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.

June 14: TS1 starts week 2 at 1.7 inches, gaining 3/8 of an inch overnight. All seedlings are accelerating. TS5 is almost as tall as TS4 now. Great color, all have strong stems, broad leaves and outstanding spring. Weather last several days has been very windy and around 80. Watching water use carefully because they will dry out quickly in small containers under these conditions. Very pleased so far. June 15: They're starting to take off, evidence that the roots are developing rapidly. As soon as we're into the third set of leaves they'll be transplanted. Walking a balancing act right now, don't want them root bound, always a danger in nursery six packs, and not just with weed. It's a problem with tomatoes, peppers and flowers, too. If they get bound it will dwarf them, and that's the last thing I want. June 16: So today I noticed the cotylodon leaves were turning yellow. Like the accelerated rate of growth, this is an indicator of rapid root development. It can mean that the roots have touched the bottom of the container. Sensing that it may run out of room, the plant consumes the rest of the nutrients in these first leaves. I was going to transplant to 4-inch pots at the end of the week, but it was time now. The roots on every plant were at the bottom. Transplanted all five into 4-inchers and clipped off the cotylodon leaves to force the focus back to the roots. I expect to transplant again within a week at the rate they are growing. Next step up will be to half-gallon grow bags. That might last a week or two and then step up to gallon flower pots. June 17: First full day in 4-inch pots. Acceleration continues. They all look much better than yesterday. TS5 is beautiful. June19: No news is good news. Much larger than Week 1. Third set of leaves showing on TS1, TS2, TS3. Will have Week two measurement tomorrow. Will probably transplant by next weekend. June 20: Transplanted to half gallon grow bags. They are taking off. TS2 and TS4 had leaf worms. Dealt with by smashing the pest. Leaves aren't pretty because of scarring. Will be fine. Other leaves got cuts and general wear from living outside.

June 21: They seem to love their new bags. Gallon pots are next stop for a few days before going to 3-5 gallon pots. After that they go in the ground. June 22: Acceleration continues, concentration on root development is starting to pay off. This is a short five month season, so roots are a big deal this year. June 23: The first sets of leaves are looking a little rough, probably because of two transplants in rapid succession. TS2 an TS4 also had the leaf miner damage. Plants look healthy overall besides that. June 24: Got up to 95, hot as heck for this altitude. At 6700 feet in this country, the sun is unbelievable. A little windy, too. Going to trim off the first leaves tomorrow to boost root growth. The need to travel meant an inability to monitor the 4-inchers, so I had to step up early. If I had known I would have just gone straight to the bags from the six pack. 100 percent sativa, regular seeds. This grow is all about the long term run and the final results, not worrying about above ground size if they're in normal range. Roots matter most here, because seeds are the crop this time. June 25: Clipped the first leaves on the girls where this pair looked rough. Didn't clip TS1 but still might. June 26: The first set on TS1 look less faded than before. Haven't clipped them yet. TS3 is now as big as TS1. TS5 looks better but still pretty small. All plants still showing acceleration with lots of new growth coming at the shoots. June 27: End of Week 3. TS3, TS4 and TS5 have nutrient burn, with hints of it on the other plants' leaf tips. Always a hazard with natural organic growing because it's just not precise. They do look vigorous with good color, so I flushed them well throughout the day. The soil here on our farm is naturally full of micorizal fungus, so I am hoping root development will help to offset nutrient burn effects. Still happy with progress. TS2 isn't burned yet and TS1 is very minimal, so we're running right at the limits, I think. Some plants can take it and some can't so I will need to monitor and flush as necessary until the plants are large enough to use this level of nutrients. I will move them to the larger containers with milder soil if need be.

June 28: Week four will be the second week in the grow bags. Lot of new growth evident. They're doing well in spite of my rapid transplants ahead of schedule, heat, wind and nutrient burn from professional market gardening soil used to produce vegetables. They look good but the soil is a bit too rich for such tender young seedlings. Clipped off first leaves on each plant because I want them to grow more roots and foliage to replace them. Once we're through this week, we've made it a month and the early nursery stage is done. I'll go to weekly updates after that unless something happens. June 29: Leaving them alone to recover. Growth tips are really putting some veg out at present. If I can keep the burn away and let them sit, they're shaping up well. June 30: Looking good for the most part, TS1 is a little droopy from the rich soil, but seems to be continuing to grow at a good rate. The others are fine. TS5 is picking up speed. July 2: All five plants are vigorous and getting bushier. Had a little rain today. They look a little paler color to me and vertical growth seems slower. TS5 is finally starting to grow faster. July 3: Got a quarter inch of rain today while we were in town. Lot of water for such small plants. Have to keep an eye out for overwatering symptoms. Just gave them a good watering a couple days ago. July 4: Definitely slowed down vertical growth but still bushing out. Paler, too. Overwatered from the rainstorm I think. Made a solution of two tablespoons vinegar in a gallon of water and sprayed around the bases just a little to get the pH lower so nutrients are more available. Re-potted them into gallon nursery pots. Not much bigger than the bags but had room for three extra inches of dry soil in the bottom to draw some extra water off. Also used a really big, fat screwdriver to punch eight holes down through the soil in each pot from top to bottom to get them dried quicker and make oxygen available. They're still perky with good spring and seem vigorous. Lost some growth and that sucks. They're at about 3.5 inches but I wanted them at least to 4 inches this week. TS2 has branches getting ready.

July 5: Started off this week with plants overwatered from the rain, on the edge of nutrient burn from rich soil. It's tough to lose some growing time but keeping at it. I think they'll be better once they've dried some and the nutrient burn will get better as they get bigger. July 6: TS3 looked really bad from heat and light stress on top of the overwatering and nutrient burn. Looked terrible, faded almost to yellow, burned tips, brown and bronze areas, stressed edges. LOL I'm not looking like a hotshot grower right now. Potted this one into a slightly smaller container. I was honestly surprised. A couple roots have reached the bottom of a gallon pot. I rearranged them into a smaller pot on top of slightly damp, milder soil and crumbled the dirt around the root ball to get more oxygen in there and dry it some. I put TS3 in the shade for the rest of the day to get a break from the hardcore high altitude Arizona sun, heat and light. Looking much better. The rest are starting to green back up a little. Pictures tomorrow. July 7: Every plant looks better now, starting to get more green, still a little pale. TS3 spent the day in the shade again and is also starting to get more green. The burn from nutrients and light is still bad, but that's not fixable. I'll trim those leaves off once more new foliage comes in. She still looks terrible, but less terrible than before. These are very strong genetics. None of the five plants has even wilted through all of this abuse. They've all kept their vigor and excellent spring. This is the first time I've grown a landrace strain since back in the early 90s and back then we didn't know as much about achieving high levels of nutrition in organic soil. This soil is way hotter than what we were using back in the day for outdoor grows. The other thing I should have thought of is that landrace strains are basically weeds and probably don't need high nutrient levels and may not even be able to make full use of them. At least things seem to be getting better for now. July 8: TS3 improved so much that I gave every plant a break in the shade for today. They're all greener and look better. Trimmed the worst leaves to keep the energy in new growth. I think they're finally going the right direction again. Lost probably a week of growing time, could amount to a couple of feet or more at the other end with pure sativa. July 11: End of Week 5. They're all much greener. I believe my pH meter has a problem. The soil finally dried well. I punched some holes down through the soil with a big screwdriver to help dry and oxygenate them. Once they got dry and it was time to water, I used vinegar at the rate of 2 tablespoons per gallon of water to lower pH. They've all been getting some time in the shade each day and the burned foliage has been trimmed. TS5 is absolutely tiny. All are small and behind the curve, but they are greener now and growth has finally been kickstarted. I'm buying a new pH meter and having the old one recalibrated.

July 14: Starting Week 6 with much happier plants. The new growth was big enough that I trimmed the burnt leaves off TS3 and TS5. TS5 is tiny, but still vigorous. Watering in another day or two, will be feeding seed sprout tea then also. Expect this one to wake up after that. July 16: Transplanted TS3 back up into a one gallon. Everybody got watered and fed seed sprout tea. TS3 is a little droopy but should be fine. Color is way better now on all plants and growth has resumed. Whole gang is much happier after drying out and getting some shade. TS2 is finally starting to take off. Hoping seed sprout tea will improve leaf size. TS1, TS3 and TS4 look like different plants now. July 18: End of Week 6 and they're back on track. Hoping to see a lot of new growth and a lot of height coming now.

July 25: End of Week 7. All are vegging better. TS5 is still extremely small but still vigorous and is putting out new growth. TS1 seems to have started pre-flower today and I think it's a male. No signs on the other plants yet. It's a good time for a male to start, because my Purple Haze auto grow just had two girls go into pre-flower and I want to cross this Thai into the purple and select some autos. TS2 continues to lead the way, reaching 7 inches and starting to branch. Faint but definite skunk smell evident.

August 5: I should play the lottery. 4 out of 5 plants have turned out to be male. TS1-TS4 all male, incredible odds. Only one left is TS5, the micro plant, so not much production likely but hopefully it's a female so I can get some Thai Stick seeds and try again. TS2 is still the biggest at 9+ inches.

August 8: End of Week 9 Just working the herb. Pinching blooms on all plants but TS2. TS2 will be cultivated for pollen. Growing leaf at this point, it's all about seeds now on Purple Haze and Chocodope.

August 15: TS2 has reached 14 inches and he's covered in flowers. Lots of pollen. Skunk smell is strong and all four males are sticky. I've pollinated the Purple Haze females. The other three plants have been topped to delay flowering for a week or two so Lady Choco can start her flowering while they're making pollen.

August 22: TS2 continues to grow and produce. Topped him to bulk up the leaf production. Skunk smell is strong. TS1 gave out, just reached end of cycle, I think. Drying that leaf now. TS3 looks freaking awesome after fighting back from the brink. Good pollen there for outdoor growing, he's a fighter. TS4 still going well. Topped these two for herb production and to slow pollen down so Lady Choco can catch up for seeds.

September 5: TS2 faded out, end of season for him. TS3 and TS4 both doing well. TS3 will be the one for pollen selection. He's got purple flowers going. Also a fighter that came back from the brink and ended up the strongest. Have collected TS2 and TS4 pollen both together. Skunk smell very strong.

September 12: End of Week 13. TS3 still making lots of flowers but the end is near. Most of the leaves have fallen. TS4 gave out this week.

These were very vigorous plants that handled adverse conditions with ease. Sprouted in near-freezing temperatures and stayed strong through bad pH levels, poor nutrition, improper watering and temps over 90. Tasted and smelled great. Even though I had 80 percent males and the female died, I got some great herb and plenty of pollen to cross with other strains. Will grow this one again for sure. Awesome genetics.