Hi All!
I am a first time grower and this is my first post here. I'm going to forego the template as a lot of it is confusing and probably doesn't pertain much to my situation.
We are fledgling homesteaders in a very remote part of north central WA state. We are on the 49th parallel, our planting zone is 5a, and our climate is sub alpine and arid. We experience all four seasons.
I purchased five Kaya Gold feminized and five Wonder Woman feminized seeds from Nirvana Shop last November. My order came with ten free mystery seeds. I chose both these strains because they were advertised as being easy to grow in harsher climates and producing high yields. On April 3rd, I germinated half of the seeds with a wet paper towel. The other half I skipped the wet paper towel & put them straight into pots to see what would happen.
I used WalMart fiber pots when I put the seeds in dirt. I used dirt from our property I ran through a sifter. I kept them in a sunny window inside the house and spritzed plain water on them once or twice a day. All five of the Kaya Gold seeds sprouted. All five of the Wonder Woman seeds also sprouted, but one died of unknown causes a week later. Four of the ten mystery seeds sprouted.
From the time I germinated them till the end of april, they stayed in their fiber pots and spent most of their time indoors near the window. We have some warm spells where temps went above 60 degrees. On those days I took them outside. Once they out grew their pots, I transplanted them to pint sized black plastic pots with 2 parts sifted dirt and 1 part perlite. The KG and Freebies were growing really well, but the WW was really struggling. Once they had their second set of true leaves, I made fertilizer from my pee, 1 part pee to 20 parts water. I used it right away to avoid ammonia toxicity. This seemed to help the WW grow a little bit, but they were still runts next to the others. I fertilized them this way two more times in a one month period.
By late may, when our last frost is supposedly over, I put all four freebies in the ground. I dug deep holes and worked in homemade compost (a mixture of chicken poop + their old straw bedding, raw veggie scraps, coffee grounds and eggshells). The following week I put all the Kaya Golds in the ground. The week after that, the WW also went into the ground. The last week of June, we had two nights where temps dropped below 32 degrees. I was sweating bullets afraid I would find dead plants, but all of them lived.
I have two separate gardens: a large one that housed all the KGs and freebies, plus the largest WW. The smaller plot contained the other three WWs. The WW in the larger plot began displaying bizarre growth patterns, like curly kale leaves.
I did extensive research on WW, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I learned that there are two strains called Wonder Woman which have no relation to each other. One is related to White Widow. The other (the one I have) is Nirvana's which does not publicize the strain's genetics. I realized the research I had done when I first selected this seed, was from information that had no relation to Nirvana's WW. Upon this discovery, I made sure to search for Nirvana WW, and came across several posts claiming this strain easily goes hermie under stress. The distressed WW was growing tall and lanky so I made the executive decision to cull it. I didn't want to risk the chance of this one plant affecting my entire crop.
Here are my Kaya Gold plants today:
All five are alive and growing well. The one in the middle is 3 1/2 ft tall, the others are between 4 1/2 to 5 ft tall. When I first planted them, I thought I had spaced them far enough apart. Next year, I will triple the amount of space in between as they are all touching each other now! I sprayed them with BT twice since they've been in the ground. I used 1/4 strength Miracle Gro on them about a month ago, and haven't fertilized them since. Honestly, I don't think I even needed to do that. This strain most definitely is as advertised.
They have been exposed to high winds on a regular basis, occasional heavy rain, and temps in the upper 90s. If the vapor is as good as it grows, this plant will have a permanent home in my garden every year.
At the very opposite end of the spectrum are my Wonder Woman plants:
Pathetic isn't it? The remaining three plants are between 12" to 1 1/2 ft tall. I don't doubt all the positive reviews I've read about this strain. I'm sure under the right conditions, it is all that is promised. For my outdoor climate, I cannot recommend this strain and will not attempt growing it again. I don't expect to get any buds from it. I'm treating WW as a learning experience for the remainder of the season.
Now for my freebies. I confirmed all four that made it to this stage are all girls. Oh Happy Day! Since I don't know what they are, being mystery seeds and all, I named them Sweet Alyssa, Hungry Helen, Naughty Natasha, and Alyssa's Dirty Sister.
Sweet Alyssa on the left and Hungry Helen on the right. SA looks a little droopy in places. Not sure why. It could be because we're experience some rainy weather right now. Nothing I can do about that so she'll have to cowgirl up for another day or two.
From left to right, the other half of Hungry Helen, Naughty Natasha, and Alyssa's Dirty Sister. Now, I should mention that my over zealous husband accidentally shot NN and ADS when he was hunting gophers about 6 weeks ago. He blew NN's side branches clean off and wounded ADS. Since then, NN has regrew two new branches in its place and ADS's wounds have healed over. Whew!
These mystery girls are growing very well, right along with the KGs. It more than makes up for the ganky WW I had to kill 2 weeks ago. Two of them show strong signs of being sativa so getting them all the way to harvest might be tricky, but I will do my best! KG and WW are advertised as early finishers, 7 to 9 week flowering period. I believe KG will deliver. I'm not holding my breath on WW. NN and HH look like they are indica dominant, so hopefully they will be ready to harvest earlier than later.
All the plants get full sun. I should note that our soil is naturally fertile. We have pea shrubs that dump nitrogen rich pods on the ground every autumn. Plus we have an abundance of wildlife that share our 44 acres. I decided not to get fancy & try topping them or doing anything to promote more buds. Except for the one that got shot, they are all natural growth, which is probably why they can take these high winds so well with no damage or breakage. I use plain hose water from our private well every two days when it's sunny and dry. With the WW, I have given them two more treatments of Miracle Gro at full strength. I found another grow journal from a guy who grew Nirvana WW alongside Sour Diesel. He said that WW required twice the amount of nutes compared to SD, so I am trying that as a solution to get them growing better. Both plots are protected by electric deer fencing. I plan on spraying with Safer as needed, but I also rely on the lady bugs, yellow jackets, and birds to take care of those pests for me, and for now they are doing a great job!
I learned that outdoor plants do not adhere to the same biological schedule as indoor grows. Our trigger point for girls to convert to flowering is when daylight falls under 14.5 hours. For me, that is today. I hope my next update will show you guys pretty little flower buds
I am a first time grower and this is my first post here. I'm going to forego the template as a lot of it is confusing and probably doesn't pertain much to my situation.
We are fledgling homesteaders in a very remote part of north central WA state. We are on the 49th parallel, our planting zone is 5a, and our climate is sub alpine and arid. We experience all four seasons.
I purchased five Kaya Gold feminized and five Wonder Woman feminized seeds from Nirvana Shop last November. My order came with ten free mystery seeds. I chose both these strains because they were advertised as being easy to grow in harsher climates and producing high yields. On April 3rd, I germinated half of the seeds with a wet paper towel. The other half I skipped the wet paper towel & put them straight into pots to see what would happen.
I used WalMart fiber pots when I put the seeds in dirt. I used dirt from our property I ran through a sifter. I kept them in a sunny window inside the house and spritzed plain water on them once or twice a day. All five of the Kaya Gold seeds sprouted. All five of the Wonder Woman seeds also sprouted, but one died of unknown causes a week later. Four of the ten mystery seeds sprouted.
From the time I germinated them till the end of april, they stayed in their fiber pots and spent most of their time indoors near the window. We have some warm spells where temps went above 60 degrees. On those days I took them outside. Once they out grew their pots, I transplanted them to pint sized black plastic pots with 2 parts sifted dirt and 1 part perlite. The KG and Freebies were growing really well, but the WW was really struggling. Once they had their second set of true leaves, I made fertilizer from my pee, 1 part pee to 20 parts water. I used it right away to avoid ammonia toxicity. This seemed to help the WW grow a little bit, but they were still runts next to the others. I fertilized them this way two more times in a one month period.
By late may, when our last frost is supposedly over, I put all four freebies in the ground. I dug deep holes and worked in homemade compost (a mixture of chicken poop + their old straw bedding, raw veggie scraps, coffee grounds and eggshells). The following week I put all the Kaya Golds in the ground. The week after that, the WW also went into the ground. The last week of June, we had two nights where temps dropped below 32 degrees. I was sweating bullets afraid I would find dead plants, but all of them lived.
I have two separate gardens: a large one that housed all the KGs and freebies, plus the largest WW. The smaller plot contained the other three WWs. The WW in the larger plot began displaying bizarre growth patterns, like curly kale leaves.
I did extensive research on WW, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I learned that there are two strains called Wonder Woman which have no relation to each other. One is related to White Widow. The other (the one I have) is Nirvana's which does not publicize the strain's genetics. I realized the research I had done when I first selected this seed, was from information that had no relation to Nirvana's WW. Upon this discovery, I made sure to search for Nirvana WW, and came across several posts claiming this strain easily goes hermie under stress. The distressed WW was growing tall and lanky so I made the executive decision to cull it. I didn't want to risk the chance of this one plant affecting my entire crop.
Here are my Kaya Gold plants today:
At the very opposite end of the spectrum are my Wonder Woman plants:
Now for my freebies. I confirmed all four that made it to this stage are all girls. Oh Happy Day! Since I don't know what they are, being mystery seeds and all, I named them Sweet Alyssa, Hungry Helen, Naughty Natasha, and Alyssa's Dirty Sister.
These mystery girls are growing very well, right along with the KGs. It more than makes up for the ganky WW I had to kill 2 weeks ago. Two of them show strong signs of being sativa so getting them all the way to harvest might be tricky, but I will do my best! KG and WW are advertised as early finishers, 7 to 9 week flowering period. I believe KG will deliver. I'm not holding my breath on WW. NN and HH look like they are indica dominant, so hopefully they will be ready to harvest earlier than later.
All the plants get full sun. I should note that our soil is naturally fertile. We have pea shrubs that dump nitrogen rich pods on the ground every autumn. Plus we have an abundance of wildlife that share our 44 acres. I decided not to get fancy & try topping them or doing anything to promote more buds. Except for the one that got shot, they are all natural growth, which is probably why they can take these high winds so well with no damage or breakage. I use plain hose water from our private well every two days when it's sunny and dry. With the WW, I have given them two more treatments of Miracle Gro at full strength. I found another grow journal from a guy who grew Nirvana WW alongside Sour Diesel. He said that WW required twice the amount of nutes compared to SD, so I am trying that as a solution to get them growing better. Both plots are protected by electric deer fencing. I plan on spraying with Safer as needed, but I also rely on the lady bugs, yellow jackets, and birds to take care of those pests for me, and for now they are doing a great job!
I learned that outdoor plants do not adhere to the same biological schedule as indoor grows. Our trigger point for girls to convert to flowering is when daylight falls under 14.5 hours. For me, that is today. I hope my next update will show you guys pretty little flower buds
