Marijuana Grower's Handbook
Page 9
SOCAL SEED CO.
FIRE HEADBAND
Fire Diesel x VGH OG; Indica/Sativa: 50/50; Flowering: 9-10 weeks; High: even/body High, intense; Smell/Taste: pungent, sour.
SOCAL SEED CO.
PURE E-32 (IX6 BX3)
e-32 Trainwreck x AToA Trainwreck (e-32 IX6 BX2); Indica/Sativa: 20/80; Flowering: 10-12 weeks; High: active, electric; Smell/Taste: foresty, pine.
SOCAL SEED CO.
PURPLE SUICIDE
BOG Sour Bubble x Elite Genetics Twisted Purple OGK; Indica/Sativa: 70/30; Flowering: 8-9 weeks; High: couchlock, eyedroop, stoney; Smell/Taste: herbal, musky, sweet.
SOCAL SEED CO.
SOCAL DAWG
ChemD Clone x ChemD Male; Indica/Sativa: 40/60; Flowering: 8-10 weeks; High: heady, mellow, social; Smell/Taste: Chemdawg, fuel, pungent.
SOCAL SEED CO.
SOCAL GIESEL
Massachusetts Super Skunk x ChemD Male; Indica/Sativa: 45/55; Sativa; Flowering: 8-10 weeks; High: heady, mellow, social; Smell/Taste: musky, pungent, skunk.
SOCAL SEED CO.
SOCAL ORIGINAL DIESEL
Original Diesel x ChemD Male; Indica/Sativa: 70/30; Flowering: 10 weeks; High: body relaxing, heady, stoney; Smell/Taste: fuel, pungent, sweet.
SOCAL SEED CO.
SOCAL WHITE LIGHTENING
The White x ChemD Male; Indica/Sativa: 80/20; Flowering: 8-9 weeks; High: stoney; Smell/Taste: earthy, pungent, woodsy.
SOCAL SEED CO.
TRIPLE PLATINUM
Double Platinum x ChemD Male; Indica/Sativa: 75/25; Flowering: 9-10 weeks; High: functional, sedative, stoney; Smell/Taste: earthy, musky, pungent
SOCAL SEED CO.
VGH OG
Tahoe OG x ChemD Male; Indica/Sativa: 60/40; Flowering: 8-10 weeks; High: eyedroop, heady, stoney; Smell/Taste: banana pheno, fuel, pungent.
SOMA SEEDS
NY CITY DIESEL
Sour Diesel x Afghani-Hawaiian, Indica/Sativa: 40/60; Flowering: 70 days; early Nov. outdoors; High: uplifting, creative, smooth; Smell/Taste: ruby grapefruit.
TGA SEEDS
SPACE BOMB
Romulan x Cindy 99, Indica/Sativa: 40/60; Flowering: 45-55 days; High: up, motivating, happy, pain relief; Smell/Taste: sour candy, fruity, also semi-rotting.
PART I QUICK POINTS: MARIJUANA THE PLANT
CANNABIS
Since humans discovered its properties cannabis has been bred intensively to optimize particular characteristics.
Though all cannabis plants are of the same species, the varieties typically cultivated for their seeds or fiber are known as hemp. Plants grown for their THC content are commonly called marijuana. Cannabis resin contains the group of substances collectively known as cannabinoids, of which tetrahydrocannabinol, usually referred to as THC, is the chief psychoactive component.
Marijuana varieties differ in many ways, including growth characteristics such as height, width, branching traits, leaf size and shape, flowering time to yield, as well as potency, taste, type of high, and aroma. In choosing a variety, you should select for both the quality of the high and the conditions in which you are growing. Cannabis is the only dioecious annual—that is, each plant is distinctively either male or female—though some individual plants may be or become hermaphrodites, producing both male and female flowers.
In nature, marijuana is a fast growing annual plant, although some varieties in warm areas over-winter, or go dormant as the days shorten and return to flowering the next summer. When grown outdoors, marijuana has an annual cycle that begins with germination in the early spring. The plant grows vigorously for several months as the days lengthen and begins to flower when it reaches a critical time period in late summer or early fall. When growing indoors and in greenhouses, the cultivator has complete control of the environment.
Most aromas we associate with plants are the result of terpenes. Terpenes are major components of marijuana resin as well as make up the largest percentage of aromatic oils contained in most plants. Many plants, including marijuana, are used in different forms of therapy including but not limited to pain management, moods, and aromatherapy. While terpenes affect the brain in their own way, they also modify the effect of THC within the brain, adding subtleties to the high. Age, maturation, and the time of day can affect the amount, and perhaps ratios, of terpenes.
Things to Know
•The three most common uses of cannabis are as a food, a fiber, and a resinous flower. Cannabis seeds are rich in oil and protein and are used as a food and animal feed, as well as a source of oil or fuel and skin care products. Cannabis fiber, produced from the stalk of the plant is used to make tough cloth, paper, and rope. The flowers and the resin that coats them are used therapeutically and recreationally.
•Plants are rooted into the ground and are immobile. They have evolved protection mechanisms such as the production of terpenes. Plants produce terpenes for one of three reasons; to attract pollinators, to repel or kill herbivores, and to attract predators of herbivores.
VARIETIES
Marijuana has been developed from two potent sub-species or varieties: indica and sativa. Most marijuana plants today fall between the two ends.
Indicas, which include kush varieties (sometimes called Afghan), generally mature early, have compact short branches and wide, short leaves which are dark green, sometimes tinged purple. Their buds are usually tight, heavy, wide, and thick rather than long. They smell “stinky”, “skunky”, or “pungent,” and their smoke is thick—a small toke can induce coughing.
Sativas require a long time to mature because they originated in areas that have a long season. They are usually very potent, containing large quantities of THC. The highs they produce are described in such terms as psychedelic, dreamy, spacey, and creative. The buds usually smell sweet or tangy and the smoke is smooth, sometimes deceptively so.
Ruderalis is a wild or feral variety of auto-flowering marijuana, which does not wait for shorter days to begin budding. A few weeks after germination, the plants begin to produce flowers while continuing to grow.
Feminized seeds are now the standard for most seed companies, these are seeds that have been treated to produce only female plants and are an ideal choice for marijuana cultivation. The qualities of the useable marijuana produced by feminized seed plants—its taste, flavor, and potency—is better than buds produced by either regular seed plants or clones. However, some varieties are clone only, which means they are reproduced by rooting cuttings of one particular unique plant and propagating them.
Things to Know
•The best way to choose which variety to grow is to start by evaluating the environment you will be growing it in. Are their height or security restrictions? The second factor in determining which variety to choose is your personal preference: what type of high, taste and aroma you desire?
•Seed banks carry a large variety of strains from many excellent breeders. Seedsman is offering Marijuana Grower’s Handbook readers a 10% discount when you enter the following code at checkout:
EDROSENTHAL
www.seedsman.com
MARIJUANA PLANT LIFE CYCLE
Within minutes of coming in contact with water, the marijuana seed reacts. Inside the seed shell, a tiny embryo that has been in a state of suspended animation begins to produce a set of three chemicals that induce growth: auxin, cytokinin, and gibberellin. Auxin is found in the growing tips of both the roots and the stem. It directs orderly new growth and develops the shape of the plant by inhibiting growth of the lower branches. Cytokinins promote lateral growth and cell division. Gibberellin directs stem and leaf growth. Together, these plant chemicals induce germination.
Left: Mature seeds are dark tan to dark brown. Light tan, green or broken seeds are not viable. Center: Seedling with the cotyledons (embryonic leaves), and first set of true leaves. Right: Seedlings transplanted to 3-gallon (13 l) containers using a coir medium.
Within a short time—typically one to five days, depending on temperatur
e and the seed’s age—the root tip breaks through the surface of the seed shell. The root continues to grow and absorb water, but it still depends on the nutrients packed in the seed with the embryo.
Then from the other end of the soon-to-be main stem, a pair of embryonic leaves (cotyledons) emerge. Sensing gravity, the plant orients itself so the roots point down and the leaves grow upward. Once the initial shoot emerges from the growing medium, plant growth follows the source of light. The cotyledons unfold and spread out to face the light, sometimes with pieces of the cracked seed shell still attached to them. The cotylydons immediately start producing sugars using the process of photosynthesis.
Seedlings grow fast with proper nurturing. Seedlings started in peat pots are transplanted, pot and all. Roots quickly grow through the fiber. After three weeks the plants are ready to transplant.
The roots continue to gather water and nutrients as they grow farther into the planting medium. They send the water and nutrient solution to the leaves, which the leaves convert to sugar to ship to the roots. The top-most new growth, known as the apical meristem, emerges from between the cotyledons where it was hidden and grows more prominent. It soon becomes apparent that another pair of leaves, the first true pair, is emerging. Within a few days, the leaves have unfolded and reached their full size, while a new set of leaves emerge from the growing tip. The second pair typically consists of three-bladed leaves. The following pair may be five-bladed.
As the plant continues to produce new leaves from its apical meristem, branches begin to grow at the nodes, the site where the stem meets the leaf petiole, the small stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem. These branches continue to grow as new ones appear further up the stem. Then new branches may appear on the nodes of the side (lateral) branches. Left untrimmed, plants take one of several characteristic shapes, ranging from Christmas or fir tree to bushy or single stem with little branching, or even an asymmetrical shape.
The plant continues to grow vegetatively—that is, it grows a main stem, branches, and leaves, but no flowers—until it receives environmental cues. Shortening light periods prompt it to respond by beginning to flower.
FLOWERING
Cannabis is considered a short-day plant that flowers in the fall. It regulates its growth and flowering stages by measuring the hours of uninterrupted darkness to determine when to flower. The plant produces a hormone called phytochrome (Pr) beginning at germination. The red spectrum of light, which is found in both daylight and lamp light, turns the chemical Pr to its inactive form, Pfr.
Under long dark periods, in the absence of red light, Pr builds to a critical level. During the late spring and early summer, there are significantly more hours of outdoor light than darkness, and Pr does not build up to a critical level.
FLOWERING WEEK BY WEEK
Within three or four days of initiation to a daily dark period of 10-11 hours, marijuana changes its growth pattern from vegetative to flowering. After that it is on a course that ends with bud ripening. Most modern plants take seven to nine weeks, although some sativas take longer. The plants shown here were all ready within eight weeks.
WEEK 1: The plant slows down its growth.
WEEK 2: The first flowers appear at the nodes.
WEEK 3: Vegetative growth continues as the plant grows a total of between 25–50% larger than when flowering started.
WEEK 4: Vegetative growth has ended and the plants concentrate more of their energy into flowering. Odor becomes more noticeable as the plants start to produce capitate trichomes.
WEEK 5: Flower growth proliferates quickly. The flowers become thicker in areas where they have previously grown and they appear in new places along the top of the branch. The odor increases as more trichomes are noticeable and the odor intensifies a little.
WEEK 6: Flower growth continues in varieties that take longer to mature. It slows and then stops in seven-week varieties as the plants begin to ripen. The calyx behind the stigmas begins to swell. The odors of the seven-week varieties intensify.
WEEK 7: The calyxes in the seven-week varieties swell to near bursting as THC is produced in the glands. At the end of the week they will be ready. The trichomes stand more erect and the caps swell with newly produced resin. At the end of the week the flowers reach the peak zone. The odor is intense and the glands, filled with resin, fluoresce. Growth stops in the eight-week varieties as the flowers start to mature.
WEEK 8: The flowers are ripe by the end of the week, and reach the peak zone in the last 72 hours. After that, they will start to deteriorate if they aren’t harvested.
FLOWERING WEEK BY WEEK—F13
Photos: Rachael Szmajda, Courtesy: Harborside Health Center
FLOWERING WEEK BY WEEK—PURPLE DIESEL
Photos: Rachael Szmajda, Courtesy: Harborside Health Center
FLOWERING WEEK BY WEEK—CHEM’S SISTER
Photos: Rachael Szmajda, Courtesy: Harborside Health Center
However, as the days grow shorter and there are longer periods of uninterrupted darkness during late summer, Pr reaches a critical level each evening. When this happens for about five days, the plants transition from vegetative growth to flowering. Pr is changed back to its inactive state in the presence of even a few moments of light, which is why uninterrupted darkness is so important to flowering.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the days get shorter after June 22. When the dark period reaches between 9 and 11 hours—usually in late July or August depending on latitude—the critical time period is reached. This triggers the plant to start flowering, rather than continue to grow vegetatively.
Indoors, the gardener controls flowering time by regulating the light cycle. While the plant is growing under continuous light or a long-day regimen of a minimum of 18 hours, plants continue to grow vegetatively, producing only leaves, stems, and roots, bu no flowers. When the light cycle is turned down to 12 hours on and 12 hours off, Pr reaches a critical level each dark period, and the plant is triggered to flower.
Watching a plant grow from a vegetative state to flowering is a surreal experience. Indoors, during the long-light period of vegetative growth, the plants have lightly filled the canopy, with their leaves barely touching. Then, when the light period is changed to a flowering regimen, the plants receive a daily long uninterrupted dark period. After about five days, vegetative growth slows or stops. Now the plants concentrate their energy on producing reproductive organs: flowers. During the second week, the first flowers appear along the nodes. During the third week, the number of flowers increases, and the area that they cover increases as well.
Flowering and ripening times differ by variety. Thanks to careful breeding, modern varieties grow far faster and ripen more quickly than their predecessors. Buds typically grow and ripen in six to ten weeks. The growth trajectory of the bud after the third week of flowering depends on how long the variety takes to mature. Two or three weeks before maturity, the bud starts its descent into ripening. While it continues to grow and fill out, the stigmas—small protrusions of the female flower that it uses to pollinate—turn brown.
The trichomes—where cannabinoids and terpenes are produced and stored—become more prominent. The trichomes stand erect from the plant tissue, and each has a cap that looks something like a mushroom head. As the bud matures, the trichomes continue to fill with THC and terpenes until the cap on top of the gland is so full that the oil-filled membrane looks like a balloon about to burst.
At maturity, trichomes cover the whole reproductive area. They fluoresce and sparkle when light shines on them, creating an appearance of white crystals. The stigmas have all turned brown. In most varieties, the ovary, where the seed would grow if the flower had been fertilized, swells in a sort of false pregnancy. The entire bud seems to vibrate.
The smell of the plant also changes. During the vegetative stage, the plant has some odor. As the bud grows, the odor remains the same, but its intensity increases dramatically. As the bud matures, its odor becomes more pungent and
pervasive. At maturity, the smell can become overpowering, seeping through plastic bags and contaminating entire structures. Of course, this doesn’t happen with all varieties, and lighting affects the intensity of the aroma, too.
One of the factors indoor marijuana breeders select for is fast finishing, meaning flowering happens quickly. The gene for this is linked to the critical number of hours of darkness a plant needs in order to switch from vegetative growth to flowering. The faster the variety, the fewer hours of darkness it requires to flower.
Indoors, the plants’ growth stage is regulated with the flick of a switch. Nevertheless, the plants respond to the artificial light cycle in the same way that they do to the natural seasonal cycles. If you become familiar with the critical time period of the variety in mono-crop gardens (those with a single variety) or that of the slowest-ripening variety of a garden containing several strains, you can increase the light period closer to the critical time period. The more light the better, so long as the plant still flowers strongly.
The potency of marijuana is based on, for the most part, first its genetics and then the maturity of the bud. The plant’s age has no bearing on potency. Mature flowers of genetically identical three-month and six-month-old plants have the same potency.