Cure for the Summertime Blues

Smowkabowl Who is ready for Summer? What a better way to get through a hot summer day than some cool lemonade to wash those blues and global warming away. How about some dank ass Purple freakin' Lemonade! Week 1, Day 7. Birthdays are always on Friday, although these girls (PurpleLemonade x4) are only 5 or 6 days I will count Friday (2/28) as day 7. They are all looking good at the corner of happy and healthy in their rich beds of organic goodness. I have been working on this formula since I started growing about a 18 months or so. Anyway, I am using a 2:1 ratio of Coco coir/ Soil. I also add organic perlite (not pictured) to the mix at about 15%. Now, the soil I'm using is premium organic stuff, good for 30 days of growth without supplementing. The Coco coir is certified organic and grown far from the ocean so there are no salts to wash out. After that is all thoroughly mixed I add the real goodies: Nature's Living Soil inoculant that has everything you need to go from seed to harvest. They recommend 1 lb./5 gallons of soil. I use 2 lb/5 gallons because I use a Coco coir heavy soil mix (preferred because I can determine water needs easier than a 100% soil mix). I also use Recharge from start to finish once a week to keep the soil happy and healthy. Then, I have Coast of Maine's Squid juice (2-3-0) if they need a little supplement to get them to the end. I feed with RO or double filtered well water keeping the beginning ppm at a minimum. I adjust the pH with GH because of ease of use. Otherwise, I try to keep the inorganics introduced to the grow at a minimum. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention earlier, I started the seeds in recycled paper cups with Coast of Maine Seed Starter Mix that I amended with more Coco coir. After 4 days I put them in their final beds. I have a perpetual grow going and I am harvesting something every week or two so I threw in some pictures of some of the other goodness going on over here too. So, hop on the bus Gus, and lets see if we can come up with a cure for the Summertime blues. Thanks for turning on and tuning in. All questions and comments are welcome. Peace

Smowkabowl Day 14 and the growth has been explosive. I have to give credit to Recharge. Before Recharge week 2 usually didn't see much vegetative growth while the roots spread out. Not now, this stuff really works, the whole plant seems to be growing at the same time. Thanks for turning on and tuning in. Peace

Smowkabowl End of week 3, day 21 and we had another week of rapid growth. I defoliated the 1st set of branches on day 18 and they didn't skip a beat. I usually do this for most plants because the 1st set usually gets left in the larp, and it redirects energy to the other branches. One of the girls topped out at 9 inches, another at 8 and two at 7. It seems they are all pretty much keeping pace with each other and without any issues. It's cruze control for the next few weeks. Thanks for turning on and tuning in. And as always, all comments or questions are welcome. Peace

Smowkabowl This post is a few days behind because I've been preparing for COVID 19 this week. I also have been trying to procure some more seeds. I've had an order in for a week and it still hasn't shipped. I have enough seeds to get me through the next couple months so I'll have meds for the summer. I was trying to get enough for the next year just in case. Hopefully, I'll get them within the next few weeks with a little patience. Something that is harder to come by recently, anxiety and stress are high and so am I. Peace and Health everyone. End week 4, Day 28 and the stretch is on and we are in full flower. We got one that reached to 19 inches by the end of the week. Two at 17 and the runt at 13(that has a very even canopy without any LST). They all look good except one in which the leaves are curling under like a claw. I have never run into this before and the other 3 (maybe 1 other slightly) seem to be normal flat leaves. Not sure what's going on. I introduced a little Cal Mag to the feed (0.5 ml/gallon). Can't imagine that little being an issue. Over watered? pH? (I grow organically in a soil mix) Doesn't seem to have slowed it down any. Maybe I shouldn't worry about it. Other than that all is well, on schedule and looking glorious. Thanks for turning on and tuning in. All questions or comments are welcome. Peace and Health

Smowkabowl End week 5, day 35 and it looks like the stretch may be over. Growth has been crazy fast and the girls are 30, 26, 24 and 21 inches. Flower production is bursting and the frost is quickly accumulating. I have some leaf clawing on one of the girls so I lowered my feed temperature from about 75-78F to about 65-68F. The water from my well comes out of the ground at about 65F all year 'round and I always thought it would be to cold so I would acclimate it to room temp. Thanks for turning on and tuning in. Peace and health everyone

Smowkabowl Day 42 and we are at the end of week 6 and the blooms are swelling and sticky sweet The tallest one topped out at 31 inches and all their energy has turned to flowering for the next 2 to 3 weeks. I hope everyone is staying home and tending to their gardens. Thanks for turning on and tuning in. All comments and questions are welcome. Peace and health

Smowkabowl End of week 6, day 42 and the Cure is closer to being here and so is summer. All the PLs are looking good despite the leaf clawing, which all show to some degree. Maybe this strain is sensitive to something I'm doing but doesn't show in the other varieties I grow at the same time. Not sure??? Anyway, I lowered my feeding solution temperatures and I'm paying more attention to not over feeding and letting them dry out more between feedings. I may start putting an air stone in a water store but it raises the pH and I like to use freshly filtered water straight from the ground because it comes up at 65 degrees F and I can feed it to the plants by the time it gets to 68-70 F. I'll be looking into dissolved oxygen measuring and experimenting with different methods. Thanks for turning on and tuning in. All comments and questions are welcome as usual. Peace and health to all

Smowkabowl End week 8, day 56 and the PLs are looking frosty cool and thirst quenchingly dreamy. They are getting close, another week or so I think. The fade is starting on the leaves and they're trying to purple. The hairs are beginning to orange up and the buds are getting really dense. I haven't done anything special this week, a little defoliation, the usual weekly dose of Recharge and some supplemental CalMag and K. Thanks for turning on and tuning in. All comments and questions are welcome Peace and health

Smowkabowl End week 9, day 63 and the harvest has begun. I pulled 2 PurpleLemonades on day 62 and placed in Quarantine (darkness) for 48 hrs. The other 2 will be pulled and put in the dark when I cut and hang the other two out to dry for the next 7 to 9 days. The plants are gorgeous and buds are plump and frosty as, you know what. Trichomes are mostly cloudy with about 5-10% amber. I am wanting a cerebral high for daytime use this summer and this should fit the bill nicely. Buds came out in nice big nuggs, little bigger than a golf ball, and dense as heck. The branches are droopy and bobbing all over the place. A few branches have snapped from the weight. I think they will average about 112g each dry nuggs. I'll be happy with that, it should get me through the summer. Also, have some OG kushes and some GG4 and a Tangie finishing up in the next few weeks too. I also started my Fall strain this week. They popped up on 4/24 (day 1) and I will be starting a diary soon. Look for it soon... I'm really excited to see this strain (not much info on it so I hope it lives up to its description).... Garden of Green/GDP Auto X Gumberry Auto... sounds yummy and I am wanting something that is purple every time. The PLs gave me some gorgeous colors, pink and violet and some purple, just not like I was hoping. I'll be back to update this week with a few more picks after I pull and hang the others to dry, then it will be a week or so before the dry harvest report. After a 2 to 4 week cure I'll update with a smoke report. Thanks for turning on and tuning in. Be sure to Follow and Bookmark for final results. All comments and questions are welcome. Peace and health

Smowkabowl Top quality buds, great yields all in 9-10 weeks. This strain is very easy to grow and resistant to disease and mold. I would recommend growing this strain to anyone that wants to try automatics. Smells great, tastes great (lemons) and high in THC. I grew these in 3 gallon pots, in soil, organically wanting an average of 112g/plant. I fell about 9g/plant shy. If I would have used 5 gallon bags, I'm sure I would have made it plus some. Anyway, I am very satisfied with the results and will grow this one again. Thanks for turning on and tuning in. All comments and questions are welcome. Da Da Dab, Da Da Dab all folks. Peace and Health