420 Magazine's Grow Journal of the Month: July 2023

[Renee Roberts]

Welcome to 420 Magazine's Grow Journal of the Month Contest!

This contest celebrates the very best grow journals on 420 Magazine as nominated and judged by the 420 Magazine member community.

All members are welcome to nominate other members' journals and vote on a winner each month. We ask that everyone please consider the following factors when suggesting nominees and voting on this contest:

• Frequent Activity & Updates - Journals should be regularly maintained and updated
• Attention To Detail - Journals should discuss growing methods and techniques in detail
• Quality Photography - Pictures should be clear and of good quality
• Proper Grammar & Structure - Journals should be well-written and easy to understand
• General Forum Conduct - Journal and author should adhere to published forum guidelines
• Stays On Topic - Journals should be focused on Cannabis cultivation
• Responds To Questions - Members posting questions receive clear and thoughtful responses
• Explains Well & Offers Advice - Journal is a good environment for new growers to learn
• Promotes our Sponsors - Journals should feature or recommend our Sponsors' products whenever possible

Please send your nominations to 420 Support (@Renee Roberts or @Teddy Edwards) via private message, including detailed reasoning for your nomination. 420 Staff will assess and approve the community nominations, then members determine the winner by poll.

Nominations are accepted from the 1st until the 14th at midnight PST every month. Approved nominations will be posted shortly after midnight PST and, at that time, the polls will open through midnight PST on the last day of the month to vote for a winner.

Please follow the above guidelines to propose a nomination and do not post or discuss nominations in the contest thread. Nominations and/or suggestions of nominations in the contest thread will be deleted without notice.

The winner receives "Grow Journal of the Month" title and the following Prize Package:

420 Magazine: 420 Magazine Lighter, 420 Magazine Magnet & 420 Magazine Stickers
GeoPot: Winner's choice of 5 x 3 Gallon Pots, 3 x 5 Gallon Pots OR 1 x 15 Gallon Pot
Geoflora Nutrients: Geoflora Veg & Geoflora Bloom (Members can only win this prize once per year)
Foods Alive: Organic Toasted Hemp Seeds
Sierra Natural Science: SNS-217 Spider Mite Control - 1 Quart Mix Pouch
Herbies Seeds: 3 Seeds Each of 3 Different Strains
Vivosun: Heat Mat and Digital Thermostat Combo
Mile High Cleaner: Deluxe Cleaning Kit

Shipping fees may apply to some packages shipped outside of the U.S.
You are responsible for any additional fees applied by customs.
Additional Details On Prize Shipping & Customs Duties

Monthly winners are automatically eligible for our prestigious "Grow Journal of the Year" contest, held in January.

Contest Guidelines:

1. Members must have at least 50 posts to be entitled to vote.

2. 420 Magazine staff members submit nominees and rationale in the contest thread.

3. Promotion (i.e. campaigning) for yourself or a friend, or any attempt at voting more than one time per person (i.e. multiple user names, etc.) is considered cheating and is prohibited. Promotion also includes family and friends who register a new account for voting purposes. Campaigning in any form - including but not limited to mentioning the entry in any thread outside the contest, a signature link to the entry and campaigning via PMs - will result in the entry being removed from the month's contest. A second instance, either in a different contest during the same month or in any future contest, will attract a lifetime ban from all future contests. General encouragement to vote in all the contests is fine, as long as it's not excessive or crossing the line into campaigning. Any post which explicitly or implicitly encourages members to vote for a specific entry is not.

4. Members cannot nominate themselves.

5. Members may only win this title once per calendar year.

6. Staff members from this or any other cannabis forum/community can not be nominated.

7. This contest is open to single grow Journals in Progress only, that have been updated by the original poster within the last 30 days.

Perpetual journals are no longer permitted to be nominated in our contests. We realized that this contest was not fair to those who have created single grow journals to highlight methods, sponsors and genetics, as most perpetual journals are half filled with off topic conversations. Single journals simply cannot compete with perpetual journals that have multiple grows, many pages and years of gathered followers. This is the kind of loophole that creates the "popularity contest" mindset, so we opted to remove it to minimize drama and keep things fair. While we truly appreciate the teaching, content and comradeship that a perpetual journal provides, we cannot allow them to be a part of this contest any longer, nor do we have the time, energy and resources to add another contest.

Contests Are Legitimate: Now that votes are publicly visible, it should be obvious who is voting. We have endless ways of discovering cheating and are always successful. If you are caught cheating, your entry will be deleted and you'll be called out in the public thread, visible to everyone. Reason being that in the past, when we removed the offending entry without any announcement (to help minimize embarrassment for the member), it often led to uninformed (or worse, misinformed) members questioning our motives and calling us censorship nazi's. More often than not, the cheater themselves would claim innocence, causing a higher workload for our staff. For these reasons, we now alert the community of what happened, to save all the confusion and massive workload on our team.

Support the 420 Magazine community and your fellow members by getting involved with our contests and, if you don't already have a grow journal, please see How To Make A Grow Journal

This year's winners who are now ineligible for nomination:
January: @Keffka - Keffkas Coast Of Maine Line, TLO/LOS Style, Bagseed, Indoor Grow
February: @StoneOtter - Cherries DubeLee In A S.I.P. - An LOS Grow
March: @NickHardy - Nick Hardy's Big Grow 2023 Gorilla Glue Skunk 11 OG Kush Coco Peat Co2 Mars Hydro
April: @CaptainLucky - CaptainLucky's First Indoor Golden Tiger Grow 2023
May: @Danishoes21 - Vancouver Island 2022 Organic Grow
June: @Jon - Jon's Sneak It In Auto Grow

July Nominees​

@LKABudMan - The Vivosun Bud Factory - 4 Colombian Gold In RDWC 5x5 VSF6450

I would like to nominate The Vivosun Bud Factory - 4 Colombian Gold In RDWC 5x5 VSF6450 by @LKABudMan for Journal of the Month.

Tbh any of LKA’s journals are JotM worthy. He takes such pride in his grows, and he takes you through each step and has a whole lotta numbers for the Rainman like grower who likes to be dazzled with PPM ETOH ECG LUX c02 pH and S&M. I think one of the things that attracts me to his grows is the way he honours his plants. Even if they start less than perfect, he doesn’t give up. He works hard to make each individual plant sing,

I think LKA does everything 420 Mag requests. He showcases sponsors, supports the 420 brand, is engaging, he grows like a boss, and he does all this while having a laugh.

So for July please consider this absolute legend FTW

@Northward - Northwards Outside Super Sipper 2023 Grow

I would like to nominate @Northward Super Sipper Outside Grow 2023 for GJOM. I only recently started following his journal because he started last month. But he has several different things going both outdoors and indoors with a hodgepodge of different lights that he’s using for his grow room. All of his plants look happy and healthy and should produce some very nice buds. He’s also very welcoming and answers any questions in a friendly thoughtful manner. I think that every member of @420 Magazine could learn something from this journal. Check his journal out for yourself and I think you’ll agree that @Northward should be the next GJOM.

@Greenvein - Greenvein's Runtz In Coco DTW - Build To Cure 4x4

Greenvein's Runtz In Coco DTW - Build To Cure 4x4
I would like to nominate @Greenvein! He's a fast learner and has everything going for him. I believe he has good eye for plant health and only accept the best! Happy to see a newcomer doing so many things right from the get go!

Good Luck Everyone! ​

 

[CaptainLucky]

Ok @420 Magazine members it’s that time again. Time for you to nominate a deserving member for GJOM. I know that I already have so why haven’t you? lol CL

 

[Tokin Roll]

Like @CaptainLucky mentioned; submit a deserving grower?

TR

 

[Tokin Roll]

Only two days left, have you thought about submitting someone?

 

[CaptainLucky]

Time is almost up for everyone to nominate that journal you’ve been following. Show your appreciation and nominate a deserving member before it’s too late . CL

 

[Renee Roberts]

July Nominees​

@LKABudMan - The Vivosun Bud Factory - 4 Colombian Gold In RDWC 5x5 VSF6450

I would like to nominate The Vivosun Bud Factory - 4 Colombian Gold In RDWC 5x5 VSF6450 by @LKABudMan for Journal of the Month.

Tbh any of LKA’s journals are JotM worthy. He takes such pride in his grows, and he takes you through each step and has a whole lotta numbers for the Rainman like grower who likes to be dazzled with PPM ETOH ECG LUX c02 pH and S&M. I think one of the things that attracts me to his grows is the way he honours his plants. Even if they start less than perfect, he doesn’t give up. He works hard to make each individual plant sing,

I think LKA does everything 420 Mag requests. He showcases sponsors, supports the 420 brand, is engaging, he grows like a boss, and he does all this while having a laugh.

So for July please consider this absolute legend FTW

@Northward - Northwards Outside Super Sipper 2023 Grow

I would like to nominate @Northward Super Sipper Outside Grow 2023 for GJOM. I only recently started following his journal because he started last month. But he has several different things going both outdoors and indoors with a hodgepodge of different lights that he’s using for his grow room. All of his plants look happy and healthy and should produce some very nice buds. He’s also very welcoming and answers any questions in a friendly thoughtful manner. I think that every member of @420 Magazine could learn something from this journal. Check his journal out for yourself and I think you’ll agree that @Northward should be the next GJOM.

@Greenvein - Greenvein's Runtz In Coco DTW - Build To Cure 4x4

Greenvein's Runtz In Coco DTW - Build To Cure 4x4
I would like to nominate @Greenvein! He's a fast learner and has everything going for him. I believe he has good eye for plant health and only accept the best! Happy to see a newcomer doing so many things right from the get go!

Good Luck Everyone! ​

 

[CaptainLucky]

July Nominees​

@LKABudMan - The Vivosun Bud Factory - 4 Colombian Gold In RDWC 5x5 VSF6450


@Northward - Northwards Outside Super Sipper 2023 Grow


@Greenvein - Greenvein's Runtz In Coco DTW - Build To Cure 4x4

Good Luck Everyone! ​

All are great journalists and growers, congratulations everyone. Well deserved Imo. CL.

 

[Greenvein]

Thank you to my stealth mode nominator much love lol
Good luck everyone

 

[Tokin Roll]

Excellent selection of growers this month.
Don't forget to vote.

All deserving, all.

 

[LKABudMan]

I was reviewing the journals nominated this month when I wondered: What is a perpetual grow journal? According to the GJOTM rules:

How is a perpetual grow journal defined? If a grow journal spans multiple grows over multiple growing seasons, is that considered a perpetual grow journal? According to the above, only SINGLE GROW journals are allowed. However, at least one winning journal this year spanned multiple grows over more than one season.

It's not fair to members with fantastic perpetual grow journals to be excluded from this contest, while still allowing grow journals that span multiple grows to compete with single grow journals. Rule#7 above either needs to be enforced or removed.

 

[Greenvein]

I was reviewing the journals nominated this month when I wondered: What is a perpetual grow journal? According to the GJOTM rules:

How is a perpetual grow journal defined? If a grow journal spans multiple grows over multiple growing seasons, is that considered a perpetual grow journal? According to the above, only SINGLE GROW journals are allowed. However, at least one winning journal this year spanned multiple grows over more than one season.

It's not fair to members with fantastic perpetual grow journals to be excluded from this contest, while still allowing grow journals that span multiple grows to compete with single grow journals. Rule#7 above either needs to be enforced or removed.

I think it comes down to the fact that theirs only usually a few nominations so they let it run but agree with what your saying bro.. don't like getting involved just whatever will be will be but more enforcement on rules would be the best approach. It would be a job in itself though as not many read the rules but Can't argue with what's written

 

[Roy Growin]

I was reviewing the journals nominated this month when I wondered: What is a perpetual grow journal? According to the GJOTM rules:

How is a perpetual grow journal defined? If a grow journal spans multiple grows over multiple growing seasons, is that considered a perpetual grow journal? According to the above, only SINGLE GROW journals are allowed. However, at least one winning journal this year spanned multiple grows over more than one season.

It's not fair to members with fantastic perpetual grow journals to be excluded from this contest, while still allowing grow journals that span multiple grows to compete with single grow journals. Rule#7 above either needs to be enforced or removed.

I totally get what you're saying - I've always viewed it as a single grow being a single strain, even if it is grown alongside other strains in the same journal, but I agree, I'm unsure
Personally, I'd find it much easier if grows were separated into individual grows since there's no way I can follow a thread with hundreds of pages, so I look in but without reading the history of a five year old journal, I've no idea what the grower is doing

 

[KeithLemon]

I understand the rules at least I think I do but that's a tough break for the guy or gal that did not nominate them self. Seems sort of late to be pulling out the rules. 27 days into the month. Just my 2 cents.

 

[LKABudMan]

I think it comes down to the fact that theirs only usually a few nominations so they let it run but agree with what your saying bro.. don't like getting involved just whatever will be will be but more enforcement on rules would be the best approach. It would be a job in itself though as not many read the rules but Can't argue with what's written

I've had GJOTM & MOTM nominations rejected by the mods before. Why is this one rule not enforced?

I totally get what you're saying - I've always viewed it as a single grow being a single strain, even if it is grown alongside other strains in the same journal, but I agree, I'm unsure
Personally, I'd find it much easier if grows were separated into individual grows since there's no way I can follow a thread with hundreds of pages, so I look in but without reading the history of a five year old journal, I've no idea what the grower is doing

They are two different things. Single grow journals usually highlight a grow method, sponsor, or genetics. Perpetual grow journals are more of a hang-out spot, more highlighting the grower. That's why they're not really comparable.

I understand the rules at least I think I do but that's a tough break for the guy or gal that did not nominate them self.

I agree. It needs to be reviewed before the nominations are announced. I've nominated people/journals and had them rejected by the mods before. Why make the rule and not enforce it?

Talk about a tough break, what about a grower that started a single grow journal and worked hard at it, only to lose to a journal that covers multiple grows over multiple years? Is that fair? It's already happened this year.

Seems sort of late to be pulling out the rules. 27 days into the month. Just my 2 cents.

Sorry, I just went to vote today and reviewed all the journals. Believe it or not, I don't care if I win this competition. IMO the journal I'm nominated for is not my best journal. I have two others that are better, although one is a perpetual auto grow journal and therefore doesn't qualify for this competition as the rules stand now.

Letting grow journals in this competition that cover multiple grows is unfair competition for single grow journals, and its unfair that other perpetual grow journals are ineligible. Again, the rule either needs to be enforced or removed.

 

[Danishoes21]

I've had GJOTM & MOTM nominations rejected by the mods before. Why is this one rule not enforced?

They are two different things. Single grow journals usually highlight a grow method, sponsor, or genetics. Perpetual grow journals are more of a hang-out spot, more highlighting the grower. That's why they're not really comparable.

I agree. It needs to be reviewed before the nominations are announced. I've nominated people/journals and had them rejected by the mods before. Why make the rule and not enforce it?

Talk about a tough break, what about a grower that started a single grow journal and worked hard at it, only to lose to a journal that covers multiple grows over multiple years? Is that fair? It's already happened this year.

Sorry, I just went to vote today and reviewed all the journals. Believe it or not, I don't care if I win this competition. IMO the journal I'm nominated for is not my best journal. I have two others that are better, although one is a perpetual auto grow journal and therefore doesn't qualify for this competition as the rules stand now.

Letting grow journals in this competition that cover multiple grows is unfair competition for single grow journals, and its unfair that other perpetual grow journals are ineligible. Again, the rule either needs to be enforced or removed.

I can relate to what you are saying, Take my journal as an example.

I started my current journal last year and it became a breeding journal when I found my male last season, I was nominated last year but didn’t win (for what ever reason)... I didn’t terminate my journal over winter and started the follow up this year by growing the F1 crosses I made last year.
I don’t grow just for pretty buds and plants, I also grow for seed making and breeding my own plants... my journal ended up being nominated early this year again and I won by like one vote (for what ever reason)... Now I cant go any further with my journal as it won and its is no longer valid. EVEN though the journal is very much alive and kicking fire

I went 2 grows before winning on the same journal. But as a breeder point of view my breeding journal is not done... because breeding is perpetual.

Do I want to make another journal and call it breeding journal and showcase the same plants I currently have, just be nominated?? NO; and for what I would do it? just to win another tittle? NO.

my prize are my seeds and plants; I don't really want to win anything I just want to show what I do, and contests offer a great Echoing effect to my work.

After I finish this season I will terminate my current journal, because I believe perpetual journal get diluted from the main focus...

I support your reason and I advocate for a more rigorous audit when it comes to entries, I gave my opinion on STORE bought buds winning nug of the month... I believe a perpetual grow should be permitted IF they serve a purpose, like a breeding program can take several generations before its completed.


Just a thought.


Thanks for speaking out.

 

[CaptainLucky]

I understand the rules at least I think I do but that's a tough break for the guy or gal that did not nominate them self. Seems sort of late to be pulling out the rules. 27 days into the month. Just my 2 cents.

Any nomination has to be approved by @420 Magazine first so it’s their discretion Imo. CL

 

[420]

Relax guys, we're all human and sometimes make mistakes.

If nobody caught it until now, then maybe we should all chip in to help keep things fair moving forward.

We work tirelessly every month in the back maintaining these contests for you all, a little faith in us would be great.

If the journal you speak of @LKABudMan is in fact perpetual, then it will be revoked.

Please work with @Renee Roberts to let her know which one you are referring to, so we can investigate and make it right

No reason to shut your grow down @Danishoes21, all you guys have to do is communicate with us.

This kind of thing can be handled a lot more smoothly if you just send a PM to Renee from now on.

 

[Trala]

L O L L I N G !

 

[420]

I will have to agree, there has been a tsunami of pissing and moaning in these contests for years. However in LKABudMan's defense, he has a valid point, assuming the journal is perpetual after reviewing. How about we get back to focusing on these great journals and the awesome members who created them for us?

 

[Trala]

I will have to agree, there has been a tsunami of pissing and moaning in these contests for years. However in LKABudMan's defense, he has a valid point, assuming the journal is perpetual after reviewing. How about we get back to focusing on these great journals and the awesome members who created them for us?

I agree with LKA too tbh.

For me, my monthly nominations are always based on a journal that showcases one grow.

And I agree with the second point about focussing on the great journals out there. Makes me kinda sad for the person/journal being publicly called out, even if that call out is trying to be subtle. Kind of takes away from their happiness at being nominated or proudly putting their bud/plant forward. If it was me who was being publicly talked about, I would feel embarrassed and a bit sad.

I just think if you have a concern, send a PM to admin. It just stops a public pile on. Coz as my old nan used to say “there’s never any fun in a public pile on, unless you’re all naked…”