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The supplemental outdoor lights are being unboxed and tested. At the same time, several new timers are plugged and charging, having already set the timers to go on at 5:00 am and off at 9:00 am every day for the next three months. From April 19 to July 21, these lights will go and provide my plants with the assurance that they are getting over twelve hours of light for vegetative growing. The timers are already turning on and off exactly as programmed.

Then, I test every light to make certain they work, leave them in the turned on position, plug them into the timers, position them slightly above the canopy and point them toward the plants. We’ll probably hang them on our portable little red tomato cages. The lights are waterproof for any rain or mist that might happen. They got tested last year by some real rain and there was no problem. So I went all in this year and purchased three more lights. I’m anxious to see if I have any early flowering plants this year. My goal is to have none, which would be the first time ever.

Everything seems to be working. These lights will be set up this coming weekend, when I plant five feminized seeds into beds.

When I started seeds this year, I did as I’ve always done with the majority of seeds, start them in tissue and then transfer the starts to cups.

But for the feminized seeds this year, I started them directly into cups of soil. Not all of them opened, but those that did are growing more vigorously than the regular seeds. I would suspect that they were all males, were they not feminized. I am currently waiting for the second set of leaves to develop. It appears that both Cherry Punch have begun to develop those leaves. As soon as they are fully out and established, I will cut off the cotyledons and plant outside immediately after. There is minimal to no root stress involved in this process.

These are some leggy feminized starts.

Sunday is my goal, but it could be sooner. I’ll wait for any of the others to display their second set of leaves before I make the switch. Sunday is the 20th of April, two full months before Solstice and three full months before I turn off the supplemental lighting and trigger the start of flowering. It has been many years since I had any cannabis plants in beds in April, and a few years since any were planted in May. But the supplemental lighting changes everything. By tricking my plants into thinking they’re getting twelve hours plus, they will not attempt to flower soon after putting them outside. We observed this last year and it’s a game changer for us. 

So I’m extra excited about the grow this year. My plants are going to get more time growing under the sun than they’ve ever had. Given that the sun is my main advantage over growing indoors, this is good news and I’m interested, as always, in what impact the changes will have on my season ending test scores.

A brand new bag of SEA-90 arrived and I have to laugh, because this bag will undoubtedly last me the remainder of my growing years. I only use a teaspoon per five-gallon tea. And by the way, if you are interested in purchasing SEA-90, you can click on this link, https://www.sea-90.com/?rfsn=7896627.01e7114 and use the code HOMEGROWINGLAB for a 10% discount.

I am a huge believer in constantly evolving as a grower. I’m certain there are other growers who have discovered this same trick: of fooling your plants. It’s an enormous difference for me. 

The outdoor lights will go on at the same time as the indoor lights, so the transition is seamless. We don’t need them to be on in the evening, only in the morning. I want to keep 5:00 am established as sunrise for them until the end of the veg growing period.

Then, when we turn off the outdoor lights after July 21, all of our plants will be triggered to begin their own flowering process. After over three months of vegetative growth in our beds and under the sun, it will be the correct time to flower. As an extra reward for us, we get an earlier harvest. We prefer harvesting between September 25 and October 10, rather than anything later. The delicious irony for us in harvesting early this year will be that we’re actually in the ground for a much longer time. Last year, feminized plants went into beds on May 29. Our S Thai plant had not even been sexed yet. 

One of our favorite highs from last year, Royal Kush in bed 18, was a feminized seed that I didn’t start until May 30, by planting directly into the bed. I am curious as to how much more wonderful that plant would have been had she been in a bed in late April, six weeks before she was even started. How much stronger would her test scores have been? 

Well, one of the plants going in the ground in a few days is Royal Kush, so we’ll get an idea.

The main advantage to putting them in the ground much earlier and tricking them, is for vegetative growth. The flowering cycle will remain exactly the same, but the vegetative cycle will be extended by about six weeks. 

This is liable to have a significant impact on harvest size. Plants are going to grow more. Fava beans were cut and nitrogen is currently being scat into the soil by worms. The nitrogen rich fava root balls remain in the ground and continue being a source of slow leaking nitrogen throughout the growing season. Additionally, every bed was fertilized by fish last November and has been given a recent large dose of compost tea with a huge amount of bat guano. That soil will only be disturbed enough to put in a small start. After that, the microbiology of my soil will simply await being discovered by the roots. 

This is a very intentional grow. I might take a year off from growing after 2025 to finish my fourth novel. It’s going to require that kind of time and commitment, and I’m completely onboard. So, before I take that break, and turn the grow largely over to my child, Bee, for next year, I would like to have another grow with a couple of monsters, and an overall large plant vibe. 

To that end, I’m growing Special Queen 1 in bed 18. This cultivar is known for producing large quantities of flowers outdoors, and in that particular bed, I’m going to give her the chance. Our largest plants have been grown in bed 18.

Cherry Punch looks like they could grow a good bit and their harvest size outdoors tends to be on the largish size. I’ve grown West Marin Mystery to almost 2.5 pounds. Rose is also known to like growing outdoors. Even the lone CBD plant this year, Honey Tsu, looks to be a large CBD variety. At least, her flowers can be impressive.

I’ve also read that Fruitcake can produce a lot outdoors and I’m really hoping for that.

The only cultivar I’m growing this year that is known as a small plant is the Royal Kush. But this is a cherished cultivar around here. It’s one of the most agreeable that Bee and I have grown. We both work creatively a lot while on Royal Kush. So I’ll grow the feminized again this year, and Bee will probably grow both regular and feminized next year.

In the cottage right now, the regular seeds are either standing up and stretching, still trying to shake the helmet off their heads, or have decided that this wasn’t the right time to grow. It’s their own form of natural selection. From the 50 plus that cracked open, I’ll end up with two tables filled with 18 3-gallon buckets each, for a total of 36 in the room. There might be an extra few that will get the back desk to stay on, but that’s it. The final seven plants will come from those 36 pots. If we don’t get seven plants, I will happily fill the empty bed(s) with another tomato plant or another veggie. 

A moment from back in the tomato (almost) only days.

This week, I’ve noticed fresh scat in both of the bat houses attached to our main house. They have returned, to feast on the insect population which has finally begun to break out. This is especially cool, because all the guano I collect this year won’t be used until next year at the least. So even while I’m beginning this year’s grow, the work for next year is ongoing. I still have three quarters of a gallon from last year’s guano for use this season. Ok, there’s a full house in the cottage, with both cannabis and veggie starts. The room is dank.

For the first time since the first year I grew cannabis, I’m putting some plants in the ground in April. They are all feminized plants and they will be given a full growing season outdoors, including three months of vegetative growth. I’ll admit, my toes are wiggling a bit.

It’s Friday, 4/18, and five feminized sprouts have been transplanted into their outdoor bed. I was going to wait until Sunday, but they’ve grown so tall in the little cups, they were starting to bend over. I cut off the cotyledons and it was time to transplant. Sheer sheets have been spread over the gopher cages and are covering the sprouts. This will protect them from insects, and slugs, while also creating a greenhouse effect for the sprouts. There are a couple of chilly nights coming up, perhaps in the upper 30’s on one night, so a little extra warmth is warranted. I’ll keep the covers on until the plants reach the fabric. By that time, they’ll be large enough. Beer is also in the slug catchers.

And then, just a few minutes ago, at exactly 5:00 am on 4/19:

I think we’ll adjust the ones on the fence to point slightly down. Light is travelling far up the dark hill right now and I prefer it concentrated on the beds. But that’s an easy adjustment. The timers all turned on exactly on time.

Happy 4/20 everyone. Plants are in the ground here earlier than ever before. The 2025 grow is on.

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Or contact me directly with your idea (good seeds are always welcome–and if I grow them, I will get the flowers tested and share with you the results.
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