2013 04 UK

FREE 18+ For adults only. Soft Secrets is published six times a year by Discover Publisher BV Netherlands

Uruguay moves towards legal cannabis

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Atomical Haze ® In this issue:

Seeds and needs ›› 8

Cloning for Success ›› 15

Density ›› 48

Issue 4 - 2013

Could the US government be losing support in the global war on drugs? A year after some Latin American countries officially discussed alternatives to prohibition, Uruguay has moved to allow the production, sale and distribution of cannabis.

consistent government efforts to combat these trends”, including increased arrests and drug seizures. Mujica says the legislation aims to bring an existing market into the “light of day” and stop it from “corrupting everything”.

The new legislation, which has made it through one house of parliament in Uruguay, has been described by President José Mujica as a “cutting-edge experiment”.

“They are doing it for the same reason the US stopped alcohol prohibition [in the 1930s],” says David Nutt at Imperial College London. “To reduce organised crime and achieve tax revenue for the country.”

If passed by the upper house, the laws will allow registered users to buy up to 40 grams a month from a pharmacist, grow up to six plants at home, or grow up to 99 plants as part of a “cannabis club” made up of between 15 and 45 members.

The move comes hot on the heels of two US states legalising the production and distribution of cannabis and New Zealand creating a legal market for new designer drugs.

Uruguay has seen increases in crime associated with illegal drugs, particularly cocaine. According to the US Department of State, the drug problem continues there despite “concerted and

Global drug prohibition is unravelling in front of us, says Alex Wodak, a doctor and drug and alcohol expert from Sydney, Australia. He says the moves in the states of Colorado and Washington, and

now in Uruguay appear to breach the 1998 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and maybe also the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and will embolden other Latin American countries and other US States to consider similar moves.

“All this is coming about because it is now inescapable that global drug prohibition has been ineffective, counterproductive and very expensive,” says Wodak. He notes that in Mexico alone, more than 60,000 people have been killed in an ongoing drug war, leading to popular doubts about prohibition.

But don’t buy a ticket to Uruguay hoping to buy some legal weed. Only Uruguayans will be allowed to buy the stuff, part of an attempt to avoid attracting cannabis tourism.

by Michael Slezak/ newscientist.com

White Widow autoflowering from Dinafem is a cross of Critical+ autoflowering with the original White Widow clone.

WW auto reflects the bitter-sweet taste as well as the abundance of resin and the floral appearance of the original White Widow mother in this autoflowering variety.

The only remarkable difference is the higher CBD content, which leads to a more physical buzz than in the regular White Widow strain.

The sexual stability of the plants is extremely important to avoid hermaphrodites, that’s why Dinafem discarded male and female plants from breeding that were not pure.

Genetics: Yield: Height: Speed of flowering: Seed bank: Dinafem

White Widow x Critical+ Auto 40 to 160 gr.

50 to 110 cm 75 days

White Widow automatic

3

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5

A Cheesy Dick strain from Big Buddha seeds. Done under two 600 watt lamps.

This is one sexy pic! There’s something about pouting lips, manicured nails and fat buds that just does it for us at Soft Secrets! We’ve also heard good things about the Cheesy Dick strain, this cross from Big Buddha combines the heavy yields of Moby Dick with that original cheesy tang that many UK tokers just seem to love!

Attention Readers!

Fancy a FREE packet of FEMINISED seeds from ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS? Then send us a picture of your grow room or best cannabis plant, including a visible copy of Soft Secrets, and we’ll send you 3 seeds. Should your photo happen to feature your beautiful wife or girlfriend wearing a sexy microbikini or super hot lingerie, you will receive 6 seeds. Photo of the Month will even receive 9 prime quality feminised seeds. With compliments of Soft Secrets and Royal Queen Seeds!

E-mail your entries to SSUK@softsecrets.nl.

NOTE: All entries are handled with the utmost discretion. We don’t publish out of focus pics, and we don’t like photos of plants in veg stage.

It’s fat buds & sweet babes we want to see!

E-mail: SSUK@softsecrets.nl

A Cheesy Dick strain from Big Buddha seeds. Done under two 600 watt lamps.

Proof, if proof were needed, that EVERYONE does it!

6

Hi there from not-so-sunny South England, Here’s me and my Black Kush, both looking top notch… so my man tells me! First time growing in a tent and I’m well pleased with the results, not bad for a nearly new beginner!

I would love you to print myself and my girls in your next issue of Soft Secrets, for my man to see as well as all the other SS fans! Keep up the good work; it’s always a great read!

UNKNOWN SECRET GROWER! Top notch indeed! With that smoking body, your man is one lucky fella… not to mention that his girl likes to grow.

Lucky bastard!

Hi Soft Secrets, Here are a few monstrous buds of White Widow grown on a new system Budbox#5. As you can see we have produced extra large buds from an Ionic feeding schedule and ended on GHE Ripen. It’s true what they say about 2 days in the dark, it definitely helped with the resin production. Looking forward to the next issue. Enjoy the pics.

PIMPSHOTTAZ & JUICY LUCI Any picture that involves a juicy hot chick straddling a fat bud is always a contender for Soft Secrets photo of the month! You’re spot on with giving two days of darkness before harvest, it really pushes the resin production. Also, try flushing with ice cold water during the last week for some extra sticky, resinous buds. Great plants, great bird. Good work mate!

Hi Soft Secrets, Here’s my 100 day old Dutch Passion AUTOMazar. Still a couple weeks to go. She is growing in DWC with Canna nutes, under 400w of LED & CFL (1X35w CFL & 360w of LED) in a Secret Jardin DS120.

Thanks VIRACOCHA Very interesting Viracocha. That’s some decent looking bud and she’s still got a couple of weeks to go, so she’ll hopefully fill out even more for you. There’s no doubt that LED lighting has a big part to play in the future of indoor growing, it’s not sustainable to keep using HID lighting until the end of time... especially if smart meters are introduced by the UK electricity companies soon! Growers just need to get their heads around moving their grow from HID over to LED; a lighting source which produces minimal heat. Reduced heat has many knock on effects, including reduced temperature and humidity in the grow room, which in turn affects nutrient and water uptake by the plant. Adjust your growing techniques when using LED and big yields are possible.

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GROW WITH GRUBBYCUP

Seeds and Needs Imagine that you were going to pack up a Cannabis plant and transport it through space and time – there are some changes that could be made to an average plant that would help. For ease of transportation, and reduced shipping costs, it would be nice to minimize the size of the package. Limiting the number of roots would also help. As anyone who has rooted cuttings knows, one root is the sign that the clone is going to ‘take’ and all should be well. A single root is enough with which to get a plant started.

Grubbycup Considerably more space in the package could be saved by reducing the size of the stalk, and so would only having just two basic leaves. Cannabis plants are called ‘dicotyledons’ because they begin

The above description, gentle readers, is what a seed is. Seeds are simply tiny plants packed for travel through space and time. Cannabis seeds are best used within the year following their harvest;

Germination is the process of ‘unpacking’ these little stored plants. To start the process, moisture is applied to the outside of the shell. This can be done by soaking seeds in water, putting them between moist paper towels or into some sort of starting cube – or simply by planting them in damp soil or medium.

seeds to sprout is to make a small nick in the seed coat. A small cut on the pointed end – as opposed to the flatter end, where the ‘hinge’ is – can be made to allow moisture to be absorbed. Only a tiny nick is needed, as normal micropyles are very small. Another method is to rub the seed against a bit of sandpaper or emery board.

As the dried plant takes up the water, it starts to grow. Since the tiny plant is no longer in stasis, it begins to need warmth, moisture and air; it in fact becomes

CANNABIS PLANTS ARE CALLED ‘DICOTYLEDONS’ BECAUSE THEY BEGIN LIFE WITH TWO EMBRYONIC SEED LEAVES OR ‘COTYLEDONS’.

The armored shell (called a ‘seed coat’) around the Cannabis plant has a few small holes to allow this moisture to

dependent upon them. This is why one way to reduce the number of weeds (the not smoke-able kind) in a garden plot is to water an area in the spring so they sprout, and then dry out the area to kill them off.

Once seeds have started to absorb water, they must either grow or perish.

The tiny sprout will burst through the seed coat as it grows. The sprout will send out its ‘taproot’ and begin to develop others. The two seedling leaves will unfurl, drop off the surrounding shell and act as leaves until the first set of ‘true’ leaves can be grown.

The single starting root or ‘taproot’ has sent out branching filaments life with two embryonic seed leaves or ‘cotyledons’. For good measure, imagine taking this small, simple plant – with one root and one stalk, wrapped in the two leaves – and miniaturizing it.

Plants grow and get larger in the presence of light and moisture, so it would be nice to slow their metabolism down and put them in ‘stasis’ for transit. Slowing them down to the point where they do not need light or moisture would be ideal.

In fact, since sitting water will release its oxygen and become stagnant over time, getting rid of most of the moisture in the package would be an excellent idea.

This tiny theoretical plant – able to do This seedling has finished germination; the first pair of ‘true’ leaves has appeared without light, water or much space – would be very fragile and need protection, so it is encased in an armored shell. however, as long as they are packaged slowly work its way through to the tiny, In addition, there may not be nutrients properly and kept in a constantly cool, dehydrated plant inside. within reach of the tiny plant at its desti- dry and dark environment – such as a The small holes (‘micropyles’) on nation, so pack in a bit of food with which refrigerator – they can stay viable for some Cannabis seeds are deformed or to get it started. several years. blocked. One method to allow such

With the use of a soldering iron, plastic cups can be quickly converted into seedling pots. The hot tip of the iron can be used to make neat, round drainage holes near the bottom. Writing the name of the variety and its start date on the cup can make record keeping easier. If the seedlings are not ‘direct-sown’ in their final containers, they will need to be transplanted as they grow large enough. This is commonly done for a few reasons: to reduce the amount of space that the sprouts take up, for ease of moisture management and to encourage the personal attention of the gardener. Cannabis plants, much like tomato plants, like to be set in deep when transplanting. Additional stalk that is buried will develop roots and become part of the root system.

Normal Cannabis seeds will produce both male and female plants in roughly equal amounts. To account for this, germinate twice the number of seeds as female plants desired. The chance of getting a female plant with one seed is fifty-fifty.

There are only two possible outcomes: M or F – half the time it will be male, the other half of the time, female. To increase the chances of getting a female plant, more seeds can be started. The chances of getting a female plant with two seeds is dramatically better. There are four possible outcomes: MM, MF, FM and FF. Thus three out of four times (75%) at least one plant will be female.

Three seeds make eight combinations: MMM, MMF, MFM, MFF, FMM, FMF, FFM and FFF. So, seven-eighths of the time (87.5%) at least one will be female.

Chances with four seeds are 93.8%, with

9

Plastic cups will serve as seedling pots until they are ready to transplant five seeds, 96.9%; six seeds produces a 98.4% chance, with seven seeds at 99.2%, eight at 99.61% and nine at 99.8%. Finally,

rooted in a process known as ‘vegetative propagation’, or more commonly, ‘cloning’. Cuttings taken from a female plant

IF THE SEEDLINGS ARE NOT ‘DIRECT-SOWN’ IN THEIR FINAL CONTAINERS, THEY WILL NEED TO BE TRANSPLANTED AS THEY GROW LARGE ENOUGH. ten seeds will produce at least one female plant 99.9% of the time – keeping in mind that the average number of females in a ten-pack is five. This is why many seed companies sell seeds in packages of ten: 99.9% of the time at least one female plant will be produced.

will also be female. A common practice is to take cuttings from un-sexed plants and root them. Then, either the original ‘mother’ plant or the cutting is given flowering lighting to determine sex. Once the gender of one is known, the gender of the other will be the same.

Once a female plant has been grown and identified, cuttings can be taken and

Peace, love and puka shells, Grubbycup

The Real Deal I’m not really supposed to go too off topic as far as “soft” and “hard” drugs go when I’m writing this stuff. Personally, I don’t really get the distinction between the two groups but I’m not the editor and I do get why a distinction needs to be there and needs to be seen to be observed. So I’m going to go off topic here, but only briefly and there is a point to it.

Adulterated Ecstasy pills - actually, they don’t contain any MDMA at all, so can they even be referred to as “adulterated” or “contaminated”? - have killed seventeen people in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the past two months, and there have been an unconfirmed (but alarmingly high) number of hospitalisations and narrow escapes connected with the same stuff. For the record, it’s not MDMA, but something called PMA and has actually turned up on that scene a number of times on and off over the past 15 years or so.

Also worthy of your consideration are deaths or hospitalizations from consumption of adulterated booze in Scandinavian countries and particularly in Russia.

And let’s not forget the anthrax contaminated heroin.

Anyhow, here’s the thing. I know it’s like comparing apples with pears, but the above sorts of horror story all suggest that more people should do themselves a big health and wellbeing favour and move en masse onto using weed as their intoxicant of choice.

Now, before anyone starts, I’m fully aware that there are some issues around what is and isn’t in dope. A lot of these issues are anecdotal (powdered glass in weed to give it more weight allowing the vendor to sell dodgy weights, or to give the impression of THC ‘crystals’ on the buds, are examples of this), but some have been unequivocally proven (all the crap that goes into certain types of resin, for

With a little love and care, seeds will develop into strong, full-sized plants

Dr Dee example), and then there are the increasingly contentious areas of weed that’s had the cannabinoid content modified and cannabinoids that - strictly speaking - aren’t really cannabinoids at all.

So yes, I’m very aware of all of these matters, and what I would suggest as a solution to them is to grow your own as then you’ll know exactly where it came from, exactly what’s in it and exactly what to expect when you ingest some of it.

It’s not that easy, from what I understand, to make MDMA. If you get it wrong there’s a good chance you’ll end up with something potentially dangerous, and there’s a chance you could burn your house down. Booze is pretty easy to make but difficult to get right, so the same problems apply as with MDMA. Making heroin or cocaine is - I’m told - also relatively straightforward if one overlooks the toxic by products and has access to a plentiful supply of the raw materials (opium and coca).

When compared to growing weed, none of these are recommended. All of them involve labs, chemistry equipment and a fair amount of faffing about. And you really need to know what you’re doing or there’s the potential to end up in a world of grief. With weed, all you really need are a couple of pots, some compost, water, plant food and the sun. Sure, you can fanny about with lights, nutrients and all the rest of it if you’ve got the time, the money and the inclination, but really, stripping it right down to utter basics, some seeds and some dirt are the point of departure.

It’s much the same as growing your own fruit and vegetables: they taste better, they’re more or less free, and you get the buzz of knowing you grew it from seed.

Grow your own; it’s the only way to be sure you’re really getting the real deal.

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11

GROW WITH LITTLE LEBOWSKI

Cheeky Auto In The Garden This year has seen some of the some of the weirdest weather in living memory!

First of all we get the freezing cold, then

The spot should also be home to a few veggies and ornamental plants that will give a nice bit of cover. Although the

Remember, we need to keep this girl compact and covert.

Then, we start to harden her off by placing her outside in the sunshine and bringing her back inside at night. This’ll prevent her from getting shocked from any big fluctuations in day and night temperatures, which will also cause her to stretch.

This plant needs to get going fast, stay small and develop quickly. So a 5L pot filled with coco will do nicely, no need to

By Little Lebowski

keep them away. Just make sure the pot is sat in a saucer, otherwise you risk any rain washing the salt towards the roots of your auto.

As the auto approaches flowering, you’ll really start to notice her putting out some rather pungent odours. This is when you’ll find out if you’ll be able to keep her in the garden until harvest or move her indoors under lights, or even pack her away to a guerrilla spot. A nice tactic to try and mask the smell a little is to surround the plant

WE NEED SOMETHING SMALL, DISCREET AND FAST; AUTOFLOWER IS THE ANSWER Back garden auto, Spanish style. Dream on!

came the rain and floods and now we’ve seen a heat wave that’s lasted nearly a full month, interspersed with thunder and rainstorms and ending July with the hottest day on record for the last seven years!

What the hell is going on?

cheeky plant will have to fight for light with its vegetable producing neighbours, the trade-off is that the close proximity to the other plants will help to hide its silhouette and soften the shape of its familiar looking leaves.

The result has been a bit of a tricky situation for planning your outdoor grow because, let’s face it, we didn’t really have a spring! The weather seemed to go from cold and wet to red hot within the space of a few days.

But what to grow? The dream, of course, would be an enormous California-style bush of Kush or a towering Sativa.

Unfortunately, this isn’t going to be

This has meant that outdoor growers have missed that all important cool, sunny spring period that nourishes young plants and gives them the strong foundations needed for putting on some hefty weight during the warmer months of July and August. Sure, growers in certain areas have still done well, but many will have lost their outdoor crop in the soggy spring.

As June started up and the sun finally came out, I know a few growers – myself included – must have been sat in the back garden on a hot afternoon, contemplat- Specific auto nutrient will develop ing a cheeky one plant grow. Watching your plants quicker the path of the sun track round the garden illuminating different spots and casting others into the shade, making mental practical in the garden of a mid-ternotes of how many hours of sunlight a race in Dagenham! We need something day each spot gets and wondering how small, discreet and fast; autoflower is well shielded the suitable spots are from the answer. the neighbours prying eyes!

As you probably know, these non-photoEyeing up grow spots is just an occu- period sensitive plants will flower under pational hazard! How many of you walk any lighting conditions so you don’t have into a house or flat for the first time to rely on the days getting shorter in order and wonder how big the loft or cellar to get them to flower. They’re a safe bet is? Or start measuring up the walk in for planting out when the weather has wardrobes to see if you’d get a 600w in already turned warm and you can rest safe there? Exactly! in the knowledge that most of them will stay small and discreet and will be ready So, the spot has been selected; a nice to harvest within 60 to 90 days. corner of the garden that receives around 5 hours of direct sunlight, early in the day, So, the auto bean has been popped and perfect. Early sunlight will dry out the goes into the propagator for the first moisture trapped in your outdoor buds week of its life, under a couple of T5’s to and will reduce the risk of bud rot. make sure that it doesn’t get too leggy.

start in a smaller pot as the shock of transplanting an auto can stunt their growth completely. It’s best to start them in the final pot.

Usually organic nutes would be the weapon of choice in an outdoor grow, but in this case it’s best to use the right tool for the job. In goes the Dutch Pro autoflower specific nutrient, tailor made for the fast paced growth of an autoflowering plant… remember with autos it’s a sprint, not a marathon.

Unless you’re living out in the sticks, you probably won’t have too many wild rabbits and deer attacking your special lady.

However, the frequent rain and thunderstorms in between the periods of hot weather have made UK gardens the perfect breeding ground for slugs! These pesky bastards can make light work of your little auto plant. Small, pot saucers placed strategically around your plant and filled with beer will attract them, then drown them… what a way to go!

Alternatively, a protective barrier of salt poured around the base of your pot will

with lovely, fragrant plants like lavender and basil. Obviously, this won’t mask the smell completely but agitating a lavender bush or basil plant every time you’re out in the garden will certain help.

If the smell does get a little too much and the lady needs to be moved to a new home outdoors, be cautious when you’re moving her. It is one thing to transport small seedlings to a guerrilla grow spot, all securely wrapped up in tubes of newspaper; it’s a little trickier to transport a two foot stinking attention magnet, sealed in a cardboard box!

Best to do it at night!

If you end up having to move your plant to the indoor room then, at the very least, you’ll have saved yourself a few weeks’ worth of electricity and will now have a nice natural looking, bushy plant to flower.

Now, with a bit of luck, she’ll be ready by the end of August.

Happy growing!

Cheeky auto hiding in the garden

12

PRODUCT FLASH

PRODUCT FLASH ALGA GROW AND ALGA BLOOM

Basic Nutrient Organic algae-based nutrient for the growth and flowering phase

Alga Grow and Alga Bloom: two fertilisers that guarantee to give you a high yield and excellent taste. An essential element for both products is sea algae. Sea algae contain vitamins, amino acids, ferments and natural hormones which increase the fertility of the soil and stimulate the development of the plant.

Sea algae ensure a healthy stable soil life. Your growth will prosper in a natural way. Sea algae are also capable of buffering nutrients and make them available for the plant whenever needed. By adding sea algae to Alga Grow and Alga Bloom, the plant receives nutrients for a healthy and sturdy growth and bloom.

Alga Grow and Alga Bloom are organic basic plant foods that were created especially for soil-based cultivation. Alga Grow is used in the plant’s growing phase.

This organic fertiliser ensures healthy and uniform growth and good root development. Alga Bloom is only used in the plant’s flowering phase. Alga Bloom ensures healthy, sturdy plants and profuse flowering.

The advantages of Alga Grow and Alga Bloom: t /BUVSBM HSPXUI BOE GMPXFSJOH IPSNPOFT GPS IJHIFS ZJFMET t 4UJNVMBUFT UIF QSPEVDUJPO PG DIMPSPQIZMM t 1SPWJEF QSPUFDUJPO BHBJOTU IJHI TBMU DPODFOUSBUJPOT BOE NPVMET t $BO BMTP CF VTFE BT MFBG OVUSJFOU For the best result, combine Alga Grow and Alga Bloom with the other products from the 100% BIO grow style. This is the perfect grow style for starting growers and devotees. With a minimal effort you will get an intense taste of the end product.

Do you have any questions? Please contact servicedesk@plagron.com For additional information about Alga Grow, Alga Bloom and other products, www.plagron.com

EXHALE CO2 BAGS Exhale CO2 bags cultivate CO2 24 hours a day with no need to refill bottles or use expensive CO2 production units. The power of exhale lies in the mycelial mass inside the vented cultivator, this cultivates CO2 continually for up to 6 months.

Exhale comes complete and is cultivating CO2 even before you get out of the checkout line. No need to turn it on or off, simply place Exhale in your grow space and leave it alone to do its job.

SUPERMIX Because changing regulations and more intensive controls in the EC, Bio Nova had to change the formulations of the SuperMix series of fertilizers, in order to be compliant with the demanding EC regulations regarding fertilizers.

These changes had to do with the total percentage of NPK and the way this is described on the labelling. Practically this means that the Soil-, Hydro-, Haze-, NFT-Aqua- and Auto Flowering SuperMixes are concentrated higher than they used to be. This will be obvious when comparing the NPK rates on the old and new labels.

It took great effort and problem solving to concentrate our mixes to an even higher level and still offer all ingredients in the same mix with the same premium standards.

Because of their complexity, the concentrations are now at the limit of what is possible and in stock conditions below 6 °C, a tiny bit of powdery precipitation may occur. Temperature and saturation are closely linked (think about the difference in dissolving sugar in hot or cold drinks). This does not influence the quality of the product. It merely means the saturation temperature has been reached. Stocking at room temperature and stirring or shaking will dissolve it.

For end users the higher concentrations mean lower dosages and less product to carry around.

The dosage has to be lowered by 25-30%.

For example: ± 250-350ml/100l instead of 400-500 ml/100l.

These renewed products will be available soon.

For the same reasons: EC regulations, Nutri Nova and Coco Nova will be changed soon as well.

The dosage rates will be a lot lower as well, so: less product needed for the same results. o make things clear the product names will be changed to Nutri Nova Forte and Coco Nova Forte so no mistakes can be made.

For the single component fertilizers the only thing that will be changed is the labelling.

More information can be provided by your local shop. www.bionova.nl

Placing the exhale cultivator slightly above the level of your plants will ensure they receive the CO2 they need 24hours a day for up to 6 months.

A revolution in indoor CO2 production systems.

Maintenance free, no heat, no electricity, Just CO2!

For more information visit: www.easy-grow.co.uk/exhale-co2-bags/

From just plain simple to highly sophisticated, all Bio Nova ways are incredibly effective.

You decide which way to grow!

Would you like to grow things, but lack a green thumb? No problem! Use The Basic Way and be overwhelmed by the success of your effortless input!

Are you a passionate grower who wants high quality? Use The Dedicated Way of growing, it will blow your mind!

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Your green companion in every way!

15

GROW YOUR OWN

Cloning for Success Successful cloning for soil or mixed media is simple. A few easy guidelines will allow you to, over time, take one plant and make as many genetically identical copies as you want, for as long as you want.

Several European cultivars of grapes are clones of plants originally grown over two-thousand years ago. Keeping a great strain is definitely a good reason for learning how to clone.

Environment: Several procedures and arrangements need to be accomplished before your

endeavor. Most Cannabis strains need at least one month after sprouting from seed to be able to flower.

F.RED

controls a plant’s circadian clock, a biochemical mechanism, which is literally a molecular clock coordinated with the day/ night cycle. We humans are also controlled by these circadian rhythms, but most are blissfully unaware. Cannabis is considered a short-day plant, as in nature, it flowers with the increase of darkness as autumn occurs. Between sixteen and twenty-four hours of light is necessary to prevent flowering in your clone area.

eter will take all the guesswork out of the equation. The closer your clone area is to the ideal 75° F (24° C), the more success you will have. The lower your temperatures drop, the slower your roots will form.

Higher temperatures increase the chance of rotting your cutting before roots are formed. A plant clipping without roots is in an unquestionably delicate state. Without water, wilting begins almost immediately.

A clone dome will ensure moisture stays in the air so your cutting does not dry out before roots develop. The cutting will absorb this moisture though a process of diffusion and osmosis.

Marking or labeling is very important if you have more than one similar variety. It can

A FEW EASY GUIDELINES ALLOW YOU TO TAKE ONE PLANT AND MAKE AS MANY GENETICALLY IDENTICAL COPIES AS YOU WANT, FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT.

Poke a hole in your wet mix to make room for the clone

Choose where to take your cutting first cutting is taken. A clone area with moderate- to low-level lighting is ideal for fresh cuttings. You want your plants focused on root formation, and bright lights will divert energy away from that

Cut bottom leaves on stem Growers are able to control a plant’s ability to flower by controlling the amount of darkness it receives. This reaction to the light cycle or lack of light is called ‘photoperiodic response’. ‘Photoperiodism’

Controlling temperature and humidity are very important when cloning Cannabis. As with brewing beer or growing mushrooms, the parameters are very narrow, so purchasing a digital thermometer/ hygrom-

be very easy to lose track of which plant is which. Get your containers labeled correctly so you do not end up losing or mixing up your strains. A marker and masking tape is an efficient and simple way to go.

16

Dip cutting immediately into rooting hormone

The best media combination to clone with is a half vermiculite, half perlite blend. Together these two ingredients make the perfect jumble of moisture

cut the stem at a nice 45° angle with a fresh razor blade. Immediately dip the cutting into a wet or dry rooting hormone and place it into your medium.

GROWERS ARE ABLE TO CONTROL A PLANT’S ABILITY TO FLOWER BY CONTROLLING THE AMOUNT OF DARKNESS IT RECEIVES, KNOWN AS A ‘PHOTOPERIODIC RESPONSE’. and oxygen for root development. A little misting will help keep the dust down when mixing these constituents, as they absolutely are a dust hazard. After being put into the cloning containers this blend needs to be saturated with water. To increase your level of success, adding a little ‘Super Thrive’ and/or a very diluted bloom mix to this water will help give your cuttings a boost in root production, due to the hormones and nutrients they provide. After watering the containers and making sure they are not sitting in puddles, create small holes in your media so your cuttings will not be damaged when placing them into the mix.

The stems of most cuttings are tender.

Forcing your clones into this medium would hurt them.

Make sure to gently pack the moist vermiculite and perlite, blending snugly around the stem. When you are finished with your last cutting, place the dome over them. These new plants can be left in the clone area, undisturbed, for seven days.

You ought to see a little humidity forming in the hood of the dome. This is a good sign that your clippings will have enough moisture in the air to sustain them while the roots are forming. If your plants wilt in the first few days, your conditions are too dry. If they rot the conditions are too wet, or to hot. After the first week, lift the dome every day or two allowing for a good air exchange, as roots need oxygen to survive. Most cuttings will root within a three- to twelve day period.

Pack mix snugly around clone As Sophocles says, “success is dependent on effort.” These simple steps can give you 100% success at cloning. Once your clones are ready, transplant into soil, clay pellets, coconut husks, lava rock, or some

other exotic medium. These plants are genetic copies of their mothers, ready to flower instantly with a reduced light cycle, meaning more potential harvests of your favorite medicine every year!

Fresh clones under a dome

Mother Plants and Cutting Technique: Healthy mothers ensure healthy clones.

Some growers subscribe to starving mothers of nutrients before cloning, claiming that it helps clones take faster.

(This makes as much sense as saying that starving a child makes him grow faster.) Your cuttings will use the nutrients stored within them for staying alive and creating new roots. Mother plants also need to be well-hydrated before cloning; it is optimal to water a few hours, or the day before, taking cuttings.

It will be around two weeks before the clones will need to be watered. Spray the mother plants with water before starting the procedure, just to make sure they are super-saturated.

Now you are ready to determine where the clippings will be taken on the mother plant. A cutting around three-plus inches long is a good size.

Use clean, sharp scissors to take the clipping. Place the cutting on a wood block, trim off the bottom leaves and

Ten-day-old clone with beautifully developed root ball

18

GROW WITH LITTLE LEBOWSKI

Don’t Sweat The Stretch best from your plants is a good environment! These tips are designed to be employed from day one of your grow, not just in the period that many growers out there refer to as ‘the stretch’, i.e when the plants are switched from 18 hours of light to 12 hours. There are some specific techniques for dealing with that stage and we’ll get to that later.

Temperature is probably the best place to start. Even if your light levels are 100% optimised, you still run the risk of stretchy plants if your temperatures aren’t up to scratch. Try to maintain a grow room temperature of between 23 and 28 degrees Celsius. The first step, if you don’t have one already, is to invest in a min max hygro / thermometer. This will record the minimum and maximum (the clue was in the name) temperature reached in your grow room and this is very important because a major factor in internode distance is the difference between the day and night temperatures.

Put simply the closer your day and night temperatures are, the less your plants will stretch.

Growing a seedling on a windowsill can lead to the dreaded stretch!

Growing indoors has plenty of benefits. It is good fun to play god, giving life to your plants and controlling the amount of light, food and water they receive. You can cultivate strains that would have no chance to flourish in our short and sweet UK summers. Plus, it’s nice to have a hobby that doesn’t involve trawling the web for porn!

But it’s not without its setbacks; heat, noise, smells, electricity bills and… one of the big ones… space. There’s no sicker feeling than switching your crop to flower and watching it stretch and stretch…. and stretch, devouring the vertical space in your grow room. It’s a natural and near enough unavoidable issue, but there are a few things that can be done to combat the dreaded stretch…

through snapped stems... a truly devastating experience!

Obviously a stretched plant will seriously impact the amount of headroom that you have under grow lights which can cause you issues with light burn at the top of your plants - another yield reducer - also the lower branches will receive less light intensity, because you’ll have to raise your lights high, and they will develop less bud as a result.

Going a bit more technical, the technique of manipulating day and night temps to control plant growth is known in commercial horticulture as the DIF Technique (DIF just stands for difference). When the day temps are higher than the night temps, this is known as positive DIF. The more positive the DIF is, the greater the internode distance will be. When night temps are higher than the day temps, this is

It’s pretty much bad news all round!

First off, you’ll want to make sure that your plants are dense and bushy to begin with and this involves two things; keeping the internodal distance short and promoting lateral growth.

As we all know, prevention is better than than the cure, but for those of you who are suffering from stretchy plants... and there maybe a few of you, especially if you’re working with less lights in the summer heat... take a look at the article on pruning and super cropping in the previous Soft Secrets, you may be able to pull things back round and get a decent yield.

Internode distance may sound complicated, but put simply it means the distance between the stems (nodes) on the plant. Specifically, the distance between the nodes of leaf stems on the main stem of the plant. The greater the internode distance on the plant, the more spindly the plant will look.

Pruning plants in veg and early flower will affect the flow of auxins within the plant.

Auxins are the hormones that play a major part in coordinating how the plant grows.

Re-distributing natural growth hormones from the main stem to lateral stems is a good way to slow height growth and force the plant to bush out.

Long spindly plants are a bad thing as they’ll be underdeveloped and less likely to be able to physically support your desired amount of bud sites. They’ll often need more plant supports than normal and you run the risk of losing buds

So, to prevent excessive stretching in the first place, we need to know what causes it. Disregarding genetic factors - some strains are just naturally stretchy - the two main causes are light and temperature.

Surprise, surprise, the key to getting the

A min max thermometer is essential to monitor your day and night temps

known as negative DIF. The more negative the DIF is, the shorter the internode distance will be.

Applying a negative DIF can actually be used to inhibit growth completely. A commercial farmer may do this to hold back certain crops, so that all crop varieties are ready to harvest at the same time.

The DIF technique can be easily applied in the grow room by moderating your day and night temperatures.

Maintaining a marginally positive DIF of a few degrees will keep your plants growing at the required rate, with nice short internode spacing.

By Little Lebowski

If, for whatever reason, you want to hold your plants back slightly (maybe you’re waiting for space in the flowering room to become available) and decide to maintain a negative DIF - i.e keep the night temps higher than the day temps - just be aware that humidity can really creep up when the lights are off in a grow room and you’ll want to ensure that the room is adequately ventilated to prevent mould from settling in.

One technique that you could use is a ‘cool morning pulse’. This is where you drop the room temperature by a few degrees for the first 2-3 hours of lights on, and then allow it to increase into positive DIF after that. This is said to have a similar effect as maintaining negative DIF, but will reduce the risk of the humidity creeping up.

You can achieve the ‘cool morning pulse’ by using a temperature controlled fan in a smaller room or an air con unit in a larger room.

If you can’t get your head round the technical stuff and just want your plants to grow at a decent rate, you’ll do just fine if you simply remember not to let your night temps drop too far from your day temps!

The next thing to look at is your lighting.

Make sure you’ve got enough light intensity for your space; otherwise you’ll end up with plants that stretch out searching for light, with long internode spacing.

As stated before, this means you’ll have to raise your lights to cater for the taller plants and as a result will lose valuable headroom, which could have been filled with buds.

In an ideal world (or grow room) the plant will be at its optimum flowering potential when all of the bud sites are bathed in equally intense light. The plant is equally lit and produces dense buds from top to bottom. A good example of this would be plants that are grown outdoors, with lots of space around them. This is because sunlight has the ability to penetrate deep into the canopy and all the bud sites receive equal light intensity. Search YouTube for Jorge Cervantes and you’ll find plenty of examples!

However, when using artificial lighting, the intensity of the light diminishes exponentially with distance, we won’t go into the mathematics here – save that for another article on the Inverse Square Law! – but, suffice to say, it’s shocking how much intensity a 600w bulb loses over a distance of just 30cm. This is why, when growing indoors, you’ll experience small airy, popcorn buds from the lower bud sites. The artificial light just cannot penetrate the canopy and develop those hard to reach areas.

19 Intensity isn’t the only factor to consider when thinking about your lighting. Different types of lighting used at different stages of growth will help to reduce stretch.

When considering your propagation set up, don’t be tempted to bring on young seedlings or cuttings on a window sill. If the window receives direct sunlight, the young plants will cook and wilt away. If the window doesn’t receive direct light then the seedlings will stretch to try and find the light source.

Invest in a T5 or PL propagation light. These cheap, low wattage, high output fluorescents can be placed directly onto a propagator and give off the cool white light that plants need for strong development.

Running a metal halide lamp for the first two weeks of flower will reduce stretch As a rough rule of thumb, UK and European growers will tend to use a single 600w HID lamp per 1m or 1.2m square of growing space which is certainly adequate, but it’s still possible to experience stretchy plants under this wattage. You must ensure that the light intensity is kept as high as possible by lowering the bulb as close to the top of your plants as you can without burning them. There are various types of reflectors available on the market that help dissipate the heat generated by the bulb; parabolic umbrella style reflectors and Adjust-A-Wings to name but two. Air cooled reflectors are also an option. Just make sure that you maintain the glass and aluminium on your reflectors, keep them as clean as possible throughout the full growth cycle. Dust will seriously reduce light intensity; dirty glazing can reduce light levels by 20%!

Ultimately, there is no exact lamp height measurement to follow; it will all depend on environmental factors, equipment used and also the strain – as different strains are more tolerant of heat than others. However, as a rough guide for a

600w lamp; start at 90-100cm distance from the bulb for a young plant and reduce the distance to around 45cm as the plants mature. Or, place the back of your hand level with the canopy and if the lamp burns your hand it will also burn your plants!

For the vegetative stage, a blue CFL or - even better - a metal halide bulb can be used. These both produce light in the white-blue spectrum, which encourages vegetative growth and bushiness whilst discouraging vertical growth, keeping the internode distance short.

Finally let’s take a look at what to do to minimise stretch when switching to flower, by that I mean switch from 18 to 12 hours of light. When switching the light cycle you can expect a further two weeks of vigorous vertical growth, it’s

unavoidable. Since plants need nitrogen for vigorous growth, you might think that switching over to bloom feeds immediately would eliminate vertical growth.

Unfortunately it doesn’t. The plant requires nitrogen through the start of the flowering phase and reducing the availability of it will just bring on premature yellowing. This is why most nutrient manufacturer’s advise feeding grow stage nutes until the 3rd week of flower.

Continuing the use of metal halide lighting from the veg stage into the first two weeks of flower will help to keep distance between internodes shorter. In fact, switching to a sodium bulb immediately in flowering can be a bad idea as the infrared and far-red colours that promote bud growth later in cycle also promote stretching if used too early.

One helpful thing to remember is that planning is everything. If you expect the stretch and factor in the fact that your plants are likely to double in size when you switch to 12/12 then this allows you to plan your available space. Keep in mind the maximum height that you can raise your lights and plan around this. So, if the maximum height you can grow to is 1m tall, and then switch your plants to flower before they hit 50cm!

Happy growing!

Don’t overcrowd your growing space.

Overcrowding can be a major factor in producing stretchy plants. As your plants grow, the leaves will quickly overlap their neighbours and light won’t penetrate through. Eventually the lower portions of the plant will experience significant shading. It’s believed that shading changes the actual light quality, resulting in the light below plant canopies that is richer in near-infrared and far-red which encourages plant stretching. Put simply, not only do the plants fight for the light and stretch towards it, but the light that they do receive in the shade actually encourages the stretching further.

Plan your space before you start, don’t fill your grow area with too many plants.

Short internodes and a nice level canopy. Perfect!

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21

CANNABIS CUPS BHO EXTRACTION HASH CRUSHES THE COMPETITION

The Highlife Cup 2013 For the first time in its now 16-year existence, the Highlife Cup this year was awarded at the friendly Cannabis Liberation Festival, on the site of the former Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam. The combination of the festival and the Highlife Cup proved a happy one, as both participants, judges and visitors to the festival enjoyed the sparkling presentation of the Cup ceremony by radio DJ Cobus Bosscha, who by now may safely be called a true Highlife Cup veteran (Cobus has 10 Highlife Cup editions to his name as an honorary judge and presenter!). The CBD festival itself, organised by the VOC (Dutch Association for the Abolition of Cannabis Prohibition), truly outdid itself in its fifth edition with an impressive line-up of bands and speakers. Since the weather gods too were favourable to the festival, it was a day that will be remembered for a long time to come!

The mood was good right from the start at the Westergasfabriek site when the results of the Highlife Cup 2013 were announced - first at 17:45, and later at 19.45 - in two blocks of fifteen minutes each. In the VIP tent sponsored by Dutch Passion and Soft Secrets, one could, provided one was fortunate enough to obtain a VIP ticket, personally The VIP tent was full of artists, VIPs and try out all 91 samples of the 2013 Cup all staff who came to try samples of the day long under the inspiring leadership of Eric the Magician, who brought along famous Highlife Cup

By Charles Steenhuyzen // Image: VOC, Tilo, Rob & Robert

Seeds. Coffee Shops like Mississippi and Missouri from Maastricht won many awards last year and hoped to repeat that success again this year. The jury this year had more than eight weeks to carry out their blind tests. Fortunately that long period of time allowed for a stable and particularly clear result.

The most notable winner, with no fewer than three awards, was the recently founded seed company Senzimilla Seeds. With their Amnesia Haze in the Bio category they obtained an impressive score of 413.5 points. A first prize was also awarded to the company in the important category C (Autoflowering strains), where it won a deserved first place with its Cheese automatic, by no less than 12 points difference with the number two in the same category. Finally, Senzimilla Seeds also came in third place in the category G, hash extractions, with its Amnesia Glass Iceo-lator.

Like last year, coffee shop Blue Bird from Amsterdam also did a great job at this year’s Cup. With a first prize in the category B (Hydro) for its Chocolope and

Thomas of Serious Seeds was delighted with the first Cup for the new strain Serious 6

The Weather Gods were kind to the festival

two large Vaporizers specially for the occasion. The VIPs were able to make their preferences known on large laminated menu cards, and were then either given a piece of that weed or hash to roll a joint themselves, or offered a prepared Vaporizer containing their test sample.

This was purely intended for recreational use, and not for points, as these had already been distributed in the days before by the secretive jury.

In terms of participation, there were a few more companies than at the 2012 edition, including many established names. Major players in the cannabis world like Dutch Passion, Sensi Seeds, Paradise Seeds and Royal Queen Seeds competed with relative newcomers Highlife readers went totally crazy like Senzimilla Seeds and Dizzy Duck

a good third place in the Bio category with its OG Kush, the shop demonstrated its sheer quality. Its Cups from 2012 were therefore not mayflies.

The usual suspects were also back again, who year after year take the stage to reclaim their well-deserved awards. Dizzy Duck Seeds and the eponymous coffee shop from The Hague have become regular fixtures at the Highlife Cup. This year they again won three awards, while their Skunkberry Gold hash managed to amass the most points.

Established names also made an appearance this year, with nice strains.

Dutch Passion won first prize in the Bio category with its Jorge’s Diamonds and Paradise Seeds managed to win first prize in the Haze Hydro category with its bestselling DelaHaze. Luc from Paradise Seeds caused quite a stir on stage when he spontaneously decided to give away Paradise seeds for free to the public, who stormed the main stage in large numbers after the announcement. Luc distributed the seeds like a true pop star, during which he was repeatedly close to being trampled by the crowd.

Fortunately, he managed to recover like a real stage pro, because Luc is almost always present when prizes are being handed out.

The biggest surprise of the day was perhaps the announcement of the winner of the winners, the champion of champions. The highest award did not go to a weed strain but to a BHO hash extraction from Royal Queen Seeds.

A soft as butter but spectacular hash produced using butane gas specifically for the Highlife Cup 2013, called the Royal OG Kush Blend. A hash-wizard of Royal Queen Seeds reportedly used the best OG Kush-species of the company to make this outstanding ‘Budder’ BHO (Butane Honey Oil) hash, awarded absolute first prize by the jury. The difference with the equally spectacular White Russian Ice-o-Lator from Serious Seeds was a clear 3.5 points, but if we

THE JURY 2013: Ben Dronkers (l) got his well-deserved Cup for Weedseedshop.com, awarded

by Daisy from Discover Publisher

Champion of Champions: the special Budder BHO hash from Royal Queen Seeds, called Royal OG Kush Blend

CHAIRMAN: CLIFF DJ Cobus - Radio 2 Muller & Müller Eric el Mago Arthur – Mountain High Curt – Advanced Nutrients Tan - Cannabis College Derrick - VOC Andy Pyrah - YouTube Piet Groen – Soft Secrets Tom – Soft Secrets Borja – Soft Secrets

22 Luc from Paradise Seeds performed dangerous antics on stage when he gave away seeds to the assembled audience

Blue Bird from Amsterdam played a home game

the hash strains, so they no longer have to compete with weed types. There will also be a separate category reserved for the increasingly popular Kush strains, which will slowly but surely conquer the market in 2014.

ference! This was unprecedented in the Highlife Cup. You could say that the jury elevated the two strongest extraction hash strains head and shoulders above the rest of the samples. Bad news for Dutch politicians Opstelten and Teeven and their cronies, because the choice of especially high THC values is exactly what these men are hoping to fight. High THC levels are however popular among cannabis users, underscored by the results of this Highlife Cup 2013. For next year, the organisation has already announced that a separate Overall Winner Cup will be created for

All in all the Highlife Cup 2013 was a great success thanks to the dedication and tight organisation of the VOC and their Cannabis Liberation Day, and we certainly hope that the cooperation will get a sequel next year.

See you there!

Mike of Dizzy Duck Seeds is now a permanent presence on the podium of honour

With no fewer than 3 prizes, Stephan managed to put his Senzimilla Seeds on the map look at the third place in this category, a not unimpressive Amnesia Haze Ice- The Paradise Seeds crew o-Lator, we see a massive 32 point dif-

Tan received the Cup of Cups on behalf of Royal Queen Seeds!

HIGHLIFE CUP 2013 RESULTS BIO 1

Jorge’s Diamonds

AUTOFLOWERS 1

Dutch Passion (405 points) 2

Serious 6 OG Kush

1

Senzimilla Seeds (400,5 points) 2

Serious Seeds (402 points) 3

Cheese automatic

HAZE HYDRO

Purple Orange

Coffeeshop Blue Bird,

Power Haze automatic

2

3

Bio-G-Power (387 points)

1

Chocolope

1

Coffeeshop Blue Bird, Amsterdam (390,5 points) 2

3

Mexican Haze AMG

Amnesia Haze Liquid Gold

1

Skunkberry Gold Dizzy Duck Seeds (404 points)

2

Tidghine

Cremers,

Coffeeshop Roxy

Dizzy Duck Seeds (388 points)

Den Haag (405 points)

Amsterdam (383 points)

Gout (383,5 points)

3

Power Haze Bio-G-Power (398 points)

White Russian Ice-o-lator Serious Seeds

(439,5 points)

Amnesia Glass Senzimilla Seeds

(407,5 points)

(399 points)

Magic Mango Jacky O.

2

(443 points)

TRADITIONAL HASH

Senzimilla Seeds (413,5 points) 2

Royal OG Kush Blend Royal Queen Seeds

3

Coffeeshop Kosbor, Maastricht

HAZE BIO

1

WeedSeedShop.com (400,5 points)

Amsterdam (398 points)

HYDRO

Delahaze Paradise Seeds (402 points)

Dizzy Duck Seeds (389 points) 3

HASH EXTRACTIONS

3

Pure White Cheese Coffeeshop Missouri, Maastricht

(381 points)

Highlife Cup Winner 2013 Royal OG Kush Blend Royal Queen Seeds (443 points)

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24

BACKGROUND

Five myths about cannabis that just don’t seem to go away “The actual experience of the smoked herb has been clouded by a fog of dirty language perpetrated by a crowd of fakers who have not had the experience and yet insist on downgrading it” Allen Ginsberg.

The above is a quote dating from 1965. They were right on the money back then and unfortunately they hold true nearly half a century on.

So...

Over the past four or five years, we have seen a sharp increase of publications in the scientific and medical journals presenting the results of research that seem to generally concur on one particular point regarding cannabis. What the point isn’t is that cannabis is a wholly benevolent substance that will make users better people and the world in general a better place (hold your horses on that one, bro’!); however, the point is that cannabis, far from “not having a currently accepted medical use in treatment” is increasingly being regarded as a potential wonder drug, effective in treating a whole range of health issues, physical and mental, some obvious but many less so.

Naturally, there is the usual opposition to all of this from the usual sources, and in order to give some sort of credibility to their objections, they trot out the usual range of – frankly - old hat nonsense we’ve all heard many, many times over the years (actually, some of this stuff is getting on for 100 years old and is still being touted as “a reason not to...” in spite of being of questionable veracity the first time around).

But here’s the thing: so much of this daft claptrap is swallowed wholesale by so many different people. For instance, we have the constantly fearful parental groups, and to a degree it’s understandable that they take the view that they do.

However, what’s less clear is why parents

Dr John Dee who were themselves stoners back in the mists of time think that these very myths that didn’t apply to them do, for some mysterious reason, apply to their progeny.

Dope really hasn’t changed all that much (synthetic cannabinoids aside). And then of course there are that big chunk of the anti dope population who have never done it themselves and are just gullible, susceptible to misinformation or simply stupid (you decide which it is).

there was an influx of economic migrants and itinerant workers around this time from Central and South America. Many came from Mexico - as one might expect, Mexico being next door neighbour to the southernmost states - looking for a better life. Of course many of these couldn’t speak much/any English and didn’t have much in the way of specialist skills, causing a glut of manual labour so wages dropped, unemployment spiked and racism festered, meaning such jobs as there were went to the indigenous white population (as long as they were prepared to

weed growing everywhere; no brainer, really. Nothing to do but sit around getting wasted. The tabloids of the time jumped on it: Lazy Mexicans and their filthy weed, and so on. Unfortunately, this whole tableau gave rise to the myth of dope induced sloth and indolence, but a myth is all it is.

accept piss poor wages) rather than to the “incomers”. So the nascent migrant population are unemployed and broke in another country. What they do have though, is a knowledge of marijuana which appears to have been lost to the majority of Americans at this time. They knew about mota (as well as mushrooms and Peyote, but that’s another story) and its effects. And at that time it wasn’t deemed a public enemy and just grew pretty much everywhere. So let’s see what we have here: unemployed underclass, very little money and so R&R has to be taken where one can find it. Beer costs (assuming anyone will even supply it),

will use to excuse their laziness. However the fact is that motivated people will “do stuff” whether they’ve smoked weed or not, but the best idea is probably to treat weed the same as one would alcohol in this respect, and wait until everything that needs to be done has been done. It’s not rocket science.

What is known is that this myth has been so pervasive that it now provides an inbuilt excuse for tokers to not do things. It justifies it, if you like. It’s just a stereotype, but it’s one that lazy people

And so, for your amusement and edification, we would like to present five of the most prevailing, “refusing to die or go away” myths about cannabis. It’s difficult to put these in a specific order as they’re all equally ridiculous.

Let’s start off with the hoary old chestnut of “Cannabis Amotivational Syndrome”. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with it, the idea goes something like this: smoking weed makes you disinclined to do anything very much, certainly nothing productive. It makes you lazy. If you’ve got a job, you lose it and if you don’t have a job you can’t be bothered going to find one. Short term result is that your fecklessness means your dependents go hungry.

Longer term result is that the economic fabric of society falls into a state of entropy and all because of indolent stoners.

The roots of this particular strain of nonsense can be found in the racist rhetoric of the 1920’s and 30’s. In essence,

“Cannabis causes cognitive impairment”.

This translates to cannabis affects the memory and longer term use affects the intelligence. So dope makes you stupid.

Now, as any regular reader of Soft Secrets will be aware, I’ve written quite a lot in

25 recent years about research looking at the effects of cannabis on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and so on.

It seems as though cannabis might be a protector against the onset of this disease, so from a medical point of view, cannabis can prevent cognitive impairment.

the effects are so pleasurable that this hedonistic gateway blasts open rendering the hapless user completely open to the effects of all of the other pleasures in the garden of illicit chemical delights.

One day you’re smoking a joint, next thing you know you’re living in a burned out car and doing hand jobs so you can buy heroin.

There have been a number of studies indicating that smoking weed at an early age results in a drop in IQ, and that this loss is never regained. There was a study carried out recently in New Zealand that indicated this might be the case. However, even the researchers on this study pointed out that this is just an association, and as such should not be assumed to be the cause as there are too many other factors (known and unknown) at play to be able to point the finger at weed.

There is probably a case to be made for cannabis making the not-so-intelligent even less intelligent, and there is a better case to be made for people blaming their cannabis use for their general lack of intelligence. Perhaps they spent too much time getting caned when they should have been paying attention at school. And that is the bottom line here: try to stay away from dope (and other psychoactives) until you’re into your late teens as there really are more important things to be doing.

“Cannabis use is completely safe” and “Cannabis use causes cancer” I’m giving you two for the price of one here, readers, as both of these belong in the same ball

cinogens, albeit not the same ones and not on the same scale. The thing about smoke is that it’s really not meant to be in your lungs, and that’s why you cough.

Sometimes lungs have more sense than brains in this respect.

However, the flip side of the above is that even hard core tokers tend to smoke less weed than tobacco smokers smoke cigarettes. The waters are muddied somewhat by research that indicates that weed alone may inhibit the growth of tumours.

However, we’re quite aware that the British Lung Foundation have recently warned that the UK public seriously underesti-

We don’t really know what to say about this one. It’s just such an obvious and absurd lie. My granny could have scored weed these days if she’d wanted to. Just as many people smoke dope now as thirty years ago; more if we consider the proliferation of “legal” synthetic cannabinoids currently flooding the market. It’s become an uber commodity, worth gazillions, and precisely because it’s illegal there are no rules around who can buy it: all that’s needed is the money.

This may seem perverse to some, but a great way to limit the sale of weed to minors (and that’s what this bullshit is really all about) is to legalise and strictly

THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT PROHIBITION DIDN’T WORK 100 YEARS AGO, IT DIDN’T WORK 50 YEARS AGO AND DAMN TOOTIN’ IT DOESN’T WORK NOW. park and both are – so to speak – polar opposites of the same basic myth.

The fact is that cannabis is not completely safe and only an idiot would believe otherwise. At a most obvious level, it’s an intoxicant and therefore when you’re under the influence your judgement will be impaired to an extent and so you really shouldn’t do things like drive, fart about with guns, all the obvious stuff.

mates and are seriously ignorant of the effects of smoking cannabis. However, what’s often ignored is that in the UK there is still this ingrained cultural habit of smoking dope mixed with tobacco, and this is the real problem. The risks that exist involve smoking and let’s face it, there are other ways to enjoy dope. If you must smoke, give up the fags and just smoke weed, people. Or at least keep them separate.

The other thing is that cannabis smoke, just like tobacco smoke, contains car-

“Cannabis prohibition is an effective policy in the War Against Drugs”

regulate. Focus on busting unscrupulous vendors who sell to kids.

The fact of the matter is that prohibition didn’t work 100 years ago, it didn’t work 50 years ago and damn tootin’ it doesn’t work now.

And lastly, there’s the granddaddy of them all; yes, let’s hear it for “The Gateway Theory”. Really, this one is as old as the hills. There cannot be anyone out there unfamiliar with this, but just in case: when one has one’s first toke of weed,

Okay. We have to concede at this point that it’s highly likely that people who use heroin have almost certainly used cannabis in the past. But honestly, even a cursory glance at the numbers of dope users (millions) compared to the numbers of problem drug users (relatively few, in spite of what one might think) would suggest that any link is pretty spurious.

Here’s the thing: most problem drug users are where they are because they’ve a load of problems in their lives, and these don’t usually involve having had a toke when they were teenagers.

I recently read something where cannabis was described as a “terminus” drug. This is a pretty good description, in my book.

People “discover” weed, find it’s all they need and stick with it through thick and thin. Over the years I’ve interviewed thousands of people about their drug use and for the majority of them, MDMA, speed, cocaine and the rest of it are substances they dip in and out of on occasion and according to the situation; weed, though, is a constant in their lives, often in place of booze.

And there you have it. What we would very much like to do is, given that the above are as old as the hills, to document and explore any new cannabis scare stories. The problem we have with this is that, as this article makes clear, it seems to be the same old myths either presented “as is” or repackaged somewhat for a 21st Century audience. If anyone out there knows of any contemporary cannabis scare stories, we would be delighted to hear from you at the usual email address: dimethyltryptamine777@hotmail.com To the memory of Mandy Young (1963-2013)

26

ASK ED

TERPENES I have now been growing for about 5 years. I notice a huge difference in the high from simply smelling the plants and smoking them. I believe the aroma given off by the plants to have a stronger effect then smoked marijuana for mood, sleep, and anxiety.

However, I also get a lot of negative even physical pinching in my spleen when I smoke marijuana and drink alcohol if I constantly inhale the plant odors. It feels like I have done a much harder drug than when I have not been inhaling the fresh plant odors. I now exhaust my grow outside for this reason.

Is there a difference in the chemistry when I inhale the fresh plant odors and when I don’t? Do growing marijuana plants have something extra and different that gets me high?

JOHN V. The odor molecules that you are smelling are called terpenes. They are produced by the plant in enhanced amounts as the flowers or seeds mature in order to protect them from predation and disease. These same scents are used in aromatherapy and have a profound effect on the high.

When you smoke stale marijuana that has lost its odor because the terpenes have evaporated you will notice that it is not nearly as potent as when it was fresh. The difference shows the power of the entourage effect that Dr. Mechoulam, the discoverer of THC, has noted.

I suspect that your flower room is fairly warm and terpenes evaporate or are volatile at temperatures starting at about 80ºF, so a good portion of the oils that the plants produce are evaporating, making an odor soup of the garden room air. Just breathing this air has an effect on you.

I don’t think the terpenes are affecting your spleen. Perhaps they just make you more sensitive to the inflammation when they are potentiated by THC.

Ed Rosenthal is recognized worldwide as a leading authority on marijuana. In his 30-plus years as America’s “guru of ganja” he has written or edited more than a dozen books about marijuana cultivation and social policy that cumulatively have sold over one million. His first book, Marijuana Grower’s Guide, is the only title on marijuana cultivation to be reviewed by The New York Times Book Review. After almost two decades, his Ask Ed advice column continues to answer questions on all matters of marijuana from readers around the world.

Odor palette by DJ Short shows the incredible odors created by terpenes.

POWDERY MILDEW My plants are one week from harvest and have powdery mildew on their leaves. Your book, Marijuana Grower’s Handbook, says I can use oregano, clove, or rosemary oil for control. I have these essential oils on hand. How do I mix them and how much do I spray them on the plants? How often can I use them? Is baking soda a better fungicide?

WABASHAGAL Use about 1% by volume of mixed essential oils to water. Use a small amount of an emulsifier such as vegetable lecithin to help the oils and water mix, and a tiny amount of wetting agent (detergent will do) to help the spray spread on the leaves.

The formula is: 1 liter water 2 teaspoons spice oil ½ teaspoon dry lecithin ¼ teaspoon detergent Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate and it can be used at the rate of 0.5% in a water solution or it can be added to the herbal fungicide. It creates an alkaline environment that inhibits fungal spore germination. Horticulturalists use potassium bicarbonate rather than sodium, to prevent sodium build-up in the planting mix or on the leaves.

Spray the plants regularly. Concentrate on the unprotected new growth rather than already sprayed areas.

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28 DISTANCE FROM LIGHT I have a 600w HPS light. When the plants were 4” tall I moved the light from a meter above them to 50 cm. Now the plant leaves are deformed and shriveled, but they are growing again and the leaves are flattening out.

What distance would you keep the lights in vegetative and flowering?

ROSS Outdoors, marijuana grows in full sun, even at low latitudes, where the light is very intense. These plants grow long “palisade” cells to modify the intensity before it reaches the center of the leaf. Leaves that have been grown under less intense light and then are placed under stronger light have not modified their morphology and can suffer light damage. When you reduced the distance by half, light intensity quadrupled. This may be a reason why the leaves were injured. The new leaves, which are growing under the more intense light, are adapting their structure for the stronger light and will not suffer.

When plants are moved outdoors in early summer, the strong UV light, which causes sunburn in humans, can injure the unprepared leaves. They should be protected until they have adjusted by first placing them in light shade, spraying an anti-transpirant such as Wilt-Pruf®, or placing a thin cloth such as lace over the plants so the plants don’t get the light’s full intensity. After a few days the old leaves will adjust a bit and the plants can receive stronger light. Another solution is to move the plants on cloudy, overcast days.

The closest distance that you can place lights to plants is not a factor of the light intensity, but of the heat and infrared light emitted by the reflector. While reflectors without a glass plate emit so much heat that they must be placed a meter or more from the canopy, reflectors with glass plates that are air-cooled can get much closer.

The best way to determine the minimum distance between light and plants can be determined using a surface temperature thermometer, which uses an optical beam aimed at the leaf canopy. The leaf temperature should not go higher than 78ºF. With CO2 enhanced air the plants grow well at temperatures up to 85ºF or even slightly higher. Adjust the room temperature, light height, and air circulation to target these temperatures.

Another consideration to take into account when determining light height is the reflector’s projection. Some reflectors focus the light in a more focused beam, while others spread the light. Most small gardens do better with a more focused beam light that can be raised higher over the plants. Reflectors that spread the light require highly reflective perimeter walls to get the light back to the plant canopy.

Garden of the Month®

29

Large plant covers a square meter; it has been trained using supercropping.

NUMBER OF PLANTS IN A BOX I have a 2.5’ x 3’ grow box that is 5.5’ tall under a 400w HPS. I can place 4 plants in the space and produce a yield of about 2 ounces a plant. Is it possible to get that amount from just one plant in the same space?

DAN W. Your grow box can hold four or more plants or just one plant. As long as the canopy space is completely filled with vegetation at flowering the garden is at its maximum carrying capacity. The difference in the productivity of the two gardens is not in yield but in yield divided by time.

When a single plant is grown in the space, it grows linearly over time to fill the whole space. Then it is placed into flowering. When multiple plants are placed in an equivalent space, each plant must grow only a portion of the size of the single plant. Once they are placed in flowering they will produce approximately the same yield. The multiple plant method shortens the time the plants are in vegetation. The result is that the yield per watt of electricity and of space x time is lower for the single plant than for the multiple plant garden.

30

Early powdery mildew infection. It looks like white powder (or confectioners’ sugar) sprinkled on the leaves.

BETTER SEXING I have 4 blueberry plants I started from seed about 2½ months ago. Last week I turned the lights to 12 and 12 to determine sex. The plants indicated within 3 days so I turned the light back to continuous so they would revert back to vegetative. Today I found one male sack about 4 or 5 branches down on one plant.

This plant also is showing some white hairs. Should I get rid of it? And do you have any other tips to help me sex my plants?

KYLE VINCENT The plant probably hermaphroditicized from the stress of the light changes. Nevertheless, it is not as stable as the other plants and should be discarded.

In the future sex your plants by taking a cutting from each one. Make sure that each is identified. Then place the cuttings in a space with lights on 8 and off 16 hours daily. Within a few days the cuttings will indicate. The clone’s mother will have the same sex as the clone from which it was taken.

CALCIUM-MAGNESIUM PROBLEMS I am using 0.04 EC (24PPM) R/O water. My tap water is 2.2 (1320 PPM), too high from the figures mentioned in your Marijuana Grower’s Handbook. However, 0.04 is way too low for healthy growth and I notice problems with trace elements in grow and Ca/Mg deficiencies at around week 4 of flowering.

Should I add a trace element mix and cal-mag mix? What minerals and in what quantities are a good starting point when using a hydroponic nutrient solution?

JIM PETERS Since your plants are indicating trace element and Cal-Mag deficiencies you should definitely supplement with these nutrients.

Many hydroponic nutrients are formulated for water that is naturally supplied with some of these nutrients. Others are not. Check the labels for information. If it lists trace elements, Ca and Mg, you will probably not need to add more. If they aren’t listed and the tap or R/O water does not contain enough, then, as in your situation, supplementation is needed.

Companies list the contents of the water they supply. Sometimes they are posted on the ’net, but if your water supplier does not list them you can contact the agency for it.

Most of the time, even when the levels are too high, the dissolved solids in tap water are mostly calcium and magnesium, along with a variety of trace elements. If your water is like this you can dilute the tap water with R/O water to get to the right level.

Water with a 0.2 EC (120PPM) usually contains enough Ca, Mg, and other trace elements to support healthy growth.

Accurate measurements are important for maintaining plant health so make sure to use an EC or PPM meter.

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GROW WITH GOLGI ORIGINS AND HISTORY

Autoflower By now I’m sure we have all heard or read the term ‘autoflower’ somewhere, but what is it and what does it mean?

By Golgi Apparatus

ties. Ruderalis most likely descended from cannabis Indica varieties being grown on the plantations, and indica most likely

traits of a strain or crossbreed. Including anything that is part of the behaviors or functions of a living organism; such as THC content, density, leaf structure, flavor, height, bushiness etc. Example: You purchase a 10 pack of seeds that are a 50/50 indica x sativa cross. When you germinate these seeds chances are you will get a variety of phenotypes yet they will all be of the same genotype, containing

AUTOFLOWER PLANTS HAD TO DEVELOP THE UNUSUAL ABILITY TO FLOWER UNDER ANY LIGHT CONDITION JUST TO SURVIVE Autoflower refers to a new type of crossbreed cannabis plant that is gaining popularity in seed banks everywhere. We are all familiar with the two main sub-types of cannabis plants, indica and sativa.

Indica, which originated from areas like Southeast Asia (widely known in history for Indian hemp production) grows to be a short, bushy plant and has the largest yields per unit for a cannabis sub-species.

Indica contains higher levels of CBD than it does of THC. (CBD) Cannabidiol is next in line from THC on the list of cannabinoids found in cannabis plants.

Sativa, originating in many different parts of the world (historically used for industrial fiber, oil, feed stuff etc.) and is the most widely cultivated type of cannabis plant. This sub-type grows tall and has few widely spaced branches, resulting in slightly less yield per plant in comparison.

Sativa contains higher levels of THC than it does CBD. The third type is the main focus of autoflower varieties, a feral sub species called ruderalis, and it’s one that few people know a lot about. The name ‘ruderalis’ comes from the word ruderal, which refers to wild plant species that are the first to colonize land that has been disturbed by human beings or nature. This sub-type originates from areas like Russia and the northern Himalayas and are said to have escaped commercial plantations forcing them to evolve and survive in such harsh climate conditions. These conditions made them hardier (meaning it can stand up to variable weather, pests and diseases better) than the traditional varie-

the same genes, from having the same parents. Just another example of the proverbial box of chocolates that life is, and in nature that is no exception.

Crossbreeding- Sativa and indica have been crossbred to create the desired strains we see all over the world today.

Breeders use the combined genes from sativa and indica, to create phenotypes with traits we desire. Example: you can cross an indica with a sativa in hopes of getting a nice combination of tall/stretchy and short/compact creating a mid-sized

descended from sativa varieties long ago.

Until recent advances in crossbreeding with ruderalis varieties they haven’t been very desirable for any grower, and have remained unscathed by the human species. This variety is the smallest of the three cannabis sub types and lacks the size, production and THC content of the final product that we as growers look for in strains. Although it’s said that they contain high amounts of Cannabidiol (CBD).

They grow small and short with only a few branches containing fan leaves that are wide and flat. Once flowering begins they won’t jump up in height either, they stay relatively small, similar to indica varieties.

The summer days in the parts of the world we find this sub-species can reach up to 24 hours of sunlight, so this plant had to develop the unusual ability to flower under any light condition just to survive.

Making them very unique in that they are not phototropic like all other cannabis plants, meaning they do not rely on the light hours to tell them what season it is and what growth stage to be in. Ruderalis’ have a set life span, determined by age and automatically go into the flowering stage when they reach a certain stage of maturity, hence the name; Autoflower.

Before we go too far I want to go over some of the terminology used here for our purposes for those who don’t know. The genotype (or genes) is inherited, stored information to make and maintain a plant.

These are genetic codes that are imbedded and carried by all plants (and by all living organisms for that matter) and they are passed on thru reproduction. The phenotypes represent different observable

Big Devil XL

34 heavier producing plant, compared to if you had just a pure sativa or just a pure indica plant.

Crossbreeding also creates the wild flavor combinations available today by utilizing flavor profiles from multiple strain types and crossing them. This is where breeders can get creative and generate very unique results. Prompting them to be somewhat secretive about their processes and phenotypes used in the cross. Although, usually the more wild the combinations the harder it is to stabilize and produce a solid new strain type for sale or commercial use. Plus, not all seeds are created equal.

Parent plants can create crossbreed seeds that vary in phenotype (physical characteristics), even though they are made during the same round/session.

market I found myself staring at the website when ordering new genetics, pondering these new seeds. Why would I want autoflowering plants anyway? Charged with the want and need for more information I’ve scoured the life blood of information and compiled my findings into the advantages, disadvantages and debatable categories. While some things may be advantageous to you, it may put another grower at a disadvantage. Taking into account the environment you have available as well as your equipment and personal wants and needs. These are no ordinary marijuana plants!

new world for outdoor growers because in most parts of the world growers can have only one cannabis outdoor growing cycle per year to work with. Amounting to only one harvest outdoors, where you plant (sow) in the spring, they grow all summer and then you harvest in the fall. The long summer hours allows our

This can work to your advantage as an outdoor grower because you’re not relying on the sun’s daylight hours to flower;

THEY CAN BE GROWN FROM SEED TO HARVEST IN 7-11 WEEKS WITHOUT NEEDING A LIGHT HOUR TIME CHANGE. phototropic cannabis plants to get very large in size before sending them into

Similar to a dog having a litter of puppies, they are all created during the same pregnancy, with the same parents (same genetics/genotype), yet they all do not come out looking exactly the same.

Some have different spots or markings, some are different colors and you may even get a runt of the litter in there too.

But there are also times when you get a litter and a few or even all of the puppies come out looking the same, this is the DNA/phenotype lottery so to speak and is the same in plants, the more stable the crossbreed the more of one desired phenotype you will get.

None of the fancy strains we purchase from seed banks are pure; they are all a crossbreed of two or more types. Breeders have known forever that combining indica and sativa strains creates desirable results like increased THC content, medicinal effects, size, shape, yield etc. And Flash auto they have over recent years, realized that the combination of ruderalis with sativa/ indica strains will birth phenotypes with Advantagessimilar results, that also lack the need for As mentioned already autoflowering a photo period or timed light cycle! When plants are not phototropic, meaning they they find a combination with ruderalis, don’t rely on a light cycle to go into flowerindica and sativa that works and has been ing stage; they automatically flower when stabilized, they breed them for sale dub- they reach a certain age, this ‘certain’ age bing them an autoflower seed. The seed is determined by genetic composition. bank shelves are full of them now-a-days.

They can be grown from seed to harvest Advantages/disadvantagesin 7-11 weeks without needing a light When autoflowers started to flood the hour time change. This can be a whole

ter how many daylight hours we have, leaving you a significantly smaller plant, that is ready for harvest in ½ or 1/3 of the time.

meaning you can have 2 or even 3 harvests in one season, compared to regular cannabis plants that can only do one.

Another helpful function of the auto’s not being phototropic is that when it’s time to harvest you won’t have all your bud trimming to do all at once, like you normally would, in the fall, staggering it out with each cycle.

The ruderalis genetics can make for a stronger plant, more resistant to the cold climates, pests and diseases. You can grow this strain outdoors in parts of the world where Mother Nature doesn’t normally allow the perfect environment to finish a phototropic cannabis plant.

Super-autoflower seeds are a very new addition to the autoflower catalogue and they add a little more life to the plant, usually maturing in about 90-100 days, (compared to 50-80 days for normal autos) reaching over 6ft tall in some conditions. These are perfect in outdoor growing situations for people who like having the giant plants but still want to try the autos. Even with the super-autos it’s likely you can still squeeze in two back to back harvests outside, in the right latitude and longitude.

bloom phase at the end of summer or early fall. With winter approaching we lose daylight hours telling the plant to flower and reproduce before it’s too late and frost hits. There is no way around the light hours outdoors unless you want to be running out there with a dark covering for them every day at the same time until the sun catches up to you. But with autoflowers they will go into bloom after 2-3 weeks of vegetative growth no mat-

Autoflower plants allow for simple seed production, because all autos if let go beyond the set harvest time will produce seeds, and lots of them! So be sure to harvest at the right time to avoid these if you don’t care to have the seeds.

Growing autos indoors there is no need to have two separate grow spaces, one for vegetative growth (18+hours of light) and one for bloom (12 hours of light). Where it used to be necessary to keep these

35 areas and their light cycles separate and enclosed to prevent light leaks, is no longer necessary with autoflowers. You can have your vegging plants and your budding plants in the same room, under the same light, no matter what age or stage they are. Having a light leak with a phototropic cannabis plant that interrupts its dark cycle can cause confusion within the plants hormones, stressing it out to the point of hermaphroditing. While this won’t happen with the autoflowersthat don’t rely on light cycle, an inconsistent light cycle will adversely affect the plant, whether it be visible or not, or detrimentally damaging or not.

bulb full cycle is not ideal no matter how much blue spectrum is included and it may cause some stretching during the vegetative cycle, but will ensure you have a productive budding phase.

There are also a lot of old school growers that think autoflowers are a passing trend, but on the contrary, they are here to stay. When they first came out with the original Lowryder and its early crosses the initial takers who tried them were disappointed. They lacked

on for 18 plus hours throughout the whole cycle, costing you a little more on your energy bill each month. Normally, you would get to set your timer back down to only 12 hours of light when you flip your plants into the budding phase, saving you at least 6 hours of light energy a day, but autoflowers require a steady longer light cycle.

Autoflower DebateWhile there is, in general, no ‘best’ or ‘better’ way to do things in the horticultural

Autoflower plants tend to stay small in stature because of the ruderalis lineage you can’t lengthen the vegetative cycle to grow them out before budding. Plus the most popular crosses for autos so far have been with indica, lending the phenotypes the high THC content, strong flavor profiles and body high from the indica and combining it with the speed and light cycle defying qualities of the ruderalis.

kind of a dark period, even if it is minimal.

It’s known that plant hormones can be thrown off by receiveing 24/7 light and the general consensus is that not giving a plant a dark cycle is basically a stress factor. At times we use stress on cannabis plants to create desired effects. Such as, growers that like to use the 24 hour cycle when rooting clones or germinating seeds, exploiting the stress factor to try to get rooted faster.

There have been autoflower genetic trials that have shown an increase resin production on plants that have a dark cycle.

I have also found the yield to be slightly greater if they are kept on with 18-20 hours of light and 4-6 hours of dark. Using these two schools of thought together would tell us that running the first week at 24/0 and then tapering down to either a 20/4 or 18/6 light cycle would be an optimal schedule for autoflower varieties.

Another worry of growers is the yield on the auto’s being low due to the plant size; the key to autos is to have more plants that harvest faster. This is not ideal for everyone. Some of us like to see plants 4ft or 5ft tall and flowering coke bottle sized colas on it. This may be somewhat attainable using a super autoflower variety. But with most autoflower varieties it is a trade off, trading the height, girth potential and controlled vegetative and

There are even dwarf varieties of cannabis autoflowers that will finish up as small as 1 foot. These would be perfect for a super stealthy set up in a small grow box, tent, closet, crawl space etc.

DisadvantagesA lot of growers like to be in control of their plants, they want it a certain size and shape and need longer vegetative cycles to achieve this. Like for those of us who use the SCROG method, we need time to train our branches across the trellis netting, making autoflower strains less desirable for our purposes. Having a plant that flowers after only a couple weeks isn’t enough time to get the trellis filled with weaved branches.

Not having control over when the plant enters into the bloom phase makes it more difficult to know when to change out your 4000k-7000k spectrum veg bulbs for the 2700k-3000k bloom spectrum bulbs. Just trusting what the breeder RoyalMatic info says and estimating somewhere in the range that they provide you with is one way, another, more accurate way, is the finer qualities of the Grade-A canto monitor the growth on the branches nabis grower wants to produce. Most for any sign of hairs or flowers starting likely they contained more of the ruderto form. When you see the hairs forming, alis genes than they do today and were you are beginning to bloom and should very unstable producing a plethora of switch out the bulbs. phenotypes, but like any new thing it needed to have the kinks worked out of Because the vegetative growth cycle on it. Which after trying several of the newthese is so short I have noticed many est auto strains that are available now, I

AutoSkunk Mass

world, there are things that will work for some and not others. All these things hinge upon many factors, making the ‘best’ way unique to each grower and their set up.

ConclusionThere is a big debate amongst growers on how much light your indoor autoflowers actually need. Some say to leave your

AUTOFLOWER SEEDS DEFINITELY DESERVE THE NICHE THEY HAVE CREATED IN OUR INDUSTRY BUT THEY AREN’T FOR EVERYONE growers are just getting an enhanced spectrum bloom bulb (sometimes called ‘super’ for HPS lights) and running that throughout the whole cycle. The more blue colors included in these super spectrum bloom bulbs the better. Look for the Kelvin chart manufacturers provide on the bulb boxes when purchasing one of these and pick the one with the heaviest concentrations. But beware, running a bloom

believe they have done. Breeding cannabis genetics can be tricky and hard to perfect and stabilize.

As mentioned in the advantages category you have the option of keeping all different phases of growing plants together under the same light. While this is an advantage, in another way it is also a disadvantage to keep your light

blooming cycles for quickness (more harvests per year), a more compact plant and no need to change the daylight hours for the bloom phase.

light on for 24 hours a day but others say to set your timer to 20 hours on & 4 hours off or 18 hours on & 6 hours off or even 15 hours on & 9 hours off. While all of these light schedules will grow your plants, the debate rages on for the ‘best’ cycle.

I can say from my own personal experience it is always best to stay on the natural side and give your plants some

I’m not sure how Mother Nature feels that growers are evolving her creations and maybe that is why the ruderalis crosses become so unstable? But the human species will always do this to other living organisms, it’s in our nature. I am sure that the more breeding that is done with this type of sub species crossbreed; the easier it will become to stabilize. All I can say to those who are still unsure about the new breed is to each their own, Autoflower seeds definitely deserve the niche they have created in our industry but they aren’t for everyone.

I encourage everyone to give them a try at some point, even if you just throw one in amongst your vegetative plants to try; it’s likely that you may find some qualities you like in this new type of strain.

37

ENDANGERED STRAINS

Purple Haze

indica varieties are used to create purple strains, due to their tolerance of colder temperatures. In today’s cornucopia of Cannabis varieties, there are strains with purple leaves only, those with purpling on just the buds, and those that express purple over the entire plant.

The purple effect begins to express towards the end of the flowering cycle, as molecules that reflect the red end of the spectrum begin to accumulate.

These molecules, called anthocyanins, form in response to successively cooler nights and shorter days, which leads to the idea that purple buds are just the result of cold temperatures. However, when grown from seed, purpling occurs to varying degrees – and often not at all – depending on the individual plant’s genetics.

Despite this, if a plant that has a tendency to purple is exposed to cooler-than-

A Sweet Purple example shows purpling to the buds only in comparison. The original Purple Haze was said to share this tendency.

Whether or not the Dutch purples of today are truly the direct descendants of the original, they seem to have much

The purple effect begins to express towards the end of the flower cycle Purple genetics, and especially Purple Haze itself, are a topic of endless controversy within the growing community. Cold temperatures during flowering play a large part in the appearance of purple coloration, but in recent years varieties that express purplish, blue or red hues – without the need for a drop in temperature – are becoming hugely popular. In the midst of all this progress the original Purple Haze has apparently been lost, as with so many of the famous strains Kali Mist of the 1970s.

It is difficult to pinpoint the origin and characteristics of the original Purple Haze, and some claim that there never was a single, true-breeding strain of that name – that it is in fact merely a generic term for purplish pot, whatever the lineage. Others are adamant that the strain existed, and is now extremely rare, if not extinct. Those in the latter school of thought believe that the original Purple Haze was a cross between an early Dutch

normal temperatures, the purple effect will be intensified. This is certainly the case with the present-day outdoor Dutch purples, which often are so purple as to almost appear black, while the stems and leaves remain lighter and greener

in common with it. However, the focus has shifted onto more potent strains that will still go purple even indoors; while some of these genetics are incredible in their own right, it is sad that the original strains are being forgotten.

a smallish selection of purple outdoor varieties still available in the Netherlands today. The fact that the existing Dutch purple strains are very similar in appearance, effect and taste could be explained by this theory.

The majority of known purple strains are sativa-dominant, with a cerebral and uplifting effect (no doubt due to the Thai genetics that are so common with purple

The original Purple Haze has apparently been lost skunk and a Thai/Colombian haze, and that its descendents may be found in

lineages), and a refined, delicate grape or hyacinth aroma. Often, Afghani or Indian

This beautiful Purple Kush exhibits some purpling throughout

38

COMIC

39

41

JORGE CERVANTES

Container Culture and Hydroponics Understanding some basic concepts about container culture and The harvest from a small garden is small, enough to sustain many medical canhydroponics is essential to avoid problems and harvest a heavy crop. but nabis gardeners until the next crop.

Often cannabis gardeners get side tracked and spend their time on designing and trying new garden systems that they forget to pay Media Culture Media based hydroponics uses an inert attention to the basics – oxygen and nutrient solution balance. substrate such as rockwool or expanded This short article distinguishes “solution “culture” from media culture,” “hydroponics” and “container culture” as well as focuses on oxygen levels in solution and substrates.

Solution Culture Cannabis grown in hydroponic solution culture gardens do not use growing medium.

However plants in some gardens are started in a small net pot in a handful of substrate.

Examples of solution culture include aeroponics, bubbleponics, Deep Water Culture (DWC), Deep Flow Technique (DFT), Nutrient Film Technique (NFT), and Raft solution culture. These gardens require an electric pump that must function 24 hours a day to operate nutrient solution drippers, emitters, air (oxygen) diffusers, misting nozzles and often a good filter to ensure debris-free solution.

clay pellets. The inert substrate does not react chemically with nutrients. Container culture employs substrate such as soilless mix, coco coir, etc. that is not inert and will react chemically with the nutrient solution. The substrate, whether inert or not serves multiple functions – anchor plants, hold air, water and nutrients for root uptake. The media also holds precious oxygen that is essential for rapid nutrient uptake. Ideal growing mediums hold plenty of air (oxygen) and nutrient solution at the same time. Soilless mix and coconut coir are two of the most popular growing mediums used in container culture.

Rockwool and expanded clay are the most common substrates found in hydroponics.

Nutrient solution is delivered to the media via flood and drain, top-feed or passive wicking that relies on capillary action.

Medium culture systems can be classified as follows, Ebb and Flow (Flood and Drain), Hydro-Organic, Top-Feed – Containers and Slabs, Run to Waste (RTW), and Wick (passive).

DWC grow tanks are set up and filled with nutrient solution.

The little plants are set in the beds on top in little net pots full of expanded clay pellets.

Roots hang down into the aerated solution.

This expanded clay recirculating container culture garden grown by Marco Renda in Canada is irrigated from above with individual spaghetti tube emitters. Much air is trapped in between the pieces of expanded clay.

The same clones one week later look a lot stronger and healthier, but they have not completely recovered from the transplanting.

This run to waste garden uses fabric pots to air prune roots grown in soilless mix. Plants are irrigated by hand daily.

Ebb and flow gardens are very easy to irrigate and maintain. Irrigation times are much more frequent when growing in small containers. The nutrient solution floods up around plants and drains back into the reservoir below.

In container culture and many types of hydroponics the supply of oxygen in growing media can be maximized which in turn allows properly grown plants with healthy roots to take in peak levels of nutrients. However, in “solution culture” it is very difficult if not impossible to consistently achieve the same oxygen levels as in a properly aerated growing media.

Fine-tuned nutrient solutions can steer plants to grow less leafy vegetative foliage and more dense flower buds.

Two weeks later, the garden looks like it is growing well and plants have put on growth.

Properly mixed and applied hydroponic nutrients – chemical salts diluted in water – are able to supply exact element levels so that roots have access to them and the possibility of taking them in at maximum capacity. Aerated nutrient solution is absorbed, wicked up from the growing medium or it passes over roots later draining off. The oxygen in solution, around roots or trapped in the soilless medium speeds nutrient uptake. Organic nutrients – natural elements and compounds – are more difficult to control in container culture than their chemical counterparts. In nature these

42 nutrients are often bound in complex living chemical compounds that are difficult to measure accurately.

Oxygen is pulled or moves into the soil, soilless mix, etc. or dissolves hydroponic solution where it can move into the roots. If the roots dry out, oxygen movement becomes restricted especially if it drops below the critical oxygen pressure (COP) (amount of O2 dissolved into solution). In cannabis, COP is the point where respiration is first slowed from a lack of oxygen is at about 20 mg/L*. The root tips are very active and have relatively high energy requirements, almost as high as humans, but below the COP this activity slows. *Lincoln Taiz and Eduardo Zeiger Plant Physiology 3rd Ed, Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland MA, 2002 pg 616-617 say 20 mg/l average.

This garden suffered heat stress and flowering was induced so late lower foliage had to be removed. The flood and drain garden is irrigated twice daily. You can see the water line across the bottom of containers.

Individual containers are irrigated by spahhetti tubes in this perfectly set up medical cannabis garden from Trichome Technologies in California.

Too much moisture, nutrients and sunlight are perfect conditions for algae growth.

Rockwool is an excellent growing medium, but when not designed and maintained properly algae can take up much of the oxygen.

Regardless of the nutrient solution application method, nutrient solutions are either run to waste (RTW) and not reused or they are re-circulated and used again and again rather than being discarded after one use. Recirculating systems have the added complication of concentrating the nutrient solution and the accumulation of plant wastes – broken roots, leaves, etc Nutrients are diluted in water in a “soil solution” or in an inert medium “hydroponic solution.” In soil, soilless mix, coco coir, etc. there is a naturally occurring ratio of oxygen to nutrient solution. However in hydroponics using rockwool, expanded clay pellets or other inert ingredients, this ratio must be “manufactured.” And in any hydroponic garden where roots are covered with nutrient solution all the time, oxygen is contingent upon oxygenating the solution artificially and it is very easy to screw up.

Beautiful container gardens like this grow in well-aerated substrate with the proper nutrient balance in the solution.

This container garden was grown at the Resin Club in Barcelona. Unfortunately the local authorities requested (ordered) them to remove the garden. Jaime from Resin Seeds is an outstanding grower and knows how to ensure the substrate contains the proper oxygen to nutrient solution balance.

At maximum levels of stirring, the amount of dissolved oxygen will be barely enough to keep up with O2 utilization, and to get as close to 60 ppm as possible oxygen must be diffused into the solution, typically with an electric air pump.

In the older root zones this lack of oxygen becomes an issue earlier at lower rates since their uptake is reduced to 10% of the tips, the cores can become anoxic (severely deficient in oxygen) or hypoxic (oxygen deficiency causing a very strong drive to correct the deficiency) killing the roots or affecting performance.

The best way to achieve maximum aeration is not growing in deep water that covers roots all the time, but allowing dry time for the roots; because at this time, the solution on the root surface is still dissolving O2 at higher levels when the air moves in and the water is gone. No extra aeration is needed other than stirring the nutrient reservoir. The amounts of oxygen needed by the root system will be absorbed at the root surface as well.

44

TRAVEL

Lambsbred, Juicy Pussy Fruit and Hash Tar: Jamaica Revealed Back in the first issue of the year we told you how the vicious possession laws of Jamaica persecute and criminalise young Jamaicans, leaving so many metaphysically and economically shackled by their criminal records that it is having a negative effect on the whole country. But, for SSUK to leave it at that without giving you an update on the growing and smoking cultures of this wonderful island would be By the Professor doing I-and-i a horrible injustice!

There are two distinct skools of ‘erbalistic farmers out here, old and new. The old skool heads can be decades into working with a particular strain or growing method whilst the new skoolers are all about designer seed strains and producing world quality weed. Westmoreland and Saint Elizabeth are Jamrock’s two most highly rated agricultural provinces, so that’s where we headed to catch up with some local farmers…

“Inna times ol’ we plant da seed in June an arvest Novembah, da be da old school weed, da real ganja mon. Nah dem-a gah

dealer would dare serve up. He was an old timer though, he knew it was nothing special but he liked his smoke on the mellow side and, despite his advanced years, he was physically fit, mentally sharp and in full command of all his faculties.

A short walk later another long-in-thedread old skooler introduced himself as The Bush Doctor. He liked to leave his bud on the plant and in the ground for nine months, until the buds were a shrivelled, gnarly golden brown. This guy was as mad as they come, bug-eyed and as twitchy as a moggie on meth, but he was

Did he know anything about Lamsbred though? Hunting down this mythical old strain of ganja that was made famous by the likes of Scratch Perry and Prince Far I was a personal mission, could The Bush Doctor illuminate?

“Lambsbred? Now das a biblical name cos Lambsbred gawn be a special type o plant mah brudda, it’s in da name – Lamb, meanin chil’ o God, an bred, meanin food fi da chil’, so Lambsbred is a gift frum ‘im above. Ya cyan’t jus go an buy da shit

He ran over to his car and brought back a foot-and-a-half long branch of perfectly trimmed and dried sensi that sparkled in the sun like a million tiny diamonds.

Bling weed.

“Dis da Ice, two grand fe dis stick man, an dats cheap fe you brudda – American tourist gawn pay eight grand no problem, two grand Jamaican price, you want it?”

The climate and soil fertility of this south western corner is what really marks it out

THOSE LITTLE NUGGETS TASTED SWEETER THAN A MANGO AND KICKED LIKE A MULE mon, Lambsbred grow all on its own, ain’t no man be plantin ‘at, it jus grow like a miracle frum da groun in special places where no mon ever walk befoe, it come e’rey seven years, all on its own, or so dem a-say. Da’s a rare plant mon, if you fine some Lambsbred da gawn be a special blessin frum Jah!”

as Jamaica’s weed growing epicentre, but a few places within the region are even more blessed: “We lucky roun’ ere mon, d’ere’s a big cave close ere, full o’a tousan’ an more bats, an all dere shyit! We be usin bit o dry cow shit, some Sun dra bat guano, an Sun dra seaweed – we dig a trench circle roun’a place where we gawn grow each plant, mix all dat shit up fegether an fill da trench wi’ it.

Man, any tree gawn grow like monsta wit da shi’ta feed ‘pon!”

It’s not all happy days for Jamaican farmers though. Slash and burn raids by the authorities are a constant threat and there was a spate of them going on all around the region while we were there:

new seed, frum Europe an America, new shit grow so fast young blud gah na prab fe

desperate to shift his stash so we gave him two hundred and fifty dollars of pity

MAH SEED FRUM DA EIGHTIES - REAL OLD SEED, BLACK SEED plant an arvest year roun! Ah still grow da old school weed, original weed, mah seed frum da eighties - real old seed, black seed, da real shyit mon!”

Red’s weed, da real old school shit frum da black seed, was terrible though, the worst we found on the whole island. It was riddled with his beloved black seed and tasted like last night’s ash tray. Crop dregs.

It wasn’t the sort of weed any serious erbalist would show off, and way below the quality any self-respecting Jamaican

money for it (about two pounds fifty) expecting to roll a joint and bin the rest of it. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Those little nuggets tasted sweeter than a mango and kicked like a mule, they had a real psychedelic potency to them, with an ecstasy-like rush that bugged my eyes out and rooted me to the spot with a twisted expression of disbelief slapped all over. He’s definitely on to something – find a plant that’s immune to bud rot, grow that baby out long time and let us know what happens while yer at it.

So what about the new skool? With seeds coming from Europe, the UK, Canada and the US all the latest names are on the labels but the environment and TLC the plants have been privy to are all Made in Jamaica. A few heads have picked up a bit of hydroponic experience overseas too, and with all that international knowledge applied these future old skoolers are producing outdoor ‘erb as good, if not better, than any erb you’ll find anywhere on the planet.

“Me tink Englan’ gawn be summin diffren ta wha’ it was man, ain’t nuttin fi do in da rainstorm part fi grow weed, smoke weed an watch da bumbaclaat fuckin TV! When me-a come ‘ome me brung plen’y-a seed wit me, you gat some wicked seed in dat country man – Pineapple Haze an’ Ice da fuckin bomb! Check dis sweet lady out…”

Ah can’ tek ya fe see me plants cos dem-a gat burn down las week by da police in one ah dem ‘elicaptahs. Ah lay inna bushes an watch ‘em cos if ah run dem-a see me, an me nah run fast wit d’ese legs mon! No man-a gimme a job wit me disability an mi family ain’t gah na dallah so ah gats ta be a burden on a po’ family o grow some plants fe feed meself. Bu now Babylon gonna burn it all down mi-a av ta fine some mo seed, an dat ain’ easy mon, no fe fine good seed roun ere... If ye wan see plants inna groun you gawn av ta pay plenty dollar or fine a crazy man! If peeps ere seen walkin wit white man inna jungle den dem-a know a man gat plants inna groun an ‘at gawn cause big trouble, maybe no police but maybe jus regular folk lookin fe tek a crop fa nuttin, or mek some money fe tellin-a police, or no’ tellin-a police.”

Poverty and policing makes the farmers world a paranoid one, but this secretive growing culture is also what makes the Jamaican weed scene so diverse and experimental – because so many of the crops are grown on a small scale by one or two people there’s a lot of care and attention paid to each and every plant.

Besides, having the best buds is a source of personal pride and social standing so these plants are grown with a lot of love!

45 When it comes to the smoking culture here it’s very much a joint smoking one.

be five ‘undred, bu dis good price brudda, an if you smart man you gawn tek alf o dis and sell e fe wah you gawn pay an mek yo money back. Peeps gawn pay gud dallah fe weed dis fahn roun ere!”

It’s all weed as well, there very little hash around – with the majority of the

Don’t expect any Jamaicans to offer you a blast on their bifta though, you roll your own and smoke your own over here.

You’ll get some funny looks if you try to do otherwise. Most of them roll with a bit of baccy, about a third of a Craven A cigarette to be precise. They mix that with some hand-mashed weed and wrap it all up cone-style in a fat red Rizzla with no roach. There’s some magic in there somewhere though, Pinky taught me how in the comfort of a nightclub’s changing room – a short, fat cone with a match-sized twisted paper toke hole, every pull tasted as good as she looked and every hit dazzled like a dancehall hip gyration, lifted!

She couldn’t tell me what we were smoking though. By the time the ganja reaches the smokers the name of the strain has usually been forgotten or confused, but peeps on the streets don’t seem to care too much about that:

five point two grams! Puff, puff, puff…

Yeah man, old school shit, Bush Doctor style. Jah bless.

There are a lot of different cannabis smoking cultures around the world, from Morocco to California, Mexico, South Africa, Amsterdam etc, but if there was a competition for World’s Greatest it’s hard to imagine anyone beating Jamaica to the gold medal. Almost everywhere you go and everything you do in the country is accompanied by a reggae and dancehall soundtrack; the country’s (and for that matter, the last millenium’s) most famous prophet and popular son also happens to be the world’s most famous ganja smoker; it’s the birth place of the Ras Tafari culture and philosophies, and even the weather and the environment constantly seem to be goading you into sparking up a fat one and laying back in admiration of Jah’s magical creation – the picture-perfect beaches, the bright blue skies, a roasting hot Sun, a thousand different shades of lush jungle green, all those big bouncy Jamaican smiles…

Go on, you know you want to, don’t be pussy, book that ticket, go and fall in love with somewhere special! *No person shown in any photo is a dealer or farmer

country at sea-level and in the tropics you’d expect as much. Having said that, we did manage to find a strange little something masquerading as ‘hash’ while we were there:

“Da weed man a-cometh!”

Lennox strode in with a big grin on his face.

“Wicked mate, what you got?”

“Wah? Ah gat some weed man, wah’ya tink ah gat?”

“Yeah, I know you got weed but what type is it?”

He laughed. “Names don’ mean nuttin no mo man! Dey gah Purple Spaceship ‘aze, Juicy Pussy Fruit an tek ya to da fuckin Moon and orbit roun’ da Sun shit! Ah dunno nuttin ‘bout dat, bu’ dis be some gud weed, das all you an’ me gats ta know!

Di’sum gud shit, nice, clean weed, an dis bag be two ‘undred dallah… An dis, dis be some fahn, stinky ‘igh grade shit, dis bag

Never mind. Later on we chipped off down the road and my brother from another mother told me he was going to pick up a five dollar (US) ounce. We met up again half an hour later. An ounce? Not likely, but as five bucks worth of smoke it was a good deal. We stripped the buds from the stalks and put them on the scales – thirty

“Ah mek dis wi’ rum, Wray and Nephews seventy per cent overproof rum. Mi-a crush up de ganja, den mi put e in-a ickle alcohol and keep e wi’ a right heat on-a stove. It tek time mon, bu’ try it, latta peeps come back fe dis, Americans love it!”

Jez was a good guy, calm, honest and decent talking, but I had to laugh when he showed me the ‘hash’ he’d been talking up for two days - it looked like a piece of fresh tarmac with a few crushed herbs sprinkled on top of it. It didn’t roll up too well, didn’t burn to well and didn’t really do a lot of anything apart from make me wonder what I was poisoning my lungs with. Hash Tar?

Dinafem

Chem Dawg

48

GROW WITH GOLGI

THE ROAD TO HAPPY PLANTS AND HEAVY BUDS

Density Getting to the end of your harvest and seeing wispy, airy buds that don’t tip the scales to our liking is something we have all experienced at one time or another.

Beginners and old school growers alike run into this issue (typically when dealing with a new strain or when they are shy on light, nutrients, water or environmen-

By Golgi Apparatus types, or the physical expressions of its genes. Getting a solid strain with your desired phenotypes of the crosses and keeping it as a mother plant to clone from will set you up for success.

The genotype is a reflection of the parent genes that went into making the cross-

yet they will all be of the same genotype (have the same genes from having the same parents). The stability of the strain will determine the diversity of the phenotypes, finding that stable ground with the traits you want is the hard part of a breeder’s job.

today. It’s pretty neat to see how far they have come. You want to take into account anything the breeder info gives you, but look more closely at the grower advice and reviews to seek help for each strain’s specific needs.

LightI like to pick out a new strain not by the pictures on the seed bank page, although they are helpful, but by researching blogs and forums to get actual grower input on each specific strain. Chances are they have been purchased and grown before by someone who chronicled their experi-

Once you have in your possession a solid strain to work with, your light is the next best place to start the density problem elimination process. Light is a large percentage of the plant’s needs, and if it is lacking or there is too much (yes there is a thing as too much light!) it can greatly affect the final product. The uncorrectable sign of too much light is in the last stage where they literally burn, turning yellow or brown and crispy. This is usually coupled with the edges of the leaves curling up from too much heat, being that it is closer to the light (heat source).

Not enough light or the wrong type or color spectrum bulb will inhibit proper hormone regulation. This causes plants to stretch out, thinning out the stalks and causing spindled growth. Not something we want to see on our plants.

EnvironmentHaving the right environment for your plants to thrive in is a critical step in producing those thick, chunky nuggets. Ambient temperature needs to be constantly in the safe zone during the light and dark periods. Anything over 85 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) is detrimental to the yield, THC content and overall quality of the harvest. Having too high of a temperature will do the most damage to our plants in my opinion, but the cold temperatures can affect the plants as well.

AutoMass

tal needs). There are so many underlying factors that can affect your final product.

Learning to decipher what your specific plant needs only comes with experi-

bred seeds. The different characteristics that we of the offspring of the parents are called phenotypes, which encompass anything that is part of the behaviors or

ence online. There are a ton of websites that give strains rankings based on their medicinal qualities, THC content (potency), type of high/buzz (head or body),

THE UNCORRECTABLE SIGN OF TOO MUCH LIGHT IS IN THE LAST STAGE WHERE THEY LITERALLY BURN, TURNING YELLOW OR BROWN AND CRISPY ence and knowledge. I have compiled a few tips and tricks to help you decipher the secret language of plant health and bloom boosting, so that you can achieve or exceed your plant’s genetic potential.

functions of the plant (such as THC content, density, leaf structure, flavor, height, bushiness, etc). Chances are you will get multiple phenotypes in a batch of seeds from one parent combination.

Genetics-

Example:

Most of the potential for your buds come from the plant’s genetics (genotype/ genes). In everyday life we don’t actually observe the genetic composition of an organism. What we do see is the pheno-

You purchase a 25 pack of seeds that are an indica x sativa cross (50/50). When you germinate these seeds you get a few different phenotypes, some having more of one of the parents’ traits than the other,

customer reviews, yield, difficulty (growing), taste/flavor, length of growing cycle and any other listing comparison they can think of. These are mostly based on grower reviews and breeder journals and are a great place to look for info.

There are even some sites (like seedfinder.eu) that will tell you the lineage of the strain, basically offering a complete family tree of its heritage to show what was crossed to make the strain you have

Having your grow room too cold can cause slowed or even stunted growth to the point of locking out nutrients (mostly phosphorous (P) lockout which commonly results in signs of purple). The lowest temperature suggested for cannabis is 45 degrees Fahrenheit (about 7 degrees Celsius). If you’re growing outdoors then be sure to harvest before the first frost to avoid possibly losing the whole crop.

You might want to think about trying autoflower varieties if your grow is subject to the cold. They can withstand much colder temperatures as compared to other subtypes of Cannabis. My personal garden rule for non-autoflower types is to never go over 80°F (27°C) and never below 50°F (10°C). A good rule of thumb is that if you’re not comfortable in the ambient temperature with a t-shirt on, then your plants probably won’t be either. In my experiences I have definitely noticed a difference in plants that have strayed beyond this safe zone.

Relative humidity (RH) is another factor we need to maintain in the growing environment. Most plants fall into the 40-60% relative humidity safe zone.

Cannabis plants prefer to have the RH around 60% during the vegetative stage of growth and 50-55% RH for flowering to effectively maintain the transpiration processes. Make sure your space is prop-

49 erly ventilated to avoid the formation of mold. Position an oscillating fan to blow constantly onto the canopy area while

hydroponics pH should be 5.8-6.5 and soil or soilless grows should be 6.8-7.2.

check it and just determine the nutrient problem and correct it you may be adding to the problem and fixing nothing. If you check the pH and it’s off, first correct it and then use the pH/nutrient availability chart to see which nutrients the lockout affected. The best tip I can give for this is to keep a garden book in your room or your smart phone handy to research nutrient deficiencies and overfeeding signs.

Any time you notice signs of plant problems (such as spotting, burning, or discoloration), ALWAYS check the pH first. pH fluctuation outside of your safe zone can lead to nutrient lockouts. If you don’t

One of the biggest deficiencies I’ve noticed is with calcium and magnesium. It seems that the more complex the strain’s crossbreed, the more cal-mag additive it will need. Running a calcium/magnesium

the mix to your plants (see the pH availability chart). Always keep your solution in the safe zone for your type of grow;

THE EARLY STAGE OF TOO MUCH LIGHT WILL SHOW AS CHLOROSIS, OR WHITE PATCHES ON THE LEAVES. the lights are on (you want to see the leaves on all the plants shake slightly from the breeze). This helps in a couple ways.

First, it’s essential in bloom to avoid any dead air pockets from forming inside the buds (it’s the worst when you break open a nice looking bud to find spots of mold inside!). Additionally, it is necessary in veg to strengthen the plant because having wind shake the plant will inevitably build up strength in the structural cells of the plant (use a silicate supplement/additive for even more added cell strength).

supplement during the flowering phase, as preventative, is a great idea.

Over- and under-watering is a biggie with hobby growers. There needs to be a healthy balance of moist and dry. Never keep your medium wet all the time or have any standing water anywhere; this will rot out your stems and attract insects.

Keep your reservoir water moving and oxygenated using an air pump and air stones or diffusers to disperse the air.

If you are a grower who likes to foliar feed your plants then you have probably run into some leaf spotting as a result. If you

I recommend using a thermometer and hygrometer to keep an eye on the temperature and relative humidity. An alternative (perhaps easier) approach would be the use of an environmental controller to plug your fan and humidifier/dehumidifier into. The controller will have set points for your optimal zone and will appropriately turn on or off the equipment to correct the environmental conditions it registers. They make these controllers to maintain just about everything there is to control in your indoor garden.

NutrientsKeeping your nutrients and water in check and balanced can mean the difference between a whispy bud and a dense one. This is where researching the needs of your strain can help take some of the guess work out of nutrient feedings (because the label directions are not optimal for all strains). Some types can take heavier feedings than others. A good example of this would be the indica Kush strains. These can take up to 25% more food than most other types. Companies like Advanced Nutrients have recognized this and have come up with an additive to correct this called Kushie Kush. But the addition of food can be achieved by increasing your regular feedings as well.

The pH of your nutrient solution should be measured and adjusted before feeding

Cheese ‘n’ Kush

50

White Widow auto try to foliar feed during the light hours then you risk the water magnifying the light and burning the leaves, similar to frying an ant under a magnifying glass.

This can be avoided by spraying in the dark hours or in the last 10 to 15 minutes of the light cycle (it’s not long enough to reach the burning point).

these are a good option to do home trials on. I suggest only trying this on

With all these other factors in line and running in your specific ‘safe zone’, then you can concentrate on taking your plant above and beyond. Every nutrient line has a bloom booster in their products and even though they are tested by scientists before formulation, every strain is different. Some can take a little more P-K to add a little more weight to the end product. Start bloom boosting additives when you can visibly see flowers forming on your plant (usually the second week of bloom). But be careful and watch for signs of overfeeding. Adding too much P-K can do more harm than good, but not using a Brooklyn Mango bloom booster or not using enough will leave you with airy, weightless, lackluster buds. The trick is to find your sweet one or two plants as an experiment first spot. Don’t forget to add some type of before applying to the entire crop. One

your own flower hardener. You will need a product containing B-vitamins #1

Conclusion-

thru #3 (B1-Thiamine, B2-Riboflavin and B3-Niacin) and another product contain-

THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL HARVESTS IS MAINTAINING A BALANCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT, NUTRIENTS, WATER AND STRAIN TYPE carbohydrate supplementation for flavor enhancement along with your bloom boosters, base nutrients and any other additive your product line recommends.

Of course there are always products out there marketed as flower hardeners, and

flower hardener to try is from Humboldt County’s Own called ‘Gravity’. This product is hard to get at the moment due to regulations in the manufacturer’s state. But one trick I have learned (which seems to work well with any nutrient line) is to combine products to make

Notice the B-52 has nitrogen in it, this can be helpful to you in late bloom if you notice your bottommost fan leaves yellowing out towards the end of your flowering phase. This is the plant running low on nitrogen and she is letting the older bottom leaves go without so it can get directed to the top of the plant. If you were to add more nitrogen during the final 2-3 weeks of bloom you can prevent this from happening. Or you can rely on the nitrogen in some of your additives. Many nutrient companies offer a bloom booster that contains no N, just P-K and then a late bloom enhancer that you switch to for the last couple weeks (containing a little nitrogen as well as the bloom boosting phosphorous and potassium).

ing Ascophyllum nodosum (sea kelp). My favorite combination for these is A.N.B-52 (2-1-4) and Nitrozime (0-4-4). This combo hardens up the colas to my liking no matter which strain I’m growing at the time and happens to be the same ingredients that are found to be in ‘Gravity’.

Stress and shock are caused by changing any part of the environment suddenly, the key to successful harvests is maintaining a balance of the environment, nutrients, water and strain type. Nugget density is the product of perfect balance in your garden; the safe zone keeps you out of the less than desirable bud category.

Too much light will show on the tops of your plants at canopy level. The early stage of too much light will show as chlorosis, or white patches on the leaves. Chlorophyll in green plants absorbs light energy and converts it to chemical energy, which is used in all plant processes. So when the plant stops exhibiting chlorophyll in those areas you know there is too much light and can still have time to correct it

Growkits and = 0DJLF 7UXIÁHV 0DJLF 7UXIÁHV

NEW A FORMUL IGHER MUCH HLD YIE

Ask your local growshop

53

SHOP REVIEW

Bright Green UK

Bright Green-UK is one of the leading suppliers of Hydroponic equipment in Hull. Whilst working with a colleague of mine, we were told we had to visit this shop as they had recently moved location to a new unit and it was an impressive set up.

We were informed correctly, not only is the new shop fantastic, the shop owner is a great guy. The shop was very busy the whole time my colleague and I were there and the ambiance in this shop is difficult to beat. The layout is clean and professional as well as the finish that has been applied, certainly to the serving counter as it replicates a ‘beach hut’. Who doesn’t like going to the beach!?

purchased and all left with a smile on their face and a free soft drink to accompany them on their journeys home.

Nutrients in store include Dutch Pro, Hesi, Plagron, GHE and Advanced Nutrients + more. Leading brands such as Gavita, Lumatek and RVK are all stocked as well as tents, trays and grow media.

This is a great shop, drop in next time you are in the area!

Bright Green-UK Ltd 42 Prince’s Road Hull HU5 2RD (t) 01482 341925

All customers in the shop during my time there were well informed when asking for advice; they all received competitive pricing for the products they

(w) www.brightgreen-uk.co.uk (e) brightgreenhydroponics@ hotmail.com

Wellingborough Hydroponics Wellingborough Hydroponics is a busy shop. I can’t say I have visited every shop in the UK and Ireland, however, I have visited most and if they were all as busy as Wellingborough the industry would be doing very well!

The shop owner has always prided himself on customer service and competitive pricing. Good deals are always available at Wellingborough, not as a result of under cutting

the competition but because the owner has an uncanny ability to source products competitively and this may be solely down to the fact that he buys in bulk!

As horticulturist specialists and with over 20 years combined knowledge, the 2 man team can offer great service, prices and advice.

The shop has recently been changed to allow for more product display areas which have only added to the appeal of the shop. The owner has also had the shop walls ‘graphitised’ to include his shop logo and other designs which again has added to the ambiance of the shop.

All leading brands are stocked as well as

Stanford Hydroponics II Stanford Hydroponics has gone from strength to strength since opening its doors last year and as a result they have now opened their second shop in Grays.

Although the businesses are new the people behind this company are well established in the Hydroponics industry, have been horticulturists for over 20 years and they are now bringing that wealth of experience and knowledge to their customers.

Taking this into account can only install confidence in any customer visiting either of the Stanford Hydroponic shops as they will only be sold what they need, always get a very competitive price and most importantly receive sound advice on their growing requirements.

budget items if required. There is plenty of parking available and a free tea or coffee whilst you look around. Successful shop with plenty of products available, if they don’t have what you need, it can be ordered or an alternative product supplied to match your requirements.

Wellingborough Hydroponics 11 Bentley Court Finedon Road Industrial Estate Wellingborough NN8 4BQ (t) 01933 274000 (w) www.wellingboroughhydroponics.com (e) info@wellingboroughhydroponics.com

The shops have been fully stocked with all the quality items the Hydroponics industry has to offer as well as a few items that have been hand-picked by the owners.

Both shops have impressive show room displays. Nutrients available for purchase include Plagron, Canna, Bio Bizz + many more as well as being well stocked with tents, ventilation and fans and all other growing products required for your growing set up.

They will not be beaten on price but the most important thing is they will not be beaten on customer service!

Stanford Hydroponics Unit 11 Thurrock Enterprise Centre Maidstone Road Grays RM17 6NF (t) 01375 376777 (w) www.stanfordhydro.co.uk (e) info@stanfordhydro.co.uk

54

SHOP REVIEW / INDEX OF ADS / COLOFON

The Grow Home

The Grow Home is a relatively new hydroponics shop, however, the owner has considerable horticultural experience which is available to his customers should they need it.

The shop is BIG! It’s basically a Super Centre with plenty of products on show, great working displays and even an area to sit down and have a coffee whilst deciding what it is you need to buy. All the leading brands are stocked such as Rhino Filters, Green Room and Roof Cube Tents, Manroe Fans and Gavita Lighting.

Nutrients in stock include Dutch Pro, Canna, Plant Magic+, Buddha’s Tree, Advanced Nutrients and Atami + more.

Systems available include NFT, Drip Irrigation, Ebb and Flood, Aeroponics, Pots, tanks and trays. Whatever they do not have in stock can be ordered and with the customer within 24 hours.

sories from, why?

- Discreet Loading Bay - Will open on Sundays for large orders (please enquire with store for more information) - Great location - Plenty of stock The shop is a commercial grower’s paradise. Good discounts available on big orders, large shop with lots of stock available, sound advice and plenty of parking!

If you have not already been into The Grow Home, be sure to visit the shop soon to see for yourself.

The Grow Home Unit 26 Bolney Grange Industrial Estate Haywards Heath RH17 5PB Tel: 01444 244414

As a horticulturist, this is exactly the type of shop a grower would want to purchase their hydroponics equipment and acces-

(w) www.first4hydroponics.com (e) thegrowhome@hotmail.co.uk

NPK Technology

Having visited most shops in the Liverpool area, one thing became apparent very quickly, the passion the shop owners have in this City is difficult to beat, none more so than at NPK Horticultural Supplies. The owner is adamant he will make NPK the most successful shop in Liverpool and I do not doubt him as he is one of the most proactive shop owners ensuring his business is run professionally and competitively but also it obtains as much exposure as possible.

The shop is well laid out with plenty of working displays which add to the ambience of the shop. Products have been chosen carefully so as to make sure the customers have exactly what they need and at competitive prices. They will not be

beaten on price, be sure to ask in store for more details on their price comparison.

All the leading brands are stocked, nutrients available range from Canna to Vitalink, House and Garden to Bio-Bizz..

Hydroponic systems include the MultiFlow system, the IWS, NFT and a variety of growing trays. Secret Jardin tents are the quality tent manufacturer in store, if however, you require a budget tent, these are also available.

What makes any shop successful is not necessarily the price they sell for or the products they sell, for me it’s the advice and customer service that give shops longevity and NPK has this in abundance.

Index of ads Name

Colofon Page

00 Seeds Bank 8 Ball Hydroponics Advanced Seeds Amsterdam Seed Center Atami Big Stone River Indoor Garden Centre Bio Nova Bright Green UK Brit Crops Buddha Seeds Cannafest Clever Green Critical Hydroponics Dinafem Seeds Down to Earth Kent Dr. Blooms Hydroponics Easy-Grow Wholesale Ed Rosenthal Expert Seeds Gro-Rite Supplies Grotech Distribution Grow Home the Grow Room the Growing Underground Hesi Hydro & Growing Hydro 2 Grow Jorge Cervantes Justfeminized.com Money Tree Hydroponics Mycologics Nirvana NPK Technology Oh Yeah!

Paradise Seeds Paradise Seeds Plagron Procare Roberts Direct Royal Queen Seeds Shayanashop.com Smokin Vinyl Southern Hydro Centre Southwest Headshops Stanford Hydroponics Sweet Seeds Triangle Hydroponics UK GroWorks UK Skunkworks Wellingborough Hydro

13 1 17 51 56 52 12 52 25 14 20 1 52 27 32 1 47 31 36 45 43 51 36 52 2 51 29 40 36 34 51 10 52 19 1 23 4 51 43 32 7 52 52 49 1 55 52 43 47 47

NPK Technology Horticultural Supplies Unit 20 Commerce Way Upper Parliament Business Park Upper Parliament Street Liverpool L8 7BA Tel: 0151 2288306 (w) www.npktechnology.co.uk (e) npktechnologyltd@hotmail.co.uk

Soft Secrets is published by Discover Publisher BV P.O.Box 362, 5460 AJ, Veghel, Netherlands Telephone: +31-(0)73-5498112 Fax: +31-(0)73-5479732 E-mail: info@softsecrets.nl Editor: Cliff Cremer Contributors: Little Lebowski, Ed Rosenthal, Jorge Cervantes, Dr. John Dee, Grubbycup, the Professor, Kali Mist, Buddy Kush, Sativa Diva, Golgi Apparatus, Ganjah Selecta, F.Red and others Comics: Jim Stewart Editorial adress: E-mail: ssuk@softsecrets.nl Advertisements: E-mail: info@softsecrets.nl A word from the publisher: The UK government has embarked on a process of relative liberalisation towards the use of cannabis, and cannabis activists are engaged in broadening this engagement.

Several local councils and police chiefs now actively support a Dutch-style coffeeshop system as a way of separating soft and hard drugs, as it has proven to do in Holland.

Whether they are finding their way to new coffeeshops or growing for their personal supply, cannabis users are a menace to no one, and are causing no discernable social problem. Some politicians and commentators are calling for the outright legalisation of marihuana. Let’s wait and see how the debate develops during a period of relative peace between all sides of the argument.

In the meantime, the publisher hopes Soft Secrets will show the public a positive side to the normalisation of cannabis use, and is anxious to offer a forum to both pro- and anti-legalisation advocates. This assumes that the publisher does not necessarily agree with everything that appears in articles and advertisements. The publisher therefore distances himself explicitly from published statements or images that might give the impression that an endorsement is being made for the use or production of cannabis.

Nothing from this publication may be copied or reproduced in any format without prior permission from the publisher and other copyright holders. The publisher is not responsible for the content and/or point of view of advertisements. The editors take no responsibility for unsolicited submissions.

The publisher has endeavored to reach all copyright holders of photo and/or video material.

Those who still believe they are entitled to these rights are entitled to contact the publisher.

Next issue out: October 25 2013

® Femi

www.sweetseeds.es

n ised S ee ds

Best Seeds Bank Expocannabis 2007

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-3 -40,00 -36, -48,90€ ·10s 3s-20,00€ · 5s 3s-24,00€ · 5s 3s-22,50€ · 5s 3s-29,90€ · 5s C/ Dr. Nicasio Benlloch, 36-38 · 46015 · Valencia · España · +34 963 890 403 · +34 963 473 730 / +34 963 404 289 (Wholesalers) · Fax: +34 961 939 618 · info@sweetseeds.es

Sale prohibited to people under 18 years old. Seed for coleccionist use exclusively. It´s ilegal to make them germinate. They´re not for agriculture purposes.

Consult laws about cannabis aplied in your place of residence. Sweet Seeds will not be acountable for ilegal use of this seeds done by third parties.

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