THE [TAC] GROWING GUIDE
SECOND PART
After reading the first chapter you should already have a good knowledge about Cannabis. This part of the guide includes all the differences between Outdoors and Indoors cultivation. If you want you can skip the chapter which isn't of interest to you, who cares about lighting systems when you live in an equatorial climate?


OUTDOORS GROWING

 Outdoor growing is surely much easier and inexpensive than it's indoors counterpart. If you have the possibility to grow your plants directly in the soil in full sunlight you will also have bigger yields than indoors. Until about a decade ago outdoor weed also tasted a lot better than indoor weed. Unfortunately there are a lot of drawbacks to outdoor cultivation.

Detection is the biggest problem with outdoor crops, since we assume that you are growing in a country where it's permitted we are not speaking about discovery from law-enforcement but from people who steal your crop.

Outdoor plants will grow bigger and yield more, however they take about six months to grow from seed to harvest. Indoor plants can be grown from seed in just three months.

You are limited by the weather. This means that most people can grow only one crop each year and only the varieties adapted to the local climate. In addition bad weather around harvest time can induce mold in the buds and heavy rainfalls wash away lots of resin.

Various pests can become a problem if precautions aren't taken.

Cross pollination from other Cannabis fields: this is not a problem yet for most of us, but it could become one very soon. An industrial hemp field growing in the range of about 20km from a Sinsemilla Cultivation will surely completely ruin the crop. In addition the seeds from the plants are worthless since they resulted from random cross-pollination with low-THC hemp. Of course the opposite could also become a problem for Hemp farmers, but the second possibility is much more unlikely.



CHOSING A PLACE

 We are assuming that detection by law-enforcement is not a problem, so this won't be discussed. When chosing the place to grow your outdoor crop you should keep in mind some things
(in order of importance):

Light exposure
Your plants should get at least 4h of direct sunlight. If they get less light they won't reach their maximum potential, shaded locations are totally unsuitable for Cannabis growth. Consider using pots if light exposure is a problem.

Soil quality
You can't grow a good crop in dirt, your ideal soil should retain moisture but drain well. Note that soil is especially a problem for Guerrilla Farmers, good spots are often located in the mountains where there's virtually no soil.

Proximity to water
You absolutely need a water source in proximity of your crop. It's just not feasible to carry water to your growing spot, these plants need lots of water during hot summer days.

Detection
Growing great plants is of no use if they are stolen at maturity. The security of your garden should be absolutely guaranteed.

SEED SELECTION

 Your seeds must be planted after the last frost, in northern Europe this means about April-May. The plants need long days to grow vegetatively, when the days get shorter around August they will start to produce flowers. Planting your seeds earlier won't produce earlier maturing plants, just bigger bushes. It's very important that you chose a strain adapted to your latitudes. What this means depends from where you live. Here in northern Europe (45-55 degrees north) you need a strain which will be able to fully mature before the weather becomes too cold and the days too short. Practically speaking this means that you won't be able to grow tropical (Jamaica, Mexico) or even equatorial (Colombia, Indonesia) strains. However unless you live really far in the north most of the strains can still be succesfully grown outdoors. Various strains from Afghanistan, North Africa and South Africa are suited for outdoor growing at these latitudes. Beside these traditional strains there are numerous American and Dutch breeds which mature early (Skunk #1, Northern Light) or very early (Early Girl, First Girl).

If you live on the equator you have another problem. These early maturing plants need long days to grow vegetatively (over 14 hours), in an equatorial climate they will never get more than 12h of light and will start to flower when they are still small and undeveloped. Generally speaking plants with a high Indica content will mature early (good for temperate climates) and plants with high Sativa content will mature late (good for equatorial climates).


SEEDLING TRANSPLANTATION

 As soon as your seeds germinate they need light and should be placed outdoors in the sunlight, this is extremely important even if the weather is rainy. If the seedlings are kept indoors probably they won't get enough light for healthy growth and become tall and spindly. Do not worry too much about them, Cannabis is a hardy plant, even seedlings. Of course if the weather conditions become extreme (storm, snow, frost,...) you should place them indoors as soon as possible.

Since you decided to grow outdoors hopefully you are able to plant directly in the soil. Plants which have lots of space for roots tend to grow much bigger than plants restricted by pots. Just consider that by using a pot of one foot (30cm) diameter at the top the plants can grow to about 1.70m - 1.80m (some Sativas can grow over 2m even in pots). Of course by using a giant pot the plant would reach the same size as if it was growing directly in the earth, however most of the time such pots aren't practical. If you are limited to pots (for example because you decided to grow a small crop in a sunny window) I suggest using many small pots instead of few big ones. The yield of many small plants will be larger together than the yield of a few large plants. On the other hand pots have the advantage of being transportable, if you have to move the plants it's possible. The best yield for the space can be achieved by cultivating both in the earth and in pots. Pots can be moved in places where it's not possible to grow in the ground (lawns for example), they also can be moved to optimize light exposure. You will need to experiment a bit in order to find out how you can maximize the yields per space unit, what works best always depends from your growing location.

When growing in the earth another question arises: how much space should be left between the seedlings? The answer is the same as above, if you give them plenty of space they will grow to huge bushes which can be over 2m in diameter. If you plant them close together they will grow less branched and develop mostly one main bud. However when making the decision always keep in mind that 50% of the plants (the males) will be killed in August. In countries like Afghanistan and India there's the tendency to cultivate big plants, in Lebanon and Morocco (where Haschisch is produced on industrial scale) the plants are cultivated very near together and they tend to produce only one main bud.

VEGETATIVE GROWTH

 Once the seedlings are transplanted basically you just have to wait. Their growth speed will depend mainly from the weather and soil fertility. For the latter we recommend adding a good quantity of compost and some manure to your growing spot each spring. Additional fertilization is rarely necessary when the plants are in the ground. If you are using pots for your plants add a good amount of manure (chicken or horse) or guano to the soil before transplanting the seedlings. The manure/guano will supply everything which is necessary for growth during the first months. It's even possible to grow a fully healthy crop without using additional fertilizer, however growth will be slower and yields smaller. After about a month (the plants should be well established, at least 1 foot tall) you can fertilize them with Nitrogen which is essential for healthy growth, an excellent (and free) source for Nitrogen (N) is urine. Be careful with nitrogen fertilizers, it's always better to use less than more!

How much water your plants need depends from the temperature, but outside it's very hard to give too much water. Just water when the soil feels dry, this could very well mean every day!

When growing outdoors it's extremely important to use something against snails, they can easily destroy the entire crop in one night. Unfortunately chemical products seem the only thing which works.

If you've done everything correctly in a couple of months you'll have some beautiful, strong and healthy plants in your garden.

FLOWERING

 After about three months (depending from the strain and daylenght) it will be time to pull out the males. Shortly after killing the staminate plants the pistillate plants will also start to flower. When growing Indoors you can switch the light cycle directly from 18h to 12h, Outdoors the daylenght decreases slowly. For this reason plants will take longer to flower outdoors than they do indoors.

During flowering there's not much which can happen to your plants (beside being stolen), but you should look out for any signs of mold growing on the buds. In a humid environment the tight buds are very susceptible to mold infection, some strains are more prone to mold than others. Unfortunately there's not much which can be done about mold, if the situation is really catastrophic you'll have to harvest early. Generally speaking the mold on Cannabis is harmless (and the THC content is never affected by it), but there are some kinds of mold which can be lethal when smoked or ingested.

Ideally you would harvest your plants when they are at peak potency, during the early morning hours. However when growing Outdoors (unfortunately) it's often necessary to harvest earlier. Beside mold and robbers, bad weather conditions are the most frequent problem. Needless to say that rainfall washes away lots of resin, so it's best to harvest the plants after a couple of sunny days, however the right maturation point is much more important.

INDOORS GROWING

 Indoors growing has many advantages, you can completely control the growing environment. You can force your plants to flower when they reach the desired size. You can grow all the year around and haven't to worry about bad weather or robbers. As mentioned previously Indoor crops can be matured in three months instead of the usual 6-7 months. However you will have to invest about 300$ in equipment, which of course will have paid off itself after the first harvest. Electricity consumption, space and heat are also a problem for some growers.



CHOSING A PLACE

 When chosing your growroom consider the following:

1.
Space - It's possible to grow almost anywhere, people are growing Marijuana in closets, toilets, trashcans, shelves, and many other places. Of course it's not possible (and doesn't make sense) to use a 400W HPS lamp for growing on a small shelf. A HID lamp doesn't make sense if your plant can't reach at least 1,20m at maturity. If you have less place consider using fluorescents, fluorescents and natural sunlight or growing outdoors. With limited space you will also get limited yields, growing in very small places produces good yields only if clones are used instead of seedlings. However don't give up, any small place is better than nothing.

2.
Ventilation - You can grow Cannabis in just any imaginable container, as I mentioned some people are growing Marijuana in Trashcans using fluorescent lights. The only problem is ventilation, the lights develop lots of heat which needs to go somewhere, the plants also need fresh (CO2 containing) air for healthy growth. So, when growing in small places, ventilation is of uttermost importance. With the aid of an inexpensive ventilator quite everything can be converted to a "grow-box".

3.
Detection - Even if Cannabis is legal where you are growing it probably you don't want to show your plants to everyone. Your location should also be as safe as possible in case something happens while you're away (fire, water spillage, thieves,...).

LIGHT SYSTEMS

 The most important aspect of Indoors gardening is the light source. Theoretically every kind of light can be used to grow plants, but only a few supply a good spectrum for growth and are cost-effective at the same time. Below I will discuss shortly the most common types of light systems:

INCANDESCENTS
Incandescents are the classic light bulbs invented by T. A. Edison. They are absolutely not suited for plant growth, the light they emit is mainly in the red-spectrum which will cause the seedling to elongate too much. They are also highly inefficent, only about 20% of the energy is converted to light, the rest is emitted as heat. This also implies that they can't be placed very close to the plants. In other words: forget it! Beside having a stunted plant growth you will waste a lot of money (on electricity and bulbs).

HALOGENS
Halogens are pretty similar to incandescents in their light spectrum, they just convert more electricity to light than incandescents. Still not suited for our purposes!

FLUORESCENTS
Fluorescents is what most people call "Neon Tubes" (today they don't contain Neon gas anymore), they are what Indoor growers used until one decade ago. Fluorescent tubes are available in many lenghts, from one foot upwards. Of course you will need a fixture (and a starter) for the tubes, the fixtures can be found in any big supermarket or hardware store. The prices vary greatly depending on the design, no need for anything fancy. You could also build a fixture yourself for less than 1$ if you have the skills and time. Used fluorescent fixtures are also available from many places at very low prices. There's no need to buy expensive grow-tubes (like Sylvania), they aren't any better than the common shoplights. For an ideal light spectrum mix Cool White (Color 33) and Warm White tubes (in 3:1 or 2:1 ratio). Cool White is the most common (and cheapest) tube, it emits lots of blue light which is essential for leaf development. Warm White is also quite common and emits more red light which is necessary for flowering. While fluorescents do not put out very much light they are very efficent, almost no heat is produced. This makes them an ideal choice for closet growing in small places or to start cuttings. Since they do not develop much heat you can place them very close (one inch) to the plants, however you will need to adjust the height every day. You can grow perfectly healthy and potent crops with a very inexpensive fluorescent setup, but yields will always be very small. Plants grown under fluorescent light only get enough light to develop one main bud. You can grow two small plants under just one 1 foot fluorescent tube, but this is the absolute minimum. Than more light you have than better! There is also a kind of fluorescent tube which is thicker than the normal tubes (it has a larger diameter), it consumes about 8-9% more electricity but puts out about 40% more light. If you can find these tubes get them, they cost somewhat more but are worth their price.

MERCURY VAPOR
These lamps are often sold as "grow-lamps", but they are highly inefficent, for the same price you can get a much better light setup. Do not buy one of these at any cost, if you already have one try to use it, probably it will produce acceptable results but be highly cost-ineffective. A typical 400W MV Unit puts out about 22'000 lumens.

HID LAMPS - MH & HPS
These are the only lights recommended for the serious grower, both of them need a ballast and a fixture to operate. Modern growlights today are equipped with a remote-ballast which can be kept outside the growing room. Sulphur lights, while highly efficent are still way too expensive for the amateur grower and not discussed here.

HIGH PRESSURE SODIUM (HPS)
The most common type of grow-light today, these lamps emit a very bright orange light. It's the same kind of light used for illuminating the streets. HPS lamps are available in many sizes ranging from 75W to 1000W, however everything under 400W is just not worth it's price, a 250W HPS lamp costs only slightly less than it's bigger 400W cousin. These are also the most expensive lights, a 400W model usually costs around 250$ but they will have paid off after the first harvest. HPS and MH are the only kind of light suited for the serious grower! While both HPS and MH are quite similar in their way of functioning there are some differences. A HPS light puts our more red light, it's better suited for flowering but less for vegetative growth. HPS light and bulbs are more expensive than MH but they last longer and are more efficent. Today there are also special HPS (and MH) bulbs on the market, for example the Philips SON-T Agro which has 30W of additional blue. HPS lamps produce lots of heat and need a ventilator if used in a closet, they must be placed about 1-1,5 feet above the plants.

METAL HALIDES
Metal Halides emit much more blue light than HPS and are better suited for vegetative growth, the internodes will be shorter than with HPS. Plants which suffer from a blue-light deficency will look spindly and elongated. The plants under MH's will also mature about one week earlier but the yield be somewhat smaller. MH ballasts and bulbs are somewhat cheaper than HPS but they have two drawbacks: MH bulbs last less than HPS bulbs, in addition they put out less light. A 400W MH systems puts out about 32'000 lumens, it's HPS counterpart about 55'000 lumens. Today there are also conversion bulbs for MH systems which basically are HPS bulbs constructed for a MH ballast. In addition there's a new MH bulb (AgroSun) which has 30W more red than the regular bulbs.

When chosing a light system consider all the points above, with a 400W HPS system you can grow about 12 small plants (Sea of Green) or 5-6 large plants. Fluorescent lights should be placed as close as possible to the plants, about one inch is a good distance. With HID (HPS & MH) lamps you should leave about one foot (somewhat less is still possible). If plants are placed too close to HID lights they won't burn (unless they are very close) but the buds will tend to elongate (run) instead of filling out.

VEGETATIVE GROWTH

 As you know during vegetative growth the plants need long light periods, practically speaking this means 16-24h of light. Generally speaking than more light they get than faster they grow. However when using HID lamps (HPS or MH) giving them more than 18h of light doesn't do any good (but no harm either). With HID lamps a light cycle of 17-18h is ideal, when using cheap light setups 24h of light are suggested.

During flowering the plants need a period of uninterrupted darkness, this is not necessary for vegetative growth. Cannabis (and many other plants) do not need a dark cycle for healthy growth, interrupting the dark cycle also does no harm during vegetative growth. However some 100% pure Sativas (like the Original Haze) which tend to grow very tall anyway, should not be given more than 14-15h of light even during vegetative growth. If they get 18h of light or more they will stretch extremely fast.

Also note that under artificial light the plants grow much faster than under natural conditions (given the longer light periods), this together with the absence of wind often causes the plant to grow an underdevelopded stem which can't hold the weight of the plant. If this happens support the plant with a stick, it will recover quickly. Shaking the plants lightly each day also favors stem development.

It's your decision when to flower your plants, many growing guides say that seedlings can't be flowered until they are about one month old. In our experience this isn't true, of course you can't expect to succesfully flower a week old seedling, but as soon as they have grown three sets of leaves they can be flowered. Most growers switch the light cycle to flowering when their plants are about 30cm tall (1 foot).

The main factor when making the decision of course is the space which the plants have available for growth. A plant flowered when it was 30cm tall will easily reach 1,5m at maturity. Consider that Sativas should be flowered when they are still very small since they stretch a lot during flowering. However space isn't the only issue, many growers think that big bushes are the way to go. Large Cannabis bushes are extremely beautiful and (of course) will yield more than one small plant. However the total yield per space unit will be bigger if you grow many small plants (Sea of Green). Under a 400W HPS lamp you can flower about 5 large plants or 12 small plants (which will yield more). The Sea of Green method works especially well when using clones instead of seeds.

About one week after changing the lighting schedule the plants will start to show their gender. Procede to differentiate the plants as described earlier in order to produce Sinsemilla. Note that it might take you up to two weeks before you can differentiate the plants if you haven't any experience.

FLOWERING

 When growing indoors it's necessary to artificially induce flowering in the plants. The plants were grown under 18h of light for fastest possible growth, to induce flowering a 12h light cycle is needed.

12 hours of darkness will suffice for nearly all strains of Cannabis. Strains from temperate regions can mature even with 10h of darkness, some equatorial Sativas on the other hand need 13h (of darkness) for good flower development. As described in the first section it's the uninterrupted darkness which triggers flowering and not the lenght of the light cycle. It's extremely important that your plants are shielded from any light during their dark period. Light reaching the plants will slow down (or even inhibit) flowering and the buds will be less tight.

For practical purposes a dark cycle of 12h is perfectly suited for most Cannabis strains, however there are some exceptions to this rule. An experiment showed that plants grown under 12h of light (and 12h of darkness) had approximately twice the THC content of plants (of the same strain) grown under 10h of light. In other words, it would be ideal to flower a plant with the least number of hours of darkness necessary to induce flowering. For example and early flowering Afghani could be matured under 14h of light instead of the usual 12h to improve potency. Plants exposed to a longer light cycle (of course) will also grow bigger buds. The downside to long light cycle is that the maturation speed will slow down considerably. Plants grown under 8h of light (and 16h of darkness) will mature in about two weeks, instead of the usual two months. Of course the yield (and potency) will be much smaller.

How long your plants take to mature depends mostly from their genetics. Some very early maturing strains (Early Green, Early Skunk, First Girl, Early Girl,...) will be completely mature in 40-45 days. Pure Sativas on the other hand can take up to 100 days (Original Haze, Haze 19) to complete flowering. For this reason even in places like Amsterdam strains like the Haze are extremely rare (and expensive). Only few Coffeeshops (like the Greenhouse) carry the Haze and it costs them about 9'500 Guilders the Kilogram, which for Dutch standards is extremely expensive.

The maturation time also depends a lot from the light you are using, crops grown under HPS lamps will take about one week longer than their counterparts under MH lamps, but the yield will be larger.

CO2 ENRICHMENT

 If you want to go professional and maximize yields you must seriously consider artificial CO2 enrichment. Plants breath CO2 and use it to perform photosynthesis (during the light hours). If the CO2 in the environment is limited the maximum rate of photosynthesis will not be attained. CO2 enrichment is not recommended until you get about 500g for each square meter with conventional methods. 1000W HID lamps are the minimum which makes sense when using CO2 enrichment. The systems on the market vary greatly in complexity and price, on the cheap side there's the simple pressurized CO2 tank, on the expensive side we have completely computerized systems (which cost way over a thousand Dollars).

Theoretically you can also add CO2 with much less expensive methods, but they are all very labour intensive and yield quite small amounts of CO2. To enrich the environment with CO2 you can do the following:

1.
A big room which can be ventilated thru a window once a day will at least have acceptable CO2 levels, especially if you live in the city. When growing in a closet a ventilator is of absolutely necessary since the plants will consume the available CO2 very quickly.

2.
If humans or animals live in your growroom they will add CO2 to the environment. This can already make a big difference in growth speed.

3.
You can spray your plants with CO2 enriched (sparkling) mineral water, however you will need to spray them a second time with fresh water to wash away the mineral substances.

4.
You can produce CO2 in several ways, for example adding yeast to a solution of water and (lots) of sugar will produce considerable amounts of carbon dioxide.

5.
Another easy way to produce CO2 is adding sodium bicarbonate (Baking Soda) to vinegar
(or acetic acid).

PLANT REGENERATION

 When growing Indoors it's possible to get multiple harvests from a single plant. To regenerate some leaves and bud material are left on the plant after the harvest. The stem can be left at (nearly) it's full height or cut back to a few inches above the ground. The plant should get 24h of light in order to start growing vegetatively again.

Note that some strains regenerate easily while other don't, generally speaking you should see signs of new growth within two weeks after changing the light schedule. Regenerating plants is only rarely useful from an economic point of view. Regenerating small plants (flowered when they were one foot tall) is a waste of time, regenerating a huge bush grown under a 1000W Halide is another matter (more useful).

Theoretically speaking you can get up to four harvests from one plant by using this method, however be aware that the health of the plants will decline over time. The plants also need heavy fertilization (especially Nitrogen) after every Harvest. Plants grown in small pots are very hard to regenerate, usually after the first harvest the health of the plant has already seriously declined.
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