Marijuana Botany

Rating:
Summary: Dear Nasmus
Review: Although this book is very detailed on the scientific aspects of marajuana, I found it very texty and hard to grasp for the average grower. I wouldn't recommend this book for those just wishing to learn more about growing. However, if you are into the genetics aspect etc then you will definitely like it. Personally I was disappointed with my purchase, and wish I had spent my $$ on info I could actually use. I rated this book at three stars, but I notice that my finished copy is only showing one star...not my doing, I assure you, and can't change it no matter how many times I try.

Rating:
Summary: A Masters Thesis, Not a "How To Grow Really Strong Pot" book
Review: First of all, if we stick to the facts, Robert Clarke wrote this text as his master's thesis to earn his graduate degree in botany from UC Berkeley, not so that a bunch of dopers could grow stronger weed. With that in mind, think about the subject material; this book was written for scientists and botanists with MSc and PhD level accreditations in botany, not Phineas, Freewheeling Franklin, or Fat Freddie and his cat...

I think that most reviews of this book are negative because they do not understand the nature of this work. In all actuality, it is a very important piece of work that quite thoroughly details genetic breeding of a particular species of plant, and that just so happens to be marijuana...

If you want a very good "how to grow kick-butt weed" book, pick up a copy of, "Indoor Marijuana Horticulture" by Jorge Cervantes; its better suited to the layperson who wants to try growing at home. Another book I found helpful for consulting was "Marijuana Grower's Insiders Guide" by Mel Frank...

Rating:
Summary: Excellent text on arranging a breeding environment
Review: If you have read some other reviews posted for this book then it would seem as if this researcher was talking out his ass but if you bother to actually read the book at all then you will realize that the information provided may or may not be intended for either your level of education as far as cannabis goes or for the specific agenda behind your reasons for growing cannabis.
No it is not a book for the first hand grower, and No this book will not tell you specifically what you need to know for how to grow some "killer bud" but if you want basically a manual for how to develop a purposeful breeding growing regimine and the best way to establish a sterile environment and efficient pollen collection and cultivation techniques then this is the book upon which it wouldn't hurt to start your reading collection.
This book was written in the eighties as has yet to be updated but it is useful and informative. The research however outdated is still competant and unbiased and anytime that you have definative data you should try to learn from it. The stated research spans nearly half a century of labratory and field study from doctors, scientists, horticulurists, and regular old smokey joe from down the street, as a person who has spent a number of years in the research and breeding fields I appreciated the fact that someone else had done the grunt work.
As a person who done some research, here is one thing which I can tell you that is probably the single most important thing anyone can tell you, do your homework!, if growing cannabis is something that you want to do with success then wouldn't you want to find the best way to do it with as little effort and waste as possible the best way that you can do this is READ, books, magazines, college research papers, jotted notes, articles on the internet and do your own kind of gruntwork, talk to competant people who have grown and produced, but most of all don't make any hardcore decisions about who's word you are going to follow and don't take it all to heart.
There is all kind of hype out there and books that have been written by noted celebrity types and documented so called "authorities" on the subject for your sake don't decide to go with anyone specific person's material the more broad based your knowledge the better chance you have of starting the perfect crop.
Probably the single most important piece of information I gleamed from this book is how the plant reacts to environment, chemical, and altitudinal changes, this kind of detailed information is exactly what should be contained in a botany book, and in my humble opinion R.C. Clarke has done a tremendous job of putting this information together.

Rating:
Summary: Read the FULL TITLE of the book!
Review: Marijuana Botany: An Advanced Study In the Propagation & Breeding of Distinctive Cannabis

ADVANCED. This is NOT the book to read if you have never grown or have no knowledge of basic concepts of growing marijuana. This is not a BASIC 'How-To' book. It says ADVANCED and it means just that! This is a study in ADVANCED MJ techniques and information of selective genetic manipulation and breeding. If you want an 'I just need to know how to grow herb.' book, DON'T BUY THIS ONE.

Rating:
Summary: Long on history, short on information
Review: Not a practical handbook for growers. More of a textbook than a how to. There is some useful information if you're willing to sift through the dissertations on botany. It would have been far better to condense all the important stuff about growing, (nothing specific on fertilzers for instance) and simplify the layout to a step by step guide with footnotes on all the technical stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Read the FULL TITLE of the book!
Review: Okay, you want to learn about cannabis breeding. Read something else. You can want to learn how to grow pot? Read something else. Clarke brings us a book that has the following problems: It presumes that you will understand basic genetic. It presumes that you know about growing. It presumes that you will understand how to do punnet squares and understand what terms like Heterozygous and Homozygous means. He tries to explain them as best he can but you will have to get another book to actually understand what he means. When you have done this and learned some basic genetics then you will read this book and find that most of it will not get you anywhere as a breeder or a grower.

The first time I read this book I came away thinking that I learned something new. Then I tried talking to a few breeders and got the old... "You have been reading Clarke haven't you?".... Breeders recognise this book as being shallow and out of touch with the cannabis breeding community. I will give you my case for this comment too. Here are a few questions about this book I had after reading it. Why doesn't he go and site a few comments made by actual cannabis breeders or a case study from a known cannabis breeder? (Who are more than willing to talk about their work if you search on the internet). Why doesn't he actually tell us about the history of a famous strain? Why does this book seem very vague?? I guess the only reason he has not done this is because he has probably never wanted to listen to a real breeder talk about their work. He does talk about people like Warmke who did some research during World War 2, but nothing about the breeders of today. That should set off a few warning bells for you about this book. When I buy books like this I want to read about something substantial behind the theory. That never emerges.

If you want to learn about cannabis breeding then read about Gregor Mendel and follow this up by reading books on `How to true breed traits in Dogs and Cats'. Any book on plant genetics and breeding will give you a much better insight into cannabis botany than this book will. Growers and breeders will only recommend this book for a quick scan and forget. Cannabis breeders use techniques that most common plant breeders do. This book is not good and not worth the hype. It even has a quote from some guy called Richard Evans Schultes-Director, Harvard Botanical Museum who says - "Robert Clarkes splendid effort will be widely appreciated. His Marijuana Botany will be constantly consulted by a wide variety of researchers in the years to come." Well unfortunately that prediction has been short lived. No good cannabis breeder will recommend this book to anyone who is serious about cannabis botany. It is out of touch with the market, out of touch with breeding techniques and out of touch with the growing community. This book is in a world of it's own.

Rating:
Summary: Clarke¿s Marijuana Botany Review + What You Really Want!
Review: The best place to start with this review is to tell you that you do not want this book if you are new to growing. This is not where you want to be going. Getting this book is a mistake which many new growers have made. So you have been warned!! There are other books that cover cannabis cultivation much more accurately like "The Cannabis Grow Bible" by Greg Green which I very highly recommend or "Indoor Marijuana Horticulture" by Jorge Cervantes a reasonably good grow guide. I find Ed Rosenthal's books a little wrong at times and Mel Franks work is far too old to be practical these days. So if you are looking for cultivation information go in that direction first but if you want some cannabis botany science and breeding information then carry on with this review.

The book is divided into four sections. The Sinsemilla Life Cycle of Cannabis, the Propagation of Cannabis, Genetics and Breeding of Cannabis, and finally Maturation and Harvesting of Cannabis.

The first section is very short and deals with the basic cycle of the cannabis plant from seed to the end of its life to the give the reader the basics of how the plant grows - however the botanical features of all the different strains in existence do vary from Clarke's basic descriptions, but at least his references are explained in extreme detail along with plant morphology. It is an important introduction chapter for what the rest of the book has to offer.

The second section is about the different ways that cannabis can be continued either by seeds or cloning and so this chapters covers both cloning and pollination but it is mostly concerned with pollen and manual pollination techniques. The seed selection part of this chapter is redundant and not really advised as a selection criteria for selecting seeds. There is only one way to know what a new hybrid seed can produce and that is to grow it out. The cloning section covers rooting and hormones, both important parts of the cloning technique for those who want to replicate their mother plant over and over again. The final part of this chapter deals with grafting, which is more of an experiment you can do but it is not used by cannabis cultivators. The chapter finishes with pruning, to help improve your yields.

The third section is really what this book is all about - the genetics of cannabis, and it can be confusing at the best of times because it dives right into it without much of a helper at the start, so be warned you will need something else to help you make head or tale of this section but I will come to that in a moment. After introducing us to the world of filial generations (F1, F2 ...) , heterozygous and homozygous, Clarke quickly turns to Polyploidy. Now this is a manmade condition which is inflicted on the cannabis plant to alter its chromosome number. The author believes this may increase potency but recent evaluation of Polyploidy cannabis and genetics have proven otherwise, but you will find this interesting all the same. The author then comes to meat of the book - breeding. Now this is 50/50 presentation. There is a whack load of breeding information that is extremely helpful and a ton of stuff that is very specialized towards strains that most of us will never see or work with because no one sells them anymore. You will also find references to the botanical aspects of the plant and how these traits can be mixed and fixed by breeding. Interesting and useful and this is probably the most important part of the book and the most often referred to by breeders.

The forth part of the book is about harvest times and how to judge them. The author also covers Cannabinoid Biosynthesis, but a lot of this has since changed since he wrote about it. Useful though, and you will reference it if you are interested in cannabinoids - but there are better books on cannabinoids out there. The book finishes by covering curing techniques and storage.

Now listen closely because this is exactly what I recommend you to do if you are interested in breeding cannabis. Do not get this book first. First of all you should take a look at "The Cannabible" by Jason King. It also contains an introduction by Clarke and will give you a look at the different cannabis strain, but forget the breeding section in that book because it has inaccuracies and is not the best. Your next move is a good grow book. Now you would do well to buy several but if you can only afford one get "The Cannabis Grow Bible" by Greg Green. Forget the garbage PDF that you might find on the internet of that book. It is old (2001) and is missing a lot. Get the 2003 paperback edition which is vastly superior and very different. "The Cannabis Grow Bible" has an excellent Chapter on Breeding and is an absolute 'must have' for anybody interested in breeding. That chapter alone is sometimes more useful than this whole book from Clarke. Once you have that book and chapter you will be in a much better position to use this book from Clarke. I can guarantee you that now. Forget about the breeding chapter in "Marijuana Indoor Horticulture" by Jorge Cervantes. Its bunk. The author of that book claims that clones loose their genetic integrity with every generation. That is nonsense and voids that whole chapter of his book. If you are looking for a good book on cannabinoids then get "Marijuana Chemistry: Genetics, Processing & Potency" by Michael Starks. Okay this is the best I can do for you. Do get this book though. Just follow the path above and you will achieve your breeding goals. Good Luck.

Rating:
Summary: Old but still good
Review: This is a good book about the marijuana plant itself but is a bit dated. Still if you want to learn more about breeding and plant physiognomy then this is a good choice.