Hi y'all. Okay, so I've been registered here for about a year and never posted before. So, let me give you some background. I'm not an idiot weed savant or some kind of professional grower. I'm a middle age man who has lived his life close to the 45th paralell and I'm a farmer. Not for a living but grown a garden for years. Tomatos, peppers, beans, lettuce, stuff like that. Last year I grew some stuff from seeds I got in Toronto during a visit to the city two years ago. This year, I took a chance and bought some of doc's ISS. It was a leap of faith for me because I'm a family man, gainfully employed in the community, etc, but I also have problems with an autoimmune illness and depression and know that the kind bud can help that stuff.
Anyway, I bought an order of ISS but bought it late.....didn't get it in the paper towels for germination till around 6/17 (my best guess). I germ'd 3 seeds...didn't want to do more because I was skeptical of the claim that it would be ready in 90 days. All three germinated. I planted them out back, in the swamp, in 5-gallon pails. I put the pails on short (3 feet long) 2X4s to keep them out of the swamp, which I figured was pretty acidic. Sorry all you purists, but I used a mix that I use for my regular garden - 50% garden loam (rich but clayey) with 50% compost (mostly from leaves and lawn clippings but also eggshells, coffee grinds, rinds and peels and all the stuff that good household compost contains).
Anyway, I enriched this with Epoma (not sure of the spelling, though I've used it for years) organic fertilizer. I get a couple of 40-pound bags of this stuff from the garden supply store every spring. I don't do this by exact measurement. The stuff is relatively low potency (4-3-3, I believe, but don't quote me, I'm on a roll here) and advertised that it "won't burn". In any case, I mix it in a 6 cubic feet wheelbarrow and do it by site.
So, anyway, i mix my mix and around July 1 I put these small seedlings in the five gallon pots and haul them out to the grow area. I get plenty of light out there (10 hours a day, on average, but less than 8 at this time of year) and let them go. I go out twice a week and water with low-dose miracle grow solution (3 tsp per 3 gallon jug). I harvested the first plant on Friday - 3 days ago. Upon bringing in I was sad to see that there is some bud mold. I trimmed agressively to get rid of it and hung to dry.
Late this afternoon,, I am going out to pull the next two plants. the buds look very different but the leaf pattern is very similary. I will post pics of all when I'm done. Didn't take any pics of the first one in the field.
Anyway, the first ISS - I speed dried a small bud and tried last night. My girl and I agreed that it is really, really good shit. The kind of stuff that passes as designer weed I hear a lot of doubters and naysayers about the Doc's gear but I have to say, at first blush, it's awesome. Of course, what the fuck do I know? I've only grown the last couple years. But I have been smoking for a long time (35 years) and, although I stopped for about 10 years, I have been exposed to the benefits of medicinal herb the last few years. This stuff is good, really good, and I'll be posting a follow up with picture