Ahoy-
It’s been quite a while since the last Cannabis Update; after completing the TCK Blog project, I needed a little break from writing- and had quite the adventures in the meantime. In early September, my roommate, Hasban and I, road tripped back to the great state of Illinois. On the way, we stopped in Denver to visit my two sisters and their families. I got hooked up with a new set of wheels in Denver, had a fantastic time visiting my family in both locations, and enjoyed a variety of Chicago style pizza (Primarily Little Italian- a Naperville favorite). It was refreshing to visit with family, and I’m looking forward to catching you all up to speed regarding the cannabis plants. We have a lot to discuss!
As a reminder, we had 5 healthy, strong cannabis plants growing since the end of April. Two of the plants became enormous (Blue Northern Lights strand), while the other three (BerryCherry OG) were a bit smaller in height, yet made up for it in it’s massive fan leaves and overall volume of the plant. We started the flowering stage on August 22nd, giving the plants nearly 4 months of growth in the vegetative stage. This experimentation was useful, filled with lots of learning along the way!
You may recall that our first batch of plants grew from February-April of 2020. Those plants (Blue Northern Lights) produced some high quality, good looking nugs. While preparing to grow this next batch, my thought process was to allow them more time in the vegetative stage; in theory, I figure if they were even taller, they’d develop a larger yield and produce bigger nuggets.
It doesn’t really seem to be working out that way though. Although the plants are tremendously tall, the nugs aren’t as big as the previous two plants. They still have 2-3 weeks to develop, but I can’t imagine getting a massive yield from these two, despite their height. I’m up to a little research to see if I made a wrong move somewhere along the line; perhaps I gave them too much time in the veg stage, or it may be possible that this strand simply produces better nugs when smaller.
Next, I got tricked by three out of five plants. It turns out that these bastards were actually male cannabis plants! Male cannabis plants/seeds are undesirable for several reasons. First, they produce a ton of seeds when in the flowering stage. Also, cannabis essentially breeds through the air, meaning one male plant amongst females can fertilize them, possibly devastating a female harvest (I’m hoping that didn’t happen to the two BNL!). Finally, their buds aren’t nearly as potent as a female plant. I learned about the male plant while I was road tripping back to Chicago with my roommate.
While we were back home, I received a text from the Nevada House caretaker (Z, of course) suggesting the plants were male. He sent photos to back up his claim, along with the input from a local Oceanside Cannabis Connoisseur, and it was clear that the three were males.
We basically decided to get rid of the plants. We had to remove them from the tent as they would have pollinated the females, and we had no use for their seeds or buds, so it was into the yard waste bin (unless some lucky fella strollin’ the alley dug ‘em out). Long story short, we had 5 awesome plants, and now have 2 just OK plants. Also, apparently there is a way to judge a male vs. female plant from the initial growth stages. I’ll be honest, I was completely unaware of this, so it’s certainly possible that I botched it from the start. We’ll chalk that up to the ol’ learning curve philosophy.
Anywho, upon my arrival back to California, I attempted to germinate 6 seeds. We have two new strands- Banana Hammock and Dark Purple. The Banana Hammock is described as having, “Thick, vertical stalks supporting massive, dense, purple flowers. Heavy tropical terpenes, honey and grape make this unique Indica Hybrid functional for any garden”. Banana Hammock has a cannabinoid percentage of 22-25% (the higher, the better!) and flowering time of 55-60 days. So far, all three of the Banana Hammock plants have started growing strong- we’re excited to experience the Hammock in a few months!
The Auto Dark Purple have been trickier to germinate and get started. So far, only two out of the five seeds have successfully germinated and sprouted. This strand is developed by Delicious Seeds and has a solid stat line- 18% THC, very high Cbd content, and just 45-50 days from seed to harvest.
Overall though, developing the green thumb is certainly a process. It’s been enlightening researching and getting to know the cannabis plant at a more in depth level. I anticipate harvesting the two large Blue Northern Light plants within the next 2-3 weeks. Meanwhile, the Banana Hammock and Dark Purple will continue their developments. Ideally, we’ll be roasting some new nugs around Christmas time. It’ll be a great way to close out the year of 2020 and bring in the new year. Stay tuned for more TCK updates.
Love you people, and your dogs.
The California Kid
