If none of these methods is appealing, you can always shut down your garden and restart it with clones kept alive in your living room along with your other house plants. House plants live in a continual dormant state and need far less water than cannabis plants in a grow room. If you are uncomfortable with leaving cannabis clones around your house or apartment, you can always restart your garden with seeds. Seeds are preferred to clones that have been taken from diseased or damaged plants.
Troubleshooting
Lights don’t turn on?
Check the timer first to make sure it is set correctly and operating as it should. Then try plugging your lamp directly into a socket without using the timer. If the light turns on, then only the timer needs replacing. If the light doesn’t turn on, check the circuit breaker in the main panel. If the problem isn’t in the main panel, check if you need a new lightbulb. If a new lightbulb doesn’t do the trick, take the ballast and lamp reflector into a hydroponics store for examination and repair and replace if necessary.
Fan stopped working?
Verify that the timer is working properly. Make sure the fan and timer are plugged in properly. Check the circuit breaker in the main panel. Replace the fan or timer with a new one.
Odor building up in the house?
Check that vent fans are operating correctly and vent hoses are connected properly. Ensure that the air conditioner is working. Is it plugged in? Is the water reservoir full? Does the intake or exhaust filter need to be cleaned? Is the glass closed tightly on the vented lamp hoods? If the vented air circulation is becoming weak or slow, you might have to buy a new carbon air filter. As a preventative measure, replace the filter every year.
Heat building up in the room?
Verify that vent fans are operating and vent hoses are connected properly. Check the air conditioner. Is it plugged in and turned on? Is the water reservoir full? Does the intake or exhaust filter need to be cleaned? Is the glass closed tightly on the vented lamp hoods? If a vent fan is blowing weakly, you might have to buy a new carbon air filter.
Plants growing slowly?
Check the age of your grow lamps and change the bulbs every six months without fail. Are the grow lights the correct distance from the plants? Is the room the correct temperature and humidity? Remember, the ideal growing temperature is 78–80 degrees Fahrenheit, and the ideal blooming humidity is 50–60 percent. The ideal vegetative humidity is 60–70 percent. Don’t be alarmed if your temperature is a few degrees higher than 80. High humidity is more of a concern than high temperature. A grow room should never be higher than 80 percent humidity. Perform a soil slurry to assess your soil’s pH and salts levels. Check for pests.
Plants looking sick?
Look for pests. Check for too much or too little water in soil. Examine leaves for signs of overfertilizing and roots for yellowing or disease. Smell the roots for the pleasant odor of fresh potatoes rather than the unpleasant odor of sour soil. Check your room temperature and humidity over a 24-hour period. When in doubt about the health of your garden, always perform a soil slurry to check pH and salts/fertilizer levels.
Salts pen or pH pen not working or giving erratic readings?
Test the pen batteries and change them if required. Use fine sandpaper to clean the electronic prongs and absorbent cloth to clean the glass bubble at the bottom of the pens. Buy a fresh test solution and retest pens.
About the Author
JAY CARTER BROWN is the author of the best-selling Smuggler’s Blues: The Saga of a Marijuana Importer (2007). He is a businessman and a freelance writer who was brought up in the west end of Montreal. His website is JayCarterBrown.com.
Copyright
Copyright © Jay Carter Brown, 2013
Published by ECW Press
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416-694-3348 / info@ecwpress.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Brown, Jay Carter
Growing marijuana indoors : a foolproof guide / Jay Carter Brown.
ISBN 978-1-77041-129-6
Also issued as: 978-1-77090-375-3 (PDF); 978-1-77090-376-0 (ePUB)
1. Marijuana. 2. Cannabis. I. Title.
SB295.C35B76 2013 633.7’9 C2012-907525-6
Cover and text design: Natalie Olsen, Kisscut Design
All images courtesy of the author