NorthernMan
Member
I've been growing weed since 1988 and long before the internet old school growers like myself didn't have access to many technical references about how to grow pot. Most of us old school guys started out with books by Ed Rosenthal and Mel Frank, and then there was High Times Magazine, that was about it.
Long before we had all the scientific explanations of how the chemistry of marijuana worked we had the Old School way of thinking about it.
I always explained marijuana to people as if the plant had a brain and a thought process. Many people could relate to my way of explaining things rather than getting scientific and explaining hormones and chemical reactions. Here's how I explained things the "old school" way.
I'd tell people that pot has a built in thought process that can be tricked. "The plant thinks to itself that if it is going to find pollen to reproduce it must grow tall. So to keep it from growing tall seeking pollen I cut the top off it when it is small. The plant thinks to itself that something is wrong with growing tall so it will grow short and fat instead and produce many tops instead of one. I bend the top shoots downward and the plant thinks something is wrong and starts to make other branches grow upward trying to become the apical top. every day I bend the top shoot down and the plant sends a signal to another branch to try to become the apical top. This I explain keeps the plant energizing all the branches trying to form a Christmas tree shape but I won't let it succeed so in frustration it keeps trying and caused the plant to become an energized big thick bush.
Now remember the plant is trying to reproduce. It tried to grow really tall but I won't let it. It responded by sending a signal to all branches to try and become the dominant top, but I keep bending down all the branches so it rapidly fills out into a monster shrub.
Now the plant thinks to itself, if I can't grow tall how will I get the pollen? The plant decides that it must become sticky with THC trichomes. It figures that if it gets really sticky it will find the needed pollen to survive, so the plant produces tons of sticky crystal THC. Still no pollen. Now the plant goes into panic mode. The last few weeks the plant realizes it will die without creating offspring in the form of seeds so the plant puts all its energy into producing as much sticky THC Trichomes as possible seeking to find a grain of pollen.
The plant now realizes that something is drastically wrong. While most plants will give up and die some really stubborn plants think to themselves, something is wrong with the males this year. I need to create daughters that will be able to carry on the family genes next year. So once in a great while a plant will think to itself, "I must create a male flower myself and pollinate myself with all xx chromesones and maybe one of my daughters will be able to find male pollen next year", so the plant produces male flowers and pollinates herself trying to keep the gene pool alive in daughters that will possibly find a husband next year. We know this as a hermaphrodite.
By explaining things like this people could easily understand the benefits of topping, and bending without needing to know that it is the hormone AUXIN that is being redistributed by topping and bending. I knew the effect long before I ever learned the science that controlled the effect.
I always got lost when somebody went into "science mode" in explaining things, reminded me of school biology which I failed because it seemed boring. By giving a plant a personality and thought mode, I was able to explain the effects of things in a way that people could grasp. I still think of plants as having a brain, the ability to think and respond to changes in the environment. I did't learn about the hormone AUXIN until a week ago when I was reading a thread about Low Stress Training. I've been teaching the effect of auxin for 25 years only I didn't what it was called. In my mind the plant said to itself, hey, if I keep growing tall I get my head cut off, I'll grow thick and bushy instead. It works for me the way my brain conceives things, I never could easily comprehend scientific explanations, I have to read it 10 times to get it to sink in.
Now I ask people, do you want the scientific explanation or do you want to know how the plant thinks?
If you want scientific, look it up online, good luck comprehending the techno babble! If you want to know how the plant thinks and responds, I can help you!
Long before we had all the scientific explanations of how the chemistry of marijuana worked we had the Old School way of thinking about it.
I always explained marijuana to people as if the plant had a brain and a thought process. Many people could relate to my way of explaining things rather than getting scientific and explaining hormones and chemical reactions. Here's how I explained things the "old school" way.
I'd tell people that pot has a built in thought process that can be tricked. "The plant thinks to itself that if it is going to find pollen to reproduce it must grow tall. So to keep it from growing tall seeking pollen I cut the top off it when it is small. The plant thinks to itself that something is wrong with growing tall so it will grow short and fat instead and produce many tops instead of one. I bend the top shoots downward and the plant thinks something is wrong and starts to make other branches grow upward trying to become the apical top. every day I bend the top shoot down and the plant sends a signal to another branch to try to become the apical top. This I explain keeps the plant energizing all the branches trying to form a Christmas tree shape but I won't let it succeed so in frustration it keeps trying and caused the plant to become an energized big thick bush.
Now remember the plant is trying to reproduce. It tried to grow really tall but I won't let it. It responded by sending a signal to all branches to try and become the dominant top, but I keep bending down all the branches so it rapidly fills out into a monster shrub.
Now the plant thinks to itself, if I can't grow tall how will I get the pollen? The plant decides that it must become sticky with THC trichomes. It figures that if it gets really sticky it will find the needed pollen to survive, so the plant produces tons of sticky crystal THC. Still no pollen. Now the plant goes into panic mode. The last few weeks the plant realizes it will die without creating offspring in the form of seeds so the plant puts all its energy into producing as much sticky THC Trichomes as possible seeking to find a grain of pollen.
The plant now realizes that something is drastically wrong. While most plants will give up and die some really stubborn plants think to themselves, something is wrong with the males this year. I need to create daughters that will be able to carry on the family genes next year. So once in a great while a plant will think to itself, "I must create a male flower myself and pollinate myself with all xx chromesones and maybe one of my daughters will be able to find male pollen next year", so the plant produces male flowers and pollinates herself trying to keep the gene pool alive in daughters that will possibly find a husband next year. We know this as a hermaphrodite.
By explaining things like this people could easily understand the benefits of topping, and bending without needing to know that it is the hormone AUXIN that is being redistributed by topping and bending. I knew the effect long before I ever learned the science that controlled the effect.
I always got lost when somebody went into "science mode" in explaining things, reminded me of school biology which I failed because it seemed boring. By giving a plant a personality and thought mode, I was able to explain the effects of things in a way that people could grasp. I still think of plants as having a brain, the ability to think and respond to changes in the environment. I did't learn about the hormone AUXIN until a week ago when I was reading a thread about Low Stress Training. I've been teaching the effect of auxin for 25 years only I didn't what it was called. In my mind the plant said to itself, hey, if I keep growing tall I get my head cut off, I'll grow thick and bushy instead. It works for me the way my brain conceives things, I never could easily comprehend scientific explanations, I have to read it 10 times to get it to sink in.
Now I ask people, do you want the scientific explanation or do you want to know how the plant thinks?
If you want scientific, look it up online, good luck comprehending the techno babble! If you want to know how the plant thinks and responds, I can help you!
