Amy Gardner's First Journal - Outdoor - Critical Cure & Chaos In The Forest

Hi, thanks for swinging over and waking up my journal ..
... I swam in the ocean for the first time in 18months (for a surfer that's a lifetime .). I can hardly move now to be honest but so worth it - absolute joy .. Feels like a solstice celebration for me!

Have been in bed having a nice vape since getting home ...

They're saying here (those who think they know) that our solstice day is actually tomorrow (Friday 22nd) - so I'll doubly celebrate it by dropping some seeds eh?

Have you dropped any seeds - did you worship the sun .?

I also managed to get the final 2 girls out of pots and into their raised bed yesterday evening.

A full update on all babies, with pictures is imminent...

.
 
Amy Gardner's First Journal - Outdoor - Critical Cure & Chaos In The Forest

420-magazine-mobile1113495048.jpg


It's nice to finally have the time and energy to read this book I've had on my side table for a few months now! Highly recommend it... .. .
 
High and good morning.... Dont get up.
Ill just sit here and make my self comfortable.
:popcorn:
 
High and good morning.... Dont get up.
Ill just sit here and make my self comfortable.
:popcorn:

Welcome Stage :welcome:

It's lovely to have you here - and you've brought my favourite! Popcorn! :popcorn:

Most days I'd be the one chilling here at the back with you, I have plenty deck chairs! Seeing as it's, my journal and it's been waiting for my proper attention for a while, I'm scribing an update right now - it's been a while coming because I've over extended myself recently, which severely limits my possible computer time. Sometime today I'll get it posted I think... hopefully before Christmas ;):cheesygrinsmiley:

In the meantime - enjoy it, however it takes your fancy
:smokin::lot-o-toke::hookah::yummy::volcano-smiley:

:Namaste:
 
Updates - finally!

We’re having more rain than the ideal amount. Apparently a mild La Niña is upon us so not the most fabulous outdoor season conditions (a wet summer). All my plants are coping ok and they’ll have to continue to do so because at the moment I don’t have the capacity to go out and put their rain hats on & off all the time. There’s good hot sunny days in-between the overcast and rainy ones so it’s sure to be fine.

I’m going to update each ‘site’ separately. I might only get to one or 2 today, I’m pretty smashed from all the social activity the festive season brings. And swimming in the ocean - it's been a long time since I was well enough to do that and I'm still blissed out from it, even amongst the post activity crash zone...

First up - BUSH POD #1 - Money Bush

The second FIM attempt worked! I think.

You’ll remember that I FIM’d the FIM the first time I attempted it with this baby and then I tried again, yes?

I had a moment of concern when I saw these black areas the day after:

MB_2dayspostFIM.jpg


But I read around a bit and saw that it’s a normal healing response (so not mould or anything). So, all good, wait and see…

6 days later it looked like this :slide:

Moneybush-FIMed-day48.jpg



And then yesterday, so about 10-12days post FIM, this:

MB-2weekspostFIM.jpg


There’s definitely multiple tops and all the lower branching nodes have shot up all over the place :). That’s a relief as I’ve never had plants look as sparse as my current ones as this stage of the grow, so some bushing up is a relief! It’s difficult to capture the tops in the picture properly. When I look at the photos, it still looks like one central stem, but in ‘person’ it doesn’t look like that at all. The way the lower branches are shooting up points to a successful FIM as well. These 2 shots were earlier in the morning yesterday, before the sun hit…

MB-2weekspostFIM-branches.jpg


MB-2weekspostFIM-branches-2.jpg


This plant isn’t getting the sun exposure i’d expected in this spot - although I’m fairly certain that will improve now as the sun slowly gets lower in the sky again and be sufficient as flowering progresses (very tall trees overhang directly above a bit). I’ve identified a spot about 10feet to the NW that will do better next year at this time, am planning to put a flag or something in it so I can watch it over the rest of the grow season ;)

The current spot gets some sun - probably about 4-5hrs direct and 3-4 hours indirect and/or filtered.

Plenty of room for expansion here :thumb:

MB-day52jpg.jpg


The critter visit that came to me for this particular update was back on the 18th, the day I took the ‘6 days post FIM' photo. It was such a spectacular and extended visit, I think more than one photo is called for…

waterdragon-full1.jpg


waterdragon-close1.jpg


watedragon-close2front.jpg


Eastern Water Dragon (we have our own dragons! :slide:) - just under 1m in length, including a lot of tail :)


Next up BUSH POD #2...
 
Update: BUSH POD #2 - Professor Chaos #1

Ok so I could’ve made this 'bush pod #1', and then having Professor #1 in it would’ve been easier to follow logically, eh? Ah well, keeping us on our toes ;)

This FIM didn’t work. A week later it was still growing a single top, but with some now mutated looking leaves (from where i’d cut them). At some point I’m going to go back over the photos to try and spot what I did differently between the FIM that worked and the ones that didn’t.

In the meantime, I know that the flip to flower could happen at any stage and didn’t want to risk another failed FIM so I just topped her - I ate the top and it was super spicy, like pepper :yummy:

Prof_1-failedFIM-topped.jpg


I also decided it was time to encourage some branching (the nettle tea isn't ready yet!), plus there’s not a lot of height to play with in this pod, so I needed to lay her over a bit. I had neglected to take any equipment for doing this with me, so I grabbed a hearty stick that was still green enough to not snap entirely and employed some of my own ‘bush style’ LST! :icon_cool

Prof_1-bushstyleLST.jpg


Prof_1-bushstyleLST2.jpg


It’s only 4-5 days later now and she’s responded well…

Pr_1-4dayspost_top.jpg


Pr_1-4dayspost_top-close.jpg


Pr_1-5dayspost_top.jpg


In this one you can see clearly where she was topped...

Pr_1-5dayspost_top-close.jpg


It’s really tricky photographing them inside the PODs, especially when the wind is blowing! Hope that was enough to give some idea.

So I had been wondering if doing seperate updates like this would mean I could feature a different critter per update. I usually just rely on whatever critter decides to front up to me during a visit to the plants (or on a garden day in general) and while I was sitting outside after my round trip to the pods yesterday, flicking through my camera to asses the shots, some movement caught my eye…
why it’s the Dragon’s lovely female companion! How perfect...

waterdragon-f.jpg


water_dragon_f_close.jpg


Following this will be an update on the enclosure, yes that's right - enclosure, not pots!!

Have a lovely day, on whatever day it is that you happen to be here...

:Namaste:
 
I'm enjoying this gentle romp through the bush with you Amy. And how delightful to be accompanied by dragons. :laughtwo:

Nice thinking on your feet with the bush LST. Lol! Good instincts.

The idea of planting a flag and watching it through a growing season hadn't occured to me before. Might want to create a digital picture journal of the sun's progress over the area. Hmmm..... it's the little things.
 
She grows......................with Dragons.:thedoubletake:
Sorry...I couldn't help myself. :)
Seriously, awesome photography and commentary.
+reps for you.
 
Updates - finally!

We're having more rain than the ideal amount. Apparently a mild La Niña is upon us so not the most fabulous outdoor season conditions (a wet summer). All my plants are coping ok and they'll have to continue to do so because at the moment I don't have the capacity to go out and put their rain hats on & off all the time. There's good hot sunny days in-between the overcast and rainy ones so it's sure to be fine.

I'm going to update each 'site' separately. I might only get to one or 2 today, I'm pretty smashed from all the social activity the festive season brings. And swimming in the ocean - it's been a long time since I was well enough to do that and I'm still blissed out from it, even amongst the post activity crash zone...

First up - BUSH POD #1 - Money Bush

The second FIM attempt worked! I think.

You'll remember that I FIM'd the FIM the first time I attempted it with this baby and then I tried again, yes?

I had a moment of concern when I saw these black areas the day after:

MB_2dayspostFIM.jpg


But I read around a bit and saw that it's a normal healing response (so not mould or anything). So, all good, wait and see...

6 days later it looked like this :slide:

Moneybush-FIMed-day48.jpg



And then yesterday, so about 10-12days post FIM, this:

MB-2weekspostFIM.jpg


There's definitely multiple tops and all the lower branching nodes have shot up all over the place :). That's a relief as I've never had plants look as sparse as my current ones as this stage of the grow, so some bushing up is a relief! It's difficult to capture the tops in the picture properly. When I look at the photos, it still looks like one central stem, but in 'person' it doesn't look like that at all. The way the lower branches are shooting up points to a successful FIM as well. These 2 shots were earlier in the morning yesterday, before the sun hit...

MB-2weekspostFIM-branches.jpg


MB-2weekspostFIM-branches-2.jpg


This plant isn't getting the sun exposure i'd expected in this spot - although I'm fairly certain that will improve now as the sun slowly gets lower in the sky again and be sufficient as flowering progresses (very tall trees overhang directly above a bit). I've identified a spot about 10feet to the NW that will do better next year at this time, am planning to put a flag or something in it so I can watch it over the rest of the grow season ;)

The current spot gets some sun - probably about 4-5hrs direct and 3-4 hours indirect and/or filtered.

Plenty of room for expansion here :thumb:

MB-day52jpg.jpg


The critter visit that came to me for this particular update was back on the 18th, the day I took the '6 days post FIM' photo. It was such a spectacular and extended visit, I think more than one photo is called for...

waterdragon-full1.jpg


waterdragon-close1.jpg


watedragon-close2front.jpg


Eastern Water Dragon (we have our own dragons! :slide:) - just under 1m in length, including a lot of tail :)


Next up BUSH POD #2...

Cool update and wow she has grown slot outside .
 
Update: The Enclosure - CBD Critical Cure and Professor Chaos #2

Finally these 2 are out of their pots :thumb::cheer:

enclosure_babies.jpg


The enclosure is complete - with a few details to go, but secure enough. It's mostly for our food garden but I have have a little ganja corner... My corner doesn't yet have the volume of soil I'd planned for initially but I decided it was enough and it was more important to get them out of their pots. Plus it's a raised bed and the soil that was there already was tops, and a couple of weeks before I laid my mixed soil on top I got my gardener to dig in a whole lot of Gypsum and Palagonite so there's plenty to encourage soil structure down there, close to the clay. I decided I didn't ned to do any hugelkulture type layering for drainage as some have suggested for 2 reasons. First, I'm wanting to go forward building my soil for the coming seasons with minimal organic matter actually in the soil (not none, just not a lot), and second I don't think drainage is going to be an issue for me. I'm using some minerals to help soften the clay, plus, there are numerous super sized eucalypts within 15 metres of the raised bed and they'll suck it dry in no time! (That's actually partly why we've built raised wicking beds for our veggies - we were going through heaps of water and realised we were largely feeding the proximate forest. We're on tank water so we don't need to be doing that!). The soil mix that went on top was a mix of what was already there, some soil dug up form last years veggie patch and a mix of amendments (Gypsum: 1-2cups/cubic ft, Palagonite: 1cup/cubic foot, Oyster Shell Flour: 1.5cups/cubic ft and a tiny sprinkling of neem meal). The garden soil gets built with our ongoing compost and that gets daily doses of eggshells, ground dandelion root and the usual vegetable throwoffs (that the wallaby doesn't get ;) )

I seem destined to transplant on rainy days. It was the single opportunity to get it done tho so rain hail or snow we were into it! Thankfully it didn't hail or snow, and only rained a bit - but it meant I didn't get any pics. I can attest to having better roots action than I'd anticipated considering they haven't been in these pots very long. They weren't as wonderfully root bound as one would really hope for but they were pretty good, with plenty of hairy ones ;thumb:

I compensated for having a lower level of soil than I truly desired by building them both a little hill. I'll fill in around them later...

They both got a healthy sprinkle of AMF (Mycorrhizae) in the hole and on the rootball, and I watered them in with a light seaweed tea which included lactobacillus.

Professor Chaos #2 (this plant was originally a backup in case #1 failed or went male - they both seem female, and good, so this one is now a bonus ;) ) - 4 days post transplant (about day 49).

I haven't topped or pruned in any way - poor thing is so small! I am contemplating laying it down a bit maybe, or maybe i will top in few days...

Prof_2_day_4days_post_transplant.jpg


Prof_2_day_4days_post_transplant_-top.jpg



CBD Critical Cure (day 50)
(about day 50?)

No topping done here either. Still runtish as well from being in the starting pot for too long. My plan here has been to let it take its natural shape and I'm still hoping to do that. It's just so tempting to try to accelerate the lower branching by chopping her top off! I'm resisting so far...

4 days post transplant

CBDCC_-_4days_post_transplant.jpg


CBDCC_-_4days_post_transplant-top.jpg


There's a little burn on the tips of the lower leaves. I expect from a previous 'event'? I did give a feed while they were in the pots after some heavy rains that would've washed them out a bit, maybe. But maybe it didn't. I've been reading about that. Leeching is not as much of an issue in soil as one might think, apparently. It's also possible that this one is simply a lighter feeder than her neighbour (as the Professor shows no burn and they've had about the same treatment).

cbdcc_-_littleburn.jpg


Finally - this is the Comfrey patch. Ripe for the tea making pickings I think?

comfrey_patch.jpg


OK so, that wasn;t final was it - where's the critter? Well, this one was crawling along the outside of the enclosure while I was transplanting them (see, there's always something!). It was moving super fast so getting a pic was challenging I can tell you! How funky is this!? Looked amazing cruising along the way that caterpillars do...

veryfunkycaterpillar_1_.jpg


Wishing everyone a safe and indulgent festive season! For me it's all about the cricket that starts on boxing day - and the cannabis indulgence that always accompanies that for me.

Merry Gardens to you all!

:circle-of-love:

:Namaste:
 
How cool that we get critters from down under with each update? :laughtwo: That one's a beaut!

That comfrey patch looks wonderful. Toss some leaves on the surface of your plant area and let it break down naturally. Instant micronutrients. I once healed the broken bones my mother sustained from being run down in a pedestrian walkway using twice-daily comfrey root poultices. When we were done you could barely see the breaks on the x-rays. One of my favorite plants in the world.

Look at that, you grow two of the most potent medicinal plants on this cosmic sandbox. :high-five:

Did you catch up on your energy recharge? I'm glad you can find joy in my journals while you rest. I do my best to be as authentically entertaining as I can. :laughtwo: Makes for some hysterical moments on occassion.
 
So as a Christmas present to myself I dropped a few more seeds ..

1 is a freebie - Ice by Female Seeds. They say it's a cross of White Widow and Skunk #1. It's been tricky to find info on it because Nirvana also have on called Ice and the lineage is different. Still both have skunk #1 in there plus I've been thinking to try a white widow so if Female Seeds white widow was nice, then I should get something of that. I plan to put this one in the enclosure, top it early and tie it down flat into some kind of small hedge in front of the 2 already growing there.

The other 2 seeds I've dropped are from a mate. He crossed a Golden Tiger with - he thinks - Northern Lights during an outdoor grow and I think these seeds are a backcross within that offspring. He said it was hard to track outdoors and there was some shuffling of plants but there's definitely Golden Tiger and NL in the mix. Not sure where I'll put these yet. Maybe one of the pods but they're both more light deprived that the ideal, so maybe I'll experiment with some other stealthy bush grow methods...

Because all the seeds I have now are freebies or bagseed there seems to be a lot of indica in the picture... NL especially. It's funny because I've always preferred a sativa high. Next year I'm going all sativa! I'll enjoy the indicas and Indi dominant hybrids I have going now for pain meds and sleep meds though. And plenty of folk I know will love them. Plus I have the 2 professor chaos going - I bought those when I was only just learning about seeds and strains/chemovars etc and was moved by the idea of a pain killing sativa plus I liked the TGA breeding philosophy. It was actually bred by Home Grown Genetics and apparently they and TGA are not doing business together now, so I'm not sure the seeds will be produced anymore. I'm looking forward to the high. Everything available seems very Indica, and I don't know enough folk to ask around about outdoor grown Sativa... why I'm getting into doing it myself ! Harvest time seems far away right now tho ...

Hope everyone is recovering from festive indulgences . I'm about to have more . :volcano-smiley:

Will post pics when the new babies come up.

:Namaste:
 
How cool that we get critters from down under with each update? :laughtwo: That one's a beaut!

That comfrey patch looks wonderful. Toss some leaves on the surface of your plant area and let it break down naturally. Instant micronutrients. I once healed the broken bones my mother sustained from being run down in a pedestrian walkway using twice-daily comfrey root poultices. When we were done you could barely see the breaks on the x-rays. One of my favorite plants in the world.

Look at that, you grow two of the most potent medicinal plants on this cosmic sandbox. :high-five:

Did you catch up on your energy recharge? I'm glad you can find joy in my journals while you rest. I do my best to be as authentically entertaining as I can. :laughtwo: Makes for some hysterical moments on occassion.

Glad you enjoyed our little walk through the bush .
Comfrey is a super magical plant isn't it!? Love that story about your mums broken and healed bone. I will do what you suggest re throwing some on the ground. I did think it was an 'after flowers set' thing tho, so I've been planning for that - is that right?

I'm recovering only slowly. Over did it a few times and that, it turns out is a no-no. It meant that trying to do what had become a manageable level of stuff in the days later (when I thought I had bounced back enough) has now become too much again. Yesterday 'too much' included gardening efforts to feed all the girls with some nettle tea. Today not so good. So resetting the activity - flare up monitor... and in the meantime enjoying some days in bed and a cricket test match. Perfect sport love for someone who is still bad at managing a chronic condition... matches go on for 5 days! ..

Much love to you and your national forest Sue .

.
 
Love the water dragon photos, and the fuzzy 'pillar ain't bad either.

I let my comfrey grow till it starts to flower (little purple flowers) per Bobrown14's suggestion.
It got about 4 ft tall, then I chopped it down to 6" tall all at once. Got 3 chops this last summer and fall :)


Nice job on the LST. I know you say you want to let the girls grow 'natural' but you also want to top them to make them bushier.
You have good instincts, so feel free to follow your instincts.

The choice of outdoor sativa seems to come down to how mild is your winter? If your winter high temps are 15-20C then you should be able to grow almost any sativa on the planet. If it gets colder, you might need to be more selective.
 
Love the water dragon photos, and the fuzzy 'pillar ain't bad either.

I let my comfrey grow till it starts to flower (little purple flowers) per Bobrown14's suggestion.
It got about 4 ft tall, then I chopped it down to 6" tall all at once. Got 3 chops this last summer and fall :)


Nice job on the LST. I know you say you want to let the girls grow 'natural' but you also want to top them to make them bushier.
You have good instincts, so feel free to follow your instincts.

The choice of outdoor sativa seems to come down to how mild is your winter? If your winter high temps are 15-20C then you should be able to grow almost any sativa on the planet. If it gets colder, you might need to be more selective.

Cheers Rad - with the Comfrey, it's flowering now. Can you elaborate on Bb14's tips on that. Or link me to it (I'm searching his threads but no luck yet)? Someone here at home said I wait till after flower to harvest, but I also heard on 420 that comfrey is good for flowering (use after buds set) and MerryAnna suggests using things that are in flower for flowering FPJ, which makes intuitive sense and is perhaps where Bb is coming from as well...

Our winter daytime temps don't usually get below 15C so I should be good to experiment with Sativas . The only thing here is autumn rainfall so success will depend on the season (and the innovation of a rain hat for the enclosure corner perhaps). My new spot in the enclosure is chosen partly because it keeps the sun into autumn so this season I'll get to assess that while I make a choice about some strains. I like the sound of the Panama a few folks grow round here... and that Blue Dream (Sativa dominant) sounds like a special one too...

.
 
Cheers Rad - with the Comfrey, it’s flowering now. Can you elaborate on Bb14’s tips on that. Or link me to it (I’m searching his threads but no luck yet)? Someone here at home said I wait till after flower to harvest, but I also heard on 420 that comfrey is good for flowering (use after buds set) and MerryAnna suggests using things that are in flower for flowering FPJ, which makes intuitive sense and is perhaps where Bb is coming from as well...

Our winter daytime temps don’t usually get below 15C so I should be good to experiment with Sativas . The only thing here is autumn rainfall so success will depend on the season (and the innovation of a rain hat for the enclosure corner perhaps). My new spot in the enclosure is chosen partly because it keeps the sun into autumn so this season I’ll get to assess that while I make a choice about some strains. I like the sound of the Panama a few folks grow round here... and that Blue Dream (Sativa dominant) sounds like a special one too...

.

Here is a picture of My comfrey on first harvest day - This was a couple months after planting from a 1 qt pot. It got much larger the second time around.

Go for the Russian Bock 14 bock 16 or other infertle comfrey as you don't want these self propogating. I moved my comfrey, left some roots 8 inches deep in the ground and now I have two comfrey bushes.

20170426_150134-1.jpg



BoBrown14 says he harvests 5-6 times a year and his outdooor compost bin is so active the worms and such can eat 100 lbs in a week :)

One place he talked about Comfrey was: Building a Better Soil - Demonstrations & Discussions of Organic Soil Recipes

I ask my soil questions on that building a better soil thread above




For a sativa choice, I would ask on the landrace thread -- about rain tolerant, warm weather sativa Landrace Genetics 101

Some of these guys have a seed addiction, but folks like Conradino will steer you well :)

I can't recommend Sativas as pure Sativas don't seem to get me high. They kill the pain and provide some energy (less than most people) but I don't feel the slightest bit stoned, drunk, incapacitated, or trippy.
 
Thanks .. I lurk on both those 2 threads already, so no problem!
That's so interesting Sativa's don't get you high. I think I'm like that with indicas - I get stoned but often not the high I'm after. Hoping the GT/NL crosses from my mate will express their GT sativa side more strongly
 
Amy Gardner's First Journal - Outdoor - Critical Cure & Chaos In The Forest

Subbing to this grow, lookin great Amy. Just catching up with everything so far, I know you followed along on my critical grow! So I couldn't help but return the favor! If you don't want to top the plants but accelerate the bottom growth what I've done on plants that size is take a 16 penny nail and some string. Loosely Tie one end to the top of the plant and the other to the nail. Bend the plant slightly to one side and push the nail in your soil. Just an idea, I know you can super crop but I don't like snapping stems. All you have to do is make sure the tip of the plant is below the next set of growth tips and they will all take off ! Can't wait to see more! Happy holidays!
 
Full Reps to my buddy MerryAnna for suggesting i join her Summer solstice celebration of dropping some seeds for a mid season grow - late harvest. It's so exciting to have newbies! I soaked seeds for 6hrs on Christmas Day when there was a new moon in Pisces which ought to be auspicious for this action, and dropped them in the ground later that same day. They have all broken ground already - the newly named Ice Princess was first (Ice by Female Seeds). Usually i don't name my plants, beyond the breeders name, but that's not a rule or anything - and that name just popped up when she did. I've given the rundown of the genetics in an earlier post but basically, 1 x Ice and 2 x GT/NL from my friend.

One of the seeds from my mate (GT x NL??) - nice & stripey
PC2500012.jpg


Drinking, softening a little...
PC250003_1_.jpg


The Ice Princess awakens! Welcome gorgeous :love:

PC2900091.jpg


I need some more seeds...

PC2500022.jpg


:circle-of-love:

:Namaste:
 
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