Girl Scout Cookies Northern Alberta 2019

Started GSC and Polar Express in late April under CFL light. Germinated in soil on warming mat. Planted outside in final containers in early May after after last average frost date.

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Fertilized with Nature’s Source Plant Food on Day 18 for first time. Responded well.

Lots of rain and cool weather this week. Lows of 3-4 C overnight a few times with highs of about 20 C. Had to move plants under cover a few times this week due to heavy rain which we often get in June. Natures Source plant food and molasses for fertilizer. I tbsp of molasses in 4 cups warm water. Molasses seems like a good addition and I’m also trying it on my tomatoes and peppers. Will have to wait a few days for soil to dry out though.

Good weather highs 22 C with overnight low now above 10 C. Decided to top GSC on day 32. Later than recommended but it is still vegetating and all four plants seem a bit behind compared to indoor grows or where overnight lows are higher. Bought a pH meter to deal with city water pH being 7.5 which above the optimum for cannabis of 6-6.5. One cap of vinegar in 7 L of water does the trick for this water. Adjusting water pH is the number one tip Fast Buds mentions for new growers, even using soil, so hopefully that improves things. So far so good.

Still molasses and Natures Source every second day using pHed water. Still cold overnight (7C low) which seems to slow both growth and start of flowering. GSC seems happy though.

Finally starting to flower. Polar Express was slightly ahead in flowering but GSC is slightly bigger. Cool nights commonly below 10 C in June have slowed progress but plant is very robust and healthy. Same molasses and Natures Source. Will continue this for another week and then switch to bloom nutes.

Same nutrients (molasses, Nature’s Source, calcium citrate) as other plants and starting on Garden Pro bloom booster this week. This GSC is now almost as tall as the Pineapple Chunk that was started 10 days earlier. Still looking good, and now about 30 inches tall.

Molasses, Natures Sorce, a calcium citrate pill crushed and vinegar as needed to get pH down to 6-6.5 range. Also Epsom salts one day (MgSO4) cuz these plants are still growing so fast they show a bit of calcium and magnesium deficiency. All four plants loved the Epsom salts. Now into some warmer weather so this should be a good week coming up. The fertilizer concoction sounds silly but it’s super cheap and works great apparently.

Strangely cool rainy and humid this summer. Plants seem okay and sun in forecast in s few days😎 I’m worried about mould and powdery mildew. Had these in previous years for regular gardening and want to avoid it this year. Trimmed lower canopy and some fan leaves July 20 to provide more light to buds.

Done with nitrogen (veg nutes) now and using bloom nutes. Still using molasses and calcium citrate and then pH adjusting the water. Blooming nicely I think. Decided I needed a different bloom fertilizer. Used Big Bud from advanced Nutrients for first time on Day 77.

First week using Big Bud but still using molasses. I wanted to move away from the standard garden bloom fertilizer that apparently has too much phosphate (10-40-25) for late stage blooming. I think I’m still 2-3 weeks until harvest, but starting to think about timing for the flushing and how many more times I want to fertilize. Day 82 thinking it’s ready for a flushing. Day 83 flushed with about 35 L of pHed water in 5 rounds. That should give the salts time to diffuse from the soil into the pore water before the next 7 L flush goes through. Day 83 6 hours later harvested one of the two main colas. Trimmed wet weight was 107 g. The chunk that was harvested represents maybe an eight or tenth of the whole plant 🤠 Day 84 harvested Polar Express today that started at the same time as this GIrl Scout Cookie. I’ll likely harvest this one in a few days.

Planning to just use molasses and pHed water from here on. Flushed a couple days ago. Day 89 still waiting but thinking harvest next weekend on Day 95 or 13.5 weeks...might be after trip on Day 102.

Blooming, and trying fight the urge to harvest too early. Early samples taste great. Will wait at least two more weeks. Just pHed water with a bit of molasses included on alternate watering. Day 92 Big Bud, molasses and pHed water this morning. Leaves yellowing a lot today. Day 94 pHed water. Weather is cool and overcast again. July was the hottest month ever recorded but it sure wasn’t here...this summer has been much cooler than usual. Day 95 applied Gaiagreen soluble seaweed extract as a foliar spray (1/4 tsp in 1 L) mostly to provide some potassium. Trying to keep all the leaves from yellowing too soon. Molasses in pHed water and leftover foliar spray also into soil. Much less yellow by late evening so it worked. Harvested one side cola 50 g wet trimmed.

No updates for the last week as I was out of town. Plants were watered but I’ll have to inspect further tomorrow. 49 g wet weight side cola from last week became 10 g after eight days of drying. Day 104 apples Gaia Green soluble seaweed extract as a foliar spray and pHed water. Left to attend to Pineapple Chunk plant and upon returning 4 hours later the GSC and NL plants had both taken on bright ‘fall colours’. Cool last night at about 7 C. Harvested another cola that seemed dried out for some reason ( likely just watering problems but I’m still worried about mould). Day 106 harvested two large colas and some side branches- total 295 g trimmed wet. I did this because I’m thinking it is something like powdery mildew in the stems. Also seen in my Northern Lights plant and the buds dry out on the stems where this happens. So, chop some parts a few days earlier than planned in an attempt to salvage as much as I can.

Ended up doing a sequential harvest over several weeks. Finally had to harvest it all due to the appearance of what seems to be bud rot. Cool and humid so it makes sense this could happen. Could have gone longer to maximize yield but I would have lost more to rot. This way I can salvage as much as possible. Nice flavour to this strain. I used molasses throughout the grow as suggested on the RQS website and that may have altered the flavour a bit. Anyway very nice smooth taste that is improving further with curing. Really nice. The buds are a bit airy but that might be inevitable when growing outdoor. The timing of the grow was good but I think I would start the plants indoor a couple weeks earlier to avoid some cool nights during flowering. After about 4 weeks of curing decided to try making extracts. 6 g of bud using freezer method with 191 proof Everclear (Alberta is only province that allows this stuff apparently). Plan is for 5 days in freezer shaking daily. Extraction 2 is using liquid coconut oil in a slow cooker for 7 hours. This is being done cuz I can’t stink up the house doing decarboxylation in the oven but the slow cooker in the garage is fine. 16 g of bud in 235 mL of oil, assuming 18% THC should give a final concentration of about 18 mg/mL. You can buy coconut oil tinctures at the retail stores in Canada that max out at 30 mg/mL by law. Stoner math...think it’s right this time 😎. Update: not sure if the liquid coconut oil I used has enough fat content to effectively extract the cannabinoids...doesn’t seem as strong as legal oil. Hmmmm. Update: freezer tincture made using Everclear is very good and the extracted bud makes a good chocolate banana loaf. Freezer tincture is the way to go for easy and efficient use without jeopardizing your lungs.