i've decided to put my knowledge to good use and share what i can with the new growers on RIU.. this is going to as comprehensive as i can make it.. and cover as much possible information as i can think of and fit into a single thread... im sure it will get added onto.. but i will try to fit it all on one... i will you things to think about and consider, pros and cons of different growing methods, and basically everything i can possibly think of... i will try to keep it simple, but as imformative as i can...
before reading i just have a couple things i want to say... im not a book writter.. i did my best at trying to keep things organized and seperated and what not.. but im a terrible speller, and by no means any sort of author... so dont bust my balls for stupid stuff.. i've been adding in things here and there as ive written it.. so i appologize if its not perfect.. i want to wish you all the luck in the world with your grow... but keep your expectations realistic.. you will more than likely not get the 1 pound yield you want.. your plant wont look perfect throughout the grow.. leaves will discolor and die... they may curl up or down... the thing to remember is its a plant.. its not perfect... unless its affecting growth, or a portion of the plant and is spreading, its not worth stressing about... you will know the difference between a little spot on a leaf and a real problem like nute burn or a deficiency when its over... things arent going to go perfect... you will have unforseen problems... it happens to everyone.. even experienced growers.. you will learn what to look for and how to fix it over time... there is almost always a window of time in which almost every problem can be fixed and your plant recover.. and, for the most part, you get what you put in... this goes along with keeping realistic expectations.. dont use 2x 23w cfls and be disappointed when you have a small plant that grows slow... dont be surprised when using cheap soil that some weeds sprouted up in your pot or you have bugs.. im not saying you have to spend 1000s to get the ultimate setup.. but its worth the money to get quality products with reputable names that have been used tried and tested with success by other growers... you could have success growing with "snookie and ray-rays discount nutrients", but it isnt worth saving the money.. and the biggest thing is just to sit back, relax, and enjoy the grow.. if you get caught up and stress over every little thing you will miss the zen your garden should give you... stress will turn it into a job... again.. its just a plant...
happy growing and enjoy the read...
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to begin with lets start at the basics.. marijuana can be broke down into 3 different types; cannabis indica, cannabis sativa, and cannabis ruderalis.. within these 3 types there are many differences..
INDICAS - these are shorter and bushier than sativas.. the leaf structure on them are shorter and broader, with fatter "fingers".. the branches are usually shorter, and the buds are thick and dense.. they finish flowering sooner than sativas.. indicas are good to grow in less than perfect climates because of their shorter flowering times outdoors, and good for indoor grows where space is limited... indica highs can range from relaxed/social to knock you on your ass.. great for a night cap...
SATIVAS - these grow taller and thinner than indicas... the leaf structure shows longer, thinner fingers than that of indicas.. the branches are usually longer, and buds are longer and skinnier and far less densely populated on the plant.. it takes intense light to get true sativa buds to swell to their fullest... sativas take longer to flower, and vary greatly depending on strain... these tend to grow best in warm, sunny places, where the grow season is longer and more stable... they are great for indoors as long make sure you have plently of vertical space as these can greatly increase in size during flowering... the sativa high is an uplifting, energetic, more cerebral high.. great for morning wake and bakes..
RUDERALIS - this is actually a cousin of the sativa... i wont go into great depth about this since it is not what we are growers normally grow.. i did want to mention it, tho, because of its use in creating the autoflower strains... autoflowers were created by crossing sativas/indicas with ruderalis plants... the results were marijuana plants that would flower under any light cycle.. but, for our purposes here, we will only worry about knowing it was used in the creation of autoflower strains...
most strains available are crosses of indicas and sativas... depending on what you are looking for as a high, the size of space you have to grow in, how often you want a harvest, and what your outdoor conditions are like (if you are growing outdoors) you may want to do some research into strains before choosing what you will grow...
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STAGES OF GROWTH AND LIGHTING NEEDS
-Germination-
most of you will start from seed, although ill cover both seed and clone.. bagseeds are what most of us began with and is the best way to start.. **your first grow will be a learning experience, full of trial and error... you are more than likely not going to yield a 1/4 lb plant... things will happen and you might lose one or all of your plants... its happened to us all.. we all have been through the stresses before... the best advice i can give you is to start with a few plants.. maybe 3 to 5.. use bag seeds to learn on.. and make the first grow as simple as possible.. ** choose seeds that are dark and dont crush when you squeeze them... those are 2 easy ways to tell if a seed is mature.. there are 2 basic ways to germinate seeds; paper towel to medium and straight from medium... with the paper towel method you simply moisten down a paper towel and fold it in half.. make sure its well moistened, but not soaking wet... place the seed(s) down and fold the paper towel over them... this next part is my personal suggestion, and not required, but place the paper towel/seeds in a zip lock bag and seal... this will keep moisture in there longer in case it takes a little longer for the seeds to germinate, so you dont have to worry about re wetting it all the time.. if you want to you can just put the paper towel/seeds on a plate and just moisten it as needed.. either way you need to keep it in dark, warm place... once the seeds have popped out a tap root gently, and i cant stress how important GENTLY is right now, move the seed(s) to their germination medium, with the tap root pointing down into the medium, about 1/4'' to 1/2" deep.. tweezers are very helpful for moving the taproots, just be GENTLE.... if you are planning on going straight from medium, you will benefit from soaking the seeds in room temp water for 12 to 24 hours before placing into the medium.. this will allow water to penetrate into the seed and kick start the germination process... after the soak place into medium of choice, again about 1/4" to 1/2" deep... the seed will right its self in the medium, so you dont have to worry about the way you plant it... you do not need to keep any kind of lighting going until you see a sprout break the surface of whichever medium you are choosing... after which you do need light.. the lighting should be on a 24/0 cycle, and the need is very little.. a typical 4' 2 bulb shop light is plenty of light to get you through until you transplant into your vegetative growth medium... once you see roots popping out of your stater cubes, or growth slows/stops (if using soil) its time to transplant..
- seeds need a constant supply of moisture to germinate.. make sure that whatever germination medium you choose you keep moist...
- during germination/rooting you want warm temps (mid 80s is good) and high humidity (90% to 100%)
- you can keep your germinating seeds in a humidty dome until they sprout to help retain moisture in the medium
- placing a heating pad under your germinating seeds will help them to sprout quicker
- rockwool cubes, jiffy pellets, rooting cubes all need to be soaked before use..
- some people say to soak rockwool cubes for 24 hours.. personally i only soak them for 20 to 30 minutes and havent had a problem yet.. but i would say at least 20 to 30 minutes minimum, over night if you have the chance..
- the only thing besides water you need to use during this time is rooting hormones, if you use anything at all, such as root 66...
- rockwool cubes, rooting cubes, and jiffy pellets all retain their moisture very well and should make it through without needing re-moisten.. they might feel dry on the outside but be wet in the middle.. be cautious not to drown
- if using soil mist the top of it to keep it from drying out..
- germination can be as quick as 2 to 3 days, or take as long as 10 to 14... if after 14 days you dont see your seeds pushing through the top of the medium its likely the seed is not viable and you can safely call it a loss...
ok i think that pretty much covers seeds.. now onto clones.. im going to cover how to take a cutting as well as rooting it.. they pretty much go hand in hand so it just makes sense.. first to take a cutting, make sure you have a nice healthy mature plant (will cover how to tell plant maturity in the veg growth section).. cutting can be as small as 4 inches or as big as a foot+... the size of the cutting is up to you.. but take a cutting that works in relation to the type of grow and size of the grow area... obvioulsy 1 foot tall clones wont fit into a pc grow, and it makes little sense to take tiny clones if planning to veg them out when you can take larger ones and have that much size already on your clones.. to take the cutting you will need a sharp cutting utensil such as a razor or exacto knife, some rubbing alcohol for sterilization, cloning gel or powder, humidity dome, and rooting medium... once you have the plant chosen and the cloning supplies around its time to begin.. start out by dipping the blade into the alcohol to clean it.. carefully make a 45 degree cut at the base of the branch you want to use as a clone... make the cut as smooth as you can... once you have the cutting off the plant remove the bottom 1/2 to 3/4 of foliage completely, and cut the remainning large fan leave fingers in half width wise... what you should end up with is a stem with a few small sub branches and a few fan leaves that are cut down... after you have removed the excess foliage, gently scrap the bottom 1/2" to 1" of outer flesh away from the stem, exposing the moist inner flesh.. now cut up the middle of the stem at the bottom as high as you scrapped... so the bottom should have exposed flesh and be split up the middle... take the split part and submerge into the cloning gel or powder, taking care to cover the exposed area well.. once covered place into rooting medium.. same rules apply to the clones rooting medium as seeds.. keep moist but not wet... the only difference is it is much better to keep the cutting in a humidity dome the first couple days than not.. since the cutting wont have roots it has no way to absorb moisture and relys on the moisture you give it or the moisture in the air to get what it needs to survive... the humidity dome helps ensure there is enough moisture that it doesnt dry out until it starts cutting roots... usually after a couple days you can remove the dome... if you choose not to use a dome, make sure to mist your cuttings down a couple times a day... you may also choose to do a bubbler style cloner... more on that later...
-Vegetative Growth-
so your seeds have all sprout, roots popping out of the rooting cubes, cutting slowed or stopped growing in the dixie cup, and your ready to transplant into a larger pot and begin growing your plants out to the size you want them... you are ready to start vegetative growth... the procedure for transplanting is pretty much the same across the board... take your now rooted plant and place into the growing pot of choice, and back fill with grow medium of choice... now obviously you need to fill the pot up with some of the grow medium before adding your sprout and back filling... i will go over different grow mediums and growing containers more in depth later...
anytime you transplant you will shock the plant.. the amount of shock will depend on the amount of "abuse" the roots incure... the less you can move the roots around the better... when back filling take time to do to easy.. the more gentle you are to the roots the faster growth will return to normal... but be prepared for growth to stop for up to a week.. sometimes it just takes a while to recover for transplants... its best if you can transplant into the final pot the first time.. but you can transplant into larger pots more than once with little affect in the end..
vegetative growth is basically the time between when you transplant your plant to start growing and the time you switch to a 12/12 light cycle.. the plant must receive between 18 and 24 hours of light to maintain proper vegetative growth... any light cycle that has 18 to 24 hours of light will work... 18/6, 19/5, 20/4, 21/3, 22/2, 23/1, and 24/0 will all grow your plant out vegetatively.. there are many arguments as to what light cycle works best and helps yield the most in the end... im not going to put my input in only because its just my opinion and is very very very debatable.. i will say this... experiment over time with different ones to see what gets you the results you want... if you are happy with what you get then that is all that matters... keep whatever cycle you choose the same throughout the entire veg growth stage tho... messing around with it can stress your plant...
plants that are vegging uses the blues in the color spectrum... anything from 5000k to 6500k will work... these are known as cool bulbs or daylight bulbs in you are looking at CFLs or MH if you are using HID lighting.. if using HID lighting, you can use hps bulbs throughout the entire grow with success if you choose.. many companies are now producing "enhanced spectrum" hps bulbs, that contain something like 20% more blues... this means they are even more affective during veg growth... this can save you some money on buying additional bulbs.. if you are hell bent on using MH during veg and hps to flower, i would recommend using a dual ballast or purchasing a digital ballast that will support both bulb types.. also it is possible to use a mh bulb in an hps ballast without any problems as long as the mh bulb is less than or equal to the wattage of the hps ballast... this may shorten the life of your mh bulb.. but it does work...
this is also the stage where will begin using nutes, maybe... i say maybe for a couple reasons, and it really just has to do with soil grows... if you build up a good soil mix there is a chance that the soil will have enough nutes in it to get you through veg growth without needing to use many nutes or any at all in some cases.. if you plan on using soil to grow its worth the investment to buy good quality soil... fox farm and ocean forest are among some of the best... if you cant find them, buy the most expensive soil you find wherever you end up purchasing it from.. you get what you pay for... i will go more into that later.. there are some signs to know you need to add nutes are yellowing of the leaves and slowed/stopped growth... the yellowing is a sign of a nitrogen deficiency, and will go into it more later... the slowed/stopped growth is another good sign it needs some food... assuming the pot is the right size.. a good rule of thumb is 1 gallon for every 1 foot you plan on your plant being at the end of the run.. it should more than likely be around the 2nd or 3rd week of vegetative growth when you start using nutes.. start out with a 1/4 strength application.. meaning use 1/4 of the total amount of nutes they recommend... you need to gradually ween your plant onto the nutes... adding to much too soon can burn and possibly kill your plants.. not to mention the headache of having to flush and having to sit back and just watch it happen.. after the first feeding or two you can gradually start to increase the amount to half strength, then full strength... take note of your plant and how it reacts to the nutes tho.. she will tell you if its too much.. also a good practice is to only feed every other watering... this will ensure that your plant uses all the available nutes before you feed more... this will help reduce salt build ups and help maintain soil ph... if you are growing in a hydroponic setup that will be different of course.. you'll want to follow the same idea about gradually increasing the nute strength.. but you obviously need to use nutes all the time.. the type of nutes you use will be up to you and how much you want to put into it.. you can order anything over the internet so everything is always available.. maybe not with the ease of running to walmart or something.. but you can get ahold of any nutes you want... there are 1, 2, and 3 part systems.. 1 part are the "all-in-one'' style nutes such as miracle grow and scotts.. they can be used with success but take more care to use.. you have to really be careful how much you apply because you have no control over any ratios.. and since some nutes get used faster than others you can run into problems with these... 2 parts have a veg and bloom formula and contain all the macro and micro nutes you need for these stages.. these are better than 1 part systems because they are more tailored to the specific stage of growth you are in... 3 part systems have a veg, bloom, and "boost" formula.. the boost is used throughout the entire grow, while the veg and bloom are used during their specific stages... these are best if you want to custom blend your nutes or want to better control ratios... there are liquid or dry.. some work in different applications also.. more on that later.. either way you choose they all work... always be looking out for signs of nute burn when you do start feeding... nutes are one area where more often than not less ends up being more...
during this time is also when you want to do any pruning, should you so choose to... this includes LST (which should be done from the beginning), topping, FIMing, super cropping, lollipopping, ect.. i will cover these later.. some can be successfully done during the early stages of flowering, but it is not good practice to do during flowering... stressing during flowering increases will lessen your harvest.. try to plan things to have whatever pruning you so choose to do done 1 week before flowering to give the plant time to heal itself...
you ideally want temps in the mid 70's and humidity in the 40% to 60% range.. you can run warmer temps with success as long as a couple things are done... first you must have good air movement and exchange, you must have a plenty of fresh air available to the plants, or if a fresh air intake is not possible you will need to suppliment co2.. i will explain more about each of these later on..
vegetative growth times will varry.. you want to allow your plant to grow to maturity.. a mature plant will yield better and have more potent buds than one that is immature... there are 2 ways to tell when your plant has reaches maturity.. the first is the appearance of alternating nodes... a young plant will produce branches in pairs.. by that i mean everywhere a branch comes out on one side of the stem, another appears exactly opposite of it.. once a plant has reached maturity the branches will alternate appearance up the stem.. once you see this you will know it has reached maturity and is ready to flower... this usually takes around 4 weeks of vegetative growth to achieve... you may also choose to wait until you see preflowers.. preflowers will show you the sex of the plant before you begin flowering.. which means you can remove males before risking pollination of females.. the only thing is this can/will take longer than the appearance of alternating nodes.. this can cause problems if you dont have the vertical space to flower taller plants.. you may have to induce flowering at the appearance of the alternating nodes to keep plants to a manageable size and just watch closely for males.. if you have plenty of space you may choose to veg your plant out more to get a larger yield off of it.. the larger the plant the more it yields and the larger the buds.. this will also depend on the lighting you have.. there is no point in growing a 6 ft tall plant using a 400w hps that wont penetrate deep into the plant... use space and flowering lighting to help determine over all veg times.. clones that are cut from a mature female and rooted do not need to have any veg time at all... they are ready to go into flower the moment they are rooted and transplanted... this is what is done in sog grows where there are more plants that are smaller... keep in mind also that your plant can double to triple in size during flowering depending on strain.. a 1 ft tall plant going into flowering could end up being 3 ft tall at the end... this will also be a determining factor as to when to induce flowering...
-FLOWERING-
you've germed your seeds, grew out your tree, and are ready to produce some buds.. to induce flowering you must cut back the amount of light to 12 hours and give them 12 hours of dark... different strains have different critical photoperiods.. some can start flowering with a 14/10 cycle, and some only need a 10/14 cycle to sucessfully flower... unless you know for sure what the needs of your plant is it is best to stay with a 12/12 cycle.. this will ensure that no matter what your plant will flower... you are more than welcome to experiment with your light cycle, but dont expect any different results.. actually you can adversely affect the plant and lessen your yield... stick with the regular 12/12 cycle.. why fix what isnt broken..
during flowering your plant will use the red/orange light spectrum.. these are in the 2000k to 3000k (approx) ratings for bulbs, warm color temp with floros, or hps with HID lighting... it takes more light to flower than it does to veg.. hps lamps or floros like these
http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=SSB104&AC=0 are best to use for flowering.. you can still have success using other lights.. just remember it will take more during the flowering stage than it did to grow the plant..
if you are using mixed seeds expect anywhere from 7 to 21 days before knowing sex.. sometimes it can take longer.. just be patient.. you are looking for to white hairs at the internodes.. that is a female.. if you start seeing small clusters of little green grapes, those are male pollen sacs, and you want to remove that plant as soon as possible... dont do anything until you know for sure what it is... if you arent sure post pics on RIU and ask for help... you may also get a hermie.. these will show both female and male traits.. removing the pollen sacs on these will ensure they do not pollinate themselves or any other surrounding females...
flowering takes about 2 weeks to start setting in.. in which time you will start noticing bud sites all over your plants.. they will appear as light green, almost yellow spots, all over your females.. each of these is where a bud will form.. they will start out as small popcorn sized nugs and fill in over the length of the flowering... it will take several weeks before they start to resemble a normal bud... but once they start filling they will rapidly start looking more and more "normal"... the buds will fill out and swell the most the last few weeks of flowering as they are ripening..
you can onset flowering and speed it up a little by giving your girls 24 to 36 hours of straight dark before going into the 12/12 cycle... this helps let the plant know that without a doubt it is time to start producing flowers.. it helps slow and stop the production of veg hormones and helps kick start the production of flowering hormones.. it also helps speed sexing up by up to a week... some claim this increases the chance of getting hermies... i personally have done it and dont believe it affects anything at all other than flowering time.. try it on one or two of your plants and start the other straight into 12/12.. see if there there is a difference between the 2...
make sure to keep the room sealed up nice and dark during the dark cycle.. light leaks can cause prolonged flowering, and enough light can revert your plant back to veg growth... take time and care to cover all light leaks in your grow room prior to flowering...
as always you want to take care introducing nutes to your plant... you'll want to wait until you start seeing bud sites before starting flowering nutes alone.. in between starting flowering and that time you may lessen the amount of veg nutes and start introducing bloom nutes.. a 1/4 strength application of each will ensure the plant gets some of all the nutes it needs during the transistion... with hydroponics you may choose to flush your system with a cleaner, such as flora clean, to remove salt build up.. but again you want to ween your plant off of veg nutes and onto bloom nutes... switching without some kind of flush and slight transistion can cause nute burn..
the flowering cycle itself will vary greatly from strain to strain.. some will get done in 6 weeks.. some will take 12+ weeks... indicas will flower quicker than sativas.. there are so many crosses out there tho that 8 to 10 weeks is a good guess at how long it will take to flower.. there is no way to tell for sure how long it will take.. just be patient and watch the clock tick away...
also during flowering be prepared for your leaves to yellow and fall off... unless your bloom nutes have small amounts of nitrogen in them your leaves will yellow... as the plant progresses and gets further to being ripe the large fan leaves will start raining of your plant.. dont go pulling leaves off tho.. let them fall off.. remove ones that have fallen and are stuck in the plants branches...
some strains will smell more pungent than others... odors and odor strength will vary from strain to strain as well.. always be prepared for a skunk, that way you can handle whatever your plant throws off..
pistils will die and be replenished throughout the flower cycle.. dont stress if your plant spits out some red hairs here and there.. they will be replaced with bright white ones within a few days.. if you spray your plant or bump the buds it can make them turn red also...
your temps should stay cooler during flowering than veg... this is the time when you really want to strive to have temps in the low 70s... but again, if you have good air circulation and movement you will be ok... also humidity needs to be lower.. to much humidity can lead to bud rot and mold/mildew... a dehumidifier my be needed if air flow is not great... hotter air will hold more moisture, which means higher humidities.. so if you are growing in a warmer room with little air exchange humidity could be high, so a dehumidifier may be needed in that instance..
trichrome production will also vary from strain.. some will be heavily frosted, and some will have few.. they will start appearing at different times too.. there is no specific week you should see them.. so dont stress about how long it takes to see them or start thinking there is something wrong with your plant..
-HARVEST-
now for the pay off section to your grow... you hopefully have a few beautiful girls with big buds just calling your name... but the question arises of when to chop... the answer is it all depends on the stone you want... first off get the idea that the pistils will tell you much.. there are some things the pistils will tell you, but im not there yet.. the trichs are what will tell the story... during the life of trichs they will go from clear, to milky, to amber... you dont want clear thats for sure.. the first stone you can achieve is a good head high.. this is achieved by harvesting early into the ambering of the trichs... when around 10% of the trichs have gone from milky to amber this is the high you will get... harvesting at around 50/50 will introduce a nice body high with it... and the further into ambering you go the more "couch lock" the affect will be.. now if you are looking to get the absolute most out of you buds, which will end up being a knock you on your ass high, you need to pay attention to not only the trichs but the pistils... as the plant ripens the pistils will eventually change from white to red/orange... they will also start receding into the bud... once they are receeding into the bud you know you are at about the point where you have flowered her completely out and she has nothing left.. you can over ripen your buds.. it is possible.. so once you start seeing the pistils start receding inwards you know its close to time to start chopping.. but you also know that you have gotten as much out of the plant as you possibly can, both yield and potency wise...
you'll want to flush your plant before harvest also.. some growers say you dont have to.. its debatable.. the idea behind flushing is to remove all the salts and nutes from the plant and making sure the plant has used up everything it has... unflushed plants can taste chemically from nutes still in them.. try both ways and see what you like best... flushing is easy tho... you start out running 2x the amount of water as the volume of the pot through the pot.. so a 5 gallon pot would get 10 gallons of water ran through it.. then the next 1 or 2 watering just use plain water.. your plant will be fine without nutes during this time.. you can use molasses throughout the flush to continue feeding a little something to your plants if you choose.. ill get more into molasses later... whether you choose to flush or not to, you should try to plan it out so that when you chop your plants down it is on a day you need to water... this will speed the drying since the plant is low on water already.. chopping is best done right before or as close to lights on as possible.. this will keep the roots from pushing anything up into the plant prior to harvest... two common questions i hear asked are "should i boil the roots? so and so said it will help push the thc out" and "i heard you hang them upside down to let thc run out of the stem"... niether of which are true.. boiling the roots is just stupid... and hanging the plants is for convenience...
trimming is easiest when you do prior to drying... start out by removing all the large fan leaves from the plant.. you can keep these and use for honey oil later if you want.. you have two choices when it comes to attacking the trimming of your plant... whether you are going to hang the entire plant or just branches.. its easiest to do branches individually.. its hard to move around larger plants.. start out by removing the branch from the main stem.. i like starting at the bottom and working up... take a sharp pair of trimming prunes begin trimming all the leafs around the buds flush with the buds themselves.. try to trim over something to save the trimmings for hash or canna butter later... also if you can look from the bottom of the stem and see a leaf stem in the bud, cut the leaf off.. basically you want to trim the bud up as nice as you want it to be...
once you have trimmed up the buds on the branches its time to hang them.. you can use anything to secure them to whatever you plan on hanging them from.. make sure to leave enough room at the bottom of the stem to attach something too... hang them in a medium humidity room... 50 to 60 percent works well... this is assuming you have adequate ventilation and air movement.. the slower the buds dry and cure the better the final product.. so if you can dry them slowly in a more humid room it helps get the most out of the dry.. but higher humidities can cause bud rot, mold, and mildew if air movement and ventilation is low... so keep in mind that the lower the air movement the lower the humidity should be.. you will want to keep some sort of fan going to keep air moving of some sort... you also will want to make sure you leave breathing room between the branches when you hang them.. warmer temps and lower humidity will still give you good results in the end.. dont get me wrong.. but a slower process will give you amazing results... lastly if you cant hang the buds you can use a large screen from a picture window for instance as a drying rack.. you still want air movement in the room tho... drying usually will take 5 to 7 days... you'll know your ready to start curing when the stems snap, but arent brittle...
mason jars are the best thing to cure in... they are cheap and easily available.. curing evens out the remaining moisture in the buds and helps further develope flavor.. a good cure can be the difference of good bud that tastes and smells like hay or good bud that tastes devine and smells like a skunk.... to cure fill up the jar with buds you have trimmed from the stems after drying.. dont pack the jar full.. you want breathing room in them.. 1/2 to 3/4 full is about all you want... keep them sealed tightly... open them a few times a day to allow the air inside to be replaced with fresh air, then seal back up.. this takes about another 5 to 7 days, but is WELL worth the wait..
so that is the basic growing process.. now to touch more in deepth on a few areas...
your ready to start planning your grow.. first thing to do is to choose a location... is it going to be indoor or outdoor?? here are some things to consider when choosing where to grow..
first and foremost, IS IT OK?? now aside from the legal issue in some states, is it ok for you to be growing where you are?? i dont know how many times i've read posts that say "i'm growing at home and my parents dont know, how can i hide it" or "i found out im moving and need to move my grow, how can i do this"... think about it.. plan it out... if you are living with someone, be it at home with your parents or with a roommate, and you are putting them at risk with your grow, have the balls to tell them.. or better yet, ask them first...
also take into consideration if you are planning to move anytime during the grow... i have read quite a few posts of people who are trying to figure out how to move their setup, knowing they were going to have to move it, and putting no thought into it previously... its hard to move a grow op successfully and is risky, both to you and the plants...
do you have the space to grow?? this is more indoors than outdoors, but whether its in a closet, pc case, garage, basement, attic, ect., is the space there to do it without cramping yourself or the plants up... MJ likes space.. she grows based on the room she feels she has.. the more space the better... and be realistic about things.. obviously the bigger the space, the bigger the grow, the more the yield.. dont think you are going to get pounds per harvest growing in a closet...
do you have the funds to purchase equipment?? again this is more indoors than outdoors.. you dont need thousands of dollars to build the ultimate grow room.. but you do need to spend some bucks on some key items... nutes, ph/ec meters, soil, lights, and fans are the most important things to not skimp on... again, im not saying you have to purchase top of the line stuff.. but you get what you pay for..
who else may find out about your grow?? hopefully the answer to this is no one.. no one should know... no one needs to know.. so do you have a house full of people all the time?? do you have parties with wandering people?? if so it may not be the best thing for you to grow... no matter how well you hide it, given enough time with enough traffic someone is bound to stumble upon your grow... this is talk from experience.. if you plan to grow indoors plan on living a little more secluded.. the bigger the grow, the more secluded... its just a safety precaution... johnny might be your friend.. and he might swear to keep it a secret.. but if johnny gets drunk and runs his mouth accidently you could end up going home to a kicked in door with all your shit gone... i dont want to sound like i mean you need to be a hermit and lose all your friends.. just be smart about the traffic and company you have in relation to the size of your grow.. and outdoors its even more important to keep your grow a secret.. its much easier to steal plants that the owner cant see than it is breaking into their house and taking them from inside...
you have a location, now to plan on how you are going to grow and what style you are going to grow...
the how to has a few options.. outside you are pretty much stuck with soil.. indoors you can choose from 2 main catergories; organic or hydroponics.. besides the obvious difference of medium there is also a difference on how the nutes are delivered to the plant..
soil acts a buffer between the nutes and the plant.. the nutes must be absorbed from the plant through the soil.. fertilizers and soil additives must first be broke down before becoming available to the plant.. this means there is a "delay" between when you feed and when your plant reacts... which means if you over feed you have a small time frame before nute burn sets in where you can flush the medium out without it affecting the plant, if you catch it early enough.. it also means that if deficiencies and bad nute burn set it the problem has been a problem for a while, so it will usually get a little worse before getting better once fixed...
if growing in soil spend the time one good potting soil.. cheap soils can contain weeds and bugs and low levels of nutes.. which means you have to start feeding them sooner... they can also be very heavy and drain poorly... no matter what soil you get you'll want to add some things for aeration and drainage... perlite is the most common.. they are the little white things you see in most potting soil blends.. although there is some in there, its rarely as much as needed.. you should want around 30% of the mix to be perlite or some other soil additives.. sand, peat moss, vermiculite, coco "croutons" are some great examples of things that will help with areation, drainage, and water retention... you can also add things such as guanos and worm castings to your soil to enrich the nutrients in them... placing an inch or so of rocks at the bottom of the pot will help keep it the plant from tipping over, but will also assist in drainage...
there are many styles of hydroponic growing.. ebb and flood, DWC, wick systems, drip systems.. to make it easy hydroponics covers and grow where the nutes are available through watering and not through the grow medium... in hydroponics the grow medium is inert.. this means it adds nothing to the grow except water/nute rentention and something for the roots to cling to.. some styles of hydroponic grows dont use mediums at all... the biggest thing to understand with hydroponics is that nutes are available and replenished everytime water hits the roots.. whether its and ebb and flood style that soaks the roots and medium for ___ amount of time ____ times daily, or an aerogarden that constatly mists the roots... within the realm of hydroponics, tho, the set ups vary, but there are few differences.. you either are going to flood the system on a regular basis or have sprayers that spray the roots.. and you are either going to use a recirculating system, where the same nutes are kept in a reservoir and reused, or use a drain to waste system where the nutes are used once and then thrown out... recirculating systems must be changed out weekly and the nutes/water replaced...
when growing with hydroponics there are a couple things to remember... nute burn will set on much faster if you have your solution to strong... you have to balance flooding/misting the roots with letting them get enough air... to much water and your rots can rot and die... water temps are important... water above 85 will slow/stop growth and can cook your roots... so make sure you can keep your reservior temps down.. you need to check the PH and EC of the water frequently.. the PH is how acidic or basic the solution is... if its too high or too low it will lock out nutes... you want a range from 5.5 to 6.5, with 5.8 to 6.0 being ideal.. EC is the electrical conductivity of the solution.. basically it tells you how much "stuff" is in the water... the more nutes you add the higher the EC.. EC is more accurate then PPM, and is universal.. you want to keep your EC in the 1.2 to 1.8 range... hydroponics is a little more tricky to learn, but once you are locked in the results are quicker and larger growth with a larger ending yield...
now that you have the how, its time to choose style..
this really comes down to the amount of plants you want and the size you can grow them too... SOG styles are many smaller plants, usually straight to flower clones... it goes quicker because there is no veg time.. this works well if you want a quick turn over but dont have the space for a seperate veg room.. you can also choose to have fewer plants that are vegged longer.. this will take longer if you only have 1 room to veg and flower in.. but the result is a larger yield per plant, and larger buds.. if you have both a veg and a flower room you are really limited by space.. you can veg as many plants as you want during the flowering of other plants as long as you have the space to hold the in the veg room and space enough for them to stretch in your flower room... you can yield the same either way.. the choice is up to you... some growers will want 20x 4 to 5 ft plants while some want 100 1 ft plants... there is not a right or wrong, just what fits best for you...
so now you know where you are going to grow and what kind of grow you want... next thing is ventilation...
i put this early on the list because i feel it is one of the most important things to consider.. a poorly ventilated grow room will have many problems from slow growth to heat to possible mold and mildew issues... there is no secret answer to how to set up ventilation... it may take some playing around to get air movement just right.. but there are some things to think about when planning..
first is how you are going to exhaust the hot, stale air from the grow room... removing old stale air is more important that trying to being in fresh... removing air will cause a negative pressure in your grow room, which will actually help bring in new air passively.. by passively i mean that as air is exhausted from the room it will pull more air in the room from outside as it fills in the empty space from the removed air.. if you are removing more air than you are putting in, it causes a negative pressure, which means it will constantly be pulling air from outside the grow room in.. you also have to consider how you are going to "clean" the air thats leaving.. whether it is a carbon filter, and ozone generator, or some sort of gel, there are a lot of options.. do some research and decide which will work best from you... an ozone machine or carbon can filter isnt needed for a few small plants, while a container of ozium gel is not going to take care of the stench from 20 large plants...
second is air intake.. are you going to run an air intake or let air in passively?? can you run a fresh air intake at all, even it is passive?? nothing beats fresh air.. its a free supply of limitless co2.. co2 is used by the plants rapidly, and unless replaced often, can limit growth.. a fresh air intake of some sort can drastically improve the speed of growth in your plants.. if fresh air is impossible to get to you may choose to co2 supplement.. there are many ways.. the most efficient way is to get a regulator and a tank... initially the cost is high... a regulator can cost anywhere from 70 to a couple hundred, and co2 tanks cost a couple hundered initially to.. after that tho it pays for itself.. refills are cheap.. and again it can increase growth tremendously.. now you can grow without a fresh air intake and co2 suppliment just fine... it just may mean slower growth... thats where a good exhaust will help by pulling air from outside into the grow room and replace the old air with new..
third is air movement.. you'll want some sort of fan in the grow room moving air around.. an osilating fan works perfect for this.. having a breeze blowing on your plants will not only help strengthen the stems, but help make sure they have fresh air around them all the time...
another tip for ventilation is to place the exhaust fan towards the top of the grow area, opposite of the fresh air intake or where cool air comes in... this will help pull the new air across the grow and of course heat rises so it will help pull the hot air out...
i wanted to explain why its more important to have more air exhausting than intaking... if you are pushing more in air in the grow room than you are exhausting you will end up with a possitive pressure in the grow area... this is bad for a couple reasons... high air pressure allows air to get warmer.. which mean warmer temps in your grow room.. it also pushes the air within the grow room out through any cracks there are in the room.. this means smells are being pushed out and exhausted that you may not want escaping the grow room...
lighting is going to be the next issue... there are somethings to consider when choosing lighting.. budget, power consumption, heat, and room size will all play a part in things... first what can you afford?? if you are growing indoors you do want to skimp on lighting if you can afford not to... here is a list of lighting from the strongest to weakest..
1000w hps/mh
600w hps/mh
420w satellite floros
400w hps/mh
anything else (smaller hps/mh, CFLs, leds, t5/t8s)
the weaker the light the more you are going to need.. the stronger the light the more heat... the smaller the grow area the more the heat from the bulbs will affect the grow.. a larger room has more space to dissipate the heat into... if you know your ventilation will be poor, then opt for a smaller bulb until you can get better ventilation... everyone wants to run a huge powerful light.. but it cant always be done.. if the heat from the lamp can not be dealt with, and the temp of the grow room is high, having the strong light isnt worth it... so you have to use some common sense when deciding the light you are going to use... also take into account power consumption and available amps to the grow room.. if you only have a 15 amp circut, and half the amps are used already, you cant run a large ligh without risking blowing a circuit.. do you have the power to run the lights you want or are you going to have to install a larger breaker to run your equipment?? i had to run an extra 80 amps to my grow room to ensure i didnt trip my breakers... nothing is worse than coming home and seeing darkness when your lights should be on... plus over heating the wiring from drawing too much power to the room can cause fires and is a safety risk...
water is another important thing to consider... tap water can contain chlorine, which is not good for your plants.. if using tap water it is a good idea to leave it sit out for 24 hours to evaporate the chlorine... some growers, such as myself, dont practice this and have no ill effects.. but its best to play it safe unless you have tried the water straight from tap and know it wont harm your plants... you may also choose to get a dechlorinator or reverse osmosis machine.. both will "clean" your water, although a reverse osmosis machine works best... these are really best if you have a hydro system or extremely hard water...
this brings me to a small lesson in EC, PPM, and PH... first is EC and PPM.. to keep it simple they are the same things in that they tell you how much "stuff" is in your water... with hydro this is very important because too much "stuff" in your water, either before or after adding nutes, will cause burn... its important in soil also.. but is less of an issue.. ec (electrical conductivity) is the most accurate and is universal.. PPM (parts per million) is either figured in x700 or x500... this is why ec is more accurate, because if you dont know whether you are using a x700 or x500 ppm reading, you could end up with a lot stronger of a solution than you thought.. spend the money, especially if you use hydro, on a good ec meter.. truncheon has an amazing one that reads ec, ppm (both x5 and x7), tds, and cf...
http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=TRU500&AC=1
ph is the messure of how acidic or basic your solution/soil is.. its important to maintain the correct ph to allow all nutes to be absorbed.. to high or to low of a ph will cause some nutes to become unavailable and you get nute lockout... if growin in soil spend the money on a soil test kit as well as a water test kit.. know what the ph of your nute solution is before putting it in the soil.. this will help maintain ph.. also check your soil ph every couple weeks.. a low soil ph could mean you have salt build up, which means you may need to lay off the nutes for a while or flush if its bad enough.. or if its to high you know you need to add some soil acidfiers to lower it.. you can also check the soil runoff after you water to see what the ph of it is.. this will help tell you the overall ph too.. you can get a good idea of where your soil is at by checking the solution and runoff if you cant get a soil test kit... 6.5 to 7.0 is ideal for soil... in hydroponics it is ultra important to keep PH balanced... 5.5 to 6.5 is ok... 5.8 to 6.0 is perfect... ph issues in hydroponics will cause more problems than in soil because they arent gradual.. in soil the ph will gradually raise and lower, so problems can be fixed before they get too bad.. in hydroponics, ph problems cause instant lock out... having a good EC and PH meter with a hydroponic setup is very important...
water temp is important too.. if you have a hydro system with a reservoir, temps over 85 can cause problems from algae in the water, to the roots being cooked and roting, to slow and/or no growth at all... you may have to look into ways of controlling res temps.. you can use a bunch of frozen water bottles that you replace as they thaw to keep temps low.. if you can afford to purchase an aqua chiller that is ideal and will be your life saver.. when i first sat up my hydro grow an aqua chiller was on my list, just towards the bottom.. had i known how much of a difference it would make it would have been at the top of the list...
you need to think about odor control.. how are you going to get rid of the smell?? there are many ways to do it... from gels, to ozone emitting cfls, to ozone machines, to duct filters, to large carbon filters... carbon filters are most common and work great... the activated charcole in the filters has microscopic holes that trap the smell molecules.. they need to be replaced about once a year... they have large ones that can sit on floors that have their own exhaust fans for grows of all size.. they also have ones that can be attached to the end of exhaust ducts... ozone machines and bulbs work well but have a couple requirments.. they usually have to be ran on timers.. too much ozone is harmful to you and your plants... and they need time to work so they are best used in a situation where the air from the grow room is exhausted into another "containment" room with the ozone generator, and then exhausted from the "containment" room after a half hour or so..
there is a multitude of nutrients out on the market... depending on if your using soil or hydroponics there are wide variety of choices to choose from... the nutes you choose are based on how much you want to put into it and how much you want to control things...
the main nutes are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium... nitrogen gets used during veg growth and needs to be replinshed often.. so nutes with a high N are best for veg... during flowering the plant will use a lot of phosphorus... so a high P rating is good for flowering.. potassium is used throughout the entire grow in different amounts.. as long as the nutes you are using contain some it should be fine.. theses are known as macro nutes
there are many micro nutes... the most commonly talked about ones are magnesium, calcium, and iron... these are the most common deficiencies you will run into... using a supplement like MagICal (i think thats what it is), or some other similar supplement should take care of any issues you will have... this is a pretty big generalization.. but in most cases, if it isnt a macro nute issue, it will be related to one of those 3 nutes... other deficiencies can occur tho...
if you think you are having some nute problems, check the ph first.. this will help you determine if its burn from over feeding or a deficiency from lock out... from that point you can start figuring out the problem...
all in one nutes are great for the casual grower who wants something, but doesnt have the time to waste on customizing blends.. if you use one of these kinds be vary vigilant.. you can not control ratios of nutes in these and are stuck with what they give you.. if you arent careful you can end up with nute burn.. different nutes will be absorbed and used at different rates.. you could end up with a bad problem if you dont pay attention.. some 1 part systems are only the macro nutes (NPK) and will need to be supplimented.. make sure to check what all the nute has if you use them..
2 part systems are good if you want a little more control, and want to give your plants the specific nutes they need for the growth cycle they are in... the include a veg and bloom formula... this includes the macro nutes that are needed for the growth cycle they are in and some/all micro nutes... you may find you need to suppliment these as well, since the levels of micro nutes are not adjustable... but these are a big step up from the 1 part programs..
3 part programs are great, but also take some knowledge to use.. the contain a gro, bloom, and "boost" formula... this means you can custom blend formulas to feed your plants.. if the have a deficiency its easy to increase the part of the program that contains those nutes and fix it.. but again, it takes some knowledge of not only the nutes but how the plant reacts to over and under nuteing, as well as being able to identify nute def/burn early on... im in no way saying you cant use these as a new grower.. but if you do use them stick to the recommend feeding schedule provided by the manufacturer until you are more familar with everything...
if you are growing in soil invest in a moisture meter... they are cheap and very useful.. this takes the guess work out of whether or not to water... just stick the probe in the soil and it tells you... MJ grows best in a wet to dry environment... that is they dont like being drowned.. water the soil until it is wet all the way through, and dont water again until it is dry.. to help reduce the risk of dry pockets in the dirt you can break up the top 1" of dirt.. this will help the water to penetrate the soil more evenly...
fans can be loud and can give away a grow room easily to a passer by... try to mount fans away from windows and exterior walls... you can wrap the fan in towels or tshirts to help absorb vibration if you want.. they make muffler ducts to help reduce the sound from them...
helicopters dont look for hot roof temps, they look for flurs, or rather a stream of hot air exiting a building.. such as your dryer vent... if you have multiple flurs, one in a place a dryer vent shouldnt be, or a very large one, this can cause a red flag... be cautious when exhausting air outside... and make sure any air exiting your grow room is scrubbed clean before leaving...
keep your grow room as clean as possible.. bleach it down between grows.. take care to remove food or pop cans/beer cans from your grow room if you have them in there.. these can attract pests... if you are outside during the day, dont enter your grow room wearing what you did while you were outside.. its a great way to bring pests into your grow op.. dont let a fellow grower with a pest problem into your grow because they will most likely bring them along.. sterlize all equipment in between uses.. such as the razor you use to cut clones or the sheers you use to remove branches when lollipopping... this will ensure that your plant does not get an infection next time you cut/prune....
have a back up plan incase things fail... dont only have 1 plant started.. start a few seeds.. some may not make it.. have some seeds saved incase the plants you have die... hell plan things out for the entire grow.. know when you want to clone, if you are.. know when you want to start flowering, or at least have a target date... have all the supplies you need for the growth cycle you are on before you start it... this will save you running back and forth to get stuff... we all need to make those last minute store runs.. but the more planning you do the better off you will be, the less running you have to do, and the more you can relax and enjoy the grow...
ive covered a lot of stuff in here... over the 3 or 4 days it has taken me to get around to typing this i've added and taken away.. at this point i dont know if i have covered EVERYTHING or not.. should be pretty close tho..
its more than likely that you will come across problems you cant get a direct answer from this thread for... some nute defs can appear as other ones, some problems will need more information provided by you as the grower to help solve... remember, everyones grow is unique... what works for one person may not work for you... you may like another nute better than this one... maybe you like 18/6 over 24/0... the point is there are many variations of what is right and wrong.. a lot will depend on how you set your grow up and how the environment where your at affects the grow... providing information as well as pics will help the other growers on here to help you... good information to have when posting a problem is the cycle your in, lights you use, actually light cycle your using, the ph of the grow medium, temps, humidity, kind of nutes your using, where the problem is on the plant, obviously what the problem is, and any pics you can provide.. please try to make the pics as clear as possible...
if i have missed anything.. or there is anything that anyone wants further discussed, feel free to ask.. i will do my best to keep answering the questions as you ask them... i really hope this helps answer questions for any of you who read it...
good luck and good growing
sampson
