Jeffrey Hickey Writes Blogs

ACDC fan leaf

Below, we have Hindu Kush in the classic training position that Bee and I favor. This plant was topped once, and after each new branch got to a certain length, Bee tied them apart, which allows the growth beneath the tops to get the same amount of light as the tops. Hence, we have more tops.

This is the beginning of training, which I’ve alluded to in other blogs, but this week, the process needed to begin. In fact, Bee was planning to come over to do this after work on the weekend. I was thrilled when they showed up on Friday, because I knew the amount of training awaiting them. The plants have really been growing, and the training took most of the day.

The health and vigor of the plants inspired Bee to do some aggressive training. I don’t worry about aggressive training on regular seeds. They can take it. I get a little concerned with aggressive training on feminized plants, but this is a tightrope that must be walked if you want your feminized plants to realize their potential.

This is also the year that we begin to utilize plant clips for training, while we attempt to minimize the amount of plant tape we use, which is not sustainable. So far, so good on the clips.

I bet some of you just looked at this and said, “Whoa.”

Here’s the full train, and see how she is responding. This is the S Thai plant, from regular seed.

We believe in giving our plants the most nutritious diet possible. But beyond the micro nutrients that raw mycorrhizae are allowing our plants to absorb, we also believe in stressing our healthy plants. Stressing them is one of the reasons we can grow large plants within the comfortable confines of a raised bed. Plant clips like shown above force the plant to work out of her comfort zone. The bending and near breaking releases auxins in response to the stress, and what you end up getting are plants being pushed toward their potential. You eventually get a stronger plant as these trains harden into wood. The stress you cause your plant can also end up with a more potent plant, with more trichomes. The key is doing this type of training when the growth is still pliable. Once it gets woody, you can’t do this without breaking branches. Remember that trichomes are the plant’s way of protecting herself against the sun. She’s always looking for any excuse to produce more trichomes, and stressing her is one of the best methods.

Some caution should be practiced when stressing feminized plants. They can take stress, to a point, and the only way you’ll know you’ve crossed the line is if they suddenly start to flower, or go hermaphrodite. So–be mindful when stress training feminized plants. Gentleness is better.

It must also be stated here that learning how to stress your plants properly will take time and probably many broken branches. Bee likes to describe this activity as being something they have learned to “feel.” Through the tactile sensation, they better understand how far they can stress each branch.

With regular seed plants, feel free to stress the heck out of them. Bee is even learning how to stress feminized plants to their max, but I would urge beginners to use caution as you begin to discover the limits of training. Trust me, accidents will happen and branches will be broken. It’s discouraging, but it’s how we learn. Any stress training, even gentle, is good for the medicine you’re growing. This is another way of saying that the risk is worth the reward.

Let’s take a wider look at the plant clip. You can see in the below photo how the branch is stressed, and how, within 12 hours of this work, the eventual top to that branch had already phototroped and was heading up again. We are literally doing this to all the plants, while we open up their insides to the sun.

Here’s a before and after of ACDC. In the first photo, you can see how everything is stretched out and nothing is phototropin: 

And now, here is ACDC a couple of days later. Look at all the tops going across in a row, and also how far the bottom branches are extending:

This ACDC loves training.

We are in the midst of a heat wave, even along the coast. Temperatures are hitting 100 degrees around here, and we are clearly not used to this level of heat. However, as a grower, I also understand that anything over 100 degrees means our plants will go dormant, and it is the end of any pathogenic activity in the beds, for the time being. Additionally, we’re registering extremely low humidity, which further restricts pathogens. There’s also enough of a breeze to keep the plants dry.

In other words, it’s perfect fire weather around here and everyone is just a bit tense. I still have a suitcase partially packed from when we almost had to evacuate in 2020. 

During that time, I learned to keep working. As hard as things were, until they made us leave, it was time to work and save our property, our critters, and our plants. As it turned out, we didn’t have to leave. Though the fire got within four miles of us, we really were not impacted and neither were our plants. We got lucky.

So it was a good lesson in working through difficult times. In fact, it was a great lesson in learning how to cope with bad news. Instead of slumping and giving up, I chose to fight back by doing something positive. 

Which is why, after that horrible ruling by the Supreme Court a few days ago, giving partial immunity to Presidents, I immediately responded by completely cleaning my cottage, where we’d just had all our plants start. I needed to clean it and transition it to being a drying cottage. In truth, that labor could have waited a few weeks. Not after the news, however. I needed to do something immediately.

Honestly, I think I do some of my best cleaning work when I’m pissed off. Cottage walls haven’t been this free from compost tea splatter in . . . years.

It still needs vacuuming and mopping, but given how much soil was on the floor, this is a good start.

I needed to do something positive to help change my energy. Otherwise, I was just going to sit around and be both angry and despondent about the state of my country. 

While we hope things improve, and endeavor to make things better, make sure you take care of your own business. See to it. Don’t let anything or anyone stop you from doing what you’re supposed to be doing. 

Grieve not. Act. Do something positive. Google what is Project 2025, and figure out what you can do to help stop it. There is still time, but you shouldn’t wait any longer.

And please, I’m asking you, prepare to vote. I know some of you hate reading that, but folks, what choice do we have? Sitting this one out is not going to help the rest of us. We must make our choice this fall, and vote. For me, laws still matter. Integrity counts. The truth is not subjective or transactional.

Meanwhile, on a much happier note, I just found our first ever eggplant flower, as if to prove my point, that life is constantly moving on from whatever (good or bad) that just happened.

Sigh . . . I hate that this blog has spent any time at all acknowledging lousy news. It’s not what I want to write about.

But it happened, and this is how I’m coping and responding. By cleaning things up, trying to make things better, by noticing something positive, by training my plants to change and become even stronger, whether they want to or not.  

If only we could remember how much better we’re capable of being. 

It’s why I’m a home grower. It’s why I don’t sell what I grow. It’s why I blog with such detail. I want to reach for something better. I want to help people without the expectation of reciprocation. I want to do something simply because it’s the right thing to do. I want to change the energy.

I’m grateful to live in California, where what I do is legal, and I don’t have to hide anything.

Hug and kiss your loved ones on the 4th. 

Celebrate what freedom you have, and what you’re prepared to fight for.

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