Outdoor Jack Herer Fast and Guava Jelly

Started these seeds in early May 2022. Growing nicely since then, started in Parks rooter plugs, then transplanted into 6 inch pots, then 2 gallon pots, approximately mid June. After July 4, transplanted to in-ground raised beds in an established vegetable garden. Put Bumper Crop compost in the planting hole, azomite and our own homemade compost, along with generous amount of Garden Tone, which is an organic general use fertilizer (3-4-4). They have been skyrocketing ever since. Topped several times, fimmed instead of topped for the final time late July. Now I am carefully bending them so that they do not grow over the top of the fence. This also has the effect of enhancing budding--but don't do this too soon or you will break the tops off. No pest problems to date-last year had a spider mite issue which was almost disastrous. Keeping a close eye on that this year, especially since it is so dry and hot.

Now clearly into flower. Have been bending the tops over so that they don't peek out over the fence. Occasionally a mishap or two where the stem breaks instead of bending. When this happens, I tape the stem with grafting tape and a bamboo skewer if necessary. Most of the time, this is remarkably effective. Sprayed with a biological control that you can't find anymore--Serenade. I still have enough for the remainder of the year. When I run out, maybe I will try the Monterey brand. Bacillus subtilus very effective on powdery mildew as well as botrytis blight. Fungal problems not much of an issue anyway in our drought stricken area this year. This weekend will put down a generous helping of Dr Earth Flower Girl or Fox Farm Fruit and Flower to tide them over until harvest. I also shored up the branches with bamboo stakes-last year lost quite a bit after a storm. That won't happen again. Fortunately, I have kept the spider mites at bay this year, simply by better irrigation of the surrounding vegetation and monitoring the situation aggressively.

My girls are doing well so far this year, probably thanks to our California like weather this year. All sunny days and little to no rain. These plants are watered by a drip irrigation system, although when I applied the granular fertilizer, I watered it in by hand. Each plant has its own dripper depositing at least one gallon of water per hour. Watering systems by Drip Depot. I did also apply one shot this week of Bonide Thuricide which is a biological control for caterpillars (aka, BT).

My foremost concern now is to make sure to keep the guavas under line of sight. I do this during stretch by bending the tops, sometime tying some branches down with grafting tape. The result is that most of the colas are almost at right angles, or L shaped. This also makes the flower spikes denser and thicker. I think they have stopped stretching at this point. Still feeding them bloom nutrients as listed. Watchful waiting from now on, along with preventative fungicide treatment (serenade and copper fungicide) for powdery mildew, which is not too bad so far. No sign of spider mites this year despite it being hot and dry. I solved that problem (which plagued me last year) by not neglecting the grapevine next to the girls. The grapevine got its own drip irrigation-simple solution for a difficult problem

Getting very close--applied serenade and thuricide with spreader sticker two days ago. Fed with AgroThrive brown label (bloom) and bio bud, probably for the last time. Weather so far not too bad, still warm and mostly dry where we are. To our delight, we discovered that one of the Guava Jellies is a purple phenotype. Grew this strain last year also and never saw that before. Buds on both these strains filling out very nicely

Just keeping everything in order until harvest, haven't done any feeding or spraying since last week. I think a week for the Guava Jelly, probably Oct 1 or 2. Definitely, the purple phenotype even earlier--fatter buds, quite a few amber trichomes. For some reason ahead of my other photos, even the other guavas. The Jack Herer Fast may take a little longer, I am guessing Oct 8, more or less. We had a cold snap a few days again, now raining. The hot dry weather they enjoyed all summer is over. Crossing my fingers that they will all remain intact from all hazards until harvest. Update: I took down the purple guava jelly top canopy and added pics. Such a beauty! As for the rest, in anticipation of getting hurricane remnants, I sprayed with copper fungicide as the remainder of the plants need a additional week or so.

This is the second year growing this strain; it is mostly resistant to disease, never saw anything significant on it in the way of powdery mildew or mold. Of course, I do diligent integrated pest management using organic controls like bacillus subtilis and copper fungicide. We were excited to get a purple phenotype, can't wait to try it out. But the typical guava is a great strain with huge yields and a nice fruity, uplifting smoke.

Well, the Guava Jelly has been cut down and is drying now. These two Jacks are ready but would like to delay harvest until just before the storm this Thursday. Gotta make room. Have not fertilized in awhile, but they are growing in well amended soil so they don't lack for nutrients. We are now enjoying a nice stretch of dry sunny weather so letting them ripen a bit more. Every now and then , I find a dead spot along a flower spike but so far, very minimal. Used Thuricide and Serenade as well as copper fungicide on a regular basis until about two weeks ago; letting the plants on their own until the big chop. Had to prop up the upper branches because the weight of the colas were falling on top of the lower ones causing potential problems with air circulation. Which is crucial with those heavy ripe buds:)

I had a more indica-like plant last year however that I grew in a cloth bag; I got about an ounce from that. I actually did not imagine that they would grow so much planted directly in the ground--quite a surprise. Jaw-dropping quantity. The buds were more of a brownish gold color with somewhat slender and very long colas. In the weeks before harvest, I found an occasional dead spot but this was minimal. Pretty much mold-resistant despite some less than favorable weather.