Growing weed is of course illegal....But I'd like to provide some growing information strictly for informational purposes...here goes...
"Closet Cannabis Growing Guide"
Table of Contents
Your place of
growing
Materials
Seeds
Stage 1: Starting
your seeds
Stage 2: Sprouting
in soil
Stage 3: Jiffy cup
to 5-gal bucket
Stage 4a:Flowering
Stage 4b: Mating
(Optional)
Stage 5a: Clipping
and Drying
Stage 5b: Curing
(Optional)
Disclaimer
Your place of growing
The place you would grow your plants would have to be
adequate for your plants overall ending size. For most plants this can tend to
be anywhere's from an area of 1'x1' floor space and 3' of height to, for much
larger growths, 4'x4'x10' for each plant. But you will most likely need
2.5'x2.5'x6' for each good healthy plant. You do not need to sprout, grow and
mature your plants all in the same spot. Be sure that your plants get plenty of
air circulation and that with lights, any heating equipment, and any other
sources nearby, that the room will stay at approx. 65-80 degrees Fahrenheit
(optimal growth range 73-78). Beware of the smell of your plants drifting into
your neighborhood, as it is illegal to cultivate this misunderstood plant.
Also, be sure to include outlets for lighting and cooling.
CO2: CO2 is an entirely optional system for helping your
plants growth. If there is enough air circulation there should not be any need
for such a system, as you could possibly kill the plants with to
much. But, if you do choose to use this option, CO2 can be
obtained from
local gas supply companies. A tank can be obtained for
around $100-200 with
refills generally costing about $30-50.
Note: This is, of course, true only if you do not live in a
smog filled city, where it would be healthier for your plants to be giving them
cleaned and/or CO2.
Materials
LIGHTS: I feel that the best lights you can use are
fluorescents. 25-watt 4-foot tubes are most likely the optimum lights, period.
Using normal shop lights for your growth stage and warm
"bathroom/kitchen" lights for maturing will be excellent for home
personal-use ganja growing. In the seedling stage I prefer to use 75-watt
halogen "Plant-Lights" to wake 'them up. You may want to purchase
more expensive lighting, such as HID systems and High-Pressure Sodium lights,
if you plan on more than one crop and/or larger crops. But, it is still better
to keep a low profile with low energy using lighting and cooling.
SOIL: Your soil should be clean of contaminants and of high
quality. Sand is something you should keep away from. Most store bought soils
will work fine in this case.
PLANT FOOD: Your plants will need supplemental food other
than what is in the soil, so buying supplemental nutrients is a very good idea.
For the sprouting stage you do not truly need food unless you want to baby your
plants. If you do, the sprouting stage requires a NPK'S ratio of approximately
12-8-12. NPK'S stands for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. These are the
basic nutrients required by plants, and most plat foods have other added
nutrients, that the makers feel improve plant growth. For your growth stage you
will need food with a NPK'S ratio of about 15-5-5 and in the flowering stage of
10-30-10.
CONTAINERS: It is best to transplant as little as possible
to ensure female turnout, so my method has to planting steps: Once to a
"Jiffy Pot" and then to a 5-gal. bucket. At most growing stores you
may purchase "Jiffy 7 peat pots", or another look-alike brand, for a
reasonable price. The entire body of these cups is made of a bio-degradable
material that the roots of the plants easily grow through, allowing you to put
the entire cannabisand plant, no pun, directly into the next growing bucket. Be
sure to sterilize the buckets before using them for your plants.
WATER: The water you use should be sterile and of a ph level
of 6-6.5. In other words, the 25-cent per gallon water from Wall-mart will work
fine. A spray bottle for water will work excellent for helping your plants
receive water.
INSECTICIDES: DO NOT USE SYNTHETIC AND/OR CHEMICAL
INSECTICIDES!! They WILL kill your plants, and if you smoke your plants, they
may kill you.
Seeds
You should use your own best judgement on what seeds to use,
but, the basic things you should keep in mind are as follows:
The seeds come
from a good background; "The smoke was good."
When lightly
squished between your fingers the seed does not pop.
The more
"plump" the seed the easier it will sprout.
The fresher the
seed the more likely to grow.
Stage 1: Starting your seeds
To sprout your seeds, get a kitchen plate and two paper
towels. Place the first paper towel on the plate and soak the towel with water.
Then, put the seeds you want to sprout onto the paper towel at least 1 cm
apart. After that, place the other paper towel over the plate, and add more
water to soak the towel. Now you may place any food you have for sprouting
stage in the plate or add nutrient supplemented water. Place plate under growth
lamp, on a 24-hour schedule, and add water daily, to keep soaked. In about one
week, or often in less time, you will see the sprouting of your babies. You may
now go to Stage 2.
Stage 2: Sprouting in soil
Once you see the sprouts it is time for the sprouting stage.
Fill the Jiffy Pots close to the rim. Push your finger into the center until
your finger is half the way in the soil. Carefully place one seed in the hole
with the root pointing up. This will help to build strength for you baby.
Lightly cover the seed with soil and place under intense light. Soak the soil
with nutrient supplemented water. If the plant does not get enough light, it
will grow tall too quickly and the plant will not be strong enough to support
itself and will quickly die. Put the cup on a saucer and put water in the
saucer daily. The cannabis and soil will soak up the water for the plant. You
can spray water on the plant to help it and to create a little humidity. The
plant will first grow two round leaves, followed by two longer textured leaves
on each side. We will call these sets. One more set of two may appear. After
that two sets of three's on each side. After that, sets of five, and, when the
plant feels it's strong enough, sets of seven on each side. If your growing
conditions are the best those plants strain have seen, or pretty close to it,
you will see nine leaf sets. But all of that is yet to come. When your baby
grows the three leaf sets you may move to stage 3.
Stage 3: Jiffy Cup to 5-gal. bucket
Cut hole for drainage in the bottoms of the buckets and
place them on trays to collect the water. Fill the bucket up to 2-4 inches from
the top. Dig out a hole in the center big enough to hold the entire Jiffy Pot.
Soak the soil with nutrient supplemented water. When the plant reaches a height
of about two feet, you should go to the flowering stage.
Stage 4a: Flowering
In the fruiting stage, your plants will double their size
from start of flowering to maturity, when you can trim, dry, and smoke. You
will need to change the lighting schedule from 24 to 12 on - 12 off. You will
also need to change the NPK'S of the food to 10-30-10. In anywhere from a few
days to a few weeks you will be able to see the buds begin to form. They will
look like the buds on a tree, only greener. In a few weeks you will be able to
tell sexes. The females will grow two little pistils in the shape of a V out of
the end of the little bud. The males will not.
You should keep the females away from the males. The reason
for this is that the males mature faster and will pollinated your plants too
early. When this happens the entire female bud will be full of seeds.
Stage 4b: Mating (Optional)
It is a good idea to pollinate your females, not only to get
seeds for another crop, but also because if you are growing with seeds from a
local bag, they will most likely grow at least one hermaphrodite, that is one
with a male bud or more growing among the females. When the males mature and
begin to open and distribute pollen. When this happens you should collect the
pollen with a Q-tip and store it in a glass container until the last 3-4 weeks
of the females flowering stages.
The pistils of the females will be white until they are
ready to snip. When the plant has reached around twice their size in the first
part of the flowering stage, look for the white pistils to begin to darken to a
greenish-brown. When you first see this happen, you should pollinate the bud.
When about 60% of the pistils do this the bud is ready to clip.
Stage 5a: Clipping and Drying
Clipping should be done with a sharp razor, if you plan to
keep growing the plant. If not, cut the branch with a sharp pair of scissors.
Either way, you need to trim the leaves and other excess "shake".
Drying should be done as slowly a possible. Place the buds on a screen and
place the screen in a dark cool place, at about 60 degrees Fahrenheit, with
plenty of fresh air movement. Check on them daily, turning them over, to
distribute the drying, and checking for an ammonia smell. If you smell that,
there is mold on your crop, and can minimize your yields very quickly. If you
smell this, quickly find the source and isolate it from the rest of the crop.
Mold can spread of entire yields in less than 24 hours, so beware! When your
buds feel like you know they should feel then they're ready to smoke. An easy
way to figure on the best dryness is to roll up a big fatty. If it stays lit,
It's ready to go!
Stage 5b: Curing
can have an excellent effect on your cannabis. If curing is
done correctly, your smoke will have a better smell and a premium taste. It can
also make it a much smoother smoke and a more potent bag of weed. If done
incorrectly, the disadvantages can range from a nasty taste and a weak high to
being so infected with mold, that it can prove fatal. If you smoke local city
cannabis, it usually is never cured, so doing so can be a very nice smoking
experience for all whom try your weed.
To begin curing your plants fruit, you will take a paper bag
and a plastic bag. The paper bag will provide the darkness required for the
process, while the plastic will keep the paper from absorbing the precious THC.
Line the paper bag with the plastic bag. Place a few of your buds in the
plastic bag until it is a little less than half-full. Roll it down, lightly, so
it is not to suffocate them, and roll the paper bag down. Check it daily,
smelling for ammonia and turning the buds to distribute the "cure".
What will occur is that inside the plastic bag, the moisture that is left in
the center of the buds will work its way to the surface, kind of like as if
your plants were sweating. This is what I believe is what creates the better,
smoother smoke. If you smell ammonia, or anything that doesn't smell like buds
for that matter, you probably have an infection of mold another like fungus.
Once you feel you have mastered basic curing, you can try experimenting with
things like adding a piece of fruit, to try to flavor it a little, or any thing
else your demented mind can think of.
Salem, OR: A statewide proposal that seeks
to allow for the regulated sale of cannabis to those over age 21
will appear on the November electoral ballot.
