Marijuana Grower's Handbook - Page 3

Of the three stages of development that a cannabis plant has from seed - germination, growth and flowering, the second stage, vegetative growth, may seem the least demanding or important. This would be a big mistake, as each phase is integral to the whole process and neglecting or not properly caring for the crop during any one of them will have a negative impact on what remains of the plant’s development. So the vegetative or growth phase of cannabis is equally as important as germination or flowering.

What we call the growth or vegetative phase is the period of the plant’s development that starts when the seed has germinated and lasts until the plant begins to bloom. In this phase the plant shows exponential growth; the more vegetable mass, leaves and branches develop, the faster the growth accelerates, generating in turn more leaves and more branches.

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How do we germinate cannabis seeds?

Although the germination of cannabis seeds is a relatively quick and easy process, it is crucial to take into account a series of important factors in order to obtain as high a germination rate as possible. In addition, it's in our interest that the seeds germinate as quickly as possible, and especially if we want to avoid problems like fungal infection or a low germination rate.

In our article on how to germinate cannabis seeds we explain step by step what you must do to achieve successful germination. Today we will take a look at the main mistakes made during this process, some simple errors that, as we will see, can easily be solved. Let's see where many growers fail to germinate their seeds, it's a great way to learn what not to do if we want to make the most of our seeds.

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There are some essential accessories you should have in your indoor cannabis grow to successfully grow and harvest top quality buds. In this alrticle we'll list 7 devices that any indoor grower should use in order to avoid problems and provide their plants with the best possible environmental conditions.

Air extractor fans

To provide your indoor growing space with fresh air is crucial for proper development of plants, which need CO2 during the day and O2 during the night. If you don't have an efficient air extraction system, your plants won't be able to perform their basic functions properly.

Air circulation also helps to reduce temperature and humidity inside the grow room/tent, which in turn avoids problems with pests and diseases. You can find further information about it in our article about CO2 and cannabis.

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At this time of year, when summer and hot temperatures are comming, a number of mesures should be take in order to avoid pests in your plants, especially if these have not been taken during the rest of the year and whatever type of cannabis strain you're growing. Indeed, most insect pests attack indoor grow rooms during summer in a cyclical and predictable manner, when temperatures raise and relative humidity often drops. Thus, the reproduction of insects like red spider mites, thrips and white flies reaches its peak during this period, so using a pest prevention and control plan is highly recommended to ensure optimal growing conditions for your plants.

On the other hand, and if you're growing outdoors or in a greenhouse, this is also an excelent moment to start this type of treatments. You should then start a prevention plan to ensure that your plants will show their full potential in a few weeks, when the bloom phase begins. Plants should be always clean from pests or diseases before entering the flowering period if highest yields and quality are to be achieved, no matter what growing systems you're using.

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Cannabis plants need balanced and complete nutrition to develop to their full potential. Most fertilisers formulated for marijuana plants contain a number of macro and micro nutrients, necessary for both the growth and bloom stages. A deficiency or excess of any of these elements can quickly bring nutritional imbalances which affect the performance of plants.

According to their packaging, nutrients for plants have a certain N-P-K number to indicate us the amount of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) contained, the three main nutrients for plants (macro nutrients). Still, the classification of macro and micro nutrients can vary from one source to another, and some of them also include calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulphur (S) as macro nutrients.

In this article we'll take a look at the main symptoms of imbalances on any of these 6 elements, which will be classified as macro nutrients. Keep in mind that each cannabis strain has its own needs with regard to nutrition, requiring more or less amount of each of these nutrients. Thus, while one plant may need large amounts of nitrogen to grow, another may present clear symptoms of excess nitrogen with the same amount of fertiliser.

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Without a doubt, one of the main advantages of growing cannabis indoors is the possibility to control the smell of the plants, which can be truly intense during the bloom stage. For many cannabis aficionados, growing indoors is the only viable way to grow since it is then possible to control and hide the smell of weed. Otherwise, and if you grow outdoors, the smell of your plants will quickly attract the attention of neighbours, robbers and – even worse - police officers.

Next we'll detail some of the most commonly used systems to eliminate the smell of cannabis plants in indoor grow rooms or tents. As you'll see, there is a wide range of possibilities, some of them more efficient than others. Still, and by using the correct system for your growing setup, you'll get rid of the smell of your plants without much trouble, something essential if your want your plants to go unnoticed. Keep in mind that, whatever indoor growing system you're using, light and odour leaks are two major evidence of cannabis cultivation for third parties.

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Lighting is one of the most important factors when growing marijuana indoors. It allows us to set the desired photoperiod for our plants (number of daily hours of light and darkness) and thus decide if they must grow or bloom. Furthermore, by choosing the correct light spectrum we make sure that the growth and bloom of our plants is optimal, so our cannabis seeds or clones can perform their normal functions.

In this article we invite you to one of Philosopher Seeds grow rooms to learn more about this crucial aspect, from what types of light are mainly used to how to use them properly, so you can get the best yields from your crops.

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While not taken into account in many occasions, the temperature of the irrigation water (in case of using solid nutrients) or the nutrient solution (if liquid fertilizers are used) is a very important factor for proper development of the root ball and to get the most out of the plants during the growth and bloom stages, especially if hydroponic or aeroponic systems are used. Some novice growers usually forget about this and don't even measure the temperature of the irrigation water, which normally brings problems that are in turn - in most cases - incorrectly diagnosed. Plants that don't root as they should, with slow or even null growth and poor development of buds may all be symptoms of inadequate temperature of the irrigation water.

If we're lucky enough to use tap water to irrigate our cannabis seeds or cuttings, we must always bear in mind the different temperatures in winter and summer, also if we're using some type of hose in our outdoor garden. Many times, hoses freeze during the coldest hours of the day in winter, and the water during the hottest hours is not warm enough to be suitable for irrigating. On the other hand, tap water is significantly hotter in summer, also inadequate in some cases. We'll take a look now at the problems derived from irrigating the plants with water at too high or too low temperature, also at what is the best temperature range to water cannabis plants.

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Many times, outdoor cannabis growers have only one crop per year, which usually starts by late spring and lasts until the beginning of autumn, when the number of daylight hours gradually decreases. Cannabis plants grown from seed are perfectly adapted to this natural photoperiod, although if clones coming from indoor grows are to be used we can have some problems. The natural photoperiod in our latitude (40ºN approximately) makes our clones – which have been rooted indoors - to bloom if they're put outside before June, since the number of daylight hours is not enough to stimulate the growth of our cutings, which will begin to bloom a few days after being put outside.

That's the reason why most growers using cuttings or plants coming from indoor gardens put them outside no earlier than June, so that their plants will grow until August and will bloom normally, just as any other cannabis seed grown outdoors. However, this “problem” can become a major advantage for the wise grower, who will take profit from it with a simple outdoor greenhouse. In this way, he'll have up to 3 outdoor harvests per year as long as he also has a small indoor grow tent to grow plants and root cuttings.

Despite the quality of the buds will not be the same than the summer crop (the typical outdoor crop), spring and autumn crops are great to complement it if we have a small space and can't meet our needs with the few plants that can be grown per crop. Next we'll see the main differences between summer crops and off-season crops (sping and autumn), and we'll tell you how to set the schedule to get three crops per year successfully.

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The SCROG technique (Screen of Green) is one of the methods used in cannabis farming to ensure optimal yields easily and without much trouble. In contrast to the SOG technique (Sea of Green) that we already know, in a SCROG grow much less plants per square meter are used, which of course have pros and cons.

Indeed, a number of 25-36 relatively small plants (5x5, 6x6...) would be used per m2with the SOG technique, so plants don't need a prolonged vegetative period to be ready to bloom and we can switch to flowering around 15 days after seed germination. If we don' t have a small veg room to grow our plants while the current grow ends, this method allows a quick transition between crops. It is then ideal for plants of average size and automatic cannabis strains.

On the contrary, we need few plants per m2 with the SCROG technique, which must be bigger (more branched) than those used in a SOG grow. At first glance, the SCROG method has two main advantages: on one hand, we need much less plants to cover the same surface, so costs in seeds or clones are considerably reduced. Furthermore, any grower knows that it is easier to take care of 4 plants than 25 or more, regardless their size. On the other hand, another advantage of this tech is related to legal aspects. While in most countries there is not a legal number of plants, for a judge it is not the same to read a police report where 4 plants are mentioned than dealing with someone with tens of plants.

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Cannabis connoisseurs often talk about trichomes. These small glands contains most of the cannabinoids and terpenes produced by the cannabis plant and are often called “resin”, the desire of any enthusiast of marijuana extracts and concentrates. As the plant goes through the different life stages it secretes diverse types of trichomes, capitate stalked ones being the most best known. We also know that the colour of these trichomes will determine the optimal time for harvesting, either indoors or outdoors.

Trichomes re then the reason why many people use cannabis, since they not only produce psychoactive compounds like THC (which are what recreative users want) but also non-psychoactive substances like CBD (with amazing therapeutic potential, mainly sought by patients) and terpenes, which are hydrocarbons with awesome aromatic properties that provide each plant with a unique organoleptic profile (besides interacting with cannabinoids to modulate their effect).

In this article we'll deepen into this subject and see what is a trichome, what types of trichomes are secreted by the cannabis plant and why they are produced.

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One of the most important aspects to obtain top quality buds is choosing the right cannabis variety to grow. An excellent option is to keep a mother plant from which to take the necessary amount of cuttings. Today, we have plenty of strains with very high yields, which ensures abundant harvests. We can also find cultivars with high content of wither THC or CBD, ideal to meet the demands of patients. Philosopher Seeds  breeds plants with unique and particular traits from which we're sure you'll find excellent keepers!

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>On this occasion, we present you a grow report of three feminized varieties from Philosopher Seeds catalogue. Thus, we'll see how these strains grew and bloomed in this 100% organic crop.

Let's take a look at the main characteristics of each variety:

Orange Candy / Naranchup

• Genetics: Naran J x Tropimango
• Sativa-Indica: 65/35
• Indoor flowering: 55/65 days

Orange Candy is a mostly Sativa hybrid with intense orange scent. For its structure, it is an ideal plant for the SOG technique.

Black bomb

• Genetics: Black Domina x Tropimango
• Sativa-Indica: 20/80
• Indoor flowering:  55/60 days
• THC content: 18%

Black Bomb was awarded with the 3rd prize Indoor Bio at the 2012 M.F. Association Cannabis Cup. It develops compact buds ideal to make different resin extractions.

Sugar pop

• Genetics: RK#14 x Ripper#1
• Sativa-Indica: 60/40
• Indoor flowering: 60/70 days

A compact genetics with delicious sweet and fruity flavor. Its development and production are mainly focused on the main stem, si it is also ideal for getting the ebst results with the SOG method, with one main bud.

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In a previous article we introduced microscopic mites, a very serious pest which affected a crop of Amnesika 2.0. Today we present you another pest that can become a real threat to our plants, red spider mites.

We will learn how to identify and treat a plague of these insects that infected an Orange Candy crop from one of our customers.

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Botrytis - also known as gray mold, bud mold or bud rot - is a genus of fungus which attack a vast number of plants (around 200 varieties can be infected). Along with powdery mildew, Botrytis cinerea is one of the most commonly found fungus on marijuana plants, especially outdoors, so now that our plants are about to bloom we want to remind you a few tips to avoid it. If we lower our guard and propagation conditions are optimal, an infection of botrytis can quickly ruin our harvest right at the moment when our plants are in full bloom.

Botrytis can reproduce sexually or asexually, feeding on tissues of the host plant. There are 22 species and a hybrid among the Botryotinia genus; the one that interest us, called Botrytis cinerea, is actually used in vineyards to produce noble wines of excellent quality, since this fungus increases sugar levels on grape and highly improves the organoleptic features of the wines produced from it. Let’s see now how to identify, prevent and treat an infection of Botrytis.

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Hydroponics (from the greek ὕδωρ [hýdōr] = ‘water’, and πόνος [ponos] = ‘work’, ‘labour’) is a farming technique invented centuries ago, since researchers have found evidence that romans and aztecs already used it in their crops and botanical gardens. Probably, the aztecs were the first ones to use this method efficiently, and the study of this technique dates back to 382 B.C. But what is exactly hydroponics?

Hydroponics - also known as soil-less cultivation - is a farming method in which plants are grown in an inert substrate or directly in a nutrient solution. Thus, and with any of the two options, plants are fed via nutrient solution and not via growing medium. Next we'll take a look at the most common hydroponic systems and we'll see how to adapt this technique to marijuana plants.

We recommend using relatively short plants for this technique, since they normally have a very vigorous growth and tall plants may become a problem in indoor grow tents with this system. Philosopher Seeds recommends using the following strains to get the best results with hydroponic systems, even from seed: Black Bomb, Heaven's Fruit, Tropimango, Sugar Pop, Orange Candy and Guava Berry Kush.

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