Interview with Guru Ju_Bps

Hello everyone!

We are very pleased to conduct yet another interview with one of the outstanding members of this community. This time, we got to pick Guru Ju_Bps's brain!

Thank you for your detailed answers @Ju_Bps. We hope the community enjoys this chit-chat. 

1. Question: Hello Ju_Bps! We are very excited to conduct this interview today. Your profile tells us a lot about your skills. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What does your name stand for?

Answer: Hello everybody! I'm so happy to do this interview with you people. I have seen some interviews of growers I admire here and feel very honored that you chose me. 

To tell you a bit about myself, well…I'm a family man from Northern Europe. I'm 32 years old and a father to my beautiful children. Fortunately, I have a job I enjoy and a passion for cultivating cannabis. 

I cultivate for my personal purposes as I love consuming cannabis. Unfortunately, growing cannabis is still illegal where I live. But, no matter what the law or society says, I believe that it's not a crime to produce this amazing plant. In addition, I don't consider myself a criminal. Instead, I think of myself as a curious person who can put in a lot of effort for the plant I love. I think everyone who grows cannabis for both medicinal and recreational purposes should be proud of themselves!

Coming to my nickname…hmmm…what can I say? Ju stands for Julien (which is not my real name, haha) and Bps is short form of a team that has absolutely nothing to do with cannabis. I just chose it randomly when I was in a hurry to create a profile, hahaha! There you go — mystery solved. 

2. Question: Why did you start cultivating cannabis?

Answer: I'm not new to growing cannabis. I started growing marijuana several years ago outdoors, but things didn't go as per my plans. I found it difficult to grow, thanks to our typical northern hemisphere climate.

In addition, I lacked a lot of experience and did it a bit haphazardly, despite having a green thumb. I have grown various types of fruits and vegetables, so growing cannabis shouldn't have been too difficult for me. 

However, I did face a few failures at the beginning, and that propelled me to become very serious about it. What was the point of growing a few plants that yielded meager results? I'd end up with a few grams but I always told myself that it was still a harvest and something was better than nothing. I mean, there are so many people who don't even get to taste home-grown weed, so I was lucky in that aspect. 

I was forced to buy from unscrupulous dealers, but it never felt like good cannabis. I wanted more. I'd already gotten the taste of real marijuana so street weed no longer appealed to me. I wanted something I grew so I knew what went into the plant. Most importantly, it would be amazing quality if I just focused and did what was necessary. 

Then, like a blessing, we had lockdowns where I had the time to sit down and think about where I was going wrong. I told myself that it was high time to become my own supplier. I wouldn't rely on others and enrich their criminal networks anymore. All I had to do was take care of the plants properly and they would reward me. 

Thus, with my mind set on it, I pulled out a tent that was lying around unused. I bought it a long time ago. I still had to get some equipment, so I bought them immediately, ordered some seeds from Royal Queen Seeds, and got to work. 

Today, I'm proud to say that I haven't bought any cannabis outside and achieved my goal of meeting my needs!

3. Question: How has cannabis helped you?

Answer: Cannabis has been a blessing for me in many ways. As I mentioned earlier, I love my job, but it's stressful at times. I turn to cannabis to calm down and get rid of the pressure. I feel soothed and it helps me focus better and put things in perspective. In other words, I use cannabis after a long day at work and unwind. 

Apart from that, I also use cannabis for medicinal purposes. For example, I use it to find relief from chronic pain. 

4. Question: Do you remember how and why you started using Growdiaries?

Answer: Yes, I remember exactly. Like it happened yesterday. 

So, there I was…talking to fellow growers about the mysteries of growing cannabis, and just enjoying my time. And, then, @Secretflower mentioned Growdiaries. Being a curious guy, I hung out on the site and liked what I saw. 

What made it a sweeter deal was that I loved to talk and share whatever I learned. Plus, it was awesome that I could see and understand the data of other growers. Growing cannabis is just like growing other fruits and vegetables, but you need a little more than just a passion for plants. For example, your life will be a lot easier if you organize things and note important stuff. Kinda like how you keep a journal to track your feelings or get some work done. 

I loved that you could track your grows, get notes, and photos, and also interact with other growers. Most importantly, you could ask questions and others just had to take a look at your diary/journal and tell you where you're going wrong. It was fascinating, to say the least. I also liked that you could compare your progress with others. And, if you bought seeds of a strain you were unfamiliar with, you only needed to look at others' diaries of that particular strain and learn more about it. 

Growdiaries also hosted competitions and being a naturally competitive individual, I loved it. I feel it's an innovative way for companies to advertise their products and gain traction while the user also wins goodies if he wins the competition. 

5. Question: What do you love about Growdiaries?

Answer: As I said before, I love being able to talk to other growers. I like to help whenever I can because I understand how frustrating it can be when your plants are dying in front of you. It's a helpless situation after investing so much and you can do nothing about it. 

Also, I don't consider myself an expert, because we learn something new every day, but I'm here to help in whatever capacity. I also love contests. It bring out the competitive spirit inside me, In April 2022, I set myself the goal of succeeding in being first in a monthly contest in order to have my ticket for the annual contest. After several failures and a lot of work, my dream came true.

Honestly, it is very pleasant and flattering to receive a lot of comments and support from the community. Plus, you get rewarded handsomely if you put in the work. For example, if you understand what your plants want, it will be obvious in your diaries. Then, you get sponsored and also get opportunities to test various products before they hit the stores. 

And what does that mean for a person like me who lives in a location where growing marijuana is illegal? It feels AMAZING because I feel like I'm a part of this cannabis industry. I feel at home. One day, I hope I will be able to work full-time in this industry and make a living from it. Now, that would be a beautiful dream come true! And all this has been possible because of Growdiaries. 

Growdiaries gives you the chance to do and receive so many things. It's just up to us to explore all of that and go where we want to. Finally, I've also made a lot of friends, as it's a great community with nice people.

6. Question: Do you train your cannabis plants? If yes, can you describe one technique that's easy for even beginners?

Answer: Everyone trains their cannabis plants, but I'm never too eager to do so. That said, I train my plants, but it depends on what I'm growing at that moment. 

Sure, I know a lot of people who get great results with all their training techniques. I see diaries with stunning results, thanks to ingenious methods used by growers, but I train my plants only when it's absolutely necessary. 

For example, I dare not touch my autoflowering plants as their life cycle is short and I don't want to do anything to stunt their growth. As a general rule, I grow auto-flowering plants only when I'm also growing photoperiod plants. I don't use a lot of training techniques on autoflowers except defoliating the lower branches to help the plant focus on the main colas.

Many people are afraid to defoliate their plants but I've had good results. I also remove big fan leaves that obstruct light. I do so mainly to maintain a uniform canopy and achieve equal light distribution. Other than that, I don't do much except feed them when necessary and admire them!

On the other hand, as far as photoperiod plants are concerned, I love to manipulate them, I don't have a large grow tent or room so I have to optimize every cm2 as much as possible and not waste light. In my opinion, ScrOG is one of the best techniques that helps me achieve exactly what I want. 

Several growers just stick to Topping and LST as they consider ScrOG a difficult method. However, it's not true. Yes, ScrOG does require a lot of anticipation, and a vision to get a precise idea of ​​the desired result before cultivation, but it's nearly not as tough as people perceive it to be. 

Although It takes quite a bit of time to guide the branches to the desired location, it's worth all my effort in the end. From experience, I know that I can put between 3 and 4 pots of 11 liters in a 60x60 space. So, I start with Topping once the plant has at least 2-3 nodes. I let the plant grow for about 8-10 weeks (depending on the strain) and train them until they have a total of 8 to 10 branches per plant. It is essential to try to maintain the canopy of the different plants at the same level, which is not always easy. I use ligature that I fix in my pots to make manipulating the plants easier. 

7. Question: Are you a DIY person or do you purchase most equipment, including nutrients?

Answer: I do a lot of things myself, because I'm a very manual person, but when it comes to cultivating cannabis, I prefer to buy ready-made things for ease. I agree that there are many methods you can use to create everything needed to grow cannabis, but it takes a lot of time. 

Also, there's no guarantee that it may work. You may spend a lot of time and effort only to find out in the end that it's not realistic. For example, I'd rather go and buy good soil instead of making super soil at home which needs a lot of time and effort. Of course, super soil is awesome and really works, but not everyone has the time needed to do it. 

8. Question: Can you describe a few things you do (DIY) that perhaps saves money?

Answer: As I said earlier, I believe in purchasing things made by professionals since I can't afford to spend a lot of time working on creating elaborate setups. 

However, I told myself that I could do something to improve my seedling box. Once the plants get bigger, they get lots of light but seedlings cannot handle the same intensity. Thus, many growers use lights with less intensity to give the little ones a small push at an early age. 

Similarly, I thought I would make one too. I'd made a nice seedling box already to keep the young plants inside a little longer, but there were some lighting issues. Also, it's easier to control the humidity and temperature inside a small seedling box compared to a big grow room. So, I got to work. 

Fortunately, I receive many broken mirrors at work. Next, I recovered an LED strip and transformer and set them up in the seedling box. Instead of throwing them away, I utilized them to increase the lighting for my seedlings and they are very happy since then. 

One more way to save money is to grow amazing plants and display them in your diaries. The more effort you put in, the more you'll be recognized and companies will eventually contact you to try and test their new products. This is one way I save a lot of money as I have the opportunity to try various products fortunately. 

9. Question: Can you name a few growers who have inspired you here? What do you like the most about their growing style?

Answer: To be very honest, many have inspired me here, and they also know who they are. In fact, it was that very inspiration that pushed me to open an account here and display my skills. I like to think of myself as a bee that keeps foraging to get something. 

I like to read and absorb things. I look at the work others have done, including journals, photos, growing techniques, and their amazing results, There's nothing more fascinating than looking at huge cannabis plants growing wild outdoors. Those that live in countries with legalized marijuana are very lucky as they can grow anywhere they please. 

I fondly remember many growers that have motivated me, but I prefer not to name any. What if I forget someone and end up hurting them?! No way. 

10. Question: Is there any strain you grow in particular? Would you recommend it to beginners?

Answer: I love growing various types of cannabis plants. For this reason, I don't pick any particular variety to grow. They are all good. However, if I really had to choose, I'd probably go for sweet varieties that offer an amazing taste as soon as you light them up. And, it's even better if it tastes like fruits. Of course, I prefer strains with high levels of THC.  

11. Question: What are your favorite strains, and why?

Answer: As I mentioned, I don't love any strain in particular. Give me anything with high levels of THC and I'll be willing to try it. However, If I had to name something, they would be the gorilla and banana varieties. 

12. Question: Who are your favorite breeders?

Answer: My favorite breeder is Royal Queen Seeds. I really appreciate their wide selection of seeds, the quality, and their range of fertilizers as well. There are just so many varieties to try and you won't ever get tired of them. I'm sure many feel this way too as I see tons of growers using RQS. 

But, I also like seeds from Sweetseeds and Fastbuds. In autoflowering varieties, Fastbuds has really outperformed other breeders. 

There are many other breeders that I like but I can't name them because I don't have the time to test their products. What makes a breeder great for me is their dedication to quality. YOu won't have to worry about the seeds germinating or not since they put in a lot of time to ensure that you get a quality product. Also, the way they handle their customers is very important so I prefer the three seed companies I have mentioned above over others. 

13. Question: What type of nutrients do you use to grow cannabis?

Answer: I mainly use mineral fertilizers (CANNA), because when I started growing again after a big break, I slightly overestimated my needs. Rather than using medium containers to support the growth of the plants, I used large containers that were lying around for more than two years at home. 

What I like about mineral fertilizers is that they protect the plants during the vegetative stage and also encourage them to grow bigger and bushier. The flowering stage is also great and I love watching the tiny buds take shape and grow big every day. You can tell that you're using good quality fertilizers as the plants are happy and you're happy too! They also have various fertilizers for soil and hydroponic growers and you can choose whatever you like. 

In the meantime, I had the opportunity to test organic and vegan fertilizers thanks to RQS. The results are satisfactory and I enjoy looking at my lovely plants as they soak in all the love. Soon I will test Nutri NPK's range as well.

14. Question: What was the latest strain you grew?

Answer: My latest crop is Fat Banana from Royal Queen Seeds, and I am currently growing Bisous Au THC and Vanilla T from The High Chameleon. I am happy that I get to grow various strains from different companies and finally enjoy the benefits of good cannabis. 

15. Question: What was the latest strain you smoked?

Answer: While I'm answering your questions I'm smoking Cherry Cola from FastBuds.

Otherwise, I like to cultivate different varieties in order to have a choice and to be able to choose which variety to smoke according to the activity. Lately, I've been smoking, Gorilla Girl, Banana Purple Punch, Fat Banana, and Cherry Cola.

16. Question: Any tips for our readers to enjoy cannabis more? Perhaps, concentrates, gummies, etc?

Answer: My only way to consume cannabis is to smoke it, so unfortunately I don't have any advice to give on the different uses or cooking recipes. I like the effects of smoking as they are quick and I don't really try making edibles. Smoking produces quick effects and I go about my day after a quick season. 

Coming to tips for beginners, I'd like to say that you need to take care of your plants like you'd take care of a child. They will grow according to the way you take care of them. If you check the leaves every day, understand what they want, and give them everything they need, they will be happy and reward you much more than you expected. 

Finally, I'd like to thank you again for the attention paid to my subject. I am very flattered and honored. I'd also like to thank @SlowpokeFuegobud who helped me translate everything.