I have been growing this Sacred plant since 1971, in all this time I constantly learn new cultivation techniques. At this point in my evolution I am aware of hundreds of different types of cannabis.
Not all cannabis grows at the same height or speed as others. When you are growing more than one type of marijuana in the same space, a little cannabis choreography helps a lot. I will go through a few scenarios.
When growing different types of plants together in pots, the stadium method works very well. Let’s say you have three different types of this heavenly herb growing in the same spot. One grows pretty tall, one medium height, and one stays short and squat, but they all finish pretty much in a week of each other, so as far as flowering time goes they are compatible. The light or lights are arranged in a way as to give their optimal light to all the plants involved. There are different types of ways to set up the stadium, the easiest being turning extra plastic pots upside down and placing the plants on top elevating them the height of the pot underneath. A wooden board can be placed on the upside down pots and a second level can be added. The object is to place the assorted plant heights in favorable locations so that they receive the most light. If the tallest were in the middle, the medium size on an overturned pot around the tallest, and the shortest on a board on top of pots, with an overturned pot underneath it, around the medium sized plants, all the plants would be receiving good light. Any carpenters out there can build a more permanent arrangement.
That was back in the days when I grew in pots, these days I grow in organic beds. Once the plants are in the beds they can’t be moved, so ones skill at cannabis choreography becomes even more important.
In the current bed I am using (a friends) I have 90 plants growing in one large bed. The room has six 600-watt high-pressure sodium lights. I am growing six different kinds of cannabis in this bed and the difference in height is quite varied. I have Hash Heaven, which is a mixture of HP-13 X G-13 Haze, Lavender, Buddha’s Sister, Rockbud, Somaui, a Hawaiian crossed with G-13 Haze and Diesel’s Sister, a cross of NYCD and Buddha’s Sister.
Even though there is a two-week difference in the harvest times I will wait and harvest the faster ones late with the sativa crosses. I find that waiting an extra 2 weeks just makes it a richer smoke.
Arranging them is quite an art. The sativa crosses are stretchy, the Rockbud, Diesel’s Sister, and Buddha’s Sister are squat, and the Lavender is in-between.
I have placed the taller plants around the edges of the bed, and the shorter ones in the middle and have arranged the lights accordingly. I have also super-cropped the taller ones more than once to try to keep the canopy as even as possible. Super-cropping greatly enhances the yield and the strength of the branches. I then take stakes and spread the plants apart from each other to give them optimum light.
When the plants are 2 weeks in flower I cut the wispy bottom branches off, giving more energy to the larger more meaningful colas. This is also about the time I stop spraying with neem oil to keep the plants insect free, spraying after 3 weeks in flower can harm the flower’s delicate white hairs. I like to foliar feed with seaweed extracts until the end of the 3rd week in flower. After that time I drip feed twice a week using Advanced Nutrients Organic foods and guano teas. In the last three weeks of 12-12 lighting I give no more food and flush the garden twice, once with Final Flush from Advanced Nutrients and a second time with plain PH-ed water. I give much less water at the end to avoid bud mold.
I have gotten mega-buds from this method of growing. In the bed environment the roots get to go sideways as far as they want to, making for a very healthy root system. The super-cropping which at first is used for height control, gives its second effect, more large colas.
I always wait until my crop is really ripe, not just close to ripe. One of the main shortcomings of growers is that they pick their crop too early, trying to pay bills, or in desperate need of something to smoke. My motto, “when it looks like it’s ready, wait a week”.
Never speed dry your buds, take it slow. I hang them upside-down for a week, then, I put them in paper shopping bags to continue slow drying them for the next week. I cut the stems with sharp scissors and manicure the leaf with my fingers, accumulating some great finger hash in the meantime. All fine trim is saved for making water hash. The new Bubbleator from www.pollinator.nl, is a great tool for making your own, I love it.
Now for the best part, smoking my own crop. It’s where the Sacred plants say thankyou to the farmer(s) who took good care of her.
After having open-heart surgery on March 1st 2005, I can assure you that organic cannabis was my main medicine that I used to make a quick recovery. It helped with my appetite, it took nerve pain away, it helped me sleep, and it greatly helped relieved the stress that came with the experience of almost dying.
In a way I owe my life to this most Sacred of plants.
Keep it GREEN in Love and Light.
SOMA
Guru of cannabis cultivation. Breeder of Soma Seeds.
Father of NYC Diesel and other famous strains in all the world.
Official web-site: www.somaseeds.nl
Published on Dolce Vita International 1
