Cannabis: A growing game | Hydroponics

Cannabis: A growing game

If you’re reading this latest post on cannabis growing at Canna Zine then chances are you are either already growing your own weed, (ganja, reefer, marijuana etc), or are maybe planning a small grow for the first time.

After all, for a minimal outlay anyone can turn their hand to growing the herb. Just think about that one next time you are shelling out £140 for an ounce of quality green! Or even £240, if you buy it in half quarters!

My very first grow cost only a few pounds, and consisted of 1 or 2 plastic round pots, (I never even heard of “square” pots), a bag of John Innes #3, and a couple of lightbulbs.

20w flouro bulbs were on offer at my local B&Q, so I bought 6 and made a cool lightboard, with 6 x 20w flouros mounted vertically. It had a single plug for convenience, and with the help of a couple of pieces of garden chain and two small ceiling hooks, I was underway!

Whilst it certainly wasn’t “rocket science”, it served a purpose.

Now I have to say that I have been growing things since time immemorial, including a few veggies and a lot of bonsai. But cannabis was a whole new ball game, and the inevitable “newbie” mistakes soon showed!

After what seemed like an eternity, (but was actually more like 3 months), and a lot of heartache, my entire crop consisted of……….well, nothing actually. I got fed up after waiting two months of what I now know as flowering and binned the lot, after convincing myself that “stuff” wasn’t happening, (what do you mean you got to switch the lights off too?).

Suffice to say I persevered and the rewards have been well worth the steep learning curve, and don’t forget..growing weed can be as steep (or otherwise), a-learning experience as you wish to make it.

But regardless of how hard you work, (or not). The rewards will far outweigh even a moderately expensive set-up, (lets say £250). Not a small portion of patience will also come in handy.

For less than two ounces of dealer weed you could grow a hell of a lot more than a few ounces of bud!

“Home grown” doesn’t mean simply growing some dense, frosty buds, (as if that wasn’t reason enough). There is a world of creativity awaiting the adventurous grower.

For instance, whilst your buds are drying and curing, the thinner, quicker drying leaves and trim will provide a very nice smoke if rubbed over a screen, (like that found in the Space Case grinder). Although very brittle, (meaning they shatter, and allow a lot more “green” material through the screen), you can “rub” your trim and harvest the “glands” that accumulate in the bottom of your grinder. This produces a powdery substance (kif) which looks not dissimilar to Demerara (brown) sugar.

You can either use it “as is” and just sprinkle it into your chosen method of consumption, (spliff, pipe etc), or when used with a “press”, you can create some spectacularly good “polm” which will better most anything you can buy, and will always deliver forth a kick like a donkey, (and all from a “by-product” which most people waste)!

By the time the first batch of kiff or polm has been given a good seeing too, your buds should be drying nicely and due for hitting the glass jars anytime soon, (around 2 weeks depending on conditions)!

Only now will you begin to realise your crop’s full potential!

If (like me) you use a space case grinder or similar, you will reap your rewards as soon as you start to grind your buds for the first time.

With every new bud ground, there will also be a healthy dusting of THC laden crystals in the bottom of your grinder.

Now this is were the funs at!

Lighter in colour than the “first rub”, due to the fact you are rubbing buds as opposed to leaves, the glands from the flowering heads are always a lot purer than the first rub, with a “high” to match the purity and clarity of the pressed, blond kif.

I find that, no matter when I harvest (normally anytime from 7 weeks, for even a 9 week strain), although the bud gives me a soaring, clear high due to the early harvest, the polm from the same buds will always hit me with a crashing body stone, meaning the polm is my first choice for bedtime.

Heating and crumbling the pressed kif is when you realise you are into some quality, as the polm “fluffs up” to twice or thrice its initial size and seems to last for ever as you crumble..and all from 2 small plants.

Also, lets not forget the 4 ounces of bud you have curing in the jars, (mine were vegged for 6 weeks)!

These days, with DIY stores vying for your business with aggressive marketing campaigns designed to get Mr & Mrs 2.4 off their arse and into the DIY store, there really has never been a better time to consider growing “ a bit of percy”!

So power up the “inter-world-web-wide-thingy and start reading, or subscribe to www.cannazine.co.uk.

All the information you could ever wish for is out there, free of charge, which fits in nicely with our initial budget.

http://cannazine.co.uk

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