Question: Is it necessary to sex your plants?
Answer: If you are growing from seed it is important to remove any male plants the male will pollinate the female and produce lots of seeds.
By removing the male plants the females will produce lots of resin (THC) in the hope of picking up pollen from a male, without a male plant to pollinate her, the female will continue to make resin till it's time to harvest.
Here is a picture of a Hermaphrodite
(Male & Female) plant. The Female Bud can clearly be seen on top, while
below ripe male pollen sacks are starting to burst open, producing a lot
of yellow pollen which would turn the bud above into a lot of seed pods.
Question: How do I tell the difference between a Male and Female cannabis plant?
Answer: Sexing a plant is very easy once you know what you are looking for.
If you have waited for the last minute check out the above question with the picture of the Hermaphrodite plant, this clearly shows the two sexes on one plant !
Early signs of a male can be seen in this picture and the "Extreme close
up" clearly shows the first pollen sack developing.
The male usually shows it's sex before the female or is easier to distinguish
due to it's shape.
These early pictures of a Female displaying her sex, will be the first
signs to look for, along the main stem at the branch or spur you will notice
very fine, almost fuzzy hairs (Stigmas).
Question: What parts of the male can be smoked (as well as the leaves)? The pollen? The pollen sacks? Anything else?
Answer: None of it!! Although the Cannabis Leaf is generally recognize as the symbol of Marijuana it's not really a good smoke. The thing that gets you stoned is the THC, the Crystals that the female produces on the Buds when it flowers, to pick up the male pollen and as the male has no crystals it's not worth the cough.
Question: I Took a cutting of my best Female plant as I want to grow it again, when can I check the sex of the cutting ?
Answer: If your Cutting came from a Female mother plant, your cuttings will inherit her sex, if the cutting came from a Male it's a male cutting, hence sexing of cuttings is not necessary.
Question: My plants look beautiful and the smell are very delicious but the leaves are yellowing very fast. Is this normal in the flowering period ?
Answer: Sure, as the plant produces Flowers the larger Sun leaves yellow and drop off, Relax this is all part of the flowering process and the completion of the plants cycle, this also helps get light to the developing flowers (Buds) You could also feed your roots with some nitrogen (fish mix) that should give them a buzz and darken your leaves.
Question: How long time I need to wait until harvest ?
Answer: Wait until the white hairs are going red or brown (Dying) quicker than new white hairs grow, then add a couple of days, also see below.
Question: When is the right time to harvest a plant and which parts should I smoke?
Answer: It's time to harvest after the buds stop growing and most of the hairs on the Female Bud's turn color. Then cut the plant at the base, remove the larger Sun leaves and hang her in a cool, dry place with some air movement for a couple of weeks, the slower the drying the better the smoke. When dry you can trim the Female Flowers (buds) which is the "part" you smoke.
Question: I am planning on using Six, 4 ft. VitaLite 40W Florescent tubes totalling 240W, will this be sufficient light output to grow ten to twelve plants succesfully? Will this be sufficient for the flowering cycle as well or should I extend the cycle by a few weeks?
Answer: Doubtful, although it may total 240W, When growing it's not a question of Wattage but Lumens, the amount of lumens produced by Tube Lighting (TL) is a fraction of a High Pressure Sodium (HPS). For example a 250 W HPS (Smallest HPS system for personal growing) produces 40,000 Lumens you would be luckey to get 5,000-10,000 Lumens from the above setup so I do not think there is sufficent lighting for flowering, although TL's were good for cloning (when it was allowed) as you could place the bulbs very close to the plants (the only way to get light from a TL) Trying to grow and flower from TL's or too many plants under too little light would give you streached out stressed plants. It would be better to get a HPS system and save yourself and your plants a lot of stress.
Question: I wanted to know if it was possible to adapt the ballast of a light for garden (which habitually goes up to 1000 watts) with a HP light ?
Answer: We would suggest Not trying to adapt ballasts or doing anything apart from changing the bulb in a light system as you are dealing with something that can potentially kill you or burn down your house or both !! if the ballest was not intended for a particlur bulb the chances are it would not work anyway.
High Pressure Sodium (HPS) systems are available all over the world from 250W - 1000W and by using the correct system (matched ballest and bulb) and following the instructions you give yourself peace of mind and a good safe harvest.
Please remember that indoor growing is usually done with, shall we say a certain amount of discression, so it's the last place to start experimenting with electricity. In other words use proper equipment and fittings follow all safety instructions, no plugs or wires on the floor, keep it simple keep it safe.