Southern's Little Garden Of Health & Healing

[Southerncough]

Well, tonight's the night...judgment day for the monster scrog Afghani!
Probably could've squeezed a few more days out of her but things are starting to speed up with Mrs Cough's medical stuff so i need to get this over with asap so that i can get it dried and in the jar before we're too far along.
Honestly i thought there were a lot of mixed feelings while chopping her down. Excited to harvest yet saying goodbye to an old friend.
Wanted to keep the lower stem in tact for a possible stoner craft project down the road wink wink.
So here she is one last time!

 

[Sparkey224]

Congrats on the harvest bro. Going to be good meds.

 

[copperrein]

I'll smoke a bowl in her honor <3 What an amazing plant

 

[Ghostwriter31]

Greetings and welcome to my humble garden!
It's been a helluva year so I’m going to consider this journal a long winded therapeutic outlet as well as my extraverted self has been in lockdown for so long! Also, my phone case is pretty scratched up so my pics aren't always the best (sorry).

This is my 3rd attempt at a journal and we’ll see if I can keep her going this time!
Background:
5 years ago Mrs Cough was visiting a friend in Seattle and after a long cross country flight was in a world of pain, her friend offered her a MMJ lozenge and she said it was the best night of sleep she had since the injury happened years ago when she was in grad school! From that moment on I promised her that if she stayed away from pain pills that I would give her all of the weed in the world.

(side note: At the time I moonlighted with a transportation company who had several rehab centers as clients and I got to pick up opiate addicts at the airport from all over the world and hear their stories while driving them to rehab and did NOT want her to go down that road!!!)

Well, to my surprise she had quite a tolerance and fulfilling said promise was getting pretty expensive on the black market. Despite a LOT of concerns I was able to convince her that we should try to grow our own and she reluctantly agreed. (She's still not thrilled about the legal risk in our State). So, starting with a minimal investment we dipped our toe in the water with some brick-weed bag seed in a broom closet under CFL lights my humble grow journey began. (I still grow in a small space but am able to produce more than enough with it, so it'll do!)
LOTS of mistakes were made and TONS of knowledge has entered my brain between youtube videos, podcasts and especially this forum. Lots of changes have happened during this time as well from Legal Medical weed in our state (no more meeting "a guy who knows a guy" for our supply LOL), to huge advancements in LED's tech, to severe changes in her health, to a global pandemic AAHH!

My primary objective is to provide a perpetual supply of MMJ for her pain management as well as some fresh produce to limit our outings to the store as our community is getting the 'Rona pretty bad.
Also on the health side she may have to undergo some harsh treatments in the near future that may limit her ability to eat fresh produce from the store, but more on that later.
I've been meaning to start this journal for a while but have only gotten as far as taking some pics throughout. So we'll play catchup along the way.

Here we go!

What strain is it? (Multiple) Northern Lights, Purple Haze (G-13 Labs), Early Afghani, Mango (KC Brains), Pakistan 75 (The Landrace Team), and a White Widow x Big Bud auto
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? mostly hybrids and one pure Indica
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Veg
If in Veg... For how long? Varies from seedling to almost ready to flower
If in Flower stage... For how long? n/a
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor
If indoor...Dimensions (L x W x D) of grow space? Veg=2x3x5 tent, Bloom= 2x4x6 home made cabinet
Soil or Hydro? Coco
If soil... what is in your mix? Coco + worm poo
If soil... What size pot? varies from 8 oz cup up to 10 gal
Size of light? HLG 100 multiple
Is it aircooled? NA
Temp of Room/cab? average in mid 80's
RH of Room/cab? varies
PH of media or res? don't check
Any Pests ? Have been fighting Spider Mites, White Flies, Springtail, Mealybugs
How often are you watering? Daily as needed
Type and strength of ferts used? Full Dynagro Line per feed chart, Recharge once weekly, Mammoth P in bloom, and Winter Frost at the end.

So I read your bio and think I live in same state as you . I just moved from the coast to the northern part of state . You mentioned that your state just went legal medical. What part of the state are you in? Just curious. I worry like your wife lol

 

[Southerncough]

So I read your bio and think I live in same state as you . I just moved from the coast to the northern part of state . You mentioned that your state just went legal medical. What part of the state are you in? Just curious. I worry like your wife

Hey! I grew up in the northeast part in a town with a sad NFL team named after a south American jungle cat but now live in the southeast part with a sad NFL team named after a playful aquatic mammal LOL!

 

[Ghostwriter31]

Hey! I grew up in the northeast part in a town with a sad NFL team named after a south American jungle cat but now live in the southeast part with a sad NFL team named after a playful aquatic mammal LOL!

Ahh once I sent this I said I bet he’s two states over . You will follow that panhandle along that coastline towards the other side of this great country and I am in that states thats next to the NFL team that wore paper sacks over their heads because their team could never make the playoffs lol
You guys have been medical for a minute, we will be up and running in August, hopefully. Don’t know that I will participate because I grow my own but we will see how it goes amd how the flower looks . Take care

 

[Sparkey224]

I think were all in the same hood..lol
Congrats again on your lady. You gave me the idea just running scrog, one plant in my 2x4.
Cheers fellows

 

[Southerncough]

Good news, Surgeon called and said she did great! He was able to locate the original cancer source in her tonsil and remove it with the robot as well as the whole lymph node chain in her neck. However because of the amount of work done today she will have to stay in the ICU for 3-5 days before coming home.

 

[copperrein]

That's amazing! big hugs to you guys!

 

[Southerncough]

Hey y'all. Wow it's been a week.
Mrs Cough had her surgery last month, spent 5 days in the Hospital, then 10 hours after coming home she had a bleed and had to rush back for emergency...then last night had to be rushed back because it happened....again! Geesh!

Anyhoo, the little garden got kinda neglected with me having barely enough time to run out there and spash a little water on the roots and leave. Finally found an hour here and there to come back out and work on the plants to find spider mites making themselves quite comfortable so needless to say EVERYTHING got a good spray down with the insecticidal soap mix with a hint of cayenne pepper and some neem oil.

Finally had a few extra minutes to transplant some clones, moved the drying Afghani out of the bloom room and reconfigured the lights for flipping two of the Northern Lights and the Purple Haze to go in. They all got a little hungry with light green leaves so I gave them a little veg nute feeding while giving everyone else some maintenance and nourishment. Have some pretty wild training projects going on! They got a little neglected and I'm improvising as I go attempting to try something I imagined without a clear path really how to get there, but if I can keep them alive it should be really interesting to watch.

The Afghani still isn't dry, I think there was just so much moisture in the thick stems that the leaves and budes are still kinda green and squishy. This weekend I may buck the buds off the stems and put them in some of those mesh drying net thingies that are sold as handing toy storage thingies at Wally World...lots of stoners in the toy aisle LOL.

Peace!

 

[Southerncough]

Finally got the big girl bucked, weighed, and bagged. As predicted she yielded 8.8 oz so not too shabby from two 95 watt LEDs = 1.31 grams/watt considering she's a 6 week strain known for quality over quantity.
Packed a bowl and watched some tv only to wake up a few hours later with remote in hand LOL so good bedtime meds, not so good for productivity!

 

[copperrein]

Finally got the big girl bucked, weighed, and bagged. As predicted she yielded 8.8 oz so not too shabby from two 95 watt LEDs = 1.31 grams/watt considering she's a 6 week strain known for quality over quantity.
Packed a bowl and watched some tv only to wake up a few hours later with remote in hand LOL so good bedtime meds, not so good for productivity!

noice!

 

[Southerncough]

It's been a while since posting in this journal but life has been crazy lately.
Long story short I've got two northern lights and one purple haze in flower and starting to fatten up despite being eaten alive by spider mites!
I'm more hesitant than ever about pesticides with mrs cough starting chemotherapy next week so I've been managing them with safer soap and a shop vac! Just ordered some predatory mites but they won't be here until late next week.
Meanwhile the veg tent is bursting at the seams with ladies ready to flower and I've got clones waiting to get into the veg tent!

 

[copperrein]

Sending e-hugs to you and the boss! Would a little diatomaceous earth on top of the soil be effective against spider mites?

 

[Randyhamlyn3]

After a tough summer of battling pests and high heat stress I’m feeling optimistic about some new strains and even some old favorites starting over from seed. I have one plant from the summer fiasco that not only survived but is recovering very rapidly. After my last harvest I turned my bloom room into a plant ICU and was able to save one Early Afghani plant. After initial topping She had gotten a bit leggy in a crowded veg tent. Since she was so resilient I decided to wrangle the weird, leggy Afghani into some late LST action that turned out to be kinda stressful on her…at one point I actually split her main stem in two and had to wrap it up in electrical tape in attempt to stop the damage and she took it with stride. Now I’m just goofing off and practicing different training techniques using everything from bamboo stakes, to cotton twine to wire to pipe cleaners and binder clips to twist and turn and pull the branches into a somewhat even canopy and seeing if I can get the lower branches to catch up. Kind of making a net less SCROG so I can pull her out at any time to inspect and treat for pests or even move her if say the landlord is coming by!
She's really starting to fill out the whole cabinet! I'm still trying to decide if I should leave a gap to squeeze in another plant while she's in flower or just say heck with it and take up the whole space...hmm...meanwhile have had a tough time getting clones from her to root but they just may have been too woody and too soon after a heavy nitrogen feeding I have learned.

That's beautiful..work of art

 

[Southerncough]

Sending e-hugs to you and the boss! Would a little diatomaceous earth on top of the soil be effective against spider mites?

Hmm...maybe....they're hanging out in the canopy.
I've got some predatory mites on the way, hopefully they'll be here tomorrow or Friday!

 

[Southerncough]

Hi all!
What a busy time for us and happy belated 420.
The garden is hanging in there despite being eaten alive by spider mites
With Mrs Cough going through chemotherapy
I'm not taking any chances with chemicals or pesticides so I've been vacuuming off as many webs and bugs as possible from the girls in the final stages of flower and unleashing a small army of predatory mites in the veg tent. Last week i added two pouches and this week I've got 10 more on the way.
Speaking of, despite the mites attempts to do harm, the northern lights and purple haze plants are packing on some fat, gorgeous buds that smell amazing. Their leaves look horrible, but with only a few weeks left they're doing well. I just hope they don't get stressed into herming!
Veg tent and clone shelf are doing well and ready for room to open up in the bloom cabinet!

 

[Southerncough]

The calvary has arrived! I can almost hear tiny bugles playing as they charge up the plant! Lol

 

[Southerncough]

The bloom cabinet is getting oh so close to harvest. Looking forward to enjoying some purple haze just in time for swim season. Such a great smoke for grilling and chilling by the pool!
Despite the spider mites best attempts to wreck this grow we are banged up, but prevailing. Both purple haze and northern lights are laiden with some fat sticky buds (hope there's not any rot inside!!)
Can't wait to get these plants out and thoroughly cleaning the crap out of everything.
Veg tent is bursting at the seams and got some overgrown clones waiting their turn for veg.

 

[Southerncough]

It's harvest day for the northern lights and purple haze! Yaay!
These girls have put up a fight against some nasty pests and came through strong