Michigan Backyard Garden Grow

Week 1 My first ever grow! I'm writing this diary at the end of the grow, only a couple weeks from harvest. It's been an incredibly fun experience, and rewarding in a way that few things are, as millions of people before me have surely also discovered. For this grow, I started by sticking some seeds in some dirt, having done zero research on how to actually best grow this plant or literally anything else about it. Learned a lot as I went along - first and foremost, how much more there is to learn! Those seeds were Juicy Fruit and a Raskal OG Kush crossup, both photoperiod. I believe they pretty much all came from plants that hermed to some degree. Unknown if they are feminized, however all of these plants ended up female. Although I have never grown cannabis, I'm definitely a fairly experienced gardener. So for this grow I used the potting blend that I have been mixing up for most of my life for use in general gardening, featuring a huge amount of screened homemade compost and sphagnum peat moss instead of coco. The compost was made from my organic gardening efforts throughout this summer plus composting all my food scraps. Every kind of vegetable imaginable plus lots of yard waste, grass clippings, and other good stuff. The pile cooked all summer, stirring it up a couple times. I screened the entire pile and made a huge pile of nice light compost that smells great. To this I added the peat moss and humus/manure, and then stirred the pile up well, ultimately screening it all one more time for maximum siftage. I used this mix for all my potted plants and vegetables this year, and with some additions here and there, everything has done incredibly well. So anyway... stuck these seeds in some dirt, and around the 26th of May they germinated. (This is later than I wanted to start. I had tried to start some a few weeks earlier but shit happened)

Happy Birthday... to me! I turned 42, and got myself some sweet little baby girls. Basically leaving them outside all day and then bringing them in at night if it got chilly. They sat in a deep clear tray with a bunch of peppers and other stuff, and I kept it all fairly wet, trying to have little to no standing water.

They've outgrown their little starter trays, and I transplanted them to some 4" pots. They got their first taste of added amendments at this time, with a pinch of Organically Done's Organic Grow Organic mix. Looking good!

No real change, should have taken more photos.

Things are really starting to take off! New growth is exploding, especially on the Juicy Fruit. Some of the subtle differences in the strains are showing themselves in the growth structure. It's time to put them in their forever homes. I tried (and failed) to do an A/B test with in-ground vs. in pots, however the in-ground ones suffered from a lack of sunlight so it's inconclusive. The potted ones went into 3-gallon pots, for better or worse. The in-ground ones went into a specially dug-out bed which I then filled back in with potting mix. They got their first taste of added amendments at this time, with a scoop of Organically Done's Organic Grow Organic mix in with each plant. Honestly I probably should have topped them around June 25th, one month in. Definitely will do so in the future. Nonetheless, they're looking great!

It's getting hot and sunny out, and the plants are growing great! Spraying down the entire garden once or twice a day with good old hose water.

Sorry, busy doing other stuff and no pictures this week. Plants continued to boom in the hot weather, with seemingly constant watering. I had two lawn sprinklers on a timer set up by this point and that was how most of the water was delivered over the hottest weeks of the summer so there was no chance of drying out or burning.

Sorry, busy doing other stuff and no pictures this week. Supercropping on a semi-regular basis. Plants continued to boom in the hot weather, with seemingly constant watering. I had two lawn sprinklers on a timer set up by this point and that was how most of the water was delivered over the hottest weeks of the summer so there was no chance of drying out or burning.

We're back, and these plants have just exploded! Lots of new branches growing, and I've got them in standard tomato cages now, in hopes that they will help support the structure as it grows. They're starting to get some really huge fan leaves now, but the plants are still small overall compared to the tomatoes and corn they're in between so no worries. I'm wondering how tall they're going to get. I had heard to wait until you saw 6-8 nodes of growth to top. This ultimately ended up being a mistake and I should have topped earlier. Still supercropping semi-regularly. The weather has been hot hot hot, and it's been fairly humid as well. I've been watering constantly, and applying a watering can or two of mixed FoxFarm liquid nutes every once in a while.

So I took supercropping too far, and broke a main stem on one of the in-ground Juicy Fruits. In the end this plant definitely really underperformed, and while it may also have had to do with it not getting enough light due to overcrowding, the main stem damage didn't help. On the other hand though, the other one right next to it was an example of what aggressive supercropping gone right could be, and this plant turned out pretty good by harvest time. Defoliated the bottom and smaller inside stuff pretty aggressively, leaving the first branches starting at a height of about a foot from the soil. Again, huge mistake, I'll never grow an outdoor plant this way again. And finally, again got overzealous with the supercropping on the potted plants, and ended up accidentally topping one of them. That plant would turn out to be the best plant in the whole grow, but it had other advantages as well. Nonetheless, I definitely see the value of topping. I feel like I may have top dressed the soil with the Organically Done dry mix at some point in here? Not sure, I did once or twice over the summer.

First week of August. The awful heatwave finally broke, and it's a bit cooler this week. At this point I'm getting concerned about how large the plants are, they're becoming less inconspicuous. I know I do not want them to get to be 8 feet tall so I finally top them, for better or for worse. Next time around this will be a non-issue. I discovered some insect friends for the first time this week. I don't know what kind of beetle exactly, but the little red and blue guy is a candy-striped leafhopper, and by my observation over the entire length of the grow, nobody seemed to bother these plants whatsoever. And then... HAIRS! GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS! After what seemed like forever waiting and wondering, I was ecstatic to find out that all 8 of my plants were females; I was certain I'd lose a couple of males but I really lucked out on that. Fuck yeah! This is going GREAT!

I was out of town on vacation so not really many pics this week. But definitely the beginning of flowering, with tons of small bud sites appearing all over the plants.

I had to take a reeeeally stupid online class for my hot sauce business this week, so again, not a ton of pics. I'll never underdocument again, that's for sure. But! I did get a few nice closeups of the buds starting to form, with tons and tons of white hairs - or stigmas - popping out everywhere. It's hot and humid again and I hate it.

Starting to look like actual weed now! The buds feel dense, and are slightly sticky. I did a major defoliation, cleaning up everything at the bottom of all the main branches, and some of the bigger leaves inside that were blocking bud sites. The weather is awful but I keep telling myself that the plants are loving it!

So. Many. Buds. Little buds everywhere. Dozens or probably hundreds of them. Some nice sugar leaves forming, and the tips of the hairs just starting to turn orange. I'm starting to take a much greater interest in taking pictures of the buds. And looking at the buds. And touching the buds. And smelling the buds. Buds.

For the longest time I was worried that maybe my buds just weren't going to get very big, and that it'd be all popcorn. That changed this week, as the buds suddenly started looking pretty damn fat. And there are a ton of them - well, I think so, anyway. There are at least 5 main colas on each plant, with lots of strong secondary branches as well. This was also the week of the cold snap; it got downright chilly and dreary for a few days, and I was concerned about the damp having an effect on the buds, but they seem fine a few weeks later. I've started to capture some pretty good pictures at this point. Really loving just staring at these close-up pictures of the buds, it's... hypnotic.

Week 17 🌳15 Sept: Started a new round today! Link to the GrowDiary: https://growdiaries.com/diaries/79249-raskal-og-juicy-fruit-purple-headband-orange-daquiri-grow-journal-by-squarepeg As far as the current plants go, all I did was stand around and gawk at them with Dr Varnish. 🌳16 Sept: Finally broke out the DSLR camera today. I don't know why I didn't sooner, tbh. Just not been in that frame of mind as of late, but that's changing. I was lured outside at the golden hour, and after snapping these shots I can feel my love for photography reawakening. Not that I haven't gotten some good shots with my phone, but there's no substitute for the real lens and some depth of field. I watered today, with the very last drops of the FoxFarm bottled nutes. I know it's close to harvest to be feeding, but it's probably not even much honestly. It'll be straight hose water after this, and they're drinking it at a slow but steady pace. I might heavily flush them soon but haven't decided yet, need to do more research. I did notice a few leaves just starting to turn purple, and I have heard that flushing has a potential effect on colors. I've also noticed just over the last couple of days that I am finally starting to smell them. I still need to be close by but it's undeniable, especially the main Juicy Fruit which seems just slightly more mature than all the others. But goddamn is it looking good, and I can't believe it's still got a couple weeks. Regardless, I'm ever so slightly more paranoid, but I just keep telling myself it's only a couple more weeks.

🌳9/22 - I brewed a batch of compost tea a couple days ago, and gave it to the plants today. Honestly I think it was probably a pretty weak tea, but hopefully it helps a bit. 🌳9/24 - Went and saw Rob and Jen's outdoor plants today. They have 3 plants; one plant with 3 main stalks, all more than an inch thick! It makes me realize the potential of growing outdoors given the right circumstance. They're probably going to pull as much off those 3 plants as I will from my 8. 🌳9/25 - Today for the first time I was able to notice some trichomes turning amber. Not a ton of them, but they are here and there. Many if not most of the buds still have primarily white hairs, so I know they're not even close to ready, but the anticipation is killing me. I fed them "for the last time" again, but it might really be the last time today. I was initially a little off on my weeks estimate, and I think they still have 3 weeks to go here, so hopefully a couple more feedings will be good for them. I think I gave them about 1/2 gallon of water, and a couple of them were quite droopy, so I'm hoping they take these nutes right up and can make use of them. 🌳9/27 - Weather started to get pretty cold off and on, especially with cold, damp nights followed by overcast days. Rain in particular was starting to really concern me as I got increasingly paranoid about Botrytis, so I decided to erect a makeshift "greenhouse." This would prove to be a FANTASTIC idea...

🌳9/29 - My loupe came in the mail! I spent hours out there in the new tent, just sitting and staring, and checking out the trichomes. I finally knew that I still wasn't quite there yet; most of the trichs were still clear, with a few starting to turn opaque. I would end up spending a LOT of time sitting out in the tent from hereon out. It smelled crazy incredible in there; citrusy and earthy, and honestly kind of smelled a bit like cleaning product. It was intense. The cold nights really brought out the colors as well. My favorite Juicy Fruit plant turned about every shade of the rainbow, and was a sight to behold.

🌳10/6 - One final push! I'm getting super antsy, and these plants are looking ready! Super gorgeous colors, leaves dying off, cloudy trichs; still a lot of white hairs though. But what's this? Powdery mildew starting on one of the plants! I'm super freaked out, and so I cut one plant a bit early to get it out of the tent. (Note from future: the bud still ended up great) I trimmed it up and hung it to dry in my darkroom in the basement. Conditions ended up being perfect for drying in there, and it's out of the way. What an indescribable feeling though, cutting down my very first plant, and bringing it inside to dry. And coincidentally, my old friend Steve happened to stop by to visit that day, and so he got to share that experience with me, which was rad. We're pretty much there!

🌳10/12 - And that's all she wrote! My good buddy Dr Varnish (@glassfoxfeather) came by and we took a couple cuts to look at the trichs. We saw plenty of cloudy ones and a few ambers, and decided today was the day! In actuality only one JF plant was trimmed this day, but they were all down and hanging by the end of the week anyway. We did a glamour photoshoot for the prize specimen, and then we wet trimmed it. This was a mistake; albeit a good learning experience, but I won't ever do it again. The buds I ended up with when dry just look sloppy, and I wouldn't be happy if I saw them in a bag like that. Oh well, live and learn. 🌳10/15 - Well, it was only a few days later that I ended up taking the rest down. Weather, plus impatience and looking at the trichs, and I cut the rest of them and was done with it. The remainder of the plants I trimmed off all the fan leaves, and then hung them as branches. In the future, I will probably try to hang them as whole plants for drying. Again, live and learn. The conditions in my basement ended up pretty perfect for drying, at a temp of about 65 with humidity ranging from 40-55%. 🌳10/23 - All dried and in jars. Using mini hygrometers in the jars to monitor humidity, and they all ended up right around 60-65%. Perfection! *chef's kiss* (My indoor grow is already a month along at this point. Follow along here: ____________)

—