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I do not have many pictures from this grow–but it was an extraordinary learning experience, and I wanted to share it with everyone else as I am so grateful for everyone else’s information on this platform.
This was my third grow. All seven plants were germinated from feminized (pretty much guarantees you get female plant that give you the flower/bud instead of males that give you pollen) seeds on a damp paper towel inside a Ziplock bag for 72 hours in a dark cabinet. The seeds were then placed directly in a basic store-bought potting mix in 10 gal fabric pots where they remained.
Three of the seven plants were germinated on 4/1/24. The other four were originally germinated back in July of 2023.
Those four older plants were from my first grow, and I became extremely attached to them (which is a little weird to say), but I marveled at them growing (it is incredible to see those fan leaves and buds for the first time) and was continually humbled by how hard it was to grow them successfully.
To keep those older photoperiod plants (and this will not work for autoflowers) alive after harvesting the buds only in November of 2023, I returned them to 18 hours of light under the grow light and six hours of darkness (I used a Wifi smart plug to turn the light on and off on schedule) which made them return to a vegetative/growing state. I then switched them to 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark in January of 2023 to trigger flowering again and harvested the buds only in March of 2024.
I then returned those plants to 18 hours of light and six hours of dark on 4/1/24, when I germinated the three new plants and grew those seedlings alongside the four older plants.
You can see from the pictures that the four re-vegged plants were rather small before my second harvest. Growing four plants under a 65w grow light is too low of light intensity–it's probably too little light to grow one plant well.
Obviously, there are plenty of people who have made this discovery before me, and there are tons of controlled studies published online that clearly document that increases in light intensity increase yield. To quote one such article, “...dry inflorescence yield increased linearly with increasing canopy-level PPFD up to 1,800 μmol·m−2·s−1…”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8144505/
Therefore, with my limited budget, I decided to move to an outdoor grow in May 2024 as the light intensity from the sun is higher and free.
Growing outdoors is an incredible experience. It made me become so much more in tune with the weather–because now it could help or hurt my plants. I started watching my yard carefully for hours of direct sunlight. And all those bugs I used to ignore, now I wondered if every one of them was attacking my plants. But the true pleasure of growing outdoors was finally seeing these plants, several of which were almost a year old at this point, really starting to thrive.
I added a Wifi timer that allowed me to schedule automatic watering up to three times daily. Plant growth definitely took off after I dialed in a consistent watering schedule with just the right amount of water spread out across the day (8a, 12p, and 3p daily) and made sure that I was not watering so much that the water ran out of the pots, but also not so little that the leaves of the plant started drying out. The amount of time I set the watering timer for each day changed based on temperature, humidity, and how the plants were doing.
In my prior two grows, I will admit a dirty little secret: I used Miracle Grow. I’m not proud of it, but I did it, and the plants clearly survived and created smokable buds. For this outdoor grow, I upgraded to organic chicken manure. I put about a cup on top of the soil of each plant in June and refreshed it in July. I observed no leaf discoloration that would suggest significant nutrient issues.
However, as I watched the sunlight hours, I realized that the tall trees in the woods behind these plants limited direct sunlight to about six hours. Around that same time, I figured out that my side yard faces south and picks up at least eight hours of sunlight daily. I was nervous to use the side yard in 2024 as I wasn’t sure how bad the odor would get, and I don’t really want people discovering my grow. But the smell wasn’t bad, so for my 2025 Fruity Freak grow, I will use my side yard, and I can’t wait to see what happens!
I continued growing my four best plants in the same location, but I wanted to experiment with growing in native soil and therefore moved the other three into nearby locations. These three plants required zero pest management after they were planted in the ground and next to no watering. However, there was a significant reduction in sunlight that contributed to a very light harvest (about 1 oz dry weight for all three combined).
Additionally, the second plant from the left is a seedling planted in forest soil from behind my house. It, too, required no pest management and less water than the plants in a soil mix from the store. While the yield on this plant was better than the forest plants (about 1 oz of dry yield from this one plant instead of three), it was still much less than the plants in the soil mix (one was 3oz, and the other two were 5oz each). This is likely due to a lack of nutrients (which I only discovered after I sent soil samples away for testing).
I did put forest soil on top of the soil in the containers with soil mix, and it did seem to boost pest resistance–but it was not as significant an impact as the fully native soil. Therefore, this year, I am focusing on boosting nutrients in the native soil here on my property with the sincere hope that both pest management and plant/bud growth will be optimized.
Flowering began in earnest around 7/27 (early signs had started about 2-3 weeks prior). When I notice the first buds coming, it is always exciting! There is a strange and indescribable beauty to the flowers–and this growing sense that your goal is now literally in your sight.
If you look at my plants, you will see that they are not Christmas tree-shaped (which is normal). Rather, in May and June, I experimented with topping (cutting off the top of the plant below where the uppermost leaves shoot out to cause the stem to split into a Y) several times on both the plant on the far right and far left. I had decent success with these plants growing branches further apart from each other, thus allowing good airflow (to prevent mold) and light to more parts of the plant (to hopefully increase yield)--and these two were my biggest yields.
I also experimented with FIMing (making a precise cut on the new leaf growth to cause the stem to split into four instead of two like the topping) several times on the second plant from the right. Ultimately, this plant became extremely bushy, which then caused powdery mildew growth. I removed many of the interior leaves and gave the plant Neem Oil drenches (it is cheaper to buy Neem Oil Max and dilute it yourself), which corrected the issue, but ultimately, this plant yielded lots of small “popcorn” buds instead of nice big buds and was lower in yield. I will try FIMing again at another point, but next time, I will try it on a plant that has not been re-vegged (as re-vegging often causes bushier growth anyway,) and I will use the technique more sparingly.
I did these experiments back in May and June, as it is a bad idea to perform any training after flowering begins.
You can also see that I experimented with expanding the container of the plant on the left. I went to Home Depot and bought a 10 gal tub for outdoor recirculating ponds and drilled several holes in the bottom. I filled the tub up with native soil from the forest behind (to increase pest resistance in addition to container size). I placed the fabric pot on top of the plastic tub filled with soil and cut the bottom off the fabric pot. I then pulled the bottom fabric out of the way to allow the roots access to the soil in the tub.
I saw no real change for this effort. Having a plastic container below a fabric container is a bad idea anyway–the soil in the plastic container was always wetter than the soil in the fabric pot. I have also seen people try this with a larger fabric pot below, but the upper pot is always going to dry out faster.
I experimented with light deprivation on one of the plants–the purpose of reducing light to 12-12 was to drive flowering even harder and finish sooner. The potential advantage was to avoid our wetter Septembers and hopefully avoid Botrytis (bud rot). This was successful in that this plant was ready to harvest about three weeks sooner than the other plants. It did, however, trap a lot of moisture inside the tarp and thus created the conditions I was trying to avoid. Ultimately, heavier rains before harvest and tarping caused Botrytis. Luckily I caught it early and only discarded six branches. However, I had to harvest immediately (decreasing potency). I then used this method to wash the harvest: https://www.growweedeasy.com/bud-washing-should-cannabis-growers-wash-buds
The flower is fine to smoke, but I’m using most of it in edibles because of the lower potency. Also, I do not enjoy the flavor of this flower as much as the other plants, but this may be a result of the early harvest or tarping–not sure.
Spotted lanternflies (SLFS) made it to our yard 7/30/24. I was absolutely terrified they would damage the plants. SLFS use a proboscis to draw sugars and nutrients out of plants and they have the potential to suck plants dry and kill them. Because they are an invasive species they have no known predators and can easily overwhelm a plant or tree. Their feces can also cause mold. This is a major concern for grape growers on the east coast. However, the Penn State extension has noted they do not appear to cause harm to cannabis plants: https://extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly-frequently-asked-questions
I was still concerned as they did not appear to respond to neem oil foliar spraying or soil drenches. So I used a plastic water bottle with the neck cut off to place over the SLFS. They would then jump up into the bottle and I would close it off and crush them. I killed lots of them and saw a quick decline in their population for the remainder of the year. In the end I saw no harm done to my plants as a result of the SLFS, but they remain a potential concern for me.
I cut out the bottom of the plant on the right (actually at the start of flowering a month prior) and allowed the roots to grow straight into the garden bed. The plant seemed to respond with increased height and pest resistance.
Beautiful flowers and wonderful visitors!
Starting in August, I started using an organic fertilizer to boost flowering based on some recommendations I found online. Initially, things went great, but eventually, the plants suffered a little nutrient burn. The issue was corrected by ceasing application. Don't get me wrong, the fertilizer is great when used correctly--I will be using it again in 2025--but lack of experience got me here. I should have better understood the nutrients already in the soil and more carefully studied the plant.
It was this experience in addition to the other soil experiments I performed on this grow that really pushed me to start looking into soil testing and soil amendments. I completed soil testing in late 2024 / early 2025 and things are shaping up for an incredible grow in 2025!
As I mentioned early in this grow, I experimented with light deprivation to speed up the flowering of one of my plants. However, the tarping and rain caused Botrytis (bud rot) to form on six branches of that plant (which I threw away). I harvested the plant on 9/3/24 to avoid the Botrytis from spreading (even though it was a touch early). I then washed good branches with the method described in Grow Weed Easy and hung them to dry in my garage with a dehumidifier to keep the humidity under control. Ultimately, I walked away with about 5 oz of decent flower that works well for edibles.
I would like to pause and express my incredible gratitude to all of the people who have grown cannabis for my consumption for years and fought for my right to grow and consume it now. I never thought this would be possible to share/experience something like this in my lifetime.
My first harvest in November 2023 resulted in a little more than ⅛ of an ounce. My second harvest in March 2024 was slightly more than a ¼ of an oz. But this grow yielded just under a pound! It has been an incredibly humbling journey to get to this moment, and I still have so much to learn, but it feels amazing to be able to enjoy cannabis grown with my own two hands.
I will admit, I was concerned I would grow tired of consuming the same strain–because I am one of those people who always need to try the next new strain–but there has not been a single moment where I don’t enjoy what I grew. In fact, and perhaps this is biased, I enjoy this cannabis more than anything I have ever had.
Banizzle combines (Banana Punch x Star Dawg) x Wedding Cake x Wilson F2, an intriguing combination of old-school meets new-school, with very high THC (25%-30%). It is a true hybrid, with a buzz of physical energy and an easing of all pain in the body. But what seems so unique is that I feel both things simultaneously instead of one after the other.
I enjoy this strain equally well during the day and at night without any sense of unease or paranoia. If I consume enough, it stops me and makes the present so big I can’t consider anything else–but it is a benevolent energy that provokes gratitude and appreciation.
The flavor is wonderful–a light banana with a tiny bite of grapefruit and lime. At times, I detect a hint of berry and rose hips. But there’s a certain richness, like a fine cigar or the oakiness of a good Cabernet. And there’s a long finish, spicy at times, with buttery popcorn notes. The flavor lingers and dances on your tongue, tingling and satisfying like a cigarette, but light and smooth.
I thought it would be fun to meet other home growers and share what I had made. So, I entered a home grow competition. There were so many incredibly talented/knowledgeable people there, including TheCannaProphet (definitely check out his diaries if you have some time, with 45+ years of growing experience, he is a true pro). I will have to admit–I had a massive sense of imposter syndrome when I saw the incredible stuff they grew. But everyone there was so incredibly kind and generous, and I walked away with some powerful tips.
After all the highs and lows, lessons learned, and researching to the point of obsession, I am incredibly excited to take that knowledge and experience to grow again.
To get that wonderful flavor to come out, I hung the grown plants in my garage (thankfully, it is right around 70 degrees that time of year) for about a week (until I could snap smaller branches instead of them being so wet they bent) with a dehumidifier keeping the space around 55% relative humidity. I experimented with hanging the whole plants and branches only, as well as cutting off the buds and placing them on drying racks. In my opinion, the whole plant was slightly better. I then trimmed off any buds still on the plant/branches and placed them all in Ball jars (filling them about ¾ full) with small digital humidity gauges in each jar and stored them in a dark cabinet. I then opened the jars for 5-30 minutes daily for the first few days until the humidity reading stayed below 65%. After a few weeks, the humidity began to drop slightly, and I added Boveda 62% relative humidity packs to keep the flower fresh and delicious.
BC_Green
