Backyard grow

A mate gave me this plant at around a month and a half old. Moved it to a larger pot and a further month and a half its going well. I did what never should be done, and cut the top 1/3 off the plant. Thank god i did as its sisters are over 6 foot tall and a week or 2 out of flowering in doing everything possible to keep the height down, multiple LST over the last month. She's female anyhow, and so close to flowering. Not doing anything special, just seaweed fertilizer specifically for bigger flowers....of the normal garden variety. But hopping it translates to bigger buds..Will see

Moved this week to a location where she's getting 10+ hours of direct Sun light per day and she's really appreciating the extra light. It's in a more open space which means at times I need to move her when visitors come over. Continued with multiple LST this week, I now have the form I'm after and I will just let her go now till flowering. She's super healthy, surprising enough with no bugs. My last outdoor grow over 7 years ago white flies were a constant issue. None on this baby! During the last week where I live in OZ we have had crazy weather. Golf ball sized hail on multiple occasions, i was lucky and it missed me whereas 5kms away areas were trashed with all leaves smashed from trees as a result. This week I will have new outdoor grow challenges as the temp will rise to over 43 celcius on one day..i will be moving her to a shady location for sure just to be safe I would say by next week's post she will be flowering, then I can really enjoy watching her grow.

Smooth sailing...some really hot days this week, one over 43c but lucky it was overcast. I had a little too much activity over my house this week, a police helicopter o the hunt so I've moved my bby back to a more secluded location. Unlikely they would notice one plant but better to be safe. Preflowers are really showing, so big things hopefully to come in the next 2 months Until then, water every 2 days with alternating fert. She looks pretty happy anyhow.

A little more LST this week and she's filled out nicely. Fert, water more fert. Really happy with the progress anyhow. She's not getting any shortage of sun that's for sure, still around 8 hours per day direct Sunlight so I'm expecting some nice big juicy buds with any luck

Nothing out of the ordinary this week, just loving watching my bby grow. I am hoping for more sunlight as overcast days have been the norm for the last week. A couple of ferts and a water is all that's been needed. Not sure if I should thin her out a bit as some of the buds are now being shaded by the fan leaves. I will make thay call tomorrow me thinks, to pull the under developed buds or to give them more light, that is my only dilema

The hottest month of summer it's supposed to be, but this week it has been anything but that. Started off with some warm humid days but on Tuesday it all changed. Severe storms were forecast so I decided to take the day off work just in case I had to rush my bby to cover. With recent storms here theres been large golf ball sized hail stones, muddy rain and its too late into my grow to take any further chances! Nothing but torrential rain thank god and all was good. Hmmm, I didn't see "taking care of my gunja plant" as an excuse when I submitted for leave at work 🤪 After the storm it just got cold, several days maxing out at 16 or 17 degrees and night time temps around 10 to 12. Cloudy and more rain which is far from conducive for good growing conditions. No mega growth spurts as a result. Oh well, it is what it is and still made good progress. Defoliated early in the week which really helped some of the hidden lower buds. Overall the buds are getting bigger and with warm to hot days forecast again for the next week I'm expecting her to go gangbusters. Better still, my plant is pest free! Apart from a few bees, flies and European wasps not another pest in sight. As a result a healthy happy plant she is, and a even happier grower that makes me! I'll just continue with what I'm doing till then. Fert water fert water and enjoy watching her grow. I haven't had a smoke for over 3 months since my last disappointing indoor grow, and can't wait to harvest and enjoy the produce.

Not much to report this week apart from really good progress. I fertilized every 2 days with power feed. Next week im planning to add liquid potash and have purchased a small bottle of mammoth p. Will be interested to see how the plant takes. She's really getting a nice smell and trichs can now be see on the sugar leaves. The way she's going I'd say at least another 6 weeks of flowering before she's ready for harvest. Bigger and better things yet to come for sure.

So this week my update is a couple of days too early....but after taking this pic I had to update. So this week fucking shitty weather overall. Monday a 20 degree drop from Sunday and the plant felt it big time. Couple of OK days, followed by rain, cold, rain cold. Wettest march day on record since 1929 to be precise....months worth of rain in a day. Then more cold and some more cold. But as they say...when the going gets tough...the tough gets going. And my plant did exactly that. Reduced nitrogen intake this week...potash only. And got my delivery of mammoth p on Wednesday so will be interested to see how she goes But when I took the pic tonight I was beaming as much as the pic...looks amazing. I Will post more day time pics on Sunday but I had to get this one out of the way Expecting nothing but good things now

The weather gods of marijuana were certainly looking after me this week. So many perfect days with clear skies ranging from 23 to 29c. A minor storm late in the week followed by cold, but the sun was still shining keeping all happy. Kind weather meant really good progress, the buds are really fattening up, getting super sticky and they smell so good. Maybe too much so as I do most of my plant maintenance during my lunch breaks at work as I live close by. Going back to the office with my hands stinking of marijuana resin is something I need to avoid doing moving forward 🤣 Continued with the fert this week, maybe a little too much as I have a little burn but nothing to worry about. The Mammoth P I’m using every water, and I’m alternating the potash and seaweed with one flush per week. I guess I’ll continue with the same regime until closer to harvest. One little whoopsie daisy was made when doing a defol earlier in the week and I snapped a small branch, with nothing but a tiny bud on it. Perfect opportunity for me to test my drying setup as I got a new drying rack which I’ve place in my unused grow tent. Vaporized what I had last night in my arizer solo and definitely did the trick. Should only get better as the buds ripen. First critter was seen as well! A little caterpillar crawled up in a sugar leaf, quickly got rid of that little fucker anyhow but now I need to check more frequently. When there’s one generally there will be more. I’ve recently been reading many other Ozzy outdoor growers diaries reporting bud rot issues with their plants. I’m hoping this is just a northern states thing as I’m in Melbourne, but I’m definitely taking precautions as the weather gets colder. I have now moved my plant to a new location, where morning direct sun is possible. But at the same time it’s in a much more open space. Just hoping none of my neighbours do any maintenance on their roof gutters as it will be clear to see. Good news is i will basically get 8+ hours of direct sun per day which is good this time of year. Should help those buds finishing up anyhow. Bigger is better. Maybe another 3-4 weeks more to go now, bring it on!

Nice easy week. A little rain and a few cold nights but warm dry days. No signs of bud rot so hopefully it stays the same. Unlikely though. Cut a tiny bud of as it was right in the middle of 4 others. Thought it was best to remove to free up some space, and hopefully reduce the chance of bud rot. Gave me a chance to test my drying setup and better still a little treat. Will try and dry this fully Happy with the progress anyhow. Maybe another 2 weeks at least I'd say.

Not a great deal to report this week. I have a little grub problem, little green worms that have attacked a couple of tiny buds. Literally turned them into mush. Pretty sure I've got rid of them but will check frequently for the little silk strands they leave when going down wind from one bud to the next. I just hope they haven't layed too many eggs as it has the potential to cause havoc on my plant. Been working from home so lots of spare time to take care if it anyhow. She is sooo sticky and smells so good anyhow. Buds are really chunking up well. I accidently broke a bud of, just a smaller bud but still around 5grams dried weight. I was trying to bend a little as buds were touching each other and she snapped..oh well more careful next time. Pro ably would have lost to bud got if I didn't break I guess as it will be getting wet and cold the next week Im still thinking another 2 weeks minimum to go, depending on any further unforeseen issues I should get there.

Relatively smooth week this week. Biggest issue was a few storms and cold weather so I have opted to bring her undercover when this happens. I have a skylight in my garden shed and with the door open she still gets a good dose of light, without the rain. As soon as the rain has gone shes back outside soaking up the rays. The next 5 days will bring alot of rain and cold temps around 16 degrees max so I will continue to keep her dry wherever possible No more fert since last week, just flushing now as I'm hoping to harvest late next week after a few more sunny days and hopefully before more wet cold weather follows. It is a balancing act thats for sure. Pistols are turning brown nicely, and buds are really chunking up and she's so sticky and sweet. Not long to go anyhow

Harvest day today, so a few final pic before she's cut. Would love to leave another week but with some seriously cold and wet weather on the way I will not risk. Have already lost a few buds to caterpillars, lucky they prefer the small variety Will post harvest pics once cut and dried

Grow and dry now completed.  Now comes the easy part, curing and then the fun part....smoking it. 1.4kg of wet weight once trimmed, leaving most of the stems attached. 240 grams once dried and manicured further.   Basically I managed to partially fill two 3 liter jars with good bud and a smaller 1 liter mason jar of shit bud, to be used for either Tincture or E-liquid plus a nice little ball of hash from the scissors.  I didn’t bother doing anything with the trim and in the bin it went.  Maybe a little wasteful but to be honest I have got way more than I need so really didn’t need to worry about it. Now considering this plant was less than a meter in height I’m pretty happy with the return.  At approximately 10 weeks into the grow she was getting way too big, so ended up cutting the top 1/3 of the plant.  This is something not recommended I realize but as this was a stealth grow, from the coppers, my neighbours and more importantly from the wife and teenage kids I had no other option.  So short and fat, and more importantly out of site she was for the entirety of the grow. Alot of time was spent training the plant, and also keeping the plant out of sight. As she was stealth, and I couldn’t care for her when the wife and kids were around I did all my maintenance during my lunch breaks from work and only watered early in the morning when no one was up.  I guess I am lucky working so close to home otherwise she wasn’t going to get much love at all.  But plenty of TLC I gave her and she gave me the expected rewards.  Once this COVID-19 lockdown is over I will at least be able to go back to my old ways of being social again with people in the office during my lunch breaks instead of going home most days to garden. Happy to say an issue free grow this was.  No bugs until late into the grow, when tiny bud eating caterpillars took hold.  I hand picked whenever I found them however there was no stopping them from turning a few buds into mush.  Lucky they only liked the shitty undergrowth buds so at most a few grams were lost as a result.    When harvesting I found one nice big bud with serious rot.  I have been moving her undercover when raining for the last 3 weeks, if it wasn’t for this it could’ve been alot worse as things really got cold and wet when finishing her off. Drying took 6 days to complete.  I was drying on a herb drying rack in my grow tent which is stored in my tin garden shed, things got really cold for 3 days with temps below 15c which really slowed the dry.  I had plenty of air moving around so she’s dried nicely anyhow.  The stems aren’t quite snapping as yet so I could’ve dried longer, so I will need to check constantly and air frequently for the next week and will then will use bodeva packs while finishing the cure.   Unfortunately really cold and wet weather is on the way again from tomorrow and drying further in a cold shed may be impossible. As far as the quality of the buds, very sweet sticky and solid they are.  I am still vaping a bud I picked 3 weeks prior to harvesting and it is really nice with true FUBAR potential.  What I’ve harvested is only going to have even better potential .  It was dried better, will be cured well and was harvested once ripe. Well sort of ripe I as I would've loved to have left it a little longer, but I suspect further issues would've been experienced with buy a and bud rot. Overall I couldn’t be happier with this grow.  Achieved a good return, but most importantly without my wife or teenage kids realizing I was growing.  As I’m lucky to vape a little over a gram most weeks I will now need to offload some of it to mates or otherwise prepare for long term storage once cured.  I was thinking of using a couple of ounces for e-liquid, a couple for ounces for tincture and will still end up with over 4 ounces to vape.  If I don’t give some of it away it will last me 3 years at least, something I don’t want as then I will have no excuse to grow again.  Yes, I think I enjoy the growing aspect as much as I enjoy consuming the product. Last time I had a big grow I vacuumed sealed and refrigerated and stored for several years which worked, so may do the same again.  When it’s your own smoke pristine looking buds aren’t really high on the agenda, once vacuumed sealed they will become little bricks that’s for sure. Oh well, signing off on this grow now.  It’s been fun.  My original intention was to do a few indoor autos later this year but may now put that on hold till next year, or year after that or after that. Thanks for all of you who have commented, liked or followed this grow.