Male, Female.. whats the difference?
Unlike many plants that have BOTH male and female organs in them, cannabis has two different male and female plants.
The males tend to grow faster and have longer, skinnier leaves. They also have pollen pods that dispurse pollen when the time comes.
They are usualy thrown-out because they do not produce buds. They are usualy good for 2 reasons:
Breeding
and Hemp.
Once you spot a male (and your SURE it's a male.) dispose of it quickly and be sure not to shake it or get it close to a female. If a female produces seeds, that will be less bud for you.
Females are easy to identify. When they mature little pistils will come out of the female. They are little white 'hair-like' pistils. Once you see these you know you have a female.. thus.. a keeper.

It's got buds... now what?
Now that your lovely plant has buds it's time for the final process.
Tie a BLACK trash bag over your marijuana plant and keep it over it for 48 hours (2 days).
This will make sure the plant has NO LIGHT!
This will trick the plant into thinking it's dying and it will start to focus all energy on making the bud bigger.
After this cut away all the foliage around your bud (BUT NOT THE LEAVES ATTACHED TO THE BUD).
Do not shake, or russle the bud too much because it will disrupt the resin crystals on the bud.
The resin crystals are those ice-like crystals forming on the leaves and bud.
This alone, is called keef or hand-hash.
You want to keep this all on there.
Now, cut off all the big leaves on the bud that have almost no keef on them and that are sticking out.
Hang your bud, upside down in a cool (not cold!), dry, dark place to dry. Wait 3 to 5 days and check on it.
Make sure its thourogly dry but not bone-dry. Like tobacco dry.
Now, to CURE your bud, place it in an air-tight Moisure-free glass jar. Then place it on a shelf or wherever (away from light) for 3 weeks. Afterwards (still being careful of that keef!) take it out and it's ready to smoke!

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