GROWING MARIJUANA OUTDOORS

• Growing marijuana outdoors

• Growing marijuana indoors

Growing marijuana outdoors is the easiest method. Contrary to popular belief, grass grows well in many place on the North American continent. It will flourish even if the temperature does not raise above 75 degrees.

The marijuana plants do need a minimum of eight hours of sunlight per day and should be planted in late April/early May, BUT DEFINITELY, after the last frost of the year.

Growing marijuana plants outdoor, or au natural, crop has been the favoured method over the years, because grass seems to grow better without as much attention when in its natural habitat.

Of course, an outdoors setting requires special precautions not encountered with an indoors crop; you must be able to avoid detection, both from law enforcement freaks and common freaks, both of whom will take your weed and probably use it.

Of course, one will also arrest you. You must also have access to the area to prepare the soil and harvest the crop. There are two schools of thought about starting the seeds.

One says you should start the seedlings for about ten days in an indoor starter box. The other says plant them in the ground. That is a choice you will have to make.

The plants should be planted at least three feet apart, getting too greedy and stacking them too close will result in stunted plants. The plants like some water during their growing season, BUT not too much. This is especially true around the roots, as too much water will rot the root system.

Grass grows well in corn or hops, and these plants will help provide some camouflage. It does not grow well with rye, spinach, or pepperweed. It is probably a good idea to plant in many small, broken patches, as people tend to notice patterns.


General Information on growing marijuana outdoors
 

Both the male and he female plant produce THC resin, although the male is not as strong as the female. In a good crop, the male will still be plenty smokeable and should not be thrown away under any circumstances.

Marijuana can reach a height of twenty feet (or would you rather wish on a star) and obtain a diameter of 4 1/2 inches. If normal, it has a sex ratio of about 1:1, but this can be altered in several ways.

The male plant dies in the 12th week of growing, the female will live another 3 - 5 weeks to produce her younguns. Females can weigh twice as much as males when they are mature.

Marijuana soil should compact when you squeeze it, but should also break apart with a small pressure and absorb water well.

A nice test for either indoor or outdoor growing is to add a bunch of worms to the soil, if they live and hang around, it is good soil, but if they don't, well, change it. Worms also help keep the soil loose enough for the plants to grow well.



Seeds
 

To get good grass, you should start with the right cannabis seeds. A nice starting point is to save the seeds form the best batch you have consumed.

The seeds should be virile, that is, they should not be gray and shrivelled up, but green, meaty, and healthy in appearance.

A nice test is to drop the seeds on a hot frying pan. If they CRACK, they are probably good for planting purposes.

The seeds should be soaked in distilled water overnight before planting. BE SURE to plant in the ground with the pointy end UP. Plant about 1/2 inch deep. Healthy seeds will sprout in about five days.



Sprouting
 

The best all around sprouting method is probably to make a sprouting box (as sold in nurseries) with a slated bottom or use paper cups with holes punched in the bottoms. The sprouting soil should be a mixture of humus, soil, and five sand with a bit of organic fertilizer and water mixed in about one week before planting.

When ready to transplant, you must be sure and leave a ball of soil around the roots of each plant. This whole ball is dropped into a baseball-sized hold in the permanent soil.

If you are growing/transplanting indoors, you should use a green safe light (purchased at nurseries) during the transplanting operation. If you are transplanting outdoors, you should time it about two hours before sunset to avoid damage to the plant. Always wear cotton gloves when handling the young plants.

After the plants are set in the hole, you should water them. It is also a good idea to use a commercial transplant chemical (also purchased at nurseries) to help then overcome the shock.



Harvesting And Drying
 

The male plants will be taller and have about five green or yellow sepals, which will split open to fertilize the female plant with pollen. The female plant is shorter and has a small pistillate flower, which really doesn't look like a flower at all but rather a small bunch of leaves in a cluster.

If you don't want any seeds, just good dope, you should pick the males before they shed their pollen as the female will use some of her resin to make the seeds.

After another three to five weeks, after the males are gone, the females will begin to wither and die (from loneliness?), this is the time to pick. In some nefarious Middle Eastern countries, farmers reportedly put their beehives next to fields of marijuana. The little devils collect the grass pollen for their honey, which is supposed to contain a fair dosage of THC.

The honey is then enjoyed by conventional methods or made into ambrosia. If you want seeds - let the males shed his pollen then pick him. Let the female go another month and pick her.

To cure the plants, they must be dried. On large crops, this is accomplished by constructing a drying box or drying room. You must have a heat source (such as an electric heater) which will make the box/room each 130 degrees.

The box/room must be ventilated to carry off the water-vapor-laden air and replace it with fresh. A good box can be constructed from an orange crate with fiberglass insulated walls, vents in the tops, and screen shelves to hold the leaves. There must be a baffle between the leaves and the heat source.

A quick cure for smaller amounts is to: cut the plant at the soil level and wrap it in a cloth so as not to loose any leaves. Take out any seeds by hand and store.

Place all the leaves on a cookie sheet or aluminium foil and put them in the middle shelf of the oven, which is set on broil. In a few seconds, the leaves will smoke and curl up, stir them around and give another ten seconds before you take them out.

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