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Bubbleman Makes Dry Sift
BushyOldGrower - Out of the Cave
Donald Mallard from OZ
ICMag 420 Cup Amsterdam 2013
Living Organic Soil
Mr.Alkaline - Astral Cannabis
What is Recreational Marijuana?
And more inside!
Cover:
MMXII
by Hrpuffnkush
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Credits
&
Contents
El Presidente:
Gypsy Nirvana
Editor-in-Chief:
Chris Payaso
Contributing Editor,
Cartoonist:
Skip Stone
Cover Photo:
MMXII
by Hrpuffnkush
Contributors:
Blue Jay Way,
Bubbleman,
BushyOldGrower,
Cann,
Donald Mallard,
GaiusMarius,
HundredGramOz,
Hrpuffnkush,
Iffy, MAIG,
Mr.Alkaline,
PuReKnOwLeDgE,
Truecannabliss,
Unclefishstick,
Zeppelin Rules
and MANY more!
Along The Garden Path.............5
ICMag Website Update.............9
IC420 2013 Cup Report............11
Bog’s Cave.................................24
What Is Recreational
Marijuana?...........................31
Donald Mallard in OZ.............42
Cannabis Liberation News.....44
Photo of the Year Contest.......50
Dry Ice Hashish........................59
The Rise And Fall
Of Astral Cannabis.............68
Grow Contest Winner..............80
Bubbleman Makes Drysift......86
Growing In Coco....................103
The Living Organic Soil.........111
Vermicomposting...................116
Making a Worm Bin...............118
Harvesting and Using
Vermincompost................122
Making Compost Tea............125
Five Soil Recipes.....................130
A Rose By Any
Other Name.......................136
Food For Thought...................140
Disclaimer: This publication is for educational and entertainment purposes only. You must
be of legal age to view this publication. The publisher and staff do not condone disobeying any
laws. Through this publication you may be able to link to other websites which are not under the
control of this publication. © May 2013 The International Cannagraphic.
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BHO made from GSC - by Truecannabliss
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Along the garden path...
by Payaso
I found this picture on a site from Slovenia. The cow
seems reluctant to try it, or already heavily medicated.
Thank you Konopenko for sharing this image! The
plant is a male Nepalese
Jam from ACE/CBG seeds.
BOG stopped by to visit
recently and he gifted us
some amazing medicine;
BOG Bubble, and samples
of two distinct phenotypes,
the ‘Orange’ and the
‘Purple.’ The head is the same from each, but the
flavors are unique. One is reminiscent of Amsterdam’s
famous Orange Bud from back in the 1990s. The Purple
is more like good old GrandDaddyPurps... but stonier.
BOG strains are powerful!
We were playing with numbers recently and found
that we have a vast acreage planted in cannabis, here
at IC mag! Just count up all the members (333,350 as
of March 12, 2013), and think if each one grew just ten
square feet that would equal 3,333,500 square feet of
plants! Divide this number by the size of an acre (4,360
sq. ft.) and you get more than 764 acres of cannabis
plants waving either under the sun or lamps. Good job
overgrowing the planet! This makes me wonder: how
many varities of cannabis there are being grown by
International Cannagraphers?
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The garden is lying dormant for now. Spring may be
arriving early this year, so it's time to get in gear and
till the soil, check on those worm bins and harvest
some compost. There's always something to do in
the garden, no matter what time of year...especially
indoors!
Organics, Veganics, and living organic soil have
been on my mind this winter as I gear up for another
outdoor grow this summer. As spring begins here in
the Northern Hemisphere, the worms are coming out
of hibernation and wriggling their way around, eating
and pooping happily. All the microbes and other
living components of natural soil are growing and
multiplying, providing basic nutrients from the soil to
the plants in a form they can absorb easily. Soon the
soil will reach a temperature allowing many things to
grow, especially cannabis.
In Sri Lanka, Jaya Devi and husband use their worm beds
to sustain their gardens naturally, without depending on
chemical fertilizers.
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The supposedly ‘new’ concept of veganics is becoming
increasingly popular. In this issue we explore factors
relating to the ‘Living Organic Soil,’ and how to create
it yourself. Organic growers will sometimes use animal
excrement in their compost, whereas in ‘veganics’
all ingredients must be from plant-based compost
material with pure mineral supplements. It seems
like a logical extension of the philosophy of growing
in harmony with nature. The goal should be to avoid
buying and using store-bought ingredients and
additives. Growers have been doing this for millenia,
with excellent results.
Bubbleman has shared a story with photographs for us
to enjoy! It’s about his fascination with the ultimately
pure extraction of trichomes, and how he achieves
this. Using only the time on his hands with screens, no
water, and no solvent, he prepares some of the tastiestlooking truly full-melt dry-sifted hash. By comparison
Skip has written about the use of a cement mixer to
make larger quantities of dry ice hash of commercial
quality. What a contrast in styles, and results...growers
may want to read these stories!
One of our long-time members,
Mr. Alkaline, says on his
profile ‘Your Changeable Self is
Constantly Becoming a Reflection
of your Most Dominant Thoughts.’
Mr. Alkaline is a philosopher and
explorer of ancient wisdom. He
has submitted a fascinating tale of
the ancient Mayans and cannabis
entitled ‘The Rise and Fall of
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Astral Cannabis in the Americas.’ Be sure to read it all
the way through to the conclusion!
In closing I’d like to remind you that this magazine
is for growers, by growers, the members of the
International Cannagraphic. You can be in the next
eMagazine by writing a story, submitting a grow
report, starting a thread in the forums, or documenting
that field of dreams or indoor grow in still images or
video. Just send me a message through the site or on
my visitor page.
Thanks for reading Issue #4 of the International
Cannagraphic. Remember to share it with your friends!
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ICMag Website Update
by Webmaster Skip
IC 420 Cannabis Cup
Once again, Amsterdam was the venue for the 2013
IC420 Cannabis Cup, held annually on April 20th.
This year's event was slightly different as a new online
voting system was implemented. Judges were able to
cast their votes using the International Cannagraphic
website to record and tally the results. Online judges
could add a comment on each entry. The results were
available immediately after the last ballot was entered.
You can view the full results here. This year everyone's
votes have been made public, allowing for complete
transparency!
Read the story and view the pics from the event.
Server upgrades
We recently upgraded our webserver and tuned it
for speed. This has made posting and browsing much
faster. We also upgraded our database server, giving
us a lot more memory to allow for more caching
and even faster response times. These upgrades
were enabled by the International Cannagraphic's
supporters and donors. If you'd like to support
International Cannagraphic, you will help keep the site
running (monthly server costs are huge), please visit
our subscription page.
Glossary
Someone requested a glossary, so we added a new
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glossary module that italicizes technical terms on the
site and pops up a definition when you hover over the
italicized word. This new feature will be expanded
over time as members submit new terms. You can find
the complete glossary here.
IC Mag's Demographics
We posted a survey online to learn more about who
visits IC Mag. It turns out that 80% of our members
are actively growing cannabis! That's an amazing
number and reflects how dedicated our members are
to overgrowing the planet. The survey also reveals that
60% of our members are recreational cannabis users,
while 35% are medical marijuana patients.
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IC420 2013
Amsterdam
Growers Cup - Best
Indica Winner
TriangleKush by
Truecannablis
Growers Cup - Best
Sativa Winner
PineHaze by
HazeVentura
Breeders Cup - Best
Sativa Winner
Sour Power by Hortilab
Breeders Cup - Best
Indica Winner
FlowerBombKush by
StrainHunterSeeds
Best Hash Winner
H-1 by STRANDvasker
Complete voting results
can be viewed here.
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Untold days and hours were required to make up
these Judge's Kits in advance of the Cup. Not only
did the entries need to get to Amsterdam, but had
to be divided into the little sample bags for the
Judges. Then the packages were assembled with
all the goodies inside. Big thanks to Gaiusmarius
for donating his time to make sure the event ran
smoothly!
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My Cup Trip 2013
by OldPink
Being I’m a regular at the cup I was looking forward to
the trip, but my son was super excited as this was his first
cup and the first time he would be in Amsterdam after
his 18th birthday. He was supposed to attend in 2010 but
unfortunately that was the year of the volcano, his flights
were cancelled 3 hours before departure. He had a big
smile on his face when we touched down at Schiphol
Airport.
After meeting up with a few others who were over in the
Dam for the cup as well, we headed back to my mate’s
flat where we were staying the first night (with Bruce the
Bastard Brewer).
On the 17th we got up and went to the Greenhouse
where quite a few members had already gathered. I was
quite surprised when we got the Judges packs, I wasn’t
expecting them till the 18th. But I wasn’t complaining as it
gave us more time to try each sample. So we set to work
and started on the entries, and it wasn’t long before we
realised the quality of the entries this year was very high. I
only had to look at my son’s face to see he was stoned.
On the 18th, we went to Prix D’ Ami for a wake and bake
before we retired to our favourite haunt in Amsterdam a
Hookah Bar on Nieuwendijk called Lost in Amsterdam.
It has a great atmosphere and is a very chilled place to try
some more samples. Pretty soon it was apparent we were
not going to do much else for the rest of the day!
On the 19th, we went for a walk around town, and
stopped off for a coffee and a sample every now and then.
Then went to meet up with a few friends that had just
arrived before continuing our walk around Amsterdam.
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We had a relaxing evening with a couple of beers and
more samples!
The morning of the 20th I had 2 samples left to try before
we sat down and entered our scores. Then we headed into
town to meet up with the other judges at the Batavia. But
first we had to stop by the Roor shop to pick up a Bong
that was to be presented to Gaius. I must admit it is a bit
nerve wrecking walking stoned in Amsterdam, with a
valuable piece of glass, and all those bikes whizzing past!
But finally we made it to the venue where we set up to
allow judges that did not have access to a computer to
enter their scores using my laptop, so we could get the
final tally and announce the winners. There was an after
party just outside Amsterdam but we decided to grab
a few beers and head back to Bruce’s for our own after
party.
As we were there till the 22nd, we spent the last two days
chilling and winding down with a little bit of R&R as this
is my only real holiday in a year I have to make the most
of it. So we wandered around town to find some quiet
cafes, as the weather was reasonable, and there is nothing
better than sitting having a smoke and a coffee while
you watch the world go by. Or having a nice cold beer
and a joint while chilling with your friends, that is what
Amsterdam is all about for me.
I for one hope they leave it the way it is and don’t strangle
it with stupid laws that will only hurt their tourist trade.
Hopefully next year it will be bigger and better and I’m
already planning for my trip. Next year a few more of my
friends have said they want to come over as well. All in all
it was a great trip, my son and our friends also had a great
cup and a really good time in Amsterdam.
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A few of the many samples. Photos by OldPink.
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The IC420 2013 Awards
The glassware was made by ROOR for this special occasion.
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Photos by OldPink.
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The 2013 IC420 Cup Hashish entries, photo by Randika.
Left: Entry #4 - Right Entry #5 photos by STRANDvasker.
Sample photos by Hazeo - #32 at right.
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Photos on this page courtesy of STRANDvasker.
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#26 Chocolorange
from Dr Pentothal
#27 Amnesia Haze
from Soma
#28 Grandaddy Haze
from OJD
#29 titanium haze
from OJD
#30 Amnesia Hydro
from Bubblecrazy
#31 Amnesia Haze
from Prix d'Ami
#32 Arne's Balls
#33 Super Lemon Haze
from Esben
from Greenhouse Seeds
Photos on this page courtesy of Hydroheinz.
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#34 Green Shack
from Strainhunter Seeds
#39 SuperSourSkunk
from Papst Urban
#40 Agent Orange
from Dr Penthotal
#41 Sour Diesel
from Dr Pentothal
#42 SweetPinkGrapefruit x
AgentOrange from Catnip
#43 AmnesiaHaze x
AgentOrange from Catnip
#44 Crazy Jones
#45 PineHaze
from Haze Ventura
From Haze Ventura
Photos on this page courtesy of Hydroheinz.
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H2 x Dragon
from Growcodile
NYC Jones
from OJD
Sour Power
from Hortilab
Sour Star
from Hortilab
Photos above courtesy of Hydroheinz.
A peek into a judge's kit with score sheet and samples.
Photo by OldPink.
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Photos on this page courtesy of Gaiusmarius.
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Big Thanks to:
Gaiusmarius for organizing and running the event.
OldPink for being there and making sure things ran
smoothly.
Mellofellow for custom-making 64 spoon pipes to be
included in the Judge's Kits.
The GreenHouse on Haarlemmerstraat for hosting
Wake 'n Bake daily.
OJD for his help with the Coffeeshop Crawl.
The Prix d'Ami Coffeeshop for providing a space for
the judging and scorekeeping.
Trichomefarmer for leading yet another great Coffee
Shop Bike Tour through the wilds of Amsterdam.
STRANDvasker for working with ROOR to create the
special glass awards and organizing the IC 420 Bong
Auction, and Used Bong Auction.
Mr.Haze420 for the excellent canal boat tour.
The Batavia Coffeeshop for providing a space for a 4:20
Smokeout.
Skip for creating the excellent voting system!
Nol for inviting everyone to his 420 Festival as an After
Awards Ceremony party.
And last, but not least, everyone who showed up and
helped out at the event. Without all your assistance
this would not be possible!
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BOG's Cave
by BushyOldGrower
Hello Friends :) …
Many local growers are putting in
their crops about now so we want to
avoid some common pitfalls.
The time of year is coming for great outdoor gardens,
and our plants are tall and bushy. The plants have
shown their sexes, and there are many things to do
now to maximize the eventual harvest.
In this first picture of my BOG Seed Patch, the
evidence is clear that BOG Seeds grow pretty well
outside in California. :)
If you look carefully you will also see that the males
are getting closer to pollination. You will want to
remove any males before pollination occurs!
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If you grew plants from all female clones, no sexing
will be necessary. Hopefully you have reliable clones
and no worries:)
Above: Tall Male in Center
Those who grew from seed, will have larger plants due
to the growth hormone found in seed plants. Many
outdoor growers know this, and that is one reason they
grow from seed when growing outdoors.
Notice that the plants are loosely staked and tied
to keep them in place. This may not be necessary
depending on the type of plants you have.
There are two important things you can do besides
feeding your girls at this stage.
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The first thing is preventative treatment for mold and
insects. Spraying every two weeks with a product like
Safers Soap or other horticultural oils can do this. Bugs
are bad, but mold is worse.
Outdoor plants are most susceptible in the fall and
rain often causes mold. Preventative treatments will
minimize losses and covering the plants to protect
them from rain also helps.
This will help prevent mold but large colas should,
if possible, be protected from rain with the use of
canopies or tarps tied up above your plants. Don’t lay
the tarp directly on your plants, it will harm them.
Above: Cleaned Undergrowth
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The second thing you should do is remove all lower
fan leaves and lower branches at least one foot up from
the ground to create a barrier between the soil and
the plants leaves. This will help prevent mold from
creeping up from the soil. Keeping your area clear
of any old waste from your plants is essential. Dead
leaves should be thrown away, not left to lay around
your plants, this causes mold also.
This grow was prepared with good organic soil mostly
blends from Gardner & Bloom, but any good garden soil
works well. Don’t use potting soils unless you intend to use
it indoors because potting soil is a light soil and will not
retain the water necessary in your pots for good growth.
Natural soils (soil from outside already) may be mixed with
an amendment soil.
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In this photo the area to be planted is protected from animals
digging with chicken wire. The raised bed or the half barrels
work well but remember to drill drainage holes in the barrels
if you use them.
Security is a concern and the best way is a fenced
area with a nice big dog or two. German Shepherds
make pretty good watchdogs but they get bored if no
trespassers come. :) Pitbulls tend to do well, without
as much attention all the time, and they can do the
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job. Property owners have used dogs for a very long
time because dogs are smart and normally won’t hurt
anyone seriously.
Bogglegum
Protecting your grow often becomes more difficult
when natural hazards and disease hit our plants. Mites
and mold can be controlled with Safers Soap applied
by a sprayer. Rain, even dew
is a real hazard especially
to buds in later growth. A
Sulphur shaker can be applied
dry or mix it with water and
spray it on the plants before
rain hits.
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Be optimistic because we always do better when we
raise the bar. We tend to do better each year. As we
learn more, we expect more and we get more.
Finally remember to give your love and attention to
your plants everyday. Plants need love too. :)
Good Luck and remember to Respect the Law…..
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo…..(honor to all Higher Laws)
Overgrow the World with Love,
BOG
Visit with BOG online: IC Mag, BOG Seed Forum
Try BOG Seeds at Seed Boutique and Seedbay
PuReKnOwLeDgE’s Giant Bogglegum.
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What is Recreational
Marijuana?
by Skip
Times are really changing! Colorado
and Washington State have now
legalized recreational marijuana use.
But what are these recreational uses that cannabis
aficionados can now legally enjoy in two states? Most
people already understand that cannabis has medical
applications, and 19 states have legalized such use. So
how do those uses differ from the medical applications
of cannabis?
Before we can answer that question, let’s look at the
many ways cannabis affects human beings. Cannabis
can affect our body, mind and spirit in various ways,
depending upon which cannabinoids come into play.
Marijuana's Physical Effects
Cannabis contains cannabinoids which mimic our
own endocannabinoids, attaching themselves to
receptor sites in our brains and elsewhere in our
nervous system and body. In turn, these plant derived
exocannabinoids act as on/off switches for various
functions in our bodies. Both THC and CBDs can turn
off, or turn down the pain response in humans. THC
in particular can increase our appetite, which makes it
an effective anti-nausea agent for patients undergoing
chemotherapy. THC is responsible for the “munchies,”
which most recreational users know well.
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There are a multitude of other medical issues that
cannabis can relieve including inflammatory diseases,
cancers, glaucoma, Crohn’s disease, and many more.
Thus far, CBDs seem to play more of a role than THC
in some medical treatments. The reverse is true when
it comes to the recreational use of cannabis. THC is the
cannabinoid that gets you high and makes you feel
good.
So which body effects of
cannabis do recreational
users enjoy? Good cannabis
can provide a pleasurable
body rush as THC saturates
our nervous system. This
feeling is part of the
euphoria that marijuana
imparts to those who
imbibe. Euphoria is soon
followed by relaxation as
our body releases stored
tension. As we relax, our
minds begin to drift, and our
senses are heightened. Next
thing you know, you’ve got
the munchies again...
Caution: Smoking marijuana
dehydrates you, so always
have a sweet, non-alcoholic
drink and water handy.
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Things Go Better With Cannabis!
Your mind set, physical setting and dosage influence
how you respond to cannabis. When you’re at a
concert, dancing to a jam band while stoned, you don’t
just hear music, you feel it and it takes you on a trip.
When hiking through the woods, or just lying on a
beach, cannabis adds to your enjoyment by increasing
your appreciation of the beauty and awesomeness of
nature.
The quality of the marijuana and quantity of the
various cannabinoids consumed directly affects the
user’s experience.
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Effects vary from an energetic light buzz to a heavy
sedative stupor. The complex chemistry of cannabis
allows for such amazing variations in effect. It’s also
a drug that allows recreational users to select their
preferred genetics for desired effects, just like for
medical marijuana.
Marijuana and Food
One of the most documented and reliable effects of
marijuana is the munchies. When your body is in need
of nourishment, it releases its own endocannabinoids
causing you to feel hungry. Using cannabis increases
the amount of cannabinoids in your system, in a
similar manner. Both have the same effect, causing
those incessant hunger pangs that accompany a
good stone. The increase in appetite is also a desired
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medical effect, especially for those undergoing
chemotherapy or a wasting disease.
But marijuana doesn’t just make you hungry, it
improves the taste of food. Perhaps it’s due to the
munchie effect, but everything tastes better when
you’re high on cannabis. It’s almost like you’re tasting
food for the first time. You tend to eat more when
stoned, and along with cannabis’ couch potato effect,
weight gain is to be expected.
Caution: When eating marijuana, always take a small
portion of the edible at a time and wait at least an hour to
gauge its effects before taking more.
Marijuana and Sex
Cannabis is the fuel that intensifies the desire and the
enjoyment of sex. As with food, marijuana with sex
makes it seem like the
first time. Minds and
bodies respond with
increased enthusiasm
and pleasure. You find
more to enjoy. Things
that you might not
have noticed before
suddenly become
erotic. The two
become one. Orgasms
can reach new heights
of pleasure and
fulfillment.
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Cannabis is simply one of the best aphrodisiacs known
to man and woman.
Marijuana and Creativity
Many artists and musicians rely on marijuana for their
inspiration and creativity. Cannabis helps people to
think outside the box, to come up with new ideas and
to uniquely express themselves. So it’s not surprising
that professionals in other fields also use cannabis for a
creative edge.
Scientists and techies love marijuana for the
outstanding insights it provides. Big breakthrus in
science and technology have come about thanks to
cannabis (along with LSD), like the Personal Computer
and the Internet.
Marijuana and Sleep
One reason many people use marijuana is that it
relieves insomnia. Marijuana helps you fall asleep
much easier by stopping the internal dialogue that
keeps you awake. It also allows you to sleep deeper
and longer. You wake up feeling more rested, if a bit
groggy due to residual cannabinoids. Many like to
“wake and bake” in the morning to start the day off
right.
Marijuana and other Drugs
Marijuana can complement other drugs, either by
enhancing the effects or toning them down. Alcohol is
often imbibed along with cannabis. In moderation, it
can increase relaxation, especially in social situations
that might otherwise make one nervous when stoned.
Good wine can be savored and its effects heightened
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with cannabis. For some, marijuana reduces or replaces
alcohol dependence, yet another medical application
for cannabis.
Many enjoy smoking tobacco with cannabis. While the
jury is out regarding the downside of mixing these two
smokes, it’s certain that marijuana is safer to smoke.
Both THC and CBD can reduce inflammation, unlike
tobacco which has many toxic side effects. So despite
marijuana having many similar toxins as tobacco, the
damage it does is far less.
Most other drugs tend to overwhelm the effects of
cannabis, or cannabis counteracts some of their effects.
Thus cannabis is not used often in conjunction with
other drugs unless the objective is to “mellow out.”
Caution: Marijuana can interact with other drugs,
sometimes unexpectedly, by increasing or decreasing the
combined effects.
The Psychological Effects of Cannabis
The important part of marijuana’s effects for
recreational users is the way it affects their mental
state and mood. With other recreational drugs like
alcohol, cocaine or ecstasy, it is their ability to alter our
mental processes in different ways that make them
popular. Chemical intoxication, like sobriety is just
another mental state we can experience at appropriate
times and places. Humans have been altering their
consciousness, and their subconsciousness, with
recreational drugs for as long as there have been
humans. Who’s to say it wasn’t some mind altering
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drug that altered our ancestors’ brains thus creating
modern humans?
The marijuana experience provides not just euphoria,
but a general feeling of well-being which leads to
contentedness followed by happiness, even joy! Surely
this is what recreational cannabis users desire, and
who doesn’t want to feel good?
Considering the wide range of powerful psychological
effects of cannabis on humans, it’s surprising it
isn’t physically addictive. A minor psychological
dependency can occur during chronic use, but it’s not
difficult to overcome.
Other effects include alienation from society, whereby
users withdraw from common social activities. While
April 20th (4/20) at Hippy Hill in San Francisco.
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for some people, it has the opposite effect, enabling
them to engage socially more often.
One thing any cop can tell you, marijuana users are
really not a problem like drunks. It’s a fact that people
are less aggressive under the influence of marijuana
than with alcohol. Also, marijuana doesn’t make one a
reckless driver like alcohol does. So it’s fair to say that
recreational cannabis is a safer alternative to alcohol
in so many ways. Society would be much better off if
alcoholics switch to cannabis.
Nearly all cannabis users report experiencing paranoia.
Whether this is more a function of marijuana itself,
or of it being illegal, is difficult to gauge. Certainly
the paranoia level increases with illegality, especially
among those who grow and traffic in cannabis.
Caution: Marijuana affects people in different ways
physically and psychologically. If you can’t handle cannabis,
don’t use it!
The Spiritual Effects of Cannabis
For many, consuming cannabis is a religious
experience. The most potent marijuana can provide
extrasensory experiences, opening minds to higher
realms of thought. Aficionados of the highest quality
cannabis report psychedelic experiences with certain
strains.
Indian sadhus are one ancient group that still practices
Shiva worship with cannabis. They say it brings them
closer to their god. Likewise with Rastafarians. Many
people today have a similar experience with marijuana.
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How is this possible?
Most people’s lives are pretty routine. Marijuana and
other drugs break the routine, allowing us to refocus
our consciousness more deeply, if we choose. We
disconnect from daily occupations and begin to notice
the world outside ourselves, especially nature.
Sadhu smoking cannabis thru a chillum
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It is in nature that the marijuana experience reveals its
full spiritual potential. It sets free the animal within
us, the being that tunes into nature and respects it as
part of our own being. We transcend our ego state, and
sometimes one can enter a state of bliss.
Communing with the natural world on cannabis
renews our essence, restores our spirit and puts our
lives in a different perspective.
Some enjoy mixing marijuana with meditation. Others
say it distracts. Perhaps once again the effects are strain
dependent or dependent upon the user’s definition of
meditation.
As you can see, the recreational use of cannabis is
beneficial to humans in so many ways. It helps us
relax, change focus, be creative, enjoy food and sex
even more, find our spiritual connection to nature and
each other. It heals us from the diseases of civilization,
providing an escape from the pressures and stresses of
everyday life. It teaches us how to change our lifestyle
and live in greater harmony. It’s good medicine for the
mind and body, even if you’re not sick. It is a healthier
alternative to other, more harmful, yet widely accepted
recreational drugs in society.
And now the people of Colorado and Washington
have spoken!
LEGALIZE IT!
Marijuana: It’s not just for hippies anymore!
Read ZeppelinRules' take on how cannabis affects us in
"Food for Thought."
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Donald Mallard’s OZ
Ducksfeet and more from downunder...
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Cannabis Liberation
News
by Skip
Marijuana Legalization comes to Washington and
Colorado
Months after marijuana legalization legislation for
recreational use was passed in Washington State and
Colorado, both states are coming to terms with this
new reality. Washington legislators are wrestling
with regulating a whole new industry, deciding
which applicants can become growers and sellers of
cannabis. In Colorado, where the medical marijuana
industry was already well established, there's a huge
new market for recreational cannabis including clubs
and restaurants catering to marijuana users. Cannabis
business owners and growers are wondering how the
Feds will respond to the new laws.
New Hampshire's House has just passed two bills,
one legalizing medical marijuana, and the other
decriminalizes possession of small amounts of
marijuana. The first bill has the support of most
senators and the governor, whereas the second
decriminalization bill faces opposition and is unlikely
to pass. However there's more support now than there
was for previous attempts.
The Illinois House has passed a medical marijuana bill
similar to one passed by the Illinois Senate in 2009.
It sets a 2.5 ounce limit per purchase. It is uncertain
whether the Governor, Pat Quinn, will sign it.
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DEA Getting Paranoid
With cannabis legalization spreading across the US,
some folks are getting worried about losing their jobs.
A backlash is building on the part of those who stand
to lose funding if marijuana legalization continues.
This includes the DEA and the United Nations'
International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). Eight
former heads of the DEA (drug czars) all oppose the
legalization of marijuana. They are calling on the
Obama Administration to enforce existing federal
laws and to sue the states that legalized to prevent
them from implementing their commercial marijuana
production and distribution plans.
“Cannabis decriminalization measures across
the United States, including the medical use of
marijuana in California, have been sharply criticized
by the United Nations, which has warned Washington
they violate the international drug conventions......
Raymond Yans, the INCB president, said that the
successful ballots in Colorado and Washington to
legalize the use of cannabis for recreational purposes
and the fact that Massachusetts had recently become
the 18th state to allow the use of cannabis for medicinal
purposes violate the international drug conventions.”
Read More
Despite the difficulty in measuring impairment
under the influence of marijuana, several states have
introduced bills to make driving with marijuana in
your bloodstream illegal. The issue is up for debate
since THC can stay in the blood for days and there is
no specific level that indicates an inability to drive.
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Read about the Marijuana DUI Bill
Media Attitude Changes
It seems the US media has finally changed its attitude
towards marijuana. Following the success of the
fictional cable TV series, Weeds, another reality series
called Weed Wars highlighted the struggle faced by
those trying to supply the market legally. That series
focused on the travails of Harborside Dispensary in
Oakland, California, showing how the largest legal
cannabis business was being endlessly harassed by the
Feds.
Another new series, Weed Country (also on Discovery
channel), highlights the battle to grow and distribute
marijuana in Northern California by showing growers
and law enforcement engaging in a cat and mouse
game, one with serious consequences. These new
reality series appear to be relatively unbiased, letting
viewers decide which side they support. Yet another
series, Pot Cops, which is slanted towards the cops'
point of view has now started.
Government Attitude Changes
On the national level, legislation has been introduced
to clarify policies and stop Federal interference in
states that have legalized medical marijuana.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer and 13 co-sponsors say the
measure would help clear up confusion that has pitted
states — with legalized marijuana laws — against
federal authorities. The bill, Politico reported, would
keep federal agents from taking action in the 19
states where marijuana is legal and would set forth
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guidelines for the Federal Drug Administration to
legalize the drug for medicinal use. Read more
Prohibitionist Attitudes Changing
In an important sign that social attitudes towards
marijuana are changing, the national D.A.R.E. (Drug
Abuse Resistance Education) Program has removed
marijuana from its curriculum. No longer will children
be fed lies about the “dangers” of cannabis use. No
doubt this is an attempt to restore some credibility
to the ineffective program. And in Colorado, where
recreational cannabis is now legal, police are having
to retrain drug sniffing dogs to ignore the smell of
marijuana since it's no longer illegal. The times, they
are a changin'!
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Map of Cannabis Legality in European Countries
International Laws Changing
Uruguay has just begun a three-month national
dialogue on marijuana with the aim of educating the
public with the facts about cannabis so that they will
support a bill in Congress to legalize the cultivation
and distribution of pot. If it passes, people will be
able to grow six plants at home and possess up to
17 ounces. The bill is being pushed by José Mujica,
the former leftist guerrilla fighter, now president of
Uruguay.
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The Netherlands has finally dropped their mandatory
“Weed Pass” requirement, which limited sales to
Dutch residents. They now allow cities to decide for
themselves whether to restrict the sale of cannabis at
coffeeshops in the country. This means tourists visiting
Amsterdam can still visit 220 or so coffeeshops and
buy up to five grams
of cannabis. But in
the south, the city of
Maastricht is requiring
all buyers of marijuana
to present their Dutch
passport or residency
papers. Most of the
coffeeshops in that city
are now closed as the
tourist can no longer
purchase cannabis
there and the Dutch
did not want to have
to register to use
Visitors can still enjoy cannabis in
cannabis.
Amsterdam's Coffeeshops
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The International Cannagraphic Nominations
for Photo of the Year 2012 are listed below.
Tonatiuh – Bubba
(January)
Nachilloo - Peyote Purple
(February)
Wamen – American Dad
(March)
Hrpuffnkush - Mmxii
(April)
Smurf - Medicine Man
(May)
Bubbleman – King (June)
The
Lumpstatus – Gs Cookies
(July)
Lumpstatus – Cherry Pie
(August)
Mcdank8o5 – Outdoor
(September)
Mr·x – Unknown (Oct.)
Homero - Chernobyl
(November)
Papsturban – Sourpower
(December)
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Tonatiuh – Bubba (January)
Nachilloo - Peyote Purple (February)
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Wamen – American Dad (March)
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Hrpuffnkush - Mmxii (April)
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Smurf - Medicine Man
(May)
Bubbleman – King (June)
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Lumpstatus – Gs Cookies (July)
Lumpstatus – Cherry Pie (August)
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Mcdank8o5 – Outdoor (September)
Mr·x – Unknown (October)
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Homero - Chernobyl (November)
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Papsturban – Sourpower (December)
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Dry Ice Extraction
Using A Small
Cement Mixer
by Skip Stone
Hashish making dates back thousands of years
and many traditional methods involve pounding
or sifting the dried cannabis. These ancient
methods of shaking trichomes from the plant
are usually labor intensive and can introduce
contaminants in the final product.
Modern hashish making seeks to improve the
process, allowing for more quality control and
greater efficiency. The discovery that freezing
marijuana allows the coveted trichomes to easily
break free from the plant led to new methods of
hashish making that remove most contaminants,
thus increasing the quality of the hashish.
Last harvest I got a chance to document using dry
ice (CO2) to process a large amount of trim and
leaf. What makes this process different is the use
of a cement mixer, allowing for maximum results
in a minimum amount of time.
Why use dry ice? Dry ice is stable at −78.5°C
(−109.3 °F). Which means it is super cold, far
colder than ice used in water extraction methods,
so the plant matter freezes quickly. In fact, the
extreme cold shatters the plant matter into small
pieces, freeing all the trichomes and allowing
them to be easily separated. You can use fresh
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marijuana or dried, it makes no difference. Dry
ice also sterilizes the product, but not completely.
Hash made with dry ice never contacts water
so you don’t have to dry it out, it’s less likely to
mold and can retain quality for many years.
Why use a cement mixer? Besides allowing for
a large volume of trim to be processed quickly,
it also can handle a lot of dry ice, safely and
efficiently. Of course you wouldn’t want to use
just any cement mixer. You should buy one new
and clean it out by running sand through it for
15 minutes to remove any particles of paint that
might be loose.
This small cement mixer is ideal for extracting
trichomes using dry ice.
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What else is needed?
A screen that fits over the top of the mixer. The
unit used in this report had a 150 micron screen,
which let thru some plant matter. But you could
use a smaller screen, about 100 microns, that
would filter most of the unwanted material
out. The 150 micron
screen will yield the
maximum amount
of hash. You can do
different runs with
different screens to see
how well they do.
A special steel funnel
that fits over the
mixer will receive the
trichomes that pass
thru the screen. The
Mixer and Funnel in upright
one shown here is the
position.
Extraction Contraption
sold by Friendly Farms. The mixer is from
Harbor Freight #91907.
The Process:
Once the mixer is setup and cleaned, you can fill
it up with trim, leaf, buds, whatever, wet or dry!
Remove large stems as they may damage the
screen. And no, you don’t need to grind it up or
even remove the small sticks. The dry ice will do
that work for you. Next, add the dry ice, which
can usually be purchased at supermarkets. It’s
recommended to use 8-10 pounds at a time.
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Take a bag of dry ice and pound it with a mallet
or other similar object into small pieces, no larger
than a golf ball. You don’t want large, heavy
pieces in the mix.
Mixer with trim and leaf and dry ice before processing.
Notice one piece of dry ice is too big!
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Then you must seal the screen and funnel onto
the mixer very carefully, making sure it is
centered and fits tightly against the rim. If this is
not done properly, trichomes will fall out. It does
take some practice to ensure a secure fit.
Next the mixer bowl is lowered from vertical into
an almost horizontal position. Run the mixer,
until you see it frost up, about 3 to 5 minutes
(timing is everything.) Then stop the mixer,
reposition the bowl so it tilts downwards ever so
slightly (one notch below horizontal).
Notice the mixer level is one notch below horizontal to
allow the trichomes to slide down the funnel.
Resume running the mixer. At this point, the
trichomes are sliding down the mixing bowl, and
through the screen, into the funnel. You don’t
want to make the angle too steep because the
plant matter will push too hard against the screen
causing it to powderize and filter into the funnel
with the trichomes. This is one of the tricks to
avoid getting too much plant matter in the hash.
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The other is not to run the mixer too long. More
than 10 minutes (altogether) and you will get a
lower quality hash. Experiment with it to see
what works for you.
Then stop the mixer and move it to the upright
position. Carefully remove the funnel with the
screen unit still attached. Be careful! Don’t handle
the funnel too long because the metal will be very
cold and could cause frostbite. It’s best to just
rest the funnel on a table.
Carefully remove screen to avoid trichome loss.
Tap the screen to remove any trichomes that
are sticking to it. Carefully remove the screen,
keeping it over the funnel so that any trichomes
stuck at the edge fall into it. Next, use a card to
scrape the trichomes clinging to the sides of the
funnel, so they all collect at the bottom.
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Once this is done you can place the bottom of
the funnel over a container and open it, allowing
all the trichomes to come out. At this point you
can use it as kif for smoking or infusing edibles,
or you can press it into
hashish.
This unit also had another
piece at the bottom of the
funnel, that enables you to
press the hash while it is
still in the funnel.
Kif at bottom of funnel
You can then reassemble the unit and repeat the
process.
You can use a different screen if you want a
different quality, but the first run is the best.
Always do a second run, as you will get almost as
much again as the first run!
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Once you are done with that batch, you can
dump out the remaining material. You might
want to reuse any dry ice that is left. If you tilt
the mixer just right, then run it, you can dump
the lightweight plant matter and the dry ice will
remain at the bottom. If you don’t, then it will all
fall out, and you’ll have to sift thru it to gather
the remaining dry ice to use again. You can use
a 25 gal bucket with a 1/2” wire screen on top
to recover the dry ice. Remember, dry ice is
expensive in large quantities, so you don’t want
to waste it.
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The whole process can take about half an hour
for a double run. I recommend doing it outdoors,
with plenty of room around the mixer for you
to move about. It did seem to help to have two
people working on this,
especially when removing
the funnel, but one person
can do it.
You should be able to
process 8-10 pounds an
hour. This run turned 14
pounds of Sour Diesel
Quarter ounce of pressed
trim and leaf into 300
hash.
grams of kif. I found the
hash from this process to
be very clean tasting and smooth smoking. This,
despite the 150 micron screen letting thru a bit of
plant matter. The resulting polm was pressed into
round quarter ounces. It’s best to weigh the polm
before pressing to be sure.
Tips: If pressing into hash using the attached
press, don’t exceed 12 grams at a time or it will
be very difficult to press by hand. Coat the inside
of the press first with a little olive oil to ensure it
doesn’t stick.
For more info on the The Extraction Contraption
funnel system go to Friendly Farms Website.
You can see their video demo here.
Harbor Freight Mixer can be purchased here.
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The Rise & Fall of Astral
Cannabis
by Mr. Alkaline
In the 1960s and ’70s, some the the most famous and
absolute highest quality healing herb modern man had
ever experienced was produced in America.
Not all of the grass grown there was of the same
caliber as that which I would refer to as being
ASTRAL in nature. This is the name I have given to
very unique, hippy-era sativa bud grown at the sweet
spot regions in Middle America; primarily Oaxaca,
Guatemala, the Yucatan, Panama, and maybe even
Colombia and Brazil. I’ll delve into the reasons why
I believe it should be called Astral Cannabis in this
story. Astral Sativa was most notably produced in
Oaxaca and Panama. Known as Original Panama Red
and Highland Oaxaca Gold. These herbs were grown
in Mother Nature’s best hotspots, at elevations of at
least 1500 meters above sea level, in very rich and very
sacred bio-diverse areas by the indigenous culture
aka: the native farmers/shamans, the Zapotecs and/or
Mayans.
It was not very potent, but it was World Champion.
Many breeders have had this pot slip through their
hands, but for some odd reason it has, for the most
part, fallen away into the abyss, never to appear again.
WHY? This is the question which has not left both my
conscious and subconscious for ten years now!
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These famous areas still produce great marijuana,
but something is missing from the various samples
and reports I have read over the last few years. And
breeders just don’t seem to have the original genetics.
Trust me, they don’t.
I know that seeds were always inside the Astral Sativa
buds, so that wasn’t the problem. And the landraces
were hermaphroditic, which is a slight plus in terms of
preservation, so that wasn’t the issue either. We don’t
know where the sellers and farmers went. So this was
half the reason it fell into apparent non-existence. And
we don’t know what they did to their plants, which is
the other half of the reason why it’s not here. Well, yes
they did crucify their plants and dance around them
like Spanish conquistadors. But that fits into this story
a little down the road and isn’t the primary power
agent that I believe had coaxed such an astral nature
into the buds, or was it?
Just who were these strange Indian farmers who
seemed to have run away and fled the land never to
return again? I submit that it was the Mayan human
element, the sweet spot element known as T528, which
is the why we don’t have these Astral meds today.
You must first become aware of the following pieces of
information:
1) ‘We’ used to have shaman ancestors on the Earth
who pre-calibrated their farms with the time, date and
galaxy before planting any seeds. And this is also why
we have pyramids everywhere (and now some have
been found beneath the ocean).
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2) The Healing Herbs, and
the know-how to utilize them
properly, were always held to be
of divine origin.
The T528 Element that Makes
Astral Sativa Possible
What was the T528 Element,
and where did it come from?
What was its history? And
who utilized it, and for what
purposes?
T528 as an element was obsidian
and flint. These were the
weapons and blades of Mayan
sacrifice. And were also used
to crucify the Astral Sativas in
areas like Oaxaca, the Highlands
of Guatemeala, and in Panama.
The Cannabis farmers would
dress in red when they did this
ritual of resin enhancement, like
the Spanish, and out of age old
reverence for Quetzalcoatl, who
they had surely mistook Cortez
for centuries earlier.
To answer this T528 question properly and fully,
we’ll have to mentally visit the Tarahumara marathon
runners of Chihuahua, Mexico, who can run for
hundreds of miles barefoot, without stopping at all for
food or water. Scientists have shrugged their shoulders
and settled on the explanation of the Tarahumara
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Indians just having some really ‘good’ genetics in their
family lines.
But from what I’ve read of the Tarahumara’s main
account for their extreme distance abilities is that
they’ll routinely consume T528 in their Red Corn Beer
the night before their run! It is their biggest secret.
They have been reported in newspapers, to be able to
run so far and fast as to even tire horses. They can run
like the Jaguar!
T528 is in the water they use to make the Red Corn
Beer. And water was considered to be the most
sacred of all substances to ancient Maya, even more
sacred than corn! I figure this corn beverage was T528
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fortified because this is one of the last vestiges of the
old cultures. Travelers to Oaxaca said they ‘had to go
to’ a special place to get the water for this beer. These
travelers said that humanitarians have had to rush to
the Mayan’s aid, because the well water is such a far
distance from the settlement they fear for the young
children who have to wait behind for their parents to
return.
Have you seen pictures of the
crystal caves in Mexico, and
those 75 foot long crystals in
them?
The T528 element in the
crystal caves actually taints, or
makes a type of ‘empowered’
multidimensional energy
water the Aztecs and Maya
portrayed inside their Codex
manuscripts. These codices were malevolently
destroyed in July of 1562 by the Spanish. All but three,
perhaps even 12 still exist that we know of, but most of
these records of civilization were wiped away so you
couldn’t benefit from them.
T528 is ultimately Astral Water from sacred Mayan
wells! And this Astral water was known as ‘Cosmic
Sap’ to the ancient Maya. Otherwise known as astral
fluid or Holy Water in modern terminology. This has
a lot to do with the old rumors of a fountain of youth
in the Americas that Desoto was looking for near Hot
Springs Arkansas.
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All of these anecdotes are pretty much referencing the
same substance, just different words and languages to
describe the same ‘stuff’. Furthermore, the caves where
this T528 tainted water is located are clearly marked
with Crosses.
“Astral Fluid” comes from sacred wells, called
Cenotes, such as the Cenote of Sacrifice in Chichen
Itza, Yucatan, called Cenote Sagrado. This well
contains many artifacts placed there as the prayers
of Mayans. Many Mayans were sacrificed here as
offerings to the Cauac Monster, and other deities.
(Cauac is pronounced kWA’k).
These farmers were also instructed to use this cenote
water as the only water for the sacred crops in that
region. Coincidentally this is where the Red Corn
Temple is also located.
But before you go and try to make a
sports drink of Corn Beer, or water
your flowering plants on your next
run or cycle, let me tell you what the
Cauac Monster is and how it relates
to the Cannabis Leaf image in Egypt.
SesHat’s Headdress Image and the
Celestial Serpent
Seshat was Thoth’s mistress, who
wore what looked like a cannabis
leaf of 7 points over her head. Now,
this isn’t actually a leaf, but is the
alignment of 7 governing bodies of
the Pleiades over the earth during
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the spring and winter solstices when the Pleiades
are visible. They are the gravitational waves which
somehow imbued or entrained their sacred wells with
this supernatural power to make this Red Corn Beer
elixir, a supreme beverage containing the bonified
spirits of immortality and rejuvenation. This was
clearly mentioned and explained inside the Egyptian
Book of the Dead.
In Egypt’s rendition of the Cauac Monster metaphor, it
was depicted, or translated as the Solar Spirit or Solar
Orbs which broadened out at Heliopolis, when they
mentioned sipping this magical Red Corn Beer there
near the wells, aka “anu” heliopolis. The wells were
marked by above ground pillars.
These 7 points, or Orbs create the Mayan Cauac
Monster, called the Celestial Dragon or Serpent. They
materialize (like clockwork) beneath the pyramids,
inside the caves at the well waters, through the actual
stalactite terminals, and are identified as frozen snakes,
needles, shafts of light or teeth.
These are the Dragon or Serpents teeth, also known as
T528 appendages. And these teeth contain the power
of the Lightning of Creation, or Grandfather Lightning.
This was the very stuff that the ancients believed
cracked open the great eastern mountain where corn
was first found growing, and where humans were first
created on earth. The Mayans believed they were made
from corn, but it was really, or more plausibly, from
the elements, or platonic solids that Quetzalcoatl was
associated clearly with - fire, earth, water, ether, air,
etc.
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What this illustrates is that you have a mystical, sacred
dragon(s), shoot down to Earth somehow, in some way
each year on March 20th and Sept 22nd, at a specific
minute of the day. This dragon follows the Ley Lines
of the earth. When 2 dragons meet at a juncture (like
the game of pacman), they travel toward the water
inside a mountain or under a pyramid (an artificial
mountain), and each comes through the stalactites
and/or the stalagmites, thereby imbuing the water
with astral fluid or cosmic sap. These caves are called
the Dragon’s Lair! And the caves are considered to
contain, wind, and moisture and clouds. Try and
remember that I said here that clouds figuratively
come from caves!
You can witness this first
hand at the pyramid in
Chichen Itza, which was
put there because the sacred
cenote was there, and was
more important. But the
snake actually runs down the
pyramids on March 20th and
Sep 22nd to mark these special
moments in time when the 7 points, or Spirit Orbs visit
the sacred wells. And Cenote Sagrado is the Heart
Chakra of this particular cluster of sacred sites on the
magnetic energy grid in northern Yucatan.
Quetzalcoatal’s Metaphorical Role in Metaphysics
and his Role as a Traveler from another Planet
Quetzalcoatl was a Feathered Serpent deity who gave
the Aztecs, along with the Mayans, agriculture, seeds
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and their calendar. He taught
them how to do everything,
about the stars, the medicines
and how to read, write, lay
pyramids, etc.
And the Pyramids laid out
around the area of Chichen Itza
are actually arranged just like the
chakras of the human body.
Furthermore, the entire Earth’s
Quetzalcoatl
atmosphere is in the shape of
Portrait/Artifact
a torus, just like the human
body. I bet you weren’t aware of the Flower of Life
geometrical grid around our planet, also known as the
Unity, or Christ Grid.
Now, Quetzalcoatl was said to have traveled from
Atlantis and also Egypt to Mexico and the Yucatan.
He was a human being who lived practically forever,
or was believed to be immortal. He was reported to
be identified with a group called the Shining Ones
who were from another planet, (either the pleades or
Sirius B) who had visited the lands on a regular basis,
but for some reason lived inside caves in America.
And according to some Highland Guatemalans,
Quetzalcoatl may have even ‘been’ Thoth, Seshat’s
lover!
But, here’s some food for thought - the ancient Mayan
civilization, along with the current crop of Mayans
today (especially in Guatemala) claim to be original
descendants from the sunken continent of Atlantis.
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Left: The Serpent
Diety at the Temple of
Quetzalcoatl
This connects their ways and technologies with that
of the first Golden Age of the World, and all of its
technologies as described by Plato.
How The Sacraments Power Was Lost in The Clouds
Psychedelic mushrooms and cannabis have a lot in
common. Both are said to come from other planets, and
both are a sacrament, or sacred medicinal supplement.
Maria Sabina, a very famous Oaxacan shaman, once
lamented that the power of the sacrament (mushroom)
was lost in the clouds of certain Oaxaca highland
mountain areas. She said this at the sorrowful end of
Quetzalcoatal, as portrayed
in the Codex TellerianoRamensis, 16th century
A.D. (aztec codex)
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her life, because she was the only person who knew
this very specific, very vague secret and age old Mayan
truth.
Now nobody knows why the mushroom isn’t quite
what it used to be during her life as a shaman there.
And she isn’t making the preparations anymore. Her
legacy stops here unfortunately, so do the sacraments,
according to her last statements.
One thing we know is that the Maya shamans believed
that mountain clouds were actually diety blood which
issued forth from sacred caves containing stalactite
dew, or cosmic sap from the celestial, cosmic or primal
ocean waters.
The Sacred Identity and Function of the Mushroom
and Cannabis Medicinals
In nature, form usually follows function, and vice
versa. And the sacred mushroom and sacred trichomes
do have similar forms and function here on earth, per
religious usages.
It is a little known fact that we have cannabis codices,
right in front of our noses, all over the world today!
What you will find throughout the world in it’s sacred
temples are Stupas (aka trichomes/shrooms), with
orbs hanging on the ceiling above them in old eastern
Temples. Especially in Asia.
This is a pretty significant little clue to perhaps the
metaphysical science behind Cannabis oil preparations
and to the psychedelic mushrooms in general. Both
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are in the geometrically sacred shape
of the Stupa, which is widely reported
the world over as an ancient time travel
device!
Well, after all of this, let me ask you
something here....
What do you think may happen if you take the orbs
away from above the stupa?
It would lose the power that was imbued inside of
it, down from the underworld in the mouth of the
serpent. These orbs were/are the nature spirits of
the underworld, the deity spirits and Mayan animal
spirits, including the Jaguar, which was considered to
be the most powerful in all of the animal kingdom.
Do you recall the Tarahumara marathon runners who
are said to run like Jaguars?
I think it’s time to do a little research into the waters
down in those cenotes, or sacred wells. Up to this point
the research appears to be very compelling indeed,
that the Mayans or Zapotec may have just been using
sacred water on their sacred sacraments during the
Rise of the Astral Cannabis in the Americas.
Editor's Note: Images in this story are courtesy of
WikiCommons, and/or are in the public domain.
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Grow Contest Winner!
The results are in and the winner is PuReKnOwLeDgE
with his thread entitled ‘30 Sour Bubble Trees...’
CONGRATULATIONS for this grow of the amazing
Sour Bubble! In the next few pages we will showcase
some of the tasty images PuReKnOwLeDgE posted of
his grow.
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And the Runner-up...
Well the vote was really close, like amazingly
close! So we want to mention the runner-up here,
JackMayOffer's - 3 Weeks in with Aptus' thread... and
show a few of the images that so many viewers liked.
Congrats to Jack!
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How to Make Full Melt
Dry Sift
~with three screens~
by Bubbleman
The Bubble Ambassador
In this simple tutorial, we are going to make dry sift
hash with this handy set of three screens that comes
in a nice wooden boxed set. We will extract and clean
some dry sift using a process that will help clean what
you thought was good ‘farmer’s grade’ hash (which
may be as much as 75% contaminant or higher) into
full-melt dry sift that is in my opinion the Holy Grail of
Hash.
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You don’t need this exact box set to do this, just the
screens. I don’t even use the box.
The three screens in the box are 140μ, a 107μ, and a 70μ
screen which will give us just the control we need to
produce the finest dry sift.
Note: μ = microns
So open the Bubblebox and
get the show started. If you
don’t have a Bubblebox, you
can get one at Freshheadies.
com, or just buy the screens
inside locally. This box is built
to last with Bird’s Eye Maple
and double strength hinges.
The screens come with a wood
cover on top and a set of keys
to lock the box when you are
done using it. You could get these
screens stretched on frames by your
local silk screener or graphics supply
company online. Our Bubblebox has
the Bubbleman Logo burned into the
wooden lid.
Originally this box was for people who didn’t smoke
much hash, or make any hash for that matter. I figured
they would break up their cannabis over the screens
and collect the resin this way. But what I really did
was teach them (unwittingly) how to make great dry
sift hash. The top screen on the bubble box is a 140μ
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so the perfect size heads can fall through. Sure some
strains may have larger heads, but generally a 140μ is
a safe top screen size. Breaking up your nugget into
powder is ideal for dry sifting and joint rolling so
double bonus! This top screen will keep the majority
of the ganja on the top of the screen while allowing
smaller things to fall through. Because we don’t have
the help of water keeping everything afloat (like with
bubblebags) a lot of contaminant will fall through also.
This is why we use more than one screen to get the
final result.
I don’t actually smoke joints, so I am going to card
this herb gently over the screen, making sure to get
as much of the resin to fall through as possible. Just
remember when you do this, you will also get a lot of
contaminant which will make for even longer cleaning
process.
So let’s lift the top screen (140μ) and see what’s fallen
through. Remember, I just did a super quick run here
so my main point isn’t to make a ton of hash! It is to
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show you how to clean what you have extracted. You
will quickly learn that the more gently you extract the
initial batch, the easier it will be to clean up.
The second screen is 107μ . I also put the screen sizes
in LPI which stands for lines per inch.
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Lines per Inch
230
200
170
140
120
100
80
Microns
63
74
88
105
125
149
177
In the next picture you can see the material that was
carded for a little under three minutes from one single
screen, which to the naked eye looks great. However
with the help of my macro lens I am going to lift the
veil of mystery as to why most dry sift does not melt.
Looking a little closer at the dry sift, you can see a lot
of capitate stalks and cystolith hairs, those long white
things. They are non glandular and non medicinal.
This is a farmers grade dry sift that desperately needs
to be cleaned over some second and third screens.
We can place this 140μ screened hash on top of our
secondary 100μ screen and gently card the material
through. I used my ski pass card, but any rigid card
will do. You must
be gentle while
doing this.
So now I will place
the first screened
dry sift on top
of my secondary
screen. 107μ is the
screen size. What
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we do now is gently card the resin back and forth. This
screen may allow everything through, which is fine.
What it’s doing is breaking up the powder to ready it
for further cleaning.
So this is basically what you want to do with your
single screened dry sift. Place it on top of the 107μ
screen and gently card back and forth. Don’t be
surprised
if it all goes
through.
This is okay.
The next
screen will
clean out the
unwanted
material.
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In this picture you can see what remains after the
material was carded for about five minutes. This is
what was under my second screen, sitting on top of my
third 107μ screen. Almost everything came through,
but is now smoother and more broken down, which
will make the next steps easier.
The next step took 10 minutes using the third 107μ
screen. Gently card back and forth pushing all the
non-glandular
material through
the screen,
leaving us with
much cleaner
material. I will
clean for an
additional 5
minutes each
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time to show you how clean it’s getting. This is patient
work, cleaning your dry sift. Next up, a close up shot.
After 10 minutes of carding to the trained eye it’s
cleaner. However, it’s not clean enough for me.
Easily more than 50% contaminant at this point in the
process. Let’s get back to work! Did I mention this is an
art-form and to get a pure product takes PATIENCE?
The process is completely counter intuitive to what
you THINK you will need to do. Which is extract hard
and heavy
(get tons of
contaminant)
and then clean
too much at
once (which
never works).
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Well it’s just now starting to look better to me at 15
minutes of carding over the 70u screen. Still plenty of
contaminants but much less than when we started. I
would say we are around 35% non glandular material
in this dry sift, clearly we are not done yet. Back to the
Bubblebox.
Here we have the same material, now carded for 20
minutes and you can see it is getting cleaner. We are
seeing less and less capitate stalks and cystolith hairs,
and more of a concentration of glandular trichome
heads.
After 25 minutes of patient carding, the dry sift is
starting to get towards a 80% plus pure gland heads.
This should now melt in a bowl.
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Lets see if it melts in a bowl... loading up with my
Skillettool.
Pre-melt shot.
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Pre-melt macro
shot, at right.
Well, it is melting,
but no where near
full-melting. So we
have more work to
do. (Gotta admit it
tasted amazing!)
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After carding for 30 minutes, the hash is closer to a
90% purity than 80%. Still lots of contaminant, but I am
sure there will be more melting this time around.
After 30 minutes of working on that dry sift we seem
to be a little bit closer to purity now. Let’s smoke a hit
of this again to see.
You can see it has definitely still got some plant matter
and contaminant in it, but the melt factor is higher and
the taste was much more concentrated.
Here is a naked eye perspective of the 30 minute
carded dry sift. You can see there are bits of things that
don’t belong in here, so I guess we’re still not done.
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Now here’s what I get after 35 minutes of carding
gently. So this is really what we have all been waiting
for - the 95% plus pure heads. Getting them cleaner
and cleaner, and although I can’t make a kilo at a time
yet, I can definitely get those heads into a near 99%
purity in small amounts.
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Another shot of a small rock of glandular trichome
heads.
Here is some dry sift poured out onto my Bubblebox,
there is still a little contaminant in there but damn if its
not mostly headies!
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How about a PURE HEADS shot. This is what we all
want to see -100% pure glandular trichome heads.
I also wanted to add to this what we cleaned out of all
those headies and why dry sift is such a small return.
The 70u screen we used will still let gland heads fall
through, but they are smaller than 70u and generally
not the best of the best. I know people who enjoy their
45u bubble but I personally smoke mostly the 120µ-73µ
bubble and thats where my enjoyment lies. So there
will still be some dry sift under your final screen on
the catch plate, but that will be best in my opinion for
making edibles.
Here you see the high percentage of capitate stalks and
cystolith hairs with some smaller heads mixed in, this
is why most people’s dry sift DOES NOT MELT.
Picture of the bottom catch plate. As you can see, with
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multi screen dry
sifting, you do not
get the BEST at
the bottom of the
catch plate. That is
reserved for the top
of our last screen
70µ.
And so as to not
leave you with a
nasty shot like that
for the end of an
informative story,
I will post one
more shot of the
bowl I am about to
consume.
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If you would like to see how effective I was in getting
this non melty dry sift to melt, please feel free to watch
this short YouTube video. The title is a mistake, it
wasn’t 40 minutes of carding it was 35!!
You can also check out this VIDEO and you will know
why Bubbleman does not smoke joints, only full-melt.
Editor’s Note:
You may remember
Bubbleman from the
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way back in 2004 when he
showed Gypsy Nirvana and
a film crew how to make hash
with bubble bags and ice in
the Jamaican jungle.
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Growing in Coco
story and photos by HundredGramOZ
Looking for explosive growth and
massive yields leads one to try many
different growing systems and techniques over the
years. In this story I would like to share some of the
things that I’ve learned about growing in coco with a
drip system that drains to waste (DTW).
The majority of my growing life was spent growing
in organic soil, using commercial nutrients along with
compost teas, and it was great! My plants seemed
happy to grow in 12 liter pots, watered every two days,
using wet-dry cycles. I was also happy growing like
that!
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Then I started to grow in coco with drippers, and I was
hooked instantly. Everything was showing explosive
growth rates, thick white root masses, and the ultimate
yield went up 20-25%.
Here is photographic evidence of what I saw:
4 Weeks Root Growth
5 Days Growth Comparison Pictures
Coco is not soil and it should not be treated like soil.
Coco is a hydroponic medium. Some like to call it
‘semi-hydroponic’ because it is more forgiving than
full hydro. Ultimately it is a soil-less growing medium.
The trick to the coco is that you could water coco like
you water soil, letting it dry out completely between
waterings every other day or so - and you will get soillike results. But, if you water coco a few times per day
you will really reap the rewards of hydroponic results
in this more stable medium.
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When dialing the watering schedule it’s important to
take into consideration the size of pot that your using
and the size of your root mass.
For example if you put some freshly rooted clones into
6.5 liter pots, and start watering them three times per
day you will run into some problems.
You can over-water your plants in coco if you don’t
have a well developed root system.
It is easy to build your root system from the beginning.
When I pot up a freshly rooted cut I let it have wet-dry
cycles for a few days, then I slowly up my watering.
Chem D - Day 31 Flowering, the ultimate yield was 9.25
ounces, grown in a 6.5 liter pot.
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At the end of week one I’m watering once per day. I
aim to be watering three times per day by the end of
week two. Once the root system is developed, it is very
very hard to over water. They will take all you can
throw at ‘em and ask for more.
I also think it’s important to mention that coco doesn’t
require the same size of a pot compared to soil. I have
grown plants yielding 9.25 ounces in a 6.5 liter pot.
Less is more! Unless you are looking for giant trees,
don’t go over 6.5 liters.
If you are aiming for 1 gram per watt, then work out
how much you need from each plant and pick your
pot size accordingly. For example, if you're growing 6
plants with 600w, you will want an average of 3.5 oz
per plant. Bear in mind that the above Chem D yielded
nearly 10oz grown in a 6.5 ltr. pot. You really don’t
need or want a big pot when using this method.
I like to add hydroton at the base of my pots, this
assists in drainage. I also add layer of hydroton at
the top of the coco to help slow down evaporation.
I’d highly advise you to do those 2 things for an extra
‘kick’.
Once you water three times per day, your plants will
start to grow super fast, with FAT stalks, branching
and growing like crazy. It really is fun seeing the
explosive growth rate. I feed three times per day, right
up to when flower stretch is over. Then I bang up the
waterings to five times per day, right into the swellage
mode and the plants respond greatly to this.
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When you feed a plant you aren’t just giving it fresh
nutrients, you are also giving fresh oxygen to the
roots. The nutrient solution saturates the medium and
pushes out the stale O2. As the solution works its way
down the medium it draws in fresh oxygen from the
top. This is one of the reasons why I think multi feeds
works so well with coco. You are giving your plants
access to more fresh oxygen.
Another huge advantage to growing with coco DTW,
is the fact that when watering, you get a little runoff
each time, which goes to a waste tray or reservoir. That
little bit of runoff ensures that each and every time you
water your plants (three to five times per day) you are
also washing away excess salts., Salt buildup can be a
problem in coco and you have to flush it out to get rid
of the excess salts. Once you get that little bit of waste
run-off from each watering you are effectively flushing
it out every time you water. This means that you don’t
have to do a manual flush until the end of flower when
you do your ‘final flush’.
If you don’t already use it, then I can highly
recommend a product from House & Garden called,
Drip Clean. I’ll not go into the science behind it
because all that information is easily accessed on the
Internet, but this product will ensure that excess salts
are washed away. Drip Clean attracts salts and other
build up, it helps to purge them from your medium,
and it also does a great job keeping your drippers
clear.
Another thing that I’ve noticed about growing in Coco
DTW with multi feeds per day, is that it’s much better
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to feed ‘little but often’. Just like how a bodybuilder
or an athlete breaks their daily caloric intake into 6-8
meals a day to keep their metabolism in peak working
order.
From my experience, I see the same applies to plants
grown in coco. Instead of watering your plants at a
high EC/ppm once every few days, break it up into
3-5 smaller strength feedings each day and watch how
your plants react. Remember, plants need a developed
root system before you use the multi-feeding method.
Once I start the multi-feeding I like to keep the EC
at 1.3/650ppm, I let the run-off tell me if the plants
require more or less feed. If the waste EC rises by a
point or two, then I know they are getting too much.
So I adjust my EC accordingly and vice versa.
If you have been growing in soil, and want to
experience something new, and IMHO better, then
give Coco DTW a whirl! Everyone that I’ve helped
convert has never looked back.
Technical notes:
I build my own drip system with 16mm feed pipe
going from the pump to a manifold with 4mm feed
nipples.
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KarmaTrain - 8 Weeks Harvest Grown in 6.5 liter pots
Tent Shot - 54 Days Flower
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My pump is a MaxiJet 1000, it’s flow rate is 1000 liters/
hour, with 24 drip heads.
pH: I like to keep my pH at 5.8-6.0 right up to the
end of flower stretch. Once the plants have stopped
stretching and start to put their energy into bud
production, I keep my pH at 6.0-6.2. There are
variables that make the exception. For example if I
think they look a little bit Nitrogen toxic (during veg or
flower,) I’ll keep the pH at 6.2 because at this pH less
nitrogen is available. Nitrogen is more freely available
the closer you get to 5.8.
For the timer I use an Intelligent Watering System
Minute/Second Timer, it really is a nice bit of kit.
For drip stakes I use the little blue fast flow ones. I find
them good but they can get clogged every once in a
while. The drip clean helps take care of that though. If
you can’t get them, then get the basket stakes, they are
great.
In Closing...
I’d like to give a big thank you to Bush Dr. - he has
been like a teacher to me, and is an excellent grower
with a lot of experience. Without him, I’d most likely
still be growing in soil.
Thank you Bush Dr!
Peace
HGO
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Living Organic Soil
by Payaso
with Gascanastan, ClackamasCootz,
Microbeman, Vonforne, and other
contributors in the Organic Soil Forums.
Part One:
Building Your Own Soil
Cannabis grows really well in just about anything that
you can support the plant with ~ as long as there are
sufficient nutrients, warmth, light, moisture and air.
These days growers use everything from rockwool
cubes to hygroton to coco fiber, instead of just plain old
dirt. Whatever you call it, soil, earth, Terra Firma - it
is one of the most basic building blocks of life on our
planet, the loose material in which plants grow which
is comprised of many things, usually a blend of sand,
clay, silt and organic matter.
In its natural state, healthy soil is alive. Alive and
wriggling with up to a billion bacteria, miles of fungal
growth, and 1,000-100,000 protozoa in every teaspoon.
You may have some in your backyard, if you’re either
lucky, or you have been taking great care of your soil.
It is far more likely you live in an urban area and will
be growing indoors or a greenhouse in pots, and you
have to get your soil somewhere, so why not make, or
build, your own?
The many life forms within the soil is what makes
plant biology work. The life in the soil transitions
to life in the plant via photosynthesis by enabling
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the plant to absorb nutrients and more from the
soil. Growing cannabis through many cycles can be
achieved without having to buy and add expensive
chemical additives.
Fungus under the earth. Photograph by JayKush.
Bacteria in the soil feed on exudates from the plant’s
roots, sugars, carbohydrates and various carbon
compounds. These bacteria provide food for the
protozoa in the soil, which they excrete as more food
for the plant. The miles of fungal growth (hyphae1)
move nutrients through the soil to roots, as well
as strengthen and protect the plant from harmful
microbes and pathogens.
Working together, the bacteria and fungus in the
soil decompose organic matter and make more food
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available for the plant from the soil itself. Without all
these factors working together in harmony, growing
plants becomes problematic, and uninformed growers
run to the store and buy chemicals or products to solve
these issues. Best advice, don’t believe the marketing
hype, get recommendations from actual users of any
product you may want to use.
The hazard of using chemicals on food and medicine
grown in soil is well documented, but that’s not
the point here. Your lowest-cost, easiest alternative
to chemical fertilizers and pesticides is to use
compost, mulch, worm castings, and compost tea as
a replacement for potting soil bought commercially.
This can be accomplished with little or no dependency
on bottled nutrients and fertilizers. And pH worries
may become a thing of the past depending upon your
water source. Organic living soil naturally promotes a
healthy balanced pH environment.
A note from Gascanastan: “Another method
utilizing living soil is the ‘No-till” method.
Where pots are not dumped after a cycle...
a new clone is directly transplanted into
that pot. Advocates of this method claim
easier gardening all-together. Plants in notill pots have very few health issues due to
colonies of bacteria and fungi that are already
well established in the pot. Not disturbing
these colonies makes for faster transplant
transitioning and faster growth through the
vegetative cycle.”
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Above: Sri Lankan farmers showing their vermicompost pits.
Using these traditional methods of growing their own living
soil allows them to farm without buying expensive fertilizers
and pesticides. Photo courtesy The International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).
1 - hyphae - Any of the threadlike filaments forming the
mycelium of a fungus. From the Free Dictionary.
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Vermicompost
A definition from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"Vermicompost is the product or process of composting
using various worms, usually red wigglers, white worms,
and other earthworms to create a heterogeneous mixture of
decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials,
and vermicast. Vermicast, also called worm castings,
worm humus or worm manure, is the end-product of the
breakdown of organic matter by an earthworm. These
castings have been shown to contain reduced levels of
contaminants and a higher saturation of nutrients than do
organic materials before vermicomposting.
Containing water-soluble nutrients, vermicompost is
an excellent, nutrient-rich organic fertilizer and soil
conditioner. This process of producing vermicompost is
called vermicomposting."
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Vermicomposting
An essential ingredient to any organic garden is
compost and/or earthworm castings. Use it by
mixing it directly into your plant soil, top dressing
it around plants, and making compost tea. To create
a sustainable organic garden without buying topsoil
and/or compost commercially, build your own! One
of the most common methods to create your own
composted soil at home is called vermicomposting,
the results of which can be used in any mixed soil for
superior growing results.
The benefits of worms in your soil include healthier
and stronger plants from the way they make nutrients
available more readily to the plants, and more.
As the worms wriggle around through the soil they eat
plant debris in the soil and create tunnels which are
filled with their casts. As they digest, the organic and
mineral nutrients in the soil are concentrated in the
castings, which are highly nutritious for your plants.
The calcium, nitrogen and phosphorus in the casts is
in a readily available form, and when the worms die
they decompose rapidly and create further nitrogen
in the process. These tunnels also aerate and breakup
hardened soil naturally.
The tunneling of earthworms loosens and aerates the
soil and improves soil drainage. Earthworm-rich soils
will drain up to 10 times faster, and yet paradoxically
hold much more water than cultivated soils. The
tunnels also act as passageways for lime and other
additives to enter the soil from the surface.
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Research from New Zealand also brings up some
other interesting information about worms. Over
time, they verified that worms introduced into wormfree environments increased crop production and
reduced the need for expensive chemical fertilizers and
some pesticides. They also report a direct correlation
between the number of worms per hectare and pasture
productivity, with a complete absence of worms
indicating barren, lifeless soil. In good soil they found
up to 7 million worms per hectare with an estimated
worm weight of 2.4 tons!
Keeping your worms healthy and happy seems like a
good idea!
Earthworms prefer a balanced environment, with pH
in a neutral range of 6 to 8, and neither too wet or too
dry. Worms flourish in soil temperatures ranging from
55 F to 80 F, with an optimum temperature of 72-74
degrees F. Over or under these temps, and the worms
get sleepy and unproductive. Using bedding above
and below your worms insulates them, and if in the
ground they can burrow deeper to escape the heat near
the surface.
If using bins, be careful not to place them in direct
sunlight. Be sure to check them for moisture during the
cold winter months! Even then they could dry out and
die if you ignore your worm bins.
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Make Your Own Worm Bin
Justalilrowdy is a medical grower who swears by
worm castings and compost tea. She has posted much
information here on ICMag.com for the readers, and
she says “worm compost can suppress plant disease.”
In her own research Justalilrowdy found this from
Cornell University’s website:
“Eric Carr, a master’s student in Nelson’s lab, is
focusing on the suppressive qualities of vermicompost
on a different stage of the life cycle of Pythium
aphanidermatum, a pathogen whose mobile spores
infect seedlings, causing them to “damp off,” or
wither, shortly after germination. The research,
he said, helps contribute to opportunities to turn
waste products like manure into important diseasesuppressive soil amendments.”
Cornell University has begun a project on
vermicompost’s organic fertilizing capability.
Using a $203,000 grant from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture they are studying how organic growers
can incorporate
vermicompost in
potting mixes.
Photo by Blue Jay Way
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shared this
experience with
me about how she
discovered the
many benefits of
worms. She said
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that during the last year
her plants began to look
really bad, “looking
like 700 kinds of hell.”
Her initial response
was to pour “highdollar chemical cures”
on her plants out of
desperation. The issues
persisted, forcing her to
admit “what a waste of money!”
Within a day or two of applying a healthy dose of
worm castings the plants were cheering right up.
Rowdy says “Don’t panic! Go organic!”
Rowdy says she
just woke up one
day and decided
to try a worm bin
or two. Finding
red wigglers was a
fairly easy task and
she now has three
small bins going,
Photos on this page by Blue Jay Way
with a fourth on the
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way some time soon. She says they are “cheap little
critters to keep, and they save you a ton in grief and
$$. They eat most table scraps, and black and white
newspaper so they are easy keepers and the benefits
are huge!” Since using worm castings she has not had a
bug problem, “I never see a crawler or anything flying
anymore. The garden never looked so good. Harmony
with the soil. Organic is the only way!”
Photo by Blue Jay Way
And, worms will eat your garbage.
How to make a worm bin
Buy a plastic bin with a lid. Get out your electric drill
and go crazy putting holes in the top and sides of the
bin for air. Tear up strips of clean, used cardboard to
fill the bin at least halfway with ‘bedding,’ and wet
it well. Get yourself a pound or two of red wigglers,
and add them to the bin along with whatever table
scraps or garden trimmings you have at hand. Put an
other layer of wet paper over the worms and organic
material. Place your bin in the garage, under the front
porch, wherever it is convenient to check on and add
table scraps on a daily basis. You don’t want to leave
this in the hot sun, or where it can freeze in winter.
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Keep it organic! Don’t put anything in the bin tainted
with chemicals. Certain food scraps are not compatible
either, or will cause odor problems. No meat or meat
scraps. No oil, citrus, or hot peppers. If you avoid these
problem ingredients your worm bin will be odor free.
Check you bins every day to make sure they are moist
enough, and to add more food.
This little miracle box will fill up with compost and
worm castings within four to six months and using this
compost in your garden will bring beneficial results
rapidly. Having more than one bin is most efficient,
giving you fresh composting material year round. The
longer you give the process in the bin, the more it looks
like finished soil ready for gardening. It will also have
far more plant-ready nutrients as a result of a lengthy
process rather than using the compost too soon.
Making compost tea from this material will make a
super-strong liquid nutrient juice that will amaze you
with it’s properties.
Photo by Blue Jay Way
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Harvesting Your Vermicompost
You want to separate the worms from the compost
before you use it, as the worms are reusable, renewable
and sustainable. There is no need to buy new worms.
You can quickly grow enough worms to populate your
own commercial worm composting operation or just
another bin for your own garden.
Dump And Sort – Quickest Method?
Use the power of light to make the worms hide,
remove the mulch and save the worms for reuse.
Dump the bin contents onto a sheet of plastic in a
brightly lit place. Put any clumps of uncomposted
bedding back into the bin for the next round. Make a
bunch of small piles of the remaining compost on the
plastic sheet. Watch as the worms move down to the
bottoms of the piles, away from the light. Remove the
compost above the worms and put into a separate bin.
This is what you will use on your plants. Keep doing
this until you have removed almost all the compost
and you have lots of worms to go back into the worm
bin.
Worms Sort Themselves – Slowest Method?
A simple method. Push all the material in the bin to
one side. Fill the empty space with new bedding, and
after a month or so the worms will have moved to the
fresh new side of the bin. Then you can remove the
older composted material and use it.
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Divide and Dump – Easiest Method?
Simply remove two-thirds of the contents of the bin
and use it in your garden. Leave one-third in the bin
and feed them with some more bedding material
and scraps. They will rejuvenate themselves in a
few months time and produce another bin full of
vermicompost. This is great for outdoor gardening in
the soil, or raised-bed planters – anywhere you want
the worms to populate and create more living soil.
Keep the cycle of life going!
Sri Lankan farmers using a rotating seive to harvest the
worm castings and save the worms for further use. Photo
courtesy of The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
(TNAU).
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Using Your Vermicompost
Here are some suggestions for using what your worms
have created.
• Fill plant pots with a 50/50 mix of organic soil with
vermicompost and watch the plants grow FAST.
• In your garden, when creating a hole for a seedling,
place a scoop of vermicompost in the hole when
planting.
• Top dress all your plants with vermicompost at any
stage of growth and you will notice a difference.
Using it as a mulch is HIGHLY advisable for getting
nutrients and beneficial organisms into the soil.
• Make compost tea and pour
it on the plants for a super boost!
Photo at right:
Gascanastan’s Blue Orca x
NL#5/Neville’s Haze. Grown
in Recyled Organic Living
Soil. This plant was grown
with water only, except for
a few applications of Coot’s
barley seed enzyme teas and
a couple of doses of Aerated
Compost Tea (ACT).
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Australian farmers making large scale batches of ACT.
Courtesy of abc.au.net~
Making Compost Tea
Now that you’ve got a worm bin going, you may
want to think about how you are going to use
this miraculous substance! Apart from using your
home-made vermicompost directly in the soil as an
amendment, making and using ‘tea’ brewed from this
is an excellent way to super-boost your plant’s vitality
and resistance to disease.
The California Department of Recycling has lots of
information about compost tea. The site says that “Soil
needs the right biology to grow and sustain healthy
plants. If your soil, potting mix, hydroponics medium,
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or compost lacks healthy organisms or soil Biology,
establish the right organisms with compost tea.”
Traditionally compost tea was made using a burlap or
rough cloth sack filled with manure or compost that
was then ‘steeped’ in buckets of water for seven to ten
days, sort of like making a cup of Earl Grey.
Now compost tea is best made at home with a bucket
bubbler method. This is called Aerated Compost Tea
(AACT or ACT). There is a wealth of information
about AACT on ICMag.com with many recipes and
more advice.
There is a short tutorial thread on ICMag.com titled
‘10 min $10 DIY aerated compost tea ACT brewer’ that
will show you a cheap way to make small batches of
tea at home, easily!
You will need an air pump, at least a 5-gallon bucket,
some tubing and air bubbler. The more air the better
the results, so sometimes growers will use several
pumps and multiple air hoses to really get that mix
bubbling, especially needed if making a larger bin.
Microbeman from ICMag tells us “place the
[vermi]compost into the water in free suspension
and filter afterwards if necessary. Filtering is best
done by stretching mesh of about 800 to 1000 microns
(window screen size) over a pail and pour the ‘tea’
through, keeping the screen free of debris build up.
Alternatively you can place a sump pump into a
similarly sized mesh bag and pump directly from the
tea machine. If you wish to use a mesh bag to put your
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HeadyBlunts from ICMag brews ACT with a home-made
brewer like the one at right.
[vermi]compost into for brewing/extracting then 400
microns is the ideal size. A paint strainer bag from the
hardware store will suffice.”
Recipe for five gallon bucket of compost tea:
This recipe was submitted by Microbeman, and
according to the many growers who use ACT this
creates great tea.
Microbeman's 5 Gallon Compost Tea Recipe
Percentages by volume of water,
can be used for up to 300 gallons.
- 2.38% compost and/or vermicompost = 2 cups
- 0.5% black strap molasses = 95 ml = 6 tablespoons +
1 teaspoon
- 0.063% fish hydrolysate = 2.5 teaspoons
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An ACT with a full range of microbe groups is
obtainable by using quality compost or vermicompost
and black strap molasses alone. Always be sure that
the black strap molasses does not have added sulfur.
Humic acid in any amount is not recommended as it
appears to inhibit all microbial growth in a liquid. Save
it to use separately on your soil.
•Humic Acid: Any of various organic acids obtained from
humus.
•Fulvic Acid: A yellow to yellow-brown humic substance
that is soluble in water under all pH conditions.
OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS
- 0.25% maximum kelpmeal = 3.2 or 3 tablespoons (this
is using regular livestock grade kelpmeal; be aware
that kelpmeal can delay microbial division so it can
lengthen the time period for brewing.)
- 0.063% soft rock phosphate = 2.5 teaspoons (this can
be turned to a fine powder with a coffee grinder; it is
a judgment call whether to use soft rock phosphate,
due to the possibility of polonium 210 content; the only
reason to use it is that there appears to be a group of
bacteria promoted by it.)
- 0.25% maximum alfalfameal = 3 tablespoons – can
usually be purchased at the livestock feed store; will
promote the growth of protozoa (flagellates) and fungi.
- A few tablespoons of Canadian Sphagnum peatmoss
will promote bacteria, protozoa and fungi to varying
degrees dependent on where it was harvested. Premier
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Brand (promoss) and Alaska Peat harvested in Alberta
are both excellent choices.
A good air pump for a 5 gallon compost tea maker is
the Eco Commercial Air 1. They are long lasting and
inexpensive. It is better to not use the brass nipple
provided as this reduces air flow drastically. Cut some
grooves with a hack saw into the stubby nipple and
clamp a larger size air tubing tightly over this. The
grooves give the tubing something to grip to.
For optimum results, you should brew this tea for a
minimum of 18 to 24 hours to get the bacteria growing.
Fungal growth comes after a bit more brewing, 30 to
36 hours. Using a microscope will show you active
bacteria and colonies of fungus.
Tim Miller of ‘Microbe Organics’ says that when
“brewed for 30 to 36 hours ... there will be flagellates
and amoebae (& some ciliates) as well, providing a
functioning microbial consortia which is better for
nutrient cycling in the soil/root interface.”
For more research you may want to visit the Living
organic soil from the start through recycling thread started
by Gascanastan.
The bottom line is this “The compost tea brewing
technique, an aerobic process, extracts and grows
populations of beneficial microorganisms. This is
especially important if soil has been subjected to
chemical-based pesticides, fumigants, herbicides,
and some synthetic fertilizers that kill a wide range
of beneficial microorganisms that encourage plant
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growth. Compost tea improves life in the soil and on
plant surfaces.” (From the California Department of
Recycling Website.)
Five Soil Recipes
Here are four detailed recipes for making your own
organic living soil, from site members Gascanastan,
Vonforne, Scrappy, ClackamasCootz and Cann.
Gascanastan says that these are all excellent soil recipes
that can be used and recycled forever. Compost is
superior over ANY commercial brand of soil. Creating
your own compost not only gives you a superior end
result, you also pick up the local diversity of insects,
bacterium, and fungi that are so important to any
plant, let alone cannabis.
BurnOne, a moderator at ICMag tells us he likes a
“grow medium rich in humates and hungry bacteria.
Usually supplied by peat and worm castings.” He goes
on to say that “drainage is crucial to this plant. I use
perlite but also some use rice hulls.” His big reminder
is that soil should have a “proper balance of N-P-K
supplied by organic nutrients. Some of the best are
Alfalfa meal for nitrogen and Kelp meal for potassium.
Guano and bone meal for phosphorous, calcium
and magnesium. These are crucial for our plants as
well. I like powdered dolomite lime but others use
oyster shells and other natural sources. It must be
quick release though. And the most important thing...
patience."
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Gascanastan’s Recipe
3 to 4 gallons regular peat moss (with no additives)
NOTE: if the topsoil,compost, Earth Worm Castings
(EWC) being used in your batch look too wet or
muddy use 4 gallons)
1 gallon high-quality earthworm castings
1 gallon local high-quality topsoil screened for this
potting mix
2 or more gallons small and/or medium sized pumice,
perlite, or lava rock
1 gallon vermiculite
2 gallons coco husk fiber, rinsed well and fully
hydrated
1 gallon leaf litter or forest duff screened for this
potting mix
1 gallon high-quality compost
1/2 gallon screened clay or bentonite
1/2 cup Three-Part lime mix:
1 part powdered dolomite lime
1 part agricultural gypsum
2 parts powdered oyster shell
Optional amendments:
2 cups crab shell meal
4 cups Acadian kelp meal
4 cups fish meal or bat guano
4 cups fish bone meal
1 cup sul-po-mag aka langbeinite
2 cups neem seed meal or karanja seed meal
1 cup alfalfa
Mix all ingredients together, then fill your pots with
mix.
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Now make enough Aerated Compost Tea to saturate
the mix in each pot until it is thoroughly moist.
Let this sit undisturbed for at least 3 to 4 weeks before
planting. This is important in order to break down
the un-composted amendments for use by the plants.
Longer periods of rest are even better, make sure you
keep the soil moist, but not wet.
Vonforne's Recipe
My base mix is in 50 gallon
lots
Peat, either Premier from
Home Depot or Pro mix
from Menard´s
Perlite
Pumice (Natures footprint) and Napa
8822
20% EWC (mine)
10% Compost (on the first mix I used
Composted Steer Manure from my
buddies farm)
Bio-char (Royal Oak or Cowboy brand)
Lime mix - Gypsum, Crushed Oyster
shell (from feed store used as scratch),
Coral calcium and Dolomite lime. Also
added were Glacial rock dust and
Azomite. Later when I cycled the soil I
added Rock Phosphate.
Dried amendments-when I finish a
cycle I re-amend with various mixes
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of these based on what I think the
soil needs. Usually just by using
handfuls. :)
Alfalfa (from feed store)
Kelp meal (from feed store)
N guano, fish meal, neem meal and
Alfalfa
P guano, fish bone meal
When I used the larger containers
I would add handfuls of worms
from the bin and place a lid with
holes on it. Set it off to the side and
let them do their work adding ACT
every so often making sure the soil
was kept moist. I would also add
shrimp and crab meal during this
time.
Scrappy4's Recipe
Here is the mix that I’m currently using. I continue
to use the same mix and using ‘no till’ recycle I have
added comfrey leaves, neem meal, crab meal in small
amounts. I feed with mostly botanical based teas, or
FPE’s of comfrey, alfalfa meal, nettles, dandelion,
borage, mullein, neem meal, kelp meal, and yarrow.
Like Gascanastan said it just keeps getting better.
1 3 cf bag of premier mix ($9 at home depot, it is pro
mix without any additives)
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1 cf of used pro mix soil
2 cf of homemade thermo compost
.5 cf of perlite 2 -.5 cf bags of lava rock
6 cups of espoma's bio tone starter
3 cups alfalfa meal
3 cups kelp meal
3 cups crab meal
2 cups of a 50/50 mix of neem cake and karanja cake
For minerals I mix 1 cup of soft rock phosphate, 1 cup
of oyster shell, 1 cup gypsum, 3/4 cup of sul po mag, 1
cup of Azomite
ClackamasCootz's Recipe
Equal parts of Sphagnum peat moss, some aeration
deal (pumice, rice hulls, lava rock - whatever is sitting
in the garage) and finally some mix of humus - my
compost, worm castings, and some black leaf mold I
bought from the local ‘worm guy.’
To each 1 cubic foot of this mix I add the following:
1/2 cup organic Neem meal
1/2 cup organic Kelp meal
1/2 cup Crab meal (or Crustacean meal when
available - it has Shrimp meal with the Crab meal. It’s
a local product from the fisheries on the Oregon &
Washington Coasts)
4 cups of some minerals - rock dust
After the plant is in the final container I top-dress with
my worm castings at 2” or so and then I hit it with
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Aloe Vera juice and Comfrey extract. Or Borage. Or
Stinging Nettle. Or Horsetail ferns. Whatever is ready.
That’s it.
To recycle I’ve just been letting the root ball
breakdown and I remove it. I dump the potting soil
into an extra large SmartPot container (50 gallons)
and add some new potting soil mix as above. I water
it down with Kelp meal and Comfrey tea and let it sit
until I need it.
Ain’t rocket science......CC
Cann's Method
Roughly following Cootz method combine:
25% Earthworm Castings (EWC) or compost
25% pumice/rice hulls
50% sphagnum (hydrated)
Additives per cu.ft. of base mix:
5 cups rock dust mix (4x glacial, 1x basalt, 1x bentonite,
1x oyster shell)
1/2 cup gypsum
1/2 cup neem/karanja meal
1/2 cup crab shell meal
1/2 cup kelp meal
1 cup biochar
Mix and use!
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A rose by any
other name...
Story and Photos by Iffy
Weed.
A word we use every day in our hobby
to describe this plant we love to grow. However, to
me the word weed conjures up a nuisance plant that
springs up between the cracks of my patio. Dig it,
spray it, nuke it - it keeps coming back!
In stark comparison, compare how we pamper our
‘WEED’.
The investment in time & money alone can quickly
get beyond reason, quite apart from the emotional
investment and the grey hairs we collect along the
way.
So you’ve decided to build a growroom and join in the
fun? Then expect to give up;
• Time with the wife & children.
•Any other hobby/pastime.
Expect to spend:
Many hours of planning, drawing & research.
$$$/£££’s worth of building supplies, including;
boarding, timber, thermal materials, plumbing, wiring,
ducting, sealant, reflective sheeting, screws, hooks &
brackets etc etc.
Hours of building, cutting, screwing, cursing,
unscrewing & starting again (after cleaning up the
blood).
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And now for the
equipment! Choose
from the dizzying array
of shiny and colourful
items on offer online,
Ebay et-al, as it’s time
to dig deep and buy
the basic hydroponic
kit.
Growing tables, containers, pipework, plant pots,
specialised growing media & exotic soil mixes. High
Intensity Discharge lights and associated ballasts,
Metal Halide/Compact Fluorescent/LED, or indeed
a mix of all these! Air cooled reflectors and associated
fans & ducting. Exhaust fans & charcoal filters, input
fans & oscillating fans. Timers & control equipment for
the same. Water chiller, Air Con unit. Water pumps &
air pumps, thermometers, hygrometers, EC Wand, PH
Tester & associated calibrating fluids. Measuring jugs,
syringes & pipettes. Protective clothing & cleaning
equipment, the list is literally endless and we haven’t
got to the real ‘money spinner’ yet;
Nutrients.
You’re going to want to capitalise on your substantial
investment thus far and purchase the best food for
your plants! Again the list is endless and mindboggling!
Organic or Non-organic? One part, two part or three
part nutrients? What additives will I need? - now
you’re about to open Pandora’s Box!
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Additives.
You can treat your precious plants to
a myriad of differing additives from;
carbohydrates to fungus, silica to bacteria,
acid to alkali, seaweed to aspirin and so
on... and on.
Pest & Disease control.
Another plethora of treatments & additives are
offered for anything from Botrytis (root rot) to Brown
Slime. Mites, aphids, fungus gnats and all manner of
creepy crawlies are attracted to your plants to either
munch on the lush leaves, or to bury their progeny in
your roots. You may eschew a chemical solution and
choose a different route, to invest in even more creepy
crawlies for your garden. You can choose from a whole
range of ‘off the shelf’ predator insects. Specialised,
targeted and purposely bred species of insects that you
introduce to your garden so that they can do what they
do - feed on your infestation.
What about your next grow?
You’re going to need a tent for your mother if you plan
to grow clones. And associated fans, filters & ducting.
You will also need a heated propagator to bring on
your cuttings - oh and some lighting, a fan... you get
the picture?!
We dont grow weed.
We grow a highly specialised plant, bred specifically
for certain properties & medicinal benefits. An ancient
plant that has undergone recent decades of selection
& cross breeding. More selection, back crossing and
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then even more selection. The list of strains & hybrids
on offer from seed banks around the world now are
dazzling to say the least. Millions are spent annually
on research & devlopment in equipment, nutrients &
additives for this hallowed, even revered plant. We
grow it in sealed, often sterile rooms that look more
like laboratories than gardening sheds. Our blessed
plants reside on cozy, custom made beds, relaxing in
fine company. Breathing an exotic mixture of gasses
and slurping on the very finest liquid food a plant has
ever experienced, oh and at just the right temperature!
Bathed in a glorious spectrum of warm light, cossetted,
pruned, washed and simply lavished with love.
I think its time we stopped referring to Marijuana as
a weed and called it something else. Something that
reflects her global adoration and cultivation.
A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.
I’ll leave it to others to come up with that name, maybe
she’ll always be called - weed, I hope not as somehow
it just doesn’t do her justice.
Gorilla Glue from Unclefishstick
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Food for thought...
by ZeppelinRules
It’s always been a dream of mine to
have an article grace the pages of a
bonafide and respectable publication
such as The International Cannagraphic. I’ve been
writing for various web sites since I was 15 years
old. Now, as I look back, most of that was little more
than preaching to the choir. Over the past few days,
however, I’ve been racking my brain for a topic worthy
of almost everyone’s favorite psychedelic refuge. I
want to write something that’s not a typical attempt to
dispel the myths about marijuana and it’s side effects.
It’s no feeble task, but one topic stands out in my mind.
Ducksfoot from Donald Mallard.
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My introduction to marijuana was most likely the
same as yours. It concerned a classroom, a lecture
from a friendly neighborhood police officer, and a
very plainspoken pamphlet disseminating the evils
of the plant. Needless to say there were no facts and
no sources, quite simply you became a lethargic and
reclusive looser. Back then it was on our shoulders to
weigh the pros and cons. Strangely enough, they never
told us about the pros. Even to this day the spin on
the argument is that it’s a stack of cons versus simply
‘fitting in’. The problem is that those who oppose it
simply cannot grasp the wide array of things that this
plant has to offer; they’ve never learned to appreciate
such things. Yet before we go and accuse these people
of ‘missing the point’ we also have to acknowledge
that many people who partake in this hobby, even
regularly, are equally as guilty.
This past summer I found myself working at a
wilderness camp for children. For the most part it
taught the sorts of skills that one would expect from
such a place: canoeing, kayaking, hiking etc. There was
also an emphasis on personal development, especially
in relation to the surrounding wilderness. That’s
where I come in. For the second half of the summer I
was the ‘spiritual guru’ of the camp. I was given free
reign of an old chapel left from when the camp was
still a Catholic endeavor, and also the responsibility
of delivering a sort of sermon to the whole camp
every night. The amazing thing, however, is that I
found myself teaching these kids many of the same
things that I had learned directly from marijuana.
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NL5 Haze by Payaso
The realizations that I had come to in many of my
past experiences with the drug had found their way
into my nightly speeches. It not only added insight, it
also made it interesting. Furthermore, it forced me sit
down and seriously consider how much marijuana has
given me in the ways of insight and practical wisdom.
I quickly realized that I owe a quite a bit of who I am
and how I’ve turned out to this much antagonized
flower. Occasionally people will joke about the acute
positive effects of marijuana, but little credit is given to
the drug for the positive things that people have been
able to do with the realizations and insights gained.
The late Carl Sagan, the world famous astronomer and
exobiologist, claimed that he owed much to marijuana
for its role in giving him some of his best ideas:
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“I can remember one occasion, taking a shower with my
wife while high, in which I had an idea on the origins and
invalidities of racism in terms of Gaussian distribution
curves. It was a point obvious in a way, but rarely talked
about. I drew curves in soap on the shower wall, and went
to write the idea down. One idea led to another, and at
the end of about an hour of extremely hard work I found I
had written eleven short essays on a wide range of social,
political, philosophical, and human biological topics.... I have
used them in university commencement addresses, public
lectures, and in my books.”
If marijuana is no more than a deleterious drug then
humanity will have to simply ignore both of the
Voyager Satellites, The Viking Lander Probes, the
knowledge that Jupiter’s moon Europa is covered with
oceans, much of the current information regarding
seasonal changes on Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn’s moon
Titan, and the movie ‘Contact’. We can never know
exactly which ideas to attribute to his highs but he
made very clear that marijuana aided him with some
of his best. From this one person alone it can be argued
that cannabis has done a great deal for humankind.
Yet, one doesn’t need to work for NASA to be able
to share the benefits of the drug with the world.
Anecdotal evidence from any responsible individual
user can sometimes be enough to justify the hobby and
outweigh the cons.
About a month ago I was approached at random by
a customer at work. She explained that she was from
out of town and discretely asked if I could help her
find some marijuana. I quietly offered to smoke with
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her if she came back when my shift was over. I then
promptly resumed working and started thinking
about how stereotypical my appearance must be for
that to have just happened. What started as a bizarre
introduction quickly turned into one of the most
fruitful friendships I’ve yet had.
At the time I was struggling with some very existential
questions concerning life, meaning, direction and
so on. That very first night we shared a joint and
conversed for hours. The insights we shared, the
conversation we had, and the high itself brought to me
a very interesting take on my whole ordeal.
I am now starting to look at the high as somewhat of
a model or microcosm of life in general. Unarguably a
high is a sensory experience, sometimes a very intense
one at that. It enables you to experience and further
enjoy the seemingly mundane things that we so often
take for granted. It makes us fall in love with things as
simple as the feeling of the shirt on ones back and the
feeling of the air in ones lungs.
Looking at the bigger picture however - life, the
five senses, and how everything ties together
through consciousness - it can be argued that life
itself is generally a sensory experience. One can in
turn postulate that the meaning of life is simply to
experience. Some may scoff at such an explanation
as too simple, or even nihilistic, but I argue that it’s
not. The task, then, is to refuse to take anything for
granted. This includes even the simplest of patterns
on the snow, the faintest smell in the air, even the very
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rhythm of our footsteps. All can be experienced and
appreciated, yet are usually overlooked and ignored.
Marijuana helps enormously with this type of thinking.
Granted, it’s most obvious during a high, but even
when not under the influence I find myself admiring
beauty where there once was none. I was once
completely incapable of appreciating visual art. I even
thought something was wrong with me because of it.
I’ve since learned to fully appreciate and understand it,
again with the help of cannabis.
I have never, in all my years of smoking, tried any
drug other than cannabis and I really have no desire to
at the moment. While it is a nice shot at the Gateway
theory, I found that it left me with some questions
about how marijuana compares to other psychedelics.
Why do so many people continue to ‘come home’ to
cannabis? A close friend of mine once explained it to
me like this: “While other drugs may be stronger and
you may gain more insight in a single high, nothing
compares to the collective wisdom gained from regular
marijuana use.” Nothing.
Now regardless of how abstract and perhaps even silly
the above ideas would seem to some people, they still
hold a monumental amount of meaning for me. At my
young age I feel as if I’ve found the meaning of life to
a certain extent, or more aptly how to add meaning to
my life. I now realize what I want to get out of it. It’s
always been a desire of mine to ‘see the world’ but
now I realize that ‘seeing the world’ has more to do
with opening your eyes than anything. I’ll certainly
The
International
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be moving in a more positive direction thanks to such
wisdom, and I owe it largely to cannabis.
Now there will always be people who will vehemently
oppose everything I’ve written here, especially the
basic idea that marijuana can be a positive thing at all.
I’m also sure there are some people who would just as
well dismiss it all as the rambling of a crazed lunatic
with a joint in his mouth. To be honest I’m not too
worried about such inevitable opinions because crazy
or not, it works.
Sour Bubble by PureKnowledge.
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The
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Cannagraphic