Eds' got a article in last months Hightimes about
sweet sticky ganja goodness and what forms of sugars are readily avalible and which are suposed to work best , check it out .
Peace
Crispi :jointsmile:





>I??ve got a sweet tooth for sugary, candy-flavored ganja. In fact, sugar is
>not only the cannabis plant??s source of energy for growth; it??s also the
>primary factor that determines how good your favorite herb will taste when
>you smoke it. In my many years of horticultural experimentation, I??ve tried
>many different sugar supplements to augment my plants?? health and flavor,
>and I want to share a few of my favorites. Some of this information will be
>a refresher course for seasoned growers, but I??d like to start at the
>beginning for the introductory grower and briefly explain the importance of
>sugar to plants. Plants make their own sugars (carbohydrates) through
>photosynthesis. Plants combine light energy (from the sun or a
>high-intensity discharge lamp) with water and CO2 from the atmosphere (or a
>CO2 tank or burner), and the result is sugar. This sugar is the essential
>source of energy that??s utilized for all cellular division and the
>formation of plant structures (i.e., huge, dank buds). Now, you can??t grow
>a plant in the dark by watering it with sugar, but under otherwise good
>growing conditions, you can supplement your nutrient solution with extra
>sugars to boost the natural levels created by photosynthesis and make your
>plants more vigorous and productive. The real icing on the cake, though,
>comes from the fact that a little extra sugar will improve not only the
>yield of your garden but also the flavor of your favorite herb.
>For serious growers and/or gadget collectors, you can even measure the
>amount of sugar (on this scale, we call it ??brix,? pronounced bree) in your
>plant with a device called a refractometer. Don??t shy away from the fancy
>name if you??re afraid of complicated devices; this tool is super-easy to
>operate. Using a sap extractor (or a pair of pliers), you can squeeze a
>drop of juice out of a leaf and then place it on the refractometer??s
>viewing plate. Look through the lens and you will see an obvious line
>running across a column of numbers. Brix readings above 12 indicate good
>plant health and a strong immune system. With a device like this, you??ll
>impress your friends (??Oooh?a refracto-what??) and also be able to detect
>when a change in your feeding program or environment affects your crop as
>the readings go up or down. Frequent checks of brix content in leaf tissue
>will tell you whether your plants are on course or falling behind. Peaceful
>Valley Farm Supply sells refractometers for $100, and you can find them
>online at groworganic.com.
>Until about seven or eight years ago, using sugar as a plant supplement was
>a little-known trick more often employed by grandmothers on their
>houseplants than ganja growers on their herb. But now the hydroponics
>market is full of sugar (carbohydrate) supplements. In the beginning, there
>were several glucose-based products, such as Carbo Load, Carbo Max, Karbo
>Boost, etc. These are very cost-effective products as far as plant
>supplements go, but they??re not as cheap as raw glucose itself (usually
>sold as dextrose or corn sugar??it??s really the same thing), available at
>brewery-supply outlets and online for just over $1 per pound??less than $1 a
>pound if you buy in bulk. While glucose is readily available to plants as a
>form of supplemental carbohydrates, it??s just one form of a simple sugar
>and lacks the rich flavor found in other, darker kinds of sugar. It can
>also be difficult to dissolve: If you dump a large amount into water all at
>once, it has a tendency to form into a gelatinous wad of goo (of which even
>a small amount can wreak havoc in a hydro garden with small drippers or
>emitters). To avoid this, dissolve the amount necessary for your reservoir
>into a beaker of warm water first and pour off the dissolved liquid. Leave
>any undissolved materials at the bottom of the beaker and add more water
>until fully dissolved. The use of these products will indeed boost brix
>levels, but it doesn??t do much for flavor enhancement, which is what this
>article is all about.
>My all-time-favorite source of supplemental sugar isn??t sold by a
>plant-nutrient company. It??s Sucanat??a form of dark raw sugar sold as a
>sweetener for foods in natural-food stores everywhere. But Sucanat is a
>great sweetener for your sinsemilla, too. Made by Wholesome Sweeteners,
>Sucanat is short for ??Sugar Cane Natural,? a dried cane extract available
>for under $3 per pound. Sucanat is darker than most organic sugars and has
>a more molasses-like consistency to it because it hasn??t been separated or
>refined. It will increase the brix content in plants, but the darker sugar
>has more vitamins and minerals and a rich caramel aroma as well. Sucanat
>dissolves readily in hot water and doesn??t seem to turn into goo .