Gardening with The Anarchist's: After Hours!

What's up my fellow Cannabis Lovers and Enthusiasts!? Thank you all for joining us, and welcome back to another edition of:

I'm really thrilled to have you here with us today, because it's now officially been two months since I started my very first grow!

They weren't feminized seeds, but the Lemon Skittles strain they came from was really good for what it was, so I decided it was time to try to grow my own!

It's been an exciting experience, let me tell you what! And I'm excited to share the newest update with the WeedCash Community! But first, as always, let's check out the..

Week 7 Highlights!

At the beginning of the week, things started out really well here at "The Alcove", with Plants 1 through 4 and Plant 6 doing really well, and they were all starting to look a lot better after being transplanted!

But once the heat kicked in, we hit a bit of a snag when the bottom leaves started to burn up a little bit! I'm not entirely sure if this is from a lack of water, stress from the transplant, the heat, or a combination of all 3, but I will continue to monitor them and see how they do!

But by the end of the work week, we got a nice break from that unwavering heat, when it rained for almost 2 days; giving both our family garden, and our "After Hours" garden, a total of almost 3 inches of rain within that time! Which definitely tested out our drainage system to make sure it was draining properly!

Each plant started to look at lot better after we got all that rain, leaving only Plant 5 that still seemed to be suffering from those scrawny roots; which I believe may have been a side effect of both the compacted garden soil and the Miracle Grow Potting Soil mixture that was added after the soil was knocked out during a storm!

At this point, I'm not sure if Plant 5 will survive, but with all the other plants doing well, let's see what I have learned throughout the last week!

Most Recent Learning Experiences!

After suffering from the bipolar weather patterns of the Midwest, our plants' strength and resiliency were definitely put to the test after 2 days of intense heat! All of our plants were affected in some way, although Plant 1 suffered the most!

Looking back, and trying to learn something from this, I should start keeping a more watchful eye on the weather forecasts throughout the week because it's really hard for Murty to tend to the "After Hours" Garden while tending to Junior and Poppy all day while I'm at work!

And while they do go outside to play, I can't expect her to do anything outside of her comfort zone, like moving the plants around the yard, without having someone to keep Junior busy!

After the intense heat, we experienced two days of consistent rain, which tested our new planters drainage system with good results! The only thing I worry about now, is if I need more drainage holes to increase how quickly the soil in the planters will dry out! I know they should get somewhat dry, to prevent mold and mildew, but I also know that letting them dry out too much can destroy the plants!

Other than that, I still need to figure out a good watering schedule, and figure out exactly how much to water each plant during the watering; I also need to purchase a pH tester for our tap water to make sure the water is in an acceptable pH range for our plants!

Also, for me personally, Miracle Grow is a no-go, or should I say a no-grow, after how it affected the roots of Plant 5. I can't entirely blame the Miracle Grow Potting Soil itself, because I probably could have mixed it in more with the original substrate and it may have been fine, but after finding a local Fox Farm Potting Soil distributor, I definitely won't be using anything else!

Will Plant 5 survive the week with that weak root system? Let's find out in the..

Week 8 Daily Breakdown!

Picking back up on Monday, July the 11th, I came home from work to find that all the plants are starting to look like they are improving! Plant 5 seems to be about dead unfortunately, although, there is still a little bit of life left in this little one!

I definitely don't want to stress them any more than I have with the full transplant, but now that they are all showing signs of improvement, I believe I'll try to add the Fox Farm Ocean Forest Potting Soil within the next few days; just to try to fill the buckets the rest of the way!

_{While the top is bright green, Plant 5 is not looking too good! 😕}

Well, after getting home at a really decent time, Tuesday, July the 12th, I finally added the FoxFarm Ocean Forest Potting Soil to the planters!

Using my hand to dig into the edge of the planter as much as possible, I lifted the entire base of the plant up being as careful as possible not to disturb the root system as much as possible!

The Ocean Forest still seemed to be a little more wet than I would have liked, so after I added it into the buckets, I tried to mix it together with the Happy Frog as much as possible to get a uniform mixture!

I did notice that the root systems of the plants have started to explode from the Happy Frog, so it seems that Fox Farm's claim of boosting root growth holds true!

I was amazed, and quite astounded to tell you the truth, to see the improvement on the root systems! It's truly incredible how much they've grown!

_{Pictures before I added the Ocean Forest Potting Soil!}

_{Here's the information that's on the Ocean Forest Potting Soil bag!}

_{I was very surprised, and amazed, when I looked at the Happy Frog Bag I saved and noticed the Mycorrhizae content within the Potting Soil! @dynamicgreentk, is this acceptable for the time being until I can afford nutrients?}

_{In this set of pictures, you can see how I added the dirt to Plant 1! I dug in around the sides of the bucket, getting underneath the plant and roots as much as possible! Then, I added some dirt until I was able to lift the plant where I wanted it and was able to continue to add the new Ocean Forest!}

_{Up close and personal with the roots on Plant 3! These babies have exploded over the past week!}

_{All the plants after adding the extra dirt! The bucket containing Plant 5 didn't get completely filled, but I really don't think it's going to survive at this point. Also, you can see Junior trying to help with moving dirt around in the Picture of Plant 6 🤣 Daddy's little helper!}

Plants 1 through 4 and Plant 6 were all looking strong when I got home from work on Wednesday, July the 13th! I debated on whether or not I should water, and finally decided to hold off for another day, just to be safe. I don't want to over-water them and possibly damage those awesome roots! I also rotated the buckets to try for a more uniform plant growth, and an even amount of light exposure on all sides!

Unfortunately, I think we can count out a comeback from Plant 5; this little one didn't survive the transplanting process, or rather, didn't have a strong enough root structure to survive! It looks like the Miracle Grow definitely destroyed the roots beyond repair! Even the Happy Frog couldn't help this poor little one!

_{By this point, Plant 5 was dead, and wouldn't have been worth taking a picture of sadly. It was as brown as the dirt in the buckets 😥}

It rained for a little bit in the early hours on Thursday, July the 14th, so I was able to hold off on watering for the day; I'll most likely water on Friday after work!

The 5 remaining Plants all seem to be thriving so far in their new environment, and I've noticed a huge difference in all the plants almost overnight!

The yellowing on Plant 6 is getting a lot better, and each of the 5 plants have started darkening a little more! I've also noticed that they are starting to smell really good! 😉

_{The leaves are a little droopy, but I think they're looking good!}

Those rain clouds followed us into Friday, July the 15th, and it rained pretty steadily during the afternoon for a few hours, but nothing at all like last week's storm! It let up for a little bit, but it was raining again when I got home from work around 1:30, so we went on our weekly grocery trip!

We didn't get home until about 6 PM, so I was able to go out and check on the plants after we put the groceries away! You can see for yourself how they are doing below! The growth is outstanding!

_{Plant 6 seems to be doing fantastic! The rest of the plants are definitely improving as well!}

We had a lot going on around the house on Saturday, July the 16th, so I didn't get to spend as much time examining them as I would have liked, but all 5 Plants are looking incredible right now with Plant 1 actually making the least amount of progress out of them all!

It's amazing to me that each plant is visibly getting bigger and bushier every day, and the improvement from last week is definitely incredible to say the least!

_{Plant 1 has definitely slowed in growth compared to the others and I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe I compacted the soil too much when I added the Ocean Forest?}

_{Here's a good side picture to show how much they've grown! Plant 6 has almost doubled it's size since being transplanted!}

Well, it rained pretty steadily again on Sunday, July the 17th, from about 9 AM until about 5 PM. I didn't go out to look at the plants until after the rain finally let up, but I knew this was good for each of the plants, as I hadn't had a chance to "degas" my tap water for a watering yet!

Which "degassing" your water is a technique that I learned from @canna-curate; this apparently allows the chlorine to evaporate out of your water, which is definitely a lot better for your plants for obvious reasons!

You can definitely tell that the main stalks are starting to thicken, and the leaves are definitely getting bigger up top! Plant 6 is by far the most improved since the transplant, with the others not too far behind! Plant 1, however, doesn't seem to be doing quite as well as the others! But, it definitely doesn't look bad by any means!

_{Just look at that improvement! It's truly amazing to see how fast these incredible plants can grow!}

After losing a plant this week, we're down to five in total, and hopefully we will start to see signs of females here soon! If I remember correctly, it's a 50/50 chance that a seed will be male or female, so with those odds, I am hoping to have at least 2 females out of the remaining 5! ☺️

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this update, and don't forget to tune in next week for another "After Hours" Update! I hope you have a great rest of your week! Stay Trippy, My Little Hippies! ✌️💚

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