GROWING IN A TENT ››

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 extracand 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.

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

This is of particular importance at this time of year when outdoor temperatures 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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!

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 selfsufficient in pot and avoid the rip-off street prices. We have seen a huge amount of interest in auto’s specifically from new growers who want to get started with the minimum of hassle. They don’t even need a light timer switch. And if they grow feminized auto’s they don’t even need to understand about the difference between male and female plants. For the new grower auto’s are often considered the simplest and most straightforward way to start growing-your-own.

Loft growers. Many growers like to grow their crops in a loft or garage/outbuilding. These places can be cold during winter months, and for this reason it can be difficult growing traditional photoperiod varieties which require a 12-hour period of darkness. Heating mats or other heating devices may need to be used to maintain adequate temperatures. But we have had lots of feedback from auto growers that run their lights 24-hours a day. Often the permanent heat from a 600w HPS will do a great job of keeping the tent/growroom warm without the need to invest in oil-filled radiators or other heating devices. Many auto growers tell us that auto’s have allowed them to produce a winter crop from growrooms when it would have been otherwise impossible due to the cold. Auto-Blueberry

separate veg rooms for their mother plants and seedlings. Thanks to automatic flowering cannabis they can also bloom an auto or two in the veg room. The concept of producing pot from your veg room still continues to be an unexpected reward for some growers.

Lots of home-growers combine growing of automatics with traditional varieties to get more buds from the same space. They start a crop of automatics and after 6 or 7 weeks they germinate the seeds of their next crop, a traditional photoperiod to grow alongside. The light system can be 24/0, 20/4, or 18/6. It doesn’t really matter. But as the traditional seeds grow vegatively the automatics finish blooming. The auto’s can be chopped after 11 weeks, when the traditional variety in the same tent is 4-5 weeks old. Then the grower flips the light over to a 12/12 cycle and flowers the traditional variety which will be ready 8 weeks later. The result is 2 harvests in 8 weeks from the same tent. And these days most people will tell you that they can no longer tell the difference in smoke quality between a good auto and a good traditional variety. I can’t and I am a veteran smoker (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.

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

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 overwhelming 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

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 protecting 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

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 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

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

PAY THEM OFF ONCE AND THEY’LL BE BACK AROUND THE NEXT YEAR THE US GOVERNMENT HAS HELD TWO MEDICINAL CANNABIS PATENTS SINCE 1974

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 recreational 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

Venice Beach Afghan

Environ; Inside 275 PLL/Outside Open Air. Method; Forced Flowering after 3 weeks Medium; Plagron Pro, Light and Batmix Nutrient; none Grow Time; 4 weeks Flower Time; 8 weeks Plant structure; short and wide Bud structure; real fat indica buds Scent; Sweet Kush Effect; Relaxed and also creative Yield; 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

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.

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 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

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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!