Re:

Pirates’ canting lingo, shiver me timbers!

Tue, 18/Jan/22

The Black Jack was once a barrel, even a table, and it was totally not a card game as we know it now. A remarkable number of maritime words were not landlubber from the beginning, but they have migrated from and under the influence of the romantic image of the Caribbean Pirates. Whatever opinions exist if they were bad or good guys, yet only a few may ague the Pirates of the Caribbean do avalanche the imagination.

Starting from Stevenson’s novels and going on till modern-day comics and movies, anime cartoons, numerous fan art, games and all other kinds of artworks, we always find the Caribbean Pirates’ images in any art epoch.

For this ever-lasting movement we have collected a handy vocabulary of the Pirate jargon of the Golden Age of Piracy we showcase here:

SHIPSHAPE — is for anything in a proper shape for the purpose, being in a great order and worthy. Also, see the definition of “TRIM” down below on this page. The post includes the shipshape contents, no tacking about! Aye!

Jolly Roger, Classic Pirate Flag Flying

The purpose of this collection of pirate slang is to fancy a vocabulary when speaking to friends and in social media. These words and idioms represent basically the “maritime jargon” modified by the Tortuga lifestyle of the 17th century, this is how the “pirate slang” appeared, one that we recognize in the artworks. You will notice some of them sneak into the normal language even losing the original meaning. Have fun reading.

SLACK WATER — is a period between a high tide and a low tide, when the water stands still and goes nowhere: neither up nor down. Indeed, the tide is changing the direction while the water is totally calm for a short while. Slack water is a peaceful time, a resting point.

BLACK JACK — this one is not the card game originally, but very likely giving its name to the blackjack card game. The Black Jack was a barrel of bear used in pubs (short from “public house”) and taverns of the time, as a barrel while it had contents and then as a table when it got empty. The same use of the Black Jack was applied onboard of a boat. Why the Jack is Black? Because all those barrels of beer got to be sealed and coated externally with tar, so all those jacks were in fact black ones. No doubt, pirates played cards and dice sitting around the black jacks.

SAVVY — comes from “being smart” or simply “smart” from French, used widely over the pirate community, and it certainly gained another ton of popularity as being promoted in the Pirates of the Caribbean motion picture franchise. “Savvy” as a question is equivalent to “Do you read me?” in a radio language, or “Know what I mean” in the landlubber’s slang.

EIGHT BELLS — is a shift. A bell is a sound called manually after the sand glass changed, and the sand glass was 30 minutes long. A boat making way measures time by sand glass and making bells. If you are on a shift, then your 8th bell you hear shall mean the end of the shift, as those shifts are 4 hours long traditionally (and till now, for example, when a one-hand boat makes it through the ocean, the skipper usually takes a 4-hour shift before taking a nap, then wakes up every 4 hours). Eight bells practically mean a rest and a bottle of rum! Yo ho ho!

Note that the T.G.I.F. is a sort of reflection of the EIGHT BELLS. More likely, there is no direct connection, but the TGIF pursues the idea of a rest after a shift, very similar to the Eight Bells.

BOAT — is a wider term for anything that floats in general, used till today among the sailing community for any floating thingy with a sail or any floating thingy classified for the purpose of pleasure. The contrary version is a “ship” which stands for a big boat, a part of the navy or a part of a larger fleet. A simple solution to pretend you are the mariner: use “boat” anywhere for anything that floats except that you stress specifically she was a tall ship or an aircraft carrier, well you got it.

AYE-AYE — a single Aye /aɪ/ is a maritime specific “yes”, while “Aye-aye” is a confirmation of the command, either a confirmation of understanding the said, used in the navy all the time. Aye-aye allegedly originates from the Norse language (those were the sailors!) and, through Middle English, it lands in the maritime community: “Aye-aye, captain”.

SCURVY DOG — is a foul person, as a left-handed compliment. It comes from “SCURVY” which was a term for a disease, identified nowadays as lack of Vitamin “C” described as softened gums, losing teeth, pain in limbs, breath issues, and overall weakness and tiredness. As an effective prevention, there was a rum drink called “bumbo”, find about the delicious, spicy, sweet, and in all ways magnificent Caribbean beverage further in this post.

AVAST — cease any operation immediately.

ANCIENT — this is how the colors got called once. Both “colors” and “ancient” mean the flag of a ship as in general. Ouch, sorry, of a boat.

JOLLY ROGER — is a pirate flag, usually a black one, sometimes white or red, often carrying symbols of Death along with symbols of Love and Liberty, or a combination of those. A sand hour-glass present on some Jolly Rogers expressed a warning to a victim: “The time is running out”.

Jolly Roger flag of Jacquotte Delahaye, female pirate who captured Tortuga in 1656
Jolly Roger of Jacquotte Delahaye, female pirate

The worst nightmare for a merchant ship was (and is now) to see a Jolly Roger on the horizon. It may appear romantic in games, on avatars or tattoos, but it is absolutely not your dream when you make way in neutral waters. God bless all sailors.

MATE — or “matey” is a friend, a buddy, a dude, a crew member. Aussie use “mate” in the same way nowadays, and it originates from the maritime slang. For example, the First Mate is the official title for the Captain’s right hand officer even nowadays, especially in the navy. I suggest there is obvious logic how the word “mate” landed in Australia and took its iconic place in the Australian dialect of English.

JERK — is salted and/or smoked beef cut in stripes. Used widely along the whole time span of the Age of Sail and beyond as the best opportunity to carry beef and keep it well in any conditions for an endless term. Jerk is offered widely as a common food component everywhere in the Caribbean even now. You put one into water before cooking for almost an entire day, and it still stays a salty piece after that, m-m, and heavenly tasty when properly cooked.

BUCCAN — salted/smoked beef, over-salted to be precise, similar to “jerk”, it usually cut in stripes, then smoked open-air under sun, or fire.

This buccan is, in fact, the very source where the “Buccaneer” as a term to refer to pirates originally comes from. First, it was one of the common civil professions in Tortuga for men in 1666. Second, buccaneers were also hunters, they hunted wild bovine which they cooked, smoked and salted, producing so a vital stock of well-stored food for ships.

BUCCANEER — is a pirate. As we mentioned just above, before being a pirate he was a hunter for wild bovines in Tortuga to make and trade buccan, salted smoked beef, among other cheap food products of the kind. I think buccan is a sort of localized version, geographically by Tortuga, and culturally by the seafaring community; while jerk is already a common term for this kind pf beef. Do you see similarities in sound for bacon and buccan, except that the former is port, and the latter is beef allegedly wild?

Imagine, the island of Tortuga was not rich in professions at all, hence everyone struggled for low pay, including the wild bovine hunters, and those were numbers in Tortuga of the time.

The buccaneers in Tortuga fated to be all-in-one: they were skillful hunters, butchers, also cooks, but yet resulting in low pay. Aye, and they were a crowd, or should we say a ready-made pirate crew!?

Of course, the deadly combination of physical strength, agility, virtuosity on survival, cooking, and weapons, both cold and firearms, inevitably formed a perfect set of skills to be a good pirate.

BUMBO — also Jumbo, or Jumbee, is a rum drink of the Caribbean pirates, the cocktail: rum, sugar, water, nutmeg and lime. Aye, the fictional pirates animated in movies, cartoons and literature seriously omit the gourmet preferences of the buccaneers:

— BUMBO was very easy to make in the conditions where the pirates were, from the components they had. The resulting rum drink contained lots of fresh lime juice effectively helping to restore the proverbial lack of Vitamin “C”. Lime grew everywhere in the region and it costs as much as sh*t even now in the Caribbean and South America. Savvy?

— NUTMEG was often a cargo due to its high demand in Europe, therefore presumably available on boats as in general. Nutmeg is commercially cultivated in the Caribbean till now, where Grenada is among the nutmeg-leading countries: there is nutmeg on the national flag of Grenada.

Nutmeg on the national flag of Grenada
Nutmeg — on the flag of Grenada

— NUTMEG contains psychoactive components and may provide mild hallucinogenic effects naturally. Also, nutmeg increases anandamide, the natural endocannabinoid in the human body. Aye, you read it right, THC (the psychoactive compound of marijuana) mimics anandamide and contracts the CB-receptors in the brain, this is why and how we get high, as of the discoveries performed by Dr. Raphael Mechoulam.

So, nutmeg affects the levels of anadamide delivering the euphoric “happy highness”, same idea as in black pepper, marijuana, vanilla, chocolate, etc. May be toxic in bigger amounts but for a cocktail should be fine.

— Do the buccaneers of the Caribbean appear as some lousy drunkards now? Aye, the lousy drunkards were able to capture whole islands, establish Free Republics as in Bahamas and Tortuga, trying to prototype a constitution (a law) in a form of that famous Pirate Code. They drank rum mixing it with water and lime and expensive spices as if it was a cocktail in a fancy modern-day bar.

Psychedelic means spiritual, am I right? Of course, there were bad guys among the Caribbean pirates, but not all of them. I think many wanted to find freedom and equity as their principal purpose.

We shall continue with the word list in a moment, right after the Bumbo recipe.

Bumbo / Jumbo ♥ Pirate Rum Cocktail Recipe:

Bumbo, Jumbo, or Jumbee is a pirate drink, so it is tasty, high, and easy for cooking. The ingredients for the original Bumbo rum beverage are as follows:

✴ 2 (oz) of Rum p/p,
✴ A whole OR a half of lime p/p
(squeezed juice),
✴ Three tablespoons of cane sugar p/p,
Nutmeg is very important!
✴ 3 (oz) of Water.

Pour rum into a tin or a mug, squeeze half a lime or a whole, add sugar not much, unless you wish a very special headache in the morning as of my personal experience, yet Bumbo is rather sweet cocktail. Then crush, grind or grate nutmeg into the mix. Note that crushing, grinding or grating nutmeg always provides a richer taste and aroma rather than using or buying the already ground one — some terpenes contracting your receptors are volatile, we do not want to lose them. Then fill the rest of your tin or mug with water, roughly 40/60 adjusting the ratio to personal preferences. Shake or use a wooden stick to stir. Bumbo is a pirate rum drink, which results in easy to make, and easy to moderate buzz because you do not wish to crush your barnacles. So enjoy it!

GROG — is yet another a rum cocktail, a mixture of water and rum, a simplified Bumbo, suggested by Admiral Vernon as a daily (and big enough) portion of strong alcohol for sailors in the British Navy.

The nickname of the Admiral within the maritime community of the time was Old Grog even before the Grog rum drink. The English naval tradition of drinking a mug of grog two times a day, for every soul, no exceptions, got abolished only in the second half of the 20th century.

We shall continue with the word list in a moment, right after the Grog recipe

Grog ♥ Royal Navy’s Rum Beverage:

Being an obvious derivative of Bumbo-Jumbo pirate drink, Grog inherits the same idea of making the finest time-tested rum cocktail; but grog is a simple (less ingredients) version of that bumbo, designed for navy and lasted there for 400 years, while all this time free people enjoyed bumbo. Okay.

The mentioned clever memo for the ingredients of rum beverages, for all three Grog, Bumbo, Flintlock rum recipes:

1 — one part Sour (this is lime),

2 — two parts Sweet (sugar),

3 — three parts Strong (rum),

4 — four parts Weak (water).

Remarkably, the ration of water to rum aligns to “the golden ratio”.

Nutmeg is out, that’s the principal difference. Unless you borrow one from cargo, if you are a navy, or just be a pirate to taste a better rum beverage.

Kidding, of course, just a gamer pirate is the utmost pleasure per se, and especially when sipping bumbo playing at home, ha-ha.

We shall continue the word listing right away after the Flintlock recipe.

Hot Jumbo ♥ Rum Beverage Recipe:

A charming modification for the Bumbo (or Jumbo) rum recipe — the mod we have once discovered, quite suddenly, and it out top preference for several years since then.

So the hot rum beverage is a practically boiled rum cocktail, you boil it and you take while it’s as hot as coffee. Hope you love hot alcoholic beverages, but I confirm this one is a very outstanding contester. Even if you are neutral to hot alcoholic cocktails, give this one a special chance, no regret 👍

Ingredients for the hot rum beverage are the same, but the cooking is a little complicated, just a little. The 1-2-3-4 memo fits entirely for this one too, and don’t forget nutmeg.

✴ 2 (oz) of Rum p/p,
✴ A whole OR a half of lime p/p
(squeezed juice),
✴ Three tablespoons of sugar p/p,
Nutmeg is important!
✴ 3 (oz) of Water.

Pour a little less than half of a standard mug into a pan, two times if making it for two people, you and your crush. Water shall boil out, add a splash on top. Add sugar. Crush, grate or grind nutmeg as it must be exposed to heat together with all the ingredients, but Rum stays at room temperature. Don’t you use/buy an already ground nutmeg nut, some terpenes are volatile.

Heat water, sugar and nutmeg altogether on a slow fire in a pan until sugar dissolves. It takes roughly a minute or two over the boiling point to give a good heating to nutmeg inside the syrup. While boiling, take it off from fire a few times to make round moves of the pan for faster sugar dissolution. Let the resulting hot syrup rest to get a few degrees below the boiling point, give it half a minute or something, or splash a couple of splashes of room-temp water instead. Pour the syrup into tins or mugs, add rum, roughly 2 parts of rum into 3 parts of syrup, the “golden ratio”. Stir the resulting drink with a wooden stick or simply by performing round moves with a mug in a hand. Serve it right away. Squeezing a splash of lime juice into a ready mug should not harm if it is a very good lime or, better, skip the lime rather than using a doubtful lime. Enjoy!

The proper heating of nutmeg in the solution for the Flintlock rum cocktail recipe shall give color to the drink. In my case, it becomes either slightly pink or slightly yellow. It may vary because of nutmeg genetics.

CUT OF ONE’S JIB — describes one’s intention, one’s character, one’s business, nationality, whatever forms a PERSONALITY. Basically, a JIB is a foresail or a couple of such shaped in a form of a triangle, located between the foremast and the bowsprit. “Cut” means shape, and the shape of a jib helped to see a nationality of a ship and/or the origin of the boatyard, more important maneuverability and, consequently, a purpose — count it all as a “personality” or a “character” of a ship and her crew.

Sailboat Cutter Rig - cut of your jib meaning and idiom illustration - pirates of the caribbean 1666

Cut of your Jib use-case:

IMAGINE — A modern cutter-rigged pleasure yacht carries two jibs (in the picture above). You see from a distance that her inner jib is a “storm jib” settled, but the weather is fine this day. You logically conclude the boat’s purpose may be a longer journey with her next stop far beyond today’s weather. The skipper is probably not a day skipper on a day charter, but a thoughtful one or a lazy one — somewhat experienced. Some knowledge you’ve gained from the cut of the jib. Now you are in the Caribbean in 1666, and it’s time to decide if you are going to board this cutter or shoot her from a distance or maybe flee this time.

CAT-O-NINE-TAILS — often shortened to “the cat” is a multi-tailed flail (a whip) used for physical punishment, aka the Captain’s daughter. The punishment by the cats is shown here below in a few frames of animation from the POPEYE cartoon series 💥 😜 I can imagine the real cat was not that funny.

POPEYE Olive Oyl tickled by Cat-o-nine-tails
Olive Oyl got punished by “cats” on a pirate boat

CRUSH ONE’S BARNACLES — an idiom meaning to kick ass, including the usage as cursing or threatening. The underwater part of the hull of a boat is normally covered by a whole colony of barnacles, mussels, and other sea creatures. The scientific name of the process is “fouling”, and there is a whole “coral reef” underneath once you feel lazy about cleaning the boat bottom timely. If someone crushes another one’s boat in a battle, I can imagine, the barnacles and their charming coral exoskeletons shall fly broken into all directions. Well, this is the idiom.

TRIM — means well-settled, well-balanced, ready to use, in a great order. See the “shipshape” definition on this page to which “trim” is not an equality but describing the situation. As for the theme of this website, let me add yet another example that you trim marijuana buds to make them shipshape for the commercial distribution or for long-term storage.

ALL HANDS — means an entire crew without exception, including officers of any rank, including everyone, regardless of a shift, literally all people possibly available. An example of usage is allocating “all hands” for a task.

TIMBERS — is the framework of a boat, the hull.

POPEYE in Shiver Me Timbers! 1934, by Shawn Dickinson
POPEYE episode 12 named “Shiver Me Timbers!” (1934)

SHIVER ME TIMBERS — is an idiom to express a shocking surprise, including as cursing, swearing or an exclamation. When a boat suddenly touches anything significant in water, then everything and anyone inside a boat are shocked and strongly shaken as if you hit a whole iceberg. It can be a floating log or a seal bumping you (they really do at times!) either a sea bottom contacting the keel once the shallows got underestimated. Every time a hit on a hull comes loud, suddenly shaking the timbers, spreading an immediate panic. “Shiver me timbers!” is equal to “Blow me!”

WEATHER-EYE OPEN — or “keep one’s weather-eye open”, is to express the following: “be alerted”, “stay alerted”, “keep watching”, “be on watch”, “watch out”. The weather is a matter of your safety at sea, you need to keep a weather-eye open to know in advance once it’s going to change.

ANCHORS AWEIGH — is a situation in which the movement starts when an anchor is going up and starts giving weight to the chain, and it means it is clean and has already untouched the sea floor where it was lying moments before. Consequently, the boat starts the movement safely. An equivalent to “Let’s go”. Sometimes shortened to “Aweigh!”.

TACK ABOUT — is to waste time or beat it round the bush. The saying comes from “tack” a naval language term for changing the course of a ship, making the wind approach from the other side, and while performing the maneuver the bow of the boat points to the wind at some moment. Like, when your goal is opposite to the direction of the wind, you’re making way in a “Z” shape, and you tack a lot.

Tacking About and how to tack a sailboat, Maritime Slang Illustration, Credit cmw4him.org
Sailboat tacking.

This image shows a sailboat tacking. Tap on it to find credit information. Does the movement of a boat appear as if she is performing clearly a demonstration of a “tacking about” idiom? Ha, this is what you do when you tack — you beat around the bush, no less. As for my personal preference, I love going at a sharp angle to the wind because the wind is less disturbing in this position, the speed is good, and the boat sits steady in the water. But maybe a beam reach (90-degree course) is optimal as there is no need to tack too much when on a beam reach course.

What is not listed among the words Pirates of the Caribbean used?

Don’t you feel distressed that the famous “Argh” is out of the list. Of course, it is a very recognizable pirate roaring, loved by children, designers and Jesus’s birthday animators. However, the roaring, the organic sound Pirates of the Caribbean surely performed, is not yet a slang word, neither a professional terminology.

We excluded some entries of the maritime vocabulary we doubted or felt uncertain about. One of such was “Beat to quarters”, an alarm signal. When the “Master and Commander” movie starts, a young marine officer shouts demonstrating a perfect articulation: “WE SHALL BEAT TO QUARTERS!” then drums follow and the extraordinary naval discipline makes all hands stand at the positions in a minute, remember? One of the best movies on the topic, by the way; however, who on Earth can imagine the pirate ship doing the trick navy performed in the “Master and Commander” motion picture?


How to grow weed from clones

Sun, 07/Nov/21

Growing marijuana from clones is a natural process, even though quite stressful for plants. You should definitely feel the benefits of making weed from clones, while the whole deal is no harder than a classic from-seed-to-weed growing. It does not make you choose between a seed aand a clone, but knowing how to grow weed from clones is a great opportunity indeed.

Growing weed from clones full guide in 8 steps

(1) Select a mother plant and a lovely branch on it that you are going to cut for a clone, or follow someone’s recommendation.

(2) Idyllically, before you cut a clone from a mother plant, keep the mother plant clean from nutrients for 3-5 days.

(3) For the cut, you’ll need a blade or a razor, distilled water, a rooting hormone, and a rooting medium (like rockwool).

(4) Cut the clone at a 45-degree angle as close to the stem as possible with a sharp blade to tear not the tissues of the plant, like if you are a surgeon.

(5) Moist the rooting medium with a nutrient rooting solution.

(6) Put the just-cut clones into holes you’ve made in the rockwool cubes (your rooting medium).

(7) Keep moist, give light, and wait till roots sprout.

(8) When roots are ready, re-settle a plant to the usual place, where it continues to be a regular plant.

Are you saying there's nothing unique in me?
— ARE YOU SAYING, THERE’S NOTHING UNIQUE IN ME?
(from “Madagascar” motion picture)

Why should I try growing weed from clones?

Growing weed from clones is rewarding, you save on time, and you are on a slightly different process, so you learn more growing options. The most important, however, you copy the mother plant, its gender, character, and future harvest, hopefully, you copy everything.

If you’ll like cloning, that shall lead you to marvelous buds. The other way shall do either, but growing weed from clones is just another way to an excellent toke, and you choose which fits your character and please your heart the best.

  • You cut clones from selected female plants from a grower you know, then you get the same copy of the plant of the same strain, the same strong character, the same fertility, and 100% female.

  • In a tight growing space, like indoors, having a guaranteed female plant (and not feminized) may count as a huge and unique opportunity.

  • You reduce total growing time because you already have a small plant at the start. It will take a week or two from the moment you cut till the clones give roots, then they immediately leap to the vegetation stage. This is a shorter period than growing from seeds.

  • Amounts of nugs from a properly grown clone plant may beat any feminized seeds project. Growing weed from clones saves time, and the whole term is a little closer to the speed records that autoflowers seeds do. Even though clones shall grow one-two weeks longer than the record-breaking out-of-the-seed strains, an amount of top-notch bud you harvest from a proper clone shall conquer your heart!

How to cut a clone?

Keep mother plants away from nutrients to reduce the nitrogen in branches and leaves. The excess amount of nitrogen may provoke clones to start vegetation rather than rooting.

Keep everything sterile and clean as if you are a surgeon. Have your razor or a scalpel super sharp, and super clean. A good cut shall give less stress and a healthier cutting shall sprout better roots.

  • Choose a fairly healthy branch 4-6 inches long (10-15 cm) idyllically bearing 6+ nodes.

  • Cut it at a 45-degree angle with a blade and as close to the stem as possible.

  • Make one clean sharp cut. Do not tear the tissues around the cut: have a blade super sharp, and a hand steady.

  • Do not expose a fresh cut for too long to air, place the fresh cut into distilled water as quickly as you can. This shall prevent air bubbles inside tissue around the fresh cut.

  • Dip the cutting into hormone gel to stimulate root growth.

  • Place the clone into wet rockwool (or another medium).

  • Cut more branches than the number of clones you plan. You are going to lose some.

  • Give sufficient light upon clones.

  • Keep rockwool wet but no over-flood.

How to prepare rockwool for marijuana cloning?

Distill water is a good choice if you intend to use nutrients in the rooting solution. Otherwise, you can come up with regular clean water, you usually use. Into distilled water add a small amount of nutrient to reach 5.5 PH, then stop. Using nutrients in a rooting solution for clones will encourage roots for better growth.

Dip rockwool cubes in rooting solution, and leave them there till they get generously moist. As soon as you have a rooting solution ready it takes 15-20 minutes to prepare rockwool cubes to accept marijuana clones.

Make a hole in each cube. The holes should be a little smaller or equal in diameter to the branches that you cut for clones. This shall let transplants sit tight and stay vertical, also giving a smaller load on roots, as they are ridiculously weak when they only come out of clones.

Growing clones outdoors

Before growing clones outdoors, you better start indoors, except that the weather is exceptional in your garden. No cold nights, good strong sun in daytime, and you can hide the clones from the wind (the roots are yet to appear, then new roots are weaker in the early stage, than the roots of plants of a similar size grown from seeds). Superior conditions may let you start your clones outdoors.

Usually, people start clones indoors. Then, when the plant reaches the bottom of cups with its roots, you transplant it to the outdoor environment. The plant and the roots are relatively weak in the early stage while sprouting that is why we are to create more comfort at the beginning.

Apart from that, outdoors is not hell for the clone plants, but a harder environment can kill the attempt. Give tender conditions for clones if they run a whole cycle outdoors: protect from wind at minimum.

Temperature for clones indoors

Cloning techniques are practically designed to grow marijuana indoors. So you grow clones indoors in the same conditions you grow regular marijuana plants. During the rooting stage maintain the temperature at 72-76 F (22-25 C) point, and you set 18 hours of light a day. Keep everything super clean as usual.

Watering weed clones

In the early stage, when you just put fresh transplants into the rooting medium, it is important to keep the whole system from dry to slightly moist. The roots shall be trying to find their way to water and grow faster and longer. It does not mean a Sahara desert in your pots (or cups) where clones grow.

If you choose soil as a rooting medium, fertilizers become optional. Because soil is already naturally fertilized, even if you try a random soil from your garden. Adjust the nutrients later if you want, but good soil requires fewer nutrients or even none of them (a rule of thumb).

On the other hand, nutrients help transplants to survive stress. The whole story is stressful by definition, so don’t be too far into “all-natural” once you are already on the track of genetic experiments, already doing clones.

Rooting mediums for clones

  • Water is the cheapest rooting medium, use distilled water if you plan to add nutrients (you better do). Adding nutrients, keep PH 5.5. Then place your clone in that water solution, and wait till roots start to sprout.

  • Soil is the natural rooting medium. It’ll require less maintenance, you take it as is, but taking proper soil like from a growing store shall make your attempt easier. Place your clone into loose soil, keep the soil moist but no over-flood.

  • Rockwool (aka mineral wool) is an artificial rooting medium and a perfect fit for clones and rooting enterprises. It is a good and relatively cheap investment that shall repay greatly, especially if you are a first-timer:

    • It gives optimal airflow for roots and retains water as good as we need for clones to sprout.

    • Easy to carry as soon as the rockwool cube, where the plant sits is already holding the shape well (compared to water or soil). You can put all clones into one tray once they are in cubes, which is convenient. For example, for watering.

    • The rockwool lets your plant sit tight in a hole, so the root takes no load, and the stem stays immovable affected by air movement (including breeze if outdoors, but you do not expect they shall survive a gale, you better hide plants from the weather for a while).

Once your clones sprout roots

You better keep in mind during the whole process of marijuana cloning, that the situation you create for the plants is way stressful. Even though the transplants (clones you cut) struggle to survive, it is a natural process like falling branches do in the wild nature, but you just pursue a higher success rate of survival of clones. So once roots start appearing:

  • Keep light at 18 hours per day regime.

  • Keep the temperature at 72-76 F (22-25 C)

  • Expose clones to air movements.

Exposure to air movement shall make stems and roots stronger, otherwise, they risk falling within a day or two, when you relocate your clones into a real environment. It’s early to say “give them wind” at this point but you try making air movement by ventilator working at a distance, slowly increasing to the light breeze. Bringing clones to the open air when the weather is marvelous is a good idea. Wind resistance you train in your clones, and especially if you prepare them to settle outdoors, once they are normal plants.

How long do clones take to grow?

The overall term depends on the mother plant. Just like she did so shall do, or should do, the offspring. However, what kind of benefit, among others, the clones give us – we cut the term skipping the germination stage, and the early vegetation stage. We spend 1-2 weeks for rooting instead, then we are in the middle of vegetation. Roughly, clones make the whole story a few weeks shorter, it should be beyond a month: 6-8 weeks.

What do scientists say?

The inventor of teleportation said he will never step into a teleportation cabin. Yes, it is invented as they have successfully teleported photons over a 143 km distance, about 88 miles. Somewhat a copy too.

“We know shit about biology,” — says Craig Venter, a former leader in the Human Genome Project.

Again, it is not bad to play with growing marijuana clones. There are certain benefits, we have mentioned in this post, and it is a natural process but just you aid the nature to increase the survival rate of clones. That is what you do by setting up the idyllic conditions for clones to root.

Clones vs seeds

Finally we list up pros and cons as a comparison of growing weed from clones vs growing weed from clones. The important message is: even though you stick to clones, which are great to be stick to, you won’t escape growing from seeds.

Sooner or later you will discover that a number of clones you take from the same mother plant is limited, and you’ll need to change her. On the other hand, taking clones from clones may work. There was one guy in Alaska, who cloned the Matanuska Thunderfuck (MTF) strain away from law enforcement eyes for 20 years to preserver the unique genetics of MTF. The strain is now available in the market, by the way, but often branded as “Alaskan Thunderfuck”. Leaves of MTF have fangs, boo!

Marijuana plants raised from seeds are in general stronger, as we mentioned already in this post. They feature stronger roots, and a subsequently stronger development of the whole system.

I prefer thinking about weed clones comparing a country-side guy to a megalopolis nerd, the latter represents a clone, and the former represents a plant from seed. Unscientific, I know, but I am that megalopolis nerd, and I now live in a country side, so I know the answer, ha-ha.

Green cartoon zombies illustrate marijuana clones' enterprise perfectly


Poems about weed and flowers

Thu, 02/Sep/21

Marijuana and creativity gang together, and many witness it. Stoner poets write poems about weed and flowers, pothead artists flood the internet with beautiful comics about marijuana, or under influence of marijuana, or both. So do graphic designers, software developers, game creators, sound engineers, “potcasters”, and every kind of creative folk.

“Weeds are flowers too”

Sadly, there is no reliable historical input about weed poets as long as marijuana has been beyond the “socially acceptable” for a while, thus some facts are yet hidden in the official records but unveiling slowly.

Thus, we do not know for sure what Edgar Poe and Lewis Carroll were taking, and we are unsure about Alan Alexander Milne, having his famous saying: “Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.”

What we say, most funny weed poems are not yet great in numbers, which made us collect a few, including those we humbly rhymed by ourselves (being baked, of course) for your joy.

“Sinsemilla was her name” weed poem

SINSEMILLA was her name,

the bitch was hazy, drove men insane!

Or so they thought, these men of Grey,

whom never smoked a little hay.

But the fever’s come their way,

they try to kill her, everyday.

weed poem

But Sensimilia was her name,

she spoke of truth in every say.

And so the Grey, they tried their way,

but never manage her to slay.

Until one day, when she slipped up,

and then the Grey got her by the gut.

weed poem

And now her children’s with the Grey,

and they all smoke them every day.

And what they Grey, know not,

it’s of what kids, the woman got.

And now this day the Lion’s come,

upon a boat, straight from Zion.

weed poem

But SINSEMILLA is her name,

the bitch is hazy, drives you insane!

And now all smoke her every day,

and praise as medicine in every say.

While SINSEMILLA grows strong,

delivers good vibes to us all.

(c) Angrybud.com

The dramatic weed poem “Sinsemilla was her name” is the oldest piece in the collection, reminding us about the hardship in times of prohibition, and how the tide turned (Lion from Zion refers to Rastafari culture in this regard). You have noticed, of course, how carefully the author stresses the medical properties of marijuana, which has been legalized moments earlier than recreational cannabis. Yes, this one is that old.

“Maria Juana, your charms make inspire” weed poem

Maria Juana, your charms make inspire,

And capture my soul with care tho higher,

But ah! Can’t imagine how stupid was me:

Don’t know where’s the LIGHTER, but know where are we.

(c) Angrybud.com

The tiny funny weed verse “Maria Juana, your charms make inspire” happened to be a pure inspiration, resulting from a catastrophe as we have experienced the tragic loss of fire in the middle of the night. All ended well.

“When braving angry winter storms” weed poem

When braving angry winter storms,

The grimmest tent we raise,

Far in the shade my Gem will spend

Her first 12 hour night,

Away from eyes Eternal Light

Shall warm her body then,

The tyrant Death shall cut her roots,

When Amber says: she’s well.

(c) Angrybud.com

The heroic weed poem “When braving angry winter storms” is also a highly allegorical instruction (or a memo) on how to grow marijuana indoors, and how nature forces us to invest in equipment in a desperate attempt to have buds during a cold season. The “Amber” refers to the color of ripe trichomes, and the 12-hour night means a flowering photoperiod.

Are stoner artists already creative without weed?

Yes. THC is not an injection of intellect, nor of creativity, it only stimulates the existing capabilities of the brain of a weed artist, who tokes. Apparently, many creators meet a Muse and amusement while being sober, others pursue love affairs for the same purpose, but some prefer getting three sheets to the wind (for example, Robert Burns), and all of them produce wonderful artworks. Whatever makes us happy stimulates the existing abilities of the already-active brain, where creativity erupts from.

Does marijuana actually boost creativity?

Yes, it does. Marijuana boosts creativity, and this is a biochemical process affecting the brain. Chemical compounds in marijuana chemically stimulate both “happiness” and cognitive processes. Even though it is hard to measure creativity objectively, many agree that a happy gardener (who is also an artist if he is a good gardener) shall perform better rather than an unhappy one.

Is THC a magic pill making any dumb creative?

No. THC (in weed) is not a magic pill for gaining immediately the creative effects, that other people approach through the decades of continuous education. I mean all sorts of education, but not certificates. Creative people are usually over-educated, covering a few fields of knowledge, while the opposite people are not. THC does not work as a creative pill.


Marijuana famous people

Fri, 30/Jul/21

This is the Hall of fame of famous people of the marijuana culture, and marijuana industry, also history. The list is ordered randomly, positions mean nothing. We are keeping this list updated, yet slowly.

Raphael Mechoulam

Professor Raphael Mechoulam

Dr Raphael Mechoulam is an Israeli scientist, who discovered, explained, isolated, and fully synthesized THC. Delta-9 tetra hydro cannabiniol, also known as the THC, is the main psychoactive compound in marijuana, one that makes us high.

Haile Selassie I

Haile Selassie I, King of Ethiopia, and the Prophet in Rastafari Religion

His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I was the emperor and the last king of Ethiopia, and a central figure of Rastafari religion. The Rastafari followers faithfully regard Haile Selassie I as a divine person, and a direct descendant of the biblical King Solomon and Queen of Sheba.

Rameses II

Rameses II, Rameses the Great, the Pharaoh of the Ancient Egypt

Rameses II was a pharaoh of Egypt about 3300 years ago. Scientists recently proved mummies of pharaohs and their high priests were positive on tobacco, marijuana, and cocaine. It makes pharaohs the first rulers in history, officially documented, who have ideologically advocated weed.

Robert Nesta Marley

Bob Marley, Rastafari, Jamaican Musician, Marijuana Advocate

Bob Marley (full name Robert Nesta Marley) is a marijuana advocate, Rastafari follower, cultural leader for many people, and famous Jamaican reggae musician.
Marley « I would say to the people, Be still, and know that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is the Almighty. Now, the Bible seh so, Babylon newspaper seh so, and I and the children seh so. Yunno? So I don’t see how much more reveal our people want. Wha’ dem want? A white God, well God come black. True true.
»

Jim Belushi

Jim Belusshi's marijuana farm

Jim Belushi, American actor. After watching his “Real Men” movie I started thinking he was a stoner. Check out the Belushi’s Farm.

Jim Ross

Jim Ross MTF

Jim Ross / by ZeWeed.com

Jim Ross kept alive a unique marijuana strain by cloning it for 20 years, away from eyes. He alone saved the Matanuska Thunderfuck (MTF) genetics for the world. MTF is also marketed as Alaskan Thunderfuck.