my first grow, i wont get too deep into the soil/etc, just suffice that i grow a lot of tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, onions, greens etc and over the years built some great organic soil with i supplement continuously with my own horse-manure and fish scrap-based compost.
i am near Houston, very hot and humid. was given some pineapple punch seeds which i planted end of march, they have done very well until a 3 day heat have went a bit over what they can handle and i had a big die off of lower/interior leaves - this was right about the end of June (solstice) which is about 14 day/10 night here. i put up a sunshade as our afternoons are 95+ and this strain is supposed to like 80-90 at most. i read on here pineapple punch is supposed to be about 4.5 ft, but i had to trim several times to keep them at 6’ (for discretion) - did the last trim about the last week of July, and then they went to flowering stage about August 9 - at that time we are at 13:20 day/10:40 dark
so thats my first question - i keep hearing outdoor grows go to flower in october, supposedly when they pass the 12/12 mark - but clearly mine started as soon as they recognized a detectable change in the day/night hours. we wont reach 12/12 until sept 26.
i do little manual feeding - i use compost as mulch and they are on a drip system under the mulch. so they get very even water, and when we get rain they get fed from the rain percolating through the compost. now and then i pour some compost tea on them as well but they just look so healthy i dont want to overdo it.
once every 7-10 days i mix 2 gallons of water with 2 aspirin and alternate with neem oil and cap jacks spinosad and give them a healthy foliar spray then pour the rest around the base for a drench.
so FINALLY - should i just keep going with the same routine? how long (the ![IMG_2257|666x500]
pics are today) about till i need to flush? i figured i’d just rake all the compost away and then they get more pure water from the drip and no compost tea.
basically - i think i have done a great job on my first grow and am very nervous it could go bad if i mess up!!! i think the heat stress knocking out the inner growth was a good thing in the end - it is very humid here and we have had a wet summer and my biggest fear was mold/fungus - and still is.
what you see in the photo is 80% one really big girl, behind it is a smaller FIM test which taught me never to to that again as the topped plant is by far the best, and a smaller indica plant.
so about how long to harvest? what should i fear and guard for? i know i am not totally out of the woods, but close?
