2018 Outdoor Cannabis Grow - Week 8 of Flowering

It's mid-October and the plants are doing okay.

Bud sites are starting to really fill in which is great. But we've also seen a fair occurrence of bud rod on one of the plants.

Having come from mainly running indoor grows, we have been trying to manage these new challenges as they develop. Which is obviously not ideal, but it's sort of all we could do.

We have been very lucky with the temperature. But the excessive moisture really hurt our plants.

Here are some bud shots at week 8. They are clearly not ready to be harvested. But we are racing against factors that we cannot control. So harvest is likely coming in the next week or two.

Even the lower bud sites have started to show amber colored trichomes and red pistils.

This photo was used for our youtube video. One of the better buds on the most eastern facing plant. It's been hit hardest by the bud rot.

Under a jeweler's loupe we are seeing a mix of clear, cloudy (white) and even amber trichomes.

We've noticed that the pistils and trichomes are in different stages based on where the plants are positioned. They sit in a row with one plant facing the east, one being in the middle, and the last plant facing the west.

The most western plant is the least ripe, with majority of pistils being white and the trichomes largely still having that clear look.

The most eastern plant is the most ripe, with about 40-50% of the pistils having turned red, and the trichomes being majority cloudy, followed by clear, and less so amber.

Here is an example of the bud rot. Such a shame that we couldn't control or prevent it from happening this year... 👎

It has been a really fun ride, watching these plants go from being cuttings, to foot tall transplants, to 12-13 foot giants.

And we arrived to this point with minimal feeding and training.


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Happy Growing!!!

MM's

Would Ants be Helping or Hurting a Snapped Cannabis Stem?

Week 7 - The week of 'fun' outdoor issues.

After surviving a pretty wet couple weeks things have become dry and mild again here in New England. Some temps into the low 40's are expected, but this is preferable over 60's with high humidities.

We noticed today that the plants had taken quite a beating from the wind gusts that went through our area the night prior.

It wasn't obvious as the plants are supported and weren't flopped over on their side.

What we noticed was a patch of ants around the snapped stem area. Any idea why they are there? We assumed this was for the sap of the plant.

Anyone have an idea if these little insects are helping or hurting the plant?

**update**

We have taped the plant and added another support rod. So hopefully they will not have any additional stem snaps before harvest.



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MM's

2018 Outdoor Cannabis Grow - Week 7 of Flowering

Weather in Massachusetts this weekend was perfect for fall and for our cannabis garden. Temps didn't drop too low into the 50's and the humidity levels were also below 70%.

After 3 days of rain with humidity levels exceeding 85% for most of the work week. We will take a couple dry days before more rain comes to the area.

We had our work handed to us this week, for sure... Removed a lot of lower branches and some bud rot.

Lots of spot checking on the garden for bud rot. It doesn't always look obvious. And the untrained eye may just see a collection of fuzz that could confused for a dense section of pistils. And then it can also be darker red which also has the appearance of aged pistils.

To any one else dealing with bud rot. It pays to look at the plant bud sites from different angles. Remove any dead leaves, and look for dead or dying fan leaves around bud sites. That can be an indicator of disease around your buds.

When in doubt cut away - cut often and cut deep - don't kill your plant with kindness
It is very to want to be gentle with your plants. But by doing so you can be setting it up for more issues later on in the grow. If you find bud rot, cut that area out from the plant completely. Leaving anything could just promote return of the mold in a week.

But this philosophy should really be practiced from start to finish. These plants required a ton of late stage stem trimming, because we didn't fully remove the lower third of the plant. We removed branches that are flowering but will not develop full buds. It's a waste of resources for the plant. And thats our failure to realize this from the start...



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Happy Growing!!!

MM's

2018 Outdoor Cannabis Grow - Week 6 of Flowering

Week 6...Honestly after last weeks rain and wind, we are pretty lucky our plants are still kicking.

It's October 2 days, so let's just through that unpleasant reminder out at the start of this weeks post. If it weren't for the potential for bud rot / low temps below 50 degrees. The upcoming weather patterns would almost be acceptable.

The weather forecast is predicting 1 day of rain followed by 3 days of dry and repeating through the next ten days.

That's not terrible, but it would be a lot better if we could get the plants out of the rain. Which we can't there's that.

The wind also was a major factor last week that we were not prepared for. 2 of the 3 plants suffered major stem splits at their bases. We brought in larger stakes and the plants appear to be still alive but that was a horrible morning to wake and see them all sprawled out.

We are seeing some purple pistils and sugar leaves. That's neat. Well actually just the volume of sugar leaf and bud sites is definitely encouraging.

Looking over the plants and where they are in the flowering cycle. These plants are strong candidates for ice water hash extraction, followed by iso-propyl for the finish.

We are certainly appreciating all the comments and feedback on the various sites and places we post. Please keep them coming!!!


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Happy Growing!!!

MM's

2018 Outdoor Grow - Week 3 of Flowering

Week 3 of flowering, and September is almost gone. We are still totally at the mercy of whatever weather comes here in New England. With any luck things will continue to be mild and dry.

The outdoor plants bud site production has definitely started taking off. But again the temperatures are likely slowing overall progress. In just a week there has been a development. 

This week, the temperatures are hovering around 60 degrees, and it may even include some rain...

Let us know your thoughts on the status of these plants. Can they go the distance? 

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Happy Growing!!!

MM's

2018 Outdoor Grow - Week 2 of Flowering

Week 2 of flowering, and it's now September. We are at the mercy of whatever weather comes here in New England. With any luck things will continue to be mild.

It's been nice to see the outdoor plants starting to get the bud sites going. But again the temperatures are likely slowing all production down a lot.

Even the bees in our area are starting to freeze up in the afternoons.

Seriously starting to consider looking into building an outdoor enclosure for the plants just to ensure they can go full term as temperatures start to consistently reach the 50's and colder.

But for right now we are going to appreciate the fact that we are into the flowering stage. So there is an end in sight. 

Let us know your thoughts on the status of these plants. Can they go the distance? 

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Happy Growing!!!

MM's

2018 East Coast Outdoor Growing Season Gets Tested As Temperatures Drop

Got a couple or a lot of weeks left in your flowering stage? Starting to worry if you're going to have enough days to get to the harvest before it gets too cold?

Welcome to the unpredictable world of New England weather...

This weekend brought the first real break in an otherwise long and continuous stretch of very hot and near unbearable levels of humidity. However that also meant dangerously low evening temperatures. Some parts of New England saw well into the mid-40's.

While that's not going to kill your crop. It's not going to help move things along much either.

Luckily the temperatures in the greater area appear to be coming back into the 60's and 70's.

Courtesy of https://www.news10.com/weather

If our crop was a football team (go Pats btw), we'd be looking at a hail Mary toss right about now to get to the endzone (i.e. Harvest). Case and point, we're about 2-4 weeks in of a possible 8-12 week flowering cycle. And the temps have started to drop below the 50's.

We're hoping for mild couple of months into late October. But who really knows. We read the farmer's almanac, which if accurate said something about a cold winter. But we don't need to get to winter...just to middle fall.

We aren't going to be creating any outdoor palace for these ladies. It's just fingers crossed and hope for the best.

How's everyone else managing things around dropping temperatures?




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MM's

Beautiful Cannabis Leaf

Not to get super sentimental. But when you actually invest the time and effort into growing a cannabis plant. Each part of the grow comes with it's challenges and rewards. And if you're lucky you also get a lot of medicinal product as well. But that is just one of things that makes this entire process so much fun. 

Hopefully you're all experiencing more rewards then challenges!!!

It's getting close to harvesting season across the US. I'd love to hear or see some success stories from other growers!

Here's a photo we use on our blog. It's not the healthiest leaf, but whatever.

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MM's

Finally the outdoor girls are flowering (Week 1-3 of Flowering)

Finally the super silver haze plants are flowering. These ladies have been amazing growers, but all through August were acting like true sativa divas. And just would not flip from veg to flowering.

Now that we're in September, it's going to be something of a race to the finish line. Most seed vendors list this strain as having a outdoor harvest time in mid-October. The indoor flowering time is 9-11 weeks.

By our estimate these girls have naturally started flowering in the past 1-3 weeks. They also appear to have made it through their stretching phase. They didn't do anything super dramatic like a 50% stretch, but they do look lean and elongated right now. 

We're very excited to see the transition from lean to filled-in as the bud sites continue to develop.

It's pretty amazing to think that these outdoor SSH plants, started from clones that were cut way back in 2017!!!!

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MM's

Random harvest photo...making us a little nostalgic

We were cleaning out some old photos, and came across some harvesting photos. Growing your own cannabis can be a bit of a project. But when you get to the harvest it all seems worth it.

...I mean until you start worrying about curing, over/under drying, mold, etc...

Just kidding that is also a fun process and part of a larger learning curve.

Anyways as the east coast approaches harvest. We are excited for all the growers getting ready to go through their first or Nth harvest.

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MM's

What's living in and around your outdoor Cannabis garden

Getting into the last week of August. Here in Mass we are dealing with a little bit of a heat wave this week. Weather in some parts of the commonwealth are going to see temps go over 100 degrees.

The plants are happy, just need to make sure they are getting the water they need. Ironically the humans are the ones appearing to be wilting in the same conditions.

Seriously, is anyone else sort of done with summer??? Or at least these 90+ days with 70+ humidity.

What we're really hoping for are milder temperatures from now through the end of the season in October (hopefully not November). Fingers crossed as these girls don't seem to want to switch over to flowering naturally.

Aside from enjoying the nearly explosive growth of the plants this summer. We've also been able to enjoy seeing a wide range of insects show up. Here are a couple that we were able to get photos of.

  

Moth on leaf

We're not really sure if a moth is a good or bad thing for the plants. But it looked nice and was willing to sit still for a close-up.

Green planthopper (can you see it? 😄)

So these are definitely not helpful to the plant, however they look super cool. We also see a number of different species in and around our garden. By far the best looking ones are all white. Sorry couldn't find one to get a photo of.

Flower Spider - Misumena vatia

This was a surprise to see. Take that literally. We didn't see this spider which is the size of a small marble until one of our faces was right next to it...

Misumena vatia - is a species of crab spider. With the largest and most well-known being the flower spider. These are also called the goldenrod crab spider or flower (crab) spider because they are often found on goldenrod plants.

Another interesting note: these spiders have the ability to change color from white to yellow. And the spider can adapt colors to blend with the plant (if white or yellow). It takes about 10-25 days to go from white to yellow, and about 6 days to reverse.

Bumble Bee (Bombus) - Just chilling out

This bumble bee was just chilling out. The photo is a little misleading with the lighting. It was actually taken close to dusk so the temp was lowering and that was why it was so inactive.

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Happy Growing!!!

MM's