hello!
firstly, i started my girls in april, in my room next to my window. plain old dirt from my garden and some light. moved em outdoors after the last frost in may, and other than trying to obtain the 4 colas, i have done absolutely zero pruning.
i am curious about how you go about achieving a double harvest. my ladies are just starting to get all crystally and right now they are just starting to swell up, after having been in flower for about 3.5 weeks now.
my concern is that i may fuck up the harvest if i trim too much when i go to take the top colas. i want to make sure to leave enough for the lower branches to have everything they need to fill out, which i expect will take a few extra weeks compared to the tops.
could anyone perhaps offer me some guidance as to the proper technique to ensure i don't stress the plants too much while harvesting the tops?
i'm in montana, south central part of the state. not far from a relatively 'urban' environment, and we are getting some pretty good thunderstorms right now. been very hot during the day here, and the humidity in the mornings is usually around 60-65%, but drops considerably by about the lunch hour. we've had some stray thunderstorms come through with possibilities for hail, so i take steps to cover them in such circumstances. i've already had issues from hail this year, and i don't want to leave anything to chance this close to harvest.
i have no idea what strains i am growing, i got handed a bunch of bag seed, and i am fortunate in that all 7 of my plants have become lovely ladies.
i had a serious hail storm (tornado included!) come through about 2-3 weeks before flowering, which took 2 main colas right off one of my girls. i'm not sure she had enough time to generate enough side branching, but she is still alive and kicking, albeit smaller than the rest of my plants.
could anyone perhaps recommend, for a poor broke ass who can't afford to import seeds, a place where i might find some quality candidates for next year? i literally cannot afford to pay 10$/seed, plus shipping.
my grow is very simple. organic compost, the plain old dirt i have in my yard (these are in my garden with the rest of my veggies), some peat moss to help with the clay-heavy soil we have around here, but otherwise i didn't doctor the soil a lot, nor have i used any sort of snake oil ferts or anything like that at all. currently i'm on a molasses water (brer rabbit, unsulphered, 2-3 tblspn/gallon) regimen as follows: water, day off, water, day off, water, day off, feed, day off. i've been told i can up that feeding quite a bit, but i'm playing it safe for now. i figure i have about 4-5 weeks to go yet before i can do the first part of my harvest.
i appreciate any advice , as i am about to get my first yield of any kind growing outdoors full time. last year and the year before, grasshoppers/locusts destroyed my trainwrecks, and this year will be my first successful harvest.
the girls in the pictures are approximately 52" tall. no LST, no pruning (outside of what the hail storm did), just lots of water, sun, and love.
thanks!