Ask Ed

Ask Ed: Grow Tip - Trash to Stash

jeremiah — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:54:13 -0800

You have harvested, manicured, cured and dried the weed - now it is time to prepare the leftovers: The leaves, trim, and tiny buds that were removed during preparation. You can find many recipes for oil making, marijuana cooking oil and butter online, but before using the material for that you might try making some kief!

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - Bud Storage

jeremiah — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:58:38 -0800

Question: My harvest has been cured and is drying. I have more than I can use in the next three months. How can I package it to preserve it?

Jimmy Joint, Albany, AL

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - Are My Buds Ready?

jeremiah — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:28:08 -0700

Question: So I recently harvested my buds, are they ready for consumption?

Internet reader

Ed's Rosenthal: The "stick test" is a good indication of bud dryness. Bend the little stem that holds the bud together. If it bends, the bud is still too wet. If it snaps, the bud has dried sufficiently.

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - Finger Hash

jeremiah — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:54:19 -0700

Question: My hands get all sticky from manicuring and the gooey resin gets under my nails. How can I keep the resin off me?

Internet reader

Ed's Rosenthal: Wear powder-free latex gloves. They keep hands clean and make it easy to collect the very potent resin from broken trichomes. When it is collected it is often referred to as “finger hash”.

Trichomes collect when the buds are handled. Once the gloves are sticky use them only for manicuring as they will pick up impurities if you perform other tasks. Powdered gloves leak their powder into the resin too.

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - Spacing Lights

jeremiah — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:50:12 -0700

Question: I will try to make this as simple as I can, it is kind of a convoluted question. You said that a 1000 watt High Pressure Sodium (HPS) light would be enough to cover a 4 x 4 foot canopy. I have four separate plant areas, each are about 5 x 5 feet. If I added a light mover, would a 1000 watt HPS per 5 x 5 ft area be sufficient lighting?

Additionally, you mentioned that it was more efficient to use three 600 watt bulbs instead of two 1000 watt bulbs instead of two 1000 watt bulbs because less energy is used while the same amount of lumens is produced.

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - Caterpillars!

jeremiah — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:00:04 -0700

Question: I have some good looking bud that is close to maturation. My problem is that there are little worms in the bud and they have been eating it, causing it to rot. What can I do to get them off and stop the bud rot?

Richard

Ed Rosenthal: The little “worms” are really small caterpillars that are having a feast at your expense. As you realize, it is essential to get rid of them. There are several things that you can do:

Ask Ed: Grow Tip - Keeping The Plants In Your Garden Dry

jeremiah — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:45:36 -0700

Many of our readers are growing outdoors and probably have noticed that the plant has changed from vegetative (growing leaves) to flowering (budding) and you now can see the white stigmas in full development. This is the time when plants are most vulnerable to powdery mildew and other molds- especially if it is humid, foggy, or rainy. There are several things that people can do to prevent mold.

1. They can use a fungicide that contains mostly potassium bicarbonate, which the plants consider fertilizer.

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - Pruning Underbrush

jeremiah — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:42:48 -0700

CANNABIS CULTURE - Ganja Guru Ed Rosenthal on how to trim underbrush to increase yield without hurting your plants.

Question: I have an aeroponic system and am using the “sea of green” method. I have a huge canopy, but the plants are tall. I want to trim underneath the canopy so the buds can receive more light. How much can I trim without hurting or affecting the buds of the plants?

T.B., Internet

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - Hot Weather Blues

jeremiah — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:59:13 -0700

CANNABIS CULTURE - Ganja Guru Ed Rosenthal explains how to take care of your plants in the heat.

Question: During the last couple of weeks I over-watered outside for two weeks during a heat wave that hit temperatures over 105° F (41° C). Besides letting the ground dry out, do you recommend adding anything when I water now?

Hal Phoenix, California

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - Stop Mineral Deficiencies

jeremiah — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:14:49 -0700

CANNABIS CULTURE - Ganja Guru Ed Rosenthal on how to stop mineral deficiencies in your garden.

Question: My plants have been flowering a week. I water with 0ppm reverse osmosis water and hydroponic nutrients at 500ppm on rockwool slabs over a 1-inch coco mat. White, healthy roots are exploding out of it and the slabs.

The problem starts at the lower portion of the plant. The side edges of the leaf turn brown, then the leaf turns yellow and curls up. The symptoms work their way up the plant.

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - From Powder To Hash

jeremiah — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:54:38 -0700

CANNABIS CULTURE - Ganja Guru Ed Rosenthal on how to convert your screened powder to hash.

Question: I live in a city in Pakistan where marijuana grows wild everywhere. What I mean is that the plants are male, though they have female characteristics, e.g. white hairs growing on top of the bud. I've picked a few branches off plants, dried them, and smoked the dried weed.

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - Unwanted Seeds

jeremiah — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:21:12 -0700

CANNABIS CULTURE - Ganja Guru Ed Rosenthal on how to stop unwanted seed production.

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - Mite Infestation

jeremiah — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:37:23 -0700

CANNABIS CULTURE - Ganja Guru Ed Rosenthal on how to eliminate mite infestations.

Question: We have been growing for more than five years and we constantly have a problem with spider mites. Sometimes we use a homemade pesticide we make from dish soap, tobacco, alcohol and water. This knocks them out for one and a half to two months but then they return. How do they get into our garden? How can we protect the plants?

P.O., Ottawa, Ontario

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers - Dark Cycle Interruption

jeremiah — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:41:15 -0700

CANNABIS CULTURE - Ganja Guru Ed Rosenthal on the effect of light exposure during dark periods.

Q: Is it true that the plant cannot be exposed to any light at night because it affects the development of the bud? Is there any way of correcting this?

Ask Ed: Grow Questions and Answers

heather — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:03:22 -0700

Do you have a grow question (or answer) for Ask Ed? Send mail to: Ask Ed, PMB 147, 530 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA, 94117, USA. You can also email Ed@quicktrading.com and check out his website www.ask-ed.net. Submitted questions featured in CC will be rewarded by Ed Rosenthal with a copy of his book Best of Ask Ed: Your Marijuana Questions Answered. Sorry, but Ed cannot send personal replies to your questions!

UV LIGHT

Ask Ed: Questions & Answers with the Trailblazer of Trahydrocannabinol

heather — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:47:22 -0700

IMPROVING DITCHWEED

I live in Iowa and work on an organic farm. The government doesn’t spray?the ditches. The weed that grows naturally in these uncultivated areas looks pretty kick-ass but it’s packed with seeds. I just started growing indoors from seed and I was thinking about putting the males out on the farm with the ditch weed. Will it create better ditch weed?
Scottie 420, Internet

Ask Ed

karlis — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0700

TYPE OF LIGHT
I have bought a simple hydro garden that holds six plants in a 2-foot by 3-foot area. What type of lights should I get?

Tim,
Internet

The most efficient light source for both vegetative and flowering stages is the high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamp. Even in their vegetative stage, plants grown under an HPS lamp grow faster than plants grown under a metal halide (MH) lamp.

Ask Ed

karlis — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

AIRY BUD
My plants are about 3 feet tall and have immaculate looking buds on them, but I have been unable to get large and dense buds even though all the hairs and stigmas are completely red when harvested. My 4?x8? system is lit by two 1000w HPS lamps on tracks. The room stays in the mid-70?s.

Indoor Dankster,
Mechanicsville, MD

Ask Ed

karlis — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Strategy to Live Within the Limits

Ask Ed

karlis — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0800

SEED LIFE EXPECTANCY
I have been storing some seeds in a film canister in my desk drawer. Are they still alive or have they died?

T.V.P.,
Internet

Some of the seeds are probably still alive if the room (and the desk drawer) were kept at room temperature (72 degrees F) or lower. Seeds die faster when kept at higher temperatures.

Ask Ed

karlis — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0800

REFLECTIVE SURFACES
What's your advice on reflective surfaces for increased light efficiency? Which do you think is better, reflective materials such as Mylar or using solid white paint on the walls? Is there a paint designed to be a better light reflector?

Gunnar W.,
Address Unknown

Infrared light

karlis — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0800

I want to use an infrared camera to keep tabs on my grow room during the dark phase. How does the camera work? Is infrared within the spectrum that the plant can see?
Porcelli Giovanni,
Internet

Rotting Roots

karlis — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0800

I grow in a 6' x 5' area using two 1000-watt HPS air-cooled lights. I use a 40 site aeroflow system. Water temp: 80 degrees. Room temp 85 degrees. One day I went to check my plants and what were healthy lush white roots had become a brown mushy mess. Thick gelatin goo formed everywhere, binding the roots together.

Quick hash

karlis — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0800

I have a screen and I kiefed all the sun leaves and trim. I'm looking at a big pile of the kief. Now I dream of smoking some real hash. I remember beautiful pliable hash leather in a tea shop in Nepal and hazy days at the Bluebird sampling the hashes of the world. Is there a way for me to turn my kief into hash without a press or fancy equipment?
Burning Bruce's Spear,
Edinburgh, Scotland

PVC pipes okay?

karlis — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0800

I think the notion that PVC bongs are unsafe is dated and inaccurate. I did a literature search on PubMed and read many of the investigations and reviews written on the safety of PVC devices. In fact, PVC is used for blood-transfusion bags, nasogastric tubes, and artificial airways.