Jeffrey Hickey Writes Blogs

Category: Education

  • Harvest Approaches

    Banana Papaya 22 about three weeks from harvest. We are deep into flowering for the plants in the dry grow. There’s been no stress from a lack of water. The last time they received water was May 25. Weekly quarts of compost tea will continue for a few more weeks,…

  • Weather Decision

    Banana Papaya 22 has bushed out. First, the dry grow is going exactly as hoped. Cannabis and hemp have not received pure water since May 25. They’ve gotten a quart of compost tea a week, but that’s the only moisture they’ve received, other than runoff from foliar sprays. They are…

  • Fun Month of Growing

    Last year was far from a perfect grow, with an unexpected outbreak of spider mites and humidity that remained above 70% the entire summer. This year, we were determined to not repeat last year, no matter the weather. So far, so good, and the weather has cooperated. We are basically…

  • My First Dry Grow

    At long last, my dry grow begins. I’ve been hinting at this for years, both in blogs and with students. I have long opined that I could grow a crop without weekly watering, only giving a quart plus of compost tea every seven days for most of the grow. I…

  • 77 Days of Veg Growth & 44 Years of Love

    Plant transportation.  May 5–The supplemental outdoor lights were hung and installed. I checked to see if each was working, left them turned on, hung them on the fence and plugged them into the timers, which I had already set and checked as working.  They will be on from 5:00 am…

  • Almost Ready for planting

    I’m pleased with my new cottage lights. I don’t need anything too fancy. I got the HLG Rspec 200, two of them. I just needed something to get plants started and growing. The first thing I noticed is how little heat comes off these lights. The AC isn’t going to…

  • the 2026 grow begins

    The fava plants, the morning I cut them down. I start seeds on April 1. This year’s crop is the most significant since I began growing. This year is the first year that I’m going to dry grow my entire crop. At some point early in the vegetative cycle, I…

  • Questions from subscribers #2

    This is the second of these, where I respond to reader questions from over winter. #1)  I’m going to grow outdoors for the first time this year. Should I grow clones or seeds? I want to try seeds, but clones seem to be easy to find in my area and…

  • I’ve Had Enough

    When I began the Isolation Grow blog in 2020, I was trying to do something helpful and free for people after the pandemic hit. We were all stuck inside, we were all isolated and frustrated, and my hope was to give folks something positive to do while we hid from…

  • 2025 Test Results

    Cherry Punch 15 There’s a lot to digest in my 2025 test scores, and I’m not going to bury the lede. I was most curious about Cherry Punch grown in bed 15. This was my “dry farmed” plant. I stopped giving her water on May 25. She went four full…