Tips and Tricks
Want to know some of our secrets to creating some of the most demanded, unique connoisseur quality buds and strains that stand out among the rest? Look no further! When everyone follows the crowd, we run the other way and do our own thing with a curious open mind. Here are some tips and tricks we've figured out that really set us apart with standout, high quality results. We have even won cups with our strains and these grow techniques, and so can you!
Light Cycles play a big role in your plants, as you already know. However, the accepted standard 12/12 for flowering is not the end-all be-all. Your plants are constantly adapting to the environment you create in your garden, and every variable counts. In nature, different climates have different light cycles as well. Try playing around with different cycles, for example my favorite for flower is 11 on and 13 off, taken from DJ Short. Many strains have a more uplifting, positive energy. In side by side comparisons, I found a lot more colorful expressions, some clones which are green under 12/12 were filled with purples in 11/13! The 11/13 seems to also promote some more unique flavor expressions. In my experience, some Sativas flower faster than usual under 11 on. I like to veg with 17 hours of light. Play around and see what you get! The environment makes a big change in how your plants grow, and it's fun to have a unique climate of your own!
Light Spectrum is also very important when growing for quality. I prefer to flower under Metal Halide 1000w bulbs, or COB LED. The newest technology in LED grow lights that deserve attention are full spectrum COB LED lights. These offer a unique type of full spectrum light that encourages a fuller expression of the plants genetic potential, including all its unique terpenes, aromas, flavors, effects and colors, as well as better gram per watt yield and many other benefits. Indoor growers are seeing traits like pink hairs, which were not usually seen except for outdoors until now. In addition, people are reporting yields over 2 grams per watt of electricity used. Plants also grow faster and some may demand more nutrition under better quality light. Plants grown with HPS seem to have a very narrow spectrum of flavor and effects they are able to express, in comparison with full spectrum lighting. When growing with bulbs, I recommend the Hortilux Blue Metal Halide for headstash flower with unbeatable incredible effects and flavor, or for double ended fixtures, the Ushio HiLux MH. Smaller grows can use a CMH 4200k. Using a COB fixture in your LED flowering room can do wonders! COB leds have a unique spectrum compared to all other LED grow fixtures these days. You can also mix lighting to get the best advantages of each, for example the yield of an hps combined with the spectrum/effects/qualities of a hortilux blue mh, cmh, or a cob led. Full spectrum white light sources of high quality will promote fuller genetic expression of your plants and make the effects and flavors much more unique. In our experience, COB/LED grown plants like 82-85 degree rooms. This makes a huge difference for proper nutrient uptake and will fix most deficiencies in LED grown plants if temperatures were previously in the 70s. We have done a lot of research and development to design the best possible cob grow light on the market, and it is now available: Check out our custom light kit, the Mass Medical Strains Cob and Supplementals at Rapid LED!
Organic Growing is our number one philosophy. People don't always realize how much this affects the actual outcome and final result of your bud. Plants fed with chemicals do not have such a wide range of inputs to allow them to grow the way nature intended, rather they become a more bland version. Soil has a much more dynamic range of available nutrition and microlife for the plant to interact with. Growing in living soil simply yields the best quality, highest vibration flower possible. Adding any sort of bottled nutrients even one time will kill the microlife in your soil, and bring your organic plant down to the bland quality of generic, non organic bud. Do your research on No-Till, True Living Organics, Supersoils, and give some a try for yourself to see the amazing quality of an organic plant. You'll no longer be smoking the result of lab-manufactured nutrient salts growing a force-fed plant, you'll be smoking a true creation of nature and human in ultimate harmony. The organic vibe even translates to the high, you won't have a harsh feeling in your throat or a negative reaction or comedown as you might with street or dispensary grown chemical buds. You'll actually feel better emotionally even after the high is over, a positive effect of organic cannabis working in synergy with the body and mind. Our plants are grown in soil and fed nothing but straight water with nothing added, just as nature intended. Organically grown plants done properly can yield just as well (or better) than synthetic, and are much healthier for us to consume, as well as sustainable to produce and generally gentle on the environment. Chemical nutrient lines should never be flushed down the drain and skin contact is toxic! There is no such thing in my opinion as real organic liquid nutrient lines, my plants get nothing but plain water in good soil just like nature intended.
Intentions and emotions are sensed by plants, and play a complex role in your garden. If you grow with positive energy and good intentions, your garden will flourish and you may achieve the impossible. If you grow with greed and in a rushed or uncaring manner, expect your garden to reflect this as well, and the vibe of smoking your flower will take on subtle characteristics of the grower and environment in which it was grown. The best buds come from the most loving growers. Love what you do, or go do something else!
Making your own seeds is extremely important. Unlike many other breeders, Mass Medical Strains believes in promoting and teaching every home grower to make their own seeds! There are many reasons for this. It is important in this day and age to be self reliant as much as possible, at least just to have the skill and capability. Everyone should try making some seeds. There is nothing better than growing plants from seeds you've created yourself, it is truly exciting and you will share a very special bond with these plants. If you find a special plant from Mass Medical Strains, it is always an honor for us if you decide to breed with it and create something special and unique! When making seeds it is important to start with good genetics; plants that you really enjoy for whatever reasons! It's very easy for a home grower with limited space to experiment with making their own crosses, simply use your intuition and pick your favorite male from a pack of our Regular seeds. You can flower this male in a separate space and collect pollen, and dust the pollen on a single branch of each of your flowering females, to create one branch of seeds while keeping the rest of the plant seedless to smoke. Just remember to turn off fans during pollination so you don't pollinate the entire crop! If you are so limited on space, a male can be flowered for the first week or so next to your females, and then removed before pollen starts to drop, the male can then be brought to a sunny windowsill or a closet lit with a regular cfl lamp under minimal conditions and will continue to bloom and then release pollen. Another option is once flowering has begun, cut branches off into a cup of water, and then put those anywhere with light (cycle wont matter now, as long as it is triggered into flowering) and pollen can be collected. Just remember that wind will carry pollen easily, so keep the males out of your flower room once they are about to produce pollen. You can use these techniques to get started making seeds on your own, and can cross any plants you like! Once you grow the seeds you will know just how special and exciting this process can be. From there, a lot of more advanced breeding techniques can be explored, and I am in process of writing a book with loads of advice on making more intricate selections to create some really high quality strains. You can also get lucky using the beginner techniques stated above and create something very special at home. Intentions truly play a huge role in what the universe hands you for plants and results.
Plants are living things, and just as humans are always effected by forces of nature and destiny. The strains you see available from MMS have been created, tested, and then a big batch made. After this batch runs out, I usually do not make the same batch more than one or two times, because I like to explore new projects and don't have time to keep making the same over and over again, while simultaneously working new projects! Even though they are super special, I am equally as excited about new creations and exploration. The cannabis gene pool is so infinite, full of unique plants and qualities to be discovered and worked with. For this reason I encourage each of you to preserve my strains in what ways you see fit. Many of my hybrids are available for a year or two, and then once they are retired it is up to all of you to keep them going. I do have some staples such as Star Pupil which I plan to have available as long as I am able to, but keep in mind this involves keeping mother clones alive for many years. I encourage you to share your best clones of my strains, make more seeds such as F2, F3, S1, etc. to select for your favorite traits, or make any crosses you like! Please keep in mind these plants belong more to the universe than to any one specific person or company. Just as you can find a rock and bring it home, it may stay in your possession, but one day it goes back to nature. Plants are no different, we each simply touch them for a handful of years, a small fraction of the millions of years they've been on this planet for. Please cherish and respect the seeds when you have and grow them!
