23 Dutch Gelato

May 7: took a day longer than the other two to break the soil.

May 14: very hot spring with low humidity. Trying to keeps leaves moist to make up for low humidity. Early to put outside but warm enough overnight already. Keeping in shade for a few days to get used to being outside. Direct sun now would totally fry her very quickly at this age.

May 20: very Smokey from nearby forest fires. Misting leaves to compensate for low humidity which slows plant growth . May 23: rain has cleared the air of smoke, at least for a while. This stage of growth is always a bit scary cuz for a couple of weeks it looks like not much is happening.

May 26: going well. Spraying leaves a few times a day to compensate for 25% humidity during the day. Did a weekly foliar spray of Extreme Blend which Kelp4Less say to use at 1 tsp per gallon with a warning not to go higher. Also did tomatoes, peppers, and everything else in the garden. May 30: watered with Natures Source and molasses. Thunderstorm at about 9 pm was nice. May 31: plant seems to have lost the man growth tip, or it is not forming properly. A bird may have gotten it. Might bail on this one, but okay because it’s still early enough in the season. I might switch this out for Dutchfem’s Mad Max 33.

June 3: she has a maiformed growth tip and isn’t doing much of anything. Too bad, I was looking forward to this one. She’ll be replaced with a Mad Max33 soon. June 5: might recover…TBD. June 8: I think she will recover but the apical tip wasn’t growing properly. Two lower growth tips were doing better so the apical tip was removed. Now the plant can focus on the two good tips. I think a bird or one of my dogs got the tip, but it looks like she’ll recover as if it was just an early topping. Set things back by a couple weeks is all.

June 9: she’s off to a slow start because the apical growth tip was damaged somehow. Bird, dog, who knows, but it should be able to get going here now. Foliar of Extreme Blend and potassium silicate. June 10: foliar of soluble seaweed extract to help beat 30 C heat.

June 15: just finished getting 64 mm or 2.5 inches of rain in 48 hours after a week of nearly 30 C everyday. She’s a bit behind still but seems to be growing normally now after having lost the apical growth tip at some point. So about two weeks behind where she should be but still with lots of time left. Likely needs some silicate to toughen up the stems a bit. June 18: lots of rain the last few days. June 20: really cool last few days. June 21: not raining and starting to warm up again. The next two weeks look to be good growing weather. Happy Solstice. Plant is still a bit flimsy after the slow start but I decided to do the second round of topping for the 8 cola manifold.

June 24: nice and sunny again after lots of rain. To keep the outer colas from getting too high, I supercropped and then secured with stretchy floral tape. This is easy for the plant to deal with despite being an HST move and safer than trying LST past the point of flexibility versus stiffness. This keeps outer colas from assuming apical dominance over the inner four colas. June 25: second foliar with FPJ and potassium silicate this morning. FPJ never seems to need more than two applications. The manifold shape is actually pretty good despite having lost the initial apical growth tip way back at the start. Started another bucketful of lazy compost tea this time with a handful of shredded coco coir to give bacteria some media (‘fiber’) to grow on. June 26: used compost tea after sunny 27 C day. She’s noticeably bigger than yesterday and almost an inch taller. Fast vegetative growth should take hold now. 👍👍 June 28: she’s hitting her stride and looking much better than a week ago.

June 29: starting a new week doing her best to catch up after the slow start. Now with 8 colas and I won’t try for 16 with her. June 30: there might be a trace nutrient deficiency going on, so I did a foliar spray in evening using Azomite, potassium silicate, kelp extract and “cannabis tops tea” which was some growth tips soaking in a litre of water for a couple of days. Couldn’t be bothered to ferment them and thought I’d try it this way. July 1: brief hail storm on afternoon of Canada Day. Plants were up against house and are fine. July 5: she’s looking much better these days and is growing fast after the bad start. She’s grown 4 inches in 3 days so there should be some serious growth in the next few weeks.

July 6: decided to put the pepper cage on about 36 h ago and she’s responding perfectly. Foliar spray of potassium silicate and kelp Humic blend with some Dr Bronners. Other people would use neem oil but commercial growers here in Canada aren’t allowed to use it and I want to stay in practice. This pheno has the most sativa type leaves of the four plants this year. July 7: mild defoliation to let light into the centre.Spread some Azomite on the soil as a top dressing cuz she might have a trace metals deficiency. July 8: watered with lazy compost tea. This is practically very similar to using Recharge which is a mix of bacteria, molasses, and humic acids. July 10: added a couple handfuls of malted barley as a top dressing. Barley is a great nutrient and enzyme source (idea is from Clackamas Coot). July 11: she’s grown about 5 inches in four days. 👍👍

July 13: this Gelato Olandese had a slow start but has been growing fast lately. This plant always seemed a bit ‘off’ but with some Azomite and barley over the last couple weeks she is going great now. Now almost caught up to the Gorilla Cookies and the Bruce Banner both of which have 16 cola, but I’ll keep this one and the Fast Cheese to 8 colas. Barley is great cuz it works, is cheap and organic, but this year a bunch of birds (Starlings? Barn Swallows?) have found it as a food source. Judging by how much they shit on the leaves, and assuming they also shit on the soil while they’re scoring some grain, I figure it’s okay for now. Stems are still a bit spindly so I did a foliar spray of potassium silicate and cal-mag. Also with a bit of Azomite to provide trace metals. The silicate toughens the stems. July 15: another round of compost tea. July 16: grown 5 inches in 3 days. 👍👍

July 20: still growing fast and looking more sativa dominant than the other three plants. She’s fully recovered from the slow start due to the missing apical growth tip near the start. I’m excited for this gelato as that is definitely a fave flavour. That and this plant should have pretty spectacular purple buds. July 23: show is currently the fastest growing of the four plants. Now tied at 31” with Gorilla Cookies. July 24: watered with another batch of lazy compost tea. After that, applied top dressing of barley and Power Bloom, and also added small amounts of Azomite for trace metals and oyster shell flour for calcium and I happened to have some handy. Mostly barley and Power Bloom as the key flowering nutrients. July 26: looking good but a bit yellow on new growth which I think is sulphur deficiency. Foliar sprayed with some Epsom salts and potassium silicate.

July 27: still growing fast. The new growth is a bit yellow and I haven’t decided what that’s due to. Lack of sulphate or excess Phosphorus are the two options I think. Anyway, she’s doing fine and is startling to preflower. 👍 Started using a 730 nm far red light for a few seconds at dusk. This is called phyto-forcing apparently because it promotes flowering. I really love science when it figures out random shit like how photosynthesis and light wavelength (or colour) interact. Outdoor plants naturally see a flash of far red light just before darkness and this light kind of ‘puts it to sleep’ or into dark mode two hours faster. So, two extra hours darkness or a 26 hour day. Sounds bogus but is totally legit. July 28: foliar spray of Extreme Blend and potassium silicate. July 30: plant is looking great. The yellow on the new growth has faded and is now a better looking shade of green. I think it might have been excess P because the other plants kind of had it too and the timing was a couple days after adding barley and Power Bloom. This is right at the start of flowering when plants need lot of P, and the yellow is fading, so I’ll just let it go without doing anything about it. She’ll get over it.

Aug 3: this plant is now taller than the other two big plants after a slow start due to a lost apical growth tip early in the grow. She’s been thriving lately and is still growing fast. The yellow colour on the new growth comes and goes so I’m not sure what the deal is. Doesn’t seem to be much of a problem though as she’s still growing strong. If it is too much P, that should get consumed as flowering progresses. So if I ignore it, the problem should go away, which is my favourite kind of problem. Aug 5: added some Azomite as a top dressing as it still seems like there is a trace metals deficiency for this plant. Plain pHed water. Aug 7: applied a lazy compost tea this morning. Last night did a foliar spray of potassium silicate and Extreme Blend. Aug 8: all four plants are 2” taller than the last time I checked. Might be overdoing the N at this early flowering stage but TBD. Aug 9: defoliated understory.

Aug 10: doing quite well and is still the tallest of the four plants. Manifolded to 8 colas, and she has the most sativa type leaves of the four plants. Lots of rain lately but still needed lo be watered twice today as always. Top dressing of malted barley and Gaia Power Bloom. Aug 13: don’t take flash pics unless you’re immediately using a 730 nm light as a bloom booster. The far red light puts the plant into dark mode two hours faster. I figure this far red light counteracts the flash which is good side benefi.

Aug 17: nice plant is still growing. Hit 30 C today which was unexpected, and we also had a two minute hail storm in the evening. The pot plants were up against the leeward side of the house so they were fine. Aug 18: rain all day, cooled off quickly to 10 C. Aug 19: cool again today but some sun and not raining. Started early with a few litres of 26 C water to warm them up. The plants are still noticeably growing but flowering is progressing so I’ll take it. Aug 21: she is officially the biggest of the four plants despite the very slow start. 👍 Aug 22: don’t take flash pics of photoperiod plants unless you’re immediately using a 730 nm far red light to put them into dark mode. k, thanks. Aug 23: this plant has vegged to a seriously large size, and hopefully the flowering will go quickly. The sun gets weak quickly this far North but it should still be good.

Aug 24: biggest of the four plants this year, and seems to be doing fine. Don’t take flash pics of photoperiods unless you’re immediately using a 730 nm light to put them into dark mode. Aug 26: have been watering in the morning with warmed water and that seems to help. Small kettle takes a while to boil but 2 L in a 5 gallon pail will warm up pretty cold water left out overnight. Lazy compost tea again today. I’ve held off for a couple weeks on the tea thinking that I didn’t want to over do N, but now’s the time for a little tea tuneup. Aug 27: all four plants look happier the day after another lazy compost tea. The yellow on the new growth has been pretty persistent on the Gelato throughout this grow, but she’s notably greener today. Now down to 14 h daylight, and still using the 730 nm far red light every night at dusk. Aug 28: still growing taller. Aug 30: this plant is get quite big for her intentionally smallish 5 gallon pot which will hopefully encourage her to finish faster.

Aug 31: this Gelato leans sativa and isn’t as fast as my other three plants but she is flowering and will likely finish in time this fall. Using a 730 nm far red light as a bloom booster. A few seconds at dusk is all it takes to get the plant into dark mode 2 hours faster making it like a 26 hour day. 👍👍 Sep 2: smoky again this morning but is supposed to clear later this weekend. Sep 5: she was blown over when I got home early from work. No damage. Sep 6: weather data says it hit 5 C the last two nights. That station is only about 200 m away so it probably was that cold. Oh well.

Sep 7: I really like this plant, but the fact that it leans sativa means she is taking her time flowering. She’ll be 3 or 4 weeks longer than the more indica strains I’ve got going but it should still work. First frost is often in mid-October here, but I can cope with a plant in the garage on the coldest nights. We run out of good sunlight before it gets too cold in the fall. The UV intensity drops dramatically after mid-August this far North which is a good reason to grow autos that flower in July and August. However to try and get bigger yields you can grow photoperiods here if you time it right and know a few tricks. Cannabis plants can get big here with long sunlight hours in the summer but typically they won’t finish flowering in the fall. I’m not too worried about about the lack of good sunlight affecting bud quality cuz this year it’s mostly going to make piatella hash anyway. 👍 Sep 9: everybody is looking happy this morning and the forecast for the next two weeks is sunny and nice. Added some potassium sulphate to the water this morning. Low 20 C weather uses way less water than 30-ish weather. Defoliated understory and inner branches again.

Sep 14: nice plant but I’m starting to worry she won’t finish in time. We usually can’t get very far into October without frost so maybe 4-5 weeks still. The auto version would have worked great here, but I wanted to try growing a bigger photoperiod. Might still work out, we’ll see. Sep 16: okay weather but it’s a bit smoky again. Did another round of defoliation. Sep 19: flowering is sativa slow but happening, and is finally looking semi-substantial.

Sep 21: fall is here with 12 h of darkness and hopefully she picks up the flowering pace while the weather and sunlight are still okay. Sep 27: this sativa pheno is progressing but it is a bit too slow for this area. If I had forced it with 12 h darkness in mid-July it would have worked, but instead I just phyto-forced with a 730 nm far red light starting about Aug 1. The red light is enough for the indica type plants to finish in time here, but it doesn’t seem to be enough for the sativas. Whatevs, I have more than enough and this will all be going for hash anyway. Sativas can be grown here but they need to be forced by light deprivation in July and not just phyto-forced starting in August. Sep 29: two week forecast is suddenly much better so she’s still got a chance to finish properly. Fingers crossed. It hit 0 C here last night and daytime high of only 8-9C so we’re mostly done for the season.

Oct 3: finally noticed I had 13 days entered for last week, oops. Fixed now, more or less. Plant is relatively slow flowering but the forecast for the next two weeks is still pretty good. Sunlight is weak but it’s warm enough to keep going.

Oct 5: still going. The buds are a bit bigger and the weather is good enough for another couple weeks. I’m still skeptical this sativa pheno will finish in time, but we’ll see. Oct 6: removed some larger fan leaves that were shading bud sites. Weather is better than expected so she might still make it. Cheese and Bruce both turned purple with the low temps but this one is still green. This is surprising based based on other diaries for this strain. Added SCROG net for spacing and support. Using water bottles tied to the net to gently open it up while still having some ‘give’ for wind gusts. I probably should have done this sooner, but after seeing her really leaning into the lower to the horizon fall sun, I finally got some SCROG net going. Oct 7: smell is more noticeable now and she’s putting on weight. Oct 11: slowly progressing and weather is good for next two weeks.

Oct 12: some bud progress but still slow flowering. This is a sativa leaning pheno so likely other phenos would be a bit faster. Getting some nice white trichomes but the pistils are still mostly white. Sunlight is weak now so I don’t know how much further she can progress. Weather is unusually warm so that helps. Oct 15: looks like the finish won’t be too bad…the flowers are maturing despite the weak and low sun. Removed most fan leaves that were shading buds. Still using the 730 nm far red light for a few seconds at dusk. Oct 16: moved it into position this morning but mistakenly turned it 180. Whoops, oh well, North side buds got a bonus day of sun. Oct 18: warm and sunny but the season will only last until the weekend. The buds are looking ripe enough and I’ll harvest them 3-4 days.

Oct 19: warm October continues and this plant will be harvested in a few days. Three days with snow starting 3 days from now so that’s it for the season. Drilled a couple of holes in the trunk. Idea is to stress the plant to spur trichome production. Did this before and not entirely sure it helps, but why not? Oct 20: these buds are getting stinkier and frostier just in time for the season here to end. Smell was quite noticeable this morning so I’ve bumped it up to Strong. All the buds are looking fairly frosty too so this Gelato is finishing strong. 👍👍 Oct 21: harvest day because in two days, Monday, it will be below zero all day and likely snow. Oh well, a longer than expected season allowed this gelato to finish fairly well. Trichomes are still white, and actually I rarely see amber trikes on my plants and I think that’s due the weak sunlight here in the fall. My best option here is to aim to harvest by the end of September. This plant was not billed as being fast flowering so I expected it to be a bit slow, plus it is a sativa pheno, so I feel lucky that it has finished as well as it did. The weather here was definitely good for cannabis this year with the only real hassle being wildfire smoke.

The buds are nice and frosty and smell great. She finished better that I expected. An 8 cola manifold after a nearly disastrous start where a bird or something damaged tha apical growth tip. She recovered and grew tall with lots of bud sites on side branches. Better final yield and bud quality than I expected with the late finish under weak sun. Looking forward to smoking this one. This plant was phyto-forced using a 730 nm far red light for a few seconds at dusk each night during flowering. This puts the plant in dark mode two hours earlier and is like having a 26 h day. Great trick for northern growers because it moves up flowering by 2-3 weeks which means stronger sunlight during ripening which also helps. Almost all done as fresh frozen to make hash later, with about 120 g hanging. Final dry equivalent weight based on trimmed wet weight.

Nov 11: perfect weekend weather for hash washing . Gelato produced several nice rounds of very high grade extract. Now in freezer until my freeze dryer is hooked up by electrician. Yield is okay, not great, and Percentage yield TBD. Once resin was frozen, I spayed some water on it all to make a thin ice cap to prevent oxidation from air while waiting in the freezer. The idea is to minimize the potential for oxidation at each step in the process. An ice cap is likely much more reliable than Saran Wrap over the tray. Been trying 120 micron reject already and I can tell this is going to be awesome hash. Even the reject stuff totally bubbles and melts when smoked. Very exciting. Used 160/120/45/45 micron bags and 3/3/4/6/9/12 minute washes. Final material in photo is all from 45 micron bag except nearest which is from 120 micron bag.