KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Terms and Definitions to Know:

Autoflower: This term is used to describe cannabis seeds/plants that move from the vegetative growth stage to the flowering stage based on an internal timer in their DNA.

Photoperiod, or Photos: Photoperiod seeds/plants stay in the vegetative growth stage until the light cycle they are growing in has 12 hours or more of darkness. In an outdoor setting, this means the fall, in an indoor setting, a reduction in the amount of time with lights on causes the plants to switch and start flowering.

Feminized Seeds: Feminized seeds are made with pollen from a female plant that was treated with a reversal spray, causing it to make pollen sacks instead of buds. This pollen is applied to normal female cannabis plants to make feminized seeds. These seeds will all be female plants, rather than the roughly 50% male/female breakdown regular seeds produce.

Regular Seeds: These are made from a conventional male/female pollination, and the offspring will be a roughly equal mix of male and female seeds.

Germination: Germination is when the plant opens the seed shell and emerges.

Flip: Flip, or flipped, refers to switching from a long light veg cycle to a 12/12 flowering light cycle.

Cotyledons: These are the smooth sided first leaves to emerge from a cannabis seed.

Calyx: The calyx is the individual female flower, shaped like a teardrop, and make up the buds of female plants. They consist of 2 parts, a teardrop shape called the pistils, and the white hairs protruding out the end of the pistils, called stigmas.

Media: This refers to what you are growing in, soil, coco coir, hydroton, etc.

IPM: This stands for Integrated Pest Management. It refers to the overall approach to pest management a grower is using. This includes things like sprays, mulching strategies, airflow, sanitation, and anything else that a grower engages with intending to impact pest pressures.

PH: This is the measurement of how acidic or base something is. PH is measured on a scale of 1-14, with 7 being neutral. A lower number indicates more acidity, and higher number means more base.

Drying: This is what you do right after harvesting your plants. Plants have the wet shade leaves removed and are hung upside down to dry. Typically fans are used to make sure air is moving during this stage, but you do not want the fans blowing directly on your plants.  (Excessive heat during the drying process will ruin the flavor and smokability of the buds, so care to keep the temps below 70 fahrenheit is critical, with 60-65 being optimal)

Curing: This is the stage after drying. During the cure, you are trying to slowly and evenly distribute and stabilize the remaining moisture in the buds. If your drying went well, most of the remaining moisture will be terpenes and flavinoids with an alcohol-like base. To cure your bud, you place the bucked, dried buds in seal-able containers (like mason jars). The jars are then placed in a cool, dry place to sit for a few weeks to a few months, depending on personal preference. For the first week, you need to open the jars for a minute or so, at least once a day to burp them (twice is better). Take this time to poke the buds and make sure you dried them well enough, and if not, finish drying them before rejarring them. After the first week or so, you can burp them less often, a couple times a week usually works. (Be sure to keep your buds in as dark a place as possible throughout the dry/cure process because light degrades the buds).

Training: Training refers to any technique used to physically manipulate the shape of the plant. The following are some common forms of training:   

• Topping: This is just what it sounds like. By snipping the growing tip of the plant, you are directing the plant to grow and branch outward.
   
• Trellising: This is when you let the plant grow up through a net, and the branches are weaved through the net to create the canopy the grower wants.
   
• Staking: This is just the use of bamboo (or whatever material) stakes pushed into the soil and then using foam coated training wire to tie the branches to the stakes
   

These are some of the most common training techniques, but there are many more. Most growers will use multiple approaches to training, depending on each individual situation.