Indoor Marijuana Cultivation


Table of Contents
Introduction 
Soil 
Containers 
Fertilizer 
Light 
Energy Emissions In Arbitrary Color Bands 
Temperature and Humidity 
Ventilation 
Dehumidifying your Growing Room 
Watering 
Bugs 
Pruning 
Harvesting and Curing 



Introduction: 
Growing marijuana indoors is fast becoming an American Pastime. The reasons are 
varied. With the increased interest and experimentation in house plant 
cultivation, it was inevitable that people would apply their knowledge of plant 
care to growing marijuana. Many of those who occasionally like to light up a 
joint may find it difficult to locate a source or are hesitant to deal with a 
perhaps unsavory element of society in procuring their grass. There is, of 
course, the criminal aspect of buying or selling grass; Growing marijuana is 
just as illegal as buying, selling, or smoking it, but growing is something you 
can do in the privacy of your own home without having to deal with someone you 
don't know or trust. The best reason for growing your own is the enjoyment you 
will get out of watching those tiny little seeds you picked out of you stash 
sprout and become some of the most lovely and lush of all house plants.
Anyone Can Do It 
Even if you haven't had any prior experience with growing plants in you home, 
you can have a successful crop of marijuana by following the simple directions 
in this pamphlet. If you have had problems in the past with marijuana 
cultivation, you may find the solutions in the following chapters. Growing a 
marijuana plant involves four basic steps: 
Get the seeds. If you don't already have some, you can ask your friends to 
save you seeds out of any good grass they may come across. You'll find that 
lots of people already have a seed collection of some sort and are willing to 
part with a few prime seeds in exchange for some of the finished product. 
Germinate the seeds. You can simply drop a seed into moist soil, but by 
germinating the seeds first you can be sure that the seed will indeed produce 
a plant. To germinate seeds, place a group of them between about six moist 
paper towels, or in the pores of a moist sponge. Leave the towels or sponge 
moist but not soaking wet. Some seeds will germinate in 24 hours while others 
may take several days or even a week. 
Plant the sprouts. As soon as a seed cracks open and begins to sprout, place 
it on some moist soil and sprinkle a little soil over the top of it. 
Supply the plants with light. Flourescent lights are the best. Hang the lights 
with two inches of the soil and after the plants appear above the ground, 
continue to keep the lights with two inches of the plants. It is as easy as 
that. If you follow those four steps you will grow a marijuana plant. To 
ensure prime quality and the highest yield in the shortest time period, 
however, a few details are necessary. 
Soil 
Your prime concern, after choosing high quality seeds, is the soil. Use the best 
soil you can get. Scrimping on the soil doesn't pay off in the long run. If you 
use unsterilized soil you will almost certainly find parasites in it, probably 
after it is too late to transplant your marijuana. You can find excellent soil 
for sale at your local plant shop or nursery, K-Mart, Wal Mart, and even some 
grocery stores. The soil you use should have these properties for the best 
possible results: 
It should drain well. That is, it should have some sand in it and also some 
sponge rock or pearlite. 
The ph should be between 6.5 and 7.5 since marijuana does not do well in 
acidic soil. High acidity in soil encourages the plant to be predominantly 
male, an undesirable trait. 
The soil should also contain humus for retaining moisture and nutrients. 
If you want to make your own soil mixture, you can use this recipe: Mix two 
parts moss with one part sand and one part pearlite or sponge rock to each four 
gallons of soil. Test your soil for ph with litmus paper or with a soil testing 
kit available at most plant stores. To raise the ph of the soil, add 1/2 lb. 
lime to 1 cubic foot of soil to raise the ph one point. If you absolutely insist 
on using dirt you dug up from your driveway, you must sterilize it by baking it 
in your oven for about an hour at 250 degrees. Be sure to moisten it thoroughly 
first and also prepare yourself for a rapid evacuation of your kitchen because 
that hot soil is going to stink. Now add to the mixture about one tablespoon of 
fertilizer (like Rapid-Gro) per gallon gallon of soil and blend it in 
thoroughly. Better yet, just skip the whole process and spend a couple bucks on 
some soil. 
Containers
After you have prepared your soil, you will have to come up with some kind of 
container to plant in. The container should be sterilized as well, especially if 
they have been used previously for growing other plants. The size of the 
container has a great deal to do with the rate of growth and overall size of the 
plant. You should plan on transplanting your plant not more than one time, since 
the process of transplanting can be a shock to the plant and it will have to 
undergo a recovery period in which growth is slowed or even stopped for a short 
while. The first container you use should be no larger than six inches in 
diameter and can be made of clay or plastic. To transplant, simply prepare the 
larger pot by filling it with soil and scooping out a little hole about the size 
of the smaller pot that the plant is in. Turn the plant upside down, pot and 
all, and tap the rim of the pot sharply on a counter or the edge of the sink. 
The soil and root ball should come out of the pot cleanly with the soil 
retaining the shape of the pot and with no disturbances to the root ball. 
Another method that can bypass the transplanting problem is using a Jiffy-Pot. 
Jiffy pots are made of compressed peat moss and can be planted right into moist 
soil where they decompose and allow the passage of the root system through their 
walls. The second container should have a volume of at least three gallons. 
Marijuana doesn't like to have its roots bound or cramped for space, so always 
be sure that the container you use will be deep enough for your plant's root 
system. It is very difficult to transplant a five-foot marijuana tree, so plan 
ahead. It is going to get bigger. The small plants should be ready to transplant 
into their permanent homes in about two weeks. Keep a close watch on them after 
the first week or so and avoid root binding at all costs since the plants never 
seem to do as well once they have been stunted by the cramping of their roots. 
Fertilizer
Marijuana likes lots of food, but you can do damage to the plants if you are too 
zealous. Some fertilizers can burn a plant and damage its roots if used in to 
high a concentration. Most commercial soil will have enough nutrients in it to 
sustain the plant for about three weeks of growth so you don't need to worry 
about feeding your plant until the end of the third week. The most important 
thing to remember is to introduce the fertilizer concentration to the plant 
gradually. Start with a fairly diluted fertilizer solution and gradually 
increase the dosage. There are several good marijuana fertilizers on the 
commercial market, two of which are Rapid-Gro and Eco-Grow. Rapid-Gro has had 
widespread use in marijuana cultivation and is available in most parts of the 
United States. Eco-Grow is also especially good for marijuana since it contains 
an ingredient that keeps the soil from becoming acid. Most fertilizers cause a 
ph change in the soil. Adding fertilizer to the soil almost always results in a 
more acidic ph. 
As time goes on, the amount of salts produced by the breakdown of fertilizers in 
the soil causes the soil to become increasingly acidic and eventually the 
concentration of these salts in the soil will stunt the plant and cause browning 
out of the foliage. Also, as the plant gets older its roots become less 
effective in bringing food to the leaves. To avoid the accumulation of these 
salts in your soil and to ensure that your plant is getting all of the food it 
needs you can begin leaf feeding your plant at the age of about 1.5 months. 
Dissolve the fertilizer in worm water and spray the mixture directly onto the 
foliage. The leaves absorb the fertilizer into their veins. If you want to 
continue to put fertilizer into the soil as well as leaf feeding, be sure not to 
overdose your plants. 
Remember to increase the amount of food your plant receives gradually. Marijuana 
seems to be able to take as much fertilizer as you want to give it as long as it 
is introduced over a period of time. During the first three months or so, 
fertilize your plants every few days. As the rate of foliage growth slows down 
in the plant's preparation for blooming and seed production, the fertilizer 
intake of the plant should be slowed down as well. Never fertilize the plant 
just before you are going to harvest it since the fertilizer will encourage 
foliage production and slow down resin production. A word here about the most 
organic of fertilizers: worm castings. As you may know, worms are raised 
commercially for sale to gardeners. The breeders put the worms in organic 
compost mixtures and while the worms are reproducing they eat the organic matter 
and expel some of the best marijuana food around. After the worms have eaten all 
the organic matter in the compost, they are removed and sold and the remains are 
then sold as worm castings. These castings are so rich that you can grow 
marijuana in straight worm castings. This isn't really necessary however, and it 
is somewhat impractical since the castings are very expensive. If you can afford 
them you can, however, blend them in with your soil and they will make a very 
good organic fertilizer. 
Light
Without light, the plants cannot grow. In the countries in which marijuana grows 
best, the sun is the source of light. The amount of light and the length of the 
growing season in these countries results in huge tree-like plants. In most 
parts of North America, however, the sun is not generally intense enough for 
long enough periods of time to produce the same size and quality of plants that 
grow with ease in Latin America and other tropical countries. The answer to the 
problem of lack of sun, especially in the winter months, shortness of the 
growing season, and other problems is to grow indoor under simulated conditions. 
The rule of thumb seems to be the more light, the better. In one experiment we 
know of, eight eight-foot VHO Gro-Lux fixtures were used over eight plants. The 
plants grew at an astonishing rate. The lights had to be raised every day. There 
are many types of artificial light and all of them do different things to your 
plants. The common incandescent light bulb emits some of the frequencies of 
light the plant can use, but it also emits a high percentage of far red and 
infra-red light which cause the plant to concentrate its growth on the stem. 
This results in the plant stretching toward the light bulb until it becomes so 
tall and spindly that it just weakly topples over. There are several brands of 
bulb type. One is the incandescent plant spot light which emits higher amounts 
of red and blue light than the common light bulb. It is an improvement, but has 
it drawbacks. it is hot, for example, and cannot be placed close to the plants. 
Consequently, the plant has to stretch upwards again and is in danger of 
becoming elongated and falling over. The red bands of light seem to encourage 
stem growth which is not desirable in growing marijuana. the idea is to 
encourage foliage growth for obvious reasons. Gro-Lux lights are probably the 
most common flourescent plant lights. In our experience with them, they have 
proven themselves to be extremely effective. They range in size from one to 
eight feet in length so you can set up a growing room in a closet or a 
warehouse. There are two types of Gro-Lux lights: The standard and the wide 
spectrum. They can be used in conjunction with on another, but the wide spectrum 
lights are not sufficient on their own. The wide spectrum lights were designed 
as a supplementary light source and are cheaper than the standard lights. Wide 
spectrum lights emit the same bands of light as the standard but the standard 
emit higher concentrations of red and blue bands that the plants need to grow. 
The wide spectrum lights also emit infra-red, the effect of which on stem growth 
we have already discussed. If you are planning to grow on a large scale, you 
might be interested to know that the regular flourescent lamps and fixtures, the 
type that are used in commercial lighting, work well when used along with 
standard Gro- Lux lights. These commercial lights are called cool whites, and 
are the cheapest of the flourescent lights we have mentioned. They emit as much 
blue light as the Gro-Lux standards and the blue light is what the plants use in 
foliage growth. 
Now we come to the question of intensity. Both the standard and wide spectrum 
lamps come in three intensities: regular output, high output, and very high 
output. You can grow a nice crop of plants under the regular output lamps and 
probably be quite satisfied with our results. The difference in using the HO or 
VHO lamps is the time it takes to grow a crop. Under a VHO lamp, the plants grow 
at a rate that is about three times the rate at which they grow under the 
standard lamps. People have been known to get a plant that is four feet tall in 
two months under one of these lights. Under the VHO lights, one may have to 
raise the lights every day which means a growth rate of ate least two inches a 
day. The only drawback is the expense of the VHO lamps and fixtures. The VHO 
lamps and fixtures are almost twice the price of the standard. If you are 
interested in our opinion, they are well worth it. Now that you have your lights 
up, you might be curious about the amount of light to give you plants per day. 
The maturation date of your plants is dependent on how much light they receive 
per day. The longer the dark period per day, the sooner the plant will bloom. 
Generally speaking, the less dark per day the better during the first six months 
of the plant's life. The older the plant is before it blooms and goes to seed, 
the better the grass will be. After the plant is allowed to bloom, its metabolic 
rate is slowed so that the plant's quality does not increase with the age at the 
same rate it did before it bloomed. The idea, then, is to let the plant get as 
old as possible before allowing it to mature so that the potency will be a high 
as possible at the time of harvest. One relatively sure way to keep your plants 
from blooming until you are ready for them is to leave the lights on all the 
time. Occasionally a plant will go ahead and bloom anyway, but it is the 
exception rather than the rule. If your plants receive 12 hours of light per day 
they will probably mature in 2 to 2.5 months. If they get 16 hours of light per 
day they will probably be blooming in 3.5 to 4 months. With 18 hours of light 
per day, they will flower in 4.5 to 5 months. Its a good idea to put your lights 
on a timer to ensure that the amount of light received each day remains 
constant. A "vacation" timer, normally used to make it look like you are home 
while you are away, works nicely and can be found at most hardware or discount 
stores. 
Energy Emissions In Arbitrary Color Bands 40 Watt Flourescent Lamps 
In Watts and Percent of Total Emissions 
DaylightCool WhiteGro-LuxGroLux WS
Light Type>BandWatts%Watts%Watts%Watts%
Ultra-Violet-3800.1862.15 0.16 1.68 0.10 1.420.27 3.16 
Violet380-430 0.832 9.60 0.72 7.57 0.70 9.67 1.07 12.48 
Blue 430-490 2.41827.91 1.98 20.78 1.96 27.07 1.22 14.29 
Green 490-560 2.372 27.38 2.3524.671.02 14.02 1.24 14.49 
Yellow 560-590 1.259 14.531.74 18.27 0.10 1.42 0.83 9.77 
Orange 590-630 1.144 13.21 1.69 17.750.44 6.05 1.36 15.93 
Red 630-700 0.452 6.220.81 8.472.8639.55 1.86 21.78 
Far Red 700-7800.130 1.53 0.07 0.810.06 0.80 0.69 8.10 
Total 8.890100.09.52100.07.24100.08.54100.0 

Temperature and Humidity
The ideal temperature for the light hours is 68 to 78 degrees fahrenheit and for 
the dark hours there should be about a 15 degree drop in temperature. The 
growing room should be relatively dry if possible. What you want is a resinous 
coating on the leaves and to get the plant to do this, you must convince it that 
it needs the resinous coating on its leaves to protect itself from drying out. 
In an extremely humid room, the plants develop wide leaves and do not produce as 
much resin. You must take care not to let the temperature in a dry room become 
too hot, however, since the plant cannot assimilate water fast enough through 
its roots and its foliage will begin to brown out. 
Ventilation 
Proper ventilation in your growing room is fairly important. The more plants you 
have in one room, the more important good ventilation becomes. Plants breathe 
through their leaves. The also rid themselves of poisons through their leaves. 
If proper ventilation is not maintained, the pores of the leaves will become 
clogged and the leaves will die. If there is a free movement of air, the poisons 
can evaporate off the leaves and the plant can breathe and remain healthy. 
In a small closet where there are only a few plants you can probably create 
enough air circulation just by opening the door to look at them. Although it is 
possible to grow healthy looking plants in poorly ventilated rooms, they would 
be larger and healthier if they had a fresh supply of air coming in. If you 
spend a lot of time in your growing room, your plants will grow better because 
they will be using the carbon dioxide that you are exhaling around them. It is 
sometimes quite difficult to get a fresh supply of air in to your growing room 
because your room is usually hidden away in a secret corner of your house, 
possibly in the attic or basement. In this case, a fan will create some movement 
of air. It will also stimulate your plants into growing a healthier and sturdier 
stalk. Often times in an indoor environment, the stems of plants fail to become 
rigid because they don't have to cope with elements of wind and rain. To a 
degree, though, this is an advantage because the plant puts most of its energy 
into producing leaves and resin instead of stems. 
Dehumidifying Your Growing Room
Cannabis that grows in a hot, dry climate will have narrower leaves than 
cannabis grown in a humid atmosphere. The reason is that in a dry atmosphere the 
plant can respirate easier because the moisture on the leaves evaporates faster. 
In a humid atmosphere, the moisture cannot evaporate as fast. Consequently, the 
leaves have to be broader with more surface area in order to expel the wastes 
that the plant put out. Since the broad leaves produce less resin per leaf than 
the narrow there will be more resin in an ounce of narrow leaves than in one 
ounce of broad leaves. There may be more leaf mass in the broader leafed plants, 
but most people are growing their own for quality rather than quantity. 
Since the resin in the marijuana plant serves the purpose of keeping the leaves 
from drying out, there is more apt to be a lot of resin produced in a dry room 
than in a humid one. In the Sears catalog, dehumidifiers cost around $100.00 and 
are therefore a bit impractical for the "hobby grower." 
Watering
If you live near a clear mountain stream, you can skip this bit on the quality 
of water. Most of us are supplied water by the city and some cities add more 
chemicals to the water than others. They all add chlorine, however, in varying 
quantities. Humans over the years have learned to either get rid of it somehow 
or to live with it, but your marijuana plants won't have time to acquire a taste 
for it so you had better see that they don't have to. Chlorine will evaporate if 
you let the water stand for 24 hours in an open container. Letting the water 
stand for a day or two will serve a dual purpose: The water will come to room 
temperature during that period of time and you can avoid the nasty shock your 
plants suffer when you drench them with cold water. Always water with room 
temperature to lukewarm water. If your water has an excessive amount of chlorine 
in it, you may want to get some anti- chlorine drops at the local fish or pet 
store. The most important thing about watering is to do it thoroughly. You can 
water a plant in a three gallon container with as much as three quarts of water. 
The idea is to get the soil evenly moist all the way to the bottom of the pot. 
If you use a little water, even if you do it often, it seeps just a short way 
down into the soil and any roots below the moist soil will start to turn upwards 
toward the water. The second most important thing about watering is to see to it 
that the pot has good drainage. There should be some holes in the bottom so that 
any excess water will run out. If the pot won't drain, the excess water will 
accumulate in a pocket and rot the roots of the plant or simply make the soil 
sour or mildew. The soil, as we said earlier, must allow the water to drain 
evenly through it and must not become hard or packed. If you have made sure that 
the soil contains sand and pearlite, you shouldn't have drainage problems. To 
discover when to water, feel the soil with your finger. if you feel moisture in 
the soil, you can wait a day or two to water. The soil near the top of the pot 
is always drier than the soil further down. You can drown your plant just as 
easily as you can let it get too dry and it is more likely to survive a dry 
spell than it is to survive a torrential flood. Water the plants well when you 
water and don't water them at all when they don't need it. 
Bugs 
If you can avoid getting bugs in the first place you will be much better off. 
Once your plants become infested you will probably be fighting bugs for the rest 
of your plants' lives. To avoid bugs be sure to use sterilized soil and 
containers and don't bring other plants from outside into your growing room. If 
you have bets, ensure that they stay out of your growing room, since they can 
bring in pests on their fur. Examine your plants regularly for signs of insects, 
spots, holes in the leaves, browning of the tips of the leaves, and droopy 
branches. If you find that somehow in spite of all your precautions you have a 
plant room full of bugs, you'll have to spray your plants with some kind of 
insecticide. You'll want to use something that will kill the bugs and not you. 
Spider mites are probably the bug that will do the most damage to the marijuana 
plants. One of the reasons is that they are almost microscopic and very hard to 
spot. They are called spider mites because they leave a web-like substance 
clinging to the leaves. They also cause tiny little spots to appear on the 
leaves. Probably the first thing you'll notice, however, is that your plants 
look sick and depressed. The mites suck enzymes from the leaves and as a result 
the leaves lose some of their green color and glossiness. Sometimes the leaves 
look like they have some kid of fungus on them. The eggs are very tiny black 
dots. You might be wise to get a magnifying glass so that you can really 
scrutinize your plants closely. Be sure to examine the underside of the leaves 
too. The mites will often be found clinging to the underside as well as the top 
of the leaves. The sooner you start fighting the bugs, the easier it will be to 
get rid of them. For killing spider mites on marijuana, one of the best 
insecticides if "Fruit and Berry" spray made by Millers. Ortho also produces 
several insecticides that will kill mites. The ingredients to look for are 
Kelthane and Malathion [erowid note- Malathion may be very toxic to humans, 
should be handled very carefully, and is certainly not intended for indoor use. 
It also seems highly preferrable to avoid spraying pesticides or any chemicals 
on plants that will be smoked without being washed thoroughly first.] Both of 
these poisons are lethal to humans and pets as well as bugs, but they both 
detoxify in about ten days so you can safely smoke the grass ten days after 
spraying. Fruit and Berry will only kill the adult mite, however, and you'll 
have to spray every four days for about two weeks to be sure that you have 
killed all the adults before they have had a chance to lay eggs. Keep a close 
watch on your plants because it only takes one egg laying adult to re- infest 
your plants and chances are that one or two will escape your barrage of 
insecticides. If you see little bugs flying around your plants, they are 
probably white flies. The adults are immune to almost all the commercial 
insecticides except Fruit and Berry which will not kill the eggs or larva. It is 
the larval stage of this insect that does the most damage. They suck out enzymes 
too, and kill your plants if they go unchecked. You will have to get on a 
spraying program just as was explained in the spider mite section. 
An organic method of bug control is using soap suds. Put Ivory flakes in some 
lukewarm water and work up the suds into a lather. Then put the suds over the 
plant. The obvious disadvantage is it you don't rinse the soap off the plant 
you'll taste the soap when you smoke the leaves. 
Pruning 
We have found that pruning is not always necessary. The reason one does it in 
the first place is to encourage secondary growth and to allow light to reach the 
immature leaves. Some strands of grass just naturally grow thick and bushy and 
if they are not clipped the sap moves in an uninterrupted flow right to the top 
of the plant where it produces flowers that are thick with resin. On the other 
hand, if your plants appear tall and spindly for their age at three weeks, they 
probably require a little trimming to ensure a nice full leafy plant. At three 
weeks of age your plant should have at least two sets of branches or four leaf 
clusters and a top. To prune the plant, simply slice the top off just about the 
place where two branches oppose each other. Use a razor blade in a straight cut. 
If you want to, you can root the top in some water and when the roots appear, 
plant the top in moist soil and it should grow into another plant. If you are 
going to root the top you should cut the end again, this time with a diagonal 
cut so as to expose more surface to the water or rooting solution. The advantage 
to taking cuttings from your plant is that it produces more tops. The tops have 
the resin, and that's the name of the game. Every time you cut off a top, the 
plant seeds out two more top branches at the base of the existing branches. 
Pruning also encourages the branches underneath to grow faster than they 
normally would without the top having been cut. 
Harvesting and Curing 
Well, now that you've grown your marijuana, you will want to cur it right so 
that it smokes clean and won't bite. You can avoid that "homegrown" taste of 
chlorophyll that sometimes makes one's fillings taste like they might be 
dissolving. We know of several methods of curing the marijuana so that it will 
have a mild flavor and a mellow rather than harsh smoke. 
First, pull the plant up roots and all and hang it upside down for 24 hours. 
Then put each plant in a paper grocery bag with the top open for three or four 
days or until the leaves feel dry to the touch. Now strip the leaves off the 
stem and put them in a glass jar with a lid. Don't pack the leaves in tightly, 
you want air to reach all the leaves. The main danger in the curing process is 
mold. If the leaves are too damp when you put them into the jar, they will mold 
and since the mold will destroy the resins, mold will ruin your marijuana. you 
should check the jars every day by smelling them and if you smell an acrid 
aroma, take the weed out of the jar and spread it out on newspaper so that it 
can dry quickly. Another method is to uproot the plants and hang them upside 
down. You get some burlap bags damp and slip them up over the plants. Keep the 
bags damp and leave them in the sun for at least a week. Now put the plants in a 
paper bag for a few days until the weed is dry enough to smoke. Like many fine 
things in life, marijuana mellows out with age. The aging process tends to 
remove the chlorophyll taste. Editor's Note and Important Warning: 
This pamphlet was written about 8 years ago. While the facts, figures, and 
methods described here are still valid, an important note must be added 
concerning the purchasing of equipment and supplies. The information age is upon 
us and and increasing amount of data is being kept about all of us whether we 
realize it or not. With the war on drugs in full effect, the D.E.A. is using 
this information at every possible opportunity. 
When you make a purchase with a credit card, every last bit of information 
regarding that purchase is filed away into a database, both at the store and 
with your credit card company. Not only the price, but the exact date, location, 
and items purchased are recorded and stored away. Many stores and credit card 
companies routinely sell their databases of customers and transactions to 
anybody who can afford it. The D.E.A can certainly afford it. After all, they're 
using your tax dollars. 
The D.E.A. as well as other government agencies DO purchase these databases for 
their own uses. They feed them into their computers and the computers spit out a 
list of anybody with "suspicious" purchases. Any purchases that could be 
associated with drug production, use, or selling could be flagged for further 
investigation. These "suspicious" purchases include unusual chemicals, medical 
supplies such as syringes, lights and timers, and even potting soil and 
fertilizer. 
The point is, if you are planning on purchasing supplies to grow marijuana don't 
take any chances. While the average home grower, who is simply growing enough 
for his own use, would probably never be flagged by the computers, you never 
know. If you are purchasing equipment or supplies, PAY CASH! In addition, many 
supermarkets and discount stores now have some sort of "Preferred Customer" 
cards. When you buy something, regardless of how you pay, you give them your 
card to scan and all of your purchases are recorded. They then send you some 
sort of coupon depending on what and how much you purchased each month. It 
sounds like a good deal, but you wind up having all of your purchases recorded 
and sold just like with the credit cards. DON'T use one of these cards when you 
are purchasing anything that might be deemed suspicious. For that matter, don't 
use them at all. They just result in a ton of junk mail and a lot of people 
knowing exactly what you buy and when you buy it.