The Cannabis Grow Bible. Greg Green
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Название: The Cannabis Grow Bible
Автор: Greg Green
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Техническая литература
Серия: Ultimate Series
isbn: 9781931160841
isbn:
Another thing to note is that street cannabis may contain added drugs. For example, animal tranquilizer is a popular adulterate used to make black market hashish more potent. People who add other drugs to cannabis are not doing the cannabis community a favor. This is a good reason to grow your own pot.
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Seeds: Selection, Banks, and Storage
There are approximately 450 seed varieties of cannabis on the market today.1 Out of the 450 seed varieties, 200 are worth considering, and out of the 200 about 50 are truly outstanding.
A hybrid is the offspring of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species, or genera, especially as produced through human manipulation for specific genetic characteristics. Stock lines with common parents are loosely referred to as a “cannabis strain” by cultivators. Stable strains have stable genetic traits, which means that the offspring will all be very similar. In fact, most cannabis strains are called cannabis strains because of their uniformity in growth and reduced variations in the offspring. Hybrids tend to be unstable, or genetically unpredictable, because of their “newness.” A good stabilized hybrid eventually goes on to become a strain.
Out of the 450 seed varieties, we said that 200 were good. This leaves 250 that we have disregarded. Those 250 are usually very unstable hybrids. These hybrid plants are so unstable that their description is difficult because of the extent of the variations in the population.
Most unstable hybrids do not find their way into the market and are found only among breeders who are experimenting with plant genetics. Seed producers tend to only produce strains in the following categories (bearing in mind the discussion in Chapter 1):
• Pure Sativa
• Sativa (mostly Sativa species with some Indica)
• Pure Indica
• Indica (mostly Indica species with some Sativa)
• Indica/Sativa (50/50 cross between an Indica and a Sativa species)
• Ruderalis
Ruderalis is a problematic plant. It does not produce large quantities of THC or flower like the others. Ruderalis is considered substandard by most growers because it flowers according to age, not according to the photoperiod. This means that the Ruderalis cannabis plant will flower when it is mature enough to do so, and this flowering action of the Ruderalis plant is out of the grower’s hands, so to speak. Ruderalis is grown in countries that experience cold weather conditions—Russia, Eastern Europe, and Alaska are places where Ruderalis grows wild. It is an extremely sturdy plant for outdoor growing, however, the autoflowering properties of this plant make it hard to control. Trying to clone a Ruderalis plant is nearly impossible because it is extremely hard to force the clone to remain in the vegetative growth stage of the plant’s cycle. Photoperiod manipulation—the way growers control cannabis flowering with Indica and Sativa plants—does not work with Ruderalis plants. Photoperiod, an extremely important part of cannabis cultivation, is further explained in Chapter 8. One reason to grow Ruderalis is if you must grow outdoors, where the photoperiod is of no concern to you.
Seeds develop in the calyx. Here you can see seeds coming out from the calyx while others have not yet emerged. Photo Paradise Seeds.
Seeds that have just begun to germinate sandwiched in wet cheesecloth.
This stash of seeds from Paradise Seeds is enough to create several gardens for the next season. Photo Paradise Seeds.
Pure Sativa is a total head high. Pure Indica is a total body stone / couch-lock. A 50/50 cross will give a 50 percent head high and a 50 percent body stone. If an Indica plant is crossed slightly with a Sativa plant it will give a 60 percent body stone and a 40 percent head high. A Sativa plant that is crossed slightly with an Indica plant will give a 60 percent head high and a 40 percent body stone. The 60/40 ratio is the most common but breeders can also alter the ratio.
Equipped with this knowledge, you are now ready to choose a plant that fits your needs in terms of height, potency, and high. Your choice of seeds will also depend on whether you will grow indoors or outdoors. It will also depend on other characteristics of your grow space. There is no point trying to grow an eight-foot Sativa indoors if you don’t have the space, and a two-foot Indica plant may not survive outdoors if other plants compete with it for light. As a rule, we can always shorten the plant through pruning, but it is impossible to double the plant’s height if the plant’s genetics only allow two or three feet of growth. Indoor and outdoor grow spaces will be discussed more in later chapters. The rest of this chapter will focus on selecting, acquiring, and handling quality seeds.
Selecting Seeds
Now you have an idea of the species and strain of plant you want. The next step is to verify if the seeds are for indoor or outdoor use. There is a saying that all cannabis seeds can be grown indoors and outdoors. This is true, but for the best results, growers should consider what the breeder intended. If the breeder created a plant that does well indoors, then it is suggested that you only grow these seeds indoors. If you grow outdoors and the plant does not produce that well, then you know that you should have followed the breeder’s advice. Of course, there is nothing stopping you from experimenting, and some growers have produced excellent results this way, but if you are new to growing it is best if you follow the advice you’re given.
When selecting a seed, check to see what kind of strain it is. Most seed sellers will have this listed along with their seed type. Keeping in mind the species debate issue, when you look at strains that are crossbreeds you must foresee which type the plants lean toward. Some Sativa plants may be shorter because of their Indica genetics and some Indica plants may be taller because of their Sativa genetics. In Chapter 15, we will see that as breeders, we can control the plant’s appearance and growth and can influence height and particular features. We can also harvest the plant in a specific way to produce a different high. The later you harvest the plant, the more you’ll help produce a couch-lock effect. Harvesting just before peak growth will induce a more cerebral high. If you are working with strains that are for either cerebral or couch-lock highs then you can use harvest time to augment these properties.
Analysing and checking seeds that you either gather or buy is important. This is not a damaged seed. The markings including the dark patch are natural.