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“Growing Marijuana, The Team at Types of Weed strongly recommend you talk to your local authority to determine if Growing Marijuana is legal in your Country or State”

The First and integral part of getting your marijuana plants off to a great start is germinating your seeds properly. There are many different methods to seed germination.

The simplest methods for growing marijuana are as follows:

Get a paper towel and Soak it in warm distilled water(boil the water is a good method then cool for distilled water) , ring the excess water out of the paper towel, moisten the seeds by soaking in the same distilled water for half an hour. Lay the seeds spaced out on one half of the paper towel and Fold the other half over the seeds. Gently place the Paper towel with seeds on to a plate and Place a bowl upside down over the setup to maintain moisture and reduce light.

Another way is to use grow plugs,you can easily get these from your local Grower supplies, they are a bit bigger than 1 inch 2.5cm squared. Push the seed in, moisten and it usually works, keep it moist-not flooded!, It is very important to not let the plugs dry out will get a fail. Wait till roots start to appear through the bottom this is when you plant them. You can use lighting in this process (Fluros) important to keep the lights distanced…at least 1 and a half meters, watch your moisture don’t let them dry out. In approximately 2 days you should see a crack. Your germination stage is then complete. A word of advice use tweezers when handling the germinated don’t want to touch them at this stage

Growing Marijuana in the right stuff

Marijuana is often called a weed and like a weed it will grow in almost anything you can think of, As long as the roots have room to grow, are kept moist and are supplied with oxygen and nutrients the plant will thrive. Rockwool is an excellent medium for hydroponic use. It does however have some drawbacks. Just like the insulation variety, when dry it`s dangerous to handle. It also has a high p.h. value and is hard to reuse or recycle. marijuana eats up available nutrients very quickly so mixing in nutrients with the growing medium can be a bit of an art, It`s easier to leave the mixture plain and give plants nutrients in their water as and when they require them.

Soil or compost of one sort or another is a good medium, it is natural, easy to use and available everywhere. Try using a sterilized loose, non- peat based potting compost mixed 50/50 with a soil conditioner like perlite. Washed sand can also be used, but again use it in a mixture, add it to your favorite mix to add some depth and weight to lighter products. Perlite is a soil conditioner that can be used independently but we recommend a mix. Pea gravel or clay pellets are a good reusable medium that can be used in pots. These little marble sized balls absorb loads and loads of water and release it slowly. Again excellent for hydroponics and safer than rock wool.

Growing Marijuana? Light is your Friend!

Nearly all varieties of marijuana require 12 hours of darkness per day to induce their flowering cycles. sativa varieties sometimes need more. indica varieties can sometimes take less. ruderalis varieties can flower in many conditions Don’t be fooled by your pure Female Plants they can turn male if the plant are stressed too much through negligence or if chemicals are applied to the plant to induce male flowering. When you establish you have a healthy female plant that you would like to keep, you can place it in constant light to stop it from flowering. This plant can then be a “mother” for you to take cuttings from whenever you wish. The amount of light that marijuana

receives determines the quantity and quality of the blooms. The photo period is the number of light hours verses dark hours in 1 day, when growing marijuana you need 12 hours of dark each day to flower well. If you are in a position to use Mother Nature, Sunshine is more intense than any artificial light and is free.

However some Countries/areas have limited light to get the right balance, Greenhouses can assist here in conjunction with electric lights to control light/darkness balance. All combinations work OK but its best to use sodium bulbs in horizontal shades for flowering. Plan on giving 30 to 60 watts of light for each square foot of growing space.Under continuous light marijuana will grow but will not flower and produce buds. Darkness makes the plants produce flowering hormones and regular undisturbed darkness will make them stop growing and start flowering.

Be Careful!!! When Growing Marijuana

Your Grow Lights get hot! and can burn plants that get too near. However the closer the light to the plants the more intense light they receive. In general keep 400 w lights 30 to 45 cm above plants and 1000 w lights 45 to 75 cm above plants. Outdoors the seasons control the photoperiod. As the summer comes to an end and the nights become longer marijuana flowers ready to produce seed. Indoors you control the photoperiod so you can start flowering whenever you wish. The most efficient types of lighting are sodium or metal halide high intensity discharge (HID) lamps. Metal halides are strong in the blue spectrum of light and are good for growth. Sodium lights are strong in the red spectrum of light and are good for flowering.

Fluorescent light is fine for the growing stage but flowering plants really need more intense HID light. If fluorescents are your only choice choose alternate rows of “Cool White” and “Warm White” bulbs and place them only a few cm`s away from your plants.

When Growing Marijuana you must feed the weed!

marijuana is a nitrogen lover and whilst in its growing stage it will need a feed with extra nitrogen, When flowering starts it will require extra

phosphorus and potassium instead. This is why a lot of marijuana nutrients come in two or even three part formulas. If a plant looks under fed check the p.h. of the medium and water before adding more nutrients. If your growing in soil make sure your not over watering and suffocating the plants roots. Soil should be allowed to dry a little between watering.

Nutrients have an N.P.K. ratio on the packet. This shows the amount of Nitrogen(N), Phosphorus(P) and Potassium(K) the nutrient contains as a percentage. A complete fertilizer will also contain all the other nutrients and minerals a plant needs for good growth. If you choose to grow Organically getting a good safe balanced mix for plants grown in the ground can take months. Early planning and ground preparation is essential and you still may need to add some nutrients down the line, growing organically does mean paying a little more attention in this instance.

Whatever nutrient you use you should always stop feeding at least 10 days before harvest. Only give the plant p.h. balanced water from then on. Doing this will help “flush” the nutrients out the plant and produce better tasting and better burning buds

Females and Males

Females Clusters of flowers known as buds or colas only occur on Female, or Hermaphrodite Plant. Hermaphrodites are plants that are part Male part Female. If you want Sinsemelia Buds make sure you only have pure Females.

Plants in constant light can sometimes start to show some pre flowers after only a few weeks of growth. Usually though it takes a change in light cycle to trigger the plants into full reproductive mode. Unless you have plans to breed or to produce lots of seeds always separate Male and Female plants as soon as their sex becomes apparent. Be Careful you only need one or two Male to turn your entire crop of plants to seed. Early Female flowers look like little furry hairs, usually white, but they can be other colors.

Early Male flowers look a bit like small bunches of mini green bananas. Look near the leaf joins on your plants to see them emerging.

When to Harvest your Marijuana

marijuana usually takes between 8 and 12 weeks to finish flowering, Plants will continue

living for longer than this but their potency may begin to drop. Getting your harvest timed right will help you produce stronger, tastier buds. Flowering times given by Seed Companies usually refer to the time taken to flower when grown from seed. Cuttings can take a week or so longer to finish flowering, so can plants that are bent or trained during growth.

When growing marijuana timing of the harvest indoors is not as crucial as the timing of a harvest outdoors. Indoor plants do not have nature attacking them with wind, rain, mist and killer frosts. Harvest or protect outdoor plants if heavy frosts are due.

Be patient, a lot of marijuana varieties produce the bulk of their buds in their last few weeks of growth. When your buds look done wait another week to be sure you are not missing out on a growth spurt at the end of flowering. A good sign of ripeness is the color of the stigmas there are usually white hairs sticking out all over the buds. As each flower ripens the stigmas shrivel and turn brown. When about 75% of the plants stigmas are brown it is about ready to harvest. Use a magnifying glass to look at the t.h.c. glands growing on the buds, These crystal clear mushroom like growths turn milky white when at their peak. If they have browned and lose their heads then they are past their best.
marijuana is easier to trim when it`s freshly cut and it`s leaves are rigid with water, try not to cut down more than you can trim in a few hours. If you have no choice you can put the plants in vases of water until you are ready for them.

Drying Marijuana

To be sure your marijuana reaches its full potential you should make sure that you dry it properly. Chemical changes occur during drying that will increase the active ingredients Do not cut corners with Drying, bad drying will decrease those precious active ingredients. One of the simplest methods of drying is to hang plants from a string, this allows air circulation and keeps the buds from touching anything you don’t want the drying marijuana to be touched too often Sticky t.h.c. laden glands are easily dislodged …Problem Sometimes large colas are damp in the middle whilst brittle dry on the outside. Place these buds in plastic bags over night to even out the moisture content. Dried marijuana should be firm, springy and should not crumble when handled. Ideally the drying area should be around room temperature (low 70`s)and in darkness. As about 75% of the weight of fresh cut marijuana is water ventilation and air circulation are also important to avoid any problems with mould.

When your marijuana has dried to an acceptable level it can be stored in dark, air tight containers. Many people freeze their marijuana or keep it in the refrigerator, this helps prolong the freshness the same way it does with other herbs. Mould can destroy your drying plants overnight, Make sure you open up big colas to check for grey moulds. Any plants found to be going mouldy should be separated from the rest, trimmed of the mould and quick dried. The first 3 or 4 days are the most crucial, marijuana dried any quicker than this will often be harsh, brittle and of inferior quality to the same bud dried a bit more slowly. After 3 or 4 days you can speed up the drying if you really need to. Curing is a longer more drawn out drying period. The chemical changes that occur during drying are allowed to continue further so that the taste, strength and appearance of the marijuana is altered even more.

Note:Growing marijuana is illegal in some Countries, even for personal Consumption! Please see World Weed Map to check the legal status in your Country of residence or check with your local authorities.