Dear Sarah,
I spend $50 or more a week on my medicine. Doesn’t this stuff grow on trees? I would love to have a spring garden of my own in my backyard. Where would I begin?
~ Gardening in Garden Grove
Dear Gardening,
Growing your own medicine can be one of the most rewarding parts of being a legal patient (in multiple ways). Cannabis can be grown anywhere, from high-tech indoor grow rooms to the sunny little spot on your balcony. With some high quality gardening soil and a few hardy clones from your local collective, you would be surprised how easy it is to grow a good supply of your own medicine right under the sun.
Cannabis is an annual which grows or flowers depending on the number of daylight hours. Plants will grow vegetatively in spring and summer when the days are long. The plants will flower August through November as the days get shorter.
Start by asking your local collective for a few plants that are indicas or indica-dominant hybrids. Indicas grow short and bushy, and they will finish as early as September. Sativas can grow surprisingly tall, and they may not finish flowering until the end of November.
Plant the clones in 1- or 2-gallon pots. Take care of your roots to get your plants started quickly and healthily. Hardware store soil is great for peonies and alstroemeria, but your local hydroponics store will have a few bags of high-quality planting soil or coco mix.
Start the plants in early May by putting in an area that gets a few hours of soft sunlight each day. Don’t put the fresh clones right out in the hot sun or they will get baked–and not in that nice, glued-to-the-couch way! Be sure not to plant too early or you could end up with some 10-foot-tall monsters towering over your fence.
Once they have outgrown their containers, find the spot in your backyard that gets the most direct sunlight hours. If other plants or grass grow well there, your cannabis will probably do well there too. Water regularly, but if the soil stays muddy, you could drown your babies!
If you feel like getting your hands dirty, a pH meter and vegetative fertilizers from the hydro store will let you dial in your nutrients and produce lush, green shrubs. Also, you will get what you put into your plants, so be sure to give them plenty of love and attention.
Keep an eye on CULTURE over the summer months for a few suggestions on preparing your plants to flower, and even some hints on forcing the plants to flower and produce an early summer harvest.
Dear Sarah,
Why is it that Sour Diesel tastes like Sour Diesel, and Snow Cap tastes like Snow Cap, and Trainwreck tastes like Trainwreck? What is it that gives the individual strains their specific piquancy and aroma?
~ Contemplating Cultivars in Carson
Dear Contemplating,
Good question! The Greenhouse Seed Company did some fascinating research using a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer to analyze specific strains for exact levels of terpenes—a large and varied class of hydrocarbons which make up one of the most important components of the essential oils of many types of plants and flowers. Terpenes function as smell and taste molecules.
Greenhouse analyzed their strains for levels of 16 of the most characteristic and recognizable terpenes. They found that Alpha-pinene, limonene, Sabinene and Myrcene are amongst the terpenes that give different breeds of cannabis their distinctive flavors. Alpha-pinene is an organic compound found in many species of pine trees and the essential oil rosemary. It is also what gives Super Silver Haze its piney aroma.
Limonene is a hydrocarbon classified as a cyclic terpene, and is a colorless liquid at room temperature with an extremely strong smell of oranges. It gets its name because lemon and other citrus fruits contain high levels of limonene—as do the strains Big Bang and Lemon Skunk.
The presence and production of terpenes is not specifically tied to the levels of THC and CBD. However, healthier plants are more likely to produce higher levels of all oils and resins. For more information, visit greenhouseseeds.nl.
Got a burning question about love, life and/or the pursuit of medicine? Ask Sarah Diesel, medical-marijuana advocate and L.A.’s Countess of Class and Cannabis. Just keep your questions short, straightforward and obscenity-free, and email them to AskSarah@freeculturemag.com.
