Critical Purple Rooftop Garden

This was an exciting week, as the seeds popped and true leaves began to show! I tried the method recommended by Grower's Choice--germinating on a paper towel--last year, but didn't like it. Admittedly, it does protect them from claims that the seeds were duds, but I've never been good at handling sprouted seeds. Instead, I planted the seeds directly into wet seed starting mix, watering every other day while the pots were in the laundry room (warmest room in the house). Now that the seedlings have true leaves (and it has warmed up in NoCal at night), I'm able to leave them outside on the top of the patio cover overnight. I figure they can grow in these four-inch plastic pots for two or so weeks before they need to be moved into their permanent grow bag homes.

Looking at one of my seedlings (the largest), I think the sun on the roof may just be too intense over a 15-hour day for these little babies. The first true leaves on that seedling have yellowed. I've brought them inside to a south-facing window so they can get a bit less sunlight for a week or so. The yellowed leaves could also be due to overfeeding, so I've cut back on the feeding for the week. Next week, the plan is to repot the seedlings into their own four-inch pots. I may have a problem with two of the seedlings because they grew very close to each other. If I can't separate them, I'll leave them together and grow them in the five-gallon grow bag. The other two should be easy to separate and later grow to maturity in three-gallon grow bags.

I remember when I had my first grow two years ago, and I read in a book (I think it was the Handbook by Ed Rosenthal) that cannabis "grows like weed". Ha! It always seems difficult to start the seeds and I'm nervous the first couple of weeks because the seeds are so darn expensive that I'd hate to lose a plant, but by week 3 the plants take off and it just becomes a challenge to water them enough and feed them the right concentration at the correct frequency. I've reached that point, after bringing them inside for two days last week due to extreme temperatures (95 degrees outside). The seedlings are now about two inches tall and have the first set of five-lobed leaves...exciting when you can tell it's cannabis just by looking!

I finally felt that the seedlings were large enough this week to separate them (there were two in each pot) and pot them up by themselves. I used Fox Farms' Ocean Forest soil mix and drenched the soil with GrowMore Seaweed Extract. They're now happily living up on the patio cover in direct sun from 6:00 am until 8:00 pm. I'll be reading up this week on how to top the seedlings for branching; planning to do that with two of the plants while letting the others continue to grow without topping for now.

The plants continue to grow. The one that I topped, handled it well. Watering every other day with a kelp extract solution and otherwise, just letting the plants sit on the roof in full sun 15 hours each day. All of the plants are beginning to develop a delicious smell (a little skunky, with a touch of mint) and now have five-lobed leaves.

I've started repotting my seedlings into three-gallon grow bags using Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil, using perlite liberally. I've topped two of the plants to encourage branching; the cuttings were delicious! I'm considering cloning my plants, but I've had no luck getting cuttings to root in water in the past.

All of the plants are now planted in large grow bags and up on the flat roof. They get sun from dawn to dusk (about 15 hours), but aren't growing vertically the way I had expected--and the way Critical Purple grew last time I raised it. This is the last week for Kelp Extract; next week, I'm starting to feed with Fox Farms' Big Bloom...on to the flowering stage!

Well, my little babies have begun to flower at only 10 inches height in their eighth week. Our nights in NoCal have been very cool this summer (in the fifties) and I wonder if that has slowed their growth? The days are also cooler than normal in the low eighties, too. When I last grew Critical Purple in 2018, the plants were two feet tall at this point. I've switched from Kelp Extract to Fox Farm Big Bloom, which will be the food of choice for the next five or six weeks, until flushing and harvest.

Here in NoCal, we've been hit by a heat wave for the past four days: temperatures well over 90 every day, with warm nights (the low has been 70). Because of this, I've taken to watering the plants every day rather than every other day like I was doing up until now. Still feeding Big Bloom, but now with every second watering. Surprisingly, the plants are taking the heat in stride, with no noticeable damage to the leaves. The smell has grown stronger (a beautiful skunk fragrance with mint underneath) and is particularly strong when I brush the plants with the watering can. The plant that I topped first is seriously branching out, covering almost the entire surface of the soil while the other three plants are growing straight up, with the tallest now reaching about 18 inches in height. Based on past experience, I suspect I have about a month left until harvest.

Here in Northern California, we're getting fires, smoke, and a heat wave (in addition to coronavirus), but the cannabis on the roof seems to be doing well, if not thriving. The plants are MUCH shorter than in 2018, when I last grew Critical Purple. I'm beginning to think the size and slow development of the plants could be related to the trauma of repotting in early July. Whatever the case, though, these plants smell heavenly: a mix of skunk and mint. This afternoon, I was outside watering the other plants in the backyard and could smell the plants way up on the roof every time a breeze blew!13

Here I am in Week 11 of what I expected to be a 13-week journey; it's looking like I'll be waiting a little longer than 13 weeks to harvest these plants, though...I'd say another three weeks or even a month before the trichomes go from clear to milky and I can harvest my relaxation medicine. The smell is strong and rich, even in the backyard below the rooftop garden and the plants are covered with trichomes, so it's just a matter of waiting and preparing to start the flush sometime in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, everything looks healthy (not a single yellow leaf), so I won't be trimming anything. I'm already planning what to do with the harvest and will be making a tincture with coconut oil after harvesting, drying, and curing the cannabis. Critical Purple, an indica, is high in THC and packs a powerful punch at bedtime.

Well, it's warmed up here in NoCal and my plants are up on the roof in full sun all day...believe me, I've had to step up the watering regimen, but the gals are looking lovely: pistils beginning to turn brown and curl, tight little buds, and lovely clear trichomes, some now turning cloudy. So, the plants are on the flat roof at the back of the house, right above my bedroom window. Without air conditioning, I'm sleeping with the window open and the scent of cannabis floating in the window all night long. There should be a choice for "Very Strong" under "Smell" in the table above...I'd be using it, for sure! I think I'm about three weeks out from harvest, but it could come sooner; in either case, I've begun to flush the plants with filtered water and stopped feeding Big Bloom.

Harvesting is always a mixed bag: sad (damn, I'm done growing for the year) and happy (Yahoo! this is going to be great medicine for me). This year is no different, except that I need this medicine (I use Critical Purple to help me sleep).