Hello everyone - welcome to my first grow journal, join me in my quest to grow in a front yard in the SoCal sunshine, with some interesting constraints This is my 2nd grow, my first was in my apartment bathroom in a faraway land, which I had to leave due to covid. It's still growing (7 months later!) and my neighbor is helping me take care of it, hopefully will have some bud from it sometime this year! Made a lot of noob mistakes on that one, learned a ton, knowledge I hope will be enough to make this grow something good. Anyways, down to the details: Strains running (all from Mass Medical Strains) 1 each of PuTang (Tangie x Star Pupil) FiveStar (Thai x Afghani x Pakistani) and Bintang Mas (Panama Pupil V2 x Acapulco Gold) The Bintang Mas was a freebie with the Fivestar, but it's heavy on landrace genetics (Acapulco Gold and Panama Red) so I think I'm most excited about that one! Been wanting to try some landraces ever since I started smoking, this should be the closest thing so far. (Star Pupil x (Panama Red x Blue Magoo Bx2)) x Acapulco Gold Containers 3 x 30 gallon Living Soil fabric pots from Grassroots (No-Till) Soil Mix (pretty much Coots recipe, for each 30-gallon pot): Base Mix (1/1/1) 10 gallons Malibu's Bu's Blend 10 gallons Canadian Sphagnum Peet moss 10 gallons Pumice Amendments 4 Cups Kelp Meal - (KIS Organics) 4 Cups Crab/Crustacean Meal - (KIS Organics) 4 Cups Malted Barley Powder - local 2 Cups Gypsum - local 4-6 Cups Basalt (1.42 Liters) - KIS Organics 6-8 Cups Activated Biochar (1.9 Liters) - Buildasoil Contraints Will be growing together with a friend, on his property. The best location we found is far from the street (like 20 feet) but still kind of visible, and there's no fence between the plants and the street, it's behind some bushes. It's in a calm neighborhood though, and we'll be putting up mosquito netting to protect against bud rot, if that won't camouflage it well enough, then maybe a bamboo shield will... we'll figure it out as we go. Smell... after buying the strains, I was told that Afghanis and American Sativas smell very strong, and that's exactly the genetics I'm running, so hoping it won't be an issue with the neighbors. I realize it's getting kind of tricky... especially that there is usually a lot of wind in SoCal No neem... going off of what Mass Medical Strains states, and he makes a good case, so I'm going to try to go without it on this grow. Budworm and other pests that I've been told are common in SoCal... hence the mosquito netting Still waiting on amendments and the 30-gallon fabric pots, though everything should be here Mid-May, 30 gallon pots here around June 1st (I hope!). IPM Plan (Note: only during veg, no spraying anything in flower) BT Spinosad Essential Oils / Isopropyl Alcohol / Garlic / etc Might add to this list as I go along Companion Plants (Haven't bought these yet, and will narrow the list down to about 5-7, but these are the one's I've been looking at) Fern leaf yarrow* Dill* Lemon Balm* Hairy vetch* CA Buckwheat* Spearmint* Parsley* Marigold - lemon gem* (I'll use red gem, as it is said it also works well to attract beneficial insects). (Source). Buy here. Caraway* Alfalfa* Coriander Hot peppers* Basil* Rosemary Garlic Anthemis tinctoria — Golden marguerite* Lavender *Petunias and Geranium (pelargonium) Nasturtium Planned Timeline May 4 - germination Mid-May - Transplant to 5-gallon "Transplantinators" June - Transplant to 30-gallon No-Till containers August - Harvest Of course probably things will happen along the way to change the plan, but that's the gist of it. Still waiting for all the amendments to come in, so for now they're growing in the 1/1/1 blend in solo cups (I was able to source the Bu's Blend, Peat Moss, and Pumice locally). Once the amendments come in will mix up and cook the soil, and the 30-Gallon fabric pots probably won't come in until around June 1st anyways. Thanks for stopping by!
Some pics after being in the soil a few days. Hopefully the desk lamp I’m using + 3 hrs or so of direct sun are enough for now, I moved them to the windowsill since they looked like they were stretching.
Anyone know if these leaves look burnt or nutrient deficient or anything? I had the light real close, like 1cm away, it’s a weak LED reading light (I think about 20W). They were stretching before, which is why I put the LED so close. Also, I have the window (north-east facing) open, from 7am to 10pm or so (morning temps here in SoCal are from 57F and go up to 72F during the day, though a few days ago up to 85F). Gets about 3 hrs of morning sunlight. Not sure if I should keep the windows closed to keep them a bit warmer? I’m trying to get them used to the outdoors, to move them to my friends house outside, in a south-facing part of the backyard with lots of sun, where I’ll only come by once a week.
I think I heard about them, but don't know too much. What are their benefits, or your experience with them? Definitely open to learning more!
That's great! As far as a companion/cover plant, I think they provide extra nutrients to the soil. Particularly nitrogen.
Thanks Grace! I went to a farming conference, and they talked about all of the major cover crops commercial farmers use in the pre-season. From my understanding, a combination of crops is the best way to go; just a tip for all of you large scale outdoor growers.
Only about a week or two into the grow, but so far so good, seem to be growing with a lot of vigor. I've heard a lot of good things, so should be good. My first time growing his stuff.
Just curious, did the cannabis sprout in full sun? Always wondered about planting direct to soil, outdoors. Looking good! What strain are you growing?
That's awesome that your incorporating so much biodiversity. That's how plants grow in nature afterall!
FWIW, cover crops are typically only used on a large scale and their main use is erosion and weed prevention. 1 acre of most legumes pull anywhere from 50-200 lbs per acre of N depending on your seeding rate. There’s 43,560 cubic feet per acre so you’re getting 0.0034 lbs of nitrogen per cubic foot going off of an average of 150 lbs per acre. The only reason I mention all of this is because it should factor into your decision on whether such a small amount of nitrogen being fixated is worth the competition from your cover crops with your weed plants. Now when it comes to beneficial companion plants for insect control I see nothing wrong with using those. Once again I’d factor in whether they’ll be competing with your weed plants for nutrients and water.
I have washing machine, cookie kush, pineapple chunk, bad azz og , alaskan thunder fuck, one blue lotus x omg(reg) , blue dream x eskimo pie(reg). I did throw some in the dirt and they popped others I have started on my window sill and transplanted outisde when they were big enough. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
once your soil is amended it needs to cook or it will be too hot and kills plants, I also only put bottom 2/3 of the pot with amended soil top 1/3 got plain 1/1/1 mix that they came from cups with
True Dr. E - my first grow I planted directly into super soil, nothing sprouted... burnt to a crisp. I'm going to mix the 30 gallons pots such that they'll be filled to the top with the no-till mix, hopefully it'll be ok. Going to mix the soil today... hopefully in 2 weeks everything will be ready for transplant to the 30 gallons