What I got really right, after learning from last years attempt, was to have the trellis in place so I could start the training earlier in the season. The branches are much more flexible so I expect no snapping of branches/stems/trunks as I do the initial training. The initial training is far more aggressive than later training. I did only snap one branch last year and it was easily repaired, but doing this as early as possible is ideal. Plus, they’re sativas and are more forgiving to being manipulated this way. Again, I used my custom organic compost with a top dressing of worm castings. I’ll be building out the foam core barriers for the rest of the day. Custom fabrication and installation so it takes some time. Over all I am very pleased so far, although my round four beans have shown me no love. Yet.
So I did excessively bend two branches, but the growth after the bend is still lush. It’ll heal, but may reduce growth. Which is okay for just two lower branches.
Training continues. I love this part of the grow. I’m also slowly designing the enclosure which will be built over the next few days.
So the two sats have been settling in. They are still not quite in full growth launch mode, but it’s early yet. The days are long but there is less direct light. When it’s time for budding, the sun drops so the entire garden will be filled with direct sunlight. they are stretching a bit and and I am relearning how to use a trellis. The grow tips want to go straight up, but I need to train them horizontally. This will become more visible as we go as I just started to get seriously thoughtful about training these near vines properly.
So, keeping in mind that this is an ongoing experiment, two design ideas are mentioned here. 1) I’m going to install some tissue paper on the lower portion of the windows. This will help provide more privacy, but not significantly obscure the ambient lighting. 2) Trellis training. The main growth tips higher up on the plant are far more woody, thus prone to snapping when bent, than the lower growth. My original plane was to snake back and forth along the rows created by the trellis screen. The revised plan is to keep that for the lower growth, but to use a more angled approach with gentle direction changes. The back and forth along the trellis “cells” requires a couple of 90 degree bends at the end of each row of cells. Those 90 degree radius turns are too severe for the mature growth tips. In the picture, I call each rectangle a cell.
So with these two pictures you can sort of see what I was describing in the previous post. Woody top growth moving diagonally across the trellis, with lower branches trying to go row by row. Another addition is visually marking rows with white tape. These are identifying rows, which helps visually now that the space is filling up with greenery. So the top edge, bottom edge horizontal rows and outside vertical edge rows are off limits to branches/grow tips. I’ve also marked the center-ish vertical row. This is a boundary for each plant as I don’t want to mix up the plants come harvest time. So branches from each plant stay within the marked boundaries, vertical edge to vertical center rows and top/bottom rows. It’s just a way to work fast visually. The screen is just under 5 feet square, and the two sativas should fill that nicely.
So now it’s starting to get exciting and I am glad I have been so active in training my branches and have a plan in place. The plants seem to be finally adapting to their environment and have thrown off transplant shock. The growth, especially for lower branches, has become aggressive and the major sun leaves have oriented themselves to the available light. Now the growth should be explosive! Interestingly enough, this includes the white panels I’ve installed behind the plants (relative to the south facing window). So apparently there is enough ambient light reflected off the panels for the plants to sense and feed off of. This is great! This picture shows the orientation of the sun leaves. What’s missing is the random orientation the leaves have exhibited since transplant (although earlier pictures may show that). Having witnessed this transition of orientation by the sun leaves, as well as having experienced it from my last window grow, I am very excited!
FUTURE PLANS: So I have ideas. As mentioned before, this and last years grows are experiments. The results from my first grow (of this type) were encouraging even though I had to chop preharvest time. Likewise, this years attempt is very positive so far. Because these are experiments, as well as due to my budget constraints, the methodologies in planning and materials has been minimal. Now that this seems a success in concept, it’s time to plan for bigger things. So I’ve yet to show off my foam core wall structure. Mostly because there are corporate logos on it and, to be honest, it’s ugly. But I will take pictures soon to show the basic design concepts. BACK TO THE FUTURE PLANS: So I’m learning a lot about what works and what doesn’t. Next year I want to construct a wooden shell to replace/augment the foam core walls. Basically, from the kitchen side it should look like a nice cabinet that is integrated with my dining table. Everything I’m using integrated in a more methodically planned format. I’ll start a planners notebook now, and note design and construction goals as well as note dow measurements. Then next year!
The garden odor is already intoxicating! An added note on airflow; I have windows that are in a much warmer part of the house. When I leave them open, especially during the day, the air in my home naturally flows with the hot air (hot air rises). So for my garden I just crack open the window and outside air rushes in and around my plants and then on out the windows in the warmer part of the house. Luckily I live in a temperate zone so the outside air is almost always below 70F. The home gets quite warm though, which aids air flow with said open windows, so the cool air is a blessing in the day time.
So the “backside” of my foam core panels. Fancy it is not. It’s composed of 5 panels. The tall dark center panel, and the bi-panel wings. The lower wings give me my main access to the plants, the top panels (bud panels) are mostly for light reflection and room isolation.
And the sunny side of the screen. Well filled with sun leaves. It’s hard to find the smaller grow tips sometimes! Despite both plants coming from the same seed stock and both showing incredibly lanky sativa growth characteristics, they are very different plants. One is just BIGGER with dark green leaves, the other is more svelte/petite in girth, with a much lighter/yellow shade of green going on. The sativas are perfect for trellis training!
BUDBUD That’s what I am calling my garden this year. BUDBUD The two sativas are really going gang busters now. Running out of spaces in the cells, in some areas, to tuck in all the branches elongating quickly. Water intake has dramatically increased. Temperatures around here are in the low 70sF during the day. The house will heat up quickly if I don’t open the proper windows, and occasionally the front door. The trellis is about 50% full last few days of June. It’ll be interesting to see how full the trellis gets. Still not feeding, just watering. No electrical costs for fans or lights.
Main growth tips are looking very chunky and heavy. Interestingly enough my light green plant has gone dark green like her sister. Once again making me think that my compost may have been too hot and is now settling nicely.