This is a photo of one of the flowers on one of the cannabis plants that I grew. I took this photo using my LG3G cell phone and a 45 X magnification loop which is a small device similar to what a Jeweler might use to look at gem-stones. I'm now almost at week #11 in the flowering stage and I have decided to start the flushing process on my 2 remaining plants. They were part of my very first cannabis garden, which consisted of 4 plants in total. Plant 3 was a male and plant 4 had to be harvested almost 2 weeks ago during Week #9 because its leaves wilted. It didn't respond to watering so I made a decision to harvest it so that I wouldn't loose its buds to something called bud-rot, so close to the end of this garden's life-cycle.
The Plan
My plan is to flush the remaining two plants with 20 litres of water, every other day for the next 2 weeks. The caveat to this is unless something unforeseen happens (like all their leaves wilt suddenly) or if I am advised to do something a little bit differently from the experienced Growers who are part of Steemit's cannabis community.
I've been using medical cannabis (myself as a patient) for 9 years. I eat this herb everyday and as a result, I have been able to put an autoimmune disease that had taken hold of my body into remission. (This is without having to use the pharmaceutical cocktail of prescriptions that my neurologists have recommended.) All of this time, I have been buying the cannabis that I need. In May of this year, I went through the process of getting my license to grow which required a lot of hoop jumping on my part. In my country (which is Canada), there is a procedure that must be followed that includes the completion of a 27 page application document that must be signed-off on by a medical doctor. (Finding a doctor who will agree to consult with you and will agree to sign-off on all the government documentation was the most difficult part.) Then, I started the process of teaching myself what I needed to do to grow a successful cannabis micro-crop.
It Turns Out That My Regular Gardening Skills Were Completely Transferable.
These are photos of 3 different flowers of cannabis which are located on one of my plants. The flowers of the plant are called buds. These buds and the leaves that have grown close to the buds, hold a lot of the medicinal value that the plant has to offer. For this reason, the whole goal of growing a healthy cannabis plant is to try and produce the biggest, densest buds that you can just dripping in trichomes.
A lot of The Medicinal Components of This Plant Are Found In Its Trichomes
For those of you who may not be familiar with what a cannabis flower looks like up close, it grows these little tube like filaments called trichomes as it matures. The trichomes hold the cannabinoids which are some of the medicinal components, found in the herb. They are the trumpet-like or mushroom-like white structures that you can see covering the surface of the flowers and the leaves closest to the flowers. (The first picture that I have shared shows these mature structures very nicely, under 45Xs magnification.)
File This Under The Category: Today I Learned
THC and CBD are 2 of the most well known cannabinoids that cannabis can produce. The cannabis plant is routinely being breed to produce high percentages of these compounds, individually and in different combinations of these percentages, together. Meaning that there are strains prized for their high THC content, strains prized for their high CBD content and strains prized for having both a decent percentage of THC and CBD.
In actuality there are over 111 known cannabinoids and over 2,000 documented strains of this plant with varying combinations of medicinal components. This is one of the reasons why this herb can be effectively used to treat all kinds of conditions from a medical perspective.
A 100 different disease processes immediately come to my mind.
All of which can be greatly helped by the deficiency correcting abilities of this plant medicine.
Why don't People Know About The Benefits OF Cannabis Plant Medicine?
People don't know about the benefits of cannabis plant medicine because the information has been withheld from the people (around the globe) for the last 80 years. The prohibition of cannabis was started by a well positioned politician from the States named Harry Aslinger, in 1937. He started the ban with the support of the US government and ultimately threatened the medical doctors (at the time) with loss of their licenses to practice medicine if they refused to comply. Then, he introduced Bayer Aspirin to the "supposedly" free market and the pharmaceutical industrial complex was born. Overnight, a lot of already well-heeled people became even richer and the people have suffered for it, while other people have continued to line their pockets, ever since.
Cannabis effectively treats so many conditions, it's almost impossible to list them all. The top ten, more common conditions are: insomnia, chronic pain, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, Type II diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, anxiety attacks, post traumatic stress disorder and depression. It's a real threat to big pharma's industry.
In my humble opinion, withholding effective medicine from the people of the world, which can be easily grown in people's gardens, for mere pennies, is one of the biggest crimes ever committed against humanity as a whole.
In My Role As A Cannabis Coach I Am A Cannabis Educator
Two years ago, I came out of the cannabis closet officially. I started teaching other people about cannabis plant medicine and how to safely use it (in all of its various ingestion methods and forms). My expertise lies in holistic healthcare, nutrition and cooking with cannabis. It turns out that I am also really good at teaching seniors how to buy, load and use vapourizers. (Who knew?)
When the average person decides to fully integrate cannabis into their lifestyle to treat a health condition, it is common for them to be able to get off of most of their monthly pharmaceutical prescriptions. This translates to multiple medications being exchanged for just one...cannabis.
It's one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do because it's life changing for people. Generally, they start actively participating in living again.
I am really excited about growing my first micro-crop of cannabis because it gives me more experience working directly with every stage of the plant's life-cycle.
This will and already has enhanced my ability to help others.
I have never charged for my services as a cannabis coach and this was a decision that I made because good people helped me when I needed it the most. Now, I pay that same kindness forward, everyday.
I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me on my journey.
~ Rebecca Ryan