Curing

This step is very important in the final stages of production. You will need to find a closet and have it set at 50% humidity you will then hang the buds upside down by string and let them dry out for 3-4 days. You want your bud to be a little crisp on the outside and nice and wet on the inside. You will then need a mason jar to store the nugs in while this method will help extract any unwanted moisture on the buds. Make sure to open the Mason jar at least 3 times a day because leaving moisture trapped in the Mason jar for long periods of time can lead to potential mold on the nug. After about a week of this technique the buds should be cured.

Harvest

Depending on the strain you can be waiting up to 45-75 days for the strain to bud if you have a microscope you can analyze the nug and if you notice in the tricheomes crystals on the strain it will show you a mushroom like structure thus indicating a cloudy white and purple is the perfect nug.

Once you cut the plants you want to single out individual branches. It makes it a lot easier to handle from here you hang the plant upside down and start to cut off the larger leaves to the plant. Make sure to keep those leaves as they can be used for hashish and is a very useful part of the plant.

Cloning

Clones are the exact genetics as their mother. The idea is to keep about 8-10 mother plants and have them grow to about 4 feet. Large enough so I can clip 50 or so clones from each mother. The mother’s wont bud because we keep them in the grow room. (18 Hours of light)

To make a clone you will need a cloning solution, these have nutrients and hormones that help clone the root. You then want to take a clean razor blade and cut the shoots off the plant at a 45-degree angle in between the nodes. You want the clones to be about 4-5 inches tall. The node is where the plant branches out from the main shoots. After you make your cuttings to the clone’s you will then have to apply the root cloning solution as soon as possible because if you give to much time an air bubble could form and slow down the whole grow process. After the initial cuts are made to the clones dip the end into the root solution and transfer them to 1-inch rock wool cube. You want to push it in enough so it is firm and wont easily fallout. But make sure not to put it all the way through the rock wool.

You want to mist your clones with pure water daily around 2-3 times through out the day for about 10 to 14 days. After 2 weeks you will begin to notice roots, you want to keep them under fluorescent tubes at 24 hours of light to maximize growth. For the first 4-5 days I keep the clones about 4-5 inches away from the bulbs. After 5 days I will place them 1 inch away from the bulbs till I start to see the roots come in. Once you start to see roots its time to transplant them into dirt cups or into your airoponics system. The next step will be to put these clones under HID light and watch them flourish.

Some brands of cloning solutions to use are “Woods” and “Clonex”

So after about two weeks when you start to see substantial growth in the roots it will be time to transport the plants into larger gallon pots and put them under Metal Halide lighting for fast strong growth. When transporting into gallon pots you want to aim to get them in 5-gallon pots of possible. So after about a month you will take your plants and change it to a 12 hour light 12 hour pitch black cycle.

Odors

Obviously odor is a factor when growing Marijuana it does not matter how much you grow of the plant it will smell the way it does no matter what. The only problem with the smell is that it can alert neighbors or who ever you may be living near because it is a distinct smell and someone might be bored enough to report this smell and you don’t want to have to deal with any of that drama.

So to be safe there are some easy options like air fresheners that are easily used and can help but your best bet is to keep your where you are growing tightly sealed so that the smell cannot escape.

There are also more expensive options like a charcoal canister which will cost you around 600$ but works well with eliminating the odors.

Sexing

With Marijuana plants there are different sex’s male and female. The female plant is the one that grows bud. The male plant produces pollen and literally no THC compared to the female.

You will basically plant your seeds and grow your plant as females, from that you will be able to create clones from cutting your new plant and providing the stem with a clone replicator, which will produce roots to the stem, which is cut from the female plant. After the clone grows roots, it should take about 1 week to 10 days. When they grow to the size you like you should now move them into soil pots and mark these as cloned females and then set them aside in the budding section of your harvest. Make sure you label them because you don’t want to mix them in with the parents.

The female flower looks a lot like a teardrop with 2-3 hairs coming from the top of the plant.

The male flower looks like a micro sized bunch of grapes. These cylindrical spheres contain pollen and when ready these male flowers will release their pollen, which will impregnate the female. This is not good because this will now make the female create seeds, which prevents the female from optimizing bud growth. Unless of course you want seeds then have them in the same room. But if you are trying to grow proficient nug you will want to kill the male plants because the pollen they produce have the ability to find a female over 2 miles away so make sure they are taken care of as soon as you know.

Ventilation

Wherever you decide to set up your grow it will need to have good ventilation. The lighting will need to have an exhaust duct to help keep them cool so they don’t overheat. Oscillating fans that can be set up to blow airflow through the plants are also a good thing to have. It will keep them breathing fresh air and makes the stems strong so they can hold the enormous buds that you are going to grow.

Temperature

Marijuana plants thrive in warm temperatures and are best suited in around 75*-85* F. Basically that means at night when the lights are off it should be about 75*F
And when the plants are under the lights it should be about 85*F. You definitely cannot allow it to drop under 60* and no more than 90* as it will promote slow growth and potentially kill your crop.

Grow Seasons

A Marijuana plant grows during the warmer summer months when the sky is out for longer periods throughout the day. The buds will start to show at the end of summer months as fall is coming round the corner. As winter get closer the female plant will begin to produce seeds so when it begins to freeze over and die it will have life for the next year coming round. Remember that different strands tend to flower at different times during the fall. So make sure you research your strand specifically.

Obviously indoor growing is altered specifically to enhance the amount of light for the plants to be harvested all year round. So plants can be under 24 hours of light to enhance the growth for the plant, which will speed up the harvest making it easier to produce more. Once the plant is ready to bud you will switch it to 12 hours of light 12 hours no light basically creating a fall/winter type of atmosphere for the plants.

Water

Obviously water plays a large of part in any plant’s growth so the better quality the water the better quality of growth and nutrition. The reason soil based plants must NOT become waterlogged and yet hydro plants are permanently submerged in it is the water is aerated. Bubbles from a fish tank type air bubbler are released which keep the water moving and oxygenated, so the roots do not get clogged as they would in mud. 

The water MUST be kept moving or the plants will drown. Plants are watered both from above and underneath, the water also must be slightly heated, and again a fish tank heater is perfect.

Fertilizer

Hydroponics solution is what should be used even with soil plants. The reason being it basically has everything a plant needs to live in it since water alone does not have these attributes. There are 14 nutrients that a plant needs to survive. But the 3 main nutrients that come to mind are Nitrogen, Phosphorus and potassium.

During grow cycle the plant likes a fertilizer high in nitrogen. Something like 20-5-5. It uses the nitrogen for strong stem and leaf growth. After you change over to your flowering cycle you will want a fertilizer that is high in phosphorous and potassium. Something like 5-15-15 should work well.

PPM or parts per million is the measure of salts in an amount of fertilizer that is in a water solution. You will need a PPM meter to read this.

Try to keep the seedlings and clones at about 100-250 ppms. After about 10 days bump up the ppm to around 500-600 ppm for the next 2-3 weeks. After about a month raise it to 800-1000 ppm. When it starts to bud it should be at around 1000 and start taking it up slowly to no more than 1500 ppm.

If you over fertilize your leaves will start to burn. If you see this you will need to flush immediately. Just use pure water and basically drown the plant. Four times the amount of grow medium should be fine. If you use tap water it usually has a ppm of 250 in that area. All you need to add 250 to whatever your shooting for. So for a 1000 ppm the meter will read 1250.

After the hairs on the buds get 1/4 red I stop feeding the plant nutrients and just give them pure water. This will allow the plant to use up the nutrients it already has and makes the smoke taste a lot smoother with out all the chemical taste.

PH:

So controlling the PH in out nutrient solution is very important for healthy plant growth and good nutrient absorption. Marijuana thrives in a slightly acidic medium. For soil plants, aim around 6.2-6.8 for hydroponics look to be around 5.5-6.5. Best way to figure out your PH levels is to buy a ph meter.