Beginner Question

[azurebird]

I stopped growing in the early nineties (after a rude encounter with a helicopter) but had a couple of decade run that was quite promising.

I am embarrassed to say that I have a very fundamental dumb question about the new technology. I am a medical patient and want to pop a few outdoor this season. I purchased a clone at the dispensary yesterday and it comes in a rockwool type cube. Pretty small at this point - could go in a 3" pot or with a bit of time a quart. My question is how do I change to a soil medium? Just hollow out a hole and drop it in the container? Any advice on early watering schedule . I assume that this cube will retain more water than a normal pot. I only did the indoor thing once in 1980 and a lot has seemingly changed.

Also discouraging to see how few pure sativas remain. I come from a region known for columbian grape jelly type strains and counseled people way back to beware of crossbreeding it out of existence and it doesn't seem like anyone listened...

azurebird Reviewed by azurebird on 05-05-2009. Beginner Question I stopped growing in the early nineties (after a rude encounter with a helicopter) but had a couple of decade run that was quite promising. I am embarrassed to say that I have a very fundamental dumb question about the new technology. I am a medical patient and want to pop a few outdoor this season. I purchased a clone at the dispensary yesterday and it comes in a rockwool type cube. Pretty small at this point - could go in a 3" pot or with a bit of time a quart. My question is how do I Rating: 5

[MDFinest]

cant answer your questions as ive never worked with clones or rockwool. But I just wanted to say I really appreciate growers like yourself who were here before indoor growing, all this marijuana marketing, and indicas took over the scene. It's like we don't get to enjoy native strains anymore.. just those strains grown in somebody's 4 x 4 closet.

If you could school me on how things have changed Id really be interested. You've been doing this before I was even born!

[Mr. Clandestine]

Hey Azure,

Welcome to the boards! :jointsmile:

You can plant your clone directly into whichever medium you plan to use, but I wouldn't plant it too deeply. I don't use rockwool myself, but I've heard stories of people having problems with root rot when transplanting rockwool too deeply into the soil. And rockwool does hold more water than soil, but it's my understanding that they're pretty hard to overwater. You obviously don't want to let it dry out, so I'd keep it somewhat moist (not soaked) until you intend to transplant.

And there are still some pure landrace sativas out there, but you're right that dominant indicas are the craze for lots of indoor growers. Most growers don't have the space to let pure sativas grow naturally, and would much prefer the shorter flowering times of the indicas. But, again, there's some good sativas on the market - Kali Mist is my personal favorite, but I've also had some outstanding results with a few of the Haze varieties.

Best of luck. :thumbsup:

[azurebird]

I didn't see the growing thing in the North San Diego county area take off until about 1975, when you could buy mason jars of fat gorgeous buds for a hundred bucks. Soon every grandma on the street had a little patch going for pin money.

My area was known for great sativas, you could find an occasional 16 footer. Excellent mexican strains got very robust, than there was a thai craze. A neighbor had actual Panama Red spears and it was truly red! My favorite early strains were the Columbian because they had an expansive flavor that would hit you right in the chest. Unfortunately you might have to wait until late November, December for fruition and as you know the stress levels get exponentially more difficult.

I had a partner and ranch and we did many afghanis and africans. The former was great, the latter wispy and tasting like furniture polish. Beautiful violet haired Lebanese bushes, we termed the cannonball.

The problems started soon after. The cross breeds often produced the worst of both worlds, awful tastes and accentuated the deficiencies of both parents. Many of you youngins will never experience the sweetness and cerebral pleasure of real sativas. Yes, the thc levels were lower but the psychedelic qualities were unmatched.

So the biggest changes I see are these. One, a stupid reliance on brand names. Two, dispensaries and growers that out of greed or ignorance don't know how to properly trim and leave far too much leaf. An aesthetic debacle if nothing else.

An evident sameness to the product, due to clone reuse and a lack of fresh hybridization. There are hundreds of cannibanoid byproducts in THC that have yet to be qualified. Keeping the genie in the bottle steals a little magic imho.


I only did indoor once in 1979 or 80, had light combos, co2, state of the art at the time but it was nowhere near the fulfilling rhapsody of a successful outdoor experience. Although sleeping in the patch with a shotgun is no great pleasure, you devotees of artificial light are missing something, methinks.

Thanks again.

[MDFinest]

almost made me cry...LOL. I was born in '87.. I really do feel like Ive missed out on alot. You have people today that cling so much to there name brand strains and love to quote high THC percentages but a few tokes of the bud and you just want to go to sleep half the time. All that for 20-25/gram. I've always felt when growing ppl should look for strains that have the specific qualities they want and are exotic(as in origin, taste, and cannibinoid properties) rather than pick strains that you think everyone will be able to recognize and have high THC percentages. I'm trying to find the perfect sativa to grow to see if I can get more of that psychedelic experience out of my smoke.

Over the past year I've smoked a good 50 strains from Cali dispensaries and they all have the same "acidic" type taste and the same downer type of high... cannabis is supposed to be rich and have a wide spectrum of highs, flavors, and taste. I'm hoping that this season I can change some of this.

[azurebird]

Here's to you! I have been a regular smoker for over 40 years and can tell you that we are missing something from the ten dollar lid days. Even the roughest mexican from the late sixties, early seventies had a fun brainy je ne sais quoi that appears to have been lost today. Rough and primal but stony. I agree with you, the prevalent indica strains today are like a big tranquilizer. I ordered seeds today and wet for a supposed original thai stick strain and a blueberry. Thinking about getting some panamanian stock as well. Start over with the earliest pure strains I can find. And as for the blueberry, I just really dig the taste.

[MDFinest]

yeaI think thats what Im going to do is go for some earlier sativa strains rather than the newer ways that say they are sativa dominant but over time might have lost some of their native qualities.