Maine 2021

Finally got a couple girls in the ground...about time! Chinook Haze and Copper Chem, week 8.

If you're wondering why a couple of those lower leaves look a little pale, well, I waited a little too long to feed them and they apparently used up the N that was in the Coast of Maine Stonington supersoil. But they got a hefty snack as soon as I noticed and I think they'll be fine.

I know I sound like a broken record but man, we sure could use a little rain around here. Never seen it so dry--the brook behind the garden that I use to irrigate looks like it did in August last year, and last year was dry dry dry. This is some serious drought going on.

Update at end of week 11 here. Everything's in the ground except a few Cherry Wines are in Fabric pots--part experiment in growing and part backup plan if the weather goes to hell in the fall, in theory I could at least bring those 10g fabric pots into the shed for protection.

So far so good. Wind has been ferocious this year and the hemp garden is more exposed than than the MJ garden so I lost the top of one of the plants. But it's recovering fine and I've since staked everything plus installed a temporary burlap fence to help break the wind. Sometimes it's just day after day, night after night of gusty breezes. Hoping to get some trellises up this weekend.

Finally got some decent rain--a full inch 2 nights ago and half an inch earlier in the week. Doesn't catch us up on the extended drought conditions but certainly helps temporarily.

Had ferocious heat and humidity this week, broke 96 one day and barely cools down to the high seventies at night, but that only lasted a couple days really. Plants seem fine.

A couple hemp plants seem stunted with much smaller leaves and internodal spacing. Not sure if that's genetics at work or environment. I may have overwatered a few, noticed when transplanting those ones earlier this week the roots at the bottom weren't bright white like the others but had some dull brown coloring. Hopefully now that they're in the ground they'll do better.

Another issue is the Chinook Haze in the MJ garden is looking a little pale even though it's in the same soil and gotten the same treatment as the 2 Copper Chems in there too. Considering another topdressing of bloodmeal for more N although they all got 2 1/4 oz. just 3 weeks ago. Wasn't planning to feed again until mid or late July but would like to see a nice dark green color in the leaves. Based on the soil test there's should be plenty of the other nutrients in there for them. The Copper Chems look great, just the Chinook that's slightly pale.

Looking forward to some big-time vegetative growth over the next month and a half. Brook is still running, hopefully that doesn't dry up early like last year. But I have a plan B for irrigation just in case.

Quick question: how early will males potentially spill pollen growing outdoors? And if they do spill early, and the females aren't in flower yet, does it matter? Or can the females still get pollinated?

How's everyone doing? Hope you're having a great holiday weekend.

MJ with Chinook Haze in foreground, Copper Chems in back:


Hemp garden (culled a few males which is why some of the planting holes are empty); Have 15 plants remaining now:

Keeping a few in moveable containers to safeguard against a lousy fall is a good idea.

Pollen?
If there are no pistils to receive the pollen, there is nothing for the pollen to attach to. Shouldn't get seeds then.
If a "not in flower yet" plant has prominent pistilly (made that word up) preflowers, they can receive pollen and will make a few seeds.

Hemp?
I'm guessing your smallish hemp plants are just nature throwing a variety of plants out there to ensure the survival of the species.
I would be a little concerned growing regular hemp near the happy hemp.
The male hemp plants aren't picky and could l seek relations with the good stuff. Be vigilant and good luck.

Rob Roy said:

Keeping a few in moveable containers to safeguard against a lousy fall is a good idea.

Pollen?
If there are no pistils to receive the pollen, there is nothing for the pollen to attach to. Shouldn't get seeds then.
If a "not in flower yet" plant has prominent pistilly (made that word up) preflowers, they can receive pollen and will make a few seeds.

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That's what I was curious about, if a female preflower is showing a couple little pistils and some pollen floats in on the breeze would that mess up the flowering later on?

Rob Roy said:

Hemp?
I'm guessing your smallish hemp plants are just nature throwing a variety of plants out there to ensure the survival of the species.
I would be a little concerned growing regular hemp near the happy hemp.
The male hemp plants aren't picky and could l seek relations with the good stuff. Be vigilant and good luck.

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Yes, trying to keep a very close eye on them. I already removed several suspected males. Seems like last year I had an easier time distinguishing the sexes though. Was wondering whether I can relax until August or if there's danger before then.

Funny sidenote--I visited the compost pile yesterday to dispose of some household waste and there were the males I culled 2 weeks ago looking just as green and vibrant as they were before being "de-potted"--I guess their roots like the compost pile just fine. Amazing how hardy these plants are, I never even considered they would survive like that. Guess I better clip the stalks or eventually I'll end up with pollen floating around!

"The Good Stuff"---I gather you're not a fan of CBD-heavy THC-light bud. If you haven't already you should try some Cherry Wine, it has a very nice relaxing effect. And the balm I make from it works wonders on sore muscles, cuts, etc. But everyone's different I guess. If you want I'll send you a little sample from last year's harvest--perfectly legal to mail.

NewEnglandFarmer said:

That's what I was curious about, if a female preflower is showing a couple little pistils and some pollen floats in on the breeze would that mess up the flowering later on?

Yes, trying to keep a very close eye on them. I already removed several suspected males. Seems like last year I had an easier time distinguishing the sexes though. Was wondering whether I can relax until August or if there's danger before then.

Funny sidenote--I visited the compost pile yesterday to dispose of some household waste and there were the males I culled 2 weeks ago looking just as green and vibrant as they were before being "de-potted"--I guess their roots like the compost pile just fine. Amazing how hardy these plants are, I never even considered they would survive like that. Guess I better clip the stalks or eventually I'll end up with pollen floating around!

"The Good Stuff"---I gather you're not a fan of CBD-heavy THC-light bud. If you haven't already you should try some Cherry Wine, it has a very nice relaxing effect. And the balm I make from it works wonders on sore muscles, cuts, etc. But everyone's different I guess. If you want I'll send you a little sample from last year's harvest--perfectly legal to mail.

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Those male plants were sneaky. Good catch, they were trying to Freddy Kreuger on you. Yes, clip those stocks.

Thanks for the kind offer of balm. Can I p.m. you regarding that ?

I think if you only have a few seeds on a plant from pollinated preflowers, real flowering will proceed pretty close to normal.

Week 12 update: all 3 MJ plants doing very well as we head into the stretch phase and most of the Cherry Wines thriving too. Finally had some decent rain last week, 4" in one day, plus more showers yesterday. Not enough to break the drought completely but the brook at least is now running and the ground isn't so parched.

Noticed my first inchworms this week--just 1 or 2 yesterday and another today. Might be time to think about spraying some Bt.

Had my first encounter with whiteflies on some isolated Cherry Wines I have in fabric pots near my wife's veggie garden--I think something in the garden was infested and they moved to my plants. As soon as I noticed I moved them away and sprayed them with neem oil/peppermint. This morning I saw 1 fly off when I shook the plants, I'll continue weekly neem sprays. No visible damage, the plants look great.

How are my fellow Mainers making out?

Here's the MJ garden (Chinook Haze in the foreground and Copper Chems in back). They're looking slightly pale, I topdressed with 1/2C bloodmeal each earlier this week to feed them through the rest of veg, which is probably about 4 more weeks (5 or 6 for the Chinook based on last year's experience). Am also going to add some gypsum for extra calcium--soil test indicated there was enough but it was on the lower side of the range. Test indicated plenty of magnesium. May add some Epsom salts to their weekly foliar spray though:

Things are ok here in York County as well. Here's what mine are looking like. I had to put up a quick chicken wire fence a few weeks ago. We have a doe with twins that had a taste for pot. They didn't do to much damage before I caught them in the act at least. 2 OD are getting big, the 2 GG are doing nicely as well. The potted ones are Purple Kush and the other two are Banana Punch 3 and Captains Punch. Hopefully we get good late summer weather.

Sevenleaves said:

Things are ok here in York County as well. Here's what mine are looking like. I had to put up a quick chicken wire fence a few weeks ago. We have a doe with twins that had a taste for pot. They didn't do to much damage before I caught them in the act at least. 2 OD are getting big, the 2 GG are doing nicely as well. The potted ones are Purple Kush and the other two are Banana Punch 3 and Captains Punch. Hopefully we get good late summer weather.

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Looking good. Nice job banishing Bambi and her babies. Plenty else for them to eat!

How much rain did you get down there last week?

Here's another, having some up issues

About 4 inches during the first spell and another 1-1.5 after that. We needed it though, but I'm ready for a few days of straight sun.

Sevenleaves said:

About 4 inches during the first spell and another 1-1.5 after that. We needed it though, but I'm ready for a few days of straight sun.

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Agreed, it's been mostly foggy/cloudy here all week with more in the forecast.

End of summer update: stretch is just finishing now, about half the plants throwing pistils now. Seems slightly later than last year. Overall vegetative growth definitely less than last year--no 10 footers, looking more like 6-7 footers. And not as bushy either. We had a lot less sun this summer so guessing that accounts for it.

Not much pest issues. Occasionally I'll pick off a single caterpillar and a couple plants had some damage at a few leaf stems presumably from cats. I hit those with Bt right when I saw that but since then haven't seen much. I think the birds are keeping the cats in check. As the buds develop if I see more cats I'll do another round of Bt.

Pulled a couple leaves that had small mats of tiny white eggs in the past couple weeks (moths?).

Interestingly the Chinook Haze was one of the first to throw pistils this year but last year that was the last one to show (it was nearly September!). Maybe it will finish earlier (I let it go nearly to Halloween last year).

No odor yet but it won't be long before those trichomes start showing up.

How's everybody doing? A relief that Henri missed us--I'd moved all the fabric pots inside the shed just in case. I'm sure there will be other storms.

Positive side to all the rain this summer is that my brook is still running strong which makes irrigation a lot easier.

Here's a few pics:

2 Copper Chem on the left and Chinook Haze on the right:



Cherry Wines (note the dwarfs in the back--genetics?):



Some of the Cherry Wines looking really nice (and others are starting to fade a little in the fan leaves lower down--seems early but not sure I want to go too heavy on the N at this stage of the game):

Looks good, Farmer. Smaller plants are not a bad thing…I’m in the same boat and quite looking forward to not dealing with the overwhelming harvest in October!

Maybe last year was just exceptional growing weather for this region? Sure had a lot of sun. Right now it's humid as f__k and going to be scorching hot this week. Can't wait for those cool September nights and crisp days. Hopefully we don't get too smoked out by the fires out west but I'm sure there will be some of that.

2019 and 2020 were exceptional growing years. This year is more the norm. I've had good results against PM with Regalia this summer.

I didn't put the majority of my plants out til the middle of July. Just starting to see pistils now I figured it was due to the late start. Sounds like everyone is a bit behind. Interesting

natureboygrower said:

2019 and 2020 were exceptional growing years. This year is more the norm. I've had good results against PM with Regalia this summer.

I didn't put the majority of my plants out til the middle of July. Just starting to see pistils now I figured it was due to the late start. Sounds like everyone is a bit behind. Interesting

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No signs of PM anywhere around here despite the dampness and fog (knock on wood).

Doubt putting your plants out late delays flowering--but weather and genetic variation seem to play a role.

I'm in about the same boat here in the southern part of the state. Plants are nice but smaller than last year. Flower was a later as well, everything thing is on its way now though. I'll throw up a few pictures later.

Anyone else seeing a little fading down below on the fan leaves? A few of mine are showing that.

NewEnglandFarmer said:

Some of the Cherry Wines looking really nice (and others are starting to fade a little in the fan leaves lower down--seems early but not sure I want to go too heavy on the N at this stage of the game):

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8% calcium
11% nitrogen
This works good for that, until the side dressing kick in. Puts the green back, makes it easier to hold back when needed. Doesn't take much, readily available.
calcium nitrate, ammonium nitrate. Nice alternate to Calmag in veg.
GrowGeneration usually has free CXHorticulture 8oz samples, 5 stores along I95

NewEnglandFarmer said:

No signs of PM anywhere around here despite the dampness and fog (knock on wood).

Doubt putting your plants out late delays flowering--but weather and genetic variation seem to play a role.

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My wife's gourds are getting whacked today, she's been told...even Regalia can't do miracles.
That could be Botrytis also, looks vascular.