Dwarf Low Flyer Fun Grow On My Deck In The Pacific Northwest

Scientific

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My apartment has a small, fairly private deck that gets morning sun (when the sun comes out at all here in the coastal Pacific Northwest), so for a science project I'm growing a CropKing Dwarf Low Flyer autoflower in a pot out there.

I planted the germinated seed on last day of winter. The temperature dropped to 39F that night, so even with a little greenhouse dome over the pot, it got cold. Here's how the seedling looked this morning, a few days later:

Dwarf Low Flyer Seedling on the 3rd day of Spring

  • This plant only gets seven hours of direct sun at best, from sunrise to 2 PM (but the days are getting longer fast).
  • Usually at this time of year it's overcast with daily rain showers.
  • Temperatures are typically in the 40s at night and may warm up to the high 50s during the day.
  • The plant is growing in cheap Ace Hardware Store potting soil--a premium growth medium with wood chips and pieces of broken glass in the mix.
So I'm growing a dwarf strain with short days, dim sun, low temperatures, and mediocre soil. This strain is 10% Cannabis ruderalis, which as I understand it evolved under just those sort of conditions in Siberia, so I'm guessing that this plant will at least survive, and maybe it will do OK? What do you think?

I know it would have been better to wait until May or June, but this is still a fun project even if I do end up with a plant that's only 6" tall. Pot's legal here (at last!), so if all else fails I can just drive to one of half a dozen dispensaries nearby and pick up a $9 gram. :)
 
Dwarf Low Flyer grown on a deck in Vancouver B.C.

Freddie DaWeedKing on YouTube looks like he had pretty good luck growing Dwarf Low Flyer on his east-facing deck up in Vancouver B.C (but he says he was growing when the days were at their longest, which in Vancouver means the sun is up over 16 hours). Still, that gives me hope that my results could be at least as good. As the lady at CropKing said, "You may not harvest a lot, but you can have fun." :)
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Dwarf Low Flyer grown on a deck in Hawaii

A few years ago, a friend tried growing Dwarf Low Flyer in a flower pot on his deck in Hawaii, and it worked great (but it got tropical sun all day long, so like 10,000 lumens per square foot for free). :thumb:

He told me he didn't train his plant except to prune it a little "so the neighbors would think it's just some weird bonsai tree."

Dwarf Low Flyer "bonsai" growing on a deck in Hawaii
 
My greenhouse dome

Here's the pot in the pot out on the deck this afternoon. I made the greenhouse dome out of a grocery store plastic salad greens container. (You can just barely see a little smudge of green in the exact center of the pot.)

On the one day that the sun came out in a clear sky, it got way too hot under the dome (like over 100 degrees on a 65 degree day!), so I cut some holes in the top to improve the ventilation. Now as far as I can tell it doesn't keep the plant any warmer at all, but it will keep the neighbors' eyes off it I guess...

Yes, this is a very high-tech grow. ;)

 
The early days ;)


The package of seeds from CropKing


The seedling I planted on the last day of winter


Popping it's head up. (Note the weird purple color of one cotyledon.)
 
Hahahahah! I enjoyed your comment about the broken glass in your potting soil!

Here's a shot of the piece of glass that surfaced after the rain. It looked like a little diamond. You can also see some of the lumber in there. ;) The wildflower seeds growing out in my front bed are doing OK with the stuff, so maybe it will do the job.
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So far the cheap soil seems to be less of a factor than the cool, overcast weather. The half-inch-long seedling seems to be just standing there, not growing, waiting for some lumens. Since this is an autoflower strain, I suspect that the clock is running and it's gonna flower in six weeks or whenever even if the plant is still tiny. Given that, I guess I could have started in a Dixie cup and maybe wouldn't have even needed to transplant. ;) We shall see... This is a fun project. :)
 
An earlier deck grow attempt, Oakland, CA, 1974, when every $10, 3/4 ounce bag of Mexican leaf had 50 seeds at the bottom (and lotsa stems). The top drawer in the kitchen must have had 300 seeds rolling around in it.

Flowers? Females? Wut? Just pluck off the leaves, dry 'em in the oven on a cookie sheet, roll 'em up, and pray!
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Side-by-Side Comparison: Day 10 and Day 17

Here is an update after a week of overcast and rain (though it was sunny today; 1 out of 7 ain't bad on the Northwest coast in March).

Seventeen days since the seed hit the water, she's exactly one inch tall and her "true" leaves are about half an inch long. Look at the size of those seed leaves! You can just barely see the beginnings of another set of leaves way down there.

She seems to be healthy and happy, just growing very slowly in the absence of sun and warmth. (Daytime temperatures have been around 47-51 F.)

I'm still wondering if her autoflower clock is running when she's growing so slowly. If the sun doesn't come out by the time the flowering switch flips, will she just flower when she's tiny? Or is there some threshold that has to be crossed before the autoflower countdown starts?



 
Day 19

We got a few hours of sun this morning. This plant is barely over an inch tall but happy and healthy.
I think my "for real" DWF deck grow will start on the solstice, which besides the cosmic aspect, is the beginning of the warmest and sunniest 10 weeks here according to my research. (Yes, I know--it's called "summer." ;))
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Very slow growing, but looking healthy. Hard grow looks like, I'm in the northwest and it's not even planting time here.

Day 23
It has been fun to see what it can do this early in the season. The forecast here is for another week of rain, so I don't anticipate much change. Like I said, I'm really curious to see if her autoflower clock is running or not.

She is cute little thing. :)

Here she is this evening.
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Still just a seedling at 23 days...
 
Are you sure those are from CKS, just not the usual packaging, no biggie.
Yeah, they came straight from CKS, but they came stealth mode so no nice package.
She will spruce up when the sun shows up, it will be almost instantly. Lol
When the sun does come out for an hour or two, she visibly responds (that is, she grows a little bit). I'd love to see what would happen during a stretch of sunny, warm weather.
 
They gave you 7 seeds?

Yeah, if I remember right it was $57 dollars for five seeds, shipped, and they tossed in a couple of freebies. I just assumed they did that for everyone. Maybe they gave me a bonus because I sent cash? ;) (I'm still kinda feeling like Jack and the Beanstalk selling family cow for a magic seed, but I guess even one successful plant would make it a worthwhile investment.)
 
Yeah, if I remember right it was $57 dollars for five seeds, shipped, and they tossed in a couple of freebies. I just assumed they did that for everyone. Maybe they gave me a bonus because I sent cash? ;) (I'm still kinda feeling like Jack and the Beanstalk selling family cow for a magic seed, but I guess even one successful plant would make it a worthwhile investment.)
Sounds like good old CK customer care to me.
 
Day 28

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Day 28: Planted last day of winter, still struggling to grow during mostly short, cold, cloudy and rainy days

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Tomato, sunflower, some wildflowers, funflower...
 
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