Mid Summer Flower: Part 2

If you read part one you would know that this is my backyard four plant personal grow here in Oregon where it is legal to grow cannabis on private property. My last few grow have been greenhouse grow harvest in late Oct – early Nov. Here in the NW the weather gets get real humid by September October and this can lead to powdery mildew on vulnerable plants. So I decided this year I would veg early Feb and flip in June with a blackout tarp. 

HQA1 clone from Oregon Chef

The plan was working great as you can see in part 1 of this story. My Agent Orange and Grape Ape were doing great and my Sour D and HQA1 were making a comeback after some fertilizer experiments. By mid August the plants were in flower and it looked like it was going to be a great season. With the routine of covering in the early evening and venting out by 10pm seemed to keepin the girls happy and healthy. I did have some issues with moisture collecting on the tarp. 

In week 7 of flower the humidity and cold mornings lead to a few cases of bud rot so I isolated those colas add tuck them down. By week 8-9 I can seen my airflow wasn’t enough for the evening heat. I had started harvest the top colas of the early finishers like the HQA1 and the Agent Orange. Clear to cloudy trichomes and health fat buds were the results. I wish I had let them go a little longer. The fact that those colas were to tallest and left little clearance to the tarp was the main reason for bad airflow. 

My week 10 in was harvest the rest of the bottom nugs and taking down the Sour D and Grape Ape. Both of the later plants looked great and Sour D was the leader of the pack with its potency. I had made bubble hash with my the early harvest and it came out looking good but most trichomes were smaller in the 73u.

 This told me that I had a lot of time still left on that plant. The flower all together is great smoke and has done great for my insomnia and sciatica. 

I learned alot this season. Not just the effectiveness of light dep but discipline of the routine of covering by hand and scheduling my life around the garden. It was well worth it for the medicine and for the knowledge I gained. I know now the importance of the small details and conditions needs to keep these plants healthy to flower. All this done on a minimal budget so I know that with some more resources I can do even better. 

Keep growing be happy with what you have and always be ready to learn more. Grow heavy.

AK-48 Update: Super Cropping, Topping, and Watering

The AK-48 mother was having a drinking issue that I had mentioned in past blogs. I began to water the sides of the bag with the hose before watering. This kept the ph’d water from leaking out. She got a good drink so I decided to super crop one more time. I did some training early in veg but I went with a hard snap super crop. She bounced right back with lots of new tops. I have since topped her again and this is the video of her recovery 2 days later.

Oregon Outdoor Grow July 1st Update

Here in the Willamette Valley the heat is always welcome but the thing most complained about in the summer is the humidity. This year I’m not so restless in the outdoors knowing my garden is loving the moisture in the air. Temps outside have been in the 90’s to mid 90’s for about 2 weeks now. The occasional overcast in the morning is just enough to keep the air heavy, just how the plants like it. Keeping hydrated is a must not only for myself but for my big grow bags. They dry up a little faster then traditional pots and have to be checked routinely. I have no regrets making the bags because the air flow also helps keep the heat from building up around the roots.

A lot has changed since my first grow blog. Mostly the plant count in the greenhouse. The test Mystery Indica that I placed outside in the greenhouse as a seedling is thriving and developed a nice trunk and thick stems. The main lining was going great but when the roots took to the soil the bottom growth blow up so fast I decided to keep about five of the off shoots. I still gave an early veg trim just so I can focus the growth on the new tops and the off shoots. I had topped the main lines during the first week it was outside and now I have five new top off the main line. It differently isn’t the two cola plant I visioned when I started but the more the merrier.  Since I had the off shoots I decided to super crop the tops for an even canopy. I couldn’t help myself.

Last night my patient came through to say hi and I noticed my AK48 was looking droopy. Lucky I had my water barrels all filled for the morning plus 5 gallons of tea. I got up before the sun and headed out to the greenhouse and along with me was a clone of the AK48 mother that was getting stressed in it’s little orange pot. My plan is to let the clone adjust to the conditions and dry up before I transplant. I watered the AK48 mother with 3 gallons of tea and 2 gallons of ph’d water. I believe the AK48 plant is drying out faster because of it’s placement in the greenhouse and channels have formed causing the water to stream to the side of the bags. So I did the slow approach. I only use milk jugs, I know I know, but I am stuck in my ways. I sat there and did a slow watering that took about 20 mins and didn’t start coming out the bag till last gallon mid bag.  I think I mentioned this in my previous blog  but I keep my plants searching for water. I don’t keep them thirsty I just don’t water more then soil volume. I have these plants in 50 gallon bags and water 5 gallons of water every 2-3 days. Luckily flushing my plant has not been needed and I am upping the water the bigger the plants are getting.

 

The PineSol is the beast of the ball and broke out of her cage… literally. I had a tomato cage around the plant but I noticed the plant was lifting the cage as it grew. When I tried to anchor it down the plant began to lean so I decided to let the beast free. It was a delicate endeavor but by  late June I got some pliers and opened up the cage and finessed the stems through the holes. There was zero recovery time; the PineSol mother took off and it was a much need change. I am glad I had on at the start. It helped let the middle fill out and was a great trainer but I am glad I was able to remove it. With the summer solstice  just a few days ago plus the heat I noticed some rapid growth causing smaller leaf development. Today the new leafs are filling out and the girls are drinking it up.

 

I don’t usually deal with clones. I find them to be a liability to seedlings especially clones from other growers. I know there are a lot great growers out there but I am doubly safe with my garden.  I was gifted two clones of Critical Mass from a follow ommp grower. Luckily I had constructed a baby hoop house for my herb garden.  I transplanted the cloned into my seedling soil which is Pro-Mix Organic from Down to Earth and placed them in my mini greenhouse separate from the mothers. I also acquired a clone of one my favorite strains of flower, Cinex. This is a big nug producer that is super earthy and frosty. I was gifted the last Cinex clone that was the runt in my local dispensary. Shout out to The Holistic Choice for letting me save this baby. If you read my previous blog you may know I like to experiment and try to stay as organic as possible. That being said I gave outdoor, direct to soil cloning a shot. I got 3 cuttings of both the AK mother and PineSol Mother dunked them in some local honey from a mile away and stuck them into the soil. I used no cloner or plastic bags or humidifier. They all straight up wilted and played dead for the first two days. Slowly they up righted but still continued to shrivel up from the heat and lack of moisture coming through. That thirst helped the cuttings root and new growth started sprouting. The older leaves will have to die off sadly but I got rooted clones with honey, water, and soil.

The plant count hasn’t stopped there. With recreational grows now legal as of today here in Oregon plus the success of my Mystery Indica seedling I have transplanted one of my clones I had cut early in the season and used old school water rooting technique where I placed the cutting in ph’d water for a week and pow a root poked out. It’s now topped and in a 10 gallon pot in the green house and doing great. I also have my two single colas of Blue Mountain and Big Skunk out in the greenhouse as well. With all these plants vegging with the summer solstice and still early in development I have to make plans for bigger grow pots. It’s to late in the season to hope for beasts like the mothers but I still want them grow to their max potential. I am back on the grow bag sweat shop line. I went and got more glue sticks and still have plenty of material for another 6 bags. I’m aiming for 50 gallon bags because of the success of my AK bag. It’s seams are clean and haven’t given and its round and solid. My 60-70 gallon bag for my PineSol mother did have a minor rip that I made worst when I tried to fix. I stopped stepped back and made a bandaid instead. Using extra plastic I had laying around I stapled the opening of the bag shut. The bag has a little bulge on the bottom but it’s still level and solid.

I had a scare with my other Blue Mountain. New growth pods had me thinking male but they sprouted new leafs and its still vegging nicely.  Over all this grow has been super fun and really educational. My patient has been awesome and been very encouraging. We have done some reviews on The Holistic Choice in the greenhouse and I will be giving tours to friends and family during our 4th of July party. I protect my grow because my patient’s medicine is important and I do have different levels of security around our property. That being said my grow is a learning tool not only for myself but for anyone interested in growing. The cannabis plant and the hemp plant are very important to our future. The more we learn the more we can benefit from it and find alternative eco-friendly products.

The Action Bronson Game.

So if your into hip hop, a foodie, or a social media hound you have probably already heard of the man named Action Bronson. Born Arian Asllani and hailing from Flushing, Queens, Action Bronson has hit the underground rap scene hard with his over the top persona. With his aggressive abstract flow and progressive new york hip hop productions Action has traveled the world touring and given some of the most energetic spontaneous performance ever scene. His name says  show,”Fuck That’s Delicious“, on Munchies, a Vice Network channel.

Action Bronson is very open about his marijuana use in his songs and on his show. A self admitted lover of dabs you can find him sneaking hits is some strange places yet with his charismatic personality it seems almost normal to be sucked into his world of decadence. Again the name of the show, “Fuck That’s Delicious, explains it self. It can’t really be classified as a food show in the normal sense. There is no studio kitchen or pre made food hiding in the oven. He travels to kitchen around the world and rolls up his sleeves in between entertaining crowds to add funny commentary to the preparation of these amazing dishes. Of course what would a show with dabs, music, and food be without the eating of the food and omg Action doesn’t shy away from what he wants. Eating his fill, sometimes at several restaurants, he refuels with vape hits in taxis and under tables but who wouldn’t if this was your life.

Action is now closely tied with Vice an internet entertainment network with various genes of channels producing entertainment and news. Attached with Vice via Atlantic Records, Action as built a nice foundation for a hopefully long-lasting career. His show is now in the works of going to cable tv but until then he will splash the internet with his one of kind dose of urban sophistication. Oh did I mention he started his career as a chef and on injury leave he made his debut mix tape and never went back to work.

http://www.actionbronson.com/

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