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Started seeds by soaking overnight in water with a pinch of soluble kelp extract at 24C. Seeds rolled in mycorhyzae and then planted directly into Solo cups containing a starting soil that is light on nutrients. Under fluorescent lights at 24C and RH of 65%.
April 22: seedlings are too tall too fast and some are toppling over. Whoops. Skip the kelp extract during the seed soak. Raised soil level in attempt to salvage.
Update: have since determined that the well water here is not good for starting seeds. Much better luck using distilled water.
I used a pinch of kelp extract when doing a 12 h soak before planting in soil and that was a mistake. Too much growth hormone (gibberelin) caused the germinated plants to stretch like crazy. Managed to stabilize them without losing too many. Had raised soil level in cups as far as I could, and I transplanted 8 into final 5 gallon containers even though it’s a bit early for that. Rather nerve wracking but I think they’re good now. Skip the kelp extract when soaking good seeds.
Days are nice enough here now but overnight temps are still too low to leave them out.
May 3: planted out six more into 3 gallon bags.
May 4: the six planted out yesterday don’t look good. I’m still having cation balance problems due to excess sodium in the well water. They might also be stressed if the soil is too rich so I’ll have to figure that out. Had added gypsum, Epsom salts and azomite to the soil for those six and I may have over done it. We’ll see.
May 6: the six plants in the 3 gallon bags are badly burned. This is due to a combination of too much sodium in the water, and too much potassium from the barley sprouts. It’s possible to burn even with organic nutes. Oh well, still learning, and this why I’m trying these techniques on the early plants. Lights out foliar (LAB, FPJ, vinegar, silicate, soap).
May 9: the potted ones are surviving but badly nutrient burned. Hopefully they’ll grow out of it.
May 11: afternoon foliar spray using Epsom salts, vinegar, soap and soluble kelp extract.
May 13: concluded most of my grow problems were due to excess sodium in well water. So I broke down and drove an hour from the farm to the nearest hydro shop and bought some Cal-Mag as my water hardener has been delayed.
May 15: some still looking nutrient burned, but things are improving now that excess sodium has been confirmed as the main problem.
May 17: some are finally looking healthy and the poor ones are improving so things are looking up, except for the weather which is cold and rainy for next four days. There’s even a chance of some snow, and this is about 3 days after it was 25 C. Spring in Alberta.
May 18: Looking somewhat better after the excess sodium in the well water nightmare. Start of 3 days very cool weather.
May 19: 0 C last night and rainy. Foliar spray at 11 am.
May 20: 0 C again overnight. Foliar spray at 7 pm followed by warmed water at 9:30 before covering for night. Very cool this week. Some plants are still small for their age because of the cold but things should improve here soon.
May 21: cold again overnight but plants look good.
May 22: weed FPJ at 1 mL/L.
May 23: LAB only foliar at 20 mL/L.
May 23: LAB only foliar.
May 25: LAB only foliar in afternoon.
May 26: poked holes in soil using a pencil. Four or five holes to get oxygen closer to roots. Did this for all plants that had been flushed or overwatered.
May 28: cold nights seem to have slowed and/or dwarfed the plants that were at the perimeter (I.e. the coldest ones). Hopefully they recover.
June 4: topped a few of the bigger plants that hadn’t yet started flowering and started tying taller plants down. Tallest Smoothie is a male and has been set aside for now. Apparently 1% of feminized seeds will come out male so this likely isn’t a big deal.
June 5: LAB silicate and soap foliar spray this afternoon.
June 6: watered with Mega Crop in afternoon and foliar spray (LAB silicate and soap) at end of day.
June 8: Fish fertilizer foliar for N in afternoon and LAB foliar at dusk. Removed single fan leaf from each plant that was blocking buds.
June 11: watered with Calnesium and full foliar at dusk (LAB, silicate, soap, fish, vinegar, and last of cannabis tops FPJ). Fish fertilizer raises the TDS so usual mix in 2L runs 1700 ppm which is likely too high so diluted further ending up at 1250 ppm which should be okay. Reduced concentrations by a third.
June 16: watered some plants with barley sprouts with solids going onto soil as a top dressing. Full foliar at dusk.
June 25: heat wave started…will be at least five days above 32 C.
June 30: 37 C yesterday today and tomorrow. Heat is taking a toll on the smaller smoothies but the bigger ones are seemingly fine.
Showing signs of heat stress.
July 13: buds are starting to glisten and glitter in the sunlight.
July 20: second round of Smoothies have not recovered from cold in mid-May. Most of these plants were culled in early June and the remaining ones are stunted. All the May 1 start plants are smaller than they should be.
Moral of the story is that it’s likely best to wait until about May 21 (May long weekend here in Canada) to start outdoor autos even if it feels like summer because there will definitely be cold nights.
It’s been a tough outdoor season but the first of the Smoothies are almost ready. Couple more weeks I think.
Leaf tips are scorched due to the record heat wave in late June and early July.
Aug 4: these are still visibly putting on weight so maybe another week.
Aug 7: included pics of what was supposed to be “Smoothie B” diary but that batch of plants was badly damaged by cold weather in mid-May. The cold was worse than the historic heat waves we’ve had since then, but you can also see obvious heat stress. 2021 has been a tough year.
Aug 9: harvest started.
These were quite disappointing for an outdoor grow and I won’t be giving them another chance. Some of it is just bad luck timing relative to the weather, and using small pots (I won’t do that again) but I would prefer bigger plants.
There are several other Fast Buds strains that do much better outdoor here including Girl Scout Cookies, Gorilla Glue, Pineapple Express, Northern Lights and OG Kush.
Northern_Ent
