Growing Your Own
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[edit] Grow Your Own
Pot is a weed and as such grows in all climates under every kind of soil condition. We have seen acres and acres of grass growing in Kansas, Iowa and New Jersey in the 60's. If you're not located next door to a large pot field growing in the wild, maybe you would have some success in growing your own. It's well worth it to try your potluck!
[edit] Seeding
The first thing is to start with a bunch of good-quality seeds from grass that you really dig. Select darkest hardest seeds and place them in a folded paper towel and wet this lightly(should be wet but not dripping). A great way to see if the seed is fertile is to squeeze it between your thumb and finger, if it doesn't break it should be good. . Put the towel into a ziplock bag and place this in a warm light place for about a week or until a sprout about a half inch long appears from most of the seeds.
During this incubation period, you can prepare the seedling bed. Use a small six pack planter and potting soil. if you have more plants use more planters. Do not fertilize at this point you're plants are too young and the fertilizer can burn them. The soil already has enough to last the plant quite some time.
[edit] Nursery
When the seeds sprout poke holes in the soil deep enough so that the whole sprout is just covered put them in the soil root down (the white thing), water after planting.
The seedlings should remain in their boxes in a sunny window until about mid-May. They should receive enough water during this period to keep the soil moist (about every two days). By the time they are ready to go into the ground, the green plants should be about six to eight inches tall.
[edit] Outdoor Planting
If it is late winter or early spring and you have a plot of land that gets enough sun and is sheltered from nosy neighbors, you should definitely grow grass in the great outdoors.
Prepare the land the way you would for any garden vegetable. Dig up the ground with a pitchfork or heavy duty rake, removing rocks. Rake the plot level and dig holes in the soil a little deeper than the soil height of your plants they should be about 6 feet apart. Remove the young plants from the other pot, be careful not to damage the roots and keeping as much soil intact as possible. its good to lightly massage the roots lightly to encourage outward growth. Transplant each plant into one of the holes and fill the hole with dirt. When all the plants are in the ground, water the entire area. Tend them the way you would any other garden. They should reach a height of about six feet by the end of the summer and be ready to harvest.
[edit] Camouflage
One idea is to plant sunflowers or corn in your garden as these grow taller than the pot plants and camouflage them from view. The best idea is to find some little-used field and plant a section of it. Be aware that the DEA uses military aircraft and satellites tuned to the infrared reflection of a marijuana plants to detect pot plants and computers to help analyze the photos, so a pot field wide open to the sky is in definite danger for raids.
[edit] Pinching
Pinching is a simple process that involves pinching off terminal bud(where the youngest leaves are forming) to encourage the lateral buds to grow(you get two top buds instead of one). When these form you can pinch them again splitting them into four and so on. This will make your plant thicker as opposed to tall and will increase your harvest. You can start pinching when your plant is on its third or fourth set of leaves, however pinching your plant too often can stunt its growth. Use common sense, pinch, let it grow out a bit then pinch again.
[edit] Indoor Gardening
If you don't have access to a field, you can grow good stuff right in your own closet or garage using artificial lighting. Transplant the plants into larger wooden boxes or flower boxes. Be sure and cover the bottom of each box with a few inches of pebbles or broken pottery before you add the soil. This will ensure proper drainage. Fertilize the soil according to the instructions on the box and punch out holes in much the same way you would do if you were growing outside. After the young plants have been transplanted and watered thoroughly, you will have to rig up a lighting system.
There are several types of lighting systems one can use. The cheapest and easiest is to use fluorescent bulbs. They run cooler and more efficiently than most types of lights. You need alot of light to grow good grass. Try to use about 8000 lumens per square foot of growing space. (You can find the lumen output of a light bulb by looking on the box.)
The only other truly acceptable lighting system is a HID (high intensity discharge) system. These use much less energy per lumen and output incredible amounts of light. The most efficient type of HID is a High Pressure Sodium setup. You can buy an HPS setup from Lowes for about $70. You'll need to modify it to suit your purposes. Be careful when playing with electronics. If you can afford it, HID systems are well worth the money, and will drastically increase the size and potency of your final product. If you choose to use fluorescent bulbs, keep the bulb about 2 inches away from the top of the plant. If you go the HID route, you'll need to keep the bulbs about 2 feet away from the plants. As the plant grows you will need to move the lights higher. Be sure to consider this when you're setting up your system.
It's also possible to build a large bank of red and blue LEDs (remember, you still need the full brightness). It's common practice to have more red than blue LEDs, but this is just because they tend to be cheaper/more common. This approach can also be used for indoor gardening of other plants. LEDs are not full spectrum which may theoretically stunt growth, but they're 2-3 times more efficient than fluorescent bulbs, give off less heat. UV LEDs are also available if you find that you need UV for your plants to grow as well.
[edit] Aerogarden
The Aerogarden is a small, self contained, hydroponic grow system. It costs 150 usd and can grow marijuana! Not much and not properly, mind you. But the yeild is about a half oz ever 60-90 days. Its simple. Every thing you need to grow your first pot plants are in the box (except seeds) Just assemble, keep hidden, trim, cure and sell. or smoke. Make sure you prune it too. You can find info on google i guess. someone should edit this cause im real high right now. thank you. it will pay for its self after the first batch, assuming you keep it sensimilla (no males, virgin plant pussies).
You could also not be lazy and build your own hyrdoponic system...
[edit] Sneaker Speaker
A high schooler hiding a plant from parents can sometimes use a large blown speaker box from a thrift store to grow a small plant. Be sure to keep it watered and use a fluorescent tube or two connected by a power cord that appears to be speaker wire, foil on the inside walls will reflect the light and save you energy. After a while as you plant matures the resin smell can get strong and will probably give you away unless your parents are totally ignorant.
[edit] Pot Can
One suggestion for indoor plants is to build a grow-room. There are many resources and suggestions on building a chamber to grow plants in (not just the herb!), but one way on the cheap requires a brand-new metal garbage can, two or three cinder blocks (or bricks), and a small lighting fixture (see above for lighting tips). For ventilation, punch small holes in the bottom of the can with a hammer and nail, and raise it off the ground by putting it atop the cinder blocks, then rig the light inside the lid. The shiny interior surface will distribute the light on all sides. Yes, it will look like something out of a Cheech and Chong movie, but it will get the job done.
[edit] Stages of Growth
There are 2 stages of plant growth, and each stage needs a different lighting schedule. The first stage is called the Vegetative stage. This is when the plant is focusing on growing its roots, stem, and leaves. During the vegetative stage, your plants will need 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness per day. Buy yourself a cheap vacation timer to turn the lights on and off automatically. The vegetative stage lasts for about five months in a plant from seed, depending on your plant. To tell when the plant is moving into the second stage, check the nodes where the leaves grow out of the stem. If your leaves are coming out of the stem directly opposite each other (in a Y shape), your plant is still maturing. Once the nodes start to alternate, change your light schedule to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. This will force the plant to move into the second stage, Flowering.
Flowering is when the magic starts to happen. Your female plants will start to produce the beautiful sticky buds we know and love. The female plants have a larger and heavier flower structure and the males are somewhat skimpy. The female plant produces the stronger grass and the choicest parts are the top leaves (including the flowers). If your plant grows any round ball shaped things anywhere its a male those balls open and release pollen. Females grow hairs then buds instead.
[edit] Bugs
If you have bugs chewing on your plants, go to your local health food store and buy a small bottle of Dr. Bronner's Liquid Baby-Mild Soap (the unscented kind). Dilute it about 1 part soap to 2 parts water, pour it into a spray bottle, then spray the plants with it. Dr. Bronner's is a very mild, vegetable-oil based soap and won't harm the plants. However, it will taste very bad to the bugs and they'll go elsewhere.
If you're doing an outdoor grow and are looking for a more natural solution you can buy Praying Mantis Castings(they'll eat any bug smaller than them) from your local nursery.
[edit] Harvest
Inside or outside, the plants will be best if allowed to reach maturity. When you want to harvest the crop, you can either wet the soil and pull it out, or just cut it, its up to you.
[edit] Trimming
This is the second the most labor intensive parts of the whole process, you're going to want to set aside a whole day. Decide where you're going to hang your plant if you're doing it in the same room you're drying in make sure you have enough room to move around(a closet isn't going to work).
Hang the plant upside down by a string over a plastic garbage bag(to collect the leaves) and start trimming off all the big and medium sized shade leaves. Use a small set of scissors, careful not to cut your buds! After the big leaves are gone put down a new bag and cut the smaller leaves, save these! they can be made into cannibutter or hash! Try not to man handle your buds or the THC will stick to your fingers and they wont be as strong.
[edit] Drying
Now you're ready to dry them, just hang them upside down in a dark dry 60-75 degree room until the outside of the buds are dry and crispy(2-3 weeks depending on your area). This takes awhile but patience pays off.
[edit] Manicuring
Now that your weed is dry its time to cut the buds off the stem and make them pretty, this is gonna take awhile (I estimate 3 days per mature plant at least). To start simply cut the plant into more manageable sections, then carefully cut the buds off the stems over a large tray. Now you're ready to Manicure your buds. Manicuring is the process of cutting off the little leaves sticking out of your buds to create a better product(the smoke from the leaves is harsher than the smoke from the buds). Trim off the leaves as if you were giving the buds a hair cut, then place them in a large bowl so they don't get mixed up with untrimmed ones. Save everything you cut off! This scrap contains a lot of THC. Throwing it away is a huge waste. You may notice while you're manicuring that your buds aren't totally dry, this is normal. When you're done put them in a brown paper bag in a cool dry place for about a week. Open the bag once a day to shift the buds around, let them air out for 20 min, then close the bag.
[edit] Curing
Curing makes your bud taste better and helps draw enough moisture out of your buds so they don't mold in storage. To cure your bud put it in a glass jar and "burp" the jar twice a day for 5 weeks(open it for 20 min and stir your buds around). This really improves the flavor of your buds.
An alternative method is to only keep them in the jars for 2-3 weeks, then put them in ziplock bags in the freezer. Make sure to suck all the air out of the bags(use your mouth). Then put the smaller bags into a large freezer bag and suck the air out(keeps them from getting frost burn). After a week in the freezer dump the buds into a bowl and let them dry for 24 hours, then put them back in the bags and into the freezer for long term storage. The flavor matures over time even in the freezer.
[edit] Storage
Make sure to store your buds in glass jars in a cool dark place, or double bagged in the freezer. Happy smoking!
See also Farm It for greenhouse ideas
