Hi Guys!
Welcome to my 4th grow!!
Today begins our newest journal, and one I am very excited about.
This will be my fourth ever grow, and I am going to try my first outdoor grow! I live in a state where about nowish is when the outdoor climate is such that it's perfect for growing outdoors. In another two or three weeks the sweet spot begins in earnest and lasts until April. That's when I am moving from this state back to Pennsylvania where I am from. So this will be my last grow before I move. I know this will give me three active grow journals, and I know that's a bit much. Ain't nobody gotta follow unless they want! I do the journals not only to hopefully learn from those who may comment and to meet members, but also to document my own grows for myself. So three journals be damned, it is what it is, and one is pictures only and only once a week with no commentary. So really only two. Lol. I am starting the outdoor grow TODAY. The four seeds are hitting the wet paper towels as we speak. Anyway, here's the deal:
Strains: Sugar Breath Photoperiod and Strawberry Banana Autoflower
Genetics/What Kind of Weed: Sugar Breath, from Humboldt Seed Organization, is an indica strong hybrid cross of Do-Si-Dos x OGKB.
Strawberry Banana, developed by DNA Genetics and purchased from 420FastBuds, is an indica cross of Crockett’s
Banana Kush and the “Strawberry”
phenotype of Bubble Gum
THC%: Sugar Breath - 26%
Strawberry Banana - 27% Note: The Strawberry Banana auto has won the "Highest THC Autoflower of the Year" for 2021 in more than one competition, and if you google "2021 strongest autoflower" you will see that it heads several of those lists that come up.
Flowering Time: The Sugar Breath is supposedly a fast finisher and is ready in 60-65 days of flower according to HSO. The Strawberry Banana Auto is listed as a 10-11 week plant from seed to harvest according to 420FastBuds.
Grow Medium: We are going to use Sohum living soil for all four plants, with the only difference being that we will add extra perlite to the bagged soil as I have found it can use the extra drainage and it seems to make sense for growing outdoors when, for the first time ever, I will not be in control of watering the plant other than in case of drought, which isn't going to happen here. Using the Sohum also saves me the hassle of trucking nutes and water to the backyard all the time. I am seeing excellent results in my first try with the Sohum in my current grow journal, so it really seems to be logical to try it for the outdoor grow.
Soil Addendum: Fox Farms Soil Blend to start (specifically outlined below), Sohum living soil in all pots post the first up-potting.
Pot Size and Order of UpPotting: The Sugar Breath will go like this: 1 gallon starter pot > 3 gallon fabric pot > 10 gallon fabric pot final home. The 1 gallon pot will be my usual Fox Farms soil mix of 40% Ocean Forest/40% Happy Frog/20% perlite #3, as it is best and also advised by Sohum to not start seedlings directly in Sohum soil. Upon transplants the Sugar Breath will up-pot into 100% Sohum each time. The Strawberry Banana Auto will go like this: Dixie Cup > 5 gallon fabric pot final home. The Strawberry Banana will also begin in the FF blend, and when it hits the 5 gallon pot, will be transplanted into a mix of Sohum and my regular soil mix. That part will be outlined with photos in the journal when it comes up as the methodology is important to proper growth of autoflowers in Sohum and well worthy of note.
Nutes: While using the Sohum eliminates the need for regular nutrient feeding, I have found that during early budding a boost of sorts works very well, and depending on the plants I may add CalMag plus Iron as required. I will be using mycorrhizae to dust each transplant hole as that time comes. I will also add organic unsulphured blackstrap molasses once we are into budding. Lastly, I will be giving weekly doses of mono-silicic acid (MSA) at 40% concentration. Anything else the plant needs it should get from the soil. The MSA will help the stems get very strong, as I have found on my first try with it in my current grow. It works great and seems very logical to use on plants grown outdoors.
Growing Methodology/Training: The Sugar Breath will not get a whole lot of training. Maybe some topping early on. It should get very big and training beyond spreading out branches and defoliating should not be necessary. At some point we may toss a net around her to help with that. Having never grown outside, and wanting very much to learn it so that I can do both indoor and outdoor in the future when the climate allows, this outdoor Sugar Breath is kind of my test run. While I feel I have an infantile grasp of indoor growing in soil, I have far leass confidence in the outdoor scene. The seed was a freebie and I only have the one, so I'm not too terribly concerned about how she turns out. It's more about the learning with her. The autoflowers are a different story. With these I feel my grasp is slightly beyond infantile (this will be my 4th grow in my life, but I've grown several strains of autos in that time - I'm pretty confident in my auto abilities). The Strawberry Banana autos are going to get trained in the extreme for an auto. They will be topped between nodes 2 and 3 using Uncle Ben's method and perhaps topped again if there's time. They will be LST'ed religiously the entire grow to max out their bud sites and yield. All the training will be displayed in the journal. Regarding getting these girls all off the ground, we are going to start the plants and grow them until their first transplant at least in the Gorilla tent with the current grow, which is still in veg for another month or so - certainly long enough to get to the first transplant. As long as there is adequate space in the tent and they don't infringe too much on the space the existing grow plants need, they will stay in the tent. When they get too big they will exit the tent permanently. At that point all the plants will begin their outdoor lives and stay outdoors until the end. I have the luxury of being able to move the plants onto a covered, brick lennai at night if I want to, and may do so as it will keep the plants from getting rained on overnight or being in the grass around all the bugs and such overnight. They will all be on wheels and it will be easy to move them onto the grass where they grow to the lennai and back each morning. I think the extra work will be worth the peace of mind it will give me.
Pest Prevention: I have never grown outside before really. I am well aware there is a hugely more potential to have pest issues, despite the plants being in pots and on wheels. We'll have to see what happens, but I am confident that one of the folks I know in here will have the answers I need should that become an issue. The same would apply to any outdoor growing questions that I will inevitably have as this grow progresses.
Environmental Conditions: For the time these girls are getting off the ground and living in the Gorilla tent, they will get the veg conditions that the current photos have in there. Specifically this means they will be in a temperature range of 72-78 degrees by day and 64-68 degrees at night. Their Rh will be in the 45-65% range depending on outdoor conditions that day. They will begin at the floor of the tent, which will be hitting them with around 350-400 par to start, and where they will likely stay for their short starter time in the Gorilla. Once we move outdoors, the typical temperatures for their outdoor lives here is approximately 76-85 by day and 68-74 by night. The humidity also gets lower here this time of year, and I'm not sure about that yet but it should be around 55-70% and get lower as the weeks progress. Obviously the light hitting them outdoors will be whatever the sun has in store for them that day, lol. I have an excellent sun-drenched front and back yard and the plants should never want for direct sunlight.
That's about as much specific information as I can think of to start this journal guys. When the seeds all sprout I will post the first picture and Day 1 of the grow will be considered the first day our seeds break ground for the first time.
Thanks in advance to anyone who chooses to stop in and say hey from time to time. I really value input and commentary from any and all comers. I try hard to learn something from each of you, and everyone has something to offer no matter their level of experience. I will outline specific posts as I go that I feel would be especially useful to fledgling growers, if any of you guys happen to follow. Maybe a new grower will be able to benefit from my endless obsessiveness with growing and how far I've been able to come in three grows to this point and less than two years total of growing weed. I'm at the point where at least I no longer think I completely suck at this. Now I only pretty much suck.
I will also ask any questions I can publicly when I ask things of experienced buddies here, so that anyone else who may need it can benefit from any knowledge I gain over the course of the grow.
Super excited about this one guys. My last grow in this godforsaken state. Let's have some fun. I tagged 10 folks as allowed, and hi guys, hope you'll follow along. The likelihood is that I will be leaning on you. As always. Heh.
