Grow Tips - Grow information
Germination
Cultivation outdoors
Green house
Tunnel growing
Indoor growing
Male plant
Dry weed
The following tips are basic growing tips to help you get good results.
Starting procedure
For the best germination results, we advise you to follow these tips.
Soil
You can let the seeds germinate directly in soil. Place them in 50% moist soil at a depth of 1cm. It is best to use special soil for seedlings, a balanced soil, which has a pH of around 6 and does not contain high levels of nutrients. Make sure the soil doesn't get too dry. It's best to have it covered with transparent plastic o r a lit until the seeds have popped out of the ground and become visible in approximately 3 to 7 days. The temperature should be around 20 degrees Celsius (68 F).
You can also germinate seeds in between wet tissue or cotton wool, which you have to keep moist and in the dark at room temperature. After a couple of days they will have sprouted and are ready to be transplanted into little pots with soil, preferably special soil for seedlings. After approximately 2 weeks you can transplant them into the ground or bigger pots.
Hydroponics
You can put the seeds directly in soaked rockwool cubes or mapito. Use water with a pH level of 5.5 to soak them to come to a pH of around 6 in the block. Then the are able to transport all nutrients that are required to grow. Be very careful, the plants can easily burn and dry out. That's why you should keep the baby plants moist and don't give them too much fertilizer.
Cultivation outdoors
Once the plants are big enough, 15-20 cm (6-8 inches), they can be planted outdoors, in rich soil in the full ground or in large pots. In the south of Europe, or other warm and sunny regions, this can be as early as March, while in colder countries like Holland one should wait until the beginning of May. Outdoors, the development of your plants is determined by the amount of sunshine, rain and wind. It's your task to help nature by providing sufficient water and nutrients. Outdoors, your plants can grow over 3 metres tall! When the light cycle has shortened to 15 hours, the plants will start to bloom. With some luck, depending mostly on favourable weather during the last months, they will produce a lot of buds, up to a kilo per plant. The plant and yield can become very impressive!
Cultivation in green houses
The quality of plants grown in greenhouses can be better than plants grown outside. They can grow as indoor plants, but have the big advantage of sunlight. Here, the plants can be well controlled. If you artificially shorten the light cycle to 12 hours, by covering the plants or whole greenhouse, you can harvest in the middle of summer and if organised well twice per year!
Indoor growing
Home growing has become very popular, which is logical if you consider you can supply yourself with a top-quality product that is not contaminated with high levels of pesticides, or in the case of hash bought from the street, is polluted with chemicals or shoe polish, which you have to buy for exorbitant prices. Another advantage of indoor growing is that you don't have to worry about thieves ripping your outdoor garden in the middle of the night.
The quality of indoor plants is often very high. Under high pressure sodium lamps it is possible for almost everyone who has a little space available to grow their own. Indoor growing is a little more complicated because you have to control the whole environment, but your effort will be rewarded once you have the conditions right. Then it is as easy as anything! Make sure the temperature does not exceed 25 ?C (77 F) or get cooler than 20?C (68 F). The room should be well ventilated and constantly refreshed with air. Enclosed humidity should be around 80% during the growing period, but needs to be lower than 60% at the end of the flowering period to prevent mould.
We advise you to read a book on growing or get yourself informed by other growers who have some experience before getting started. Although growing indoors isn't difficult, having some knowledge of the basic techniques is definitely a big advantage.
Nutrients
The plants can best absorb all necessary nutrients at a pH value of 5.5 - 6, making sure all nutrients are transported within the plant. This way the whole plant thrives, which results in maximum growth and leads to more quantity of top-quality product. The plants require different levels of nutrients during different stages of their life. Many nutrient companies have a schedule for the optimum dosages when their products are used. You can also use biological stimulators, such as rooting and flowering stimulator, that activate the organic bacterial life, or micro-organisms, and therefore make the plant stronger and healthier.Some of these stimulators can make quite a difference.
Sinsemilla (without seeds)
Most cannabis enthusiasts grow for the production of top-quality buds for themselves and their friends to consume. If this is the case, then you don't want to have seeds in your buds as this makes them less potent and is no good to smoke or vaporise. In fact, it may even give you headache! To prevent the plants making seeds, you have to remove the male plants by "sexing'' them. The males are of no use other than to procreate. The female plants are the ones to keep, as they produce the wonderful tasting and highly appreciated effects on the body and mind with their bountiful buds. They are the ones that should stay to bloom until they are ripe to pick.
Cannabis male and female plants are alike at the vegetative stage and sex shows only when the flowers appear. From that moment on, the plants become distinguishable and the male and female look quite different. Photo .. is a male plant. This is how a female pistil in late flower looks like. And here you can see a closeup of a single male calyx (flower) (Photo ?). In the pre-flowering stage, one can sex the plants as described above by looking for the males to throw away. You should look at the main stem at every internode to find the flowers. Most likely you will find them in the upper part of the plant.
The Harvest
You should only harvest when the flowers are ripe - not before, but also not long after they are ready! It is time to harvest when the resin glands are swollen to their maximum size, which you can see best with a magnifying glass. Another less accurate way is to watch if the buds are still getting fatter with n ew growth. When this process of daily production has stopped and most of the little stigmas (hairs) on the flowers have turned from white to brown-orange, it is time to harvest the plants. First take off the big fan leaves, then hang the plants upside down in a cool, dry and dark place to dry out. About 14 days later, you can trim off the last few leaves so that only the buds remain. Now you are ready to experience your own grown quality super buds!
Starting procedure
For the best germination results, we advise you to follow these tips.
Soil
You can let the seeds germinate directly in soil. Place them in 50% moist soil at a depth of 1cm. It is best to use special soil for seedlings, a balanced soil, which has a pH of around 6 and does not contain high levels of nutrients. Make sure the soil doesn't get too dry. It's best to have it covered with transparent plastic o r a lit until the seeds have popped out of the ground and become visible in approximately 3 to 7 days. The temperature should be around 20 degrees Celsius (68 F).
You can also germinate seeds in between wet tissue or cotton wool, which you have to keep moist and in the dark at room temperature. After a couple of days they will have sprouted and are ready to be transplanted into little pots with soil, preferably special soil for seedlings. After approximately 2 weeks you can transplant them into the ground or bigger pots.
Hydroponics
You can put the seeds directly in soaked rockwool cubes or mapito. Use water with a pH level of 5.5 to soak them to come to a pH of around 6 in the block. Then the are able to transport all nutrients that are required to grow. Be very careful, the plants can easily burn and dry out. That's why you should keep the baby plants moist and don't give them too much fertilizer.
Cultivation outdoors
Once the plants are big enough, 15-20 cm (6-8 inches), they can be planted outdoors, in rich soil in the full ground or in large pots. In the south of Europe, or other warm and sunny regions, this can be as early as March, while in colder countries like Holland one should wait until the beginning of May. Outdoors, the development of your plants is determined by the amount of sunshine, rain and wind. It's your task to help nature by providing sufficient water and nutrients. Outdoors, your plants can grow over 3 metres tall! When the light cycle has shortened to 15 hours, the plants will start to bloom. With some luck, depending mostly on favourable weather during the last months, they will produce a lot of buds, up to a kilo per plant. The plant and yield can become very impressive!
Cultivation in green houses
The quality of plants grown in greenhouses can be better than plants grown outside. They can grow as indoor plants, but have the big advantage of sunlight. Here, the plants can be well controlled. If you artificially shorten the light cycle to 12 hours, by covering the plants or whole greenhouse, you can harvest in the middle of summer and if organised well twice per year!
Indoor growing
Home growing has become very popular, which is logical if you consider you can supply yourself with a top-quality product that is not contaminated with high levels of pesticides, or in the case of hash bought from the street, is polluted with chemicals or shoe polish, which you have to buy for exorbitant prices. Another advantage of indoor growing is that you don't have to worry about thieves ripping your outdoor garden in the middle of the night.
The quality of indoor plants is often very high. Under high pressure sodium lamps it is possible for almost everyone who has a little space available to grow their own. Indoor growing is a little more complicated because you have to control the whole environment, but your effort will be rewarded once you have the conditions right. Then it is as easy as anything! Make sure the temperature does not exceed 25 ?C (77 F) or get cooler than 20?C (68 F). The room should be well ventilated and constantly refreshed with air. Enclosed humidity should be around 80% during the growing period, but needs to be lower than 60% at the end of the flowering period to prevent mould.
We advise you to read a book on growing or get yourself informed by other growers who have some experience before getting started. Although growing indoors isn't difficult, having some knowledge of the basic techniques is definitely a big advantage.
Nutrients
The plants can best absorb all necessary nutrients at a pH value of 5.5 - 6, making sure all nutrients are transported within the plant. This way the whole plant thrives, which results in maximum growth and leads to more quantity of top-quality product. The plants require different levels of nutrients during different stages of their life. Many nutrient companies have a schedule for the optimum dosages when their products are used. You can also use biological stimulators, such as rooting and flowering stimulator, that activate the organic bacterial life, or micro-organisms, and therefore make the plant stronger and healthier.Some of these stimulators can make quite a difference.
Sinsemilla (without seeds)
Most cannabis enthusiasts grow for the production of top-quality buds for themselves and their friends to consume. If this is the case, then you don't want to have seeds in your buds as this makes them less potent and is no good to smoke or vaporise. In fact, it may even give you headache! To prevent the plants making seeds, you have to remove the male plants by "sexing'' them. The males are of no use other than to procreate. The female plants are the ones to keep, as they produce the wonderful tasting and highly appreciated effects on the body and mind with their bountiful buds. They are the ones that should stay to bloom until they are ripe to pick.
Cannabis male and female plants are alike at the vegetative stage and sex shows only when the flowers appear. From that moment on, the plants become distinguishable and the male and female look quite different. Photo .. is a male plant. This is how a female pistil in late flower looks like. And here you can see a closeup of a single male calyx (flower) (Photo ?). In the pre-flowering stage, one can sex the plants as described above by looking for the males to throw away. You should look at the main stem at every internode to find the flowers. Most likely you will find them in the upper part of the plant.
The Harvest
You should only harvest when the flowers are ripe - not before, but also not long after they are ready! It is time to harvest when the resin glands are swollen to their maximum size, which you can see best with a magnifying glass. Another less accurate way is to watch if the buds are still getting fatter with n ew growth. When this process of daily production has stopped and most of the little stigmas (hairs) on the flowers have turned from white to brown-orange, it is time to harvest the plants. First take off the big fan leaves, then hang the plants upside down in a cool, dry and dark place to dry out. About 14 days later, you can trim off the last few leaves so that only the buds remain. Now you are ready to experience your own grown quality super buds!