ackissues -> CC24 -> Sow the wild seed by DMT, photos by Barge (17 Feb, 2000) Growing

outdoors can be as simple as preparing a site and planting some seeds. Planting outdoors needn't be as complicated as many make it. Far too much emphasis these days is placed on cloning, when growing from seed is infinitely more interesting. Direct seeding outdoors may not be for everyone, but it is certainly a simple and time honoured method of growing our favourite plant. Why direct seeding? In nature, female cannabis plants grow together with their male counterparts, becoming impregnated by the golden pollen come fall. As the calyx shrinks back and starts to rot away at the end of the season, the mature seed falls to the ground, where it remains until conditions are right for its germination. One of the main effects of cloning is that each plant is exactly the same as its sibling. While this may be an advantage indoors, it can work against you outdoors. A strain's gene pool provides the ability to adapt to different climates and conditions. For example, we might have a very wet autumn one year, causing a large outbreak of Botrytis (mold) in your bud. Out of one hundred plants grown from seed, twenty of them may be relatively free of mold, while the others are destroyed. These twenty plants have some inherited trait making them resistant to Botrytis, and this adaptability is what allows plants to reproduce and survive from year to year under varying conditions. Should you have chosen only two mothers and cloned from them, the odds are that you would have suffered a full crop loss. This genetic diversity is much more pronounced in true breeding lines rather than F1 hybrids, but luckily this works with us as many of the available outdoor seed strains are in fact true breeding. One reason to choose direct seeding over simply starting plants from seed under lights and then transplanting them outside is that a plant's roots adjust to the conditions it grows in. For example, the roots of plants grown in a hydroponics set-up will not perform well if suddenly placed in soil. Plants started inside are spoiled, they are given water whenever they want it, never being forced to do anything for themselves. Then they are thrown outside one day, and left at the mercy of Mother Nature. Plants seeded outside develop roots suited to their exact soil and moisture conditions, never producing more plant mass than the roots can support. In most areas, directly seeded cannabis need never be watered throughout the season, though irrigation will of course increase yield, especially during flowering. Direct seeding also eliminates the carrying of suspicious and cumbersome boxes of plants into hard to reach areas, a major hassle of guerrilla growing. Choosing a Location Once you have a general idea of where you want to grow, a good place to visit is your local university, library or map supplier. Here you can find detailed topographical maps of the area, as well as soil maps indicating whether it is suitable for growing (many soil maps will indicate whether an area is farmable). Look for areas with some access to water in case of drought.

River valleys are ideal locations as good soil usually accumulates there, and there is also easy access to water. If planting in valleys, make sure not to choose a location at the very bottom, as this is where frost will settle. Preparing the Site Ideally, the site should be prepared the previous summer or fall, giving organic fertilizers time to break down into useable nutrients and eliminating hectic spring preparations. This is especially important when direct seeding, as turning the soil right before planting dries out the top layer, losing precious moisture needed for germination. Stay clear of blood and bone meal, as they attract bears, raccoons and a host of other creatures to the site, where they will dig up plants and destroy seedlings while searching for the source of the smell. Other things to avoid are perlite, vermiculite and rockwool, as they stand out like a sore thumb in the off-season, attracting the attention of potential thieves of next year's crop. Dig holes or trenches two to three feet deep, and at least two feet wide. A good mix of several organic fertilizers is the best bet, as different ingredients release fertilizers at different rates. Worm castings and sheep manure are good sources for nitrogen, as well as having excellent waterholding capacities. However, be careful not to overdo it with manure, as a large amount of the nitrogen is in the ammonium form, which will cause stretched, disease-susceptible plants in too large a dose. Phosphorous is best supplied with rock phosphate or bat guano, or a mixture of both. Follow recommended label rates, and again, be careful not to overdo. Although phosphorous is necessary for proper growth of cannabis, too much emphasis is placed on it in marijuana cultivation. Excess amounts lead to long internodes and acidified soil. Potassium can be added with the addition of muriate of potash, kelp meal or wood ash. Care is needed here as overdoing an application can raise your soil EC too high, burning your plants, especially delicate seedlings. This applies to kelp meal in particular, as it also contains large amounts of sodium. A final addition beneficial to most soils is dolomite or horticultural lime, which keeps your ph in check as well as supplying calcium and magnesium. If in doubt of your soil ph, simply mix some soil with a similar amount of distilled water, let it sit for thirty minutes, and then check with a ph meter or test strip. Anything between 5.5 and 7 will work fine for our purposes. In a commercial garden it might make sense to send a soil sample to be tested, especially if using the same spot for several years. This can be done at any agricultural university or a variety of businesses advertised in gardening magazines. Simply tell them it is for your vegetable garden and ask for organic recommendations. Sowing your seed This technique is best used by those who have access to a large amount of seeds. If you only have a pack of ten seeds do not even bother. A minimum sowing should be about 40 to 50 seeds for a small crop, as many will not germinate and about half will be male. For best results, soak seeds the night before in a covered glass of water, and then plant outside, pointed end up, at a spacing of about one seed for every four inches of area. Seeds can be planted anywhere from 1/2 to 1 1/4 inches deep depending on soil type too shallow a planting will cause poor germination due to lack of moisture. Soil temperature is the major determining factor in deciding when to sow it is best to wait until it

has reached 10-12C (50-54F). A soil thermometer can be obtained from many garden supply stores for about thirty dollars, or just use your judgement. Generally you want to plant about two weeks before you would normally transplant clones or seedlings. Small seedlings are actually much more cold-hardy than their adult counterparts, Indicas more so than Sativas due to the cold springs where they originate. Fungicides should not be needed provided the soil is properly warmed. If damping off does become a problem, drench with chamomile tea or no-damp. Thinning It is usually necessary to thin crowded or weak plants about a month after planting, but be careful not to pull too many before males indicate. Once all males are removed you want to be left with only vigorous plants, spaced wide enough to reach their maximum potential, yet close enough to make efficient use of your area. Outdoor threats Animals - Deer, rabbits and mice are the main menaces to a cannabis crop. Fences work, but can draw unwelcome attention to your garden. Luckily, the best defense is invisible simply add scent to your garden that animals relate to predators. Fox or coyote urine can be bought from hunting supply stores (usually fall only), spray it around your plants on a regular basis and mice and rabbits will quickly vacate the area. Small pieces of soap placed or hung around the perimeter works well for repelling deer. It is important to scent the area well before you plant and a good idea to change brands of soap every three weeks so animals do not become accustomed to the scent. Flower Police - Police helicopters in most areas go up towards the end of August and are usually winding down by the third week of September. For the most part they simply act as common thieves, grabbing and running. Arrests are rare, but they have been known to stake out large crops. Always completely check out the surrounding area before entering a garden. Other Thieves - Not much you can do about these low-lifes other than tell no one about the garden, camouflage it well and leave no trails. Choosing a Strain Two things make direct seeding much easier: producing your own seed and growing a pure breeding strain. Luckily these go hand in hand, and many of today's outdoor strains are true breeding (although this is rarely advertised by seed companies). True breeding strains such as Durban, Early Girl or Holland's Hope are an advantage as the plants will all sex out and mature at the same time, minimizing trips to the garden. Once you have found a strain you like, stick with it and keep records, this way you will know from one year to the next when it is time to pull males or harvest. Other issues to look at are mold susceptibility, maturity dates, where it was bred and personal preference. Generally Sativas or strains with Ruderalis in them are less susceptible to molds because of their airier bud structure, while dense Indica-type floral clusters take a long time to dry after a rain, giving mold spores plenty of time to germinate. Maturity dates will vary depending on your latitude, most strains sold for outdoors generally finish from about September 5 to October 15. Keep in mind that even if you can have plants out into mid-October, the light level diminishes quickly after the

second or third week of September, and heavy rains are much more likely, both of which will adversely affect yields. Saving Your Seed Especially now, with the fate of Dutch seed companies up in the air, it is time to take control of your own seed supply. Once your males begin to show, transplant them to a location well away from any sinsemilla crops where they can be grown on until pollen release. Paper bags are good for collection of pollen, these can then simply be tied tightly over female colas and left for three days to kill any unused pollen. Pollen may also be very carefully painted onto pistils with a small brush. Never underestimate the damage potential of a bag of pollen in an unseeded garden. Try to select at least a few male plants and pollinate limbs on as many females as is convenient. Providing they are vigorous and to your liking, this will keep the gene pool somewhat diverse. If you grow in the same region year after year your strain will gradually become acclimatized to your particular climate. If making an F1 hybrid, simply choose your nicest male plant from one strain and cross it with a choice female of another. For outdoor strains it is best to pollinate about three weeks before harvest. This allows colas some time to fill out before pollination as well as providing seeds with plenty of time to ripen properly. When removing seed from ripened colas, dry bud until very dry then rub between your palms over a stretched silk screen. This works well for separating the seed as well as collecting a tasty sample of trichomes as reward for your hard work. Seed should be allowed to dry for at least a month then stored in a cool dry place with some dessicant until later use.

Root your toot by DJ Short, photos by Barge (04 May, 2001) The right soil and nutrients are key components to having phat, happy buds. The best indoor buds are soil grown. Actual organic earth allows buds to produce flavours, tastes and effects which cannot yet be reproduced in hydroponic systems. Unlike hydro systems, soil is not meant to be a sterile medium. Quite the contrary, the best soils are very much alive and thriving. Superior soil It is possible to grow plants in specially prepared soil that will require no fertilizers in the water later on. There are a number of such commercial and specialty brands of potting soil on the market today. Most are not completely organic and may contain unwanted chemicals. There are some smaller companies up and down the West Coast, among other areas, that do make clean products. It is up to the consumer to shop around in their area and get familiarized with the brands available in the local market. Even the good local products tend to skimp on some of their ingredients. This is why I like to supplement any commercial soil I use. The two main additives I use are worm castings and a bat/seabird guano mix. For soil used in the vegetative stage I like to add more worm castings than bat/seabird guano. For soil used in the bud cycle it's the opposite - more bat/seabird guano than worm castings. When one gets to know one's local products well and gets the mix down just right, the resulting success becomes evident. The following is a simple recipe for a soil mix that has proven successful for me in the past. The bulk of the mix about 70% of the finished product is made up of equal parts peat or sphagnum moss (I prefer coarse cut sphagnum moss) and perlite. Then worm castings are mixed in to about 15% of the finished product. About 10% of the finished product is made up of some kind of organic compost, either green or brown. Any rich green manure will do, or bat/seabird guano or seaweed for that matter. The final 5% is made up of a mixture of about equal parts trace mineral elements, granulated charcoal, washed sand and volcanic ash. To this mix a specific dry fertilizer may be added, depending on if the soil will hold a plant in vegetative or flower cycle. The mixture then needs to be moistened. The perfectly moistened mix will hold together as clumps when squeezed but will not release any more than a drop or two of water. As with many other aspects of life, practice makes perfect. Organic manic As for nutrients and supplements, there are many on the market. My preference is for the most natural and organic substance available. Many fertilizers are made from industrial chemical sources and do not, in my opinion, produce the highest quality. The more natural elements are by far preferred. These come from the more obvious natural sources such as worms, fish, bats, birds, plants and seaweed. Green manure, or richcomposted plant matter, is another excellent source of food for plants. As for where to find a reliable organic garden supply store, well, if the store clerk says anything to the affect of: "chemical or compost, it don't make no difference," then you are not in a reliable organic garden supply store. It is a large consumer market to be explored.

Some people choose to feed their plants by spraying a nutrient solution onto the plant and having it absorbed through the foliage. Though "foliar feeding" does work, I tend to avoid doing it due to the fact that the foliage is inevitably going to be smoked. There is no guarantee as to how much residue remains upon the foliage, or what exactly that residue may be, when it is finally consumed. Therefore, it is important, especially during the flowering stage, not to use the foliar feeding method on any part of the plant that is destined to be consumed. Foliar feeding during the vegetative stage on the larger shade leaves that will be discarded is a relatively safe practice. Nutrient knowledge The primary knowledge concerning fertilizer and nutrient (other than its source) are its N, P, and K levels. N stands for Nitrogen, P stands for Phosphorous and K stands for Potassium. These are the three main nutrients that plants need to thrive. Most fertilizers have a number consisting of three numbers such as: 30-10-10, or 5-37-15. These numbers represent the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (in that order) in the product. That is 30 parts N (nitrogen)-10 parts P (phosphorous)-10 parts K (potassium) is what is in a 30-10-10 fertilizer. An additive I like to use with every fertilizing is a Bvitamin hormone supplement such as Super Thrive. This product helps the plant better metabolize its nutrient uptake, and most are organic. High nitrogen, low phosphorous, low potassium fertilizers stimulate foliar and stem growth in the vegetative stage. In contrast, low nitrogen, high phosphorous, high potassium fertilizers promote lush flower, bud and fruit growth in the bud or flower cycle. I like to end all nitrogen to the plant at least five to six weeks prior to harvest. And I like to end all additives to the plant two to three weeks prior to harvest. A B-vitamin hormone such as Super Thrive may be given up to the last week. But I highly recommend a pure water flush for at least the last two watering times. Nematodes and tea Teas made from bat/bird guano and/or worm castings and/or green manure are an excellent source of organic nutrient. These teas are simple to make and easy to use. Prepare a container with enough water for a full watering. Next, add the bat/bird guano, worm castings and/or green manure to the water. Finding the "perfect amount" to add will take some practice. The nutrient is allowed to sit and "steep" in the water releasing the nutrients' water soluble properties. Another method is to use the full amount of nutrient in a smaller amount of water to create a concentrate. The concentrate is then added to the full amount of water for watering. The tea will color the water similar to the shade of the nutrient (usually brown, but sometimes green as with green manures). The steeping takes anywhere from one day to several days. The teas are considered fresh when made. It is important to use them immediately when they are ready, and to not allow them to stand too long and stagnate. The tea is applied the same way the water is during watering. This is the preferred method of adding organic nutrient during watering. Another great additive for the organic garden are beneficial nematodes. These microscopic, living organisms are found at the more complete organic garden centers. Beneficial nematodes are cultivated and sold live, usually refrigerated. They must be kept refrigerated until they are ready to be used. They usually come in a sponge, or some other porous medium. It is only necessary to use a small portion each time as they will reproduce profusely if properly introduced into the soil.

A small portion of the nematode colony is simply introduced into the water, (tepid - not too hot, not too cold) with or without the organic fertilizer, and soaked into the soil. Once in the soil, the nematodes do their thing by multiplying and consuming the things detrimental to the plant, such as fungus, spores, insect larvae, mold, and bacteria, while leaving the plant to thrive. Ideally, beneficial nematodes may be added as often as desired, but once every month or two is sufficient. These are the basics when it comes to growing medium, nutrient and additives. This information was gained via experimentation on advice given to me in the past. Now it is your turn.

Hydro Power Hydroponic medium is any sterile medium that will hold some water, but allows water and air to pass through. Gravel, perlite, rockwool, volcanic pumice, rock corn and sand are some examples of hydroponic mediums. Most hydroponic systems provide nutrients via the water that is passed over the rocks several times daily. These systems consist of a reservoir, a pump (or pumps), tubing to carry the fluid to the plants, the pots and medium that hold the roots of the plants, and some way for the water to flow, or be pumped, back into the reservoir. The water soluble nutrient is mixed with the water in the reservoir and delivered to the plants via the pump and tubing several times a day. Most systems also utilize a timer to automate this process. There are also ebb and flow, PVC pipe, wick and various other passive systems, but they are much less common. Hydroponic systems are famous for producing the largest amount of foliage and fruit. The plant does not have to put as much energy into its roots and therefore has more energy for foliar and bud growth. Also, the roots are regularly aerated and thus have excellent oxygen exposure. However, The incessant regimen tends to produce more of a bland finished product. The entrepreneurs in the hydroponic industry are striving for the most natural hydro system, and are experimenting with many new nutrient products to achieve this end. I have, however, yet to sample a hydroponic grown product that surpassed a soil grown product in overall quality and flavor. The same can be said about indoor versus outdoor growth, as well. That is, when grown outdoors in the right environment the finished bud is usually superior to its identical twin grown indoors.

Sprouting and planting by DJ Short (24 Aug, 2000) How to turn your seeds into healthy young plants Sprouting the seeds My preferred method of seed sprouting is the wet paper towel method. Take six sheets of white (nonprinted) paper towel and fold them to a roughly five by six inch square (about 24 layers thick). Soak this square pad in pure water and place the seeds in the center fold, with twelve layers both above and below. Keep the pad wet and the seeds will usually sprout in one to ten days. (On some occasions I've had seeds take up to two weeks to sprout, so be patient!) I have found the ideal temperature for sprouting most seeds to be around average room temperature (70-78F or 21-25C) . Though higher temperatures may hasten the sprouting time, the heat will also increase mold, fungus and bacteria levels. So keep a watchful eye open in a warmer situation. One more bit of advice concerns certain seeds which do not want to release from their shell. The seeds will sprout, the sprout will grow root, and it transplants fine. However the seed shell does not come off of the sprout on its own. The shell seems to harden on the head of the sprout, eventually causing its death if not properly dealt with. Shelled sprouts I've found that these rare anomalies need help in shedding their shell or sheath in order to survive. It takes a very gentle yet firm hand to remove the shell without damaging or killing the plant. Under the shell is a thin sheath that may also need coaxing to get off. Again, practice is the best guide for this skill. I would also like to point out that though this phenomenon is rare,the plants that develop from these stubborn sprouts are usually very desirable. So it is worth the effort, especially if breeding is intended with the sprouts. Roots and planting pots At first, the seeds crack open along their seam and send out a white root. I like to wait for the root to grow an inch or two before transplanting the sprouts to soil (while keeping the paper towel pad continuously moist with water until this time). When I do set the sprouts to soil, I like to bury them right up to the head of the plant so the head is right at the soil level. It is important to gently water and feed the sprouts from this point on so as not to disturb the new roots too much. I have found the common turkey-baster to be of great value for this purpose. The method of planting into soil that I use is very basic and simple to understand. I like to use small, two to four inch pots. A great substitute for planting pots are the sixteen to twenty-four ounce disposable plastic drink cups. These cups can be bought cheaply in bulk amounts at any discount or grocery store. They will each need five or more drainage holes to be added to their bottom, this can easily be done with an electric drill and a quarter to a three-eights inch drill bit. Stacking ten to twenty cups at a time will hasten this process.

The cup or pot is filled with the soil mix, usually a high nitrogen variety for sprouts, and the soil is gently yet thoroughly tapped and shaken down to fill all vacant spaces equally. The soil level should end up to be two-thirds to three quarter of the cup or pot capacity. In other words, there should be an adequate space between the top of the soil and the top of the cup or pot. This is to allow for more soil to be added later as the main stem grows. Once the soil is sufficiently tapped down to at least two-thirds full, it is time to moisten it. Grow flats and turkey basters I'll put anywhere from one to two dozen cups or pots per standard grow flat (or tray). Next, I'll fill the appropriate sized bucket or container with the water/nutrient mix. The common turkey-baster is once again the best tool available to evenly soak all of the cups or pots. Larger operations may require some kind of pump and tubing device to aid in the watering. If the grow flat and all of the pots are relatively clean, then any excess solution may be re-used until all of the soil is at its fullest saturation point. Just prior to this saturation point, I like to use a standard chopstick to poke a hole, as deep as the sprout roots are long, into the middle of the soil. Into each hole more nutrient solution is added to fully soak the medium and prepare it for the sprout. Once the entire flat is ready, it's time to begin the planting process. Take one sprout at a time from the paper towel, handling it as gently as possible by the stem just below the sprout head, and transfer it to the moist, pre-made hole in the soil. Carefully guide the root tip all the way down the hole, using the chopstick if necessary. Be certain that the root tip is pointing down and not curved up in what is called a J root. J root may be fatal to the sprout. Once the sprout is situated in its hole, the root is running down the hole and the sprout head is above and as near to the soil level as possible, the soil may be gently packed around the sprout stem to hold it firmly in place. Water and soil Next, the sprouts will need to be watered. Despite the fact that the soil is saturated to its maximum capacity, this first watering helps stabilize the root in the soil. This again is gently and carefully done using the turkey baster (or whatever gentle watering device is available) as a watering tool. Once the sprouts are adequately set in the moisture-saturated soil, they will not need watering again until after the soil dries a little. It is also important not to leave any standing water in the grow flat. The turkey baster is also useful for sucking the excess water from the bottom of the grow flat, to help hasten its dry time. The baster is handy for the first few waterings, when a gentle touch is still beneficial. In one to two weeks, the healthy sprouts will stretch and grow up over the top of the cup or pot. It is after this time that more soil may be added to help give the sprout more stability and root room. This tip helps deal with the problem of spindly plants by giving them more base support during their early development. This step also promotes and stimulates adequate root growth. New roots will sprout and grow from the soil-covered stem in a week or two. Hydro sprouting

Hydroponic sprouting is as simple as placing a seed in a rockwool cube or fiber pellet and keeping it moist. The seeds will sprout and root automatically in this porous and nutrient-rich medium. Tying the plants up to stakes will be the only way to deal with stretched or spindly growth in the hydroponic system. Hydro transplanting is also quite simple. The pellet is placed in a larger rockwool cube or gravel medium and the roots grow quickly into the new material. Hydro systems often need extra supports, such as stakes or poles to hold the top-heavy, weak stemmed plants up. Transplant time Transplanting becomes necessary when the roots outgrow the medium. This is evident by checking one or two of the average plants roots. When the white root wad is becoming entwined, growing among itself and beginning to turn brown, it is time to transplant. Special care needs to be taken when transplanting into larger containers to avoid as much trauma as possible. I like to transplant when the root system is semi-dry, a day or two before a usual watering. The medium in the larger container should be saturated to its maximum density with nutrient-rich water. The semidry rootwad is placed firmly into the saturated fresh medium, and the rest of the space in the larger pot is filled with fresh, semi-moist medium. Ideally, the fresh medium will cover the old soil level by a bit, and the loose soil is gently packed into place throughout. I like to gently shake the soil fully into place and level the soil top by hand. As with the original planting, the fresh transplant is completely watered to its saturation point. New roots will quickly and eagerly find their way into the fresh, new medium, and accompanying growth will develop in the plant. Happy growing!

Control your cannabis by DMT, photos by Barge (25 Apr, 2000) Fine-tuning temperature and water for maximum quantity and quality. Why waste light and electricity growing stem? Stretched-out plants are the bane of indoor growers. There are several ways to reduce internodal length and thus grow denser, more efficient buds. tight internodes tight internodes Temperature control The easiest and most under-used way to control internodal stretch is temperature control. Plant internodal length is directly related to the difference between day and night temperatures the warmer your day cycle is as compared to your night cycle, the greater your internode length will be. The opposite also holds true; the closer your day and night temperatures, the shorter your internodes will be. Ever notice how as the warmer summer months approach, your plants begin to stretch? Part of this problem may lie in an overall hotter grow-room, but a larger factor is the increased difference between day and night temperatures. Lets look at putting this to play in your grow room. Maximum temperatures should ideally never rise above 26C, so you must do everything you can to prevent your room getting too hot (run lights at night, use exhaust fans, air conditioners, etc). An ideal temperature range is 24-25C when the lights are on, and 22C when the lights are off. The temperature technique is most effective under a 12/12 light regime, which is ideal as this is when cannabis stretches the most. When the light cycle is brought to 12/12 we will raise the night temperature to the daytime level of 24-25C. Space heaters on timers work well for this, and max/min type thermometers are ideal for tracking temperatures. It is during the first 2-3 weeks of the flower cycle that most strains begin to lengthen internodes, making it a very important time to control temperature, as this is when the framework for future colas is built. After this 2-3 week window we need to drop the night temperature back down to 22C, as this is where the plant is happiest. long internodes long internodes As floral development begins we need to keep in mind that the total size of your buds is determined largely by average daily temperature, provided it does not exceed optimal. So if you are letting your day temperatures drop below 24C or your night drop below 22C, you are costing yourself in overall weight and harvest. Once your buds have reached optimal size and and you have begun the flushing period, you may consider dropping temperature down to 17-19C for the final week or two. This drop in temperature triggers anthocyanin production, which intensifies the colour of the floral clusters and makes for a showier bud, especially with "purple" varieties. This final temperature change is not always feasible and can be omitted.

For extreme height control you may even use warmer night temperature than day, but be very careful when running settings like this, as even a zero difference between night and day temperatures will lead to leaf chlorosis (yellowing) after 2-3 weeks. Some things you will notice while using this technique are a change in the leaf angle, upwards during warm days and downwards during warm nights. There is also the chlorosis if this is done for too long. Neither of these symptoms is nutrient related and will fix themselves when the temperature is changed back. leaf chlorosis (yellowing) leaf chlorosis (yellowing) Moisture and conductivity Whether you're growing hydro or in soil, the electrical conductivity (EC) and moisture of your medium are two key elements that should be manipulated to meet your needs. Both of these factors are controlling the same thing; the ability of a plant to uptake water and nutrients from the growth medium. (EC measures the level of fertilizer salts in the water.) A plant grows by first dividing cells then expanding them, and in order to do this it requires water. By limiting the amount of water available to a plant you limit the expansion of cells. This can work for you by keeping your internodes close together, or against you by limiting bud growth. Both the amount of water you give your plants and the EC at which you grow them control the uptake of water. A plant's roots act much like a pump, using osmotic pressure to move water into the plant. In order for this to work there must be a larger concentration of fertilizer salts in the plant's roots than in the soil or hydroponic solution, so when the medium's level of salt rises above the roots', the plant will wilt. Raising the salt level in the medium closer to that which is in the roots limits the water availability just the same as if we had provided less water. During the vegetative stage we want our plants to form very tight internodes, especially under artificial lighting. By allowing the EC to drop below ideal during this stage we are wasting valuable space growing stem instead of bud. Most marijuana strains are happiest when grown at an EC of between 1.5 and 1.8, but different strains have different preferences. Try growing one of your plants using straight water for a week or so, you will see the internode length stretch dramatically compared to the ones on a regular fertilizer regime. examples of long internodes (closeup) examples of long internodes (closeup) Hydroponic tomato growers sometimes will grow their transplants at extremely high EC's (up to 6 EC!) in order to get really nice stocky production plants. Please note that when doing this they use special nutrient formulas designed for this purpose, most of which have potassium to nitrogen ratios of 4:1, much higher than normal, as too much nitrate at this high an EC will easily damage a plant. (Try this formula if you're interested: calcium nitrate 7 grams, potassium nitrate 0.095 grams, potassium sulphate 9.25 grams, mono potassium phosphate 2.2 gram, magnesium sulphate 5 grams, micromix .02 grams. Slowly raise your EC during veg stage, I would not recommend going above 3 or 4 EC. This is experimental! Do not try on all of your plants at once until you are sure your strain can handle it. All of these ingredients should be available at your local hydroponics store, it is usually called "six pack formula". Be sure to bring your EC back down once you enter floral stage, by the time

tufts of pistils are visible you want to be at your ideal EC of 1.5-1.8.) Try not to change the EC too quickly as a sharp drop can cause root damage. This also goes during your final flushing period when you want to eliminate all fertilizer from the medium lower the EC over a couple of days, as the sudden change in salt level will harm the roots. When growing hydroponically, the only way of manipulating water availability is with the EC, while in soil we may also use the moisture level of the medium to the same ends. Many growers are under the mistaken impression that the EC and pH of their nutrient solution remains the same when applied to the soil. This in not the case, and you must test the soil in order to have a true picture. examples of tight internodes (closeup) examples of tight internodes (closeup) To test your soil, take a sample from the center of the root zone at the side of the pot (don't worry the torn roots will be fine). Mix the soil with 2 equal parts distilled water and let sit for 20 minutes. Once the time is up take an EC reading and multiply this number by 2.4 (this takes into account the dilution and the pore space factor) this will give you an accurate picture of the EC the roots are actually being exposed to. The pH should also be checked at this time. It is not feasible in soil to maintain an exact EC at all times, what we need to try and avoid is EC's climbing much above what we want and plants going for long periods with very low EC's. A frequent mistake marijuana growers make is over-emphasizing the need for a plant grown in soil to dry out completely between waterings. Cannabis does like dry feet but this simply means that the root zone must not be kept extremely wet at all times. Keep in mind that if the soil has an EC of 1.8 and then dries out completely the amount of salt remains the same, causing the EC to double or more. As a general rule, during the vegetative stage you should keep your plants a little on the drier side as this will restrict cell elongation, creating a shorter noded plant structure capable of creating a dense bud cluster in the floral stage. (Unless of course you are using the high EC method described above, in this case you must not let your soil get too dry because of the increased fertilizer level you will create.) Maintain this level of moisture into the first 14 to 20 days of 12/12 to minimize internode stretch. As soon as early flowering begins you need to increase soil moisture to a nice evenly moist (not soaked) level to maximize bud expansion. Growing marijuana too dry during this stage will adversely affect your overall yield, as will having too high an EC in the medium. In these times of government oppression we must make the most efficient use of available growing space in order to produce the copious amounts of cannabis necessary to overflow the boundaries placed upon us. Control your cannabis!

Feed your head-stash by DJ Short (27 Oct, 2000) Food and water are two critical components to a successful garden. One of the simplest ways to increase the quantity of your harvest while maintaining quality is knowing the right times to water and feed. It doesn't involve mysticism by any means, but it does require a care and attention to learn the needs of your plants. When the plant is dry and thirsty, it needs water. When the root medium is heavy with moisture, it doesn't. This may seem obvious, but learning to zero in on the optimum times to feed and water is dependent on this simple fact. As with any other aspect of this industry, hands-on contact with the plants, and close attention to them, is of utmost importance. Different needs will present themselves in regard to feeding and watering times, depending on the amount and type of medium, the size of the plants, how recently they were planted or transplanted, the amount of light, heat and ventilation in the room, and other factors such as humidity and air pressure. Hydro systems Hydroponic systems are usually automated and should have the simplest schedule to satisfy. Active hydro systems merely need the nutrient solution passed over the medium three or four times a day. This can be done by the disciplined hand, but a timer and pump will eliminate the need. Passive hydro systems allow the roots of the plant to reach the reservoir, eliminating the need for watering altogether. In both types of hydro systems, the reservoirs usually need to be topped off regularly, and the nutrient solution will need to be changed at least once every two to three weeks. This is to help eliminate the nemesis to all hydro systems: algae. Algae can clog hydroponic medium and its tubing. Algae, along with other pests such as mold, fungus and bacteria, are capable of blocking the aerobic quality of the hydro medium and suffocating the plant via its roots. These problems must be addressed immediately upon finding them. Better still is to take the necessary precautions to insure that they don't begin. The optimum mix Soil mediums, especially organic varieties, are the trickiest to learn to deal with. Regard the process as an ongoing education, and it will go fine. The difficulty is the many variables related to the problem. Depending on the "mix" of your soil, it may be heavy or light. Heavy soil is generally more moss than perlite and holds water longer. A lighter soil is generally more perlite or vermiculite, and therefore releases its moisture quicker. Learning to condition the soil you are working with is the first step to success. Different brands have different ingredients (and even the same brand may have different ingredients at different times). If you use the basic soil mix I recommend, where equal parts of perlite and coarse cut sphagnum moss make up about 70% of the overall mix, then you have the optimum mix. This mix seems to be the

perfect blend for a regulated watering schedule. Dry weight Vegetating plants in small containers (two to four inch pots, or 16 to 24 ounce cups) may need watering as often as daily, others may be fine for a couple of days. Plants in larger containers (2 gallon and up) may go anywhere from three to six days between watering. The trick is in realizing when the plant is going to wilt, and watering it the day prior. This is done by physically lifting the plant container and judging its weight. The plant will suck its bucket of medium dry and then begin to wilt. Only experience can reveal what exactly the weight of the dry pot is. If a plant does happen to wilt due to drying out, check the weight of its bucket to see what too far is. We want to avoid wilting as much as possible, but a minor wilt is by no means fatal to the plant. I've seen wilted plants revived within twenty minutes when relieved of their thirst. However, wilting can also contribute to stunting. Bottom feeding After getting the soil mix down and learning the right watering time by the dryness, or weight, of the medium container, there is one more important tip to best maintain the proper watering schedule for your plants. I call this tip the bottom feeder method. Not merely because the method was perfected in a white-trash trailer park, but because it serves the nutrient and solution to the outside-bottom of the medium container. The solution is then sucked up by the roots through the holes in the bottom of the buckets. This method requires that the buckets be placed within the confines of a watertight container, such as a solid grow tray or a kiddie pool. The nutrient solution is then dumped or pumped right into the tray, watering many plants at once. It takes the plants anywhere from an hour to a few hours to soak up all of the moisture that they need. Individual mini-trays may be used for each individual container, but this causes much more tedium during watering. There are a number of trays, from large to small and of varying styles and sturdiness, available on the market these days. Some may hold a dozen small plants while others may hold twenty or thirty large plants. An entire grow room may be water-proofed as well. First, lay out a layer of 2-inch thick Styrofoam insulation panels larger than the intended pool. Next, a basic wood frame is constructed to the exact size of the desired pool on top of the Styrofoam. Finally, a swimming pool liner or landscaping pond liner is laid over the area and over the edges of the wood frame, after being fitted to the space. Plant containers may be placed directly in the pool and watered all at once. Please note that although this method allows the greatest ease of watering a large number of plants, it would be nearly impossible to judge exactly how much water these plants would consume in any given watering. Therefore, the garden needs to be checked a few hours after watering to see if the plants need more, or if the excess solution needs to be removed from the pool. Less is more The main focus of feeding should be the concentration and mix of fertilizers in the solution. I cannot

emphasize enough that "less is more" when it comes to fertilizing plants. If too little fertilizer is used the only problem will be a slightly smaller yield. Too much fertilizer, however, is liable to ruin the entire crop. It is generally recommended to use less fertilizer than the instructions call for. Most fertilizer companies print their maximum allowed amounts for mixing. I like to use half of what the directions call for. This is especially true if one is mixing different nitrogen fertilizers. If two or more nitrogen fertilizers are used during the same feeding, then even a smaller ratio of each is needed. That is, if two nitrogen fertilizers are mixed together during one feeding, then only a quarter the recommended amount of each is needed to make the final concentration truly half strength. Nitrogen is the most commonly abused fertilizer additive, but this same logic should be applied to phosphorous and potassium concentrations as well. When the fertilizer concentration is low enough, then fertilizer may be added during each watering (except, of course, the last few weeks of pure water flushes). The plants should look like they are thriving if they are properly fed. The leaves should stretch up and out to receive the light. Their color should be bright and consistent with a shiny, healthy glow. New growth should be obvious daily, and the old growth should last as long as possible. Underfertilized plants will merely be slow or, at worst, small, but overfertilized plants may look burned or splotchy. The leaves may become curled, with unnatural looking colors from bright yellow to dusty brown. The stems may stretch and turn dark, or they may harden and solidify, stunting growth. All in all, an overfertilized plant will look unhealthy and deeply in need. If signs of overfertilization appear, it may be necessary to dilute the concentration with pure water. For one or two waterings flush the plants with water only, and see if the situation improves. There are organic soil additives on the market that eliminate the need for any extra fertilizer additives in the water. Many of these fertilizer additives are made up of harsh petrochemicals. The best organic substances I've found are bat and seabird guano and pure worm castings. Fossilized bat and bird guano come in a powder form, while pure worm castings are like a very rich manure. Both may be added to soil to enhance its nutrient level. Most indoor plants do not remain in the same container for any longer than two months. So once the right soil mix is obtained then water alone will suffice, or water with a B-vitamin supplement to help the plant best metabolize the nutrients available to it. Plants grown using this method produce some of the most outstanding flavors and desirable palate and head.

Re-green your garden by DJ Short (25 Apr, 2000) Rejuvinating plants will bring back your best buds. An important process to be learned by the serious pot horticulturist is the revitalization of a budded and mature plant back to its vegetative state. This technique is called the "re-green" method. The usual reason to re-green is to continue the existence of a highly desirable plant. However, the wise pharmer will clone all potentially desirable plants while they are in the veggie stage. Although sometimes this doesn't happen or the clone attempt may fail, this isn't really why you should be using the re-green method. The re-green technique is most useful in determining which of your desirable plants are the most photoreceptive. Photo-receptivity refers to the way in which a plant is destined to respond to a light schedule. Some strains are more photo-receptive than others, meaning that they will respond more readily to changes in light-cycle timing. Less photo-receptive strains become "stuck" in their bud or flower cycle, while extremely non-photoreceptive plants will flower regardless of light cycle, even when constantly under light. Although useful for guerrilla outdoor gardening when you want the plants to mature early, these non-photo-receptive varieties are difficult, if not impossible, to re-green. It is the more photo-receptive strains that we want to focus on when attempting the re-green method. If a plant is more photo-receptive and easily re-vegetates, then it will more than likely clone well and grow more vigorously than one that does not. So the re-green method is capable of helping to determine which of your potential breeding and cloning stock will be the most productive. This is very important information for anyone seriously interested in breeding plants. One of the main tricks to the re-green method is to begin the process as early as possible. The catch here is that it will take a certain amount of time in order to determine the desirability of a given plant. By desirability I am referring to the overall quality of the finished product how good does it taste? Look? Smell? Feel? How good is the finished product? Once a plant has declared its overall finished product desirability, it is time to begin the process. Generally speaking, most Indica varieties will almost fully express their desirability by the sixth week in the flowering cycle indoors (11 to 13 hours of light per 24 hours). However, many Sativas may take up to nine or more weeks in the flowering cycle indoors to fully express their individual desirability. Doing the re-green The only preparation for the re-green process is to be sure to leave a few of the lower branch and leaf nodes of the plant intact during harvesting. Once the plant has "proven itself worthy" of re-greening, it is removed from the bud room and harvested down to above the lower, intact branch and leaf nodes. That is, the plant is harvested, but the lower branches and nodes are left for the new growth to (hopefully) rejuvenate from. Sometimes all that is left at the bottom of the plant are buds. This is fine; simply leave the lowest healthy looking set of buds and harvest all above that point. (Note that this early-harvested bud can

provide an excellent and somewhat rare finished product that usually exhibits a more "head" or "psychedelic" experience, worthy of connoisseur appreciation!) The remaining stump with a few nodes attached will need to be moved to a separate space, consisting of fluorescent lights set for a vegetative cycle (18 or more hours of light per 24 hours). The remaining nodes, leaves, buds and/or branches need to be as close to the fluorescent bulb as possible without touching the bulb. If the plant was in a smaller container (two gallon or less) and is showing signs of root bind, then transplanting to a larger pot may be in order. But if the plant's container is large enough and the plant does not appear to be suffering from, or near, root bind, then the same container may work fine. Either way, the next consideration involves increasing the plant's nitrogen uptake. As in the veggie cycle, a high nitrogen, low potassium and phosphorous fertilizer is required to inspire fresh growth. The regreener plant is kept on a high nitrogen fertilizer all the way through this process. If the candidate plant is going to rejuvenate, the new growth will sprout from within one of the leftover nodes, branches or buds. I have seen some plants declare rejuvenation within a couple of days, while others may take a month or more to show new growth. Others will never rejuvenate at all. Usually the dictates of space will determine how long one will want to attempt the process for each individual plant. As space demands increase, the less desirable and slower re-greener plants will need to be thinned out accordingly. Once the highly desirable candidate plant has declared its re-green ability by sending out fresh green growth, it is time for the next stage in the process. This stage consists of nurturing the fresh growth and eventually pruning away the old growth. All attention is focused on the fresh growth making certain that this growth has the best access to the light. As the new shoots develop, the old and matured bud and leaf material are cleared and trimmed from around it. Extra care needs to be practiced as these new shoots may be very delicate and fragile. A "surgeon's hand" with a pair of precision scissors is most definitely an advantage at this stage. In time the new shoots will grow to dominate the remaining plant, stretching beyond the bud or leaf node that contains it. More fingers Generally speaking, the faster and more completely a plant expresses this process, the more photoreceptive it is. There is however, another criteria that helps to fully determine a given plant's photoreceptivity its ability to fully return to a vegetive stage. Experienced pharmers know that as a plant matures through its flowering cycle the number of leaflets, or "fingers", per leaf decrease in number. A healthy vegetive plant may have seven, nine, eleven or more leaflets-per-leaf. (As a general rule of thumb, Sativa plants are capable of producing more leaflets-per-leaf than Indica. Some Sativa may have leaves with as many as 13 or more leaflets-per-leaf, whereas most Indica will never have more than five or seven.) As the plant matures through the flowering cycle, the number of leaflets-per-leaf decreases from nine to seven to five to three and finally to one leaflet per leaf on the fully mature plant. During the successful re-green process this factor reverses itself, and the leaflet-per-leaf ratio increases as the new leaf sets present themselves, from one to three to five and so on. In my opinion, the plant is not considered rejuvenated until at least five leaflets per leaf are apparent. The more leaflets-per-leaf that can be coaxed from the plant before cloning, the better. By the time the plant is back to showing at least five leaflets-per-leaf, the re-green shoots will probably be ready for

cloning. Cloning the shoots Once the rejuvenated plant has produced adequate shoots that have successfully returned to a vegetive state, it is time to consider cloning of the shoots. At this point it is important that the shoot or shoots be developed enough to both produce a successful clone, and leave enough rejuvenated material on the regreened "mother" to continue growth (and keep the mother alive). To satisfy both of these ends it is always best to wait until the re-green shoots are large and healthy enough. As with so many other aspects of this hobby, patience is indeed a virtue. Once a shoot is satisfactory for cutting, any standard or desired cloning procedure will work. The "mother" plant, or any of its rooted clones, for that matter, may be maintained to act as a clone producer, or may be returned to the bud room to flower again. Generally speaking, most highly photoreceptive plants make excellent clone-producing mothers, due to their productive ability. As long as the proper conditions for the plants' health are maintained, the plants will yield their superior productivity.

Let them breathe! by DJ Short, photos by Jorge Cervantes (01 Jul, 1998) Proper ventilation and air circulation are essential to growing healthy, happy plants. An important aspect to consider when growing plants indoors is proper ventilation, air circulation and temperature control. This practice becomes especially necessary when working with lights over 400 watts, in very small spaces, any time the temperature exceeds 32C (90F), or if the humidity gets too high. The Perfect Temperature Though sense of feel is adequate to gauge the "perfect climate" for a given plant, there is no real substitute for a thermometer and humidity gauge. Thermometers are cheap and accurate enough for our purposes. I usually employ several thermometers in different areas in and around the grow room. Somewhere between 32-35C (90-95F) is the absolute highest room temperature your plants would care to tolerate. The perfect temperature would be somewhere between 24-29C (75-85F). Peaks of 38C (100F) are allowable for most strains, but not for any longer than a half hour or so. And only above the root level. Roots and Aeration The main area of concern involving temperature are the roots of the plants. Ideally, the roots should be kept at as constant a temperature below 21C and above 10C (70-50F) as possible. The fact that warm air rises and cool air sinks works to our advantage in this case. Also, the plants end up under the larger lights by the flowering cycle, and so they're usually large enough to help shade and cool their root areas. Still, some rooms build up sufficient heat to require a separate circulating fan, or fans, focussed specifically on the root systems. A soil thermometer may be a wise investment. Proper aeration of organic based soils is crucial in high temp/humidity areas. Perlite and vermiculite, are the tips here add more to the soil if need be. In hydroponic systems make sure that the nutrient water temp is below 21C (70F). If necessary, store the reservoir outside of or below the grow room. Squirrel Cage and House Fans There are many different types of fans and air movers available on the market. Most fans can be purchased at the average home improvement store. Proper research and smart shopping will net the best purchases. Careful planning will help avoid costly mistakes. Using the "hot air rises, cool air drops" rule, one can figure out the right solution. The two most common types of fan are the squirrel-cage and what I call the "common house fan" (box or oscillating fans). Both come in a seeming endless variety of shapes and sizes. Generally speaking, squirrel-cage fans move air either in and/or out of the room, while common house fans move the air up, down and around the room. There are also neat little "muffin" fans that can be used for many things such as light-hood venting and passive ventilation systems.

A passive ventilation system is one that moves air either in out of room (not both). The room is not sealed and so air exchange is allowed free movement from inside and outside the room. Squirrel Cages The squirrel-cage fan is the most popular fan for moving large volumes of air into or out of a room or rooms. A common placement for this fan is inside of the room, up high, blowing out. This will help move the hot air out. This method is what is used to stimulate the passive intake of cool air with vent holes cut in the floor or lower walls to access the cooler areas outside of the room. Other hardware such as dryer-vent tubing or muffin fans may be used to best access the cool, dry air outside of the grow room. It is a simple step further in this type of system to add an oscillating fan or two on the floor, pointing at any angle up, to help circulate the cooler air up and around the plants. This is the simplest of vent systems and works quite well. Choosing the correct squirrel-cage fan is part of the trick to success. Measuring Air Movement Squrrel cage fans are rated by their volume of air movement in cubic feet per minute or CFM. A fan with a rating of 100 CFM is able to move 100 cubic feet of air per minute. A room that is eight by ten feet and eight feet tall holds 8 X 10 X 8, or 640 cubic feet of air. Therefore, it would take an optimally running 100 CFM fan 6.4 minutes to fully circulate the air in that room. Generally speaking, most fans move a little less than their rated CFM due to intake resistance or a dirty fan cage. Bigger fans usually will work more efficiently. Potentiometers, or a "volume control", could be installed in the power line of the larger fans to adjust the fan speed. This would give further aid in the specific control of air volume and ventilation. Automation The ideal ventilation system utilizes automation in the form of thermostats and regulators. A thermostat, as with the common household thermostat, would cause the fans to turn on at a certain temp, and turn off at another. That is, a sensor would turn on the fans on at around 30C (86F), and turn them off if the temperature dropped below 21C (70F). A well-stocked, high-tech grow shop will have several types of thermostats available in a variety of systems. Box and Oscillating Common summer house fans also come in a wide array of types and sizes. The most common being the box and the oscillating. Box fans are self explanatory. They can be used in a variety of ways, depending on the innovation and imagination of the user. Experimentation will yield the most efficient uses for these devices. Oscillating fans are perhaps the most efficient devices for circulating air in a room. The gentle back and forth sway of the fan is very beneficial for the developing plants. These fans tend to keep anaerobic molds down by constantly freshening any potentially stagnant air. There are wall-mounted styles available as well. Home improvement centres carry a large array of various types and styles of airmoving fans, some relatively inexpensive.

A warning needs to be expressed concerning the cheaper, discount-store, oscillating fans (or any cheap fan for that matter) that have a tendency to burn out after a period of time. Some of these products are potentially dangerous if left plugged in and turned on after they burn out. Therefore, it is a wise idea to check one's fans (and all electric devices and equipment for that matter) on a regular basis as often as possible. Noise Concerns Another fan consideration is noise. Some fans, especially the squirrel cage, may be a bit too noisy for a given situation. There are higher quality fans available that do run more quietly expect to pay more, of course. It also helps to mount the fan directly to a main stud or support, by at least two of its support holes, and preferably more. Rubber dampers and gaskets can be easily made and used on the support holes or around the overall mounting surface. Keep the fan's bearings sufficiently lubricated as well. High Humidity Humidity is another factor that influences the overall quality and quantity of a crop. Generally speaking, high humidity (over 80 or 90%) is bad. It inhibits plant transpiration and ultimately stunts growth. Mold and fungus love high humidity as well. Note that warmer air holds more moisture than cooler air. There are a few simple practices to help reduce humidity. First and foremost, keep the room as dry as possible. When watering, use just as much as the plants need. Pump, siphon or mop up any remaining water and remove it from the room. Keeping the room clean also helps. Moisture likes to hide and store itself in material such as dead leaves, spilled dirt or any garbage. Therefore, keeping the room clean and free of debris will help keep moisture and organisms such as mold, fungus and bacteria down. Temperature and moisture levels directly affect the plant's ability to metabolize nutrients and supplements such as fertilizer and carbon dioxide. If these practices fail to lower humidity enough, the only solution may be a de-humidifier. However, de-humidifiers are expensive, consume a large amount of electricity and produce heat. These factors will need to be considered in choosing whether or not to employ one. Ventilation and Circulation are Essential Proper ventilation and air circulation are essential to maintaining a healthy indoor grow environment. The basic rule of thumb is to move the warm, moist air out and to move the cool, dry air in and around the plants and their roots. Many various types of fans and devices are available to achieve this goal. Careful planning, basic research and smart shopping will acquire all that one needs to keep it cool and dry, and experimentation will fine tune the system to provide the most perfect indoor environment possible.

DJ Short is the breeder of the famed Flo and Blueberry strains. He welcomes feedback and questions, especially relating to the cultivation of those varieties. He can be contacted through Cannabis Culture.

CO2 for you by DJ Short (27 Dec, 2000) Carbon Dioxide is an excellent way to increase your bud bounty. Carbon dioxide (CO2) generators are perhaps the single most powerful increasers of plant production. During the daylight hours plants breathe in and use CO2 much the same way we animals metabolize oxygen. By adding CO2 to the air of the grow room we are capable of greatly stimulating plant growth and vigor. Overexposure to CO2 by humans is very capable of proving fatal. Therefore, also remember that monitoring of the air with a CO2 or gas detection device is mandatory when using a commercial CO2 distribution system. There are two main types of commercial CO2 delivery systems, bottled and propane generators. Bottled CO2 The bottled CO2 system delivers pure CO2 via a tank that is rented or bought and refilled when empty at any bottled gas distributor or grow shop. The purchases of a regulator and tubing, along with a specialized timer, are necessary to complete the system. The timer opens the regulator to dispense the gas that is delivered to the room among the plants via the tubing (or whatever duct system is chosen for its delivery). The timer usually is on for brief periods of a few seconds per minute, hence the need for the specialized timer. The bottled systems are relatively efficient and once set up, easy to use. When used in conjunction with some kind of CO2 metering device, to monitor the amount of CO2 in the air, the system is relatively safe. The main drawback is having to deal with filling the heavy, bulky tank when needed. The initial expense is a bit of a sticker shock as well. Propane generator Propane generators of CO2 have been gaining popularity since their introduction to the industry some time ago. Bottled propane is connected to a device that burns the gas, slowly and evenly, to produce CO2. The device is usually a box that will hang in the room and is connected to the propane bottle via the appropriate tubing and coupling. It is possible to time and regulate most propane generators to efficiently produce CO2 gas when needed. These devices are usually much simpler and less expensive than the bottled CO2 systems. Propane is also easily available in most places. There are, however, a few dangers to the propane generator that need to be addressed. First of all, the device utilizes a small flame for CO2 production. Special care needs to be taken whenever dealing with fire, and necessary precautions including location of the device need to be made prior to operation. second, this flame will produce some heat and humidity. The humidity is in the form of water vapor, the other by-product of the process. Proper venting and air circulation will help minimize these factors. As with the bottled system, monitoring the amount of CO2 in the air will be necessary to regulate the proper and safe amount of the gas delivered to the room. Air circulation

Because CO2 is a gas that is heavier than air, a word needs to be said about the delivery system and air circulation in the room. Generally speaking it is best to introduce the gas up higher in the room, via some form of tube or duct or by hanging the propane generator up high. This way the gas passes by the leaves of the plants on its way down, allowing them to absorb as much as possible. Oscillating fans placed on the floor with their fan pointing up (or any upward movement of air from the floor) is also recommended to best circulate the CO2 among the leaves of the plants. The roots of the plants DO NOT like CO2. In fact, too much CO2 around the roots may actually suffocate the plants. So be wary of these facts and circulate the air well. There are a number of books and manuals on the market today that deal with the specifics and how tos of carbon dioxide production for commercial (and home) use. Also, growstores selling the devices offer plenty of advice and/or literature pertaining to the specifics of their products. Remember, CO2 production for larger scale operations requires a certain amount of knowledge unobtainable by any other means than an education. Therefore, I highly recommend that one research thoroughly before one purchases and uses a system. Small and simple For those of you running smaller systems such as cupboard, closet or box systems, there is a simple CO2 system that is easy to make and use. This system uses water, sugar and yeast mixed together in a jug, bottle or jar. I like to use one-gallon plastic jugs due to their size and availability. Put about five or six cups of sugar in a clean one-gallon plastic jug. To this add about a half gallon of water. Mix until the sugar is dissolved and add a little bit of active yeast. Poke a small hole in the lid and replace it on top of the jug. Once a day, or as often as possible, shake the jug to thoroughly mix the contents. In a day or two the yeast will begin to grow and CO2 gas will be a by-product in the jug. Once the yeast begins to grow, the shaking of the contents will produce a gaseous eruption through the hole in the lid. On its own, the device will slowly produce CO2 as long as there is enough sugar in the mix and the yeast stays active. The daily shaking stimulates the mix to produce a surge of CO2 gas. Therefore, the more times the jug is shaken, the more surges of CO2 that will erupt into the room. The mix will need to be changed or refreshed every two to three weeks. I have found this system to be more than adequate and perfectly safe for smaller grow spaces (twenty square feet or less). It is also very inexpensive to configure and maintain. Recycled CO2 A source of recycled CO2 may be found in any natural gas or propane appliance, especially those with a pilot light. All such appliances produce CO2, when properly functioning, that is. A simple rule of thumb is: blue flame = CO2 or what we want, yellow flame = CO or carbon monoxide, deadly poisonous! It is merely a question of how to get the CO2 gas from the appliance to the grow room. If the appliance (furnace, hot water heater, stove, etc.) is anywhere near the grow room, then a simple duct system of dryer vent tubing running from the bottom of the appliance (remember, CO2 is heavier than air) to the grow room will suffice. A muffin fan placed on the room end of the tube, blowing into the room, would efficiently move the gas. Finally, any form of brewing (beer production) or fermenting (wine making) produces CO2, as well. So a home brew kit or home wine making system could also be used to add CO2 gas to the grow room air.

Remember to be very careful not to overdo the CO2 and let the gas fill your house. If this happens then it could suffocate you in your sleep! But properly used, CO2 can be a safe and easy way to increase the yield of your garden.

Grow organic by DJ Short (29 Dec, 1999) If you want the most fragrant, delicious pot on the planet, use organic nutrients and flush your buds. If you want to grow some of the finest herb on the planet, then the True Fragrant varieties of cannabis, such as Blueberry, Blue Velvet and Flo, are an excellent place to start. I speak from experience, as I am the goddess-father of these fine products, which have all come to me from various sources and locations throughout the years. I have had an excellent and productive relationship with the herb since my early teens in the very early 1970's. I have had the fortunate opportunity to not merely sample many of the great cannabis strains, but to have saved and grown their seeds. The last time I used any seed stock outside of my own was in 1982. I think that my breeding successes are primarily due to a very discerning palate and sense of smell. A strong and pleasing odor is the dominant feature expressed in the True Fragrant varieties. But you must remember that subtle and subjective characteristics such as "fragrance" and "bouquet" are dependent upon their environment as much as their genetics. I cannot emphasize enough the fact that it takes the purest of environments to grow the purest of herbs. Bio vs Hydro The purpose of this article is to help guide you in understanding the basic needs of these and other fragrant varieties, and how to best maintain their uniqueness, originality and quality. The key word to this understanding is "organic," or what the Europeans like to call "bio" methods of production, (as opposed to chemical and most hydroponic methods). Simply put, there is no real substitute for the complex relationship of plants and organic soil. There are those in the hydroponic industry who will argue that certain hydroponic methods are nearly organic and very productive. I don't disagree. However, the main focus of the hydroponic industry is that of production, or quantity, whereas my focus is on quality. Granted, there are situations where a hydroponic system may be superior to an organic one, especially when the grower wants only one crop and the absolutely highest yield. Sadly, the fact is also that many people simply cannot tell the difference between hydro and organic products, or they simply don't care. The quality of the hydroponic product may be increased greatly by employing the simple "two week flush" method prior to harvest. This means that only pure water, with no additives or nutrients, be given to the plant for two weeks prior to harvest. This will only slightly decrease production, while greatly increasing the quality of the finished product. Potency ratios I have found that generally the potency of a given variety of cannabis has to do with the ratio of glandular secreted resins, compared to the overall fibre production of the plant. A higher ratio of resin to fibre generally indicates the superior quality and chemical composition of the resin, and the greater potency of the product. Therefore, in order to maintain potency while increasing production, this ratio must be maintained. It has been my experience that the more one increases the fibre production and overall size of a given plant, the more one decreases this ratio and, therefore, decreases potency.

This quality/quantity ratio is much less of a concern to the grower who is producing in the great outdoors. I can honestly say from experience that all of the "True Fragrant" varieties are major producers when grown in their particular "sweet spot." Blueberry and Flo have both reached 500 grams per plant, multi-harvested between October 1 and November 7, grown near the 45th parallel in the Pacific Northwest. These plants lost little of their overall appeal despite the increase in production. However, the product of the smaller plants still tended to be more desirable than the larger ones in the outdoor environment. Someday, when we are allowed to properly produce herb in the great outdoors, we will once again see and experience some of the truly finest examples the planet has to offer. These "fine herbs" come from very specific geographic locations which I refer to as "sweet spots." Certain examples would be: The Northern Californian-Southern Oregon coastal regions; the highland Michoacan, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas regions of Mexico; highland and valley Colombia; Thailand; the islands of Hawaii; Nepal; parts of Afghanistan; and the Hindu Kush, to name but a few. It is in these "sweet spots" that the most favorable and specifically desirable characteristics are acclimated phenotypical. Selective inbreeding hardens the desirable characteristics and gives us specific, varied strains. I am very curious to see and experience exactly what our years and multi-generations of indoor breeding are going to produce when returned to these great outdoor "sweet spots." Indoor organics Indoor environments are extremely limited in comparison to the great outdoors. The outdoors is a complete and complex system, balanced by many various circumstances. It is sometimes difficult enough to help provide and maintain the proper balances organically in an outdoor garden. Yet although properly providing and maintaining an organic environment indoors is truly a challenge to face, it is not impossible. Airborne, soil-born, and water-born pests, fungus, mold, algae and bacteria are just a few of the organisms that can attack a crop and seriously weaken production. It is often too easy to treat these maladies with simple applications of toxic chemicals, and a bit more difficult to solve the problem in a clean and organic way. Yet here are a variety of adequate organic pesticides and fungicides on the market today. There are also living organisms such as specific predator insects and nematodes. If you feel you must use a commercial chemical product, try to find the least toxic one available for the purpose, and use sparingly. Never apply anything toxic to your plants once they're in the budding cycle. Another factor to consider is what to use as vitalizers and fertilizers. The bulk of commercial fertilizers and vitalizers (along with most commercial pesticides, herbicides and fungicides) are synthesized from petrochemical by-products and are not truly natural products. Worms, seaweed, bat and bird guano, fish, green manures and most of their by-products are examples of substances that are naturally produced that provide plenty of good, clean nutrients to the plant. There are now many specific products suited for the indoor organic gardener. Consult your local or favorite organic garden centre for more detail. Flush your buds! The most important, and perhaps the most simple, aspect to consider involves the last two to three weeks of the bud cycle the last two to three weeks of the plant's life prior to harvest. It is during this time that absolutely NO additives, other than pure water, be given to the plant. This is especially important if you have been using chemical fertilizers.

This is the time when the bulk of the final, "useable" part of the plant is produced. As you may well already know, there are over four hundred separate chemicals associated with cannabis and her effects. It is during the final bud-building stage that most of these chemicals are produced. Thus, it is very important to give the plant as much pure water as possible during this crucial period. I like to remember it as the "rinse" and "flush" cycle. Simply remember to give the plants only water for the last two to three weeks in order to rinse and flush them clean. This is to purge unwanted impurities from the plant. Pot that has been fertilized right up to harvest is harsh to smoke, sometimes the joint will even sizzle and pop as unmetabolized fertilizer salts combust. Un-flushed pot leaves black ash, is hard to keep lit and burns your throat. Pot which has been organically grown and properly flushed is more flavourful and fragrant, burns easily, leaves grey ash, is easier on the throat and is much more pleasurable to smoke.

Aeroponic Supersonic by Ashera Jones, photos by Barge (01 Sept, 1998) Aeroponics creates dense, compact and abundant buds that will amaze you Commercial Aeroflo operation. Photo Jorge Cervantes Commercial Aeroflo operation. Photo Jorge Cervantes I first heard of aeroponics through a friend, who told me of military experiments in growing enormous tomato plants indoors, by means of aeroponics and cooled lights. When I learned that the roots just hang in the air and are misted by atomized water and nutrient particles, I thought "how unnatural." Then I saw a system set up: it was so clean and efficient! I saw that this was a very effective nutrient and oxygen delivery system. One which, by nature, is quick to respond to whatever nutrients you introduce into the system, making both feeding and curing more time-efficient and accurate. But is aeroponics really unnatural? Perhaps not. My aeroponic system reminds me of my visit to floating coral islands in the Bahamas, where the coral provided a natural aeroponics system, and everything grew to an enormous size. The oranges were the size of grapefruits, and the humming birds were the size of Robins. The layout is important. Other than some basic plumbing supplies, and low cost but reliable sump pump (otherwise known as a jet pump), the lights, environment and electrical are all the same as a regular grow op. One of the advantages with this system is that there is little to dispose of later, this brings less police heat and so less stress for you. You can grow aeroponically in tubes, buckets, or anything that is sealed and opaque.There are kits and contraptions you can buy, or with a bit of effort you can compose your own. Be prepared for some watery catastrophes and have a wet and dry shop vacuum on hand. Make sure your floor is protected. The 4 Elements of Aeroponic Gardening AIR In an aeroponic system, nutrients and water are sprayed onto the roots in an atomized or mist form by a high-pressure pump. This creates quickly-moving water which is capable of delivering more oxygen because it is well agitated, like a waterfall. The presence of more oxygen also discourages bacterial and fungal growth. The most effective root medium is the one which delivers the most oxygen to the roots. A dense soil may only deliver 30% oxygen to the roots, while a soilless mix will deliver up to 50%, and hydroponics will deliver around 80% oxygen. With aeroponics the sky is the limit, you literally receive 99% possible oxygen to the roots. Aeroponic can get big buds out of small plants. Aeroponic can get big buds out of small plants. Aeroponics also allows nutrients to reach the roots directly, with no medium in-between to hamper nutrient uptake or foster the growth of bacterial organisms. I have measured aeroponic plant growth against soil, soilless mix and hydroponic drip. The aeroponic

system doubles the growth rate of plants as compared to a soil system, and is about one-third faster than a hydroponic system. My experience is that it has been easy to grow fat, bushy, almost hardwoodstalked plants. EARTH Just like all plants, plants in an aeroponic system fuel their growth with natural elements from the earth, which are easily obtained in liquid solutions. These store-bought nutrients are limited in content, and I will suggest other substances you can add to enhance the nutrient quality your plants are getting from aeroponic feeding. The aeroponic garden prefers a lower nutrient solution of between 700-900 parts per million, and an acid ph of 5.5 to 5.8, which means that you will generally need to add a PH down. There are natural alternatives for the open minded that I will talk about later. In the earth category, we also have the growth mediums, which although limited in an aeroponic system, are necessary. Personally, I use rockwool cubes and baskets, which vary in size. The usual basket size used in hydroponic systems is 3.5 inches, but you can use 2 inch baskets for mature plants in an aeroponic system, because all the baskets and wool are doing is supporting the plants, keeping them stable and standing. However, I personally use the 3 inch size because I like to grow 3 foot bushes that become weighted with fat, juicy buds, and they require a little bit of support. Nutrient uptake varies depending on the growth stage of your plants. I have found that the plants tend to uptake less nutrients when they are changing from vegetative to flowering, and at the same time, the type of nutrient that they require changes. It is essential to have a "parts-per-million pen" so that you can monitor the amount of food your babies are eating and prevent burning of the roots by a solution that is too acidic and full of mineral salts. Healthy roots make happy plants and rapid growth. Healthy roots make happy plants and rapid growth. FIRE The element of fire in aeroponic gardening includes light and heat. Light brings photosynthesis and also Ultra Violet "C" rays which discourage some types of bacteria. But excess heat can bring fungus and bacteria, so a good balance is necessary. The layout of your room will determine light availability and the ideal situation is to have all plants receiving as much light as possible, without burning. This will also encourage the dense bushy-type plant that you want to grow. I use a few strategically placed four-hundred watt lights, with the plants in a stepped, stadium structure around the lights. The placement of plants in what is known as a "stadium" ensures that I get the lights right in there, and give all the potential budding sites fair exposure, while discouraging phototropism, the search for light. The ambient room temperature is no more than 80F but preferably closer to 70F (20C). A cool room temperature usually means a nice, cool water temperature, which is also important. WATER

The element of water in aeroponics is the great transport system. I suggest you keep it cool and clean. Let water sit a day before adding it to the nutrient tank, and put in one teaspoon hydrogen peroxide per gallon of water, to make sure it is free from unfriendly organisms. All that your plants receive comes to them through water. Without water there is no air. To get your water to the roots, you will need a pump, a bunch of high-pressure spray heads and some hose. People will try to sell you very expensive pumps, but you need spend no more than $200 to buy yourself a pump that puts out 60psi, which is appropriate for atomized nutrients. This kind of pump is available in the local plumbing department of a Home De-pot or similar hardware store near you. Your pump is meant to run intermittently. Do not bother using the pressure-tank system that can be purchased in conjunction with your pump. You will need an hour timer that will allow your pump to spray for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and then rest for 4 or so minutes. This will prevent your pump from burning out and your system from flooding. Stadium set up with central array of sodium and metal halide bulbs. Stadium set up with central array of sodium and metal halide bulbs. Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) or "Oxygen Water" Hydrogen peroxide created by humans is inferior to that created by nature, but it costs less. Humanmade peroxide comes in a variety of percentages, and you want to get the 35% variety, as this will ensure that there have been no "stabilizers" added, as is generally done to the 3% variety that you can buy in a pharmacy. Hydrogen peroxide will most definitely reduce any possibility of bacterial and fungal contamination. Farmers in the US use peroxide for everything from disinfection of the dairy barn and hog pens to increasing crop yields by 20 to 30%. It is also commonly added to the drinking water of animals to reduce the need for antibiotics. In the aeroponic system, H2O2 replicates nature's own antibacterial mechanism and prevents water from growing putrefactive bacteria which can cause the dreaded bacterial wilt, root rot and countless other diseases. 35% hydrogen peroxide can and should be used in hydroponic drip and soil systems at the rate of one teaspoon per gallon. You would usually add peroxide to your system and let that run through for 1/2 hour before adding nutrients. This will give the peroxide time to kill off bacteria with its extra oxygen molecules and become stabilized before you add the dissolved mineral salts (stock fertilizer). H2O2 will also forcibly cause the out-gassing of chlorine and fluoride from municipal water. I have used 35% hydrogen peroxide diluted to a 1% solution on a plant in soil that had an infestation of fungus gnats, root rot and unknown other problems. The plants thrived while gnats and other organisms did not. But beware, H2O2 is powerful and experiments can be dangerous to your whole crop. Be sure not to get any in your eyes. The burning and whitening sensation felt when it touches the skin

can be irritating but is not damaging. Wear latex. You should dilute 1 part peroxide to 11 parts distilled water to create a 3% solution for less worrisome handling. Little clones in aeroponic tube system. Little clones in aeroponic tube system. Applying H2O2 to Your system. You can kill bacteria that might be living in your nutrient tank by wiping out the empty container with a 3% peroxide solution. You can safely create a 1% peroxide solution to feed your plants for a few cycles, but fill less than a quarter of your nutrient tank with this solution, as you will want to dilute it to about 0.25% for longer use. If there are parasitic invaders then you will know because there will be a profuse bubbling and frothing, which is the hydrogen peroxide oxidizing putrefactive organisms that are not oxygen compatible. To make a 1% solution, add 35 parts water to 1 part 35% hydrogen peroxide. To achieve an 0.25% solution add 140 parts of water to 1 part 35% peroxide, or add 3 parts water to one part 1% peroxide. ORGANIC AEROPONIC Organic aeroponic is at least partially possible with little or no hassle. No indoor gardening can be completely organic. Aeroponically, you're best to introduce partial organics which provide micronutrients not available in standard inorganic, mineral-salt based, hydroponic mixes. You can provide your plants with their requirements as organically as possible by making your own nutrient teas with plants that you know "fix" certain types of minerals into themselves. First dry the plants you want, then put them into water,. Let them sit for a few days, then boil them, let them cool, put them through a fine particle filter, test the PH and parts per million so you know what percentages to add, and then introduce them to your aeroponic garden. The same can be done with "meals" like soybean meal and others. I do not like to use blood and bone meals because I am not sure of the source. I would rather use plant sources of nutrients to help the persons who ingest my buds avoid contracting Mad Plant Disease! Beautiful aeroponic bud. Beautiful aeroponic bud. How many people are using animal-based fertilizers whose origin they know nothing about? There is less restriction on the source of these "bone and blood meals" than there is in the pet food or agricultural industry, meaning that the indestructible "prion" particles responsible for "transmissible spongiform encephalophathy" (mad cow disease) are likely also present in bone and blood-meal plant fertilizers, and can find their way into plants fertilized with these products. Liquid organic multivitamins for plants are useful and I would suggest using them in combination and in low concentrations. Be careful to avoid creating a giant toxic soup by adding nutrients all at once. Add one and then wait before you add the other. You will be amazed how readily your plants will gobble up the food you give them, and with aeroponics you can expect near immediate results, good or bad. Bad Results

If you have bad results after feeding, remove all nutrients and run a low peroxide solution through your system. Everything should be visibly back to normal within a day. If you see no positive results after a day, you may have a problem unrelated to feeding, or you may have added too much nutrient solution. Too much nutrients and only the gods can save you. The gods, and maybe a little less lighting. Unplug a light or two and give you plants a chance to recover, as their energy will then be concentrated down in the roots, which will be trying to heal from chemical insult. If the leaves start yellowing, you have probably developed root rot. Shock can precipitate root rot and you must remember that plants have an immune system and do respond to stress, so try to avoid disasters. Another plump aeroponic bud. Another plump aeroponic bud. The problem with introducing organics into an aeroponic system is that there is always some other organism that wants to cash in on the good life. To avoid such a problem, I run my organic fertilizers through the system first. Then about a day later, when I am low on nutrients and water, I drain the system and put my hydrogen peroxide solution in and let it run for 1/2 hour, sometimes 3 or more hours, depending on how much I have added. Then I add my stock nutrients, the ones you buy at the store. I let them run through for half a day, then I add my organics again. I let those run through for a day, the food and water get eaten, and then it is time to clear the system and add the hydrogen peroxide again. Hydrogen peroxide kills unwanted freeloaders. Ph Balance Aeroponically grown plants prefer a rather acidic solution of between 5.5 and 5.8ph. With a 900 parts per million nutrient solution you will still need to add some ph down. A higher concentration of mineral salts generally makes the water more acidic and brings ph down and parts per million up. What are in those ph up and ph down bottles anyways? Who cares! Nature's best solution is simple, cheap and has inherently less packaging. Lowering the ph can be done with apple cider vinegar but I like to use Kombucha fungus, as it creates a wonderful selection of living interacted nutrients that are amazing and affordable. Basically, you grow a particular bacterium in a medium of black, green or herbal tea, and then add the altered medium to your solution. Kombucha is an oxygen producing bacteria that is compatible with both the human and vegetative world because it metabolizes nutrients in the tea itself, providing the plant with easy to assimilate nutrients. Kombucha also has beneficial health effects for the human organism. Long, lush healthy roots. Long, lush healthy roots. Having an acidic, low-ph environment will reduce funguses like root rot. It is important to note that oxygen creates a high ph or neutral environment. So using hydrogen peroxide will bring your ph up, which is problematic because "Kali weed" likes low ph in the aeroponic environment. By adding Kombucha, a living nutrient, you can lower ph while still providing oxygen and bringing micronutrients to your plants that they would not regularly get. Another way to raise ph is by adding a small quantity of baking soda, and I mean small!

Clearing Your Plants Before harvest, you will want to leech the unused mineral salts out of your plants. Leeching is easily done with aeroponics by changing the water daily for three to seven days. Note that you do have to change the water every day, as just running the same water through won't work! Because mineral salts concentrate in the plants at a high ph, if you run a low ph through while leeching, your plants will release their mineral salts at a much faster rate. Kombucha with its low ph, is thus the ideal thing to add to your water during leeching. It facilitates the release of mineral salts, while also providing the plants with a continued, clean source of micronutrients. Phyto Estrogens Some people use birth control pills to raise the estrogen level in their plants. This is a personal choice, but it is not mine. These pills are synthetic and cause a lot of trouble for women and generally I have a certain disdain for them. Menstrual blood, however, is a good source of estrogen and is as organic as the donor. Decreasing other fertilizer levels before introducing blood will reduce the possibility of the blood feeding unwanted organisms in your system. Ultimately, I can say that there is a part of me in every plant I have ever grown. It is annoying that some, usually young, square men think this is disgusting. Get real. They prefer using bone and blood meal which they know nothing about, other than that it came from a dead animal who had a miserable life and ate less organically than most of the women you know. Such backwards attitudes aside, menstrual blood is not plant based and is arguably a secondary source to phyto-estrogen. Blue Cohosh is a herb which contains plant estrogens, and I also use this in my flowering formulas. It can easily be introduced in the form of tea, or you can even grow your Kombucha on it. Try Aeroponics and have a "mist"-ifying experience! SATIVA DIVA --A small, inexpensive pump in the corner... A small, inexpensive pump in the corner... DISEASES COMMON TO AEROPONIC SYSTEMS There are lots of other problems gardeners face, but these ones are particular to aeroponics. Fungus Gnats Curing your aeroponic garden of diseases is very easy. Fungus gnats cannot get very far and are generally not a problem. They can only go a few inches into the rockwool before they meet the nutrient solution, which is no good for them. The standard powders, including diatomaceous earth, also work, so keep your eyes peeled for the evil, little, hopping flies and dust them with death at the first sign.

If you notice that you have more than five in your room, I would definitely run a 1/2% solution of peroxide and no nutrients through for one day to help the plants and kill any gnat larvae that may have made it into the medium. The larvae will also be filtered out by the fine particle spray filter before long. Root Rot Root rot is particularly dangerous in aeroponic systems. It is a fungus that shows up as rust, a black spot and/or a powdery mildew. It might also come as a simple yellowing of the leaves and kill your babies in a short period of time, depending on your response. A sure sign is a browning of the roots, not to be confused with the staining caused by certain nutrient solutions. Another sure sign is black spots on the roots, which accompanies the brown discolouration. Check your roots regularly. There is always a margin of time before your plants will die, which can be increased depending on your knowledge. There are products which can be introduced through either the leaves or roots, both of which are effective. One way to avoid root rot is to inoculate your plants' medium with a predator fungus. These are readily available at well-equipped grow stores. ...can be used to feed 8 tubes with 20 plants each! ...can be used to feed 8 tubes with 20 plants each! Bacterial Wilt This is a weird one. Once you have it, pray and change everything. That sounds radical but so is the problem. Bacterial wilt causes yellowing of leaves and flowers, and a portion of the stem directly below the yellowing will be entirely lifeless, brown and mushy, with a clear viscous goo oozing out of the plant's pores. Wilt is not common, and even in gardening books it is rarely mentioned, yet if environmental conditions are right it can affect your plants. Not enough UV, and air which is too cool, may lead to bacterial wilt. Ultra-Violet light is a natural part of the spectrum and kills bacteria. Water-cooled lights have a tendency to cut out a lot of UV. These cooled lights can be placed really close to plants, delivering lots of light, increasing both growth and resin production while countering the effects of photo and geotropism (the effects which lead to increased internodal spaces). Yet such lights negate the healing effects of both light heat and UV rays. Hopefully wilt never happens to you. If it does, add a UV light or two. They are inexpensive and may give you a better chance at recreating what nature delivers.

Timing is Everything by DJ Short (19 Jun, 2000) Getting your plants to produce fine buds is a simple as night and day. When I first started growing pot in the early 1970's, the relationship between light timing and flowering was virtually unknown by the apprentice grower. Even though High Times began publication in 1974, the concept of 'bud cycle' was not apparent until Ed Rosenthal and Mel Frank published their first works in 1976. Prior to this, many of us simply grew big plants, either outdoors or under some form of artificial light, and just consumed whatever presented itself. Those lucky enough to be able to grow outdoors and all the way into October were blessed with some pleasant surprises. The rest of us often learned the hard way what bunkweed was - a harsh and unpleasant tasting substance that produced little high and plenty of headache. Once Mel and Ed set us straight, our product's quality began to increase. Cannabis needs to properly mature in order to be of value. The young plants will grow with vigor, like a weed. Young cannabis will flourish practically anywhere, under almost any conditions but it takes a special environment, and a specific set of circumstances, in order to properly mature. The key element is the timing of the light cycle. Like humans, plants have two worlds in which they exist: night and day. Day is when it is light and night is when it is dark. A thorough understanding of this simple fact is crucial to more fully understanding the nature of cannabis. Vegetative stage Sprouts, fresh clones and young plants live in what we refer to as the vegetative stage. This period has a long daytime and a short nighttime, like summer. It is during this vegetative stage that the plants send out much new growth. Large shade leaves form and act as sugar factories for the plant, turning sunlight into fiber for new growth. The plant needs to use as much food from the available light as it can, while it can. This is why high nitrogen fertilizers are so beneficial during this period. The nitrogen, coupled with the extra light, acts as building blocks to the overall structure of the plant. As a general rule of thumb, in the indoor garden the average light cycle for the vegetative stage is 18 hours on and 6 hours off. Bud cycle shift At some point in the young plant's development it becomes time to begin the shift to what is called the flowering, or bud, cycle. It is during this period that the plants declare their sex and produce large floral clusters that become the buds. This stage has a shorter daytime and an increased nighttime, such as late summer and fall. The large shade leaves begin to die and fall off as the plant shifts its energy from producing leaves and stem to producing floral clusters. Food from light and nitrogen decreases, and the demand for phosphorous and potassium increases to fuel the process. During the early flower stage the plant will go through what appears to be a growth spurt as the stems stretch to catch the light that, if outdoors, would be coming at a lower angle as the season progressed. The floral clusters sprout from the areas where the leaves attach to the stems, called "nodes." The buds

fill in the nodes and progress out. And, as we all know, it is strictly the female plants that develop into our high quality and most desired sensimilla. Indoors, the typical light cycle used in the bud stage is 12 hours on and 12 hours off. Outdoors, the change in light cycle timing is gradual and slow, a little bit more every day. The transition between the plants' stages is therefore more drawn out and gradual. Indoors, the change in light cycle is usually instant: one day is 18 hours long and the next (and all those to follow) is 12 hours long. Under these indoor conditions the plant is forced to make the shift quickly, which is why the average length of the indoor flowering cycle is eight to nine weeks. This forced flowering has its advantages as the plants are made to finish up quickly, thus aiding production. Oddly enough, plants do most of their fiber production at night, which may help to explain why such small vegetative plants are capable of producing so much bud in such a relatively short period of time. A well formed, six inch tall veggie plant (a plant in the vegetative stage) placed immediately into the bud cycle, is capable of producing an ounce or two of finished product in two short months, given adequate light, food and root space. Nights of total darkness An important thing to remember about the indoor bud cycle is that the dark period must be absolute and uninterrupted. The room must be thoroughly sealed to be completely dark when the lights are off. The only way to test this is to sit in the room in the dark, either during the day or with any lights outside the room on, to check for light leaks. It is advisable to allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness before declaring the room adequately sealed. Once the bud cycle has begun it is important to never interrupt the dark period with any light, even for a short period of time. Doing so may interrupt the long, slow process of change that the plant had been working on up to that point. The plant may react by having to restart the process and seriously delay the scheduled maturation time. I don't understand why it is that outdoor plants are not as sensitive to these nighttime interruptions. Perhaps it has to do with the unmatchable light intensity of the Sun. Stars, the moon and streetlights glowing through the low clouds over an urban area don't seem to hinder the outdoor plant all that much. For whatever reason, indoor plants tend to be ultra-sensitive to nighttime interruptions of light. So remember to make it dark and keep it dark. Sativa variations Another aspect to consider is that Indica and Sativa varieties differ in their photo period expression, or photoreactive rate. The typical 18/6 and 12/12 light cycles are primarily beneficial to Indica varieties. Indica became the herb of choice early on in the industry due to its fast maturation and large production abilities under the HID lights. Indica is a variety from the 30th parallel and above, and this timing cycle is more akin to locations north of the 30th latitude (or south, in the southern hemisphere). Sativa originates from equatorial regions, between 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south. Around the equator there is a much smaller difference between seasonal day lengths. The vegetative stage may be 13 hours of day and 11 hours of night, whereas the flowering cycle may be the opposite, 11 hours of day and 13 hours of night. There are pure Sativa strains that require three to four months to mature in the flowering cycle indoors. And although outdoor equatorial crops take such a long time to mature, it

is often possible in the right areas to produce two to four crops per year, thanks to the tropical environments. It will be interesting to see what specialized grow rooms, developed to provide a wider range of photo periods, would produce. More interesting will be what the wonderful and great outdoors will produce in all of her various environments. Light fortified greenhouses are capable of producing high quality herb just about anywhere on the planet. Once implemented, the global environment will surely reveal interesting and desirable variations, via careful selective breeding. In the meantime, further experimentation and research using different indoor light timing cycles would be very worthwhile.

Harvest Your Herb Harvest3.jpg These buds are near peak maturity. The red hairs are plump and full, make make up between 75% and 90% of the total hairs. By DJ Short. All photos by Barge There are several important points to consider when choosing the optimum time to harvest your cannabis crop. There are different factors to consider between indoor and outdoor plants. There is the difference between Sativas and Indicas in bloom duration and final effect. There is the difference between early and late harvest to encourage head to body high respectively. There is the issue of chemistry because what we are really considering in terms of the "ripeness" relates directly to the chemical nature and state of the plant at harvest. Last, but not least, is the concept of "the window of harvest", where I will begin. The Window of Harvest This term indicates the period during which the plant is at its optimum state of ripeness. The window "opens" when the plant is first ripe. Somewhere along the line the plant becomes over-ripe which signifies the "closing" of the window of harvest. For most Indicas grown indoors, the window of harvest is about two weeks long give or take a couple of days for various strains. Indoors, if going directly from an 18/6 hour vegetative light cycle to a 12/12 hour bud cycle, most indicas take about eight weeks to fully mature. As to outdoors I can only speak from experience at the 45th parallel and the bloom times there. At the 45th parallel I've found most Indicas to be at peak harvest starting at the beginning of October, sometimes very late September, and running until the end of October, sometimes running into November during mild years or in a greenhouse. My favorite time to harvest a nice Blueberry Indica outdoors is in the second to third week of October. For Sativa grown either indoors or outdoors, the window may be open much longer. Some Sativas take up to thirteen weeks to mature indoors. Outdoors many will go well into November and even December, if conditions are right (again, this is near or at the 45th parallel). Harvest6.jpg These buds are near peak maturity. The red hairs are plump and full, make make up between 75% and 90% of the total hairs. Head High or Body Stone? An important consideration has to do with one's preference for a "head" high or more of a "body" high. A good head high can positively influence one's mental state much like a psychedelic; whereas a good body high is more similar to a narcotic effect. Generally, head highs tend to be more up and body highs tend to be more down. Suffice it to say that a good healthy mix of the two is a fine goal to achieve. Sativas and early window harvests tend to be more of a head high, whereas Indicas and late window harvests tend to be more of a body high. Given this rule of thumb you can pretty much come up with what you want. That is, if you prefer a very psychedelic head high, then an early harvested Sativa might do best. If a very narcotic body high is desired, then a late harvest indicas would probably do

best. For that best-of-both worlds high, experimentation with late harvested sativas and early-to-mid harvested indicas usually proves interesting. Magnify your Buds When we speak of various highs experienced by different products, we are noting variations in plant chemistry. The chemicals we enjoy are produced within the glandular stalked trichomes, along the surfaces of the bud flowers (calyxes), bracts, leaves and stems, starting in or around the fourth week of the bud cycle. More and more of these trichomes develop as the plant matures. I highly recommend that the serious cannabis student acquire a 30X power, illuminated magnifier. These can be found at most local electronics stores, often for under fifteen dollars. With the aid of the magnifier one can learn more about the detail of trichome development and ripeness. As far as trichomes are concerned, the tall ones with swollen, clear, bulbous heads are what to shoot for. The denser the concentration, the greater the potency. The Cycle of Plant Maturity Starting in the third or fourth week of the flowering light cycle, glandular stalked trichomes will begin to form along the surfaces of leaves, flowers, bracts and stems. At the same time, more and more flowers (also called calyxes) develop into densely-packed floral clusters. The pistils of the young flowers are bright white and turn reddish brown with age. The pistils and flowers develop from the bottom of the bud to the top. The older, lower pistils are the first to turn reddish brown. For most basic indicas this usually happens by the sixth week in the flowering cycle. It is about this time that the calyxes begin to swell. Calyx swelling is a major indicator of peak maturity. The lowest, oldest calyxes swell first and the swelling works its way up to the highest, youngest flowers on each bud. At peak maturity about 90% of the calyxes will almost look seeded, they are so fat. Three quarters to 90% of the pistils will have turned reddish brown as well. For a basic Indica this takes well into the seventh week of the flowering cycle. By the end of the eighth week most of the calyxes will have swollen and a surge of trichome development has coated most of the buds. It is now that the development of a very discerning palate comes into play to determine the finest harvest time. Remember - patience is a virtue and often a discipline. The ripening signs for most Sativas are highly similar, except extended over a longer period of time. Occasionally, some Sativas have windows of peak harvest that actually open and close. That is, for a week or so the plant may exhibit signs of peak ripeness. However, a week later the plant may have a growth spurt, which lowers the trichome-to-fibre ratio and overall potency for a little while. Usually a fibrous growth spurt is accompanied by a corresponding trichome increase. Again, time and experience are the key elements in this regard. Changes in Chemistry Harvest1.jpg Ready for harvest!

As the plant matures through its window of harvest its chemistry changes. As the window closes, the more desirable compounds begin breaking down into less desirable ones. Primarily it is THC breaking down in CBNs and CBDs. Which particular combination of chemicals is the most desirable is purely a matter of taste and choice, developed over time and with experience. Set and setting also play an important role in determining which type of product is best appreciated. Pleasant head highs are often desirable for social occasions, whereas a narcotic late-window Indica may work better as an evening medicinal herb. The main point is that these differences are chemical in nature and more research is needed to more fully understand this phenomenon. Another important point is that much can be done to further enhance the chemical process, especially in regard to bouquet, aroma and flavour, given the proper curing process (see CC #10). DJ Short is interested in hearing your experiences and questions, especially if have grown or tried the strains Blueberry, Blue Velvet or Flo. I look forward to providing what information I can. Send inquiries to Question DJ c/o Cannabis Canada. finis

Proper curing can exponentially increase the quality and desirability of your harvest. The key word to remember is "slow". moonicon.gif hangingb.jpg Dark & Dry After cutting the plant or branch, hang it upside down in a cool, dry, and most importantly dark place. Light must be avoided from this point on. Leave the larger shade leaves on and they will gently droop and wrap around the plant, protecting the buds. The time to the next step depends on how dry your hanging area is. This requires regular checking to determine when to proceed. When the larger shade leaves become dry and brittle to the touch it is time to gently clip them off. Re-hang the branches in the drying room and regularly check them until the smaller leaves and bud tips become dry and brittle to the touch. It is then time to remove the buds from the branch and remove the rest of the leaf material as best as possible. This is what is referred to as "manicuring". Now you have a few choices as to what to do with your manicured buds. The buds should still be a little wet at this point, especially on the inside, but the outer part of the buds should be starting to feel dry. Some of the buds, the smaller ones in particular, might even be smokable at this point. If you are in a more humid area, or if the buds are still feeling heavy with moisture, you may want to try placing them on a suspended screen for a little while. This will help to hasten the drying process. Once again, regular checking to decide when they are ready for the next stage is crucial. This is also a skill that is developed more with time and experience, so practice! bagicon.gif baggedbu.jpg Brown Bagging It Once the buds are crisp on the outside but still moist on the inside it is time for the next step in the process: the paper bag. I like to use brown paper shopping bags due to their not being bleached, an unwanted chemical. Simply fill a paper bag a few inches deep with the manicured buds. Don't pack the buds down and do not fold the bag too tight. A few small folds at the top of the bag, like a lunch bag, should suffice. If the buds are a tad wet or if humid conditions dominate, you might want to consider cutting a few small holes in the bag, above the level of the buds, for ventilation. As with proper manicuring, regular checking is key. The bags should be gently shaken, ever-socarefully turning the buds, at least once a day. As the buds dry they will naturally compact into the selfpreserving state that we all know and love. It is at this time that the buds can be more compacted together and the bag folded down tighter. They should now be fully smokable, though perhaps still slightly damp at the core.

The entire process, from harvest to these first smokable products, should take anywhere from two to four weeks, depending on your climate. Extremes in climate, such as very arid deserts or tropical humid areas, may take more or less time. There is no substitute for consistent, hands-on checking. jaricon.gif The Final Stage jarbud.jpg A final curing stage, preferred by most connoisseurs, involves sealable jars. The nearly ready buds are transferred from the bag to the jar, packed in very loosely, and the jar is sealed. It is very important in the early jar-stage to check the buds at least once a day. I like to dump them all out of the jar and gently fluff them up at least once a day at first, then less often as time progresses, usually for a week to ten days. It is important to be as gentle as possible so as not to damage too many of the resin glands. After a week or so all I do is simply open the jar and check the buds on a daily basis. Watch for Mold The main thing to watch (and smell) for throughout all of the curing process is mold. Whenever mold is found it must be dealt with immediately. The moldy bud needs to be removed, and the rest of the product needs to be exposed to a drier environment for a while. The simplest solution is to go back one step. For example, if the mold was detected in the jar stage simply put the rest of the product back to the bag stage for awhile (after removing the contaminated product from the batch). If the mold is detected in the bag stage, go back to the screen. The screen is the driest process that I know of. If problems with the mold occur prior to this, a dehumidifier in the drying room may be the answer. Aside from watching and smelling for mold, always remember to keep the product in the dark. finalbud.jpg Ready to go! A bud is completely dry, cured, and ready for sale or consumption when the stem in the middle of the bud snaps when the bud is cracked with the fingers. The snap is easy to detect with practice. It is at this stage that the product can safely be sealed and stored for an indefinite period of time. The longer you can stretch out this process, while also avoiding mold, the better. I like when it takes six to eight weeks from harvest to the finished product. You will be able to detect the fragrance of the product becoming more and more desirable as time progresses. DJ Short welcomes questions and feedback, especially in the cultivation of the Blueberry and Flo varieties. He can be contacted care of Cannabis Canada. finis

On the origins of Blueberry by DJ Short (01 Sept, 1999) A case study on how to go about breeding fine marijuana. Choosing your parents The place for breeding to begin is with choosing the parent plants, called the P1 generation. For best breeding results you use true-breeding stabilized strains as your P1's. Different breeders have different standards as to what qualifies as a P1. I have very high standards for my P1 generation. For me, the P1 must be either a fully acclimated, region-of-origin land-race variety, or no more than one generation removed, and crossed with itself or another highly similar, region-of-origin land-race variety. I used three P1 strains to breed Blueberry, Flo and others. They were the Highland Thai (also called Juicy Fruit Thai, a first-generation Thai seed grown in the Pacific Northwest); a cross called Purple Thai which was a first generation land-race Chocolate Thai crossed once with a first generation landrace Highland Oaxaca Gold; and an Afghani Indica which came to me one generation removed from Afghanistan via the California/Southern Oregon growing community. Juicy Fruit Juicy Fruit The Highland Thai was a joy to grow and behold, despite its hermaphroditism. This plant grew fast, filling in any empty spaces with lush, green growth. It was a very slow finisher, 12 to 16 weeks and beyond in the bud period for most. It had the longest and skinniest leaves out of all the plants I have worked with. Thick side-branching is another characteristic of this variety. The plant only periodically produced any kind of "tight" bud structure. Most of the buds were very loose, with some sporting long, slender shoots of widely-spaced single female flowers in a row (especially when grown hydroponically under halide lights.) This bud structure is known as "spindly". Many of these spindles resemble threads protruding from a semi-formed bud. Each single thread averaged anywhere from five to ten inches long, some even longer, and consisted of a row of evenly-spaced female flowers and their corresponding bract leaves, anywhere from a quarter inch to one inch apart, alternating bract and flower in single file. Thai Thai The entirety of the "thread" and bud structure was coated with sweet/fruity aromatic resin glands. The overall plant color was dark, while the bud structures matured a lighter shade of green, sometimes green/yellow. I was never able to get a Juicy Fruit Highland Thai to "over mature". I took one to almost twenty weeks into its flower cycle and she just kept pumping it out. Outdoors, one was taken in early-mid December from a greenhouse. The only difference was that the later harvest was a more stony, body high. The finished product from the Highland Thai was an all-around champion herb. Though difficult to trim and cure, the outcome was fully worth the effort. It was a powerful, long-lasting and exquisitely flavoured herb with little or no ceiling. The high could last up to seven hours! The flavour, aroma and

taste were a totally sweet tropical punch tutti-fruity all the way. The Purple Thai was the other sativa in my repertoire. This was a first generation cross between the Highland Oaxaca Gold and the Chocolate Thai. This cross grew medium/tall and was very symmetric in structure. The side branches were shorter and, if left alone (untopped) the main stalk (meristem) remained the dominant shoot. Afghani Afghani The entire plant of the Purple Thai was very dark-coloured and would express a deep royal purple colour at the slightest exposure to cold. It did not exhibit any of the spindly bud syndrome of the Juicy Fruit Thai, and the finished buds were a medium and compact sativa type. The finished product was equally as fruity and strong as the Juicy Fruit, also without ceiling. For whatever aesthetic reason, I preferred the Purple Thai to the Juicy Fruit Highland Thai. I believe that the Purple Thai was emotionally kinder or gentler than the Juicy Fruit. At larger doses the Juicy Fruit could evoke quite a terror, especially when combined with psychedelics. Though no less potent, the Purple Thai seemed easier to handle, including when tripping. The Purple Thai was one of the first to show resin gland production in the early bud cycle, at roughly three to four weeks into the cycle. It also matured at 10 to 12 weeks indoor, and early to mid November outdoors. The Afghani Indica plant is short with large, wide leaves, stout and thick-stemmed. It has early to very early maturation, producing large, dense buds that smell earthen to skunk, with a strong smoke that is generally sedative or "down" in effect. Though consistent in its growth and overall effect, its appeal is somewhat limited in my opinion. I believe more indicas should be made into hashish, which is where the finer qualities of the indica appear. Blueberry x Afghani Blueberry x Afghani The sinsemilla Afghani Indica first showed up on the market in 1979. They were huge, green, stinky, sticky, dense buds of potent, pungent herb that smelled like a skunk and produced a narcotic-knockout stone that was tremendously novel, when compared to all the sativas that had come before. This was right after sinsemilla herb hit the market with big appeal. The triad of sinsemilla, indica, and the advent of high powered halide and HPS lights, all wreaked havoc on the breeding programs of most pot-entrepeneurs. Few people maintained their sativa lines, and the strains virtually disappeared from the commercial markets. The short, dense, early-maturing and body-powerful indica has dominated the scene since 1983 a matter of disjointed economics. Such were the three main P1's I used for my breeding lines. Afghani male Afghani male The f1 cross The f1 cross is the first cross between two distinctly different P1 parents. The "f" stands for filial (child). I cannot overstress the importance of the two P1 parents being as genetically different as is possible. It is this initial genetic diversity that leads to the most possibilities in succeeding lines.

If the P1's are sufficiently diverse, then the f1 will be a true hybrid, expressing a near total uniformity and great vigor. It is in the crosses beyond the initial f1 (especially the f1xf1=f2 cross) that specific traits are sought. There will be a tremendous amount of variance in the f2 crosses of f1's obtained from a female pure sativa and a male pure indica. The Blueberry (among others) was discovered and stabilized from an f1 cross between the P1 parents of a female Juicy Fruit Thai or a female Purple Thai and a male Afghani Indica. Thus there were two possible routes to essentially the same finished product. Blue Velvet and Flo seem more accessible via the Purple Thai route, while Blue Moonshine seems more accessible through the Juicy Fruit lineage. That is, there is a higher probability of occurence of the specific traits which I'm seeking, and so they're easier to "find". Oddly enough, the opposite cross (female Afghani indica crossed with pollen from male Thai sativa) was not nearly as interesting. The f1's from this cross were more leafy and less desirable. They were also more hermaphroditic and subsequent breeding revealed them to be less desirable. It has been my observation that in a successful cross, the (usually female) sativa contributes the type of aroma and flavour, while the (usually male) indica contributes the amount of aroma and flavour to the prodigy. So far this observation has proven fruitful. Blue Moonshine Blue Moonshine So the Thai female is pollinated with the Afghani male and an abundance of seed is produced. The seed is uniformly sized and shaped; small, ellipsoid and mottled with dark stripes upon a grayish brown shell. A single female is capable of producing thousands of seed, leaving plenty for experimentation. This is the f1 generation, which I called simply "The Cross". The plants of The Cross grew uniform, medium-tall "spear" structures of many competing sidebranches around one main (meristem) stalk. Large, long buds formed along the branches. There was a wide palate of colours, especially among the Purple Thai cross. The buds were lighter, almost yellow to the centres, wile the outer leaf, bract and calyx tips showed red, purple and blue hues. The maturation rates were uniform as well, with a wide window of harvest being between weeks eight to eleven in the bud cycle, indoors. The finished bud had a very strong "astringent" chemical/terpene aroma that bordered between pine, gin, licorice and paint. Only a very few of The Cross expressed hermaphroditism, about 1 out of every 25 females. Afghani Afghani The f2 cross The f2 is the second filial generation, simply a cross between any two of the f1 stock. With my f2 crosses the outcome was extreme, with almost every characteristic of the cannabis plant being expressed in some of the plants. The diversity was spectacular, both in structure and aesthetics. From sativa to indica, short to tall, dark to light, early to late maturation, wide to narrow leaves, along with an extensive array of flavours, aromas, tastes and highs. The f2 seeds collected were equally diverse, ranging from large to small, plump to slender, striped to solid, round to oval. A grand amount of time, energy and money was spent from this point to isolate and stabilize the desired traits. There is a tremendous amount of work between the f2's and the f4's and f5's. Trial and error is the rule; certain paths prove futile while others bear further examination. On average, there are

about nine errors to each success. Coupled with the difficult clandestine aspects of the trade through the 80's and 90's, it was a difficult task to accomplish. Many sacrifices were endured by my family and friends. It was however, a fun and worthwhile occupation to sample all the research material. It was hard work and dedication to record the findings and attempt to create useful categories and find patterns and traits to specific characteristics. Then there's the wait for the cured sample. If the sample passed "the test" then the plant was kept for further consideration. The most desirable samples were used for further breeding to f3, f4 and f5. The harvested plants, cut above the lowest few nodes, were placed under a vegetative light cycle to stimulate new growth for cloning. Blueberry x NL#5 Blueberry x NL#5 I like to do one backcross somewhere between the f3 and f5 generation. Exactly when, where and how that is done remains a trade secret for now. Another trade secret is the art of selecting the best males for breeding. These topics and others will be covered in future articles. Have phun! Select the best, reject all others Mendelian procedures are fine for sweet peas, but when it comes to herb I much prefer Luther Burbank's philosophy: "Select the best and reject all others!" This simple phrase is worth much consideration. Mendel's work is useful, especially concerning P1 and f1 crosses. But beyond the f2 and f3 cross, Mendel's theories add copius complexity to the equation. Afghani clones Afghani clones Your friend the freezer A benevolent tool in our trade is the refrigerator and freezer. The fridge is extremely useful in extending the longevity of seed and pollen. The trick to successful freezing is to freeze deep (-10 to -40F/-20 to -35C) and then keep the seed undisturbed. Hard frozen objects are very fragile. The slightest shock may shatter crucial, delicate cell structures within the seed. Double wrap the seed in paper; little manilla envelopes work great. I like to do small amounts, in one-time-use packets, to keep waste to a minimum. Then place the wrap into a plastic freezer bag, then place the freezer bag into a plastic tub or tupperware container. Now the seed is ready for the deep-freeze. In the fridge, storing seed in airtight, brown glass jars with a little rice or other non-toxic desiccant seems to work best. I have had pollen last for years in a deep freeze. It must be frozen immediately after fresh collection from the plant, in as low a humidity as possible (preferably 0%). I like to shake the productive male flowers over a flat and clean piece of glass. The pollen pile is sifted to rid the unwanted plant material from the pure powder. It is also useful to cut pollen with flour to stretch the amount. A pollen-to-flour ratio of 1:10 or even

1:100 works best. The cut pollen may then be separated into small, one-time-use amounts, stored in a flap of paper and frozen the same way as the seed. The frozen pollen must be applied to the live female flower immediately after thawing to increase viability. Blue Velvet Blue Velvet The sweet sativa room I recommend the creation of a special "sativa room" for indoor breeding of such strains. This room needs to consider and satisfy the unique needs of the sativa variety. The goal is to replicate the equatorial conditions of the worlds various "sweet spots". Some of these conditions include: a different light cycle than the standard 18/6 vegetative 12/12 bud cycles, a higher angle of light (using a straight track shuttle instead of a circular one), humidity control set on low for the highland and high for the lowland, and variations in soil composition and depth. Light cycle is one of the key considerations for those wishing to breed truly fine quality cannabis indoors under lights. The 18/6 veggie and 12/12 bud cycles are perhaps the main influence towards the indica dominant strains and generic blandness of the indoor commercial product. A true equatorial sativa will require closer to a 13/11 vegetative and a long (four to six month) 11/13 flower cycle. Different variations may be tried, such as 15/9 veggie and 10/14 flowering cycle. Be prepared for much fine tuning. Equatorial strains also experience a higher arch of sunlight than those grown beyond 38 north or south with a sunrise almost due east and sunset nearly due west. Therefore the sativa room will edintense overhead lighting with a straight track mover. Keeping the plant in a stationary position, especially through the bud cycle, may positively influence the outcome of the finished product. As jungle (lowland) herb requires only a thin layer of nutrient soil, perhaps a four-to-eight inch layer of soil over clay or concrete (with some form of drain system) would encourage lateral root growth, stationary plants, and a more lowland sativa-friendly environment. If successful, the sativa-friendly room can be used to acclimate an indoor sativa variety, which expands the possibilities of your breeding operation.

MITES BITE By Breeder Steve of the Spice of Life Seed Company Spider mites bite! You must get rid of them, or at least try to keep their numbers down. They are like little mosquitoes that suck the lifeblood from your plants. Once mites get into your garden, they are nearly impossible to get out. Their persistence is incredible. They breed quickly and can develop resistance to certain sprays. Almost every grower has heard of and used many home remedies, as well as the commercially available alternatives. Prevention The key to a mite-free garden is prevention. Just don't let them in. The problem, as a friend recently pointed out, is that every garden on the West Coast is under siege. The vegetation that surrounds our dwellings supports an everpresent threat of invasion. Having clean clothes and shoes is important, as pests may enter the grow space on you, your friends, and your pets. Bring only clean tools and sterilized growing medium into your growroom. Remember that if you have houseplants they may be supporting a population of mites as well. Ventilation Ventilation fans are essential for healthy plant growth as well as discouraging the mites. A hot growroom with poor ventilation is a breeding ground for mites, especially if the place gets dry. I once saw an attic garden that was full of plants but had no ventilation. The gardener also claimed to be too tired after work to carry water into his attic regularly, so the plants were bone dry and covered with tents. A terrible sight indeed. Vapour barriers and finely screened vents for intake and exhaust fans are essential to avoid sucking in bugs from the outside. The best growrooms are cool, well ventilated rooms. Mite growth slows dramatically at lower temperatures. At higher temperatures they become very active and mobile. A garden started in a frozen climate is safe provided that the mites don't tag along in a bag of compost. Webs & Eggs Spidermites spin webs which facilitate movement among the plant's branches and neighbouring plant's branches for the shortlegged demons. Wipe off any signs of webs immediately and repeatedly. If you have mites you will know it by the very small white dots on top of your leaves. If you look closely underneath the leaf you will see the little white eggs clinging to the underside and most likely the little white or reddish brown spidermites walking around or sucking the sweet juice of your plant, reducing the quantity and quality of your harvest. Predator Mites Once you've got mites bad the best solution is to tear down, clean up, and start again with a renewed interest in prevention. However, if they persist and you shudder at the prospect of starting all over again then you should introduce predator mites. Formally known as Phytoseilus Persimillis, predator mites will eat the evil spidermites and their eggs, given the proper cool temperatures. They may even wipe the mites out entirely and then starve to death themselves. Note that the predators may not be as effective if the mite population is too high

when they are introduced. Spray Solutions Any one of a number of spray solutions may be used to knock down their population to a level where the predators will be able to take over, but wait a few days after spraying before introducing the predators or the residual miticide will also harm them. A new spray is being touted as killing spidermites but not the predator mites. I strongly recommend that you spray nothing on your buds except the mildest home remedies such as a small amount of Listerine and Sunlight dishsoap dissolved in water and sprayed or scrubbed onto the plants. A few cigarette butts soaked in a litre of water, filtered and than sprayed is the favourite miticide of one crazy Dutchman I know. Pokon is the most popular commercially available mite spray on the market today. It is fairly safe in composition and has the advantage of being in a nifty new aerosol can that can be sprayed upside down, very convenient for spraying the bottoms of leaves. The active ingredient is from a natural source and not harmful to humans, but follow the instructions with any pesticide! I say again, do not spray buds! Silicon Dioxide A great natural way to kill the little devils is with Silicone Dioxide, also known as diotomecious earth. It sounds nasty but it is merely fine sand with very sharp edges, mined from fossilized material, ground pumice. Its razorlike edges slice the carapace or shell of the mites' bodies and then they dehydrate. In the stores look for Insecolo, it's a white dust that attracts the bugs, they eat it and then get sliced inside and out. The dust is harmless to plants and animals (ourselves included) but very destructive to small crawling insects such as mites. Sprinkle this on the leaves and the soil, the mites will die a hideous death, and you will rejoice one battle won. Insecticidal Soaps and Sprays Eternal vigilance is the cost of freedom from spidermites. The real key is prevention, as going the extra mile during the construction of the grow room can save a marathon cleanup later, which usually only provides a short term remedy. Wilson's insecticidal soap does a pretty good job at cleaning them up, especially with some elbow grease and a J cloth. Never use systemic pesticides. If in doubt, find out. Pentac or Kelthane are sprays that may be used while the plants are in vegetative cycle. People should not be messing around with Malathion or Diazinon, and in fact it's best to avoid all chemical solutions, even Pokon. Very frightening indeed is the "ultimate mite killer" Avid. This is a dangerous and harmful product, avoid! A new organic spray that is very effective is made from orange oils, it is called SM90. I've heard very good reports about it, and use it myself. Traps & Companions Traps are another possibility, something that they get stuck in, commercial or home made. Although this is only a band aid solution it can't hurt. Put two-sided tape on the walls, ceiling and floor, as well as on stalks, branches and pots. Companion planting is an interesting idea, however I'm not convinced of its effectiveness. I've tried garlic, marigolds, and dusty millers. The mites killed the marigolds in no time, while the dusty

millers lived as did the garlic, but neither thrived as well as the mites. Outdoors Indoors Spider mites are a plague on indoor gardens, while outdoors the elements and naturally occurring predators make them less of a threat. Frequent spraying of water on plants impedes the mites' progress, as do heavy gusts of wind. One grower I know of uses a compressed air blower once a week to blow any mites off of his plants. Plenty of wind is essential in the grow room, so put oscillating fans all over the place. For best results the plants should dance inside just as much as they would dance outside. Remember, growing inside is the art and science of creating nature. You must remember the four basic elements, earth, wind, fire, and water. To grow successfully these elements must be balanced. Too much or too little of any one of these will cause difficulties. A healthy plant, like a healthy person, is less likely to have problems, so make sure it (and you) have a healthy and balanced diet. Of what is up to you. If you have mites try not to spread them. If you don't have mites, take precautions to keep it that way, and thank your lucky stars.

How To Harvest Outdoors by Joe Walsh (19 Sept, 2006) Growing in the bush requires a lot of planning, and here's how to harvest properly When you are growing guerilla jungle style you must be set up to process everything in the forest, only taking out finished product or dried bud ready for manicuring. Harvesting should be straightforward, yet I have seen so many people do it the wrong way, making life harder later on. As one plant can have up to ten larger-sized branches on it, the more the plant is disturbed during harvest, the more damage you do. The very best way is to cut the plants as low to the ground as possible. Many people cut the branches off individually but all that does is increase the amount of work you have to do later. By cutting off the main stems and laying the entire plants on top of each other, you reduce the disruption of the resin heads. Remember, every time you touch your plants, you are losing and damaging the most valuable part: the trichomes!

What I didnt do the first season was build myself a drying shed. As I recounted, that lack of planning was disastrous. When you have a drying shed on-site, you take the heaps of harvested pot inside the shed and hang the plants up by strings or rope. If the plant is big, cut off the top half of it and hang the two parts of the plant separately. You will find the larger branches provide adequate strength to support the weight of the plant. As the drying process almost instantly reduces weight, the plants will break either straight away or not at all.

I made my first drying shed with a timber frame and covered the walls and roof in heavy-duty black builders plastic. In the event of heavy rain the plants were protected, and during the day the sides could be lifted to let the cool breeze reach the plants, drying them as it went. With this method, I could get 50 pounds (22 kg) of dry weight in 14 days. I had to be careful not to pull the plants down too soonact too early and mold can still break out in your buds. Ideally, the pot should be left in total darkness for the whole time of curing, and as cool as possible as heat destroys the THC. The following season I developed a method that for my purposes was perfect. It required money but by that stage I had it. I excavated the earth, creating an underground shed to house a small generator that provided me with ample electricity for my growing compounds communications and lighting (as described and pictured in CC #60). I had to shovel big holes and it was backbreaking work, but being underground muffled the sound of the generator. Its the only way to have a generator operate outdoorsits got to be quiet and stealth. Sound travels in the forest.

I had also brought in a large generator to make the drying shed more efficient. I ran standard 6-inch diameter clothingdryer ducting from the generator shed into the drying shed, with another length of ducting carrying the cool moist air from the drying shed back to the generator so it could pump a constant stream of warm dry air to the harvested plants. The generator had electric lines going to a heap of power outlets that connected industrial fans, inline fans, de-humidifiers and three fluorescent lights controlled by a switch.

With this set-up, hot dry air would be sucked into the drying shed, circulated by the big industrial fans. The de-humidifiers would remove moisture from the shed and then the cool air was sucked back into the generator shed, to repeat the process. With the generator going 24 hours a day only stopping the machine to clear vapor locks from the fuel lines, and to change oil every 12 hoursI could dry 50 pounds in three days, single-handedly drying the entire crop (about 300 pounds dry, which started at around 3,000 pounds of wet bud) without any help at all. When it was time to carry out the finished product, I put the buds into chaff bags, tied the tops, and then wrapped them in industrial cling wrap. They could be stored like this for weeks or months. I found that leaving them in the bags for a few weeks tended to make the quality a little better.

What I would do with my next crop is process the shakeas I had had over 2,000 pounds of itwith the 20-gallon Bubblebag ice-cold extraction system. I have seen this at work on-site in the Canadian outback, and although the plant material was fresh (its better to be dry for the Bubblebags), it is still a very efficient and very flexible method for fresh-cut trim. Pot damaged by mold is redeemed in some small way when put in the ice-cold extraction bags, because mold is rendered harmless and is separated from the trichomes through this method. I used to be very partial to making extracted THC oil using solvents, but the ice cold water extraction method is so convenient, fast, safe and clean as to be unbeatable, and the product is very quickly turned over as the demand for bubble-hash is great, and supplies are always scarce.

I learned from my first season growing in the bush that there are huge losses involved in poor planning. I was able to stay anonymous, and successful, within the bush for the second season even though it

often rained heavily in the final weeks. Learn from my experiences and next season you can do as I did, scaling harvesting requirements to your ability, and curing your cannabis to a perfect smoke.

How To Make Weed Oil Without Blowing Yourself Up by Matt Mernagh (19 Sept, 2006) A few examples of what can go wrong, and what to do right When making cannabis oil or extractions, you MUST approach with caution. If youre slightly careless with measurements, have difficulty following directions, are easily confused about explosive chemicals, and/or occasionally leave the Volcano vaporizer on until the balloon is about to burst, DO NOT MAKE MARIJUANA EXTRACTS! Controlling solvents, heat, and a hazardous environment requires attentiveness. There are many ways to mess up! The original reefer revolutionaries of cannabis extraction were scientists, such as those employed by Eli Lily and Parke-Davis Company up to 1938, that attended university chemistry classes during the day and studied cannabis at night. Eli Lily and Parke-Davis jointly ran a farming co-operative in Rochester, Michigan with plants known as Cannabis Americana, used for medicinal extracts from 1913 to 1938. Eli Lily supplied the Office of Strategic Services (now the Central Intelligence Agency) with potent marijuana oil created as a truth drug for interrogation purposes. The LaGuardia Mayors Committee provided cannabis extracts to New York City prisons in the 1930s and 40s; red oil concentrates were used along with marijuana to get the prisoners to talk about crimes or provide information they had not yet confessed. (LaGuardia report) Medicinal cannabis extracts disappeared from store shelves in 1937, and recreational use of cannabis was unusual outside of jazz clubs and working-class black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Cannabis extracts revived in the 1970s facilitated by High Times Magazine, which, by 1977, was printing almost a million copies. Early oilmaking technology like the ISO2 extractor were massproduced, advertised in High Times, and sold extensively. The invention of the Internet accelerated the exchange of oil-making ideas, but since the heyday of THC extraction in the 1970s, much inadequate and misguided information has circulated. Consequently, there have been hundreds of weed-oil explosions throughout North America over the last 30 years, resulting in completely blown-up houses, partial neighborhood blocks going up in flames, severe physical burns, life-threatening injuries, and even death which are all tragedies used as arguments by prohibitionists against marijuana use in general. I found it impossible to locate a cannabis alchemist who isnt sporting burn scars or fondly recalling the time so-and-so went up in flames. Every cannabis chemist we spoke to has an explosion story. The extraction-makers we profile in this article are all smart stoners, yet Puff Mama, Brian, and Chris Goodwin all faced serious cannabis catastrophe. When making extractions, the objective is to get really highsafely. You must be ultra-careful when making oil with solvents. For example, an old friend of mine was making oil outside with butane. The process had been completed, but the gear hadnt been put away. Fans still blew behind him as he checked out the end product. Stepping slightly back from the table, he lit a joint and BOOM! The spark ignited fumes in the air and nearly blew him apart. He had been standing in the fans air path and assumed he was safe. Never assume! Up In Smoke Cafe proprietor Chris Goodster Goodwin is a honey oil head. After smoking a doobie with his friend one night and eating Pringles potato chips in the parents basement, the duo decided to make honey oil. Goodster was getting the very last drop of the honey oil from the Pringles canwhich they unwisely used to contain the butane and plant matter when it jarred on a metal table and created a spark. It would have been fine if the bottom of the Pringles can wasnt metal

too, Goodster says. The base sparked on the table and the thing just went WHOOOSH, the sound Goodster uses to describe the flaming experience of honey oil going off in his face. Naturally, I dropped the can, but it went WHOOSH again! Luckily, they managed to put out the fire. Had Goodster gone to science class a few more times he might have learned better safety precautions and obtained the necessary glassware required to contain the volatile oilmaking mix of plant matter and butane! If youre serious about making honey oil, invest money into ordering proper lab equipment online or from a science retailer. How to Make Oil The cannabis chemist is seeking to obtain the purest THC content for their oil while also providing a sweet taste to their product. Eliminating solvents just perfectly, without setting oneself on fire, is a critical part of the process. You will need a SAFE heat source to make oil. Use a lava lamp stand, a coffee machine base, or something else that creates heat with NO open flame (this is VERY important). The ISO2 was a fairly safe extracting device with a light bulb under the base connected to a dimmer switch, similar to a lava lamp. Alcohol (99.7% isopropyl) was placed in the basin of the metal container and heated by the bulb underneath. Suspended above the alcohol was a halforb mesh strainer filled with marijuana. When alcohol is heated it turns into a vapor and rises, so in the ISO2 the vapor melted the resin, which then dropped into the alcohol. The vapors came out of a twelveinch tower of carbon, inert and odorless. After 30 to 60 minutes all the resin was transferred to the remaining alcohol in the basin, and then the alcohol evaporated into the air or was heated gently until only the THC oil remained. When youre planning to make weed oil with isopropyl alcohol (99.7%), obtain three glass beakers or bowls, some mesh screen that is NOT made of metal (once again, this is VERY important!), and packing tapenot duct tape. Set up somewhere with ample ventilation and more than one exit. It is HIGHLY recommended that you always make oil OUTSIDE! When alcohol or gas is heated, it creates fumes that can ignite an explosion with even the smallest spark or flame. Fumes can also cut off the flow of oxygen to the brain, which can result in the chemist pass-ing out onto their lab equipment so make sure you wear a gas mask, which are widely available these days. Many cannabis cookers work with two fans behind them to keep fumes going downwind, even outdoors. All cannabis cooking, like moonshining, should be done far away from other people so if something goes wrong youre the only one to suffer the consequences. In your chosen well-ventilated spot, fill one piece of glassware with plant matter and secure the mesh screen over the top with packing tape. Slowly pour isopropyl alcohol up to a level slightly above the top of the trimmings, and gently shake the container to coat the marijuana with alcohol. Pour the liquid through the screen into a second piece of glassware; because THC resin is heavier than alcohol or butane gas (which is also used to make oilwell go over that soon) it will sink to the bottom of the new glass container. Pour the liquid into a new container and back into another, until the color of the liquid begins to change to amber. Then place it on your heat source, stirring as the alcohol slowly evaporates. As this happens, the resins take on a dark brown color characteristic of hash oil. Allow for a complete evaporation of solvents before harvesting your oil from the container. The runnier or greener the oil is, the poorer the quality. To make oil with butane, you use the same sort of process. Fill a tube or hose-like container with trim or bud, and attach a non-metal screen to the bottom with packing tape. Position the tube in or above a large glass container, and very carefully pour the butane down the tube. As it runs through the

trimmings, resin glands are dissolved along the way and carried out with the butane. Take the bowl and repour it through the tube into another container, and repeat the process until the residue begins to take on a deep amber color. Then follow the same heating and evaporation process as isopropyl, and what remains will be sweet honey oil! Mr. Cookies Misfortune Brian is a great chef who knows how to cook up a storm. He also has a respectable ten years experience in the oil business, but unfortunately that ended one fateful day in 2005. While making oil, which he did often, the flammable substance he was evaporating suddenly went one degree too hot and BOOM! The oil burst into flames and he threw the pot from the stove, but his hands became a fireball that quickly covered his entire body. His burns and injuries were so life threatening he was flown 150 miles to a Hamilton, Ontario hospital where he spent weeks in intensive care. Upon his release, his hands were a peelingbandaged- horror-moviemess and he is permanently physically scarred by his fiery experience. With cannabis use and tender loving care, one year later Brian is healthy and looks scar-free. After his recovery, he turned his personal tragedy into opportunity by becoming a super-chef supplier of baked goods: Mr. Cookie. You can experience delicious treats from Mr. Cookie at Clandestiny, 768 Queen Street East in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Puff Mamas Burning Down The House CannaButter Puff Mama is another talented cannabis chef. She has a pro kitchen with two stoves, two fridges, an air conditioner, fans, and stainless steel pots and pans, ala Emeril or The Iron Chef. Her new store Clandestiny is a hemp-friendly location with plenty of treats. Shes also a pot professional with a disastrous cannabiscooking story of her own to tell. Puff Mama decided to go out and have sushi with her mom while a batch of cannabutter slowly simmered in a pot on the stove. She knew it was safe to turn the stove heat down to LOW and leave for a bit. Unfortunately, when she came home from a pleasant meal she found her home on fire. She realized that when she ran out the door to see her mom, she accidentally turned the stove on HIGH! The Toronto Fire Department had arrived to put out the fire, then the Toronto Police showed up and cleaned out the contents of her fridges, wondering, how does she get pot into muffins and chocolate? Because of a simple mistake, her kitchen was ruined and she was charged for possession. But being a weed wizard indeed, Puff also turned her tragedy into a marijuana opportunity by hosting an extravagant fundraising effort to pay her kitchen replacement and legal bills. Since then shes opened Clandestiny and offers baked goods for sale (see her ad at the beginning of the magazine). Here Puff Mama shares her recipe for cannabutter, which can be used in any food preparation (and this, Toronto Police, is how pot gets in chocolate!) All cannabis used for cooking should be fully dried and free of mold, spider mites, chemicals and/or debris. It should be ground up to crumbs, but not dust. Of course, Puff Mama reminds everyone to make sure you watch the heat! CannaButter Ingredients: 1 lb unsalted butter dried cannabis (see * below) 4 - 5 L water

 1 large stockpot a 2nd pot or large bowl a colander (spaghetti strainer) that will fit in the 2nd pot or bowl a large piece of cheesecloth a big spoon and potato masher * If you have: Stems, seeds, leaves Mild potency use: 225 grams Strong potency use: 450 g Mostly leaves, some stems Mild: 120 g Strong: 250 g Leaves, trim from buds Mild: 28 g Strong: 56 g Regular cannabis buds Mild: 14 g Strong: 28 g Powerful cannabis or hash Mild: 7 g Strong: 14 g Directions: 1) Place butter, cannabis, and water in a large stockpot, put the pot on a large element on the lowest setting possible. 2) Simmer for 6 - 8 hours. Stir every 1/2 hour. 3) When you are ready to strain, put the colander over the second pot or bowl. Line it with a large piece of cheesecloth. Using the spoon, slowly pour the brew into the cheesecloth. Dont let the sides fall in. 4) Wrap the mixture tight and squeeze every last drop of juice out. The butter will want to cling between the leaves. Use the potato masher against the colander to squeeze out the precious juices. 5) Throw out the contents of the cheesecloth, then refrigerate the liquid in the pot. The butter and water will separate, and all the THC is in the butter. You can dump the water and store the butter in the fridge. If you dont plan to use it within a week, freeze it, as butter will go bad. Canna-Rum or Cooking Brandy A mint julip packs a bit more punch if you replace the mint with bud; and a steak will go nicely with cannabis brandy sauce! Mixing store-bought alcohol with bud is rather easy. Rum, rye, vodka, brandy, whisky, Irish creamwhatever you like, itll safely dissolve THC from cannabis over several days. Tequila is an excellent alcohol for absorbing THC, and if you leave it for up to three months, you get a

very powerful and smooth drink. To make canna-liquor, you need to get about ten to fifteen very dry, well-cured smaller buds into a bottle of booze. Purchase all the ingredients for your desired drink and obtain about 1/4 to a half ounce of primo bud. If possible, just drop the buds right down the neck of the bottle, trying to avoid disturbing the resin glands. Trim to fit if need be! Shakedo not stirthe bottle every day once the bud is inside; this will transfer the THC into the alcohol. The longer the cannabis is in the liquor, the more it will break down and release its many valuable cannabinoids. Sativex and Cannabis Sprays The Canadian medical marijuana movement has many clubs producing their own medical sprays. Though patients have the option of getting a Sativex prescription, ganja generic knocks-offs from Compassion Clubs taste, medicate, and mist better. G.W. Pharmaceuticals, the makers of Sativex prescription cannabis spray, is the only corporation in the world permitted to legally grow voluminous amounts of cannabis, bust down and stabilize the molecular structure, and sell it. (Though the cannabis community showed some astonishment regarding the uniformity of Sativex, the historical information available suggests that cannabis spray uniformity has been around since the turn of the century.) The unfair advantage goes to G.W. Pharmaceuticals because they produce Sativex in legal environs while compassionate chemists in Ontario, British Columbia, California, Oregon, and other med-pot jurisdictions are doing so without permits. With government licenses, people could be perfecting cannabis sprays for the benefit of the ill, at affordable prices too. Sativex is the only pharmaceutical spray on the market using whole cannabis resin extract, but one spray can costs $125 in Canada (the only market where it is prescribed legally). Several Compassion Clubs began canna-spray research using Jamaican 150-proof rum to dissolve the plant trimmings. Unfortunately, that alcohol was neither a suitable medicinal binding agent nor strong enough for med pot patients. Most compassion clubs now use medical or food-grade alcohol to make their tinctures and mists. The Sacrificial Tinctures of G-13 Located in the hippie enclave of Torontos Beaches neighborhood, The G -13 Church of the Universe produces the finest religious tinctures while fighting The Man, ala Romans versus Catholics. This reefer religion strongholds tinctures are so powerful that only a few members opt to use them. And theyre not doing so for medical reasons: this tincture is for Spiritual Exploration, as those who down a whole tincture are known to trance out into a lucid commune-with- God state. Reverend Peter of the G-13 Church of the Universe says, What you want is an euphoric state. And its no secret were following Ed Rosenthals recipes, but we use only the finest of bud. If you put shit in, you get shit out, and thats why we dont use leaf. The bud creates a more lucid state, which is what the five per cent of people who use the tinctures are looking for. Clearly not intended for newbies, or those just seeking a good nights sleep! However, the tinctures can also be mixed into summer drinks. You can use them anyway you like, he explains of the sacrificial substance. Just yesterday, we had a lovely summer drink using the tincture with lemons. The local liquor outlet sells 95- proof food-grade alcohol to the Church for their tinctures. G-13 prefers food-grade alcohol to break down their product versus 150-proof rum, and to experience the entire spiritual aspects of the cannabis plant, they allow several days of extraction and/or cooking. Reverend Peter says the Church is really

getting famous for its extra-virgin olive oil. We cook it for five days, then we can use it for making chocolates, bhangs and some people even put it in their coffee. Just dump some oil in; its really very good. Theres no secret here, he concludes. Just always use great bud.