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

Northern Lights Feminized Plant (Week 8 of Flower / Week 19 from seed)

We just arrived at week 8 of flowering for this solitary Northern Light plant. She was part of a package of feminized seeds, but went hermie about 5 weeks into the flowering cycle.

We're not sure if she is ready to chop. What do you think? Leave a comment below!!!

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MM's

Day 31 - Finally some signs of Greener futures

Day 31 - Finally some signs of Green!!!

So we had a little luck in the past 5 days.  What did we learn.

Coco is an inert medium.  Growing in coco means you are going to be introducing nutrients on a regular schedule.  That is something we did not do for the first 25 days.

In 6 days we have seen almost all 7 of the seedlings double in size.  Many have developed at least one new node in that time.  Finally seeing a little stretching too.

Currently we are feeding 1/4 strength of 5-5-5 fertilizer.  3 Fert feeds and then 1 pure water to prevent any nutrient lock.  Drip to waste style watering.  Lights are still 18/6 (~ 108 Watts of uncapped LED bulbs).

To prevent potential stretching.  The distance between the light and the plants is now ~20 inches.  It was previously around ~24 inches.

Feels pretty good to know that we are slowly getting out of the seedling phase of the grow.  And to have only lost 1 seedling along the way to this point.

Here is are the latest photos of the ladies:

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MM's

Day 25 - Quest for New growth

Day 25 - Quest for New Growth

The seedlings are slowly showing signs that they haven't died.  Little has changed since they were moved out of the grow box and into an open environment.  Watering is still on a needs basis, and lights are on 18 off 6.

Nutrient feeding is going to start tomorrow.  Fingers crossed that starts the seedlings down the path back towards growth and not towards the compost...

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MM's

Day 15 - Seedlings are hanging on

Day 15 - Seedlings are still looking pretty sickly, light green and leaves are drooping

The seedlings have been moved from the peet pellets, and into a pre-mixed coco soilless medium. They are now getting watered until there is run off, every other day.  From the original 6 seedlings, 5 seem to have survived the transplant.  All 6 were physically removed from the peet pellets and then planted into the coco.

Two additional seeds were started about the time of the transplanting.  They are out side cups in the middle row.  They quickly caught up with their struggling sisters, and are showing the healthiest shades of green of the 7.  The front cup contains a seedling that is currently having the worst go of things.  Many of the seedlings are off color which isn't a great sign.  They have a light green color and not the dark green.  The leaves are also drooping rather than fanning up towards the light like hungry seedlings ought to be doing.  Even the two newest additions are sort of bending a bit.  Needless to say this is not the best start of a grow. 

The distance between the light and the back cups is around 12', and due to the slant increases slightly for the middle and front rows.

No nutrients are being given yet.  

At this point the box design seems a little too intense given the choice of lights.  These are twelve 60w Cree LED bulbs (9w equivalent).  So that's around a 108 watt set-up.  The temp doesn't seem too high and the fan is certainly keeping any heat moving out of the box.

Hopefully now that the seedlings are in a stable medium, that isn't being overwatered.  They can bounce back and start to thrive.  

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Happy Growing!!!
MM's