The Chuffedheadshop.co.uk Grow Guide will show you one easy way to grow using Terraponics grow pot's, Terraponics is the ultimate combination of hydroponics and organics, it's so easy you will never look back. The old way to grow used Nft tanks, when purchasing these tanks you also need an abundance of other products such as filters, pumps, 2 sizes of rockwell cubes, ph testers and black n white to name just a few. Now Terraponics has hit the market the cost of setting up is reduced dramatically, the results are more stable and pretty much guarenteed. The bags use magnatised soil which insects cannot live in and actually kills them! It's ph buffered so you never need test it and if you stick to the feeding schedule you will never be dissapointed. Chuffedheadshop.co.uk reminds customers that the cultivation of cannabis is illegal, the information below is provided so that customers can enjoy growing tomatoes and other veggies only.

Chuffedheadshop.co.uk Grow Guide

You will need: Terraponics grow bag(one per seed), seeds, nutrient pack (grow, bloom and superboost), 400w light, desktop fan, 2 x 24hr timer, peat pot or mini rockwool cube(one per seed), plastic waterproof tray(or any container big enough to hold the amount of Terraponics bags you wanna grow and catch water), propergator, bucket, two screw in hooks and 2 lots of 60cm chain.

Welcome to the Chuffedheadshop.co.uk basic guide to growing your favourite herbs all year round. First things first, prepare you grow room, a cupboard will do fine just remember you'll need approximately 30 cm2 (30cm x 30cm) per plant, paint the inside of the grow room white as this will make better use of your light by reflecting it all over the grow room (you could also use tin foil to line the room). Then hang you light in the centre of the room, use the hooks and chain to hang (this way you can move the light up and down to keep it 40 - 90cm above the plants, hold your hand where you predict the top of the plants will be to check whether or not it's too hot, if it's hot for you it will be too hot for the plants/seedlings, so move the light up a little). Plug the light into one of the timers, set to 18hrs on 6hrs off. Plug the fan into the other timer and set it to come on for around 15mins every hour, make sure all wires/leads are safely secured and away from water. Place the plastic tray underneath the light.

It's time to get your seeds germinated, just place them in a glass of water for 24hrs, this will soften the husk of the seed. After 24hrs get yourself two dinner plates of the same size and some kitchen paper (6-10 sheets). Take the first plate and lay 3-5 sheets of the kitchen paper flat on it and dampen, then place your seeds on the wet paper and cover them with another layer of paper, wet it and then place the other plate on top to create a seed sandwich. Leave it in room temperature until the seeds sprout (usually 2-3 days but some seeds may take longer, make sure you keep the "seed sandwich" wet because if it dries out then the seeds will stick to the kitchen paper).

Next you'll need your peat pots, fill them with Terraponic soil from your Terraponic grow pot and water it, place your sprouted seed in the peat pot approximately 2cm deep, place these seedlings in the propagator and leave for one week, lightly watering when needed(use water without any nutrients added). After one week move under a 400w hps light, make sure the light is 40 - 90cm above the plants. This is called the vegative stage of growth, the plants need 18hrs of light during this stage.

After your seedlings have grown their second pair of leaves (known as their "first true leaves", first true leaves have jagged edges so look different from the initial pair that sprouts), remove the propagator lid and train a fan on the plants, this will encourage strong branches and healthy growth. Keep the plants wet (sticking to the nutrients guide provided), remembering to keep an eye on the roots, when they appear from the peat pot it's time for the peat pot
(seedling) to be moved into the Terraponic grow pot.

Puncture 6-8 holes in the base of the Terraponic grow pot, place into the plastic tray and then cut off the top of the bag. Water the bag well and place the peat pot (seedling) onto the bag, firm the soil around the peat pot (seedling) and water a little more. Grow your plants up until they are around 12 inches tall, be patient and don't add extra nutrients hoping to make your plants grow faster, this will just kill them.

The next stage of growth is flowering, the lights have to on for 12hrs and off for 12hrs so reset your timer, during the 12hrs of darkness no light must reach the plants as this will have a drastic effect on your flowers, and the length of time you'll need to flower them.

Unless you have purchased feminised seeds you will need to check which sex your plants are, male, female or hermaphrodite. Male flowers appear in between branches and stem and look like a hair with a ball on the end, remove the male plants from the grow room and destroy, these are useless to you unless your breeding, only experienced grower should attempt this. Female flowers will also appear in between branch and stem, they look like a small pod with two hairs sticking out, these are what you want. Hermaphrodite's are both male and female and can be tricky to spot. A plant can change from female to hermaphrodite if they're stressed (bad conditions, lack of water, too much water, handling plants too much, trimming them too much or it may just be that your particular strain of seed is liable to change due to breeding). If you do notice a hermaphrodite there's not much you can do besides take the plant away from the rest (leaving it may cause more plants to mess up as the male part of the hermaphrodite plant may try to mate with the rest of the females in the room, leaving you with loadsa seeds and small flowers). If it's noticed in the last couple of weeks and your only growing a couple of plants you may want to leave the hermaphrodite in the grow room to boost crops a little, the flowers of a hermaphrodite can be smoked, they'll just have seeds mixed in so make sure you remove these from your smoking mix, don't ever smoke seeds. The seeds produced by a hermaphrodite are almost guaranteed to producing female plants, so there is one consolation to a crop seeded by a hermaphrodite.

After around 4-5 weeks you will notice crystals coating your flower buds and leaves (only remove leaves if yellow and ill looking as this will slow the growth rate, the plant will put energy into fixing the broken stem instead of into growth). If the plants are growing too tall for your grow area you can tie the flower heads, bend the plant's head down and tie it to the main stem, being careful not to snap it, this will make any side branches bunch up and grow bushier.

It is very important that the plants are far enough away from the light as this could burn and damage your precious crop, a good test is to use the back of your hand, hold it at the same level as the plant tops, if the heats uncomfortable on your hand then move the light higher. Plants like an ambient temperature at 24 Celsius, at 8 weeks your plants should be ready, not all will finish with 8 weeks flowering but most will, generally the way to check is by looking at the flowers, if 80% look like they have changed colour from white to reddish brown it's crop time.

Drying stage, cut off the side branches and flowers leaving the root and base of plant in the grow bag, remove as many leaves as you can from the flowers and side branches (don't throw the leaves away because you can turn trash to stash with the Ice-o-lator or a Honey Bee Oil Extractor). Then hang the plants up to dry in a area at room temperature with a fan trained on them to help prevent mould growing on the flowers, the drying process can last anywhere from 1 1/2 weeks to 3 1/2, longers better, it depends if your a connoisseur or want to keep the weight.

The final stage is the most enjoyable, having a Chuff!

You will find that there are loadsa additions, tricks and techniques available to enhance results, some will even work, this guide is just to give you an example of how to get started with a basic low cost set up enabling you to have enough knowledge to get you on your way and producing results.

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