Cannabis Cultivation Guide

Like a million other people, you love smoking top-quality marijuana. Nothing less will do. You walk into the dispensary only to find that it’s expensive, or the buds you specifically need are no longer available. Finally, disappointed with all the hurdles, you make up your mind to grow your own cannabis. And now that it’s completely legal, you have no excuses!

Growing Cannabis

Beginners that want to grow their own marijuana face quite a few problems. From deciding between photoperiod and autoflowers to feminized and regular seeds, it’s easy to get lost in the process. Obviously, when you’re preparing to grow some amazing buds, you want the easiest route. Growing cannabis is a complex science; more like an art, but it all boils down to one thing: experience.

Many growers get all excited and invest a lot before understanding the basics. Of course, you will fail during the first few attempts, but the ones that pick themselves up, learn, and continue trying can only taste success. That’s why experience is so important.

Understandably, it can be confusing for beginners, especially when it comes to selecting seeds, lighting, soil, and many other requirements. The fact that it takes a lot of time to smoke the buds serves as a major turnoff. Well, autoflowers offer the ability to harvest plants faster, but can beginners even try growing them?

Short answer: A resounding YES!

Long answer: Continue reading…

What are Autoflowering Cannabis Strains?

Cannabis plants grow naturally in the wild, just like any other plant. Technically, it’s a photoperiod plant since its life cycle depends on the light it receives. Photoperiodism is nothing but the reaction of an animal or plant depending on the exposure to light.

When a cannabis plant receives ample light extending for more than 15 hours per day, it grows well. This is the vegetative stage. As seasons change and the amount of light reduces, the plant switches to the flowering phase. Growers manipulate the lighting they provide based on this very reason.

Typically, the plant gets anywhere around 16-18 hours per day, with some growers providing 24 hours. Once they are satisfied with the growth, they switch to the flowering phase with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. So, photoperiod plants rely on the light cycle to grow and flower.

Autoflowering cannabis strains on the other hand, are a bit different. Rather than depending on light cycles, they automatically begin flowering after the plant reaches a certain age. Due to this automatic process, they are named “autoflowers”.

Autoflowers, like photoperiod strains, will grow in the vegetative stage and switch to flowering, but they will do so even if they receive 12, 14 or 24 hours of light. Similarly, they will flower even if they receive more than 12 hours of darkness with or without interruptions. No matter what season you plant, the flowering phase is triggered automatically when they reach a certain age.

How Were Autoflowers Created?

Cannabis is famous for its Sativa and Indica species. But, a little-known species known as the Ruderalis growing in locations with short summers garnered significant attention. Now, the Ruderalis was special because it had the ability to flower automatically without relying on exposure to light like other cannabis plants.

The Ruderalis plant was crossbred with other marijuana plants. The result was an autoflower with a unique ability to flower based on its age. Everything was hunky dory, and the new invention got many growers excited; however, there were a few problems.

Not only were the autoflowers low in THC, but they were much smaller than photoperiod plants that eventually led to smaller yields. Growers lost interest in autoflowers because the plants didn’t perform as well as they expected.

However, many breeders including Fastbuds didn’t lose hope and took it upon themselves to create autoflowers that performed like photoperiod plants. Today, after many attempts by several breeders, we have autoflowers that not only yield large amounts of marijuana but produce high levels of THC too.

Call it technology or evolution, but the autoflowers created today are much better than they were in the past. Suffice to say that the dawn of the autoflowers has finally arrived.

Why Should Beginners Grow Autoflowers?

They grow quick

The very reason you choose to grow marijuana at home is that you need big, beautiful buds. And, you want it fast. Nobody wants to sit around for months together to harvest flowers. Autoflowers have this major advantage over photoperiod strains where you harvest them much faster.

Any photoperiod strain requires a minimum of 10 weeks to complete the vegetative stage. After the plants are switched to the flowering phase, they need yet another 9 weeks. So, you’re looking at a minimum of 5 months to harvest the buds.

For autoflowers, the vegetative period takes only 3 weeks and the plants begin to flower in the fourth week itself. The flowering period takes another 8 weeks, but some autoflowers are even faster with an entire cycle taking only 10 weeks. Thus, you can harvest the buds in less than 3 months, making it easier for beginners.

They produce more harvests

As mentioned already, autoflowers take only 3 months whereas photoperiod strains take about 5 months to be harvested. If you do the math, you can grow two batches of autoflowers in the time required to grow one batch of photoperiod strains.

And you’d have harvested the autoflowers before the photoperiod strains even move into the flowering phase! Can’t get better than that, eh?

Some will argue that photoperiod strains generate more yields when compared to autoflowers, but if you consider the time required, the yields are almost the same. For instance, when grown indoors, most autoflowers produce anywhere from 300 to 400 grams of buds per harvest whereas photoperiods give out about 500 to 600 grams.

So, if you add up two harvests, you will, in fact, end up with more buds in a given time frame.

They allow you to harvest perpetually

It’s exciting to grow a huge number of plants, especially when you have a smaller grow room. And that’s possible only if you harvest the buds perpetually. Photoperiod strains have an advantage over autoflowers in this regard since they can easily produce clones.

However, the plants need to be separated and grown in different rooms due to the light cycles. For example, let’s imagine that you have a mother plant in the vegetative period. You take clones from the plant.

Now, the clones need some time to grow. And if you want to switch the mother to the flowering phase, you’ll either have to divide the grow room into two separate spaces or get another room. Since the mother plant needs 12 hours of darkness while the clones require 6 hours of darkness and 18 hours of light, managing the grow room becomes a little tough.

Unless you have a huge grow room, it’s very difficult to do so, not to mention the cost of running lights separately. In other words, perpetual harvests are possible only if you have bigger grow rooms.

You can’t take clones from autoflowering cannabis plants successfully, true, but you can grow all autoflowers in the same space without worrying about the vegetative and flowering stage. In order to get perpetual harvests, you simply sow some seeds, wait for them to flower, and plant a few more seeds just as the previous plants are about to be harvested.

If you time it well, you can plant the seeds even when there are about 3 weeks for the plants to finish their cycle. This process allows you to grow and harvest as many plants your heart desires!

They are small and perfect for stealth grows

It’s not legal to grow marijuana in many parts of the world. Not everyone’s as lucky as Canadians! Growers are constantly on the lookout to purchase strains that are compact and small. Most photoperiod strains, especially Sativas grow enormously big, and it becomes very difficult for growers. Indicas are shorter, but broader, while Ruderalis plants adapt just about anywhere.

Most autoflowering strains are small and compact and growers looking to optimize Grow Tents to the best of their abilities will absolutely love them. For instance, Green Crack Auto grows only up to 35 inches, making it ideal if you have a grow tent with a negligible height.

In fact, they work even if you plan stealth grows where you can’t afford to grow plants with tendencies to grow too big. They flower rapidly, and on time, making it worth your time and effort.

They save money

Growing cannabis plants is considerably easy when compared to the maintenance they require. For example, photoperiod strains require a lot of planning when it comes to the light cycle. It’s mandatory to provide at least 18 hours of light in the vegetative stage. The plants only start to flower when they receive 12 hours of darkness.

Autoflowering strains don’t come with all that baggage. Even if you provide only 12 hours of light from the first day to the very end of the cycle, they will flower automatically. Of course, plants grow better if they receive more light, but you don’t have to constantly worry about the light cycles.

You’ll have to manage the nutrients, though. But if you have some good soil naturally enriched with nutrients, then kudos to you! People looking to grow cannabis organically can simply sow the seeds and forget about them!

And, let’s not forget the fact that you can save some money with autoflowers. Instead of letting the lights run every day for more than 18 hours, you can get away with 12 or 14 hours. This is extremely advantageous for beginners who avoid growing cannabis primarily due to the costs.

The initial investment required is the same for both photoperiod and autoflowering plants, but you will save quite a bit in the long run.  You no longer need to panic due when you receive those electricity bills!

The bottom line is that autoflowering cannabis plants are not weak and fragile, despite what you’ve come to believe. Experienced growers will tell you that it’s possible to get more yields with high THC levels at the same time even with autoflowers.

Truth be told, they are robust, fast and resistant to diseases. Most importantly, they are easy to grow and perfect for beginners that don’t want to grow plants requiring too much maintenance.

Yes, the initial autoflowers released a decade ago lacked a lot, but autoflowering cannabis strains created today beat every other strain by a long mile, and if that doesn’t convince you to grow autoflowering cannabis, we don’t know what will.

With marijuana legalization in Canada already a month behind us, many people across the country are wondering how to grow marijuana at home. Most of you will know that the new laws mean you are now allowed to cultivate up to four plants in your own home for personal consumption. What many may not know is that growing high-quality weed involves a lot more than just getting your seed to sprout and caring for the plant. Knowing when to harvest cannabis is very much an important part of the equation if you’re planning to grow good weed.

There are many factors that go into successfully growing marijuana, and if we were to cover it all here we’d keep you reading for a week! In one of our previous articles, we covered the basics of growing cannabis. Let’s skip ahead to what’s often the more challenging part and focus instead on when to harvest cannabis as well as how to dry weed and the best ways of drying and curing marijuana.

How to Tell When to Harvest Cannabis

There are two primary methods for determining when to harvest cannabis – the pistil method and the trichome method. The pistil method is quite straightforward and can be conducted by even the most novice and unequipped of growers, while the trichome method is more detailed and will require you to have certain tools at your disposal.

Let’s have a look at them first, and then we’ll discuss drying marijuana and curing marijuana.

Pistil method

Pistils are the small and thin white hairs found sticking out from amongst the buds while they are growing. Following the pistil method of determining if your weed is ready for harvest is quite simple; if they are white and sticking out straight then it is too early to harvest them. You need to wait until the pistils darken and being to curl in. Harvesting at 60 to 70% darkened pistils will mean you get the highest levels of THC in your bud, and you should never harvest when the total number of darkened, curling pistils is less than 40%.

Waiting until you have a 70 – 90% count means you will have buds with more of a balance between THC and CBD, and this tends to be preferable for people who are growing for medicinal / therapeutic purposes. Discussing when to harvest cannabis should include noting that some strains will produce new pistils even as the older and more numerous pistils are indicating it’s time to harvest. You can ignore these, and harvest the buds. Note as well that some strains keep most of their pistils white even when they’re ready for harvest. They should still be curling inwards though.

We’re big fans of simplicity, so here’s a great tip – search online for pictures of what your strain should look like when it’s fully ripened and ready for buds to be picked.

Trichome method

The trichome is a much more reliable determination method when figuring out when to harvest cannabis. Trichomes are the mushroom-looking resin polyps on marijuana buds that make them so sticky. There are different trichomes on all buds, but you need to be focusing on the ones that have a tiny ball on the top of them. This is where the lion’s share of the cannabinoids is concentrated, including THC, CBD, and CBN. THC content is priority #1 for the majority of recreational growers, while CBD is usually the priority for medicinal users

Trichomes are extremely miniature, so it is best to have some way of magnifying them. A jeweler’s loupe is a good choice for those working with a budget, as they’re relatively inexpensive. A digital microscope is a better choice, and while they can be more expensive they do have a big advantage. You’re able to record footage for reviewing it more comfortably later with the larger screen of your computer or notebook.

The specifics of the trichomes method involves seeing how clear or ‘cloudy’ the trichomes are. If trichomes are clear, they haven’t developed many cannabinoid stores within them. Once trichomes start to become cloudy then you can know that they are starting to build up their cannabinoid levels.

Trichome method guidelines:

We’ll start here by saying that if the pistils don’t indicate readiness, you don’t need to concern yourself with observing trichomes. Once they do, follow these guidelines:

• When trichomes are half clear / half cloudy the buds are still growing. However, they can be harvested for marijuana that produces more of an upbeat, energetic, and ‘rush’ high.
• Buds are at or near maximum growth when the trichomes are mostly cloudy and 50 to 70% of the hairs have darkened. They can be harvested for a yield of crop that provides the most intense euphoric high, along with plenty of pain relief for anyone aiming to use medicinally. These buds will have the highest levels of THC, and typically fairly high levels of CBD and CBN as well.
• When trichomes become cloudy and start to have a slightly amber hue to them they are fully grown and have reached full maturity as well. 70 to 90% of the pistils will have darkened by this point too, and this bud will be more of an equal balance of CBD and THC with more CBN. It will provide a more narcotic and sedating high that is better for those using to improve relaxation, and many people say this weed gives them a nice ‘body high’.

Some sativa and haze strains have trichomes that never really turn amber, even after they’ve become plenty cloudy.

This is a fairly simple but reliable way of knowing when to harvest cannabis. Keep in mind that harvesting any type of bud especially late will mean it has more sedative and less psychoactive potential. Trichomes that start looking more solid grey rather than cloudy, or appear to be withering, are past their harvesting prime. The buds will often do little more than make you sleepy.

Drying marijuana

Learning how to dry weed is equally important. But why dry and cure anyways? Well, aside from the obvious need for a dry product to eventually smoke there are a number of other ways that drying marijuana and curing marijuana play roles in determining the quality of your yield. These include:

• Breaking down chlorophyll and improving taste / smoothness in a big way
• Eliminating fresh cut plant material smell
• Making inherent flavours and smells more pronounced
• Making it less ‘harsh’ so you don’t cough as much or get a headache from smoking it
• Reducing promotion of anxiety, paranoia, and ‘racing thoughts’
• Eliminating mold and bacteria more effectively
• Increasing potency

Buds are best dried at room temperature –  around 21 degrees Celsius, and with 50% humidity. Growers will often adjust their environment with air conditioners, evaporative coolers, humidifiers or dehumidifiers, or heaters.

Allow your buds to dry slowly over 3 to 7 days, and a good way to test if they’re sufficiently dry is to try bend the stems from the stalk. If they snap off rather than bend then your bud is dry enough to move to curing it. One last note is never try to ‘quick dry’ your buds using a heat source. It will make them taste harsh and unpleasant.

Process of Drying Marijuana

• Hang buds with tops facing down and stems up. Alternately you can hang an entire plant upside down to dry
• Trim away fan leaves. Cut away more of them if you live in a humid climate, and fewer of them if you live in a drier area. More humidity means more chance of mould. A drying rack is good if you live in a humid area
• Don’t dry buds lying flat on any solid surface as it will create a moist spot on them
• Humid environments may benefit from an area fan to increase airflow, but make sure it’s not pointing directly at your hanging buds. Only use a fan if you must, and be careful not to over dry
• When the smallest of your buds snap off from the stalk, they’re ready for curing

Curing Marijuana

Last up in our discussion of when to harvest cannabis is the process of curing marijuana. Curing well goes a long way to having buds that are perfect mix of flavour and potency. The most important factor for curing dried marijuana well is to control the humidity of the environment. However, do not measure for humidity anytime within the first 2 days of placing your buds in the jars. They need time to ‘sweat’ – eliminating moisture contained in the middle of the bud that needs to move outwards towards the exterior.

Once you’ve let them sweat for a couple of days, you can go ahead and measure. The ideal is around 60-65% humidity inside your containers, and most growers shell out the buck required to buy a hygrometer to take accurate reads of the humidity. General guidelines for humidity are as follows:

Wet (Determined or estimated to be 70% relative humidity) – place buds outside jar for half a day to a full day. Remove them immediately as continuing to let them rest against each other in this condition can promote mould growth.

Moist (Determined or estimated to be 65 to 70% relative humidity) – leave buds in jar with top off for 2-4 hours

Dry (Determined or estimated to be 60-65% relative humidity)  – this is your ideal humidity for curing marijuana buds

Brittle (Determined or estimated to be 55% or less relative humidity) – too dry, curing is impractical but if you do want to cure them still you re-hydrate them with a humidipak. This is not necessary but very helpful if you are curing in an environment that is naturally very dry

Process of Curing Marijuana

• Placing dried bud into glass jars (ideally) with closed lids
• Open jars once a day for 30 minutes or so, good idea to move buds around during this time
• Check on them during this time to make sure no mold or bacteria are growing
• Smell of ammonia or outside of buds feel moist means buds are too wet. Leave lid off jar for an entire day and check again
• ‘Touch test’ – squeeze firmly between fingers, evaluating how moist the buds are
• Be aware though that rehydrating brings the risk of mold growth, and in particular if you use an orange peel. That’s a grower trick that’s been around for years but really isn’t advisable for this reason

Dry for anywhere from 2 weeks to 1 month as necessary.

We hope this guide is useful to determine when to harvest cannabis and how to dry and cure your herb!

Cloning is a bit of a hot-button issue in the world these days. Only as far as cloning humans is concerned though. That’s fair enough considering all the moral, ethical, and spiritual considerations that come along with premise of replicating a human life. There’s no such questions to be debated in the botany world, and cloning plants has been done with much success for decades now. For example, cloning marijuana is an example of this approach to growing plants is a hit with home grow enthusiasts around the world.

You CAN grow a marijuana plant from a seed, but if want the same strain with exactly the same properties, and in some case the same unique characteristics, then you will need to clone it. If you ask an expert about how this process works, be prepared to absorb a LOT of information.

But ask them how to make clones from weed plants and you’ll find it’s quite straightforward. Not as easy as it is to buy marijuana clones, but those of you who like being hands-on with your home grow experiments will want to give cloning marijuana a try.

Cloning Marijuana Guarantees an Identical Plant

An overview of cloning marijuana will explain how it involves cutting of a small piece of an existing marijuana plant and then having that plants develop its own roots. The cut piece of plant will have the same gender and exact same genetic structure as its donor plant, meaning that the plant that eventually regrows itself from the cut piece will too.

Let’s say you have a particular marijuana plant that’s especially healthy and hardy and gives you a bountiful yield of exactly the type of bud you love. Would the sound of having a number of those EXACT same plants sound good to you? Darn right it would, and if you have that plant then achieving this is entirely possible.

Other advantages to cloning marijuana include:

• Expanding on your crop at no additional cost – asides from basic supplies, making clones is free
• The ‘head start’ that clones have in comparison to seedlings, meaning in the big picture that they’ll be at their flowering stage more quickly
• Better choice for those hoping to practice Sea of Green or 12/12 from seed techniques due to clones already being mature and able to be oriented to the flowering stage immediately

Cloning Marijuana: Guidelines

The first consideration you’ll need to have when cloning marijuana is that a ‘mother’ plant will be required to get the clones from. Obviously, choosing a female plant that displays signs of vigor and good health is best. If you have one of those you’ve likely at least mastered the basics of how to grow marijuana, but now you’re about to start down a whole new path.

Here’s a list of the primary supplies you’ll need:

Sharp scissors – You’ll need these to clip your clone pieces from the mother plant, as well as for future defoliation and trimming once your clones have grown into being their own plants

Starter cubes – these are also essential, as they’ll be the homes for your clones while they develop their own roots

Cloning Gel or Cloning Powder – These products are good because they provide a sealant around the cut plant tissue and then supply it with the hormones required for optimum root cell development

Proper lighting – This will be very well understood if you already know how to grow cannabis, but we’ll go over it again briefly in case it’s not. Natural sunlight is best of course, but that’s not possible for many growers much of the time. If that’s your situation, T5 grow lights are the best for clones and seedlings, and especially when suspended 8 or 9” above your clones.

Depending on your situation you may need more supplies, but everyone who’s going to try cloning marijuana will need these four.

Taking Your Clones

Alright, we’re now going to assume that you’ve got your healthy mother plant and all the supplies you need to start. The first thing you’ll do is determine the readiness of your mother plant. There is one basic criteria for this; if the leaf shoots or nodes of the plant are alternating (which means not connecting at the same point on the stem) it is mature and ready for cloning.

Next, soak the starter cubes in water for just a few minutes. No longer. This is important – soak them too long and you’ll reduce the effectiveness with which they’ll promote the clones developing a good root.

Now let’s get down to the hands-on part of how to make clones from weed plants. You want to clip new growth tips on the plants, where there is a new branching and a new top. It is also better to take your clippings from the lower half of your plant, as these leaf shoots have more rooting hormones than those higher up. They will grow roots more quickly because of these hormones.

These growths should be easy to identify being right on the top and often a much lighter green in colour.

Now, with scissors in hand, prepare to make your cut:

• Use your thumb and index finger to grab the shoot an inch or so below the new growth tip
• Eyeball your new cuttings so that they will be between 5 to 8” long, so you will be cutting 5-8” below the growth tip
• Hold it steady as you take the scissors and proceed to cut the branch away at a 45-degree angle
• After making the cut, use the sharp inside edge of one of your scissor blades to ‘scuff’ up the area just above your cut. This will expose more of the stocks ‘raw’ genetic material inside it and aid in the cloning process

Immediately after this you should place the cutting into a glass of water, and do the same for all cuttings you take. After a short period of time you can remove them and trim off huge lower leaves or clip top fan leaves. Return to the water right after doing so.

Once removed, if you’re going to use cloning gel or cloning powder now is the time. If not, proceed to place your new clones into moistened starter cubes. Press around the bottom of them to ensure they’re well sealed.

The last tip here is to keep your resettled clones out of grow lighting for the first couple of days to give them a chance to settle. No longer than 2 days though. And once you do start to give them lighting, don’t give them 24 hours of it. 16-18 hours a day is better.

Just like that you’ve got no need to buy marijuana clones, you’re now sufficiently in the know to create your own using nothing more than your existing crop and a few supplies.

When trying to grow your own cannabis, each marijuana leaf can tell a story about the current health of the plant.

Underlying marijuana plant problems often show up in very obvious ways. Yellow leaves on a cannabis plant can indicate a nutrient deficiency, for instance. Or, you may see cannabis low humidity symptoms, such as slow growth in young plants.

Luckily, all of these problems can be fixed, as long as you catch them early enough! Cannabis may not be as easy to grow as industrial hemp, but it’s still not nearly as picky as other plants.

To help you deduce exactly what your marijuana plant needs, you can use the following marijuana leaf symptoms to diagnose problems early on and hopefully fix them to have a great harvest.

Marijuana Leaf and Stem Structures Look Limp or Wilted

Droopy leaves usually relate to not giving the cannabis plant the right amount of water.

Your first step is to rule out underwatering. If you’re underwatering your plant, this is one of the easier problems to fix. But if you wait too long, you can easily stunt its growth or kill off your entire plant. An underwatered plant will have dry soil. All you have to do to check the soil dampness is poke your finger into the soil about an inch deep – just enough to creep past your first knuckle. If the soil feels light, airy, and as dry as desert sand, then you haven’t been giving the plant enough water.

Ideally, you will water the plant every 2-3 days. If your soil gets dry much more consistently than that, you should use a richer soil that absorbs more water. You may also be using too small of a pot, which causes the roots to drink up all available water faster than usual.

On the other hand, if you poke your finger in the soil and feel that it’s damp, you may have overwatered your plant. Overwatering is a serious problem that should be addressed immediately. If you don’t address it, you could starve your plant of oxygen and cause root rot. Your first step is to commit to not watering the plant for at least two days. Also, check the current soil water levels and how the plant is potted in general. Make sure the bottom has ample drainage. If you have too little drainage, consider drilling more holes into the pot, repotting the plant with a gravel/soil mix on the bottom, or downsizing the pot in general.

Yellow Leaves on Cannabis Plant or Other Discoloration

Yellow leaves on your cannabis plant can indicate a broad range of problems with your marijuana plant, most of them related to nutrition.

First, you want to rule out overwatering or underwatering issues as described above. Either problem can lead to plant death, which causes yellow leaves and dropped leaves, especially if the plant has contracted root rot.

If you don’t think you have water-related issues, here are a few symptoms and what they can possibly indicate:

• Yellow or brown tips – Nutrient burn, which comes from giving the plant too many nutrients or nutrients in too high of a concentration.
• Top inner leaves turning yellow and white – Iron deficiency.
• Lower leaves with oldest growth turn yellow between veins – Magnesium deficiency.
• Leaves turning yellow between veins with brown spots – Manganese deficiency.
• Lower leaves yellowing and falling off – Nitrogen deficiency.
• Yellowing and dark splotches appear on leaves that drop off – Phosphorous. deficiency
• Yellow along smaller veins with brown or yellow edges – Potassium deficiency.
• Lower leaves turning yellow at base, spreading to tips – Sulfur deficiency.
• Top leaves turning greenish yellow – Zinc deficiency.
• Upper leaves dark with tips and edges turning yellow – Copper deficiency.
• Yellowing stems that feel hollow, brown spots – Calcium deficiency.
• Newer growth is thick and unusual looking, with yellowing and brown spots – Boron deficiency.

Because many of these symptoms appear similar, you may find benefits in keeping a log of your plant’s nutritional intake. You can also experiment with supplementing just one plant exhibiting these problems with a nutrient, while leaving a control plant alone to see if the problem clears up.

Balanced nutrition is key to getting the cannabinoids and terpene profile you desire out of your final product.

Also be aware that marijuana leaf discoloration can come from plants that burnt by grow lights or sunlight.

Curled Cannabis Leaves

Curling downward can be the result of underwatering. Curling upward can be caused by heat stress. Marijuana leaves that are curled away from the plant can indicate windburn, usually as a result of being too close to a nearby fan.

Another condition can cause a particular type of curling called “nitrogen toxicity”. Nitrogen toxicity occurs when too much nitrogen is present in the plant or the soil. You will see dark green marijuana leaf colourations with the tips of the leaves curled aggressively downward.

Cannabis Low Humidity Symptoms

In addition to watered soil, cannabis plants prefer a mildly humid environment. This humidity allows the plant to absorb water through stoma, microscopic holes found underneath the marijuana leaf.

For young plants, the ideal relative humidity is 70%. This level ensures that the plant can absorb plenty of water without having to rely upon its root system. Also, if the humidity is too low, the plant may shut out its stomata (the plural of stoma) and cause growth to slow to a crawl. Extremely slow plant growth is one of the most common cannabis low humidity symptoms.

On the other hand, if the humidity is left too high, the plant will absorb less water through its roots, which leads to fewer nutrients in the plant. After the young plant’s growth spurt, reduce the relative humidity in the room by 5% each week to around 40% for a maturing plant getting ready to bud.

Bug Bites and Other Marijuana Plant Problems

Your plant may experience a number of other problems, including bugs, mold, and viruses.

Bugs leave telltale signs on cannabis leaves and in the soil. You may see tiny bites on your plant or unusual “bubbles” throughout the leaves. The leaves may also curl and turn glossy or waxy, indicating that aphids or mites may be sucking the leaves dry.

If you are having cannabis plant issues that can’t be diagnosed by any of the above tips, look for signs of infestation on your plant or in your soil. Check your water levels, check your soil pH, adjust temperature and humidity, and keep a close eye out for any other emerging symptoms.

Just a month away from legalization of recreational cannabis, this infographic shows the History of Marijuana in Canada, answering pressing questions like “Why is marijuana illegal?”, and “when did marijuana prohibition start?”.
For accessibility purposes, we have provided the infographic transcription just below the image.

History of Marijuana in Canada

1606 – Hemp was planted for the first time in Canada, in Port Royal (Nova Scotia). France required that the colonies grew hemp crops to provide for the French Navy.
1800s – Cannabis is commonly used in Canada (and in countries like England and the United States) as medication.
1922 – Emily Murphy publishes her book The Black Candle, which included a chapter titled “Marahuana: A New Menace” denouncing the “risks” of cannabis. The publishing of The Black Candle is commonly seen as a primary reason prohibition began the following year.

When was marijuana made illegal?

1923 – Parliament outlaws cannabis through the Opium and Narcotic Drug Act, along with heroin and codeine. Canada was one of the first countries to make marijuana illegal.
1937 – Canadian Police seize marijuana for the very first time. Cannabis did not receive much attention from the authorities in Canada until the late 1930s.
1938 – the Commercial cultivation of hemp also becomes illegal.
1960s – Cannabis starts to become more popular with Canadians. The number of arrests for cannabis possession skyrockets– from only 25 records in between 1930-1946, to 2,300 cases in 1968.
1969 – The Royal Commission of Inquiry in the Non-Medical Use of Drugs, informally known as the Le Dain Commission, starts to investigate the non-medical use of cannabis.
1971 – The first “smoke-in” protest on Vancouver’s drug policies happens in Gastown. What started as a peaceful civil act ended in chaos – and would be later known as “The Gastown Riot”.

The Road to Legalization

1972 – The Le Dain Commission report recommends that criminal penalties for cannabis possession should be dropped, but no changes are made to the legislation. In the same year, the RCMP reports a record number of 12k arrests for marijuana possession.
2000 – In the R. v. Parker case, the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled that prohibition of marijuana possession for medical uses infringed on Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms after an epileptic patient was charged with possession and cultivation.
2001 – The Marijuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) was enacted, making Canada the first country to legalize medical cannabis.
2015 –Justin Trudeau is elected Prime Minister with recreational cannabis legalization as part of his political platform.
2016 – The Government of Canada starts to work on legislation to regulate the use, production, and sales of recreational Cannabis.
2017 – Bill C-45, also known as Cannabis Act, is passed by the House of Commons. Provincial Governments start to draw their regulations for Cannabis Legalization. The first license for distribution of recreational cannabis was awarded.
2018 – Bill C-45 passes the Senate and receives Royal Assent in June, setting October 17, 2018, as the date for the legalization of recreational cannabis, 2018. Canada is the second country to legalize recreational cannabis, after Uruguay.

Sources:

The Globe and Mail. A Biography of Cannabis. July 2018.
CBC News. Marijuana was Criminalized in 1923, but why?. May 2014.
CanLII. R. v. Parker, 2000 CanLII 5762 (ON CA). July 2000.
Sins of The City: Vancouver Police Museum & Archives. The Gastown Riots of 1971. April 2017.
Parliament of Canada. Bill C-45 (Royal Assent). June 2018.

Growing marijuana in your own home can be incredibly rewarding and a great way to get the medicine you need without having to rely on dispensaries. Those who know how to grow marijuana effectively can even reduce their consumption costs and create a higher-quality product tailored to their own preferences.

Currently, Canada law permits those authorized by their doctor to grow limited amounts of medicinal cannabis in their own home. They may also appoint another individual as their designated grow person.

The number of plants you are allowed to grow and the weight of cured (ready for consumption) cannabis you are allowed to store varies according to your prescribed daily amount and the estimated yield of your plants. These laws may change in the near future as the marijuana legalization bill works its way through Canada’s legislatures.

So if you are interested in growing medicinal marijuana for yourself – or you want to be ready to grow recreational marijuana when legalization takes effect – you are certainly within your rights to do so! Here’s how to grow cannabis properly and how to get started raising your first plants in a way that (hopefully) doesn’t kill them.

How Do You Grow Marijuana? Here’s the Basics

Like every other plant, marijuana requires a few basic things to grow and properly flower, including:

• • Light
  • Air (CO₂)
  • Water
  • Soil (or hydroponic growing media)

• Nutrients
• Space to grow
• The right environmental conditions, like temperature and humidity

Additionally, while growing marijuana, you are going to have to protect your plants from dangers like diseases, pests, and damaging grow conditions. Something as simple as overwatering your plants can kill your entire crop and put you back at square one.

Growing Marijuana Step 1: Designate a Protected Grow Space

To get all of these conditions right, you will need to have your marijuana plants in a controlled environment. This environment could be as simple as a lined closet, or it could be a complex grow habitat you’ve created. New products are on the market that are basically ready-made grow environments, however, they are typically pretty pricey.

The aim is only to give your plants as much of the inputs as you need – nothing more or less! Even something as seemingly innocent as having light leak into your grow closet could stress out your plants. This would prevent them from flowering properly and ruin all your hard work.

So, your first step is to designate a growing area. Make sure it can accommodate the size of your plants, which can grow 1.5 to 2 metres tall. Also, ensure it doesn’t let in anything like pests or stray light that can hurt your crop.  Keeping the area clean and controlled is the name of the game.

You may want to consider insulating your grow area if the ideal grow temperatures are way different from the typical conditions of that space. If you are growing in a barn, for instance, you can save money on heating in the winter and prevent stress to your plants with insulation.

Make note of the other requirements your grow space will need as you decide the approach you’ll take after reading the further information below.

How to Grow Marijuana Step 2: Let There Be Light!

Plants grow and develop thanks to photosynthesis. In order for photosynthesis to happen indoors, you’re going to need electric lights that effectively duplicate sunlight.

You have a few options for the lighting system you want to use.

Fluorescent Grow Lights are the cheapest to purchase and set up. They don’t put out as much heat as other setups, which saves you on air conditioning costs. But they are also less energy efficient overall, which could affect your eventual return on investment compared to the alternatives.

High output (HO) T5 fluorescent bulbs are best for growing since they have lots of power, but they are generally large. They also produce 20% to 30% less light per watt than the typical HID setup we’ll describe below.

Each light you use requires a bulb, a ballast, and a reflector. You can find all three packaged together with many fluorescent kits, further lowering the costs.

HID (High Intensity Discharge) Grow Lights are used by most people in the industry. They are more costly up front, but they are far more efficient at producing light compared to fluorescents.

Like fluorescent lights, each bulb needs its own ballast and reflector hood to work. HID lights create more heat, though, which means you will have to be careful about not scorching your plants or overheating the grow area.

Metal halide (MH) HID bulbs produce blue/white light and are better for the plant’s initial vegetative growth. High pressure sodium (HPS) HID bulbs are more on the red/orange spectrum, and they are better for plants at the flowering stage. If you don’t have the budget for both, start with just the HPS bulbs since they are more critical to THC production.

You can also choose LED Grow Lights, which are compact, incredibly energy efficient, and don’t put out much heat. However, legitimate ones can cost a small fortune – up to 10 times more than a comparable wattage output from an HID setup.

Beware of poorly made LED lights, too, which have been working their way into the market. Do your research!

How to Grow Cannabis Step 3: Air Circulation and Environmental Control

Just like we need oxygen to stay alive, plants need carbon dioxide (CO₂). Luckily, CO₂ is readily available in normal air. So if you just vent out air from your grow area and have an intake vent with a filter, you’ll keep your plants from suffocating.

Your exhaust fan also removes excess oxygen, humidity, and overall staleness. If you place a charcoal filter over it, you can partially remove the “skunky” odor the plants put out as they grow.

You’ll need to keep temperatures and humidity levels in a comfortable range to prevent growing issues, like scorched plants or mildew growth. You can often accomplish this with just an exhaust fan connected to a temperature switch, but you may need a dehumidifier and/or an air conditioner in certain circumstances.

Generally, cannabis plants like to be in a temperature range between 20 °C and 30 °C. Learn the right conditions for how to grow marijuana by the cannabis strain you have by taking a look at the recommendations given from your seed source.

Keep an eye on your humidity and temperature throughout the day, and consider getting a combination hygrometer/thermostat with a high/low memory feature to know what the peak temperatures were since the last time you checked.

How to Grow Marijuana Step 4: Pick a Soil or Growing Media

First-time growers will likely find an easier time learning how to grow cannabis in good old-fashioned soil. Any gardening potting soil will do, but avoid products like Miracle-Gro that have extended release fertilizer since this can over supplement your plants.

Ensure the soil you use has some form of fertilizer in it, though, and realize that you’ll have to supplement certain nutrients as the soil gets depleted. A good starting media includes some pre-fertilized soil (sometimes called “super soil”) containing worm castings, composted material, bat guano, and similar components.

Having good drainage is incredibly important, so whatever container you use, make sure it has holes to let water flow out. Something as simple as a five gallon bucket or planting pots with holes drilled into it sitting in a water-catching tray will be sufficient.

You can also choose to go the hydroponic route. This means your plant roots will be growing on something like clay pebbles, coco coir (shredded coconut husks), vermiculite, or rockwool.

Not having soil means you must give your plants nutrients manually. You will need to create a mixture of water and fertilizer that’s appropriate for your plant’s current condition and stage in the grow cycle.

Don’t over supplement! This can easily kill your plants or lead to conditions that prevent it from flowering. Getting the nutrient balance right is critical. You can use a guide to marijuana plant nutrition to learn how to grow cannabis without hurting your plants.

How Do You Grow Marijuana Day by Day? Monitor Environment and Nutrients, and Water as Needed

You do not have to water your marijuana plants every day! In fact, overwatering is one of the most common ways people end up killing their cannabis plants.

Instead, check to see if the soil is no longer moist. You may even want to wait for your bottom leaves to begin to slightly wilt before watering. Also, ensure it is draining properly by poking at the drainage holes in your container. Dump out any water that sits in the retaining tray for more than a day.

Check your soil pH and nutrition balance often. Make adjustments if your grow environment is too hot, too cold, or doesn’t have enough air circulating.

There’s a lot more to the topic of “How do you grow marijuana?” that goes well beyond these basics. But if you’re able to pay attention to what your plant needs, you can learn how to grow marijuana reliably and eventually get the fat flowering buds you’ve dreamed of!

Bail Hearing

Marc and Jodie Emery, marijuana activists, were both released on $30k bail this morning. Marc Emery’s bail conditions state that he must stay in Ontario and he cannot enter a cannabis store. Since Jodie is a BC resident, she is able to travel to BC, with permission.

Three co-accused were also released on $30k bail. However, all five have to surrender their passports and cannot have any weapons. In addition, they cannot consume controlled substances without legitimate prescriptions.

They have another court appearance on April 21.

The well-known Emery couple were arrested on Wednesday night (March 8) at the Pearson International Airport. According to CBC News, their charges by Toronto Police are for drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, and possession.

According to the Vancouver Sun, the Emery’s own the Cannabis Culture brand, used by a chain of 19 marijuana dispensaries in BC, Ontario, and Quebec.

Charges for Marc Emery, 59:

• Conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
• Three counts of trafficking schedule II.
• Five counts of possession for the purpose schedule II.
• Five counts of possession proceeds of crime.
• Fail-to-comply recognizance.

Charges for Jodie Emery, 32:

• Conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
• Trafficking schedule II.
• Possession for the purpose schedule II.
• Two counts of possession proceeds of crime.

Criminal History

It’s not the first time this couple, the “Prince” and “Princess of Pot”, are in the lime light with authorities.

Marc Emery was also arrested in 2005 by the DEA. According to CTV, he got charges in the US for “Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana, Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana Seeds, and Conspiracy to Engage in Money Laundering”. Ultimately, Marc Emery spent 4 years behind bars and was free from US prison in 2014.

Throughout his life, Marc Emery was in the New Democratic Party, the Freedom Party of Canada, the Marijuana Party of Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada, the BC Marijuana Party, and the Green Party of British Columbia. He and his wife are popular marijuana activists, so the news of their arrest on Wednesday sent media waves through the industry.

However, the arrest wasn’t the only surprise this week. On Thursday morning, police raided the Cannabis Culture Dispensary HQ, as well as the Toronto and Hamilton Cannabis Culture Dispensary locations.

The Cannabis Culture Dispensary raid was part of a Toronto Police operation “Project Gator“. It included 11 search warrants under the Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Project Gator

Project Gator dates back to May 26, 2016 when the Police raided 43 pot shops across Toronto. The raid, arresting 90 people and seizing hundreds of kilograms of drugs, was a shock to residents.

On May 27, 2016 the Cannabis Culture Dispensary at 801 Queen St, Toronto, opened it’s doors. Jodie Emery said to the Toronto Sun “we do not want to force people to be sick or to fake illness or to pay a doctor for permission to access cannabis”.

According to an indictment filed Thursday in a Toronto court, the Emery’s are accused of trafficking marijuana between last May 27 and this Thursday. During that same period, allegations include conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. This is by entering into an agreement to run a franchise whose main purpose is the trafficking of controlled substances” as recorded by the Vancouver Sun.

Mark Pugash, director of corporate communication for Toronto police, spoke to CBC Toronto. He stated “We have been enforcing the law, which is absolutely clear that dispensaries are illegal”.

The Police have spent nearly a full year, building a strong case against the accused. The data they collected specifically is currently unknown. However, more light will be shed on the case as we approach the next court appearance on April 21.