International growers

Spanish grower Manero By Bart B.

Bonsai-style Sandstorm

I have been very impressed with Sandstorm.

After harvesting the drying process goes pretty quickly, because there is a very low moisture level in the air here and it is always pretty warm here in Spain.

My plants stand raise on aluminium pipes. I grow bonsai-style. I am very happy with the results.

The Spanish grower Manero talks about his early experience with growing cannabis. Despite the fact that he has only been growing for a few years, he appears to have already developed the skills with which to raise a top quality cannabis. Or is it just that the Spanish climate is so marvellous that all plants grow and bloom extremely well there...

Manero: “I began more than two years ago to grow my own cannabis because of the lousy quality of the cannabis that was available on the street. What’s more, this cannabis was also pretty expensive. In the very beginning I planted several seeds that started to grow right outside of the window of my house, but to avoid any problems with my neighbours I soon switched over to growing indoors. A grow space was set up that was not as obtrusive as the cannabis plants that were growing in front of my window. The cultivation of cannabis has since become a passion for me that with the passage of time just gets stronger and stronger. The first smoke of a new harvest is one of my particular pleasures.

My pots are stood on aluminium pipes. This serves to improve the air circulation in the grow space and therefore reduce the risk of infection.

Dutch seed banks

garden, of which the majority were produced by Dutch seed banks. The varieties that made the most impact on me have been Mr Nice and AK-47 from Serious Seeds, which gave great yields with a lot of power. Recently I have discovered Sandstorm by Cannabiogen, and have very much enjoyed this too. I’m keeping two mother plants of this

because this variety is so exotic. The grow space in which I raise my mother plants consists of five Osram

Luminux lamps, and I grow the plants ‘bonsai-style’. The mother plants are kept very compact and small, hence the name bonsai-style. Because the water in my district is very high quality, I don’t use a pH- or EC-meter. For the time being I am continuing to grow on soil mix. I started out by growing plants from seed in large pots, while

I now use smaller pots and raise a larger number of plants. As for their productivity, I really can’t complain; every three months I get about 300 grams with a 400 watt light system. The exact eventual yield depends to a large extent on which variety I grow (and the time of year).

Improved air circulation

The plants are given about 20 days’ pre-growth under a 18/6 hour regime, then I end up with about 18 grams per plant. My pots are stood on aluminium pipes. This serves to improve the air circulation in the grow space and therefore reduce the risk of infection. Also, the roots growing out of the bottom of the pot have as much fresh air as they need. speak of during my adventures in growing. Each time though, I achieve small improvements that help my next plants grow and blossom a little better. The area of nutrition is one that I have been a bit more experimental. When I started out I used only a few products, but now I used way more as I keep improving the quality of my

plants. Some of the products I use are Cannazym, Delta9, Topmax and Biobloei –these are all organic, which is

all I will use. I continue to grow on soil because it is so tolerant of mistakes. The medium is a very forgiving one. With other systems such as hydro it can happen quite quickly that your plants receive lasting damage or even die if you make a mistake. Just by looking at your plants carefully you can learn a lot. Above all, don’t go over the top in feeding them, and give a lot of attention to ventilation. This is extremely important, especially if you’re growing indoors.

A lovely bud.

Short drying process

My whole system looks as follows. Clones are taken from the mother plant and these are rooted, which takes about two weeks or so. After that they are put into small pots and given two weeks in the grow room for pre-growth, following which they are eventually re-potted into square, 15 x 15 x 20 centimetre pots. The plants are raised in All-mix, which has sufficient nutrient in it for several weeks, after which it still does not need very much liquid nutrient adding to it.

After harvesting, the drying process goes pretty quickly because there is a very low moisture level in the air here and it is always pretty warm in Spain. That’s why it never takes more than about two weeks for all the buds to be well and truly dried out, and ready for further ripening. The dried buds are hermetically sealed in bags. This allows no air to get in at all that would reduce the quality of the buds.

I don’t use any smell reduction such as carbon filters, and with strong-smelling varieties you can smell the odour right to the lift door. In spite of this my neighbours have not yet succeeded in recognising the smell, so they don’t know what it is I’m growing. Maybe they don’t find the smell so unwelcome.

Divided

The opinion of the population is split over cannabis, but hash has always been used by many people in Spain. Obviously that is due to the close proximity of Morocco. The current government has passed some ridiculous laws which mean that we are in a situation where we have to hide our hobby. In this way it is given a criminal tint, when it really needed have one. But the fact remains that more and more people are starting to grow for themselves. You can smell it in the streets...