Late Start Outdoor Wonder Pie

June 11: finally ready to post a diary. My Bio Grow fertilizer arrived nice and early this spring, but my contest seeds only arrived in the mail on June 2. That leaves a very short growing time for this outdoor Season here in Alberta, Canada but I’ll give it a go. Started four seeds but only two germinated so far. These plants will pretty much have to done by the end of September.

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June 20: the small plant seems to have regrown the roots it lost when I accidentally yanked it out of the soil last week. 🤪 Whoops. I found it lying on the ground so I stuck it back in hoping it would get re-established. So it’s now basically a week behind the other plant. June 22: Transplanted from plastic cup into 5 gallon fabric pot. Starting this late I want to use a smallish pot hoping that will help flowering.

Growing quickly. Plant 2 looks to be fully recovered from its early trauma and is now just a bit delayed. June 30: finishing week 4 with a lot of rain.

July 2: Fimmed both plants this morning. Plant Number 1 was at the fourth node and Number 2 was at the third node. July 4: applied Enhancer as a foliar spray in a mix that also had a calcium citrate pill, Epsom salts, and a dab of dish soap as a wetting agent.

July7: lots of rain this summer. I find it interesting how the internodal spacing and leaves are so big on my plants compared to other Wonder Pies. It might just be due to phenotypic variations, but my thought is that it’s related to the quality of light that we get here in the summer at 53N latitude. The light will be slightly red shifted which apparently causes plant stretching. It might also have something to do with the cool nights, but my Wonder Pies certainly look different than others using the same nutrients. They’d look a lot better if we got some summer happening 🤠 July 10: Wonder Pie #2 is smaller mostly because it was completely yanked out of the Rapid Rooter when it was a baby. Whoops. It’s a bit miraculous that it survived that early trauma and is doing fine, but it’s not gaining on Wonder Pie #1. July 11: a couple of nice days and both plants are about two inches taller in two days. WP #1 certainly has the potential to become very tall. July 12: tied to bamboo stake slightly off vertical to open up canopy to sunlight. Some of the fan leaves are huge which is good of course, but I’ll also need to tuck them in a bit daily so they don’t block too much sunlight.

July 16: very light defoliation taking out one big fan leaf. Thunderstorms and hail this afternoon but plants were moved out of the way. July 17: plants are doing great, and it’s nice being able to mostly just water the plants without having to worry much about dealing with nutrients. The BioGrow and Enhancer are super easy to use and there’s no denying that the plants love it. Also using Enhancer on all my plants and BioGrow and BioBloom in my Flash Seeds Outdoor diary. Good stuff. 🤠

July 21: moved Wonder Pie #1 out to the farm. Buried the 5 gallon pot in the ground and topped it up with soil. Applied Enhancer as a foliar spray. This plant I will let flower naturally. Wonder Pie #2 remains in the city and I will likely force flower that one starting in early August. Cool weather and weak sunlight comes quickly here in the fall and this will provide a good comparison. It would be nice if this plant did naturally finish at the end of September but I’m sceptical because everything takes longer here. These were only started on June 2 which might also affect things. The foliage is a very dark green and this has also been noted in other diaries. Might be excess N or just the strain I guess. July 24: minor setback on WP1 with a lower branch damaged when the nearby garden was rototilled. I cut off the damaged branch and it should be okay. July 26: Tying down branches on WP2 using pipe cleaners and paper clips.

July 27: WP1 seems to really suck back the water and is a very deep green. It’s possible that I didn’t mix the BioGrow evenly enough into the soil and the roots are hitting a high concentration layer halfway down in the grow bag. Or not. Either way it’s still growing about an inch per day. July 31: WP2 has started flowering so I decided to apply the BioBloom fertilizer. Assuming 10 weeks flowering, added the recommended 2 g/L of soil so 40 g mixed in with some soil and applied as a top dressing. Then watered in with pHed water. Another application of 1 g/L will be in about 3 weeks. LST continues on WP2 and seems to be working. 😎 Aug1: starting to flower which is a good sign for finishing on time. Aug 12: changed week description to Vegetative as saying they had started flowering was a bit optimistic.

Aug 2: hot again so it’s about a week now near 30C. WP1 really uses a lot of water, and it uses as much or more than the much bigger Flash Seeds plants that are nearby. The really dark green seems to happen when the plants need water so maybe that’s all it indicates. Tied some limbs to the bamboo poles to open the plant up to the light. Aug 7: WP2 is now being force flowered using a doubled black garbage bag with some holes for ventilation. Covered at about 8 pm and opened in morning on first day but plant was obviously a bit stressed from elevated humidity. Now covering until about 11 pm and then removing cover for overnight. Hopefully the stray city light isn’t too much for WP2, but this won’t be a problem for WP1 at the farm. Aug 8: for WP1 added two watering stakes which are 2 L pop (soda) bottles on ceramic stakes that release water slowly into soil. This was needed because WP1 soil was always dry when checked every few days and the plant clearly transpires a large amount of water.

Aug 10: Continuing with force flowering on WP2 and this Is Day 3. Now removing bag at about 11 pm to prevent condensation overnight. Aug 13: finally WP1 looks happy. She uses so much water that until I added the capillary stakes she was always dry when I arrived. Today there was still some water left in one of the 2L bottles and the soil wasn’t too dry. Sprayed with Enhancer. Aug 15: I can tell she’s still growing cuz it’s getting harder to slip the blackout bags (two 110L garbage bags) on each night. Gonna need a bigger bag. Aug 16: WP1 grew 4 inches in last three days.

Aug 21: still covering it at 7:30 in evening until it’s actually dark after about 11 pm. Seems to be slow to flower. Aug 22: gave her a second round of BioBloom as a top dressing. Still force flowering but I think this could be the last night I bother. Today we have 14h 19 min of daylight and when I started force flowering on 7 Aug (15 days ago) there was 15 h 16 min. So we have lost almost an hour of light in two weeks and now losing about 4 min per day. Welcome to a northern latitude fall. Overnight temps should be warm enough over the next two weeks but I’ll likely have to start putting it inside the garage here soon enough.

Aug 25: thinned out understory on WP2 to remove ‘larf’ and leaves or small branches that were growing in toward the centre. It was a cool 8 C here overnight but should stay above 10 C for next two weeks. This plant here in Alberta is flowering more slowly than Dalemac’s down in California. Aug 27: WP1 grew 9 inches in 9 days. Added a bit more BioBloom as a top dressing. WP1 is still vegging and not as far along flowering as WP2. This makes sense cuz WP2 City girl is being force flowered but WP1 country girl just gets to do her thing. Saw both today and the difference was pretty obvious for the first time. Long term forecast has overnight lows in the 8-5 C range. Shit. Hopefully that’s not too low for too long to mess with these plants. Still hoping to make it with decent weather until late September or early October at very latest. Aug 30: WP1 is another 2” taller in 3 days. Buds on WP1 are definitely behind WP2 in development and the plant is getting bigger. Looks like some aphids on WP1 but the lady bugs are doing a good job keeping them under control. Aug 31: unexpectedly only 2 C this morning, yikes, but the plants were on the warming table overnight and they all seem fine today. Still no signs of male flowers, or so far so good. Other growers have identified this as a hermie strain, but I haven’t had any indication of a problem so far.

Sep 1: there might be a bit of lower leaf damage on WP1 after the 2 C night here two nights ago. Otherwise everything seems fine and the buds are progressing. Sep 2: removed some yellowing fan leaves that had been damaged by cold temps. Sep 3: WP1 has finally stopped getting taller and is starting to flower. Good thing too cuz the days get short pretty fast now and it will be iffy as to whether this plant will finish in time. Sep 6: Well, I spoke too soon as WP1 is still getting taller, and it grew 4 inches in 3 days. This far north, it should be flowering not vegging by early September. Oh well. Lots of insect life on WP1 (ladybugs, spider, flys, few ants even) and a few aphids so it seems to be in a balance and the plant is fine. WP2 in the city was force flowered a while ago and is progressing nicely. These are in small 5-gallon pots in an attempt to limit their size and to encourage flowering.

Sep 8: only 2 C overnight for second time this fall. I kept the plants on the warming table and wrapped the fabric pots in a ‘garden blanket’ (cheap IKEA quilt in some garbage bags). Some lower fan leaves have discoloured due to the cold but the plant seems fine. Watered with warmed (20 C) and pHed water to help wake up after cold night. It’s supposed to be 22 C tomorrow and 24 C the day after so she should make some good progress here soon. Forecast lows for next two weeks are 9-6 C range. If/when we reach frost conditions I’ll bring the plants inside the house but the warming table seems good so far. Sep 9: it was 4 C overnight. WP2 is only 37 inches tall due to being force flowered. WP1 is much taller (62”) but is behind in flowering. Both plants are in 5 gallon pots but WP1 is buried in the ground so that might also be a factor. WP2 was a week behind at the seedling stage due to being accidentally ripped from the Rapid Rooter. I’ll be interested to try this plant again next year with an earlier start...an extra 6-8 weeks would make a huge difference in the final size and yield. Force flowering might still be needed to finish before bad weather. We’ll have to see how they both finish this year. WP2 is looking good but WP1 likely won’t finish before we get some frost. Oh well, just seeing what works and learning as I go. 😎 Sep 10: pollinated a lower branch with Smoothie. Also pollinated a Smoothie with Smoothie to create more Smoothie seeds. I think WPxSmoothie could be an interesting cross to grow out next year. Wonder Pies are both still good with no signs of hermie. Sep 13: trying “supplemental lighting” as they call it in greenhouse biz. Idea is to provide extra light during midday to boost bud formation on low light days in the fall. It was overcast all day and my app light meter would show a significant increase If the light was close enough. App would show, say 2000 to 4000 Lux, and with light it would be About 3000-5000 Lux. Usually about 1000-2000 increase. Direct sunlight now registers as about 22,000 and in June I think it was about 27,000.

Sep 15: just pHed water. Cool weather has arrived and WP2 is staying on the warming table full time now. Highs of about 18 C with lows of 6-3 C so pretty cold for cannabis plants. Overcast again so continuing with supplemental lighting today but it is supposed to get sunny here again soon for the next week. Will only use the light on relatively dark overcast days. WP1 at farm is doing okay. It’s bigger than WP2 but now behind in flowering. Sep 16: first frost of the season with -1 C in the city overnight. The cannabis plants were in the house and are fine. Likely about +3 C overnight at the farm so those plants should also be fine. Some leaves started turning purple on WP2 after being in the house overnight. It was sunny all day and the main cola is noticeably frostier this evening. 😎 Sep 17: nice sunny afternoon. Took off some lower fan leaves that were damaged by low temps. Applied Enhancer to the leaves. Sep 18: some leaves are turning purple on WP2 and it is definitely ahead of WP1 in flowering. WP1 still has some resident lady bugs but no sign of aphids. Sep 19: overcast and hazy from smoke so had the supplemental lighting going again today. The leaves are now quite purple on WP2. Sep 20: nice sunny day. WP1 leaves have not changed colour at all. It stays slightly warmer at the farm (maybe 2C warmer) but I’m surprised there isn’t more of a colour change happening.

Sep 22: WP2 was force flowered in August and is ahead of WP1 in flowering but much shorter. The days shorten quickly here in the fall and WP1 stretched a fair bit at the start of flowering. Many fan leaves have discoloured on WP2 in the city, but all still green on WP1 at the farm. I haven’t managed the shape of these plants very well as they’re a bit bigger than the autos I’m more used to. These plants are very strong and would be much bigger if they had been started earlier. No hermie problems. Sep 24: nice sunny day and WP2 is noticeably frostier. 🤠☃️ Harvested some hot peppers for salsa but I had to buy tomatoes as mine sucked this year. Sep 25: only 3C in the city again last night. WP1 is behind in flowering and still totally green without any ‘fall colours” unlike WP2 which has been coloured since the one night when I had it in the house due to overnight frost risk. Sep 26: only 2C overnight again. The plants do surprisingly well with just the warming table to keep them happy enough overnight and then it warms up to about 20 C during the day.

Oct 1: WP2 is really beautiful with the fall colours. She’s done very soon but WP1 still has a ways to go. Frost warning last night so the plants were in the garage overnight. Oct 2: WP1 did not have any frost damage at the farm, unlike the Cookies G13 which had a lot of leaf damage. Potato plants nearby are dead from frost but Panama Lime looks totally fine. Oct 3: pretty much 0 C here again last night for air temp but the ground is still warm. No sign of frost damage at all. Sunny all day with a high of 23C. WP1 is still totally green with no fall colours, and she’s starting to get frosty. WP1 is well behind WP2 because it was not force flowered.

Oct 8: WP2 taken out to the farm to compare with WP1. Plants are the same age, and WP2 started showing colours after a single night in the house (16C) due to frost risk that night. WP1: 5 gal pot buried in ground at farm. WP2: 5 gal pot and force flowered in August so it is shorter and more ripe. WP1 lost some lower limbs due to a garden cultivator mishap. WP2 had been ripped from her home as a seedling but managed to survive. So, both plants have had setbacks but have made it this far. Oct 9: harvested WP2 in the dark before sunrise along with the Panama Lime and Cookies G13 (in the Flash Seeds diary). It was -1C with light frost on all the plants this morning. WP2 produced only 6 seeds on the branch I had pollinated with Smoothie. WP1 is now the last plant standing at the farm. The light is failing fast and overnight lows are routinely down near zero now. I’ll push it a bit longer as there is sun forecast after the next three cold days. Hopefully not too cold.

This was the most beautiful plant (WP2) with Intense fall colours and great frosty buds. No problems at all during the grow and the buds are great. This was the smaller of the two plants and WP1 is still going for now. The Bio nutrient system worked just fine and it literally could not be easier. The hardest part is remembering to mix the BioGrow into the soil before you start.🤠 Will update with hash weights but shown dry weight is based on yield from the plant all going to flower. Freeze drying and hash making complicates the math. Started seeds on June 2 and harvested Wonder Pie 2 on Oct 9. 195 g buds to dryer and 166 g Primo buds to freezer for hash. WP2 did surprisingly well considering I accidentally yanked it from the peat cup at the early seedling stage and found it lying on the ground. Reinserted into cup but it meant it was about a week behind WP1 early on. Smallish 5 gallon pot was chosen to try and get it to flower early. WP2 was force flowered in early August and it’s done now about 10 weeks later. We’ve had several near frost nights already and the sun is getting pretty weak and low to the horizon. Will keep WP1 going at farm for a while longer. Very solid plant that likely didn’t need any support and it handled the low temps with no problem. Was fimmed in Week 5, but will top next time as the fim didn’t seem to work. Will also start about 5 weeks earlier next year but considering that the seeds arrived on June 1, I would classify this as a great success. The bigger plant, WP1 is still going at the farm. Update Oct 14: had to harvest WP1 due to snow in the forecast and the start of nights consistently below zero. Got the same bud mass off WP1 despite it being much bigger than WP2. Force flowering WP2 In early August produced nicer buds with more frosting so that seems like a better way to go this far north. Basically here at 53N we run out of good sunlight before it gets too cold for cannabis so force flowering gets things going while the light is still strong enough to produce good buds. Oct 16: first snow and a cannabis plant killing -9 C overnight already so happy to have harvested. I wish that I had diverted more of WP2 to buds rather than hash because my recovery was only about 1% when I was hoping for 5-10%. The pressed hash I did get at the end is amazing as an artisan type hash a la Frenchy Cannoli style. Makes for a nice, shiny, if disappointingly small temple ball. Cool.