Brief history of Cannabis use and evolution today

Marijuana or Cannabis has been really present within the humanity for more than a thousand years. Humans have figured out a way on how to find and benefit from the myriad uses that this plant has, both recreationally, medicinally as well as industrially.  The Cannabis origin takes us to Asia, since the first historic references to this plant are from this place, more specific from India and China.

 Nowadays, the crops of this plant have been promoted by new techniques and cultivation methods, which have significantly enhanced these techniques and methods of cannabis production, especially with the implementation of feminized and autoflowering seeds to carry out this improvement in crops.

What were the first recorded references about the cannabis use for therapeutic treatments?

As we said, the firsts records about the use of cannabis (as a therapeutic treatment), come from China and India. Researches have claimed that cannabis was listed in the Shen Nung’s recipe books. This Chinese emperor was also father of the Chinese medicine. He made sure to collect all his knowledge of medicinal plants in books.

It didn’t last long before the cannabis use started to spread to all the west. As a proof of the Shen Nung’s legacy, around the 7^th century BC, a prophet known as Zoroaster wrote an important religious text, where he mentioned lots of medicinal plants, like bhang and marijuana, claiming that the later was the most important one among all of them.

 Evolution of therapeutic cannabis today

 The 19th century is the one that brought a lot of expansion to medicinal cannabis in the West, especially thanks to the contribution of the Scottish military doctor W.B. O’Shaughnessy. He made sure to spread his knowledge and share this information after he returned from doing services in India. He shared the info about its Cannabis’ therapeutic properties widely known in the medical field; In the following 50 years, hundreds of articles on these properties were written by numerous specialists.

During the 20th century, cannabis was subjected to a series of attacks, unfair persecutions and negative bias, that a plant like this had never been subjected to. In large part, due to the great efforts and attacks of the press mogul Randolph Hearst and the requests of lots of countries before the League of Nations, such as South Africa or Egypt, cannabis is gradually outlawed. In 1941, marijuana definitively was removed from the American Pharmacopoeia.

 Thanks largely to the efforts of different specialists and scientific research on relatively recent decades, today medical and therapeutic cannabis is experiencing a resurgence that would have been unacceptable 50 years ago.  Nowadays, hundreds of people can use it legally to treat their ailments in many states of the U.S. Every day, more and more countries join to this cause, legalizing or decriminalizing the use of cannabis.

 Let’s hope that this green wave continues its unstoppable march and that soon more and more patients will see their right to choose the medicine they want in order to treat their health problems without their freedom being compromised.

 How to start growing cannabis?

 Growing cannabis seems like a difficult and intimidating process from the outside. Even though there are lots of species that allow us to obtain successful harvests, the method to be followed can be relatively simple. It is essential for novice growers to set clear goals before starting to grow, to provide some structure and make sure the most important points are covered.

Practice undoubtedly will make you produce crops with better quality. Later, you can experiment with various advanced techniques and tricks to increase the yield of your crops, but let’s focus on the basics for now. Now, we’re going to share with you a list of fundamental considerations and tips that you should take into account in order to be successful at taking care of your crops, so it can be simple and productive as possible.

 Do you plan to grow your crops indoors or outdoors?

Both indoor and outdoor growing have numerous advantages (and disadvantages as well). Growing your crops indoors allows you to control artificially factors that normally would not be under your control, environmental factors, like the humidity, the temperature, the air flow, water, humidity and light.

On the other hand, outdoor crops are directly exposed to the natural conditions, and factors such as heat or light cannot be controlled easily. However, the expense of an outdoor grow is minimal, since much less electricity is required (or none at all). In addition, plants often have more room to grow, which means bigger plants and more abundant harvests.

 Make sure to choose a good variety that suits you

There are hundreds of varieties available. Lots of them are by-products of selective breeding. This process determines which are the best genes of each parent, and allows the plants to inherit these best traits, in order to create better specimens.

 Your choice depends not only about what your personal preferences are, but also on the resources you can afford (that includes the amount of space you’re willing to use). Keep in mind that some varieties are better for indoors, while others for outdoors. If you’re an outdoor grower, a sativa dominant strain could be ideal for you.

If you’re growing outdoors and don’t want to attract attention, or indoors with little space, try a small-sized pure indica or an indica dominant strain. You can also get an autoflowering strain. These plants do not need a change in the light cycle to start flowering, they are very robust, and they grow very quickly.

 Feminized seeds for cultivation, advantages

We have already mentioned that feminized seeds are easier to grow than regular seeds. However, don’t let your guard down. Growing feminized marijuana also presents certain challenges and difficulties that you need to be aware of.

According to a report from the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis, the wholesale price of marijuana flowers is just over $2 a gram.

 Indoor or outdoor feminized seeds?

 When growing indoors, it is necessary to manually adjust the amount of time that the plants are going to be exposed to light. Growers usually do this when the plants have reached a suitable height (around half of the final desired height). They need space to grow properly, since they tend to grow really quick in their earlier phases.

For outdoors, it is essential to plant feminized marijuana in an optimal climate and during the adequate season. Why? Since the hours of sunlight may vary depending on which of the four seasons we are. Remember that our plants need a specific amount of light and certain conditions in order to grow. To meet these conditions, you will typically need to plant them in the spring and harvest them in the fall.

Different varieties in the cultivation of feminized seeds in the same area

 It is possible to grow different varieties in a grow room, but it takes a learning process.

There are a lot of reasons for this. Varieties of different strains can reach different heights, have different fertilization requirements, and will be to harvest at different times. You may also usually need to use plant care techniques (cuts, fertilization, among others.) to maintain a uniform system.