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Issue #402 - Sunday, December 29, 2019
Dear Fellow Grower,
In today's issue...
- What causes plants to point their leaves up at the light? And is it good or bad?
- This is the last GrowWeedEasy newsletter of 2019! Can you believe the year is already almost over? Get a quick recap of everything that happened in 2019, and see what's in store for 2020!
- This week's trophy pics features some incredibly beautiful plants grown by an alumni from our "Seed to Weed" Online Grow Course. Looking good Sandra!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com)​
"People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built."
~Eleanor Roosevelt
Why Are My Leaves Pointing Up?
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by Nebula Haze
Are your leaves all tipped up, “praying” to the sun gods? Leaves pointing up is usually the sign of a healthy, fast-growing marijuana plant that’s getting a lot of light, but in some cases, is accompanied by light stress. Learn how to tell the difference!
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Leaves Pointed Up = High Light Levels (usually)
If praying leaves appear on a healthy, fast-growing plant, you probably found the “sweet spot” for light intensity. You’re giving your plants intense light levels, so they grow as fast as possible, yet you know you’re not giving too much because the leaves are green and healthy.
Praying leaves are a good thing if you see them on a green, fast-growing plant
It’s common for indoor growers to “ride the line” and give plants as much light as possible without triggering light stress. Maximizing the light intensity improves growth rates and yields as long as you pay attention if the plant says “enough is enough!” A sick
plant doesn’t produce well.
Intense light in the flowering stage helps produce the biggest buds. The pointed-up leaves in this picture are a healthy green color, which means the plants are in the “sweet spot” for light intensity.
As long as leaves are staying green, there’s probably nothing to worry about. Just remember that if leaves are praying for a long time (especially in the flowering stage, or if the air is hot or dry), sometimes they get “overworked” and start turning
yellow earlier than you’d like.
Wait, light stress can cause yellowing?
Yellow leaves are often caused by a nutrient deficiency, but if you observe the praying leaves go from green to yellow, it could be light stress. In that case, you may want to move the lights further away or rotate your plants around so the stressed leaves to get more shade.
It’s common for growers to think their plant is suffering from a deficiency when the issue is actually light stress. In that case, the praying leaves are a sign to help you narrow down the cause to your light levels.
Praying leaves aren’t a problem, but you should be concerned if leaves start looking bleached (usually with yellow tips). That means the plant is getting too much light.
The following plant doesn't have a nutrient deficiency. These symptoms (leaf edges tipped up, yellowing, yellow tips) are the result of too much
light.
What to do if you see light stress
- Don’t panic! If you see a few symptoms on your leaves, it’s not the end of the world. It’s annoying to see yellowing, but we’re here to grow buds, not leaves. It’s rare for any cannabis grower to get to harvest with plants that are entirely green from top to bottom. Remember that the appearance of your leaves won’t matter after harvest.
- Move grow lights further away – It can help to move your grow lights up a bit, but that’s not an option if you’ve run out of height. Learn how to deal with too-tall plants.
- Rotate plants regularly. Try to keep affected leaves as far away from the light as possible and use rotation to give breaks to the hardest-working leaves.
- Angle your grow light so the light hits plants slightly from the side. Light stress is most common when the light is beaming straight down from above. Even a slight angle can reduce light burn (plus side lighting helps buds fatten further down into the plant).
- Reduce light power – Certain LEDs and HPS grow lights can dim down the light intensity. A life-saver if you see light stress!
- Bend tall branches away from light using gentle bending or supercropping. Tie branches down to secure them, or they’ll try to grow back toward the light!
- Maintain an excellent growing environment – Hot, dry air can make plants more sensitive to intense light, so try to avoid high temperatures and low humidity.
- Avoid nutrient deficiencies – Ensure your plants are getting proper nutrients and the right pH at the roots. Plants can handle more light when they’re getting perfect nutrients/pH.
- Get a light-resistant strain if possible (though I understand you’re probably already growing right now, so this tip is more for next time)
In addition to bleaching leaves, too much light can actually bleach the tops of buds!
Sometimes it’s just some plants experiencing symptoms…
I also wanted to add that you may notice only some plants reacting poorly to the lights even if they’re all the same distance away. I’ve especially observed this with certain LED grow lights (I’m looking at you, blurples!), but it can happen with other grow lights, too.
Some strains are more sensitive to light and specific environmental conditions than others. If a plant’s ancestors originated from the equator, they’re likely more light-loving than a plant that came from a wintry climate. What causes one plant to thrive might cause a different plant to turn yellow.
Your grow light may stress some strains but not others at the same distance. Each plant is a little different.
Remember to check on cannabis plants daily and react quickly to any problems to the best of your ability!
Example of a Light-Stress Resistant Strain
Amnesia Auto by MSNL can take high light intensity like a champ. It tends to grow tall, but never seems to experience light stress.
The left Amnesia Auto was grown under HPS, and the right under ViparSpectra LEDs. They each got within 12″ of the grow lights without any signs of light stress.
What strains have you grown that can handle intense light levels? I want to put together a list of "light-resistant" strains but I need your help!
Recap of 2019 & Preview of 2020!
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Total yield: 156g or 5.5 oz (under a 100W light, which is 1.56g/watt!)
The 4 plants were grown in a tiny 2'x2'x3' mini grow tent
(Full grow journal coming soon!)
These plants produced about a pound of premium bud, plus an additional 118.1 g (~4 ounces) of bud that went in in the trim pile because it was airy. One of the biggest lessons we learned with the Es300 LEDs is that you need to heavily defoliate the biggest buds, remove lower "sucker" branches (small stems that don't reach the
top), and strip away leaves that aren't getting light (lollipop the plant). There were a lot of airy buds below the surface that should have been pruned away so they didn't take energy from the tops. Can't wait to try these LEDs again!
Total yield: 451.5 g (just under a pound)
315 LEC Grow With 3100k Bulb (4 Plant Canadian-Compliant Grow)
With LECs, I had only flowered plants under a 4100k (blue, high-UV) color bulb. This time I used a 3100k (red) colored LEC bulb in flowering. Buds got significantly bigger, but were overall less smelly and less sparkly. Maybe due to the lower UV levels? My impression is that I prefer the bluer spectrum for LECs. I'd rather have lower yields if it means higher bud quality. Some growers recommend flowering under 3100k, then switching
to the 4100k bulb during the last 2 weeks before harvest to pump up the trichome and smell production. I haven't tried that yet but it sounds promising!
This is the light from the 3100k LEC bulb. The yellow coloring reminds me of an HPS.
We had so many harvests around this time that we ran out of jars. I kept the buds in turkey bags until I had a chance to get more.
Total yield: 448.7 g (15.8 oz)
ViparSpectra LED plants before harvest
250W HPS plants before harvest
The weights + lab results
HerbsNow Lab-Testing
The HerbsNow dryer dries buds in 3-4 days, but do buds come out better or worse? I first-tested the HerbsNow dryer on two different plants in the Spring. I was pleasantly surprised by the results. See the lab reports in this post.
After such promising results, I decided to do more extensive testing! I took a branch from all 16 plants from the ViparSpectra vs 250W HPS grow and dried them in the dryer, while the rest of the plants were air-dried in an environment controlled to 62-65F and
60% RH.
Here is a summary of the test results. The methods performed about the same. I thought that was pretty insane considering the air-dried plants were in perfect drying conditions.
Pros: the dryer works great in high humidity, prevents mold and hay smell for most people, and dries buds quicker than any other method I know of. Most growers I’ve talked to report they get comparable results to air-drying. For those who struggle with air-drying it can be a lifesaver.
Cons: Dries buds way too fast in low humidity, some growers report still getting hay smell, can over-dry buds (so you should start checking buds on day 3)
Other Product Testing
We tested a few different cannabis-specific products this year and shared our results with instructions on how to follow along.
New Tutorials
We love making new tutorials for GrowWeedEasy.com. Here are some of my favorite new articles from 2019:
Grow Weed Easy's First Online Course
Over the summer, Sirius and I ran a 6-week "Seed to Weed" online grow course with 30 students. We were surprised at how much we enjoyed teaching face-to-face and taking live questions. More importantly, we are beyond impressed with what the students have accomplished since the end of class!
Check out the beautiful plants grown by Sandra, one of our alumni, in today's "Trophy Pics".
Sign up here to be notified when registration for the next class opens!
What to Expect in 2020
We have a lot of cool stuff planned for 2020, but don't hesitate to send in suggestions for anything you'd like to see. That's right, hit the reply button and let us know if there is something specific you want us to do next.
315 LEC vs HLG 300 Quantum Board LED
The next side-by-side grow will feature a 315 LEC grow light and a HLG 300 Quantum Board LED grow light. The clones are ready, the two 2'x4'x6' grow tents are set up, and the grow starts immediately! Which light do you think will win? Which one are you rooting for?
Double-Ended 630 CMH Grow in 4'x4'x7' Grow Tent
Sirius will try out a 630W CMH grow light in his full-size grow tent. He's stuck between using super soil again and going back to his favorite grow medium bubbleponics. What do you want to see?
More Lab Testing
In addition to recording dry weights, we will be getting all buds lab tested for cannabinoids and terpenes (smells). In fact, we plan to test all harvests from now on. We believe there isn't enough experimentation testing in the home-growing field, and we aim to change that!
More Side-by-Side Grows
After the LEC vs Quantum Board grow, we plan to do a side-by-side grow that includes a COB LED grow light (we're considering RapidLED COBs). We may even test two COBs against each other. What grow light are you most interested in seeing tested next?
Are you interested in any other kinds of testing?
Re-Release "Seed to Weed" Online Grow Course
We have been streamlining our grow course, and expect to re-open registration for the next class in early 2020. Any previous students who'd like to retake the course will get a significant discount. Sign up here to be notified when registration opens!
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"Omg just made dry ice hash for the first time. I was amazed how simple it was. Thank so much for the article Sirius. You made it a no brainer with your video.
When I was younger I made hash with a bubble machine and by hand. Now I know better. It was a pain in the butt. Messy and time consuming. After I tried it i gained a new perspective about leaves. I have thrown lbs of leaves away. Much like most people I guess. Don't do it anymore. The process fast clean, easy and fun. Made me a lot of pure high quality hashish. Perfect.. Thanks to all the work you put into grow weed easy. I'm 68 and still learning.
God I love growing. Again thanks for all effort.
~Larry
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"I just wanted to send a note to tell you both how thrilled I am with what I have learned from your website, your class, and your feedback this last year. My first germination was January 1, 2019 and I am sending pictures of what will be my third harvest. I never thought I would be so excited about growing weed and have come to accept the common mantra: smoking marijuana is not addicting but growing marijuana is!
The group picture is plants that germinated in root starter pods September 20. From left to right is “Strawberry, Banana, Grape (SBG)”, “Amnesia Fast”, and “White Widow Fast” [all from Seedsman.com]. They are in Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil and I use Green Planet nutrients and their schedule. I vegged for 7 weeks using 18 on/6 off light schedule. My vegging light is a T5 fixture and when I changed to 12/12, my light is MarsHydro 600W. I added a Phlizon 600W at the end of November
because I wanted to see how it performed. I purchased it for a friend who I set up with a tent, etc., for Christmas.
I started flushing the White Widow yesterday. I think the SBG and Amnesia have a week or so yet to go. The cola with the brighter reflection in the background is the White Widow and the other cola that still has mostly white and erect stigma is the SBG. The microscope pictures are last week of White Widow.
I have made butter for cookies and rice krispie treats, tinctures for gummies, simple syrup that I put in my home-brewed kombucha. I grew a CBD-dominant strain (Harle Tsu) and used coconut butter with shae butter and made hand lotion for my family and friends. Some have even reported that it helps with their aches. I found a lab in [redacted] that analyzed my products so I have been able to predict percentages in all of my goodies.
Again, thank you both so much for all you do. I look forward to my Sunday morning coffee and reading the newsletter each week. I hope to send pictures sometime worthy of the front page sometime.
Have a great holiday season and an even better 2020!"
~Sandra
You've made it, Sandra! Also, those trichome pics are phenomenal. Altogether, a job well done! đź‘Ť
~Sirius
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Who Runs This
Newsletter? |
Nebula Haze:
I'll be honest with you, when I first started growing, I struggled. Now, it is my mission to make it easier for
new growers to get started as well as help advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. We are updating and adding articles every single week and our goal is to eventually build a comprehensive growing resource so anyone and everyone can grow if they want to! If we all share the knowledge there's more buds in the world for everyone :) |
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Learn which seed sources are personally recommended by Nebula Haze |
Sirius Fourside:
Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium (deep water culture, bubbleponics).
"Growing cannabis can be a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water doesn't increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, coco, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
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Disclaimer: Grow Weed Easy only recommends products that we've personally checked out ourselves, or that come from people we know and trust. For doing so, we may receive a commission. Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized Financial, Legal, or Medical Advice. The contributors to this magazine grow legally under their
local laws but are not lawyers or medical professionals. Any decision to grow marijuana should only be made after consulting with an experienced lawyer or other legal adviser. Any medical decisions should only be made after speaking with a doctor or other medical professional. Be safe!
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