Dad-Gras Garten-Grow auf 48°N

sublunar The seedlings are outside in the bright spring sun, and at night they continue to have minimal supplemental lighting indoors. They're really getting going and are already forming the 3rd node by the end of week 2. The small starter pots are completely root-bound, so the plants are getting new 1-liter shoes today... Only the Shark CBD is still lagging a bit, but it's already forming the 2nd node as well.

sublunar The weather is mixed, but still okay for the season: half sunny, half cloudy, and partly rainy - overall noticeably cooler. The plants are still inside at night. Despite the cooler conditions, the plants are stretching nicely, doubling in size and forming the 4th node. So, the first topping will happen in the next few days...

sublunar The plants are topped below the 4th node. They are outside during the day despite the rainy weather. The Shark CBD is under artificial light and is catching up. It will be topped a few days later than the others below the 5th node and is almost the same size as the others.

sublunar The plants are recovering well after the topping and are growing happily. They are getting new pots, specifically the deep version, so hopefully I can make it to the ice saints without fertilizer and then to the final pots. Repotting is also due - the plants are starting to show deficiencies in the lower leaves... The new double shoots at the top are being lightly tied down to make room for the shoots during the second topping. The days are gradually long enough to do without additional lighting, but because of the partly low nighttime temperatures, I still bring the young plants inside at night.

sublunar After the early summer phase, the weather has been very mixed - everything from rain to thunderstorms is happening. With crisp night temperatures of 3-5 degrees, the plants are still indoors, and on cold, rainy days, they even stay inside on the windowsill for days at a time. Only towards the end of the week will there be sun on the balcony... Still, the plants are growing strong and vibrant. The first topping has successfully broken the apical growth in all strains, and tying down the top shoots has certainly supported that well. A second topping of the four top shoots, which are now about the same height, was actually planned long ago, but the growth pattern is currently perfect, so I’ll wait and decide later...

sublunar The days are long enough, the daytime temperatures warm enough, night frost is no longer expected, and the old 4-liter pots are well-rooted - so it's finally time to go out into the garden into the final pots: GreenPoison, LlimonetHaze, GorillaSnow, and SugarBlackRose will get 45-liter pots, while MimosaMints and SharkCBD will have the slightly smaller white 30-liter pots. A layer of clay pellets goes into the pots for drainage, followed by recycled soil from last year, which has been packed down properly to ensure water retention. The pots were filled a week earlier and thoroughly watered so that the soil can settle.

sublunar Week 7 brings very mixed weather: it starts off quite friendly, then it gets overcast with showers and it gets damn cold - 17°C during the day, dropping down to 5°C at night. The plants seem to handle it pretty well, though. Only at the end of the week do the temperatures rise again... The top 4 shoots are tied outward to create light and air for later. As a result, the lower shoots in the middle are growing nicely, so I continue (more than I actually wanted to) and remove a few fan leaves that are shading the center. At the tips of the shoots, some fungus gnats can be seen, probably favored by the humid weather. However, the treatment with neem oil will have to wait until the weather gets drier again.

sublunar Week 8 is mostly overcast, but it will be sunny again towards the end of the week. The temperatures are moderate again. The Gorilla and the Shark have many roughly equal-height shoots, while the others are dominated by the 4 shoots from the first topping. So, the 2nd topping is coming up: the Green Poison 4x, the Llimonet Haze 2x, and the Sugar Black Rose 3x. The Mimosa Mints is growing very compact and leafy. Nevertheless, it will be topped at the 4 main shoots; given its dense growth, 8 colas should be a real advantage. The Gorilla will get a cut on the 2 top shoots despite its nice growth to encourage the growth of the side shoots.

sublunar Week 9 (starting from June 2) doesn't bring much new: the weather is mostly characterized by rain and showers, with only a few hours of sunshine. The rain keeps the soil moist - I haven't really watered since the initial watering after transplanting, and I won't need to do that in this weather either. By the end of the week (on June 8), all the plants have reached a remarkable size despite being tied down and having many almost equally tall shoots: Green Poison = 73 cm Llimonet Haze = 70 cm Sugar Black Rose = 73 cm Gorilla Snow = 60 cm Shark CBD = 60 cm Mimosa Mints = 50 cm. It's now clear how the second topping has taken effect. The GP, SBR, and LH are responding best with new shoots and increased growth of the side branches. The GS is also growing steadily and evenly. In contrast, the MM is growing very slowly with not much visible growth of the other shoots.

sublunar With week 10 (starting from June 9th), summer seems to have arrived: plenty of sunshine and temperatures reaching up to 30 degrees. I'm using this last week, where I can still safely prune (2 weeks before the summer solstice), to trim a few last shoots. The plants are growing vigorously and very bushy, so I need to find a new spot to set them up with a bit more space. In the large pots, there are still enough nutrients for the plants to thrive without fertilizer - so far, there are no signs of deficiency, not even a nitrogen deficit.

sublunar Week 11 is hot and sunny - I have to seriously water the plants for the first time - in the big pots, that’s enough every 2-3 days. Under these conditions, the girls are really taking off with height growth: SBR: 100 cm, GP 90 cm, LH 90 cm, GS 75 cm, SCBD 70 cm, and MM 65 cm. Although the Shark CBD is growing under exactly the same soil/water conditions, it continues to struggle as the only one: it has low turgor and is turning light green. I can pretty much rule out overwatering, so nutrient deficiency remains the cause, even though I can’t really believe that - the soil is identical to the others and it’s not the smallest of them all. Still, it’s getting a dose of mineral fertilizer now; let’s see if that helps. This week is the summer solstice! Halfway point!

sublunar For much of the week, it's summery hot - only in the middle of the week are there two cloudier days. Watering in this heat is not easy at all. Actually, I have to water daily now, despite the large pots! I don't want to overwater the plants, but they keep drooping their heads in between. My suspicion is dry spots - so I'm leaving the pots in full saucers longer, so the soil can soak up completely. This works quite well due to the expanded clay layer. The plants are growing about 10 cm in height each, just like in the past weeks. The SharkCBD has recovered a bit after fertilization - at least the leaf color is healthy green again. The other plants are gradually running out of nitrogen - they are starting to turn yellow from the bottom and are getting fertilized. By the end of the week, the first pre-flowers are showing on SBR, GP, LH, and GS, forming the first hairs. That doesn't mean much yet, but still: Yay! Only the MM and SCBD are taking their time...

sublunar In the first week of July, all of Germany is groaning under the heatwave with daytime temperatures of up to 39 degrees. Aside from the fact that I'm pouring about 10-15 liters of water into each pot daily, the plants are handling the heat well. By now, all the plants are in pre-flowering, and their growth is changing noticeably: they're really pushing for height and growing quite a bit, with the biggest being the SBR at over 130 cm, even though I'm still diligently tying them down. Leaves and flower shoots are now growing everywhere from the leaf axils, making the plants increasingly bushy. I'm curious how long the stretch phase will last and when the first real flower stigmas will show - I do feel a bit uneasy when I see the current growth rates - they could still become real monsters, at least the SBR, the GP, and the LH...

sublunar The big heatwave is over in the 2nd week of July - with a nice mix of sun and clouds, the plants are thriving. They are still in pre-flowering and are stretching abnormally: SBR: 150cm, GP: 130cm, LH: 125cm, GS: 112, SCBD: 110, MM: 100cm The SBR is the absolute queen at 1.5m with 10-15 equally sized main shoots, but the GS is also impressive - while it's just over a meter tall, it grows incredibly bushy with endless shoots. After fertilizing in June, my plan to manage with as little additional fertilization as possible is going quite well. The plants are only getting horsetail extract for mold prevention.

sublunar The 3rd week of July is not very summery - it's often dry, but also overcast. The temperatures are moderate during the day, but quite cool at night. My plants are still preparing for flowering. Most of them are still stretching quite a bit and are increasingly showing calyxes and stigmas, but no "puffs" yet. That the flowering is taking its time is no surprise for an outdoor grow in Central Europe; however, it looks like it could happen by the end of July / beginning of August. All plants show some yellow leaves in the lower third, but otherwise they are still a rich green. Only the MM is turning light green on the upper stretching shoots, without turning yellow at the bottom. I want to go into flowering with a slight deficiency to speed it up, so I'm not doing anything at the moment...

sublunar The last full week of July (July 21) starts off mixed: there are 4-6 hours of sunshine daily, with showers in between. As the week progresses, it will even get rainier with just over 20°C, and fresh nights at 14°C. The pre-flowering stage is still ongoing, but the hairs are getting denser. The LH and GS should now be in early flowering, while the rest is still in pre-flowering. The strong stretch is over for GP, LH, and GS, while the SBR is still growing powerfully and has now reached 185cm; the MM is still the smallest but is catching up significantly and has reached 123cm.

sublunar At the end of July / beginning of August, a low pressure system continues to dominate with many showers - if there are 2-4 hours of sunshine during the day, you can consider yourself lucky. It's also quite cold, especially at night. LH, GS, and SBR are definitely in flowering now, and GP is showing clear signs as well. Only SCBD and MM are lagging a bit and aren't showing any flowering at the tip yet. It also fits with the flowering phase that the stretch is now over: the plants are only growing an average of 5 cm this week, which could also be due to the miserable weather. Last week, some of the plants turned very light green and showed signs of nitrogen deficiency - that's too early for the start of flowering, so they are getting a small dose of Gardol flowering plant fertilizer (1/4 cap in 5 liters of water).

sublunar Starting from February 4th, the second week of August begins quite gloomy, but finally, summer returns in the middle of the week! The flowering of the SBR, LH, GP, and GS is developing nicely, and the plants are hardly growing taller anymore. The MM is also hardly growing further, but stigmas are still only appearing sparingly. The same goes for the SCBD - but it's the only one that is growing vigorously and has added another 10 cm (now at 145 cm). I've replaced the strings for tying down with a cross made of bamboo sticks, which allows me to spread the branches apart more easily at about half the height of the plants, creating space for light and air. The plants in flowering continue to receive a narrow dose of Gardol flowering plant fertilizer per week to delay the onset of deficiency (light green color, yellow fan leaves). The two late bloomers (MM / SCBD) have to go hungry to promote the transition from pre-flowering to flowering.

sublunar In the week starting from August 11th, it will be hot summer weather again with daytime temperatures over 30 degrees and nighttime temperatures barely cooler than 20 degrees. As a result, the plants are quite thirsty again, and I have to water almost daily - especially the SCBD likes to hang its heads in the evenings. The MM and the SCBD are still stagnating in terms of flowering and are clearly lagging behind the other plants, which are now developing significant colas. This week, the plants will receive a handful of dolomite lime and a spoonful of Epsom salt in the watering to prevent CalMag deficiencies...

sublunar The week starting from August 18th begins nicely with moderate daytime temperatures. On Thursday, a rain band will move through, but afterwards it will be friendly again. At night, however, it will drop down to 10 degrees. My early bloomers are slowly developing really nice buds, but the MM and SCBD are still sulking and don’t want to bloom just yet, although the MM seems to be starting. The beginning of flowering at the end of August wouldn’t be unusual for "normal" blooming strains, but the comparison to SBR / GP / GS / LH is quite drastic. There won’t be any updates for the next two weeks - I’m on vacation! I’ve organized and instructed a watering buddy, hopefully everything goes well...

sublunar After two and a half weeks of vacation, I'm back and satisfied with my watering substitute - though there wasn't much for them to do, as late summer only brought moderate sunshine, but quite a bit of rain and cold. The MM is looking decent, but it has many brown-purple discolored leaves. My suspicion: the cold. There are many individual popcorn buds on the branches, but a proper cola hasn't developed yet. The GS has a nice dense bloom, with many decent buds, but there's a little bit of mold visible in a few spots. The LH is struggling a lot; only the inner area around the flowers is still dark green, otherwise, it's green to yellow. The buds are large, dense, and firm. However, there are already mold spots everywhere on the tips of the colas. The GP has many beautiful and dense buds, but there are already some mold spots on the tips of the buds. The SBR also has quite a few flowers, although it doesn't look like it due to its size. It also has some mold, but it's manageable. The SCBD has grown even larger, but the flower development is minimal and absolutely disappointing. If anything is going to come from it, it will need at least another 2-3 months... For the GS, GP, LH, and SCBD, I generously cut away the mold and lost about 15-20%, which I think is quite acceptable given the weather. The trichomes on all four are about 50% milky; I should really harvest - the mold will come back. However, the weather forecast says a few dry days ahead, so they can stay a little longer. The MM needs a few more weeks, and I've almost given up on the SCBD.