Home Growers Corner
A Home Growers Love Story
Initiating The Flowering Cycle of Marijuana Plants by Jay Richardson , contributing writer
For such a short month , February has a lot packed into it . We have President ’ s Day , Black History Month , and the Super Bowl , but the thing that gets the most attention is , of course , Valentine ’ s Day . Valentine ’ s Day is a day that is about love , so I thought I would share a love story with you .
It isn ’ t the story of a love shared by two people . It is the story of a love shared by two marijuana plants . Actually , I ’ m kind of exaggerating . I ’ m not even sure that they liked each other , but they did crossbreed and create offspring . Hey , give me a break . You try to write a story about marijuana cultivation and tie it into Valentine ’ s Day — LOL !
If you have been following my monthly columns , you might remember that in the September 2023 issue , I showed you how to collect pollen from a male cannabis plant and use it to pollinate a female plant ( if you missed it , you can find it at www . TheEvolutionMag . com ). This caused the female buds to produce seeds , as opposed to the seedless nuggets to which we are all accustomed . I am pleased to announce that the seeds I created are now producing beautiful flowers , and I have a brand-new hybrid variety . I am the only person in the entire world who has this particular strain .
The pollen I used to generate the seeds came from another hybrid I had previously created . That strain needed a name , so I held a contest , and our readers named the new hybrid Black Dog . Black Dog is a cross between Purple Jager and Sour Diesel . I dusted the new pollen from the Black Dog on some MMXX , which is the signature strain of a company in California called 2020 Mendocino . This plant produces very sticky and very frosty marijuana that is incredibly potent . The breeder ’ s information describes the strain as “ not advisable for novice smokers .” Trust me , nobody is going to sue them for false advertising ! I ’ ve been smoking since 1976 , and this is some of the best bud I have ever had . I thought it would be a good candidate to be the mother of a new , unique cannabis creation .
The marijuana that I have been discussing in my articles has always been what is known as photoperiod . Photo , meaning light , and the amount of it that the plant receives is what causes your plants to flower and produce the buds we cherish . Cannabis has two stages of maturity : vegetative and flowering . In nature , the plants start out in their non-flowering , vegetative state and remain that way throughout the summer months . As winter approaches and the days begin to shorten , the plants begin to produce hormones called gibberellins . The specific hormone is called florigen , and as the name indicates , it causes the plants to produce flowers .
When growing indoors , we can make this happen anytime that we like . When you have an indoor garden , you have created a microecosystem with seasons and a climate controlled entirely by you . You are responsible for creating the proper humidity , temperature , and rainfall for your mini planets to thrive . You can also tell the plants that winter is coming anytime you want .
You do this by shortening the amount of light that they receive each day . Most indoor marijuana farmers simulate summer by giving the plants 18 hours of light and six hours of darkness , which is what I have always done . A grower can initiate the flowering cycle of the marijuana plants by giving them 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of light , which simulates the autumn equinox .
You can do this to any photoperiod cannabis plant at any time , no matter how large or small the plant is . As long as the cannabis has 18 hours of daily light , it will stay in its vegetative stage . If you use clones or stem cuttings , a person can grow the exact same plants for years . You can grow the plant as large as you like , and I have grown some big ones . As soon as you cut the cycle back to 12 hours of light , the plant will begin to produce gibberellins , and within a week or two , you will see your flowers starting to form . You can also do this with plants that are only a few inches tall .
I have done that with the odd-looking plants you see in this month ’ s photos . Since this is a new hybrid plant , I had no idea what type of buds I would get . I also was unsure how much variation there would be among the different phenotypes . The best way to describe phenotypes is to compare them to a litter of puppies . All the puppies have the same mother and father , but each puppy has its own characteristics . The same is true with marijuana plants . Some strains are incredibly consistent , while others can vary wildly .
Marijuana breeding is somewhat like trying to mate two horses and create a Kentucky Derby Winner . You get two great strains ( bloodlines ) and hope a champion emerges . I loved the look of these tiger-striped , exotic-looking seeds ( shown on left ), so I wasn ’ t too worried about having some inferior buds . The truth is that even with the bloodlines I used , you never know . With that in mind , I grew some small prototypes to find out what I had .
Instead of investing an extra couple of months , I put six seedlings into the flower stage and crossed my fingers . The new plants didn ’ t have time to produce side branches ( as shown on right ), which explains the strange way they look — just flower and no branches . I only wanted to get a test sample . The results are promising . While there are subtle differences from plant to plant , all six of these loving plants are producing solid , sticky , stinky flowers . Whoever originated the phrase “ sticky , icky ” could have been talking about my lovely new creation . With about a week to go before harvest , the flowers look like they have been sprinkled with sugar . For that reason , I am thinking of calling this stuff Frosted Flake .
36 February 2024