2013 06 UK by SoftSecrets

FREE 18+ For adults only. Soft Secrets is published six times a year by Discover Publisher BV Netherlands

Uruguay legalises production and sale of cannabis

AMSTERDAM

CU PWIN N ER

WWW.PARADISE-SEEDS.COM

Atomical Haze ®

new in the UK Looking for new sales points

ds Pr See

ds P See r

ium Qual i em

In this issue: CHEM DAWG

›› 18

24 ›› 32

THE ULTIMATE ROOT ZONE ›› GROWING IN A TENT

Issue 6 - 2013

DISSECTION OF A NUTRIENT LABEL ››

The world’s most far-reaching cannabis law has been passed by the Uruguayan parliament, opening the way for the state to regulate the production, distribution, sale and consumption of the planet’s favourite illegal drug. The law, effective from januari 1 2014, will: allow registered users to buy up to 40g of marijuana a month from a chemist’s; registered growers to keep up to six plants; and cannabis clubs to have up to 45 members and cultivate as many as 99 plants. A government-run cannabis institute will set the price – initially likely to be close to the current black market rate of $1 a gramme – and monitor the impact of the programme, which aims to bring the industry under state control and push illegal traffickers out of business. Julio Bango, one of the politicians who helped draft the bill, said it would probably be four months until the first harvest of legal cannabis, by which time the government would have a licensing system in place. “We know this has generated an international debate and we hope it brings another element to discussions about a model [the war on drugs] that has total-

ly failed and that has generated the opposite results from what it set out to achieve.” Before the passage of the bill, president José Mujica called on the international community to assist in what he admitted was an experiment aimed at finding an alternative to the deadly and unsuccessful war on drugs.

ing are worse than those of the drugs themselves.” If the results of the law prove negative, Mujica has said it could be rescinded. The current illegal market in Uruguay is estimated to be worth $30m (£18m) a year, according to Martin Fernández, a lawyer working for the Association of Cannabis Studies, who says one in five Uruguayans have tried marijuana. The government estimates 115,000 people are regular users. Growers were ecstatic that their pastime will no longer get them thrown in jail. To celebrate, several planned what they called “a final march with illegal cannabis” through the streets of Montevideo. Source: Theguardian.com

“We are asking the world to help us with this experience, which will allow the adoption of a social and political experiment to face a serious problem – drug trafficking,” he said earlier this month. “The effects of drug traffick-

Time to represent We’re guessing that, like us, you watched October’s “Exposure” documentary on ITV with interest. Entitled “Britain’s Booming Cannabis Business” the documentary opened with the statement that there is now estimated to be over half a million growers in the UK and that 90% of the weed consumed in the UK is cultivated here. The film maker then went on to interview various growers, visiting several grow rooms both small scale and commercial and then spoke to – a very smiley – member of staff from a UK grow shop. What started off as a fairly informative and balanced piece of television then began to drift into familiar tabloid territory as the film maker began to create an uneasy crossover linking home growers to criminal gangs.

Seed to Harvest: 75-80 days Outdoor Sowing Time: Spring/Summer depeding on the light cycle in your region. Yield Outdoors: 80-150g per plant Seed bank: Buddha Seeds

Magnum

This 3-way hybrid is a cross between the most potent and productive strains with fast flowering, vigorous growth and lots of branches. Once flowering her buds will explode with resinous calyxes. Due to her overwhelming size it would be advisable to grow in small pots or transplant later on if you want to do it indoors as this will help control her height. Magnum will show her true vigour and splendour outdoors, where she can grow as she likes. When planted outdoors (either in the ground or in a large pot), she will grow vigorously turning into an authentic monster, probably making you ask yourself “is this truly an auto?”. The smells and flavours from this variety are fresh and specialised. Without leaving out the explosive potency, this strain also creates a sativa ‘high’ which will keep rising until it is uncontrollable.

Is it really accurate to compare someone selling a spare ounce or two to friends to some of the growing syndicates that operate in the UK? Yes, they are growing the same product. Yes, when you put the products side by side they have the same characteristics, because they’re the same variety of plant! But drawing comparisons between the home grower and commercial cultivator is like comparing an allotment gardener to Tesco; yes, they both produce tomatoes, but the similarities end there.

Professor Nutt’s quote really rings true. This year, when recreational use was legalised in Washington and Colorado the BBC flew to the US to film a documentary entitled “America’s Stoned Kids”. The first third of the programme was genuinely interesting and informative as it focussed on the businesses (and tax revenue) created by the – now legal – industry. The rest of the air time was devoted to the harm that Cannabis causes when used on a daily basis by children. Is this really informative? We know that no drug is 100% “safe”. Taking over-thecounter painkillers everyday isn’t “safe”. Is there any sane person who actually thinks that it’s ok for young children to smoke Cannabis every day? Yes, documentary programmes need to be balanced, but it seems to be the safe option for a film maker to take the angle that they believe the majority of people will agree with. It’s easy to draw viewers by focussing on the harm done to children, rather than debate the economic pros and cons of full legalisation. It will be a brave TV executive that commissions that programme for a main stream channel!

One point that the programme alluded to, but never quite met head on, was that the logical way to reduce the criminality that surrounds the industry is to remove the illegality from the situation. This was a great opportunity missed, as the film maker had managed to secure interviews with senior police officials and – rather unsettlingly – crop thieves. The latter of whom bragged about the easy money made from torturing Cannabis growers into giving up their crops and how it was more lucrative and less risky than ‘regular’ armed robbery.

To put it into context, this is a quote lifted straight from an online Daily Mail article published in May 2013, bearing in mind that this is the 2nd most widely circulated UK paper with average daily sales of 2.4 million copies.

The documentary reminded us of a quote from Professor David Nutt the ex-head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs… the guy the Labour government sacked when he didn’t tow the party line. He said, “Once a drug is illegal you can’t have a rational debate.”

We shit you not, that actually appeared on the website of Britain’s second most popular newspaper!

Looking back over recent television programmes focussing on Cannabis,

“Cocaine, heroin, LSD and amphetamines all bring devastating consequences but it is no exaggeration to say that cannabis, and in particular hash, its concentrated resin, is the most deadly of them all. It brings a level of violence, illness and addiction that to most people would seem barely credible.”

According to CLEAR-UK there are 2.7 million frequent Cannabis users in Britain… fingers crossed there’s a decent (and balanced) film maker amongst them. Little Lebowski

the best taste on earth.

pass it on!

Check out our website www.plagron.com for tips & tricks

Attention Readers! Fancy a FREE packet of FEMINISED seeds from ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS? 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 Royal Queen Seeds!

Hello from South Wales. Here’s my strain of Auto Somango from Advanced Seeds, grown under a 400w HPS lamp and the GHE Flora Series nutes. Results are nice smelly sticky buds. FROM THE CORB!

Hello from France! Here is a picture of my AK-48 and White Whidow of Nirvana Seeds. All grown under 400w HPS on BioBizz soil with HESI fertilizers. I’ pretty happy with the result. Good day to you!!

Usually inclusion in the readers wives section requires either a copy of the the magazine or a fine lady in shot. For this Corb, we’ll make an exception. We can practically smell the goodness oozing from this photo!

We’d be happy with the results too. In fact, we’d be pretty happy all the time if that was our girlfriend! Hot stuff! Great to here from our brethren from across the channel. We like the scene over there, lots of small growers using 250w or 400w lights and growing themselves a nice bit of percy. Oh... and the ladies aren’t bad either!

E-mail your entries to SSUK@softsecrets.nl. 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!

E-mail: SSUK@softsecrets.nl

Dear SSUK Here’s one of my NL# taken 4 days after it was cut down, as you can see it had slight nute burn, it was fed on Ionic and was flowered for just over 9 weeks with 2 days in the dark at the end. We hope you like the pics and that you may be able to use them in your great paper. All the best BUDDING BUD We can forgive a bit of nute burn mate. When you’ve got a girl like that at home it must be difficult to concentrate on measuring out feed!

Hi, I saw Hannibals indoor tree (what a beast) in the latest issue and thought, as I’m a member of the same forum, I’d share my latest outdoor tree with you! Just to show trees can be grown in the UK climate. I pulled over 26oz from her as well...I’m very proud! All the best, from Bunda-erbh. FROM THE CORB! Great growing Bunda-erbb! We’re glad that the editorial in the last issue did the trick and inspired you to send in a picture of your own tree. Hopefully this will be the first of many monster bud pics that we receive... come on guys and girls, grow some trees and send us the proof!

Dear SSUK Here are some pics of my BigBang auto, grown using Ionic and Canna nutes. It was cut down two days after the pics were taken and was 12.5 oz freshly trimmed. I’ve also got some Armageddon and NL in at the moment and will send some photos in with my girlfriend in when they’re ready. The last ones we sent in were in 2006 and you printed all of them, thanks! This is the first auto I’ve done and would say to anyone thinking of trying them to have a go. I hope you like them and keep up the great paper. FROM OOOOOSH007 That main cola looks like a baseball bat! Good work buddy. Another convert to the autoflower craze, we rarely hear a bad word said against them nowadays. Nice to hear that you and your good lady are long time readers of Soft Secrets, we look forward to some photos of her soon. Cheers!

Dear Soft Secrets, Here is a photo of some of my almost-ready chedder. Grown under 600w lights. I never miss an issue of Soft Secrets and my missus would be chuffed if you published one of our photos. We will look forward to showing you what we produce if we are lucky enough to get some seeds. Thanks CHIEFY & SUE UK. We’ll provide you with a constant supply of seeds if you keep sending us photos of that cracking arse! Wonderful.

Hi fellow growers, These are my two feminised AK47’s from Serious Seeds. Grew them in Scotland using a 20 litre NFT tank under a 600Watt HPS using Canna Aqua Vega and Flores nutrients, plus Canna Rhizotonic, Cannazym, CannaBoost and PK 13/14. Grown from seed using Root Riot cubes seated in rock wool blocks. Harvest was just over 9 oz dry weight and I was a very happy boy. JAMBO

These buds are GGGGGRRRRRRREEEEEEAAAAAAATTTTTTT! From.... “CHEESE WOLF” AAAWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

We’re big fans of AK47 here at Soft Secrets and looking at your pictures Jambo, it’s easy to see why. Compact, dense buds with very little leaf content and a short flowering time for a Sativa dominant strain. These are a couple of great little NFT-grown examples, well done mate. The only advice we have is that they’re fairly small plants for a 600 watt light. You’d probably do as well with a 400 watt or keep the 600 and chuck another NFT system in there – the more the merrier!

INTERVIEW

TALES FROM A DUTCH CANNABIS GROWER

By Feije Wieringa

GREEN GOLD

Dutchman Mr. Silver Haze (a pseudonym, of course!) has written what is – as far as I know – the first honest book on the reality of illegal traffic in coffeeshops. The book is full of funny anecdotes. But it also highlights the fact that a grower’s path is not always a bed of roses. There are several books on cultivation, but this one actually has nothing to do with cultivation per se. Instead, it’s about what happens when you decide not to grow five little plants for your own personal use but as a wholesale nursery. Silver Haze’s book is a must both for growers, who can learn a lot from it, and for consumers, who will learn that buying a few grams

How did you begin?

bought it separately in any gardening shop. But when I do something, I do it

at first. You can find all the information you need on cultivation quite easily,

properly. That’s why I decided to start growing on a large scale rather than in an attic somewhere.”

but afterwards there are often strange surprises in store for you. If the first crop hadn’t come out well, I probably wouldn’t have continued. But I had a good friend with the perfect space to work in. Great electric power, excellent air intake, everything run by computers. It was much easier than we’d thought.”

“Well, I explain it all in the book. Here’s what happened. We’re talking about the Nineties of the last century, when a guilder was still a guilder. I was in the meat business, as a supplier mainly to restaurants. I had a lot of Chinese customers. It wasn’t a bad activity at all, but I knew I couldn’t expect the moon, even from the Chinese. Margins were slim, there was always an extra that had to be added. I worked myself to the bone, often for over 10 hours a day. Since my customers were paying less and less, and later and later, I had to make up the difference, but of

SOMEONE HAS TO PRODUCE THAT CANNABIS, BECAUSE IT DOESN’T JUST APPEAR OUT OF THIN AIR... ALTHOUGH SOME PEOPLE ACT LIKE IT DOES of cannabis completely legally in coffeeshops is something they shouldn’t take for granted (yet…). Soft Secrets interviewed the author, who has since abandoned the industry but still – naturally! – has good reason to hide his true identity. He’s still paying his debt to the law because of a previous sentence, and wouldn’t like the police to investigate these confessions. In any case, the truth is far less romantic than what we often imagine and, as the saying goes, “it’s a hard life to earn an easy living” – even for a great grower!

Let’s start with a clichéd question: why this book? “There are several reasons. Actually, it all started when, under the influence of a joint and a drink, I started telling a group of acquaintances the crazy and sometimes plain sad situations you find yourself in when you work in the industry. Of course, my stories weren’t something you hear every day, and someone pointed out that I ought to write them down. That comment hung in the air for a while, but I’m not a writer, so I just forgot about it. Later on, I started to think, why not? I really do have some interesting stories to tell, and my point of view has never been told before. So I sat down at my computer and just wrote the whole thing. And, as I wrote, I became more and more convinced that my story had real educational value. Also, even though I’m definitely not a moralist, I still wanted to add a sort of warning that we can sum up as “Don’t act without thinking”.”

course I didn’t get paid interest. When a huge customer went bankrupt, I knew it would only be getting worse.”

Was that when you started to think about cannabis? “I guess you could say it happened more or less by chance. One morning, I was delivering some meat to a customer, who was late. I hate hanging around doing nothing, so I went for a walk. My eyes were caught by a brightly-lit shop window with “Growshop” written over the door. I was curious, and I wondered what kind of a shop it was. Of course, I’ve always known about cannabis, but I had no idea there was an entire world behind it. So I entered the shop, completely unaware of what I was getting into, and got into conversation with a really nice guy. He was smoking a joint and explained everything to me. He also gave me a lot of information pamphlets which I started reading that same night.”

So did you decide to tackle this new field and start growing on a large scale right away? “Yes, as a matter of fact. I’m not an idealist about cannabis. I mean, you can buy it, smoke it, own it. It’s just a fact for me. I considered it a business, there was no reason to put on a mask. I knew, of course, that many small-scale growers disagreed with my view, but let’s face it: very few small-scale growers are suppliers for large coffeeshops. Furthermore, everything sold in that growshop was legal; you could have

And did things go well right from the start? “From a technical point of view, things went incredibly well, because we – I’d found a partner in the meantime – organised our business properly right from the start. Which means we had the proper space, excellent electronic equipment, a great atmosphere and, at the end of the cycle, amazing cannabis and a great bonus. On the other hand, there are always lots of unexpected problems

And you had no moral scruples? “None. I don’t consider myself a criminal in the literal sense. I didn’t harm anyone, I was paying for electricity and all my equipment and I wasn’t bothering anyone. Here’s what I thought:

9 you can find coffeeshops that sell cannabis anywhere. And you can find the products you need to grow it in any growshop. Although I was pretty sure growshops would prefer to be called gardening shops. We’re talking about the years when the word cannabis was a lot less delicate than it is now. At the time, you could basically drive around with a few hundred plants in the backseat of your car, and no one would say anything to you. And, of course, I knew that all those coffeeshops that were springing up like mushrooms needed suppliers. It makes no sense for a coffeeshop to run on five little garden plants. And, no matter which way you look at it, someone has to produce that cannabis, because it doesn’t just appear out of thin air... although some people act like it does.”

something becomes, the harder it is to manage. You’ll find a description of one of the minor problems we had in greater detail in my book, but here’s the short version: my stuttering neighbour offered me a shack for a few thousand guilder a month. Beautiful location, on level ground, no busybodies or nosey neighbours anywhere around. When we were finally ready to connect everything, it turned out that the electronic equipment couldn’t be

about my cannabis activity, and then suddenly someone would touch my shoulder in a bar and say: “Do you deal with cannabis?” “How does he know?” I’d ask myself. Then again, you can’t grow cannabis without coming into contact with people, and people talk.”

And sometimes everything goes wrong… “Once we had a flood that nearly

How did you manage to sell cannabis? “I didn’t know anything at first. I was a meat merchant, so I’d never really thought about it before. But a growshop gives you the freedom to talk to people, which makes it easier to come into contact with customers. And don’t think they were all suspicious characters… most of them were respectable people who could easily go unnoticed. And that goes for the figureheads, as well.”

So what did you do? “I was a business owner – violence isn’t in my nature. When something like that happened, I just let it go. I’m not a scaredy-cat, of course, and I can become threatening if I need to. But it’s never really been necessary. I kept to the agreements, and most of the people I dealt with did the same. Sometimes I found myself in the unpleasant situation where people I considered friends of mine double-crossed me. That’s sad. Money can do strange things to people, you know?”

And you got caught in the end?

And so you started organising your growing activity on a larger scale? “Of course. It was just business for me. I used to call it the “green grass”. But you need the right place if you want to expand. And it’s not easy to find the right place. First of all, it can’t attract attention. Second of all, you need a figurehead, someone willing to take the risk for you in exchange for a share of the profits and the use of your place. I would provide and organise everything, from the plants to the electronic equipment, and I’d often go water the plants myself, although technically that was the figurehead’s job. But usually things would progress automatically. You learn as you go.”

You learn about people as well, according to your book. “Especially about people. One of the reasons I wrote this book is that I love describing the variety of characters you meet in the cannabis world. Of course, the book deals with special cases, because lots of people are able to manage a plantation without any problems. You pay them, everyone’s happy and so long until the next harvest.”

you have to pay the penalty. You lose your crop, the criminals leave no traces and, of course, you can’t turn to the police – you’re a cannabis producer! Once I had a figurehead give me some plausible excuse for how the crop had been stolen, and a while later I spotted him driving a brand-new BMW.”

used. That meant quick and creative thinking, because the alternative was losing a fortune in no time. We solved the problem by putting in a hidden generator. In hindsight, it’s a fun story, but at the time it felt like a tragedy.”

The ideal situation…

And the more you grew, of course, the more renowned you became.

“That’s how it should be. But the larger

“Right. I’d never mentioned anything

ruined a whole building. That’s either your responsibility or a mistake on the part of the figurehead. That time I just claimed it as office damages. Once we had a group of real criminals, burglars, that was more complicated. I’m talking about people who study a plantation and then bore some holes from the outside, so they can keep an eye on when to harvest the cannabis. That happened to me more than once, and

“I had a good life with this activity, but sooner or later, unfortunately, you realise that they’re keeping an eye on you. On the sly, through pretty girls who try and chat you up in a bar. Being allowed to drive on when there’s a police roadblock is a sign that you’re being watched carefully. And when the growshop I often stopped in was tapped with microphones, I knew it was the end. But they were great years. Although I soon realised that it took a lot of effort to make it work, just like in the meat business. Money doesn’t just materialise all of a sudden in the cannabis business, either, but I managed to do some really great things. I’m not sorry, and I don’t really miss it. Spending tons of money every day on drinks, drugs and beautiful women can get old. And some people end up ruining themselves. I live an honest life again, and it’s also a lot less stressful. And my book has already been translated into English, French, Spanish and German. So lots of people do know that whoever deals with illegal traffic is always the scapegoat in this monstrous system of ours.” www.thegreengold.nl For sale at: www.amazon.com www.amazon.co.uk www.barnesandnoble.com

***

AMSTERDAM

***

*** Guaranteed Quality ***

FLOWERING

New York Power Diesel

BLACKJACK

RASPBERRY COUGH

STERLING HAZE

URBAN POISON

ALL STRAINS IN NATURALLY OCCURING AND 100% FEMINISED SEEDS!!

www.nirvana.nl

CLASSIC STRAINS

such strains, the sweet, ‘hashy’ flavour has become legendary – perfect for indica lovers or those who crave the old Nepali hash taste.

Afghani Certain varieties of Cannabis paved the way for the modern industries of hybridized strains and indoor buds. In this series, we explore the origins By Sativa Diva of such trailblazers and discover where they have led. Back in 1979, two companies forever changed the Cannabis industry by stabilizing cultivars – landrace varieties that were carefully selected by indigenous populations for various reasons, over decades or centuries – and hybridizing them for personal and commercial production. Sacred Seeds was established in California and the Lowland Seed Co. was founded in the Netherlands; these were the first two Cannabis seed companies in the world. Sacred Seeds released the Skunk No. 1, Afghani No. 1, Hindu Kush and Original Haze in 1980, which effectively made the modern industry

An advantage of strains containing landrace or cultivar Afghani genetics is that the hybridized versions can usually be grown either indoors or outdoors. Afghan genes tend to shorten the overall flowering period, when combined with sativa or haze genetics – especially if the father of the cross is the Afghani stock. Yields will increase and the plant will be slightly Super Skunk was back-crossed to easier to grow, taking on the Afghan introduce even more Afghan genes phenotype. However, if left to their own devices while growing wild or outdoors, these plants will reach sev- had cornered some insurgents whom eral metres in height. had hidden amongst the wild (or perhaps locally-cultivated) Cannabis plants. The Afghan weed plants were so dense, hardy and close together that the soldiers had been ordered to use white phosphorus to flush out the rebels, as they were unreachable in the rough cover; however, the

Afghanica was one of the few true and stable incarnations of these genetics, created by crossing a hand-chosen Afghani landrace mother with a solid Skunk #1 father, and selecting the offspring from around ten-thousand resulting progeny in order to stabilize the variety. By using the powerful indica as the mother plant, the famous sweet, almost ‘greasy’ Afghan flavour was allowed to shine through, as was its sedating body effect. The Skunk #1 father pumped up the resulting yield and helped to maintain a short indoor flowering period of eight weeks. This was the closest anyone could get to pure Afghani genetics without personally travelling to Afghanistan! Skunk #1 is often considered the first commercial hybrid (although it is a true-bred strain) and was amongst those first four truly legendary varieties that were not simply ditch weed or foreign brick weed – this meant that seeds could also be grown indoors, under lights, which revolutionised the pot growing and smok-

SACRED SEEDS IN CALIFORNIA AND THE LOWLAND SEED CO. IN THE NETHERLANDS WERE THE FIRST TWO CANNABIS SEED COMPANIES IN THE WORLD. incendiary materials were hardly able to make a dent in the sturdy Afghan Cannabis cover.

Wide, dark-green finger leaves can be indicative of Afghan genetics

possible – nearly everything that you grow or smoke these days contains at least a trace of such genetics. For decades, these four had been meticulously protected and maintained by the Flying Dutchmen seed bank under the names Skunk #1, Afghanica, Pot of Gold and Original Haze.

During the recent war in Afghanistan, it was reported that American troops

Genotype and Phenotype Indicas originated in Central Asia, with a similar phenotype but varying genotypes, resulting in flavours ranging from sweet and fruity to spicy, earthy, ‘hashy’ or even pine. The Afghan selection proved to be an indica-lover’s dream. Hailing, unsurprisingly, from Afghanistan, these bushy, dark-green plants produce long, dense colas and incredibly wide, darkgreen palmate leaves. Some growers have noted that the leaf sets are larger Skunk #1 is a famous, pioneering than their own heads – especially when strain with a sturdy Afghan father grown outdoors.

Afghan weed presents some of the heirloom genetics of the indica family, which traditionally come from that part of the world: Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, etc. There is a reason that such plants are very dark green (due to their mountainous origin), with large palmate leaves: this allows them to convert as little sunlight as possible into as much growth energy as needed. Buds are dense and large, a result of tightly-spaced internodes – an evolutionary defence mechanism that enables the plant to stay warm in cold or high-altitude settings. Large, dense buds also keep the seeds warm and protected, encouraging new generations to flourish.

ing scene. Colombian and Mexican sativas were carefully crossed with a hardy, feisty Afghan father – in fact, most of the original Flying Dutchmen varieties contain Afghan genetics, usually as the male part of the cross – which shortened the flowering period and enhanced the yield. The sativa high was maintained, combined with that soothing, stony Afghan effect, and the latter improved the ‘cat piss’ flavour and scent of said sativas. The strain was selected from a greenhouse of twenty-thousand plants, and Skunk #1 was born – this is why folks in the United Kingdom often mistakenly refer to any indoor-grown Cannabis as ‘Skunk’. Other notable varieties containing Afghan genes are Super Skunk, which was back-crossed with an Afghan

AFGHAN GENES TEND TO SHORTEN THE OVERALL FLOWERING PERIOD, WHEN COMBINED WITH SATIVA OR HAZE GENETICS – ESPECIALLY IF THE FATHER OF THE CROSS IS THE AFGHANI STOCK. Indoors, Afghan genetics are easily trained and may be maintained as short, bushy plants that can easily fit under an attic eave or a basement stairwell. In addition to the relaxing sedation or body effect imparted by

father, the legendary Flo, AK-47 (‘Afghan-Kush’), the eponymous Northern Lights, Twilight and S.A.G.E. (‘Sativa-Afghan Genetic Equilibrium’; Big Sur Holy x Afghan) – to name a few.

PRODUCT FLASH

TERRA GROW EN TERRA BLOOM BASIC NUTRIENT

DUTCH PASSION WINS 3 SOUTH AMERICAN CANNABIS CUPS

Complete mineral fertiliser for the growth and flowering phase Together, Terra Grow and Terra Bloom, guarantee the highest yield. By growing mineral with Terra Grow and Terra Bloom, you can benefit from a stable self-regulating pH-value and you are able to determine the EC-value of the nutrient water. The roots absorb the most optimal level of nutrition which makes the plant grow fast. Besides, with Terra Grow and Terra Bloom you can react fast on the nutritional need of the plant. The results are visible in only one day because the roots are able to absorb these fertilisers directly. Terra Grow is a highly concentrated mineral basic fertiliser that can be used in the plant’s growing phase. This liquid fertiliser ensures optimum fertilisation during the plant’s growth and supports and promotes a solid foundation. Terra Bloom is also a mineral fertiliser and can be used in the flowering phase. This basic plant food supports and promotes flower development. Together, Terra Grow and Terra Bloom are the perfect partnership for optimum growth, flowering and yield – and a much better flavour! The advantages of Terra Grow and Terra Bloom: t (VBSBOUFFT PQUJNBM GSVJU TFUUJOH t *NNFEJBUFMZ BCTPSCBCMF t $BO CF VTFE PO BMM UZQFT PG TPJM t 4VJUBCMF GPS BMM XBUFSJOH TZTUFNT t $PNCBUT EFGJDJFODZ QIFOPNFOB EJTFBTFT BOE TUSFTT For the best result, combine Terra Grow and Terra Bloom with Lightmix or Growmix, the substrates from the 100% TERRA grow style. This is the perfect grow style for growers who value the highest yield.

The South American home-growing scene continues to thrive as relaxed growing laws are allowing an Amsterdamstyle atmosphere to develop. Dutch Passion have won 3 cannabis cups recently to add to their collection. Their Dutch Cheese variety won 1st Prize at the Rio De Janeiro Cannabis Cup in Brazil. The award was given for top scoring in taste, potency and aroma and was awarded to Beckenbauer, a grower that specialises in organic cultivation. Dutch Cheese also took 1st prize in Argentina’s ‘Revolution cup’ a couple of months earlier. And Dutch Passion’s outdoor/ greenhouse classic ‘Hollands Hope’ has just won the ‘Best Hash’ category in Argentina’s ‘Copa Del Mar’ competition. www.dutch-passion.nl

Do you have any questions? servicedesk@plagron.com For additional information about Terra Grow, Terra Bloom and other products, www.plagron.com

From just plain simple to highly sophisticated, all Bio Nova ways are incredibly effective.

You decide which way to grow!

Would you like to grow things, but lack a green thumb? No problem! Use The Basic Way and be overwhelmed by the success of your effortless input! Are you a passionate grower who wants high quality? Use The Dedicated Way of growing, it will blow your mind! Or are you that perfectionist, who knows exactly what he is doing and why? The Professional Way will be your path to ultimate satisfaction!

www.bionova.nl | Distributors United Kingdom: Mariner Packaging Company Ltd. - Progrow Scotland

Your green companion in every way!

CU PWIN N ER

AMSTERDAM

h Hig

sh Fini t s d, Fa Yiel

ite!

ak h as

H you et’s

Overall Winner Cannabiis Cup Argenntina 20110

CU PWIN N ER

on i t c du

o r p sh

a H r o en f

or peri

lege

ver in e

e u Q he

A su

® CU PWIN N ER

facebook

win free seeds!

RA A P . W

S ISE-

.CO S D EE

, TORE RDAM. DS S E E STE S M DISE 599 2, A 7371 PARA STRAAT 1 2 : 020 N P E O 9542 V H 7 A GR DS S 020 6 E : E E S C I DISE OFF PARA EEDS ISE S D A R PA

7 6102 OM 3424 DS.C 1 3 + E SEE .COM S I FAX: D RA EEDS @PA SE-S INFO RADI A P 00 AJ . WWW S 377 - 10 AND U LL B T O . H POS RDAM E T S AM

GROWING WITH LED’S

If to LED, how to do it? In the last article we briefly discussed some issues over different philosophies concerning the manufacturing of LED panels. In this article, we’ll briefly discuss how different LEDs can be used in different ways, and we’ll take a look at four interesting models that are currently By Demian Vrij (demianvrij@gmail.com) available in the market. The mistake most growers do regarding LED lights is assuming that by just changing their lights, everything else should

remain the same. This is definitely not so. Most people try to accommodate new

lights into their already existing grows neglecting the fact that the change they are undertaking into their grow space is the most major one. The problem is being exacerbated as a lot of people are really confused over the subject of LED panels. Hobbyists but also industry professionals, are ready to confer opinions without having even tried to grow with LEDs, just by having red somewhere or because someone sometime told them that they are inefficient. We could go along with that argument, then again we’d have to say that the MacBook Pro where I’m currently writing this article is a piece of crap just because back in ‘99 I bought a pentium II at 300 GHz for 1,200 quid! Well guess what, technology does move forward, just take a look at your mobile phone!

Passive and active cooling. Passive cooling will suit the micro-grower, the one who’s using an area of about

options in hand. Obviously they can also use passive cooling panels however that might prove be quite a drag for them. Covering a large space with the type of panels I’ve mentioned above will be quite a lot of work and things might go out of hand. However by utilizing larger space and having larger headroom they can go for larger wattage on their panels, with 3 or even 5 watt diodes and active cooling provided they have also sufficient headroom and some increased air circulation

The Culturelux M30 model comes from the Austrian company SANlight. At 30W power they follow the philosophy I have described earlier; spread out light that covers the entire grow-area instead of a focused light source. The graphs that they provide on their site are perfectly describing this approach. Numerous panels spread over an area covering the plants from a close distance. Talking to them, I found out that it’s young company founded by two lads while at university studying applied science. No surprise there, new companies will be the ones pushing the barriers into further innovation while challenging our perceptions about growing. Another plus on their product is that it’s manufactured in Austria; keeping production local is always positive.

Hand in hand with SANlight are also the Greek DIY-ers of Astir Grows. I say This is how a single light-source will cover one hand-in-hand as without any of the area... (picture curtesy of SANlight) two knowing that, they’ve been running parallel lives. Astir Grows offers hand-made panels with no lenses and the largest heatsink I’ve ever seen being used, specially for the small wattage of their panels. Special kudos to their team for promoting people towards manufacturing their own panels and they share their research online. As a member of their team writes “we’re just a bunch of growers one square meter or less. Passive cooling in their grow area. In fact it’s still the same from Greece that came together to means that there is no need for sufficient approach as the micro-grower however on make a better light for us; we went commercial just because we shared our grows online and other people showed interest so we thought why not?” … while this is how it can be efficiently covered by Another European light that worths keeping an eye on comes from right multiple light-sources. (picture curtesy of SANlight) here in the Netherlands by Royal Dutch seeds, and despite it being against my growing philosophy the results of their tests that are published in their site seem quite promising. As they confer to us, “We spent 2 years looking at LED before we got involved, many of our customers convinced us that LED is technically viable. LED’s get brighter each year and costs continue to fall. LED will become increasingly popular with the home grower, there’s headroom where the fans will be directing a larger scale that allows for more watts no doubt about it.” Definitely somethe heat, instead will be easily dissipated per panel and active cooling on the panels. thing that is worth checking out. into the environment and will be absorbed by the typical ventilation that’s required What’s currently in the market. Last, from across the ocean I’ve sinanyway. The suggested setup for this type From my research I have noted the follow- gled out the lights produced by Area of grower would be numerous panels of ing products to be quite promising; they 51. A very viable spectrum, especially low wattage spread around in the grow- all show some interesting features and in their 2014 model where they ditch tent/area to cover the plants at a close they carry the most trustworthy promises. the red lights and they use just white distance. For such a grow, the preferred design would be a nice heatsink with a simple circuit board on top of it, nicely bolted obviously in order to have good contact between the circuit board and the heatsink, over which board are positioned the LED lights, single or maximum 3 watt diodes either without lenses or with wide angle lenses in order to avoid concentraThe M30 model by SANlight tion of light and have a much better diffu(picture curtesy of SANlight) sion on the spectrum. Growers that utilise more space have more

16 spectrum. Also noteworthy is the fact that they use a clever combination of

ture at the moment regarding LED growlights.

and visa-versa. Even as those lines are written by the time they go to print

THE MISTAKE MOST GROWERS DO REGARDING LED LIGHTS IS ASSUMING THAT BY JUST CHANGING THEIR LIGHTS, EVERYTHING ELSE SHOULD REMAIN THE SAME. THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT SO. heatsinks and fans regarding the cooling of their panels. I would definitely consider them the top US manufac-

However nothing is absolute, there is no “Bible” we have to follow. What is wrong today might be right tomorrow

The ASL24GP model by Astir Grows (picture curtesy of Astir Grows)

there’s the possibility that something new might be out. LEDs are tied to technology unlike the traditional HID lamps, and the only certain thing is that we’ll be definitely be surprised in the future.

The HighLite LED 006 by Dutch Passion (picture from the company’s site)

The SGS-160 LED Grow Light by Area 51 lighting (picture from the company’s site)

Junk Science? Drunk Science? Stoned Science? The Guardian newspaper published an article earlier this year called “Wine-tasting: it’s junk science”, where they interviewed a Californian former statistician turned winemaker who, on noticing over the years that the judging of (and subsequent awarding of prizes to) wine was “surprisingly inconsistent”, had decided to run an experiment in order to test the abilities of the various judges on the tasting panels. In essence, he found that a large proportion of the “experts” really didn’t seem to know what they were talking about. For example, in “blind” tastings, they’d be presented with a sample from the same bottle twice, and give it a different score on each occasion. The experiment was run each year for 8 years and once all the data were analysed, it transpired that there really isn’t anything particularly scientific about any of it and that which wine was awarded which medal was ultimately pretty much random. “So what?” might be a question one might ask, but apparently whether a wine is awarded a medal can equate to significant economic benefits to the producer; obviously these benefits increase depending on whether a bronze, silver or gold medal is awarded. So there can be quite a lot riding on the outcome, you understand, monetarily speaking. Anyhow, I read all of this with some considerable interest, being both rather partial to the odd glass of quality (or so I’d thought!) grape juice from time to time, but also as someone who has been invited along to the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, where various experts try to do the same for weed as wine buffs do for their drug of choice. I’ve never been to the Cannabis Cup as one thing or another usually gets in the way. I’m assuming that there is some similarity between wine awards and cannabis awards insofar as the strains of dope judged to be the best quality are then going to have a certain degree of cachet, prestige, reputation or whatever, that the “also rans” won’t have, yes? One could make an argument that says “the purpose of alcohol is to get the user

Dr John Dee

drunk”, therefore one could also say“the purpose of cannabis is to get the user stoned”. However, this doesn’t seem quite right to me, particularly when applied to wine. Here’s the thing: if the point of drinking was purely to get blitzed, then everyone would just drink litres of vodka (a beverage designed, it seems to me, for this sole purpose), but that’s not how it is at all. Personally – and I realise that I’ll probably be burned in effigy for saying this - I find drinking wine much more sociable and convivial than smoking cannabis. Consider for a moment the kind of strains that seem to come out as top dog in the cannabis contests; it seems to me that they’re nearly always big, high THC content monsters, on a par with drinking, if not vodka, then certainly sherry or something like that. And as for the judging! How on earth does that work? At least with wine, the judges can take a “controlled” swallow and, you know, spit the rest out, but I’m kind of mystified as to how one might judge four or five different strains of 28% THC content weed; man, once that stuff is in your brain, it’s there for a while. Recently, I conducted my own experiment while visiting a friend for a couple of nights. It wasn’t scientific – Isaac Newton wouldn’t have approved – but the results were interesting nonetheless. On the first night, we consumed two bottles of Burgundy, ate a good meal, and the conversation flowed – unbroken – all evening. On the second night, we shared a joint of some sort of grass (it wasn’t mine and the host didn’t know what it was called), ate a HUGE meal, but could barely talk at all for about two hours until the weed calmed down a bit, at which point we, erm, opened a bottle of Burgundy and normal service was resumed. What does it mean? Anything? Nothing? Let me know your views, people... dimethyltryptamine777@hotmail.com www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-tasting-junk-science-analysis

NEW

25€

22€

CRITICAL+ 2.0

AUTOFLOWERING

NEW

20€

CRITICAL CHEESE AUTOFLOWERING

25€

BLUE CHEESE

AUTOFLOWERING

22€

WHITE WIDOW AUTOFLOWERING

23€

19€

CHEESE

WHITE CHEESE

NEW

AUTOFLOWERING

25€

AUTOFLOWERING

27€

25€

AUTOFLOWERING

MOBY DICK

ORIGINAL AMNESIA AUTOFLOWERING

AUTOFLOWERING

CRIRICAL+

DINACHEM

DINAMEX

NEW

21€ 3

KUSH’N’CHEESE

26€ 3

ORIGINAL AMNESIA

21€ 3

DEEP CHEESE

28€ 3

CRITICAL+

HAZE 2.0

18€

20€

24€

BLUE CHEESE

BLUE THAI

33€ MOBY DICK

CHEESE

25€

OG KUSH

ORIGINAL STRAWBERRY COUGH

21€

25€

23€ 3

CRITICAL JACK

25€ 3

WHITE WIDOW

STRAIN GUIDE

Chem Dawg: the legend comes to Europe Chem Dawg first made history on the United States market, from the royal New York underground to the dispensaries in California, and has several awards and mentions in High Times magazine to its name. Dinafem has been working hard to create a version of this strain! Ganjah Selecta We’ve already talked about the historic Chem Dawg dynasty several times. Originally selected by Chemdawg from seeds found in an ounce of sinsemilla grass, the plants soon began to be shared and hybridised, which led to the appearance of renowned genetics such as: Original Diesel, Headband, Daywreck Diesel, Underdawg Diesel, East Coast Sour Diesel, Sour Diesel, Giesel, OG Kush, Bubba Kush or New York City Diesel. Examples of Spanish genetics are Juanita La Lagrimosa and Cannatonic. It’s important to highlight that these plants earned their fame for their special flavour, characterised by its oily, fruity accents and reminiscent of Marsala wine. It’s truly unique. Another claim to fame is their intense effect, which you can appreciate from the first drags. Later, when medicinal cannabis and analyses came to the forefront, high CBD levels were detected in several examples of these lines, both in Europe and in the United States, in some cases with a 1:1 THC-to-CBD. All the original Kush strains stemming from this wave present the same merits as well as the same defects. We’ve already described the good points: sweet and typical flavour, high potency, medicinal effect. As for the inconveniences, it’s a plant for expert growers, because of its slow growth and susceptibility to pests and diseases,

as well as to an excessive fertilisation. Although the plant does represent a challenge for novice growers, it was

amongst the ten most popular strains on the US market, with means that its merits definitely exceed its defects. We must bear in mind that the US market is the most mature in the world, as it’s been using weed since the second half of the previous century, thanks to the presence of strains from all over the world that have been expertly hybridised and selected. In the past few years, the experience

of medicinal cannabis clubs has allowed users to choose from a wide range of strains. When it comes to choosing favourites, Chem Dawg definitely holds a privileged position in the immense offer of strains available on the US market. While certain details of Chem Dawg’s genealogy remain obscure or even surreal, one thing is clear by now: the interest that this strain arouses, both in experts and in medical users. After researching the original sources of the Chem Dawg genealogy, the Dinafem seedbank is ready to create an elite hybrid from the most often selected part of this renowned strain. For this labour of selection and crossing, Dinachem has been able to rely on genetics from the original source, Chemdawg in person – a living legend – with all the problems encountered while conducting the selection (after a raid in his apartment, where he was selecting the definitive elite Kush in seed form). On one hand, Dinafem is using the original Chem Dawg as mother plant, while the pollinating plant was selected from a batch of Guava Chem seeds – another Chemdawg strain. Dinafem explains that the age of the original clone gives it signs of strength that disappear in its descendants, but that would complicate the selection, as it is a sybarite plant, that requires lots of care and attention to yield good results. Guava Chem makes up the lost strength, maintaining the original features while noticeably increasing vigour, as it’s in seed form. Studying the Guava Chem family tree, we find that Chemdawg’s selection process of the strain concentrated on specimens as similar as possible to Chem Dawg.

This allowed several reproductions and hybridisations between these related plants, with the presence of other strains while still selecting the most similar descendants to Chem Dawg, and then backcrossing the selected strains with the original. Chemdawg’s aim was to reproduce the renowned Chem Dawg genetic in seed form, thus giving new strength to the legend, which has been kept alive as a clone for too many years. The result is an extremely homogeneous strain, much more vigorous than the original ancient cutting, although a slight weakness remains due to the inbreeding which characterised the process. Dinafem is currently performing the first hybridisation tests between the original Chem Dawg and several Guava Chem specimens, selected for their strong resemblance to the original strain – the very same selection process followed with Guava Chem. The aim is to launch a new strain, as close as possible to the legendary Chem Dawg standards, on the market. Here at Soft Secrets, we were lucky enough to get to try the first selections, during a recent visit to one of Dinafem’s selection centres. They’re definitely on the right track. The first samples show a homogeneous lineage, which maintains the features that made the original Chem Dawg legendary, including the oily flavour with its combination of gas and fruit, with a predominance of citrus petroleum. Another important feature is the high potency, with its intense effect on all the senses. The medicinal aspect can be sensed from the first taste, although a lot still depends on the definitive hybrids and respective analyses for a final confirmation.

GROW WITH GOLGI MAX OUT YOUR GROW ROOM:

By Golgi Apparatus

Perpetual Harvesting Perpetual by definition means 1. Neverending, 2. Occurring repeatedly; so frequent as to seem endless and uninterrupted. Those are words we would all gladly associate with our harvests! Once you get your grow room thriving and producing acceptable dankness having a more frequent, continuous cycle of harvesting is just a few steps away.

light to thrive. They are also nice because they don’t put off a lot of heat, which means you can get them really close to the plant canopy without the risk of burning the tops. While these T5 units are one option you can use any type of light you choose just make sure the bulb is a vegetative spectrum

other or using a shared reservoir it allows them to be fed different nutrients to coincide with the cycle they are in. Whether it is in soil/dirt or soilless medium or individual DWC (Deep Water Culture) buckets moving your plants from one area to another is easy, but what if you run a hydroponic system

Normally a basic HID light set up has a ballast plugged into a hood or reflector, that powers one light. You will then need two separate bulbs each containing a different spectrum of light, one for vegetative growth and one for blooming/flowering growth. You switch these bulbs out when you cut the light hours back to the 12/12 cycle for bloom. Starting a perpetual harvest cycle will almost always require an investment in more equipment because more plants you have the more space, more light and more everything you will need. You will need to separate the vegetative and blooming growing areas with a partition, one that is sealed to prevent light leaks which can be detrimental to the plants on either side of the wall. Use light proof materials such as panda film, wood or foam board to build the partitions. This is also a great opportunity to use a grow tent. But if you don’t have any more space to work with then you will need to divide up the space you have and grow fewer plants per cycle. I know that doesn’t sound ideal but when you can triple or even quadruple the amount of harvests you can do in a year it will work out mathematically in your favor. Selecting a new light for your separate vegetative area is also an opportunity for you to save some money on electricity, simply by leaving your powerful HID lights for the bloom/flowering area and purchasing a T5 fixture for the vegetative area. While these T5 bulbs usually don’t come packing the lumen output of HID’s they also don’t use a lot of energy to run and work great for veg when your plants don’t need that intense

one tray/container where the plants grow to intertwine with each other method rendering them stationary, then switching the bulbs out is the way to go. Another benefit to growing in individual pots is that you can have more a staggered harvest cycle, allowing the possibility of harvesting once a month or every two weeks. A sample schedule is to have your room set up in four different stages, such as; 0-2 weeks, 2-4 weeks, 4-6 weeks and 6-8 weeks. Depending on the length of time your plants need, from start to finish, it will change these stage estimates a bit, but you get the idea. This also means that you need to feed all the plants in different parts of the cycle different nutrients and additives. It’s easy to get confused if you don’t write yourself a personalized schedule and post it on the wall in each area. The perpetual harvesting method employs the old adage; the more you want to put into it, the more you will get out of it. I have seen successful grows that are perpetually harvesting as frequently as every week. Now that’s production!

bulb. This area will be used for cloning and vegetative growth and then plants will be transferred to the blooming area when it is time to flower them. Make sure your flowering area has a bloom spectrum bulb and its own separate timer. Growing plants in individual pots allows for them to be moved freely from room to room making the perpetual harvest process easier and more flexible with shorter intervals. Seeing as they are not connected to each

with a shared reservoir? This will require you to add more hydro systems grouping them by the nutrients and bulb they need. Using the same light fixture set-up in each area you can simply switch the bulbs out or grow using removable medium (such as rockwool blocks or containers filled with grow rocks) and move the plants to the room with the reservoir and light they require. While doing it this way means less staggering of the groups, you can still double your harvests. If your hydro system has plants that are all in

Another thing that can take your perpetual harvesting to a whole other level is the autoflower varieties that have grown in popularity in recent years. These strains don’t rely on light cycles and they automatically go into the flowering phase when they reach a certain point of growth. This means you can have a single room with all your different stages growing in it and on the same light cycle, so there will be no need to build separate light tight spaces for the different spectrum bulbs. You will still need to feed the plants different nutrients so be sure to keep them organized by age. Simply put your lights on a timed cycle for 18-20 hours of on time and your plants from cloning to harvest will thrive. The amount of light autoflower varieties need is a big debate in the world of cannabis growers but I have found 18/6 or 20/4 cycle work great. These same ideals will work for any grow light set up not just HID’s, whether it’s a VHO (Very High Output) fluorescent, LED, plasma etc. Success is all in the set up, maintenance and care!

GROW WITH LITTLE LEBOWSKI

Beginners Guide To Pollen Pollen: You may know it by a different name, but one thing’s for sure once you’ve tried it you’ll never forget it. The golden colour, the way it fluffs up and expands when a flame is put to it and the knockout punch it delivers

Behold… The Pollinator! For serious kief collectors!

when you smoke it. It’s a firm favourite for a reason! Here’s the beginners guide… First off, let’s get the definitions out of the way. What smokers refer to as pollen, isn’t pollen in the sense that it comes from the reproductive parts of the male plant. It’s a term used to describe a type of pressed hash that is comprised purely (or near enough) of resin glands – trichomes - that have fallen or been shaken from the plant. Seeing as these resin glands contain the majority of the psychoactive compounds stored in the plant, you know that this type

For the purposes of this article and to avoid any confusion over terms, we’ll refer to the collected glands as kief and the resulting pressed hash as pollen. Anyway, definitions aside, it is lovely stuff and it’s pretty easy to make yourself. You collect the glands, press them and you’re done. It’s nice to have a bit of hash around too; it takes up less space than bud, is easier to stash, smells less and can generally last a bit longer than bud when you store it. It’s also a great way to use up all the goodness on the trim (leaves and stems) that would otherwise be discarded. So, if you’re growing a few plants at home right now then mentally keep one to the side and dedicate it to making some homemade pollen. You won’t regret it. Let’s go through the basics…

The glands that have fallen from the bud are commonly known as kief or skuff. So, you may have come across pollen before by the name kief, kief hash, or simply as skuff.

Sifting for kief is basically a more advanced method of using a kief box. Get yourself a kief box or some screen printing material from an art supply shop (100-150micron

Collecting kief is actually pretty easy to do without even trying. Purchase yourself a A simple little hash press decent 4-tier grinder and you’ll start to collect kief every time you grind up a bud. It’s the golden, powdery looking build up that collects in the bottom compartment of the sized screens work well), take some ground grinder, the part below the layer of mesh plant material that has been in the freezer screen. You can also invest in a kief box to for a few hours and place it on the screen. store your bud in. This is a similar concept Then simply tilt the screen back and forth, to the 4-tier grinder, where there is a mesh rolling the ground material across its surscreen on the base of the box and a catch- face, the kief will fall through the screen ment tray underneath. You simply store the and will be caught in the catchment tray weed in the box, give it a little shake from (if you’re using a kief box). If you’re using time to time and let the kief build up in the a homemade screen, hold it over a mirror tray. and watch the kief fall onto it. Once the kief stops falling, you’re ready for the next batch. Obviously these ‘passive’ collection tech- Simple. niques will only yield you a little bit of kief There is a next level of dry sifting… The Pollinator machine!

COLLECTING KIEF IS ACTUALLY PRETTY EASY TO DO WITHOUT EVEN TRYING of hash is going to be fairly potent… not like the shitty soap bar that you used to get when you were a kid.

up and put it in the freezer for a few hours. The cold temperature will make the resin glands brittle and more likely to break off from the plant material. It might seem weird to put your weed in the feezer but - believe us - you’ll harvest more kief this way.

each month or so, depending on how much you toke. So, if you’re looking to get a few grams of pollen to smoke you’ll need to harvest your kief using more active methods. At this point, it’s worth mentioning that to get the maximum amount of kief from your bud and trim material you’ll need to bag it

I can recall staying at a mates house one time, lot too long after he’d brought a decent crop down, and he asked me if I’d like to have a bit of pollen to smoke. “Yes” was the obvious answer and he left the room saying “I’ll be back in min.” Now I fully expected him to come back with a coin sized piece of pressed pollen and I would’ve certainly been happy enough if that was what he brought me. When he re-entered the room, my jaw hit the floor.

He had a Tupperware container full of pollen! It was like a fucking brick! “Where’d you get that”, I asked. “The Pollinator”, was his response. He then proceeded to tell me about a machine that he’d bought online and, after undertaking a bit of research myself, I was totally sold on the concept. The Pollinator is basically a dry sifting machine that looks like a plastic box with a rotating drum inside and a motor at one end. The drum is made from screen material and acts like an automatic sifter. You put between 100-200 grams of plant material into the drum turn on the motor and leave it for a few minutes, the kief falls through the drum and collects in the box below. Much easier than sifting by hand for hours! Once you’ve collected your kief, you can sprinkle it straight into a joint or into a bong, if you’ve collected enough then you’ll want to press it into pollen to make it easy to store. Mini hash presses are cheap and widely available from all good head shops. If you’re a cheapskate, why not wrap a few

The 00 Box. The Rolls Royce of kief boxes!

grams of kief in some cling film and place it inside your shoe? After a few hours of walking you’ll have pressed it yourself! Next month we’ll look at water extraction methods. Happy collecting!

Excalibur

Eva Seeds

BACKGROUND

Ultimate Root Zone! The first few days of a plant’s life are often overlooked but are among the most crucial to success. Getting the best root system possible at this stage will not only increase final yield dramatically, but also give a healthier plant in general. This in turn allows you to make the most of your time and space with a faster growing plant able to support more flowers. Here

t %SJQQFS UVCJOH CVZ B DPVQMF PG NFUSFT more than you need) t %SJQQFS TUBLFT t IPVS UJNFS JO NJOVUF TFHNFOUT

A gentle weaning.

By Baron Wasteland

is at it’s most fragile (this will ease the transition If you switch to mineral feed later in the grow). It also has a little more moisture retention than rockwool, which we will use to our advantage in the next few stages.

There are plenty of articles about cloning and planting seed, so right now let’s skip that and assume you are already gleefully about to take some cuttings or plant some seeds in preparation for the next crop.

stable once flushed properly. The reason pH can rise in the substrate is actually due to the plants active growth and is a good sign (as long as you correct it back down before it gets too high!). More on this later. Common practice is to soak rockwool cubes overnight, but this is overly time consuming. Much faster is a three stage flush: t 'JSTU TPBL UIFN JO IPU XBUFS TRVFF[JOH them around, and generally being a little rough with them to break the cubes up a bit, giving a fast flush of the lime. Leave them to soak for 5 minutes then squeeze the cubes out and discard all this liquid. t 'MVTI UXP JT JO IPU XBUFS BHBJO ZPV DBO treat them nicer this time, just a few light squeezes under the water then let them soak for half an hour. Discard this water. t 5IF UIJSE GMVTI JT EPOF XJUI MVLFXBSN water adjusted to pH 5.5 in which they’re left to soak for half an hour. Discard this solution and squeeze most of the liquid out of your cubes. Now your rockwool is ready to receive nutrients & plants!

All healthy root zones are born from a high quality soil or hydroponic substrate. Every seasoned grower has their own favourite first planting medium, whether soil, rockwool, perlite, clay pellets or coco; pretty much any of these work just fine. But we don’t want to settle on “fine”, we want the ultimate!

we outline the ultimate method to get an outrageous root system in your plant from day 1.

Because our babies have already got roots peeking out from the peat pellet, we can now prepare a very light solution of NPK veg nutrients, root booster, seaweed extract and trichoderma for the

We will cover how to easily make a homemade hybrid dripper system with integrated air pruning, which makes young plants produce an abundance of fresh healthy roots. Also we’re going to explore in depth the optimum nutrient feeding regime, so your young plants will get further, faster with their first tender steps. Kind of like a kindergarten for your little green babies.

Shopping List To get the Ultimate Root Zone using this system you will need to aquire the fol-

lowing (you may already have a lot of this kicking around): t *ODI 3PDLXPPM DVCFT JODI IPMF standard height) t 1FBU QFMMFUT EJTLT PG ESJFE DPNQSFTTFE peat that expand in water) t -BSHF QMBOU USBZ NVTU CF BU MFBTU UXJDF as large as the space needed for your rockwool, at least 3 inches deep and watertight. t 4NBMMFS QMBOU USBZ GPS UJOZ TFFEMJOH TUBHF (optional) t " IBSE NFUBM TDSFFO UP TJU PO UPQ PG the large plant tray (cheap greenhouse shelving works well) t " NJE TJ[F QVNQ TVJUBCMF GPS ESJQQFS systems t "O JO MJOF GJMUFS CFUXFFO UIF QVNQ BOE dripper manifold t " ESJQQFS NBOJGPME UP TQMJU UIF ESJQ UVCF to each plant

Soak the peat pellets in some warm water, pH adjusted to 5.6. At this stage you should not add any NPK fertiliser, only add a little root booster (Rhizotonic or similar). Adding Trichoderma fungus at this stage too (Biopak/Aktrivator or similar) adds an amazing secondary root system that grows with your plant’s own roots, allowing more efficient nutrient uptake and also guarding against pythium and other substrate horrors! Using a good enzyme product throughout the cycle helps the rhizosphere stay healthy, process dead tissue and convert it quickly into nutrients.

Fast flushing of rockwool.

Peat Pellets with no added NPK nutrient for the first couple of days give the best start to many of our favourite plants. Peat pellets are full of natural gentle nutrients, so by using them at this early stage we give an organic weaning when the plant

After the first roots peek out from within your peat pellet it’s time to transplant into your rockwool cubes. Before you do this you need to remove the residual lime present in the rockwool from manufacturing. This must be flushed out fully to prevent the substrate’s internal pH being raised way too high. A common misconception is that rockwool progressively raises the pH of your plants, this is untrue as rockwool is pH

rockwool – at this stage we only take the mix to 1.1 EC from seed (1.2 EC if from cuttings) and bring the solution to pH 5.5. Soak your rockwool cubes in this solution for an hour. Carefully drop your plants into the rockwool, gently close up any gaps between the peat pellet and rockwool, then sit back and feel pleased with yourself.

Make your rootin’ tootin’ root boostin’ hydroponic kindergarten! Now it’s time to assemble our incredible Ultimate Rooting hydroponic system. We will only keep the plants in this system for

25 The pump filter and manifold should be sticking up through the hard screen. It is useful to use the smaller plant tray at this early stage, as you won’t need to make up such large quantities of feed just to get the depth high enough for the pump to work efficiently. Using less nutrients is also more economical for you and better for the environment too with less waste solution. As the plants grow too large for the small tray you can simply lift the screen, pump, plants and dripper in one convenient movement and swap the bottom tray to a larger one. If your screen is unsupported anywhere you can place a couple of metal rods laying across the top of the tray under the screen, supporting the weight of your wet rockwool. Alternative methods are to fold the screen edges carefully up to give some rigidity or better yet just get a larger screen and cut it to fit, leaving an inch or so of overlap all around the large tray. Think about your plant spacing and cut your dripper delivery tubing to reach each plant easily, but avoid leaving masses of

to make the best use of your light coverage. Space them out as they grow, so none of the plants ever touch each other at this early stage. If young plants feel restricted they won’t develop such good lateral branching.

Optimising your feed schedule strength and timing

a week to ten days, but it gives them the best start possible before you install them in their final home. Nutrient solution is pumped through the rockwool, dripping out from underneath into the tray to create a recirculating active system.

Make a full spectrum vegetative nutrient solution with NPK+micro nutrients+root booster. We still keep the solution light at this stage, so we mix until we measure 1.1 EC for seedlings, 1.2 EC for cuttings. Tip this into your tray, which conveniently acts as your tank too. Test the pump & dripper are working as expected, with even flow from all the dripper stakes.

The magic comes with the screen – as the roots grow through, they hit air and the tips die off triggering an explosion of new root growth from within. We time the feed schedule and adjust the nutrient composition to encourage the most extreme roots possible before we transplant to their final site. Sterilise your trays, pump and screen. Diluted Hydrogen Peroxide or isopropyl alcohol works well and doesn’t leave any residue that’s unfriendly to plants. Put your small tray down on the bench and attach your pump to the base, towards the back end of the tray and away from the centre. Lay your screen over the tray. Next fit your inline filter to your pump, then your dripper manifold and tubing.

Now it’s time to install the plants. Place them directly onto the screen and push a dripper stake into each rockwool cube. It’s easiest to work from the closest to the pump outwards. If you’re working with seedlings they are still absolutely tiny at this stage so you can bunch up the cubes

The nutrient solution should fill each cube and drip through back into the reservoir from multiple points on the base of the cube. Ensure that the dripper tubing isn’t pulling the stake back into the plastic wrapper on the rockwool, or you risk some nutrient running down the outside and missing the young plant altogether. excess to get in the way when they are tiny and bunched closer together. Depending on what you are growing, you may need to allow for up to a 12 inch circumference of space per plant by the time you are ready to transplant again in about 10 days.

If growing from seed, increase nutrient strength to an EC of 1.2 after they’ve been in the rockwool for 3 days, and keep it there until transplanting next week. Often when people use dripper systems, they use a very fast timer to only replace

a small amount of nutrient per feed. This approach will lead to inaccurate pH measurements, as when the plant grows, the pH inside the cube raises too. By only replacing tiny amounts of nutrient at a time you are simply compounding that problem! But by running the pump for 15 minutes at a time it allows the fresh nutrient to permeate through every part of the cube, pushing out the old solution. You should see it dripping out from different points across the base. When plants are first installed in the rockwool the roots will be minuscule inside the peat pellet, so we only run the pump once a day for 15 minutes in the morning, as we want the cube to dry out slightly over the day to stimulate root growth. As soon as you see the first roots come out of the base of the rockwool cube, run the pump twice a day in the morning and early afternoon. When these first protruding roots have withered and died back and you see the following reactive cluster leaping out of the base you know the system has worked. Keep the feed strength at 1.2 EC, pH at 5.5 and feed this 4 times a day, 15 minutes each time. Have the last feed about 2 hours before lights out. As the plants grow you will see the most outrageous root system emerge. Allow the roots at the bottom of the cube to die repeatedly and hold your nerve… Keep them on the screen for about another week, until the cube is literally carpeted in fresh vibrant roots. Increase the number of feeds a day gradually over the week, judging how long it takes for the cubes to feel lighter. By the time you move the plants on you will need to feed about 8 times per day (in an 18 hour day), as there are literally too many roots to fit in the cube and it will be thirsty and dry out fast; this is why the extra water-retentive properties of the peat pellet works in our favour now, by holding a little extra moisture for longer right at the core. Peek down the side of the plastic wrapper and you should see a mass of pure healthy white roots, looking like the cube in the picture. The plants are now ready to transplant into their final home. Enjoy your massive yield! baronwasteland@gmx.co.uk

ASK ED

AERATING HYDRO WATER Why are aquarium bubblers or aeration stones used in hydroponic reservoirs? Is it to enrich the water with carbon dioxide (CO2)? Should I use an aquarium heater to raise the water temperature? At what temperature should I keep the water? MARLON S. Aquarium bubblers are used to enrich the water with oxygen, not CO2. Plant leaves capture CO2 and use it as an ingredient for photosynthesis. The plants use light energy to cleave water into its two elements, hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O). Then they combine the H with CO2 to make sugar. Plants use the sugar as a source of energy to carry on life processes and also as a building block for the creation of new tissue. Roots do not contain chlorophyll, the pigment that captures and converts light energy, so they have no need for CO2. They do require oxygen, which they use to burn the sugar to create energy. Air bubblers enrich the water with oxygen, which comprises about 21 percent of the atmosphere. They do it in two ways: First, the water absorbs oxygen directly from the bubbles floating up to the surface. Second, by circulating the water more water comes in contact with air at the surface. There, the water exchanges CO2 released by the roots for oxygen that the roots absorb. As water warms, its ability to hold free oxygen lessens, so roots are more likely to encounter anaerobic conditions in warm water. Water holds sufficient free oxygen at 20ºC–22ºC. At higher temperatures, when it holds less oxygen, oxygenating the water becomes much more important.

LIGHT INTENSITY I use 16 1000-watt HPS lamps with Adjust-A-Wings reflectors. I like them because their parabolic shape spreads the light more evenly over the entire garden, which eliminates shadows and ultimately increases overall yield. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to use these types of reflectors and get higher than 54,000 lumens per square meter at the canopy without heat issues, especially when multiple strains are being grown and the canopy becomes less uniform. My question: If my priority is to grow the highest-quality product instead of maximizing yield, should I use focused reflectors instead? JOE

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.

Most cannabis plants grow very well and produce high yields under 54,000 lumens per square meter. The plants that are most likely to improve with increased light are sativas and sativa–indica hybrids. The problem with the parabolic lights you are using in terms of increasing light intensity is that the reflectors have a big footprint and cannot be placed close to each other. One solution to your problem of trying to increase light intensity is to use HO or VHO fluorescent lamps in addition to the lamps that are already installed. These 120cm tubes vary between about 50–100 watts. High-watt compact fluorescent lamps are also available. All these tubes are fairly efficient and can be mounted between or under the HPS lights.

WHEN TO SPRAY After spraying the plants with a pesticide or fungicide is it best to keep their lights off for a bit afterwards? ASHLEY Yes. When spraying a pesticide or fungicide it is usually best to keep the lights off for a while so the spray will have more time as a liquid and have a greater chance to reach its targets.

CO2 SHUTOFF

When should I shut off CO2 during flowering? Should I run it until the end of flowering or should I stop it earlier? MR. FERTILIZER

HO T-5 fluorescent lamps are very efficient sources of light. The tubes are thinner than other fluorescents, so they can be placed closer together. The reflectors have baffles that reflect the light so little is lost to the garden. VHO lights, which use 110 watts, are also available.

As long as plants are photosynthesizing, which they continue throughout the flowering period, CO2 enrichment increases the rate of photosynthesis so it speeds growth and maturity. Keep it on throughout the flowering process. Cannabis does not gather CO2 during the dark period, so there is no need to enrich the air during the dark period.

28 OVER-FERTILIZATION

WHITEFLIES

After watering it yesterday the leaves curled. Still super green leaves and the plant is vibrant and bushy. Did I overwater? JULIA

My plants are in week 5 of flowering. How can I safely remove whiteflies at this point of flowering? The plants have many nice size buds and I don’t want to harm them or the end user. GOLENDER

Overwatering did not cause the problem your plants have. When plants are in a constant state of being “overwatered” and are suffering from anaerobic conditions (not enough oxygen) at the root level, first the leaves droop and lose their luster and then the stem and roots may be attacked by pathogens.

Whiteflies are true bugs and are close relatives of aphids. They use a proboscis, a mouth modified into a straw, to puncture the plant and suck its juices. They are very prolific and can quickly drain a plant of its energy.

The reason the leaves started curling is the result of too much nutrient in the soil or water. The plant is having trouble drawing up water because the nutrient levels in the water are so high. The solution to the problem is to flush the container with pH’d water to remove some of the nutrients. When this happens the concentration of salts in the plant will be higher than in the soil and the plants will once again be able to draw up water and resume healthy growth.

There are several ways you can get rid of them. Pyrethrum, a natural organic pesticide, or an herbal pesticide can be used to knock the population down and, with several sprays about five days apart, can eliminate the population. Encarsia formosa is a solitary parasitic wasp that lays eggs in whitefly pupae. They cannot sting you and are so small that you may never see them again once you release them. Adults emerge from the dead host ready to reproduce. They are very effective in warm climates, greenhouses, and indoor gardens. You will see a gradual reduction of whiteflies and they will be virtually eliminated. My ideal program is to use organic pesticides twice, about four days apart, to knock the population down. Then wait a few days and introduce the wasps.

This plant is suffering from nitrogen toxicity in late flowering. Tapering off the use of nitrogen toward flowering

CONSTANT GREEN LIGHT I left a green light on at night in the final week of flowering. What effect will this have on the plants? TIMOTHY C. Marijuana is a short-day plant, which means that its flowering cycle is based on the number of hours of uninterrupted darkness it receives. It measures light and darkness based on red and far-red light and, to a much lesser effect, based on blue light. Short-day plants are not affected by green light in regard to the flowering cycle, so it is safe to leave a green light on during the flowering period. Both LED and fluorescent green lights do not emit red light so they are excellent sources of green light.

Whiteflies and their eggs hang out on the underside of plant leaves. They use their proboscises (hollow, straw-like jaws) to pierce plant leaves and suck their juices.

29 TIGHT PLANTING In Marijuana Grower’s Handbook you say that three plants in one container had a greatest yield over the topped plants. What size container would you recommend? FARBERGE Increasing the number of plants in a container to increase yield works on both small containers (30cm in diameter) as well as large ones such as outdoor raised beds. With more plants the canopy becomes more fully colonized so the space is fully used. This technique is more effective when growing sativas and sativa hybrids than with indicas, which fill the space more completely. Several plants in one container cover the area more completely than a single plant whether topped or untopped.

BANANAS ON BUDS

HIGH TEMPERATURES

Is it normal for male flowers to appear on the buds as the plant is ripening? Are these the little yellow flowers? Is it best to pull them when they appear in ripening to avoid seed production? AMBER

Do high temperatures [over 32ºC] slow the growth of plants? STEFAN

Male flowers sometimes grow on buds just as they are ripening. It is safe to leave them on if there are no young buds around because the buds they are on are about to be picked and will not continue growing. The problem with these flowers, often called bananas, is that they are considered undesirable commercially and lower the price of buds substantially. For this reason processors remove them as they manicure.

Yes. When the temperature gets into the high 30s (ºC) plants stop photosynthesizing, and instead go into a stress mode. During this period the stomata (plant pores) transpire water to cool the plant (the equivalent of our perspiring to cool off). As the temperature increases to 30ºC photosynthesis and metabolism speeds up, just as it does in cold-blooded animals. However, when the temperature rises above that level, cannabis quickly changes from fast processing to preservation mode. During periods of heat stress, plants transpire water to keep cool.

These male flowers contain all female genetics because they grew on female plants that have no male DNA. Seeds produced using this pollen to pollinate female flowers will produce only female seeds.

HOT ROOTS I am having trouble keeping canopy and hydroponic roots at acceptable temps. The roots are too warm, way above 21ºC. What should I do? DAN AND TINA H. Use a water chiller designed for aquariums. It will keep the water cool without contaminating it with unwanted metals such as copper. Units not made specifically for plants or aquariums should not be used because the plants risk contamination. This chart shows the drop in rate of photosynthesis as temperatures get too high

30 BENEFICIAL NEMATODES What species of nematodes should I use to get rid of root aphids? HAZE MAN Beneficial nematodes are microscopic organisms that look like worms. They attack soil-dwelling insects by entering their bodies and eating them from the inside and laying eggs inside the host. The host dies and the newborns emerge, all looking for a meal. As long as there are insect hosts they keep reproducing.

WHITE WEBBING IN BUDS I recently harvested. While breaking up my dried cured nugs I noticed very fine weblike strands coming from the bud. Even when I pinch a tiny piece and pull it apart I can see a bunch of these little hairs. Is it a mold? ALTER TEE The webbing or strands you see are signs of powdery mildew or a close relative. The buds are thoroughly infected. Although it is not associated with human disease I feel uncomfortable about smoking it. The buds can be used for water concentrates or BHO because the infection will be washed away. To control powdery mildew you must be ever vigilant and check your plants. There are several methods of preventing powdery mildew infections. They are detailed in Marijuana Grower’s Handbook, Marijuana Pest and Disease Control, Protect Your Garden, and Marijuana Garden Saver.

The best species to use is Steinernema feltiae. They hang out in the first few inches of soil, where many root aphids dwell. Another species, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, is also helpful. They live deeper in the soil. Once they are introduced to the medium the population will grow as long as there are insects to feed on.

Powdery mildew spreading throughout the plant

Close-up of filamentary strands of powdery mildew hyphae

Powdery mildew often starts with small irregular circles on the leaves. They look like they are dusted with powder or covered in webbing as it spreads

BIG BUDS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS! ED ROSENTHAL’S BIG BUDS APP IS HERE! THE MOBILE VERSION OF THE BIG BOOK OF BUDS AVAILABLE NOW FOR IPHONE, IPOD TOUCH AND IPAD. t Instant access to variety information—updated weekly. t Sort by breeder and view high quality photos. t Rate and track favorites.

GET IT NOW!

GROW WITH THE BEST MARIJUANA GROWER’S HANDBOOK Increase quality and learn the newest equipment and cultivation techniques. GUARANTEED TO CHANGE THE WAY YOU GROW FOREVER.

MARIJUANA: LET’S GROW A POUND EASY INDOOR GARDENING Grow .5 Kilo using a 1000-watt HPS light

PROTECT YOUR PLANTS NEW FROM ED ROSENTHAL! MARIJUANA PEST & DISEASE CONTROL Save your garden from pests and diseases with solutions that are safe for you and the environment. Full color, over 100 photos.

MARIJUANA GARDEN SAVER ;YV\ISLZOVV[ WYVISLTZ X\PJRS`

visit Ed online—www.edrosenthal.com FREEDOM BOOKS., freedombooks.co.uk, Call: 02392 780 600 Avalon Wholesale Ltd., (wholesale) avalonwholesale.co.uk, Call: 02392 832 383 Turnaround (wholesale), turnaround-uk.com, Call: 020 8829 3002

GROW WITH LITTLE LEBOWSKI

The Tent Grower As the grow industry has developed and progressed over the last decade or so, many products have been launched onto the market to aid the home grower in making their hobby as simple and as safe as possible. Lighting and extrac-

and filter into it. Others created their own ‘room within a room’ by putting together a simple wooden frame and fixing reflective sheeting (either white or silver) to the walls, floor and ceiling.. The grow tent follows this concept, but

With a bit of experience, you could pull 7-8 ounces of dried bud from an 80x80 tent tion products have become better value and easier to use, nutrients and additives are tailored to produce specific results at certain stages of plant growth. Of all the developments that have appeared over the years, maybe the one that has really changed the face of indoor growing is the grow tent.

is easier and quicker to put together, is light proof and waterproof, and can be easily dismantled and hidden away between grows. Put simply, a grow tent is a portable room in which a light, fan and filter unit can be hung above the plants. In prac-

WITH A BIT OF EXPERIENCE, YOU COULD PULL 7-8 OUNCES OF DRIED BUD FROM AN 80X80 TENT Go into any decent hydro shop anywhere in the world and you will usually be faced with a variety of grow tents in different shapes and sizes.

tice, the benefits are far reaching as they allow the grower to create a space in which they can control every aspect of their growing environment.

Historically, smaller scale growers would butcher a small cupboard to fix a light

This is of particular importance at this time of year when outdoor tempera-

tures are relatively low. Rather than heating your entire room (or even house) to maintain a nice temperature for your plants, you simply heat your tent using a small tube or oil heater. Growers using a smaller tent rarely need to add a heater at all, as the heat emitted from their grow light is enough to maintain a nice temperature for their crop. Another great benefit of using a tent is that they help to control odour. Grow tents create a semi-sealed environment that use negative pressure to prevent the smell of your crop from escaping. Negative pressure is where the amount of air being moved out of the tent is greater than the amount of air being moved in. Provided the extraction fan is constantly on, the only way the ‘smelly air’ can leave the tent is through the filter and fan.

ideal environment for around 1 to 4 small plants. This size of set up can be easily hidden away in the corner of a room, ideal for a small scale, covert grow op. With a bit of experience, you could pull 7-8 ounces of dried bud from this space. The equipment can be kept simple. A basic 250 watt lamp with a euro reflector will take care of the lighting duties, it’s not necessary to invest in an expensive reflector to direct light onto the plants; in a tent of that size there is nowhere for the light to escape. A 4 or 5 inch fan and filter will easily be able to handle the extraction and air exchange requirements of an 80cm x 80cm tent space and there is no need to use an additional fan for the air intake, the passive intakes in the tent will suffice.

Temperature can also be controlled through extraction, so it’s always a good idea to upscale your fan and filter size. For example, if a 5 inch extraction is sufficient for your grow tent, then go for a 6 inch set-up. This way you can use a speed controller to run the larger fan at around two-thirds capacity which will reduce the amount of noise that the fan makes. Having the extra power in reserve, allows you to increase the air exchange during the warmer summer months, this reduces temperatures and keeps you growing all year round. Another nice benefit of having that reserve power in your fan is that you can turn the fan up when you need to open the tent. This extra extraction helps to prevent any air from leaking out of the tent door. Very handy for when you’re harvesting your plants. Tents can be used for commercial growers looking to create and control a number of mini environments in a larger space, by splitting their crop across multiple tents. But where tents really excel is the home grower market. If you’re a smoker looking to keep trips to the dealer to a minimum, but with little space to spare for an indoor garden; a small, 80cm x 80cm, grow tent offers the

The small tent can be used to propagate, grow and then dry your crop, very handy if you do not have the space to set up a separate propagation and drying area

You could fit some small pots and saucers into your tent and go the hand feeding route or there are plenty of small scale hydro systems out there that are tailor made for a tent this size. Each will help to increase yields and cut down on growing times, allowing you to get more crops in per year. Just be wary how tall the systems sit because in a small tent space is at a premium, you don’t want to lose too much head room. So choose a low lying hydro system.

33 The small tent can be used to propagate, grow and then dry your crop, very handy if you do not have the space to set up a separate propagation and drying area. If you’re an enthusiastic grower looking for a continuous production line that guarantees a decent size yield, (providing some smoke for yourself and maybe

Location, Location, Location So, you’ve decided that a tent is the way forward. But where are you going to put it? If you are blessed with a choice of locations to house your tent, or if you are lucky enough to have an understanding partner - maybe even a fellow toker! – then choose wisely. For the sake of this article, let’s assume that fate is

The bedroom – the classic tent hotspot, favoured by students in shared accommodation and city dwellers short on space. The main factor here is noise; can you handle the small hum of the extraction fan? It will be there, even if you use acoustic ducting. Best to keep the grow lights low powered, so you can run as small a fan as possible or you’ll forever

THE SMALL TENT CAN BE USED TO PROPAGATE, GROW AND THEN DRY YOUR CROP, VERY HANDY IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE SPACE TO SET UP A SEPARATE PROPAGATION AND DRYING AREA. some surplus for the bank) a two tent set up is the way forward. Ideally, a propagation tent and a main tent. A propagation tent offers a compact environment for bringing on seeds or cuttings. Most good propagation tents are supplied with shelving, on which several propagators can be placed, and are large enough to house a big T5 propagation light unit. You propagate and bring on young plants in this tent and then transfer them into the main growing tent. A 2.4m x 1.2m tent offers enough space to pull some serious yield, but is still compact enough to fit into most spare bedrooms, lofts or basements. A couple of 600 watt lighting units will cover that amount of space without the need for air cooling. An 8 inch fan and filter will handle the air exchange; an additional fan for the air intake can be an optional extra for the warmer summer months (an air conditioning unit would have been a big help last summer!). Once the buds in your main tent are maturing nicely and harvest time looks to be around 3 to 4 weeks away, it is time to fire up the propagation tent again. Plant your seeds or root your cuttings at this time and you’ll have young plants potted up and ready to transplant into the main tent as soon as the main crop is harvested. This crop can then be dried on the shelves in the propagation tent. Hey presto! A continuous production line!

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 – 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 us, we’ve tried). Better to house your tent 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. Just make sure that you take into consideration the low temperatures in the winter. Place a thick sheet of polystyrene in the base of your tent to insulate your plants from the cold floor and invest in a min / max thermometer so that you know how cold it gets in there.

be kept awake at night by the drone. The low chance of detection makes up for the lack of space (and fan noise); the bedroom is a good option for a small tent with a couple of small plants.

and easy to extract stale air out of. Just watch out for temperature fluctuations spoiling your fun. Lofts will get hot in the summer; this is where the reserve in your larger fan becomes essential. They will also get cold in the winter, so it’s worth paying a little extra and getting some Kingspan to insulate it properly. Otherwise you’ll forever be fighting with temperatures. Lofts with sloping roofs can still be used to house your tent as some clever tent manufacturers have developed tents specifically shaped to fit into a sloped roof space. Perfect. The basement – the ultimate, the definitive, the perfect grow area to house your tent. Basements usually come with a lockable door which immediately takes care of any detection issues, plus they

Better to house your tent in the areas that are usually off limits to guests

The spare bedroom – this room is a real contender, particularly if you have more than one of them. Nice and easy to access on a daily basis, but then this does carry security risks and is open to detection by the house guest who is searching for the toilet. A spare bedroom is, by definition, surplus to requirements (it’s spare!), so can be converted to a mini production line with a propagation tent and main tent. The loft – a great option. 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

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 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 tent growing and most will be large enough to house a couple of tents if you feel like up scaling your crop! Happy growing!

GENETICS

Automatics, the surprise package which continues to surprise

By Tony, Dutch Passion

Just 5 years ago most home-growers had never heard of automatic cannabis varieties. Today they account for a considerable proportion of the seeds sold by Dutch Passion. Other seedbanks will also tell you that automatic varieties have become mainstream best sellers. It’s a surprising rise to fame, especially to see it happen so quickly. On a personal level I have to confess that I was one of those that had my doubts about automatics, especially regarding yields and potency.

Auto-Blueberry

But remarkable things have come from the discovery that cannabis could be flowered under permanent light conditions. To some of the old-school breeders it has really been a revelation to be able to work with cannabis genetics which don’t need 12 hours of sleep each night. Being able to flower cannabis under permanent light allows a well-bred modern automatic to achieve spectacular results. Twice the amount of light energy is available for photosynthesis and with that comes the opportunity for the home-grower to get really heavy crops around 10-11 weeks after germinating the seed. Feminized automatics varieties are sometimes known as AutoFem’s or simply called auto’s. You plant them like a normal cannabis seed, grow them in any system you wish – soil, coco or hydro. You can set the light cycle to be continuous 24-hour light. Or 20 hours light followed by 4 hours of darkness. It doesn’t matter too much, the cannabis seed

germinates and starts to flower automatically after 3-4 weeks. After 10-11 weeks they are normally ready to harvest. Many regular auto growers routinely get crops of 100g or more. The most experienced growers can get 200300g or more from a good auto. One of the reasons for their increased popularity is that they appeal to a wide range of growers. First time growers. Less experienced home growers like the simplicity of automatics. They don’t need to understand the traditional vegetative and bloom growing cycles of the cannabis plant, nor do they really want to. The reason they grow-their-own is to be self- Auto-Blueberry sufficient in pot and avoid the rip-off street prices. We have seen a huge amount of interest in auto’s specifically from new growers separate veg rooms for their mother plants who want to get started with the minimum and seedlings. Thanks to automatic flowerof hassle. They don’t even need a light timer ing cannabis they can also bloom an auto or switch. And if they grow feminized auto’s two in the veg room. The concept of producthey don’t even need to understand about ing pot from your veg room still continues to the difference between male and female be an unexpected reward for some growers. plants. For the new grower auto’s are often considered the simplest and most straight- Lots of home-growers combine growing of forward way to start growing-your-own. automatics with traditional varieties to get more buds from the same space. They start Loft growers. Many growers like to grow their a crop of automatics and after 6 or 7 weeks crops in a loft or garage/outbuilding. These they germinate the seeds of their next crop, places can be cold during winter months, and a traditional photoperiod to grow alongside. for this reason it can be difficult growing tra- The light system can be 24/0, 20/4, or 18/6. It ditional photoperiod varieties which require doesn’t really matter. But as the traditional a 12-hour period of darkness. Heating mats seeds grow vegatively the automatics finish or other heating devices may need to be blooming. The auto’s can be chopped after used to maintain adequate temperatures. 11 weeks, when the traditional variety in the But we have had lots of feedback from auto same tent is 4-5 weeks old. Then the grower growers that run their lights 24-hours a day. flips the light over to a 12/12 cycle and flowOften the permanent heat from a 600w HPS ers the traditional variety which will be ready will do a great job of keeping the tent/grow- 8 weeks later. The result is 2 harvests in 8 room warm without the need to invest in weeks from the same tent. And these days oil-filled radiators or other heating devices. most people will tell you that they can no Many auto growers tell us that auto’s have longer tell the difference in smoke quality allowed them to produce a winter crop from between a good auto and a good traditional growrooms when it would have been other- variety. I can’t and I am a veteran smoker wise impossible due to the cold. (well, veteran vapouriser these days I guess) The other winners from the modern highpotency auto’s include those growers with

Perpetual auto growers are another category of growers that have appeared in the last

few years. Perpetual auto growers have 1 tent set at a constant light cycle, most auto growers seem to prefer a system of 20 hours light and 4 hours of dark. Every 2 weeks they germinate a new auto seed (or two) and put it into the tent. After 11 weeks the first plant is ready to harvest, and every 2 weeks after that the grower can enjoy another harvest. It’s an ideal system for the medical grower that grows their own medication, and it’s good for the recreational smoker that doesn’t like to run out. The arrival of the modern auto has allowed all these new growing possibilities. And of course, lots of people get great results growing auto’s in greenhouses and outdoors. One of the reasons for the popularity of auto’s has to be their sheer versatility. Occasionally some growers will ask whether you can make your own auto seeds. We would say it is a small minority of growers that want to produce seeds. But you can do it, just cross a male auto with a female and

Auto-Mazar

you will get a crop of seeds which should all express automatic flowering trait. If you are really clever you will be able to make feminized auto seeds! Auto’s are now firmly established among the home-growing community. Choose your seedbank and variety well and you will be rewarded with a flexible, potent and highly productive addition to your garden.

INTERVIEW

Ordinary Criminals, Not So Ordinary Activists In August 2010 Julian Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke had their home raided by the local Johannesburg police squad. More than one hundred and fifteen grams of cannabis was seized and the couple were arrested and charged with dealing. They could’ve made their case disappear quite easily if they’d greased the right palm but they chose not to. They chose to stand and fight. Three years on and they find themselves wrapped up in a court case and political campaign of national significance - they are suing the South African government and challenging South Africa’s laws against cannabis in the Constitutional Court. If they win then the nation’s current anti-cannabis laws will have to be repealed, effectively re-legalising dagga in South Africa. If they lose the worst case scenario is a lengthy time in the South African prison system. Thanks to South Africa’s tabloid media, they are now best known as The Dagga Couple...? The Dagga Couple, interviewed by The Professor Why did you decide to fight this case and risk a serious prison term instead of making the pay-off? ‘There are hundreds of reasons. Personally speaking, if we’d decided to pay the bribe to make the case disappear we’d have been opening the door to a never-ending nightmare. Having a small army of cops raid your home with their guns and aggression at two in the morning is no bloody joke but if you pay them off once they’ll be back around the next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. We’d become a bonus pay day for them. Besides, we’re tired of being treated as criminals

ing reason we decided to sue the state, prod the beast and wake up the hornet’s nest was because we are speaking the truth. We are right, the laws are wrong and we owed it to the cannabis plant because she’s been a great lifetime companion. You only have to look at the political history of the laws against dagga over here to see how wrong they are. South Africa was the first country of the industrial era to pass a law prohibiting the use of cannabis in 1878 when the Christian colonial government tried to prevent the Indian labourers from using their sacrament in a bid to convert

PAY THEM OFF ONCE AND THEY’LL BE BACK AROUND THE NEXT YEAR just because we smoke cannabis. We’re both well educated, healthy, professional, tax-paying citizens who are not involved with any criminal activity or networks, we’re quite ordinary people in every way - under current laws the only ‘crime’ we are guilty of is using/having a plant that had been grown and smoked legally on these lands for over seven hundred years and, especially considering current public knowledge about the plant and its myriad of uses, the harassment and imprisoning of cannabis users has got to stop. Having said all that, the overwhelm-

them to Christianity. It was also stated that the plant rendered them “not fit for the purpose for which they were brought to the colony”. That law only applied to Indians but forty five years later, in 1923, the order was made official on the grounds that cannabis made the native mine labourers lazy. Our laws are also dictated by international statutes – the international conventions of the 1930s Reefer Madness era which were based solely on fake propaganda from the US and were more about oppressing Mexicans and black people and protect-

ing corporate interests than having people’s best interests at heart. Race is a big issue in this country and anti-cannabis laws have always been racist, especially so here and

have to get as much real evidence, information and historical fact out to people as possible – we have to try to shout louder than those guys, this is what our campaign is all about but it’s a sophisticated system we’re doing battle with. As well as being enthusiastic recreational users you’re also big fans of dagga’s medical power, can you tell us a bit about that? Yes, we are both very healthy individuals and we strongly believe that its our daily use of dagga that helps us to maintain strong immune systems. Thanks to what’s been happening in the US recently the debate around medical marijuana is raging all around the world – people have been hearing how cannabis can cure this and treat that and because we’ve become nationally known smokers we get a lot of people asking us about the plant oil. The demand for this stuff is sky-rocketing, and people have had some amazing success stories. Down in Durban there’s a case where a woman

THE US GOVERNMENT HAS HELD TWO MEDICINAL CANNABIS PATENTS SINCE 1974 at the international level and these laws are perhaps the most destructive legacy we’re left with from that dark era of colonialism. As a result of that, and all the propaganda that’s followed since, there’s a huge amount of ignorance about cannabis in this country which is constantly reinforced by our hysterical tabloids. One recent front page headline was a classic: Satanic Dagga Orgy. This was a story about a three young guys who’d taken a whole cocktail of drugs, drunk a load of vodka and then decided to ‘sacrifice’ two teenage girls by dousing them in petrol and setting them alight. Their defence blamed it on the one joint they’d smoked during the event and the judge bought it. Next thing we know, thanks to one judge, one journalist and one newspaper editor, all the self-righteous conservatives in the country spent two weeks blaming cannabis for everything that’s wrong with society. The vast majority of ignorance surrounding drugs is fostered by the media, which is why we

put her advanced cancer into remission and then cured it completely with cannabis oil, people are using it very successfully to combat eating disorders and I’ve even cured the long-standing psoriasis on my leg with it – after two weeks of rubbing cannabis oil into my skin every day its as good as new. What’s the score with the oil here? Is using it medicinally legal? No, its completely illegal. Unfortunately, unlike Spain and some states the US, there are no medical cannabis clubs in South Africa so it’s a real tightrope for anyone looking to produce or supply this medicine. You already have an idea of what our prison system is like so imagine doing a sentence after you’ve been caught with the quantities needed to make a decent batch of oil. It’s hard enough trying to source that amount of good quality dagga to start with - if you start buying kilos at a time you can find yourself mixing large sums of money with violent criminals and if you grow it yourself to cut out the criminal

38 element then you’re committing yourself to taking charge of a permanent crime scene for the duration of the crop. Either way, you’re risking life as you know it. This medicinal ‘debate’ is one of the biggest scandals of all in the world of cannabis, and for that matter the last century of human history. The US government and the big pharmaceutical corporations have known about the value of cannabis

to human health for years. We know they know because the US government has held two patents since 1974, one is to do with using cannabinoids acting as effective anti-oxidants and neuroprotectants and the other is over the use of phytocannabinoids in the treatment of cancer. Synthesised THC is also the only active ingredient in Marinol/ Dronabinol. This is an incredibly effective drug used primarily in the treatment of HIV/ AIDs but it can also be used to combat the vicious side-effects of chemotherapy, and this case has extra-special relevance to us here in South Africa. Dronabinol, or Marinol, is so expensive that no government of a developing country could ever afford to buy it in bulk for it’s population but its the best drug around for helping HIV/AIDs sufferers maintain good

all-round health. We don’t know if the drug has always been made with synthesised THC but even if it does use lab-made instead of the real stuff you have to presume they did plenty of research with the real stuff first - how else would they have known which substance to synthesise? Anyway, in the late 1990s someone did a lot of research and released papers that showed the territory of South Africa was being used, with our governments knowledge, to produce

large quantities of cannabis by the company that makes this drug. The author also revealed strong ties between the apartheid era regime and scientific research into the physiological effects of our favourite plant. Then you look at the HIV problem here in all of Southern Africa, it’s massive. And which governments of the world are some of the poorest and least able to buy this particular medicine for their people? You’ve got it one. There’s a lot of suspicion here as to the origins of HIV/AIDs in the first place but if people knew that our government was imprisoning us for the use of dagga whilst millions of people here are dying of AIDs and that all along they’ve known this plant could help us, let alone been involved in the development of a drug that we are then effectively deprived of, there’d be a not-somerry uproar.

You’ve got a situation developing in the UK with a few parallels too. While law enforcement conduct their draconian sweep of the cannabis and street drug population and the courts dish out permanent criminal records to users and traders the British government has granted a license to a multinational company (GW Pharmaceuticals) in Southern England to manufacture a cannabis tincture made from the whole plant. It’s bizarre to see pictures on the

company’s website of legal and licensed rows of cloned cannabis under lights as far as the eye can see. In a country where all cannabis use is illegal this company is making a cannabis tincture, something that is very simple to achieve, and selling it as Sativex with a handsome price tag. It’s a sub lingual spray of the whole plant. Not an extraction, not a synthesis – the whole plant. It’s being marketed primarily for treating spasticity in MS sufferers but they’re looking at using it to treat a whole range of ailments, including cancer and eating disorders. This is complete affirmation that the UK government already knows cannabis is a medicine, but take it independently and you’re a criminal. This is mind-boggling information, but you’re approaching the case from a rec-

reational users perspective, why is that? This is a bid to turn the legalisation process on its head - the “recreational” angle is the least likely ticket to win as the law stands at the moment but we are using this as the umbrella for all other aspects of the cannabis industry. If medical cannabis is re-legalised then only sick people can use it. The same goes for industrial and agricultural uses. The only way for these laws to uphold our human rights is for us to be able to grow and smoke cannabis for recreational purposes. The mainstay of our political campaign is the fact that we are healthy, functional, tax-paying citizens who are being totally up front and honest about our cannabis use - we are recreational users and aren’t pretending to be anything else. You only need to look at the United States to see the mess that’s created with the medicinal angle; in some states you can buy it but not sell it, in others you have to have a medical certificate, and then you can get lengthy jail terms for possession in other states. Its ridiculous. Our dream is to see South Africa join Uruguay in leading the world in the revision and reform of cannabis laws so part of our campaign within the legal case is to get the South African government to unsign all the international conventions that it has been party to where the global war against drugs is concerned, particularly with regards to cannabis. So how’s it all going? Do you have a date for the hearing yet? ‘The case is looking good, we’re confident, we’ve got a good team of lawyers behind us and it’s looking like May 2014 will be the time of reckoning. Best of luck! Any plans for if/when you win? ‘Thanks, and yes. The relative “microcosm” that is dagga re-legalisation has huge implications for broader issues surrounding poverty, job creation and food security so when we are through the courts and out the other side we have pledged to help at least one rural community on the road out of poverty through dagga cultivation projects, and we’re going to have a massive party! The Dagga Couple can be found on a computer near you. The Professor can be found at www.worldwarweed.com

STRAIN REPORT

Venice Beach Afghan Environ; Method; Medium; Nutrient; Grow Time; Flower Time; Plant structure; Bud structure; Scent; Effect; Yield;

Inside 275 PLL/Outside Open Air. Forced Flowering after 3 weeks Plagron Pro, Light and Batmix none 4 weeks 8 weeks short and wide real fat indica buds Sweet Kush Relaxed and also creative Average

These seeds were given to me for testing this strain. This cross of OG Kush and White Widow was a pleasure to watch grow and flow. I started with the bean in

to grow her outside all of the time, but the weather was not that good, so I put her inside for several weeks in my PLL Mirror box. She finished outside the last 2 weeks

a glass of water for 12 hours. Than I put it into soil 10 cm pot into a propagator and TL above. In 24 hours there she was, alive and kicking.

of flowering. Nutrients where not used in this grow, only water given by hand. This Venice Beach Afghan was a pleasure to grow. The growing and flowering periods I did not have any problems at all. I did not have to spray anything on the plant, the health was perfect.

After 3 weeks I re-potted her in a 17 liter pot and topped her twice. In a mix of Plagron Light, Pro and Batmix. Day 28 I forced her into flowering, every day I gave them 12 hours of darkness inside. The meaning was

After 7-8 weeks of flowering, the trichomes where milky and for 50% amber, time

to harvest. I let the total plant dry upside down for two weeks. After these two weeks I put them into shoeboxes for drying and curing further. The best cannabis there is, is cured cannabis. She smells like petroleum and very fruity. The taste is very sweet and nice in your

throat. She stays there for a while. It gives you a real relaxed feeling and you also become creative. It works great against pain and you can sleep well on Venice Beach Afghan. A mixed feeling of stoned and high. I do like this cross so much, that I am growing her again now.

GROW WITH JORGE CERVANTES

Before Harvest

Watering is important when plants are flowering. Continue regular irrigation as needed. Make sure to check the soil moisture daily to avoid overwatering. Always irrigate in the morning so that the majority of water is used during the day. Soggy roots at night will slow growth substantially.

Drying cannabis can lose its fragrance when it dries too hot and fast. Fast drying does not allow enough time for chlorophyll and other pollutants to dissipate, and they remain in the foliage. The lingering smell and taste of these undesirable elements impart detectable odors and tastes when consumed.

Do not water for one or two days before harvest. The soil should be fairly dry, but not dry enough that plants wilt. This will speed drying time by a day or more and not affect the quality of cannabinoids and terpenes.

When poorly dried and it stays too wet, as if in a compost pile, cannabis starts anaerobic decomposition. This process causes cannabis to smell like wet hay and extreme cases have an ammonia-like odor.

The fragrance of flowering medicinal cannabis is often pungent before, during, and after harvest. If air in and around drying and manicuring room is stagnant, odors linger and accumulate. To help control fragrance keep drying and manicuring rooms well-vented. If possible, allow plenty of fresh circulating air to pass through the drying room to remove fragrances quickly. Keep temperatures below 21° C to minimize aroma.

Plants could harbor powdery mildew or another disease within their tissue. This disease is impossible to detect without laboratory analysis. Such diseases weaken plants and could also play a part in the deterioration of fragrance.

Loss of Fragrance “Terpenes, or terpenoids, are the compounds in cannabis that give the plant its unique fragrance. THC and the other cannabinoids have no odor, so marijuana’s compelling fragrance depends on which terpenes predominate. It’s the combination of terpenoids and THC that endows each strain with a specific psychoactive flavor.” Martin Lee The aroma, taste and ultimately effects of smoked cannabis depend upon the mix of terpenes and cannabinoids. Often cannabinoids and terpenes volatize and are destroyed during flowering harvest and storage as a result of high temperatures and maltreatment. The absence of these compounds diminishes bouquet and taste. It can also affect the overall effect of the cannabis. Cannabis plants lose their fragrance for a combination of reasons, all of which involve destruction of terpenes or the creation of a poor environment for terpenes to develop. During flowering plants that are subjected to heavy weather including wind, rain and hot sunlight or artificial light, are often less fragrant. Outdoor plants also accumulate surface dust, bacteria and other bad stuff. When allowed to remain on the plant these pollutants can smell and possibly speed cannabinoid and terpene degradation. Often indoor environments are more polluted than the great outdoors. Such pollutants could also play a role in diminishing fragrance. Terpenes and cannabinoids evaporate into the air in a wide range of temperatures, 119-435º C. As temperatures climb, more and more terpenes evaporate into the air. Terpenes can also be destroyed with high temperatures, humid weather, wind, rain, fondling and rough handling. The terpinoids may also not have a chance to develop properly on plants that grow under stressful conditions including climate, care and disease and pest attacks. Plenty of air circulation and ventilation is necessary to promote manicured flower buds to dry. The buds in these net trays are turned once or twice a day by hand so they dry evenly.

Hanging complete branches is a great way to dry flower buds of medical cannabis. These branches have just been harvested. The large leaves have been removed and the buds trimmed lightly. Bacteria, dead microscopic pests and their feces, dust and many other pollutants remain on the surface of cannabis foliage at harvest. These elements could also affect fragrance. Washing harvested cannabis with a dilute bath of H2O2 will remove and disinfect plants. Clean plants smell “fresh.” The fragrance of cannabis is all that remains. Genetically, some plants appear to be predisposed to less aroma and loosing fragrance over time. In combination with climatic conditions, genetics could play a role in minimizing cannabis fragrance. Negative ion generators act within a small area and have virtually no impact on the fragrance of growing cannabis. Ozone generators introduce the free radicle ozone (O3) into an enclosed area. The O3 converts to O2 within a few minutes. Carbon filters remove fragrances before air is expelled outdoors. Ozone Generators should be located outside of the room.

42 The fragrance of cannabis can also be controlled by sealing the drying and manicuring rooms. Set up a fan and carbon filter in the room to remove fragrances before venting the air out of the room.

Apply the leaching solution as per directions. Always let at least ten percent, preferably more, drain out the bottom of containers. If using a re-circulating hydroponic system, change the water after the first four to six days of application. Continue to top off the reservoir with “clean” fresh water. How to tell when fertilizer “could” affect taste 1. Leaf tips and margins are burned 2. Leaves are brittle at harvest 3. Flower buds smell like chemicals 4. Flower buds crackle when burning 5. Buds taste like fertilizer Do not water for one or two days before harvest. The soil should be fairly dry, but not dry enough that plants wilt. This will speed drying time by a day or more and not affect the quality of cannabinoids.

Leach soil heavily 5-7 days before harvest. Leaching soil will wash out any fertilizer salts that have accumulated in the soil. This allows the plant to use the balance of the nutrients in its system before harvest. Avoid the taste of chemical and organic fertilizers in harvested buds by leaching with plain water or a clearing solution to remove any residuals and chemicals that have built up in soil or plant foliage. Five to six days before harvesting, leach the growing medium with clean tap water or reverse osmosis water. Use a clearing solution such as Final Flush® to remove any built-up nutrients in soil. Some indoor gardeners fertilize with a liquid salt-based fertilizer up until 2-3 days before harvest and use a clearing solution to remove fertilizer residues. They say the practice helps plants retain weight in flower buds. But it does not make buds grow any faster and fertilizer residues are still present in plant tissue. The tradeoff is fertilizer adding weight at the expense of medicinal quality.

A green light or a UVB lamp makes pest trails and diseases impossible to miss! Inspect plants at night with a green light or a UVB light. Powdery mildew and insect feces and trails are visible; they actually jump out at you as if you were reading an eye chart in the optometrist’s chair. Carefully remove all signs of powdery mildew before it enters plant tissue. Spray fungus with an organic fungistat before removing it to ensure it does not contaminate the rest of the crop. This method works only when there is very little mildew. Some gardeners keep plants in 24-48 hours of darkness before harvesting. They say this practice causes buds to become more resinous.

When your trim waste is not too dry and not too moist (so just in between the two), this is often when the best results are to be had using the Pollinator. The yield will now be quite a bit better than if the trim waste had been too wet and by contrast, nor will there be as many grains of leaf matter getting in to the hash powder (since the trim waste is still a little moist (and therefore pulverises less easily). All in all this is the easiest, best option, since we do get visibly more hash powder while the quality clearly remains high! This big healthy crop of Blue Dream is ready for harvest.

GROW WITH GOLGI

Dissection of a Nutrient Label When first starting to grow indoors we all follow some sort of directions whether it’s guidance from a friend we happen to know with experience or we get a complete nutrient line and follow the directions on the feeding chart provided by the manufacturer. But at some point, we all will want to try something new out on our girls, hopefully to evoke different and better results in both production and quality. Learning how to read the nutrient labels and what the differences in ingredients are can help you in deciding which ones you want to try, whether it be switching to a whole new line of plant food or just mixing and matching a few different additives. People ask often “do I really need to give them all the stuff on the chart?” The true answer is, probably not. But until you know what each product is doing for your plants how would you

know which one to use or not use? So, my answer is in short, “Yes I would,” at least on the first run, use the products as the manufacturer recommends. While some of the bottles may not be necessary to successfully grow your plants, they can make dramatic differences in your harvest, both in quality and quantity. When starting a new product line for the first time always pick up the manufacturers nutrient feeding chart and follow it. These are guidelines that have been tested and developed by organic chemists and gardeners, so unless you are fluent in organic chemistry or very familiar with that specific line, they probably know more than you do. My only advice is to cut down the recommended dosage of the base nutrients by a small fraction and I only do this because of the risk of over-feeding. It is much simpler to add more nutrients to your plants than it is to rectify an overfeeding situation, so we do this as a precaution. A good rule of thumb is to start with ¾ or ½ of the recommended amounts, and then add more as needed or to achieve your desired PPM/EC/ TDS. Make sure you keep the cut down ratios the same for each bottle when using a 3-part or a 2-part base food.

The base nutrients of a line are the bottles labeled grow and bloom (this is considered a 2-part base; one bottle for veg and one bottle for bloom). Some companies make a grow/micro/

bloom (this is a 3-part base; where you use all 3 bottles the whole time from veg all the way through bloom but in different increments). Others have an A and a B (this is also considered a 2-part base; different from the above 2 part base, you use both the A and B bottles at the same time through both the vegetative and blooming cycles, but in different amounts). There are a few 1-part, all purpose products out there that they say will work for both veg and bloom cycles, however I am not convinced these products are great for growing cannabis plants indoors, because our girls have very different needs in the two different cycles. If you are growing outdoors you may be able to benefit from a one part fertilizer, preferably a timereleased one, making feeding required once a month, instead of weekly.

carbohydrates (sugars), calcium/magnesium supplements etc. These can usually be substituted or mixed and matched from different companies, but when you do substitute, be sure to fol-

low the directions either on the bottle or from the manufacturer for the product you choose. Experimentation with new products is one of the fun parts to being an indoor grower and the smart-

by Golgi Apparatus

N-P-K. This is an insight of the percentages contained in the bottle, at least for the Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) anyway. All of the other nutrients will be listed on the backside of the bottle’s label. If you’re looking at the back of the bottle it will list the ingredients with their respective percentages included in that specific bottle. You must then look below that to find any non-plant food ingredients and the derivatives to find out where they got the nutrients from. If the derivatives are elements on the periodic table then it’s most likely considered to be a mineral nutrient. If the derivative is a plant, animal or living organism then it’s considered an organic nutrient. If it lists a nutrient derivative that has letters such as ‘EDTA’ written after it in all caps, then it is an element unavailable to the plant in its original form or it could be a man made element. The EDTA stands for Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid which is the organic chelate that the manufacturers wrap the nutrient in to get the plant to uptake it and use it. The word chelate (pronounced: “key-late”) is derived from the Greek word “chele” which literally means “claw”, pointing towards the process of chelation in which the chelate chemical grasps the mineral, wrapping it in disguise. Manufacturers use chelates to kind of fool the plant, because some raw minerals and all man-made ones won’t come across as food to the plant. The chelate is something the plant would see as food and allows the mineral it’s encased to enter the root system to then be utilized as food. Some other compounds

The 16 basic nutrients required for plant growth These base foods are usually listed at the top of the feeding chart and sometimes listed separated from the additives. These bottles are not to be substituted or mixed and matched from different companies (meaning, don’t get an A from one company and a B from another). When it comes to the nutrient additives on the feeding chart such as; silicates, bloom boosters,

est way to go about it is to try new nutes out on one or two plants during a normal cycle (just to see how it goes) before adding it to your whole crop. Nutrient Labels- The front of a nutrient bottle will usually have the product name, a picture and the 3 digit

used as chelates are ‘DTPA’ or ‘EDDHA’. Not as widely used as EDTA but they all have the same basic function. A man-made substance is not a mineral, even if it has the exact same chemical composition and structure as a naturally occurring mineral. Plants

45 will not be fooled by this either. All man-made chemicals need to be chelated for the plant to allow them to be absorbed into the root system. The mineral based and ‘man-made’ nutrients are being used by manufacturers more and more due to a

tends to diminish the odor a bit making them less likely to stink up the place. An easy option to stay as organic as possible is to just use a less than 100% organic line of nutrients. There are several companies that make nutrient lines offering 50-90% organic ingredients in them, only replacing

The front of nutrient labels will have the N-P-K listed for quick reference

sales boom in hydroponic systems. It is evident that you will run into a bunch of problems trying to run vegan organic nutrients in most hydroponics systems. This is because they a lot of times are run with magnetic driven pumps or through small tubing, fittings and drip emitters. Organic nutrients are very thick and viscous and most hydroponic systems are not designed to have that type of material run through them. This doesn’t mean that you as a hydroponics grower can’t feed your plants organic food. You can always design a passive hydroponics system using a gravity feed method and utilize wider tubing to allow the nutrients to move through it freely. Another downside to using organics in water systems is that those nutrients are usually derived from ground-up fish, algae and guano, which tend to give off a foul odor when used in hydro systems. Soil growers rarely notice the odor because the medium

the derivatives that will clog hydro systems with mineral-based ones. A few good examples are Botanicare Pure Blend Pro line, Fox Farm’s grow big, big bloom, tiger bloom trio, Canna Nutrients or even the Aptus line of additives.

all that as potential, you will need to use some additives. Root Boosters- These are beneficial microbes in the form of bacteria (bacillus) and fungi (mycorrhizae) that play a critical part in the soil food web when added to the root zone. Inoculated is the term for adding these beneficials to the root zone, there they will colonize and live there symbiotically with the plant. These ‘good’ bacteria consume ‘bad’ bacteria as decomposers, break down nutrients as nutrient cyclers, build soil structure and prevent as well as cause disease, all while the plant provides a home and the sugars (carbohydrates) for them to survive. The waste produced by these microbes contains carbon and other nutritional compounds that had been immobilized prior to consumption, but after microbe consumption they are now mineralized and made available to the plants again. Their ability to affect pH can make them an important tool for organic gardeners and they can vastly improve the uptake of nutrients and water from the growing medium, building root and plant structure from the ground up. However this is less necessary in some forms of hydroponics such as deep water culture, current culture

companies even make pre-made ones in liquid form (ex. General Hydroponics Flora Blend, Advance Nutrients Mother Earth Compost Tea), there are also ones that come with all the dry ingredients that you can brew yourself (ex. RTI xtreme gardening Tea brews) or you can of course gather the ingredients and brew one from scratch. Brewing sounds like a big deal but it only refers to mixing the ingredients together in water and using an air stone to aerate them overnight. The mixture is then fully blended, activated and must be used in 24-48 hours of brewing. Carbohydrates (sugars) - (glucose, sucrose, polysaccharides, molasses etc.) There are many names for carbohydrates on nutrient labels, most bottles have a ‘sweet’ sounding name but be sure to ALWAYS check the label. You would be surprised at how many ‘sweet’ products do not contain any sugars. Carbs are produced by plants during photosynthesis and utilized during the process as well. Any excess sugars are sent down to the roots for feeding the beneficial microbes. Any addition of carbs to your feeding program will mainly be to feed those guys. Improved microbe life can Organic derivatives are shown in the ingredients for this bottle of pre-made liquid compost tea

Feeding Charts- Here is a basic breakdown of nutrients commonly found on a feeding chart: Base Nutrients- This again refers to your basic grow/bloom, grow/micro/ bloom, A&B nutrients etc. These are designed to keep your plant alive, happy, healthy and growing. These contain a lot of the micro and macro nutrients that the plant needs to survive, but anything beyond basic growth is going to be a separate bottle on the feeding chart. If you want more flower sites, bigger buds or fruits, stronger plants, better flavor etc, besides needing a strain that has

and aeroponics where the plant has constant access to the water and nutrients.

enhance mineralization of nutrients, thus resulting in better flavors.

Composting Teas – These teas add nutrients as well as living organisms to the plant and root zone, by combining ingredients such as; organic compost, worm castings, sea kelp, guano etc. While most recommend using these for soil grows they can also benefit certain hydroponic set-ups as well. Some

Bloom Boosters- These are additives that generally have no nitrogen in them and give a boost in P-K (PhosphorusPotassium) during the flowering/budding phase. Starting as soon as you see the flowers (usually week 2 of bloom phase) you run these all the way to harvest time, minus the flushing time

46 of course. Bloom boosters or bulking additives will increase the size, mass and density of the nuggets. These additions of P-K are necessary if you want to get that dank harvest you are picturing

out in a cloud-like pattern. Running calcium and magnesium additive as a preventative measure to avoid a deficiency is something experienced growers do and most companies even

nutrients up from the bottom to the top of the plant. So when it’s in need of more nutrients it uses transpiration, which in turn evaporates water from the plants leaves acting like a siphon. When the nutrients are mobile and are being taken up and absorbed with ease, the need to pull up more and more nutrients becomes less necessary. Amino Acids & Vitamins- Amino acids are the building blocks of life being that they are a precursor to carbon. Scientists will agree that there is approx 20-23 standard amino acids needed for life and most plants can synthesize all they need in a very energy draining processes. Which is a good reason why feeding your plant readily available amino acids can free up some of that energy to be better spent on your fruits, veggies or flowers. Some amino acids can produce organic nutrients within the plant

soil cleanser as well as a conditioner. These will sometimes come with some sugars in them to feed the enzymes and keep them alive and thriving. Although your plants will also send down any extra carbohydrates it isn’t using during photosynthesis as part of the soil food web. Using an enzyme is one of the most beneficial symbiotic additives you can use in plant nutrition. Proper use can allow you to use your grow medium for longer periods of time and even re-use it in multiple cycles, possibly saving you money on purchasing more medium. Flushing Agents- The word flushing can confuse here, these are not really going to pull the nutrients out of the plant but these are designed to aid in the uptake of any leftover nutrients from within the plant, come harvest time. This is where staying on the mineral and organic side of fertilizer can

The back of these A&B bottles shows you that many of the plants basic requirements are found in the base food. in your mind and your girls can usually even handle an increase from the recommended dosage. Calcium and magnesium supplements- Calcium and magnesium are paired because they both help with a number of similar things within the plants metabolic process. As the strains we grow get more and more complex with crossing different types, most growers are finding they need more and more cal-mag supplementation. It is probably because they both help with the nutrient uptake

recommend it by including it on their feeding schedules. Silicates- (calcium silicate, potassium silicate, silicic acid etc.) – All of which are silicate supplements, but out of the three examples listed silicic acid has been scientifically proven to be the most effective. When Silicon (Si) is taken up by the plant it gets deposited in the cell walls strengthening them, making them not only physically stronger but also more resistant to environmental stresses; temperature, pests, pathogens etc. It improves the

The back of the label lists all the ingredients in the bottle with their percentages and their derivatives. Above you can see the front and the back of a label side by side

The N-P-K numbers will be higher on soluble nutrients because they are giving you the dry percentages, but when mixed with water those numbers will go down

required during the flowering process, so in turn the bigger our colas get with our bloom boosting additives and cross-bred strains, then the more cal-mag the plant will require. The most telling sign for a calcium and magnesium deficiency is going to be rust yellow spotting on the leaf; looks like tiny cigarette burns on the top of the leaves and/or cloud like chlorosis (lack of chlorophyll in the leaf; drained of color) meaning it’s spread

uptake, absorption and utilization of nutrients within the plant because of its ability to increase the mobility of nutrients. It also makes your plants more resistant to drought or in our indoor case more resourceful with the water they are fed. They do this by reducing the amount of transpiration (this is where moisture from the plant is released thru the ‘breather’ holes on the leaves called stomata), transpiration is also how the plants suctions

such as Nitrogen (N) without the risk of burning you get when feeding readily available Nitrogen. Some amino acids are also natural chelates, helping to disguise some nutrients, making them mobile and more available to be absorbed by the plant. Amino acids and vitamins can also stimulate and improve the plants immune defense mechanisms and when added at the right time, can increase flower sites/budding sites and production in the side branches, as well as increase cellular division and tissue growth. Amino acids are a magical part of plant and human science. Enzymes- Enzyme additives help to keep the root surfaces clean, as well as consuming any dead or necrotic organic materials residing in the root zone. It can also help with the algae that inevitably will form on the top of your growing medium. (A formula to remember: Light + water = algae) Enzymes are important to keeping your soil healthy and maintaining active nutrient uptake. They are also very helpful for non-organic nutrients because they can turn some of the salt build up into useable plant nutrients. Overall it’s a root zone and

be in your favor. Man made nutrients tend to get stuck inside the uptake system if not utilized in a timely manner by the plant. This happens when the chelate wrapper that was attached on the way in is used and gone, making it no longer visible as food to the plant. Some nutrient flushes come containing empty chelating chemicals; these can enter the plant and latch onto the non-organic leftovers to get the plant to use the nutrient. Others use humic and/or fulvic acids as natural uptake helpers, trying to get the plant to uptake the nutes before harvest. Either way if you’re not 100% organic with your nutrient feedings then flushing is a good idea. There are approx 16 different micro and macro nutrients required for plant growth. Companies test and reformulate their products so that they perform as they are supposed to, so the manufacturers feeding charts are a great tool to have. Seek out a nutrient line that is tailored towards the cannabis plants we grow and keep yourself informed by reading other growers reviews on specific products. You will soon begin to build a feeding program that works best for you and your girls.

THE ONLINE CANNABIS ENCYCLOPEDIA /softsecretsuk @cannabisinfo_uk

BREAKING TABOOS

FREEDOM FIGHTERS CLAIM RIGHT TO RELIGIOUS CANNABIS

What Would Jesus Smoke? If Jesus - a potentially fictional character from a book – actually existed (or agreed to appear in a sequel and came back for more adventures), what would be his choice for a Holy Smoke? Healing hemp or Big Tobacco? Australian woman Pieta Michelle Morgan, 37, believes marijuana has been provided to mankind by God. This is what she told a Maroochydore magistrate in 2013. Morgan said in a court-room that her drug charges were illegal, unconstitutional and in conflict with the words of the Holy Bible. She

prayer”. Rastafarians use marijuana, said the court, “with the memory and in the belief that the sacred plant grew on the tomb of King Solomon.” This first such ruling in Europe created a lot of enthusiasm, but it also provoked

New album from Game: “Jesus Piece”

even refused to stand up as she was spoken to. Morgan was appearing on charges of drug possession and production, as well as possession of a used pipe. She is not alone. People everywhere express their opposition to the system by exercising our Constitutional rights like freedom of/from religion. In 2008 the Italian Supreme Court agreed with the argument of a member of the Rastafari religious movement that Cannabis was used by him for religious and meditative purposes. Court ruled that smoking or possessing cannabis was not a criminal

anger: an Italian politician complained that “if today we let a Rasta free to go around with drugs, tomorrow somebody belonging to a religion which permits the eating of children would also be free from prison”. Sadly, such rhetoric is typical of the drug war debates; many people have fallen victim to it.

properties of the drug, according to studies of scriptural texts. Researchers continue to pursue Dr Sula Benet’s work from the year 1936 – this Polish anthropologist was the first scientist to show that the word “hemp” in the Old Testament had been translated incorrectly. Benet’s striking disclosure was later confirmed by other etymologists and experts in other fields, including scholars from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1980. They confirm her work, noting that kaneh-bosm was mistranslated in the King James version of the Old Testament as calamus. Anthropologist Weston La Barre also agrees with Benet, noting that “the term kaneh-bosm occurs as early as both the Aramaic and the Hebrew versions of the Old Testament, hemp being used for rope in Solomon’s temple and in priestly robes, as well as carried in Biblical caravans.” In 1980, the respected British magazine “New Scientist” wrote that linguistic evidence indicates that in the original Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the Old Testament the ‘holy oil’ which God directed Moses to make (Exodus 30:23) was composed of myrrh, cinnamon, cannabis and cassia. Use of hemp as sacrament/medicine in ancient times has also been documented by archaeological and scripture studies. In India, it dates back to 1400-2000 BC. In Europe, a 5,000-year-old ritual object with traces of hemp seeds was found in Romania. In China, the tomb of an ancient shaman, at least 2,700 years old, has been discovered – the cannabis among his belongings was clearly used for its psychoactive or medicinal properties. A similar discovery of a mummified shaman/ king from a hemp-using culture was made in Russia. Archeological research in Bet Shemesh near Jerusalem has confirmed cannabis was still in use in the area around 400 AD. In 1993, the first physical evidence that marijuana was used as a medicine in the ancient Mideast was reported by

The Incense Still Burning In the recent years, many news organizations have repeated, following the leads of the magazines “High Times” and “Cannabis Culture”, that Jesus, his disciples, and many Biblical characters widely used Cannabis,

CHRIS BENNETT, HEMP HISTORIAN: “THERE IS MORE HEALING POWER FOR THE BODY, SPIRIT, AND THE WORLD IN THE CANNABIS PLANT THAN IN ALL THE CHURCHES OF THE WORLD.” offence but a religious act when it involved a Rastafarian. Italy’s Court of Cassation has said Rastafarians use marijuana “not only as a medical but also as a meditative herb and, as such [it is] a possible bearer of the psychophysical state to contemplation and

e.g. “Jesus ‘healed using Cannabis’” (“The Guardian”, 06.01.2003) or “Cannabis linked to Biblical healing” (BBC News, 2003). Jesus was almost certainly a cannabis user and an early proponent of the medicinal

Israeli scientists who found residues of the drug in the skeleton of a girl who apparently died in childbirth 1,600 years

By Sebastian Daniel

ago. Researchers from Hebrew University, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and the National Police Headquarters forensic division note that references to marijuana as a medicine are seen as far back as 1,600 B.C. in Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek and Roman

writings. However, until now, the researchers wrote in a letter to the journal “Nature”, “physical evidence of cannabis (marijuana) use in the ancient Middle East has not yet been obtained.” Carl Ruck, Professor of Classical Studies at Boston University and author of many books on the subject, including “The Apples of Apollo: Pagan and Christian Mysteries of the Eucharist”, states that there can be little doubt about the role of cannabis in the Judaic religion. He makes clear, referring to the existence of cannabis in anointing oils used in ceremonies, that the easy availability and longestablished tradition of cannabis in early Judaism would inevitably have included it in early Christian measures. It was at the beginning of religious experience, that cannabis and mushroom-like substances were first consumed as part of the “mystical communion,” Professor Ruck explains. Additionally, Jesus was called the ‘Christ,’ which means he was anointed. The chrism of his anointment would have been the one described above for the Jewish ordination, which is to say, Jesus would have to have experienced the effects of cannabis. According to Prof. Ruck, even the wine used in such ceremonies was likely far more psychoactive than mere table wine as “ancient wines were always fortified, like the ‘strong wine’ of the Old Testament, with various herbal additives.” For a long time researchers tried to draw people’s attention to various important clues demonstrating hemp use in the Bible. In the 19th century the French novelist G. de Nerval was one of the first people in the West to notice them. In 1860, at the annual meeting of the Ohio Medical

49 Society, physicians and a group of Biblical Scholars reached the conclusion that “the gall and vinegar or myrrhed wine…was a preparation of Indian Hemp.” In the early 20th century the British physician C. Creighton discovered other references to hemp in the Holy Scripture. Linguistic proof was provided by Sula Benet (aka

remarks were made by the Hungarian rabbi and scholar Dr Immanuel Löw who in his Die Flora der Juden (1924) identifies ancient Hebrew references to cannabis, e.g. in a recipe for a Passover wine and incense. Löw’s fame as a scholar is based primarily on his pioneering work in the field of Talmudic lexicography and

use in ancient and modern religions. He is also a hemp activist, a freedom fighter and a member of the Church of the Universe,

as to confiscate their possessions, send them to prison, and perhaps even kill them. Bennett concludes: “If cannabis

IN THE ORIGINAL HEBREW TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT THERE ARE REFERENCES TO HEMP, BOTH AS INCENSE, WHICH WAS AN INTEGRAL PART OF RELIGIOUS CELEBRATION, AND AS AN INTOXICANT Sara Benetowa) in 1936. The word “kana”, often occurring in the Bible, sometimes means just “stalk”, but Benet shows that in certain Biblical passages it specifically refers to cannabis. The term kaneh bosm was mistranslated in the oldest Greek translation, the error was repeated in later translations, including Martin Luther’s, and as mentioned earlier remained in the King James bible.

The Cannabis Miracles: When Religion Was Science Researcher Chris Bennett, author of many books and articles on the subject of hemp in world religion, speculates that Jesus was called the Christ (the anointed One) because he violated the taboo on cannabis regulations restricting its use, and distributed it freely for initiation rites and to heal the sick. Bennett claims that Christ as a healer (Jesus is often called, as is Buddha, the Supreme Healer or the Great Physician) must have used cannabis, e.g. to treat epilepsy (at the time considered a “demonic possession”), as well as eye or skin diseases. The medical evidence for this hypothesis is overwhelming. Modern studies confirm the plant’s healing properties; for example, glaucoma. Bennett wonders at the current situation where almost no modern-day Christians are aware that the name of their faith makes reference to a psychoactive topical ointment that was rich in cannabis, or that many early Christians used it to achieve spiritual ecstasy. Prior to Sula Benet’s discoveries similar

in the study of plant names. This special interest is apparent in his doctoral thesis Aramäische Pflanzennamen (Aramaic Plant Names) in 1879. Löw explored the basics of plant terminology in different periods of the Hebrew and Aramaic languages. By mastering the latest scientific methods in his field, he made himself familiar with the literary sources of plant names, making careful use of manuscript material. With the help of the Semitic languages, especially Syriac, he clarified many etymologies. He had great influence on future scholars and is considered one of the greatest scholars of Jewish botany. Sula Benet explains that “in the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament there are references to hemp, both as incense, which was an integral part of religious celebration, and as an intoxicant,” also “another piece of evidence regarding the use of word kaneh in the sense of hemp rather than reed or calamus is the religious requirement that the dead be buried in kaneh shirts.” Recent research has unveiled more fragments in both the Old and New Testament most probably referring to hemp use, as well as in the Dead Sea Scrolls, gnostic scriptures not officially recognized by mainstream Christian church authorities. The interested reader will find many relevant quotes from the Bible with commentaries in Chris Bennett’s books and articles. Chris Bennett is a hemp historian and one of the foremost authorities on cannabis

Christ heals the two blind men on the road to Jericho, anonymous fresque (1179 – 1182), Cathedral of Monreale, Italy a group formed in 1969 that recognizes cannabis as the Tree of Life. Bennett states boldly in his writings and in courtrooms that there is more healing power for the body, spirit, and the world in the cannabis plant than in all the churches of the world. His findings suggest that it is unchristian to persecute people who use cannabis: government prohibition of this plant could be interpreted as placing the laws of man above the laws of creation, to prevent true cannabis-using Christians from practicing their faith, going so far

was one of the main ingredients of the ancient Christian anointing oil, as history indicates, and receiving this oil is what made Jesus the Christ and his followers Christians, then persecuting those who use cannabis could be considered antiChrist”. Bob Marley sings in “Cornerstone” (lyrics based on Psalm 118): “The stone that the builder refuse, Will always be the head cornerstone”.

ORGANIC CULTIVATION

TREAT A MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY WITH A SAFE, NATURAL HOME REMEDY

Using Epsom Salts in Your Organic Cannabis Garden Epsom salts are a natural, inexpensive and environmentally-friendly supBy Sativa Diva plement for your organic Cannabis crop. Epsom salts (also known as hydrated magnesium sulfate, MgSO4 + 7H2O) have been used for centuries to treat human ailments, as well as providing a reliable, traditional tool for gardeners experiencing magnesium deficiencies. The salts were discovered imbuing the spring waters of Epsom, England, and are often used by gardeners as a folk-wisdom plant remedy. As Cannabis is indeed a plant, and plants require nutrients, one common scourge of growers is the constant necessity of purchasing, using and dispensing of gallons of nutrient solutions. Various macroand micro-nutrients can be provided in a myriad of forms; however, these days, much more emphasis is being placed upon keeping Cannabis gardens as organic as possible. Well-maintained, clean, organic grow rooms and gardens tend to produce the best-tasting, highest quality buds, which are also safer for medical patients to consume.

within the growing community as ‘praying for magnesium’. Begin with small doses to test the results, which you should see in about four days. Concerning Cannabis flowers – and potentially seeds – magnesium is essential to a healthy yield. Those growing either for or from seed should note that magnesium also plays a vital role in both seed production and germination.

Why is sulfur necessary for weed plants? In combination with magnesium, sulfur forms a sort of ‘multi-vitamin’ for plants, allowing for increased uptake and impact of nutrients and minerals, and acting as a general prophylactic for your plants. Sulfur binds with the soil to increase the availability of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) to the plant’s roots, thus enhancing the capability of soil and added nutrients. The plant’s production

Epsom salts provide both magnesium (Mg) and sulfate (SO4, an ester or salt of sulfuric acid) in a gentle form that is easy for Cannabis plants to process – one that does not build up in soil over time. This home remedy is also simple to use, inexpensive and a highly-soluble supplement for organic Cannabis growers. However, Epsom salts are usually only applied to plants that are visibly lacking in magnesium, or strains that are typically magnesium-deficient.

Why do Cannabis plants need magnesium? Magnesium allows plants to uptake phosphorous (P), nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) from soil. Plants that are deficient tend to show yellowing leaves, which may remain green at the leaf veins. Magnesium defi- Yellowing leaves with green veins ciencies cause a different yellowing effect may be a sign that your plants are than nitrogen shortages or spider mite magnesium-deficient damage; be certain to correctly diagnose excesses and deficiencies in your plants before adjusting your nutrients, or you of amino acids, enzymes and vitamins may burn the plants while worsening are all affected by sulfur levels, making whatever deficiency ails them. the element essential to plant growth and development. Magnesium facilitates the creation of chlorophyll and is thus critical for photo- Rarely deficient in most modern Cannabis synthesis. The element also strengthens nutrients, sulfur also assists in chlorophyll cell walls, assisting the plant in maintain- production, helping gardeners to keep ing its structure and vitality. If you notice their plants green, vibrant and healthy. slow growth, a slight curling of the leaves This and the aforementioned benefits are and a yellowing of the leaf color (typical- especially important for long-life plants, ly beginning towards the bottom of the such as mothers or outdoor strains with plant), there is a good chance that your a slow finish, as sulfur helps to sustain plants are magnesium-deficient. These longevity and over-all plant health while plant symptoms are often referred to protecting against environmental stress.

Epsom salts provide both magnesium and sulfur to deficient Cannabis plants

Technical growers should note that reverse-osmosis (RO), ion exchange or distilled watering systems will effectively remove most sulfate from drinking water, which can easily be replaced with Epsom salts, if necessary. (Growers in areas known for ‘hard’ water will often give their plants extra magnesium.)

How to Use Epsom Salts to Supplement Soil: Whether growing in pots or beds, Epsom salts are an effective way to supplement your soil before you have even begun growing any plants; that is, if you are not already using dolomite lime as a magnesium source. Soil that measures a pH above ‘7’ – or one that is high in potassium (K) and/or calcium (Ca), which compete with magnesium for uptake by the plant – can be replenished via applications of the salts. Such soil may not react as well to a direct granular or dissolved application; plants grown in this soil tend to respond much better to a foliar spray or full watering with Epsom salts. Large-scale outdoor growers in the Pacific Northwest (and gardeners in the Southeast) often struggle with depleted local soil that must be turned and treated before cuttings or seeds can be planted. Prepare your substrate by mixing in one teaspoon of salts per gallon of soil, then planting seeds, seedlings or clones – magnesium sulfate can account for faster germination. If you prefer, you can wait until your seedlings are a few inches tall, then water them all with a highly-diluted Epsom salt solution. Cuttings – which can be notoriously difficult to root in their new environment, depending upon strain and clone health – may potentially take hold

more quickly and experience less shock as a result of this soil treatment.

Dosage for Dissolving Epsom Salts in Water: Smaller-scale and indoor growers benefit more readily and consistently from dissolving the salts into water rather than soil. In a watering can or barrel, combine up to two tablespoons per gallon of water – first mixing the salts with a bit of warm water to thoroughly dissolve them. This can be given to the plants every four to six weeks, if necessary. To apply a foliar spray, dissolve up to one tablespoon per gallon of water and spray Cannabis plants at the beginning of each cycle or when needed, focusing the majority of the fine mist upon the underside of the leaves. Avoid spraying your plants past the first few weeks of flowering, or while the lights are on; if you must spray them during the ‘daylight’ cycle, allow the plant to cool down before and after – and dry off – before turning the lamps back on. It is more effective, however, to spray the plants when both they and the room are cooler in temperature.

Epsom Salts to Revive Mothers or Root-Bound Plants: When plants remain for too long in the same pot, they can suffer from salt buildup and become nutrient-locked and/or potbound. An easy and gentle Epsom salt solution will dissolve the accumulated salts and allow the plant to regain healthy circulation by unclogging its root cells. This is especially effective in plants that require direct sunlight – a category in which Cannabis is firmly listed – due to the importance of magnesium sulfate in photosynthesis.

THE ONLINE CANNABIS ENCYCLOPEDIA

Growkits and = 0DJLF 7UXIÁHV 0DJLF 7UXIÁHV

NEW A FORMUL IGHER MUCH HLD YIE

Ask your local growshop

GROW SPECIAL

Ozone THE GROW ROOM SUPER-TOOL Ozone generators are becoming more affordable every year, and are a common feature in larger commercial grow rooms to knock out unwanted odours escaping. However, Ozone is so much more versatile than just smell prevention. Domestic and industrial use of Ozone is not new, but translating the many benefits into a grow operation deserves By Baron Wasteland (baronwasteland@gmx.co.uk) a little attention. ! Why use Ozone? For less than $60 you can buy a machine capable of saving your whole crop from bud rot, battle predators, oxygenate the root zone, sterilize your equipment, disinfect your entire grow room and more. Ozone is not just another cleaner. Ozone is a true sterilizer. It can completely destroy an impressive list of nasties including spores, bacteria, viruses, mould, fungus, mildew, smoke particles and many other contaminants while at the same time oxidizing any dead organic materials in it’s path. This is fantastic for sterilising your grow room.

though, & breaks down into regular Oxygen after 30 – 45 minutes, so this allows us to work with it in relative safety, so long as you respect it. The safety recommendations in this article are over-cautious, but it’s worth taking extra care. Luckily you can start to smell Ozone before it builds up to a hazardous level. You will already recognize the smell – that “fresh” bleached smell everywhere

To really make the most of Ozone, you should find an Ozone generator that can Ozonate water too. These models have a silicone tube attached with an air stone at the end. Most are wall mountable, but it makes sense to still be able to move it around at times to get the most from the techniques we will be using. You need to be switched-on and alert to safely use Ozone, so consider smoking that massive OG Kush blunt afterwards while you wait for the room to be safe again, NOT before you start setting it all up… t ,FFQ BMM QFUT BXBZ GSPN UIF 0[POF HFOerator while it’s running, and for an 1 hour after it’s been switched off. t (FU FWFSZUIJOH FMTF DPNQMFUFMZ SFBEZ before you switch on your Ozone generator – it should be the last thing you switch on before quickly leaving the grow room. t "MXBZT DPOOFDU JU UP B UJNFS UP TXJUDI JU PGG after it’s finished. Some generators have a built in timer, but experience says they can often break on the cheaper models, leading to high levels of unexpected Ozone build-up. Better to be over cautious. t *G ZPV SFBMMZ NVTU SF FOUFS UIF SPPN XIJMF the Ozone generator is running, hold your breath. Ozone is safe to humans if you don’t breathe it in. Make sure a friend is there too, just in case you fall over or something.

Ozone (O3) is a triatomic molecule, which consists of three oxygen atoms (instead of 2 in regular oxygen). As well as being the stuff we all breathe, Oxygen is one of the most powerful oxidizing agents in the world, and a potent natural disinfectant, 3000 times more effective than chlorine bleach in broad spectrum antimicrobial activity.

We’ve all heard about Ozone, and how the lack of it in the atmosphere caused by pollutants is a problem; so isn’t using an Ozone generator just going to compound climate change? The simple answer is no. The Ozone we can generate in our grow room is the same stuff that protects us in the famous Ozone layer, but don’t worry it won’t harm the planet.

Ozone safety. Because Ozone is so powerful, it can also be harmful to humans and pets if precautions are not taken. Ozone can be very dangerous to the respiratory system if you breathe it in high concentrations. It doesn’t stick around long

after a heavy storm? That’s Ozone, created by electrical energy in the clouds and brought down in the rain. Choosing the correct Ozone generator is key to safety & effectiveness. Too small an output will be ineffective, too large will be dangerous. For a reasonably average 1-room home grow (600w – 1200w), a generator with an output of around 200mg per hour will be adequate. Huge commercial operations will need upwards of 1g output per hour, and micro-grows can get by with under 100mg per hour, but it is always best to check with the manufacturer for your exact requirements, as these are only guidelines. Every grow is different & results will vary with the air exchange, general level of smell & pathogen problem in your room. Chat with your Ozone generator manufacturer to make sure you get the correct size for your situation.

t 0[POF JT B GBOUBTUJD UPPM CVU JU NVTU CF respected & used carefully. Some Ozone generator manufacturers gloss over the potential safety risks, so please be careful. DO NOT BREATHE IN OZONE!

Practical use of Ozone in your grow. Sterilizing your room and equipment is one of the biggest hassles of being a grower. After every crop we must laboriously scrub every surface of the room with bleach, possibly even use a smoke bomb if we have bugs. We wash every grow tank, all the tubing, scrub connectors, clear pumps of debris, and inspect every surface for muck. Then we sterilize the kit too and rinse it off. Wow! It’s wet, messy, cold, miserable work that we must all do to get the sweet rewards we crave… and people accuse growers of being lazy! If only there was some kind of magic bullet we could use that cuts all this soggy labour! There is - Ozone. You will still have to manually clear out every bit of plant matter, rockwool, root system and anything else that once lived from the room & rinse your tanks, pots & tubing with hot water to get any physical dirt off. That’s the hard bit done. Let it dry, then stack up all your equipment in a way that air can circulate freely around it. Include things like scalpels, pH meters, screens, fans etc. as the Ozone will sterilize everything it touches! Position your Ozone generator at the top of the room, and switch some circulating fans on to move the air about. It doesn’t have to be blowing a gale in there, but you do want the air circulating around every part of your room, as Ozone can only work on surfaces exposed to the air. If you have an Ozone generator with a tube attached for Ozonating water, great! You can set up your nutrient tanks and hydroponic system now, and run the pumps with plain cold water (cold water absorbs Ozone better than warm). Attach the end of the Ozone generator’s tube to an air stone and put it in your nutrient tank. Now we can sterilize the entire room AND your nutrient delivery system in one easy move.

Because Ozone has a “spare” unstable oxygen molecule, as soon as it touches a pathogen the spare atom breaks off and attacks the cell wall with an oxidative burst – rupturing it and killing it instantly, without hesitation or mercy. You could call it the molecular Jean Claude Van-Damme. Ozone is used in low atmospheric doses in hospital wards, offices, vets surgeries, commercial kitchens and factories to keep the air sterile, sterilize bedding, prevent the spread of airborne pathogens and keep the place smelling clean. People occasionally use it at home to sterilize dishes, treat various ailments and make their homes a little fresher.

so the room will be safe, but still smell incredibly clean. Personally I leave it for 1 hour just to be safe.

t $POTJEFS CVZJOH BO 031 TFOTPS 0YJEBUJPO Reduction Potential) to monitor safe Ozone levels in your grow room. t *G KVTU VTJOH UIF HFOFSBUPS UP PYZHFOBUF water or oil, consider running it in an outbuilding. t $MPTF UIF EPPS PG ZPVS HSPX SPPN UP LFFQ the majority of Ozone contained. t 5FMM BOZPOF FMTF JO UIF IPVTF CFGPSF ZPV use Ozone, so they can also stay clear of the room. t o NJOVUFT BGUFS UIF 0[POF HFOerator is switched off, all the Ozone will have disintegrated into normal oxygen

Set up a timer to switch off after 30 – 45 minutes. Plug your Ozone generator into it and turn it on. Hold your breath to avoid breathing the Ozone in as you quickly check the air stone is bubbling Ozone into the water, then leave the room immediately. The Ozone generator will switch off automatically, and the room will be safe to reenter an hour after that. If your grow room is in the main part of the house, then it’s a good idea to open the windows in the hall outside it to allow any leaking Ozone to escape – be mindful of Ozone leakage! Your room will smell incredibly clean and is now completely sterile, ready for your next grow.

Using Ozone as part of your air extraction system. The most common use of Ozone by growers is using them inside the ventilation ducting

53 inline with a carbon filter. This gives an extra insurance against unwanted odours escaping into the wider world. Using Ozone in the ventilation ducting works great and is a “belt and braces” addition to odour control. The Ozone molecules mix with the smelly plant terpenes inside the pipe, neutralizing them & guaranteeing a no-smell, no-tell situation outside. This method is also the safest, as no Ozone buildup is possible inside your room, but you must be careful not to vent Ozoneheavy air somewhere it could cause harm to people or other vegetation. For this setup you would need a medium output inline generator to place inside your ducting after the fan. Because Ozone is heavier than air, allow the path of the ducting to drop to the floor after the fan & generator stage so when the ventilation system is switched off, residual Ozone will stay in the dip & won’t leak back into the room. In an ideal world you would have this inline Ozone system as well as a more portable Ozone generator.

Ozonated water. If you have an Ozone generator with the tube and air stone option, then you can ozonate water too. This is a fantastic way to ensure your root zone stays healthy (which in turn makes your buds swell up), and also lets you disinfect a hydroponic system with your plants still installed. Working with Ozonated water is much safer than using it in the air. When Ozone is bubbled through water, the unstable molecule behaves as it does in the air; attaching itself to any single celled pathogen and killing it instantly. The by-product of this is pure residual oxygen in the water. Once all the pathogens are gone, the Ozone actually starts to be absorbed into the water too, where you can harness it’s power inside the rootzone. When using a 400mg Ozone generator, place the air stone at the bottom of your water container and ozonate for around 2 minutes per liter of fluid. If possible do this in your porch or outbuilding so you don’t have to worry about breathing in the Ozone. Use the water right away, as the Ozone starts to break down into oxygen over 30 minutes. Water won’t absorb Ozone to toxic levels. Once you have Ozonated water you can really do some amazing things with it: t 4QSBZ JU EJSFDUMZ PO ZPVS QMBOUT UP LJMM BOZ spores, rust spots, fungus, powdery mildew or bud rot. Unlike commercial sprays It is safe to use at any time in the flowering period, as you are not introducing any chemicals at all. Of course it is still a good idea to keep humidity low & avoid spraying too much during flowering. t *NNFEJBUFMZ EJQ GSFTI DVUUJOHT JO UIF Ozone solution for 30 seconds to sterilize them before dipping in rooting hormone. This improves strike rate dramatically. t %JQ BMM ZPVS QPUT TZSJOHFT QJQFUUFT NFUFST drippers, pumps, connectors and anything else that goes near your plants in the Ozone solution for 1 minute to sterilize them safely. t 1PVS JU TUSBJHIU JOUP ZPVS SPPU [POF to give a massive oxygen boost and sterilize the rhizosphere. Bear in mind that it will kill any beneficial bacteria

too, so you will need to replace any Trichoderma or similar that you’ve used. t 8IFO ZPV DIBOHF ZPVS TPMVUJPO P[POate the fresh nutrient solution thoroughly before running it through the system, disinfecting everything and giving the plants a huge oxygen boost. t $MFBO ZPVS CPOH XJUI JU *U XJMM TNFMM HSFBU Working with Ozonated water is much more forgiving than in air. You can safely handle it, and people with skin complaints may actually find it helps a lot, as it gently keeps your skin sterile. There is no point in using organic nutrients or supplements in freshly Ozonated solution, as the Ozone will kill any beneficial bacteria too (including trichoderma). If your supplement isn’t compatible with Liquid Oxygen, then it’s not compatible with freshly Ozonated water either. But because Ozone only remains active in water for around 30-45 minutes before turning back to oxygen, you can still use organics if you wait for an hour or so after running the Ozone through your system, & get the best of both worlds.

No more fear of bud rot! Probably most exciting to growers is the

t 8IFO VTJOH B NH QFS IPVS 0[POF generator, try running the Ozone generator for 30-45 seconds per Meter cubed of enclosed grow space then switching it off. If you have a machine with a tube outlet, you can attach it directly to a circulation fan for maximum spread. t -FBWF UIF FYUSBDUPS GBO PGG GPS NJOVUFT afterwards, but make sure the circulation fans are moving lots of air around inside so the Ozone has a chance to touch all the nasties. t "GUFS UIF 0[POF HFOFSBUPS IBT CFFO switched off for about half an hour with the extractor fan switched back on, open your tent and look at the mould – instead of looking grey, vibrant and fluffy it should now look brown, crusty and dead – victory! t *G UIF NPME JT NPSF TFSJPVT QSPHSFTTJWF then you may need to run the Ozone for longer. For serious infestations in large rooms, up to an hour without the extractor on. In these situations then it is important to do it in the plant’s “night” period, to avoid heat from the lamps building up while the extractor is off. t :PV XJMM TUJMM OFFE UP EJTQPTF PG BOZ previously infected matter, as although

buds for new mold thoroughly every day for a week just in case it’s a systemic infection, & if you spot any new problems then repeat the process. It is better to treat little and often, than risk causing Ozone damage to your plants…Although of course it’s debatable which is a worse problem to your crop – mould or Ozone damage.

Battle spider mites! If you have them, spider mites are the bane of your life. They spread fast and are tough to beat. Where all else fails, Ozone will get them. A higher level of Ozone will break down their respiratory system & kill them. The molecular Jean Claude Van-Damme is back to kick butt! The levels you need to run the Ozone at to kill spider mites will probably cause some plant damage, but spider mites can cause worse! It is an emergency option for heavy infestation, & in my opinion preferable than chemical alternatives. Always be safe & never breathe the Ozone. Safety is more important than a crop.

Other applications for an Ozone generator. You can also bubble Ozone through oil and it apply directly to the skin. Unlike water, which only holds the Ozone for a short time, oil retains the Ozone for much longer – anything from 30 days to 6 months or even more, depending on the level of ozonation. The benefits of Ozonated oil include: t HSFBUMZ JNQSPWFE IFBMJOH UJNF GPS TLJO wounds & ulcers t UPQJDBM BOUJ CBDUFSJBM BOUJ GVOHVT XIJDI helps prevent infection t JU T HPPE GPS XPVOET PO QFUT BT JU JT OBUVSBM & safe for them to lick t HSFBU GPS BOZ LJOE PG ZFBTU JOGFDUJPO t SJOHXPSN t TVOCVSO t EFSNBUJUJT t IBFNPSSIPJET

fact that an Ozone generator can save your crop from budrot, even if it’s already started to weave it’s evil grey web around your precious buds. Better still, it does this quickly without adding any toxic chemicals at all. t "U UIF GJSTU TJHO PG CVE SPU QIZTJDBMMZ remove any infected material from the room (you can spot budrot before it really happens by looking for a single leaf in the bud that is a little darker & browner than the others around it. Check this spot as you have probably got the first signs of budrot) t 4XJUDI PGG ZPVS FYUSBDUPS GBO CVU MFBWF your circulation fans running. (You will need to set a timer to switch your extractor back on in about 15 minutes). Also lower the light output to avoid heat build up while the ventilation is switched off.

the mold is no longer active, you still wouldn’t want to smoke it. Inspect every plant thoroughly, and if there is any mildew alive, or you see the any more little leaves between the buds going brown, repeat the process. Beware that building up too high a concentration of Ozone in your room can actually cause plant damage to the stomata, resulting in burnt leaves, especially at the tips & wider shade leaves closest to the generator. There have also been reports of it damaging the delicate trichomes of resin on the buds with major overuse. If you tread carefully using it little and often, your plants will be OK. You may still have to toss a few buds if they were infected already, but the mould will not spread and you have saved your crop from death or early harvest. Check your

You can Ozonate whatever oil suits you best - great results have been achieved from ozonating olive oil, jojoba oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, coconut oil, and many more. There are two levels of Ozonated oil - Partially or Concentrated. Partially Ozonated oil is by far the quickest & easiest to make. You bubble your 500mg/hour Ozone generator through the oil using an Ozone-proof airstone (glass is best) for an hour minimum. This is a time when more is better, so you can keep going for several hours or even overnight if you want. It is impossible for the oil to absorb Ozone to toxic levels, although of course you should still be mindful of the ambient Ozone levels to avoid too high a level in confined spaces. Concentrated Ozone requires an industrial Ozone generator capable of producing over 4 grams of Ozone per hour. You also need to bubble it through the oil for three weeks. On balance I’m guessing the home producer may be better sticking with the Partially Ozonated Oil! An Ozone generator is a wonder-tool for the hydroponic gardener, & if treated with respect will solve many of your problems & maximise your efficiency.

FACEBOOK / INDEX OF ADS / COLOFON Index of ads Name 00 Seeds Bank 8 Ball Hydroponics

Join our Facebook page AND BECOME PART OF THE WORLD OF SOFT SECRETS!

www.facebook.com/softsecretsuk Readers without a Facebook acount we of course serve through our website www.cannabis.info, the world’s biggest cannabis website to date. Click on your prefered language and you’re in! You can download all back issues of Soft Secrets, watch the latest Reader’s Wives, hang out with other readers or get the latest news on the cannabis front. Be part of it! Join the world of Soft Secrets!

14 1

Advanced Seeds

Amsterdam Seed Center

Atami

Big Stone River Indoor Garden Centre

Bio Nova

Bright Green UK

Brit Crops

Buddha Seeds

Clever Green

Dinafem Seeds

Down to Earth Kent

Dr. Blooms Hydroponics

Dr. Underground

Dutch Passion

Easy-Grow Wholesale

Ed Rosenthal

Encod

Gro-Rite Supplies

Grotech Distribution

Grow Home the

Growing Underground

Hesi

Soft Secrets has it’s own pages on Facebook in every language we get published in. On our Facebook pages readers can hang out and get the latest news from us in their own language, or they can share their own photos and/or information with everybody else. So please subscribe and Like our fanpages!

Colofon Page

Hydro 2 Grow

Jorge Cervantes

Kera Seeds

Kroon de

Money Tree Hydroponics

Mycologics

Nirvana

NPK Technology

Oh Yeah!

Paradise Seeds

Plagron

Procare

Roberts Direct

Shayanashop.com

Smokin Vinyl

Southern Hydro Centre

Spannabis

Stanford Hydroponics

Sweet Seeds

UK GroWorks

UK Skunkworks

Wellingborough Hydro

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: info@softsecrets.nl Editor: Cliff Cremer Contributors: Little Lebowski, Ed Rosenthal, Jorge Cervantes, Dr. John Dee, Grubbycup, the Professor, Kali Mist, Buddy Kush, Sativa Diva, Golgi Apparatus, Ganjah Selecta, Tony and others Comics: Jim Stewart Editorial adress: E-mail: ssuk@softsecrets.nl Advertisements: E-mail: info@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. The publisher has endeavored to reach all copyright holders of photo and/or video material. Those who still believe they are entitled to these rights are entitled to contact the publisher.

Next issue out: February 21 2014

® Femi

www.sweetseeds.es

n ised S ee ds

Best Seed Bank Expocannabis 2007

Best Seed Bank Spannabis 2008

Best Seed Bank Spannabis Sur 2013

During flowering, around 80% of the plants acquire purple or reddish tones in the buds and some of them even develop purple leaves too. After harvested and dried the buds gain a very dark purple tone, almost black.

3S - 21,90€ 5S - 36,50€ 10S - 73,00€

3S - 24,90€ 5S - 41,50€ 10S - 83,00€

wering t: 100% Autoflo door Harves n ut /O or do In r germinatio 8 weeks afte 10 cm Height: 60-1

¡¡Red version of

3S - 22,50€ 5S - 37,50€ 10S - 75,00€

wering t: 100% Autoflo door Harves ion ut /O or do In ter germinat 8½ weeks af30 cm Height: 80-1

our

Cream Caramel!!

Version ¡¡Big Devil Rowsed!! grows Big Devil family

wering t: 100% Autoflo door Harves n ut /O or do In r germinatio 8 weeks afte 20 cm Height: 60-1

¡¡Feminised si

,50€ · 10S. 53,00€ 3S. 15,90€ · 5S. 26 er a x Jack Her

Black Domin

[

a: 50%-50% Indica/Sativming: 9 weeks Indoor Bloo rvest: Outdoor Ha October beginning of

,50€ · 10S. 65,00€ 3S. 19,50€ · 5S. 32 ck Jack Auto la Also available: B € ·10s-80,00€ -40,00

3s-24,00€ · 5s

a: 70%/30% Indica/Sativ ing: 6 weeks om Bo or ing of Sep. Indo vest: beginn Outdoor Har

,50€ · 10S. 75,00€ 3S. 22,50€ · 5S. 37

[

a: 90%/10% Indica/Sativ ing: 7 weeks om Bo ptember Indoor vest: mid Se Outdoor Har

,50€ · 10S. 73,00€ 3S. 21,90€ · 5S. 36

il molotov

ients

Secret Ingred

,50€ · 10S. 75,00€ 3S. 22,50€ · 5S. 37 Poison Auto een Also available: Gr 90€ ·10s-73,80€ -36,

3s-22,50€ · 5s

g time!!

x15

a: 60%/40% Indica/Sativ ing: 7 weeks Indoor Boomvest: mid September Outdoor Har

,80€ · 10S. 79,00€ 3S. 23,90€ · 5S. 39

K 47

A Jack Herer x

Indica cockta

a: 70%-30% Indica/Sativming: 7 weeks Indoor Bloo rvest: Outdoor HaSeptember mid to late

in Red version!

matic flowerin

ion, with auto ze and product

a: 40%/60% Indica/Sativ ing: 8 weeks r Indoor Boomvest: end of Septembe Outdoor Har

¡¡Green Poison!

a: 90%-10% Indica/Sativming: 8-9 weeks Indoor Bloo rvest: er Outdoor Haber, beginning Octob end Septem S. 80,00€

,00€ · 10 3S. 24,00€ · 5S. 40 Caramel Auto m ea Cr e: 00€ Also availabl 3,00€ ·10s-66, -3

3s-20,00€ · 5s

[

a: 25%-75% Indica/Sativming: 9½ weeks Indoor Bloo rvest: end of October Outdoor Ha

€ ,00€ · 10S. 110,00 3S. 33,00€ · 5S. 55 Jack 47 Auto Also available: -98,80€

-48,90€ ·10s

3s-29,90€ · 5s

C/ Dr. Nicasio Benlloch, 36-38 · 46015 · Valencia · España · +34 963 890 403 +34 628 593 887 / +34 963 473 730 +34 963 404 289 (Wholesalers) · Fax: +34 961 939 618 · info@sweetseeds.es Sale prohibited to people under 18 years old. Seed for coleccionist use exclusively. It´s ilegal to make them germinate. They´re not for agriculture purposes. Consult laws about cannabis aplied in your place of residence. Sweet Seeds will not be acountable for ilegal use of this seeds done by third parties.

Pack 10 autoflowering seeds

35€

THE CHEAPEST CHOICE!!

ROOTBASTIC

B’CUZZ

ATA

BIO-BLOOM

BASTIC

BLOOMBASTIC

ATA ORGANICS

INFO @ ATAMI.COM WWW.ATAMI.COM TEL.: 0031(0)73 522 32 56 FAX: 0031(0)73 521 32 59 0

2013 06 UK

Articles inside

GROWING IN A TENT ››

DISSECTION OF A NUTRIENT LABEL ››

THE ULTIMATE ROOT ZONE ››

CHEM DAWG ››