2011 01 UK

FREE For adults only. Soft Secrets is published six times a year by Discover Publisher BV Netherlands

News Flash Drug War now killing more people than Afghanistan War

In this issue:

By Jules Marshall

Moroccan Hashish Around 70% of the world’s hash comes from Morocco, and about 95% of Morocco’s hash comes from the province of Ketama – the province that dominates the Rif Mountains.

The story goes that the people of Ketama, the Ketamese, always saw themselves as a separate entity from the state of Morocco. Soft Secrets reporter Wil Edwards then went there to investigate and score some first rate hashish!

21

Table of contents Page 3 girl Dear Soft Secrets Product flash The Attitude seedbank Hydro systems, part 2 Law Column Dr Dee A Percy grow Busts Curing and drying Shop review: Sjamaan Sweet Seeds Jorge Cervantes Goldie Looking Chain Ask Ed Smokedout grow report Shop review Strain report Comic Ganjaman Music – a stoned selection Shop reviews

Issue 1 - 2011

3 5 11 12 15 18 19 25 28 30 31 35 37 43 45 50 52 56 57 58 60

More people were killed in Drug Warrelated violence in Mexico last year than died in the war in Afghanistan, according to reports from both countries released at the end of 2010.

In Afghanistan, about 10,000 people - 2,043 of them civilians - died in the fighting last year. Although that conflict involves air power, heavy weapons, and numerous roadside bombs, it was less deadly last year than the Mexican Drug War, with a death toll estimated at around 13,000 by CNN. In mid-December, the Mexican attorney general's office reported that 12,456 people had been killed through the end of November. With a death toll of more than 1,000 per month in 2010, a year-end figure of more than 13,000 looks to be accurate.

More than 140,000 U.S. and NATO troops are in the ninth year of a guerilla war with thousands of Taliban fighters who reap the profits of the illegal opium/heroin

trade. In Mexico, more than 50,000 federal troops are in the fourth year of a fight with the drug cartels, who all seem to also be at war with each other.

Ex-Presidents (and Richard Branson) aim to see sense on Drugs

and prevention campaigns, and examine the economic and political ramifications of the massive illicit global drug trade.

A group of world political leaders, intellectuals, and businessman Richard Branson established a Global Commission on Drug Policies in January in a bid to boost the effort to achieve more humane and rational drug laws.

The commission is headed by former Brazilian President Henrique Cardoso and builds on the work Cardoso and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria did with the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy. The commission's goals include reviewing the basic

assumptions, effectiveness and consequences of the 'war on drugs' approach; evaluating the risks and benefits of different national responses to the drug problem; and developing actionable, evidence-based recommendations for constructive legal and drug policy reform.

The commission aims to examine the current international drug control regime, conduct a global overview of drug policies and laws, examine the drug production and supply chain, address criminal justice challenges, study the lessons learned from harm reduction, treatment,

In addition to the three ex-presidents, commission members include former US Secretary of State George Schulz, writers Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa, former European Union official Javier Solana, former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss, and former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Thorvald Stoltenberg.

"There is a growing perception that the "war on drugs" approach has failed," the commission said in a statement announcing its existence in Geneva.

Continues on page 3

3 Continued from front page "Eradication of production and criminalization of consumption did not reduce drug traffic and drug use," the commission said. The harm from corruption and violence resulting from prohibition "largely exceeds the harm caused by drugs," the statement says.

Drug law reformers will be looking forward to seeing the commission's report this summer. The report from the Latin American Commission helped stir debate and advance the cause of reform.

Christian who says family life can beat addiction is new Government drugs adviser The relatively soft approach to cannabis by the UK Government’s drugs advisers in recent years appears likely to change following the appointment in January of a Christian GP who takes a hard line against toking and says strong families can help to defeat alcohol and other addictions.

Magic Bud is a fine blend of Indica and Sativa.

This plant produces beautiful resin coated nugs in a relatively short time, approximately 56 days indoors. Her appealing velvet looks during flowering are a pleasure for the eye, and you have to be careful that you (or your friends) do not give into the urge to cut of a branch before she is fully ripened! Your patience will be royally rewarded with very tasty aromatic buds.

When dried and cured the Magic smokes smooth with a pleasant floral aromatic taste. The body relaxing effect combined with a strong potent high is magical, you will feel at ease with everything you do.

Type: Indica/ Sativa Flowering time: Approx 56 days indoors. Outdoors Middle of October (n.L.) Yield: 400 grams per m2 indoors. Outdoors approx. 500 grams per plant Suitable environments: Indoors. Outdoors between 50º n.L. and 50º s.L. Effects/Buzz: Pleasant Sativa-Indica high Smell/Taste: Floral -aromatic THC: 12-15% Photo: Paradise Seeds

Magic Bud

Dr Hans-Christian Raabe, a member of an international Christian movement who has been appointed to sit on the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, says children should simply be taught to say no.

His appointment to the ACMD signals a shake-up for the panel, which has clashed with ministers in recent years.

Under Labour, the panel twice said cannabis should be a Class C rather than Class-B drug. Other advice has concentrated on reducing the harm to users by giving them the materials needed to take drugs more safely.

But Dr Raabe, who will represent GPs on the committee, promises a return to the stern prohibitionist approach. He holds views strongly at odds with former ACMD chairman Professor David Nutt, who believes that prohibition has failed and wants a new approach to classification based on the harm that each drug poses.

Nutt was sacked in October 2009 for saying cannabis was less harmful than alcohol and nicotine.

“The appointment of Dr Raabe confirms in my mind that the ACMD cannot be considered to be a body that has science at the heart of its decisionmaking,” said Professor Nutt, who now runs his own drugs panel.

5 i

Hi Soft Secrets, these are the pictures of my second grows. Both of them were indoors or should say “intoilets” grown in Bio Bizz All-Mix soil, under HPS 400, with two weeks of vegetative stage. I have used Advanced Nutrients Iguana Grow and Bloom with Sensizym,and Canna PK 13/14. First one is Skunk 47 from Legend Collection (World of Seeds), which unfortunately had to be harvested a little bit too early, because of the mud appearing on main stem. Second one is “Space” from Diamond Collection (World of Seeds), which was blooming for 9 weeks, including one week of flush. Buds were very dense and sticky, with a harsh smoke. Perfect mixture of head high with body stone, which helped me to cure the constant pain in my knees ;) Unfortunately variety has no smell, even after 50days of curing.

Readers Stuff

P.s. Check out the pic “One love, one Soft Secrets” :) Luv Ya All :P G. Not bad at all for a second grow, pat on the back to you. A good example of what you can do with a 400 watt. The Skunk 47 (Skunk x AK47) is a pretty plant to grow, and one of Space’s original parents is reported to be a Black Domina x AK47. If these are favorites of yours, you might try some other AK47 crosses as well.

A little experimental cross of Greenhouse Big Bang x White Widow. It was put on a ten hour bloom cycle by mistake(usually on twelve) Only fed bio biz bloom/ grow, didnt bother with extra PK, carbo or any bling.

Just wanted to see what it would do.Was able to keep lights on temp around 22 and got buds about 5 inches from the 400 sodium. It started off as usual White Widow, nice thistly stigmas, then at week 4-5 in bloom it started to change and mature too fast, taking on the Big Bang shape. Chopped it at 60 days, nice and sticky .Was very happy with this.

M Very nice result with a 400 watt hps. The ten hour bloom cycle doesn’t seem to have hurt them much. Longer dark periods are okay, and just slow growth, but too short of a dark period can send them back into growth, commonly referred to as “revegging”. Well done M. Very frosted looking. Big Bang (El Nino, Skunk, Northern Lights) and White Widow cross seems to be a success for you. Bravo.

Attention Readers!

Fancy a FREE packet of FEMINISED seeds from DINAFEM? Then send us a picture of your grow room or best cannabis plant, including a visible copy of Soft Secrets, and we’ll send you 3 seeds. Should your photo happen to feature your beautiful wife or girlfriend wearing a sexy microbikini or super hot lingerie, you will receive 6 seeds. Photo of the Month will even receive 9 prime quality feminised seeds. With compliments of Soft Secrets and DINAFEM! E-mail your entries to SSUK@softsecrets.nl or send them to our PoBox. NOTE: All entries are handled with the utmost discretion. We don’t publish out of focus pics, and we don’t like photos of plants in veg stage. It’s fat buds & sweet babes we want to see!

PoBox 17250, 1001 JG, Amsterdam, Holland E-mail: SSUK@softsecrets.nl

Bubblegum x GrapeKrush and Blue Cheese, grown organically with BioCana Bloom and BioBoost towards the end of flowering I used Gravity BUT didn’t raise the lights which caused the top buds to get a little fried -- but live and learn. The sexy girl is trimming BG x GrapeKrush ---- small yield but super tasty!

Me Very nice looking Blue Cheese, dry it well, if it tastes anything like it looks, you should be a happy couple.

6

Silvia, Valencia

José, Madrid

Nice looking colas, if you trim off the lower limbs on the plant that don’t produce well, you will find that the top gets bigger. Her lower limbs are fine just the way they are. It also looks like you have more space for another couple of plants if you chose.

The dead foliage hanging off the plant and the leaves in the pot should be removed and not allowed to sit. If left sitting on wet soil they can be a breeding ground for insects and molds. You might also consider taking a sample a bit earlier, as it looks like this make have been let flower a little too long.

Anonymous Looks like the plant might be a touch hungry, but is off to a wonderful start.

Homer J Wonderful example of a proper pair of panties. It looks like you have enough room to let the plants get a bit bigger, or to grow more a bit closer together.

8

Anonymous Like furry snakes on a medusa. Every branch productive, a well maintained plant indeed.

Paco

My rose in Afghan JLT, Paris

Great example of a simple plant in a simple pot. Natural lighting is free, and plants love it. What every household can have when reason takes the day and growers are allowed to come out into the open. You are on your own on figuring out how to get beautiful women to run around topless in polka dot panties though.

Lovely flower, artistically done. Next time, if you wear latex gloves, you can avoid marring the surface with fingerprints as you work. Almost to pretty to smoke, but looks quite tempting to try .

9 Liam Nice repurposed use of drawers. If you trim off the smallest of the lower branches as they develop, you can still train and stake the remaining branches, which should develop larger floral clusters. Be careful that the fan doesn’t blow hard directly on the plants.

Dear Soft Secrets, I am sending you some pictures of my first solo attempt at growing, after being inspired by a friend of mine when was asked to pose for some pictures of his crop which you published in issue 2 of 2010. gelhaze22 Looks about on par with your friend’s grow. Nicely staked, enough but not overdone. Exceptional first grow. Education makes all the difference.

María, Valencia That’s a very nice sized bud standing at attention. An inspired grow.

Patricio Wonderful use of space in a small but well planned grow space. Keep an eye out for bud rot in the center where the airflow is the most restricted. If heat gives you trouble, you might want to consider getting some air cooled hoods, but if the heat isn’t being an issue, just keep doing what you are doing. No sense arguing with success. And such a lovely lass to match. Take a bow.

MaryLou Wonderfully accessorized outfit MaryLou. The green boa by your arm could go with a bit of a trim, and be careful of stepping on the buds below, but we’d love to see you walk down a fashion runway in it.

Here are some pics of my Critical Jack plants grown in clay pebbles and fed on a diet of house and garden grow and bloom nutrients as well as some of their myti-zyme. They were vegged for 4 weeks and flowered for 9weeks, flushing them for the last 10 days. this is an awsome plant to grow and to smoke as it grows quite big flowers and tastes lovely thanks for the help along the years soft secrets i will repay you with many more pics of many more grows yet to come...

Smokedout Very productive for such a short grow. Critical Jack is a popular Critical+ x Jack Herer cross, and you have certainly done it proud.

11

PRODUCT FLASH B’cuzz Root Stimulator

X-ceL Booster

It is known that the quality of a plant exists for 50% below ground. So a large and healthy root system is a significant contributor to a well-developed plant.

Growing and Flowering Booster X-ceL Booster is a biological growing and flowering booster, which can be administered to all sorts of plants and significantly increases the yield and quality of all tested crops:

To make this possible, this root stimulator causes an explosive growth of the root system and has an inhibitory effect on soil diseases such as Pythium, Fusarium and root lice. This root stimulator will also give the soil life a huge boost, causing the plant to absorb more nutrients from the substrate in an easier manner. The roots will quickly ramify and particularly the size of the root volume will increase, giving the plant more grip. Its size above ground will also expand. Also, the plant with a well-developed and well-anchored root system can bear more floral bunches in the final stage, which eventually will result in a better harvest!

Application: Add to the nutrient solution from the first week onward. Can be used daily in the irrigation of the crop. Replace by B’cuzz Booster from the second week onwards.

Quality guaranteed: The stimulators and liquid nutrients of Atami are packed and sealed lighttight under the twistable cap, so the quality remains guaranteed. www.atami.com

A higher yield and better quality.

This sophisticated combination of high tech components stimulates the biochemical functions on all levels.

The fermented fresh and salt water algae and herb extracts stimulate the metabolism, in particular the photosynthesis, and consequently the forming of carbohydrates. The hormone household of the crop is actively stimulated by the natural combination of amino acids and oligosaccharides.

X-ceL Booster contains the following ingredients: Various vitamins, natural growing and flowering stimulators, amino acids, trace elements, oligosaccharides X-ceL Booster actively takes part in the growing and flowering process from the first day of planting: the crop strikes root more quickly which virtually rules out drop out. The plant will grow more vigorous, while it simultaneously develops a very extensive root system. The flowering potential is stimulated and eventually leads to a demonstrable higher yield and quality.

X-ceL Booster is mixable with all fertilizers and can be applied to all types of substrate.

DOSAGE: Use 100 ml. per 100 litres of nutrient solution from the first day until the last week.

Shake well before use For further information ask your local shop or visit: www.bionova.nl

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12

The Attitude Seed Bank: Cannabis Doomsday Vault Looking for some great ganja seeds? Look no further than The Attitude Seed Bank, retailers of the largest collection of Cannabis seeds worldwide. More than 80 different seed labels have been carefully collated into one convenient place, with more than 2000 strains available. Whether you're a novice, professional or even a serious The Sativa Diva Cannabis collector, this is the seed bank for you.

You read about them in magazines. You hear about them from your mates. You stumble upon them accidentally: the best Cannabis strains in the world. So where do people buy this stuff? SSUK would like to introduce you to The Attitude Seed Bank, responsible for distributing the largest and most comprehensive list of quality Cannabis genetics to collectors all over the planet.

Baghdad was more than enough reason for Keith to move back to the UK and create The Attitude Seed Bank.

The Attitude is, on a minor scale, reminiscent of the Doomsday Vault – comprising a massive collection of varying Cannabis genetics from dozens of dif-

Despite the negative stigma that sometimes surrounds the Cannabis industry, orders from almost every country in the world are currently present in the com-

ferent countries and seed labels. The Attitude reminds us that with so many great growers out there and so many quality genetics, it's easier to simply offer customers as many choices as possible, rather than just selling one major label – or only stocking Cannabis Cup winners. With so much over-hybridisation bubbling up beneath the surface of the industry, collectors of all levels of experience need to have a reputable source upon which they can rely to stock almost all of the old classics. Regular- or feminised seeds, indica or sativa, whatever variety or label you seek can definitely be found among the stocks at The Attitude.

So, what makes someone quit his job and decide to create the world's largest collection of Cannabis genetics? Threeand-a-half years ago, working in occupied

“Attitude Seed Bank was started in a bedroom,” he recalls. “People are very discriminative towards people who... sell seeds or have anything to do with the word Cannabis. People suddenly start judging you.”

pany's database, proving the necessity for such a comprehensive seed bank. Keith – nowadays a non-smoker – also highlights the need to stay flexible in an everchanging industry. “Initially I wanted to sell only the Cannabis Cup winners; that's what I originally thought: I'll only sell the finest genetics. After I met loads of different seed banks I realised... you can't just narrow it down to one label's genetics, or just the Cannabis Cup winners, because there's so many great genetics out there.

So we had to make the company bigger, and now we stock as many genetics as possible – over 2000 strains – because it gives people a greater variety. It's got everything under one roof.”

A staff of 15 extremely helpful and cheerful people provides support regarding telephone queries and emailed orders.

Each order is checked promptly and personally and each customer is treated as a valued individual, belying the stereotype that everyone in the Cannabis industry is just interested in profit. This respectful approach to a sensitive business is what has propelled The Attitude towards the top in such a short period of time. Due to the nature of the products that pay The Attitude's bills, it is imperative that potential customers do their part to ensure all relevant local laws are followed.

If you are a UK resident purchasing seeds you need not worry about the authorities becoming involved, as Cannabis seeds remain a legal product in the UK and several other countries. Growing the seeds, however, is often a different issue.

Retaining genetics presents even more complex problems.

Due to the sometimes shady nature of our beloved industry, and the fact that Cannabis is a living, breathing thing

that can change and mutate, the future of some strains is not very certain.

Sometimes entire families of weed disappear. Occasionally even highly-skilled people know nothing about proper selection, leaving them to rely completely blindly upon the breeders in this industry.

For these reasons, the idea of preserving genetic libraries in the form of seed is becoming a much more widespread practice, and The Attitude is the perfect place from which to stock your secret shelves.

Keith reminds us of the dominance of the Dutch industry over the years, providing the original genetics to many other seed companies around the world. He also recalls famous breeders from the early days, such as Sam the Skunkman or Shanti Baba, with great reverence. They were at the fore-front

of the Cannabis hybrid awakening, where smokers switched from tossing some bag seed into their back yards to seeking out and purchasing quality genetics, becoming some of the great growers of today. These days, it's not even uncommon for, say, a Spanish seed bank to exchange seeds or clones with a company from California, whose strains may have originally come from Canada. However, this practice was not common-place as of a few decades ago.

In 1979 Sacred Seeds was established in California and the Lowland Seed Co. was founded in the Netherlands.

Officially, despite thousands of years of the plant's existence on the planet, these were the first two Cannabis seed companies. In 1980, Sacred Seeds released the Skunk No. 1, Afghani No. 1, Hindu Kush and Original Haze; these genetics are still available today under the Flying Dutchmen label (Skunk #1, Afghanica, Pot of Gold, Original Haze).

If you research the origins of the first Cannabis cultivars, 'it' all started with these four. Others were now able to go out and select these pure, reliable strains, leading to an explosion of new breeders on the Dutch scene.

The Dutch were not the only ones to enjoy an influx of new varieties. Due to the diligence with which these early strains were created and selected, people all over the world were suddenly able to produce their own hybrids, suitable for their own local growing conditions. For example, the Cheese, the most famous strain to come out of the UK to date, would not exist were it not for the Skunk #1. The Exodus Cheese more closely resembles the original 75% sativa and 25% indica hybrid, while the Big Buddha Cheese was crossed with an Afghan father to facilitate seed production. The indica injection leads to slightly more compact buds and slightly varies the usual Skunk #1 flowering time.

All of these and many more are waiting for you at The Attitude. Keith proudly reminds us, “We are the world's biggest seed bank; there isn't anybody who even comes close to us at the moment, and it's going to stay that way. I mean, we are a very new company but... the difference [when] dealing with us is that our primary focus is our customers, which in turn we believe has resulted in us being the best seed bank.” www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/

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15

HYDRO CULTURE

Hydro Over Hand Watering: Part 2: Flood and Drain Technique Think hydro is too complicated? How about a hydro system that lets you grow in pots, using any growing medium – even your favourite compost – and cuts down on your hard work? Our campaign for the fastest growth and the biggest yields continues with

By Little Lebowski a look at flood and drain...

Last issue we took a good look at NFT (nutrient film technique) a hydroponic method that is classed as ‘pure hydroponics’. Although it is pretty simple to use, NFT and other ‘pure’ hydro styles of growing do tend to scare off a lot of you growers.

It’s understandable that you do not want to give up the security of having a growing medium – be it compost, coco or clay – surrounding the roots of your precious plants; particularly when there are some tasty buds at risk!

This issue we look at a hydroponic technique that offers the faster growth cycles and bigger yields of active hydro, but has the flexibility to be used with coco or compost.

Ask yourself this question; when you first started growing, what technique did you first use? I am guessing that at least 90% of you out there started out by hand watering pots filled with compost.

Fair enough, it is a great method for a beginner; compost is very forgiving and will buffer against pH fluctuations and over feeding. Plus, hand watering your plants every other day means you can concentrate on getting your environment right and – let’s not forget - you can achieve a shit hot yield using compost!

can use compost and pots, reduce the amount of time you spend mixing feeds and watering AND shorten your growth cycle AND achieve bigger yields than hand watering??

Less work + A quicker crop + More buds at the end! Maybe you should have taken a look at flood and drain. Maybe it’s time to take a look now.

What is flood and drain?

The principle of flood and drain is simple. A plant sit on a table or in a bucket and nutrient solution is pumped in from a reservoir and floods the table or bucket, when the pump turns off, the nutrient solution then drains away back into the reservoir. A timer is attached the pump and is used to set the frequency of the flood and drain periods.

Keeping a dedicated flood diary is the key to massive growth and yields when using flood and drain.

But, what if I told you that there is a hydroponic technique out there that would have been great for your first grow – and all the grows that follow - where you

A Large Table System

During the flood period the roots of the plants are submerged which allows them to take up all the water and nutrients they need. All stale air is expelled from the root zone then, as the solution drains away, fresh oxygen is pulled back into the root zone. As the plants grow larger, the number of floods per day is increased.

The amount of nutrient solution used is easily measured and this allows experienced growers to tailor feeding schedules to get the optimum yields from their plants.

Flood and drain really is one of the most flexible hydro methods ever, because

there is something for everyone. At its most simple, it can be a way to just keep your pots automatically watered, but for the more experienced grower it is the method that offers the most amount of choice as you can amend the number of flood periods per day and how long each period lasts. This way you can tailor the system to your own growing environment – because everyone’s grow room has a different humidity, temperature and airflow - and get the maximum yield from you plants.

Who wouldn’t be happy with that??

Why Flood and Drain over hand watering pots?

Plants grow faster and yield more plants take up more water and nutrients than they would with hand watering, feeding little and often throughout the day is healthier than giving one large feed every other day Root zone completely re-oxygenated several times a day - during the flood period, air is completely forced out of the root zone and fresh oxygen is pulled back in. Oxygenated roots mean a healthier plant that will grow quicker and yield much more than a hand watered plant Adjustability of the system - allows experienced growers to set the perfect feeding conditions for their specific growing environment, plus the ability to set variable feedings on a timer means you can set the optimum feeding schedule for specific strains No build up of nutrient salts - any nutrients not used by the plants just drains back into the reservoir, instead of building up at the bottom of the pot. A build up of nutrient salts will stunt growth as it causes certain nutrients to be ‘locked out’ Types of Flood and Drain System There are two styles of flood and drain system, the table system and the modular or bucket system, both of them use the same technique and both have their own sets of benefits;

1. The Flood and Drain Table System In a flood and drain system table plants sit on a table which is held above a nutrient solution reservoir. The table is usually flat with drainage running to the centre where there are two drainage fittings. One of the drainage fittings sits flush to the table – this is the inlet drain - the other will be around 10cm above the bottom of the table – this is the overflow drain.

The inlet drain is attached to the pump and the overflow drain just runs back into the reservoir. When the pump is turned ON, the nutrient solution is pumped into the table through the inlet drain.

Eventually the level of nutrient solution will reach the level of the overflow drain and flow back into the reservoir. The overflow drain prevents the table from overflowing... just like the overflow drain in your bath tub! When the pump is turned OFF, the nutrient solution in the table drains back down the inlet drain, through the pump and back into the reservoir.

A timer is used to set the frequency at which, nutrient solution is pumped from the tank to flood the table and is then allowed to drain away. As the table floods, the plants take all the water and nutrients they need. All stale air is expelled from the root zone then, as the solution drains away, fresh oxygen is pulled back into root zone.

The benefits of the flood and drain table system are that you can grow your plants in any growing medium – soil, clay, coco or mapito. You can grow in pots and move the pots around the table if you need to or you can fill the whole table full of clay pebbles and allow the roots of the plants to spread across the whole of table – this is the method to go for if you are looking for the fastest growing and maximum yield.

Table systems are near enough leak proof, because the reservoir sits right underneath the table so there is nowhere for the nutrient solution to leak to – perfect if you

The Low Level Table System

16

A Modular System are growing in an apartment or an attic!

They also come in sizes that are ideasl for grow tents.

2. The modular or bucket flood and drain system Similar to the table system in that it uses a timer to control the number of flood periods and benefits your plants by giving them doses of food and water throughout the day, combined with a highly oxygenated root zone. However, the main difference with the modular system is that each plant is placed in its own individual pot.

A supply tube runs from the bottom of each pot into a main control bucket, which in turn is connected to a main reservoir.

The system uses gravity to send nutrient solution to the pots and only uses pumps to fill and drain the main control bucket which has two magnetic float-valves mounted inside to control the power to the pumps in both the main reservoir and the controller bucket. These floats control the flood level in the pots precisely, to stop any over watering or flooding.

into a 1m square or 1.2m square tent, or one of the small sized modular flood and drain systems which are great for a two lamp set up.

Large scale growers will really benefit from the modular flood and drain systems as they massively reduce the amount of time you spend watering your plants and they can be upgraded in size by just adding more pots. A smaller flood and drain table system can be used as a tidy vegging system to bring plants on under one or two lamps before transplanting to a large modular system.

The Three Steps to Flood and Drain Heaven!

1. Keeping a dedicated flood diary is the key to massive growth and yields when using flood and drain. Note down the number of floods per day compared to the amount of solution needed to topup your system each day. The amount of solution that your plants use is directly related to their rate of growth, the idea is to maximise their consumption and maximise growth. By experimenting with the number and duration of floods, you will find the optimum number of floods for your growing environment.

2. Top up the reservoir depending on the growing medium that you are using. If you are using clay pebbles then treat the flood and drain as a re-circulating hydroponic system and top up the tank every few days with half strength nutrient solution. The reason that you use half strength

As the level of nutrient solution reaches a set level in the pots, the magnetic float valve in the main control bucket cuts the pump in the main reservoir OFF and turns a pump in the main control bucket ON. The pump in the main control bucket forces the nutrient solution out of the pots and back into the main reservoir.

3. Increase the number of flood periods and your plants get older and increase in size. When growing with just clay pebbles and your young plants first go into the system, set the timer to two 15 minute flood periods per day. As plants grow, you can increase the number of flood periods up to a maximum of one 15 minute feed per hour. You will need to perform a complete solution change every 1-2 weeks.

When growing in soil or coco and young plants first go into the system set the timer to just one 15minute flood period per day. As plants grow, increase the number of feeds up to a maximum of four 15 minute feeds per day. When using an absorbent growing medium you should run the system to minimise run off and should only need to perform a complete nutrient solution change every 2 weeks or when the level of solution is running low.

Q&A with a Flood and Drain Grower When can plants be transferred to a Flood and Drain system?

If you have started your plants in rockwool cubes or small pots of soil or coco, then ensure they are rootbound before you transfer them to a flood and drain system. You should be able to see lots of white roots on the outside of the starter medium.

If you are using a table system then you can veg and flower in the same system. If you are using the larger modular style flood and drain system then you may prefer to veg the plants under one or two lights before they go into the flower room as your modular system will most likely be spaced under several lights.

How should plants be spaced?

Depends how many you want to grow and how big you want to grow them. Table style systems are great for a sea of green grow, where are spaced close together and vegged until they form a low canopy. They are then switched to flower for a ‘sea’ of buds!

The modular style flood and drain systems are perfect spacing out under several lights. You could choose to put four of the modular buckets under each light, or even just one bucket per light to grow some monsters! Modular flood and drain systems are tailor made for growing big, big plants. I once saw a system set up in a 20 lamp Californian grow room, where there was two plants per 1000w lamp and each plant had been vegged for eight weeks before being switched to flower. It was like a roomful of trees!

How high should EC be set?

If using an inert growing medium like clay pebbles, there is very little buffer (or protection) against overfeeding; so make sure you start to feed at half of the nutrient manufacturers recommended dosage. If you are using soil, coco or a mixture of clay and coco, then there is more of a buffer around the roots and you can start your plants at the nutrient manufacturers recommended dosage.

The main benefits of the modular system are that you can space plants under lights however you like – so they can grow huge! – the systems are easy to upgrade by just adding more pots and you can run a big room full of plants from one single reservoir.

What type of grower is flood and drain good for?

As flood and drain systems are so flexible, they will benefit a real cross section of growers...

New growers looking to grow in pots and keep their workload simple by maintaining a number of plants from one tank, so they can concentrate on maintaining their grow room environment.

Experienced growers looking for an adjustable system to suit their individual growing environment and really maximise yield.

Percy growers looking for a smaller scale system will do well with a flood and drain table system that fit nicely

is because plants grown under powerful lights will take up water at a greater rate than they take up nutrient. Over time the EC (CF) of the solution will rise, so if you top up with full strength solution you will run the risk of overfeeding. If using an absorbent medium, like soil or coco, the aim is to minimise run off and top up the tank with full strength nutrient solution.

When growing in soil or coco, increase the number of flood periods by one additional flood per day, for example do not jump from three periods to six periods because you are growing in an absorbent growing medium and you can run the risk of water logging the roots of your plants or over feeding them.

Will plants need to be supported?

Not necessarily. Unlike ‘pure hydroponic’ techniques such as NFT or aeroponics, there will be a growing medium surrounding the roots helping the plant support itself.

However, as with all types of indoor grows, if your plants are putting out some big buds you will want to support them and stop them falling over!

The Inlet and Outlet Drains

So, whether you are a newbie or a green fingered expert, flood and drain has something to offer. Give it a go, you won’t be disappointed and your plants will love you for it!!

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18

JUDICIAL BACKGROUND

Getting ‘court’ and knowing your rights Many of us will have known, or known of someone (unless we are that someone) who has been either caught in possession of cannabis or prosecuted for producing the plant either at home or on a larger scale.

For many small time growers it can ruin lives, livelihoods and not to

by Miss Indica mention status and reputation.

Differences between methods of arrest and prosecution often vary greatly upon the individual not only based on previous convictions but often at times the lenient or hard attitudes of the prosecutors and unfortunately for many lack of background knowledge of their own human rights and basic principles of drug policy. Courts often fail to treat like cases with similar outcomes and also fail to treat unlike cases differently, not taking into consideration the nature of the individuals concerned and whether or not their activities were peaceful and practised without imposing harm upon anybody.

Instead private producers and consumers of certain drugs are often categorised with the same illicit drugs traffickers whom often take little concern in the damage that they are bringing into the lives of individuals and the society in which they live in.

Although I must state this article is in no way legal advice and would strongly recommend that you don’t exercise any of these principles unless you have sought the professional help of an adequately qualified solicitor, which are few and far between in the UK with regards to the specified area.

I simply wanted to explain briefly how the system often fails in consistency so frequently and how complicated and at times irrelevant drugs policy can be.

Drug laws were established supposedly for the safety of the individual and the immediate community around them and society as a whole and human rights were established to protect the individual regardless of gender, background and personal beliefs, to name but a few.

from the unfair dismissal of Professor Nutt, chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in October 2009, when he proposed a dramatic review of drug policy as he fairly stated that drugs such as alcohol and prescription medicines can have an equally damaging if not more severe impact on individuals and society than drugs like cannabis and ecstasy. Nutt also argued that taking cannabis created only a "relatively small risk" of

and not others in the same way as it is to respect some human beings welfare and not others. Basic human rights involve freedom from torture and degraded treatment, the right to a fair trial and the right to respect private and family life.

Consumers of illicit drugs on the whole are denied the right to respect for private life by being denied the right to informed choice, even in the privacy of their own home also being unprotected from forced searches of home and person.

Cannabis growers as we know are denied the right to respect for private life by being denied the right to produce the plant at home for either personal or medical consumption without inevitable interference from the law.

For instance, in 2004 in Scotland alone, tobacco and alcohol were responsible for 15,052 deaths, whereas, use of ALL other illicit drugs put together was 356.

With cannabis use on its own (i.e. without tobacco) contributing to the statistics with the ever predictable 0 deaths.

In fact the World Health Organisation’s – ‘Global Burden of Disease’ 2000 stated that tobacco causes 8.8% of global deaths, alcohol 3.2% and illicit drugs as a whole 0.4%, cannabis on its own has caused no known fatalities to this day.

(Although please remember bronchial disorders and respiratory disorders can be linked to smoking the named drug.)

This highlights the distorted view on which government and politics decide to base their drugs classification system.

So why prohibition for ‘controlled’ drugs but then individual rights for legally-available drugs? This is mainly due to the governments' legal power to prevent drug harm is misused for political purposes, to gain favour with the majority of voters at the expense of various groups of minorities.

This shows further that there is no objective or legitimate justification for the discrimination between these groups. These grounds for discrimination do not fit in with guidelines for drugs policy, nor the protection of the individuals from harm, and so they do not have a 'legitimate aim' and can therefore be deemed unlawful.

psychotic illness and objected to the reclassification of cannabis from a Class C drug back to a Class B drug, claiming the decision to be “politically motivated rather than scientifically justifiable.”

Drugs policy in the UK is instead made up

However, this is not always the case for some drugs even if they are known to case more harm than cannabis itself.

Excluded from the law are drugs such as alcohol and tobacco and up until recently dangerous synthetic man made ‘legal highs ‘such as methadrone (miao miao) to which doctors and medical experts had very little knowledge of the extremely harmful side effects yet for over a decade have been readily available and manufactured by various companies, although being dangerously unfit for human consumption.

In 2004 in Scotland alone, tobacco and alcohol were responsible for 15,052 deaths, whereas, use of ALL other illicit drugs put together was 356.

It is stated that UK drug laws must comply with UN drug Conventions, however, ‘The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971’ fails to incorporate UN drug Conventions into UK law so these guidelines are often overlooked as Parliament choose not to incorporate them, deciding instead that UK drug laws should hold the scope for change in regards to classification, in the light of new scientific knowledge.

Which we now also know to be untrue

being and within society as a whole, although, two of the worlds biggest killers, alcohol and tobacco, persistently manage to be overlooked.

of a seemingly random choice of factors including causing harm to the individual, effects on society but more importantly overall general public opinion (which is good for keeping votes).

Human rights on their own are designed to be indivisible, interrelated and interdependent, for the reason that it is not justifiable to respect some human rights

I refer to this because drug classification in the UK is supposedly based on scientific and statistical research on the harmful effects of substances both on the individual’s health and well

Statutory drug advisers to Government, have admitted that they have been discrimitive in elements such as legal status, in contrast to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) If any of these rights and freedoms are abused you technically have the right to an effective solution in law, even if the abuse was by someone in authority, for example, a police officer or the courts.

You are entitled to bring a case before the appropriate court or tribunal in the UK. The court or tribunal will then consider your case.

However, what happens when a peaceful and respectable human being tries to exercise these rights and merely point out the unjust nature of the system? Well, as is the nature of drug law itself, it’s not always straightforward and in some cases it is a long complicated process.

19 the grounds of illegality, irrationality and unfairness. This point however was not addressed at all in court indicating that Edwin's appeal was either misunderstood or the key factors of his complaint were completely overlooked.

Indicating that perhaps the courts themselves are either unclear on the rights of those facing drugs charges or just simply chose to ignore them.

Edwin Stratton’s case: Mr. Stratton who appeared in Soft Secrets issue no. 3/2009, was at home when a fire broke out in a neighboring premises, tenants of the street had to be quickly evacuated. During the evacuation procedure, police discovered cannabis plants that Edwin was growing cannabis for his medical condition, (he unfortunately suffers from Coeliacs disease.)

Although Edwin was fully co-operative with police and admitted the fact that he privately grew cannabis plants in his home, he rejected a police caution, highlighting that it is discriminatory under the Human Rights Act 1998 stating that such laws are not enforced to people who choose to brew the equally or more harmful drug, alcohol.

However Edwin was charged with producing the drug and refused to make a plea. Instead taking his case to the high court, who ruled out any leniency towards growing medicinal cannabis despite the fact that Edwin’s claims of inequality had nothing to do with how he used the cannabis in itself, his main concern was, the false administration of the ‘Misuse of Drugs Act 1971’ on

Alan Taylor’s case - Alan Taylor is a secondary school science teacher, judged

by Ofsted to be an "excellent" teacher.

Upon the discovery by the police that he was cultivating marijuana for his own private and personal use, he was suspended from work for many months prior to his hearing. Some time before Alan’s trial, the police made complaints to both his employees and the education authority before he had even been charged with any sort of offence. The school was advised to take action, by doing so they lost a great teacher and a valuable asset to the school.

The way in which the police conducted this was both in breech of Alan’s human and civil rights and also in relation to this, what was a private pursuit for the person in question was publicly used against his character without just reasoning before any official charges had been made against him.

The organisation Liberty claimed that ‘police disclosures of their suspicions to the school and education authority

in this case are challengeable in law.

We are pursuing this issue with formal complaints and possible legal action.

In terms of the criminal matter the essence of the claim is to assert the primacy of Parliament and the rule of law, and to protect these principles from abuse by the people who have been entrusted with administering the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.’ How the police treated Mr. Taylor in light of this was both highly unfair and did not comply with either human rights, nor was it legal to act upon his arrest in this way before a ‘fair’ trial’ had taken place.

Alan’s case was dismissed from court and I believe that he awaits to take the case to crown court. Edwin eventually received a suspended sentence and ordered to pay court costs, However, he now intends to take the case to a court of appeal with which you can find out more about on the drugs equality alliance website.

‘The Misuse of Drugs Act’ was created over forty years ago now, and although in this time public and scientific knowledge of substance misuse whether the substance is deemed to be illicit or commonplace has changed and evolved dramatically. The same cannot be said for drugs policy; in fact it seems that it refuses to develop alongside research findings as it once promised to do. Many different governments and Politian’s have been in place since the seventies and besides shuffling substances up and down the clas-

The Wind of Change Blows From Across the Pond Dr John Dee

Well, who would have thought it?

America, the anti drug monolith has had a change of heart. Specifically, the American Medical Association (AMA) has had something of an about face on cannabis, in particular the whole medical marijuana debate.

“The American Medical Association?” you may say. “Who cares?” you may add. But you’d be wrong to do so. The point here, and believe me, it really is a biggie, is that as a group, medics are among the most conservative you’ll find (coming, in my view, in the same sort of class as lawyers and bankers). This is completely in spite of early years as medical students spent getting pissed and pushing each other up and down the street in shopping trolleys (or maybe that’s only in the UK); once they’re able to practice, once they’re in the club, then it tends to change (see politicians for another good example of this type of behaviour).

But as usual, I digress. The story here is that for the past 72 years, the AMA has maintained that weed has absolutely no therapeutic value and should therefore remain a Schedule 1 drug. This means it’s classed along with other substances with “no medical value” such as LSD (!), cocaine (!!) and heroin (!!!). I’m not going to get into the pros and cons of this; hopefully the exclamation marks will convey my views on the matter.

A Schedule 1 controlled substance also means that, if you’re caught with it, you can go to prison. In some states in the U.S., caught with a bit of grass three times and you can go to prison forever.

But here’s the thing: an AMA committee, the Council on Science and Public Health (CSAPH) have produced a report called "Use of Cannabis for Medicinal Purposes", wherein they basically say “You know all that stuff we’ve been banging on about for the past 72 years?

That’s right, all the stuff about dope

being responsible for everything from mental illness to ‘moral degeneration’ to spree killing. Well, it’s all shit, and weed actually does have a medical value. And yes, we know that you told us so and have been telling us so for pretty much every one of these 72 years, but, hey, we’ve been in the pockets of pharmaceutical companies and successive governments for all this time and, well, you just don’t bite the hand that feeds you, and you definitely don’t take a crap on your own doorstep. We’re truly, profoundly sorry that we’ve been a fundamental part of the apparatus of government oppression and that our (in) action has caused suffering to individuals and indeed to pretty big sectors of the community.”

Actually, that’s not what they say at all.

In fact, the whole report is a completely apology-free zone. But hey, ho, it’s probably very churlish of me to dwell upon this point. So let’s, as they say, draw a line under it and move on.

sification scale periodically, scarcely little else has been done (either through ignorance or fear of losing crucial votes from majority publics) to produce a fair system when exercising drug prohibition. Instead government has focused solely on isolating certain drugs and magnifying the little supporting evidence that they have to maintain current opinions. On the other hand they have also done very little to bring to light the equally damaging effects of non – prohibited substances regardless to how much more harmful some of them are than the so called illicit drugs themselves. It also seems unfortunately that basic human rights often go out of the window when somebody is found to be partaking in activities associated with certain drug use; regardless of how private and peaceful the perpetrator has been with his or her actions.

All information used in this article and more can be found in the following places: http://www.drugequality.org/ (For more info on both Edwin Stratton and Alan Taylor, also a lot more in depth information and articles on the subjects.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8334774.stm (with regards to professor Nutt.) http://www.petertatchell.net/civil_ liberties/cannabispolicyunequalandillegal.htm (Features Edwin’s case also plus other information on the reclassification of cannabis.)

The report continues thus: "Short term controlled trials indicate that smoked cannabis...” (Yes, folks, you read that correctly: smoked cannabis) “...reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis."

I think it’s the bit about smoked cannabis that surprises me the most. Given that America appears to be full of health and lifestyle fascists, the idea that anyone might be allowed to smoke anything (whether it’s “good” for you or not) is quite amazing. Perhaps more amazing is the fact that “smoked” cannabis kind of implies weed one can grow oneself, rather than using some sort of piss poor pharmaceutical company analogue.

Given that America is Corporate Babylon, full of fast buck chancers, has someone taken their eye off the ball here?

Whatever, this is one story that I for one will definitely be following with interest as the outcome is sure to have a knock on effect for the rest of the world.

As ever, your comments are always welcome: Dr John Dee dimethyltryptamine777@hotmail.com

21

TRAVEL

Moroccan Hashish

By Wil Edwards

combination of the three main strains – they call this Hardura. It is important for them to continually crossbreed the strains and produce new seed stocks in order to stop the strains stagnating and losing their vital characteristics.

Producing hash from these plants is quite a time consuming business.

First the mature crop needs to be harvested; this is done around September/ October when the summer is drawing to a close. The plants are then dried before they are stored until the weather gets cold.

When the temperature drops the hashish trichomes break away from the plant much easier, boosting the quality of the final product.

these are real plants grown in real dirt!

A small amount of this natural ‘pollution’ is inevitable. If one chooses the big top buds from a large mature plant then one can be sure that there will be a minimal amount of dirt mixed in with the final product. The first bashing of the top buds of the big plants is the best of the best!

The plants are kept after the first bashing and put to one side. When the farmer, or basher, is happy that they’ve bashed enough Dobley Zero Zero they’ll keep the hash in powder form, wrap it in plastic and store it in a cool dry place – this prevents the oils from evaporating too quickly.

Around 70% of the world’s hash comes from Morocco, and about 95% of Morocco’s hash comes from the province of Ketama

A lot of people think they know a lot about Moroccan hashish, and I thought I did until I went there! Having been a daily smoker of cannabis for somewhere in the region of eighteen years I’d come to learn quite a lot about it, but it wasn’t until I actually travelled to Rif mountains that I got a real education in the subject… Here are some of the things that I learnt:

the Rif seems to be involved in the hash business one way or another – it’s the crop that the economy of the entire region is now based on.

Around 70% of the world’s hash comes from Morocco, and about 95% of Morocco’s hash comes from the province of Ketama – the province that dominates the Rif Mountains. The story goes that the people of Ketama, the Ketamese, always saw themselves as a separate entity from the state of Morocco; they resisted the Moroccan authorities for a long time, they fought fiercely for their independence and were a constant thorn in the side of the Moroccan state apparatus. One day, in the latter part of the mid-twentieth century, the Moroccan monarch of the day offered them a deal – put your guns down, stop fighting us, submit to our rule and we’ll let you keep your hashish culture. This was agreed to and the Ketamese tentatively agreed to join the young state we know as Morocco.

Using the title Moroccan Hashish is like using the title American Movies – a lot of American movies get made by a lot of different people; some are good, some

In the years following this agreement the legalised Ketamese hashish culture grew from strength to strength until it dominated the agriculture of the region. The cultivation of cannabis gradually began to seep outside the borders of Ketama though… Export and tourist trades grew up around it and foreigners started to flock to this historically inhospitable region of North Africa.

These days Ketama still has a fearsome reputation – a visit to the region is certainly not for the faint-hearted, or easily intimidated. There are a lot of big money dealers, smugglers, suppliers and farmers in The Rif. There are a lot of ‘crooked’ cops, soldiers, townsfolk and business owners there as well – pretty much everyone in

That is, intentionally, a very brief and vague political history, because the real point of this blurb is to talk about the hashish itself.

When dried and cold, usually around November, the plants are traditionally put onto the top of a fine mesh screen which is secured over the top of a large bowl. The bowl and the plants are then put into plastic (fertiliser) bags and bashed gently with sticks; this knocks the trichomes from the plant and they

The plants are then bashed up to three or four times more, or until the farmer is happy with his collected weight of hashish – he might choose to keep the different bashings separate, as each bashing is a slightly lower quality than the previous one, or he might mix them all up in one batch. Regardless of how he chooses to mix it, he always keeps it in powder form until it’s ready to be sold – all serious buyers and smokers will want to see their hash in this state before they part with their money.

As was said earlier, there are three main strains grown in the Rif at the time of writing – blonde, red, and Paki. The blonde is the traditional hash of Morocco, and the hash most people tend to think of when they think of ‘Moroccan hash’. The blonde variety has quite a smooth taste and a steady, heady high – she’s not too strong, very talkative, and a good high for getting things done - she’s a good one for climbing mountains! For every 100kg of plant they get 1kg of good quality hashish.

The red variety is a very different beast though; a strong, trippy high that hits you right between the eyes. She hits you fast but wears off quite quickly as well.

For every 100kg of the red plant they get 1.5kg of good quality gear.

are terrible; some are made by independent movie producers and distributed by independent distributors, whilst some are churned out by the giant movie houses and distributed by massive distribution companies. The same things can be said of Moroccan hashish.

In the Rif, circa 2010, they are growing three main strains of cannabis: the traditional blonde Moroccan, a red Moroccan variety and a Pakistani variety. They are also stabilising a new strain, a genetic

fall through the screen, into the bowl.

The first bashing of each plant is known as Dobley Zero Zero – the best quality.

However, in order to make the very best quality hashish one must be selective in the plants, and parts of plants, one chooses to bash… If you bash the lower branches of a small, stunted plant you’re not going to get particularly good hash – this is because small plants are closer to the ground and far more prone to collect the dirt and dust that gets blown around, don’t forget

The Pakistani is the Queen of them all though – she gives a strong and heavy high that lasts a long time. If you’re greedy and smoke a big joint of it in the morning you can find yourself rooted for a good few hours until you finally manage to drag your dazed self off for something to eat. The best thing to do after that is find your spot again and roll another one cos she’s a day killer…

Leave the Pakistani alone till evenings if you’ve got things you want to get done! For the farmers though, the best thing about the Pakistani variety is that for every 100kg of plant they bash they get 2kg of good quality hash.

22 hash is used. This is why it’s important to buy the powder, and to learn how to test it before you buy it.

Testing hash is relatively simple when you know how. The best way is to put a small amount of the powder in the palm of your hand and run the flame of a lighter over it a couple of times – good hash will bind together quite easily if a little heat is shown to it. You can then press it in your hand and once you’ve got a solid piece you’ll be able to run a flame over it and watch the oils bubble up. Good hash catches fire quite readily as well. The more heat you have to put through it before it binds together then the lower the quality is. (But, bear in mind that if you’re trying to heat it up in the middle of winter on the side of a

If you’re lucky enough to be presented with a variety of strains and qualities somewhere then you’ll be free to concoct your very own mixture… Maybe you want 20g of 50% blonde 00 and 50% Paki 00? Maybe 20kg of 70% Paki no.2, 10% blonde no.2, 10% red no.2 and 10% henna? The possible combinations are endless, and the price will vary accordingly.

In summary; the variety of seed, the freshness of seed stock, the amount of rain, the quality of soil, the length of the summer, the time of harvesting, the amount and type of fertiliser, the wind, the temperature at the time of bashing, the number of bashings the plants have had, and the levels of natural and added pollutants will all affect the quality of the hash. Moroccan hash varies from year to year, valley to valley, from farmer to farmer, from batch to batch, and even from day to day, but once you get your head around a few of these variables you’ll be better informed than the vast majority of smokers on the planet…

Happy smoking!

I wasn’t able to find out too many details about the Hardura strain – it isn’t being grown as extensively as the other three yet and it still isn’t stabilised. I tried a few different batches and they varied in quality and strength.

Some farmers grow all of these varieties; some choose to grow only one or two.

Some farmers have European contacts who supply them with different seeds as well… The best hash I managed to find out there was grown by a small scale independent farmer on the fringe of Ketama – his hash was a 50/50 Paki Afghan combination. He’d harvested it at the perfect time at the end of a very good season; after the hash had been wrapped in plastic and walked on for a few hours inside his shoe it was black on the outside but grey when it was torn open: the holy grail of quality hashish!

Quality is a big issue in the drug business – it’s even hard to find good quality hash in Morocco once you’re outside the Rif. A lot of the dealers use a range of pollutants to bulk the hash out before they sell it on to Joe Bloggs smoker - this is one of the reasons the dealers like to buy it in its unpressed powder form. Even before it is bulked out by dishonest dealers though, there are a number of other variables that affect the quality and quantity of the product: the amount of rain the preceding winter will affect the size of the harvest; the amount of sun the crop gets while it is growing will affect the quality and quantity, as will the type and strength of the fertiliser used. A few days of gusty wind immediately before the harvest will affect the quality as well – if a lot of dust gets blown around the plants before they are harvested then a degree of natural contamination is unavoidable.

damp and freezing mountain it’ll take a bit longer than normal!) If you want to get really technical you can take a x30 microscope along with you and analyse the trichome heads in minute detail, but the flame test is always the best and you’ll end swapping your mic for a bit of smoke anyway!

Post script: After 7 month’s research in Morocco I was finally able to give up my compulsive and damaging 18 year daily habit. Having learnt more about the business than I ever imagined there was to know, and having spent those months immersed in the home of hashish means that when I’ve got the choice between smoking some second or third rate cannabis or smoking nothing at all I’d rather smoke nothing at all. There’s still nothing quite like getting high on some good pot, but why waste time, money, lung capacity and grey matter getting fucked up on some over-fertilised, badly grown, adulterated and uncured weed?

If the plants are bashed in warmer than ideal temperatures then the plants have to be bashed harder than is preferable; this leads to a lower quality end product as well.

If you’re lucky enough to be presented with a variety of strains and qualities somewhere then you’ll be free to concoct your very own mixture…

Added pollutants are the real problem though.

Unscrupulous dealers will use almost anything to bulk the hash out – henna, coffee, sugar and dirt are the most common.

Also, shit, plastic, shoe polish and anything else that looks even remotely like

25

HOME GROW

Nice Bit of Percy!

By Little Lebowski

No matter which walk of life you come from, where you were born, where you grew up or what football team you support... we can all agree on one thing... in this life, there is nothing better than to grow your own!

The sense of achievement that rushes over as you take that first toke on a joint of home grown is as intoxicating as the weed itself! Watching your mates smile as you pull out a nice little bag of your latest harvest fills you with pride. There is no better feeling.

Even if you only manage to scrape a few grams off some spindly plants grown at the bottom of your wardrobe, so fucking what! You grew that and no one can take that away from you. Unless your mate pulls out a bag of bigger and better percy that is! Then maybe, just maybe, it’s time to step it up a notch and read the Soft Secrets quick guide to the ultimate percy grow....

Location, Location, Location..

The percy grow is, by definition, a small scale affair. Unless your personal use is bordering on Marley territory, then think small and compact; a 1 metre square space will suit 4 decent sized plants, up to 8 if you want to keep them small and flower them quick. Of course if space is at a premium, or if the missus isn’t particularly understanding and relegates you to the cupboard under the stairs, then near enough any little nook or cubby hole can be converted for a bit of percy. Just make sure you have some way to extract the hot, stale air from your grow space.

However, if you are blessed with a choice of locations to house your percy, or if you are lucky enough to have an understanding partner - maybe even a fellow toker, the holy grail! – then choose wisely. For the sake of this guide, let’s assume that fate is on your side and you have a number of options at your disposal.

First off, it is preferable to keep your grow concealed from visitors – friendly or otherwise – so, that immediately rules out the communal areas of the home. You are going to have a hard time convincing the mother in law that the rectangular tent in the corner of your living room is your new tanning shower or portable airing cupboard (believe me, I’ve tried). Better to house your percy in the areas that are usually off limits to guests, that leaves us with the following shortlist; the shed (or the garage) – an interesting candidate, with its own set of pros and cons depending on your domestic set up. The shed can be viewed in two ways; it is either a private oasis in which you can escape the everyday stresses of home life, the perfect environment in which a grow tent can be slipped into a corner unnoticed, or, it is a dumping ground; piled ceiling high with boxes of Christmas decorations, the lawn mower, a pram and piles of old paint pots – in which case, it’s a serious clean out job or a non starter. Either way, security levels will vary depending on the area you live in and the proximity of your neighbours.

If you can get electricity to it, and you are confident it will not get broken into, then the shed is a good contender.

For a Little More Yield, Try a Hydro System - the greenhouse – only to be attempted if your neighbours are far away or have no sense of smell! An isolated greenhouse provides an opportunity for an outdoor percy grow that can be run alongside an indoor crop. Plant out in early spring to ensure that the frosts have finished and you’ll be harvesting in late September to mid October. The greenhouse grow requires much more patience than the indoor grow and is more susceptible to the elements and pest attacks. Although, if all does fail, at least you haven’t wasted any electricity in the process, As if that will be any consolation!

- the bedroom wardrobe – the classic percy hotspot, favoured by students in shared accommodation and city dwellers short on space. Keep the grow lights low powered or you’ll forever be kept awake at night by the drone of your extraction fan. Low chance of detection, makes up for the lack of space (and fan noise). A good option for a small number of plants.

- the spare bedroom – a real contender, particularly if you have more than one.

Nice and easy to access on a daily basis, but then this does carry security risks and is open to detection by the stoned house guest who is searching for the toilet. A tent set up in the corner of the room creates an immediate percy grow room and prevents you having to cover walls in reflective sheeting; very handy if the missus isn’t too keen on you becoming self sufficient!

- the loft – moving into serious percy territory now. No house guest, however stoned, is going to stumble into the loft, particularly if they have to climb a fucking ladder! Great secure location and plenty of space, plus nice and easy to extract stale air out of. Just watch out for temperature fluctuations spoiling your fun. Lofts will get hot in the summer, so up your extractor fan size by a couple of inches in the warmer months. They will also get cold in the winter, well worth dropping a submersible heater in the nutrient reservoir if you are growing in hydro. Oh, and rumours that a one light, percy loft grow will melt the snow off your roof in the winter are police propaganda! Be clever with your extraction and stop being paranoid!

- the basement – the ultimate, the definitive, the perfect percy grow area.

Basements usually come with a lockable door which immediately takes care of any detection issues, plus they are easy to access – no tricky ladders to climb up and down like there are in the loft – so you can get in and out on easily on a daily basis. But the best thing about the basement, the icing on the cake, is the environment; nice and cool in the summer and straightforward to heat in the winter – just chuck a portable fan heater in during the winter months, the excess heat will safely disperse through your house, no worries. The basement is tailor made for year round growing.

So, with the location sorted it’s time to move on to some of the finer details.

Let There Be Light!

The Bedroom Wardrobe, The Classic Percy Location!

The Loft, The Stairway To Heaven!

In most instances your lighting set up will be dictated by the location of your grow; if you’re in a very small space you will be

26 the budget magnetic options. Reflectors are available in a huge range of shapes and sizes, you could also go for the air cooled option, allowing you to run a lamp with a higher output and extract the heat directly off the lamp using ducting and a small extract fan.

If you’ve got the cash and are looking for the optimum results, go for a MH (metal halide) lamp for the vegging period – these give off the blue light that promotes denser vegetative growth - and a red spectrum hps for the flowering period.

Don’t Forget The Filter In Your Tent! looking for a minimum amount of heat in order to get the best from your plants, but if space is not so much of a problem then you will be free to use more powerful lamps and exploit the optimum yield from you plants. The options are as follows; Compact Fluorescent Lighting (CFL) – a good idea if heat dispersion is an issue.

CFL lights are a relatively cheap option, as you do not have to purchase a ballast (they can plug straight into the mains) and they produce comparatively little heat (good for very small spaces). Tailor-made, horticultural CFL lamps are available in a range of outputs ranging from 100w up to 300w, with the lower output versions being more suited to propagation than full cycle growing. A 250w will produce a decent percy yield, the downside being that CFL grows tend to take longer and yield less than their equivalently powered HID counterparts, due to the comparatively lower light intensity. Buds cultivated under CFL’s will be fluffier and less dense than if they were grown under HID lamps.

High Intensity Discharge (HID) – the old faithful. Still the most commonly used lighting method for indoor cultivation, HID lamps are available in a range of outputs from 150w to 1000w. Choose the power of your lights depending on the amount of space you need to cover, the yield you are looking for and, maybe more importantly, the quality of your extraction – no point setting up a 600w rig in the wardrobe if you can’t get the hot air out of there. You will cook your plants! For growing in up to a metre square, go for a 250w or 400w set up, a larger area will need a lamp with more coverage; a 600w will adequately cover a 1.2 metre square percy grow space.

The beauty of the percy grow is that you can go as hi tech as you want; if the budget is tight then a HPS (high pressure sodium) lamp with a magnetic ballast, simple euro reflector and contactor is all you need – go for a dual spectrum bulb to see you through both the vegging and flowering photoperiods.

But if the budget is no concern, then the sky is the limit, get yourself down the nearest decent hydro store and start browsing! Digital ballasts are more efficient, quieter and produce less heat than

Light Emitting Diode (LED) – the future of plant lighting, possibly? This newcomer promises less heat emission and lower power consumption then the equivalent HID lamp. This would make them the preferred option for the ultimate percy grow.

However, there are lots of LED lighting companies out there claiming that these lamps produce great results when used

When you are free from the pressures of having to please other people, you are free to experiment to your heart’s content....

You can choose any growing method or style of grow to suit you. At the most basic level, just some simple pots and compost from the garden centre will see you through. But, really, the percy grow is all about treating yourself; Want to experiment with a few plants in hydro and bag yourself a bigger yield?

Give NFT or aeroponics a try. Only have time to check in on your plants every few days? Get yourself a drip irrigation system and cut down on your workload. Looking for the ultimate taste and quality? Maybe you should try organics.

The nutrient package you go for can be as complicated as you want it to be. If you just want to keep it to the minimal

don’t forget your wallet when you go shopping for them!!

Finally, it’s time for the main event, the big question... which girls are you going to invite to the party? Picking your strain is a tricky decision; there is so much incredible choice out there! If you are growing from clones, then your choice is made for you, but if you are starting from seed then the world is your oyster!

My advice would be this, why choose something you can usually get hold of?

If the Cheese is flowing in your area - and it’s decent! - then maybe go for something more exotic. Take a look at the strains that are never an option commercially; a soaring Sativa with a longer flowering time or, at the other end of the scale, if you need a harvest mega quick; a potent autoflower.

Loose Lips Sink Ships So, you’ve made sure your location is discreet enough not to be discovered, you’ve installed an extraction fan and – more importantly – a carbon filter, to ensure your percy grow doesn’t tickle your neighbours noses. Plus, your single light set up is barely registering on the national grid.

Your percy grow is undetectable and will remain a secret forever, right?

Wrong!

Choosing Your Strain, How About Two of Each!

for flowering, but has anyone seen any proof yet? The jury is still out. Somebody send in a convincing photo, please!!

amount of fuss, a straightforward grow and bloom feed and flowering stimulator will see you through to a decent yield.

Just remember, the key to percy success is your growing environment. So your lighting and extraction is more important than your strain, nutrients or growing technique. Make sure you choose an extraction fan that will fully exchange the air in your grow room around three times a minute. Work out the cubic volume of your grow area – length x width x height – and multiply this figure by 90 (three times a minute is 3 x 60 = 90). You can now match this figure to the relevant extraction fan.

But, if you want to invest some time and go all mad scientist, really push your plants to their limits and attempt to break the gram per watt boundary, then there are an incredible range of additives out there; root stimulators, foliar sprays, silicon additives, beneficial enzymes and bacterias, growth enhancers and bloom boosters. Just

E.g. a tent that measures 1m x 1m x 2m has a cubic volume of 2m3 (1 x 1 x 2 = 2).

90 x 2m3 = 180m3 So, that tent needs an extraction fan with a minimum output of 180m3 per hour.

And, don’t forget your carbon filter!

Just Grow It! One of the pure joys about the percy grow is that you are doing it for yourself, not to pay the bills or put the kids through school (if you are then you may want to think about going larger scale!).

Pots n trays, nice n simple

The cruel irony of the ultimate percy grow is that all the pleasure and the pride that you experience when pulling out that tasty little green bag and sharing it with your mates, has to remain hidden.

Because, with a percy grow that is so well controlled and so discreet, the only thing that will uncover it is YOU! When embarking on the ultimate percy grow, you must consign yourself to passing off the source of that delicious percy using little white lies, as you will often be faced with the question “nice gear that mate, where did you get it from” It’s time to start practising. Now repeat after me....

“Just got it off some bloke down the pub mate”

Skunk#1

White Widow

Blue Mistic

Indoor Mix

Outdoor Mix

Critical

1 seed

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Ice

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Special Kush #1

Special Queen #1 Royal Moby

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3 seeds

28

OPINION

Police and Cannabis Thieves Just recently a good friend of Soft Secrets got apprehended by the Police at his home as part of a local investigation. Our friend was unfortunately found to be in possession of approximately (like whose counting?) one hundred cannabis plants (at various stages of cultivation) and approximately (again whose counting?) one hundred grams of dried cannabis flowers ready to enjoy and smoke. To add insult to our friends injury the Police were not initially looking for our friend, for their cannabis, or for evidence of cannabis cultivation at the property. This was simply a case of a mistaken identity, bad-karma that day, and fate if you believe in that stuff.

action; 1) fighting the intruders off by whatever means 2) running away from the intruders quickly 3) surrendering to the intruders every command and whim. The intruders will next secure each room of the premises gestapostyle to make the area secure, while detaining everyone they encounter in the process. After which a full search of the premises is conducted.

Likewise Cannabis Thieves also like to take trophies from their crime scene.

Less interested in collecting lifestyle information, Cannabis Thieves are more interested in attaining and keeping valuable assets. This may include personal items of jewellery, money, and items designed for home protection. The Police will also confiscate such items.

However nine times out of ten the Police are obliged to return all property that was not procured through the proceeds of crime. In the past this included growing equipment (ballasts and lamps) as well as home protection items and knifes used to chop up weed and hashish.

Modern times however dictate that such items are often confiscated and destroyed in accordance with new laws.

Until the present laws change however, then the Police will be forced to continue to act like Cannabis Thieves themselves when intruding on the personal growing spaces of cannabis users.

All this got us thinking more about what happens when the Police actually arrive with the purposeful intention of searching a premises they suspect is being used for the cultivation of cannabis? And how this may differ from being apprehended by Cannabis Thieves who know the premises is being used for the cultivation of cannabis? Having been close to, both situations on several occasions in the past, such recent events allowed us time to think. Which is the lesser of the two evils?

In both scenarios (Police arrest or Cannabis Thieve burglary) there is usually, at first, a loud knock at the door, followed by a brief pause for thought, and then if no-one answers, the door normally flies off its hinges. Otherwise the intruders will simply barge forward as the door is apprehensively opened to the words Ågwhat do you want? / can I help you?Åh. In either case the personal home grower is at this point, to but it bluntly, 'shafted'!

Secondly the intruders will physically enter the property with a degree of authority, shouting loudly, and acting aggressively towards their victim(s). At which point most people will decide upon one of the following courses of

Depending upon the intentions of the intruders (arrest or burglary) and what they find, then the outcome of the scenario above may vary dramatically.

It should however be noted that both the Police and Cannabis Thieves arrive with the same intention of removing all traces of cannabis from the building. The main differences being that the Police will remove even the smallest cannabis plants from a property and Cannabis Thieves will rarely leave any cannabis flowers for the victim to smoke later after the ordeal is over (as the Police tend to) ?

Other subtleties between methods of approach include the Police's fetish for taking photographs of everything at the 'crime scene' they have just created. These images document 'contextual evidence' surrounding the victim and their day to day lifestyle. The Police also like to seize ÅgevidenceÅh including cannabis paraphernalia, scales / weighing devices, baggies, computers, mobile phones, and various other pieces of 'information' during the process of their investigations. All of which can be used later by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The context of the crime scene ultimately allows the CPS to build a case against the victim and perhaps substantiate further evidence of any 'intent to supply' cannabis to others.

Once Cannabis Thieves are done with their victims, they normally disappear like shadows in the night. In the least, however low their actions may be, the majority of Cannabis Thieves are quick, professional, and tidy in their work.

Unlike the Police who not content with rummaging through every cupboard, plant pot, and knicker-draw in the house, make a whole heap of mess in the process! Backward are the duties of the Police officer who when openly violating someone's personal property, leaves legal seeds in fridge, yet confiscates the same seeds germinating several meters away upstairs!

Moreover the Police then neglect their duty to the community and abandon their victim's freedom completely, by shackling them up in handcuffs like petty criminals. The victim is then searched by the Police and placed into a dirty vehicle to be transported to a place of detention. The victim is then searched again (often strip searched to their indignity), detained for up to eight hours, before being asked a series of pointless questions about the cultiva-

by lazystrain

tion of cannabis. At which point the Police are looking to incriminate the victim into openly admitting that they sell or supply cannabis to others.

However bitter, it is always important to remember that the Police and to a lesser extent Cannabis Thieves are both fore-filling their perceived roles, rightly or wrongly, within society. The role of the investigating Police officer is to collect information to establish a case to present to a Judge in court. The role of the Cannabis Thieve is to make as much money as they can from their victim in as little time as possible. Sadly a visit from Cannabis Thieves can be as threatening and daunting as a visit from the Police.

When approached politely and with understanding however, then the Police are rarely as violent as Cannabis Thieves have known to be. This is because the Police, unlike the Cannabis Thieve, is simply following orders.

Essentially Cannabis Thieves will always rely on the fact that their victim cannot go to the Police for protection, since in the eyes of the law they are committing a criminal act. Likewise the Police rely on the fact that they have the law on their side when pursuing evidence.

Decriminalizing cannabis cultivation for personal consumption would obviously prevent or in the least help to reduce the level of victimization and criminality that is currently occurring. It would also increase the general safety and well-being of cannabis growers within society. Especially if/when cannabis grower have the confidence and the law on their side to call the Police (like any other tax paying citizen) when apprehended by criminals.

Until the present laws change however, then the Police will be forced to continue to act like Cannabis Thieves themselves when intruding on the personal growing spaces of cannabis users. Hopefully as and when the Police become more and more educated about cannabis cultivation (ironically via the very people they arrest for growing cannabis) then the distinction between personal (possession) and commercial (intent to supply) amounts of cannabis in cultivation will become more or less defined, perhaps blurred as time grows by.

Until that day arises however indoor cannabis growers should always stay focused to the reality of the fact, that there is a 'Big Bad' world just outside their boarded up grow-room windows!

A world full of criminal-types, some in badges and uniforms and others in hoodies and balaclavas (note : lazystrain wasn't always a cannabisreporter), just waiting to create another crime scene in your local area, and takeaway your beloved cannabis!

Best Seeds Bank ([pocannabis 2007

Best Seeds Bank Spannabis 2008

First genetic evolution of BigDevil.

Feminised autoÀoZering variet\ and high-class, in response to the demand of our customers that requested larger sized autoÀoZering Ze selected this gene, Zhich reaches a height of - . m. More productive and more aromatic than its previous version, and compact resinous buds Zith numerous side branches. SZeets and incense aromas Zith hints of SNunN.

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AutoÀoZering of ver\ fast ÀoZering.

First evolution of the genetics of Speed Devil, developed during the 2 -2 season. In this version of the Speed Devil, has been increased the average size of the plants that reach around - cm.

In this version Ze also ¿nd a bigger formation of se in cr\stals Zith an aroma much more intense, sZeet and musN Zith Àavors that remind to \east and cheese.

AutoÀoZering .

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AutoÀoZering .

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AutoÀoZering .

Indoor Blooming ZeeNs. Indoor 2utdoor +arvest 2 months from the germination. +ight - cm.

3 seeds 2 ¼ seeds 2¼ seeds ¼ 3

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, ¼ s. 33¼ s. ¼

1eZ autofloZering of our strain &ream&aramel. 5esult of the cross breeding of our best autoÀoZering stumps of CreamCaramel. Automatic of superior qualit\, Zith dense buds and big resine production, Zith a sZeet and musN\ intense aroma, quicN floZering, strong effect and a big strong h\brid.

7he revolution of the autoÀoZering has arrived, at the end of the ÀoZering these plants reach the same resinous and desireable aspect as their non-autoÀoZering sisters.

AutoÀoZering Indoor Blooming ZeeNs. Indoor 2utdoor +arvest ZeeNs from the germination. +ight - cm.

3 s. , ¼ s. 2 , ¼ s. , ¼

1eZ autofloZering of our strain S.$.D.S- . 5esult of the cross breeding of our best autoÀoZering stump of S.$.D.S- . $utomatic of superior qualit\, Zith dense buds and big resine production, Zith a sZeet and musN\ intense aroma, quicN floZering, strong effect and a big strong h\brid.

7he revolution of the autoÀoZering has arrived, at the end of the ÀoZering these plants reach the same resinous and desireable aspect as their non-autoÀoZering sisters.

AutoÀoZering Indoor Blooming ZeeNs. Indoor 2utdoor +arvest ZeeNs from the germination. +ight - cm.

3 s. 2 ¼ s. 33¼ s. ¼

3 seeds 2 ¼ seeds ¼ seeds ¼

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Speed Devil 3 s. , ¼ s. 2 ¼ s. ¼

1eZ autofloZering of our strain BlacN -acN. 5esult of the cross breeding of our S.A.D. Auto Zith our -acN +erer Auto. Automatic of superior qualit\, Zith dense buds and big resine production, Zith a sZeet and musN\ intense aroma, quicN ÀoZering, strong effect and a big strong h\brid. 7he revolution of the autoÀoZering has arrived, at the end of the ÀoZering these plants reach the same resinous and desireable aspect as their non-autoÀoZering sisters.

AutoÀoZering Indoor Blooming ZeeNs. Indoor 2utdoor +arvest ZeNs from germination. +ight - cm.

3 s. 22¼ s. 3 , ¼ s. 3¼

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1eZ autoÀoZering strains of three of the ¿rst strains of the SZeet Seeds¶ catalogue. 5esult of the cross breeding of our best autoÀoZering strains Zith SZeet Seeds¶ genetics. 7his super-autoÀoZering are a big Mump in qualit\ compared to the autoÀoZering that can be found toda\ in the marNet. AutoÀoZering strains of superior 1eZ qualit\, production of resin, intense and diverse aromas, quicN ÀoZering, strong effect and big h\brid energ\. 3lants ever\ time further than it¶s 5uderalis Strains ancestorsZithandbigmore close to the modern polihibrids. 7he revolution of the autoÀoZering has come, at the end of the ÀoZering this plants reach the same resin and

2 tast\ aspect than her non-autoÀoZering sisters.

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30

HOME GROW

The Importance of Drying and Curing A smoother smoke, a more even burn and an increase in potency: sounds too good to be true, right? But, a little bit of hard work after you harvest carries big rewards. Soft Secrets takes a quick look at curing....

By Little Lebowski

will take around two to three weeks, so if you can do without the grow room for that long, then do it.

After the dry, it had a couple of weeks curing in jars and it’s transformed again.

It's really pungent now and totally dry, the crystals are glistening away and it crumbles between the fingers perfectly. In fact I'm sure if all weed was left this long you'd have twice as much to smoke, although it's gone down in weight the dryness means you use less than before while building.

It tastes as good as it smells and is stronger than before, it still gives a lovely high, a really good smoke...if only all weed was left this long!!”

When you have harvested your plants, first remove any fan leaves that have no visible trichomes on them, then take the plants by the stem and hang them upside down using string or fishing line attached to clothes pegs, screws or nails.

Make sure they don’t touch each other as this can cause mould. You can now manicure your buds by roughly cutting off the small to medium sized leaves; these should be saved for bubble hash.

Commercially grown crops are usually harvested early, cut, trimmed and dried for about a week, often in a warm environment, before being sold.

Proof, if proof was needed!

your own, you want to get the maximum from your crop. You owe it to yourself to cure those buds!

The first step to the smoothest smoke is to get the drying process right so you should choose your drying area carefully.

Ideally you want somewhere that is dark, cool – around 18°c – and has around 50% humidity. If your drying area is too cold, then drying will take forever. If it is too hot then you run the risk of drying your harvest too quickly, which will make it taste harsh – exactly what you don’t want!

To prove the point, I tried a little experiment with some recently harvested White Widow (from Pyramid Seeds) and a good friend of mine – Original G – here is the smoke report in his own words...

The grow room is a great option for drying as it will be dark and well sealed, it will also have the benefit of having a carbon filter attached to stop any unwanted smells escaping. The drying and hanging process

Hanging It Out To Dry

So, you have spent the last three months tending to your girls, lavishing them with tender loving care and the big day has finally arrived... its harvest time and your smoke will be ready within the next week.

But hang on there, remember the whole reason that you grew your own in the first place was to have a stash of the finest weed possible? At harvest time your work is only 75% done. To get the ultimate from your weed, put in that little bit of extra effort and dry and cure it properly.

Commercially grown crops are usually harvested early, cut, trimmed and dried for about a week, often in a warm environment, before being sold. The idea of a commercial grow is to get your cash turned around in the quickest amount of time - fair enough. However, quick dried bud can taste harsh and have low potency. We’ve all been there, you buy a bag of weed that smells good and feels dry on the outside, but when you break the bud open it is still moist on the inside and the smoke is harsh and can taste a little like cut grass; this taste is the chlorophyll still present in the cells of the plant.

So why cure? The process of curing promotes the slow decarboxilation of oxygen molecules from the THC present in the bud, this will increase the psychoactive properties, making the weed more potent.

The curing process also means that moisture levels will be even across the entire bud, giving you a much smoother smoke and a more even burn. When you grow

“So after harvesting we were desperate for a try of the lovely green that had been produced and we dipped in way before it had time to dry...this was a big mistake!! It still smelt way too fresh, almost like cut grass, the weed aroma was hardly there at all and, although it looked great, it was slimy and wet inside. It had to be trimmed with scissors to get it small enough to roll and the smoke was pretty terrible, sour and not very strong it was really a waste of skunk!! Be aware that force drying or what we now unaffectionatley call ‘radiator weed’ is no better, in fact it was a lot worse!!

After 7 days of hanging and drying the transformation is incredible, it's dry but sticky inside, the crystals are glistening and it smells delicious. The smoke is really good; easier to crumble than before, although does stick in the grinder a little.

It tastes much stronger and the lovely sweet taste of widow is in full force. Plus it delivered a really nice high, not to heavy and a little bit lively which is good if you still want to function after a chong!!

The Ideal Curing Jar

Leave to hang for two to three weeks. You are now ready to cure...

One tried and tested way to start the curing process is the paper bag method. While your harvest is hanging to dry, get yourself down to the shops and pick up some brown paper bags – like the ones you get fruit and veg in from the greengrocer – the larger ones if possible, around the same size as an A4 piece of paper. A cash and carry is a good place to try, as you can normally pick them up in reams of 100 for very little money.

Put a handful of bud into each bag and fold down the top, the idea is that the buds will ‘sweat’ out the moisture contained in the centre of them and this will be absorbed by the paper bag. Open the bags twice a day and shake the buds around to let any moisture out of the bag.

Once the buds have been in the paper bags for three or four days, you can check

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HOME GROW / SHOPREVIEW if they are completely dry by placing the paper bags in plastic zip lock bags and sealing them. Leave them in the zip lock bags for a couple of days. If you can see moisture on the inside of the plastic, or the buds feel moist when you squeeze them, then they are not ready and should be removed from the zip lock bags and left in the brown paper bags for another two or three more days.

sealed. The main factors in THC degradation are heat, light, oxygen and water. So the jars should be filled to the brim and kept in a cool, dark place where they are also safe - not the kitchen cupboard!

The final test to see if the buds are completely dry is to take one of the larger pieces and bend it, the stem within the bud should snap. If the stem bends without snapping, then there is still some moisture left and you should continue with the paper bags for a final two or three days.

The paper bag method means that you should have some nicely dried bud, but the process does not stop there. You will need to open or ‘burp’ the jars to let out any excess moisture that has built up.

Otherwise, condensation can occur and moisture can build up, which can lead to mould developing. There would be nothing more heartbreaking then pulling out a jar that had been curing nicely for a few months, only to find that that your delicious harvest is covered in mould!

When you are confident that the buds are dry, then they can be placed into preserving jars – the kind with a rubber seal and latch on them - and

The jars should be ‘burped’ every other day, simply open the jar for around ten minutes and gently stir the buds around.

This allows the stale air and moisture out.

A Lovely Cured Bud, Ready For The Grinder

The burping process should continue for around four to five weeks, after which the buds can literally be left for years.

it has gone too dry, you can add a little moisture by putting a fan leaf or a piece of orange or potato peel into the jar.

If you do pull out a fine vintage and find

Happy curing!

De Sjamaan: 14 years striving for excellence Having begun as a modest smart shop in a working class neighbour- ‘Coincidences’ saga of de Sjamaan began in 1997, hood of Arnhem, de Sjamaan has grown over the space of 14 years into The when Ananda took over a smart shop a leading international web shop and wholesaler. Soft Secrets took a on the Klarendalseweg in Arnhem. look back with Chief Shamans Ananda, Satyama (Ananda’s mother) and Strengthened by the success of his first enterprise he decided barely a year later sales manager Narayano – and a look forward. Because with its new to open in the centre of Arnhem a second 'open, transparent and low entry threshold’ company headquarters de Sjamaan is well set for the future…

That the smart shop in the Netherlands has survived all the setbacks is a minor miracle. First it was the banning of ephedrine in 2004. This was a painful blow for the industry because the herb was the basis of many successful herbal highs; in 2007 followed the Kruidenbesluit (Herb Decision), which in one blow put a whole series of natural products on the blacklist. Then the

Chief Shamans Ananda and Narayano are ready to meet the rose-tinted future

shroom ban of 2008 threatened to be the final death knell for the industry.

Thanks to a combination of perseverance, business acumen and idealism, de Shamaan managed to navigate deftly between the rocks with a bit of legal manoeuvring – and emerged strengthened from the turbulent years.

shop. There was just one small problem: he had no idea how the new shop should be financed. Business was good, but not so spectacularly that there were piles of cash lying around. When the perfect shop location was found in the Bovenbeekstraat, it turned out that the owner of the place coincidentally was an old friend of the

family. The deal could be closed under favourable conditions for old times sake. As Ananda says: “Things like these continue to happen for de Sjamaan. It is a sort of combination of intuition and coincidence, whereby time and again at just the right moment things fall into place.”

In 2001 the chance came along to take over the Dr. Paddo smart shop in Nijmegen. This spacious shop in the Bloemerstraat was also transformed into an open, transparent and low threshold smart shop to be proud of.

With the start of the new century, de Sjamaan had grown so strongly that what had become a business concern spread over three shops began to be a bit logjammed. As well as this the traffic in the narrow streets of Arnhem was a nightmare for both suppliers and customers.

Yet it was not until 2008 that Ananda and his mother independently of each other discovered the same site in the nearby

An important decision was to extend the range of products with a sophisticated collection of head shop articles and premium cannabis seeds. “Our aim is to become a one-stop-shop”, explains Narayano. “That’s why we also stock the ranges of our smart product producer colleagues.” At the same time they continued the core-business – “the development and creation of our own smart products.”

The company now has two of its own shops, supplies as a wholesaler the ever growing (inter) national market and delivers via the web shop to individuals worldwide. Just as every year, de Sjamaan will be manning a spacious stand as an event sponsor at the Spannabis Hemp Fair in Barcelona on 25, 26 and 27 February 2011.

All in all, de Sjamaan has a unique position, and is becoming one of the most important European suppliers and producers of smart products in the broadest sense of the word.

Home-grown shrooms It better than buying from a dealer and safer than picking them yourself in the woods: growing your own magic mushrooms with the de Sjamaan home-grow kit. De Sjamaan has selected six different varieties for you, each with its own distinct character. What they have in common is that each of them is ready to be encouraged to stick their little heads above ground for you. As long as you follow the instructions carefully within a couple of weeks you’ll be able to harvest a good couple of hundred grams of fresh shrooms.

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Eject-a-bowl: high-tech simplicity When they were asked to do the European marketing for Ejecta-Bowl de Sjamaan was very proud. The products from Eject-a-Bowl are at the same time ingenious and yet so simple that can easily be called a stroke of genius. The base of the pipe bowl can be moved by an external spring upwards, thanks to which a variable space between the stem and the bowl is created. Perfect for mixing cool air with the smoke during inhalation, but above all to be able to easily clean the head after smoking. The same mechanism is in the Better Bat, a striking yet secretive one-hit pocket pipe in 8 metallic colours. Another variant is the Twist-a-Pipe, with which the depth of the pipe bowl can be adjusted with the screw mechanism.

Check the complete programme of this instant classic at: www.eject-a-bowl.eu town of Elst. Since Ananda and Satyama had learned to trust such ‘coincidences’, the decision was quickly made. In 2009 the company took over occupancy of the 1200 m2-sized building on the De Aam industrial estate: a respite for suppliers, visitors and staff. It is an impressive building of dark stone and lots of glass, in which the small lake in front of the door is beautifully reflected. It is certainly very different to the grey uniformity that you normally have in such locations. On the roof are 130 solar panels that can deliver 75%

Herbal: the Next Generation A lot of people only saw doom and gloom with the banning of ephedrine, but those who like de Sjamaan invested in research and tests saw the light. “Happily, despite all the restrictions there is still a lot that is possible”, according to de Sjamaan founder Ananda. “With innovative techniques there are still great products to be made that really do have an effect. So we eventually found a good replacement for ephedrine which is now used for our new herbals.” It is with justifiable pride that de Sjamaan introduces its next generation of herbals: Pure Bliss, Pure Go-E and Pure XS.

of the energy requirements of the business. Which is no idle luxury when you consider the three energy-gobbling climate rooms and their own server space...

When doing up the building Satyama was revealed to be a talented interior architect; the interior forms a sleek and functional unity, but one which at the same time has a warm, organic vibe.

Scattered throughout the building different spaces have been created as receptions and offices, and on the first floor the contours of a laboratory are beginning to take shape. Naturally the laboratory conforms to European norms for production and packaging.

12 x new from the cannabis champions When Ingemar, the legendary ‘discoverer’ of White Widow, decided in 2004 to team up with de Sjamaan, he knew what he was doing. The collection numbers famous strains such as White Widow and Peacemaker, but also modern classics such as Shamans High, (2nd prize in the Highlife Cannabis Cup 2006) and Lemon (1st prize in the Highlife Cannabis Cup 2007). A high germination percentage, consistent quality and competitive prizes won are what make the seeds from De Sjamaan into veritable stars. De Sjamaan never ventures out on to thin ice. That is why it took until 2011 before 12 feminised (of which three are auto-flowering) varieties were added to the seed catalogue (photo: Shamanic Haze feminised). Better a bit later with a stable new generation of champions than hastily rushing out with unreliable strains just to follow the trend.

of a company de Sjamaan actually is.

It’s something Ananda does not have to think long about before replying: “We are a strong and serious company. It’s not for nothing that we have been in existence for 14 years. A good understanding with our business relations is for us very important, and this is something you only get by being trustworthy, transparent and customer-friendly.

Doing what you believe in, and doing it quickly. Dealing with any problems that crop up directly and correctly.”

“If you work with psychedelic products a certain form of ethics is very important, even if this sometimes operates at the cost of your profit margin.”

Connoisseur’s Truffles Since the ban on the sale of magic mushrooms the growing of psychedelic truffles has become a real art. Whereas previously there used to be just a single variety available, these days there is a choice of four types, with the real possibility of more to come in the future. Truffles are the underground parts of a mushroom, and contain the same active ingredients as the cap and the stem. The truffles from de Sjamaan are grown by professional growers in a 100% organic way and are vacuum packed at precisely the right temperature – your guarantee for a fresh and psychoactive product. They are of course accompanied by an extensive information leaflet with do’s and don’t in six languages.

That de Sjamaan has over the years grown in to a streamlined, professional company is emphasized in the efficiently furnished stock rooms. The cacti stand in a sealed off greenhouse, protected from bright sunlight, while further up lie four sorts of vacuum-packed truffles with the cannabis seeds in a climate-controlled cooler. Other spaces are waiting to be brought into play; de Sjamaan certainly has enough plans for the future, and now finally has the space in which to realise them.

De Sjamaan Academy For a great many business and private customers it has been clear for years that de Sjamaan is no flash in the pan.

Nonetheless, new customers from abroad do sometimes wonder what kind

From his staff Ananda expects the same level of professionalism, the reason why de Sjamaan has set up a sort of in-house academy. “It is a fairly spicy professional training that all our staff members have to follow. Yes, seriously, and exams have to be taken.”

Customers too can pluck the fruits of the vast professional knowledge built up by de Sjamaan, because Ananda sees providing thorough product information as a basic requirement in this industry.

Certainly since we’re talking about substances with which you can get thoroughly off your face. “If you work with psychedelic products a certain form of ethics is very important, even if this sometimes operates at the cost of your profit margin,” says Ananda. “Some things we consider just too risky to sell, and these we just leave alone. On the other hand, a product

does have to have a genuine effect. In order to properly determine what mix or dosage works best we have developed our own test protocol with which every new product can be extensively tested.”

There are a number of things that you can measure to determine whether your business really is on the map. Your financial success is just one of them. A customer base of dozens of distributors and many smart- and head shops in around 45 countries says more. As does the fact that producers are impressed enough with your organisation and distribution network that they are happy to embark on a relationship with you. A recent example is the maker of the Eject-a-Bowl products, which asked de Sjamaan to handle the European marketing of their products. “That level of trust”, observes Ananda dryly, “is not something we have built by doing nothing.”

Sjamaan Wholesale Celsiusweg 24A 6662 PX Elst The Netherlands Fax: +31 (0) 481-712329 Tel: +31 (0) 481-712330 Skype: sjamaan.wholesale Internet: www.sjamaanwholesale.nl

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SEED BANKS Attractively priced feminised quality seeds

Interview with Sweet Seeds The Spanish Sweet Seeds, a seed bank specialising in feminised seeds, conquered first Spain and then went on the conquer the whole of Europe. The secret of this seed bank is that they’re close to the grower and they have a good nose for what the public wants: in the first place of course, feminised quality seed for an outstanding price. As well as that, Sweet Seeds offers a number of unique package deals, such as special Collectors Editions with three different varieties per package, or the possibility of putting together a combination of different strains one’s self.

Sweet Seeds is one of the first seed banks to plunge in to autoflowering varieties, a section in the catalogue that is still being developed. Before the lads from Sweet Seeds began their company they were growers themselves, who out of dissatisfaction with what was on offer decided to tackle things quite differently. Undoubtedly, their customers are grateful to the guys, and that is proven by the rapid growth of the company and the many prizes with which Sweet Seeds varieties have been crowned in various cannabis competitions. Meanwhile, the seed bank J. Searcher has been steaming full ahead…

In recent years you have had an impressive series of prizes credited to your record. In fact, thanks to the entries from various Spanish growers you have even won more than any other seed bank, and this year too there have been more awards bestowed on Sweet Seeds. What are your most honoured plants, and what do you think they owe their success to?

Sweet Seeds is delighted with the recognition and the success achieved by our varieties both in Spain and abroad.

We have not been in existence as a seed bank all that long, so at this moment it is the varieties that we have in our range that have won the most prizes: Cream Caramel, Black Jack, S.A.D., Sweet Tai and Ice Cool. It is clear that their success in cannabis competitions is down to the recognition from gourmet experts who know what the end product of a canna-

The Sweet Seeds shop

bis plant should be all about: an intense, pleasant aroma, potency, a good taste, the quality and quantity of the trichomes, the strain’s effect, etc.

We really want to take this opportunity to thank all the cannabis growers for entering Sweet Seeds varieties in the various cannabis competitions where they live.

Often we do not even know who they are.

Every time when one of our varieties wins a prize we feel very honoured, so thanks again, champions!

Although you have been around for a decent amount of time your seed bank has only recently taken the international market by storm. What is behind this sudden international expansion?

We assumed that our success in Spain was a visiting card with which our distributors could present us to other mar-

kets. In the last two years we have made a huge publicity offensive at an international level in order to increase our name recognition and to get attention for our range in the important cannabis periodicals in other countries. We should not forget that it is the quality of the seed that is the most important factor with which to keep your customers happy and build sustainable success on the cannabis market, both in Spain and elsewhere.

Thanks to our low prices we offer an outstanding quality-price point, and that is certainly in this time of economic crisis something to be reckoned with.

At the same time it is also important for us to offer shops and distributors a good, fast service. And naturally you always have to be aware, stay alert and remain open to the possibilities of innovation and improvement in a dynamic global market that is completely exploding.

Cream Caramel

An old Blueberry mother Can you say something about your breeding philosophy?

We have a simple breeding philosophy; in the first place we are cannabis consumers and collectors of genetics, which is to say, we make a selection of the best genetics that we can get our hands and store these for an unlimited time, so that we can enjoy them today, tomorrow or in 20 years.

The criteria that we apply in order to select our best mothers have in the first case to do with the desired qualities of the plants, and not with their origin, ancestors or family tree. With these exceptional plants we use both traditional and modern breeding techniques to arrive at populations of 99.9% female plants. At the moment we are also very busy with the development of new varieties of feminised 100% autoflowering varieties. We think that cannabis is a gift from nature and that no single variety should be the property of anyone, but is something that should be for all humanity to benefit from. We try to share with people who are looking for the – according to us – absolute best quality genetics, people who recognize our passion and love for the cannabis plant. The best way to protect a cannabis variety is to share it with us.

When you had just begun you gave out a lot of information on how to make feminised seed. Are you going to do that again?

When we began making feminised seed we published reports of our experiments on cannabiscafe.net, the most popular Spanish language cannabis forum on Internet. In that time the method of feminisation without using gibberellic acid was still a well-kept secret, one that only a few growers worldwide knew and at the time had only just started to creep out on to the Internet. We were at that time not busy with Sweet Seeds, and it

seemed to us a nice gesture to share this knowledge with the world via Internet, and in doing so the forum members could determine its truthfulness.

These days there is a huge number of seed banks; it is a sector that has developed very strongly in Spain, and the competition is enormous. We have not stopped experimenting and perfecting our techniques, but although there is certainly good communication and exchange of information between the majority of Spanish seed banks, it is also a fact that there is a lot of information that is not shared with competitor companies.

What is your take on the issue of stability? Do think it is more important that plants are homogenous or that you can choose from various options?

For us a variety is stable when the individuals that form a population keep the characteristics that define a variety in future generations. We describe a seed generation or population as stable when there is no variation in the characteristics of the individual plants that come from it. The famous F1 seeds for example consist of a population or generation of stable seeds, but there are no stable varieties because the following generations that ensue are not.

The most extreme example of a stable generation or population - that is to say 100% stability of all characteristics – is a population in which the individual plants are clones of the same mother. In this example every plant is an identical copy of each other and we should find no individual variation.

But those of you who have grown plants from the same mother will have noticed that there are always a couple of plants

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A harvest of Cream Caramel among them that are higher than the rest, that some get sick while the rest remain healthy, root a couple of days earlier than the others or yield more, while they were all in act identical clones of the same mother. The differences or variations were caused by environmental factors, such as climate or growing medium and not by genetic differences, ultimately, if we’re talking about clones. So you must not confuse the environmental factors with the inherent genetic variation of heterozygote or non-stable populations.

We aim first of all to create plants as homogenous as possible, so we are always looking for that difficult balance between stability and hybrid vigour. Variation need not always be a problem, for example when the various phenotypes have different, but still desirable, qualities such as two interesting aromas within the same variety, for example.

Do you give any advice to growers who are growing with feminized seed, or do you reckon they should just work in the same way as they would with ordinary seed?

There is no difference between growing from feminised seed and regular seed. In fact the only genetic difference between populations of regular seed and populations of feminised seed is that those from the feminised seed have no males among them. Because they have been grown from a seed, plants from feminised seed are usually more productive, with better aroma and are more stable than clones from a strongly selected mother of the same variety that had been raised from regular seed.

How do you select your mother plants?

If you begin from seed, are they feminised or regular seeds?

For the selection of the mother plants for a breeding programme it is important that as well as the selection for exceptional structural, agronomic, organoleptic (taste and aromas) and chemotypic (quantity and variety of cannabinoids) qualities, you are also sure that the plants have no hermaphroditic tendencies, and that they lend themselves to hybridisation. This last is easy to test by performing progeny testing.

Above all, the female plants must react well to the sex conversion technique and produce enough fertile pollen for the fertilization to take place without manual assistance.

When we begin with seed populations, as is the case with the autoflowering varieties, we use both feminised and regular seed. For the reproduction we have also

tried both ways, with the final phase both regular and feminised seed, or we work in a breeding programme starting with only female plants. We reckon it is better to complete the feminised programme without the use of males, since by doing so we avoid the probability of surprises at the end of the programme in the response to the sex conversion technique.

plants that are three or four years old the stems begin to rot quite easily or they become infected with mould. Keeping a bonsai cannabis plant alive for longer than four years is really difficult. These days we no longer work with bonsai plants; we prefer to keep our mothers strong and healthy, and replace them after a maximum of six months with new young clones.

These days more and more attention is paid to bonsai plants. When we first met, which must be more than 10 years ago, you already had bonsai plants of three or four years old. Can you briefly explain the experiments, say something about the system that you used for making bonsai plants and what the most important problems that were encountered during the process?

The bonsai plants were a nice experiment that came about in an almost spontaneous manner when we tried to keep mother plants as small as possible, mainly for reasons of space saving so that we could provide the mothers in our grow space with enough light. The longer you

Which of your plants are you most proud of, in the sense that the most of its potential has been realised?

To be honest, that is a question that is not easy to answer. It is just like asking a father which of his children is his favourite, or which one he is most proud of. But anyway, we can say of our first varieties that they are now at a point where there is nothing left to improve. I mean the varieties that were mentioned at the beginning of this interview and the quality of which is not just recognised by ourselves but by the cannabis scene. Although there may still be room for improvement in one of those varieties, it is very difficult to say something has really achieved all the

Sweet Afgani Delicious try to keep your plants small by taking cuttings and snipping branches, the more the stems age and fatten. After a couple of months the soft tissue begins to harden into wood, making them start to resemble bonsais, although the process is not literally a bonsai technique: though the leaves do get a bit smaller, you don’t get real miniature leaves, which is what you get with real bonsai trees.

In the same way that gardeners make bonsais you can re-model the shape of plants bit by bit by pruning them, letting them grow or by bending branches, as appropriate. These kinds of plant were kept in three litre pots, but as time went on, the salt concentration in the soil rose consistently higher, with the result that the root system was damaged. Before the plants begin to show symptoms of deficiencies that are not soluble by simply rinsing the soil, which happens about once every six months, the roots need to be trimmed and the substrate replaced. At the same time as these interventions we inoculate the roots with various microorganisms that stimulate the growth of new roots.

The stems of cannabis plants are not designed to be alive for so long, and with

development it is capable of. Among our more recent varieties there are indeed a few with the possibility of more improvement. Sweet Cheese, Snow Fruit, Speed Devil, Fast Bud and Big Devil for example were still under development in 2010, and in early 2011 there will be improved versions added to our range.

Can you recommend a Sativa and an Indica to us?

As a Sativa I’d recommend the Jack 47 for everyone who loves strong sensations, a lovely incense aroma and a potent, euphoric effect. As an Indica I would go for the Cream Caramel, with its unbelievably sweet aroma with earthy tones and a super relaxed effect.

Which varieties from your catalogue do you reckon are best suited to medicinal use?

Normally medicinal users give the nod to varieties with a strong Indica proportion, which have a high level of THC – the most important medically active constituent - and with sufficient CBD to compensate for the euphoric psychedelic effects of the THC. For that kind of user Cream Caramel, S.A.D. or Mohan Ram are the most suitable. But you also have medici-

nal users who prefer the more Sativa-ish varieties. For them Ice Cool, Sweet Tai or Psicodelicia are very effective.

Nowadays you also have feminised autoflowering varieties in your range.

How do you tackle that challenge?

We believed right from the beginning in autoflowering genetics and think that in the future these will only increase in importance. Autoflowering varieties have been occupying us enormously in recent years, there is more and more demand for this sort of genetics because these have a number of advantages when compared with regular varieties: first of all their speed, discretion and the opportunity of getting more harvests from outside growing each year, even in the spring.

In the meantime, autoflowering varieties have finally achieved sufficient quality, thanks to which many growers are choosing them for growing in their indoor grow rooms, especially thanks to their short cycle and acceptable quality.

Do you think that the autoflowering varieties in the coming year will be better? How far can improvements continue to be made, do you think, and how many years will it be before we get to see the final results?

At Sweet Seeds we have been working for two years already on projects aimed at creating from our classic varieties feminised autoflowering seed. The first results from these projects will start to become available in early 2011. The first varieties that will see the light will be S.A.D. auto, Cream Caramel auto and Jack 47 auto. It is our intention that in the foreseeable future we will make and offer autoflowering versions of all the varieties in our catalogue. The new autoflowering varieties will be hybridised and improved with Sweet Seeds genetics and represent a leap forward in quality when compared to the autoflowering varieties currently available.

It is a new generation that smells better, creates more resin hairs, grows higher develops more side branches. They look more like non-autoflowering feminised varieties than we’re used to.

Many breeders are at the moment busy hybridising autoflowering varieties with their best mothers, so the autoflowering varieties will only get better. Sweet Seeds has also worked hard to improve the quality of Speed Devil #2, Fast Bud #2 and Big Devil #2, the three autoflowering varieties in our catalogue, and the results of this work too will become visible in the beginning of 2011 when they become available.

Can you tell us, out of all your experience of growing, one key piece of growing advice?

Let’s not forget that that cannabis is a magical plant that since time immemorial has evolved through the actions of man, and that still she still rewards richly the care and attention we humans lavish on her. www.sweetseeds.es

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GROW WITH JORGE CERVANTES White Walls I am sending you this email because I have seen your video and think its top notch! I have been following it very carefully and want to make a small room. The only thing is I can not find Visqueen plastic anywhere and not even sure where to look. Could you give me some advice as to where I might find it? I live in Southern Ontario if that might help with some companies that you might know of.

Skattered

QUESTIONS TO JORGE Jorge Cervantes is the author of: Marijuana Horticulture: the Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible in English and Spanish, Jorge Cervantes’ Ultimate Grow DVD, Indoor Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor Bible, Marijuana Indoors: Five Easy Gardens, Marijuana Outdoors: Guerrilla Growing and Jorge’s Rx. He writes for 12 magazines in 6 languages. Jorge’s books are published in Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish.

You can use paint to cover the walls in your new grow room and it is available locally at your hardware store.

Try using white paint. I like using white latex semi-gloss enamel because it is easier to clean than flat white or white with a matte finish. You can also use Foylon, Mylar or white plastic. All work well. Foylon and Mylar are more expensive but more reflective. A good reflective material will increase light on the perimeter of the garden by as much as 20 percent.

You can find all of the above products at most hydroponic stores. Simply go to www.google.com and type in the search words “Mylar” “white plastic” or “Foylon.”

Remember to compare pricing!

We had a lot of fun filming the first Jorge Cervantes’ Ultimate Grow DVD in beautiful British Colombia, Canada. I must say that Canadians are some of the best growers in the world. Check out my newest video shot in California. It features 4-5 kg. plants, http://www.youtube. com/profile?user=jorgecervantesmj.

Water and fertilize plants when they need it. You will need to develop a little bit of experience to gain the skill necessary to harvest a great crop.

Richard Lee is the head of the Oaksterdam University in California. Oaksterdam University boasts more than 10,000 graduates!

39 CFLs and Big Buds I am broke and want to grow a crop. Can I use a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL)?

What is the minimum amount of light necessary to flower a plant?

Dave Cannabis needs quite a bit of light to grow dense heavy buds. It is considered a “high light” plant, which means that it requires a lot of light – full sun – to reach full genetic potential. In other words plants under a 400, 600 or 1000w lamp will produce the biggest tightest and fullest buds providing the plants receive all the other necessities they require – nutrients, air (CO2) above ground and oxygen below ground, heat and a suitable substrate to anchor the roots.

When plants receive less than optimum amounts of these necessities they do not reach full genetic potential. A 65w compact fluorescent lamp, CFL, supplies right at the minimum amount of light to produce “respectable” buds. But it does not supply enough light for most sativa-dominant strains to reach full genetic potential.

It takes a lot of light to penetrate the dense foliage in a garden. Small wattage lights cannot keep up with a 600w HP sodium.

This year I grew two plants in 11 liter containers, one sativa-dominant and the other indica-dominant under three 65w CFL lamps. The buds were nice and resinous, but the weight was low, about 30 percent less than if grown under a 600w HPS.

Career Move I am a student with aspirations to go into the horticultural field. I have much love for plants, especially marijuana. Do you know of any way I can get into the movement within an actual career field? I want the ability to help the marijuana movement.

Joe I receive about 10 such requests every week. A few years ago I got only 1-2 per week.

This marks a very exciting trend. Now there are many more young conscientious growers that are more interested in changing the world than making a shitload of money.

Education is the key to your future and success with your goals. Enroll in a local community college with a major in botany but take as many horticulture classes as possible. Work during summers at a nursery and do all the jobs possible. Learn everything you can about all plants. Get your hands dirty. Spend two years as a student studying horticulture and botany. Find a good advisor that will direct you into a good biology and or botany program. Continue with school and continue working with all plants during you time off. Get a good solid background in botany and horticulture both intellectual and practical.

Read everything you can about growing and breeding cannabis. Apply your knowledge from the university to our favorite plant. The reason I suggest you follow this path is because through all the years the breeders and growers that have had the best “luck” are all well educated with biology, botany or science degrees. You will definitely provide the most help for the cannabis movement as a well educated member.

If you live in Europe, Spain and Switzerland are the best countries to grow. In America, California is the best state to grow cannabis. Hit this site, http://www.oaksterdamuniversity.com/ to see the education opportunities available in California.

There are a total of 14 US states that have approved medicinal cannabis.

Always buy quality seeds from a reputable company such as Euphoria from Dutch Passion.

40 When to Water and Fertilize At flowering stage, how often should I water? How often should I put fertilizer in the water?

Wilo This question is impossible to give you a firm answer. I can only give you guidelines.

My best advice is to water when the plants need irrigating and fertilizer when they need nutrients. There are many variables that dictate a plant’s water and fertilizer consumption. The age of the plant, container size, soil texture, temperature, humidity, and ventilation all contribute to water needs. Change any one of these variables, and the water consumption will change. Good ventilation is essential to promote a free flow of fluids, transpiration, and rapid growth. The healthier a plant, the faster it grows and the more water it needs. Small plants with a small root system in small containers must be watered often. Water frequently–as soon as the soil surface dries out. If exposed to wind, the small plants will dry out very quickly.

I like to use simple rules of thumb or in this case the rule of finger. When you can stick your finger into the container of a one to two-month-old plant and it is dry down to the first knuckle, about an a half inch to an inch, below the surface, it is ready to water, that is as long as drainage is good. For example, four-week-old clones flowering in 2- to 3-gallon containers need to be irrigated once or twice daily. Flowering marijuana uses high levels of water to carry on rapid floral formation. Withholding the water stunts the flower formation. Plants that suffer wind stress dry out much faster. A moisture meter, about $30, will take much of the guesswork out of irrigating.

Remember that many times soil does will not hold the water evenly, and it develops dry pockets. Checking the moisture with a finger provides an educated guess but can damage the root system. A moisture meter will give an exact moisture reading without disturbing the roots. Lightly cultivating the soil surface will help the water penetrate the soil evenly and help avoid dry pockets.

As for fertilization, I recommend that you follow the manufacturer’s guidelines, because all fertilizers are not created equally.

Painting walls white is the easiest way to increase light around the perimeter of the garden.

Algae and Nitrogen If I remember correctly plants in hydro need nitrogen, but algae growth that leads to stem rot is a side effect. I’ve seen nitrogen filters online but thought they would be pointless. I am wondering if there is nitrogen isotope or usable mixed nitrogen molecule that can be absorbed by the plant but not absorbed by algae?

Marleys Ghost All higher plants need nitrogen and nitrogen is often associated with green leaves. Algae are green, but do not necessarily need nitrogen found in fertilizer to grow. Using scientific terms like nitrogen isotope and nitrogen molecule sound impressive but such terms are complicating the subject and missing the point. Nitrogen is part of the air we breathe and is most often readily available to plants via “grow” fertilizers.

Look at the conditions that cause algae growth and don’t get bogged down with scientific theory and terms. Algae grow on moist surfaces in the presence of light.

Remove one or both of the elements (light or moisture) and the algae will disappear.

Removing moisture is difficult but blocking light is very simple, just cover the growing medium with plastic or something to exclude the light and the algae cannot grow. You can also run an algaecide in the hydroponic nutrient solution.

Stem rot, pythium or damping-off, is promoted by excessive moisture and lack of air in the growing medium. Sure algae can lead to stem rot, but this is because similar conditions are required for algae growth and stem rot.

This heavy hitting BC Kush from Next Generation is an example of one of the many Kush strains available today.

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43

HIP HOP

Goldie Lookin Chain In 2008 the Goldie Lookin Chain (GLC) where the first Hip Hop group in the world to feature in Soft Secrets. The Goldie Lookin Chain are not only vocal as satirical musicians, yet they are also active in raising public awareness about serious social issue in the UK such as the dangers of 'Soap Bar' and 'Glass Weed'. Soft Secrets are therefore always with lazystrain open to what the GLC has to say in paper.

know where to look. Usually Chepstow is the best place.

Do you ever see any nice draw in Newport these days?

It’s far too expensive these days. It’s like fifty quid for two spliffs. I stick to cough medicine and vodka - itÅfs a better buzz too.

What's the best ganja youz smoked this year?

This year we went to Swansea for a camping holiday. Big G, our chief of security, brought 30 high grade hash cakes. We ate 27 of them before 9 o'clock and tried to burn some stuff in the sand dunes and went to sleep at 10. The next day it rained so we came home. I was stoned for 6 days.

When did the chain get involved with Newport County football team?

Mike Balls is looking for a coaching roll with the youth girlÅfs team. We have been hanging out with the Welsh rugby team too in a new bar in Cardiff called the Kuku club. ItÅfs a memberÅfs only club and we are now honoury members.

Did that parody 'Newport State of Mind' get on Mike's Balls?

It mainly seems to piss off our mate Steve who runs our local pub. He smashed up his front room with a cricket bat and went purple for 3 days.

The Goldie Lookin Chain hail from Newport in South Wales. The 'chain' itself is forged from it's full-time members; 2Hats, Adam Hussain, Billy Web, Eggsy, Maggot, Mike Balls, Mystikal, P. Xain. While the part-timers C. Live, DCI Burnside, Dipper Nan, Graham the Bear, Leeroy Fashions, Mc Flatpress, One Step Down, Rosco P and Stressed Armstrong, make up the missing links of the chain. (at least according to wikipedia).

Word is that the Goldie Lookin Chain have a new Christmas album out. Soft Secrets were of course interested to get a fresh perspective on the whole Newport scene again. Connecting up with the whole chain, in one place, at

one time, would however have been totally impracticable (and possibly dangerous) so it was arranged that the GLC would answer some quick-fire questions in their own time at home.

Soft Secrets : Is 'Glass Weed' still prevalent in Wales?

People got so into that weed that the hardcore now smoke windows and empty wine bottles. Those were great days.

Emphysema is now very prevalent in the Welsh valleys cause of that shit!!

What about the soapbar is it still on the streets?

Now solids with bits of plastic in it - that's a different story. You can still get that if you

How long did it take for the GLC to line up their own 'Newport State of Mind (Your Not From Newport)' track in reproach?

How long to you think? We did it in a day including shooting and editing the video.

What else have the chain been up to lately?

We have been learning dance moves and writing a film. We hope to put it all into motion next year. I have been doing an ambient album too.

How many links in the Chain have been to Amsterdam? What did youz think of it?

We have played Amsterdam a bunch. It a great city if youÅfre a sex tourist. ItÅfs a great city.

Do you think cannabis coffeeshops could happen over here in the UK? I thought there already were some? There are in Newport.

How many cheeseburgers could the GLC eat between them in one sitting?

I would say 3 each, maybe 4 at a push.

Depends how big they are.

What are the tastiest munchies available in Newport these days?

Mint poppets they are the best. Difficult to come by though.

Please tell us about some of Rhys / P. Xains inventions (the ones not pending patent).

I invented a special video aid to help you in the gym but I can't say too much about it. I'm also working on a machine called a 'Transmogrifier' but I doubt it will ever work.

Which new projects are the GLC currently working on?

Did you know that if you poured the contents of a bottle of wine into your ass it will get you drunk quicker than if you drink it.

I'm working on an invention for that too.

Many thanks to Rhys for answering these questions, and Emma (the GLC Minder) for arranging this interview.

Ask Ed — TM

“Ed Rosenthal is the guru of ganja”-- High Times

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tems because each diode emits light in an unusually narrow spectrum. The minerals used to make it determine LED fixtures the spectrum are more expens the diode emits.

HID lamps emit ive than HID lights, most of but they save their light in spectrums that money in the long run: are not very useful to the plant. With LEDs, fixtures UÊ LED lamps can be design use less than ed to provide half the plants the electricity with exactly of HIDs per the spectrum unit that they need of PAR light for maximum produced. At growth. $.10 a kilowat t, LEDs will save By tailoring the diodes’ $215 per light specyear when compa trum to plant requirements, red to the cost LEDs can be of running a more efficien 1000w HID t PAR produc twelve ers. HPS lamps hours a day. deliver more total light per watt of input, UÊ LEDs last but LEDs are longer than HID twice as efficien bulbs.

UÊ LEDs need t in PAR light per watt little to no as HPS lamps. cooling That means equipment, a 200w LED lamp in contrast can be substit to HIDs uted for a that require 400w HPS lamp, air or water and the 300w cooling, LED lamps ventilation system can be substit s, or air condiuted for 600w HPS lamps. tioners.

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SYSTEM some blue.DRIP This is a small S OUTDOORS consideration Just as with any other produc compa Drip irrigation red to the heat t, manufacturers is a 90% more lamps produc HPS standards differ. A efficient e, which has method’ of few manufacturers delivering water to be vented LEDs are convenient LED lamps emit . to add to plants green light NASA virtually no heat, outhighly efficient light use because they are lightweight thanthe has shown doors other metho so they producers, and emit far to be be placed very ds. That is can with plants, and e less HPS lamps. They are much highereffectiv close to the garden than floodin amber is also small, so they are easy heat than g an area using are not encum and sometimes Stealth LED™ grow to install. The added. Most a hose, bered with tubes light manufacturersor overhead for air or reduces energy consumpti has a 50,000 hour lifetime and include a fewspraying. The result iswater cooling, white light emitter heavy ventila more water deliver systems by 60-70%. on as compared with HPS or MH s in their units. tion, or any ed to the root of the other zone These diodes actuall than any problems or other waterin y emit a combin inconvenienc of HID lamps. es ation of red, g system. Drip irrigati green, and blue has on other spectrums, which benefits that make it useful.Light from LEDs of a 1000w HID bine to appear is easy tocomIt can be combin system. install, easy to white. White LEDs emit very little with ed lights help design and is HPS and MH heat to both supply An advantage expens inlamps, so there to the plants. The light and can be placed very close ive. useful wavele of using a combin spreads at a 120° angle. is no tion reason to scrap ngths for the plants and soften aof HPS and from Maxx Power has your digital Drip system LED lights is the eerie purple a built in digital driver This LED HID lamp. s use pressu Adding LEDs that you tors the power going can ensure that that monire from color generated by to your other public water the to the combination you are providi lights increas adjusts accordingly to the bulbs 100 times a second and es the amoun ng all the - spectrums of red andsystem, gravity or a pump blue light. Luckily t of light deliver ensure that maximum to deliver that plants need water output is being , the spectru achieved. ed to the garto thrive. If m range is where it is wsanted.den. For instance, more HID lamps usually wider Spaa garden using than the bandghetti lines tap rather than a 400w used, that guar- off a main deliverHPS can be increas LEDs are anteed for each they add PAR y line that is is ed to the equiva connected to emitter. light, but most of the lent of increas 600 watts using the water source 120 | MARIJ e is in the yellow 100 watts of LEDs. emitter on the . An UANA GROW ER’S HANDB other end of spectrum. AddAdding ing 300 watts of For O Oeven K distribution the spaghe red and blue LEDs creates ti line contro , use tLEDs instead the equivalent ls the rate at water through its porous a water soaker hose, which “leaks” increases PAR light, but which water material. flows. not in the yellow spectrum.

As with other plumbing system eastern U.S., s there are all kinds and other areas, MARIJUANA of accessories GROWER’S H there may be ANDBOOK | to deal with no need to irrigate proble 121 ms that may plants at all or be encountered to use it as plants just a supplem by or gardens. Some ent to natural sources. of these are garIn areas where dens located there is a summe on different levels, remote drought such r gardens and as parts of southe different size rn Europe varying and the North plants with American west, water needs.

The plants can irrigation fertilize is required or be the plants will d using a fertilize die. r siphon placed Outdoor plants in the water line. and gardens can be irrigated using Irrigation system a hose that fills s vary tremen a trough in reservoir, using dously their complexity a gravity powere resulting from d canal they that delivers the tasks are designed water to a group to accomplish. of plants or most efficien Store bought kits tly using a drip are suitable system. for most backOverhead waterin yard gardens.

Even simpler g is very ineffici is the pinhole because of loss ent pail or bag irrigation. to evaporation A container is and the with shotgun approa filled water. The water ch of deliver ing water in slowly drips areas where there to the desired area throug are no crop roots. h small holes Once pierced the plants are drilled or flowering, overhe into the reservo ir. It delivers ad water slowly is dangerous water to the buds to the plant so which are susthat little is lost. ceptible to attack by mold when moisture is present. thrive under those specifi c conditions.

Indica plants Thus, in any developed in season, no matter central weathe 292 | MARIJ what the U A N A Asia G R O Wbetwee the r, some plants E R ’ S H An and 35th latitud N D B O O 25th will do better K where the weathe es, others. than r is changeable.

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8-9

45 STARTING A SIX PLANT MEDICAL GARDEN

FOLIAR FEEDING

I recently got my medical marijuana card and want to start a 6-plant garden. I have a flower area 140 cm x 110 cm x 170 cm tall, lit with a 400w HPS. Is that enough light?

Dan Your garden has an area of about 1.5 square meters (M2). To grow high quality buds, plants require an adequate amount of light. Varieties differ in the intensity of the light they need to produce bountiful yields of high quality buds. Indica type plants require at least 500 watts per M2. Indica-Sativa hybrids need at least 575 watts. Sativa-Indica hybrids require about 650 watts per M2.

Ed Rosenthal is recognized worldwide as a leading authority on marijuana. In his 30-plus years as America’s “guru of ganja” he has written or edited more than a dozen books about marijuana cultivation and social policy that cumulatively have sold over one million. His first book, Marijuana Grower’s Guide, is the only title on marijuana cultivation to be reviewed by The New York Times Book Review. After almost two decades, his Ask Ed advice column continues to answer questions on all matters of marijuana from readers around the world.

Use high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps with reflectors that direct the light down to the plants. If your garden is filled with Indicas, use a minimum of 750 watts. Lamps of this wattage are not generally available. Instead, use two 400-watt lamps, or increase the yield by supplying more light. If they are available in your area, switch to a 1000-watt lamp.

Is foliar feeding necessary?

Brinka No. Plants can use their roots to deliver all the nutrients necessary for growth. However, they can absorb nutrients though their leaf stomata. These pore-like openings are used to exchange gasses such as oxygen and carbon dioxide and to regulate temperature and turgidity through transpiration and water absorption. If the water contains dissolved nutrients they are also absorbed.

There are several advantages to foliar feeding to supplement root feeding. First, the nutrients are used as much as 20 times more efficiently than when they are provided through the roots. They get directly to the plants. With root feeding only a small portion of the available nutrients are used.

Another advantage is that it gets to the plants much faster. This is especially helpful when there are indications of a nutrient deficiency.

For the Indica-Sativa hybrids about 900 watts of light are required. There are no 900-watt lamps so you could use either a 400 and 600-watt lamp or a 1000watt lamp if they are available.

Generally speaking you can dilute the nutrient solution to 25% and spray the leaves until they drip. Gardeners often spray the plants with compost tea, which provides available nutrients and also coats the leaves with beneficial micro-organisms that protect it from pathogens. If there is a dark period in the light regimen, spray in the early part of the lit period. Don’t spray more than once a week. Don’t spray after the first four weeks of flowering.

You can use less fertilizer in the water/nutrient solution since the plants are getting some directly to the leaves.

The Sativa-Indica plant garden requires a minimum of 1050 watts. You could skimp a little by using 400 and 600-watt lamps together or a single 1000-watt lamp. The plants produce more with more light so you might consider two 600-watt lamps.

Before trying this on your whole garden try it on a plant, or a part of a plant, first. Make sure to be a careful observer. If the plants are doing well continue, but if the plants react poorly to it, try another approach. One common problem is the water/nutrient solution is too concentrated. Try a more dilute solution.

LOW STRESS TRAINING What is LST? Buck LST, short for low stress training, is a technique used to keep plants at a low height and to fill out the canopy. It can be used indoors or out. Auxin is a growth hormone produced by the growing tip that inhibits the growth of side branches. A common way of stopping its production is to cut off the top of the growing tip, Then the side branches, now uninhibited, grow in a rosette around the cut tip.

LST inhibits auxin production by bending the main branch, including the growing tip, so it is in a sideways position. As it continues to grow it is trained to continue horizontal growth. The side branches exhibit gravitropism; they orient themselves based on gravity. Since the stem is horizontal the branches start growing vertically. Each branch becomes a vertical stem. Keeping the main stem horizontal saves a lot of vertical space so it is convenient to use when it is at a premium. This is not its only advantage. It is an excellent way to grow large plants. Each of the side branches off the main stem becomes the equivalent of a vertical main stem. The single plant can spread out and become much larger than it would have if the main stem had been growing vertically.

There are many ways to keep the stem horizontal. Stakes, screens, and ties are often used. Indoors, the stem is often bent in a spiral within the container to conserve space within the canopy. However, in some circumstances it may be more convenient to keep the stem horizontal and straight. The advantage of that is that the new vertical stems line up in a straight row. Other advantages are that the plant does not grow as tall as it would have untrained, and does not have the stereotypical symmetrical canopy found in both top pruned and unpruned plants. Outdoors, to grow the largest plant possible, start it early, perhaps under lights indoors. Use supplemental lighting to prevent flowering. Set the light cycle so it breaks up the dark period for a few minutes several times each evening. Give the plant LST so it has a lot of vertical “stems”, each ready to produce side branches. Then let it grow out.

A similar technique is grow a plant in a container without pruning its top until it reaches a certain height, then turning it sideways so the main stem is horizontal. The container has to be modified so the roots can be watered from the new top and drained from the new bottom. The new side, which was the open top, must be sealed. The branches that were growing sideways will reorient themselves vertically and grow their own side branches.

Air cooling misters and mister fans (pictured) are used to lower the temperature of an outdoor space. Both produce micro particles of water, which quickly evaporates, cooling the air as much as 10 degrees.

46 SEEDED BUD I own a farm near Rome. I planted all my stash seeds so there are hundreds of plants of all sizes and styles growing on the property. I picked a few plants and found most of the buds were seeded. Some of the buds are ready, others still have unripe seeds. What should I do?

Fabrizio Pick the buds as the seeds mature. Dry them. If the buds are all different and they can’t be identified by variety you may wish to process them in bulk. However if you can keep the plants or at least groups of plants separated, you will have varietals. Separate the seeds from the buds. This is done by getting the buds crispy dry and then rubbing them so the seeds fall out. Another method is to rub the buds against a mesh screen that is held tight using a frame. The holes are large enough for the vegetation to fall through, but not the seeds. Keep each group of seeds separate and mark them.

Marijuana produces THC to protect the buds from predators and disease. As the plant becomes more invested in reproduction it invests more energy into THC production so the ripening seed is most protected part of the plant. Marijuana from seeded bud has more trichomes on it when it’s growing than sinsemilla. You might notice that the seed cover, before it is disturbed, is covered with trichomes. It’s just that when you process it, many of the glands are lost. Other problems with seeded bud are that it produces much less usable material than sinsemilla and that it is often, although not always, contaminated with bits of broken or immature seed. If the now ground bud is seed bit free, it is suitable for smoking. If not, it should be processed into kief, water-hash or used for edibles.

LIGHTING A CLOSET I have a 400-watt metal halide (MH) lamp lighting a closet that measures 80 x 160 cm. Is this enough light? Should I add another lamp during flowering?

Sergio R. The 400-watt lamp provides enough light to grow the plants vegetatively. It will also produce nice buds in a garden filled with indica varieties. However, more light is required to flower indica-sativa and sativa-indica hybrids. This light might be supplied most easily using four 120 cm T-5 fluorescents placed on either side of the garden. They will produce the extra light that these varieties need to produce abundant tight, potent buds.

PREMATURE HARVEST Can you harvest plants before the hairs change to colors from all white? Will you still get high from the buds?

Adam

The bottom branches have been removed to increase air circulation and decrease humidity. The lower portions were not receiving any light so they were not producing sugars and were costing the plant energy.

The plants are weeks away from being ripe. There are some trichomes, the glands that contain THC on the flowers, but their caps are only partially filled with the THC resin and the terpenes, which supply marijuana its odor and personality. These flowers are immature and not ready to be picked. They have not reached their potential.

They will be loose and will get you somewhat high but won’t provide you with the satisfying high you receive using fully mature bud. Would you eat a green peach?

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48 TAKING CUTTINGS

SEEDS FROM HERMAPHRODITIC PLANTS

I just got my license for medical use. We are allowed to have 12 plants in any stage of growth and 42 grams of dried medicine. I am thinking of starting 12 seedlings of two different varieties. I will be using feminized seeds so I will have 12 plants. I will select the best for cloning until I have 6 cuttings growing vegetatively until the next batch is ready.

I had one plant in my garden that was a hermaphrodite. She mostly pollinated herself, although the buds on the other plants were very slightly seeded. Are seeds from hermaphroditic plants viable? Will the seeds from the hermaphrodite x female be hermaphrodites? Are any of the seeds worth starting?

Rogier

When should I take the cuttings?

Santos

The seeds are viable. The seeds from the hermaphroditic plant are likely to be mostly hermaphroditic. They will yield lower quality, seeded buds. The seeds from the hermaphroditic x female crosses will result in some female and some hermaphroditic plants. It will be hard to differentiate the true females from the hermaphrodites until the plants start to flower. By that time you will have placed a lot of time and energy into growing those plants. Trying to “work” with hermaphroditic plants by removing flowers as they appear is usually a futile effort.

It’s easier to start with regular seeds and sex them, feminized seeds or clones rather than seeds that produce plants that will be suspect during their entire flowering cycle. So, the seeds are not worth sowing.

Take the cuttings just as the plants go into flowering. If you took a cutting from each of the 12 plants you would be double the limit. If you took 6 cuttings you would have to discard 6 of the plants that are growing. Neither is a wonderful prospect.

One idea is to set up two separate sections in your garden, the cloning/vegetative section and the flowering space. Start all 12 plants in the vegetative section. After a month place one of the plants in the flowering room. Then each week place an additional plant in the room. Approximately 8 weeks after placing the first plant in the flowering section you will be harvesting it. At the same time you would be taking your first cutting.

The problem is that to stay within the limits you would have to take the cutting before you know how good the plant is, and if you have an exceptional plant among the first eight, which went into the flowering room without having a cutting taken. Instead, after you harvest the plant use regeneration to bring it back into vegetative growth. This takes about three weeks. Meanwhile you have a chance to evaluate the bud and yield. If you like the plant, let it continue in regenerate, if not destroy it. Do this for each plant as it matures. Eventually you will eliminate all but the best plants.

The regenerated plants can be placed back into flowering once they have grown a bit. Most varieties grow extensive branching when they are regenerated. Prune off the smaller weaker ones so the plant puts its energy into growing the remaining ones larger.

Once the plants regenerate, you can take clones from them to build up the numbers to replace plants that were eliminated. Once the population has stabilized, take a cutting for cloning from each plant as it goes into flowering.

If clones are available at dispensaries or patient self-help centers you may be able to purchase clones. This is a lot easier than maintaining your own clone center for several reasons. You don’t have to worry whether your clone has rooted, you are able to try preselected plants of varieties that you are interested in trying, and it speeds up your garden.

WATER STRATEGY FOR HYDRO UNIT I have a 12 plant hydro garden using expanded clay pellets and a pump to trickle the nutrient solution. Do I need to let the nutrients trickle 24 hours a day?

Kanux Yes. Trickle the water almost continuously. The roots metabolize and absorb water continuously since the plant continues life processes and growth both during the light and dark period. They absorb oxygen (O) from, and release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the water.

When water trickles over the pebbles they become covered in a thin film of water that has a high surface to volume ratio; a high proportion of the water has contact with air. The high surface/volume ratio facilitates the transfer of CO2 to the air and dissolving O2 from the air to the water. The large air spaces between the pebbles allow a lot of air movement so the roots always have access to O2. When water is pulsed so the stream ends and the water drains, a vacuum is created, which draws new air into the container. Then the stream begins again and creates a venturi effect, pulling air out, and of course, drawing new air in.

I had a system in which the pebbles received a stream of water from spaghetti tubing without drippers attached. The water was on for 5 minutes and then off for 1 minute.

The containers were placed in a tray that that had a drain that was raised 5 cm, so they sat in a pool of water that was always moving and draining into the reservoir below. This served two purposes: It created a redundancy- if the pump should stop unexpectedly, there was enough water in the reservoir to keep the plants unstressed for at least a day. The other is that the roots grew out of the containers and slurped water directly from the reservoir.

The roots that grew into the water looked different than the roots in the clay pebbles.

They were thicker and did not have the fuzzy root-hairs that grew from the roots in the container. They looked very healthy because they were growing in oxygenated nutrient-rich water. These roots spurred canopy growth.

Balconies and terraces can be used to flower plants. When used in conjunction with an indoor garden the size of the crop can increase dramatically. In mild and sub-tropical areas they can be used all year long.

Long winter nights force the plants to flower as soon as they are placed outside.

49 REGENERATION

72 PLANTS

A friend of mine just recently gave me 4 plants that needed a home. They flowered them earlier than they wanted to (when they were about 25-40 cm tall) in an attempt to get some buds before they were kicked out of their house. I’ve set up a grow area for them and would like to know the best practices for reverting a plant back to vegetative growth. I’ve already got them under a 24-hour light cycle, but is there anything else I can do to help speed up the process and stress the plants as least as possible?

Jordan

I live in Michigan, the 13th state to legalize medical marijuana. I am building a place for caregivers/patients to grow their medical marijuana legally. The maximum number of plants each patient can have is 12 and the max number of patients one caregiver can have is 6, including himself. My question to you is, how big should each grow room be with the maximum number of plants per caregiver being 72. How much power should each room have? Does each room need its own water source?

AJax Pr1me

To regenerate a plant, leave some vegetation and parts of buds on the plant when you are harvesting it and then place it back in vegetative under 20-24 hours of light daily and give them grow, rather than flowering formula fertilizer. Within a few weeks the plant will start growing vegetatively again. Once it has fully re-vegetated it can be re-flowered.

REMOVE FAN LEAVES

You are allowed to grow a total of 72 plants but there is no limit as to how large a plant can be, so it would be in your interest to produce the largest plants possible.

Let’s start from the trial plants, the ones that you will grow out from seeds or clones you have obtained. You will choose the initial varieties from these plants. Take clones from these plants that will also be grown out, then after evaluating the results select the ones you want to use. Grow out all the clones except for the plants you have selected as mothers, which are kept in vegetative.

I recently read an article that recommended removing most of the fan leaves during the last half of flowering to enhance the size of the buds. It said that once flowering starts the large fan leaves have served their purpose. Is this true? Just about everyone else says don’t cut them.

DJ. Dickter

Figure that your plants will be in vegetative cycle for about 10 weeks and then in flowering for about eight, a total of 18 weeks. All of the plants in vegetative can be kept in a single room. Keep the flowering plants in a separate room.

Everyone else is right. The leaves, which cost the plant energy and material to construct, are factories, which use light energy to convert CO2 and H2O (water) into sugar. The sugar is used as the core for building new tissue as well and for energy.

When you snip leaves, you remove energy sources that are used to help the buds grow and for them to ripen.

Dividing 72 by 18 results in 4, the number of plants that are to be started each week for the full regimen. Each week four large clones are cut from the selected plants to begin their 18-week journey. Once they have rooted they are placed in planting mix or large individual module hydroponic containers. They will remain in the vegetative room for a total of 10 weeks. During this time they will be given enough room and large enough rooting space to support a plant that will grow to a diameter of approximately one meter. The height is not as important as the width.

The only time leaves should be removed from plants with developing buds is when the fan leaves shade the buds. Although the leaves provide energy it is more important for the buds to get direct light.

BUYING CLONES A local dispensary has several varieties of clones for sale. Should I buy them or should I start my own? I want to harvest every couple of weeks. I go through about 30 grams a week.

Dan Too You are better off buying clones. You have a legal plant limit in Colorado, so if you grow clones you are spending part of that limit on growing plants that are readily available. Buying rooted clones speeds up your process since it takes about three weeks to root clones, eliminates the time and worry involved in cloning and gives you the opportunity to try different varieties.

You should have two gardens. The first is to vegetate the clones you have purchased for one month. There will always be two plants in this space. Every two weeks a vegetating plant graduates to the flowering space. It will spend approximately 8 weeks in the space before it is mature. Varieties differ in flowering time so you may have to adjust the schedule a bit.

The plants will start out occupying a canopy space of 925 cm2, but by the time they leave the space they will be occupying about 8,400 cm2. So, you can figure that each plan uses an average of about 9325 cm2.

After about 10 weeks its time for the four plants to go into the flowering room, where they will spend the next 8 weeks or so under 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of light. They will each occupy a space of about 1.5 m2. They are most conveniently lit using a single 1,000-watt lamp for each plant. If the largest lamp available is 600 watts use three lights over two plants.

These are going to be big plants, so the light should be kept high above them. There is a misconception that light energy dissipates with distance. The reality is that as the light beam spreads with distance its beam becomes less intense, but it delivers the same amount of energy. If the reflectors and their placement are designed to deliver the light to the plant canopy rather than disperse it to the walls or unoccupied space, the plants receive light from many directions, so less vegetation is in shadow. The other advantage of having the lights elevated from the plants is that there is less chance of foliage burn from heat and the plants get a more even light distribution.

If the light were just a foot or two above the top of the plant the top canopy would receive far more light than the lower parts of the plant. When the light comes at a greater distance from different directions as a result of the wide beam from each lamp, the whole plant is more evenly illuminated.

50

HOME GROWERS

Southern Growing I’m a grower down on the South coast of England and I’m painfully aware of how bad the current situation concerning good quality bud has become. You can go in to any city, town or village around here and get a bit of bud without too much hassle if you know where to look. Some of you may be lucky and get a decent gear but pay the high price of £10 a gram, while others may end up with the run-of-the-mill crap that seems to be selling everywhere these days for around £20-25.

I, for one, can't be arsed to hunt around trying to find a decent bit of smoke that is going to cost me a small fortune. This is why I grow; not for the potential high value rewards that can be made in this business, but because I love a good bit of bud and I resent having to pay a king’s ransom for it.

My aim over the coming issues is to help people to grow good bud easily so that they no longer have to buy off a hoodie or some multi-tasking crack head!

I am going to start nice and easy with a grow report on the lovely Super Skunk from Nirvana seeds, which I have a particular fondness for, plus it is a strain that just seems to love me back! (You will know what I mean).

I have been growing it for several years as I find it still cannot be beaten for quality or quantity when compared to your ‘standard’ and even most ‘high grade’ bud that you will buy off your next-door neighbour’s teenage son's mate you get the picture!

“Compared to your ‘standard’ and even most ‘high grade’ bud that you will buy off your nextdoor neighbour’s, teenage son’s mate.... you get the picture!”

I have been growing for about seven years now and only recently have I decided that something needs to change, be it the (stupid) law or the dealers need to stand up and say NO to crap bud!

So this column is my contribution to help enlighten/educate like-minded people about how important it is to know what you are doing when producing a garden of beautiful cannabis plants. We can all stick a seed in a pot and let it grow, but as most people who are passionate about growing find out, this is barely even the tip of the peak you need to scale if you want truly awesome weed.

By Smokedout

It gives me great pleasure to share this grow with you all as I have just moved grow rooms from a cramped space to somewhere my ladies can properly flourish! On top of that, I have ditched the ‘old faithful’ 2x 600w HPS lights, (although these will reappear at some later date as they are such good lights), and have opted for a mixture of 300W LED Bloom lighting, 150W HPS with electronic ballasts and 250W CFL lights, to save a bit of energy consumption.

One thing I am keeping the same is the method of growing, since I have a strong preference for the Wilma 10 pot hydroponic drip system from Atami.

Lighting In this issue I will start by covering the 150W HPS with electronic ballasts, two of which I purchased from a grow shop on the outskirts of town for £300!

I know that this sounds a lot, and it is really, but using two of them is supposed to be the equivalent of a 600W. For this reason alone they have to be worth a go!

HPS is a great light to grow under, 2x 150W = 300W = less electricity consumption, and as a last point of interest, they run a lot cooler than a 600W and come with a mirrored diffuser for better spread of lumens over your leaf canopy.

These will be used in the flowering period.

I have used House and Garden nutrients for five years on my beloved super skunk plants and they seem to adore it, much more than the B.A.C Topflower I used to use. They (House and Garden) have a good range of products starting with root enzymes, veg and bloom pH adjusters, right through to bloom stimulators and flush-out solution.

The Wilma 10 pot hydro system is a recirculating system, and House and Garden produce a great set of nutrients for this type of system called Aqua Flakes, one of the new range of feeds that are supposed to be ‘pH-perfect’, meaning that there should be no fluctuations in your pH values once set to your desired level. In this system it is between 5.8 and 6.1.

These 150W lights are a good alternative to running a 250W but in no way compare to the mighty 600W.

Medium There are many different media on the market from countless reputable dealers that are great for all types of growing methods/applications. These come with or without added nutrients and other goodies such as trichoderma and worm castings. I have always used expanded clay pellets (LECCA), small rounded balls that come in bags of about 25ltrs. I find these cheap and easy to use as they retain little water compared to media such as coco. This is good for me as I like to leave my pumps on 24-hours a day to allow my plants access to as much feed water as they want.

The Grow With the basic set up covered, it’s time to get down to the bit that we all care most about: growing our lovely bud!

After my 20 clones had rooted and were split into two batches (10 for the 300W LED for another issue, and 10 for the 150W HPS for this issue), I set my 10 ladies into their new home for the next 2-3 weeks so that they could establish a healthy root system and bulk up a little bit more before they get moved to the bloom room later.

Nutrients Again, this is an area in which there is so much variety that it is hard to say which product/brand is the best/worst to use, and I guess the nutrients are only as good as you are at the end of the day!

To help them on they were placed under a bank of 4x5ft 35W fluorescent fittings, which give off little-to-no heat and allow the plants to grow right up to the lamps and absorb all that yummy light goodness.

52

HOME GROWERS / SHOPREVIEW spurt for a week or two, which pushed them to a height of around 60-80cm.

Feed was been upped to 1.6 EC now as the plants were starting to react to the change in photoperiod (light regime e.g.

12/12 or 18/6) and we are already seeing white pistils starting to emerge from each flower, growth looks impressive and well formed considering it is only getting light form a 150W!

Some people will think I’m a bit mad to use only bloom nutrients throughout my plants’ life, but I have never found this has stunted or affected my growth/bloom at all.

The ladies started their cycle on a mild solution of feed water at around 1.0 EC for a week and then I started upping it at the start of week 2 and it finished at 1.4 by the end of week three of veg.

Usually around this time my plants are around the 12-18-inch mark and are showing off a nice sturdy main stem and plenty of branching with deep green leaves wanting more light.

Flowering The plants have had a great start and are all looking healthy and are uniform in growth, so now is the time to move them in to the all important flowering room. I love this room, it being where the magic happens. To see a load of cuttings come through and finish coated in resin and stinking to high heaven is just wondrous.

Frankly, I could lose myself in there all day

looking at the glistening flowers plumping up all around me.

As I’m using the Wilma 10 pot, moving the plants around is really quite easy as I can remove the drippers, pick the pot up and move it on to another 10-pot system inside the flowering room.

Once the plants have adapted to the new environment the feeding schedule begins again. We start with a 1.4 EC under a 150W HPS lamp with an electronic ballast for supposed better use of energy. The lights are slightly smaller than a 250W but are extremely bright and give off very little heat close to the lamp. The light is placed about 16-inches above the plants for the first four days to give the plants a chance to adapt to the sudden jump in light intensity, and then moved down to 10-inches from the canopy by day 10.

As with all HPS lighting, the plants picked up a bit of vigour and had a little growth

Over the next two weeks the EC level is upped to around 1.8 and things are looking good for the super skunks under the 150W's. The buds are starting to form defined nuggets and all the plant is looking as healthy as she possibly could. This is when we crack out the House and Garden Shooting Powder, which is worth its weight in gold. This little treasure gives the plants a mighty phosphorous boost for three weeks (starting at week 5 of flowering, up to week 8, before flushing for a week for good measure at the end), and it has a massive effect on the size, smell and taste of your harvest. Every time I use this it amazes me. You can literally see the buds fatten up every time you are in the room. I’ve had Buds that have doubled in size after using this stuff and they always stay tight and dense.

By the start of Week 6 I am starting to feel a little bit anxious. I’m looking at my garden and instead of seeing the fat, luscious buds in front of me I’m used to seeing, I have smaller than usual buds that look a little bit airy and lacking something!

I checked my temperatures, which stay around 22-24 C constantly, the nutrient solution and the humidity and they all are perfectly acceptable. Could it be the lights? I know that I’ve only got a 150W over these, but if the hype was correct I should have my normal fat glistening buds by now. Instead I have

CleverGreen, Telford A unique shopping experience best describes CleverGreen, Telford. The shop is one of a kind due to its location in the roof of a large premises and the fact that it’s the only Hydroponics Hypermarket in the UK. Mick, the owner, will serve all your horticultural requirements, no matter how big or small and can provide over 15 years of horticultural experience, as well as an established network of suppliers so any technical queries are going to be answered!

CleverGreen was established in May 2007 and in that time have distributed all over the UK. The website: www.clevergreen.co.uk is increasing its traffic everyday as Mick is keen to establish his business both online and in retail.

A complete range of nutrients is available on line and in store. Brands avail-

able include Canna, Ferro, BioBizz, Atami B’Cuzz, Vitalink & Advanced.

CleverGreen can offer 32 different types of hydroponic shades; the shop also has 35 different Hydroponic Grow lamps in stock and particularly good saving can be made on their budget shades available in store.

All sizes of Secret Jardin hydroponics tents available from stock and online and Clever Green are official distributors of the TrimPro trimming machines.

Be sure to drop in!

CleverGreen: Park Street, Telford, Shropshire TF1 3AE (t) 01952 257 200 Open: Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00

four plants in the middle that are looking ok not brilliant, and six plants on the edges that just need more light than they are getting.

This is a pain as it means that the plants are not using the nutrient as efficiently as they could be because the lack of light intensity means photosynthesis happens at a much slower rate!

Unfortunately, come harvest time the buds hadn’t swelled much more and the overall dried yield was only a fraction of what I’ve achieved with the same set up (excluding the lights). But judging by the ever-present stench of the super skunk, she didn’t seem to care that she didn’t get as much light as she wanted, as she still stank to high heaven. Plus the taste was just as good, so all was not lost.

OVERALL These 150W lights are a good alternative to running a 250W but in no way compare to the mighty 600W. I would recommend using them for veg lights or as a flowering light for the first 3-4 weeks, then up the wattage to a minimum of 400W for the remaining time.

Unfortunately they just don’t deliver the goods to flower a decent crop of tight buds from start to finish.

Part 2 of this article which will cover 20 super skunks grown under a 300W LED bloom light, will be printed in two editions time. In the next issue I will be covering the mother/vegetation room.

With tips and pics of propagation, vegetative stage and storage space within the grow room, along with some of the essentials that will be needed to make your grow go a little bit smoother.

Happy growing and smoking fellow stoners!

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54

SHOPREVIEW

Bush Planet / Grow City / City Grow The first “germination cell” from Bushplanet was opened in July 1997 in the Viennese city centre. The guys signed a contract with an already existing business to sub-let just 20 square meters. This made the small scale Bushplanet the first enterprise in Vienna where professional grow shop gear and head shop products were sold over the counter - in practice, it was essentially the very first real Head & Growshop in the Austrian capital.

was not prolonged. Hemp was no longer classified as a decorative plant, but once it had ripened, was seen as a THC producer.

Where hemp had once been seen as a simple agricultural product, it was now criminalised and Stivi was convicted as an offender. According to the court he was responsible for bringing to market a huge quantity of THC, which landed him a 20 month suspended sentence. So the focus returned to the core business that had grown steadily.

GROW CITY – Europe’s biggest GrowCentre at the edge of Vienna complete working grow systems (with a host of plants in them), under realistic conditions on the premises. So you as a customer can get a very accurate picture of how an appropriately designed set-up is put together and how it operates.

The place where it all began: Der Bushplanet Head & Growshop in the centre of Vienna Thanks to the rapidly rising number of customers it was soon apparent that more space was needed, and about 18 months after opening, the whole shop was taken over for use – bringing the space up to around 300 square metres.

Since 1998, Bushplanet had been taking advantage of the Austrian legislative situation, whereby it is legal to offer hemp plants ‘for decorative purposes’. This was the beginning of a mixed industry that further crystallized out over the course of the following years. As a consequence of the growing demand there was even a real “clone factory” set up which, in addition to its own selections, also delivered a lot of original genetic material from Paradise Seeds, Greenhouse and Advanced Hydroponics.

After Bushplanet had become the first Austrian firm issued with a government permit for the hemp plant, the production of clones flourished. That lasted until 2003, after which repression from the government increased and more and more often a grow op ended with the plant material being seized by the police.

There was another reason why the Austrian prosecutor had specifically targeted our company: co-founder and business leader Stivi Wolyniec was not in the business just to simply make money from the hemp plant; he threw himself into the cause whole-heartedly, and pled for legalisation of this ancient culture plant. To this end he organised among other things the ‘hemp fire’, a political demonstration with the aim of full and open distribution of cannabis.

The demonstrations took place from 1998 until 2003, each year attracting masses of people into the Viennese city centre.

Eventually the production of clones was forced to halt, because the agreement between Bushplanet and the authorities

Headshop-area in Bushplanet Head & Growshop In 2006 the Bushplanet team began to brainstorm over the idea of how they might completely re-invent what was meant by the term “grow shop”. Actually, it was anything but easy to find a suitable location for this ambitious project. But eventually everything was sorted out: we were given access to space. Lots and lots of space.

You’ll also find yourself at the right place for asking questions. The 25 members of staff are all hemp lovers, who between them have more than 100 years of cannabis growing experience. And they all honour the Bushplanet motto: 'Grow Together', which means that at for every problem a fitting, custom-made solution is sought. In this, attention to the individual customer central. So you can be absolutely sure that with us you are in the right hands. Roman, the man from Bushplanet GROW CITY, has so far developed, mounted and tested the lighting set ups of more than 300 Bushplanet customers.

While there were only a few weeks to go before the Cultiva Hennep Beurs, we threw as much manpower as possible into the task of finding a suitable location, and this was how we came across and moved in to the perfect place on the outskirts of Vienna. In the direct vicinity of Europe's largest shopping centre, SCS, and well supplied with road connections bringing traffic from all points of the compass.

The idea had become a reality, but there was still the need for a competent partner.

After the presentation of the Bushplanet GROW CITY concept at the Cultiva beurs, suddenly everything developed a rapid tempo. The feedback was gigantic and leading entrepreneurs from the cannabis industry were immediately prepared to support as partners the concept of Europe's biggest Grow-Center.

With a presentation area of 1000 square meters and another 1000 square metres of shop space, now all customers, from beginners to professionals, could be helped throughout the grow process. And all of this served in at least five European languages.

Whether you turn up asking a question in German or English, Slovakian, Czech or Hungarian, you will be given a knowledgeable answer in your own language.

The large-scale ambiance of this GrowCenter makes a stroll along the aisles of the different departments a feast for all the senses. Here you can not only see, ask and listen, but also smell, feel and test, as well as check out many different and

Big, modern, on top of the game – at GROW CITY there’s something for everyone In addition to such classical knowledge, Bushplanet GROW CITY offers its partners a platform for the presentation of new products and services. So there are branch-specific workshops and there are courses held, such as on how to work with and slice plants for cloning.

The plan to establish Europe's largest growing centre has been achieved, and with it the long-held dream to establish Bushplanet GROW CITY as an epicentre of cannabis culture has been made real.

Should there ever be a shop sign painted above the window, that says something about the fairly new, then it will be an image of contemporary design, with the emphasis on multifacetedness and individual attention.

In order to be able to offer all our customers from Vienna who need to make use of public transport a more optimal service, in mid-November 2010 the new Bushplanet CITY GROW shop was

opened. This outlet is situated barely 500 metres from our head office, in a discrete garden. Discretion is a concept that we - just like our customers - attach a lot of value to. That is something we learned to our cost on visiting one of our branches. After we had made a couple of photos in the shop in which a customer was visible, we were approached by this man with a request to re-do the photos with him not recognisable. We guaranteed him immediately photos in which he no longer appears in shot.

CITY GROW Shop offers a wide variety of gods too Bushplanet CITY GROW offers in its 400 square metres the most extensive selection of growing gear and grow supplies in Vienna. In our building you can choose from an extensive selection of products, and our other affiliate shops also offer the complete range, combined with any kind of advice you can imagine.

Bushplanet is really easy to find on the Internet too: type in: www.bushplanet. com and you can see our entire range before you have even set foot in one of our shops. And if you already now what you want you can simply order it online.

But deep in our hearts we, the Bushplanet team, much prefer that we meet our customers personally, so that they can fully profit from our wealth of experience and extensive know-how.

Bushplanet GROW CITY Industriestraße D/5 2345 Brunn am Gebirge Austria Tel: 43-(0)2236 – 31 55 690 www.growcity.com Bushplanet Head & Growshop Esterhazygasse 32-34 1060 Vienna Tel: 43-(0)1 – 585 3717 www.bushplanet.com Bushplanet CITY GROW Mariahilferstraße 115/45 (im Hof) 1060 Vienna Tel: 43 (0) 1 – 786 0472 www.citygrow.at Opening times at all shops: Mo – Fr: 10.00 till 19.00 hours Sat: 10.00 till 18.00 hours

56

STRAIN REPORT

Moby Dick

Moby Dick, winner of the Soft Secrets Girl of the Year Award 2010, is one of Dinafem’s best known and most popular cultivars.

Dinafem

by Grubbycup

Environment: Grow Light: Flower Light: Method: Nutrient: Days in Growth: Days in Flower: Harvest Weight: Grams per Day: Structure: Bud: Scent: Rating:

Indoor Closet 400 MH 400 HPS Passive Hydro Fox Farms 42 59 44 g wet, 13 g dry.

0.129 Single cola Dense Mild spicy sweet 9 out of 10

Dinafem sells its seeds packed in Eppendorf vials, with absorbent color changing silica beads to help ensure seed viability. Be careful of the printing of the cultivar on the label itself, which smudged easily when touched.

All the seeds were plump and healthy looking, and sprouted quickly in a domed seedling tray. The plants were grown in a small white plastic lined indoor closet (.75m x 1m x 2m).

For the growth phase, they were kept under a vented 400 watt MH light set to 18 hours on 6 hours off.

Once well sprouted in plugs (day 17), they were planted into labeled 12.7 cm square pots filled with perlite.

Perlite starts as a volcanic glass with water trapped inside. When exposed to high temperatures, the glass melts, and the water turns to steam which inflates and puffs the glass before escaping.

Roadrunner 2 Dinafem

by Grubbycup

Environment: Grow Light: Flower Light: Method: Nutrient: Days in Growth: Days in Flower: Harvest Weight: Grams per Day: Structure: Bud: Scent: Rating:

Indoor Room 1000 MH 1000 MH Passive Hydro Fox Farms 35 36 36 g wet, 12 g dry.

0.169 Single cola Tight Mild spicy pepper 7 out of 10

Roadrunner 2 is an improved version of the well known Roadrunner line.

Dinafem sells its seeds neatly packed in eppendorf vials. The seeds I received were all plump and healthy looking, and sprouted quickly in starter plugs. Since I did not want to delay growth by transplant shock, I planted the plugs directly into their final containers.

Roadrunner 2 has the autoflowering trait, which causes the plants to flower even when not exposed to a long dark period to trigger the effect. There is no need to alter the lighting from the growth part of the cycle during flowering. This can be helpful for growing outdoors out of season, using indoor lighting without a timer, or a way to grow some smoke in a vegging room.

But be careful and do not waste any time during growth, since if they haven’t grown to fair size during veg, flowering will be disappointing. It isn’t difficult, but you can’t let them go an extra week or two before flowering if they are a bit small like you can with non-autoflowering plants so there is less margin for error in a slow start.

The resulting material is light and airy, similar to a small heavy Styrofoam.

The pots were set in a tray, and hand watered with a hydroponic nutrient solution. This type of passive hydroponic system is similar to using soil in pots, and is commonly used by both novices and experts. One advantage to using a hydroponic media over soil, is that the plant containers can be smaller. The plants remained in these pots for the entire grow. Perlite is difficult to overwater, and is forgiving of minor errors in watering. It can be used alone, as in this grow, or as part of a mixture. Another benefit of perlite is that it can be rinsed and reused repeatedly.

The Fox Farm line of nutrients were used, and no deficiencies developed.

Moby Dick is a medium sized plant with very nice structure and regular opposite leaf pairs. All the plants from the same packet grew recognizably similar to each other. The leaves were fat and indica looking. The plants did not show much stretch.

one. Buds were hung for three days, then into a closed plastic container to allow inner moisture to work out to the leaves. The container was opened at regular intervals to allow condensation to evaporate, and then the buds were enclosed a in jars to finish curing.

Moby Dick is a very nice offering from Dinafem, The Haze x White Widow heritage has given Moby Dick dense, tight, buds, and a strong effect when smoked.

It is very mild when dried, and benefits well from a good cure, as the subtle flavors develop as they mature.

Mild spice aroma, with a nice mental stone, more psychoactive than most.

When dried, the buds hold their integrity well. Moby is worth getting a hold of to try. Perfect for sitting around with a group of friends, relaxing and talking over snacks. I will defiantly make room to grow more of this next round.

Lighting was changed to HPS bulbs with a 12/12 regimen on day 42.

Once they started to form, the flower clusters were very firm and tight.

Flowering finished one day shy of five weeks. Dinafem only sells feminized seeds, so sexing was not an issue.

The Moby Dick was ready for harvest in 59 days, one day shy of the 60-70 day window given by Dinafem. Final plant height was 101 cm. Manicuring the buds was easy and fast. Dried buds are attractive and hold together well. While not a heavy producer, it is a respectable

However, for a fast path to some very smokable weed with a minimum of fuss, it’s worth taking a look at trying.

The good news is that Roadrunner 2 is an easy cultivar to grow, so I didn’t have any trouble getting them up to size before they started to flower.

The plants were grown in perlite, and used the Fox Farm line of nutrients.

Pots were placed in trays and watered by hand.

Roadrunner 2 grows thick stems, with regular form, and a natural tendency for a single large cola.

The first flower appeared at 35 days.

The buds were firm and tight, with a nice regular structure. Both growth and flowering were done under a 1000 watt metal halide bulb.

Finished height was 102 cm. Dinafem claims 65-75 days from seed to harvest, my sample took 71 days. It is the fastest autoflowering cultivar I’ve grown so far.

Well suited for an impatient grower.

The flavor was mild and pleasant, with-

out the unpleasant flavor some of the older cultivars with the autoflowering trait have. Smoking it gives a mellow high, with a nice balance between “up” and “couch”.

Dinafem’s seeds are feminized, so there is no worry about having to sex the plants. Overall, a nice experience and a worthwhile grow.

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58

A STONED SELECTION

By Kaz Peet

Wire – ‘Red Barked Tree’ Pink Flag One of post-punk’s most potent and enduring bands display their relevance in 2011 with the typically considered new album ‘Red Barked Tree’.

Since their ‘77 classic ‘Pink Flag’ Wire have forged an uncompromising path, subtly evolving with each new record to arrive at this, an album confident enough to appear with no guest players and sound defiantly individual yet the same as they always have. Encompassing the nuanced lyricism of ‘Please Take’, the sprightly propulsion of ‘Now Was’, shimmering melodic romance in ‘Adapt’, the stentorian, rough-grained art-punk of ‘Two Minutes’ and minimal yet expansive ‘Down To This’, Wire are still offering strong work.

Mark Harrison – ‘Watching The Parade’ Highway Records When times are dark people begin to look for a deeper meaning within things. Apparently, philosophy is the subject most on the increase amongst young people applying for university places. Blues has always been the musical method by which to face difficulty and to laugh in the face of adversity and following in the footsteps of this well trodden path, whilst being distinctly contemporary, comes ‘Watching The Parade’, debut album from Mark Harrison. The simple yet deeply enchanting sound moves through a spectrum of emotions, effortlessly changing from gentle to gritty and from somber to uplifting. This five-piece combination of double bass and bass, mandolin, harmonica, drums and guitars sound equally at home recreating the spirit of the Louisiana swamps bluegrass or the devotional folk and ragas of the Himalayas. Crucially instrumental in the shaping of this sounds substance, is Mark’s use of a 1934 National Trojan, a wood-body resonator guitar that has, he describes, “…a sweet sound but it’ll bite if you want it to.” Drawing on elements from the past some of the songs pick up on parallels between the world of the great blues artists and the here and now. Some are just about the here and now – as Mark says, “there’s a lot to be said that isn’t necessarily getting said.”

Stateless –‘Mathilda’ Ninjatune It’s easy to talk about the “epic” quality of this or that record, its “cinematic” feel. And how many artists have you heard say, as Chris James, lead singer of Stateless does, that “I wanted the record to be like a journey”? But sometimes it’s true. Sometimes it just is true. Sometimes you have to hold up your hands and admit it. Welcome to ‘Matilda’, then, an eleven track, fifty minute follow-up to 2007’s eponymous debut, which takes all of those easy words and makes something concrete out of them. Working with Bjork producer/programmer Damian Taylor, ‘Matilda’ ties together classic songwriting with rhythmic drive, slatherings of sub-bass and enough electronic interference to satisfy the most anal of glitch-nerds.

The results are spectacular. From the atmospheric opening of ‘Curtain Call’ you know you’re in for something special. The driving bass of first single ‘Ariel’ is followed by the sinuous melody and building atmospherics of ‘Miles To Go’. ‘Visions’ features lead vocals from bass player Justin Percival. “As a vocalist he really is something else,” says James. “I think more and more Stateless will become a twin vocal band. Well, it is already!”

‘Red Ocean’ functions as an ambient-folk interlude to clear the palate before ‘I’m On Fire’, a duet with Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond, recorded in her Brooklyn front room over a bottle of wine. ‘Ballad of NGB’ almost has the feel of contemporary R&B, if contemporary R&B producers were bugging out to Bartok’s Hungarian folk songs and working with the remarkable Balanescu Quartet. This world-renowned string group comes into its own on ‘Song For The Outsider’ when, in addition to a superb string arrangement, violinist Alex Balanescu finishes things off with a vicious solo: “At the end of the take the control room was just speechless,” James remembers.

“Everyone’s jaws just hit the floor, completely astounded. It was mind-blowing.” ‘Junior’ aches with longing and throbs with out-of-focus electronica. ‘I Shall Not Complain’ finishes the album back somewhere in Eastern Europe, piano combining with one of the most beautiful melodies on the record to take us out on a melancholy, uplifting high.

David Lee Jr. – ‘Evolution’ Universal Sound Soul Jazz Records/Universal Sound release this ‘lost classic’ radical deep spiritual jazz album from David Lee Jr. Originally released in New York in 1974 (400 copies only ever pressed), ‘Evolution’ is composer and drummer David Lee Jr.’s extraordinary one off solo album, pressed on the artist’s own Supernal Records, a record company whose slogan ‘seeking creative progress’ and dedicated ‘ to peace and freedom’ clearly displayed artistic intent over any commercial or market led - forces. David Lee Jr. was born in New Orleans and the deep experimental drum compositions featured on ‘Evolution’ are as rooted in this southern city rhythmically as they are in the spiritual and metaphysical musical ideas of John Coltrane, Sun Ra and other futurist soul-searchers. In the early 1970’s Lee headed off to New York, playing in Roy Ayers’ Ubiquity for a couple of years before immersing himself in the thriving loft deep jazz scene playing with Leon Thomas, Lonnie Liston Smith, Harold Alexander, Charles Rouse and recording for independent labels such as the classic Strata East, India Navigation and Flying Dutchman.

New York left-field jazz meets New Orleans syncopation and military parade rhythms to produce an avant-garde drum suite as hypnotic as Roy Ayers circa ‘We Live In Brooklyn’, as radical as fellow drummer Steve Reid or Rashied Ali’s musical excursions in the early 1970’s. Far out!

Spokes – ‘Everyone I Ever Met’ Counter Records The very excellent Spokes have been around for a while now but it is with ‘Everyone I Ever Met’ that they make their most substantial statement as a band. Sidestepping the post-rock styling’s of its predecessor, this sophomore album is their first foray into ‘proper’ songs, and what songs they are. Comparisons are likely to be made to The Arcade Fire (look – fancy instrumentation!) and to be honest you could even draw parallels with classic Pink Floyd (especially in the album’s introspective third act), but Spokes manage to do their own thing simply by sticking to their guns and producing amazing songs delivered with intensity and honesty. There are no half-hearted attempts to break new ground or lackluster swipes at some hip new genre or other – this is just great music, and in that Spokes are pretty much out there on their own right now. Just check the sublime orchestral opener ‘3, 4, 5’, the noisy and deliriously catchy ‘Torn up In Praise’ or the lengthy title track and you’ll know you’re in the presence of something quite special. More than anything else, what strikes you listening to Spokes is their complete sincerity, their lack of any sideways glance at what their contemporaries are doing. They make beautiful, sad, celebratory, delirious, worshipful music because that’s how they feel and, in doing so, that’s how they make you feel, too.

Karton – ‘For All Seasons’ Sound of Habibs ‘For All Seasons’, the recently released debut LP from production duo Karton is an album that is both defined and challenged by the concept of its own title. In an environment where changing styles and genres most music disposable, Karton set out to deliver an album that has a place today as much as it will tomorrow and the next. Designed to represent the collective interests, influences and experiences of Karton, ‘For All Seasons’ is a 15 track outing that is not constrained by the rules and expectations of any one ideology but rather comes as an epic opus encompassing all facets of the Karton ethos expertly produced to the exacting standards we have come to expect of the duo. Two years in the making, ‘For All Seasons’ showcases fully what has only been hinted at in previous Karton releases. Encompassing melodic synths, haunting strings, chopped guitars, heavy basslines, precision drums and the vocal talents of Manuel Sharrad (Infusion), Nick Craven (Hancock Basement), Jeff Hann (Friendly Yen) and Cris Clucas, Karton have expanded their sonic palate to deliver an album that is as wide in scope as it is ambitious in title. While it may seem to be a departure from the club orientated bass driven music the duo are known for, they see it more as a natural progression, taking full use of the album format to deliver an experience that goes beyond simply being a record for the club or the home. Built on the idea that each track has the ability to extract a visceral emotional response from the listener, ‘For All Seasons’ will have something that people can resonate with, regardless of the season.

New grow shop and Hydro supplies for Kidderminster

Free delivery almost anywhere discreet services

Crystals Coffeeshop 33 The horsefair Kidderminster DY10 2EN Tel:07787076753 or 07985281780 Email: crystalscoffeeshop@ymail.com

www.freewebstore.org/crystals-coffeeshop www.crystalscoffeeshop.co.uk * É É Ê Ê/ *Ê / ,ÊUÊÈää7]{ää7]Óxä7Ê " 9Ê /ÊUÊÈää7]{ää7]Óxä7 1 / Ê / Ê / Ê / UÊ-1 / Ê Ê /Ê-1* ,Ê "" Ê7 / Ê *ÊUÊ* Ê1*Ê Ê "7 Ê

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60

SHOPREVIEW

UK Skunkworks

UK Skunkworks – 52 Avenue Road, Bexleyheath, Kent DA7 4EG t) 0208 304 0444 UK Skunkworks – 79 London Road, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 4JF (t) 01273 601140 UK Skunkworks – 184 Victoria Road, Aldershot, Hampshire GU11 1JZ (t) 01252 447752 Email: info@ukskunkworks.co.uk

have a strong team behind the company that will bring continued success.

Grinders, tins, Legal Highs, Bongs, Pipes, Books, Clothing, Music and so much more.

UK Skunkworks has created a unique stamp on the head shop industry, from their diverse astro turf flooring to the funky graffiti covered walls dripping with artistic talent. Their stores provide a warm and welcoming atmosphere, and offer a fun and memorable shopping experience. The shops have clean display cabinets showcasing a vast array of quality smoking paraphernalia which range from

They also stock a huge range of the best quality souvenir seeds from the most acclaimed seed banks around, these include:

with quality assurance and in the case of horticultural equipment comes with a manufacturer guarantees on said products.

indoor growing gardening accessories.

If they do not carry a product that you want, tell us and we’ll do our best to get it for you.

The shop is one of the midlands leading stockests of dutch pro canna and advanced nutrients and are based on the bulkington rd bedworth.

It is no longer a mystery or secret technique.

Large items/orders can be made in person where a possible discount could be arranged. All our nutrients & solutions, lighting & horticultural equipment are sourced from recognised worldwide brands which come

They are a midland based Hydroponics Grow Shop offering a huge selection of indoor plant lighting, hydroponic grow systems, hydro and organic horticultural supplies, grow light, growbox, other grow-room equipment, plant growing,

Greenhouse/ Sensi Seeds/ Barneys Farm/ Big Buddha/ Dutch Passion: these are just some of what’s available!

Visit them online: www.ukskunkworks.co.uk or drop in to one of their stores.

UK Skunkworks is the company to watch. This is an experienced and knowledgeable group of individuals whose joint efforts have created a strong brand identity.

The company has been trading for over 5 years and is aiming to be at the forefront of the Head shop industry!

They are expanding quickly and their success can be attributed to their clean corporate approach, reasonable pricing, product selection and helpful service, rapidly establishing them as one of the market’s leading experts. They

Daves Hydroland, Warwickshire Daves Hydroland 74/76 bulkington Rd. Bedworth, Warwickshire CV12 9FDR Telephone: 02477 678634 Opening Hours: Monday – Saturday 10.00am – 5.00pm

Daves Hydroland have over 10 years experience providing quality products with a service to match.

They aim to satisfy our customers needs and advise on all aspects of hydroponic equipment both to the hobby grower or commercially. We buy large quantities of top quality brand leading products at the best prices and sell them directly to you at the best possible price

Hydroponics and aeroponics has come a long way in the last few years.

It is a simple, reliable way of growing plants easier and more consistent by far than growing in soil!

Visit our online shop at www.daveshydroland.com for all your hydroponics needs or call in to our shop for friendly and helpful advice.

Growkits and = 0DJLF 7UXIÁHV 0DJLF 7UXIÁHV

NEW A FORMUL IGHER MUCH HLD YIE

Ask your local growshop

62

SHOPREVIEW GROW REPORT/ INDEX OF ADS / COLOFON

MESSE-S Headshop, Rushden Messe’s Headshop can be found in Rushden, East Northants and the shop will cater for all your music to smoking related requirements. The shop owner Francesco is an experienced DJ, his passion for Music, piercings and the ‘smokers’ lifestyle is clear to see when you enter his shop.

Vinyl available to purchase ranges from Drum&Base to Funky House, there is a good choice of piercing products available as Messe-s caters for the customers of the local piercing studio, various t-shirts and hats are on show to buy as well as smoking accessories and gadgets. On his own omission, the seeds and smoking gadgets are his best sellers, and I can see why!? The seed choice is comprehensive to say the least, but what impressed me the most was his

knowledge on the various ranges available and the good advice on offer!

Smoking accessories available: blunts, rolling papers, grinders, scales, pipes, bongs, legal highs and many more...

All these products complement each other so it is proving to be a winning formula at Messe-s! Ask in store for any discounts..

So if you are looking for a good deal and great product selection, drop in!!

Messe-s Headshop 13 Church Street, Rushden, Northants, NN10 9YU (t) 01933 418353 www.messeshop.co.uk Open Mon to Saturday 10am – 6pm

Crystals Coffee Shop Located in the heart of England Crystals Coffee Shop is not your average coffee shop at all. Especially in the UK. Crystals Coffee Shop incorporates large and various departments that some are open up to the general public and others that are a more informal private setting. The media has described it as a cannabis theme park Crystals Coffee Shop is always looking for new members. In the informal private setting, you can find like-minded and easy going people who are there to enjoy a coffee and the ambience that surrounds them. Not to mention the other benefits that are available, When you are a member of the shop you can receive discounts in the hydro and grow departments. One of the best parts is that since Crystals Coffee Shop is a private club, there are private member functions which include a recording complex studio with full stage and DJ’s for everyone to enjoy.

The founders JT and Sheriff who started this little piece of Amsterdam 8 years ago have had an uphill struggle with all the legal ramifications that go with it.

Crystals Coffee Shop 33 The Horsefair Kiddermister, Worcestershire DY10 2EN Tel: 0044 (0) 7929 882026

Mr. Lyness the manager has been taken to court and fined for allowing his premises to be used for the smoking of cannabis. There have been many attempts to shut the business down; however these attempts have all failed. This is because it is only a theme park that the LCA (Legalize Cannabis Alliance) has recognized the benefits. And have used Crystals Coffee Shop facility as a focal point for the organization.

If you happen to be anywhere close to the British Midlands this is a definitely a shop that is worth your time and travel.

Index of ads Name 8 Ball Hydroponics Advanced Seeds Atami Atami Attitude the Aztec Garden Big Stone River Indoor Garden Centre Bio Nova Bio-G-Power Bristol Genuine Seed Bank Buddha Seeds Bank Buddha Seeds Bank Bud-Eez Clever Green Clockwork Horticulture Crystals Coffeeshop DavesHydroLand.com Delicious Seeds Delta 9 Hydroponics Dinafem Seeds Distribuciones Marianas Down to Earth Kent Dr. Blooms Hydroponics Dutch Passion Amsterdam Dutch Passion Maastricht Ed Rosenthal Ednyrion Essex Hydro-Garden Eva Female Seeds Extra-Grow Hydroponics Green Fever Grow Green Growers Shop the Growing Underground Growstar Gold Hayzee Hydro Hesi Hesi Ice Man Bags J10 Hydro Jorge Cervantes Katsu Medical Seeds Messe-s Headshop Mycologics Nirvana Odyssey Hydro One Love Hydroponics Paradise Seeds Procare Professional Seeds Rapid Roots Red Eye Jungle Royal Queen Seeds Samsara Seeds Seeds of Life Sjamaan de Smokin Vinyl Southern Hydro Centre Sub-GardenSupplies Sweet Seeds Sweet Seeds Triangle Hydroponics UK GroWorks UK Skunkworks Wellingborough Hydroponics World of Seeds

Colofon Page 55 23 20 64 4 59 51 11 63 55 10 34 61 1 41 59 59 24 61 13 7 51 1 42 42 44 51 59 7 55 59 55 61 53 8 53 1 2 61 42 38 61 55 61 61 14 59 47 41 61 51 1 53 27 32 49 47 55 61 59 17 29 59 47 53 55 32

Soft Secrets is published by Discover Publisher BV P.O.Box 362, 5460 AJ, Veghel, Netherlands Telephone: +31-(0)73-5498112 Fax: +31-(0)73-5479732 E-mail: uk@softsecrets.nl Editor: Cliff Cremer Contributors: Ed Rosenthal, Jorge Cervantes, Jules Marshall, Lazystrain, Dr. John Dee, Grubbycup, Little Lebowski, Guerilla Daan, Kaz Peet, Miss Indica, Wil Edwards, Smokedout and others Translations: Jules Marshall Comics: Jim Stewart Editorial adress: Soft Secrets, P.O. Box 17250, 1001 JG, Amsterdam, Holland, E-mail: ssuk@softsecrets.nl Advertisements: James Telephone: +44 (0)751-4273810 E-mail: james@softsecrets.nl A word from the publisher: The UK government has embarked on a process of relative liberalisation towards the use of cannabis, and cannabis activists are engaged in broadening this engagement. Several local councils and police chiefs now actively support a Dutch-style coffeeshop system as a way of separating soft and hard drugs, as it has proven to do in Holland. Whether they are finding their way to new coffeeshops or growing for their personal supply, cannabis users are a menace to no one, and are causing no discernable social problem. Some politicians and commentators are calling for the outright legalisation of marihuana. Let’s wait and see how the debate develops during a period of relative peace between all sides of the argument. In the meantime, the publisher hopes Soft Secrets will show the public a positive side to the normalisation of cannabis use, and is anxious to offer a forum to both pro- and anti-legalisation advocates. This assumes that the publisher does not necessarily agree with everything that appears in articles and advertisements. The publisher therefore distances himself explicitly from published statements or images that might give the impression that an endorsement is being made for the use or production of cannabis.

Nothing from this publication may be copied or reproduced in any format without prior permission from the publisher and other copyright holders. The publisher is not responsible for the content and/or point of view of advertisements. The editors take no responsibility for unsolicited submissions.

Next issue out: April 29 2011

The T eb bling ing bling b ng for fo your your p plants nts

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