International growers

Once upon a time, cannabis growing in the UK was a hobby restricted to the outdoor “gardening community”. Nowadays it is possible that almost anyone is capable of cultivating his or her own cannabis indoors. All said, it’s not always possible to draw a clear division between ‘cultivator’ and ‘gardener’, the line between is sometimes thin. Some of the best gardeners don’t cultivate, while some of the best cultivators’ sometimes garden. Soft Secrets then arranged to interview a gardener in the UK that chooses to cultivate cannabis indoors.

Silver Calyx is a dedicated enthusiast of cannabis culture from root to flower. He also likes to grow species suited to neutral rainwater, because he’s an ecologist at heart. Mind-you, mention the word “bubble-hash” and his ears stand to alert. Silver Calyx’s “mumble-crumble” has been known to,,, well make people mumble, well into the early hours of the morning. To find out how he magic’s the hash from the plants he so obviously loves, we did a pen to paper and listened for a change rather than talked.

Silver Calyx: “I started growing cannabis plants as a teenager. My first experiments were with ‘Pet City’ hemp seed. I’d go down to the pet store, grab a handful of bird feed, pick out the cannabis seeds, and then plant them into some fresh soil. This is how I first learnt how to grow weed plants. At one stage me and my buddy had 100+ hemp-city seedlings growing under a bunk bed using fluorescent lights. One of these seedlings, I remember, turned into a really nice plant, since we nurtured it like one of our own. At this point we only smoked hashish on bong so finding nice seeds to plant wasn’t always easy.

Then one-day I collected some bag-seed from some S. Indian weed that a local dealer was smoking. An Indian plant was raised in ‘Miracle Grow’ soil outside, and bought into a greenhouse at night for safekeeping, and to maintain temps. It grew so big that a relative had to chop the plant in half while I was on holiday, to keep it low-down. It grew taller than me in the end, and yielded about 2 oz by harvest. At this point I went out and bought the ‘Marijuana Grower’s Guide’ by Mel Franks. This helped me get used to different types of cannabis and instructed me on how best to grow plants in different places. I ended up swapping/ loaning the book to another dude for a packet of ‘Misty’ seeds from Homegrown Fantaseeds. Then, one-day, I saw a flyer for a local hydro-shop. I visited the shop the same day and came home with an Aqua-farm grow pot, a 400w lamp system and a bottle of PK13/14. Into this system I placed one lone ‘Misty’ seedling and watched it grow. My second grow and harvest had been a total success. So I went out and bought a GT205 NFT tray and started making cuttings from the remaining ‘Misty’ seedlings I’d grown. Then, one day while out walking, I noticed a petrol station was being demolished. On the forecourt lay several light units. I whistled over a workman and asked him if him and his mates wanted some pints after work in exchange for the boxes they were removing. For £20 the bloke dropped 8x 400watt-ballast units (including bulbs) at my front door. Now I had enough light to start running some experiments. The glass fronts on the boxes meant that I could get them really close to the plants.

At this point I focused my gardening attention helping some old friends. They were growing a commercial crop of ‘Big Bud’ (in an amateur setting) at the time, using clay-pebbles/hydro-balls. During this whole episode I took a backseat in things. It worked out ok, but I was learning from someone else’s mistakes, rather my own.”

“You learn better when the mistakes you are making are yours. So long as you learn its all the same thing I suppose, but always try to apply what you are learning to your plants. This way you’ll always be learning something new all the way up to your’ last days of growing.

After a short period of dormancy, the opportunity became available for me to apply my own skills to my own plants in my own space once again. My passion for gardening never dwindled during this time, circumstance just meant that my own grow-project wasn’t possible. Soon enough I came across some ‘Haze#19’ seed and some ‘Jack Herer’ bag-seeds that seemed worth keeping. I started the next round of planting. The surviving Haze#19 plant turned out to be male in flower. But the Jack Herer where all female. So I made some clones from a mother I kept back. Since this I have experimented with different strains from different growers and breeders from seed and clone. If I find something I like the look of I make clones from it and save them for later. Off the top of my head the strains I can really remember doing well (the ones that stick out) include - ‘White Pearl’ and ‘Holland’s Hope’, two types of ‘Californian Orange’, ‘Grapefruit’ and ‘Heavy Duty Fruity’. These days as personal I really like smoking bubblehash on bong, so this is what I’m looking for mostly in my plants. Plants that produce lots of resin to make hash from are good. The strains I most enjoy smoking in bud form are ‘Blue Berries’ and ‘Strawberry Cough’.

Capacity doesn’t allow me to run too many strains at one time, so I usually hold 4-5 genetics in hand. Some come from seed I’ve grown myself and others are traded or bought in as clones. Learning to root my own clones from the original mothers or clones I’ve been given is a valuable part of my method, since I always want to be growing the best quality weed plants in my garden. I just got hold of a ‘Diesel’ clone that produces really nice long flowers. After smoking this strain in Amsterdam it went on the ‘to grow’ list. A friend of a friend sent the genetics to play with, so I gave it a try in one of my rooms. Another clone I’m trying just now is called ‘Blue Ice’, I’m told it came from a Welsh-Wizard (thanks).

I also like to keep carnivorous plants, not just weed. I pick them up at specialist fairs, from specific breeders (just like people do with weed seeds at cannabis fairs). These plants are as challenging to propagate as cannabis. They need rainwater only to survive, and must not be fed any nutrients. I find these types of plants interesting to watch when I’m stoned and chilling. They catch all manner of insect and keep flies out of my greenhouse, which I sometimes use for veg with my weed.

My indoor garden maximises on space, which isn’t always an easy trick because cannabis plants like to grow so quickly. My bloom room is separated into two hubs. The main area uses 2.5 x 3 meters with access space. In this room too many plants often bask on x2 NFT trays under 2x600w (approx. 10plants per tray). The numbers tend to make most strains bloom into a dense canopy. Another tray usually houses another couple of plants in coco to one side. My smaller room is only 1.5 x 2.5m so things can get rather cramped. This space only has front access to water and tend to plants, so sometimes I have to be a contortionist also. In this space 12plants consume 1000w (600w on a light rail, and 400w static) in coco. My main extraction focuses on this room to reduce overall heat. All the walls in both rooms are covered in mylar to aid reflection.

Because my area is internal, a fresh air source is provided by an active 125mm intake-fan. This helps keep my temperature cooler. Each room has its own oscillating fan to maintain an ambient airflow and good circulation. Finally a large 200mm carbon-filter services a 200mm extractor, so that old air is fed outdoors afterwards. Without extraction my overall humidity levels would be too high, which could cause mold in buds.

For the last couple of cycles I have been using coco as my main medium in 10litre pots. Before this I used soils specifically designed for cannabis plants. I’d like to use bigger pots for bigger plants, but it’s all about managing my space and resources. I water by hand, which means I have to irrigate my crop using a 20litre Jerry-can. Watering by hand allows me to keep a close eye on nutrients, mixing a clean load each time. I use organic and chemical nutrients in combination.”

“If you’re using a substrate like coco then bacteria need to be able to live (just like they do in soil). For this reason chemical nutrients would be no good on their own; the benefits of using sterile foodstuffs are not maximised in cannabis growth. Bacteria fix nutrients onto the plant in a more natural symbiotic relationship than chemical applications alone. I hand feed for this reason since the values used would jam an automated system quickly. To be fair, my feeding regime has been changing for a while now as I test new products. I just find that the right combination, at the right times seem to work. At present I feed House & Garden Coco A & B and H&G Top Booster as basic. A splash of Bio-Bizz Grow & Bloom when needed, and a drop of Super Thrive. I also use Voodoo Juice and Rhizotonic early on at intervals, to promote nice thick healthy root systems. For enzymes, I like to use Canna-zyme, since it breaks down dead matter, and I find it helps my plants. My EC levels are always checked and my pH adjusted to 6.1 to allow for increase feeding into