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My First Harvest
Like many other young people around me, the time seemed ripe to be experimenting and making acquaintance with the 'green herb'. Deliciously stoned, happy to just be hanging out, smoking and giggling at all the silliness, buzzing together. The year was 1995.
The adventures always began with the search for a stash of weed. Usually it was no problem, sometimes it was far too easy and sometimes you found nothing at all. There were also guys who would take you to score, ask you to wait for a minute, then slip out the back with your cash. Bastards. But you do learn from that and after a while you know whom to trust and whom to stay clear of. In my hometown, there were no coffee shops where I could score quality weed and so I got to know in which places, parks etc and from whom I could get the best deal.
Time flies by when you're having fun, as they say, and before you know it you can even distinguish good from lesser quality weed. You soon realise quality is far more important than quantity. Occasionally, we would enjoy a delicious sample from one of our northern neighbours and the difference with this and the local weed was quickly apparent. Let's just say: very potent stuff! On another occasion we enjoyed a very clear, energetic high. At that time, I had absolutely no idea from whom or from where the weed came. All I knew was that it came from a plant. Further to that I was not really interested. I was too busy with other things. But all that soon changed...
Introduction to seed
I can clearly recall my initial contact with seed. One day, we went to pick up a stash from a friend whom I thought was growing his own. He asked us if we'd like to stay and smoke a joint with him. This we did more out of courtesy, as we would have much preferred to smoke the stash ourselves. But that joint turned out to be a bomb! He had rolled almost half of the bag into that one joint. When we were all totally stoned, he asked if I would like some seeds from his stash. I said yes and that I would like to try growing my own. There's not much I won't try! He gave me the seeds and explained what I should do with them. Being so stoned, unfortunately I'd forgotten half of it by the time I got home. I put the seeds in a dish of water on the windowsill in full sunlight. This was at the beginning of summer. What a summer it was to be. Unbelievable! But that's another story as not much actually happened with my first seeds. They sprouted long, white roots and as I didn't know what to do further, I just left it at that. What did I know? I was only16 years old then, yeah, way back in1998.
Making good choices, getting green-fingers and taking set-backs
A year later, it was April 1999 and the first rays of sunshine announced that spring was here. My friend started making jokes about how we'd be better off if we started growing our own. We had discussed this often before and still had our doubts over the quality of home grown weed. He had heard that a first crop was never a good crop and believed all the rumours he knew about growing your own weed (which we later discovered to be completely unfounded). He said all this as a joke but I did take him seriously when he asked where he could buy some seeds. My friend is a solid quality smoker who spends a fair bit of cash in the process. I felt an obligation to help him acquire the best. It was really not easy to find seeds. Fortunately my parents made regular trips to a town on the Dutch border, where a smart shop had opened. Previously I had been unaware of it's existence, but I obtained the address of this smart shop from another friend who had bought some delightful (Hawaiian) mushrooms from there.
It was May 1999 before I made my first visit. A smart shop, what is that? I had never seen one before, let alone been inside one. The first time it looked pretty strange; all sorts of pick-me-ups for sale, mushrooms, pipes, a small assortment of plant food and yes, different sorts of seeds. (Later, I discovered it was not top-quality seed, but by then I'd had gained more experience).
But what sort should I buy? So much choice! And I always want the very best. I had never even heard of most of the types of seeds. How did I know if they were good or not? But one of them stood out for me; Northern Light seeds. I had heard people say Northern Light was one of the best varieties of weed they had ever smoked. So what do you think I did? I bought some Northern Light, of course. I always feel it's best to buy something you've heard about rather than something you know absolutely nothing about. Chances are otherwise that they may turn out to be a really bad buy. I know now that instinctively I had made a very good choice for a beginner grower because Northern Light is such a strong and powerful plant. It can handle much abuse, and is therefore always sympathetic to an amateur cultivator. Its advisable not to start right away with expensive varieties which sound good but later prove to be disappointing. It's better to trust in the well established varieties - those which you've previously tested and which won't blow your expectations.
Knowledge is power
The most important aspect of bringing a crop to a successful harvest is knowledge of procedures and methods. First thing I did was buy a good book on the subject. It was called 'Indoor growing' or something as direct as that. On the bus ride home I already began to absorb the details related to indoor growing, starting with the basics and a few months later, I was ready to make it a very special summer indeed. In fact it turned out to be an unforgettable one.
At that time I had no idea of the existence of grow shops, so I had no access to advice, never mind some lamps. Because of that I decided to place my plants under a ceiling light. My room always got a lot of direct sunlight, so it was always bright and warm in there; an ideal place for the plants to stand. I grew them up in an old aquarium filled with earth and covered them with a layer of foil to keep the humidity high. Some seeds were put into their own pots straight away and whenever a plant in the aquarium reached a good size it was than also planted into it's own pot.
I had started the seeds off by letting them germinate in a pot of water placed on top of the radiator.
Apart from the Northern Light seeds I had already acquired, I had come across some nameless seeds in a small bag. Several days later, my plants began to grow. I was the proud owner of six delicate and fragile looking weed plants.
My excitement grew as much as they did. It amazed me constantly to see how quickly they jumped up in size. It seemed I only had to be out for a while and whenever I got back, they would have grown some more. The plants were in an environment with almost one hundred percent humidity and with an average temperature of 25 degrees.
It was all looking so wonderfully promising!
Too much nitrogen!
One month later and they were 60 centimetres high, sprouting vigorously and beginning to put forth some sturdy side branches. For fertiliser, I had been using some granules, of which I was never quite sure of the proportions. This proved to be my undoing. I saw the leaves becoming yellow and I thought the needed some more food, so I gave each of them a handful of fertiliser granules. A little bit of NPK, a lot too much, is what I found out when I got back some time later. The poor plants were looking completely fried. All heads down. I could have kicked myself. I had no idea what had happened. Just the day before they were all looking so healthy and now it looked like a disaster zone. What to do? I reached for my book to see if I might find an explanation therein. I'm so glad I bought that book. Such a book is an essential. In it I found the cause of my present problem. It seemed I had given them a nitrogen overdose.
The leaves were completely burned by the overdose of nitrogen in the soil, and they were completely curled up, not a pretty sight at all. Apparently many beginners in the growing game make this very same mistake. Reading further in the book I came across the solution, it seemed that running water through them might still save them. This I did immediately. I ran several litres of water through each pot in order to dilute the build up of salts that had accumulated. To rinse them. However it was far too late for all but one of them, a beautiful Northern Light. All that work came to nothing, and all because of one miserable handful of fertiliser. I hated myself for a while, especially when the poor damaged Northern Light survivor, proved some months later, in the blooming period, that he in fact was a male. A complete disaster as a crop! Apparently all that stress is bad for females and it's possible that due to all the nitrogen stress I had caused, my plant preferred to become male. So with less stress you get more girls, and that is something we'd all like to see.
The summer of '99 drew to a close and with it my first grow-your-own experience. Despite the setbacks I had encountered I had certainly learned a lot. Knowledge that I would be able to use later. I had learned some beginner basics, gained some real insights about the plant itself and above all I had learned to look carefully at my plants and so be able to differentiate symptoms. It is possible to tell whether plants are suffering from an overdose or even an insufficiency, by looking carefully at them. Oh yeah, I had also learned to tell the difference between a budding male and a budding female! It had been fun at the start, but a good crop it certainly was not. And that was my real ambition. I was determined to succeed. The sunshine season was over and it would be some time before I would try my hand at growing again.
The adventures always began with the search for a stash of weed. Usually it was no problem, sometimes it was far too easy and sometimes you found nothing at all. There were also guys who would take you to score, ask you to wait for a minute, then slip out the back with your cash. Bastards. But you do learn from that and after a while you know whom to trust and whom to stay clear of. In my hometown, there were no coffee shops where I could score quality weed and so I got to know in which places, parks etc and from whom I could get the best deal.
Time flies by when you're having fun, as they say, and before you know it you can even distinguish good from lesser quality weed. You soon realise quality is far more important than quantity. Occasionally, we would enjoy a delicious sample from one of our northern neighbours and the difference with this and the local weed was quickly apparent. Let's just say: very potent stuff! On another occasion we enjoyed a very clear, energetic high. At that time, I had absolutely no idea from whom or from where the weed came. All I knew was that it came from a plant. Further to that I was not really interested. I was too busy with other things. But all that soon changed...
Introduction to seed
I can clearly recall my initial contact with seed. One day, we went to pick up a stash from a friend whom I thought was growing his own. He asked us if we'd like to stay and smoke a joint with him. This we did more out of courtesy, as we would have much preferred to smoke the stash ourselves. But that joint turned out to be a bomb! He had rolled almost half of the bag into that one joint. When we were all totally stoned, he asked if I would like some seeds from his stash. I said yes and that I would like to try growing my own. There's not much I won't try! He gave me the seeds and explained what I should do with them. Being so stoned, unfortunately I'd forgotten half of it by the time I got home. I put the seeds in a dish of water on the windowsill in full sunlight. This was at the beginning of summer. What a summer it was to be. Unbelievable! But that's another story as not much actually happened with my first seeds. They sprouted long, white roots and as I didn't know what to do further, I just left it at that. What did I know? I was only16 years old then, yeah, way back in1998.
Making good choices, getting green-fingers and taking set-backs
A year later, it was April 1999 and the first rays of sunshine announced that spring was here. My friend started making jokes about how we'd be better off if we started growing our own. We had discussed this often before and still had our doubts over the quality of home grown weed. He had heard that a first crop was never a good crop and believed all the rumours he knew about growing your own weed (which we later discovered to be completely unfounded). He said all this as a joke but I did take him seriously when he asked where he could buy some seeds. My friend is a solid quality smoker who spends a fair bit of cash in the process. I felt an obligation to help him acquire the best. It was really not easy to find seeds. Fortunately my parents made regular trips to a town on the Dutch border, where a smart shop had opened. Previously I had been unaware of it's existence, but I obtained the address of this smart shop from another friend who had bought some delightful (Hawaiian) mushrooms from there.
It was May 1999 before I made my first visit. A smart shop, what is that? I had never seen one before, let alone been inside one. The first time it looked pretty strange; all sorts of pick-me-ups for sale, mushrooms, pipes, a small assortment of plant food and yes, different sorts of seeds. (Later, I discovered it was not top-quality seed, but by then I'd had gained more experience).
But what sort should I buy? So much choice! And I always want the very best. I had never even heard of most of the types of seeds. How did I know if they were good or not? But one of them stood out for me; Northern Light seeds. I had heard people say Northern Light was one of the best varieties of weed they had ever smoked. So what do you think I did? I bought some Northern Light, of course. I always feel it's best to buy something you've heard about rather than something you know absolutely nothing about. Chances are otherwise that they may turn out to be a really bad buy. I know now that instinctively I had made a very good choice for a beginner grower because Northern Light is such a strong and powerful plant. It can handle much abuse, and is therefore always sympathetic to an amateur cultivator. Its advisable not to start right away with expensive varieties which sound good but later prove to be disappointing. It's better to trust in the well established varieties - those which you've previously tested and which won't blow your expectations.
Knowledge is power
The most important aspect of bringing a crop to a successful harvest is knowledge of procedures and methods. First thing I did was buy a good book on the subject. It was called 'Indoor growing' or something as direct as that. On the bus ride home I already began to absorb the details related to indoor growing, starting with the basics and a few months later, I was ready to make it a very special summer indeed. In fact it turned out to be an unforgettable one.
At that time I had no idea of the existence of grow shops, so I had no access to advice, never mind some lamps. Because of that I decided to place my plants under a ceiling light. My room always got a lot of direct sunlight, so it was always bright and warm in there; an ideal place for the plants to stand. I grew them up in an old aquarium filled with earth and covered them with a layer of foil to keep the humidity high. Some seeds were put into their own pots straight away and whenever a plant in the aquarium reached a good size it was than also planted into it's own pot.
I had started the seeds off by letting them germinate in a pot of water placed on top of the radiator.
Apart from the Northern Light seeds I had already acquired, I had come across some nameless seeds in a small bag. Several days later, my plants began to grow. I was the proud owner of six delicate and fragile looking weed plants.
My excitement grew as much as they did. It amazed me constantly to see how quickly they jumped up in size. It seemed I only had to be out for a while and whenever I got back, they would have grown some more. The plants were in an environment with almost one hundred percent humidity and with an average temperature of 25 degrees.
It was all looking so wonderfully promising!
Too much nitrogen!
One month later and they were 60 centimetres high, sprouting vigorously and beginning to put forth some sturdy side branches. For fertiliser, I had been using some granules, of which I was never quite sure of the proportions. This proved to be my undoing. I saw the leaves becoming yellow and I thought the needed some more food, so I gave each of them a handful of fertiliser granules. A little bit of NPK, a lot too much, is what I found out when I got back some time later. The poor plants were looking completely fried. All heads down. I could have kicked myself. I had no idea what had happened. Just the day before they were all looking so healthy and now it looked like a disaster zone. What to do? I reached for my book to see if I might find an explanation therein. I'm so glad I bought that book. Such a book is an essential. In it I found the cause of my present problem. It seemed I had given them a nitrogen overdose.
The leaves were completely burned by the overdose of nitrogen in the soil, and they were completely curled up, not a pretty sight at all. Apparently many beginners in the growing game make this very same mistake. Reading further in the book I came across the solution, it seemed that running water through them might still save them. This I did immediately. I ran several litres of water through each pot in order to dilute the build up of salts that had accumulated. To rinse them. However it was far too late for all but one of them, a beautiful Northern Light. All that work came to nothing, and all because of one miserable handful of fertiliser. I hated myself for a while, especially when the poor damaged Northern Light survivor, proved some months later, in the blooming period, that he in fact was a male. A complete disaster as a crop! Apparently all that stress is bad for females and it's possible that due to all the nitrogen stress I had caused, my plant preferred to become male. So with less stress you get more girls, and that is something we'd all like to see.
The summer of '99 drew to a close and with it my first grow-your-own experience. Despite the setbacks I had encountered I had certainly learned a lot. Knowledge that I would be able to use later. I had learned some beginner basics, gained some real insights about the plant itself and above all I had learned to look carefully at my plants and so be able to differentiate symptoms. It is possible to tell whether plants are suffering from an overdose or even an insufficiency, by looking carefully at them. Oh yeah, I had also learned to tell the difference between a budding male and a budding female! It had been fun at the start, but a good crop it certainly was not. And that was my real ambition. I was determined to succeed. The sunshine season was over and it would be some time before I would try my hand at growing again.