something for all mostly newb's to read

i got this info off of smokerguide.co. so props to them

Basics For Space Saving Cultivation
Growing up to five plants is legal here in the Netherlands (and some other countries and even a few states). We don't want to encourage any gardening that is illegal so please be aware of the laws in your country; breaking them can really be a negative experience! Don't break your laws. With that said, here are our tips to grow a great yearly stash if you are living in a place where growing for personal use is legal.

Chapters:

Introduction
What do I need to grow Marijuana?
Beginners info on the light-cycle and fertilisers
Germination of seeds
The first 5 weeks after germination
Middle growing phase to the 1st week flowering
Separating the males and females
Last phase of flowering
Manicuring, drying and curing your Marijuana
After the harvest
Storage for Marijuana and seeds

Introduction:

Like with every new hobby, you have to check out what your possibilities are.
The growing of a Marijuana plant is not just "I'm putting a seed in the soil and we'll see what happens then...",
It's actually serious business as there is water and electricity involved. If you don't take the necessary precautions, you might end up in a huge mess. When you buy equipment make sure it passes all specifications (known as "kema gekeurd" here in the NL) When the equipment you are going to use is not legit, it will send a negative pulse to your local electricity supplier. If this happens they will come to your location and check what is causing this. When spotted, you will be fined with environmental electric pollution of the net and if it's illegal for you to grow, you're busted in many more ways. Besides this issue, your equipment needs to be absolutely perfectly connected to each other. You just need a tiny spark to create a fire. Grow safe at all times, or don't grow at all!

What do I need to grow Marijuana?

The things you need to become "Mother Nature" in a small space are:

Seeds
Preferably an easy strain to begin with like; Skunk#1, Afghani, Durban, Purple.

Pots
+/- 4-7 litre for small plants or max. 20 litres for larger plants.

Pre-fertilised Soil
As it's not possible to get pre-mixed Marijuana soil in every country, you may want to use Tomato soil instead. This contains almost the same basic nutrients your plants need in the first weeks.

Perlite
Also known as vermiculite or crushed Vulcan stones. This is to keep the soil rich with air and oxygen and to prevent suffocation in the root-system. It's recommended to mix 20% perlite into your soil.

Lights
It depends on what kind of lights there are available in your local store before you can decide what you're going to buy. In the Netherlands it comes down to the old-fashion way or the modern way.
-The old fashion way means you have to buy 2 different light bulbs. One would need to be a common fluorescent plant light and the second would have to be a 400 watt High Pressure Sodium light. The fluorescent lights are for the "grow phase" and the H.P.S. lights are for the "flower phase".
-The modern way is having the luxury to be able to buy a full spectrum light, so you don't need to switch it between phases.

Table Fan
Don't make a huge fuss about this one, as you can use the one you normally would on a hot summer day. The purpose is to create a gentle breeze in your closet space to avoid over-heating and to keep air circulating. The BushDoc also thinks it helps makes the stems stronger and the plant more vibrant when the fan is directed on them.

Air In/Outlets
I use a bathroom fan as my outlet. If you install it the other way, it becomes an inlet for air. You shouldn't have any problems buying this cheap solution anywhere. The only thing you have to consider is that the fan has to be able to take out all the air. Get some advice as if it was for your bathroom. (Tell the guy you need a high air displacement fan because you have a stinky bowel problem or something like that!)

Electric Timer
The timer is very important for your set-up, as you want perfect control for your light hours. If the light hours are not stable, you create stress in your grow-room. Make sure you buy one that will be able to maintain the power and amount of watts from your light and any other automated systems for the rest of your electric equipment.

Fertilisers:

Roots
Basic Soilmix
Enzymes
Nitrogen
Flower Boost

Air / Odor Filter - There are many common ways to reduce the pungent fragrance of cannabis flowers, including ionizers (negative ion generators), charcoal filters, air scrubbers, and chemical sprays. Unfortunately reduce is the key word, as none of these methods will actually eliminate smells, except from the smallest room or the least stinky garden. Always consider this factor when setting up; it can be a real annoyance for your neighbours when the hall constantly reeks like skunk!

A Diary / Journal - From the day you germinate till the final harvest, it's recommendable to keep track of all the things you do, perhaps in your own style of shorthand, kept away from prying eyes. Every time you're growing a new crop, you can refer to what you did before or you can compare situations when things don't work as well as you hoped.

Beginners info on the light-cycle and fertilisers

The light-cycle you set your timer on for the vegetative period is 18hrs "ON" and 6hrs "OFF". This parallels the same cycle as outdoors in the spring time and early summer. When you want to force them in to flowering you drop the amount of hours to 12 ON and 12 OFF. This makes the plant think it's heading towards autumn. Within 2 weeks you will be able to spot the first signs of the males & females.

When you have the luxury of the Netherlands, you can go to any grow-shop and buy any kind of fertiliser you need. The main ones you can't do without are: Basic Soil-mix, Nitrogen, Enzymes and PK 13+14 (fosphor-kalium complex). Don't worry about the amounts that you have to give them, as it always gives you the exact amounts on the bottle. I usually go with the minimum as you can always give them more when they need it. For more product info you may refer to the suppliers product notes.

Germination of seeds

90% success is guaranteed when you take a glass of lukewarm, distilled water and throw your seeds in there to soak for 24-72 hrs. Make sure it's dark and room temperature. In this period of time you will see the seeds sprouting a white root. As soon as you spot this, take them out gently, press a little hole in the pot of soil, (+/- 1-3 cm deep) place the seed in the soil with the root down, don't cover it up completely, give it enough air to breathe. Spray some water on it and keep doing this for about 1 week.... and see your first set of leaves rising above the soil. Now they are old enough to be settled under the lights. Keep at least a 75cm distance between the sprouts and the lights, otherwise the little guys'll burn.

The first 5 weeks after germination

As soon as the first heads are above the soil you start to keep a diary of all the changes they go through. The first 3 weeks you may water them little bits every 2-3 days. Just make sure the water is "lukewarm" at all times. The best way to find out if they really need water or not, is to feel how heavy the pot is or to gently stick your fingers in the soil and feel if the soil is still moist. Only when the soil is dry (75%) you may water them again. In the right circumstances they will grow about 1-2 cm per day. After 3 weeks you're going to add the first drops of food in the water. Like I said before, only the minimum is required.

Middle growing phase to the 1st week flowering

Your plants are about 5 weeks old now and looking good! Now you might consider starting them on their flowering phase. To prepare them for a huge hormonal rage, give them a tiny bit of pure nitrogen mixed in the water. The next time you give them water you add a bit of enzymes to clear all the salts left behind in the soil. From now on you're going to do this once every 2 weeks, along with the regular food schedule. After 1-2 weeks you shock the hell out of your plants by dropping the amount of light hours to 12 on and 12 off. You also can put the light a little closer then before. The minimum distance should still be at least 50cm. The first couple of days it will seem like nothing is happening, just be patient. 7-10 days after the shock the first signs of their gender will occur in the nodes ( equivalent of "arm-pits") of the branches.

Separating the males and females

As soon as you've spotted the difference, you really want to get rid of your males A.S.A.P. Take them out with the garbage or dispose them somewhere far, far away.
The males carry minuscule pollen (sperm) to fertilise the females. And believe me... as soon as the male flowers open up they are ready to rock & roll. Without pollen, you will get gorgeous female buds, but with pollen...you'll only have seeds and less potency.

The males tend to be a bit more eager to show their gender then the females. Some like to say that the quickest and the slowest are mostly the males. I've personally discovered that this is not always true. For the real scientists among us... get a magnifying glass as you don't want to miss a thing.

-The Males
-The Females

Last phase of flowering

After all this excitement it will seem like they have another deep sleep. This is not very surprising after such an enervating period of hormonal rage. The buds will develop slowly but steady. First the flowers will cover the branches and look rather fluffy. This will continue for 2-3 weeks till the shape of the future bud is set. Then the bud will start to fill-up. The loose flowers will shape into a firm-bud, the resin glands swell up and shine like little snowflakes on the leaves and flowers. To give the buds some extra energy, you may cut off a couple of the largest fan-leaves, to allow more light. Don't touch the smaller leaves, or your plant will start to sweat through the flowers instead of through the leaves. As result you'll have bud-rot and you can throw your crop in the bin. You'll also notice that quite a few of the leaves will turn yellow in the last 2-3 weeks of her flower period. This is to make you aware of the fact she's preparing for harvest. When 95% of the white hairs on the buds have turned orange-brown and the resin glands are completely swollen-up, you will dry her out for a week... as it is harvest time!!!

Manicuring, Drying and Curing your Marijuana

When it's time to cut your plant(s) down, take off all the largest and middle sized leaves with no real heavy crystal coverage. The small ones you leave on for evaporation of the remaining moist in the plant. Be careful during this manicure process, so as not to accidentally cut off any parts of the buds. Set aside all your clippings for use in cooking, hash making, or perhaps even "reefer" smoke for that old-skool 60's smoker who you may know that "just can't handle that Chronic that you kids are smokin'these days"!!!

Then you pick a nice dark and dry, 18 Celsius, well ventilated room to cure the buds. Use something like a laundry line and hang them upside down. Now you have to go through the toughest phase... the waiting! After 3-4 weeks you feel the crunchiness of the leaves and flowers. Try gently to pull a couple of leaves, if they let go easy, she's ready. If not ... you'll have to wait a bit longer. The curing is less of a hassle when she's dried well. Curing basically means; cutting off the remaining leaves on the bud and finding the right storage so you can keep up the quality till your next harvest.

After the harvest...

Finding the right way to store your buds... For GG1, wooden wine boxes with slide-on lids are perfect. Wood absorbs any remaining moisture from your cuttings. After just 1 week you will feel that your buds are getting crispier. You could also use vacuum containers or mason jars as long as you let your buds "out to breathe" frequently. The vacuum also holds the remaining moisture in the jar and this in combination with a warm temperature in the room can cause mold.

As we mentioned above, after the harvest there are many nice things you can do with all your disposal material. A smart person never throws his/her leaves and stems in the bin. You can make your own Hash with a simple tool as the Hashmaker or Ice-o-lator. Or you can go for the cooking with cannabis. You can find many books on this subject, but you can also experiment yourself. Try some space cakes, bon bons, tea, chocolate milk, salad-dressing, THC does not dissolve in water, so basically anything oily or fatty will do.

Storage for Seed & Buds...

The best way to store your seeds is in a dark and cool place.
For example, take a photo container, preferably black, put the seeds in there and put them in your fridge. The seeds like the same temperature as milk. Storing them this way you might be able to keep your seeds fresh for 3-5 years. Don't be surprised if it takes a bit longer for the seeds to germinate after a couple of years as they feel like they have been in a deep winter sleep. Give it another 2-3 days extra to germinate.

Buds can be stored much the same way, but use a large airtight tin or mason jar from glass so that you can collect any fallen crystals. Pick a dry cool place to store your nuggets. Flavour and THC decreases as the weed ages and its chemical compounds break down but this has rarely stopped us from enjoying a smoke when this was all we had!

Hopefully this little grow guide has answered most of your questions. Please keep an eye out for the Gorgeous Gardener's FAQ page which is coming soonâ?¦.

Happy Growing!

Gorgy G (GG1) & Grumpy G (GG2)

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