THC Digest | Munchies for the Mind

Grow 1 – Week 12 (Harvest)

May 152012

I’m going to start keeping track of my grows in hopes that it will maybe help some of you get an idea of what’s going on throughout the entire weed growing process. I know my first grows, I was always wondering if I was doing a good job or not because there weren’t many people showing their grows from start to finish and everything in between.

Because my free marijuana growing guide shows you the methods I’m using to grow my own weed, it only makes sense that I show you what I’m doing and what kind of buds they are producing.

Harvest Results

Here are a few of the pictures I took yesterday as I went through the process of harvesting, trimming and hanging it all up. The leaves are yellowing in some of the pictures because I have been flushing the plants with no nutrients for the past week and a half, so they’re cannibalizing themselves (hence cannabis). Some of the more mature buds actually have this amazing purplish hue which my iPhone can’t pick up for shit, but take my word for it; they bring a tear to the eye.

I put more pictures on the THC Digest facebook page of my harvest, so go there if you want to see them all (don’t forget to add as friend for future updates!)

More Updates to Come

I’m going to be drying for the next 1-2 weeks and then curing for 2-3 weeks. This will allow me to store the weed for the months to come until my next grow is finished. Once that process is complete, I will share what the final yield of the cured bud actually is. It looks like 5-6 oz to me, but we will see.

I’m not going to start another grow for about a month, but I’m already planning my next grow and some new ideas I’m going to try. For instance, one thing I plan on building for my grow setup is a ‘Scrog’ or screen of green. My tops all look really high quality and I know they’ll give me the relaxation I’m looking for, but some of the other buds underneath the top canopy are definitely questionable. Scrogging should hopefully fix a lot of that, but I will talk more about it as I start building it.

As always, if you have any questions or comments about my results, you can comment below or contact me using whichever method you prefer. Add me on Twitter or Facebook, and you’ll be notified when the final weight results are in after they’re dried and cured. Until then, keep on growing!

How to Grow Weed Indoors

Marijuana Growing Guide No Responses »

May 102012

“Make the most you can of the Indian Hemp seed and sow it everywhere.” – George Washington

You read that correctly, the first President of the US thought people should be growing marijuana as far as the eye can see! While that’s probably not the best idea in this day and age, anyone who has only a small amount of space and drive can still grow a mountain of high quality buds for themselves.

I’ve created a step-by-step guide to grow marijuana that explains what it takes to start your very own indoor grow room, but it does have a ton of information and could take a while to read fully. This summarized version will briefly describe what’s involved with each step along the way, so you can get a feel for what a grow takes from beginning to buds.

Hydroponic Systems

The first step to starting your grow is deciding what kind of system you want to use. My guide focuses mainly on hydroponics, but soil growing systems are also an option. I chose to focus on hydroponics simply because that is what I use and I prefer to speak from experience rather than what I heard from somebody else.

The main point of this section is to help you choose a system that best fits your needs and get it ready for your seeds. Hydroponics systems can vary greatly, but this step should lead you towards getting your own system up and running.

Indoor Lighting

In my experience, understanding light and how it affects the growth of your weed is one of the most (if not the most) important lessons that a grower needs to learn. Light gives your plants the energy they need to increase in size and potency. The amount of light you expose your plants to will have a direct effect on how much you will harvest at the end. In this section, I discuss the types of grow lighting available and what their advantages and disadvantages are.

Finding the right growing system and light setup are, in my opinion, the 2 most challenging parts of this guide. Make it through these 2 steps and you’re on a downhill slide towards your thriving fields of cannabis.

Marijuana Seeds

If you are like me and don’t know anybody who can give you clones to start growing with, your next best option is to buy seeds from a seed bank. Some people try to find cheap or free marijuana seeds from their dealer or friends, but this is taking a big risk with your time and effort. Why not get seeds you know will grow into buds that knock you off your ass rather than taking a chance and spending the next 4 months growing low quality garbage?

I also discuss where I get my seeds, how to germinate them, and about getting your seedlings prepared to begin their journey towards getting you high.

Water Source

All of life requires water to survive, and that is especially true for any plant grown hydroponically. Your marijuana needs a stable source of clean water, so that it has access to all the proper nutrients and doesn’t dry out or go into shock. I’ll show you my water practices and how I treat it before it gets cozy with my marijuana’s roots.

Nutrients and pH Balance

Even though light is where plants get their energy, they can’t absorb it properly if they don’t have access to the correct nutrients. Understanding the connection between your water’s pH level and how this affects what nutrients your marijuana can absorb is absolutely essential for proper plant nourishment. This section also discusses what nutrients have been working for me as well as the tools I use to keep my nutrient solution balanced for my little babies.

Growing Environment

The atmosphere your weed grows in is highly relevant when it comes to the overall success of your grow. Heat, humidity, and air flow can all have a significant contributing factor to your end results. In my guide, I discuss what the optimum levels for these factors are and how you can change them to give your buds every opportunity possible to thrive.

Root Rot and Maintenance

Though most of a marijuana grow is pretty hands-off and doesn’t require much attention, keeping regular schedules to monitor your plant’s progress is still of high importance. Typically, this is as easy as giving your plants 2-3 minutes out of your day just to check on them and see if there are any obvious problems developing. If there are, you will need to address them immediately when they are still easy to take care of rather than when they become an unfixable disaster as in the case of root rot.

Harvest, Drying, and Curing

Clearly, the most exciting part of growing marijuana is preparing your dank buds for use. Knowing the proper way to develop your end product for use is a skill all by itself. Not knowing how to dry and cure marijuana the right way can be the difference between weed you want to smell for hours and weed that smells like a hamster cage (though maybe you like the smell of hamster cages). I’ll show you the techniques I use to get a permeating dank aroma with a smooth, flavorful finish.

So What Are You Waiting For? Get Growing!

One of the greatest misconceptions about growing your own weed is that it’s hard to do and takes a lot of work. Both couldn’t be further from the truth. While learning something new is almost always a bit of a challenge, growing weed is an activity that everyone has the capability of doing. President Washington even encourages it!

Don’t let a fear of failure or the unknown prevent you from creating your own marijuana utopia. Start your marijuana growing journey today and in no time flat, you’ll be smoking your home-grown mary jane and wondering why you didn’t start growing sooner.