How to Grow Cannabis With Soil? 420 Guide for Beginners

When it comes to growing your own cannabis, there are a few key points you have to get right to achieve the best possible marijuana in the end. Besides the very important factors like cannabis grow lights, water, and ventilation, cannabis (like every other plant) requires a growing medium. If you don't choose to grow your cannabis hydroponically, the most popular and preferred medium is soil.

But for growing cannabis, you can't just walk in the next flower shop you see and buy an ordinary potting mix for ornamental plants and flowers. It’s not that simple! Of course, cannabis plants will grow in this kind of soil, but they will not reach their maximum potential. Cannabis requires a specific composition of soil to grow ideally.

Soil Setup

Get Soil and a Container for Your Cannabis Plants

Common cannabis soil mixes include Fox Farms Happy Frog and Fox Farms Ocean Forest. Any high-quality organic soil mix will do in a pinch.

Avoid Miracle-Gro soil or anything with “extended-release” nutrients!
To improve drainage, it can be beneficial to add 30% perlite to aerate and loosen soil.

Common cannabis containers include classic plastic pots, terracotta pots, smart pots (fabric grow pots) and air-pots.

Soil growing probably requires the least effort of any growing method (especially if growing in super soil). Your main effort will be spent watering your plants.

Containers allow you to care for your marijuana plants each individually. Weak, sick, and problematic plants can be easily removed from your garden. You can grow your soil-based marijuana in virtually any container. Examples include troughs, pots, buckets, aero-pots (my favorite) or the method of using a large growing container such as a wooden box/bed aka the “full dirt” method, which allows your roots and plants the maximum amount of space. Many veteran organic cannabis cultivators swear by this bed method when growing in soil.

Make sure your containers are a solid color, preferably black. This will ensure no light reaches your roots, and this is a critical step to ensure flourishing growth.

Nutrients for soil

Soil contains a wide range of naturally occurring ingredients because of its organic composition. A lot of the nutrients available in rotting vegetable matter and animal remains right away, however, requiring additional processes to break them down before they can be absorbed by the roots. Worms and insects aid in the decomposition process, breaking down the materials into a smaller form that the plants can absorb. Rain also helps in the decomposition process. Water is a very effective solvent; it can dissolve materials and make them available for absorption.

Unfortunately, all of these natural processes can be difficult to duplicate for indoor growers. The best bet is to start out with nutrient rich soil and to make sure the soil has been sterilized before you begin potting your plants. Sterilizing your soil with heat won’t guarantee that you’ve killed every possible parasite and disease, but it’s an important preventative step. All it takes is one nasty parasite to spread around and ruin your entire crop.

Finally, it’s important to remember that soil really is alive. So please avoid cooking the root zone with excessively high temperatures. If you are growing outdoors this summer, use white plastic pots, or better still, Air-Pots and Smart-Pots to help keep the root zone cool. Alternatively, you can create some natural shade for the ganja roots by adding a layer of dry straw to topsoil.

How to Improve Cannabis Bud Quality? 420 Guide for Beginners

The research on how to improve cannabis bud quality is not reserved only for beginners. Even knowledgeable growers with a skillset to produce large amounts of cannabis can still struggle with quality. The truth is that you need very little effort to successfully grow cannabis – you’ll be able to harvest buds that will do the job even if you make a ton of mistakes. But not if you’re aiming at a kind of bud that beats the cannabis you get in a dispensary.

The fact that your plants grow fantastically doesn’t mean they’ll produce the most desired results. While most people focus on the growth rate of the plants and their size, they fail to give enough attention to the buds, which are actually the most important part. In order to harvest all the benefits of the booming cannabis market, you should focus your energy on cultivating more potent and denser buds that will make your business more profitable. And we’re about to show you how to accomplish this.

Why is Bud Size Important?

Buds are the part of the cannabis plant that contain the highest levels of THC, the psychoactive compound that gives you that lovely ‘high’ feeling.

Buds also contain other important cannabinoids used for medicinal purposes such as CBD, THCV and CBG.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF LIGHTING
Using the right kind of indoor grow light in the right situation can be the key factor to a good harvest or a poor one. Plants use different kinds of light during different stages of growth so using a more blue light in the vegetative state and a more red light during flowering can definitely boost your yields.

Also the intensity of the lighting is very crucial, making sure the maximum amount of light reaches the plant without scorching the leaves. Lights like LED grow lights and CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) can be placed closer than MH (Metal Halide) and HPS grow lights(High Pressure Sodium) lighting can be.

The last thing to bear in mind is the life expectancy of your lamps. After a certain amount of hours the lamp is burnt up, if it isn’t replaced you have the risk of lower yields because the lamp is no longer performing as well as it should, or even worse it could cause shortages which in turn can cause fires.

Soil and Nutrients

The choice of soil as well as nutrition are key aspects when it comes to growing cannabis. If you have the ability, preparing your own soil before the planned season of growth (ie: August) and allowing it to fertilize on its own with compost and natural biodegradables. Over-fertilizing or providing too many nutrients can cause plant damage and result in poor quality weed. Testing your soil and ensuring you are feeding the appropriate nutrients in the appropriate amounts during each growth cycle will go a long way to producing top-shelf bud.

Ensure good ventilation

Good air circulation boosts CO2 replenishment, aids in water and nutrient absorption, and helps strengthen stems. Indoors, inline fans placed above and below the canopy help ensure sufficient air exchange. Do not point fans directly at plants. Direct ventilation can dehydrate seedlings and result in wind burn, which makes leaves curl and droop.

Consider the Container Space

You may think that in order for a weed plant to grow, it needs a large container. But that isn’t quite true. When you use large containers, the cannabis plant needs to put in more effort to reach the nutrients in the soil. As a result, buds take longer to grow in large containers.

Using a medium-sized container is best so that the soil’s nutrients are within easy reach and the plant still has enough room to grow.

Final Thoughts

During this article we have concentrated on how to maximize bud size during the preflowering, or flowering stage of the pants life cycle.

While the techniques listed above have been proven to work, the ultimate goal of any cannabis grower should be to grow the healthiest plants possible and this covers everything from seed selection to correct care during the important vegetative growth period.

Everything You Need To Know About Indica Strains - 2019 Updated

Cannabis Sativa is one of the most sought-after types of cannabis. Sativa strains are known for being mentally stimulating and helping with a range of mental health problems while also being incredibly enjoyable for recreational purposes. These strains are extracted from cannabis sativa plants, which are tall, thin, and best grown outdoors.

Usually, when it comes to buying cannabis, the choice comes down to indica or sativa- although you can also get hybrid strains which have a mix of both indica and sativa genetics. So what exactly does cannabis sativa offer, how is it grown, and how does it differ from cannabis indica? Here’s everything you need to know about cannabis sativa.

What is Indica?
Indica is a classification for a family of marijuana plants with its own distinct morphology, including plant size, leaf shape, and chemical profile. Indica landrace strains are generally agreed to have originated near Central Asia and spread to regions in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco, and Turkey.

These original indica landraces (a region’s native, naturally-occurring cannabis strain) are locally adapted strains optimized through natural evolution to grow in their specific microclimates. Indica landraces like Afghani Kush, Hindu Kush, and Mazar I Sharif generally thrived between 30° and 50° latitudes by adapting to these local growing conditions.

Indica strains are known for having flavor profiles ranging from sweet musk and rich earth to dark fruit, like berry and grape. Effects from indica strains manifest predominantly in the body, though the hundreds of indica dominant hybrids that are available differ widely in their effect profiles.

Indica weed characteristics
One of the main signs that you have an indica plant is wide and short leaves that are an intense dark color and can already be seen once the plants are about a palm’s width off the ground; indica strains are generally recognized due to their leaves and color so you should instantly be able to tell them apart.

Another important sign that you have indica weed plants on your hands is when the branches grow upwards and get stronger in order to put up with the weight of the buds on the tips once the plant begins flowering – if they grew out sideways rather than upwards then they’d snap through the middle due to having buds on the ends of the branches. Some indicas grow wide at the bottom like White Widow or Northern Lights, and you’ll want to train those lower branches so they don’t break once the plant begins to flower; these strains are perfect for growing indoors with a SCRoG method.

Benefits of Indica Strain?
The cannabis indica plant tends to be short, sturdy, and resilient. It’s also easier to grow, and flowers much earlier than its sativa counterpart. Its low height makes it ideal for growing indoors. And one of its significant benefits is that it tends to have higher yields. If you’re a first-time grower, or growing inside, you would likely fare well with one of these plants.

Recreationally, indica weed is more popular to use before watching a movie, relaxing and winding down at night. It is also primarily known to make you feel happy, sedated, euphoric, hungry and sleepy. The high is often described as a “deep body stone,” which can loosen the muscles and feel similar to a painkiller.

Medically, indica weed is popular for treating sleeping problems, muscle spasms, chronic pain, anxiety, PTSD and appetite loss. The higher CBD content of many indica weed strains also makes them a preferred choice among many medical marijuana patients, like those who have multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and lupus. Further research is necessary to determine exactly how indica marijuana in particular can and should be used in medicine as a treatment option.

Are you ready to grow cannabis? If you like, as a beginner, the best way for you is to choose a grow tent kit, it will contain all the tools you will need, such as cannabis grow light, indoor grow tent, carbon filter and so on. It can also save your time and money.

How to pick and freeze cannabis leaves? 420 Guide

WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO FREEZE YOUR WEED?

It’s probably not that surprising to hear that lots of growers freeze their cannabis post-harvest. Perhaps you’ve dabbled yourself. It’s a pretty common practice to store dry sugar leaves in a Pyrex lunchbox in the freezer for hash-making at a later date. But some will go a step further and freeze the flowers. Outdoor growers that cultivate cannabis seasonally or even biannually are the grand masters of stash preservation.

If your aim is to remain self-sufficient rather than cashing in on a bumper harvest, the typical go-to glass jars might not keep your stash fresh for long enough. Most growers will agree that a good old-fashioned Kilner jar stored in a cool, dark place will keep your buds dank for about 18 months. However, if you’ve harvested a few 1kg monster plants and don’t want any weed going to waste, you need a method that can extend the shelf life even longer. You don’t have to invest in cryogenic preservation, but freezing that weed could be the best option.

How to make Fresh Frozen hashish?

Fresh frozen is a variation on the ice water hash technique, usually performed with collection bags like Ice-O-Lator. We need the same exact materials used for this type of extractions: a bucket, a set of collection bags to isolate and collect the different resin grades, ice cubes, water, and something to stir the mix in case we are not using a washing machine. Since this type of concentrates are extremely sticky, using a silicone skimmer or similar is advised.

Once harvested, put the fresh buds/trim in the freezer for few hours. Removing all fan leaves (those without trichomes) is always recommended. Also, you should try to use small buds; in case you are using large ones, try to break them into smaller pieces.

DOES THE FREEZER METHOD ACTUALLY WORK?

When there’s an overwhelming amount left over after one’s habitual marijuana consumption, some people keep their weed stored long-term in the freezer. This is often done by placing the cured bud into vacuum-sealed packs and putting them in the coldest part of the freezer. The idea is that freezers stop the weed from aging further and “freezes buds in time.”

However, this is not really a good idea; freezers can deteriorate the quality of trichomes, the glands responsible for producing cannabinoids like THC and CBD and aromatic terpenes.

When frozen, the trichomes become brittle. If handled incorrectly, lots of trichomes can be lost in the process of being moved around.


Furthermore, if the freezer breaks or cannot regulate a consistent temperature, the buds can either rot from heat and humidity or become completely freezer-burnt.

The fan leaves that are characteristic to the personality of marijuana, however, are not usually smoked. Fan leaves are lower in THC content and usually bare of trichomes. They are not ideal for smoking, and there are much better ways to use them:

Juicing your cannabis leaves

If you are yet to trim your leaves and they are still moist on the plant, there’s still time for you to juice your cannabis leaves. When you consume the leaves raw, they become superfoods. In fact, the cannabinoids in marijuana are absorbed much easier by the body when it is consumed raw. So don’t let your leaves dry out after you trim them. Put them in a blender with whatever other ingredients you love to add to smoothies (like coconut milk and a banana), and you have yourself the perfect morning smoothie.

MAKING CANNABUTTER

Many of you enjoy venturing beyond the everyday smoke and vape every now and often enter the realm of cannabis edibles. Cannabutter is a fundamental ingredient to so many of those edible recipes: from brownies, cakes or biscuits, to sauces, spreads and dressings. If you happen to enjoy edibles, putting your trim to use in this domain is a fantastic option.

Have you already grown cannabis? If not, we suggest you to choose complete grow tent kit to start your first grow at home, it contains indoor grow tents and grow lights, so you do not need to buy any other things for your growing, it will save your time and money.

What is male plant and female plant in weed? 420 Guide

What does Male Cannabis Plant mean?

Cannabis plants are dioecious, meaning that there are separate male and female plants. The male plant creates pollen, which, under most circumstances, except for the occasional hermaphroditic plant, will pollinate the female cannabis plant and result in the formation of seeds.

One male cannabis plant can fertilize many female cannabis plants. However, male cannabis plants are not coveted like the female plants. You can tell a male from a female because the male plant will have the absence of flowers (buds); it only has pollen sacs.

What does Female Cannabis Plant mean?

When it comes to growing marijuana, the gender of the plant matters a great deal. While both male and female plants exist, only the female cannabis plant produces large buds, while the male plant produces what is essentially a collection of pollen sacs.

Most growers attempt to grow only female plants. This is because a female cannabis plant grown in the absence of male plants will create very large buds, much larger than what is possible in a mixed-sex situation. Note that there are also hermaphrodite plants that are self-fertilized, although these are rarer than male and female pants.

What are the differences between a male and a female weed plant?

As with most other plants and species also in the world of weed plants one can distinguish male and female weed plants. Again as with many other plants the male weed plant produces so-called pollen which pollinates the female plant. When the female plant is pollinated it will produce the famous weed seeds which can be bought in our online webshop. If a female plant nevertheless isn’t pollinated it will not start to create seeds but the buds of the plant will grow and flower until the female plant has big buds with a fair amount of THC. So depending of your own preference and the objective you had in mind you should pollinate a female plant or not. Weed plants with female characteristics which have not been pollinated are referred to as being sinsemilla, literally translated this means ‘without seeds’.  When looking at weed plants 50 to 70% of all weed plants are female. Not really surprising if you know one male weed plant can pollinate various female weed plants simultaneously and most people would like their weed plants to produce either seeds or buds with THC.

What are female cannabis seeds good for?

Ultimately, female seeds provide the fruit that is the main reason anyone is going to be growing cannabis since it is them that provide the buds packed with THC and other beneficial cannabinoids such as CBD and CBN. So if you are growing weed for medical use, or just growing it because you love to get high, then you’re going to want to ensure as much of your time and effort goes into raising female plants as much as possible.

Would you like to grow cannabis? For beginners, you can use a grow tent and cannabis grow light to start growing cannabis at home, indoor growing is more easier, you can control it by yourself and your cannabis will grow more healthier and faster. If you like, you can also choose a complete grow package, the grow package contains all the equipment you will need and it is cheap, too.

How Long Do Cannabis Seeds Remain Viable? 420 Guide

Alright, so you have purchased cannabis seeds, but don’t want to use them right away. On the other hand, maybe you purchased cannabis seeds, and they are already fairly old when they get to you. Therefore, you might be wondering how long can you keep cannabis seeds?

Well, it all does depend on how you store them, as well as the quality of the cannabis seeds and the strain, but generally speaking, 5 years is the maximum amount of time cannabis seeds can be kept without them going bad.

How long can you store cannabis seeds?
The consensus is that cannabis seeds should last up to a couple of years stored in a cool, dark place — or even up to 5 years if stored really well.

In fact, even with beans much older than that, if they’ve been well stored, apparently it can be worth giving sprouting them a try — cannabis is pretty hardy. But we wouldn’t aim for that!

Generally, the fresher the seeds the better, in terms of maximum chance of germination. Up to a few months is probably ideal.

So, on the one hand, there’s no real ‘use by’ limit for cannabis seeds.

But generally, the longer they’re stored, the lower the germination rate. However, up to a couple of years, the risk of non-germination is still pretty low.

The key: the storage conditions
First, you have won half the battle if you were careful with the original storage. Seeds must be kept in a cool, dry place. Therefore, the best option is to store them in refrigerators at a temperature between 6 and 8 degrees Celsius, and with relative humidity levels between 20% and 30%. And sheltered from light, of course.

For all this you will need an airtight container or canister, or an opaque plastic bottle in which, in addition to the seeds, you should place little pouches of silica gel, to reduce the moisture. With regards to the best place in your refrigerator, the crisper is a good choice, as it is a little warmer than the rest of the fridge. Also, one last tip: if you store several strains in different bottles, it is a good idea to label them, so that you won´t have to open them to see which is which when you decide to plant them.

Are you ready to grow cannabis? You can use the complete grow tent kit, it contains all the tools you will need, such as weed grow light, hydroponic grow tents and ventilation systems. It can save your time and money, best choice for beginners.

Benefits of using a Dry Trimming Machine to Process Cannabis

In order to access the flower bud where the THC and CBD are found in the cannabis plant, growers must trim the buds. There are two primary ways of doing this. Wet trimming takes place before the plant has dried. Dry trimming is the opposite. Both options work, but dry trimming is rarer than wet trimming.

In the dry trimming process, few if any leaves are removed before the plant is hung up to dry. If a grower removes anything, it will be the large fan leaves only, and the smaller sugar leaves and buds will be left intact. These will be hung and dried slowly. The drawback here is the time required. While buds do need to be dried slowly to ensure the best possible quality, drying the majority of the plant takes longer than only drying buds.

However, the biggest benefit of using the dry trimming method is that a trimming machine can be used. With wet trimming, the bulk of the process must be done by hand. This makes it more labor intensive than dry trimming, which can drive up costs. 

WHY MACHINE-TRIM?

The main advantage of using a machine trimmer is the speed with which you can process your cannabis. Some top-of-the-line commercial trimmers can process up to 19 pounds (~8.6kg) per hour, making them much more efficient than hand trimmers. For commercial growers, this difference in processing time makes the decision between hand or machine trimming an easy one.

The need to get large amounts of cannabis to market very quickly means that machine trimming will forever be a part of the marijuana industry. Thanks to the drastic improvement of trimming technology over the past decade, superb final buds are now being produced by machines. While trichome loss is still a concern, mangled or wasted product is rare nowadays. Most machine trimmers consistently produce high-quality results that most smokers can’t recognise as being machine-trimmed.

As growers know, there are many issues to watch out for near harvest time, including potentially losing your crop due to mold, mildew, or rain damage. It’s important to have an efficient process for bucking, drying, and processing your plants. This becomes even more vital when you’re growing in a light deprivation greenhouse and have continuous cycles of plant growth. Getting off track on one cycle can potentially throw the rest out of whack, too.

When you use a dry trim machine, you’re alleviating these problems in a couple of ways. First, because you’re hanging the crop to dry, you have the time to trim as you go. You don’t need to trim everything as soon as it comes off the plant, as you do when wet trimming. Second, it’s far easier to process large quantities of cannabis, so you’re less likely to fall behind and will find it easier to stay on schedule. A dry trimming machine can bring a whole new level of automation and efficiency to your harvest.

Ideal conditions for drying Cannabis plants:

For a good drying of your marijuana plants you have to take into account certain factors that will also determine the quality of the aroma, flavor, and effect of your marijuana:

Avoid light on the buds, because during drying, the plants have to be completely dark to continue activating Cannabinoids such as THC.

Try to maintain the relative humidity of the drying room between 60-65% for the first 7 days. If you have too high humidity and you can’t get it down, you can use a small air extractor with activated carbon filter to extract humid air and passively pass air with less humidity.

Try to maintain the temperature between 15 and 18ºC, since at higher temperatures the terpenes evaporate in greater quantity and speed. Avoid sudden changes in temperature, as it will cause them to lose and gain moisture quickly, which will negatively affect the quality of the buds.

Eco Farm Leaf Bowl Trimmer 

The Eco Farm Leaf Bowl Trimmer is a 16-inch manual trimming machine. This trimming machine has a spherical shape. Unlike the SpinPro, though, this machine isn’t opaque but rather has a transparent acrylic cover and a stainless steel bowl. The machine uses a 4-piece rubber column and a 4-edged stainless steel blade to get the job done. A major advantage the Eco Farm Leaf Bowl Trimmer has is that it can be used for wet or dry trimming. When wet trimming, use the wire blade and if you want to dry trim, use the straight blade. This makes it an especially versatile choice. To use this bowl trimmer, you turn a hand crank at the top of the bowl. Eco Farm ensures that this still gets the job done quickly, noting that it has the power of 30 scissors at once.

Conclusion

Trimming your cannabis after you harvest can offer a variety of benefits. Not only can it give your harvest a more attractive, but it can improve the quality of your cannabis. Traditional hand trimming gets the job done but it can also take up a lot of time. Using a trimming machine can save you a lot of time after you harvest your cannabis.