The Garden Party ..... Sans Ricky Nelson
Sept, 1
We decided to kick off the first week of September with a small garden party because this is when the real work of this garden starts in earnest. Before everyone went to work thinning lower sucker shots and removing massive fan leaves shading important lower buds we needed a attitude adjustment. The Phire bong came along with us and Happy Hunter brought up some amazing full melt to get the morning started right. I took loads of pictures today I was having so much fun hopefully you guys will get a good idea of how special this place is to us. I am still shocked at the speed of growth of plants with giant root masses like these. Remember this pit is 35×40 or so and is basically a giant composted bed that the roots completely fill. All that time we visited and didn’t see much growth that’s where all the energy was going to. If I have ever needed proof big roots are the key to this kind of growth look at the difference between part 2 and part 3. Jack the Ripper is typically a slow plant in veg indoors but in the full sun of Weeden I am amazed at how big the plant is getting. Its basically an 8 foot diameter mound at this point. Another plant that is standing out is “The Flav” a creation I put together using Romulan and Space Queen that produced rock hard buds indoors has grown at least 1/3 larger in a span of just 5 days. We got down to business and started helping Dave’s crew remove some of the lower shoots to free up air flow. I have seen the garden thinned now 3 times and it always fills back in completely during the week. The garden now towers over my head and some of the taller plants are over 12 feet tall. Remember the all star Cows? The buckets and buckets of trim are carted up to the Moo Crew for disposal and man they love this stuff they actually push each other this way and that as they fight for position to get the best young leaves. Bogart lived up to his name consuming a massive amount of disposable cannabis.
Sept 9th
The weather could not be nicer here and after some early cool days and some early rain falls the sun is back out and its absolutely perfect weather for this time of year.
Humidity is low and nice winds are blowing around. The plants have responded in kind and there is no way I can really give you an idea of what being here is like. Almost all the plants are way over our heads and as you are in the shade of these amazing plants that are part of nature you really feel at peace. Its an experience I will never forget and never be able to thank Dave enough.
I was able to capture some of the first forming cola shots, but first let’s look at the garden from above. I have a walking stick/ Mono pod I bought to help me stabilize my camera and I had the idea to use it to hold above the canopy to get these amazing shots. You can barely see the Pistil’s perch at this point the plants are so tall that from high above it looks like giant cannabis mounds. The Indica’s have started budding heavily and even build up some resins. The Purple Kush already had thumb size buds and the Bubba Kush wasn’t far behind already having that classic Kush smell. The hybrids were just getting bigger and bigger as first bud set showed on strains like Cheese, Dannyboy and Jack the Ripper. Now is when this project can get complicated. As night time temps drop this causes dew to form and as the sun rises the plants warm up in there tent. So that makes a warm moist climate which is perfect for mold and mildew to take hold. Dave uses some old school methods to help prevent any problems. He applies a solution of lemon juice and water to the plants. This changes the PH and this makes for unfavorable conditions for mildew. While controversial Dave’s methods are hard to question, when I tried growing outdoors here my plant was attacked by mold and mildew and rendered useless. This isn’t sunny southern California and from here out Dave was in for a lot of hard work and stress.
Sept17th
Buds and Beyond..The Garden Blooms
Its record high temps here and I had to work fast to keep from passing out with an ambient of about 94 inside this canopy is intensely hot!
I thought that last week they had maxed out on size but I was wrong. Its really hard to get a angle that shows you how massive these plants are. Planted directly in the ground some are literally 14 feet tall.
Using a pole I took this from the highest point in the rear of the cover. I nicknamed the row of plants that contain Proud Mary, Cheese, and Jack the Ripper Murderer’s Row from the Babe Ruth days.
All the girls were becoming Plump Momma’s and the smell was intoxicating. A floral mix of Orange, Lemon, Skunk and even Cheese! I am proud to be able to stamp this garden with Made in the USA so I draped a small flag over Jack the Ripper and snapped a few shots. The US automakers turned Made in the USA something to be ashamed of but I hope I have restored some home pride. Some of the stems on these plants look like small trees. I also took a few close ups this week to give some perspective of the bud formation by the amount of resin.
Sept 23
Color Comes
The garden is growing like mad and now we have true buds forming all over. One thing that is blowing my mind is there isn’t a yellow leaf in this entire garden due to a deficiency. The hybrids literally tower up in the air and are starting to fill out nicely with the exception of the Romulan which seems to just be slow to bud. The shortest plant in the garden is the Purple Kush and it will also be the first harvested by the looks of it today. Cannabis floral clusters are basically green, but changes may take place later in the season, which alter the color to include various shades. The intense green of chlorophyll usually hides the color of accessory pigments, Chlorophyll starts to lose its vibrant green color late in the season and anthocyanin pigments also contained in the tissues are uncovered and the amazing colors are produced at this time. Purple, resulting from anthocyanin accumulation, is extremely common in Cannabis, this color modification is usually triggered by seasonal change, and also can be influenced indoor by a temperature drop of between 20-30 degrees. That is what is taking place with this Purple Kush as well as the Bubba Kush. You can see the upper fan leaves fading and changing colors at this point. For purple color to develop upon maturation, a strain must have the genetically controlled metabolic potential to make anthocyanin pigments and be responsiveness to environmental change such as cold nighttime temps. There are other pigments that affect the color of mature cannabis for example Carotenoid is largely responsible for the yellow, orange, red, and brown colors in buds. Beyond all this technical stuff it is amazing to watch a plant change color.
In the next installment you will see amazing 105 MM macro shots huge buds forming and a plant harvested using a chainsaw, a 4-wheeler and a leaf trailer, Don’t miss Part 4!!
Originally Published in Weed World Magazine Issue 99