Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible

drops below the horizon. This fluctuation in heat is difficult and expensive to control. Hot and cold dips also affect the ratio of nutrient to water plants need and use, which makes growing in a greenhouse more demanding than growing indoors.
    Adding a complete greenhouse chapter here is beyond the scope of this book. Acouple of my favorite books on greenhouse growing include Gardening Under Cover, by William Head, Sasquatch Books, $16.95, and Gardening in Your Greenhouse, by Mark Freeman, Stackpole Books, $18.95.

Automatic greenhouse darkening system in a greenhouse at the Cannabis Castle in the Netherlands “blacks out” gardens to induce flowering. The covering also serves to insulate the greenhouse during the short days of winter.

Keep the lights on at night if days are short in the winter or if you live in a tropical climate. These South American growers use incandescent light to prevent plants from flowering when days are short.

Good looking bud matures in light filtered through Agrolene greenhouse covering.

Chapter SEVEN
OUTDOORS

    Gregorio (Goyo), cannabis photographer and writer demonstrates a field of flowering females in Switzerland.

Peek-a-boo! This beautiful ‘Jamaican Pearl’ was planted in an obscure corner of the back yard.

The grower is peeking through this plant in his guerilla patch.

Introduction
    Much of the information that pertains specifically to outdoor cultivation is in this chapter. Many of the subjects within this chapter are covered in great detail in other chapters of the book. References to these chapters are made in the appropriate places.
    Outdoor growing is more popular than indoor growing in countries with lax cannabis laws. The reason is simple–sunshine is free; lights and electricity cost money. More people grow outdoors than indoors for this simple reason.
    Cannabis is a strong plant that can be grown successfully almost anywhere. As long as you pay attention to security, virtually any growing area can be altered enough, often with little effort, to grow a healthy crop.
    Do your research before planting. Read garden columns and talk to local growers about the best time to plant and grow tomatoes or similar vegetables, then plan accordingly. Also inquire about common pests and insects. Collect publications on local growing conditions. These are often available at nurseries or through your local department or ministry of agriculture.
    You can grow anywhere. For example, one of the first guerilla crops I planted was on a freeway on-ramp in a city in the Northwest U.S. in the 1970s. I planted seedlings in a clay soil in a blackberry infested environment in late June. I gave the plants a single application of time release fertilizer. By late September there were short little female plants with dense little buds to smoke. The harvest weighed in at just under a pound of fragrant but leafy little buds. Everybody called it “homegrown.”
    My first big guerilla crop was planted and harvested in the California foothills. I hiked up one of the many canyons carrying a 3.5 hp engine that weighed 30 pounds, (14 kg) plus the pump (another 30 pounds) and the plumbing connections that made it attach to a 2-inch (5 cm) inlet and a 1.5-inch (3.5 cm) outlet. Schlepping four, 30-gallon (115 L) plastic garbage cans to act as reservoirs, 10-foot (3 m) lengths of PVC pipe,and 200 feet (60 m) of hose was a challenge!
    I made these trips carrying conspicuous supplies at four in the morning. The hard part was carrying it all back down when I closed down the grow show!
    After many trips up the canyon, I harvested six pounds of Colombian and Mexican bud. The quality was fair, but I harvested early and had the only fresh buds in town in mid-September.
    In “the good old days,” rural real estate for sale in northern California often advertised the number of marijuana growing holes that had already been amended.
    Now Park Rangers carry guns and have the authority to arrest “suspected” growers. Latin mafias have also moved into the National Forests installing illegal immigrants with guns to grow and defend large patches of guerilla grass. The War on Drugs has turned much of America into an unsafe place to live and grow.
    Australia, Canada, much of Europe, and many other parts of the world are significantly different; growers can plant in their backyards, greenhouses, or in remote locations with little fear of arrest.

Strains
    Selecting the right strains for your climate is just as important