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Back for another home season with a fast Bruce Banner photoperiod from the kind folks at MSNL.
The plan is to do this as a 16 cola manifold and to force flower starting August 1. In past years I’ve started forcing in early or mid July but too many plants re-vegged. August 1 should work for me here to get the buds to ripen under stronger summertime sun than letting it go naturally to be a big late finisher with loose buds. So choosing bud quality over yield.
Anyway, always fun growing and this looks to be a good year for cannabis growing. Cheers and good luck to all growers.
May 14: very hot and dry for early May means we’re having a very bad fire season (again) but luckily no smoke here in Edmonton (yet).
Early to move outside but it’s warm enough overnight now. Too young for direct sun so keeping her in the shade for a few days. So far so good.
May 20: super smokey due to nearby forest fires. Otherwise plant seems okay.
May 23: finally some rain dampened fires and cleared air of smoke. Nice day.
May 26 Day 22: growing well. Misting leaves a few times a day to compensate for low humidity which is only about 25%. When too dry it slows the plant’s growth.
Did the weekly foliar spray of Extreme Blend from Kelp4less.com.
May 30: small watering with Natures Source and molasses. Thunderstorms at 9 pm ⛈️⛈️
June 3: growing quickly now.
June 5: will likely do first topping tomorrow.
June 7: did first topping for the manifolding (or mainlining). Watered with a compost tea made from a few handfuls of mature compost in a five gallon bucket and left to steep overnight.
June 8: looks good.
June 9: nice strong plant is doing great. Growing faster now that she’s into the main veg phase. Foliar with Extreme Blend and potassium silicate.
June 10: foliar with soluble seaweed extract to help beat 30 C heat. Still smoky too.
Much hotter than average spring.
June 12: hit 30 C again today. Plants are mostly okay but when it gets above 27 C photosynthesis slows. Been keeping plants cool with a few water mists, also hosing outside of the black grow bags for some evaporative cooling on the roots. Mild LST on growing stems to help shape things later.
June 14: rain day.
June 15: very hot last week but thankfully finished with a lot of rain. Had about 64 mm (2.5”) over 48 h which will certainly help the forest fires. 👍👍
Plant is doing great. Waiting to grow out a bit further after first topping and will do the second round to make the 8 cola manifold. Still early enough might go for 16 colas…TBD.
June 17: tied main stems apart using pipe cleaners and paper clips. Not quite ready for second topping but soon.
June 20: second round of topping to get to 8 colas. Cold overnight hitting 5 C early on June 21 but missed on my charts.
June 21: Happy Solstice. Next two weeks should be good cannabis weather and I’m sure she’s going to grow really quickly now. Plan is to force flowering starting August 1 so there is another six weeks of vegging…she’s doing fine and on schedule. I love fast growing cannabis plants and this is definitely a very robust and fast growing strain. 👍👍
No watering or foliar sprays for any plants during last week of rain. Still showing all nutes because I can’t be bothered to delete them this week and have to re enter next week. Will do a foliar spray tomorrow morning.
June 22: fermented plant juice (FPJ) made from cannabis tops applied along with Extreme Blend in a foliar spray. Using a couple drops of Dr, Bronners Peppermint Soap as a surfactant and apparently the smell helps repel bugs.
No need to water after our week of rain.
June 23: no problems at all and doing great.
June 24: supercropped outer colas so they don’t have apical dominance over the inner four colas. Safer than LST at this point. Secured with stretchy floral tape which is one of the best $5 grow tips…totally worth it.
June 25: started another lazy compost tea for the hell of it. Added a handful of coco coir this time to provide media (fiber) for bacteria to grow on.
June 26: used compost tea after sunny 27 C day.
June 28: why not? Used another lazy compost tea this morning.
June 29: well spoken Bruce here is the fastest growing of the four plants this year. She has just thrived right from the start and is looking great. Still early so I’ll go for 16 colas. At my latitude the sunlight gets weak early so I’ll be force flowering about 1 August. Early July forcing was too early last year at the farm and too many plants re-vegged.
She’ll be ready for the next round of topping soon.
Some leaf damage after last foliar and this has happened before. Not sure but I think it is because the kelp extract is not fully dissolved or something like that. Not a huge problem.
July 2: final round of topping to get 16 colas. She’s big enough and fast enough to try for 16. Just over four weeks of veg until I start force flowering on August 1 so the 16 should work.
July 5: growing fast at almost an inch a day despite being topped again. I love this time of year and stage of plant growth. 👍
July 6: I love this plant. Yes, cannabis in general, but I mean Bruce Banner Fast specifically. Manifolded to 16 colas and now 25 days of veg left before I start force flowering on August 1.
July 7: doing a bit of defoliation and leaf tucking to let the growth tips get maximum sunlight. So far so good I think. Plain pHed water.
July 8: went and bought Power Bloom and some malted barley…don’t need them for another couple of weeks but getting ready. Lazy compost tea in evening.
I started plants a bit later this year, using a smallish pot, and will force flower soon all of which leads to a smaller plant. I don’t have room or want a huge cannabis plant in my backyard and manifolding controls the height too.
July 10: added a couple handfuls of malted barley as a top dressing. Will add Power Bloom in a week or so.
July 11: looks like about 5 inches growth in four days.
July 13: still going great. Very nice plant.
July 14: watered with Kelp Humic blend and Nature’s Source.
July 16: been quite smoky again last few days. Got some rain last night so no watering today.
July 20: still growing fast.
July 23: still going great at about an inch per day. Decided to start the 12 h darkness for force flowering this Friday, so five more days. Started another bucket of lazy compost tea.
July 24: hot again today. Compost tea was used in late afternoon. Added top dressing of barley, kelp Humic Blend and Power Bloom, which are the main things, and then some Azomite for trace metals, and finally some ground oyster shells for the calcium and because I had some lying around unused. I figured the top dressing should go on after the compost tea so it’s not too much at once for the plant. Anyway, force flowering starts soon so I want flowering nutrients on the soil now.
The last 90 days have been the hottest ever here in Edmonton, and lots of other places too.
July 25: was a bit wilted when I got home at about 4 in the afternoon. It was hotter than I expected today, but perked up within half an hour after watering and misting.
July 27: she’s starting to preflower so I’m going with phyto-forcing using a 730 nm light for a few seconds at dusk each night. This puts plant into dark mode two hours faster so it’s like getting two more hours of darkness making it a 26 h day. Good trick, and super easy.
July 30: video showing how I make my lazy compost tea. Best plants in four seasons of outdoor growing so it definitely works. A similar commercial product would be Recharge which has molasses, Humic acids and bacteria.
Aug 1: plants always look super healthy after a round of compost tea.
Aug 3: looking great starting the second week of flowering. The 16 cola manifold is working out nicely so far, and this should provide a good yield. Woohoo.
Aug 5: great cannabis weather lately and she’s doing great.
Aug 6: foliar spray of potassium silicate and Extreme Blend in evening. Likely no more foliars now that the buds are forming.
Aug 10: looking good after yesterday’s defoliation. Added malted barley and Power Bloom as top dressing.
Aug 11: note that it is a bad idea to take flash pics of photoperiod plants but I do this just before I use the 730 nm far red light. Seemed to be okay doing this last year so I’ll do it a few times this year.
Aug 14: watered in morning but Bruce was wilting by late afternoon. Cannabis plants perk up quickly after watering but one should avoid reaching that point. It was hotter than expected today.
Aug 17: Bruce is doing fine. Actually, probably my favourite grower 👍👍
BTW: don’t take flash pics of your photoperiod plants unless you’re immediately using a 730 nm light to put them into dark mode. It will mess with their light cycle and could cause it to hermie. I think this okay because I did it last year with no problems.
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.
Aug 24: still going strong. It’s been cool for the last few days but will warm up again here for another 5 days of high 20s C which they should all like.
Aug 25: did another lazy compost tea. Had not done one for a couple of weeks, and plants almost immediately look happier.
Aug 29: hot again at 32 C today. Still growing quickly and looking really good.
Aug 31: still doing great. More sativa style than the Gorilla Cookies and maybe not as fast flowering.
Sep 2: did some defoliation last night to remove inner stems and lower foliage. Red tint in pics this morning is due to wildfire smoke. Mostly cleared by afternoon.
Sep 4: water use went way down after the compost tea from a few days ago. This can happen apparently and the trick is to not overwater.
Sep 5: got home a bit early and Bruce and Gelato had both blown over. A drawback of using small 5 gallon bags. No damage done. Will now have to use filled buckets to stabilize the grow bags.
It was cool again today and did a light watering of warmed water in early evening.
Sep 7: Bruce is one of my favourite plants for a nice strong veg stage that wasn’t much affected by cool temperatures in the spring. She is more sativa than my Gorilla Cookies and will likely take 2-3 weeks longer to flower. That will put her in third place just ahead of the Dutch Gelato which is the plant least likely to finish in time this fall. This far North we run out of good sunlight before it gets too cold.
I’m not worried about the lack of strong sunlight affecting bud quality because most of my crop will be used to make piatella style hash. We’ll see how it goes…
All plants were starting to show a calcium deficiency so I used the last few mLs from the small bottle of Cal-Mag.
BTW: the barley and Power Bloom are done as a top dressing on the soil and not directly into the water. Water is pH adjusted using vinegar with occasional sprinkles of Epsom salts or potassium sulphate. Trying to roughly keep water concentrations in the hundred mg/L range for most major ions. My TDS meter broke last year, but I know that overall my total ion concentrations (or TDS) are pretty low. Trying to let the soil biota do the work.
Now into second half of flowering stage so molasses have been stopped. Great for growing but the sugar is terrible for smoking. Water is low TDS with some Dr. Bronners Peppermint soap as a surfactant plus the smell repels pests apparently. I like using Yucca extract as the surfactant last year but I’m out of that stuff.
Sep 14: the flowering pace seems to have picked up a bit. Definitely on the sativa side of things.
Using.730 nm far red light for a few seconds at dusk as a bloom booster. Puts the plant into dark mode 2 hours faster and is like having a 26 h day. Sounds bogus but is legit.
Sep 16: flowering seems to have picked up speed a bit but she’s third slowest after Gorilla Cookies and Cheese both of which are more indica. Sativas always take longer but the sunlight is getting weak and frosts are coming. We’ll see how it finishes.
Sep 19: noticeably bigger today so that’s good.
Sep 21: Bruce here is in third place for flowering pace but she should be close to done in time. Added some potassium sulphate to the water.
Sep 26: buds are getting bigger but the cold weather is getting closer. Not many more days available.
Sep 28: still going into a new week. She is definitely bulking up but the season is almost done. I’ll take what I can get for hash, and the very top buds will likely be okay for flower.
Sep 29: looks noticeably larger overnight which is great to see. Might still work as our weather forecast has been upgraded to extend the season a bit further.
Sep 30: light rain and overcast all day. Hit 0 C last night and daytime high was only 9 C so season is mostly done. Maybe two weeks more can get squeezed in but that will likely be it.
Oct 5: Bruce is doing great. I was getting worried she wouldn’t finish in time but she’s picked up the pace and the weather is still good. Sort of. Hitting zero tonight and high of +3 C tomorrow. After that it’s sunny for two weeks with highs near 20 C.
She’s turned purple the last few days and is putting on weight. 👍👍
She also broke a limb when blown over (again). Removing big fan leaves that are shading bud sites.
Oct 6: she’s beautiful. Removed some large fan leaves that were shading bud. Feels weirdly warm tonight.
Still using the 730 nm far red light for a few seconds at dusk as a bloom booster. Now down to just over 11 h of daylight.
Oct 10: looking good this morning.
Oct 11: been removing fan leaves to get as much light on the buds as possible. Sunlight is weak and low to the horizon but this month continues being unseasonably warm. We’re usually getting quite hard frosts by now but the forecast is warm for another two weeks.
Some nice purple showing from the lowish overnight temps though.
I just checked, and yes, it has been “extremely hot” again for the last 30 days.
Oct 12: super warm still so the season is still going. In previous years we’ve had a -10 C sort of hard frost by now.
Anyway, Bruce here is taking advantage of the warm weather. Sunlight is weak so not producing as many trichomes as she could under stronger light, but she is still putting on weight and the buds are decently firm. Most fan leaves turned purple at which point they’re no good for photosynthesis so I figured it’s better to remove them here in the home stretch.
Might harvest in a few days, or might not…
Oct 13: first round of 940 g wet buds, mostly as fresh frozen, with 80 g of that hanging. Buds are less dense than the Gorilla Cookies so despite Bruce being the bigger plant, it looks like the final yields will be similar. Left biggest cola on plant to see how much further it can ripen.
Oct 14: watered with 26 C water with some potassium sulphate. My TDS meter has been broken all season so was estimating.
Oct 15: nice weather continues.
Oct 16: +4.2 C temperature anomaly over last 30 days, and this is “extremely hot”. Yay.
Oct 18: sun is so low now that I lose direct sun by late afternoon. Weather turns soon and there are just four more days to go. Bruce will be harvested this weekend.
Oct 19: still super warm for October and the lower half of Bruce is maturing. Today is Thursday and she’ll be harvested this weekend.
Oct 21: season is done with Monday to be below zero all day. So, today’s harvest day.
Trichomes are still white, and I rarely see amber trikes here likely because the sunlight is weak in the fall. Peak THC is when they’re white and turning amber is a sign that the THC is oxidizing and breaking down to CBN (? Not sure about specific cannabinoid). Anyway, outdoor growing in northern Canada is limited by weather in the fall and this plant has done great.
Second round 810 g wet.
Nice and big fast growing plant produced nice buds but they are not as dense as more indica-leaning plants.
Lower half harvested Oct 21 and the extra week or so definitely helped mature the lower buds. Not much change in the large cola since the first round was harvested.
Big plant done as a 16 cola manifold and it worked well. No problems at all, just fast easy growing. She was maybe a bit slow maturing for what I need here but I only phyto-forced with a 730 nm red light for a few seconds at dusk and didn’t have to cover the plant to initiate flowering which is good this far North. 👍👍Big cola from second round is being hung dry and the rest was fresh frozen to make piatella hash. To be updated.
Nov13: hash washing this weekend. Bruce was a bit disappointing and did not yield much extract despite lots of flower.
Bruce seems to be a ‘high UV’ plant that will produce high THC under strong light but it didn’t produce many trichomes here outdoors. Likely a great plant for further south, but I’d need to induce flowering earlier to make it work better here.
Nice big plant but it would need stronger light to finish properly. This is an example of why earlier finishes are better here. Will adjust timing next year to make everything finish by mid to late September at the latest. October finishes aren’t worth it here despite nice weather because the light is too weak.
Anyway after freeze drying some will be cold cured (piatella style) and some will be pressed into temple balls. 👍👍
Northern_Ent
