaves too. The mites will often be found clinging to the underside as well as the top of the leaves. The sooner you start fighting the bugs, the easier it will be to get rid of them. For killing spider mites on marijuana, one of the best insecticides if "Fruit and Berry" spray made by Millers. Ortho also produces several insecticides that will kill mites. The ingredients to look for are Kelthane and Malathion [erowid note- Malathion may be very toxic to humans, should be handled very carefully, and is certainly not intended for indoor use. It also seems highly preferrable to avoid spraying pesticides or any chemicals on plants that will be smoked without being washed thoroughly first.] Both of these poisons are lethal to humans and pets as well as bugs, but they both detoxify in about ten days so you can safely smoke the grass ten days after spraying. Fruit and Berry will only kill the adult mite, however, and you'll have to spray every four days for about two weeks to be sure that you have killed all the adults before they have had a chance to lay eggs. Keep a close watch on your plants because it only takes one egg laying adult to re- infest your plants and chances are that one or two will escape your barrage of insecticides. If you see little bugs flying around your plants, they are probably white flies. The adults are immune to almost all the commercial insecticides except Fruit and Berry which will not kill the eggs or larva. It is the larval stage of this insect that does the most damage. They suck out enzymes too, and kill your plants if they go unchecked. You will have to get on a spraying program just as was explained in the spider mite section. An organic method of bug control is using soap suds. Put Ivory flakes in some lukewarm water and work up the suds into a lather. Then put the suds over the plant. The obvious disadvantage is it you don't rinse the soap off the plant you'll taste the soap when you smoke the leaves.

Pruning

We have found that pruning is not always necessary. The reason one does it in the first place is to encourage secondary growth and to allow light to reach the immature leaves. Some strands of grass just naturally grow thick and bushy and if they are not clipped the sap moves in an uninterrupted flow right to the top of the plant where it produces flowers that are thick with resin. On the other hand, if your plants appear tall and spindly for their age at three weeks, they probably require a little trimming to ensure a nice full leafy plant. At three weeks of age your plant should have at least two sets of branches or four leaf clusters and a top. To prune the plant, simply slice the top off just about the place where two branches oppose each other. Use a razor blade in a straight cut. If you want to, you can root the top in some water and when the roots appear, plant the top in moist soil and it should grow into another plant. If you are going to root the top you should cut the end again, this time with a diagonal cut so as to expose more surface to the water or rooting solution. The advantage to taking cuttings from your plant is that it produces more tops. The tops have the resin, and that's the name of the game. Every time you cut off a top, the plant seeds out two more top branches at the base of the existing branches. Pruning also encourages the branches underneath to grow faster than they normally would without the top having been cut.

Harvesting and Curing

Well, now that you've grown your marijuana, you will want to cur it right so that it smokes clean and won't bite. You can avoid that "homegrown" taste of chlorophyll that sometimes makes one's fillings taste like they might be dissolving. We know of several methods of curing the marijuana so that it will have a mild flavor and a mellow rather than harsh smoke. First, pull the plant up roots and all and hang it upside down for 24 hours. Then put each plant in a paper grocery bag with the top open for three or four days or until the leaves feel dry to the touch. Now strip the leaves off the stem and put them in a glass jar with a lid. Don't pack the leaves in tightly, you want air to reach all the leaves. The main danger in the curing process is mold. If the leaves are too damp when you put them into the jar, they will mold and since the mold will destroy the resins, mold will ruin your marijuana. you should check the jars every day by smelling them and if you smell an acrid aroma, take the weed out of the jar and spread it out on newspaper so that it can dry quickly. Another method is to uproot the plants and hang them upside down. You get some burlap bags damp and slip them up over the plants. Keep the bags damp and leave them in the sun for at least a week. Now put the plants in a paper bag for a few days until the weed is dry enough to smoke. Like many fine things in life, marijuana mellows out with age. The aging process tends to remove the chlorophyll taste. Editor's Note and Important Warning: This pamphlet was written about 8 years ago. While the facts, figures, and methods described here are still valid, an important note must be added concerning the purchasing of equipment and supplies. The information age is upon us and and increasing amount of data is being kept about all of us whether we realize it or not. With the war on drugs in full effect, the D.E.A. is using this information at every possible opportunity. When you make a purchase with a credit card, every last bit of information regarding that purchase is filed away into a database, both at the store and with your credit card company. Not only the price, but the exact date, location, and items purchased are recorded and stored away. Many stores and credit card companies routinely sell their databases of customers and transactions to anybody who can afford it. The D.E.A can certainly afford it. After all, they're using your tax dollars. The D.E.A. as well as other government agencies DO purchase these databases for their own uses. They feed them into their computers and the computers spit out a list of anybody with "suspicious" purchases. Any purchases that could be associated with drug production, use, or selling could be flagged for further investigation. These "suspicious" purchases include unusual chemicals, medical supplies such as syringes, lights and timers, and even potting soil and fertilizer. The point is, if you are planning on purchasing supplies to grow marijuana don't take any chances. While the average home grower, who is simply growing enough for his own use, would probably never be flagged by the computers, you never know. If you are purchasing equipment or supplies, PAY CASH! In addition, many supermarkets and discount stores now have some sort of "Preferred Customer" cards. When you buy something, regardless of how you pay, you give them your card to scan and all of your purchases are recorded. They then send you some sort of coupon depending on what and how much you purchased each month. It sounds like a good deal, but you wind up having all of your purchases recorded and sold just like with the credit cards. DON'T use one of these cards when you are purchasing anything that might be deemed suspicious. For that matter, don't use them at all. They just result in a ton of junk mail and a lot of people knowing exactly what you buy and when you buy it.

 

[00420]

Is medical marijuana legal in my state?

Is medical marijuana legal in my state?

Contributed by: med-user

Nine states have passed Medical MJ initiatives in the US: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, Nevada and Washington.

Arizona and California voters approved medical marijuana laws in 1996.
Alaska, Oregon and Washington voters approved laws in 1998.
Maine voters approved their medical marijuana initiative in 1999.
Colorado and Nevada voters approved medical marijuana laws in 2000.
Hawaii voters approved their medical marijuana laws in 2000.
District of Columbia voters approved an initiative in 1998 with 69 percent of the vote, but Congress overrode the law.


State Initiatives: A Closer Look

ALASKA:

The Alaska proposal allows patients to legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana or cultivate three mature plants for medical use with a doctor's recommendation. Patients are encouraged to enroll in a confidential registry where they will be issued a state identification card indicating they may legally possess medical marijuana. Those who do not register, or who choose to cultivate or possess larger amounts of marijuana than specified by the initiative guidelines, still qualify to raise the affirmative defense of medical necessity against any state criminal charges. Patients who suffer from cancer, glaucoma, HIV positive or AIDS wasting syndrome, cachexia, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures (including epilepsy, muscle spasms and multiple sclerosis), or any other illness approved by the state Department of Health and Social Services are covered under the state law.


ARIZONA:

Arizona's law states that physicians may prescribe marijuana to patients when they have a second doctor's concurring opinion. However, because the law conflicts with federal law prohibiting doctors from prescribing any Schedule I drug. Few Arizona physicians are willing to recommend marijuana to patients. There are no set limits on how much a patient can cultivate or possess. Patients who suffer debilitating or life threatening conditions are covered under the state law.


CALIFORNIA:

California's law allows for the medical use of marijuana for patients who possess a doctor's recommendation and who suffer from cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief. The law set no limits on how much marijuana a patient can possess or cultivate. An identification card is not necessary, but some localities have adopted such programs to further protect patients.


COLORADO:

Colorado's law allows for the medical use of marijuana for patients who have a doctor's recommendation and who suffer from cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, chronic pain, cachexia, severe nausea and seizures including epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. Patients can possess no more than two ounces of marijuana or cultivate six marijuana plants (three mature). Patients must apply for a medical marijuana identification card.


HAWAII:

Hawaii's medical marijuana law allows for the medical use of marijuana for patients who possess a medical recommendation and who suffer from such medical conditions as cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, a chronic or debilitating disease, wasting syndrome, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures, severe muscle spasms including multiple sclerosis, or any other medical condition approved by the department of health. Patients can possess up to three mature marijuana plants, four immature plants and one ounce of smokeable marijuana per each mature plant. Patients must register annually with the Hawaii Department of Public Safety.


MAINE:

The Maine medical marijuana law permits patients who have a medical recommendation from a doctor to legally smoke and possess marijuana. Patients who suffer from persistent nausea, vomiting, wasting syndromes or loss of appetite as a result of AIDS or chemotherapy for cancer, glaucoma and seizures associated with chronic, debilitating diseases such as multiple sclerosis are covered under the state law. Patients are allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana or six marijuana plants (no more than three mature).


NEVADA:

The Nevada medical marijuana law allows patients to use marijuana legally upon the recommendation of a doctor. Patients who suffer from cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, severe persistent nausea or cachexia resulting from these or other chronic or debilitating medical conditions, epilepsy and other disorders characterized by seizures and multiple sclerosis and other disorders characterized by spasticity are covered under the state law. The law provides for a confidential patients registry. Limits have not been determined as to how much a patient can possess.


OREGON:

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act permits state registered patients who have received a physician's recommendation qualify to lawfully possess up to one ounce of marijuana or cultivate up to three mature plants. Patients who suffer from cancer, glaucoma, HIV positive or AIDS, cachexia, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures including but not limited to multiple sclerosis, or any other medical condition approved by the Health Division of the Oregon Department of Human Resources are covered under the state law. Non-registered patients, or those possessing greater amounts of medical marijuana, may assert the affirmative defense against criminal marijuana charges.


WASHINGTON:

Washington's medical marijuana law allows patients who have a doctor's recommendation to possess up to a 60-day supply of marijuana. Patients who suffer from cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy or other seizure or spasticity disorders, intractable pain, glaucoma, Crohn's disease, or any other medical condition approved by the Washington State Medical Quality Assurance Board are covered under the state law.

(source www.norml.org)

 

[Guest]

How does hood orientation relate to efficiency?


Horizontally oriented lamps are more efficient for several reasons and should be seriously considered as the grower shops for a good light solution. In a horizontal lamp arrangement, the arc tube that produces the output is oriented with its full length exposed to the reflective hood insert and plants. This provides excellent efficiency due to a proper direct and indirect lighting arrangement. In contrast, a vertically placed lamp/arc tube has the poles (which don't provide any light) oriented such that they are facing the plants and the hood, bad deal.... calls for a parabolic type hood to deliver the light to the plants below. This is very inefficient due to losses incurred by the light first having to travel the distance to the inner surface of the parabolic reflector, and second, by relying on the reflective properties of the reflector's coating to distribute the light downward effectively which wont happen. There WILL be losses. Efficiency takes a big hit with vertically oriented lamps in parabolic reflectors. Regarding horizontally oriented reflector efficiencies - the reflector should be small (for reasons already stated) and should be well designed with a gull wing insert which uses a quality baked-on white enamel designed to resist discoloration from the adverse affects of heat over time. A much better solution is to choose a corrosion resistant specular aluminium insert. The use of quality specular material is the way to go regarding getting the most from your investment.


When using bulbs above 600watts and growing plants taller than 1meter commercial professionals make use of broad side lighting. The lamps are positioned hanging straight down between the plants without a reflector.

PLEASE NOTE: When using any lamp in any orientation it is always important to prevent heat damage by ensuring there is ample spacing between the lamp and adjacent plant material.

 

[Guest]

A very general rule of thumb is that your garden needs 50 watts of HID lighting per square foot of illuminated area. This rule ignores the shape of your garden, so the following is really a better guide: A 250 watt HID will illuminate a 2' x 2' garden. A 400 watt HID will illuminate a 3' x 3' garden. A 600 watt HID will illuminate a 3.5' x 3.5' garden. A 1000 watt HID will illuminate a 4' x 4' garden.

From Jackerspackle, here's a different take on watts-per-square-foot/meter (WPSF).

WPSF assumes that the bulb's intensity is equal over the entire grow area.. in other words each square foot/meter receives the same number of lumens. But in reality light diminishes rapidly the farther you go from the bulb (1/4 the intensity for each doubling of the distance). So each bulb has a limited range, beyond which you do not have good growth. For example, a growspace that's 2 x 10 feet would require 1000 watts if you go by the 50 WPSF guideline that's commonly mentioned.. But a 1000 watt bulb only covers an area about 5 feet across - meaning the edges of your garden will be dark.. A better choice in this case would be three 400s or two 600s. Another problem with WPSF is it assumes all bulbs have the same intensity. But 1000 watts of HPS is not the same as 1000 watts of fluorescents or (yuk) incandescents. Fluorescents have their lumens spread out over a long tube and are therefore dim.. incandescents have the wrong color spectrum and are also dim. Nor is a 1000 HPS the same as four 250 HPSs.. 250s don't have anywhere near the intensity needed to penetrate thick canopy or tall, bushy plants. (Don't even think about growing meter-tall plants with a 250.) I could go on, but here's a basic guideline for lighting a growspace for good growth using common HIDs: WATTAGE -- COVERAGE 1000 watt - 4 to 5 feet across (1.3 to 1.5 meters) 600 watt - 3.5 feet (1 meter) 400 watt - 2.5 possibly 3 feet (.8 to .9 m) 250 watt - 2 feet (.6-.7 m) 175 watt - small, less than 2 feet These numbers assume you have a good reflector around your bulb and also reflective wall coverings. You can increase the figures a bit if using multiple bulbs, due to their overlapping effect. You can also increase coverage using a light mover... I know this won't put to rest the old WPSF idea, but i hope it shed some light on the subject.

 

[Guest]

DANKS DANKS, KEEP EM COMIN IF YOU WANT, BUT MAN BRO, U REALLY DID IT UP WELL SO FAR, WHY DONT YOU TAKE A BREAK AND LET SOME OTHERS CONTRIBUTE, MY BRO?

....i feel bad

 

[Guest]

MANICURING:

The removal of the bigger leaves from the floral clusters. The removal is done to eliminate your budds of excessive outer big fan leaves from your marijuana's floral clusters. Done because the larger outer fan leaves contain little T.H.C. properties. Also the vegetive parts of the plants do not taste the same as smoked budds. The green vegetation uncoated with resins and crystals also lack the same true celebral highs as marijuana budds. Alot of cultivators remove their budds from the plant, then immediatly hang them to dry, usually upside down on a line between to points. There theory here is so the outer fan leaves hang and droop down, protecting the valuble crystals and resins coating thier budds. Once their budds have finished their drying phase, they go about removing the bigger outer fan leaves. As the budds and crystals are now dry they succeed in nothing but losing alot of there valuble crystals and resins. It is a fact, that most Marijuana growers decrease their marijuana's potency through the mishandling of their floral clusters. Always, Always, handle your budds from their stalks ! Some of us prefer a different theory and method, working with the marijuana plants stickyness. Performing the "manicuring" process is done best right at harvest time, or when you have removed your budds from the plant. Doing it while the budds are still wet is best for a few reasons. With wet budds harvested, the leaves are not drooped against the plants, and when held in their up right position are extreamly easy to remove. Dry budds that have leaves hugging them are harder to remove, and cause the manicurist to disturb and lose those valuble resins, and crystally secretions. (those secretions iz the reason im so "freaking fried" right now !) The advantage to removing the leaves while wet, is to get to them before they have had a chance to hug the budds. Once hugging the budds well, the crystals and resins stick to those big fan leaves, and eventually through the removal of them, we loose them from the smokable budd itself. Freshly harvested budds, still wet remain intact almost all of their resiney secretions. Giving the manicurist great opportunity to remove the bigger fan leaves, and with out crystal disturbance. So taking them at harvest time is clearly a more suitable method to practice. Lets move into some manicuring now, its really an easy 1-2-3 operation. Pick it, Cut it, Hang it !

Most strains at peak harvest timing have already dried up, wilted, yellowed, or fell of, thier bigger outer fans leaves. This is a good indication your Marijuana has reached its "Peak" harvesting point. However there will likely still be several outer fan leaves and some smaller ones protruding from the budd. Some strains will still even remain alot of their vegetaion near their floral clusters, so here we will use a couple different strains for our picture examples. A Super Skunk specimen on the left and a Northern Lights specimen on the right. Following the overplace red lines in the pictures you can clearly see where will would make cuts to these peticular budds. Its basically a all around trimming of the bigger fan leaves and the protruding smaller vegetations. More heavier coated and crystallier strains well, may even be coated with many resins, and crystally secretions. So mostly overlook cutting alot of these off, and leave them on the budds, this is clearly your own manicuring choice. A good rule of thumb is that if its coated dont cut it. So as simple as that, the manicuring process is complete and you move now into drying stage of your marijuana budds.

Good luck manicuring, and now your a "Marijuana Manicurist"

 

[00420]

How do I become a medical marijuana patient in the state of California?

How do I become a medical marijuana patient in the state of California?

Contributed by: med-user

There are several ways to become medical in the state of California.

Go to your regular family doctor and ask if he will recommend MJ for you.

Once you have a recommendation, bring it to one of the below listed offices to get a valid medical marijuana user identification card:

San Francisco Department of Public Health
for San Francisco residents ONLY.
101 Grove Street, 1st floor
415-554-2890 (recorded information)

Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative
for ALL OTHER California residents
1733 Broadway, Oakland
510-832-5346

WeedTRACKER.com
California Co-Op News & Reviews
Get the latest info on prices and
availablity state wide.

 

[Guest]

DANK YOU VIRUS HIGH!

keep em comin folks.

 

[Guest]

MARIHUANA: HOW TO GROW IT, REAP IT, AND COOK IT.

There are many different methods of growing marihuana, and it seems everyone has just discovered the best fertilizer. I could not relay all the methods in five books, so have settled for the technique that has been proven most successful. Most seeds are fertile, but the best are from Mexico. Never under any circumstances throw seeds away, since marihuana is a weed and will grow almost anywhere. The first step is to soak your seeds overnight in clean, lukewarm water. YOur container should be a standard planter box. If this is not available, a plastic dish tray about two inches deep will serve uset as well. Fill the container with washed fine sand and shredded sphagnum moss. If this is not readily available, you can use regular soil. The soil should be packed firmly, and watered well so that the excess water is allowed to run off. Dig furrows the full length of the container about one-half-inch deep. Now you are ready to sow your seeds. Do so every inch. Fill in each furrow with soil, sand, moss, and water. Cover the container with a clear plastic sheet, and place it in a warm location where there are at least six hours of sunlight a day. The plants now remain on their own until they develop their first true leaves. Even it the material above is not available, almost the same degree of success can be accomplished by placing the seeds on several layers of water soaked paper towels. Now cover the seeds with a plastic sheet jsut as above, and expose to sunlight. In about one week, signs of life should start to appear. Within two weeks, definite little leaves should be present. This is the time to transplant. The plot you intend to use for your transplant should be carefully prepared. Manure should be used for at least one week in advance of the actual transplant. The soil should be similar to the original soil used in the germinating box. All other weeds, in the general area of your plot, should be pulled to allow your plant as much freedom as possible. The original germinating box should be watered the day before you are going to transplant, so as to make the move easier and less traumatic on the plants.The plants should be placed in holes two to three inches deep, depending on the size of the plant. The earth around the plant should be loose, and if possible, some earthworms should be added. If there is a lack of sunlight, a simple ring of tinfoil around the plant can be very helpful. The first few days are the msot critical after the actual transplant. If the plants survive the shock, there should be no reason why they shouldn't grow into healthy, fully grown plants (which means, in certain climates, fifteen to twenty feet high). Very little care is needed after this stage, with the exception of fertilization. For fertilizers, one can use manure, soluble nitrogen, nitrate of soda, sulfate of ammonia, or rotting garbage (which has always been popular). To produce a stronger plant, on can clip off the lower leaves; do this only when the plant reaches a height of at least three feet. The ground surrounding your plant should be kept clear of other weeds, but strangely enough, insects ignore marihuana and do virtually no harm. As a rule, it is better to wait until the plants have gone to seed before they are cut, but if you're greedy, you can kill the goose that laid the golden egg. The best agent for drying is the sun, but if you live in the city it could prove embarrassing and dangerous to have five- or ten-foot pot trees on your fire escape- in this case a sun lamp can be used. When using the sun, drying usually takes about two weeks. With a sun lamp, the pot is smokable after only three or four days. When drying is done, seperate the leaves and crush them. This will be the finest smoke, unless you have a female plant. If so, save the blossoms for the most potent smoke there is. The stems and twigs can be chopped up and smoked in a pipe, or sold to a friend. Grass is basically a weed and can be grown anywhere, including indoors with artificial light. A sun lamp works well from a distance of two to three feet. For an interesting experiment, use infra -red light on part of your crop and a sun lamp on the other part, then compare. A bathtub or cement mixer is an ideal planter for the city dweller.

 

[00420]

How do I apply for medical marijuana in Canada?

How do I apply for medical marijuana in Canada?

Contributed by: JonJaffer
Submitted: 03-05-2003

In July 2001, Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Health, pursuant to subsection 55(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, hereby makes the annexed Marihuana Medical Access Regulations


To begin with, you will need to obtain the forms required to apply for access to medical marijuana. You can get the forms online at

(link) in .pdf format, and print them, or you can call the Office of Cannabis Medical Access (OCMA) at 1-866-337-7705 and ask them to mail you the forms (it's free!).

There are two types of applications:

(1) Authorization to possess marijuana. Requires one form to be filled out by the applicant, and one form by their doctor.

(2) Authorization to grow your own marijuana, or to have someone else grow it for you. This will be a little bit more work, requiring a few more forms.

Your doctor will have to recommend a daily dosage of marijuana. A form of administration. The duration is 12 months unless otherwise specified.

Application conditions:

There are three categories of medical conditions which are eligible for medical marijuana. Category three is quite general however, and almost every condition could be classified there.

# There is a section to fill out what symptoms you suffer from, and what other treatments you have tried. I would recommend extensively researching the side effects and downsides of all the popular treatments, and claim to suffer from all of them.

# There is a section to choose whether you will grow your own, or designate another person to grow for you. If you will not be growing, you will need to provide the address of the person who will, whether they own the property, and if the marijuana will be stored at that location. If the property is rented, the owners permission will be required, and a form is provided for that purpose as well.

# You will also need to disclose whether the marijuana will be grown indoors, outdoors, or a combination.

# If there will be any marijuana grown outdoors, you must indicate that the property is not adjacent to any schools, play grounds, day cares, or other places frequented by persons under the age of 18.

# You must confirm that the marijuana will be stored indoors, and you must provide details about security of the production site.

# One of the last steps will be to inform the local authorities that you have obtained a license to either possess and/or grow marijuana for medical purposes.

Formulas for maximum possession / production:

Possession:
For personal possession, once you have been granted a license, the formula for maximum possession is as follows: A * 30

Where;
A = the maximum daily dosage as prescribed in your application.
(So basically, you can carry up to 30 days worth of your prescribed supply at once)

Production:
For production, plant numbers are calculated based on whether the plants will be grown fully indoors, fully outdoors, or a combination.

For production fully indoors, the maximum allowed number of plants is calculated as follows: D = [(A × 365) ÷ (B × 3C)] × 1.2

Where;
D is the maximum number of plants,
A is the maximum daily dosage as prescribed in your application,
B is equal to 30 grams, the expected yield per plant, and
C is a constant 1, representing the number of possible crops per year).

So for example, if your prescription is for (5 grams daily, multiply by 365) to get 1825 grams per year. This will be divided by (30 grams times 3 crops, which is 90) so 1825 divided by 90 equals 20, which is finally multiplied by 1.2, to equal 24.

So a prescription of 5 grams daily will mean you can grow 24 plants at once.

For production fully outside, the maximum number of plants is calculated as follows:

D = [(A × 365) ÷ (B × C)] × 1.3

(so taking into account 1 crop per year, instead of 3, you are allowed 3 times more plants. The multiplier changes from 1.2 to 1.3, so thats a few more plants for margin of error, being outside.

And for a indoor/outdoor production combination, the formula is:

For the indoor period, D = [(A × 182.5) ÷ (B × 2C)] × 1.2
For the outdoor period, D = [(A × 182.5) ÷ (B × C)] × 1.3

Storage:
And finally, for storage of dried marijuana at a production site, the following formulas apply:

E = D × B × 1.5

Where;
E = the maximum amount of dried marijuana,
D is the maximum number of allowed plants, and
B is equal to 30 grams.
In other words, you are allowed to store your 1.5 times your crop's yield.

Assuming a prescription of 5 grams daily (the maximum amount without filling out an extra section declaring that your doctors believe the benefits will outway the harm), the allowed numbers of plants are quite generous.

 

[Guest]

How do I mix up my nutrient solution?

These are the exact steps I take to properly preparing a nute solution: Note: My res is 25 gallons, so you will have to adjust all volumes for your res size. I would suggest getting a container that would be able to hold the same amount of water as your res. That way you can prepare your mixture in the mixing container, then empty your rez and immediately pump the fresh solution into your system so that they will be out of the water for a minimal amount of time to reduce shock. Use good water. I use RO (Reverse Osmosis) water. Add all of your “extras” to your reservoir In bloom, I add 80ml of Bcuzz bloom stimulant (Bcuzz’s suggested str for 25 gals), and a small amount of Epsom salts, about 2 TSP (10ml). You must mix your e-salts in warm water, or they will take forever to dissolve and throw off your readings. This little trick will help you whenever you need to mix something solid into your nute solution. Dissolve it first. Nutrient mixing. What I do is get a gallon of water, and mix my nutes ratios into that container, then I simply add that solution to my res until I reach the desired ppm. You CANNOT mix them together in their pure form, they must be diluted or nutrient lockout can occur. I never pour nutes directly into the reservoir. My system holds 25 gallons, so I use 80ml as my “base unit” of measure. I use the 1-2-3 (G-M-B) formula. It is the one that GH recommends and it works well for me. For example 1-2-3 = 80ml – 160ml – 240ml Always add Micro, then Grow, then Bloom. In my bucket of water I add 2 measures of GH Micro. Mix. Then I add my 1 measure of Grow. Mix. Then I add my 3 measures of Bloom. Mix. My measure is 80ml - yours will be different according to your res size. Use a submersible water pump to keep everything mixing in your main rez. Add the GH mixture slowly to the mixing container until I reach my desired ppm. After I have the ppm’s set, I adjust my ph until my mixture is perfect. Then I quickly dump my res and put the contents form my mixing container into my res. Be sure your nutes are fully mixed before trusting your readings. I have found ph to take longer to stabilize than ppm's, so allow the tank to really mix up well before you count on a ph reading to be true.

Here are some GH ratios I use:

Cuttings pure RO water and a rooting powder, liquid, or gel is all you need
Seedlings / clones Add a drop of superthrive per gallon of water, e-salts, and a 1-1-1 (G-M-B) GH mixture at 250 ppm and adjust ph to 5.2 – 5.8.
Early veg Add a drop of superthrive per gallon of water, e-salts, and a 1-1-1 (G-M-B) GH mixture at 350-450 ppm and adjust ph to 5.2 – 5.8.
Vegging Add a drop of superthrive per gallon of water, e-salts, and a 3-2-1 (G-M-B) GH mixture at 500-650 ppm and adjust ph to 5.2 – 5.8.
Transition to blooming (first 2 weeks of 12/12) Add my Bcuzz bloom booster, e-salts, and a 1-1-1 (G-M-B) GH mixture at 700 ppm and adjust ph to 5.2 – 5.8.
Full bloom Add my Bcuzz bloom booster, e-salts, and a 1-2-3 (G-M-B) GH mixture at 750 - 950 ppm and adjust ph to 5.2 – 5.8.

Tips:

>When I give a range of ppm, I start off low and mix a little extra GH to slowly bump up the ppms as the days go on to make sure the plants can handle it. Every strain will grow a little different.
>If system heat is a problem, you can use a silicone solution such as pro-tekt (or Pro-silica) to raise ph and give the plants a little something to help them out in hot weather. Use it sparingly. I wouldn’t add more than 1 ml per gallon into your res. It may slow down growth.
>Don’t try to add all kinds of stuff to your res, the simpler the better. That is why I add so little Epsom salts. If I start having Mg issues I would bump it up, but I haven’t had to yet.
>You will not need H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) unless you have an improper nute solution. If you keep your res temps at 68-72* and it is light tight you won’t have algae problems and your plants will be the happiest. The higher your nute temps go, the less O2 the water can hold. It is a property of water itself and no amount of bubbles will help.
>I keep my nutes at a ph between 5.2 – 5.8. If it is in this range DO NOT try to get it “perfect” by adding ph up and down. If you mix up your solution and you don't HAVE to use the ph up or down DON'T. When you do adjust try to hit 5. 5 but once again don’t be too picky. If it’s a little higher or lower let it go. You’ll just mess things up by trying to mix it exactly.
>If you have a nutrient deficiency, or some other problem that you think might be nutrient related - change your nutes!
>Be careful when mixing highly concentrated nutrients, as lockout can occur when adding pH "up" (As may occur in a smaller volume). It is my experience that K can precipitate out of solution - make sure pH "up" or "Down" is added to the nutrient solution with additional water).
>Another mixup procedure is to mix the nutrients directly into the main rez. This method takes longer, as adjustments require additional mixup of seperate nutrient components.
>(Reggea love) Nutrients strengths should be qualified with the ppm/us conversion factor used (such as 0.5, 0.6 or 0.7), which can make a significant difference to the actual strengths.]

 

[00420]

Where can you get Cheap Natural Fertilizers and Soil Amendments?

Where can you get Cheap Natural Fertilizers and Soil Amendments?

Where can you get Cheap Natural Fertilizers and Soil Amendments?
One of our composting experts and friends on this site David Hall (DcHall_San_Antonio), recently gave a great list of some of the major benefits from soil high in organic matter:
************************************************** **********

"Chemical fertilizers rely on an assumption that plants only need three elements to survive and thrive. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are those three. This is the equivalent of saying that we need protein, fat, and sugar to live. While this may be mostly true, pure protein, pure fat, and pure sugar do nothing to supply the vitamins, minerals, and diverse supply of bacteria and fungi in our diets.

Here is a list of a dozen things that you can do with organically fed soil that cannot be achieved with conventional chemical feeding.

1. Decompose plant residues and manure to humus.

2. Retain nutrients in the form of stable humus.

3. Combine nitrogen and carbon to prevent nutrient loss.

4. Suppress fungus and bacterial diseases.

5. Produce plant growth regulators.

6. Develop soil structure, tilth, and water penetration/retention.

7. Clean up chemical residues.

8. Shift soil pH to neutral and keep it there.

9. Search out and retrieve nutrients in distant parts of the soil.

10. Decompose thatch and keep it from returning.

11. Control nitrogen supply to the plants according to need.

12. Pull minerals out of inorganic soil components for plants.

Soil microbes need sugar and protein to thrive. When you apply synthetic ferts, none of the things on this list gets done. The microbes normally get sugar from plant roots. Protein in nature comes from dead insects, plants, and animals. The organic gardener applies protein artificially in the form or organic fertilizers. It is usually in the form of a ground up meal made from plants and animals to try to replicate the natural process."

************************************************** *****

With that being said, many times it is difficult to find good organic or natural fertilizers and soil amendments from garden stores because most of the garden people that we meet are non-organic users. Therefore as an organic gardener, we have to be creative in order to find our supplies.

This is a simple list of sources for uses in foliar teas, composting and green manure techniques, and other soil amendments:


1. Deer plot mixes or cheap bird seed bags - 50 lb bag is a great source of economical cool season cover crop seeds. Most contain a mixture of legumes and grasses like crimson clover or hairy vetch or winter peas, oats, winter wheat, and rye. Most bird seeds contain sunflowers or millet or other types of non-legume seeds that can be planted as excellent cheap cover crop seeds. Bird seeds make great composting ingredients too for extra protein-nitrogen to speed up compost decomposition.


2. Catfish or pond fish feed - Excellent source of alfalfa meal and fish meal for topdressing or compost teas. Like cat and dog foods, some people may not consider it a truly organic soil food source. But it does contain lots of protein and micronutrients.


3. Cat or Dog foods - Some people would not consider this a truly organic source of soil nutrients. It does contain lots of protein and micronutrients. There are some amounts of corn gluten meal in these feeds. (NOTE: Probably not enough to really do the job of weed seed suppression control in lawns or gardens.)

4. Seaweed - If you can't collect it free from the beach, you can buy economical packs of fresh seaweed from oriential markets for compost teas. (To be on the safe side, it is a good idea to always wash your seaweed first to remove any salt.) Take all your remains from your teas and recycle them into your compost piles. If you liquify the seaweed in a juice, you can use the whole product as a foliar feed or soil drench. Even though most fertilizer companies rate seaweed with a NPK of 0-0-1, it contains at least 1% total N and over 3% total P. Seaweed may contain as much as 60 trace elements. Seaweed and other algae plants are some of the greatest soil amendments on earth, or should I say in the ocean. Seaweed also contains beneficial growth hormones and benefical fungal food sources for soil microbes.


5. Fish emulsion - Commercial brands contain no fish oil and little or no aerobic bacteria. Homemade versions supply extra beneficial oils for beneficial fungi and fish bones for extra calcium. Free fresh fish parts are the best if available. However, cheap canned fish products will do fine. Experiment with canned mackerel, sardines, herring, etc. If the fishy smell is a big issue, just mix your fish products with a lot of high carbon sources like sawdust, leaves, or straw in a 5 gallon closed bucket. You can add molasses to your fishy mixture to speed up decomposition by increasing the microbial growth in the mixture. The molasses will also control the fishy odors. Let this mix decompose for at least a week or more before adding to the hot compost pile or to your compost tea recipes. The extra carbons will help absorb the offensive odors as well as keep most of the organic nitrogen in your compost pile or your compost teas. Also the aerobic bacteria kill break down any bad pathogens that may exist in decaying fish meat. Read the other FAQ's on aerated teas and homemade fish/seaweed emulsions also.


6. Fava beans, soybeans, and other legume cover crops - Mostly all bagged dry beans and peas in grocery stores will sprout and make great warm season green manures. Fava beans and soybeans can found in oriential markets or health food markets.


7. Horse and cattle feeds - These contain a great supply of alfalfa meal and corn meal and other proteins for soil amendments or compost teas. The whole corn or oat seeds in the bags, may sprout and give you an extra green manure benefit. The extra molasses ingredient from the feeds draws and breeds lots of beneficial soil organisms. Molasses also contains sulfur which acts as a mild natural fungicide also. NOTE: Check the label also for total salt content in the feeds. Most grain meals that I get are no salt (less than 0.7%).


8. Corn meal - very cheap source for a nitrogen activator for heating up the compost pile or as a topdressing. Great natural fungicide also. Corn meal is a great phosphorus source also.


9. Liquid molasses, dry molasses powder, brown sugar, corn syrup - source of fast consuming sugars for feeding and breeding the aerobic bacteria in compost teas. Most microherd populations love the high carbon content in sugar products. Sugars are best dissolved and broken down by microbes in compost tea that has brewed at least 1-3 days, before applying to the soil. If too much sugar is added on soil straight as a topdressing, it may cause a temporary nitrogen deficiency in the soil as the microherd populations grow too fast. Molasses also contains sulfur which acts as a mild natural fungicide also. Molasses is also a great natural deodorizer for fishy teas. NOTE: Recent studies have shown that unsulfured molasses or dry molasses powder is best for faster aerobic microbial growth in tea brewing. For a more fungal tea don't add too much simple sugar or molasses to your aerobic teas. Use more complex sugars, starches and carbohydrates like in seaweed, rotten fruit, soy sauce, or other fungal foods.



10. Alfalfa meal - best source is 50 lb bags of rabbit food or alfalfa hay bales. There are also 100% alfalfa pet litter or beddings if available. Alfalfa products are best used in teas, mulches, or as topdressings. Alfalfa is an excellent natural complete fertilizer, containing great amounts of N, P, and K, and many growth hormones and micronutrients.


11. Blood and Bone meal - this classic combo can be found almost everywhere these days. However blood meal is very expensive. Bone meal can be even cheaper if purchased in 20 lb bags from feed stores. Since blood meal is totally soluble, it can be added to compost tea recipes.. With a NPK around 11-0-0, it has the highest total nitrogen ratio of all natural fertilizers, and may burn plants if used improperly. Steamed bone meal has a recorded NPK around 0-11-0. Usually steamed bone meal has a total N from 1-6%, 11% soluble P but 20% total P, and 24% calcium. Raw bone meal has more total N but none of the P is water soluble.


12. Urine or Urea - yes, human urine is an excellent source of organic nitrogen for compost teas or as a free nitrogen activator for composting (45% N). (NOTE: Unlike human manure, any pathogens, diseases, or other mild toxins in human urine are quickly killed and digested within 24 hours after they escape the human body. Therefore human urine is very safe for all types of composting methods.)

13. Animal Manures - High in N and great sources of P and K and soil microbes. Use only vegetarian animal manures, like cattle or horses, in order to be on the safe or conservative side for all your gardening uses! Chickens are not vegetarians. However chicken manure is a safe, classic, high nitrogen, highly alkaline farm animal manure. Chicken manure is ok, mainly because the foods that chickens consume are easily broken down by normal gardening composting systems. DO NOT EVER USE ANY PET MANURES OR DOG OR CAT POOP! It is extremely dangerous to humans. There are special hot composting procedures that must be performed to use toxic, pathogen or disease prone, heavy metal manures like pet poop and human manures. So don't do it! Always compost animal manures first or use aged animal manures before applying to the soil or as an ingredient in foliar teas.


14. Grass Clippings and Green Weeds - Excellent sources or organic N for special foliar teas or use as an organic mulch/top dressing. Some gardeners even hot compost strange weeds and herbs like kudzu, bull thistle, dandelions, comfrey, stinging nettle, thorns, ivy, etc.


15. Wood Ashes - Wood ashes, not charcoal ashes, are great organically recommended soil amendments. Wood ashes contain up to 70% calcium carbonate or calcium oxide (natural liming agent) and lots of potassium. If you have native acidic soil, a little sprinkled wood ashes are perfect for your lawn or garden as a soil amendment or liming agent. However, if your native soil is highly alkaline, never put wood ashes straight on your soil! Wood ashes is absolutely safe in a hot compost pile. A hot compost pile always buffers the pH of its ingredient organic matter materials so that the mature compost has a near neutral pH. The main disadvantage of composting wood ashes is that the high alkaline ashes will chemically react with high nitrogen products in the pile like animal manures or grass clippings, thus creating excessive ammonia gases that will be wasted and evaporated out of the pile. Therefore if you compost wood ashes, only use a few cups of ashes per cubic yard of compost piles.


The above soil amendment products can also be buried straight in the garden soil for trench composting. You can also bury these materials in planting holes under the roots of heavy feeder transplants like tomatoes for extra NPK for plant growth. You can poke holes in the soil around crop roots with your spade fork, to get more oxygen in the soil to further increase organic matter decomposition and increase microbial activity in the soil.

All natural soil amendments as well as homemade compost, do more than just fertilize the soil and growing plants. Most natural soil amendments have a total NPK rating sum total less than 20 (i.e. fish emulsion NPK = 5-1-1, compost NPK less than 4-4-4). Don't be fooled by the numbers. Most P and K ratings only record the soluble available portions in the products. The N portion recorded could be either the soluble, insoluble, or total N portions as based on the company. The insoluble non-reported portion of OM is continuously consumed and broken down with the existing OM in the garden soil, thus raising the available soluble nutrients for further season crops.


Happy Gardening!


Entered by CaptainCompostAL

 

[Guest]

Nutrient Disorders

George Van Pattens on Nutrients Nutrient disorders are caused by too much or too little of one or several nutrients being available. These nutrients are made available between a pH range of 5 and 7 and a total dissolved solids (TDS) range of 800 to 3000 PPM. Maintaining these conditions is the key to proper nutrient uptake.

Nutrients

Over twenty elements are needed for a plant to grow. Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are absorbed from the air and water. The rest of the elements, called mineral nutrients, are dissolved in the nutrient solution. The primary or macro- nutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)) are the elements 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 (Mo), 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 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) is primary to plant growth. Plants convert nitrogen to make proteins essential to new cell growth. Nitrogen is mainly responsible for leaf and stem growth as well as overall size and vigor. Nitrogen moves easily to active young buds, shoots and leaves and slower to older leaves. Deficiency signs show first in older leaves. They turn a pale yellow and may die. New growth becomes weak and spindly. An abundance of nitrogen will cause soft, weak growth and even delay flower and fruit production if it is allowed to accumulate.

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

Potassium (K) activates the manufacture and movement of sugars and starches, as well as growth by cell division. Potassium increases chlorophyll in foliage and helps regulate stomata openings so plants make better use of light and air. Potassium encourages strong root growth, water uptake and triggers enzymes that fight disease. Potassium is necessary during all stages of growth. It is especially important in the development of fruit. Deficiency signs of potassium are: plants are the tallest and appear healthy. Older leaves mottle and yellow between veins, followed by whole leaves that turn dark yellow and die. Flower and fruit drop are common problems associated with potassium deficiency. Potassium is usually locked out by high salinity.

Secondary Nutrients

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

Calcium (Ca) is fundamental to cell manufacture and growth. Soil gardeners use dolomite lime, which contains calcium and magnesium, to keep the soil sweet or buffered. Rockwool gardeners use calcium to buffer excess nutrients. Calcium moves slowly within the 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 is applied early in life, it will stunt growth as well. It will also flocculate when a concentrated form is combined with potassium.

Trace Elements

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

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

Manganese (Mg) works with plant enzymes to reduce nitrates before producing proteins. A lack of manganese turns young leaves a mottled yellow or brown.

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

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

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

Molybdenum (Mn) helps form proteins and aids the plant's ability to fix nitrogen from the air. A deficiency causes leaves to turn pale and fringes to appear scorched. Irregular leaf growth may also result.

These nutrients are mixed together to form a complete plant fertilizer. The mix contains all the nutrients in the proper ratios to give 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 plant roots. In the presence of oxygen and water, the nutrients are absorbed through the root hairs.

Problem-Solver, simply start at #1 below. When you think you've found the problem, read the Nutrients section to learn more about it. Diagnose carefully before making major changes.

1 If the problem affects only the bottom or middle of the plant go to #2. If it affects only the top of the plant or the growing tips, skip to #10. If the problem seems to affect the entire plant equally, skip to #6.

2 Leaves are a uniform yellow or light green; leaves die & drop; growth is slow. Leaf margins are not curled-up noticeably. Nitrogen (N) deficiency. If not, go to #3.

3 Margins of the leaves are turned up, and the tips may be twisted. Leaves are yellowing (and may turn brown), but the veins remain somewhat green. Magnesium (Mg) deficiency. If not, go to #4.

4 Leaves are browning or yellowing. Yellow, brown, or necrotic (dead) patches, especially around the edges of the leaf, which may be curled. Plant may be too tall. >> Potassium (K) deficiency. If not, keep reading…

5 Leaves are dark green or red/purple. Stems and petioles may have purple & red on them. Leaves may turn yellow or curl under. Leaf may drop easily. Growth may be slow and leaves may be small. >> Phosphorous (P) deficiency. If not, go to #6.

6 Tips of leaves are yellow, brown, or dead. Plant otherwise looks healthy & green. Stems may be soft >> Over-fertilization (especially N), over-watering, damaged roots, or insufficient soil aeration (use more sand or perlite. Occasionally due to not enough N, P, or K. If not, go to #7.

7 Leaves are curled under like a ram's horn, and are dark green, gray, brown, or gold. >> Over-fertilization (too much N). If not, go to #8…

8 The plant is wilted, even though the soil is moist. Over-fertilization, soggy soil, damaged roots, disease; copper deficiency (very unlikely). If not, go to #9.

9 Plants won't flower, even though they get 12 hours of darkness for over 2 weeks. >> The night period is not completely dark. Too much nitrogen. Too much pruning or cloning. If not, go to #10...

10 Leaves are yellow or white, but the veins are mostly green. >> Iron (Fe) deficiency. If not, #11.

11 Leaves are light green or yellow beginning at the base, while the leaf margins remain green. Necrotic spots may be between veins. Leaves are not twisted. >> Manganese (Mn) deficiency. If not, #12.

12 Leaves are twisted. Otherwise, pretty much like #11. >> Zinc (Zn) deficiency. If not, #13.

13 Leaves twist, then turn brown or die. >> The lights are too close to the plant. Rarely, a Calcium (Ca) or Boron (B) deficiency. If not… You may just have a weak plant.

Solutions to Nutrient Deficiencies

The Nutrients:

Nitrogen - Plants need lots of N during vegging, but it's easy to overdo it. Added too much? Flush the soil with plain water. Soluble nitrogen (especially nitrate) is the form that's the most quickly available to the roots, while insoluble 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 N delays flowering. Plants should be allowed to become N-deficient late in flowering for best flavor. Magnesium - Mg-deficiency is pretty common since marijuana uses lots of it and many fertilizers don't have enough of it. Mg-deficiency is easily fixed with ¼ teaspoon/gallon of Epsom salts (first powdered and dissolved in some hot water) or foliar feed at ½ teaspoon/quart. When mixing up soil, use 2 teaspoon dolomite lime per gallon of soil for Mg. Mg can get locked-up by too much Ca, Cl or ammonium nitrogen. Don't overdo Mg or you'll lock up other nutrients. Potassium - Too much sodium (Na) displaces K, causing a 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 Na, flush the soil. K can get locked up from too much Ca or ammonium nitrogen, and possibly cold weather. Phosphorous - Some deficiency during 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 N, K, and Mg-deficiencies, so red stems are not a foolproof sign of P-deficiency. Too much P can lead to iron deficiency. Iron - Fe is unavailable to 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 P, which can lock up Fe. Use iron that's chelated for maximum availability. Read your fertilizer's ingredients - chelated iron might read something like "iron EDTA". To much Fe without adding enough P can cause a P-deficiency. Manganese - Mn gets locked out when the pH is too high, and when there's too much iron. Use chelated Mn. Zinc - Also gets locked out due to high pH. Zn, Fe, and 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 plant looks real bad. Use chelated zinc.

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 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. They run about $40 and up.

General Feeding Tips

Pot plants are very adaptable, but a general rule of thumb is to use more nitrogen & less phosphorous during the vegetative period, and the exact opposite during the flowering period. For the veg. period try a N:K ratio of about 10:7:8 (which of course is the same ratio as 20:14:16), and for flowering plants, 4:8:8. Check the pH after adding nutrients. If you use a reservoir, keep it circulating and change it every 2 weeks. A general guideline for TDS levels is as follows: seedlings = 50-150 ppm; unrooted clones = 100-350 ppm; small plants = 400-800 ppm; large plants = 900-1800 ppm; last week of flowering = taper off to plain water. These numbers are just a guideline, and many factors can change the actual level the 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. PH - The pH of water after adding any nutrients should be around 5.9-6.5 (in rockwool, 5.5-6.1) . Generally speaking, the micro-nutrients (Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu) get locked out at a high pH (alkaline) above 7. 0, while the major nutrients (N, P, K, 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 ($40-80), preferably a waterproof one. You won't regret it.

Other Things…

Cold

Cold weather (below 50F/10C) can lock up phosphorous. Some varieties, like equatorial sativas, don't take well to cold weather. If you can keep the roots warmer, the plant will be able to take cooler temps than it otherwise could.

Heat

If the lights are too close to the 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 plants. Raise the lights and/or aim a fan at the hot zone. Room temps should be kept under 85F (29C) -- or 90F (33) if you add additional CO2.

Humidity

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

Mold and fungus

Dark patchy areas on leaves and buds can be mold. Lower the humidity and increase the ventilation if mold is a problem. Remove any dead leaves, wherever they are. Keep your 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 plants are usually from using the wrong kind of light.. Don't use regular incandescent bulbs ("grow bulbs") or halogens to grow cannabis. Invest in fluorescent lighting (good) or HID lighting (much better) which supply the high-intensity light that cannabis needs for good growth and tight buds. Even better, grow in sunlight.

Clones

yellowing 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 clones - plain tap water is fine. If this helped, send a few dollars to NORML. Best of luck, jackerspackle

 

[00420]

How can Medical Marijuana benefit me?

How can Medical Marijuana benefit me?

Contributed by: retarded_sativa
Thanks to: Joan Bello's book "The benefits of Marijuana"
Submitted: 05-04-2003

Marijuana is one of the most beneficial and therapeutically active substances known to man. Due to the prohibition of marijuana however; it’s use as a medicine is restricted. However, recent Canadian government legislation have made it more available to patients. Patients are now able to apply for personal possession and even a limited cultivation license.

Few herbs offer a wide variety of therapeutic applications like these:

· Relief of muscle spasms
· Relief of chronic pain
· Reduction in interlobular pressure inside the eye
· Suppression of nausea
· Weight loss – increase and restore metabolism

Marijuana can treat these conditions:

· AIDS - Marijuana can reduce the nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting from the condition itself and the medications as well.

· Glaucoma - Marijuana relieves the internal eye pressure of glaucoma, and therefore relieving the pain and slowing or even stopping the condition.

· Cancer- Many side effects of the medication to stop cancer can be relieve with Marijuana, some studies suggest that Marijuana tends to slow down the progress of some types of cancer.

· Multiple Sclerosis - Muscle pain, spasticity, tremors and unsteadiness are some of the effects caused by the disease that can be relieved by Marijuana.

· Epilepsy - in some patients, epileptic seizures can be prevented with Marijuana use.

· Chronic pain - Marijuana helps to alleviate the pain caused from many types of injuries and disorders.

· Anxiety, Depression or Obsession - Even though mild anxiety is a common side effect in some users, cannabis can elevate your mood and expand the mind

"With the expansiveness that occurs with marijuana, the subject may begin to notice infinite possibilities to raise the quality of his/her life that would otherwise have remained hidden from normal, defensive consciousness. And feelings of health and happiness naturally lead to hope, which of itself can be curative."- Joan Bello

Many obsessions or quick fixes to psychological problems can be eleviated by Marijuana as well. Many people eat because they're depressed. If the depression is treated, the obsession to eat should be gone as well.

Any of these phycological conditions can be treated by a psychiatrist; marijuana should be an alternative therapy, used in conjunction with psychiatric therapy.

· Physical Addictions- There have been testimonies from opiate users that report an easing of addiction cravings. Some cannabinoids in cannabis are believed to have similar effects as ibogaine, a medication used to treat heroin addiction.

The cannabinoids in Marijuana mimic the healing effects of a naturally occurring chemical in the brain called Anandimide. However, this naturally occurring cannabinoid also produces the negative effects that one would experience from high concentrations of cannabinoids in marijuana.

Medical marijuana can also benefit you psychologically and spiritually.

Marijuana can be used to enhance personal Spirituality. The herb tends to reveal your true self. It uncovers inner confusion and reveals your true direction - if you let it. Marijuana offers an effect that is both energizing and relaxing at the same time. This balanced effect will help some to think more clearly and more efficiently afterwards.

"Marijuana will not tolerate repression. Tranquillizers and depressants relax the body and release tension, but the state of mind associated with these drugs is "unconsciousness" whereby we escape rather than resolve our dilemmas. Alcoholism is an extreme need of both the body and personality sometimes to release the nervousness that has accumulated and continues to build up to an unbearable degree. It serves the same function for the collective personality for the society, as well A culture in which alcohol and tranquillizers are the prevalent form of release prefers not to witness internal confusion and actually choose to act without conscious participation, maintaining a semi-numb condition." - Joan Bello

"Marijuana can act as the loosening agent, so that whatever has been banned from consciousness may come cascading forth. To uncover our deceptions without our usual rationalizations can be unpleasant, an experience that has turned many psychologically fragile individuals away from marijuana despite its therapeutic catharsis."- Joan Bello