What's Wrong with My Marijuana Plant?: A Cannabis Grower's Visual Guide to Easy Diagnosis and Organic Remedies

by David Deardorff, Kathryn Wadsworth

Overview

A simple step-by-step system for identifying, repairing, and preventing problems with marijuana plants.

What's Wrong with My Marijuana Plant? is the first problem-solving book for marijuana growers with an effective and easy-to-use visual diagnostic system pioneered by Deardorff and Wadsworth for identifying pest, disease, and environmental problems by symptom. What are those rusty spots on your leaves? What bug is eating your buds? Why are your sativa sprouts covered in fuzz? Find out fast AND learn how to fix it! This book contains all-organic solutions (vitally important to protect your health, the health of your plants, and the environment) plus best growing practices to avoid problems before they start. Written in easily understandable, non-technical language and heavily illustrated with precise photography to allow rapid and accurate diagnosis, this is an essential resource for beginning and experienced growers alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399578984
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	08/29/2017
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	437,340
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

DAVID DEARDORFF is a plant pathologist; his wife, KATHRYN WADSWORTH, is a writer and naturalist. Together, they have authored four gardening books. What's Wrong With My Plant? received the Silver Achievement award for best technical garden book from the Garden Writers of America and has been translated into French and Korean. They travel extensively to hold popular workshops and lectures across the country and are frequent guests on gardening radio and TV shows including Martha Stewart Living Radio, Joe Lamp'l's Growing a Greener World, Ken Druse's Real Dirt, and Ciscoe Morris's Gardening with Ciscoe.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

Whether you are a home grower with a couple of marijuana plants or a commercial grower with hundreds of plants, this book will help you diagnose problems and find solutions. Disorders (such as unhealthy growing conditions), pests, and diseases are all included here. You can treat all these problems by improving growing conditions, using biological controls, or applying safe, organic remedies.

We are botanists, plant pathologists, and writers. We’ve owned nurseries and traveled the world on botanical adventures. In this book, we have compiled the most recent research to help you grow healthy cannabis. The United States government considers cannabis an illegal crop, resulting in no U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines, no Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, and virtually no university research on acceptable treatments for pests and diseases or on the efficacy of those treatments. Research on organic cultivation of cannabis is relatively limited. To find the best  organic methods, we have worked with licensed legal growers who use organic practices and we have relied on research from European sources, the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), and other scientific literature.

Every state in the United States that has legalized marijuana has its own statutes and guidelines. Be sure to find out what is permitted in your location, because we are not legal experts. Finally, we are not medical practitioners and have conducted no research on the medicinal attributes of marijuana. Please consult with your doctor or health care practitioner for advice on its medicinal uses.

WHY USE ORGANIC GROWING TECHNIQUES?

Whatever your intended use of cannabis—whether as a medicine, relaxant, mood enhancer, ritualistic practice aid, or vehicle to alter perception—you must inhale, ingest, or otherwise absorb its active ingredients. Any nonorganic, synthetic pesticide used on plants winds up inside you. Synthetic chemicals such as pesticides damage human health and the living community of which we are a part. Choose organic techniques to protect yourself and the environment. 

No matter where cannabis is grown, virtually no health and safety standards exist for growing it. Because it is considered illegal in many places, research is lacking and testing is not standardized. Recent media coverage has revealed that pesticide residue on marijuana is an escalating problem. Labs that have performed tests have frequently found contaminants such as pesticides and heavy metals. These pesticides include fungicide and insecticide residues at levels sixteen-hundred times higher than the legal limit for food plants. This is alarming. It just makes sense to do everything possible to eliminate this threat to the health of cannabis growers, users, and the biosphere.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Introduction 1

PART I—WHAT’S WRONG? VISUAL PROBLEM-SOLVING GUIDES
Chapter One—Problems on the Whole Plant 9
Chapter Two—Problems on Leaves 21
Chapter Three—Problems on Flowers and Flower Buds 56
Chapter Four—Problems on Stems 64
Chapter Five—Problems on Roots 74
Chapter Six—Problems on Seeds and Seedlings 79

PART II—HOW DO I FIX IT? ORGANIC SOLUTIONS
Chapter Seven—Change the Growing Conditions 87
Chapter Eight—Use Biological Controls 96
Chapter Nine—Use Organic Chemical Remedies 120
Chapter Ten—Create Healthy Growing Conditions 135
Chapter Eleven—Manage Nutrients 147
Chapter Twelve—Manage Light 154
Chapter Thirteen—Manage Water 157
Chapter Fourteen—Manage Temperature and Humidity 160
Chapter Fifteen—Use Proper Pruning Techniques 162
Chapter Sixteen—Use Proper Propagation Techniques 165

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the authors' previous books:

"This is one of the best books I've seen for guiding the gardener through the maze of maladies that can visit garden plants."
—Washington Post

"An invaluable guide."
—Publishers Weekly

"Attractive, comprehensive, authoritative, and easy-to-use."
—Library Journal

"Beyond comprehensive yet straightforward....an essential resource."
—Booklist

"The information is concise....The illustrations are clear, the remedies organic."
—New York Times

“This book makes diagnosing a plant problem super easy. I have never seen anything quite like it.”
—Louisville Sentinel-News

“It’s like having a Master Gardener at your beck and call, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, any season of the year.”
–About.com

"What impressed us most is that the authors take an entirely organic approach."
—Sunset magazine

“A phenomenal resource.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune

From the Publisher