Thai Stick It to Me

This grow has five seeds planted of MSNL Thai Stick. MSNL sometimes calls it Thai Sticks. This is an outdoor grow in northern Arizona at 6700 feet elevation, evergreen forest, USDA Zone 5, not desert like you usually think of with Arizona. In this part of the State it gets down to -30 F in the winter with 12-15 feet of total snowfall. They'll be coddled up the way I always do with my veggie grows. No supplement-type or commercial nutrients. I do use manure tea and sprouted seed teas. I mix my own soil using compost, crop remains, cut weeds and manure from donkeys, chickens, range cattle, elk, deer, antelope, goat, sheep and wild rabbits and jackrabbits. I mix it with native sand and clay, rotted pine and juniper mulch from under ancient trees and composted straw, coffee grounds, egg shells from our free range chickens and biochar made on-site. This stuff will grow tomatoes and corn ten feet tall. I've had mixed results with weed so far, only been on this farm for a few years now. Mostly that's been a matter of underwatering more than anything else, but this year we have our infrastructure coming together, so hoping for good results. I make my own soil with rotted pine and juniper mulch from ancient trees, composted manure from open range cattle, donkeys and horses, elk, deer and antelope, chickens, sheep, goats, composted strawAlso crop remains, small bits of rotten wood. At about 2.5-3 feet tall they'll be moved into the ground before flowering, planted inside a heated greenhouse because we freeze here by mid-October. These are regular seeds, 100 percent sativa. At least one female will be bred for seeds. I'm also growing several other strains, and those will be bred with the Thai Stick as well. I put in five regular Thai Stick on June 5 after an overnight soak starting June 4. June 7: The first sprout of Thai Stick is breaking out. I will go with the incredibly creative name of TS1 for this plant. June 8: TS1 about 3/4 inch tall. TS2, TS3, TS4 have sprouted. 80 percent germination within four days. June 9: The Painted Desert isn't like the rest of Arizona. 21 degrees F this morning. Seedlings were in their bottles inside the field shed, still look good. TS1 an inch or more. Will measure again at end of week. TS2, TS3, TS4 all over 1/4 inch. TS5 has sprouted now, looks weak from the cold, making 100 percent germination in 5 days. June 10: The only big change for the day is TS5 gaining strength and color, took a full day of intense sun in full stride. This was a risk either way. The other seedlings need the full day's shine, but it could have been very hard on this young, weak sprout. I fully expect it to open up and take off now. Other news is the cold temperature yesterday morning gave the open seedlings a purple touch at the edges. A tomato seedling and some eggplants also turned purple. June 11: TS1, TS2, TS3 second set of leaves obvious, TS4 second set there but tiny. TS5 is fully open, looks strong now, good color. June 12: Everybody looking happy. TS5 is catching up, still small but strong and plenty of color. June 13: End of week 1 for TS1. Height 1-3/8 inches. Good spread, vigor, color. TS1 is one full week old. TS2, 3, 4 all 6 days. TS5 4 days, looks good. TS5 is definite breeding candidate for hardiness, TS 1 for early vigor. When the third set of leaves present, I'll move them out of the six pack and into 4-inchers for a while before going to gallons. These small containers are a pain to keep watered and cooled, but at this stage the roots get more oxygen and develop faster in small containers. I'll be counting the weeks from first emergence on June 7, so weeks will end on Saturdays. Thanks for reading and I hope this turns out to be an interesting grow.