Introduction to Growing Cannabis
Marijuana basics can be understood most easily by keeping one simple fact in mind: cannabis is a plant, and a very highly evolved one at that. Plants are not designed to grow indoors, so in order to have a thriving indoor garden you must fool the plants into believing they're in the great outdoors. It's your job to mimic an outdoor environment by recreating the sun, the wind, the rainfall, and the climate conditions of an outdoor plot.
There are five major factors to plant growth: light, water, nutrients, atmosphere (oxygen and carbon dioxide), and temperature. Any green plant needs all five of these things to be available to it or growth will slow or stop. Each one is just as important as the others and more of one will absolutely not make up for lack of any other.
Each limiting factor is a link in the chain. The weak link is the one that slows the plants down. If you think you have a problem as you are growing, it's most likely one of the five factors.
The key to growing great marijuana is understanding how it uses just a few basic elements to produce food for growth and how it grows from a small seedling to mature plant. That should be the case with most any plant you hope to grow. Beyond those fundamentals, you also need to learn about how marijuana produces the natural chemicals known as cannabinoids, because ultimately that's what gets you "high."
First you need to learn that there are male and female marijuana plants and why destroying the males in your garden can eliminate seed production and increase the THe content in your females. Then you'll naturally want to find out what THe is and how it's produced. Finally, you should get to know the different varieties of marijuana as well as why there are so many strains.
Marijuana develops as a male (pollen producing), female (ovule producing), or occasionally hermaphroditic (containing both male and female parts) plant. As the male plant blooms it begins to develop pollen producing flowers. In the outdoors, the wind usually blows this pollen onto the female flowers, culminating in fertilization.
After releasing its pollen, the male plant has completed its life cycle, so it wilts and dies. After a female plant becomes fertilized, it begins devoting its energy to creating a seed set, while it too begins to die. The mature seeds are then left on the ground to germinate and perpetuate the combined genetic traits of both male and female, father and mother.
This is the natural method that allows marijuana to grow on and on in rural fields and backwater ditches. By understanding the basics of how marijuana reproduces and by using the indoor hydroponic method, you will be able to easily spot and remove males, if you desire, before they fully develop flowers. This eliminates the possibility of the females becoming fertilized and producing a seed set which allows them to concentrate on developing that sticky resin known at THe.
When a marijuana plant flowers, it begins to produce sticky resin glands on leaves and buds; these glands, in the form of trichomes, contain most of the plant's THe (Tetrahydrocannabinol). Females produce the most resin to protect her and her seed set from the harsh outdoor environment. Males also produce THe, but in very low quantities. Why the trichomes contain psychoactive compounds is still a matter of evolutionary debate.
While THc is what you're after, it's the actual trichomes that you're looking for. From a distance, these tiny glandular stalks are difficult to identity, but by using a inexpensive microscope, you'll be able to observe their development before and after harvesting the plant. The trichomes are also largely responsible for the individual aroma of the plant.
There is a lot of technical information on howTHC affects the brain, the various types of cannabinoids, and the different forms of trichomes. Each can be its own discipline, but none are very relevant to growing good marijuana. As long as you use high quality seeds, provide your plants with all of the elements they need, and properly harvest your crop, you will be rewarded with great marijuana.
Even for those who can legally grow marijuana, there aren't many simple resources that explain from start to finish what you need to do to grow cannabis successfully, expecially if you're on a budget or only have a small space to work with. Cannabis is a weed in the wild and can actually be really easy to grow, but it can seem impossible to get started if you don't know what to do. This guide attempts to answer all your questions in a clear and concise way so that you can skip the reading and get straight to growing.
There are five major factors to plant growth: light, water, nutrients, atmosphere (oxygen and carbon dioxide), and temperature. Any green plant needs all five of these things to be available to it or growth will slow or stop. Each one is just as important as the others and more of one will absolutely not make up for lack of any other.
Each limiting factor is a link in the chain. The weak link is the one that slows the plants down. If you think you have a problem as you are growing, it's most likely one of the five factors.
The key to growing great marijuana is understanding how it uses just a few basic elements to produce food for growth and how it grows from a small seedling to mature plant. That should be the case with most any plant you hope to grow. Beyond those fundamentals, you also need to learn about how marijuana produces the natural chemicals known as cannabinoids, because ultimately that's what gets you "high."
First you need to learn that there are male and female marijuana plants and why destroying the males in your garden can eliminate seed production and increase the THe content in your females. Then you'll naturally want to find out what THe is and how it's produced. Finally, you should get to know the different varieties of marijuana as well as why there are so many strains.
Marijuana develops as a male (pollen producing), female (ovule producing), or occasionally hermaphroditic (containing both male and female parts) plant. As the male plant blooms it begins to develop pollen producing flowers. In the outdoors, the wind usually blows this pollen onto the female flowers, culminating in fertilization.
After releasing its pollen, the male plant has completed its life cycle, so it wilts and dies. After a female plant becomes fertilized, it begins devoting its energy to creating a seed set, while it too begins to die. The mature seeds are then left on the ground to germinate and perpetuate the combined genetic traits of both male and female, father and mother.
This is the natural method that allows marijuana to grow on and on in rural fields and backwater ditches. By understanding the basics of how marijuana reproduces and by using the indoor hydroponic method, you will be able to easily spot and remove males, if you desire, before they fully develop flowers. This eliminates the possibility of the females becoming fertilized and producing a seed set which allows them to concentrate on developing that sticky resin known at THe.
When a marijuana plant flowers, it begins to produce sticky resin glands on leaves and buds; these glands, in the form of trichomes, contain most of the plant's THe (Tetrahydrocannabinol). Females produce the most resin to protect her and her seed set from the harsh outdoor environment. Males also produce THe, but in very low quantities. Why the trichomes contain psychoactive compounds is still a matter of evolutionary debate.
While THc is what you're after, it's the actual trichomes that you're looking for. From a distance, these tiny glandular stalks are difficult to identity, but by using a inexpensive microscope, you'll be able to observe their development before and after harvesting the plant. The trichomes are also largely responsible for the individual aroma of the plant.
There is a lot of technical information on howTHC affects the brain, the various types of cannabinoids, and the different forms of trichomes. Each can be its own discipline, but none are very relevant to growing good marijuana. As long as you use high quality seeds, provide your plants with all of the elements they need, and properly harvest your crop, you will be rewarded with great marijuana.
Even for those who can legally grow marijuana, there aren't many simple resources that explain from start to finish what you need to do to grow cannabis successfully, expecially if you're on a budget or only have a small space to work with. Cannabis is a weed in the wild and can actually be really easy to grow, but it can seem impossible to get started if you don't know what to do. This guide attempts to answer all your questions in a clear and concise way so that you can skip the reading and get straight to growing.
