Cannabis Conundrums......

An easy way to "mulch" your plants, especially helpful if like me, you fill your pots right up to the top. The shade cloth will greatly reduce the suns' and also the winds' ability to dry your soil out. I think the pictures tell the story, the cloth does not need to be exact, but if you are really keen, you could cut circles, the method is identical and probably more effective due to having the entire soil surface covered. Another bonus with having the shade cloth is that you can water the plants as normal, as obviously the water will pass through the holes in the shade cloth, and having the cloth also prevents the soil from being washed away or for holes/trenches/ruts to form if you are a bit heavy handed with the water volume or pressure. Pinning the cloth down with toothpicks/skewers/wire spikes/nails is actually quite important, especially if you live in a windy area, because if it not pinned down in some way, a gust of wind could lift/move the cloth and if your plants are really small, there is a chance they can be ripped out or have a broken stem due to the cloth flying away. And yes, I found out the hard way! It is also simple to pull out the pegs/spikes/toothpicks and access underneath the cloth if you want to add more soil, worm castings, or other top dressing further down the track once the soil sinks a bit. The shade cloth being synthetic will not cause a "nutrient draw down" as can occur when using straw as a mulch, as the soil microbes will rob the soil of some goodness while actively breaking down the straw. Adding a layer of manure under the straw can offset this "draw down" easily enough though. Also with straw, it can at times, form a type of dry crust that makes watering difficult and on the other hand, if kept too moist, can lead to unwanted pathogens/moulds/fungus establishing themselves in the straw mulch. Using lucerne/alfalfa is the best organic mulch as it has a high carbon/nitrogen ratio, high enough to offset any "draw down", but it is still prone to "crusting", particularly the fine chopped product that is often sold in bales. Obviously with the shade cloth there is virtually a zero chance of any moulds or fungus getting established. And finally, if washed and looked after, the shade cloth "mulch" can be used over and over again, making it very economical in the long run. If you are "guerrilla growing" this artificial mulch will greatly reduce the need for watering and if lightly covered with loose soil is virtually invisible, especially if you get the green or dark coloured shade cloth. Extending it a few feet around each plant or plot will further conserve even more water, meaning you won't have to visit as often, thereby lowering your chances of being seen as well. I find the shade cloth with around 75% shade reduction rating the ideal compromise between effectiveness and easy water penetration. Cheers, Organoman.

I thought I would start a "diary" to post pictures of STUFF! Stuff that may help out in answering questions and stuff that is just plain weird. Cannabis can do some freaky things when growing and I plan to update this library of weird stuff as I find them. This is, I imagine, of interest to older growers and newer growers alike, as older growers just like seeing weird stuff and newer growers may need some encouragement to help understand, that despite their best intentions, cannabis can and will do some weird stuff at times! So, no real diary documenting growth in this one, just pictures of STUFF. As they (whoever they are?) say, a picture is worth a thousand words! Enjoy this cornucopia of weird and not so weird stuff! And as usual - Hope this helps,...... Organoman. The pictures of the seedling with its roots exposed, shows the need for proper watering, adequate root room and the futility of watering seedlings with a hand sprayer/atomizer or syringe. The seedling is 3 weeks old and has a 6 inch taproot. Imagine what the roots must be thinking in a coffee cup only half filled with soil mix! The pictures of most interest according to the question page, would have to be of the young primordia/juvenile flowers as they first appear on the stem to let the world know what SEX they are. I have removed the leaves to make these "pre-flowers" easier to see. The pictures of the hermaphrodite auto flower shows how sneaky male flowers can hide amongst the female flowers! Breeding using pollen from hermaphrodites will usually lead to children with an increased desire to become hermaphrodites too. These flowers were from the "twin" seedling. The pictures of the buds growing on the leaf stem are from another auto flowering plant. So too are the pictures of the calyx on the leaf stem. The pictures of the small "budlet" growing from the centre of a leaf and having its own leaf, was found on an outdoor photo regular plant that I bred myself and is an example of some of the weird things cannabis is capable of growing/doing. The pictures of the almost black plants were grown outdoor in the middle of winter, the only protection they received was to be under the eaves, otherwise they were exposed to the elements, including heavy frosts that destroyed some of the leaves. Hey, it was fun - what else is their to do outdoor in the garden in winter? Interestingly, the more protected parts stayed green, showing how cold temps can influence pigmentation. Although harvest was slow and long, they smoked up ok, but a bit harsh! The first picture, of the male plant, shows how even bushy plants can be male and not all males are branchless and spindly. He was used to great effect in a breeding line of my strains and was a G13 White Widow cross from a couple of years ago. The second male was a cross of this G13 Widow over a Gorilla Glue x Girl Scout Cookies and was used in another line of my breeding experiments this last summer, pollinating a number of tropical Sativas, amongst others. So .... Thai x African x G13 x White Widow x Gorilla Glue x Girl Scout Cookies anyone? I'm excited! Stay tuned for anymore weird and wonderful stuff that I might find in the wonderful world of cannabis! And, as always, enjoy in moderation.

Killer A5 Haze by Ace Seeds. Killer Malawi x A5 Haze from the 80s. Killer is the word! Sunshine, Soil and Love. No "healthy green leaves" were harmed in this production!

Tried just placing some random branches from a culled male into a jar with water to see if cloning this way was feasible, and yes, it is. Water was only changed/topped up every once in a while, as I was trying to establish how poorly they could be treated and still achieve results, and the answer is - complete neglect and no attention to detail will still give you viable clones. They went on to grow and flower and even produced viable male flowers that yielded pollen. They were kept in plain water and only given a weak nutrient solution once the roots appeared and were kept in a shady location outdoors with absolutely no care. Once the roots were there, I did change the nutrient solution every 2-3 days with plain water then more nutrient solution another 4 or 5 days later for another 2-3 days before going back to plain water for another 4-5 days again. This was kept up for about 6 weeks and only ended after I harvested the male flowers for their pollen, which did produce seeds on the one bud I applied it to, to confirm if it was viable or not. I also regularly oxygenated the water by squirting a large syringe full of water into the jar every 2-3 days to create bubbles. This gave me an idea as how to grow an isolated supply of pollen for breeding and seed production and while it did work in this most crude fashion, I still think isolating a male plant and keeping it alive and healthy would provide much higher quality pollen. But for an apartment grower with limited space, it can work.

Ace Seeds rock..........Malawi Killer.