CULTIVATING CANNABIS - PART 3

Welcome to my third blog about Growing Cannabis. I also have a few blogs on the site about cultivating my cannabis plants this year. This blog will be about the preparations and knowledge about Cannabis and grow information. First we will talk about the growth phase of the cannabis plant and the training techniques that can be used during this phase. Furthermore, we are going to talk briefly about all growing mediums, the choice between open ground or pots, in short enough reading material and information so let's start?

The Growth phase

The growth phase, growth period or also The vegetative phase of the cannabis plant begins immediately after the germination and seedling phase of the plant. The cannabis plant remains in the growth phase as long as it is 18 hours of light and 6 hours of dark. When the nights outside or in the nursery room become longer to 14/10, the plant could start to bloom, but at 12/12 it always blooms (only) fully. The growth phase, like all other phases, is very important and crucial for the phase that follows, namely the flowering phase. During the growth phase, the young seedling often grows into a fully-fledged plant without flowers or buds, as the latter only happens during flowering.

Depending on circumstances, the growth phase of the cannabisplant often lasts 3-16 weeks or sometimes even longer. During the growing period it is very important that you get cannabis the right (amount) of nutrients, also called "nutrients". In this phase you give cannabis growth nutrition and a root stimulator. During the growth phase it is the right time to start cultivating or training techniques on your (young) plants. See above the different phases of life of the Cannabis plant. Seed/ Seedling / Vegetative / Growth phase / Flowering phase / Harvest phase. For the plant, it then stops and the cycle is complete. For the grower, however, there are still 2 phases in the process to know; the drying phase and the cure phase.

Cultivation techniques (during the growth phase)

I would now like to talk about the different cultivation techniques and how to apply them correctly. Cannabis has long been cultivated by humanity and this has resulted in all kinds of (useful) techniques to increase your harvest, get wider cannabis plants and make your plant look the way you want it to. This is certainly possible with all kinds of cultivation and pruning techniques.

First, you have abbreviated "Low Stress techniques" with LST and then there are also High Stress techniques = HRT. The first (LST) can be applied in every phase of the plant's life, the other (HRT) only during the growth phase. I will first list the most famous breeding techniques, so here: LST (Low Stress Techniques), SOG (Sea of ​​Green), SCROG (Screen of Green), Caging (Weed cage), HRT (High Stress techniques), Buds (Pruning Technique),

Fimming (Pruning Technique) and the last Thieves + Lolipops. The last two I would not discuss further in this blog as they can only be done during the flowering phase. So that brings us to LST, so Low Stress Training. This is often recommended from a young age to start with, it is best with developing seedlings and / or young vegetative plants, so this technique has the most effect. You can use this technique at any stage, if you manage to bend the stems. In principle, LST is often nothing more than "tying" or pulling down the "Canopy" (= foliage) of your plant, so that more (sun) light gets in and on the plant. This technique often uses flexible garden wire, but the material does not really matter as long as it does not cut and gives a little (so it has some elasticity).

We start with a SOG also known as Sea of ​​Green. You probably already have a suspicion what this is, if not we will not explain. With a SOG you ensure that there are as many cannabis plants as possible in as little space as possible. This means that your entire grow space is beautifully green and would be fully utilized, it is (almost) impossible to be more efficient. It is even possible for an indoor grower to skip the growth phase at a SOG and still achieve good harvests. SCROG (Screen of Green), With a SCROG you mainly focus on growth in width.



There are often fewer cannabis plants (per m2) here than a SOG. However, it can be just as lucrative. Keep in mind, however, that unlike a SOG, a SCROG cannot do without a growth phase, because as stated, the growth comes from here, and therefore a growth period is necessary. With you apply the SCROG method you place a mesh or rack above/ on your canopy ("Canopy") of your Cannabis, with the aim of getting all (main) buds (also called colas) at the same height and growing the mesh or just full.

Most growers choose to start the flowering phase as about 60-80% of the The mesh has been filled in. SOG and SCROG 'are very similar', however The main difference between SOG (Sea of ​​Green) and SCROG (Screen of Green) is that with the SOG method there are many small plants in a small location and with SCROG fewer plants with more space between them. With a SOG, the foliage is kept even by placing many cannabis plants per square meter. With a SCROG this is achieved with a small number of plants using a mesh or rack so that they (can) grow out immediately. With a SOG you could skip the flowering phase (indoors), with a SCROG this is not possible and is not recommended.

Screen / Caging / Trellising (Weed cage or weed screen / nets) This technique is very similar to a SCROG (technique) but this technique is slightly different. In contrast to most techniques, it is mainly used by outdoor growers. The reasons for this vary, among other things, or mainly the overall support of the plant in both the growth and the flowering phase. Mainly the branches and during the flowering phase also the buds are supported, especially when these become "top heavy" during the flowering phase. It always provides more support for the plant and further helps to prevent wind damage.It can also keep wild animals at bay and form a barrier for animals (humans). you can train your cannabis plants very well with it! So put your plants in a "Lockdown" this summer.

Topping and Fimming (HST)

Then we have arrived at two HST techniques. These are in fact (almost) all other pruning or training options. to my knowledge the most used and oldest methods of cultivation techniques for (cannabis) plants, namely the two techniques that are used by many growers, both a form of "pruning", namely TOP (s) and FIM (men). Both are a way of trimming or cutting, and pruning the (main) top (s).

This is ALWAYS done in the growth phase of the cannabis plant and only from the moment that there are several branches and at least the first 5 or 7 finger leaves have emerged, because this is a high stress, and a lot of extra (growth) hormones (HRT method). This is one of the reasons that they are both so effective during the growth phase. As you can see, the difference between Topping and Fimming is not very difficult. With buds, the entire top top is removed and pruned, with Fimmen this is only partially done. This is where the abbreviation also comes from FIM = "Fuck i Missed". Which means that the main top (just) is not completely removed.

With the topping method you can multiply your main buds and with the Fimmen method you can at least double it, so this can be (even) more dependent on performance, genetics and many more factors. Whichever of the two you decide to apply, you can only do them both in the vegetative phase and also give the plant (s) enough "recovery time", at least 2-4 weeks. These were a lot of different growing techniques, try them out (all of them), you can even combine some very well and thus increase your yield per plant considerably.

The different growing mediums

There are many different growing mediums, so much that you can write a book about it. However, I keep it brief and stick to the three most used mediums; Soil(for everyone), Coconut (somewhat experienced), and Hydro or Water culture (for advanced). If you grow in open ground, you (often) have no choice and you (often) have to go for the soil.

Soil

Of course, the most used method is , which as Mother Nature has intended it namely; Soil. However, it is often not "just" soil, because the soil for cannabis must be well airy, contain a lot of oxygen and therefore not too wet. Perlite or (other) natural stone is often used to add more oxygen to the substrate. You have soil that is (heavily) pre-fertilized, something lighter or not at all. The difference is or will be that with the heavily pre-fertilized soil, you mainly do not give any nutrition at all until the nutrients in the soil are "used up" by the plant in most, this takes 4-8 weeks.

With lightly fertilized soil, there is less nutrition and the nutrients in the soil therefore also last longer, so you will have to replenish yourself with nutrients faster. Logically, you will have to feed your cannabis plants yourself from day one, from day 1. One is no better than the other, it is more pure preference of the grower himself. With all good quality soil, excellent results can be achieved. Soil is the way to grow if you want to mimic nature, grow organically and / or 100% nature (corpse), a beginner or even an advanced everyone could do it. After all, it remains a "kind of" weed that weed.

Kokos

Coconut is also a commonly used method, in simple terms the 'traditional' soil is completely replaced by coconut. Coconut contains more oxygen than soil and the roots seem to find this somewhat more pleasant than "soil / potting soil". Nutrition can also be dosed more precisely and directly. Coconut absorbs less water and is therefore more difficult to water. Coconut is a small step up in terms of difficulty, but ultimately for most growers and those who try it! Usually, coconut yields more harvest (s) and sometimes a stronger end product. Do you want to try it too? Learn well in advance.

Hydro and Water culture

In short, hydroponics is growing on nothing but water (the right food) as a culture medium. So growing cannabis without soil. This could be at; Hydro grains, Perlite, Rock wool and / or Mapito and the most spectacular Water (H2O). The latter in particular looks very spectacular. As you can see below. The advantages of this way of growing is that the cannabis plants absorb all nutrients faster, so they become larger and therefore yield more. The big caveat, on the other hand, is that it costs a lot of investments, and that usually only experienced growers can successfully apply this in practice. This is the most sensitive way to grow, but if you succeed you have a spectacular end product and a plant that sometimes even looks 'alien-like'.

Open ground or pots

When growing with soil you have the choice between open ground or pots, in this paragraph I would discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both. Let it be paramount that there is no right or wrong of the two, this is purely personal preference of the grower and / or his growing conditions. Let's start with the "open ground" or a cannabis plant (s) with its roots directly in the ground and therefore basically has unlimited space to spread its roots over the garden or all soil that can be reached for the roots.

The result of course is that this way of cultivation produces by far the largest plants and sometimes even 'weed trees' are grown. The cannabis plants are often not only larger but also stronger. They also receive a lot of rainwater and would not easily be faced with shortages. There is also a greater chance that there is always (already) a (biological) soil life present. So it is pure nature, which can be very good for your plant. However, there are also "some" disadvantages; the cannabis plants are impossible to move, further if one plant gets sick, others are more likely to get it and the flowering period can take a little longer.

Conclusion, all in all, cultivation in the open ground is the least intensive cultivation method and also because of the sometimes enormous yields and low start-up costs, and rightly so, it is still extremely popular.

Then we go to the other option, grow in pots. These come in all shapes and sizes and also with or without holes. Always take pots with a number of holes in the bottom. Oxygen supply and correct water drainage is (even more) necessary for pots. Personally, I am very pleased with "Air-Pots, Airraps, and Smart-Pots" - these look a bit like traditional pots, but have air holes everywhere on the sides and bottom for extra oxygen supply and moisture, these are the roots of cannabis delicious, lots of (extra) oxygen and you notice this in growth. The only disadvantage of these pots that I know is watering more often than you are used to with "traditional pots".

Also (Air) Pots have many advantages and some disadvantages. We start with the positive; The pots and cannabis plants can be moved separately from each other and can therefore also be "darkened" more easily, and the plants may also receive more and better attuned attention and nutrition. If you have a growing problem, you can often view and solve this per plant, provided you get there quickly enough. If necessary, you can always repot the cannabis plants. The disadvantages are also there; The plants become and remain somewhat smaller than would be the case in the open ground, so they also yield less harvest, growing in pots takes more time and probably also more money, mainly for food and pots as both substrate. The size does not always have to be a disadvantage, especially if you have no or a small garden, (small) pots may be ideal in combination with Autoflowers.

Conclusion; On the basis of this knowledge, do what you think is best for your situation as indicated several times, there are many cultivation options, cultivation methods, cultivation techniques as well as different substrates, etc. All growers start with collecting information, then you base then your own choices, and then it starts with buying seeds and other growing supplies.

We can offer you the best seeds for both indoors and outdoors, Feminized and/ or Autoflowers view our wide range here 24High Seedshop. This was it for this time. Until my next blog. On behalf of the entire 24High.NL team, I would like to thank the readers for your attention and time. I hope you like my Blogs and see you next time. Do you want to read more? See all our other blogs: 24High Blogs