Hello Friends

Do you ever wish the weather would just make up its mind? 

One day it is sunny and hot, and the next, it’s windy and wet!

How does a cannabis plant survive these types of conditions? It’s simple; it’s a weed, it can survive most environmental attacks.

However, you probably don’t want ordinary, ‘it survived’ marijuana, and these days, you just don’t need to settle for it.  With just not much more than a little effort, you can have awesome high-quality grass even in the harshest conditions.

In order to get the best buds you need to start with the best seeds.

Be sure to check out my favorite outdoor strains like , Acapulco Gold, or 9 Pound Hammer or Blue Hawaiian and the ever popular Girlscout Cookies  as well as many others all on spring stimulus sale!

So, if you were considering growing outdoors, but are concerned about the weather, we have lots of tips on growing in extreme climates.  The marijuana plant can withstand extreme weather, but if it does, it may develop abnormalities and growth problems.  Although you can’t always avoid bad weather, it is still a good idea to do whatever you can to prevent your plants from getting damaged.

Cold climates

Growing plants outside in a cold climate is possible.  However, if you know it is going to be cold, you need to be extra careful to keep an eye on your plants.  Check on them often and make sure they stay warm.  Unexpected cold temperature can be devastating to marijuana plants.  In fact, the only benefit to cold temperatures is its tendency to discourage pests.  Plants grown outdoors need daylight temperatures that are at least in the mid-60s (18*C); otherwise, their growth will start to slow dramatically until it basically stops. In the evenings, temperatures need to be at least in the 40’s (5*C), or there may be tissue damage.  Anytime the weather drops below 45*F (7*C) you have a potential problem.

Protect your cannabis plants from cold weather

As a grower, your primary job is keeping your plants alive until the weather takes a turn for the better.  If you can maintain a reasonable temperature, most plants stand a good chance of surviving unscathed.  When better weather returns, the plants will effectively restart the growing process.

There are also many tricks to keep your plants warm.  If you cannot bring your plants into a sheltered area, use “passive heaters.”  To create these, fill up some dark-colored containers with water, let them heat up during the day, and then they will radiate heat at night.  You can also construct a temporary greenhouse with a wood frame and plastic coverings that will trap the heat (creating a greenhouse effect).

  

Growing Marijuana in the Wind 

Heavy winds can cause significant amounts of stress on a marijuana plant – inhibiting its growth.  While growers sometimes intentionally stress marijuana plants to improve bud quality, wind damage can easily place too much stress on a developing plant.  Instead of relying on the wind to encourage growth in a marijuana plant, focus on the choice of location, your soil’s nutrient content and that temporary shelter from when you plant up to the end of spring.

Hot climates

Burnt roots, heat stress and unsuitable light and dark cycles can make it challenging to grow marijuana in desert-like climates.  The good news is, there are many remedies for these problems, in addition to proper watering.

Without the right knowledge and preparation, too much heat can destroy the crop and leave you with nothing to harvest. Make sure you know what to do in hot climates.
For many growers, a hot and dry climate seems to be the perfect environment to grow outdoor marijuana.  When there’s heat, you can cultivate the crop all year long without worrying about molds rotting the crop.  The plants also benefit from the intense light of the sun which triggers optimal bud production.  However, an arid climate also presents its own challenges like drought and extreme heat.
This results in a very dry soil that causes a lot of problems to water-loving marijuana plants.  Extreme heat is deadly to marijuana roots, especially in young plants.  In addition, the faster evaporation rate in dry places may result in hard and cracked soil.  Left unchecked, the combination of hot and dry upper soil can burn the roots and destroy the plants.
The solution may be drip irrigation and there are several simple low-tech designs you can use such as a water bottle with a small hole in the cap if you are refilling daily.  For the outdoor gorilla the best solution is the wet diaper in the bottom of the hole that lets your roots get nutrients such as blood and other fertilizers.  The soaked diaper method means you can forget bringing water to your crop daily only during the extreme heat of the summer.
If you are a licensed grower then y’all are able to set yourself up with a water tower and have a constant drip flow which is the best method of maintaining a constant draw for the benefit of deep roots.

Growing Your Cannabis in Humid Weather

Marijuana plants love humidity, but too much of it can cause problems.  This includes humidity in the air, as well as wet conditions caused by rain.  Mold abounds in rainy weather because water slips into the buds and creates ideal conditions for molds like Botrytis to thrive.  The buds tend to hold and hide the moisture and humidity in their crevices, and it can prove difficult to dry them out. 

Keeping plants dry is the best protection from humidity problems.  If you can move the plants or construct an enclosure, then rain will not bother them, but moisture still might.  Increasing temperatures in the enclosed area (up to the 70’s F or 24-26*C) could protect the plants and help dry out the buds thereby curbing mold growth.  Circulating the hot air with a fan certainly helps as well.

If rain is forecasted as a brief, one-time occurrence followed by a continuation of warm, dry weather, then you can protect the plants by treating them with an anti-fungal like potassium bicarbonate or Serenade before the rain.  If prolonged rain is expected, then you might just think about harvesting the plants right then instead of having them just turn into mush.  If humid weather is commonplace while the plants are ripening, you might try different varieties with looser, drier buds.

MEDICAL

Do You Know What’s in Your “Legal” CBD or THC Vape?

Solvents, synthetic cannabinoids, and GHB? Study finds numerous unlabeled additives in “legal” hemp-derived CBD vaporizer cartridges as well as illicit-market THC cartridges.

It’s been more than two years since frightening stories of young people rushed to emergency rooms with severe breathing problems—developed after using illicit-market cannabis vaporizer cartridges—flooded the news.

Since then, it’s become generally understood that the culprit responsible for the e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury outbreak (or “EVALI” for short, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classified the condition) was vitamin E acetate. A common food additive, thick and oily vitamin E acetate was used as a cutting agent to dilute cannabis oil and thus cheaper to acquire. It also coated users’ lungs with thick and oily gunk, and played a role in killing at least 68 people and hospitalizing at least 2,807 in 29 states, according to the CDC.

But, as researchers in the Lancet and others warned, that didn’t tell the whole story. Not all sufferers of EVALI used products that contained vitamin E acetate. And some didn’t use THC products at all. Something else was out there—but what?

The CDC stopped reporting new cases on Feb. 18, 2020, on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn contributed to a false sense of security: that trap artists had shifted course, that vaporizer cartridges purchased on the illicit market are safe, and that the same risks don’t extend to legal “hemp derived” CBD or delta-8 THC cartridges.

Not so, according to a recent study.

According to research published November 2021 issue of the journal Frontiers in Chemistry, scientists found a slew of additives—including solvents, ethanol, synthetic cannabinoids, and even a prodrug of date-rape drug GHB—in illicit-market THC cartridges, “legal” CBD cartridges, and other e-juices.

While some of these ingredients are designated “generally regarded as safe” (or GRAS) by the federal Food and Drug Administration, that classification means they’re regarded as safe to eat—and not to vaporize and then inhale their fumes. Indeed, these chemicals can create injury to the lung tissue.

Yet other vape ingredients can create harmful chemicals like formaldehyde when heated. In sum, the additives found in trap vapes mean unsuspecting consumers can and are experiencing untoward and unexpected effects, and demonstrates the lack of quality assurance and quality control required in the industry and poses a significant danger to consumers.

Far from a brief crisis that’s now “over,” the findings suggest that health problems posed by off-market or poorly regulated vaporizers are a cannabis industry constant. The findings also underscore the necessity for clear, evidence-based, and enforceable product safety regulations. They also highlight the risk users accept when consuming illicit-market or unregulated vaporizer cartridges, a product category that includes most CBD and delta-8 vapes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHOmBV4js_Ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StgMJMn80t8