The Cannabis Blog

Mold. Pretty much the very last thing any weed grower wants to see on their prized plants, but in all honesty, it's close to an inevitability at some point. Unless you have your growing environment dialed into perfection and really know what you're doing, there is a disgustingly high chance that the dreaded mold will strike at some point during your first few grows. Don't go into panic mode just yet though. By the time you finish this article, you'll have a much better understanding of mold, how to identify it on your cannabis plants, how to treat it and most importantly, how to prevent it in the first place. What causes mold on cannabis p...

So, why do we need to know the difference in male and female cannabis plants? Because only female plants produce flowers (buds, nugs, etc.), making sure that your female plants stay well away from any males and the pollen that they produce is crucial in getting the most potent, high-quality buds from your grow. If even the slightest sprinkling of pollen lands on your precious female plants, there is a very high chance that they will start to focus their energy on producing seeds growing the biggest, dankest, frostiest, stankiest buds possible. By the end of this article, just a few minutes away, you will have a full understanding of not ju...

Sexing cannabis (and no, I don't mean getting down and dirty with your favourite weed plant) is just one of a lengthy list of essential skills that all budding weed growers need to master. Knowing how to determine the sex of your cannabis plants (if you decide to grow regular seeds) can and will make all the difference come harvest time, and for a few key reasons. Even if you only grow feminized seeds, there is always an exceedingly small chance that a seed may turn into a male plant - less than 0.1% of feminized or autoflowering seeds will turn out male, but it is still possible. There is also the rare occurrence of hermaphroditism, which...

Mainlining cannabis is a training technique used to boost yields and increase overall plant health. This article covers what mainlining is, its benefits, how to do it, combining it with ScrOG, and its differences from manifolding. We'll also compare mainlining with topping and super cropping, helping you choose the best method for your grow. What is the mainlining technique with cannabis? Mainlining is a method used to train cannabis plants that involves creating a symmetrical structure by topping the main stem and encouraging even distribution of energy to all the branches. Doing this will help the plant grow more evenly, resulting in uni...

Growing cannabis using a scrog net will help you to maximize yield by using light distribution to your advantage. We will cover how the scrog technique works, how to put it into action, and what strains are best to scrog with. What is the scrog growing technique? Scrog growing is a low stress training technique that can be used to optimize light distribution and spacing in small growing spaces. Scrog stands for "Screen of Green," and it refers to the net or screen that you use to train your cannabis plants to grow horizontally. The goal is to place a screen just above the canopy of your plants and then tuck the leaves and branches into dif...

One thing that often surprises people new to the art of growing weed is that even seeds grown from feminized seeds sometimes don't perform as planned. What, really? Feminized seeds can still produce male plants? How is that possible? Yes indeed. Although feminized seeds offer a 99.9% guarantee that your plant will be a lady, there is still a 0.1% chance that they will turn out to be a dude. But that's not what we are here to talk about. The other, but only very slightly more common issue, with feminized (actually all - feminized, regular, or autoflowering) seeds is that they can sometimes produce hermaphroditic, or 'hermie' plants. This ha...

Defoliating your marijuana plant can help boost light penetration and overall bud growth, but when you are dealing with autoflowers, it's considered a little riskier. This article covers when and how to defoliate effectively, the best timing to do so and safe practices. Here you will also learn the difference between defoliation and topping and know when you can avoid defoliation altogether. Can you defoliate autoflowers? Yes, you can defoliate autoflowers. Simply put, defoliation is just removing some leaves from your plant, in the case of marijuana it’s usually to improve light penetration and air circulation. While autoflowers are gener...

Defoliation is the definition of controversial in weed cultivation circles. Some growers swear by it, others not so much. But when you are trying to maximize your crop yield, selectively and carefully removing some of the fan leaves (especially ones shading bud sites) can help. Some cultivars grow super bushy, to the point where airflow and light penetration are restricted, and humidity levels rise. That's when defoliation may be the help you're looking for. What does it mean to defoliate cannabis? There are a couple of different weed defoliation techniques, but at its core, defoliation is the process of removing some of the fan leaves, us...

Plant training techniques come in all shapes and sizes. From the simple low-stress technique of gently bending the branches and tying them down to the frankenstein esque high-stress technique of mainlining, there are so many ways to manipulate your plants for maximum yield and quality. But topping is definitely up there with the most often used and most effective techniques. It involves carefully removing the top of the plant, specifically the newest growth tip, which forces the plant to focus on growing multiple new tops instead of just one main cola. But, is it recommended, or even possible, to top autoflowering weed plants? Should you t...

Topping your cannabis plants is a totally free and amazingly easy way to double, quadruple, or even octuple (that's an increase of eight times) the number of main colas that each plant produces. The list of marijuana plant training techniques is extensive, to say the least, but topping (while considered somewhat 'advanced') is actually pretty straightforward and should be in your bag of cultivation tricks from the day you begin your weed-growing adventure. All you need is a weed plant that has 4 to 6 nodes already developed, a pair of clean scissors or a razor blade, and just a light sprinkling of know-how - which is what you are here to l...

The wonderful world of weed words is constantly spewing out new street terms for us all to keep up with, but what about the good old days? The days before legalization, when street dealers and smokers alike needed to keep things more 'under-wraps' than they do nowadays. There were no mega-dispensaries for us to wander into, browse the shelves, and choose a few different grams of the best weed man has ever grown. Nope, it was corner deals, and if you were lucky enough to score a 'dub' of something decent, then you were a happy camper. So, how much is a dub of weed these days? What is a dub of weed? A dub of weed doesn't actually have...

Weed culture is full of seemingly never-ending slang that, to the uninitiated at least, can be a tad confusing. One such word, used mostly in the USA but increasingly in other countries too, is "zip". But what exactly does it mean in the context of marijuana? And how much weed does a zip contain? Let's hit the streets and find out. How much is a zip of weed? A 'ZIP' of weed is a word that describes one full ounce of buds. While most of the world has moved away from the imperial system for most things, the old-world style of measuring reigns supreme when it comes to the weight of weed. Sure, you'll most often ask for a gram...

Weed jargon is a world of its own, and for those new to the cannabis community, it can be pretty confusing. A whole new set of words and measurements is introduced when talking about everyone's favourite plant. ScrOG, Sativa, 420, autoflower, kief, and edibles all sound like a foreign language to the uninitiated. But fear not, we are here to help decode the weed enigma and answer one of the most common questions - "How many grams is an eighth of weed”. How many grams is in an eighth? If you're buying from trusted sources, then you should be able to count on an 'eighth' being bang on 3.5 grams. But if you are sourcing your green sticky-icky...

It doesn't matter if you're growing a couple of little autos in your cupboard, or an outdoor crop full of the biggest Sativas you can get your hands on, one thing is true for all weed growers - we want to help our ladies along to the largest possible yields! Some may look to add a bunch of (mostly) unnecessary additives, while others might pray to the old gods and new, but many skip one of the easiest ways to guarantee a bump to the final harvest - Low Stress Training, or LST. What is low stress training cannabis? Low stress training is a cultivation technique (actually more than one, but we will get into that a little further down...