Every word growers use, defined.

12/12 is the classic flowering schedule for photoperiod cannabis: 12 hours of light and 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness, which triggers and sustains flowering.

13/11 is a flowering schedule of 13 hours light and 11 hours dark; GenetixBay endorses it, as most cultivars still flower while gaining extra daily light.

18/6 is the standard vegetative light schedule: 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness each day, keeping photoperiod cannabis from flowering.

24/0 means lights on 24 hours a day with no dark period; GenetixBay endorses it for veg, as cannabis does not need a sleep period before flowering.

420 is cannabis culture shorthand for cannabis itself and for April 20, celebrated as an unofficial cannabis day.

A drying rule of thumb: dry cannabis at about 60 °F (15.5 °C) and 60% relative humidity so buds dry slowly over roughly 10-14 days.

An A/B nutrient is a mineral feed split into two concentrates so that calcium (part A) is kept apart from sulfate and phosphate (part B), which would precipitate together.

A plant hormone (ABA) that signals water stress, closes stomata and maintains seed dormancy.

Absolute humidity is the actual mass of water vapour in a volume of air, in grams per cubic metre, independent of temperature.

An accession is a distinct sample of plant material (seed, tissue or cuttings) entered into a collection or gene bank under its own ID with records of origin.

The dry, single-seeded fruit of cannabis that growers call a seed; a hard shell (pericarp plus seed coat) encloses one embryo and does not split open.

Acid cannabinoids (THCA, CBDA, CBGA) are the carboxylated forms the plant makes; neutral cannabinoids (THC, CBD, CBG) form when heat or time removes the carboxyl group.

The pest or disease level, set in advance, at which a grower takes a specific control action because waiting longer would cost more than acting.

Aeroponics grows plants with roots hanging in air inside a dark chamber, wetted by sprayed nutrient solution; low-pressure (LPA) systems use ordinary pumps and spray heads.

An air pot is a rigid container with cone-shaped holes in its walls that air-prune roots, preventing circling and drying the medium faster than a solid pot.

An air stone is a porous diffuser connected to an air pump that breaks air into fine bubbles in a nutrient solution, mixing it and helping maintain dissolved oxygen.

Air-filled porosity is the share of a container's volume that holds air rather than water after it has drained, a key factor in root oxygen and overwatering risk.

Airflow is the movement of air through and around the canopy; it thins the still boundary layer on leaves, evens out temperature and humidity, and lowers mould risk.

Alkalinity is water's capacity to neutralise acid, mainly from dissolved bicarbonate and carbonate, reported in mg/L as CaCO3; it decides how much pH Down you need.

An allele is one version of a gene; a diploid cannabis plant carries two alleles at each locus, one from each parent, which may be the same or different.

Alpha-pinene is a bicyclic monoterpene with a sharp pine-resin aroma, the main terpene of conifer needles and a common, usually secondary, terpene in cannabis.

A warmth-loving generalist predatory mite that eats thrips larvae, whitefly eggs and nymphs and broad mites, and can persist on pollen.

An amino acid chelate is a metal bound to amino acids such as glycine; it is a gentler, biodegradable alternative to synthetic chelates, often sold for foliar sprays.

Ammonium (NH4+) is the positively charged form of nitrogen; a small share stabilises root-zone pH, but too much reduces cannabis yield and quality.

Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) is a 34-35% nitrogen salt, half ammonium and half nitrate, used in small amounts to steer root-zone pH in hydro.

The pollen-producing part of a stamen; in cannabis each male flower has five anthers that split to shed wind-blown pollen.

A water-soluble flavonoid pigment stored in cell vacuoles that colours leaves, stems and flowers red, purple or blue, set by genetics and enhanced by cool temperatures.

Small soft-bodied sap-sucking insects of the family Aphididae that cluster on stems and leaf undersides, excrete sticky honeydew and multiply rapidly by live birth.

Tiny parasitic wasps of the genus Aphidius that lay eggs inside aphids; the larva kills the host from inside, leaving a swollen tan mummy.

The suppression of side-shoot growth by the main growing tip, driven mainly by auxin flowing down the stem from the apex.

The zone of dividing cells at the very tip of a shoot (or root) that produces new leaves, nodes and stem; removing it is what topping does.

ATC (automatic temperature compensation) is a meter feature that corrects pH or EC readings for sample temperature, usually referencing EC to 25 °C.

A day-neutral cannabis plant that starts flowering by age, usually a few weeks after germination, regardless of light schedule; the trait is mainly recessive.

A class of plant hormones, chiefly indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), that drives cell elongation, apical dominance, bending toward light and root formation.

A dormant shoot bud in the angle (axil) between a leaf and the stem at each node, able to grow into a branch or a flower cluster.

A soil bacterium whose crystal proteins kill caterpillars after they eat treated leaves; subspecies kurstaki and aizawai are the strains used against budworms.

A backcross is a cross of a hybrid back to one of its parents (or that parent's line), repeated to recover the parent's traits while keeping one introduced trait.

Badder is a soft, cake-batter-textured concentrate formed by whipping an extract so its cannabinoids crystallise finely; it can be solvent-based or, as rosin badder, solventless.

Bag appeal is how good flower looks in the bag or jar, frost, colour, density and trim, which sells cannabis but does not measure its quality.

Bagseed is a seed found in purchased flower, of unknown parentage and often the product of accidental pollination, including by intersex plants.

A non-crop plant kept in the grow to host harmless alternative prey or pollen, breeding beneficial insects continuously so they are ready when pests arrive.

A batch (or lot) is a defined quantity of product from the same plants, harvest and processing run that is sampled and tested as one unit and carries one ID.

Bay Lines are GenetixBay's community breeding programme: lines bred from member-nominated keepers and documented males, tested and released with full records.

Bay Trials are GenetixBay's member-run controlled grow experiments that test growing claims side by side and publish the results openly.

Beans is slang for cannabis seeds; "popping beans" means germinating them.

An insect-killing fungus whose spores germinate on contact, penetrate the cuticle and kill soft-bodied pests such as whiteflies, thrips, aphids and root aphids.

BCTV, a leafhopper-spread curtovirus that stunts outdoor hemp and cannabis, curling and yellowing new leaves; there is no cure once a plant is infected.

A beneficial element is one that improves growth or stress tolerance in some plants without being strictly essential, such as silicon, sodium, cobalt and selenium.

A beneficial-microbe reservoir deliberately inoculates hydroponic solution with helpful bacteria and fungi so they occupy the root zone before pathogens can; GenetixBay prefers this approach.

Benefit-sharing is returning a fair share of the benefits from using genetic resources or traditional knowledge, money, credit, access or support, to the people who provided them.

Beta-caryophyllene is a spicy, peppery sesquiterpene common in cannabis, notable as a dietary terpene that also binds the CB2 receptor in laboratory studies.

Beta-pinene is a bicyclic monoterpene and isomer of alpha-pinene with a green, woody, herbal aroma, common in cannabis at low levels.

A slimy community of microbes stuck to surfaces in a matrix they secrete; in hydro, it coats lines, reservoirs and roots and can shelter pathogens.

Using living natural enemies, such as predators, parasitoids, nematodes and microbes, to suppress pests and diseases instead of, or before, chemical sprays.

Biopiracy is taking genetic resources or traditional knowledge from a country or community without consent or benefit-sharing, especially to patent or profit from them.

A biostimulant is a product claimed to improve plant growth, uptake or stress tolerance by means other than supplying nutrients, such as seaweed extract, humics, amino acids or microbes.

Bisabolol (alpha-bisabolol) is a mild, floral, chamomile-like sesquiterpene alcohol found as a minor terpene in some cannabis cultivars.

A bloom booster is a high-phosphorus, high-potassium additive sold for flowering; cannabis trials show a P plateau, so past moderate levels it adds cost and runoff, not yield.

Blue light is the 400–500 nm band; it keeps plants compact with shorter internodes and thicker leaves, but a high blue fraction slightly lowers cannabis yield.

Boric acid (H3BO3) is the usual boron source in micronutrient mixes, about 17.5% boron; plants absorb boron in this same uncharged form.

Boron (B) is a micronutrient needed for cell-wall structure and growing tips; the gap between deficient and toxic levels is narrow.

Botrytis cinerea, the fungus behind bud rot or grey mould, which rots dense colas from the inside in cool, humid conditions late in flower.

Bottom watering lets a pot absorb water or solution from a tray beneath it, so the medium wets from the base upward by capillary action.

In cannabis, the small leaf-like sheath (perigonal bract) that wraps each female flower's ovary and carries the densest capitate-stalked trichomes.

A breeder develops lines over generations with clear goals, large grow-outs, selection of both sexes, stability and herm testing, and honest lineage records.

Brick weed is seeded, lower-grade cannabis pressed into dense blocks for smuggling and cheap sale, historically the bulk of imported cannabis.

Polyphagotarsonemus latus, a microscopic tarsonemid mite whose toxic feeding twists, glazes and stunts new growth; often mistaken for calcium deficiency or heat stress.

Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis, a bacterial strain whose toxins kill fly larvae, including fungus gnats, after ingestion; applied as a medium drench.

Bubble hash, or ice water hash, is a solventless concentrate made by separating trichome heads from cannabis in cold water and collecting them on graded mesh bags.

Removing buds from their branches and stems, either before drying (wet bucking) or after (dry bucking), ready for trimming or jarring.

Routine inspection of dense colas in late flower, at harvest and during drying and curing for signs of grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) and other rots.

A bud site is a node where flowers form, where leaf meets stem, or a branch tip; training aims to put more of them in strong light.

A budtender is a retail worker in a cannabis store who helps customers choose products; training and product knowledge vary widely.

Buffering capacity is how strongly a water, solution or medium resists pH change when acid or base is added; high capacity means stable but hard-to-move pH.

The smallest glandular trichome on cannabis, a few cells with a tiny head (about 10-30 µm), scattered over leaves and stems.

Briefly opening sealed curing jars to release moist air and let fresh air in, so moisture keeps declining slowly during the cure.

Cal-Mag is a supplement supplying calcium and magnesium, usually as nitrates; need depends on cultivar, water source (RO vs tap) and medium (coco), not on LED lighting.

Calcium (Ca) is an immobile secondary nutrient that builds cell walls and membranes; it travels only in the transpiration stream, so deficiency appears in new growth.

Calcium chloride (CaCl2) adds calcium without nitrogen, useful for late-flower nitrogen tapering, but it adds chloride, so doses must stay modest.

Calcium nitrate is the standard hydroponic calcium source, supplying about 19% calcium and 15.5% nitrogen, mostly as nitrate.

A calibration solution is a standard liquid of known pH or EC used to calibrate meters, such as pH 4.01, 7.00 and 10.01 buffers or 1.413 mS/cm EC standard.

Botanically, the sepals of a flower; in female cannabis a thin, reduced perianth on the ovary, though growers use the word for the resinous bract.

Candy terps is slang for the sweet, fruity, dessert-like aroma profile fashionable in modern cannabis, often paired with gas as the dominant market trend.

A cannabinoid is any compound that binds the body's cannabinoid receptors or shares the typical cannabis terpenophenolic structure; the plant-made ones are phytocannabinoids such as THCA and CBDA.

Phorodon cannabis, an aphid that feeds mainly on cannabis and hemp, colonising leaf undersides and buds and leaving honeydew and cast skins in flower.

Cannabis irradiation is treating harvested flower with ionising radiation, gamma, electron beam or X-ray, to cut microbial counts; permission and labelling rules vary.

The single botanical species, in the family Cannabaceae, that covers all hemp and drug-type cannabis; "L." credits Linnaeus, who named it in 1753.

Cannflavins are prenylated flavones (A, B and C) that are characteristic of cannabis, first isolated in 1985 and found mainly in leaves and bracts at low levels.

The canopy is the top layer of foliage and buds across a grow, the surface that intercepts most of the light and where yield is mostly made.

A glandular trichome with a resin head but little or no stalk, sitting close to the surface of leaves and young bracts.

The large mushroom-shaped glandular trichome on cannabis bracts, with a multicellular stalk and a resin-filled head; it holds most of the flower's cannabinoids and terpenes.

A carbon filter scrubs odour from exhaust air by passing it through activated carbon, which adsorbs aroma compounds such as terpenes.

Carbonate hardness (KH) is the bicarbonate and carbonate content of water, often given in German degrees (dKH); in practice it is a measure of alkalinity.

Caryophyllene oxide is the oxidation product of beta-caryophyllene, a less aromatic sesquiterpene epoxide that tends to increase as cannabis ages in air.

A drying fault where a bud's surface dries too fast and seals, leaving the core wet; buds feel dry, then rehydrate and risk mould in the jar.

The larval stage of moths and butterflies (order Lepidoptera); on cannabis, leaf-chewers, stem borers and bud-boring species whose frass seeds bud rot.

Cation exchange capacity (CEC) is a medium's ability to hold positively charged nutrients such as calcium, magnesium and potassium on its surfaces and release them later.

CBC (cannabichromene) is a minor neutral cannabinoid formed when CBCA decarboxylates; it is usually present at well under 1% w/w in mature drug-type flower.

CBCA (cannabichromenic acid) is the acid cannabinoid that CBCA synthase makes from CBGA; it decarboxylates to CBC and is usually a minor component of the profile.

CBD (cannabidiol) is a non-intoxicating neutral cannabinoid formed when CBDA decarboxylates; hemp-type and CBD-dominant cannabis make it mainly as CBDA in their trichomes.

CBDA (cannabidiolic acid) is the acid cannabinoid made by CBDA synthase from CBGA; it dominates hemp-type and CBD-type cannabis and decarboxylates to CBD.

CBDA synthase is the trichome enzyme that converts CBGA into CBDA; it competes with THCA synthase, and its alleles largely decide whether a plant is CBD-dominant.

CBG (cannabigerol) is the neutral, decarboxylated form of CBGA, the cannabinoid precursor; most plants convert nearly all of it onward, but some cultivars are bred to accumulate it.

CBGA (cannabigerolic acid) is the precursor cannabinoid that the plant converts into THCA, CBDA or CBCA, formed by joining olivetolic acid to geranyl pyrophosphate.

CBL (cannabicyclol) is a minor cannabinoid formed when CBC is exposed to light; it is a degradation product rather than something the plant makes by enzyme.

CBN (cannabinol) is a cannabinoid formed mainly when THC or THCA oxidises after harvest, so high CBN readings usually signal age, heat, light or air exposure, not plant ripeness.

Ceramic sensor watering uses a porous ceramic cone in the medium that opens a small valve when the soil dries, feeding water from a gravity-fed reservoir on demand.

CF (conductivity factor) is an EC scale used mainly in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, where 1 CF equals 0.1 mS/cm (100 µS/cm).

CFM (cubic feet per minute) is the volume of air a fan moves per minute; growers use it to size exhaust fans to their grow space volume.

Charas is hashish made by rubbing the resin off living cannabis flowers by hand and rolling it into balls or sticks, a traditional method of the Himalayan regions.

A chelate is a metal ion held by an organic molecule at several points, keeping micronutrients such as iron, zinc and manganese dissolved and available across a wider pH range.

A chemotype is a plant's chemical phenotype, in cannabis usually its dominant cannabinoid class: THC-dominant (I), mixed (II), CBD-dominant (III), CBG-dominant (IV) or cannabinoid-free (V).

The chemotype ratio is the balance of a plant's main cannabinoids, usually THC to CBD, classing plants as type I (THC-dominant), II (mixed), III (CBD-dominant), IV (CBG) or V (near-zero).

A chemovar is a cultivar defined and named by its chemical profile, chiefly cannabinoids and terpenes, rather than by its appearance or a market strain name.

Child-resistant packaging is a container that most young children cannot open in a standard test while most adults can, required for cannabis in many markets.

A chiller is a refrigeration unit that cools hydroponic nutrient solution, keeping it around 18-21 °C so it holds more oxygen and root pathogens are discouraged.

Chloramine (monochloramine) is a long-lasting water disinfectant made from chlorine and ammonia; unlike chlorine, it does not leave water by standing or aerating.

As a plant nutrient, chlorine is used as the chloride ion (Cl-) in tiny amounts for photosynthesis and osmotic balance; excess from water or salts is the usual problem.

The green pigment in chloroplasts that absorbs mainly blue and red light to drive photosynthesis; chlorophyll a and b are the main forms in plants.

Chop is grower slang for harvesting, cutting down plants at the end of flower; "chop day" is harvest day.

A chromosome is one long DNA molecule packaged with proteins that carries many genes; cannabis normally has 10 pairs, nine autosome pairs plus an X/Y sex pair.

To chuck is to pollinate plants loosely, usually an open or one-off cross, often implying little selection or record keeping.

Clay pebbles (LECA) are fired, expanded clay balls used as an inert hydroponic medium that drains freely, holds a little water and anchors roots.

A clone-only is a cultivar that exists only as cuttings from one original plant, with no seed line that reliably reproduces it.

Cloning is propagating a plant by rooting cuttings from it, producing new plants that are genetically identical to the donor.

A cloning dome is a clear lid over a tray that keeps humidity high around unrooted cuttings or seedlings, reducing water loss until roots form.

CMH (ceramic metal halide) is a discharge lamp with a ceramic arc tube giving a broad, sun-like spectrum and better efficacy than standard metal halide.

CO2 enrichment raises carbon dioxide in a sealed grow space from about 420 ppm to roughly 800–1,500 ppm, letting plants use higher light intensities productively.

A COA (certificate of analysis) is a lab's signed report of what it measured in a specific sample, such as cannabinoids, terpenes, moisture and contaminants, with methods and limits.

Cobalt (Co) is not essential for cannabis; it is needed by nitrogen-fixing bacteria in legume nodules, so it appears only as a trace in some feeds.

Coco coir is a growing medium made from processed coconut husk, prized for holding water and air at once; it binds calcium and magnesium unless buffered.

Codominance is when both alleles at a locus show in a heterozygous plant, as with THCA and CBDA synthase, so a B_T/B_D plant makes both THC and CBD.

The dense, elongated cluster of flowers that forms at the end of a stem or branch; the main cola tops the leader.

Cold nights are deliberately low night temperatures in late flower; they can bring out purple colour in cultivars that carry it, but don't raise terpenes or resin.

Companion planting grows other plant species alongside cannabis to attract beneficial insects, repel or trap pests, cover soil or support soil life.

Compliance testing is mandatory lab analysis of cannabis or hemp for potency (often total THC) and contaminants, required before sale or to prove legal status.

Compost tea is a liquid made by steeping compost or worm castings in water, often aerated with food sources, to extract and multiply microbes for the root zone.

A concentrate is any cannabis product in which the trichome resin has been separated from plant material, giving far higher cannabinoid and terpene content than flower.

A cannabis connoisseur judges flower and hash on aroma, flavour, cure, smoke and genetics history rather than THC percentage or looks.

Contact products act only where the spray touches the pest; systemic products are absorbed and move inside the plant, which raises residue concerns in cannabis.

The conversion factor is the multiplier a TDS meter applies to EC to report ppm, commonly 0.5, 0.64 or 0.7; it is why ppm readings differ between meters.

Copper (Cu) is a micronutrient used in photosynthetic electron transport and lignin formation; plants need only traces, and excess is toxic to roots.

Copper sulfate pentahydrate (CuSO4·5H2O), about 25.5% copper, supplies trace copper in micronutrient mixes and is toxic to roots in excess.

Helicoverpa zea, a moth caterpillar that bores into developing cannabis flowers outdoors, leaving frass that triggers bud rot; growers call it budworm.

One of the two rounded seed leaves packed in the embryo that open first after germination and feed the seedling until the true leaves take over.

Crop steering adjusts irrigation timing, volume and dryback, along with climate, to push plants towards vegetative growth or generative (flowering) growth.

A cross is the offspring of mating two different plants, written female x male, as "A x B"; one cross starts a line but is not one.

A cultivar (cultivated variety) is a group of cultivated plants selected for distinct, uniform and stable traits that are kept when propagated, by seed or by cuttings.

Pest and disease prevention by changing how the crop is grown, such as humidity, airflow, spacing, watering and cultivar choice, so pests and pathogens struggle to establish.

Cultured Pearls are GenetixBay Pearls bought with money, usable only as store credit in the GenetixBay store; they never transfer between members.

Cured resin is a solvent-based extract made from dried and cured cannabis rather than fresh frozen material, typically with a more aged, less bright aroma than live resin.

Holding dried cannabis in sealed containers so its moisture declines slowly and evenly over weeks, improving smoothness and aroma.

An airtight container, usually wide-mouth glass, used to cure and store dried cannabis; ideally filled about three-quarters and kept dark and cool.

A cut is slang for a clone of one specific plant, used to mean that individual genotype, as in "the original cut".

Cut trading is growers exchanging clones of selected plants with each other, a traditional way rare genetics spread and are kept alive.

A cutting is a piece of shoot, usually a tip with two or three nodes, removed from a plant so it can be rooted into a new, genetically identical plant.

Moth caterpillars of the family Noctuidae, such as the black cutworm (Agrotis ipsilon), that hide in soil by day and chew through seedling stems at night.

Phytonemus pallidus, a tarsonemid mite related to the broad mite that distorts new growth on many ornamentals; rarely reported on cannabis and often confused with broad mite.

A non-glandular, claw-shaped hair on cannabis leaves that contains a calcium carbonate crystal (cystolith); it makes no resin.

A class of plant hormones made mainly in roots that promote cell division, shoot and side-bud growth, and delay leaf ageing.

The collapse of seedlings or cuttings when soil-borne pathogens such as Pythium, Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium rot the stem at the soil line.

Dank is slang for strong-smelling, high-quality flower; originally it meant damp and musty, which in real cannabis is a warning sign.

The practice of keeping plants in total darkness for 24-72 hours before cutting to boost resin; GenetixBay rates it a Myth and runs a standing challenge against it.

Decarboxylation is the loss of a carboxyl group as CO2 that turns acid cannabinoids such as THCA and CBDA into neutral THC and CBD, quickly with heat, slowly with time.

Decriminalisation removes or reduces criminal penalties for some cannabis offences; legalisation creates a lawful framework for production, sale and use.

Defensive publication is publicly disclosing a plant, trait or method so it becomes prior art, preventing others from later patenting it as new.

Defoliation is removing fan leaves from a plant to open the canopy to light and air; GenetixBay's house view is to tuck leaves rather than strip them.

A dehumidifier removes water vapour from grow-room air, usually by condensing it on a cold coil; it is the main tool for controlling humidity in flower.

Delta-8 THC is an isomer of THC with the double bond shifted one position; the plant makes only traces, so commercial delta-8 is semi-synthetic, usually converted from CBD.

Dew point is the temperature at which air becomes saturated and water starts condensing; when leaves or buds cool to it, free water forms and mould risk jumps.

Dialled in describes a grow, room or recipe tuned until results are consistent and near the plant's potential, run after run.

Diamonds are large crystals of THCA, typically grown out of a solvent extract and sold alone or in terpene-rich sauce; they are nearly pure THCA.

DIF is day temperature minus night temperature; a larger positive DIF lengthens stems, while zero or negative DIF tends to keep plants shorter.

Having male and female flowers on separate individual plants; drug-type cannabis is naturally dioecious with an XY sex-chromosome system.

A diploid organism carries two complete sets of chromosomes, one from each parent; normal cannabis is diploid with 2n = 20.

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is the amount of oxygen gas held in water or nutrient solution, measured in mg/L, and roots need it to respire and take up nutrients.

Distillate is a highly refined cannabis oil in which cannabinoids, usually THC or CBD, have been separated from most other compounds by distillation, leaving a clear, almost odourless oil.

Daily light integral: the total number of PAR photons a square metre of canopy receives in one day, in mol/m²/day; PPFD multiplied by hours of light.

A dominant allele is one whose effect shows in the phenotype even when only one copy is present, masking the other (recessive) allele at that locus.

An oomycete leaf disease of cannabis, historically attributed to Pseudoperonospora cannabina, causing yellow patches above and grey-purple fuzz under leaves in cool, wet weather.

Drain-to-waste fertigation feeds each plant fresh nutrient solution and lets the runoff leave the system rather than returning it to the reservoir.

Drip irrigation delivers water or nutrient solution through tubing and emitters directly to each plant's medium, in measured amounts on a timer or controller.

A drop is a seed or clone release, often limited and announced in advance, especially from popular breeders or seed vendors.

Trimming sugar leaves after buds have dried, leaving the leaves on during the dry to slow it and protect the bud.

The weight of cannabis after drying (and usually trimming), the basis growers use for yield; it is typically about 20-25% of trimmed wet weight.

Dry-weight basis reports a result per gram of sample with its water removed, while as-received basis reports it per gram as delivered, water included; dry-weight figures are always higher.

Dryback is the drop in a substrate's water content between irrigations, usually expressed as a percentage of its content at full saturation.

A dark, ventilated space where freshly harvested cannabis is dried under controlled temperature, humidity and gentle airflow, usually for 7-14 days.

DTPA (diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid) is a synthetic chelating agent that keeps iron available up to about pH 7.0-7.5, a common choice for coco and hydro.

DWC (deep water culture) suspends a plant's roots in an aerated nutrient solution, typically in a bucket with a net pot lid and an air stone.

Ebb and flow (flood and drain) periodically floods a tray of potted plants with nutrient solution, then drains it back to a reservoir, pulling fresh air into the medium.

EC (electrical conductivity) measures how well a solution conducts electricity, a proxy for total dissolved salts; growers read it in mS/cm to gauge nutrient strength.

An EC meter measures how well a solution conducts electricity, giving nutrient strength in mS/cm or as ppm via a conversion factor.

EDDHA is a strong iron chelate that stays effective up to pH 9 or more, used for alkaline soils and hard water; it colours solutions dark red.

An edible is a food or drink containing cannabinoids from an infused fat, tincture or concentrate; effects are reported to start later and last longer than inhaled cannabis.

EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) is the most common synthetic chelating agent in fertilisers, effective for iron up to about pH 6.0-6.5.

An eighth is one-eighth of an ounce of cannabis, sold as 3.5 grams; it is the standard retail unit for flower in North America.

Elbow is slang for a pound of cannabis, 16 ounces or about 454 grams, from the spoken abbreviation "L-B".

An elite cut is a famous, proven clone-only plant, often held by a few growers and traded rather than sold openly.

The Emerson effect is the jump in photosynthesis when far-red light (above 680 nm) is combined with shorter red light, exceeding the sum of each alone.

The entourage effect is the hypothesis that cannabis compounds, especially cannabinoids and terpenes together, produce effects different from any single compound; human evidence remains contested.

Epistasis is an interaction between genes in which the effect of one gene depends on, or is masked by, alleles at another gene.

The relative humidity of the air in a sealed container once it has stopped exchanging moisture with the material inside; ERH / 100 equals the material's water activity.

A gaseous plant hormone that regulates ripening, senescence, stress responses and, in cannabis, female flower expression; blocking it makes females produce pollen.

Eucalyptol (1,8-cineole) is a monoterpenoid ether with a cool, minty, camphor-like smell, the main compound in eucalyptus oil and a minor terpene in cannabis.

An even canopy is one where all main tops sit at roughly the same height, so each receives similar light intensity and buds develop more uniformly.

The GenetixBay evidence ladder labels every growing claim as Established, Supported, Grower practice, Contested or Myth, according to how strong the evidence is.

GenetixBay evidence levels rate lineage claims from L0 (unverified) through L1 community reported, L2 breeder reported and L3 documented to L4 lab-confirmed.

An exhaust fan pulls air out of the grow space through ducting, removing heat, humidity and odour and drawing in fresh air.

Exotic is retail slang for fashionable, high-priced cultivars with unusual flavours or colours; it describes marketing, not origin or proven genetics.

F1 is the first generation of offspring from crossing two parents; if the parents are inbred and different, F1 plants are uniform and often show hybrid vigour.

F2 is the second filial generation, made by crossing or selfing F1 plants; it shows the widest segregation, bringing back hidden recessives and new combinations.

A fabric pot is a breathable, sewn felt or non-woven container that lets air and water through its walls, drying the medium faster and air-pruning roots.

A large palmate cannabis leaf with several long leaflets on a long petiole; fan leaves do most of the plant's photosynthesis and carry few trichomes.

Far-red is light from about 700 to 750 nm, just beyond visible red; it adds to canopy photosynthesis when mixed with other light and triggers shade responses like stretch.

A feed chart is a manufacturer's or grower's schedule of nutrient doses by week or stage; treat it as a ceiling to test against, not a rule.

Feminised seed is seed made by pollinating a female with pollen from another female (or itself) that was chemically reversed, so nearly every seed grows into a female.

Fems is slang for feminised seed, made with pollen from a chemically sex-reversed female so nearly every plant grows female.

Fertigation is delivering fertiliser dissolved in irrigation water, so plants are fed every time they are watered rather than through solid amendments.

Field capacity is the amount of water a medium holds after it has been saturated and allowed to drain freely; in pots it is called container capacity.

Filial generations (F1, F2, F3 and on) count generations of offspring from an original cross, each made by crossing plants of the previous generation together.

FIM is a training cut that pinches off most, but not all, of a plant's newest growing tip, often producing three or four new main shoots instead of one.

Fire is slang for excellent cannabis; it is enthusiasm, not a description of any measurable trait.

Flavonoids are polyphenolic plant compounds, including flavones, flavonols and anthocyanins, that colour and protect plant tissue; cannabis contains common ones plus cannabis-specific cannflavins.

The flip is switching a photoperiod plant from long vegetative days to a flowering light schedule, usually around 12 hours of light, to start flowering.

The reproductive phase of the cannabis life cycle, from the switch to flowering until harvest, during which the plant stretches, builds buds and ripens resin.

Feeding only plain water for days or weeks before harvest to "clean" the plant; GenetixBay rates it a Myth that harms yield, unlike a root-zone salt flush.

Fogponics is a form of aeroponics that bathes roots in a fog of nutrient solution made by ultrasonic foggers, with droplets far smaller than spray systems.

Foliar feeding is spraying a dilute nutrient solution onto leaves for quick uptake through the leaf surface; it suits micronutrient fixes but cannot replace root feeding.

A foot-candle is an imperial unit of illuminance (one lumen per square foot, about 10.76 lux); like lux, it measures eye brightness, not plant-usable light.

The founder effect is the loss of genetic diversity when a new population is started from a few individuals, so it carries only a sample of the source population's alleles.

A Founding Member is an early backer of GenetixBay who joins before launch, getting first access, a permanent badge and among the lowest numbers in the archive.

Foxtailing is the growth of new, elongated calyx spires on top of existing buds; it can be genetic, or a stress response to excess heat or light.

Free chlorine is the disinfectant (hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite) added to many tap waters; it dissipates from standing or aerated water within about a day.

Drying fresh cannabis by freezing it and then removing ice under vacuum (sublimation) in hours or days; GenetixBay labels it Contested and does not recommend it.

Fresh frozen is cannabis frozen immediately after harvest without drying or curing, used as starting material for live resin and live rosin to keep more volatile aroma.

Frosty describes flower densely covered in glandular trichomes, so it looks sugared or snow-dusted; it signals resin coverage, not exact potency.

Full melt is the highest grade of solventless hash, so pure in trichome heads that it melts almost completely with little or no residue when heated.

Full spectrum is a marketing term for a grow light with broad output across the visible range, usually a white LED, sometimes with added red, far-red or UV.

Fulvic acid is the small, soluble fraction of humic substances that stays dissolved at any pH and binds metal ions; its benefit in cannabis is largely unproven.

Small dark flies of the genus Bradysia (family Sciaridae) whose larvae live in wet growing media, feeding on fungi, organic matter and young roots.

A soil-borne fungal disease, chiefly Fusarium oxysporum, that blocks water-conducting tissue, causing one-sided yellowing, wilting and brown streaks inside the stem.

Gas is slang for a sharp fuel, diesel or solvent-like aroma in cannabis, and by extension for any flower people rate highly.

Gas chromatography (GC) separates volatile compounds in a heated gas stream; it is used for terpenes and residual solvents and decarboxylates acid cannabinoids in its hot inlet.

A GB-ID is GenetixBay's permanent identifier, such as GB-GEN-0001842-6, for a genetic line, landrace, seed batch, plant, cut, grow, harvest, trial or document, so records never get lost or renamed.

A gene is a stretch of DNA that carries the instructions for one functional product, usually a protein such as an enzyme, and is the basic unit of inheritance.

The gene pool is the total set of alleles present in a population, cultivar group or species; a narrow gene pool limits what breeders can select from.

General hardness (GH) is the calcium and magnesium dissolved in water, expressed as mg/L CaCO3 or German degrees (dGH); hard water supplies some Ca and Mg.

A genetic bottleneck is a sharp drop in the number of breeding plants, after which the population carries only a fraction of its former genetic diversity.

Genetic drift is random change in allele frequencies between generations of a seed population, strongest in small populations; clones do not drift this way.

The genotype is the set of alleles a plant actually carries, either at one locus or across its whole genome, as opposed to the traits you can see.

Genotype by environment interaction (GxE) is when different genotypes respond differently to the same change in conditions, so the best cultivar in one room may not be best in another.

Genotyping is reading a plant's DNA at selected markers to identify it, compare it with other plants, check sex or chemotype, or estimate its ancestry.

Geraniol is a rosy, floral monoterpene alcohol made from geranyl pyrophosphate, found in rose and geranium oils and as a minor terpene in cannabis.

Geranyl pyrophosphate (GPP) is a ten-carbon terpene precursor that cannabis uses both to build monoterpenes and, joined to olivetolic acid, to make the cannabinoid precursor CBGA.

Germination is the stage where a viable seed absorbs water, splits its shell and pushes out a root (radicle), usually within 1-7 days at 20-30 °C.

Germplasm is living genetic material (seeds, pollen, tissue or plants) kept for breeding, research or conservation, representing the genetic diversity of a crop.

A family of plant hormones (gibberellins, GA) that promote stem elongation, seed germination and, in cannabis, can shift sex expression toward male flowers.

A gram (g) is the base metric unit for weighing cannabis flower and concentrates; 28 g make a retail ounce and 3.5 g an eighth.

Grams per watt (g/W) is dry flower yield divided by the electrical wattage of the grow lights, a rough measure of how efficiently a grow turns power into product.

Plant-chewing insects of the family Acrididae, often Melanoplus species in North America, that strip leaves of outdoor cannabis in dry summers.

Greenhouse growing uses sunlight under a covered structure, adding varying degrees of control over temperature, humidity, light deprivation and supplemental lighting.

The grey market is cannabis supply outside the licensed system where use is legal or tolerated, or in a legal gap; it carries legal risk and no product oversight.

A grow journal is a dated record of a grow, with photos, environment, feeding, problems and results, used to learn, share and prove what happened.

A growing medium (plural media) is the material roots grow in, such as soil, coco, rockwool or clay pebbles, which anchors the plant and holds water, air and sometimes nutrients.

Guaiol is a sesquiterpene alcohol with a woody, piney, slightly rosy smell, named for guaiacum wood and present as a minor terpene in some cannabis cultivars.

The guaranteed analysis is the legally required label statement of minimum nutrient content, giving P as P2O5 and K as K2O; multiply by 0.436 and 0.830 for elements.

A guerrilla grow is cannabis planted on land the grower does not own or control, typically wild or remote ground, a practice that is illegal in most places.

Drying harvested cannabis by hanging branches upside down in a dark, controlled room so buds dry slowly with even airflow around them.

Hardening off is gradually exposing plants raised indoors or under a dome to harsher conditions, such as sun, wind and lower humidity, so they adapt without shock.

The span of days, often one to two weeks, in which a cannabis plant is ripe enough to cut, judged mainly by trichome head colour and bud development.

Hash is any concentrate made by separating trichome heads from cannabis and collecting or pressing them, from dry sift and ice water hash to hand-rubbed charas.

Hash rosin is rosin pressed from hash, usually ice water hash, rather than from flower; it is cleaner and typically higher in quality than flower rosin.

Hashish is the traditional pressed resin concentrate of cannabis, made for centuries by sieving or rubbing trichome heads from plants and compressing them into blocks or balls.

A grassy, hay-like aroma in dried cannabis caused by drying too fast, over-drying or bacterial activity; in GenetixBay's view it never fully cures out.

Haze is a generic name for a family of long-flowering, narrow-leaflet hybrids built from tropical landrace material, known for sharp, spicy, incense-like aroma.

Heady is slang for things made with exceptional craft and care, from hand-blown glass to small-batch flower; it signals artisan quality and insider culture.

Heat stress is damage or slowed growth when leaf or canopy temperature rises above what the plant can handle, typically above about 30–32 °C (86–90 °F) in cannabis.

A heavy metals panel measures toxic elements, usually lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury, in a cannabis sample, typically by ICP-MS, against regulatory action limits.

An heirloom is a seed line kept and passed down by growers for decades, usually outside its region of origin, preserving an older type rather than a recent hybrid.

Hemp is cannabis grown for fibre, seed or other uses and, in many laws, defined as Cannabis sativa with no more than 0.3% THC by dry weight.

Aculops cannabicola, a microscopic eriophyid mite specific to cannabis that causes upward leaf curl, bronzing and dull, greasy-looking trichomes.

Heritability is the share of a trait's variation within a population that is due to genetic differences rather than environment, on a scale from 0 to 1.

The herm threshold is GenetixBay's two-tier herm standard: a 10-plant screening grow with zero herms to be featured, then about 150 or more community-grown plants before a line can be Verified under 2% herm rate.

Herm-prone describes a line whose plants often produce intersex flowers; GenetixBay treats this as a breeding fault and a reason not to breed from it.

In cannabis growing, a plant (usually female) that develops both pistillate and staminate flowers or anthers; botanists call it intersex or monoecious expression.

Heterosis (hybrid vigour) is the tendency of offspring from genetically different parents to outgrow or outperform both parents in traits such as vigour and yield.

A plant is heterozygous at a locus when it carries two different alleles there (Aa), so its offspring can inherit either one and segregate.

HHC (hexahydrocannabinol) is a hydrogenated derivative of THC, found only in traces in the plant; products sold as HHC are semi-synthetic, made by chemically converting other cannabinoids.

High-frequency fertigation feeds small volumes of nutrient solution many times a day, keeping the root zone consistently moist and fed so small pots can produce large plants.

Hoagland solution is a classic 1950 hydroponic recipe by Hoagland and Arnon, still used as a research baseline: about 210 ppm N, 31 P, 235 K and 200 Ca.

Home grow is growing cannabis for personal use at your residence, permitted in some jurisdictions within plant-count, location and security limits.

Homogenisation is grinding and mixing a sample so every portion the lab tests represents the whole; together with representative sampling it often matters more than the instrument.

A plant is homozygous at a locus when it carries two identical alleles there (AA or aa), so it passes the same allele to every offspring.

HLVd, a small infectious RNA that spreads through sap and tools, causing stunting, brittle stems, small loose buds and reduced resin in cannabis; called dudding.

A refined petroleum or plant oil sprayed to smother soft-bodied pests and eggs and suppress powdery mildew on contact; used only on foliage, never on flowers.

HPA (high-pressure aeroponics) mists roots with very fine droplets from a high-pressure pump and accumulator, giving maximum aeration but little margin for failure.

HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) separates compounds dissolved in a liquid under pressure; it is the standard cannabis potency method because it measures acid cannabinoids without heating them.

HPS (high-pressure sodium) is a gas-discharge lamp with orange-yellow light peaking near 589 nm; it was the standard flowering light before LEDs.

HST (high-stress training) covers training methods that deliberately cut, crush or break plant tissue, such as topping, FIM and supercropping, to reshape growth.

Humic acid is a large, dark organic fraction of decomposed matter that binds nutrients and may modestly aid root growth; effects in cannabis are small and inconsistent.

A humidifier adds water vapour to the air to raise relative humidity, used mostly for clones, seedlings and veg, or dry climates.

A salt-solution sachet sold to hold a sealed container at a fixed relative humidity; GenetixBay regards them as a marketing gimmick that robs terpenes.

Humulene (alpha-humulene) is a woody, earthy, hop-like sesquiterpene, an isomer of beta-caryophyllene that usually appears alongside it in cannabis profiles.

A hybrid is the offspring of two genetically different parents; almost all modern cannabis is hybrid, built from crosses between landrace-derived and other lines.

Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is an oxidising sanitiser used to clean hydroponic equipment and reservoirs; it breaks down quickly into water and oxygen and kills beneficial microbes too.

Hydroponics is growing plants without soil, feeding roots a complete mineral nutrient solution either directly in water or through an inert medium.

A hype strain is a cultivar name in heavy demand because of marketing or social media, regardless of how stable or distinctive the genetics are.

The section of seedling stem between the root and the cotyledons; it elongates to lift the seed leaves above the medium.

An IBL (inbred line) is a seed line that has been inbred and selected over many generations until it breeds true for its main traits, giving uniform offspring.

An immobile nutrient stays where it is first deposited, so its deficiency shows on young leaves and growing tips first: Ca, S, Fe, Mn, B, Cu.

Inbreeding is mating between related plants, which raises homozygosity; an inbred line is the resulting population, measured by the inbreeding coefficient F.

Inbreeding depression is the loss of vigour, fertility, yield or survival that follows mating between relatives, mainly because harmful recessive alleles become homozygous.

Independent assortment is Mendel's rule that alleles of genes on different chromosomes are passed to gametes independently of each other, creating new trait combinations.

Indica is a popular label for broad-leaflet, compact, faster-flowering cannabis plants; it describes plant shape at most, not a separate species or a predictable effect.

Indoor growing is cultivating cannabis entirely under artificial light in a tent or room, giving full control over light, climate and photoperiod.

Input EC is the electrical conductivity of the nutrient solution going into the pot or system, in mS/cm, including the base EC of the source water.

Potassium salts of fatty acids sprayed to kill soft-bodied pests such as aphids, mites and whitefly nymphs on contact by disrupting their cell membranes.

The length of stem between two adjacent nodes; short internodes mean compact plants and tight bud stacking, long ones mean stretch.

Introgression is the movement of genes from one population or type into another through hybridisation followed by repeated backcrossing.

The inverse square law says light from a point source falls with the square of distance; grow fixtures are not point sources, so it only roughly predicts PPFD.

Integrated pest management: preventing and controlling pests by combining monitoring, prevention, cultural, biological and, as a last resort, chemical tools against set action thresholds.

An IR (infrared) thermometer reads surface temperature from emitted infrared radiation; growers use it to measure leaf temperature for leaf VPD.

Iron (Fe) is an immobile micronutrient needed to make chlorophyll and run electron transport; deficiency yellows new leaves between green veins.

An iron chelate is iron bound to an organic molecule (EDTA, DTPA or EDDHA) that keeps it dissolved and available; each type holds up to a different pH.

ISO/IEC 17025 is the international standard for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories; accreditation to it shows a lab's specific methods have been independently assessed.

An isolate is a concentrate refined to one cannabinoid at very high purity, often 99% or more, usually a white crystalline powder such as CBD or THCA isolate.

Jardin is GenetixBay's grow system in development: a controller and sensor kit for logging and climate control, with per-element custom nutrient dosing.

A small handheld magnifier, typically 30-60x for cannabis use, used to inspect trichome heads and spot pests and male flowers.

A keeper is a plant from a seed hunt good enough to be kept alive as a clone or mother for future runs or breeding.

Kief is the loose, powdery collection of trichome heads that falls or is sifted off dried cannabis through fine screens; it is the simplest solventless concentrate.

The Kratky method is a passive hydroponic system with no pumps: plants sit above a container of solution, and a growing air gap forms as the level drops.

Kush is a generic name for cannabis tied to landrace material from the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and now for its many hybrid descendants.

Lab shopping is the practice of choosing testing labs because they report higher potency or more passing results, rather than because they are most accurate.

Label inflation is the gap between the potency printed on cannabis packaging and what independent testing finds, a documented, mostly upward bias in retail THC claims.

Labelling requirements are the legal rules on what cannabis packages must and must not show, such as potency, warnings, lot number and dates.

Insects of the family Chrysopidae, mainly Chrysoperla species, whose larvae are general predators of aphids, thrips, mite eggs and young caterpillars.

Predatory beetles of the family Coccinellidae, such as Hippodamia convergens, whose adults and larvae eat aphids and other soft-bodied pests.

A landrace is a traditional, locally adapted cannabis population kept by farmers in one region over many generations, with its own type and plenty of internal variation.

A landrace hunter travels to cannabis-growing regions to collect seed from local farmer populations, ideally with consent, credit and benefit-sharing for source communities.

Larf is small, airy, underdeveloped buds from the lower, shaded parts of a plant, usually low in density and weight.

LC-MS couples liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry, identifying compounds by mass as well as retention time; it is used for pesticides, mycotoxins and detailed cannabinoid profiling.

Any disease that causes discrete dead spots on leaves; on cannabis, mainly fungi such as Septoria cannabis and Alternaria, plus some bacteria.

Leaf temperature is the actual surface temperature of a leaf, which often differs from air temperature by 1–3 °C depending on light source and transpiration.

Leaf VPD is the vapour pressure deficit between the inside of a leaf, at leaf temperature, and the surrounding air; it is what actually drives transpiration.

Small wedge-shaped jumping insects of the family Cicadellidae that suck plant sap; the beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenellus) spreads beet curly top virus to hemp.

One of the separate serrated blades that make up a palmate cannabis leaf; a mature fan leaf typically has five to eleven leaflets.

Insect larvae, on cannabis mainly Liriomyza fly maggots (family Agromyzidae), that tunnel between the leaf surfaces, leaving pale winding trails.

An LED (light-emitting diode) grow light uses solid-state diodes to produce light; modern fixtures are the most efficient grow lights, at roughly 2.5–3 µmol/J.

LED vs HPS is the debate over whether LED or high-pressure sodium lights grow better cannabis; LEDs are clearly more efficient, while final-quality differences remain an open question.

A licensed producer is a business authorised by a regulator to grow, process or sell cannabis commercially, subject to security, tracking, testing and labelling rules.

The light compensation point is the PPFD at which a leaf's photosynthesis exactly balances its respiration, so net carbon gain is zero.

Light deprivation (light dep) covers greenhouse or outdoor plants with blackout material to give long nights, forcing photoperiod plants to flower earlier than the natural season.

Light intensity is how much photosynthetic light reaches the plants per unit area and time, measured as PPFD in µmol/m²/s; it is the biggest light lever on yield.

A light leak is unwanted light entering the grow space during the dark period; in flower it can delay or disrupt flowering in photoperiod cannabis.

The light saturation point is the PPFD above which photosynthesis stops rising; for cannabis it is unusually high and moves upwards with CO2 and temperature.

Light stress is damage when leaves or buds absorb more light than they can use or dissipate, showing as bleached white or yellow tops nearest the fixture.

Limonene is a monoterpene with a citrus aroma, found in citrus peel and many cannabis cultivars, where it is often among the top three terpenes.

Linalool is a floral, lavender-scented monoterpene alcohol found in lavender and some cannabis cultivars, usually at low levels below 0.3% w/w.

A line is a population of plants descended from chosen parents and maintained over generations under one name, with recorded lineage.

Line breeding is a mild form of inbreeding in which plants are mated within a family, often back towards one outstanding ancestor, to concentrate its traits while limiting inbreeding.

Linkage is the tendency of genes that sit close together on the same chromosome to be inherited together, rather than independently.

Live resin is a solvent-based cannabis extract made from fresh frozen plant material instead of dried and cured flower, to retain more volatile aroma compounds.

Live rosin is rosin pressed from ice water hash made from fresh frozen plants, preserving more of the volatile aroma of the living plant; it is solventless.

Living soil is an organic growing medium managed to sustain an active soil food web, so microbes and invertebrates release nutrients and the soil is reused across cycles.

A locus is the fixed position on a chromosome where a particular gene or DNA marker sits; the plural is loci.

The LOD (limit of detection) is the lowest amount of a compound a method can reliably tell apart from zero, but not necessarily measure accurately.

Lollipopping removes the lower branches and small shoots on a plant, usually around the flip, so energy goes to the top buds and airflow improves underneath.

Keeping cured cannabis for months or years with minimal loss, by holding it cool, dark, airtight and at a stable water activity of about 0.55-0.65.

The LOQ (limit of quantitation) is the lowest concentration a method can measure with acceptable accuracy and precision; below it a result is reported as <LOQ.

Loud is slang for flower with a very strong, room-filling aroma, often implying high quality.

LST (low-stress training) bends and ties stems so the plant grows wide and flat, exposing more bud sites to light without cutting or breaking tissue.

Lux is illuminance weighted to human eye sensitivity (lumens per square metre); it misreads grow lights because plants use red and blue light the eye underweights.

A macronutrient is an essential element plants need in large amounts, measured in tens to hundreds of mg/L: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, plus calcium, magnesium and sulfur.

Magnesium (Mg) is a mobile secondary nutrient at the centre of every chlorophyll molecule; deficiency causes interveinal yellowing on older leaves.

Magnesium nitrate supplies about 9.5% magnesium and 11% nitrogen as nitrate, and unlike Epsom salt it can share a concentrated stock with calcium nitrate.

Magnesium sulfate heptahydrate, sold as Epsom salt, is the common hydro magnesium source, supplying about 9.9% magnesium and 13% sulfur.

Mainlining is a training method that tops a plant low, removes lower growth and splits it symmetrically into a set number of evenly sized main colas.

Male selection is the choice of which male plants become parents, judged by their vigour, structure, early aroma and above all by the quality of their offspring.

Manganese (Mn) is a micronutrient that splits water in photosynthesis and activates many enzymes; low pH can raise it to toxic levels.

Manganese sulfate (MnSO4) is the common soluble manganese source for DIY micronutrient mixes, about 32% Mn in the monohydrate form.

Manifolding builds a plant's structure as a central hub with symmetrical horizontal arms, so every top receives equal sap flow and grows to similar size.

Marijuana is a common name for drug-type cannabis flower; the word entered US English from Mexican Spanish and became the standard term in 20th-century law.

Marker-assisted selection is choosing seedlings or parents by testing DNA markers linked to wanted traits, so plants can be selected before they flower.

Soft-bodied sap-sucking insects of the family Pseudococcidae, covered in white waxy filaments, that hide in stem joints and roots and excrete honeydew.

Measurement uncertainty is the quantified range around a lab result within which the true value is expected to lie, typically stated as ± a value at about 95% confidence.

Medical and adult-use cannabis are separate legal channels: medical access depends on authorisation by a health professional, adult-use on age alone.

Mendelian inheritance is the pattern in which single genes pass from parents to offspring in predictable ratios, following Mendel's laws of segregation and independent assortment.

Meristem culture is tissue culture from the tiny dome of dividing cells at a shoot tip, used to regenerate plants free of viroids and viruses.

A metal halide (MH) lamp is a gas-discharge grow light with a bluish-white spectrum, traditionally used in the vegetative stage before switching to HPS.

Microbial testing counts or detects bacteria and fungi in a cannabis sample, including total aerobic count (TAMC), total yeast and mould count (TYMC) and specific pathogens.

A microclimate is a small zone within the grow space whose temperature, humidity or airflow differs from the room average, such as inside a dense cola or a corner.

Micron bags are fine-mesh filter bags graded by opening size in microns, used to separate and size trichome heads in ice water hash making and to filter rosin.

A micronutrient is an essential element plants need only in trace amounts, below a few mg/L: iron, manganese, zinc, copper, boron, molybdenum, chlorine and nickel.

Mids is slang for middle-grade flower: not bad, not great, priced between budget and top-shelf, and often used as a put-down.

A mineral (synthetic) fertiliser supplies nutrients as soluble salts that dissolve straight into plant-available ions; chemically, the plant takes up the same ions as from organic sources.

A mobile nutrient is one the plant can move from older leaves to new growth, so its deficiency shows first on lower, older leaves: N, P, K, Mg, Cl, Mo.

The amount of water in a material as a percentage of its weight; cured cannabis flower usually sits around 10-12% w/w, though measurement method matters.

Moisture correction converts a lab result from as-received to dry-weight basis using the sample's measured water content, usually from a loss-on-drying test.

Molasses is a sugar-rich by-product of sugar refining added to soil feeds; its sugars feed soil microbes, not the plant, and do not sweeten buds.

The everyday word for visible fungal growth; on cannabis it covers several distinct diseases, mainly bud rot (Botrytis cinerea) and powdery mildew (Golovinomyces ambrosiae).

Molybdenum (Mo) is the micronutrient needed in the smallest amount; plants need it to convert nitrate into usable nitrogen.

Mom is grower slang for a plant kept in vegetative growth only to supply clones, as in "I keep a mom of every keeper".

Monoammonium phosphate (MAP, NH4H2PO4) supplies about 12% nitrogen as ammonium and 26.6% phosphorus, adding P while gently acidifying the root zone.

Having both male and female flowers on the same individual plant; in cannabis, a trait deliberately bred into some hemp cultivars, not the natural norm.

Monopotassium phosphate (MKP, KH2PO4) supplies about 22.7% phosphorus and 28.7% potassium with no nitrogen, and is the base of most PK boosters.

A monoterpene is a ten-carbon terpene made from geranyl pyrophosphate, such as myrcene, limonene, pinene or terpinolene; they are the most volatile terpenes and the first lost in drying.

Monster cropping is taking cuttings from a plant in flower and re-vegging them, which tends to produce bushy plants with many tops after an initial slow phase.

A mother plant is a female kept permanently in vegetative growth to supply cuttings, so a selected genotype can be propagated as clones indefinitely.

mS/cm (millisiemens per centimetre) is the standard unit of EC for nutrient solutions; 1 mS/cm equals 1 dS/m and 1,000 µS/cm.

Mulder's chart is a diagram showing antagonistic and synergistic interactions between plant nutrients, used as a rough guide to which excesses cause which deficiencies.

A mutation is a change in a plant's DNA sequence, arising in seed or in one branch (a somatic mutation); mutations are rare and usually neutral.

Mycorrhizae are symbioses in which fungi colonise plant roots and extend hyphae into the soil, trading water and nutrients such as phosphorus for the plant's sugars.

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds made by certain moulds, such as aflatoxins and ochratoxin A from Aspergillus and Penicillium species; cannabis labs test for them at parts-per-billion levels.

Myrcene (beta-myrcene) is a monoterpene with a musky, earthy, ripe-fruit aroma and is the most common dominant terpene in commercial cannabis flower.

Mythbusters is GenetixBay's page of growing myths and their verdicts, with open Bay Trials and finished results marked Busted, Confirmed or Inconclusive.

The N-P-K ratio is the three numbers on a fertiliser label giving percent nitrogen, phosphate (P2O5) and potash (K2O) by weight, not elemental P and K.

The Nagoya Protocol is a 2010 international treaty under the Convention on Biological Diversity governing access to genetic resources and fair sharing of their benefits.

Nanners (bananas) are exposed, banana-shaped anthers on a female flower: a hermaphrodite trait, not a normal part of late flowering, and a reason to cull.

ND (non-detect) on a COA means the compound was not found at or above the method's limit of detection; it does not mean the amount is zero.

An oil pressed from seeds of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica) that smothers soft-bodied pests and, in crude forms, contains azadirachtin, an insect growth disruptor.

Negative pressure means the grow space is held slightly below surrounding air pressure by exhausting more air than comes in, so air and odour leak inwards, not out.

A generalist-leaning predatory mite that eats spider mites and broad mites, survives on low prey or pollen, and tolerates warmer, drier rooms than Phytoseiulus.

A predatory mite that eats first-stage thrips larvae and some broad and cyclamen mites; tolerant of cooler rooms and widely used in sachets as a preventive.

Nerolidol is a woody, floral, slightly citrus sesquiterpene alcohol found in neroli, jasmine and tea, and as a minor terpene in some cannabis cultivars.

A net pot is a plastic cup with slotted or mesh walls that holds a plant and its medium in a hydroponic lid, letting roots grow through into solution.

NFT (nutrient film technique) runs a thin, continuous film of nutrient solution along sloped channels, with roots resting in the stream and exposed to air above.

Nickel (Ni) is a micronutrient required for urease, the enzyme that breaks down urea; plants need only traces, which most feeds and waters already contain.

Nitrate (NO3-) is the main form of nitrogen in hydroponic and soilless feeds; its uptake tends to push root-zone pH upward.

Nitric acid (HNO3) lowers pH while adding nitrate nitrogen; growers use it to neutralise hard-water alkalinity, often alongside or instead of phosphoric acid.

Nitrogen (N) is the macronutrient plants use most, built into proteins, chlorophyll and nucleic acids; it drives leaf and stem growth and is fully mobile.

Gradually cutting nitrogen in late flower, toward zero near the finish, while still feeding phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur and micronutrients; GenetixBay's alternative to flushing.

No-till growing reuses living soil from cycle to cycle without turning or replacing it, cutting out the old root ball and replenishing with top-dressed amendments.

The point on a stem where a leaf (petiole) and its axillary bud attach; branches, flowers and clone roots all originate at nodes.

Node stacking describes short internodes, so nodes and bud sites sit close together along a stem, giving dense colas and a compact plant.

Nugs is slang for whole, trimmed buds of dried cannabis flower, as opposed to shake or trim.

Nutrient antagonism is when an excess of one element reduces the uptake or use of another, such as high potassium suppressing magnesium and calcium.

Nutrient burn is browning and crisping of leaf tips, then margins, caused by a root-zone salt concentration (EC) higher than the plant can handle.

A nutrient deficiency is a shortage of an essential element in the plant tissue, causing characteristic symptoms; the cause is often pH or uptake rather than an empty feed.

Nutrient lockout is when plants show deficiency symptoms although nutrients are present, because pH, salt build-up, ion antagonism or damaged roots stop uptake.

Nutrient toxicity is damage from an excess of an element in the plant, either directly or by blocking uptake of others; boron, manganese, copper and chloride are common culprits.

Ocimene is a sweet, green, herbal monoterpene, usually reported as beta-ocimene isomers, that often accompanies terpinolene in cannabis profiles.

OG is a cannabis family name tied to a group of influential clone-only cultivars from the 1990s, and general slang for "original" or long-established.

Olivetolic acid is the phenolic building block of cannabinoids; joined to geranyl pyrophosphate it forms CBGA, and its five-carbon chain becomes the pentyl tail of THC and CBD.

A one-part nutrient is a complete mineral feed in a single concentrate or powder, formulated to avoid the calcium-sulfate and calcium-phosphate precipitation that forces most feeds into two parts.

Open research is GenetixBay's approach of settling growing questions with member-run controlled trials and publishing protocols, data and verdicts for anyone to see.

Open-pollinated seed comes from a population left to cross freely among its own plants, without controlled pairs, which keeps a line's variation and type over generations.

Open-source seed is seed shared under a pledge that anyone may use, breed and share it, provided they do not restrict others' use through patents or licences.

An organic fertiliser supplies nutrients from plant, animal or mineral-rock sources that soil microbes must break down into ions before roots can absorb them.

Minute pirate bugs of the genus Orius, such as Orius insidiosus, that hunt adult and larval thrips plus mites and aphids; some strains pause breeding under short days.

An oscillating fan sweeps back and forth to circulate air over and through the canopy, mixing the room and preventing still, humid pockets.

Osmotic stress occurs when root-zone salt concentration is so high that roots struggle to draw in water, slowing growth and burning leaf tips even in wet media.

An ounce of cannabis is 28.35 grams, rounded to 28 g in retail; slang includes zip, O and onion.

An outcross is a cross to an unrelated plant from outside the line, used to bring in new traits or vigour, or to rescue a line suffering inbreeding depression.

Outdoor growing is cultivating cannabis in the ground or containers under natural sunlight, where the season's day length controls when photoperiod plants flower.

Drying cannabis below the target water activity (under about 0.55), leaving buds brittle and harsh, with lost terpenes; rehydrating does not restore them.

Overwatering is watering so often that the medium stays saturated, starving roots of oxygen, which causes drooping, slow growth and root disease.

P1 is the parental generation: the two original plants crossed to start a breeding project, whose offspring are the F1.

The paper towel method germinates seeds between damp paper towels in a covered container until the root shows, then moves them to a medium.

Photosynthetically active radiation: light in the 400–700 nm waveband that plants use for photosynthesis, counted in photons rather than brightness.

Pearls are GenetixBay's community points, in two kinds: Wild Pearls earned by contributing, and Cultured Pearls bought as store credit; neither has cash value.

Peat is partially decomposed sphagnum moss from bogs, the base of most potting mixes; it holds water and nutrients well but is acidic and needs lime.

Per-element dosing builds a feed from individual salts or single-element stocks so each nutrient can be set independently, such as cutting nitrogen without cutting potassium.

Perlite is a light, white, puffed volcanic glass added to growing mixes to increase drainage and air space; it is chemically inert and holds no nutrients.

A perpetual harvest staggers plants at different stages, usually with separate veg and flower spaces, so that harvests come every few weeks instead of once per cycle.

A personal cultivation limit is the legal maximum a person or household may grow for personal use, usually counted in plants, sometimes in canopy area.

A pesticide panel screens a cannabis sample for a defined list of pesticide residues, typically by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS, reporting each against its action limit.

The inherited ability of a pest population to survive doses of a pesticide that once controlled it, selected by repeated use of one mode of action.

The stalk that attaches a leaf to the stem at a node; in cannabis it carries all the leaflets of a palmate leaf.

pH measures how acidic or alkaline a solution is on a 0–14 scale; in growing it controls nutrient uptake, with soil best near 6.0–7.0 and hydro 5.5–6.5.

A pH buffer is a solution containing a weak acid and its conjugate base that resists pH change; in growing it means calibration buffers or water chemistry that stabilises pH.

pH Down is any acid used to lower solution pH, commonly phosphoric, nitric or sulfuric acid; each adds a nutrient, and all need gloves and eye protection.

pH drift is the gradual rise or fall of a nutrient solution's pH between adjustments, driven mainly by which ions the roots take up.

A pH meter measures solution pH with a glass electrode whose voltage changes with hydrogen ion activity; it needs regular calibration and a moist probe.

The pH scale runs from 0 (strongly acidic) to 14 (strongly alkaline) with 7 neutral; it is logarithmic, so each whole unit is a tenfold change in acidity.

pH Up is any alkaline additive used to raise solution pH, commonly potassium hydroxide or potassium carbonate; it is caustic and needs gloves and eye protection.

In grower slang, a pheno is one individual plant from a seed lot, usually numbered during a hunt, as in "the #4 pheno".

A pheno hunt is growing many seeds of one line side by side and evaluating them to select the best individual plants, which are then kept as clones.

The phenotype is what a plant visibly and measurably is (shape, colour, smell, chemistry, timing), the result of its genotype acting in a particular environment.

The plant's living transport tissue that carries sugars, amino acids, hormones and mobile nutrients from leaves to roots, buds and other growing parts.

Phosphate is the ionic form in which plants absorb phosphorus, mainly H2PO4- at the normal root-zone pH of 5.5-6.5.

Phosphoric acid (H3PO4) is the most common pH-down acid; it lowers pH while adding phosphorus, about 27% P in the usual 85% grade.

Phosphorus (P) is a mobile macronutrient used in energy transfer (ATP), DNA and cell membranes; cannabis needs moderate amounts and gains nothing from excess.

Photon efficacy is how many micromoles of PAR photons a fixture produces per joule of electricity (µmol/J); higher means more light for the same power bill and heat.

The daily length of light versus dark; photoperiod cannabis flowers when nights grow long enough, rather than at a fixed age.

The process in chloroplasts that uses light energy to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugars and oxygen; cannabis uses the C3 pathway.

A phytocannabinoid is a cannabinoid made by a plant, chiefly the terpenophenolic compounds cannabis builds in its glandular trichomes, such as THCA, CBDA and CBGA.

A family of plant photoreceptors that sense red and far-red light, measuring night length for flowering and shade for stem elongation.

A specialist predatory mite that eats almost only Tetranychus spider mites, eggs to adults; fast-acting on hot spots but starves once prey runs out.

The female reproductive organ of a flower (ovary, style and stigmas); in cannabis growers loosely call the visible white stigmas "pistils".

A female flower with a pistil but no functional stamens; in cannabis, a bract-wrapped ovary topped by two stigmas.

A plant count limit caps how many cannabis plants a person, household, patient or licence holder may have, and defines what counts as a plant.

Plant density is the number of plants per unit of canopy area; more plants raise yield per area up to a point but shorten veg and reduce uniformity.

A plant patent, in the US, protects a new and distinct asexually reproduced plant variety, such as a clone, for about 20 years from filing.

Plant ties are soft wire, rubber-coated twist ties or clips used to bend stems and anchor them during low-stress training or support.

Plant variety protection (plant breeders' rights) is an intellectual property right for a new plant variety that is distinct, uniform and stable, typically 20-25 years.

An infectious particle of nucleic acid in a protein coat that replicates inside plant cells; on cannabis, often insect-spread and incurable once infected.

Pleiotropy is when a single gene affects two or more apparently unrelated traits, so selecting on one trait changes the others too.

Pollen is the fine powder released by male flowers that carries the male gametes; when it lands on a female's stigmas it fertilises the ovules and produces seed.

A pollen chucker is someone who crosses two popular plants, skips selection and testing, and sells or spreads the seed as a new line.

Pollination is the transfer of pollen onto a female flower's stigmas; in cannabis it is usually by wind, or by hand when breeders pollinate chosen branches to make seed.

A polyhybrid is a cultivar whose recent ancestry mixes many different lines, so its seed segregates widely and rarely breeds true.

A polyploid plant carries more than two full sets of chromosomes, such as a triploid (three) or tetraploid (four); in cannabis these are almost always bred deliberately.

Popcorn buds are small, separate buds, usually from lower branches, often sold cheaper as "smalls" though they can be the same quality as the tops.

A possession limit is the maximum amount of cannabis a person may legally carry or keep, usually set by weight of dried flower or an equivalent.

Pot size is the volume of medium a plant roots into; bigger pots give bigger plants within reason, but feeding frequency can let small pots punch well above their size.

Potassium (K) is a mobile macronutrient that controls water balance, stomata and enzyme activity; deficiency scorches the edges of older leaves.

Potassium nitrate (KNO3) is a soluble fertiliser salt supplying about 13% nitrogen as nitrate and 38% potassium, used in both veg and flower feeds.

Potassium silicate is a strongly alkaline liquid or powder used to add silicon (and some potassium) to feeds; it goes into the water first, before other nutrients.

Potassium sulfate (K2SO4) supplies roughly 41-45% potassium and 17-18% sulfur with no nitrogen, useful for adding K while tapering N in late flower.

The potency ceiling is the practical upper limit of cannabinoid content in dried flower; GenetixBay holds that flower labelled above about 35% total cannabinoids is not credible.

Potency testing is laboratory measurement of a sample's cannabinoid content, normally by HPLC, reported as % w/w or mg/g for each cannabinoid plus calculated totals.

Potting mix is a manufactured container medium, usually peat or coco with perlite, lime and starter fertiliser, designed to drain and hold air better than garden soil.

A fungal disease, on cannabis caused mainly by Golovinomyces ambrosiae, that grows as white powdery patches on leaves and buds and thrives in moderate humidity.

Photosynthetic photon flux: the total number of PAR photons a light fixture emits each second, in µmol/s, regardless of where they land.

Photosynthetic photon flux density: the number of PAR photons landing on one square metre each second, in µmol/m²/s; the standard measure of light intensity at the canopy.

Ppm of an element means milligrams of that element per litre of solution (mg/L), the unit nutrient recipes use; it is not the ppm shown on an EC meter.

ppm500 is the TDS scale that converts EC to ppm with a factor of 0.5 (based on sodium chloride), so 1.0 mS/cm reads 500 ppm.

ppm700 is the TDS scale that converts EC to ppm with a factor of 0.7 (the 442 natural-water standard), so 1.0 mS/cm reads 700 ppm.

The first individual flowers that form at stem nodes during late vegetative growth, letting a grower tell male from female before full flowering.

The minimum time, set on a pesticide label, that must pass between the last application and harvest so residues fall to permitted levels.

Mites, mostly of the family Phytoseiidae, released as biological control to eat pest mites, thrips larvae, whitefly eggs or fungus gnat larvae.

Prenylthiol (3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol) is the volatile sulfur compound identified as the main source of cannabis's skunky aroma, potent at trace concentrations.

Pressed hash is loose trichome resin, such as kief or ice water hash, compressed into a solid cake or slab so it holds together and keeps better.

Releasing beneficial organisms before a pest is found, so a standing population is ready to catch the first arrivals rather than chase an outbreak.

Prior informed consent is permission given in advance, with full information about intended use, by a country or community before its genetic resources or knowledge are accessed.

Professor Greenleaf is GenetixBay's character and botanical knowledge assistant, who answers growing and breeding questions from the cited knowledge base and the grower's own records.

Proficiency testing sends identical blind samples to many labs and compares their results with an assigned value, checking each lab's accuracy against its peers.

A progeny test judges a parent by growing out and measuring its offspring, the most reliable way to know what a plant, especially a male, actually passes on.

A Punnett square is a grid that lists each parent's possible gametes along two sides to predict the expected genotype ratios among offspring of a cross.

Purp is slang for purple-coloured cannabis; the colour comes from anthocyanins and depends on genetics and cool temperatures, not on potency.

A genus of oomycete water moulds, such as Pythium myriotylum and P. aphanidermatum, that cause brown, slimy root rot, especially in warm hydroponic systems.

A QP is a quarter pound of cannabis: 4 ounces, about 113 grams.

A QTL (quantitative trait locus) is a region of the genome statistically linked to variation in a quantitative trait such as yield or flowering time.

A quantitative trait varies continuously (yield, height, flowering time, cannabinoid content) because it is controlled by many genes of small effect plus the environment.

Holding incoming plants, clones or seeds apart from the main grow, under observation and sometimes treatment, until they are shown to be free of pests and disease.

The embryonic root, the first structure to emerge from a germinating seed, which grows down to become the primary root or taproot.

RDWC (recirculating deep water culture) links several aerated buckets to a central control reservoir, pumping solution through all of them to keep conditions uniform.

Re-veg is returning a flowering or harvested plant to vegetative growth by putting it back under long days, often to save a genotype after harvest.

A recessive allele only shows its effect when a plant carries two copies of it; in a single copy it is masked by a dominant allele and carried silently.

A reciprocal cross repeats a cross with the parents' roles swapped (A × B, then B × A) to test whether the seed parent affects the offspring.

A recirculating (closed) system returns drained nutrient solution to the reservoir to be reused, saving water and nutrients but needing more monitoring and sanitation.

The red:far-red ratio compares photons near 660 nm with those near 730 nm; plants read a low ratio as shade and respond by stretching.

Regs is slang for regular seed: seed from a true male and female cross that gives roughly half male and half female plants.

Regular seed comes from a normal cross of a female and a male, so it produces roughly half female and half male plants.

Relative humidity is the water vapour in air as a percentage of what it could hold at that temperature, so the same RH dries plants differently at different temperatures.

A renamed cut is a known clone sold or shared under a new name, so one genotype circulates under many labels and lineage records get muddied.

A reservoir is the tank that holds a system's water or nutrient solution, the place where pH, EC, temperature and oxygen are measured and adjusted.

A residual solvents test measures leftover solvents such as butane, propane, ethanol or hexane in an extract, usually by headspace GC, against safety limits.

A restock is a new batch of a previously sold seed line; it may come from different parent plants than the original batch.

The narrow zone of medium immediately around living roots, shaped by root exudates and densely populated by microbes that influence nutrient uptake and root health.

RO water is water stripped of most dissolved salts by reverse osmosis; it has near-zero EC and little buffering, so pH moves easily and Ca and Mg must be added.

Rockwool is an inert growing medium spun from melted basalt rock into fibres, sold as plugs, cubes and slabs, that holds water and air in fixed proportions.

A rockwool slab is a large, plastic-wrapped block of stone wool on which several rockwool blocks sit and finish their roots, the standard format for commercial drain-to-waste.

Aphids that colonise roots and the crown below the medium surface, on cannabis chiefly the rice root aphid (Rhopalosiphum rufiabdominale), causing slow, unexplained decline.

A microscopic tube-like outgrowth of a single root epidermal cell near the root tip that greatly increases surface area for water and nutrient uptake.

Decay of roots by pathogens such as Pythium, Fusarium, Rhizoctonia or Phytophthora, usually triggered by low oxygen, heat and waterlogging around the roots.

The root zone is the volume of medium or solution where a plant's roots live, including its water, air, temperature, pH, EC and microbes.

A root-bound plant has filled its container so densely that roots circle the walls, water runs straight through, and growth slows or the plant wilts fast.

Running a large volume of low-EC water or mild solution through the medium to wash out accumulated salts; it treats the medium, not the plant, and suits any stage.

Rooting hormone is an auxin preparation, usually indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), applied to a cutting's base to speed and increase root formation.

Rosin is a solventless concentrate: resin squeezed out of flower, kief or hash using heat and pressure, then collected as an oil free of plant material.

A name for wild or feral, short, early-flowering northern cannabis populations, the historic source of the autoflowering trait; not a separate species in GenetixBay's view.

Runoff is the water or nutrient solution that drains out of the bottom of a container after irrigation; growers test it to see what is happening in the root zone.

Runoff EC is the conductivity of solution draining from the pot; compared with input EC, it shows whether salts are building up or being used up in the root zone.

µS/cm (microsiemens per centimetre) is a unit of EC one thousandth of mS/cm, used mostly for low-conductivity water such as RO and rainwater.

S1 is seed from a plant pollinated with its own pollen; every S1 seed is female and a new genotype, not a copy of the parent.

Salt build-up is the accumulation of unused fertiliser and water salts in the growing medium, raising root-zone EC and causing osmotic stress and lockout-type symptoms.

Cleaning and disinfecting rooms, tools, containers, irrigation and people's clothing so that pests and pathogens are not carried from plant to plant or crop to crop.

Sativa is a popular label for tall, narrow-leaflet, slower-flowering cannabis plants; it describes plant shape at most, and all cannabis belongs to one species, Cannabis sativa.

Sauce is a runny, terpene-rich cannabis concentrate, usually the liquid fraction that separates when THCA crystallises out of an extract, often sold with diamonds.

Sap-sucking insects of the superfamily Coccoidea that settle on stems and leaves under a protective waxy or hard cover; rare on cannabis and usually introduced on other plants.

Scheduling is placing a substance in a legal category of a drug-control law or treaty, which sets how strictly it is controlled and whether medical use is recognised.

Schwazzing is an aggressive defoliation method that strips almost all fan leaves on day 1 and again around day 21 of flower.

Systematic, regular inspection of plants, traps and roots to detect pests and disease early, identify them correctly and record numbers for decisions.

SCROG (screen of green) trains a few plants under a horizontal net, tucking shoots so the canopy forms a flat, evenly lit layer of many tops.

Secondary nutrients are calcium, magnesium and sulfur: macronutrients needed in substantial amounts but not included in the N-P-K numbers on a label.

In cannabis slang, a seed bank is a vendor that sells seed from one or many breeders; it is not the same as a conservation genebank.

The Seed Club is GenetixBay's seed programme run through a licensed partner, offering tested seed lots with published batch records where the law allows.

The protective outer layer of a seed; in cannabis it is fused to the fruit wall and forms the hard shell that cracks open at germination.

A seed run is a dedicated grow in which selected parents are crossed to produce a batch of seed, as opposed to growing for flower.

Seed-to-sale tracking is the regulatory system that records every licensed cannabis plant and batch from propagation through harvest, processing, testing and sale.

A seedling is a young cannabis plant from emergence of the cotyledons until it has several sets of true leaves, typically the first 2-3 weeks.

Segregation is the separation of a plant's two alleles at each locus into different gametes, so offspring of a heterozygous parent vary in which allele they get.

Selection in breeding is choosing which plants become parents, so that alleles behind the chosen traits become more common in the next generation.

Selection pressure is how strongly a breeder, or the environment, favours some plants over others, set by how few are kept and how demanding the criteria are.

Selfing is pollinating a plant with its own pollen, in cannabis usually by reversing part of a female to make pollen; it is the most intense form of inbreeding.

The programmed ageing and breakdown of leaves and other tissues, in which the plant recycles nutrients (especially nitrogen) from old leaves to developing flowers and seeds.

A fungal leaf disease caused by Septoria cannabis that produces tan to grey spots with dark margins and yellow halos, starting on lower leaves.

The saw-toothed edge of a cannabis leaflet, with teeth pointing toward the leaflet tip.

A sesquiterpene is a fifteen-carbon terpene made from farnesyl pyrophosphate, such as beta-caryophyllene, humulene and bisabolol; they are heavier and less volatile than monoterpenes.

Sex reversal is chemically inducing a genetically female cannabis plant to grow fertile male flowers, so its pollen can make feminised seed; silver thiosulfate is the standard agent.

Shake is the loose fragments of flower and sugar leaf that break off buds in handling and collect at the bottom of a bag or jar.

Shatter is a glassy, translucent solvent-based concentrate that snaps when cold, formed when an extract stays in a stable, non-crystallised state.

Stocky dark flies of the genus Scatella (family Ephydridae) that breed in algae on wet surfaces; mostly a nuisance and contamination issue rather than a root feeder.

A plant that flowers when the night exceeds a critical length (days are short enough); photoperiod cannabis is a short-day plant.

A sib cross is a cross between siblings from the same seed batch, used to advance a line (F1 × F1 gives F2) while keeping it within the family.

Silica is silicon dioxide (SiO2); growers use the word loosely for any silicon supplement added to stiffen stems and improve stress tolerance.

Silicon (Si) is a beneficial element, not strictly essential, that plants absorb as silicic acid and deposit in cell walls, stiffening tissue and aiding stress tolerance.

The 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is the UN treaty that obliges parties to control cannabis and other listed drugs, limiting them to medical and scientific use.

Sinsemilla (sensi) is seedless cannabis flower from unpollinated female plants; the word is Spanish for "without seed".

Skunk is a generic name for a family of early hybrid cultivars from the 1970s and 1980s, and for the pungent, musky aroma they made famous.

Molluscs such as the grey field slug (Deroceras reticulatum) that rasp ragged holes in seedlings and low leaves at night, leaving silvery slime trails.

A smoke report is a grower's or consumer's write-up of how cured flower looks, smells, tastes, burns and reportedly feels, ideally linked to how it was grown.

A SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) is a position in the DNA where plants differ by one base letter; thousands of them form the markers used in cannabis genotyping.

Sodium (Na) is not essential for cannabis; it enters through water, softeners and some inputs, and at high levels causes salt stress and crowds out potassium and calcium.

Sodium molybdate dihydrate (Na2MoO4·2H2O), about 39.7% molybdenum, is the common Mo source for micronutrient mixes, used in microgram-per-litre amounts.

SOG (sea of green) grows many small plants at high density with little or no veg time, each making one main cola, to shorten the cycle.

In cannabis growing, soil means a living, organic-rich growing medium, either natural earth or a bagged mix, that supplies some nutrients and buffers pH and feeding mistakes.

A soilless medium contains no mineral soil, such as peat, coco, rockwool or perlite blends, and relies mostly on the grower to supply nutrients.

A solvent-based extract is a cannabis concentrate made by dissolving cannabinoids and terpenes out of plant material with a solvent such as butane, propane, ethanol or CO2.

Solventless describes cannabis concentrates made only by mechanical or physical separation, using screens, ice water, heat or pressure, without chemical solvents.

Somaclonal variation is genetic or epigenetic change that appears in plants regenerated from tissue culture, especially from callus, making them differ from the donor plant.

Spectrum is the mix of wavelengths a light source emits, from UV through blue, green, red and far-red; it shapes plant form, while intensity drives most yield.

Stabilisation is breeding a seed line over several generations, with selection each time, until it reliably reproduces the chosen traits from seed.

A male flower that carries stamens (anthers on filaments) and no functional pistil; in cannabis, five drooping sepals around five pollen-shedding anthers.

An entomopathogenic nematode applied as a soil drench whose infective juveniles enter fungus gnat larvae and thrips pupae and kill them with symbiotic bacteria.

A drying check: when small stems snap cleanly rather than bend, buds are usually dry enough to trim or jar for curing.

A sterile reservoir keeps hydroponic solution as free of microbes as possible with oxidising sanitisers or UV, a valid strategy that only works if applied consistently.

Sticky describes resin-rich flower that clings to fingers and scissors, a sign of heavy trichome cover and well-preserved resin.

A coloured card coated in non-drying glue that catches flying insects, used mainly to monitor pest trends: yellow for gnats, whiteflies and aphids, blue for thrips.

The sticky, hair-like tip of the female pistil that catches pollen; each cannabis female flower has two, white when fresh and darkening with age.

A stock solution is a concentrated nutrient mix, often 100x or 200x final strength, diluted into the reservoir; calcium and sulfate/phosphate stocks must stay separate.

Microscopic pores, mostly on the underside of leaves, each opened and closed by two guard cells to control gas exchange and water loss.

Strain is the popular word for a named cannabis variety; it is used loosely, and studies show strain names are an unreliable guide to genetics or chemistry.

A soil-dwelling predatory mite, formerly sold as Hypoaspis miles, that hunts fungus gnat larvae, thrips pupae and other small arthropods in the growing medium.

The stretch is the rapid increase in height in the first two to three weeks after switching to flower, when many cultivars grow 1.5 to 3 times taller.

STS (silver thiosulfate) is a silver compound sprayed on female cannabis to block ethylene action and induce fertile male flowers, the standard method for making feminised seed.

The Stud Book is GenetixBay's showcase of documented male plants, with selection journals, keeper details and sire credits; males are encouraged and rewarded.

A small leaf growing from within the flower cluster, often coated in trichomes, which is trimmed off and commonly kept for processing.

Sugar trim is the small, resin-frosted leaves that grow from within cannabis buds, trimmed off during manicuring and prized as starting material for hash and rosin.

Sulfate (SO4 2-) is the form in which plants take up sulfur, delivered mainly by magnesium sulfate and potassium sulfate in mineral feeds.

Sulfur (S) is a secondary nutrient taken up as sulfate, used in the amino acids cysteine and methionine; deficiency yellows new growth fairly evenly.

A heated vessel that vaporises elemental sulfur to suppress powdery mildew and mites in veg rooms; it carries fire, gas and timing risks and is never used in flower.

A sunrise/sunset ramp is a programmed gradual rise and fall of fixture intensity at the start and end of the light period, adding hours of light but little DLI.

Super soil is a heavily amended organic soil mix, rich in compost and slow-release amendments, intended to feed a plant through most of its life with only water.

Supercropping is gently crushing a stem's inner tissue between the fingers and bending it over, so the branch lowers, toughens at a knuckle and stays productive.

Moisture moving from the inside of dried buds to their surface after jarring, making them feel damp again; normal early in a cure but a warning if excessive.

T5 fluorescent lights are slim 16 mm tubes giving low-intensity, low-heat light; once the standard for clones and seedlings, now largely replaced by LED.

Tap water is municipal or well water used for irrigation; its EC, alkalinity, hardness, sodium and disinfectant vary widely, so it should be tested before use.

The dominant primary root that grows straight down from the radicle of a seed-grown plant, with lateral roots branching from it.

TDS (total dissolved solids) is the mass of dissolved material in water; grow meters estimate it from EC with a conversion factor and display it as ppm.

In growing, temperature usually means grow-room air temperature; cannabis grows best around 24–28 °C (75–82 °F) by day and a few degrees cooler at night.

A temple ball is hash worked by hand into a dense ball and cured over time, a traditional Himalayan style associated with a glossy surface and soft interior.

A tent is a fabric grow enclosure with a reflective lining, zip doors and ports for ducting and cables, the standard home indoor grow space.

Terpenes are volatile hydrocarbon compounds built from five-carbon isoprene units; in cannabis they are made in the trichome heads and are a major part of aroma and flavour.

The loss of volatile aroma compounds from cannabis through evaporation, oxidation and handling, fastest for monoterpenes and worst in warm, fast drying and poor storage.

A terpene profile is the measured mix of terpenes in a sample, reported as each compound's % w/w and the total, used to describe and compare cultivar aroma chemistry.

A terpene test measures the individual terpenes and total terpene content of a sample, usually by GC-FID or GC-MS, reported in % w/w or mg/g.

A terpenoid is a terpene-derived compound that carries extra functional groups, usually oxygen (alcohols, oxides, ketones), such as linalool, bisabolol or caryophyllene oxide.

Terpinolene is a monoterpene with a fresh, herbal, piney-citrus-floral aroma that dominates a distinctive, less common cannabis chemotype.

Terps is slang for terpenes, and loosely for a cannabis cultivar's whole aroma and flavour, even though many aroma compounds are not terpenes.

A test cross mates a plant of unknown genotype with one that is homozygous recessive for a trait, so the offspring ratios reveal what the first plant carries.

A test grow (tester grow) is growing out a sample of a new seed line, often by several independent growers, to measure uniformity, vigour, chemistry and herm rate before release.

THC (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the neutral, decarboxylated cannabinoid mainly responsible for cannabis's reported intoxicating effects; the living plant makes it almost entirely as THCA.

THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) is the acid cannabinoid that drug-type cannabis makes in its trichomes; heat or time decarboxylates it into THC, losing about 12% of its mass.

THCA synthase is the trichome enzyme that converts CBGA into THCA; which alleles of its gene a plant carries largely decides whether it is THC-dominant.

THCV (tetrahydrocannabivarin) is the propyl-chain (C3) analogue of THC, formed by decarboxylating THCVA; it is a minor cannabinoid in most cultivars but notable in some African-derived lines.

THCVA (tetrahydrocannabivarinic acid) is the acid precursor of THCV, made in trichomes from CBGVA when the plant's pathway starts from divarinic acid instead of olivetolic acid.

The Swap is GenetixBay's pseudonymous, escrowed member-to-member exchange, reviving the Bay's 2009 peer-to-peer roots, running only in the modes local law allows.

Slender insects about 1-2 mm long, chiefly western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis), that rasp leaf surfaces, leaving silvery streaks dotted with black frass.

A tincture is a liquid cannabis preparation in which cannabinoids are dissolved in alcohol, glycerin or oil, usually taken by dropper.

Tissue culture is growing small pieces of a plant on sterile nutrient gel in a sealed vessel, used to multiply, clean up and store cannabis genotypes.

A tissue test is a lab analysis of dried leaf samples that measures the actual nutrient content of the plant, the most reliable way to confirm a deficiency or toxicity.

Top dressing is spreading dry fertiliser or amendments on the soil surface, usually under mulch, so nutrients release into the root zone as the plant is watered.

Top shelf is the highest price tier of flower in a shop, used as slang for any premium-looking cannabis; it reflects pricing and appearance, not verified quality.

Topophysis is the tendency of cuttings to keep traits linked to the position on the mother plant they were taken from, so cuts from different parts can behave differently.

Topping is cutting off a plant's main growing tip just above a node, so the two shoots below grow into two main colas instead of one.

Total cannabinoids is the sum of all cannabinoids a lab measured in a sample, usually reported in % w/w, with acid forms either summed raw or decarboxylation-adjusted.

Total CBD is a calculated figure, CBD plus 0.877 × CBDA, estimating the maximum CBD a sample could yield after full decarboxylation.

Total THC is a calculated figure, Δ9-THC plus 0.877 × THCA, estimating the maximum THC a sample could yield after full decarboxylation.

Track-and-trace is the ability to follow a regulated product through the supply chain and back to its source, the basis of cannabis tracking and recalls.

The evaporation of water from a plant, mainly through open stomata, which pulls water and dissolved nutrients up from the roots.

Transplanting moves a plant and its root ball into a new container or the ground; done gently it causes little shock, but GenetixBay advises against it for autoflowers.

A trellis is a net, mesh or frame that supports plants and spreads their branches, either as a SCROG screen or as support for heavy colas in flower.

A hair-like outgrowth of the plant's skin; in cannabis the glandular types make and store the resin holding cannabinoids and terpenes.

Trichome heads are the bulbous resin-filled tops of capitate glandular trichomes, where cannabis makes and stores nearly all its cannabinoids and terpenes; they are the raw material of hash.

The maturity of glandular trichome heads, read by colour under magnification: clear (immature), cloudy or milky (mature), then amber (ageing).

Trim is the leaf material cut away from buds after harvest, especially the small resin-coated sugar leaves, often saved for making kief, hash or other concentrates.

A true-breeding line produces offspring that consistently look like the parents for a given trait, because the plants are homozygous for the alleles behind it.

The first leaves produced by the shoot tip after the cotyledons, with the plant's characteristic serrated leaflets.

Tucking is moving fan leaves and shoots behind or under others, or beneath a screen, so bud sites get light without removing any leaf area.

Two-point calibration sets a pH meter with two buffers, usually pH 7.00 then 4.01, fixing both its offset and its slope for accurate readings.

Tetranychus urticae, the commonest cannabis mite indoors: a 0.5 mm sap-feeder that stipples leaves pale and spins webbing, breeding fastest in hot, dry rooms.

Underwatering is letting the medium dry too far between waterings, so the plant loses turgor and wilts, with limp, papery leaves and crisping edges if repeated.

Uniformity is how alike the plants of one seed batch are for traits such as height, timing and chemistry; F1s of inbred parents and IBLs are most uniform.

Up-potting moves a plant into progressively larger containers as its roots fill each one, instead of starting in the final pot.

UPOV is the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and its convention, the treaty framework most national plant breeders' rights laws follow.

Urea is a 46% nitrogen organic compound that soil enzymes convert to ammonium; it is cheap in field fertilisers but a poor choice for hydroponic cannabis.

A utility patent protects a new, useful and non-obvious invention; for plants it can cover varieties, seeds, specific traits or breeding and processing methods.

UV-A is ultraviolet light from 315 to 400 nm; plants sense it much like deep blue, and adding it gives no proven gain in yield or potency.

UV-B is ultraviolet light from 280 to 315 nm; added to grow rooms in hopes of more resin, it gives little or no visible difference in controlled trials.

Valencene is a sweet, citrus, orange-peel sesquiterpene named after Valencia oranges and found as a minor terpene in some cannabis cultivars.

Veg time is how long a photoperiod plant is kept in vegetative growth under long days before being flipped to flower, which largely sets its final size.

Vermiculite is expanded mica-like mineral flakes that hold water and nutrients in a mix, used to increase moisture retention rather than drainage.

The smallest known plant pathogen: a short circular RNA, usually 246-401 nucleotides, with no protein coat and no protein-coding genes, copied by the host's own enzymes.

Volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) are trace sulfur-containing aroma molecules, especially prenylated thiols, that give cannabis its skunky, gassy smell at concentrations far below terpenes.

Vapour pressure deficit: how much more water vapour the air could hold at its temperature, in kPa; it is the main environmental driver of transpiration.

A 0-1 measure of how freely available the water in a material is; for dried cannabis flower the accepted range is about 0.55-0.65 aw.

A water activity test measures how much of a sample's water is free to support microbial growth, reported as aw from 0 to 1, with cured flower targeted around 0.55-0.65.

Submerging harvested buds in water, changed daily for about a week, to leach out water-soluble compounds before drying; GenetixBay labels it Contested and does not recommend it.

Watering to runoff means applying enough water or solution that some drains from the bottom of the container, typically 10-20% of the volume applied.

Wax is an opaque, soft-to-crumbly solvent-based concentrate whose texture comes from cannabinoids partly crystallising; budder and crumble are its creamy and dry variants.

Trimming sugar leaves from buds immediately after harvest, while the plant is still fresh, before drying.

The weight of cannabis freshly cut, before drying; buds typically lose about 70-80% of it, so dry weight is roughly a quarter of wet.

The wet-dry cycle is the alternation between watering a container and letting it dry back, which refreshes oxygen in the root zone between irrigations.

A fungal disease caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum that girdles stems with cottony white growth and hard black sclerotia, killing branches above the lesion.

Small white-winged sap-sucking insects of the family Aleyrodidae, mainly Trialeurodes vaporariorum and Bemisia tabaci, that fly up when disturbed and coat leaves in honeydew.

Drying an entire harvested plant upside down, uncut except at the base, so the large stem mass slows the dry.

A wick system is a passive watering method in which an absorbent cord draws water or nutrient solution up from a reservoir into the medium by capillary action.

Wild Pearls are GenetixBay points earned by contributing, such as journals, males, preservation and trials; they can move between members but have no cash value.

Cannabis uses an XY sex determination system: females carry two X chromosomes (XX) and males an X and a Y (XY), so regular seed is roughly half male.

The plant's water-conducting tissue, which carries water and dissolved mineral ions upward from roots to leaves, driven mainly by transpiration.

Yield is the dry weight of usable flower harvested, usually expressed per plant, per square metre of canopy (g/m²) or per watt of light (g/W).

Yield photon flux density: PPFD weighted by how efficiently each wavelength drives photosynthesis (the McCree curve), so red photons count more than blue.

Zaza is slang for flower marketed as premium or exotic, usually with loud aroma and bright bag appeal; the word signals price and fashion, not tested quality.

Zinc (Zn) is a micronutrient needed for auxin production and many enzymes; deficiency gives small, twisted new leaves and shortened internodes.

Zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) is the standard soluble zinc salt for micronutrient mixes, about 22.7% Zn as the heptahydrate and 35.5% as the monohydrate.