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We are rapidly approaching that point in the grow where we watch the plants becoming shorter, even while the flowers continually grow fatter. The weight increases in each flower will cause some of the overmatched branches to sag. I have noticed that the height of plants can drop as much as an inch under the weight of buds. We might have to create supports for some of the largest flowers growing closer to the ground. We do not allow flowers to touch the ground.

As I am doing the annual flowering protocol, involving foliar sprays and inspections, let’s spend this blog looking at the progress of some of the flowers. For all the plants, it is either just past or just before the midpoint of flowering. I will include the identity and day age for each flower that I show. The range is 21 days to 37 days.

Royal Kush–37 days. The first plant to turn. She is dark and becoming very frosty. Having grown her before, I recognize her smell, sweet and earthy, with notes of camphor. This is from a regular seed. I’m also growing a feminized Royal Kush, and both plants smell the same. This is a relief, because I’m confident that both seeds are actually Royal Kush. I’ve grown more than one cultivar that did not turn out to be the one I thought I’d purchased. I can only imagine the difficulties in the quality control department of seed sorters.

Purple Hindu Kush–36 days. I was hoping for some purple here, but there’s no purple in these nugs. Perhaps the chilly temps we’re starting to get will impact the leaves around the bud.

Rainbow Kush–29 days. One of our long time favorites around here and it’s been a few years since we grew her. These feminized seeds are among the most consistent, genetically, that I’ve grown. She is supposed to be a 50/50, but it really depends on the phenotype.

S. Thai–21 days. Honestly, I expected this plant to grow much more than she did, and I’m going to do some snooping in this particular bed after the grow. The flowers look fine, but there was a point in the veg grow where she slowed to a crawl and then stopped. I need to discover why, and this particular bed 13 might grow something other than cannabis next year.

Hindu Kush–24 days. She is very early, and yet, look at that frost. I have previously indicated my excitement over this plant. She is twice the size I expected or hoped for. 

Speaking of frost, here is ACDC (aviary)–24 days.

To my eyes, certain cultivars are showing more extensive trichome development at an early date, than I’m used to seeing. I’m looking at you ACDC in the aviary, the one that’s planted directly in the ground.

This plant is getting a lot of attention in my blogs this year, and will continue to do so. She’s not a THC plant, but that’s what gets me so excited when I look at her. All those trichomes covering the sugar leaves, extending out to the tips, are going to be filled with something. 

These are classic ruderalis flowers. This plant has a chance to be our largest yielding plant, and she was also an early flowering plant that I stripped and made start over. She didn’t show vegetative growth until June 20. This is two months after all the other plants were started. Since then, she has grown into my largest plant by circumference. This is clearly an example of the difference between my raised beds, and straight into the ground. These roots have no limitations at all.

She has grown this much in less than three months. She’s two months younger than every other plant. Yet, she is the largest plant, and will probably carry the greatest yield.

In writing that, there is a lot to consider. I’ve never had a plant grow this fast, but then, I’ve also never grown directly into my native soil. My initial teacher visited me years ago and actually tasted the dirt where this plant has been grown. She told me to plant there, because, “This is some of the richest soil I’ve ever tasted.”

I will take her word on the taste, but I trusted that what she told me was true. Clearly, this plant has benefited from having absolutely no restrictions, once she was allowed to grow. Even in our beds, roots have walls around them; at least until they grow beneath the hardware cloth at the bottom of the bed. The plant in the aviary has no limits whatsoever. Based on what we’re watching this year, a plant will be grown in that spot every year from now on. The ground itself will be getting some special treatment from me over the winter, in terms of compost teas rich in guano and nitrogen. I intend to grow a giant there next year. I’m even pretty sure of the cultivar I’m going to grow, but I’ll keep that to myself for now. If anyone out there has suggestions, feel free to drop them in a comment. But I have a pretty good idea.

By the way, if anyone is wondering about the clear tarp on the ground around the plant, it is one of the tarps we use for solarizing our beds after harvest. We didn’t want any weeds growing around this plant to interfere with her growing. This tarp disallowed unbeneficial growth, and allowed for the building of micro and macro growth I was adding to the soil with compost teas. If you used a black tarp, everything would die beneath it. The clear tarp allows the good stuff to live.

Finally . . .  Fruitcake–27 days. Spectacular looking, I really look forward to trying to grow her again next year, in a much larger plant. This plant was always going to be small, but purple and neon green sure are pretty.

This isn’t everything, but it’s a nice overview. I am happy with the state of each flower’s development. I am especially interested in getting my plants tested this year. I’m always interested in test results, but this year, more than any other. The reason is my use of raw mycorrhizae in every compost tea. I have been watching how the plants grow, the increased stem size of each plant relative to any plants I’ve ever grown. I’m not growing cultivars known for their large size this year; yet I am seeing some strains better known for short and stout, grow rather tall, for them. Hindu Kush comes immediately to mind.  I’m just wondering how the mycorrhizae is going to impact the potency of each plant. I can see that they are taking in more nutrients than ever. There is visual evidence supporting the widely held claim about this substance increasing the amount of nutrients a plant can uptake. 

Will that impact test scores? Will the impact be across the board, or will it be selective? Will there be more TCH, more cannabinoids, and more terpenes?

Stay tuned. When I find out, I’ll let you know.

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