First Time Grow

I wanted to grow a CBD strain to reduce my cost of using medical cannabus. I received my CBDream seeds late March and both of the 2 seeds I used sprouted successfully, I followed the directions supplied by King Seeds. Used Solo cups on window sill with a $40.00 LED grow light from Costco, Innova Lighting Red & Blue spectrum bulbs. I started with weak solutions of Miracle Gro 20-20-20 When plants got to big for window, I moved them to my closet. Upgraded to LED light from Walmart $115.99 - Ktaxon LED Grow Light 600w Double Chips Full Specturm Veg Flower Indoor Growing Lamp Kits For Indoor Plant Hydroponic Panel Fixture Bonsai Vegetables Medical Plants Herb All Stages of Plant Growth, Lamp has a fan which was a wee bit loud in my bedroom. 24 hour lights and a floor fan eventually got me to move the then much larger plants into the spare room with the Ktaxon light suspended from the ceiling. Some supplemental natural light provided by window. Used the Innova for some side lighting for lower leaves. Eventually had to move the 2 plants up to 5 liter buckets. I bought a bottle of CannabisRX which I used occasionally as a leaf spray.

It rained almost the whole month of June. I used this month to build the Canadian Government required 5 foot high fenced enclosure, complete with gate and lock. Last fall, I had prepared the soil by digging 5, 3 foot by 3 foot holes and filled back in by including sheep manure, peat moss, lime and fertilizer. Canadian law provides for 4 plants per household. Planned on 2 plants for me and 2 for boyfriend. Finally some sun arrived and plants went outside on July 1 weekend. Should have been 2 weeks earlier but weather would not cooperate. Fertilizing each weekend with the Miracle Gro.

July was unusually hot and dry. Many buckets of water required for the plants. Purchased a soil water test meter to guide me. Still on the weekend schedule of fertilizing with 20-20-20 Miracle Gro.

Still hot and dry conditions here in Eastern Canada. Farmers reporting smaller crops. I am still carrying water. Thankfully plants fairly close to house. My larger plant is 5 feet high and I am very proud of her. Worried about flowering as the 12 hour of darkness does not arrive till September 27. Boyfriends plants have begun to flower. Started as clones in the basement. All I know about them is that they are called R2. Very popular brand on black market around here. They were purchased as little sprigs from illegal grower. This type of weed is to strong for me to use with doctor prescribed medications I decided to cover the larger plant to reduce daylight hours. Boyfriend came up with idea of using old patio umbrella. I cover plant when I get home for work and uncover before I leave in morning. In about 5 days I could see signs of flowering. You will see that I used bamboo stakes to help support plants and spread the branches to allow light into center to plants. I also picked of the larger leaves once a week.

RAIN, finally it is raining! Hot humid summer is over. Big girl is 10 days into flowering. Yes I still carry some water, especially as it mostly rains at night when tarp is on Big girl. Changed to Miracle Gro Ultra Bloom 15-30-15, weekend application. Little girl might be starting to flower. The group plant shot includes Boyfriend's R2 plants. Looks like I will get some experience harvesting before mine are ready.

We survived the hurricane. I was very worried and did preparations after work on the two evenings before the storm hit. Tied up many more branches on poles and pruned larger leaves. I added some tie-down rope. The patio umbrella did not hold up well to the high winds. Big girl underneath only had a little damage. The others had only a few broken branches. No fertilizer this week.

Frost hit early this year. I used patio umbrella to hold up blankets to protect big girl. I covered the other 3 plants as well. All the steel and bamboo poles were very useful at holding up the blankets. Only a little damage on branch tips that must have peeked out of the blankets to look at the frost. Some tomatoes and flowers were well frozen. Temperatures improved later in the week. Watered heavily to leach nutrients from soil. Little girl is about 2 weeks behind big girl in flowering.

A few warm days after the storm and frost, the plants are happily growing again.

To prepare for some windy days, I used more stakes to support the branches. It is so nice to work with the plants. As boyfriends plants are almost ready I have removed many leaves from all the plants. I learned a lesson this week. I had run out of plastic covered wire and used torn rags to hold the branches against the steel stakes. This error caused to much moisture against any of the near by buds. A couple of rainy days later I cut the rags off.

Emergency harvest by boyfriend when he saw some mold developing. It has been raining almost every day. Any sunny days have risk of frost, on those nights I have been covering the plants and uncovering in the mornings. Boyfriend just sawed his plants down and hung them in the basement. I brought in a few branches from Big Girl that looked at risk of mold. I wet trimmed and hung them from hanger. I set up a fan to help with air movement in the spare room. I will get more done on my next day off from work.

Little girl was stolen in the night. I had covered what was left of the big girl and little girl because of frost warning. Uncovered in the morning before leaving for work and found that little girl had been slashed to bits. Most of the plant had been removed as well a few branches from big girl. Half of my crop gone. The thief was well prepared with a good pruner as the stem cuts were clean and an escape hole had been cut in the chicken wire. I hope they got a few good shocks from the electric fence when they entered from the horse pasture side of the enclosure. I learned from friends that stealing plants is a common October sport. I was so disappointed after all the work I had done. I am sure the thief will be disappointed with the high. If they have depression, they may experience an improvement.

Little girl was stolen the day after the photo was taken. I had about 90% of the big girl harvested. I was broken-hearted to discover the smaller plant hacked to bits. The thief had cut a hole in the wire, lifted the tarp and cut away most of little girl. We had a heavy frost that night, which explains the tarp. I was home, with 2 cars in the yard, can't believe the gall of some people. All the work I had done since spring wasted on someone to lazy to grow their own. I am hoping they are quite disappointed with the low THC. Reminds me of a joke I saw. "To the person who stole my anti-depressants; I hope your happy now!" I had been trying to get little girl to flower some more before harvesting. I am lucky the thief had not been around a week or two earlier or boyfriend and I would have been very disappointed. I am still not in a forgiving mood. That will take more time. The good news is that the big girl and the bits the thief left behind will do me for over the winter. Everything is dried, buds stored in jars and I am on the hunt for a sale on butter. I want to try to make cannabis cooking oil and experiment with candies. Nice body stone and I laugh, a lot. The laughing is great medicine for a depressed person.