Growing Smoke

[RAiD [SLAM]]

Hi all.

I'm a daily smoker myself, and because I don't feel like restocking every
week, I'd like some information on growing these nice seeds i've collected.
I know nothing about growing plants, so could someone post growing text for
a newbie at growing?

many thanx!

Windows 95- Where do you wanna crash today?
Oh spam bots... heres some email addys:bri...@dlois.com
Enjoy pesky spambots...

[Budless Victim]

Here is an easy grow guide. It is available at the Global Seedbank Websight.

What's involved in setting up a growing room? Is it complicate.

Before you can even begin to get started, it is important that you
decide where exactly in your home you are going to grow tour crop.
This could be an cupboard, the loft, the cellar, or a spare room.
It is important that you consider things such as access to electricity
points. Access to a water source is important if your intentions are
to use hydroponics. Insulation is very important in lofts, (Don't be the
only person on your block to have no snow on your roof after a snow storm!)
Ventilation is also important as your plants will require air to circulate.
A
fan and an door that can be opened regularly is often sufficient, however
you
may have to look at the possibility of using an extractor fan if this is not
convenient. As you will be using very strong lighting it is important that
windows are well sealed against light escaping and therefore giving you
away,
but just as important, so that light can not find its way in while your
plants
are in darkness or this can upset our plants biological clock. Your chosen
stockist will stock plastic sheeting that is white on one side, which
will assist in reflecting light inside, while the other side is black which
will assist in preventing light from getting in or indeed out.

Are there different types of seeds or will any seeds do?

We all know that you can obtain seeds very easily by
throwing an ounce of grass onto a newspaper and sifting
through it to take out the seeds, but this is very much a hit
and miss proposition as the quality would not be guaranteed.
Obviously if you are going to set up a grow room in your home
you would like to ensure the important to choose your seeds
wisely. There are many good sources of supply. In Holland,
the Global Seedbank is the most complete seedbank on the
Internet, and exports world wide the best award winning
cannabis seeds from: Global Seeds, and K.C. Brains Holland.
These seedcompanies specialize in biologically engineered
hybrids such as Skunk, Northern Light, White Widow, as well
as the many cross breeds carefully generated by cross pollination.
Choosing your seeds is purely a matter of taste, however you
can rest assured that you are getting off to the best possible start.

Now lighting must be very important. Are there certain types that are better
than others? Or are they all about the same?

When choosing your lights it is always important to note that
a plant requires two different types of light in order to complete
its full growing and flowering cycle. During its vegetative, or
growing stage the plant will require light which is rich in the
blue end of the spectrum, and during its flowering stage it
will need light which is rich in the red end of the spectrum.
For the blue end of the spectrum you should be looking at
either metal halide or mercury lamps. Of these metal halide
is by far the best. Metal halide lamps for the most part come
in 400, 600, and 1000watt systems. When choosing your
lights it is important to consider the growing area that you
wish to cover. For the best results use a 400 watt lamp to
cover 1.25 square meters, 600 watts to cover 1.5 square
meters, and 1000 watts to cover 2 square meters. These
growing areas can be doubled providing that you are willing
to allow for slower growth with possibly a lower yield.
Although metal halide lamps are by far the best lamps for
growing in the vegetative stage, it is important to note that
they emit dangerous levels of ultra violet and particle radiation
if the bulb cracks breaks, or a small hole penetrates the outer
skin. A broken bulb can also continue to work without the
user being aware. Exposure to a damaged bulb for even only
a short time can cause serious eye and skin damage. In
America safety mechanisms have been built into these bulbs
which shut them off immediately if they are damaged in any
way, however these have not yet appeared on the English
market yet. To be on the sage side it might be a good idea
to wear UV protective goggles when working under these lights. In
any case avoid looking into them. Although the outer skin
of these lamps are very tough be gentle with them, make sure
that they are tied securely when hung, and most importantly
when spraying your plants be careful not to allow a droplet of
water to make contact with a hot bulb as this is one of the
more common causes of fractures. Always play it safe and
inspect your light from time tot time when it is not lit. If you suddenly
hear a ping or crack, don't look into it, and turn off the electricity right
away. Mercury lamps are much less effective however they are
considerably cheaper to buy. For the most part I would only
recommend these lights for a very small growing area such as
a wardrobe or cupboard. In keeping with this concept mercury lamps
for the most part only come in low wattage's - 125, 250,
and 400. Most growers would swear that you can grow nothing
under anything less than 400 watts, however I see no reason
why you could not use a 250 watt mercury lamp in a very
small cupboard where a 400 watt system would give off too
much heat, and hence become a fire hazard. My own personal
view on purchasing lamps is "The bigger the better". When it
is time to flower your plants, it is time to reach to the red end
of the spectrum. Sodium lamps are by far the best for this stage
of the plants growth cycle. Sodium lamps come in a wide assortment
of wattage's and are therefore easy to match up to the wattage
that you have been using for the vegetative stage. This is very
important as you don't want your plants to think that they grew in
say Jamaica, and flowered in Greenland. For the most part all
grow lamps work on the same principal. The actual light is light
weight and easy to suspend from the ceiling. the mechanical
workings of the light or (Ballast box) is separate to the light itself.
Only very few systems have interchangeable metal halide/sodium bulbs.

There seems to be a lot of hype about hydroponics systems, what are they all
about?

Hydroponic grow tanks are increasingly popular with growers
as it provides the grower with freedom of movement (you don't
have to stay home to water and feed your plant). Hydroponic
grow thanks word by circulating nutrient enriched water around
the roots of your plants, hence delivering a constant flow of
nutrients direct to the plant. Done well and maintained correctly,
hydroponics can actually provide the grower with a slightly
higher yield than soil grown plants. When using a Hydroponic
tank it is best to plant your seedlings in rockwool which can
then be transferred to the grow tank, as the young plants grow,
the smaller rockwool cubes can be placed into larger rockwool
cubes in order to further support them. Allow the roots to grow
through the rockwool so that the roots are exposed directly to
the water. Further support may be needed at a later time using
wire supports from above. Setting up your tank is relatively easy.
Fill your tank to the desired depth, mix in your nutrients, check
your nutrient level, check the pH level which should be just
below seven (6.5 is ideal). If your pH level is too high drop a
few drops of phosphoric acid into the tank and read again. If
the level is too low just add a little more water until you have
arrived at the correct level. The pH level of the water is important
because it alone determines the amount of nutrients threat the
plant will be able to absorb from the water. Once everything is
to your satisfaction, switch on and go. Once every three days
or so top u the water in the tank with water from a separate
container which has been premixed to the proper nutrient and
pH levels. When using hydroponics it is imperative that you
use a pH meter, as well as a (Conductivity Factor) or CF meter
which measures the level of nutrients in the water.

I notice that you don't use hydroponics here.

No, we prefer to grow in soil, it's a matter of taste.
Some people prefer to grow with hydroponics, but we feel
that we get the best results growing in compost.

So how did you go about setting up this grow room?

First you must keep in mind that the reflection of light is very
important. White reflects light best and therefore that is the
color that the walls and ceiling should be (flat white not gloss).
Seal off your windows using a curtain or blind inside the window
frame, so that no abnormality is noticeable from outside, then seal
the window using the black and white double sided plastic sheeting
that I mentioned earlier. Suspend your grow light from the ceiling
in the center of the actual growing area. Make sure that you
have secured it in such a way that you can raise it and lower
it at will. If you intend to cover a wider growing area with your
light than that recommended for maximum growth, you may
wish to run a chain linking two points on the ceiling which can
later be used as a runner. If you hang your lamp from this chain
you (still insuring that it can be raised and lowered freely), you
will later be able to move your lamp along this runner to insure
that the light, both strong and weak, is more evenly distributed
to all plants. For best results however try to stick to the area
recommended for maximum growth. As timing is going to play
an important roll in the day to day life of the plants, it would
be a good idea to invest in a timer switch. This switch plugs
into the wall socket, and into which you plug your light. Timing
switches also work well with Hydroponic tanks to switch the
flow of water on and off. Build a raised shelf on which you
can put any electrical equipment i.e.: the ballast box, the fan
etc. This is especially important because water will be used
in this room, and water does not mix well with electricity! Other
equipment which will be needed in the grow room includes;
a standard wall mounted thermometer, small pots approximately
3 inches high, (small peat pots would be even better, large plastic
plant pots approximately 9 inched high, one large bag of potting
compost, one bag of perlite, bone meal fertilizer, worm fertilizer,
a watering can, and a standard house plant spray bottle. It
would also be a good idea to install a smoke alarm in the grow
room just to be on the safe side.

So now that it's all set up do you just throw the seeds into the soil and
wait?

No. Now that you are fully equipped, you are now ready to
germinate your seeds. This can be done in one of four ways.
1 - in a glass of water, 2 - in a saucer with tissue, 3 - directly
in potting compost, 4 - in a propagator. It is very important to
note that moisture and warmth are the essential ingredients at
this stage, not light. To germinate seeds in a glass of water, simply
drop your seeds into the glass, add water, and store in a warm
place. Using a saucer, simply line the bottom of a saucer with tissue
paper. Wet the tissue paper to the point that you can see a
film of water over the top of the tissue. Sprinkle your seeds
over the wet tissue and cover with another piece of tissue.
Using a house plant spray bottle wet the top layer of tissue
until you can see a film of water over the top of the tissue.
Again store in a warm place. In both of the above methods,
it is important that you do not allow the seeds to dry out, and
that you remove germinated seeds as soon as they sprout shoots,
rather than leaving them to wait for the others to germinate. To
germinate your seeds directly in compost, full a three inch pot,
or peat pot with seedling compost if possible, otherwise regular
potting compost will do. Do not fertilize this compost. Do not
pack down this compost, but rather tap the pot so that the
compost settles. Soak this compost thoroughly with water. Now
using a match stick prick out a small hole about a quarter of
an inch deep, and drop your seed in , covering it gently. Now
using your spray bottle, soak again. Place the pot on a saucer
or tray filled with water, so that the compost can always absorb
additional water from below. Now store in a warm place, watering
with your spray bottle regularly. As soon as you see that the
seed has germinated, (it's little head pops out of the soil), place
the pot on the outer edge of the growing area and start your lights
on the growing cycle. Although some growers will suggest that
seedlings are best put directly under strong light, myself and
many others would agree that the seedlings, while rooting, are
too fragile to take in such intense light so quickly after germinating.
A professional grower is Moore likely to have a separate area
for rooting plants under fluorescent strip lighting, the type used
in kitchens, which are hung about two feet above the seedlings.
For seeds that have been germinated in water or tissue, plant the
germinated seed in the same fashion as above allowing only
the head and a very small part of the stem to stick out from the
head and a very small part of the stem to stick out from the top
of the compost. Water well and place in the outside perimeter of
the grow room where the light is less intense. If you are willing
to spend a little more money on your set up, the ideal germinating and
rooting tool is a propagator. A propagator is basically a heated box
with a clear lit on it, which retains moisture and allows light in.
This tool can be used to germinate using the tissue method,
or directly to compost method. The propagator should be placed
on the outside perimeter of your growing area. Although the
propagator is designed to retain moisture, your seedlings will still
need watering so keep a watchful eye. Once your seedlings are
ready to repot, mix a 52% eye. Once your seedlings have properly
rooted, when the plant is about 2 - 2.5 inches high, and showing the
first two sets of leaves, it is time to bring them out of the propagator
and move them more directly under the light. Plants coming out of
the propagator must be slowly acclimatized to their new environment.
Take them out for an hour at a time, several times a day, leaving
them out for linger each time. Repeat this for a couple of days
before finally leaving them out. You may notice that the seedlings
wilt slightly on each occasion that you take them out, but providing
that you are careful, no long term damage will be done. At this
point they will also need repotting in the next few days.

So now you just leave them to grow do you? Or is there more to it than that?

In order to grow properly at the vegetative stage your metal
halide, or similar type light, should be timed on an eighteen
hours on, and six hours off cycle. Adjust the height of the grow
lamp so that it hangs about two and a half to three feet above
your plants. At this height your plants will receive the maximum
intensity of light without being burned. compost, 40% perlilte,
5% worm fertilizer, and 3% bone meal into a bucket and mix
well. Fill the nine inch pots two thirds of the way up with this
mixture patting down gently. If using peat pots, place the peat
pot containing your seedling directly into the top third of your
nine inch pot, and fill the rest of the pot with your mixture only
just covering the top of the peat pot. If you are using plastic
pots, obviously remove the plant and as much compost from
around it's roots as possible, and replant as above. Make sure
that Lou water well after repotting. Now this is where the wild
stories that I often hear from would be growers, get brought
back down to reality. I'm sure that if you did grow a grass plant
to a height of six to eight feet, you would probably get three
to five ounces from a plant, but neither myself nor anyone I
know would ever dream of such a ridiculous waste of light.
A plant such as that would have to be at least three to four
feet wide, therefore you would only be able to grow and flower
two plants in two square meters allocated for the best results
from a 1000 watt light. Even still the folage would be so dense
that light would not penetrate to the lower branches, giving
you a less healthy plant. Your light would have to be hung
from a height of about eleven feet, which would mean, for
most people, that the ceiling in the grow room would have to
be raised by at least a couple of feet to accommodate! If you
had to treat an eight foot grass plant for an insect infestation,
your only easy option would be to throw it through the local
car wash! Now is all that hassle worth the 280 or so grams
of probably rather inferior grass? Probably not eh! Now lets
get back to reality. In order to get the maximum yield from an
area of two square meters, with sufficient light penetration to
the lower branches, you should be looking at growing a plant
that, when fully flowered stands no higher than three foot tall.
There is no mandatory height that a plant must reach before
being put to flower. In fact you can put plant to flower from
as little as eight inches high and get good results. Neither is
there a mandatory period of time that a plant must be growing
in the vegetative stage before being put to flower. The choice
is entirely yours. In an ideal world you should be looking at
achieving a height of 12 to 18 inches high before putting
your plants to flower. During the vegetative stage, keep
your plants well watered, it's always best to give them a
good soaking, then leave for a day or two to dry out. Over
watering will cause the bottom leaves to wilt, which will give
you ample warning to slow down. Too much water will suffocate
the plants roots, the plants could also develop rot or fungus,
or have difficulty taking in nutrients. Feed your plants occasionally
using either extract of seaweed or tomato food which also produces
good results. Spray your plants regularly, using your spray bottle,
with water only, do not forget to spray under the leaves as
well as this helps safeguard against insect infestation. Insure
that the air in the grow room is circulating well. Keep the temperature
in the grow room to around twenty five degrees centigrade, but
not more. Do not to interrupt the night cycle by opening a
door and allowing light in. If any of your plants suddenly shoot
up faster than the others, pinch out the new growth, the tiny
new shoots at the end of each stem. This will encourage new
branches to sprout, and the plant itself to become stronger,
and bushier. Pinching a plant is more commonly done when
the plant is grown outside, where the bushier you can get
it the better. But for the indoor gardener it is important to get
as many plants under the lights as possible, so we don't need
bushier plants unless of course we have less plants, than we
have room under the lights. When you have decided that you
have reached your desired height, in this case 12 to 18 inches
tall, it is time to remove the metal halide lamp, and replace it
with the sodium lamp. Change your timer so that your light comes
on at the usual time, but switches off after twelve hours. You are
now starting the twelve hours on, and twelve hours off cycle
required for flowering your crop.

Why do you change the timing and how does that affect the flowering stage of
a plant?

By changing to a sodium light, and reducing the day length
from eighteen hours to twelve hours, you have now triggered
the plants own natural instinct, which tells it that it is time to
start flowering. At this point it is most important that you do not
interrupt the plants night cycle by opening a door and letting
in light. Also very important; Do not water your plants with a
spray bottle during the flowering stage as the mist on the leaves
act in the same way that dew does on an outdoor plant. Dew
can easily cause bud rot, and you certainly don't want that. On
the back of the seed packet which you bought, there should
be a reference to the amount of weeks that your plant will take
to flower to maturity. If indeed you do not have a seed packet
to refer to the average amount of time that you should expect it
to take is about eight to ten weeks. After about two and a half
weeks the female plants will start to show tiny whit flowers. The
males will also start to flower after two and a half weeks, and
will start to show what at first looks like seeds but turns out
to be loads of little pollen sacks. It is most important that you
get rid of the males now, unless of course you've decided to
go into the seed business! You may also come across one
of life's little peculiarities. Grass plants can be both sexes at
the same time! Hermaphrodites are plants which show both
the flowers of a female as well as the pollen sacks of a male.
Get rid of these ones as well. Now that you have got rid of
the males and hermaphrodites, sit back and watch your flowers
grow. As the flowers start you can, if you like, start to take
off some of the larger leaves from the vegetative growth of
the plant. This brings more light to the flowers, and stresses the
plant which, it is believed, will get a more potent yield. Keep a
careful eye on your flowers towards the end of the flowering
cycle. If need be use a magnifying glass to inspect the flowers
which should be looking very sticky with tiny little sparkles of
THC crystals. Never cut too early as many over anxious novice
growers do. Always try and put off till tomorrow what could be
cut today.

Once it's time to harvest the plants are there any tricks involved in doing
this or is it fairly straight forward?

When you are totally satisfied that your flowers are at their
peak, cut the plant, not just the flower, at the bottom of the
large stalk. Remove all the excess leaves from the plant, not
from the flowers, and hang you plants upside down in a well
ventilated room for two weeks at a temperature of about eighteen
degrees centigrade. Once properly dried, remove the heads from
the rest of the plant, and store in an air tight container. One
last step which often growers forget to do, is the cleaning of
the heads. That is cutting off of all of the very small leaves
which grow as part of the flower itself. This can be done with
a small pair of sharp scissors. Save these small leaves to one
side, because you can make excellent hash with them.

So what would you expect to get, from say a square meter of plants?

Now that you have finally completed an entire growing cycle,
and your heads are dry and clean, weigh them. You should
find that you have grown a minimum of 300 grams, almost eleven
ounces, per square meter grown. In this case, under a 1000
watt light covering two square meters, you have grown an
minimum of about 600 grams. Using this method, yields of up
to 700 grams pet square meter have been recorded.

I'm sure it can't be as simple as that, don't you have problems with insects
and things like that?.

During the life cycle of the plant you could suddenly find that
your plants are playing host to uninvited guests. The most
common of these is the spider mite. The spider mite can be
easily detected, as it causes little whit speckles on the top
side of the leaf. The whit speckles show because the spider
mite is busy eating away at the underneath of the leaf, however
they are so small that they are difficult to detect. To kill off this
uninvited guest, simply mix a weak solution of water and dishwashing
liquid in a bucket, turn your plant upside down and submerge it
in the bucket. Rinse it in clean water using the same method
a couple of hours later. This will not kill the eggs however so
you must repeat this process again in a few days. Try doing
this with an eight foot plant! Alternatively you can use Pyrethrum,
a natural poison which disintegrates into harmless compounds
within a couple of days. Pyrethrum is also useable in hydroponics
tanks. Also of danger to the healthy growth of your plants, but
not as common as the spider mite, are thrips, aphids and white
fly. These can be treated in the same way as the spider mite.
Other insecticides are available on the market, including natural
predatory insect cultures. Whatever you do however, remember
that you are dealing with a food product, which will be consumed,
so only buy insecticides that are meant for food products.

Now I've heard all this talk about cloning, how exactly is that done?

Now that we have successfully mastered growing top quality sinsemilla,
we have noticed several short falls in this process. The most
obvious is that until the flowering stage we can never be absolutely
sure as to whether we are growing a male or a female plant,
although experts can make this distinction by studying the stipules
at the junction of the leaf stems, not advisable as mistakes
can easily be made. Also the actual size, potency, and taste
will differ slightly from plant to plant. So how can we be more
certain of what the end result will be? The answer is cloning,
or what is more commonly referred to as taking cuttings. At
some point prior to flowering your plants, you can take just
one cutting from each of your plants, and root them in a new
pot, numbering both the original plants pot, and the new clones
pot with the same number. This way you can at least eradicate
the males from the next growth. As your flowering females mature
you can take note of which ones are producing bigger flowers,
which ones are producing more crystals in the flowers, etc.,
etc., right down to taste, and potency of the smoke. In order
to successfully grow cuttings, you will need more than one
grow room as your first crop will soon be put to flower. If you
are operating a light system which allows you to interchange
bulbs from metal halide to sodium, you will need another light
as your flowering plants will be on short days with a sodium
bulb. To actually take a cutting, look for branch of the plant
which has new growth at it's tip. Cut this growth so that you
have included two levels of leaf growth in your cutting. Take the
cutting from just above the Las junction of leaf growth that you
want to leave on the mother plant. Once you have removed the
cutting, cut off the stem just below the lowest leaf growth.
This cut must be made diagonally, with a very sharp blade,
as roots will develop from it. Now cut the lowest leaf growth
off in the same fashion. Your cutting is now ready to be planted.
Trim the large leaves at the top of your cutting, so that the
cutting is less top heavy. Now wet the bottom end of the cutting
in a glass of water, dip the wet end of the cutting in rooting powder,
and plant in a peat pot. Peat pots allow more oxygen to get
in to the roots than plastic pots. Water well and place under a
lower wattage light or on the perimeter of your grow room lighted
area where the light is less intense. Remember that cuttings also
take well in a propagator. You may have to take a couple of
generations of cuttings, a cutting off each female cutting, always
keeping notes, before deciding finally on which of your plants
you want to be the ultimate mother plant for cloning. Thereafter all
clones will behave, and in fact be, exactly like the mother plant.

RAiD [SLAM] wrote in message <69mvk9$j7$1...@news.usit.net>...