Humble Homegrown

Humble Homegrown Quality cannabis happens at home.

A couple of important things to keep in mind when selecting which cannabis strains you want to grow is when it will begi...
08/26/2024

A couple of important things to keep in mind when selecting which cannabis strains you want to grow is when it will begin to flower, and how long it takes for the flowers to mature to the point where they're ready for harvest.

As a general rule, cannabis plants are stimulated to start flowering when the daily light cycle approaches 12/12 light/dark.
When growing indoors, the photoperiod is easy to manipulate. Indoor plants can be kept under cycle of 18 hrs light & 6 hrs dark (or something close to that) for vigorous vegetative growth for as long as you like.
At the growers discretion, the photoperiod can then be switched to a 12/12 cycle to induce flowering and kept there until ready for harvest.

Growing outdoors however is a completely different story. Different strains can respond differently as the days gradually shorten over the late summer and early fall.
For example, my Sugar Kush plant began flowering just over a couple weeks ago around mid August. The buds are developing nicely and I expect that they will be ready for harvest between late September and mid October.

My Amnesia Haze, however is only now showing the early signs of flowering, almost 3 weeks later than the Sugar Kush. This is happening even though the sugar Kush was germinated and placed outside about 4 weeks later than the Amnesia Haze.
At this rate, these flowers might not be ready until late October or even early November, and there is really nothing that can be done to hurry the process.

Depending on the strain, cannabis flowers can take anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks after they begin flowering to finish up and be ready for harvest.

The end of the outdoor growing season often becomes a race between ripening buds and the rapidly approaching cool damp weather that can damage the flowers and potentially ruin a crop.

So when planning to grow outdoors in an area where weather conditions can deteriorate quickly at the season's end, I recommend choosing a strain that is known to begin flowering earlier and/or is known to finish quickly once flowering flowering has begun.

If you're able to let your seed or clone provider know these requirements, they should be able to recommend strains that are the most appropriate for your own climate zone.

And remember that Humble Homegrown is always here to help. ✌️😎💨

(Pics, Sugar Kush about 3 weeks into flower stage, and Amnesia Haze just beginning to flower. Growing side by side. Pics taken at the same time. Aug 16th 2024)

With the days getting shorter, its nice to see my Sugar Kush starting to show her flower parts.The Amnesia Haze is looki...
08/14/2024

With the days getting shorter, its nice to see my Sugar Kush starting to show her flower parts.
The Amnesia Haze is looking good, but not quite flowering yet. I expect to see her first early flowers probably next week if my guess is correct.
I'm looking forward to seeing the flowers develop over the coming weeks.

✌️😎💨

OH NO!!! 😱Heavy rain makes wet heavy branches. I came out onto the deck yesterday morning to find that the heavy rain ov...
08/07/2024

OH NO!!! 😱
Heavy rain makes wet heavy branches. I came out onto the deck yesterday morning to find that the heavy rain overnight had been hard on this Amnesia Haze plant.
I had been using low stress training to spread out the canopy on this girl. With the canopy as wide as it is, my mistake was neglecting to tie the branches up to the tomato cage for extra support. Spreading the canopy out like this can put extra stress on the central stalk, so it's not too surprising that this happened. I should have known better, and now I do.

Fortunately nothing was severed so both sides of the split still had water and nutrients flowing from the roots to the tops. I lifted the two halves back into place and tied them firmly together to close the wound. Then I tied the main branches to the tomato cage for further support.

A day & a half later she's a little shocked, but happy to be standing upright. Seems to be recovering nicely. Prognosis looks good. 😀

Accidents are gonna happen, and mistakes will be made, but I certainly wont make the same mistake again. Hopefully, anyone who sees this will be able to avoid making this particular mistake at all.

Pics showing the split, the repair and the plant looking good the next day.

So far, so good. The smaller two were put out a month later than the larger one. The smallest had what I believe was a c...
08/01/2024

So far, so good.
The smaller two were put out a month later than the larger one. The smallest had what I believe was a cal-mag deficiency indicated by some yellow mottling between the leaf veins, but it seems to be doing fine after a bit of TLC and cal-mag supplement.
The canopies on all three are spreading out nicely due to topping, Low stress training, and selective pruning.
With August beginning and the days shortening, The girls will be getting ready to begin the flowering stage. I expect to see the first signs of actual flowers within the next couple weeks.

✌️😎💨

The legal limit of 4 plants per household here in Canada gives us the potential to grow a full year's supply over the su...
07/18/2024

The legal limit of 4 plants per household here in Canada gives us the potential to grow a full year's supply over the summer and still have more than enough left over to give several ounces away to friends and family each year.

Legal cannabis is great, but I'd rather save my money and avoid supporting or contributing to the environmental impact of mass production and distribution in the commercial cannabis industry.

Besides, in my humble opinion, homegrown done right beats commercialy mass produced flower 9 times out of 10 anyway. ...Even with the security guard sleeping on the job.
✌️😎💨

Better late than never.Depending on the strain and growing conditions, cannabis plants generally need between 4 and 8 we...
07/16/2024

Better late than never.

Depending on the strain and growing conditions, cannabis plants generally need between 4 and 8 weeks of vegetative growth before they're ready to produce flowers.The more time they have to vegetate, the larger the plant will be when shorter days initiate the flowering phase later in the season.

With that in mind, I like to get my Summer plants outside near the end of May so they can enjoy a good few months of vegetative growth before the days shorten enough to stimulate flowering later in the season.

But sometimes things don't go exactly according to plan.

The pictures below are of a pair of Amnesia Haze plants currently growing on our deck. The larger one was germinated on schedule in late April and repotted outside near the end of May.
The second, smaller plant is about a month behind. She was germinated at the end of May and repotted outside about 4 weeks later in late June, just after Summer Solstice.
( The days slowly begin to shorten after Solstice, but there is still enough time at that point for about 8-10 weeks of vegetative growth before the days become short enough to stimulate flowering.)

Even though she had a rough start and she's a little late to the party, this girl is now doing exactly what she needs to do, soaking up the sunshine and the rain and growing quite vigorously.
I don't expect her to grow as large as her big sister before the days shorten enough to initiate the flowering phase. I do however expect that the flowers produced at the end of the season will be of similar quality to those of her sibling, even if there may be less quantity.
I'm looking forward to comparing their results
at the end of the season and seeing what I can learn from them.

The point is, don't give up on a goal just because something doesn't happen exactly according to plan or schedule. In many cases a little patience and persistence can still yield surprisingly fantastic results!

Good growing!
Share this page with a friend or two.

And of course, If you have any cannabis cultivation questions remember that Humble Homegrown's here and happy to help.

✌️😎💨

The top of your plant, the point at which vertical growth occurs, is known as the apical meristem. This uppermost portio...
06/26/2024

The top of your plant, the point at which vertical growth occurs, is known as the apical meristem. This uppermost portion of the central stalk produces a hormone called “auxin” that has the effect of suppressing or slowing lateral growth beneath it, otherwise known as “apical dominance”. With the growth of lateral branches being inhibited by Auxin, the plant uses more of its resources for vertical growth of the main stalk. The result, generally, is a tall conical shaped plant with a large central flower cluster called a "cola" at the top.
Although inhibited by apical dominance, branches continue to grow and develop flower clusters to add to your harvest. The flowers clusters produced on these branches, however, will not be as large as the dominant central cola.

Removing the apical meristem from your plant removes the auxin that suppresses growth of the lateral branches resulting in a shorter plant with a much wider canopy. With lateral growth no longer inhabited by the auxin produced at the apical meristem, Branches and their buds are able to access more resources and develop more fully. The result is wide, more or less flat-topped canopy with multiple large colas at the terminal points of the lateral branches and a larger overall yield of cannabis flower or “Bud”.

To control the height and stimulate lateral growth, your plant must be topped during the vegetative phase of development while it is producing new stem and leaf tissue. It’s best to wait until your plant has established its root system and grown about five or six nodes, (sets of leaves & lateral branches along the main stem). Taking care to avoid damaging the lateral shoots just below, cut the plant just above the node of your choice.
Once the apical meristem is removed, the two branches just below the cut become the new double top of the plant and continue to grow upward. After these new tops have grown and produced lateral branches of their own, the process may be repeated to create a plant with a crown of four tops.
After your plant has been topped, the lateral branches will begin to develop more vigorously, growing outward & upward to create the wide, lush canopy that promises a bountiful harvest.

The pics are of an Amnesia Haze plant on my roof. the first two were taken a few days after topping her. The last one is the same plant taken 1 week after the the other two. Notice how much the branches have grown since she was topped.

✌️😎💨

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer so far and that your gardens are looking happy and lush this season.The season go...
06/24/2024

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer so far and that your gardens are looking happy and lush this season.

The season got off to a bit of a rough start at Humble Homegrown's rooftop retreat with several seeds failing to germinate and sprout earlier in the season.

Now that we're coming to the end of June, I hope all the outdoor cannabis crops are off to a strong and healthy start.
Though it's getting late, and they may end up smaller than those planted back in May , plants started now still have enough time to mature enough to produce a decent crop of buds by the end of the season. So if you're still thinking about growing outdoors this season but don't have your plants in the ground, get on it, and get your plants in.

Here's a look at an Amnesia Haze Sativa plant that was germinated about 8 weeks ago at the end of april and replanted outside at the end of May.
I topped her last Sunday and began with her low stress training this past weekend. She's enjoying the sunshine on the roof, growing and spreading out quite nicely so far.

I've managed to get another couple of plants off to a late start this year. Repotting them over the weekend ( another Amnesia Haze, and a Sugar Kush ), They seem happy to be stretching their roots out in their new outside homes and showing some growth after being repotted only a couple days ago.

I'd love to see some pics of what other folks are growing this season if anyone has some to share.
✌️😎💨

For the last few years I've grown a single CBD Kali Kush plant as one of my legally allowed four plants. It's a strain t...
06/18/2024

For the last few years I've grown a single CBD Kali Kush plant as one of my legally allowed four plants. It's a strain that's always given me good results and minimal or no headaches during the cultivation process. In fact, the cover photo of this page is a pic of last year's CBD Kali Kush.

This year, however, something strange happened. My CBD Kali Kush started flowering about three weeks after germination while she was still only about 8 cm high in her little starter cup.
I hadn't done anything different than I had in previous years in regards to the germination process, so I figured that I had simply gotten some mispackaged auto-flower seeds, and that when the taproot hit the bottom of the cup the plant was stimulated to begin flowering. --( this is why we plant auto flowering cannabis plants directly into the pot you wish them to finish in rather than starting in little seedling pots and repotting to a larger one later as we do most times with regular photo-period cannabis plants. )--

If I may digress for anyone wondering, auto-flower plants are different from standard cannabis plants because they do not depend on day length or Photo period to stimulate flowering. These plants are genetically predisposed to begin flowering after only a few weeks of growth, and are generally ready for harvest within 8 - 12 weeks of seed germination.
Standard plants, on the other hand, can be kept in vegetative growth indefinitely until stimulated to begin flowering by shortening the photo period to 12 hrs light/12 hrs dark.

Now though, after a couple weeks outside, the plant that I thought must have been an auto-flowering variety has stopped flowering and begun re-vegetating, growing new leaf and stem tissue. As far as I understand, this could not happen with an auto-flowering strain.

I'm really not sure why she began flowering in the first place. I've heard and read about it, but this is the first time I've had this experience in all my years of growing cannabis. Now that I'm beginning to see new growth, I'm looking forward to seeing and recording how this particular plant develops over the summer.

Remember that pic of a Gypsy Widow auto-flower that I posted last month? Well, true to her auto-flowering nature, she wa...
06/10/2024

Remember that pic of a Gypsy Widow auto-flower that I posted last month?

Well, true to her auto-flowering nature, she was ready to cut down this past weekend at about 10 weeks from germination.
I'm sure she would've gotten much larger had I planted her in a larger pot to begin with, but I had no expectations, so I've got no complaints about how she turned out.

The flowers are nice and dense, and full of trichomes. Quality looks good even if it'll probably only be about a quarter ounce of bud once it's dried and cured. I'm looking forward to seeing how she tastes once she's rolled and lit.

I'm sure I'll be experimenting with some more auto-flowering strains in the future. Cropkingseeds.ca sent me a free sample of Revolver Auto with my last order, so that'll likely be the next Auto-flower that I'll grow. They're a slightly different cultivation adventure than their regular photoperiod cousins. It's fun to see them mature and flower so quickly, even if they don't necessarily get as large as the photoperiod plants that I like to grow outside in the Summer.

It's been far too long since I last posted that picture of four baby seedlings that were going to be this year's rooftop...
06/10/2024

It's been far too long since I last posted that picture of four baby seedlings that were going to be this year's rooftop crop.

One of the sugar Kush was given to a neighbor to cultivate, the other got dug up and destroyed by some roaming varmint.
I ended up germinating two of the CBD Kali Kush and gave one of those to a different neighbor. Unfortunately, though, it turns out that the CBD Kali Kush were actually mispackaged auto-flowering seeds of some variety. both mine and the neighbors plant began flowering about 4 weeks after they germinated.

So I've only got one of those original four plants, ( the Amnesia haze, sativa ) growing as it should up on the roof. She's doing well and just about ready to be topped to encourage the shorter, bushier growth that I like to see.

They'll be late to the party, but I've got another Amnesia haze and a Sugar Kush started indoors which should be ready to transplant outside in a week or so. I've germinated another CBD Kali Kush as well and currently waiting for her to sprout through the soil surface of her nursery pot.

Even e few weeks late, they'll have more than enough time to mature before the daylength shortens enough to stimulate flowering.
This wont be the first time I've gotten plants out late in the season. With less time for vegetative growth, they may not grow as large as last year's girls, but the quality of the flower yield should be just as good even if there's a little less quantity.

Pics: left - Amnesia Haze seedling transplanted and doing well.
Right - The mystery auto-flower that was supposed to be CBD Kali Kush.

Humble beginnings of this year's rooftop patio crop. I'll be nursing these girls indoors for a few more weeks before tra...
05/07/2024

Humble beginnings of this year's rooftop patio crop. I'll be nursing these girls indoors for a few more weeks before transplanting them into their big pots outside at the end of the month.
2 Sugar Kush, (indica), and 1 each of Amnesia, (sativa), and Kali Kush CBD, (low THC, high CBD indica dominant hybrid).
Let me know what you're growing this season and if there's anything Humble Homegrown can do to help. ✌️😎💨

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