I recently saw a *very small* indoor garden that used 4 common shop lights.

The gardener was using two 12" x 4' shelves attached to adjacent basement walls.  They were remarkably discreet and almost entirely above eye level.  Above both shelves he had suspended a pair of 4' shop lights, which ran parallel to the shelf, right next to each other.  In these lights he used both regular ol' 40W fluorescent tubes and the more expensive "grow lights".  The decision of which to choose was solely an economic one.  Fluorescent tubes can be found for a buck or two while the purple grow tubes can be rather pricey. The wall and ceiling above the shelves were covered with heavy duty aluminum foil.  Also hanging above the shelves, right above the edge, were several homemade blinds.  These "blinds" were simply a black sheet of vinyl and a white sheet of vinyl which were attached a 4' piece of wood.  The wooden strip had then been fastened to the ceiling.  The white vinyl hung to the inside and was able to reflect light back onto the plants while the black vinyl hung to the outside, making the whole set-up practically invisible.  When he needs to water, etc.  the vinyl is rolled up by hand and tied with a short piece of cord.  And it can be held in its unrolled position rather nicely by a few strips of velcro. The ends of the shelves used a different homemade set-up.  Using more vinyl shades would have suffocated the plants.  Instead, he cut a piece of cardboard to fit the opening and into the top portion of this cardboard he cut a hole.  The inside of the cardboard was covered with aluminun foil and the outside was painted black.  Velcro was attached to the cardboard, the shelf and the ceiling so that this panel could be easily attached and removed.  Next, he hung two small fans from the ceiling.  (the clip fans cost him $6.00@ and were his most expensive purchase) One fan hung on the outside of his little grow house and one on the inside.  One fan blew fresh air into the house and the other blew air out. On one of these shelves the lights were kept on 24 hours each day.  Here he germinated and grew his herbs to the budding point.  The other shelf was magical!  The lights were cut back and his crop was allowed to reach maturation.  It was so simple!  It was so beautiful!  It was so small!  It was so inexpensive! A setup like this could work almost anywhere. Stop participating in organized crime.  Grow it yourself!

I've tried to start cannabis seeds several times, using the suggestions offered in alt.drugs (germinate between wet paper towels, keep them warm, etc.). I've gotten about 5 or 6 seeds to the point where the shell of the seed opens and a small white shoot pushes out of the crack.  But the seeds seem to dies upon transplanting to soil.  Is it probably just a bad batch of seeds (all of Seed germination, be it with cannabis seeds or any kind of seeds, is a delicate art. The warm paper towels system works well, but I'd keep them in paper towels until you have a bit more sprout than just a small white shoot.  I would wait until the shoot is a little more than 1/4" long. When you transplant them into potting soil, use commercial potting soil that has been well dampened before hand.  Mixing a bit of peat moss into the damp soil might be helpful. Pot your seeds close to the surface -- I usually lay the seeds on top of an almost full pot, press the shoots _lightly_ into the soil, and then just sprinkle some more potting soil on top.  Then water; all the soil should be kept damp, but not wet, at all times. Something I've found helps seeds in the trnasition from paper towels to soil is to cover the pot with plastic wrap and put it in a sunny window.  Poke a few pinholes in the wrap so that air can get in, and check it daily.  Keep the soil damp -- this is crucial.  Cannabis in particular * loves* water.  Don't drown it, and if it starts molding leave the plastic off the pot for a bit, but keep it damp and warm and moist. Once your shoots start up to where they're pressing against the wrap, you can leave the wrap off.  But again, keep the soil wet -- even one day dried out can kill all the shoots.Hope all this helps; I've only grown pot once, but I'm a chronic gardener, and much of the same rules apply. 

Plants (and mj in particular) respond to different wavelengths of light differently.  The optimum wavelengths for chlorophyll production and photosynthesis occur in the red and blue ranges, so any light in the middle of the visible spectrum is good for vegetative growth.  In short, ordinary fluorescent lights work great; most incandescents are crappy because they put out too much infared (wastes energy, produces heat) and not enough blue. It has been suggested that THC is produced as a defense against short wavelength ultraviolet light (UV-short).  This would explain any truth to the rumor that the best ganga is grown at high altitudes.  As far as I know, no studies have been done.  Other botanists speculate that THC is merely an insect repellant.  Even so, the photochemical potential of UV-short cannot be ignored. [This is presumably for 3000 K incandesents.  Higher temperatures would produce this same black-body radiation spectrum shifted to the left.  Of course, you would then need UV protection.  There are fluorescents available that simulate *only the visible portion* of 6000-7000 K black bodies.  Why anybody would use incandescent light for growing when these efficient fluorescents are available is beyond me.]  Mercury and metal halide lamp spectrums are concentrated in a few "spikes" distributed through the visible spectrum.  They would probably work fine for photosynthesis. The low-pressure sodium is pretty much a single spike in the yellow; high pressure sodium has spikes from green to red (not much blue). No regular lights put out significant UV-short, otherwise they would cause skin cancer.  UV-short lights are designed into special box-type devices (such as EPROM erasers) for safety.  If you do elect to experiment with UV-short, do not allow any humans or animals in the room when the light is on.  Please post the results of any such experiment to alt.drugs. Inquiring minds want to know.

The planet earth has just passed the equinox which means the days are now becoming shorter and the nights longer.  A very important time in the lives of happy growers.  The plants life-cycle undergoes major changes as the grower watches with patient anticipation.  This is a short but concise account of the critical time for the harvesting muller.  What to look for, when to pick, and how to prepare the buds; so they look great, smell delicious and smoke you into fantasy land!!!  The cannabis plant regulates it's growth and flowering stages by measuring changes in the number of hours of uninterrupted darkness to determine when to flower.  The plant produces a hormone (phytochrome) beginning at germination.  When this chemical builds up to a critical level, the plant changes it's mode from vegetative growth to flowering.  Male plants flower before the female.  The male plants should be removed to stop any fertilisation occuring.  A grower wants sinsemilla buds.  An unfertilised plant will continue to produce new flowers.  The buds get thick with the unfertilised flowers over a period of several weeks.  The flowering patterns begin to change, the stigmas begin to wither and change colour.  Next the ovaries begin to swell, however it's only a false pregnancy.  Here the glands begin filling up with canniboids.  Usually the heads will seem as though they will burst, showing the last stage of flowering.  As soon as the heads show any amber shade they should be harvested, otherwise the THC will begin to degrade into two other canniboids (CBL & CBN).  THC is the ingredient which is PSYCHOACTIVE!!!  The other two are it's precursors, which often leave the smoker feeling disoriented, sleepy, drugged, and/or confused.  The goal is to allow the plants to reach their full potential, that is to obtain the highest amount of mind blowing substance possible!!!  When a bud is picked, many of it's metabolic processes continue for a while.  The cell begins to convert carbohydrates back to sugars and break down some of the pigments.  Chlorophyll is one of the pigments affected.  Buds will appear a lighter green than when first picked.  Some of the other pigments break down to give the bud a red-purple or cream colour.  The crop needs to be dried slowly so that moisture remains in the cells to continue the life processes.  Since all of the vegitation is contributing moisture to the air, ventilation is essential to prevent mould forming.  While the plants are drying, the large leaves can be removed.  It is harder and takes longer to manicure when the plants are wet.  To manicure the budding area, large sun leaves present are removed.  The buds should now appear almost naked, except for some single fingered leaves sticking out from between the flowers.  To enhance appearance these leaves can be clipped to the circumference of the flower.  Sun leaves are unsuitable for smoking, however they are useful for cooking, brewing or extracting the THC to make HASH or HASH OIL.  IT IS A VIOLATION OF THE CURRENT LAW TO CULTIVATE MARIJUANA IN AUSTRALIA!  Marijuana prohibition was initiated because of the people who smoke it.  The laws continue in effect today for those same reasons.  Politicians do not like people who think for themselves, are independant and who recognise bullshit.  They would prefer for each citizen to become a subject; a ward of the state, who is dependant on the government for making his/her life decisions.  Gunja tends to let us develop different set perceptions, to see the world a little differently, to change not only what we think, but how we think.  This is what scares the regulators.  Go forth and multiply Have a MARY season Raj - Profound Member

I have an eight inch plant that was growing like a weed until a few days ago.  It was started in regular soil from my yard in a two-cup tupperware bowl and the entire thing was transplanted a week ago into an 8in potter filled with potting soil mixed with perlite.  I am using a 150 watt grow bulb about two feet from the top of the plant on an 18 hour cycle.  It is in a ventilated, 72 degree room and is watered daily.  Also, when I made the transplant, I sprinkled some scotts herb and flower fertilizer (18-11-12) around on top of the soil. Question: Why is it dying??  Any help would be appreciated.  It appears to have about 2 days left.

There are a few things that may be wrong:

1) If the leaves are turning brown or wilting you may be over fertilizing it.  Solution: Flush the soil of the fertilizer salts with clean water.
2) You may be over watering.  The plant's roots need oxygen.  Solution: Don't water as often.  It's O.K. for the soil to dry out a little, just don't let it get to dry.
3) It may not be dying.  It may be in shock from the transplanting.  Solution: None that I know.  All you can do is wait.
4) The change in the light spectum from natural sun to artifical light can damage a plant (not getting the spectrum it needs or the spectrum it is used to).  Solution: Get a different light, or put it back outside.
5) The soil may have a nutrient difficiency other than what is in the fertilizer you are using.  (You will have to describe what the plant looks like for a diagnosis.)
6) If the light is on 18 hrs, you want to use a vegetive fertilizer instead of a flower ferilizer.  Or, turn down the light cycle to 12/12 (light/dark) to force flowering (if this is what you want).  I do not think this would kill it, but I could be wrong.

I hope this helps.