Kali Mist Outdoor Grow Journal

Hi All.

I don't know exactly what possessed me to pick up a couple of grow books, but after having read them....I am hooked. I read the following:
The Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Bear
marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible by Jorge Cervantes
I enjoyed both of them tremendously and read sections over and over while planning out my grow. I started way back in September of 2011. As far as my yield, I'll definitely smoke some to taste the fruits of my labor and I'll give some to my buddies for them to try. Maybe I can sell some.....? But long story short, the growing process for me is almost pure passion for growing.


So, hang on for what is hopefully going to be a great ride!

The following is all the history of my activity since I began.....it's a lot of information. I'm putting it here just in case it is interesting to someone. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Here goes:



I read Subcool's blog on making a batch of Supersoil so I can basically just water my plants from start to finish. I'll definitely feed with worm tea, and maybe have to supplement later on, but basically I want a nice and easy, organic grow that yields pounds of bud. So, time to purchase Supersoil ingredients.

12-14-11
Purchased:
5 pounds of rock phosphate from ozbo.com ($7.56 for 5# +$4.95 shipping).
2 pounds of azomite (trace minerals) from wheatgrasskits.com ($5.95 + 6.41 shipping)


12-15-11
Purchased my seeds from Attitude:
11 seeds Kali Mist+ free white widow/powerkush/amnesia= $120. I did it online and used my debit card. I had it sent to my address....the grow site. I chose the "T-Shirt stealth packaging".



12-16-11
“SP-90 Humic Acids (per pound)” $14.99
Keep It Simple, Inc.



12-24-2011
seeds arrived with cool looking black shirt: (“Merry Christmas to me!”). I had to sign for the package. I just did it and thanked the postal carrier. No problems with agents jumping out of the bushes and hauling me away to some stank jail.



12-26-11
Purchased:
5 Roots Organics @$13.50 each = $67.50
3 Worm Castings 19 pounds @$11.00 each = $33.00
1 Seedling Heating Mat @ $20.00 each = $20.00
1 Jamaican Bat Guano 2.2 pounds @$7.50 each = $7.50
1 Garden Soft Tie @3.35 = $3.35 (soft wire for LST)


Total with tax: approx: $140 .00
Grow Project Total so far: $272


1-12-12
Mixed up ½ batch of Subcool's Super soil....followed recipe to the “t”
Put into 32-gallon garbage cans and let sit. (filled 2 cans about ¾ of the way to the top)


1-19-12
Opened up soil, re-mixed, and added 5 gallons of water (water had been sitting out all week and I would splosh it around to aerate it). Put the soil back into the cans and let cook.


1-21-12
Home Depot Purchase: for my base soil
3 bags of 1.5 cubic feet bags of Kellogg Patio Plus @ $4.97 each
5 bags of 1 cubic foot of EarthGro Steer Manure Blend @ $1.07 each
1 bag of 2 cubic feet of Miracle Gro Loose Sphagnum Peat Moss at $9.47
1 bag of 2 cubic feet of Perlite @ $16.97
1 bag of 3 cubic feet of Kellogg N'Rich Soil Compost @ $7.87
1 bag of 3 cubic feet of Kellogg Garden Soil All Natural @ $7.87
2 bags of 50 pound Quikrete All Purpose Sand @ $2.35 each


Total this trip: approx: $75
Grow Project Total: $347




1-31-12
Mixed up my base soil (don't really know what I'm doing but here goes)
I mixed up on a big blue tarp (recommended so you can lift the edges to help mix the ingredients).
1 cf of Kellogg Patio Plus
3 cf of kellog N'Rich Soil Enriching Compost.
3 cf of EarthGro Steer Manure Blend
3 cf of Kellogg Garden Soil All Natural
1 fifty pound bag of Quikrete All Purpose Sand
1 cf of Perlite
½ pound of Miracle Gro Organic Choice Blood Meal (12-0-0)
3 handfuls of Epsom Salt
3 handfuls of Garden Lime
3 handfuls of Rock Phosphate
Let it sit wrapped up in the tarp, under the sun. It made a huge amount: approx: 1 cubic yard to be used as base soil which will sit on top of my Subcool's Super Soil mix.



2-5-12
Added 5 gallons of rain water I collected and did a little bit of mixing. Wrapped it back up in the tarp. Let it cook in the sun for a bit.



2-20-12
Opened up and stirred around super soil and base soil.
Dug my holes. Ten of them. (I have 13 seeds though.....I need more room!) Approximately 1 ½ wide and 1 ½ to 2 feet deep.



2-29-12 (Leap Day)
Got legal. Went to a local “Pot Doc” and got a legal recommendation to use marijuana.
It cost $40 for the evaluation and another $20 for an I.D. card. I can now purchase in any California dispensary (whatever is still in business).
I downloaded my regular doctor visit notes from the Kaiser website. I highlighted the medicines I've been prescribed for my sciatica issues. I also went in recently to complain of muscle cramps. I was prescribed a medication and took that in to the evaluation to complain of side effects. I have a more detailed journal entry about the whole experience. I will post it if anyone is interested....let me know.


With the doctor recommendation I can also legally cultivate 12 immature or 6 mature plants and possess a certain amount of marijuana (I think it is ½ pound).


Cost for recommendation and id: $60
Grand total for this project: $407






5-15-12
6 kali mist seeds
1 powerkush fem.
1 white widow fem.
1 amnesia fem.
I put these seeds into water and let them sit for approx 18 hours. They floated on top when I first placed them in their separate water containers so I would know which seed was what.
I also set up the germinating dome. I soaked the Jiffy Pellets, covered the dome, and placed on a seedling heat mat.




5-16-12
Although still floating when I checked on them, when I pushed them down with my finger, they stayed submerged. So I took them out and put them in their own Jiffy Pellet. The dome system had been over the heat mat over night and all day so the soil was quite warm. I kept the dome on as well so it is very humid inside there.
The seeds are now inside their grow medium, under a dome, with temps around 80 f.


I'll check up on them frequently.
As far as the outdoor garden goes, I continued working on this budge ½ inch PVC structure that will eventually have a cover that can be moved/unmoved depending on power/heat of the sun as well as to hide from visitors to the house. I'm going to look into buying 3/8 rebar to put into the hollow pipes to increase strength and stability. The side fence is a bit budge. I'm going to grow tomato plants to help camoflauge my garden. I also filled some of the big holes halfway with “Super Soil”. Neighbors made me a bit nervous cause they were outside, so I'll do the rest later. I figure I've got a couple of weeks before I actually have to transplant these seedlings into the outside....I'll probably do some weening into the full sunlight as well.




5-19-12

Day 1 “Happy Birthday”
I just checked on my seedlings and 2 have already popped through. With a little careful investigation, I can see that another 4 are just about to. This is a very exciting day! Wow! When you plan so much you don't really know the progress you're making until you finally see that little life form start to do its thing. Now I feel a lot more responsibility to take care of these little buggers.


I don't know what to do about the heat/humidity issue. I had the heat mat on all the time for a day, but when I checked the temperature, it was a very warm 90 degrees. Too hot. So I took it off....there is no heat control dial. The humidity was high, although I don't have a guage. Then I read on the internet that what I'm doing (heat mat/humidity dome) is one of the surest ways to kill your seedlings. Fuck! What the Fuck! Anyway, so last night the temperature got down to about 62 and I'm thinking, “that's way too cold.” So now, I've got the heat mat on a on/off timer set to change condition every half hour. A little heat, cool down, heat...etc. This will go on only during the night. And, I've raised the dish ½ inch above the heat mat to reduce the amount of heat going into the dish. I've kept the dome on, but is is slightly askew to allow for air flow.



I have 2 cfls on 24 hours a day. The sprouted and unsprouted seeds are in the same area. I've heard you are supposed to germinate in the darkness, but I've chosen to go ahead and start the lighting for those seeds that have broken the surface.



One of my seeds had the tap root growing up out of the ground. I carefully turned it around and covered it again. Hopefully no real damage.


5-20-12 Day 2
I checked again last night and already my vigorous Kali Mist has started growing its first real leaves. When I checked this morning, another Kali Mist has started its leaves as well; and they are tall! Damn! Already they are about 2 inches. Amnesia, White Widow, and PowerKush have also sprouted...though they are much shorter (I'm not sure about type....I'll look it up: (5 minutes later): yeah, PowerKush is an indica, while both Amnesia (it was just “Original Amnesia”) and White Widow are hybrids.


Kali Grow 2012 005.jpg

The heat mat I think makes the grow environment too hot, so last night I unplugged it and just let the 2 cfl bulbs (27w and 23w) supply the heat. The temp this morning was 72. That is good for me and the seedlings seem to be okay with it.


So, all have sprouted except for two Kali Mist. I gently probed and noticed that one has its tap root working, while the other I couldn't find....I didn't want to search too much for fear of damaging something. I know I should mess with them, but dammit, I'm just too excited about this whole process. Ed Rosenthal said, and I believe it, “Smoking marijuana is not addictive, but growing it can be!”


I removed the humidity dome and the lights are still on 24 hours. I'll move these babies to a semi covered box outside to start their experience with some partial sunlight. After that, it is off to their permanent home.


I'm a bit nervous about how big these Kali Mists will get. I plan to train them to grow low to the ground so hopefully there is nothing to worry about.


10 hours later:
Okay, so after some research I've decided to give my seedlings a nighttime. I've switched to a 18/6 schedule. That will help them make the transition to outside sunlight/nighttime schedule without too much stress. I also removed the hood of the humidity tray because when I checked temperature, it was at 90 degrees and I think that is too hot. I also learned that I need to put my cfl bulb horizontally over the seedlings instead of pointing straight down because the light mostly comes off the sides and not the tip.




5-23-12
Day 5
I put the lights on again all the time. When they are bigger I'll start the weening process. It looks like my PowerKush is not going to make it. A small root came out, I can see the cotyledons all small and shriveled. There has been no real growth. Also, one of my Kali Mist is not sprouting. I went ahead and removed it from the Jiffy pellet and placed it in moist paper towel. I also decided to put the remaining 6 Kali Mist seeds to sprout in a moist paper towel as well. The rest of the seedlings are doing brilliant! Their leaves are bigger and they are beginning to grow their second set of leaves. They are a nice healthy green. The Kali Mist seedlings are long and wispy. I'm knocking them around each day to strengthen their stem.



In the pic you can see the difference between the first batch of seedlings and the newer batch of seedlings. The biggest monster plant you see in the middle is the Original Amnesia. The seedlings in the top row and all the plants at the bottom are the Kali Mist.



Other than that, not much to report. Things are looking great. I'm a bit nervous about trying to grow 13 plants. Legally, it is not allowed. I'm allowed 6 mature plants. So hopefully there will be a few males that I can remove from the garden and end up with 8 or so females. I don't think I'm gonna be able to cut out any ladies....they are too precious! If I have to, I'll foster them off to a buddy.






5-27-2012
Day 9
My plants are growing so fast now! They are only a 10 days old, but they have multiple sets of leaves. Dude, I am so a-fuckin'-'mazed! Out of the 5 newer batch of seeds, 3 are definitely out, one is attempting to break out of the seed coat (probably lose it finally tonight), and one doesn't look like anything is happening. I planted all seeds in the Jiffy pellets because the all had the tap root busting through. It looks like the PowerKush is done, dead. I've put it on top of the heat mat and will still wait a bit, but I think it's a gonner.

Kali Grow 2012 011.jpg

I've got them under 18/6 hours of light. They sleep from 12:00 midnight until 6:00 in the morn. I also have decided to harden them off. I take them out in the morning and let them get used to the sun. They are shaded all day will minimal contact with direct sunlight, but the wind is helping them grow sturdy. They don't seem to mind being outside. I'll slowly get them into more and more sunlight.


I also decided that my pvc greenhouse looks like “dog barf”. I took it all down today in disgust. F this! If I'm going to do this, I might as well do it right. I went to Home Depot and picked up supplies to build a much stronger, and better looking greenhouse. I just need to find the time to get down to the building site and put it together. I also purchased some bigger pots for transplanting...they are the ones that are biodegradable and you just plant the “pot and all” into the soil and continue watering.


Purchased from Home Depot:
Three 10-foot metal poles: $30 total
Six 10-foot 2x4 pine: $20 total
Brackets/bolts/washers: $15 total
One 50 pound bag of Quikcrete cement mix: $5

Supplies cost: $70
Grand total so far: $477




I also placed all the rest of my “supersoil” into the 10 holes I dug. I filled them 1/3 to half way. I'll get the base soil to top off the holes soon so I can get those plants into their home. Maybe in a week or two. I need time to build the greenhouse! I also need to get some “prettying” materials so my greenhouse doesn't look like “dog barf” from my neighbor's house. I need to spend about another $50 to put up a nice visual boundary to shield the plants from their view.



Should I get “mycorrhizae” for when I transplant into the new pot? I've heard it does remarkable things to growing plants.






5-28-2012
Day 10
Okay, so I've put the plants into brighter shade, with a bit of direct sunlight. They look great! They have been in the Jiffy tray thus far because they are still only in small pellets and they are easier to move around, however.......dude! I just picked up the pellets and I can see the roots starting to grow out the sides of the pellet! They are small hairs, but there are a bunch of them! I never knew their root system would grow so well, or so fast! I went ahead and transplanted them, pellet and all, into bigger pots. They are 1 quart biodegradable pots that I mentioned earlier. I surrounded them in my own base soil creation as outlined on grow journal day: 1-31-2012. I didn't really know what I was doing with the mix recipe, but hey, it's a weed right? It'll probably grow in cement. I don't know the ph of the base soil. Maybe I'll try to measure using the kits they sell at Home Depot.



I found an hour today to dig the post holes for my “secret greenhouse” today. Maybe tomorrow I can get the metal poles cemented into the ground.


With the root growth I saw today, I'll need to transplant them into their final home soon....within 2-3 weeks! They seem to be loving the Jiffy Pellets!


Oh, and tonight will be their first overnighter outside. That is for the big ones. The newly sprouted seedlings will remain under 18/6 for another week or so. According to the internet, the outside plants are now under a day of approximately 14 hours. That is 4 hours less of sunlight than they are used to, but, I think they're hardy enough to handle being outside full time now.


The Dinafem Original Amnesia is the “butt-kickingest” plant right now. It is much bigger than the rest. A couple of Kali Mists are giving it a run for its money though.
Kali Grow 2012 013.jpg

I'm hoping that I'm not moving them outside too soon.
Temperatures tonight: 54 F. Tomorrow, cloudy then sunny: High: 74 F




5-29-2012
Day 11
I checked on them this morning before work.....they are fantastic. No problems! I kept them out all day in partial shade, then around 4:00, I moved them into the direct setting sun...still pretty powerful in this late May sun.


My other seedlings under the 2 CFLs are also doing very well. There is one that has yet to sprout. Another has broken the surface, however, there is no upward growth. They cotyledons are still wrapped up.


The PowerKush is done for. I don't even know where it is!!!????


I was also able to get away for an hour and set three support poles for my “hide-my-grow greenhouse”. My plan is to cover the sides from eyes that might view. I plan to leave the top uncovered for direct, full sunshine. I do plan on creating a roll away top that is easily placed/removed for truly hot days, or visitors to my house. I live on a canyon and my deck runs away from my house and over the canyon. The edge of the deck is about 10-12 feet off the canyon. It is under this raised deck that I have my garden. My neighbors are pretty far, but one has a sitting area that could look into the garden if he desired to do so. Anyway, greenhouse “non-dog-barf” style is underway. I am also in the process of running irrigation lines to the area. I'll put it on timer and water each with the slow drip system.



Purchase:
I went to Wal Mart today and picked up my materials to make worm tea.
Aquarium pump with two ports : $11
four 5-inch air stones @ $1.50 each: $6
8 feet of air tubing: $1.50
2 T-valve splitters: $1.50
total: $20
Grand Total for Grow project: $497




I need to get a large pump spray bottle to spray the worm tea that I will eventually make.
That's all for now. Gotta sleep.....work tomorrow!




5-30-2012
It's been 3 days since the new seedlings sprouted. I checked the bottom of the Jiffy Pellets that they are in and ….........wtf???? The roots are already breaking out!!! I decided to transplant them into the bigger pots and, what the hell, I moved them with the other big boys (well, hopefully ladies) outside. They're going straight out into the great outdoor sunlight. We'll see how well they handle the shock. I put them with the others, which is shady in the morning but sunny in the afternoon. Today I put them out in the 4:30 afternoon fading sun, but still pretty strong. It is a good time to do it as they will have a few hours of sunlight, then go down for the night. I don't have any worries about them.


There are still 2 Kali Mist seedlings that are still under the CFLs. One has sprouted but shows no sign of growth. The other is still in its shell. No sprouting at all. I decided to put it in water for the night. I'll put it back in the pellet tomorrow and we'll see if it sprouts.



Overall: 9 of the 11 Kali Mist seeds are doing fantastic. 1 is a potential and the other still hasn't shown anything. Of the 3 freebee seeds that Attitude included with my order, 2 of the 3 are outstanding. The Amnesia is the most vigorous out of all the seeds. The White Widow is also doing very well.



I think I'll need to do the final transplanting into the garden soon. Those roots are growing so crazy! I'm so f'ing impressed!

That's it. You are now caught up to current day. I hope you found something of interest on this post. Late.

July 14, 2012
Day 57

Latest pics taken today:
7-14-2012 006.jpg7-14-2012 001.jpg7-14-2012 002.jpg7-14-2012 003.jpg7-14-2012 004.jpg7-14-2012 005.jpg
The second pic shows my removable roof made out of shade cloth from Home Depot.
I keep it on right now all day. It's pretty hot.

I read in Skunk Magazine (volume 7, issue 5: February/March 2012), "The Rev" writes on the "baby carrot" effect. He says that if you grow outdoors, and place a sunshield above your grow (i.e. wood lattice or sun shade), you may suffer a loss in yield (approx. 15%), but what you do grow will be a very noticeably, higher quality, "always top shelf" connoisseur smoke.
I won't keep the shade cloth on all the time, but definitely during the hottest part of the hottest days.

I also think I've been watering too much. I haven't watered for at least a week now and even so, the soil still feels moist about 3 inches down. Before, I was watering every 2-3 days. The plants look healthier. The stems are looking strong.

I've got some worm tea brewing with Alaskan Fish Fertilizer (5-1-1) and liquid kelp as per directions. I'll water in a couple of days and foliar feed this tea (1 part tea, 4 parts water).

I've also been doing some more LST work on them. The side shoot/branches are growing now. I'm trying to grow this plant horizontally and have a bunch of top colas.
Late.