Indoor growing
Under indoor Growing (engl. Cultivation in the home or mounted in an enclosed space) means the cultivation of THC -containing hemp ( Cannabis sativa , Cannabis indica and sativa Indica hybrids ) indoors under artificial light . It is the counterpart to outdoor growing .
Intentions and meaning
According to the order of magnitude and intention, two forms of indoor cultivation can be distinguished: on the one hand, the so-called "home growing" in so-called grow cabinets for mainly personal needs-oriented cultivation with only a few plants, on the other hand large, commercially operated plants with hundreds or thousands of plants which are produced for the black market or for cannabis and cannabinoids as medicinal products .
Commercial indoor growing competes with imports of marijuana and hashish from Morocco , India , Nepal , Lebanon , Afghanistan and other traditional hemp -growing countries. In Great Britain , indoor cultivation already outweighs imports.
Origins
Indoor cultivation dates back to the 1970s and is based on the following facts:
- the state repression, which forces the economically less favorable, but easier to hide indoor cultivation compared to outdoor cultivation. The need to offset this disadvantage with increased productivity has spawned highly potent cannabis products.
- the development of hydroponics (growing in nutrient solutions)
- the technical development brought about more efficient lighting and air conditioning technology ( plant lamps )
- the availability of high quality seeds
- the invention of Sinsemilla technique ( cuttings propagation of female plants by aeroponics )
- the brisk demand
Technical requirements
The lighting is mostly done using fluorescent tubes (for the growth phase ), compact fluorescent lamps (for the growth and flowering phase), high-pressure sodium vapor lamps (for the growth and flowering phase) or LED lights (for the growth and flowering phase). The ventilation and odor control is done with so-called tube or snail shell fans and suitable activated carbon filters . The cultivation takes place on earth, as hydroponics or on rock wool or coconut mats. Large commercial plants are usually operated fully automatically.
The horticultural and technical requirements required for indoor cultivation are available in so-called grow shops.
Culture process
Either seeds are used for cultivation which, if they are not so-called "feminized seeds", naturally produce female and male plants. Alternatively, aeroponically rooted cuttings ( clones ) obtained from a female mother plant and thus also female are used. The latter is preferred for larger plantations, as the male plants do not have to be removed ( sinsemilla technique), the plants as clones have the same properties in terms of size, nutrient requirements and harvest time, and the period of seed germination and seedling rearing is avoided (time saving = faster harvest = more activity). There are also various cultivation techniques such as B. the "Growbox", the " Sea of Green " or the " Screen of Green ".
The seeds are planted in standard flower pots or hydroponically . Hemp is usually illuminated for 18 hours a day during the growth phase. For most varieties, flowering is initiated by reducing the lighting time to 12 hours per day. So-called auto or autoflowering strains bloom through the crossing of cannabis ruderalis after 3 to 6 weeks of growth regardless of the lighting time. In general, a different light color with a higher proportion of red is beneficial for the flower. The harvest takes place, depending on the variety, after about 7 to 13 weeks of flowering when the trichomes (resin crystal glands) turn milky, cloudy to brown. In this phase, the plants contain the optimal combination of high THC content and the optimal THC- CBN ratio, which is important for the effect profile . CBN, which is continuously formed from THC through oxidation , makes you tired and is usually undesirable. The plants are then freed from the larger leaves, dried and fermented (so-called "curing") and either left as marijuana , processed into hashish or, more rarely, hash oil .
Legal
The cultivation of THC-rich cannabis is generally punishable in Germany. In Switzerland, depending on the canton, smaller quantities of plants are tolerated and, although the planting of cannabis is also illegal in Switzerland, usually not prosecuted if they are not used for drug production, i.e. if it is stated that they are planted out of botanical interest, etc. . In Austria, planting plants with less than 0.3% THC content (i.e. virtually all cannabis plants, provided they are not in bloom) is legal and only loses this legal status when they contain more than 0.3% THC (i.e. the THC content of Exceed industrial hemp). For example, they can be used legally for aromatherapy. Furthermore, the cultivation of all cannabis plants is legal in Austria if they are left in the growth phase and flowering is not initiated.
literature
- Chandra, Suman, Lata, Hemant, ElSohly, Mahmoud A. (Eds.): Cannabis sativa L. - Botany and Biotechnology. Springer 2017, ISBN 978-3-319-54563-9
- Mike MoD: Encyclopedia of Cannabis Breeding: Specialized Book of Hemp Genetics. Nachtschatten Verlag 2013, ISBN 978-3037882818
- Lark-Lajon Lizermann: The cannabis cultivation. The easy way to your own homegrow. Everything about botany, cultivation, propagation, processing and medical use as well as THC measurement methods. Nightshade, Solothurn 2004, ISBN 3-03788-134-8 .
- Bócsa, Karus, Lohmeyer: Hemp cultivation - botany, varieties, cultivation and harvest, markets and product lines. Landwirtschaftsverlag, 2000, ISBN 3-7843-3066-5 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Alan Travis: Home-grown cannabis outstrips imports from Morocco . March 17, 2003.
- ↑ bund.de ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Cannabis legal situation in Switzerland - Thema-Drogen.net .
- ↑ http://www.hanf-hanf.at/Hanfrecht-in-Oesterreich-_-11.html
