People who grow cannabis for the sick perform a truly sacred act. Anyone who goes through the time, the effort, and the risk of growing medicinal-grade cannabis should be celebrated and respected. Vendors should be treated with the utmost respect. There should be a separate vendor waiting area as well as more than one trained dedicated buyer, if possible, to help guide them through the steps of buying clean cannabis.

First, visually examine the cannabis. What color is it? Bright green usually indicates that the flowers are not cured. As cannabis cures, the greens darken and more orange, red, and yellow colors appear, blue and purple also.

After the initial visual inspection, smell the flowers. Give the bag a gentle squeeze and allow the aroma to waft over you. A wide variety of smells from lemon pine sol to earthy musk could be present. Fresh berries, grass and leather cannabis express at least as many olfactory notes as wine.

After visual and nasal inspection, gently break open a bud or two, or maybe three. You are looking for evidence of mold. At its earliest stages, it will appear as a brown streaking on the stem. As it advances, white, grey, or brown webbing will begin to grow. The most common form is botrytis, or gray mold, although it can appear in the aforementioned colors. Also examine the surface leaf area that remains on the bud for signs of powdery mildew (PM). It will express itself as white downy spots or chunks on the leaf. It looks quite similar to chalk or paint lightly speckled on the leaf. The use of a 3x light and a 30x microscope will aid in determining whether cannabis flowers are clean.

When looking for mold, one should also be looking for little critters, bugs that is. A variety of nasty pests can be present on cannabis flowers. Spider mites are perhaps the most common. Look for small black or brown spots through a microscope, as they might be invisible to the naked eye. Under magnification, the little nasties appear as spider-like horrors. Combusting cannabis with these present can result in a very unappetizing snap and crackle in your pot. Other commonly seen pests include thrips, gnats, and the occasional caterpillar. Again, rigorous examination with at least a 30x microscope is essential.

After flowers or concentrates pass our initial inspection procedure, they are then lab tested. THC, CBD, and CBN are all tested for using the GCMS method. Pathogenic molds are also tested for including aspergillus and aurobasidium. The presence of pathogenic molds has potentially fatal consequences, particularly for someone with a compromised immune system. Testing also allows us to give vendors feedback on the cleanliness and potency of their medicine.

Another commonly seen mistake is heat stress. Heat stressed cannabis will generally be orange, with most if not all of the exterior trichomes burned away. THC is concentrated in the trichome glands, so when they are burned off, a good portion of the THC is gone. Above 80 degrees most indicas start to suffer, whereas sativas can take a little more heat due to their being from more temperate climates.

Correct temperature, adequate ventilation, proper flushing and heat stress are other major factors. The final common problem is inadequate flushing. Hydro systems should be flushed periodically during the flowering cycle, and then at the end for at least 7-10 days. Many professionals like to use a flushing solution and/or a carbohydrate/sugar solution to help wash salts and heavy hydro fertilizers away. Flushing for soil is basically the same. When cannabis is properly flushed, it will burn with a clean white ash. Improperly flushed medicine will produce a gray to black ash, and a joint may go out frequently; while a correctly flushed joint will burn for several minutes even without drawing on it, similar to a fine cigar.

Teaching the vendors on how to improve their medicine is one component of successfully buying clean cannabis. Educating medicinal growers about keeping rooms clean and free of contaminants is an important and often overlooked part of buying. During the initial inspection, the buyer should pull several different flowers out of the bag and break them open looking for the presence of mold or powdery mildew. Often larger buds will harbor mold that is not seen on the surface or in smaller flowers. After the laboratory tests, grind a small amount of cannabis and smell it afterward. Does it smell like chemicals, or do you detect individual terpenes? Terpenes are the compounds that form all of the incredible varieties of aromas that cannabis exhibits.

The next step is to vaporize the sample. Hopefully, this is the most enjoyable part of the process. Does the cannabis taste harsh or burnt? That will usually be the result of poor flushing. Cannabis flowers, especially if grown hydroponically, need 7-14 days of flushing. Organic hydro will be on the closer end of the time, regular chemical fertilizer longer. The vaporized sample should have a variety of different pleasant tastes; from lemon pledge to pine or mango, cannabis terpenes create hundreds of different flavor profiles, at least as complex as wine. When buying clean cannabis, one is most interested in how the flavors are expressed. Basically, do you taste chemicals, or do you taste terpenes? Another indication of incorrect flushing is a tickle or harshness at the back of the throat. Correctly flushed cannabis will be exceptionally smooth and tasty, often tickling nasal passages upon exhalation. Chem Dawg, OG Kush, and Sour Diesel strains often have this effect.

The last part of the process is evaluating your subjective experience. Do you feel up? Relaxed? Everyone’s experience is different, but there seem to be basic trends with indicas being associated with more “body” or sedative effects, and with sativas having a racier edge to them. For some, this will be completely the opposite. Ultimately, individual preferences will also play a large role in determining which cannabis to purchase, but if the above guidelines are followed, a patient can be assured of buying clean cannabis that’s up to standard.

TELL US, what do you look for when you’re buying cannabis?

The post The Cannabis Now Guide to Buying Clean Cannabis appeared first on Cannabis Now.

What’s pH? This is a question that usually makes new growers scratch their heads and reach for the pipe. The term pH refers to the level of alkalinity or acidity of a liquid substance. The pH scale starts at 0 and rises to 14. A value of 7.0 is considered neutral, with values over 7.0 being alkaline and values below 7.0 being acidic. The liquid is the nutrient solution being used to grow a healthy cannabis plant.

The nutrient solution is basically a cocktail of various chemicals. These chemicals can react to each other in a process called covalent bonding and form new chemicals that the plant can’t effectively use. This process of covalent bonding is largely dependent on the pH of the solution the chemicals are suspended in, in this case water. With the chemicals being used in the average hydroponic solution, a chemist would say that the optimum pH would be 7.0, which is neutral. In keeping the solution neutral, covalent bonding of the constituent parts of the solution will be kept to a minimum.

However, since cannabis plants like a different pH level for optimum growth, it’s okay to lower the pH and take the slight loss of nutrient value. Fast growing, leafy plants generally like a lower pH in the range of 5.2 to 5.9. Fortunately, a lower pH will bond fewer nutrients than a higher pH will. If the pH value goes beyond the optimum range of 5.2 to 5.9, undesirable levels of nutritional deficiency and toxicity will occur, both of which can seriously impede plant growth. Be vigilant.

In researching the various hydroponic methods in use, most of the growing media like rockwool, pea gravel and sand is relatively inert. That means the growing medium won’t react with the nutrients in the solution. For those methods that use inert media, a pH of 5.2 is recommended for optimal elemental uptake. It is at this pH level that the roots will assimilate the nutrients in the solution most efficiently. If the root has to work less to assimilate the required nutrients, the rest of the plant will benefit.

Measuring and Adjusting pH

Measuring pH is relatively easy and there are quite a few choices in terms of methods. The most inexpensive and low-tech method for measuring just requires purchasing a pH kit and taking a sample from the nutrient solution. After following the directions, use the color chart to determine the pH of the solution.

This low-tech solution poses some obvious limitations, not the least of which is the difficulty in deciding which color is closest if you’ve been into the fruits of your previous harvest. The kits typically sell for $5 to $10.

If the pH isn’t the appropriate level for your plant, knowing what chemical to add to the nutrient solution and when is paramount to success as a grower. When the pH level is alkaline, meaning the pH level is above seven, it can be lowered with saltpeter, sulfuric acid or phosphorous.  When the pH value is too low, it can be raised with calcium carbonate, lime or potash. Most fertilizers cause a pH change in the nutrient solution. Adding fertilizer to the nutrient solution almost always results in a more acidic pH, so adjust accordingly.

Proper Handling

Handling all of these chemicals safely is important. As a general rule, never use metal. Instead opt for glass or plastic or the nutrients will react with the elements in the metal and mess up the nutrient ratios. Never add the acid to the vat of nutrient. Fill a small glass container with the nutrient to be balanced and add a few drops of the necessary chemical. Stir it in well and add small amounts at a time to the large vat of nutrient until the proper pH balance is achieved.

As time goes on, the amount of salts produced by the breakdown of fertilizers in the medium causes it to become increasingly acidic. Eventually, the concentration of these salts in the medium will stunt the plant and cause browning out of the foliage. As the plant gets older, its roots become less effective in bringing food to the leaves. To avoid the accumulation of these salts in the medium and to ensure that the plant is getting all of the food it needs, be sure to flush the system with clean, pH-balanced water every couple of weeks. Do this in lieu of that cycle’s feeding.

There’s always been a big debate over when to adjust your pH – before and after you add nutrients to the water, or just after. The truth is, growers can do both. The reasoning for doing both is that water is rarely dead on neutral. It’s either acidic or alkaline, depending on the region. Render the water neutral first by bringing it to a pH of 7.0. Then add the nutrients to that chemically-neutral solution and adjust to the desired range within 5.2 to 5.9 pH.

Because there are so many factors that go into the delicate art of cultivating cannabis, learning how to properly measure and adjust the pH balance on nutrient solutions will have a clear effect on the appearance, potency and health of cannabis plants. Practicing and perfecting this step will be what makes a grower’s crop stand out from the crowd.

TELL US, have you taken pH into consideration when growing cannabis plants?

The post What’s pH? Understanding and Measuring pH in Your Grow Room appeared first on Cannabis Now.

If you want to get the most out of your DIY cannabis grow, you need to understand topping vs. fimming.

While topping might be fairly self-explanatory, fimming is like many other bits of cannabis slang — completely incomprehensible unless you’re already in the know.

In other words, you’ll never be able to guess what fimming is just by looking at the word. And that’s a shame because applying the process to your grow operation can produce more buds than ever before.

But, don’t fret. We’re here to help you make sense of it all.

In this article, we discuss topping vs. fimming in all its glory to help you decide which one is best for you.

Topping Vs. Fimming: Pruning For The Cannabis Grower

Before we get into the specific definitions of topping vs. fimming, let’s investigate the broad category to which they both belong: pruning.

Pruning is selectively removing branches from a plant (e.g., trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, ferns, mosses, etc.) with the goal of improving the plant’s structure and directing new, healthy growth.

Contrary to common misconceptions, pruning is not necessarily meant to stunt growth. Instead, pruning is meant to stimulate growth (sometimes in a completely different direction).

In gardening parlance, pruning (along with trimming) is a high-stress training technique (or HST) that you can apply to both indoor and outdoor cannabis crops.

Cannabis plants growing naturally outdoors will develop a “Christmas tree” structure with one dominant stalk, a main central cola (or flowering site on a female cannabis plant), and multiple sets of side branches with smaller, less-developed colas.

Because of this shape and the way the sun moves across the sky, all parts of the plant receive a share of the sunlight during the day.

If left to their own devices, cannabis plants grown indoors would develop the “Christmas tree” shape just like their outdoor brethren.

But, because indoor crops only receive light from a stationary grow lamp, some parts of the plant will always be in shade. That’s not good for the plant’s development.

That’s where topping vs. fimming comes in.

Topping Vs. Fimming: Definition And Difference

Topping

Topping is the process of pruning (or cutting off) the growing tip of the main stem of your cannabis plant.

Removing the top (or terminal) bud will force the plant to develop two new main colas, while, at the same time, promoting growth of the lower branches.

The goal of topping is twofold:

• To train the plant to take on a new shape — that of an inverted Christmas tree — that is better suited for indoor growth where vertical space is limited
• To increase the number of main colas so the plant will produce more flowers

When To Top Cannabis

The best time to top a cannabis plant is after it’s developed at least three nodes.

With at least three nodes, the roots and stems are strong enough to recover from the stress of the pruning.

A cannabis plant typically reaches this size (i.e., three to five nodes) around 30 days into the vegetative phase. That said, different varieties grow at different speeds, so don’t top your Ghost Train Haze just because it’s time to top your Yoda OG.

Wait until each plant is ready and everything will fare better.

It’s also important to keep in mind that cannabis plants can’t handle topping during the seedling stage. If you try topping this early, you risk stunting growth significantly (or even killing the plant outright).

Similarly, topping during the flowering phase causes more damage than it’s worth. Prune your plants during the vegetative phase — not before and not after.

Once you do top, wait a week or two before topping the new growth. The plants need this time to recover from the shock and adjust to the new growth pattern.

How To Top Cannabis

Supplies

• Pruning snips or sharp scissors
• Disposable rubber gloves (thin latex medical gloves, not the thick dishwashing gloves)
• Rubbing alcohol (for cleaning)
• Rag (for cleaning)

Instructions

1. Don your rubber gloves (this helps keep germs off the plant and sticky stuff off your hands)
2. Clean your pruning snips or scissors with rubbing alcohol
3. Cut the main stem about ¼ of an inch above the highest branches

This will cause the main stem to stop growing and force two new side branches to take over as colas (or flowering sites).

Fimming

Fimming (short for, “F#@$, I missed” — seriously) is the process of pruning up to 75% of the growing tip off the main stem of your cannabis plant.

Removing the majority of this top bud will force the plant to develop four or more new main colas, while, at the same time, promoting growth of the lower branches.

Like topping, the goal of fimming is twofold:

• To train the plant to take on a new shape — that of an inverted Christmas tree — that is better suited for indoor growth where vertical space is limited
• To increase the number of main colas so the plant will produce more flowers

While fimming is excellent at increasing the number of main colas, it’s not so good at producing an orderly shape.

When To Fim Cannabis

Wherever you fall on the topping vs. fimming debate, the timing for both is the same.

Just as you did with topping, wait until the plant has developed at least three nodes (four or five is better) before you start fimming.

Then, always fim your plants during the vegetative phase — not before and not after — and wait a week or two before fimming the new growth to give the plant time to recover from the shock and adjust to the new growth pattern.

How To Fim Cannabis

Supplies

• Pruning snips or sharp scissors
• Disposable rubber gloves (thin latex medical gloves, not the thick dishwashing gloves)
• Rubbing alcohol (for cleaning)
• Rag (for cleaning)

Instructions

1. Don your rubber gloves (this helps keep germs off the plant and sticky stuff off your hands)
2. Clean your pruning snips or scissors with rubbing alcohol
3. Take hold of the tip of the plant
4. Gently pull up on the growth
5. Cut about 75% off the top of the main stem (don’t cut so that only bare stem is left)

This will cause the main stem to stop growing and force four new side branches to develop and take over as colas (or flowering sites).

Summary

As we learned in the previous two sections:

• Topping involves removing the entire tip or top of the main stem
• Fimming involves removing only about 75% of the tip or top of the main stem

Both techniques encourage the development of new main colas and promote the growth of the lower, secondary branches.

Topping Vs. Fimming: Which Is Better?

The pruning method that’s best for you — topping vs. fimming — depends on what you want to get out of your grow.

When you top a cannabis plant, the two side nodes immediately underneath the cut site take over and develop into colas (thereby doubling the potential for bud development).

These new branches always grow symmetrically, so the plant will rarely become unruly or grow into an awkward shape.

When you fim a cannabis plant, it will develop four or more side nodes underneath the cut site and will recover faster from this pruning.

These new branches tend to grow less uniformly, so plants can quickly become unruly and need support to stay upright.

Weigh the pros and cons of topping vs. fimming based on your goal for the entire crop and apply the one that works best for you.

Use The Stuff You Cut

Once you start learning about topping vs. fimming, you’ll discover that you can use the extra plant matter you cut off for any number of cool purposes.

Here are some suggestions to get you started:

• Stems — Brew up a tasty tea
• Fan leaves — Juice them or brew them into a different type of weed tea
• Sugar leaves — Cook into cannabutter
• Roots — Prepare as a topical cream
• Large stalks — Grind them up to make mulch for your next batch of plants

As you can see, there’re so many things you can do with the different parts of the cannabis plant. Once you start looking, you’ll be amazed at the awesome things cannaenthusiasts have come up with (smoking meat with the stems? Mmmm!).

It really does bring a whole new meaning to the term Reuse/Recycle.

For more expert tips on growing your own ganja from seed to smokable product, take a few minutes to read these articles from the HMJ blog:

• How To Germinate Weed Seeds: 8 Pro Tip
• How To Grow Marijuana: The Ultimate Organic Guide
• The 5 Best Ways To Check For Moldy Weed, Plus How To Avoid It
• How To Recognize And Fix Nutrient Deficiencies In Cannabis
• How And When To Harvest Marijuana Plants | The Complete Guide
• Drying And Curing Weed | The Complete Guide To Better Buds
• Marijuana Decarboxylation: Why And How To Decarb Your Weed
• Marijuana Packaging: How To Keep Weed Fresh
• How To Smoke Weed: Tips For First-Timers

And to check out our 100-percent all-natural marijuana products, visit HonestMarijuana.com today.

The post Topping Vs. Fimming: What’s The Difference And Which Is Better? appeared first on Honest Marijuana.

If you’re curious about cannabis seeds — particularly autoflower vs. feminized — then you’ve come to the right place.

Here at Honest Marijuana, we’ve been growing everyone’s favorite plant for a loooong time, and we’ve pretty much done and seen it all. As a result, we have a unique perspective on what it takes to nurture both autoflowering and feminized seeds to maturity.

In this article, then, we’ll tell you everything you need to know to understand the difference between autoflower vs. feminized seeds.

Autoflower Vs. Feminized: The Definitions

Autoflowering Seeds

To start our deep dive into autoflower vs. feminized seeds, let’s take a step back and look at two important variables: photoperiod-dependent plants and cannabis ruderalis. Doing so will help you understand autoflowering seeds better.

Photoperiod-Dependent Seeds

Photoperiod-dependent seeds produce plants whose flowering point is determined by the length of time they’re exposed to light.

This really isn’t anything new — they’re your classic indica, sativa, and hybrid strains with names even the newest of noobs is probably familiar with (like Blue Dream, Sour Diesel, and Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies).

You may have been cultivating or using flowers from these plants for years. Now, you just know a bit more about how they grow: They flower in response to the amount of light they get.

With the basics of regular seeds in mind, we’d like to introduce you to the cannabis strain that made autoflowering seeds possible: cannabis ruderalis.

Cannabis Ruderalis

Cannabis ruderalis is a relative of the indicas and sativas that you can find on the shelf at your local dispensary. But three things set it apart from those more common species:

• Ruderalis is considered feral, which means that it grows in the wild without human care
• Ruderalis has a very low THC count
• Ruderalis will flower at a certain number of days regardless of the amount of light it gets

Cannabis growers of yore noticed this last attribute and thought it would be great to cross ruderalis with domesticated strains to produce seeds with the best properties of both worlds (i.e., higher THC count and photoperiod-independence).

That’s where autoflowering seeds come in.

Autoflowering seeds do not rely on the ratio of light to dark hours (the photoperiod) to switch from vegetative growth to flowering growth. Instead, their switch depends on age (i.e., number of days).

What that means for the average grower is that, with autoflowering seeds and strains, they don’t have to worry about varying the amount of light the plants get like they do with photoperiodic seeds.

So, while this variable does sound like the perfect solution to an age-old problem, it does come with a tradeoff.

The mix of genetics that produced autoflowering seeds (e.g., cannabis ruderalis and photoperiodic strains) did improve THC count, but the potency is still nowhere near that of the regular indicas and sativas.

Feminized Seeds

Understanding the difference between autoflower vs. feminized seeds starts with understanding the difference between male and female seeds.

Normal cannabis seeds have a 50% chance of producing a male plant and a 50% chance of producing a female plant. That’s just the way that plant biology works.

The thing is, there’s no way to tell just by looking at them which sex of plant any given seed will produce.

Why is that a problem for ganja growers? Three reasons:

• Male plants don’t produce flowers (the part of the plant that contains most of the cannabinoids)
• Male plants pollinate female plants in their vicinity (resulting in fewer and smaller buds containing more seeds)
• Male preflowers develop first and fast

So, a male plant growing in the midst of several female plants can drastically reduce — and ruin — the number of buds those female plants will produce. That’s the absolute opposite of what growers want.

That’s also why it’s so important to get rid of male plants as soon as possible.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a way to ensure that the seed you plant will produce a female plant rather than a male plant? There is: feminized seeds!

Feminized cannabis seeds are engineered to contain only the female genes (XX). As a result, they will only and always grow into a female plant.

This is good news for growers because it increases the odds of getting a female plant from 50% to around 99.9%. We’ll take those odds!

When you plant feminized seeds, it’s pretty much a sure thing that the result will be a female plant with seedless buds.

And, really, that’s the holy grail of ganja growers everywhere.

Summary

Autoflowering seeds do not rely on the ratio of light to dark hours (the photoperiod) to switch from vegetative growth to flowering growth. Instead, their switch depends on age (i.e., number of days).

Feminized seeds only contain the female genes (XX) and will only and always (to within a 99.9% certainty) grow into a female plant.

Autoflower Vs. Feminized: The Differences

1) Autoflowering Seeds Can Be Male Or Female

The main difference between autoflower vs. feminized seeds is that the autoflowering seeds can produce either male or female plants.

That makes autoflowering seeds more akin to regular seeds in that there’s a 50% chance the seed you plant will produce a male plant and a 50% chance that it will produce a female plant.

And there’s no way to tell which is which other than to plant them and wait for them to sprout.

If you choose to plant autoflowering seeds, keep a sharp eye out for male plants and cull them from the herd as soon as possible.

If you get rid of the male plants before they are able to pollinate the females, you won’t have to worry that the female plants will get pollinated and produce seed — which reduces the number and potency of their flowers (a less-than-desirable result).

2) Autoflowering Seeds Produce Smaller Harvests

Although the size of plants grown from autoflowering seeds makes them great for growing in tight spaces, their shortness of stature means they produce smaller harvests.

That may not sound like a bad thing. But, if you want to get as many consumable buds off of each plant, you’d be better off with regular seeds or feminized seeds.

These varieties grow much larger than autoflowering plants and, therefore, have more room to grow lots and lots of flowers.

3) Feminized Seeds Have Higher Potency

Because they lack the cannabis ruderalis genes, plants grown from feminized seeds have a much higher potency than the autoflowering variety.

During the flowering stage, plants grown from feminized seeds direct their energy away from the stems and leaves and into the flowers.

This extra available metabolic energy — that otherwise would have gone into producing seeds — also contributes to an increase in cannabinoid, terpene, and flavonoid production.

More THC means a heavier psychedelic experience. More CBD means a more potent medicinal experience. And more terpenes and flavonoids mean a better tasting, better smelling final product.

4) Feminized Seeds Take Longer To Reach Maturity

Depending on the type of cannabis you plant and the environmental conditions in which it’s grown, autoflowering plants reach maturity after 75 days (2.5 months)

Plants grown from feminized seeds, on the other hand, can take anywhere from 120 days to 240 days (4-8 months) to reach maturity.

Autoflower Vs. Feminized: Quality Matters

Wherever you fall on the autoflower vs. feminized choice, it all comes down to two important variables:

• The quality of the strain from which those seeds came
• Whether or not the plant that produces the bud you smoke was grown organically

Why are these important?

Because low-quality plants — called mids and regs by those in the know — will produce a low-quality final product. That low-quality final product will diminish any psychoactive or medicinal effects you experience.

When you’re growing your own weed with an eye toward cooking up a batch of edibles, rolling a J, or packing a bowl, always use autoflower or feminized seeds from the highest-quality plants you can get your hands on.

The seeds can be from any strain you choose, as long as they came from a healthy, well-producing parent.

If you don’t abide by this rule of thumb and opt, instead, for whatever seeds you can get your hands on, the end result may leave you dissatisfied and downhearted.

Then, there’s the matter of whether or not the bud was grown organically.

Again, it doesn’t matter if you choose autoflower vs. feminized. A large portion of the final experience comes down to how the plant was treated while it was growing.

With a high-quality, organic strain, like those grown at Honest Marijuana, you’ll need less bud to experience the effects you’re after — a little high-quality ganja goes a long way — and you’ll be protecting yourself against harmful fertilizers, heavy metals, and pesticides.

Remember all cannabis products come from the cannabis plant in one way or another.

If the grower used chemicals to treat the plant, traces of those chemicals may remain in whatever product you take.

You can avoid this issue entirely and experience cannabis the way it was meant to be with the best products on the planet from Honest Marijuana.

If you live in Colorado, find some Honest Marijuana and discover what the purest marijuana experience on the plant feels like (Hint: It’s like nothing you’ve ever felt before).

For more information on all things cannabis and to check out our 100% all-natural marijuana products, visit HonestMarijuana.com today.

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