Strain Selection

The first step is selecting the kind of plants you want to grow. Personally I prefer the sativa dominant hybrids that will finish by mid October and stack on some heavy yields. My goal each year is to average about five pounds per plant. If you start early, don’t make mistakes, and grow the correct strains, this should be an achievable goal. After seeing Big Sluggers outdoor garden finish with monster yields, I think Blue Dream is a pretty safe bet. Obviously there are many other great strains for outdoor gardens as well.

Quantity and Space

Decide how many plants you want to grow in your outdoor garden. This decision should be based on the time and energy you have to put into the project, the space you have available, and local regulations for growing marijuana. In my opinion this decision should not be based on how much medicine you actually need. Even advanced growers can have a bad year due to unforeseen events. Don’t assume a high yield.

If you want to grow monsters, make sure your garden will allow each plant at least a 10 foot by 10 foot area to grow in. Personally I think a 15 foot by 15 foot area is better. While they may not fill the space completely, the side branches will be exposed to much more light if they are not being shaded by the plants next to them. This will allow to buds to fill in completely on the sides and should help the plant mature at a more even rate. Plus, a little more space to work in is never a bad thing.

Don’t underestimate how much time it takes to grow monster plants. You must enjoy the work or it will never get done. As for local regulations, assuming you live in an area where growing medical or recreational marijuana is legal to some extent, don’t be afraid to call the sheriffs department and ask about the guidelines in your area. Sometime these can also be found on the Sheriffs Departments web page.

Once you know how many plants you want to grow, start at least twice as many as you need. As they grow and begin to fill up your grow room or greenhouse, select the strongest plants and discard most of the others. It’s always wise to keep an extra few plants around until after you transplant, just in case a few don’t respond well.

Planting

Get those seeds or clones planted in high quality sterile planting mix or a coca fiber and perlite mix like Ready Grow. When starting indoors, DO NOT fill your pots with soil from outdoors. While your garden may have great soil, it contains many pests that will quickly invade your grow room or greenhouse once brought into a warm predator free environment. Outside they are kept in check, indoors they are a disaster. Use clean 1 gallon plastic pots. Most nurseries have these for about ¢.50 each. If you are planning to use recycled pots, wash them well and dip them in a bleach and water mixture to sterilize them. As you are adding soil to the pots, mix in a healthy dose of beneficial mycorrhizae. Once the plants grow a bit larger you will be transplanting into five or ten gallon pots and adding additional mycorrhizae. Do not start with the larger pots. Starting with one gallon pots will allow you to fit more plants in a smaller area. This means you won’t need to fire as many lights at first which will save money. One gallon pots also mean that less humidity will be introduced into your garden area when you water.

Frost Prevention

The goal is to have your plants already quite large and planted in the ground by around mid April. This means you have as much as two months to get them as large as you possibly can in pots before transplanting into the ground. Often this means planting in the ground before the last frost of the year. If this is the case, you may need to build an inexpensive makeshift greenhouse for each plant. Simply pound four posts in the ground creating a 4’x4’x4’ square. Wrap the four stakes from the ground up with a roll of pallet wrap. At night you can cover them with clear plastic pallet covers. Make sure you uncover the plants during the day so the moisture can escape, CO2 can get in, and so they don’t get too warm on the sunny days. Don’t forget to provide supplemental light so your clones don’t start flowering early. Be aware of high water tables in the early spring. If the hole you dig has water at the bottom, plant in mounds, smart pots or planter boxes so the roots are not in standing water.

When starting in greenhouses, use heating pads or cables under the pots to help keep the root area warm. Also make sure to supplement with artificial light to extend the day to about 18 hours and help produce growth on the rainy days.

To Do List

• Select a few strain you want to grow
• Acquire twice as many healthy clones as you will need
• Transplant each clone into a 1 gallon plastic nursery cans filled with sterile potting soil and mycorrhiza
• Place the plants under either fluorescent, high pressure sodium, or metal halide grow lights for 18 hours per day, or supplement outdoor light to lengthen the day to 18 hours.
• Water as needed and feed with a light dose of high nitrogen plant food like NPK 30-10-10.

First, let me say that there is no easy answer regarding when to start flowering indoor plants. There are a lot of variables including the strain, your grow room setup and your growing style. That being said, there is a lot I can share on the topic that will better equip you to evaluate your situation and help you decide when to begin flowering.

I should point out that the question of when to flower is usually measured by two metrics time and/or height. Let me explain.

Weeks of Veg = Worthless

Cannabis plants are often measured by their time in vegetative growth. For indoor growing this usually refers to the number of days or weeks that a plant has spent under 18 or 24 hours of light. You will often hear growers refer to plants as being in their 1st, 2nd or 3rd week of veg. This of course is a bit too vague to be of actual use, at least without further information.

Clones

A plant grown from a clone (cutting) is generally regarded as beginning its 1st week of vegetative growth when it has established roots and been transplanted into the growing medium. Most often this takes place when the clone is between 2 and 6 inches tall. While this seems pretty cut and dry, clones of the same strain can develop at drastically different speeds depending on root development. Differences in growth can become even more pronounced depending on the light, nutrients, co2, temperature and a myriad of other factors. After only a few weeks, two previously identical looking clones may look nothing alike.

Seeds

Plants grown from seeds make the measure of age in vegetative weeks a lot more confusing. Some growers refer to a plants 1st week of veg as when it emerges from the soil, some say it is when it produces its first set of true leaves. Still other growers will refer to week 1 as beginning when the seedling is transplanted, which in itself tells us very little. As if this did not confuse the matter, plants grown from seed often grow vertically much slower than clones, at least at first. Later plants from seed often outpace clones once their root systems have become established.

It should be obvious why telling someone to flower plants after some arbitrary number of week of vegetative growth is worthless. Yet, I constantly hear experienced growers coaching others to change the light cycle and begin flowering after 2 or 3 weeks of veg. A three week old seed start may be as little as 4 inches tall, while a clone with 3 weeks of veg could stand over two feet tall.

Plant Height

The second common way to know when a cannabis plant is ready to begin the flowering cycle is the actual height of the plant. This measure has significantly more relevance because the height of a plant is objective and universally understood. Combined with other known quantities like the strain and the size of the grow room, height is a good indicator of when it’s time to flower. A plants height can be measured by stretching a measuring tape from the top of the growing medium to the highest point on the plant. It’s likely that there will be some variation from plant to plant, more on this later. While plant height is useful information, the key is knowing how much room you actually have to work with.

Grow Rooms Size Restricts Maximum Plant Height

The size and style of your grow room will ultimately determine the tallest possible plant height. From this you can deduce the tallest height to begin flowering. Most rooms in a residential home have 8 foot ceilings but many growers use attics, basements, outbuildings, grow tents and I’ve even seen grow rooms built into filing cabinets. What’s important is the distance from the top of the growing medium to the bottom of the lights reflective hood. Many grow rooms are set up so the height of the grow light is adjustable. In this case measure from the lights highest possible setting.

Once you know the distance from the growing medium to the light you need to take into consideration your lighting setup. High Pressure Sodium (HPS) and Metal Halide (MH) grow lights get very hot and can damage the vegetation and even start fires if the plant grows to close to the bulb. It’s important to keep the plants some distance from the light so they don’t burn, but not so far from the light that the lumens are severely diminished. For further explanation on this, read Grow Light Intensity Principles. Light movers and ventilated ducting on your lights can reduce the heat and allow the plants to grow closer to the lights. As a general rule, plants should not be allowed to grow closer than about 12 inches from the bottom of the HID lights reflective hood. For those using fluorescent lighting which produces much less heat, the tops of the plants can grow as close as 4 inches from the bulbs. For more ideas on managing the heat from grow lights read Heat Management in Grow Rooms.

Assuming that you are using one or more 600 or 1000 watt HPS or MH lights, take the distance from the growing medium to the bottom of the reflective hood and subtract 1 foot. This will give you the absolute maximum height of your tallest plant at the end of flowering. This does not necessarily mean you want your plants to reach this maximum, but it does give you a concrete parameter to work within.

Strains

The strains your are growing plays a huge part in how tall to grow your plants before switching to the 12/12 flowering light cycle. Find out as much about the genetics and typical growth characteristics of your strains as possible. Indica and sativa dominant strains often display very different growth patterns and behave differently after the  light cycle is switched to flowering.

Indica Strains

Most pure indica strains slow their vertical growth very quickly once switched to a 12/12 light cycle. It’s not uncommon for an indica strain to add only 25% to 50% to its total height after switching to a 12 hour light cycle. Most of this additional growth will take place in the first week or two of flowering. If an indica plant is switched to flowering when it is 12 inches tall it can be expected to finish flowering at about 18 inches, give or take. That math is pretty consistent, so a 2 foot tall indica will likely finish flowering around 3 feet tall.

Here is the equation for indica strains. The vegged plant height (V) multiplied by 1.5 equals the plant height at harvest (H) or 1.5V = H

Sativa Strains

Pure sativa strains are much more difficult to grow indoors and are becoming increasingly rare in general. I don’t recommend them for novice indoor growers for several reasons. What is important for this topic is that their growth after being switched to a 12/12 light cycle is unpredictable. Pure sativas often continue to produce significant vertical vegetative growth many weeks into the flowering cycle. Sativas often double in size while flowering, and in some cases, will finish at three times the height they were at when the light cycle was switched. A 12 inch plant switched to the 12/12 light cycle could end up as tall as 36 inches, sometimes even taller. This additional vertical growth can quickly become a problem in a normal grow room. I’ve seen growers flower sativas at 2 feet tall only to end up with 6 foot plants at harvest. Most grow rooms just can’t accommodate plants this tall, not to mention some other real problems with tall marijuana plants.

Here is the equation for sativa strains. The vegged plant height (V) multiplied by 2.5 equals the plant height at harvest (H) or 2.5V = H.

Hybrid Strains

Hybrid cannabis strains are crossbreeds of various sativa and indica plants that have been bred selectively to promote specific characteristics. Some hybrids strains grow similar to sativas, other grow more like indicas. Most of the strains sold by seed and clone vendors are some form of hybrid. Find out as much about the strain as possible so you can guess how much vertical growth to expect after the flowering cycle beings. As a general rule, leave enough room for the plants to double in size. Once you are familiar with the strain you can let them grow a bit taller if there is room. Don’t forget, at a certain point, taller is not better.

Here is the equation for hybrid strains. The vegged plant height (V) multiplied by 2 equals the plant height at harvest (H) or 2V = H.

These equations are meant as a general aid and are by no means exact. Actual growth patterns may vary considerably.

Growing Style

Your growing style is a big factor in determining when to begin flowering. You may have heard terms like Sea of Green (SOG), Screen of Green (SCROG), Lollipopping, Super Cropping etc. I will go over these very briefly to point out how growing styles affect when to begin flowering.

Sea of Green (SOG)

Sea of Green is an indoor growing method where the plants are flowered very small and usually produce only one large bud. The plants are packed close together and occupy about half a square foot at full maturity. The plant count higher than other methods so clones are usually preferred. Indica dominant strains work best and should be flowered when they reach between 6-12 inches tall.

Screen of Green (SCROG)

The Screen of Green method utilizes a screen of wire or string mesh stretched horizontally above the plants to create an even plant canopy and help support the flowering tops. When the tops are bent down under the mesh the lateral branches grow up through the net and become tops. This method requires less plants per square foot than the SOG method but still requires clones because males can’t be easily removed. Plants must stay in vegetative growth for several week longer than with the SOG method and usually are allowed to continue vegging for one week after the tops are bent down with the netting. In most cases, the screen is placed between 1 and 2 feet above the growing medium.

Lollipopping

With the Lollipoping method the plants are usually switched to flowering around 1.5 feet for sativas and as much as 3 feet for indicas. The lower ⅓ to ½ of the plants branches are removed before the light cycle switch to direct the plants energy to the tops closest to the light source. This produces plants that resemble lollipops with long bare lower stems and multiple bushy tops.

Super Cropping

The Super Cropping method requires one of the longest veg periods but is designed to produce heavy yields with a minimal number of plants. While the plant is in in the 18/6 veg cycle the main stems are bent down to retard their vertical growth and promote the growth of lower branches. This decreases the overall height and results in bushy wide plants with tons of tops. If done properly vertical height does not become a problem and vegging can continue until the plants fill your horizontal space.

Plant Height Variation

When growing multiple plants you will often find a sizable variation in height of your plant. To maximize light exposure and therefore yield, it is ideal to flower plants of uniform height. Several methods can be used to help create an even canopy of tops before you switch to the flowering cycle.

Topping

By pinching off the tops of your taller plants you will not only create twice as many flowering tops, but you can buy some time for your shorter plants to catch up. This does stress the plants to some degree and I would suggest vegging for 1 week after topping instead of immediately switching to flowering.

Training

A less stressful approach is to train the tops of your taller plants down. This requires more skill and patience, but allows the lower branches to catch up. Several methods including screens (SCROG), plant tie, and stakes can help achieve the even canopy you are looking for.

Rotating Plants

Even with light movers the plants directly under the the lights will tend to grow the tallest and most robust. Rotating your plants each week from the outside edges of the grow area to better lit areas directly under the lights will help to create an even canopy. This only works if your growing method allows you to move the plants so it doesn’t won’t work with the SCROG method.

Plant Health

Half dead plants rarely make a sudden turnaround just because they are switched to the flowering light cycle. The veg cycle creates robust vegetation to support the plants while they flower. Without healthy foliage the plants ability to produce flowers is limited and its resources will be diverted to heal itself and fight off disease. It is much easier to treat nutrient and environmental deficiencies as well as pest problems while the plant is still in veg. A flowering plant that is stressed by poor health is also prone to reaching maturity early. This shortened flowering period gives the plant less time to produce the large trichome rich buds and will greatly affect the yield. Remember, veg usually takes only a few weeks while flowering can take from 7 to 14 weeks. Sometimes it makes sense to cut your losses and start a fresh round of plants rather than trying to flower sickly plants or coax them back to health.

Cliffsnotes

• The number of weeks your plants have vegged is a bad indicator of when they are ready to flower.
• Use the height of the plant as a gauge for determining the height they will finish at.
• Know your strain and how much additional growth it will produce while flowering.
• Know your grow rooms limit for vertical plant height and plan accordingly.
• Choose a growing method that works for your vertical space limitations and don’t over veg for your method.
• Create an even canopy by pruning, training, and rotating your plants.
• Flower only plants that are healthy and happy.

As usual, comments and quick questions are welcome below. If your questions are more involved and require a bit of back and forth, or are not related to this article, please ask them in the forum.

Pruners

Nothing is more annoying than trying to harvest without a good sharp pair of pruners. You’ll need a pair or two out in the garden (they have a way of disappearing) and if you have helpers running machines or hanging the buds to dry, they will need a pair or three. Helpers pruners seem to disappear at a much quicker rate. Both Fiskar and Corona make high quality prooners. Avoid the super cheap off-brands. They are usually pretty disappointing. At harvest I like to keep both a pair of the corona bypass pruners and straight snips on my belt.

Fiskars

Whether it be wet or dry manicuring, cleaning out mold, or big leafing your buds, Fiskars are the go to snips of the cannabis industry. Hydrofarm makes an acceptable knock off version but I will always be a Fiskar loyalist. In addition to the standard micro snip, they also make a titanium bladed version that will resist corrosion and stays sharper longer.

Denatured Alcohol

You’ll quickly discover that everything manages to get sticky during harvest. Fingers, tools, door knobs, refrigerator doors and wash room faucets will all have a thick layer of black goo before you’re done. While many natural cleaners will work to some degree, nothing works as well for cleaning up the mess as Denatured Alcohol. A gallon will go a long way and can be poured into a mister bottle for dispensing. Spray, wipe, cleaned! Any remaining alcohol will evaporate in seconds.

Gloves

Sticky fingers will slow you down and stopping to clean up every few minutes disrupts your momentum. Disposable gloves work great for keeping the sticky resin off your fingers. While latex gloves work, the resin adheres to them pretty quickly. Vinyl Gloves seem to last much longer and don’t load up with resin nearly as quick. Buy several boxes per person. You’ll be amazed how many you go through.

Disposable Suits

If you’re in the thick of it your clothing will quickly soak up a ton of resin. Not only will your clothing stink to high hell but it will also quickly become uncomfortably sticky.That much resin against your skin can also cause some pretty serious skin allergies. Cover up with a Disposable Suit so your clothing doesn’t get ruined. If you have to drive to get lunch or head home after work, your car will thank you also. One disposable suit should last each person an entire harvest. They make cleaning up a breeze and they look sexy.

Safety Goggles

If you are working with trimming machines Safety Goggles are a must. Nothing will disrupt work as quickly as a piece of leaf shot into your eyeball. As if leaf alone isn’t bad enough, the resin really does a number on your cornea. Even if nothing is flying through the air, goggles will keep you from unconsciously rubbing your eyes with your resin covered fingers.

Fans

Fans are a must while harvesting. Keeping the air moving in your drying area will decrease the chances of mold, speed up the drying process, and reduce humidity in the room. Fans also make a stuffy manicuring area much more pleasant to work in. You don’t need to spend a fortune, a few cheap Box Fans will go a long way.

Dehumidifiers

All too often the weather becomes a bit uncooperative during harvest. When drying cannabis you need warm dry air. An inexpensive dehumidifier will help create the perfect environment by drying out the air and warming up the room. They work so well you will need to monitor the buds more closely or they can become too dry.

Plastic Totes

Whether you are picking, hauling, drying, curing or storing buds, Plastic Totes are cheap, durable and work great. Most models are stackable and can be used for a million other things after harvest. I probably buy 50 totes each year and I still never seem to have enough. Make sure you have at least a few. I linked to an example on amazon so you could see what I am talking about. You can probably find them for about half that price at Home Depot.

Drying Racks

For those with small harvests these Collapsible Drying Racks work great. They take only seconds to set up and you can hang them from any stud or rafter. When not in use they collapse to a size that can be easily stored.

Table Top Trimming Machines

For those of you with larger harvests a Table Top Trimming Machine will help speed along your harvest. While no machine will give as tight of a manicure as a pair of Fiskars, they do quickly remove the extra leaf. This will speed up the drying process and decrease your chances of mold. I have used machines by Trimpro and Hedgehog that cost around $1400. I linked to the least expensive model I could find on Amazon. While the prices have come down a lot in the last few years, I can’t vouch for this ones quality.

Kitchen Scale

Whether you are dividing up shares, staying in compliance with local medical cannabis regulations, or exercising your entrepreneurial streak, odds are you will want to have some idea how much cannabis you grew. Kitchen Scales are a must have tool and they don’t cost a fortune. Remember that possession of a scale indicates intent to sell so keep it in the kitchen with your measuring cups when it’s not in use.

Vacuum Sealer

Once your buds are dried, cured and tightly trimmed you need to package them for long term storage. While many use turkey bags to reduce the odor they don’t work well for long term storage. For the best results a Vacuum Sealer can’t be beet. The plastic is thick and allows nearly zero moisture and air exchange so your buds stay just as fresh as when you packaged them. Make sure you suck out as much air as possible and let the buds compack just a bit. This will keep them from rubbing back and forth against each other and crumbling if you aren’t gentle.

When it comes to injection type fertigation systems, the EZ-Flo systems may well be the most economical and easiest to use on the market today. While the Dosatron, and similar water powered fertilizer injectors may be a bit more precise, at an entry level price of about $250.00, they are out of reach for many growers. If this is your first time growing, shelling out for a more expensive mixer may not be an option when an economical solution is available.

The EZ-FLOW comes in 3 styles; the Hose End System, the Main Line System, and the Constant Pressure System. For most people, the Hose End System will be most appropriate. It is also the only one which I have personal experience, so it will be the focus of this review. For those requiring a large permanent installation, exploring the Main Line System may be worthwhile.

The Constant Pressure System has a reinforced tank, so that it can be left pressurized without damage to the tank, like the Mail Line Systems, which have much larger constant pressure tanks and cost much more. It  comes in the 1 gallon size, only. This means you can install it ahead of any and all valves and timers. Other than the fact that it can be left pressurized continuously, it’s identical to the Hose End System. For most growers, a constant pressure system isn’t necessary, and may even be an inconvenience to use. Actual operation of all systems is similar.

The Hose End System comes in 3 sizes; 3/4 gallon, 1 gallon and 3 gallon. If you are only growing a few plants, then the 3/4 gallon system, which can be purchased for around $50.00, or the 1 gallon system, priced at around $85.00, may suit your needs. If you are trying to feed more than 10 plants, I recommend the 3 gallon system. Trying to get the amount of fertilizer needed for a large number of plants to dissolve in only 1 gallon of water can be extremely difficult, if not impossible. It should also be noted that while it’s called a ‘hose end system’, it’s really a bit more permanent than that name would imply. It’s not something you hang on the end of a hose and then spray the ground and the plants with.

Installation

The first thing one needs to acquire and install, however, is an anti-backflow valve (anti-syphon valve) which must be placed directly on the faucet powering the system. This will prevent any chemicals, or fertilizers, from being drawn back into your water system, where they may then be able to make their way to your interior house faucets. Unless you like drinking poison, THIS IS A MUST!

Next, a piece called the ‘irrigation coupler’ is attached to the anti-syphon valve, unless you plan to use a timer, in which case it should be placed between the anti syphon valve and the irrigation coupler. This ‘irrigation coupler’ has 2 small ‘push on’ fittings which attache to the fill and feed lines. Each of these lines has a threaded plastic fitting, one blue and one green. These screw onto a threaded fitting on the tank’s lid, one is marked, “Water In Blue”, and the other marked, “Fertilizer Out Green”. The other side of the irrigation coupler goes to a 100 micron filter, and its output feeds the drip system. This filter is extremely important as emitters have been known to get plugged up by small particles from the fertigation tank. This will not only water from reaching a plant, but nutrients, as well. Often times the moisture pattern of the emitter is hidden beneath foliage so a great deal of yield can be lost by such an occurrence before it is noticed. If there are other plants in close proximity, the first indication of a problem may well not be wilting, but yellowing of the lower fan leaves from lack of Nitrogen. It usually will take as much as 3 weeks for such a Nitrogen shortage to show, meaning that by the time it does, as much as ⅓ of the plant’s ultimate size can be lost. It will only take one such experience to teach you to check the emitters daily.

Operation

These injectors systems can be used two ways. Dry water soluble fertilizers can simply be placed in the bottom of the tank and be mixed and dissolved by the unit as it operates. The lid has 2 tubes extending down from its bottom. Each of these tubes has been plugged onto a small barbed fitting that is threaded and screws into bottom of the lid for easy removal and installation of the tubes. The pickup tube has a small filter attached to its end, and the fill tube has a small restricted orifice in its end. This reduction orifice is intended to cause the water to enter with some force and help mix and dissolve dry fertilizers.

If you are using liquid fertilizers, or if you plan to dissolve dry fertilizer before hand, which is recommended to be certain it is fully dissolved, then this fill/mix tube should be unscrewed from the lid and left out during operation. This allows the fresh water to enter directly from the bottom of the cap, at the tank’s top, instead of at the bottom. This assures that the pickup tube is drawing full strength nutrients and not the liquid that has been watered down from the fill tube exiting at the tank’s bottom. If you are adding things like seaweed, humic acid or molasses, all of which tend to settle more heavily at the bottom, then after giving the system enough time to remove all but about an inch from the bottom of the tank, reinstall the fill tube so that it will stir up that bottom layer. This will help insure getting the last of it to the plants.

The unit works because the fertilizer mixture is heavier than the fresh water. The water entering the top of the unit builds pressure in the unit, causing the nutrients to flow up and out through the ‘feed tube’, whose filter end is at the bottom of the tank, and the fresh water simply floats atop the nutrient mixture. If the mixture has any color to it, which all three of the above mentioned amendments do, one can see this phenomenon through the semi transparent tank, a clean line showing the dividing point between the water on top and the nutrients on the bottom.

One caveat–the manufacturer, building this for use both with dry nutrients and dissolved nutrients, left the filter end of the pickup/feed tube inside of the tank about an inch above the tank’s bottom. This causes that last inch of nutrient mix to remain at the bottom, unused.  It would seem that not even reinstalling the feed/mix tube at that point adequately solves this problem. Similar tubing can be found at most hardware stores, and I recommends installing a new piece of pickup/feed tubing inside the tank so that when the lid is screwed down, the filter actually touches the bottom and causes some bending of the tube. This, along with the reinstallation of the fill/mix tube when the color line is at 1 inch, will facilitate complete evacuation of all the nutrients and eliminate any waste. If your nutrients have no color to them and you wish to watch this process, the addition of some food coloring to the mix before starting is harmless and will allow to observe. Obviously, darker colors are best.

Flow Rate and Pressure

This system pressurizes the tank, so a pressure regulator is necessary and will also eliminate pressure fluctuations and insure a constant delivery rate. You will probably need one anyway to regulate your drip emitters. Most emitters will have a gallon per hour (gph) figure associated with them, but this is always at a given pressure. With this system, the best results will likely come at 15 to 20 PSI, and most water systems produce significantly more tha this. Don’t worry, pressure regulators are inexpensive. If you are able to keep the pressure a that which the emitters are rated for, then you’ll know how much water you’re applying with the nutrients. Simply multiply the hours you have run the system by the rate the emitters flow. In most situations, the exact amount of water isn’t all that important, as long as the plants are getting enough, and you’re not over watering. This is something you’ll have to determine for your type of soil. I have a sandy soil with great drainage and can run the drip for 4 hours daily, without over watering.

The unit’s cap has a small lever on it that is labeled, “Slow”/”Fast”. In the instructions, it tells you that for fast vigorous growth, you should use the “Fast” setting, etc. This would seem to be for people using the system by placing dry fertilizers in the bottom and letting the unit mix them, and maybe for the ‘set and forget’ crowd who leave fertilizer in it, but not for you. It is not recommended that the system be used this way, and a better use for the flow rate lever is to determine the ph and EC/TDS/PPM that is actually going out to the plants. Simply install a ‘Y’ valve at the output of the filter. Attach the drip system to one side, leaving it always in the ‘on’ position and attach a 1 or 2 foot piece of garden hose to the other side, which you’ll leave in the ‘off’ position. When you wish to draw samples, allow the unit to run along enough for the nutrients to begin flowing full strength. You will be able to tell by the absence of bubbles, or a color change in the semi-transparent output tubing. It only takes a minute or two. Take your sample and then increase or decrease the flow to suit your ph and nutrient level needs.

For example, a feeding for 30 plants might be something like 1.25 lbs of a fertilizer like a 21-7-14. If this amount is mixed with 2 gallons of water, the EC/TDS/PPM will be off the scale of the meters available to gardeners, and the ph will likely be down somewhere near 4. For some gardeners, this ph isn’t a concern, as they have taken into account the acidifying nature of the fertilizers and added adequate Dolomite prior to planting. If you want to buffer the nutrients before they go in then you’ll need to do an experiment.

Let’s say that the water you have has a ph of 7.3. Then with the flow lever in the ‘slow’ position, you want the final ph of your fertilizer mixture to be around 6.1 or 6.2. With this ph, when the fertilizer is injected into the irritation water, the resulting ph at the output to the drip system will be 6.6 to 6.8. Of course, this will rise as the nutrients run out and only the water is flowing through the system. Having those nutrients go into the ground at ph 6.8 means that they are at a ph where the plant can use them immediately. For this reason, feeding smaller doses daily, or with every irrigation, is recommended. This has the added benefit that plants seem to love being fed frequent low doses more than infrequent high doses, and low doses rarely burn. If you are feeding heavily, even using smaller doses daily, you should flush the salts out a couple of times during the grow. This is especially true if you don’t have very fast draining soil.

Large plants over 5′ tall can take as much as one tablespoon per day of 21-7-14 in sandy soil. Heavier soils may require a lighter feeding. This is something you can only learn with experience. It might be advisable to set up your garden with 2 drip systems, and feed half the garden one day and the other half the next day. This will allow you to feed the 2 sections at different rates, in order to learn just how hard you can push the plants, and it’s likely that you will learn that the plants can take far more fertilizer, especially Nitrogen, than you ever imagined. This is why it is also recommended that you source out an N only product, like Simplot’s 21-0-0 Ammonium Sulphate. Feeding a complete fertilizer on one day and coming back on the next feeding day with straight Nitrogen can generate some very rewarding and impressive growth, but approach it slowly, so as not to overfeed. Some growers have been known to apply as much as 25 Lbs. a week of 20-10-10 on 25 plants.

The bottom line on this product, I highly recommended it. Unless you have the money for the Dosatron I think it’s the way to go. One has to wonder why the extra expense is necessary when first class results have been observed using only the EZ-Flo. The Dosatron does have a few advantages, so if you have the bucks, go for it. Otherwise, the EZ-Flo is the way to go. If you are interested in making a purchase, the EZ-Flo is available online through Drip Works and many other retailers.

Important!

Once the buds on your plants are fully mature, don’t delay. You have a relatively small window between unripe and over ripe, and time is not on your side.

Staged Harvesting

Try to harvest only the buds that are fully mature. Some plants may ripen from the top down, some from the lower branches up, other varieties of cannabis may ripen all at once. Often the larger buds that have received the most direct light will ripen first. If possible, harvest the larger top colas first and leave the lower and interior buds for an additional week or two. The increased sunlight will quickly bring the remaining buds to full maturity.

Making The Cut

When you cut the colas from the plant use a sharp pair of pruners and make your cuts with your drying method in mind. If you plan to hang dry the colas, make sure you leave a nub of stalk or a smaller branch to hang them from. If you plan to screen dry, it won’t matter since you’ll be stripping most of the buds off of the stem anyway.

Don’t go rip roaring into the garden cutting more than you can handle. Buds are much easier to work with when the leaves are still nice and crisp. Once they begin to wilt, they are much more difficult to work with and will only slow you down. In cool weather, the leaves on cut branches may remain turgid all day, while hot weather may give you under an hour. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Use plastic totes to haul the cut branches to your working area. These tubs come in handy throughout harvest and can be used for curing and long term storage.

Time of Day

For small harvests, try to cut your plants in the early morning. Terpenes are constantly produced by growing cannabis plants but sunlight and warmer temperatures evaporate terpenes. Terpene levels will be highest at the end of the dark period so harvesting in the morning will produce more pungent and flavorful cannabis. This of course is not possible with large gardens that require all day harvesting.

Big Leafing

Table Top Trimming Machine

Large commercial growers often need to harvest tons of cannabis all at once. This volume of work sometimes requires that buds be hung to dry without first removing the larger leaves. Unfortunately the leaves store water, drive up humidity in the drying room, and restrict airflow around the buds. This slows down the drying process and greatly increases the likelihood of mold problems. If your drying room is dialed, this method can work, but I recommend avoiding it if possible. In my opinion, hanging buds to dry before the leaves are removed should only be done out of necessity. This is rarely the case with a smaller harvest.

I prefer to remove the larger leaves from the buds before they are hung to dry. For a small harvest these leaves can be plucked off by hand or with pair of fiskars. This process is made quicker through the use of a table top trimming machine. These trimming machines by TrimPro and a variety of other companies speed up the leaf removal process without damaging the colas or knocking off the trichomes. Trimming machines work best with freshly harvested buds; so don’t cut more from the plant then you can process in about an hour. Make sure you wear safety goggles and watch your fingertips. I should point out that tabletop trimming machines are not meant to give a final manicure to the bud, only to remove extra leaf before drying.

Some commercial growers are now moving to automatic trimming machines like the Trimpro XL or Twister. These machines significantly cut down on the amount of labor required to “big leaf” the buds, but do require that the buds be shucked off the the stems. You are left with no large colas to hang, so buds must be dried on screens. If you have thousands of pounds to process and don’t intent to hand manicure the buds later, this is probably the best approach.

Once the buds are harvested, it’s important that they are quickly moved to a separate area to be dried in a secure, clean space.

Waste Processing

Many medium and large scale growers throw away or compost the leaf material that is removed during the big leafing process. This leaf usually test between 3-7% THC so it does contain some active cannabinoids. It’s not much good for smoking and is a pain to dry, but if you spread the leaf out on tarps or screens in the sun, it can be saved for later processing. Your best bet at processing this quantity of trim into highly concentrated product is through a commercial size butane, co2 or hexane extraction. Keep in mind that if you are only allowed to posses a certain amount of processed cannabis, this trim could easily put you over the limit.

Mold should be removed quickly

Dealing With Mold

At each stage in the harvest process it is essential that you keep an eye out for mold. When it is spotted in the garden, infected buds should be harvested immediately. The infected area, as well as about an inch of bud surrounding it should be removed and thrown away. The same is true if you spot mold while you are harvesting or big leafing. The more leaf that is removed from the bud, the easier it will be to spot mold hidden deep inside the large colas near the stem. Be sure to clean your pruners or fiskars with alcohol after cutting out the mold. You don’t want to contaminate the clean buds as they are being processed.

Security

You are one step closer to the end of the outdoor growing season, but don’t let your guard down now. Most of the work is complete so you are at the highest risk from ripoffs and police raids. Neither cops or thieves want to do any more work than is absolutely necessary.

I hope you found this article on harvesting cannabis helpful. If you have question about the article please leave them in the comments section below. Here are a couple of article that may help if you have questions about identifying when plants are ready to harvest, or about how to dry your cannabis.  If you have questions not directly related to harvesting, please post your questions in the forum. We are happy to answer all questions and help when we can.

Happy Harvesting!

For those who are unaware of the product, let me break it down for you. The Trim Bin is made up of 2 stacking molded plastic trays with cutouts for your forearms to rest in. The top tray has a 150 micron stainless steel screen molded into the bottom. The lower tray has a mirrored finish designed to capture and retrieve kief that becomes dislodged from the bud and falls through the screen. This obviously looked like an improvement over the cardboard boxes I’ve been using for over a decade.

After trimming for a few days I could see why these bins are becoming so popular. Whether sitting at a table, or reclined in my favorite chair, Trim Bins make manicuring a much more comfortable experience. At first I was skeptical of how comfortable the arm cut outs would be. I was pleasantly surprised that resting my arms in the notches didn’t hurt at all, even after working for 5 hours straight. I found that by sorting my buds in the upper left corner of the bin I still had plenty of space to trim. I kept a separate bowl for finished buds nearby to keep my space uncluttered and efficient.

I was only able to identify one drawback, and it was pretty minor. We were given a grey and a black Trim Bin to test. The grey Trim Bin is the model you will find in stores, while the black model is still being developed and tested. I discovered that the black bin did not clean up nearly as well. The kief seemed to cling to the bin and the brush that comes with the package had a difficult time sweeping the kief into a pile. The grey bin did not have this problem and cleaned up very well. I expect that their is a slight difference in the material and that this will be resolved before it is released. I might add that I was surprised how much kief was captured after trimming a few pounds. I never noticed how much was being wasted at the bottom of my cardboard boxes. Oops!

If I could change one thing it would be to mold in a cup holder or two. One would be great for holding an ice cold beer and the second could hold my cup of rubbing alcohol I like to keep nearby for soaking my extra scissors. This is a productivity trick I learned a long time ago. While manicuring, I keep a few pair of fiskars soaking in some rubbing alcohol to clean off the resin buildup. By rotating my fiskars I always have a clean pair in hand while at least one pair is soaking. This keeps trimming fast and easy. Plus, everything is better with a cup holder.

Manicuring can be quite the chore and the Trim Bin makes this work much more comfortable. I required fewer breaks and noticed significantly increased productivity. After the mountain of bud  that have already passed over my Trim Bin and the larger mountain still ahead, I fully recommend Trim Bins. I can’t imagine having to manicure again without one. This is a great product! One you should definitely add to your arsenal of tools.

Cannabis trichomes

As the buds grow close to full maturity a visible layer trichomes will begin to cover the flowers and leaves. These trichomes are very small resin glands on the surface of the plant that will sparkle in the sun like little diamonds. You have probably heard these referred to as crystals. Some cannabis strains will have pronounced trichome development four or five weeks before maturity, others will develop as late as two weeks before they reach full maturity.

As the buds mature, the crystals, or to use capitate stalked trichomes, begin to swell and resemble tiny mushrooms as they fill with cannabinoids and terpenes. Under magnification from a jewelers loop, the bulbous tips of these trichomes will appear clear while still developing, but will begin to turn amber or milky as they reach and pass full maturity. This milky or amber is color is what shows you the cannabinoids have reached full maturity and have begun to degrade. When about 20% of the trichomes on a bud begin to turn amber or milky, this is the time to harvest.

To be clear, trichomes are not the hairs on the buds that turn from white, pink, or purple to a rust or brown color. These hairs are called pistil and despite what people might tell you, their color is not a good indicator of a buds maturity or ripeness.

Some cannabis plants may reach full maturity all at once while other plants may begin to ripen from the top colas down. Ideally you will be able to harvest the plant all at once, but it’s not uncommon for the top colas or outer buds to mature faster. You can harvest the mature buds and leave those not quite ready for a week or two longer. Often the extra light provided by removing the ripe buds will speed the others along pretty quickly.

The trained eye may be able to identify when a bud is ripe without magnification. Considering how important it is to get this right, I suggest a jeweler’s loop until you have the experience under your belt.

Screen Drying

Screen drying basically means spreading your buds out on screens to dry. The screens can be removed from the windows of your house or you can make special screen racks to dry on. The screen allows airflow from all directions and if proper spacing is maintained, the screens can be stacked like the shelves in a food dehydrator. Screen drying marijuana is ideal for small buds that can’t effectively be hung to dry.  This is often the case when buds are shucked from the stem so they can be fed through an automatic style trimming machine.

There are some disadvantages to screen drying. One major drawback is the extra labor involved in removing the leaves from the buds and then removing the buds from the stems. For a large harvest this can be a costly use of valuable time. Additionally, because there is no stem to hold water, the buds dry very quickly. This may sound great if you have another batch waiting for your drying space to become available, but a quick dry makes the cannabis much harsher tasting. Buds that dry on the screen often end up with a flat spot on one side that leaves them with a bit of a smashed look. Screens drying can result in uneven drying as small buds will dry more quickly than larger buds.

Drying Lines

Hanging colas, branches, or entire plants upside down from wire or rope lines running from wall to wall makes a convenient temporary hanging system. As the bud dries, water contained in the stem slowly wicks into the bud slowing down the drying process. The slower drying process results in a smoother taste. Removing extra leaf matter before hanging the buds to dry increases the airflow around the buds and decreases the humidity in the room. This will reduce the chance of mold developing while the buds dry.

Cage Drying

Buds can also be hung from wire cages which are self supporting and mobile. These drying cages can be made by taking a 6 foot long section of 2”x4” 18 gauge welded wire fence and connecting the two ends to make a round 2 foot diameter cage. Simply stand the cage on one end and hang the buds ranging from 2-10” in length on the outside of the cage.

Because cages can be picked up and moved, they can be positioned by table top trimming machines and then moved once full. If this is your plan, choose the 4 foot tall fence so you can easily hang the buds from a seated position. Because of their mobility, they can easily be moved closer or further from heaters, fans, and dehumidifiers as needed to insure even drying. If more room is needed, these cages can be suspended from high ceilings. Just slide a slim board through the top of the cage and hang it from a rafter with a rope. These same cages can be used later as the cages for next years outdoor garden.

Speeding The Drying Process

While you don’t want to dry the buds too quickly, sometimes leaving them out to dry doesn’t remove the water from the plant material  fast enough. The longer the buds take to dry, the higher the chances of mold growth on the buds. With both hang drying and screen drying, you can speed along the drying process with the use of fans, heaters, and dehumidifiers.

Fans

Air circulation is essential for decreasing the chances of mold and helps speed along the drying. Be careful not to blast one area to hard with a fan, as this will dry one side of the bud much faster than the other and result in uneven drying. Oscillating fans or box fans set away from the buds work great and are pretty inexpensive.

Heaters

Cannabis dries quickest when the humidity in the room is low. Cold air can’t hold as much moisture as warm air, which is why you often see condensation around cold objects in warm rooms. This may seem counter-intuitive, but the warm air takes up more space and can therefore hold more evaporated water. The moisture in the buds doesn’t just vanish, it evaporates into the air.  By adding a space heater to the room, you can drive down the humidity levels and speed up the drying process. Cold drying rooms also increase the growth rate of molds

Dehumidifiers

Dehumidifiers work great to lower the humidity in the room by actively removing the moisture from the air and hence, the buds. Dehumidifiers also create heat further reducing the rooms humidity. Set at 35% humidity, you’ll be surprised how much water a dehumidifier can pull from the air in just a few hours.

How Dry Should Cannabis Be?

Ideally your fully cured cannabis should have between 8% and 10% moisture content. This moisture range keeps the bud from crumbling to dust and burning up too fast, but is still dry enough to prevent mold, smoke well and stay lit. While you can’t know the exact moisture content without lab testing, here is a good way to tell if you are close.

Lightly squeeze a bud between your fingers. If the bud crumbles and breaks apart, it is over dried. If you bend the stem of the bud and it gives off a snapping sound, you know that it is dry all the way to the stem. If the stem bends without a sound, the moisture in the stem is still high and continuing to wick into the bud. You want the stem to make the snapping sound without the bud crumbling.

For those interested in having their cannabis lab tested for cannabinoid content, keep in mind that the higher the moisture level, the lower the bud will test for cannabinoids. Buds are tested by weight, and the more of that weight that is water, the less of that weight can be cannabinoids.

Deboning

When using the hang drying method, the cannabis will need to dry for several days before it is ready for deboning. The leaves on the outside of the bud will begin to dry first and may feel a bit crunchy when lightly squeezed. The interior of the buds retain moisture longer because it is drawing water from the stem. The more stem, the longer the bud will take to completely dry. Wait until the stems starts to crack instead of bend. Then it is time to debone the buds.

Even if the bud seems fully dry, they will moisten up some during the curing process as the moisture balances between the interior and exterior of the bud. Clip the buds from the stem to the size you will want for manicuring. The more stem that is removed the easier it will be to store and the better the cure will be. You don’t want to hack the buds down to tiny budlets, but there should be no buds more than about 3 inches long. Extra stem will hold moisture and interfere with the curing process. Place the buds in a plastic tub and discard the stems.

Curing Cannabis

Fill the tubs with bud and leave them uncovered. If the humidity is very low in the drying room you will need to pay very close attention to the buds once they are removed from the stems. Without the stem the buds can over dry quickly and the tubs may need to be removed from the drying room. You will notice that a full tub of buds will begin to compact towards the bottom of the tub. Gently loosen or fluff the buds by carefully dumping the contents into an empty tub. This allows the buds on the bottom to become the buds on the top and should be done about twice each day so the buds can continue to dry.

When the buds have reached what seems to be the perfect moisture content, place the lids on the tubs overnight. You will find that in the morning the buds have re-hydrated as the moisture levels balanced throughout the tub. Leave the tops off the tubs for the day and fluff as before. When they appear to be dry again, return the lid. It can take up to a week to properly sweat out the extra moisture from the tub but continue this process until the moisture levels have stabilized. Fail the remove enough moisture and your buds will mold in storage.

When you are satisfied that the buds are dry, place the lids on the tubs and store them in a cool dry and secure place. Your cannabis will store well in tubs without being bagged for month on end. When you are ready to manicure the bud, remove a tub from storage and check on the others to make sure you have no moisture problems.

A Word About Manicuring

Manicuring can be performed on wet buds before drying. In a perfect world this might be ideal. On the one hand, the leaves are still turgid and are easy to snip away. The trichomes are also less likely to break free from the buds while they are still wet. The downside is that it’s nearly impossible to manicure any sizable amount of bud while it remains turgid. Manicuring a sizable harvest can takes months and you only have a window of about a week or two to complete your harvest. Additionally, wet buds are stickier which slows down the manicure process. Unless you are harvesting a small amount for personal use, focus on harvesting and drying properly. You will have all winter to worry about perfectly manicuring your cannabis.

With the drying process complete and the perfect cure underway, it’s time to celebrate harvest. Remember to give thanks for the bounty of the Earth and that you made it through another harvest. We are very lucky to have access to great natural medicine so be generous and share with those who helped you through the year.

Genetics

Type: Sativa 80% Indica 20%
Lineage: Thai Stick x Cambodian x Laotian x Jamaican Haze x Afghani Hawaiian
Breeder: Soma Seeds
Seed/Clone: Clones are rare but seeds are readily available.
Seed Available Through: Soma Seeds

• Patient Reviews
• Lab Results
• Growers Notes
• Photos

Looks

Dez – This strain was beautiful to look at. One gram of the lightest palest green infused with thousands of tiny sparkling crystals shot through with amber colored hairs, a nice dense bud, manicured and trimmed well.

Smell

Our sample of Amnesia Haze produced strong pungent odors of citrus from the terpenes Myrcene and Limonene and scent of pine from its Pinene content. Some of our reviewers picked up the sweet and spicy smell of what was likely B-Caryophyllene. Others noticed a clove, berry, medicinal and camphor or minty scent from some less dominant terpenes.

One reviewer reported, “As soon as I opened the bag, my olfactory senses were overwhelmed by a torrent of caramelized lemons, and then whisked away on currents of pine fresh bliss.” Another told us, “It has a zesty aroma like lime and lemon zest, mixed with a very medicinal smell with hints of peppermint undernote.”

Taste

Some terpenes translate from scent to taste quite well, others are subtly altered when heated and burned. GreenThumb told us “Nothing in the smell translated into the taste, except sour. It is more of a lemon kind of sour than the kind of putrid sour you expect a strain like Sour Diesel to have. It tastes better than most other sour flavors I’ve tasted, otherwise its gross.” on the other hand Cancer Survivor reported, “The taste was exactly how it smelled, just like orange.” Others reported flavors that were slightly sweet, bitter, fruity, clove, spicy, woodsy or earthy, berry, crisp, and that of smoky mint. While Green Thumb did not particularly like the flavor, generally it was rated above average and some liked it very much.

Potency

Individual body chemistry, frequency of cannabis use and other unknown factors play a large role in how people experience the highs from cannabis. While dominantly a Sativa strain, Amnesia Haze produced different highs for different users. Olga reported a more typical sativa high, “Very cerebral mental high and physical relaxation mostly in the face and neck. Motivation to keep busy, but not rushed, and felt like my body was at ease. The high lasted at least two hours, very silly mental high, where I wanted to eat lots of food but also I wanted to get out and be social. A nice balanced super strong buzz.”

On the other hand there were reviews like Yimbo’s that reported more narcotic effects often typical of indica dominant strains. In Yimbo’s own words, “Wow. Very strong. Made me forget I need to do a review on it! Time definitely seemed to slow down. You know how you think an hour went by and it was 20 minutes. It is not something I would puff on if I need to pay attention or had to get something done. This to me is your sit down and chill weed.”

Effectiveness

The true test of cannabis strain is in how well it works for those who use it medicinally to treat their symptoms. Here is what our reviewers had to say.

Green Thumb (PTSD) “I suffer from PTSD, an anxiety disorder. While this strain did alleviate my tension, it did not provide me any euphoria. I prefer strains that make me smile and keep me from the darker thoughts in my mind. This strain made me numb, but not happy. It was OK.”

Cancer Survivor (Leukemia) “This strain helped out with my headaches. And it helped me sleep.”

Shortcakes (Lupus and Fibromyalgia) “This strain worked well for my symptoms related to lupus and fibromyalgia. Mainly pain and stiff muscles and joints.”

Jill (ADHD) “I was pretty motivated and able to focus on my tasks.”

Water Goddess (Severe Menstrual Pain) “My lower back pain and menstrual cramps were both slightly improved after smoking this strain. I was also relieved of the nauseous feeling I’d been previously experiencing this morning.”

Jess-has-MS (Multiple Sclerosis)  “No noticeable benefits for my particular MS symptoms.”

Jackwagon (Liver Disease) “I have been having a rough few days with my nausea. This strain killed the nausea and gave me an instant urge to eat which i need help with at times. i believe this will put me to sleep quite well too. It’s early evening. too early to try. I wish it would have been later when i consumed my meds. got quite lazy and sleepy. especially after i had dinner. i like it very well just wouldn’t use it in the daytime hours out and about.”

Yimbo (Pain) Really “well, I forgot about any stress and pain I was having for about 2 and half hours.”

Mindhead (Severe Back Pain) “Helped significantly with my sleeping issues, back still had mild pain.”

Mitchy (Chronic Arthritic Pain, Carpal Tunnel and Fibroid Tumors) “It relieved my chronic bone pain in my hand a good deal, or at least made my mind forget about it. I forgot to notice if the redness and swelling was reduced, but at least I remembered to take a few notes.”

Sugar Britches (Back Fusion, Breast Cancer, Depression) “This strain had some pain relief effectiveness for my chronic back & leg pain. Helped me with my sleep deprivation & the following health issues ie: depression, stress, lymphodema-tingling, sharp shooting pains in my armpit. My body was relaxed & comfortable for a short while.”

Dez (Arthritis, Back and Hip Pain, Contact Dermatitis) “Well I just got out of the car after driving for three hours and could barely walk, took a couple of tokes and realized fifteen minutes later that my hips didn’t hurt anymore and felt such relief in my lower back, so I’d say it worked very well.”

Olga (Cartilage and Ligament Damage) “I felt like I was able to do chores with ease, but at the same time still was reminded of pain/soreness occasionally. I had a few hours where I just sort of forgot about it all.”

BB (ADD, Pain and Anxiety) “Nice mellow high. Seems more a Sativa based strain I prefer Sativa during the day.”

Side Effects

Green Thumb reported mild heart palpitations.

View all 14 reviews for Amnesia HazeReviewers Biographies

THCA: 14.6%
THC: .4%
CBDA: .1%
CBD: .2%
CBN: 0%

Total THC: 15%
Total CBD: .3%
Total CBN: 0%
Total Active Cannabinoids: 15.3%
Moisture Content: Unknown

 

Interested in learning a bit more about what these lab results mean? This article on Understanding Cannabinoids is a good place to get started.

Typical Growing Traits:

Indoor/Outdoor: Indoor. Outdoor in areas with warm dry fall weather
Maturation: 12 to 13 weeks Indoor. November or later outdoor
Height at Finish: Tall, 12 + tall feet outdoors
Yield: Indoor, 750 grams per 1000 watts or meter squared. Outdoor, 5 pounds or more per plant.
Predisposition for pest and fungus: Amnesia Haze is a bit finicky and is susceptible to pests and fungus. The long flowering time exacerbates these problems.
Notes: I would not suggest beginners attempt to grow this strain until they have cut their teeth with easier strains and worked out all possibly grow room quirks.

Strain As Tested:

Unknown

Back in June we posted the first article and video Grow Like A Pro.  We introduced you to the plants and showed as they moved from the grow room to the greenhouse. At that point they were only about 3 feet tall and looked pretty tiny in Sluggers huge greenhouse.

In August we posted the first update of Big Sluggers garden. The footage had been taken on July 19th and showed the Blue Dream clones doing nicely. The plants had received their seconds cages and the branches were being trained to maximize yield and support.

In this video we show you the plants as they begin to reach the end of their vegetative period and begin to flower. The plants are monsters averaging about 12 feet tall and 12 feet in diameter. The 25 Blue Dreams completely fill the 4000 square foot greenhouse. The branches are touching the exterior wall, rafters and are close to growing into each other.  As they move further into flowering, their vegetative growth will slow as they divert energy to flower production. Whoever said clones don’t grow big outdoors is going to have some explaining to do.

We hope you enjoy this video. Be sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel so you don’t miss any of the updates. If you have questions or comments please post them at the end of this article in the comments section or in our forum. We don’t keep track of the comments on youtube as well as we should.