There are many methods to grow any plant, some more popular than others. Most pop-farmers today (I think I just coined a term) pretty much roll with the program… you buy $$$$ worth of hydro gear, you pay a heady electrician to set it all up, and you go on the grow-store prescription, constantly returning to the grow store for $$$ worth of nutrients every month or week or what have you. Read the rest of this post »
For people that keep a small personal grow, the choice to either hand-water or setup a more sophisticated watering system can be a difficult one. Is the time and expense of setup and materials worth the payoff? It can be! This article will show you how to get going with the “Mandro” method… Man powered hydro. Read the rest of this post »
Even though it’s the dead of winter, if you are running an indoor room, you should be doing some healthy spring cleaning every few months. That’s right, I’m talking about your little personal closet, the tucked-away 8×3 that keeps the “grower’s reserve” coming in… it gets dirty between rounds, and that’s not good for your stuff. Read the rest of this post »
Hey Gang,
SB Guerilla is taking a bit of a summer sabbatical. In the meanwhile, the 2009 Lunar Growing Guide and Calendar is about to go to press. Soon it will be in our shop for purchase!
If you live in a state that allows you to grow medical marijuana for others, you should make sure to keep your recommendations in order to safely cover your plant numbers. Always have a phone number for a good medical marijuana lawyer in your wallet. For a list of lawyers, check out High Times Legal Directory.
When your ladies are ready to be harvested, the first thing to do is start organizing your trim party. (Stay tuned for our “T-Party” article to be posted soon!) When harvesting, we recommend using garden pruners and having someone else there to hold on to the clipped buds. Take care when cutting the thick stalks of the big plants. Sometimes they fall over into the dirt or on the ground, and sticky buds pick up dirt particles quite easily. Once you bring in the buds for trimming, cut them down into hanger-size branches. The best length is 3-5 inches. Any more, and the branch may flop over when I hold it up to trim. Any less, and you might end up with popcorn (buds with nothing to hang on to, so they have to dry in a bowl). Now you’re ready for your trim team to go!
June 20th is a great start date for the second greenhouse depro.
TIme to start flushing your greenhouse for harvest. Keep PH at 5.0-5.8. This will ensure the last available P and K (Phosphorus and Potassium) are still being taken up by the plants. We apply water for the last two weeks, and during the last week, we feed the plants 2-3 times more water than usual. This flushes excess salts and nutrient from the medium, ensuring the sweetest of flavors from your medicine. Remember to withhold water for the last 24-48 hours to help trigger the natural defense of the resin to stop the plants transpiration. We find this helps the resin glands swell a bit more. And as an added benefit, your buckets are a lot lighter to move.
June is the month to plant outdoors in all but the coldest climate, such as alpine. Growers in warm climates should plant now for a full harvest. If nighttime temps dip below 50 F/10 C, protect your tender seedlings and transplants by covering them with a remay cloth or milk cartons. Pay attention to your local TV and Newspaper for weather forecasts. Plants in alpine climates will need to be under plastic or glass until temperatures warm above 50F lows. When moving plants from indoors to outdoors, make sure to “harden them off”. For a week to 10 days, set clones/plants outside to expose them to outdoor elements. Increase outdoor time by one hour per day. Bring plants in at night.
p.s. This should be close to your last fertilizations for your greenhouse flowering cycle.
In your greenhouse, you should be half way through flowering cycle. It’s not too late to thin and release (also known as skirting) and stake and tape. See the Silverback Guerilla Speeks blog post, “To Skirt or Not to Skirt” for more info.
Plant transplants now and continue planting until end of July to ensure that you will harvest from mid-September to end of October. You may be transplanting 6-inch clones to a full 6-foot mother plant. Watch for over watering and over fertilization during the first few days of transplant. Mulch around plants the day you transplant. Mulch is essential because it protects soil and retains nutrients. We use native foliage as our mulch for a few reasons- it’s readily available, light impact on area, and it’s good camouflage. Inspect for slugs, snails, grasshoppers, gophers, deer, etc. At Roots & Harmony, we use a microbial insecticide (Bacillus Thuringiensis, aka. BT) for bud worms and caterpillars. Do not use slug or snail baits, because this can kill warm blooded animals if slugs or snails are ingested by them.
p.s. Security first! Curious neighbors and kids are out and about now. Be sure to leave no trace for the safety of the land and your plants.
