Tropical Summer CBD grow

Critical Mass CBD is growing quite slow in the second month. Branches are thin like sativa. I should not be overfeeding them. I slabbed on earth worm casting on top of the growing pot on the fifth week. Earth worm casting has most of the fertilizers cannabis needs. However, it is lacking in magnesium and sulfur. Epsom salt is the perfect addition to earth worm casting mix. After the sixth week, And I add weekly dose a table spoon of Epsom salt per gallon of water once a week. Seventh week, plant seemed to grow. The tallest plant is about a foot tall. I bend the branch and pinched off the tops again. Eight week, plants are well established. And they are growing nicely. I change the pot and put them to 6 inch fern pot. Plan to keep them in this size for a month. I am really taking it slow with this batch. Time to start flowering is at the end of October. Plenty of time. Side story, I started to snipe of branches of high THS strains. Conventional wisdom is to put these in a set up that keeps humidity high. Which I also so. However, cloning can be as easy as sticking branches in the soil. And three branches of “Alpha Buds” are doing fine with this simple way. On the other hand, most clones in humidity bottle at 36 degree Celsius got broiled and rotted. After two weeks, I separated the clone into small individual 3 ½ inch pot. These will be my second and premium flowering batch intend for happy time smoking and not for therapeutic oil.

Overcast sky and occasional thunderstorms, the third month for Critical Mass CBD plants are getting low light level. The plants finally started to pick up speed. Root is forming well. And earth worm casting with occasional Epsom salt supplement seemed to do the trick. Earth worm casting releases nutrient slowly and won’t get all flush away by heavy rain. One plant has shorter inter-node distance. And it is my favorite. The other three plants look like industrial hemp with long stringy stems. Week by week progress: Week 9, Week 10: plants just grow. On week 11, I worked on the plants. Changed pot size from 3-liter to 7-liter. And put in some earth worm casting. Trimmed of sucker branches. I am trimming for large flower size and not keeping smaller branches for cloning. Wrap wire around main branches. The wire is to bend and train large branches to get good spread. In my area, the heaviest rain fall period is from August to October. Flowering in this period leads to rot. So, I am keeping the plants in veg. By flowering time, the plants should be around 1.5-meter-tall. Long vegging time helps with the size and productivity on the cheap. Week 12 – I went away for the week-end. Week 13 – woa, stretching big. I need to get some stake for next port change.

This year growing plan is progressing as it should. Critical CBD plants are growing well for the first crop. And my clones are developing nicely. Week by week progress: Week 14 – Topping off to keep plants from getting too tall. Week 15 – Trim off sucker branches and plants have out grown 7-liter pot. Preparing soil. I use only organic fertilizer so far. And soil had become acidic. No need to change practice as I am enlarging the pot size. Toward flowering, I won’t change pot size and will fertilize with salt fertilizers. Salt fertilizers usually raise pH. Soak coconut husk in water and rinse every day for three days. This takes works but I need to refresh my soil every year as coconut husk decomposes. Also bought 100 kg of earth worm casting from a farm. Each plant takes about 20 kg of earth worm casting. Progress Week 16 – change pot to 20 liters basket. Starting to put in ¾ PVC pipes as staking. Week 17 - Woa – plants are stretching in rain strom. Three plants are 120 cm tall. The smallest is 80 cm tall Next month: Replace solar light to keep plants from flowering. I plan to let them develop flower after raining season wane after mid October. I shall put two plants in big 80-liters planter and keep two plants in 30-liter basket. This is all the space I have in my garden.

This year growing plan is progressing as it should. Four Critical CBD plants are growing well for the first crop. Each week, I move one plant to larger basket and containers. Two plants to 100-liter baskets. And two other plants to 80-liter container. Freshly added earth worm casting to old soil so no fertilizers used. Note that I also mixed in coconut husk to keep soil aerated. There should be plenty of microbes remaining from old soil since I keep pig weeds going in off season to feed the microbes. Plants are big enough. And fall equinox just went by. Day light is slightly under 12 hours. Flowering can probably start. However, I am waiting for the raining season to be over. Around Bangkok, there can be heavy rain until the end of November. So, I keep the night LED on for a couple more weeks. I’ll turn these lamps off around October 20th. And with tall plants, staking is necessary. I use PVC water pipe, old mob handles, or what ever is handy. Plastic and steel won’t rot. Even hardwood rot when I use “living soil” that has decomposing microbes. Next two weeks in veg phase, I shall start trimming off side branches. And these will be use as clone. It is such a hassle. But if I can get a plant with really high CBD, I should at least keep one as a mother for next year. For comparison, I have also a Solodiol CBD plant. It claims to have CBD only. Let’s see if it is true. Key thing is that my specimen of Solodiol CBD grows so slowly. I am not a big fan of slow growing plants. On the other hand, my high THC seedlings are developing well. I am looking forward for my dry season plants much more than these early season CBD’s. Week 19 – Keep growing. Week 20 – Transplant 2 specimen to 90-liters pot under solar light. Plants are 134 cm tall. Week 21 – Transplant 1 more to 80-liter container. Week 22 – trans plant the last one to 80-liter container. Plants are around 150 cm tall. After stretching, the final size should be around 180 cm to 200 cm.

There is still about a month of heavy rain in the forecast. This is about a good time to let Critical Mass CBD flower. Young flowers can brave the rain without rotting issue. Plant 1 and plant 3 are 175 cm tall. Plant 2 and plant 4 are around 160 cm tall. In terms of robustness, I like plant 3 the best. Plant 2 grows slowest. It has the most number of side branches but these branches are too small to be useful. So far, I have avoided trimming the branches. I wanted to keep plant from getting to tall. And bushy plants have good rood spread. However, on week 24, I trimmed of many sucker branches to prepare plant for flowering phase. I rather have big chunky cola than lots of small flowers on tiny branches. I just don’t like trimming work. And less number of branches means less trimming work later. Since I trim off the branches, I took a few of bigger trim to root. I actually paste some of rooting gel at the end of the stem. And then, I just unceremoniously stick these into potting soil. Let’s see if some will With about a month of heavy rain still in the forecast, this is the perfect time to let the Critical Mass CBD plants start flowering. Their young flowers are resilient enough to handle the rain without worrying about rot. Plant 1 and Plant 3 have reached an impressive height of 175 cm, while Plant 2 and Plant 4 are slightly shorter at around 160 cm. When it comes to overall strength and vigor, Plant 3 stands out as my favorite. On the other hand, Plant 2 has been the slowest grower. While it has the most side branches, they’re unfortunately too small to be of much use. I’ve held off on trimming the branches for most of the growing period, mainly to prevent the plants from getting too tall. Plus, bushier plants develop a stronger root system. However, in week 24, I decided it was time to trim back a lot of the sucker branches to prepare the plants for flowering. My goal is to grow big, chunky colas rather than lots of small flowers on tiny branches. Honestly, I’m not a fan of the extra trimming work that comes with having too many branches, so keeping things streamlined will save effort later on. Since I was trimming anyway, I took a few of the larger cuttings and decided to try rooting them. I applied some rooting gel to the ends and just popped them into potting soil without much fuss. Let’s see if any of them take root!

Week 3 after transition to flowering phase. The cannabis patch has officially entered the flowering phase, and it's a beautiful sight! Three weeks after turning off the solar lamps, I’ve started seeing flowers develop, though each plant is progressing at its own unique pace. I’ve noticed some fascinating differences among the phenotypes: certain plants, especially those more sensitive to light changes, are taking a bit longer to start flowering. Meanwhile, others are blooming quicker, showing off their potential early on. To support this stage, I’ve enriched the watering schedule with a touch of saltpeter and Epsom salt. Feeding the garden weekly seems to be working well overall, though Plant 3 appears a bit finicky—it’s more sensitive to the salt-based nutrients and shows a hint of pistil burn. I’ll keep an eye on it and adjust as needed. The surviving clones are from the light-sensitive phenotypes, proving their resilience and adaptability in this setup. It’ll be interesting to see how they perform compared to the rest. As a bonus, I’ve got a Solodiol CBD plant in the mix. It’s marketed as CBD-rich and is growing alongside my Critical CBD plants under the same conditions. While Solodiol is smaller in size, it’s already showing a faster flowering response. I’m excited to see how this affects the final yield—it’s shaping up to be an intriguing comparison! Stay tuned for more updates! 💚🌱 Comparatively, I have one other CBD rich plant. And the seed was marketed as “Solodiol CBD”. It is smaller than Critical CBD when grown under same conditions. Flowering is faster. I am interested in comparing the yield.

Week 7 after transition to flowering phase. Most of the plants continue to develop flowers. However, half of plant 1 is exposed to light leak. And it looks like I can harvest only half of plant 1. Frosty trichome are forming well. And the plants are drinking less. Next couple of weeks, I plan to highlight on potassium fertilizer and start trimming. Bonus pic – fight night. A gecko lizard was struggling with a flying snake. Fight broke up after I poke them with a stick.

Flowering time was 9 weeks. Total growing week was 36 buy I don't know how to enter the correct week number. Due to varying spot and light leak, Buds were in various stage. Small or large, the smoke i tried were equally potent.