KidBotanical's Personal Backyard Grow-Entry 3

     **Please note, the first few entries of Personal Backyard Grow take place between April and June 2011. Once I am up to date, entries will be weekly with current pictures and video**


     Hello again, KidBotanical here with another personal garden update. As you will see, some plants exhibit exponential growth in a very short period of time. In 6 weeks (mid April to the end of May), my girls have gone from small clones to large, thriving specimens.

My girls in the middle of April

Not quite the same angle, but you get the idea

Closeup on a Casey Jones at 6 weeks of growth

     The tallest plants you see above in the two most recent pictures are the hybrid strain Casey Jones. This particular strain seems to do quite well in arid conditions, as the extreme heat and sunlight seem not to phase my specimens. Below you can see my cluster of Blue Dream plants, once a winner of the illustrious Cannabis Cup:

Top left: White Widow. Everything else: Blue Dream

     Blue Dream is another strain that has proven to enjoy the heat, and forms the basis of my garden along with Casey Jones and White Widow. White Widow is another popular strain, as well as a winner of a Cannabis Cup. It never hurts to have award winning genetics in your garden, but remember that not all strains will succeed in all climates. Below are some pictures of my White Widows.

Hard to see: White Widows make up the back right corner up the garden

Garden at 6 weeks, Widows in the left side of the picture

    Not all plants were flourishing during the first 6 weeks of the season, however. This year I experimented with a new strain, Mazar, native to the desert conditions of Afghanistan. I expected this new strain to do well and thrive in the intense light and heat, but unfortunately it hasn't taken to the desert as well as I thought it would. It truly demonstrates how variables can be present in any garden setting.

Extreme discoloration and lack of growth indicate heat stress

      However, it's good to have a little variety and experiment with what grows the best, produces the biggest yield and tastes the best. I stumbled upon Casey Jones and Jack the Ripper towards the end of the 2009 grow season, as I had a few deaths in the garden that had to be replaced. I wasn't expecting much, as they only had about 6 weeks to grow. These two strains surprised me though, and each earned a plot in the 2010 garden. Fastforward to the end of that grow season, Jack the Ripper and Casey Jones were my largest in plant and yield size, as well as being the highest in quality.

     I'm only slightly behind in my Grow Entries now, but I should be up to date by this time next week. I don't want to spoil anything, but there are a LOT of changes between my garden in May and my garden now. Trust me, it'll be worth the wait!