Growing Cannabis
Everything you need to know about cannais growing from germinating seeds, maturing plants to harvesting and curing! This website is for Information purposes only and I do not encourage anyone to break the law. All pictures have been taken from various sources with the owners permission.
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You dont need a factory full of equipment to start a good cannabis crop -above is a picture of some of things you might need
Germinating Cannabis Seeds
The most common way to germinate cannabis seeds is to place them in a warm and humid environment, below is a simple method allowing you to germinate your seeds. Place enough tissue paper to cover the plate. Add a few drops of water to moisten the tissue, but take special care not to waterÐlog the plate. Place your seeds onto the tissue paper ensuring the seeds have sufficient space. Cover the plate with one sheet of cling film, make sure the film is airÐtight and that the cling film is stretched tight over the plate. Please take special care ensure the cling film is not touching any of the seeds. At this stage, light is not important, too low. Your seeds will take the sprout is 1/2cm long before late after germinating.
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When your seeds have germinated, they will need to be transplanted into a suitable growing medium, rock wool cubes or similar are the preferred choice although you can transplant your seedlings into soil directly. RockÐwool cubes will provide upto 40% increased oxygen levels when compared to soil thus promoting healthy plant growth. The seed will be cracked at this stage and ideally should be removed (if it has not not come apart already) by gently pulling apart exposing the head of our new plant (be very gentle when removing the shell, you may have to wait an extra day before the shell comes loose).
spout.jpg Transplanting seedlings into small cubes
You should soak you rock wool cubes in water for at least 24 hours prior to use, rock wool is naturually acidic so fushing them with water can help neatualise them. Place your new plant into a soaked rockÐwool cube useing a screw or nail to make a hole in the cube.
The rockÐwool cubes should be kept warm and moist but not waterlogged at all times, There is no need for any special lighting at this stage, leave your cubes in a well lighted environments, Normal house hold lights are sufficient at this stage and should not be placed close plants should receive approx. 16 hours of light a day and should only be given water people opt for heated germination boxes, these are fine although special care needs do not dry out in this heated environment. Within 5Ð9 days you should start seeing cubes. The process can take longer if optimum conditions hav not been met.
rockcube.jpg Transplanting cubes into final growing medium.
By now your plants should be showing good roots shooting out of the rockÐwool cubes we are now ready for transplanting into compost. Ensure you have a sufficiently large plant pot (Minimum of 20cm diameter, 20cm height) with adequate drainage holes. Fill the plant pot with compost and pat down, placing the rockÐwool cube near the top of the pot. The rockÐwool cube should be just covered with compost. Ensure your growing area is as clean as possible to reduce the chances of pests.
Maturing your plants
You're plants are now ready for artificial lightning. At this stage the plants require 16 hours of uninterrupted light a day, fluorescent lightning or HID lightning is often used. One fluorescent light per plant should be sufficient, the more light you can give the plant at this stage the quicker and stronger it will grow. You will probably have to water your plants daily at this stage. Plant growth should be quick, be careful to position the light so they do not burn the plants but at the same time provide adequate light for the plants. Daily inspection of your plants for pests is important. Ensure there is sufficient air circulation in the room. Like usual ensure your plants are well watered but not waterlogged. Adequate ventilation is essential, a pedestal fan can be useful when growing cannabis plants. If you have a high number of plants then you may require extraction fans and ducting, more about this in the growroom overview later.
Sexing your Mature Plants
Your plants should be healthy and bushy at this stage and also showing some signs of maturity. Now is the time to start flowering your plants, to achieve this we change the light cycle so the plants now receive 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. This will force the plants to start flowering, at this stage we want to remove any male plants, as male plants will cause your cannabis to consist mainly of seeds and at the same time will reduce the potency of your cannabis. It is not immediately obvious which are female plants and which are males, it is important to check the plants every day after changing over to the 12 hour light cycle. Sometimes it can be 3 weeks from changing the light cycle before you will notice male or female plants. Remove All male plants and dispose, use the diagrams below to help you identify.In general the male cannabis plants will identifiable before the female plants. Male cannabis plants tend to be larger than female plants and develop seed pods. Female cannabis plants will form buds and are identifiable by the thin twin hairs it produces. These hairs are very small and are located at branch nodes on the stem of the plant. The female plants will start producing flowers or buds during this stage of growth. The buds will start of small and immature but will mature into heavy crystal coated buds. Ensure there is sufficient air circulation in the room.
male2.jpg female1.jpg Harvesting
Chop your plants from the stalk and remove all the large shade leaf using some scissors, once these have all been removed you need to start removing the smaller leafs which should leave the cannabis buds exposed. It is recommended to remove the leaf immediately while the plant is still fresh, if you wait for the leaf to dry it will shrivel around the bud and become hard to remove. When all the leaf has been removed, you can chop each individual bud and hang from a string in a room of normal room temperature, ensure there is sufficient air circulation in the room. Buds ideally take 2Ð3 weeks to dry properly. Speeding up this process will only affect quality.
Additional Topics Mother plants
Mother plants are grown specifically to take cuttings from. They are normal plants (seed or clone) but their job is to produce as many growing shoots as possible and then have them chopped off. Due to this they require care of a slightly different nature. When you harvest clones from a mother plant finish off by giving it a flat top trim like a hedge to encourage as many new growing tips as possible ready for the next time. Sadly heavy cloning of a mother plant will eventually take it is toll on it and the quality of its cuttings, it is a good idea to introduce new seed stock every few years to avoid problems.
Growing from Cuttings
Growing cannabis from cuttings is quicker than growing from seed and allows you to produce a perfect clones from your mother plant. To take a cutting from a mother plant find a suitable grow tip from the plant which is at least 3" to 6" long. Make a cut approximately 1/4" below the internode(s). Cut at 45û to 60û degree angle. After making the cut, quickly dip the newly cut end into a rootiing hotmone (i.e. clonex) before inserting your cutting into a growing medium.
Pest Control
Pests and insects can destroy your crop. Daily inspection of your plants is essential if you are to stay in control of your grow. Take extra time too closely at the leaves of your plant searching for tiny pests. Whilst regular cleaning of your grow room may help reduce the chance of infestation, it is no guarantee. If you have noticed a pest problem you will have to decide what action to take, the course of action may vary depending on the stage of growth your plants are in. For Example if your plants are flowering, you will not want to spray your crop with insecticide as you risk contaminating the buds, in a situation where spraying must be used, opt for an organic substance. Natural predators are a good choice but can only survive during the growing cycle of your plants.
