Grow Archives - Weed Reader

Growing, Products, TechnologyApril 30, 2018 by Adam Rhodes

Weed Supply Issues Resolved By Grobox

My weed supply is in constant jeopardy.

From work to school and kids, there is rarely time left for personal pleasures. All the demands of the day add up and wear you down. Those demands leave me with the desire for a stable weed supply.
I love getting to unwind with a bowl of fine weed at the end of the day. But because of federal law, I can’t grab a joint or two while I’m at the store. I have to drive to the dispensary (which can be miles out of the way) within business hours.
That doesn’t even take into account the wildly fluctuating prices. Sometimes a gram of wax is $20, other times it can be as much as $55 for the cheapest dabs available. I don’t know about you but I have a problem with having my weed budget double unexpectedly.

Options seem limited.

For years, I only found two ways around these challenges. I either had to suck it up and pay or go without. At least until I really looked into producing my own supply.
Now, I have a few big challenges when it comes to growing my own weed. The first was the weather. Oregon is great but plant’s don’t do well here in the winter. As a year-round toker, that really cut into my ability to produce so any solution needed to be indoor.
Then there was the challenge of indoor space. I don’t have a huge warehouse to grow weed in. All I have is my living area. I couldn’t really get away with transforming my entire living room into a grow room.

The complexity was a real turn off.

Weed takes a lot of care to manage a weed supply well. Controlling light, watering, Ph, maintaining micro and macro nutrient levels and limiting smell are just the tip of the iceberg. Plus it needs different care depending on the type of setup I chose.
I had to learn an entirely new vocabulary just to understand what kind of light I needed. Not to mention learning how to prevent and eradicate pests. Then there was the variety of nutrient options to choose from.
It was overwhelming for someone just starting out and made me throw my hands up. It seemed easier to just pay the extra and deal with shortages when they came. At least until I learned about Grobox.

I found the answer.

Grobox is a self-contained and automated growing chamber. The small footprint means it fits anywhere (even apartments). It even comes with a built-in filter to keep that sticky-icky from alerting neighbors.
I really liked how incognito it is. Grobox uses a hydroponic system so I never have to worry about people seeing me haul sacks of soil into my house. And I don’t have to dedicate an entire room to growing my personal stash.
Grobox is packed with sensors to optimize the growing conditions throughout the grow. Because I get to choose what gets planted, I always get my favorite strains. I can grow anything from a squat indica to a tall sativa and always get the best buds.

I finally get control of my supply.

Although handy gardeners can build grow boxes themselves, pre-packaged grow boxes take the guesswork out of setup and maintenance. All you need to do is pull it out of the box, fill it up and plug it in. Even a complete novice can set it up and grow beautiful marijuana their first try.

Also Read: The Best Types Of Seeds For Growing Weed

I also never have to deal with the fluctuating weed supply again. The LED lights and low-energy components also mean it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to operate either. I can grow weed year round and barely notice a change in my utility bills.
With Grobox, I know exactly what goes into my weed. I can check it’s progress daily and always know that it’s pesticide free. All the hard work of monitoring the plants is taken care of. It really is a great way to take control of my weed supply.

Have you experimented with growing your own supply? Would your first try at growing have been different with one of these? Have you used a Grobox before? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!

Analysis/Opinion, Culture, GuidesJune 8, 2017 by Adam Rhodes

Recreational Marijuana Grow: Starting Out

There are a few fundamental steps to starting a new business.

Whether you are starting an investing firm or a marijuana grow, there are a few key steps to making a dream into a business reality. Read any business startup book or ask any successful entrepreneur and you will more or less get the same list.
The list goes a bit like this: write a business plan, find a location, work out the business structure, get licensed, establish infrastructure, contract with partners, and finally promote the hell out of it. Fail in any part of that list and the consequences are dire. But some of the risks and challenges in the marijuana industry are unique to recreational growers and those are what I want to focus on.

Barriers to success in the recreational marijuana market are growing.

Oregon recently did away with all residency requirements related to ownership and investment in recreational pot. This means that people don’t have to live in Oregon to start their application process (unlike other states). Outside investors can channel money into operations based in Oregon and never have to physically be at the property.
There are also no formal capital requirements like there are for fast food franchising or insurance underwriting. In essence, if you can pass a background check, have a spot, and pay the annual fees (starts around $5000 a year) you can get licensed to grow weed in Oregon. This is a big change from the previous rules that had strict rules for who could even apply.
On the surface, these kinds of changes seem like they are great for small business and to some extent they are. Yet competition and rising prices are forcing many long time producers to rethink how they do business. Costs for laboratory testing have skyrocketed as lawmakers impose new restrictions and tests be performed. Less than a year ago, the average price for testing was between $300 and $500. Today that number is closer to $3500.

Cannabis is moving away from Mom and Pop.

The rising cost of testing is only one area where weed growers are feeling pinched. The incredible level of regulation and reporting that recreational growers are faced with is enough to make anyone pullout their hair. Add to that the delays caused by having thousands of producers and only a handful of laboratories and regulators to sign off on permits. Yet some states can handle the influx better.
While it can take up to 18 months to get through the licensing process in Washington (who has merged their recreational and medical programs), it might only take 10 months to get permitted in California. The long delay is enough to derail many individuals who simply don’t have the time or money to push things along or adjust to changing regulations.

Compliance is a big and constantly changing part of a marijuana grow.

Washington State’s cannabis regulations change on a monthly basis and the same can be said about Oregon. The Oregon legislature even added four new marijuana bills recently which caused the two governing bodies to scramble to write rules around them. For the first time in the 17 year history of the Oregon medical program, growers are required to report online. At the same time, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is changing concentration limits for edible products.
If the idea of; constantly redesigning packaging, testing costs growing by orders of magnitude, waiting for close to a year before getting to start making money, and the extreme amount of reporting required doesn’t excite you then you might want to rethink getting in. No matter which state you try to start a recreational grow, a marijuana grow will have to deal with these challenges in addition to finding a good spot.

Remember that location is key.

The old adage “Location location location” holds true here. In states like Washington and Colorado, there is no difference between a medical and recreational grow since they merged their markets. In states like Oregon though, there is a patchwork of friendly and unfriendly marijuana jurisdictions. Yet even in states where the systems are merged, finding a good spot for a marijuana grow is tough.
Even where weed is welcomed, zoning rules and time, place and manner restrictions prevent growing weed in certain areas or neighborhoods. It is also important to remember that growers must submit Land Use Compatibility Statements (LUCS) during the permitting process. New York entrepreneurs must demonstrate they’re in control or possession of the buildings, land or premises to cultivate, process and dispense marijuana,or they will have to put up a $2 million bond.
Even after finding a suitable location, growers must remain vigilant. Many operations worry about getting shut down after a school moves into an area after the grow was established. Most states view the marijuana establishment as ‘grandfathered in” but normally come to a conclusion on a case by case basis. Yet schools and zoning work to limit a marijuana grow.

Marijuana grows are transitioning to the recreational market.

In states like Washington they don’t have much choice as the markets have officially merged. States like Oregon decided to keep their medical programs unchanged. So only medical producers are still subject to two-year residency restrictions. Medical producers (unlike recreational) officially can’t make profit so are limited on how much they can earn.
The increased profitability for farmers producing recreational product presents a real incentive for growers to switch to recreational. This further compounds the issues of increased competition, increasing testing costs and the difficulty in finding a decent location. Yet these challenges don’t seem to be slowing down or going away any time soon.
Even in states where medical and recreational systems are both in place, legislators and business owners are preparing for the merging of the systems. The increased taxes generated by licensing and fees has to be paid whether a business succeeds wonderfully or fails horribly. Don’t forget to factor in states perpetually looking for ways to generate additional revenue.

The recreational market is growing but not evenly.

NerdWallet recently conducted a study. They found that if all 50 states legalized cannabis today, it would generate a collective $3 billion a year in taxes. With those kinds of figures running around post recession, it is easy to understand why states would actually be considering legalizing marijuana. It is also easy to see why a mom and pop marijuana grow is at such a disadvantage in the recreational market. Even though they are the lifeblood of the medical market.
Corporations like Pfizer, Monsanto and Phillip Morris all have a vested interest in controlling cannabis production. With a collective fortune that would rival most nations, these corporations have leveled their might at taking control of production.

The deck is stacked against a small marijuana grow.

Take a small business owner growing in a barn and can only produce one pound each harvest. It may take that farmer $900 to produce a pound of weed and another $400 for packaging and delivery. Add the $3500 for testing and that farmer has to charge $4800 per pound to break even. Additionally, that farmer doesn’t get tax cuts like most businesses do. But we can ignore that for now since neither will the corporation.
An international corporation like Nike or Apple can produce that same pound of cannabis (due to economies of scale) at close to $600. They could spend about $200 on packaging and delivery (because they own factories that already make packaging). The corporation has to pay the same $3500 for testing but can test close to 20,000 pounds at once. Which adds about 17 cents to the cost of each pound. This makes their pound cost $800.17.
There is no reason Apple can’t play hard ball either. They could start a sister marijuana grow company to put most small farmers out of business. Why not decide to take no profit and cut prices by 16% to stimulate demand for their product? A corporation can also file hundreds of lawsuits against small farmers like Monsanto is known to do. A company could also simply break the law and pay any fines they incurred in the process like BP does.

The game is designed for big players.

Now a dispensary can choose to pay $4800 or $800.17 per pound. If they choose the small farmer, they are limited on how much they can obtain. If they run out for any reason, there simply isn’t any more for the farmer to sell. The corporation on the other hand can produce more than a single dispensary can ever go through. They can simply send another pound if needed.
Dispensaries will choose the lower cost option or go out of business. Economic drivers and current US regulations work to force businesses to pursue the lowest cost option. If they don’t adjust (especially in a market that is overcrowded by competitors) they will go out of business.
It seems everyone is starting a marijuana grow. The low bar for entry and the extreme reporting requirements mixed with the challenges of a flooded market and international money make becoming a grower a risky business. Surely many will make millions of dollars before the large corporations squeeze out the little guys. Most will simply waste the little money they have trying to chase a dream that has been legislated and sold into oblivion.
Thanks for reading.

Culture, Guides, MedicalApril 3, 2017 by Adam Rhodes

Sold: Starting a Medical Grow Business

Before starting a medical grow business, you need to do a ton of research.

Federal, state and local laws create a vast web of interconnecting rules that are unique to each medical grow (even if they are in the same city and industry). Navigating this miasma is both arduous and tedious by design but is also vital to remaining in business. The best place to start is with your states official rules.
You can’t simply put some seeds in backyard dirt or throw thousands of dollars around and expect to get anything competitive out of it. And this is a competition. The time, effort and skill needed to get a plant from seed to sale is a skill that can be developed over several years. A skilled hand can take a good strain and make it great while an unskilled grower can kill everything.

But it takes more than growing the dankest buds to survive.

Growing great herb is a prerequisite to a business based around growing weed. But equally important is the ability to manage costs and duplicate results. It doesn’t matter how much you can sell your product for. If it costs more to produce than what you get, it isn’t a viable business.
“Even if you get your costs under control, you still have to worry about duplication. If you can’t produce the same product every time, you have a problem.” Mike Boynton, the master grower for Oregon Imperial farms told me in an interview. “Changing anything in the environment from fan placement to light duration will change how your plants grow and therefore your bottom line.” The more people and the bigger the farm, the harder it is to control costs. If you can’t get it under control with 5 plants, you will never be able to with 5000.

The Marijuana industry is an especially challenging one.

Getting a business off the ground in the weed industry is a lot harder than most other industries. Cannabis is one of the oldest crops known to man and you can bet there are a lot of talented people out there trying to do it better and cheaper than you. Besides having to deal with the standard problems of location and competition, cannabis businesses are heavily regulated and lack traditional support infrastructure like banking services.
Marijuana businesses lack the ability to use banking services because it remains federally illegal. This is not to say that banks refuse drug money. SBC was fined $1.9 billion by the U. S. government for laundering cartel drug money in 2012. Yet the cannabis industry is forced to work on a cash basis regardless of how big the costs.

There are a variety of rules regarding how to grow legally.

With over half of the nation having legal weed in one form or another on a state level, there have been many ideas about what should be allowed. Each state has taken different measures to ensure a safe and effective cannabis industry. Some states require seed to sale tracking and vertical integration while others prohibit delivery or drive-thu services.
In addition to rules and regulations about where and how to provide services, there are also rules around what kind of equipment is needed in order to get a license. This further compounds the complexity with many states have a different set of rules for medical grows and recreational operations. As an example, Washington merged their medical grow and recreational grow rules for a single comprehensive program while Oregon kept them separate.

After all, growing weed isn’t cheap.

Even in places with ideal growing conditions like Northern Cali, Florida or Hawaii, plants still need water, nutrients and protection from pests/diseases. In areas where the weather is too dry or cold, growing indoors becomes a necessity. The cost of equipment pales in comparison to the cost of keeping the growing environment perfect.
In addition to lights; pumps, timers, fans, filters and air conditioners all use electricity. Keeping the juice flowing can be a challenge in itself. Grows with more than one room may even need to have a more powerful line run by the electric company to keep from blowing transformers. All of these little additions add up quickly and can quickly eat up all the potential profit.

A lawyer, an accountant and a lobbyist walk into a grow room.

If you plan to operate a successful company growing a federally illegal substance, you need to have some specific talent on your team. This team needs at least a lawyer, an accountant and a lobbyist to run interference while the head grower does their work. Without someone covering each area, the chance of getting blindsided is astronomical.

Lawyer

Find someone who specializes in canna-based business compliance and criminal cannabis defense. Ask others in your area who they recommend. Don’t forget to check online databases like www.martindale.com, www.avvo.com, www.justice.org to name a few.

Accountant

Look for someone with experience in the industry. Overly “creative” accounting can get you in hot water so make sure you can trust them. In addition to searching online for local tax professionals, ask colleagues for referrals. Asking others in your area who they use and why is also a great way to narrow the search for the right accountant.

Lobbyist

Look for someone with the time and energy to represent your cause. Their job is to keep an eye on local and statewide changes that pertain to your business. They are also there to help prevent others in the community from effectively banning your business or engaging in sneaky tactics to close you down. There are no lists/registries for this, gotta tap into that network to find the right person..

Head Gardener

Look for someone with botany experience. Many master gardeners hang out in local hydro stores or are at least known by them. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and be picky. This is the person who will dictate the initial and final quality of the product and choosing the wrong person can have dire consequences.

Skipping the support staff can have dire consequences.

Many states ban the operation of any marijuana based business (including a medical grow) within a certain radius of schools. But most states don’t ban schools from opening near a marijuana businesses. There is normally nothing explicitly stopping a preschool from opening next to a dispensary or grow location and putting you out of business.
A good team is the difference between closing up shop or staying open for years. It does you no good to spend millions of dollars on a medical grow business just to have a preschool open next door a week later and shut you down. Better to have the staff on hand to stay open and deal with the issue before it gets finalized than not.

You need to find just the right spot.

Besides schools randomly popping up, there is a lot to consider when starting a grow business. The first thing most growers work out is where they plan to grow. Most medical grows are done on a personal consumption scale. If the plan is to make it profitable, it takes a bit more consideration.
Because cannabis remains federally illegal, landlords are almost as hesitant as banks are to work with weed entrepreneurs. Even in the case of a medical grow, it can be almost impossible to get permission to start. In most cases, growers need to own the land/building they plan to operate in or receive written permission from the land owner before getting licensed.

Security is a major concern as well.

Each state has very specific rules on which types of security are needed for a medical grow to remain in compliance. States may require barriers like walls be erected around grow sites. They also might require closed circuit cameras linked to cloud backups but it depends.
Whole sectors of the economy have been dedicated to the outright eradication of cannabis for decades (I’m looking at you Big Prison, Pharma and Tobacco). As cannabis moves from illicit trade to regulated market, there is bound to be pushback from entrenched interests. Even a medical grow can face opposition from local religious or political groups that don’t like cannabis.

The market is growing.

More and more people are getting in on the Green Rush and starting to grow cannabis. Like the Gold Rush that sparked westward expansion, the hype and obvious wealth being generated is causing a migration of talent and willpower. Fortunes are waiting to be made by talented and driven individuals willing to put in the work.
In the end, most of the states where weed has been legalized were ballot measures which means they were supported by voters. With the majority of the population clearly supporting cannabis reform, cannabis is primed to continue growing for years to come. Getting a good team will make every other part of the process easier.

Do you agree?

Or do you think I’m off my rocker? What advice would you give to someone just getting started? What do you wish you knew before starting a medical grow? Let us know in the comments down below. We would love to hear your take. And as always, thanks for reading.

Analysis/Opinion, Guides, ScienceMarch 25, 2017 by Adam Rhodes

Treating Common Cannabis Pests

Spider mites, thrips, fungus gnats…

If you are a cannabis grower you’ve likely been warned about these insects more than once. There are many pests that can endanger your crops. But some turn up a lot more often than others. Knowing how to identify and deal with the most common offenders can be the difference between doing some extra work and losing a whole crop.
To start off, the best way to prevent a garden infestation is through prevention. Being aware of the symptoms and, above all, knowing how to eradicate them efficiently can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Not to mention months of caring for them. The main goal is to not give any potential pests or diseases a place to hide/nest/grow. This is best accomplished with some soap.
Wash the walls, floors and all surfaces with soap and water. Using diluted chlorine, bleach (although never together) or other disinfectant works too. Do the same with pots, buckets, utensils and any other equipment you plan to use. Make sure that nothing comes into the garden that might be able to carry stowaways.

It’s important to make sure everything is clean inside and out.

When changing reservoirs, make sure to wash and disinfect them as well. You never know what might be growing in there, even if the previous plant didn’t show signs of problems, eventually something will go wrong.
You may also want to cover the floor with plastic sheeting. The kind available at most home improvement stores but thick enough that you won’t tear through it. Carpets and similar flooring types make great homes for both pests and molds/fungi. Covering them with plastic ensures that they remain in good condition and won’t offer sanctuary to pests.
Keeping your air and water temperatures along with room humidity at the ideal levels while using adequate air circulation will prevent most pests/infections from ever getting started in a marijuana grow. As will filtering the air intake to block the path many marijuana pests use to gain access to the plants.

Soil-borne pests

One of the many advantages to using hydroponic/aeroponic systems to grow cannabis is that they prevent many insect and other infestations. There is no place for many types of larvae to incubate or hatch. When choosing soil, look for sterilized or composted soil. If using native soil, make sure to sterilize or compost it as well to prevent hitchhikers.
Covering soil in diatomaceous earth will prevent flying and crawling insects from laying eggs in your corp. This is because the sharp edges damage their tiny bodies like rubbing them across sand-paper. A less effective alternative uses a 1/2” or so of fine perlite on top of the soil as a barrier. Insect eggs generally don’t grow in perlite and most insects wont burrow deep enough to hit soil.

Spider mites

Best Prevention:
Keep the room clean throughout the grow. Fully disinfect and sterilize everything before attempting to start the grow. Also make sure to keep the room tidy and free of excess soil.

How to Identify:

Spider mites live underneath the leaves plants and are invisible to the naked or untrained eye. The mites drink the chlorophyll for sustenance. They also have eight legs which classifies them as a tiny spider instead of as an insect.
Spider mites are visible under a magnifying power of 15x or more. The magnified mites are whitish, red, or (most commonly) brown with two spots. These mites spin webs which makes them easier to spot. Once seen, it unfortunately means the mites are already a generation or two in.
Misting the undersides of leaves reveals the webs easily to the naked eye. Once fertilized, females remain so for life. After mating they can lay about 100 eggs every 5 days. With 75% of all spider mite eggs being female, their numbers can grow rapidly.

Repression Measures:

Spider mites ideal temperatures range between 70 and 80F or 21-27C. They also need average to high humidity to stay happy. Cooling a grow room to 60F/16C and dropping the relative humidity slows the reproduction rate of the spider mite.
Cooling the room reduces the damage an infestation can do. At 50% humidity and below the mites start getting uncomfortable. By spraying jets of water across undersides of leaves, growers can blast larger colonies loose and slow the spread of these pests considerably.

Best Predators:

Neoseiulus (Amblyseius) californicus and Mesoseiulus (phytoseiulus) longipes are the two most common and effective options out there. They can eat up to 20 eggs or 5 adult mites every day. And once their food supply runs out, they die off.

Sprays:

Neem oil is the most effective spray available. Other effective methods include pyrethrum, horticultural oil, and insecticidal soap. Spraying three times at 5 to 10 days apart should destroy a mite population if the room remains clean. Spider mite eggs hatch after 5-10 days which makes a second application necessary.
The first spray kills the adults while the second destroys newly hatched mites. A third application will kill any stragglers left behind. Make sure to also cycle to another chemical if using pyrethrum to spay frequently. This ensures mites don’t develop a resistance to the synthetic chemical. Several miticides have DDT or fungal relatives that are toxic if inhaled by humans so choose your miticide carefully.

Thrips

Best Prevention:

Keeping a clean grow area is the only defense against a thrip infestation. These miniscule insects avoid detection by even by the most cautious grower until they reach damaging levels. Best to make sure they don’t feel welcome in the garden in the first place.

how to Identify:

The thrip hits greenhouse more than any other garden. It’s difficult for the thrip to reproduce in large quantities outdoors and they must hitchhike into indoor gardens. Their small size helps them fit through all but the finest screens and finters.
Thrips can be almost any color, move very quickly and can fly which can make it hard to get a good look at them. Thrips tend to move in herds though, grazing tiny strips off the top of leaves like tiny lawnmowers. This can strip plants of chlorophyll so thoroughly that the leaves become brittle, dark, and begin to crumble. Tiny black lines across leaf surface are fecal trails left after gorging themselves.
The flying thrip easily infests gardens if protected from outdoor conditions. The female bores a hole into the plant and leaves her eggs in a hole. The opening is so small a magnifying glass is needed to even see it. In marijuana, the thrip colonies primarily infest and reproduce inside buds. A good shake of a cola infested with thrips produces a cloud as the tiny pests fall, jump and fly out of the buds.

Repression Measures:

Using powerful fans to move air throughout a greenhouse or growroom can prevent the thrip from latching on to plants or taking flight. Regularly misting plants with water will flood the thrips and slow their travel, reproduction, and minimize their ability to damage the plant. Sticky traps do help, however the thip doesn’t migrate much. Which reduces the effectiveness of sticky traps.

Best Predators:

Nearly any predatory mite can effectively battle thrips. Parasitic wasps work but the size of thrip populations limit their ability to be effective. You might be able to see herds skittering across your plant. And while crushing them will reduce their numbers, it is of course not effective overall.

Spray:

Pyrethrum or insecticidal soap sprayed 2-4 times at 5-10 day intervals is the recommended treatment.

Fungus Gnat

Best Prevention:

Keep the relative humidity of your garden low, and don’t over water. Make sure the surface of your grow medium doesn’t stay soggy. Covering hydroponic medium surfaces also prevents growth of green algae which can entice these pests.

How to Identify:

Fungus gnats attack plants during their adult and larval stages. The maggots are almost invisible to the human eye. This is compounded by their see-through bodies and a black heads. The maggots infest the upper roots of plants and will spread throughout an entire hydroponic root system.
Fungus gnat maggots love dark, dank, and water soaked environments. Checking the medium at the base of a plant reveals these pests. The gnat larvae are also perfectly happy going through their life in rockwool. They infest root systems, damage larger roots and consume root hairs. This results in the plant weakening, slowing its growth, and visible fading of foliage.
Adult gnats are normally grey to black, so small they are hard to see and have disproportionately long legs. Females are prolifically breeders, laying an average of 200 eggs weekly. They can also usually be found at the base of your plant along with their maggots. They basically have a Hulk-like grip and are basically impossible to remove by force.

Repression Measures:

Damaged roots make marijuana insanely vulnerable to several types of fungus and prevents nutrient uptake. Maggots will consume decaying plant matter. This means that infestations reproduce faster the more damaged your plant becomes. Reducing surface moisture in your plants medium will slow fungus gnats reproduction dramatically. basically, the drier the better. Applying an anti-algae product to the base of plants kills any green algae currently growing. It also reduces the number of food sources of maggots. Yellow sticky traps placed 2 inches away from the growing medium will catch most adults looking to spread.

Best Predators:

There are no predators proven to be effective at controlling gnat populations themselves. Although the predatory soil mite Hypoaspis and the nematode Steinemema feltiae severely impact the insect population in soil grows. Unfortunately, they are not effective countermeasures for hydroponic applications. It is also impossible to force them out. Swatting a few adults doesn’t kill the eggs they lay underground.

Spray:

Neem or insecticidal soap applied as a soil drench kills eggs and larvae in 1-3 applications. Spray containing the fungal culture Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bt-i) successfully eradicates adult gnats. The soil drenches and spray should be applied simultaneously every 5-10 days.

Do you agree?

There are way more ways to fight off these pests than I could possibly list on my own. Let us know in the comments below what pests you have come across and what you have found to be effective. I’d love to hear what else you think should have been included. Thanks for reading.

Analysis/Opinion, Guides, ScienceMarch 6, 2017 by Adam Rhodes

Grow Lights: How to Choose the Right One

It is tempting to believe that there is such thing as the perfect grow light. A single radiant source that simply out performs everything else out there. Such a light does not exist at the moment but we have a few options. Even sunlight (the full spectrum, nuclear powered, plasma-based grow light in the sky) can damage plants if the rest of their environment is not well suited to them. Cultivators have to choose the right grow light for the right situation.
There are a few key considerations when debating between the most common lighting methods available. Using good old sunlight should work if you live anywhere near the equator but for those in the north or south need to rely on artificial means if they want to produce all year. Different growing techniques lend themselves to different setups as well.
Plasma, Induction, Ceramic Metal Halide, there are a lot of variations when it comes to lighting but for todays discussion we will be limiting the conversation to the three most popular methods. The lights we will discuss are easily obtainable, proven effective and utilized across the industry as the benchmarks that all others must compare to. There is a bit of variation within each category but they all function similarly (although you may need more than a wall socket for some).

Cultivators must consider the size of their garden.

Using a 1000-watt grow light in a two-foot by four-foot closet is generally wasteful and can lead to a lot of unnecessary problems like overheating. On the other hand, trying to cover a commercial garden with a 40,000 sq. ft. canopy in Compact Florescent Lights (CFL) won’t produce the same level of production as other lighting methods.
Growers working with small spaces need to prioritize heat dissipation over light penetration. While higher wattage lights provide more energy for your plants to work with, if the heat they produce is too much, it can stunt the plants growth. Using Compact Florescent (CFL) ballasts over High Pressure Sodium (HPS) or Metal Halide (MH) options can reduce heat buildup in small spaces while Light Emitting Diode (LED) ballasts provide a balanced mix of heat and light at a higher price point.
If you are growing more than 2-3 plants and have enough space for dedicated heat exhaust ducting, an HPS or MH light might be the right solution. The extra space needed to process the heat given off by these lights is made up for in high production levels. There are several sizes ranging from 150 up to around 1000 watts and each is designed to cover a different sized area.

Complexity is also a major consideration with grow lights.

There is a lot more to growing dank herb than sticking a seed in the ground and waiting for mother nature to work her magic. Top producers monitor every element of their operation with grow logs and performance metrics. Most growers can get away with going by eye and only measuring when they must but that won’t produce those head-sized colas that win competitions or get featured on the cover of High Times.
Adjusting CO2 generators, maintaining air conditioners and dehumidifiers, setting timers, calibrating sensors and monitoring schedules are all part of a commercial operation and can quickly add layers of complexity to a seemingly simply project. Getting the most advanced or largest lights possible may add extra layers of complexity like running exhaust ports, vent fans and electrical lines.
Having to install an extra circuit breaker is pretty frustrating but having to get the power company to upgrade the lines and transformers heading to your place in order to put in extra HPS lights can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Using LED lights may have a higher initial investment cost (making quality versions expensive) but the energy savings add up over time.

Budget is always important with grow lights.

Sometimes bigger isn’t better. If all you are doing is looking to offset the cost of buying cannabis, getting a massive light and converting the garage into a clean room worthy of NASA may not be the best route. A low cost (albeit moderate output) closet operation may work better, especially if you don’t consume only the freshest of rosin.
There are tons of options on the market for a small space grow operation with everything in a single kit. The kits normally come with a light, maybe a few pots or hydroponic bays, and they actually work pretty well (in general). They are more expensive than building it yourself but offer significantly higher quality than most people can cobble together on their own. If your goal is to make money, customization is the name of the game.
Installing LED lighting in an industrial in-door grow operation is almost a must. The initial cost is more than offset by the increased operational life of the ballasts along with the drastic (up to 30%) savings on energy. Industrial and commercial operations may still utilize CFL lights for seedling growth given the low overall cost of operating fluorescents.

When it all comes down to performance, a leader emerges.

In the end, we all want the best bang for our buck. CFL’s are great for seedlings/clones but not great for vibrant vegetative/flowering growth. Their low operating temperature also makes using them fairly basic. A low-cost alternative to LED’s for small-scale growers, CFL’s offer a solid base of performance to work up from.
HPS and MH lights offer greater output than CFL’s and are best for medium to large operations. They are specialized to vegetative and flowering and scale well for larger operations. The excess heat HPS and MH light produce compared to other options needs to be dealt with through specialized ducting or increased air conditioning but many ballasts offer specialized ports to make this easier for large strings of grow lights.
LED grow lights offer the highest performance of any grow light option but also come with the highest cost. While they don’t require the ducting of the HPS and MH lights, LED’s provide as intense of a light as any other option. In addition to being the right intensity, LED’s require far less maintenance with a projected operating life measured in years, not months.

What is your end goal?

We have only toughed on the surface of grow lights and how to choose between them. If you want to get started quickly and easily, look into an assembled unit. It makes all the difference to have a station ready for you and not have to make all the little decisions yourself. Once you get the feel of things, you will likely be able to work with the prebuilt to fit your preferred style of growing until you are ready to do things a little bigger.
If your goal is to make money and you are just getting started, investing in HPS and MH lighting for vegetative growth and flowering along with some CFL may be the right call. Their overall cost is doable and they provide a great end product with a few extra considerations. This is the most common setup for small to medium indoor growers looking to turn a profit.
If money is no object or you are working on a massive scale, LED lights provide the best returns over time. With minimal energy drain compared to other lights and the low operating temperature makes the energy savings a real consideration. Many units can also provide full spectrum light or specialized wavelengths for different plant cycles making them more versatile than the HPS and MH which must be switched between cycles.
Let us know what you chose to light your garden and why in the comments section. Thanks for reading.

Guides, ScienceJanuary 27, 2017 by Adam Rhodes

NPK: The Essential Nutrients of Cannabis

How do I use NPK to grow the Best Cannabis?

If you are planning on growing cannabis, there is a lot of information to absorb. One of the most basic and important elements of growing great cannabis is making sure it has the right nutrients. Like any plant, cannabis has a special diet made up of three main elements. Instead of eating fats, protein and calories like humans, plants need nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium or NPK for short.
The three main nutrients are known as macro-nutrients and basically all plants need them to survive. From giant redwood trees to Venus Fly Traps, Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the building blocks of a healthy plant. Yet not all plants require the same amount of each element so care is needed to provide the right mix of nutrients.

So how do I get the right mix of nutrients?

The easiest way to adjust the nutrient balance of soil is to add fertilizer. Modern cultivators have a wide range of products available to choose from. Most garden supply stores have a dizzying array of fertilizers in a myriad of forms. Liquid, solid, powder, organic, the list of methods for delivering nutrients to plants goes on. Each method or delivery system is keyed to different growing techniques but there is some basic info on every one of the bottles on the shelf.
All fertilizer has three numbers on it referred to as the NPK levels. The three numbers on fertilizer represents the value of the three macro-nutrients used by plants. These macro-nutrients are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) or NPK for short.
Why do they call it NPK?
People have been growing plants for a LONG time. Some of the most important cultivators we have records of are the Greeks. Not because they were inherently special, but they helped propel language into a new era through conquest and trade so people often refer to them as founders of “Western Societies”. Greek also provided the root for the development of Latin. The Greek impact on cannabis cultivation permeates deeper than many understand.
Take the names of the nutrients; Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. Nitrogen is a French word coined in 1790 by Antoine Chaptal from Greek nitron “sodium carbonate” and French gène “producing,” which is itself a derivative from Greek -gen “giving birth to”.
Phosphorus comes from Greek φῶς and -φόρος (phos and phoros), which means “light bearer”. They called it that because white phosphorus emits a faint glow upon exposure to oxygen. Phosphorus was also the ancient name for Venus, or Hesperus, the (Morning Star) which has a faint glow. Then we get to Potassium which is often referred to as potash.
The English “potash” means “pot ash” as potassium is a compound prepared from an alkali extracted in a pot from the ash of burnt wood or tree leaves. Potash is a literal translation of the German potaschen, which means “pot ashes”. The symbol K is from the Latin name kalium, which means “calcined” or powdered ashes.

So how do I read the NPK values?

All modern fertilizer has the NPK values on the packaging. These values scale with potency. The higher the number, the more concentrated the nutrient is in the fertilizer. For example, fertilizer listed as 20-5-5 has four times more nitrogen in it than phosphorus and potassium. A 20-20-20 fertilizer has double the concentration of all three nutrients than one with 10-10-10.
Plants need nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to grow. Without enough of any one of these nutrients, a plant will have issues and may even die. But they need each for different reasons. Nitrogen (N) is largely responsible for the growth of leaves and foliage on the plant. Phosphorus (P) is largely responsible for root growth and flower or fruit development. Potassium (K) helps the overall functions of the plant like stem development and water absorption perform correctly.

How do I know how much to use?

For cultivators working with prepared soil like Dakine 420 or Fox Farms, the level of nutrients in the soil is labeled. For cultivators working with native soil, getting a soil test is a great way to measure its health and fertility. These tests are generally inexpensive, but vital when it comes to growing and maintaining healthy plants in the garden.
Soil tests are used to determine the current fertility and health of your soil. Once a cultivator has this information, they can find the right formulation to bolster what is already there. Soil tests also show the pH in addition to macro-nutrient levels.
By measuring both the pH level and pinpointing nutrient deficiencies, a soil test can provide the information necessary for maintaining optimal fertility. Most plants, including grasses, flowers, and vegetables, perform best in slightly acidic soil (6.0 to 6.5). Others, like azaleas, gardenias and blueberries, require a somewhat higher acidity in order to thrive.

Why do most nutrients have a Veg and Bloom portion?

Not all plants require the same nutrients throughout their lives either. Marijuana requires a higher nitrogen ratio during the vegetative and early flowering stages as it is the main component for plant growth. During flowering the plant prefers a lower nitrogen and higher phosphorous NPK fertilizer ratio because phosphorus is important for flower and resin development. Adjusting the micro-nutrient levels can also change the absorption rates of macro-nutrients.
The NPK fertilizer ratio does not show the micro-nutrients. These are trace elements provided by most soils. They need to be added when using a hydroponic grow system. Having ‘hard water’ or water with calcium above 200 PPM makes adding more calcium counterproductive and can lead to nutrient lock-out. This is why several companies offer micro-nutrients for hard water.

So are all fertilizers with the same NPK interchangeable?

Even given the exact same NPK ratio, not all formulations are the same. The NPK elements of any fertilizer are bound up in molecular compounds with differing degrees of bio-availability. Companies may offer their nutrients as inorganic salts, oxides, or even as colloidal minerals. Depending on the individual system (soil, hydroponic, aeroponic) one method may be preferable over another.
Be sure not to mix nutrient lines from different manufacturers without knowing how their micro-nutrients interact. This is a difficult process for most without a chemistry degree so it is advised to see if other cultivators have experimented with identical mixtures. If their results are and mimic their process. Remember that order of operations is important and to follow their process exactly.

What should the NPK levels be?

Even more important than the actual numbers on the package is the ratio of each of the primary nutrients to each other. One cultivator can grow using nutrients with a rating of 15-30-15 and another can get identical results using 5-10-5 because the proportion of each nutrient is the same. During vegetative-growth, phosphorus levels should remain at about 1/2 of nitrogen levels. Potassium should be close to 1/2-2/3 that of nitrogen.
During flowering, phosphorus takes the lead. Keeping nitrogen at 1/2 and potassium at 1/2-2/3 the strength of phosphorus is a common benchmark. It is important to note that potassium is consistently maintained throughout both stages at 1/2-2/3 the level of the main nutrient. Staying close to this ratio will prevent a nutrient lock-out.
A nutrient lock-out is when nutrients combine to form compounds that your plant can’t use. Many liquid and powder nutrients need to be added in a specific order to prevent them mixing with other compounds and forming unusable compounds. Make sure to read the instructions on any nutrients used to prevent wasting product or damaging plants.

Thanks for reading.

Introducing the ACMPR Canada New Cannabis Regulations

Marijuana News, MedicalAugust 24, 2016 by Ashley Priest

Introducing the ACMPR – Canada's New Cannabis Regulations

The ACMPR officially goes into effect today in Canada which makes changes to the old MMPR. What does this mean for the citizens of Canada? Canadian citizens with a medical card now have access to growing their own cannabis. Per every gram prescribed to be used by a medical card holder each day, they are allowed to grow up to five indoor plants or two outdoor plants. This means if the doctor recommended the patient 3 grams per day, they could cultivate 15 plants indoors or 6 outdoors. Plants are not allowed to be grown near child care facilities, schools, playgrounds, or public areas that are frequented by children. It is recommended that all grows be locked and secured as well. Cannabis products that are being cured are to be locked in child-proof containers according to recommendations from Health Canada.

Patients are also able to take on another unique aspect and choose a designated cannabis grower to cultivate their medication. This law is making many people happy because on average, 5 indoor growing hydroponic plants can produce over 50 ounces of herb. This gives medical marijuana patients in Canada a new outlook on growing medicine. They’re also able to augment their supply of cannabis by supplementing orders from online dispensaries throughout Canada such as Weedism or Bud Xpress.

One of the conditions, in order to become a designated grower for someone, is to not have any felony drug convictions on your record in the past 10 years. The list of qualifying conditions to receive cannabis patient status in Canada ranges from PTSD and nausea to vomiting and cancer-related pain.

One of the major problems facing Canadians who are looking to utilize cannabis as an alternative treatment to dangerous and deadly pharmaceutical prescription drugs, is a shortage of medicinal supplies from state licensed vendors. There are said to be 34 licensed cannabis dispensaries across Canada. According to the ACMPR, all starting product must be purchased from one of these licensed facilities in the form of seeds or clones. The problem many patients face is simply running out of medicine which could be detrimental to their regimen.

Patients who suffer from cancer, leukemia, epilepsy, and other dangerous life-threatening illnesses cannot afford to go days or weeks without their medicine. Cannabis truly does work. It’s not like being without pharmaceuticals from the doctor for a week. Medical marijuana patients in Canada are having to turn to the dispensaries, which the government says are operating illegally, in order to receive the medications they so desperately need. The problem is Canada already has countless marijuana dispensaries that are set up and serving the people successfully.

The people have even spoken and it’s very clear that they want dispensaries. The Canadian government, however, has a different plan that includes strict regulations and iPad-like stores. This also brings up the issue of cost eEffectiveness. The low-income population of Canadians across the country falls short of being able to afford access to medical cannabis. This is a group that is making sure this problem gets the necessary attention that it needs to become solved.

Many patients that are working with licensed government facilities have run into the issue of them not having a consistent supply. This has not been an issue with dispensaries. In fact, many times if a patient cannot find their medicine through a licensed entity, they will find it at a dispensary. It is also not uncommon for dispensaries to provide free medical cannabis to patients who can not afford it. This cannot be said about governments anywhere. The new ACMPR is definitely an improvement and a step in the right direction but Canada still has a long ways to go before they truly implement a program that will work well for the people.