A guide to lighting. (Brace yourself!)

The following information is quite technical so it may be best to read this when you’re not stoned so that it can be properly absorbed first time. On the other hand, if you do read it while stoned, you will have a good excuse for not understanding a word of it!

Now that you’ve chosen your growroom, and made some preparations, it’s time to decide on how much light your plants will need and which type of lamp you choose for maximum growth.

There are two main choices of lights; metal halide and high-pressure sodium. Your choice here is crucial as the light is the single most important factor in the success of your crop (that and resisting the temptation to smoke it before it reaches maturity!)

Facts about grow-lights

Both Metal halide (MH) and High-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps are from a group of lamps known as high-density discharge (HID) lamps. The output of the light is much higher than other lamps of their size, making them a powerful and efficient light source for your indoor grow. These HID lamps require a ballast to allow delivery of regular current and proper voltage to the arc. Both lamps also require specialist fittings to allow them to run safely. (Remember, we don’t want a visit from the fire department and, of course, needing an ambulance is also not desirable).

Which do I need?

Realistically, you will need both. Metal halide lights are the choice for the vegetation stage of growth, as they emit light in the white/blue end of the spectrum, promoting bushiness and prohibiting upward growth. For flowering, high-pressure sodium (HPS) is more appropriate as it’s light consists of yellow, orange and red spectrum light, perfect for flower (yum!) and fruit production.

When buying your lamps you need to be aware of the wattage of light you will require. The following is a guide to required wattage. This can be used safely provided you have a good reflector on your lamp as well as good reflective wall covering.

2.5 to 3 feet (0.8 to 0.9m) – 400 watt
3.5 to 4 feet (1 – 1.25m) – 600 watt
4 to 5 feet (1.3 to 1.5 m) – 1000 watt

Smaller lamps are available but aren’t considered a good choice because the low level of light emitted is not sufficient for decent plant growth and, for us, growth is everything!

These lamps are quite an expensive item, so you need to be sure to buy only the highest quality lamps. A faulty lamp would be a disaster for both you and your precious crop. Find out which brands are preferred in your area and check customer testimonials if buying online. A highly recommended brand is Phillips, but there are others which make the grade. My personal choice for lighting supplies is Esoteric Hydroponics

There are others if you can be bothered to search on Google. At the end of the day it’s probably best to go with one that’s quite local to you as this keeps shipping costs down and allows you to get your grow underway as soon as possible.

I hope this all made sense to you. In any case you can come back and read it again…. and again…. and again…. …hmmmm, what was that article about anyway? WOW! Did I just write this?

Growing cannabis indoors – What you will need

If you’ve chosen to grow indoors there are a few things you will need. These things are vital to the success of your crop and although they cost a little money in the first instance, they will pay for themselves in the long-term. If you add up the money you’ve paid out in the last year for that awful stuff you’ve been smoking then you’ll realize what a great investment this stuff is. The money you paid out for the dog shit alone would probably cover it!

To start your grow you’ll need:

A suitable growing space (this can be a closet or cupboard, a ready made grow-tent or even a metal box)
Suitable lighting. Metal Halide or CFL lights for vegetative growth stage and High Pressure Sodium or red GroLux for flowering stage.
Ventilation. This is vital for the health of both your plants and your criminal record! Carbon filters are used to remove the odor of the cannabis, especially in the flowering stage. Remember, the odor must stay within the grow room!
Light reflecting lining for the walls (again, there are many choices, some more expensive than others)
Compost or other suitable growth medium
10lt pots (if using compost)
Timer unit for lights
Specialist feeds for vegetation and flowering stages
And finally, and most importantly, good quality Cannabis seeds.

If you’re using a wardrobe or other combustible space for your grow, it is a great idea to make sure you have a functioning smoke detector and a POWDER fire extinguisher! (Note the emphasis on POWDER here! You want high intensity light, but you really don’t need any lightning in the grow room. Watch out for the electrics and water!) You really don’t want your local fire deparment visiting your home at this time. They have this nasty habit of telling the local law enforcement about your activities.

You may also want to invest in a folding chair so that you can sit comfortably in the grow room and chat with your young, green family. On the other hand you may want to spend the waiting time getting lost in a haze with some of that nice potent legal bud I told you about before. Personally I like to sit chatting with the plants while I smoke the legal bud. (The plants are more intelligent listeners than the rest of the humans in this house and they, quite rightly, agree with everything I say)

How to grow cannabis – Indoors or Out?

The next step for you in deciding how to grow cannabis, is to choose whether your want to grow indoors or out. Of course this decision will depend on a number of factors, not least the weather conditions where you live. For example, here where I am the wind rarely drops below about 30mph and the temperatures never rise above about 75F. This coupled with the fact that we get about 20 hours of sunshine per year, makes it totally unsuitable for outdoor cultivation. All that grows happily here are dandelions, nettles and potatoes!

There are of course, advantages for you whichever method you choose. If you choose to grow outdoors you can always grow your plants on someone else’s land, so that should the worst happen and the authorities find out about your grow, you can plead ignorance and watch while one of your neighbors takes the fall on your behalf. (You may have some difficulty with your conscience for a while after this but you can always buy him a drink when he finally gets out of jail!) There is also the option of hiding your plants among other, taller vegetation to make detection more difficult. The main drawback here is if you live in an urban area, someone nearby may spot your crop from an upper window and either report you or steal your precious greens. If you live in the country there is always a possibility of wild rabbits, mice, goats or even cows grazing on them. This would surely leave you on a downer!

For most the only option is to grow indoors. The advantage is that you can completely control the conditions in which the plants grow, detection by outsiders is more difficult and you can stay warm and comfortable while you talk to them. The disadvantage is the strong smell that can fill your house if you don’t get the ventilation and extraction right. When the mailman asked me what the smell was I told him it was a strange fungus I had growing in my wet-room! He must have left with the impression that I am one dirty ba**ard! But then, better that than him knowing what it really was. Once he knows something, the whole district knows it too!

Choosing where to set up your indoor grow is another major decision. You may have to buy a wardrobe or cupboard, use a walk-in closet if you have one, or, like me, you can ask your architect to design your home to include it. I was lucky. I had one integrated into my house design, all ready to use. Of course the builder was very impressed with my enthusiasm for house cleaning when I told him it would be really handy for the vacuum cleaner and the ironing board! He very kindly shelved it for me, put a lock on the door and stated it would be great for keeping bleach and other household cleaners in! Very kind!

You could start thinking about this now, maybe discuss with those you live with, and feel the joy of knowing that soon there will be absolutely no dog shit in what you smoke.

To help you make a decision on this, you could buy the book I recommended to you before. It covers all aspects of the grow including your choice of growing space and gives details of what you’ll need to get started.

Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible (Paperback)

Or for the terminally lazy – DVD guide

If you are desperate and can’t wait, why not try some nice legal bud! Buy Legal Bud! click here!

If you think about it, it makes complete sense. Go on, think… legal bud? dog shit! legal bud? dog shit! That should do it….

How to grow cannabis

If you wanted to find out how to grow cannabis, then you’ve probably trawled the internet, aimlessly trying to sniff out the best information resources available. After all you want the best information you can get to ensure a successful crop. There is nothing worse than starting your plants, giving loving care, watching them grow with anticipation and a watering mouth, arranging future smoking parties around them and then finding them dead! Not good!

Of course it is always cheapest to grow your own, but let’s think about the other benefits and the possible harm that can come from poor quality street hash.

Growing your own marijuana is a sure way of having top quality hash at an affordable price. If you’ve ever rolled a joint, or worse, lit a pipe or bong full of lousy resin, drawn deep from it with barely contained excitement and anticipation, only to find your lungs explode on contact with the smoke, you’ll know what I mean! Is it really worth it? You’re chest hurts so bad you’re tempted to dial 911, you’re eyes water so you can’t see anything at all, your mates are all soaked with the spray-out from your nose, and when the pipe hits the floor and burns a hole in the carpet they just sit there and laugh!! Ba**ards!!

Although the set-up costs can be quite high, these expenses are by far outweighed by the benefit to you of a steady supply of what you need and can actually SMOKE! You know exactly what’s in it, what was used for pest control or fertiliser and which variety it is you have grown. You know this cannabis is just that – CANNABIS! No diesel, no boot-polish, no soil and, most essentially, NO dog shit!! Yes! Dog shit has been found in Moroccan soap-bar in the UK!! Barff!!

Unfortunately, due to legislation in countries like the United States, United Kingdom and most of the western world, cannabis users are forced to deal with black market merchants, who are uncontrolled with regards to the quality of what they sell. Hell, they’re just uncontrolled! They can be armed to the teeth, have savage dogs hidden away to attack you (or just to harvest their shit to bulk out YOUR hash) and have no concern at all for the possible snot-bomb effect of their wares on you’re planned party later in the evening.

This shit-bar is so bad that even the British Government has warned it’s citizens not to smoke or eat it! Well, we wouldn’t have to if they would wise up and do the right thing. LEGALIZE!! Then we could all go buy some seeds from the local mall and grow it in the yard. That’s what yards are really for!!

When you weigh up all the pros and cons, it seems that the only way to be totally safe and avoid those very embarrassing saliva-spray episodes, is to either grow it yourself or get it from someone you know who does.

To find out how to grow cannabis, you can either search around Google for the next week trying to piece together all the little snippets of information you’ll find to make a complete picture, or, more sensibly you could just buy this book or DVD I’m recommending to you now. The choice is yours!

Want to know how to grow cannabis? Try this!

Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible (Paperback)

Or maybe you would prefer the DVD version. That way you could sit quietly and watch it while you recover from your lung ejection episode! Here

DVD guide