The Cannabis Plant's Ideal Growing Environment
Marijuana is a weed, and can grow pretty much anywhere. However, in order to maximize your growth potential, a little has to be said about the environment you’re growing in.
Simple temperature dictates what types of critters you catch, for example. Most insects like the temperature to be a little high, while molds and fungus require an even higher but more steady temperature. There are any number of molds or fungus your plants can catch. The most common is a white, powdery fungus that grows quick and thus spreads quick.
Most of the time a mild fungicide is all that is required. The lifecycle of the more common molds and fungus allows only one or two infections within the eight to ten week lifecycle of a marijuana plant. Ideally you’ll want a temperature of 22 to 24 degrees Celsius for your growing room.
It is advised that you block any furnace vents. This is so mold and fungus spores don’t get a chance to become airborne on the breeze from the furnace ducts, which can be loaded with spores. The grow lamp is usually all the heating that is needed. One novel solution to the problem of not getting a full spectrum of light from a metal halide or high pressure sodium bulb is to mount a black light to the ceiling, just below the level of the lamp.
The black light will sterilize flat smooth surfaces like counters and table tops. It’s a perfect spectrum for marijuana and makes the colors of everything in the room brighter and more vibrant. For those of you that have raised a couple of crops, your skill level goes beyond peat and perlite. You can try a fully hydroponic system. It isn’t as hard as it sounds.
There are many different types of hydroponic methods. The system you use should be dictated by your environment. Is the grow room a room or a closet? Do you have safe ground fault interrupt power receptacles? Keep in mind that you have to power a lamp, a timer, a few fans and either a water pump or an aerator. You might want to keep your crop going by taking clones from the nearly matured cannabis plant.
You would normally put clones under a bank of fluorescent bulbs. The gentle white light allows the clones to thrive and grow an extensive root system. The buds will simply fall off and your new clone will be placed under the big lamp at around a week to ten days after cutting. The clones will be genetically identical to the plant they were cut from.
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