Outdoor Marijuana Growing

          The “hardiness” of Marijuana

The summer of ’83 was a typical one by Southern California standards - hot, smoggy, and dry. In spite of this, my backyard was teeming with beautiful plant life. One fence was bordered with ivy, a fig tree hanging over the middle of it, a banana plant, short lemon tree, and Oleander nearby. Bordering the porch were marigolds, some sunflowers, a fence with Bougainvillea, and in the main yard corn, with two rows of Marijuana. By September, the hardiness of the Marijuana left it alone in the main growing area, surrounding dead or dying vegetation was destined for the compost pile.

Plant hardiness generally refers to a plant’s ability to withstand cold temperatures. In the case of Marijuana, there are several attributes of hardiness attached to this aggressive herb. Shaking off some cold temps, is not uncommon with Cannabis. Some Sativa and Indica strains have been known to mature, in spite of a few days of chilly weather at frost readings. A weed is classified as “an unwanted plant” in your garden. However, Marijuana, and some of the more common weeds that have invaded gardens past are survivors.

If Marijuana gets a head start on neighboring plants, Marijuana will win, especially the Sativa outdoor variety. Cannabis Sativa can be started as an accidentally dropped seed somewhere in your backyard. Without water, fertilizer, or cultivation, before you know it, there stands a huge plant at eye level. This aggressive weed, does not attract many pests, and once Marijuana has a foothold, large animals generally won’t bother it either.

Marijuana employs a “tap root system”, one in which the primary root grows down from the stem with some small secondary roots forming on it. A carrot, for example, is a tap root vegetable. The Cannabis tap root will seek water and nutrients deep below the topsoil, delving at whatever level is necessary for survival. A well grown Sativa would need a saw to get taken down. After the earth softened, and you pulled up the remaining root, you would discover an arm’s length tap root. This is the tenacity of Marijuana.

Marijuana will do all that it can to ensure its future in a location. This may also mean producing hermaphrodites. Plants having male and female sex parts are hermaphrodites. When a pot farmer is striving for a Sinsemilla (seedless) crop of Marijuana, he will pull or cut down males before their pollen sacs open. The remaining females are oozing with sticky resin (THC) in hopes of pulling in some male pollen. In the wild, this would end this Marijuana family. But alas, the female plant produces male sacs as well, and fertilizes herself! This is the utmost in nature’s uncanny ability to promote itself, as the hermaphrodite drops her fertile seeds to the ground while dying. After a dormant winter, those seeds will spring forth with a new Marijuana crop, and left un-checked, would over-run that yard.

In addition to the built in hardiness of Marijuana, there are the botanical efforts of agriculturists worldwide determined to make Super Weed a reality. Seed banks already have feminized (female only) strains, automatic (AK-47) flowering strains, and mixed percentage (Sativa/Indica) varieties. Recently in a remote part of Mexico, Militia combating Marijuana crops discovered a new hybrid of Cannabis. Named “Colombians”, this strain takes two months to mature, and may be planted at any time of the year. In addition, this “Colombians” strain is resistant to herbicide. To kill this plant, you must destroy it at root level. The man power to shift from raiding harvests in the fall, to perpetually year round- and Marijuana eradication manually, as opposed to spraying herbicide, will be closely monitored I’m sure by U.S. pot farmers who are best at growing American. The hardiness of Marijuana continues onward.

Joyce

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Joyce supports the "Cannabis Culture" at http://www.cali9.com email cali9crew@cali9.com

The advantages of growing in soil indoors

The difference here is similar to the difference between indoor and outdoor cultivation. Soil growing requires less equipment, investment and, generally, less work to control the various factors influencing growth.

The only specialist equipment required for the simplest indoor soil set-up would be seeds, organic nutrients, a light and a timer. The remaining equipment - soil, pots, fans, reflective materials and such should be easily available in most countries.

As an organic compound, soil is less sensitive to changes and small variations than a synthetic medium like rockwool. It could be called a self-regulating environment. Thus, pH testing equipment is usually not required.

Similarly, organic nutrients are gentler to plants than the concentrated salts and minerals of hydroponic feed mixtures. Therefore, while it is still possible to over-fertilize an organic system, such a mistake is less likely to 'burn' or kill plants. An EC meter is not required for soil growing

In short, soil growing is easier and more forgiving of growers' mistakes. Therefore it is a highly advisable method for the first time indoor grower.

The advantages of growing hydroponically indoors

Indoor cultivation allows more control over a plant's life cycle than outdoor. In the same way, hydroponic cultivation allows the grower an even greater level of control.

Since plants in a hydroponic setup are growing in a synthetic, neutral medium the grower is able to dictate exactly which nutrients are given to a plant, and at what levels. Of course, this requires more care than organics and usually necessitates the use of a pH meter (to measure acidity in water) and an EC meter (to measure the level of nutrient in water by means of its Electrical Conductivity).

Hydroponic growing mediums are less bulky and heavy than soil, often easier to handle and possibly easier to dispose of. Pests and fungus are less likely to flourish in rockwool or similar mediums, and are almost never endemic to newly bought synthetic mediums.

Hydroponic nutrients, since they are highly concentrated, take up less space than organics, especially for large crops. They are usually pre-mixed and do not require the grower to supplement them or combine several different formulas. Also, they will often smell less than organic nutrients.

In short, the more in-depth control available with hydroponics, when managed effectively, allows for a bigger, more potent and sometimes even faster crop. While such systems are not recommended for first-time indoor growers, those who have experienced success with soil cultivation indoors may wish to try this as the next step in refining their technique.

The advantages of growing outdoors

Outdoor cultivation requires less equipment, expertise and labour.

For the first few weeks of life, outdoor plants need the same care and attention as indoor ones. However, once a few basics have been well established, outdoor plants may be left (in a good, sunny spot) to take care of themselves. They may need to be regularly watered and fed and, occasionally, pruned but most of their development will be accomplished simply by allowing them to grow over spring and summer.

This feature of outdoor cultivation is what makes 'guerrilla growing' possible. Established plants may be placed outside in remote or wild areas and left to their own devices throughout the growing season. The guerrilla grower need only visit them a few times in this period, or even just the once, at harvest time.

Outdoor plants will usually yield more than indoor ones. This is simply because they are able to grow larger. Few indoor setups are able accommodate plants larger than 180cm. Assuming that detection is not a problem, outdoor plants may comfortably grow to 2 or 3m in height. It is possible for a single plant of this size to produce 500g or more of dried bud.

Germinating seeds early in the growing season (March or April in the Northern hemisphere) will allow your plants a long vegetative period before flowering is triggered by the shorter days of late summer.

Some people prefer the taste and effect of organically grown cannabis. Many cannabis lovers insist they can easily differentiate between buds grown with soil and sun and those produced with hydroponics and grow-lights. This, however may simply be the result of their smoking over-fertilized indoor cannabis, or even the fact that indoor buds can taste very different, due to their containing an uncommonly high level of THC that is simply not attainable outdoors.

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