Hello Steemit! :D I'm a personal medical grower in Colorado. I've recently published some very important information, for the cannabis community. Please read the intro, because it will give you a great idea of where the info is coming from.
My goal is to improve the quality of cannabis across the world. Please read and share with everyone you know that grows, or would be interested in learning. Even the casual cannabis user will gain valuable insight regarding the cannabis being used.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, I've put a lot of effort into making it readable and understandable. :D
This book is dedicated to my wife, for working with me all these years to understand cannabis, for not divorcing me (multiple times) when I was spending 18+hrs a day researching and also for providing invaluable feedback and editing assistance. I am a better man today through her love and support.
I want to thank my friends, who tolerated my pestering for feedback, I truly appreciate your assistance. I also want to thank everyone around the world who fights against prohibition, your efforts in spreading information helped me be the grower I am today.
Without these amazing people, this book would not have been possible.
I want to thank the cannabis plant, for being extremely useful and for growing amazingly different from common vegetables. The medicinal use of cannabis has helped me significantly throughout my life with pain, seizures and autism related issues, providing a higher level of functionality and quality of life.
Copyright 2016 by Douglas S. Curtis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from Douglas S. Curtis, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
First Edition
Forward
This was written during 2015-2016, in Colorado, USA.
Let me be the first to mention that I am not a graphic layout professional, nor am I a professional photographer. The photos in this book were taken with a Nikon CoolPix L320 and the cannabis was grown with components I mostly built myself. The diagrams were lovingly handcrafted by my wife, with the help of one of my children.
That being said, I have significantly important information to share and this booklet represents a legible and understandable accounting of what I've discovered. Gems come in many shapes and forms.
At this particular time the average quality of cannabis in the USA is very poor. Most cannabis is contaminated with excess nutrients, questionable chemicals and air contaminants, both natural and man made. The cannabinoid, terpene and flavinoid profiles are reduced through improper flowering environments and excessive nutrients. These cannabinoids and terpenes are further damaged and contaminated through poor harvest and handling methods.
The methods in this book produce higher quality cannabis than I've found in all dispensaries I've been to, except one. The concepts are well researched, sound and simple; In addition, I provide an explanation and reason behind each component of the process, making it easy to duplicate in your own garden.
The most important pieces of information in this book will not be easily found elsewhere. They were discovered through thousands of hours of study, combined with personal growing experience. My goal is to increase the quality of cannabis around me, so I am sharing them with the world.
I urge new growers to read and retain the information while you learn to grow. Knowing this information about cannabis will allow you to achieve higher quality at a fast pace. Experienced growers should understand right away and be able to easily extract that extra bit of quality you didn't know was there.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about cannabis.
INDEX
Introduction
Trichome Dense Cannabis
- Why is MY Cannabis Trichome Dense?
- Trichome Density is Tied to Humidity
- Understanding Transpiration
- Balanced Nutrient Profile and a Full pH Swing
- Importance of Clean Air
- Importance of Clean Water
- Light Density & Canopy Management
Vegging and Flowering
- The Vegetative Stage
- Vegetative Nutrient Mix
- Vegetative Reservoir Management
- Topping Off Daily
- Natural pH Swing
- The Flowering Stage
- Flowering Reservoir Management
- Flowering Mix
- Why So Little Floralicious+?
- Adding Epsom Salt
- Topping Off Daily and Watching pH
- Watching the Transpiration Rate
- The Fade
- The Flush
Harvest and Beyond
- Harvest Timing
- 5%-15% Amber
- Harvesting and Trimming
- Drying
- The Cure
Photos
Glossary
Introduction
Dear Reader,
My first experience with extremely clean, trichome dense cannabis happened in 2008. It came from a dispensary in Chatsworth, California that was later robbed by the DEA and shut down. Even though my cannabis was better than anything else I'd found till then, the cannabis from this dispensary was significantly better quality than I was producing. This higher quality flower was extremely potent and overloaded with complex terpene profiles. The flavors and aromas were very distinct and crisp.
The smoke was cool, soft and tasty, right down to the last hit, simply delicious. The ash was slightly off-white, super lightweight and easy to tap out. I was completely blown away by the unique qualities of their cannabis. I had to learn more. I needed to know how to get such high levels of terpene expression. Unfortunately, thanks to the DEA, I did not have access to the grower for any information. This meant I had to go online and into my own garden for answers. What I've learned is priceless. The quality resulting from the information I've found is unique and rarely found in most gardens. When this quality is compared to cannabis found in dispensaries today, it would certainly be considered higher quality than most of the "top shelf" offerings.
In the nearly two decades I've grown cannabis, the last eight years have been focused on producing this much cleaner product. What is the end result? Cannabis like I have never seen anywhere except the Chatsworth dispensary and my own garden. Cannabis so clean, people can't believe it's hydroponic. The terpene profiles are complex and powerful and every strain/phenotype run through my garden comes out with an extremely dense coat of trichomes.
Full expression equals full flavor flowers, it is a simple concept, yet tied to a number of factors. Every one of these factors must be present in the flowering environment. They are the keys to producing a higher quality of cannabis than normally found elsewhere. The information I am offering in this booklet is taken from many, many different sources and nearly a decade of personal research into 'clean cannabis.'
Now, it is yours. Enjoy!
Sincerely,
Douglas Curtis
page 1
Trichome Dense Cannabis
Why Is MY Cannabis Trichome Dense?
I've invested 15+ years into cannabis and, throughout it all, everything turned out more trichome dense in my garden than anywhere else. At first it was an accident, I was the victim of the environment and too poor to be able to control it.
The first 8 years I grew cannabis, all of the places I lived had low humidity and high temperatures. I never successfully raised the humidity, but I was always able to keep the flower room cool. This lower humidity and temperatures have steadily become key to my understanding of superior quality. As a result of this focus, my quality has continually improved. Although accidental at first, I found the key to trichome density.
Trichome Dense Stem, Leaf and Flower
When looking around the world of horticulture, specifically trichome bearing plants, there are references to environmental conditions effecting the number of trichomes a plant produces. My experience matched the information exactly, trichome density is definitely tied to humidity.
The basic science is that trichomes trap moisture as it evaporates off of the plant. This trapped moisture creates a micro-climate next to the plant helping it stay moist. The drier the environment, the more trichomes are produced to trap additional moisture.
There are other factors affected when humidity changes, so simply changing the humidity in my flower room was not enough. I had to learn about transpiration, transpiration rates and how they affected plant growth. Remember, this was all trial and error for me. I had to pay close attention to the results in different flowering environments.
You can find a copy of it on Amazon, FlickRocket.com and Barnes and Noble's Nook.