Beautiful pink flowers
on the Blue City Diesel and capitate-stalked trichomes on the sugar leaf of the Girl Scout Cookies already!Back Episodes
Ep1 - "Got my girls in the ground" | Ep2 - "They grow up so fast" | Ep3 - "Mysterious pest damaging leaves" | Ep4 - "What have I wrought?" | Ep5 - "Invasion of the Insect Hordes" | Ep6 - "Sometimes a girl just needs some room to breathe" | Ep7 - "6' 8" tall and still growing fast" | Ep8 - "War of the Caterpillars"I have successfully trained
the tops of the Blue City Diesel over and I now have a relatively even canopy top between the BCD and the Girl Scout Cookies. It has definitely made a difference in the amount of late afternoon and evening sun that the GSC gets and she has filled out noticeably in the last few weeks.
Blue City Diesel to the left; Girl Scout Cookies to the right. Take a bow, ladies. 
Caterpillar Update: No more caterpillars :)
Last episode was all about the caterpillars. I am happy to report that since spraying Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) I have not seen a single caterpillar. And I have been looking. I was finding 2-3 a day for the week prior to spraying. I know that
is not going to be happy about this, but I plan on doing one more spray of Bt once the bit of rainy weather we are having passes and we are forecast to have a clear week.
I am optimistic...
that powder mildew and bud rot will not be as big a problem for me this year. Staying ahead of the caterpillars should make a huge difference, as nearly all of the bud rot I experienced started in caterpillar damaged areas.I have also succeeded in keeping a clear space between, underneath and behind the two plants. It may look like they are crowding up to each other and the house, but there is actually a good clear space behind them that I will be able to crawl into and stand up in and check out the buds on the interior branches from behind (which I was not able to do last year and I missed a lot of bud rot until it was too late to save the buds).
I will do an early harvest in about a month to further clear out the scraggly lower branches and the branches that stick out between the two plants toward each other - this will allow much better air circulation and will minimize leaves touching each other. Both of these things will help combat the powder mildew.
Training the BCD tops over and out has another benefit besides evening the canopy top to allow more light in to the GSC; the colas that will form on these bent-over branches are many small colas reaching up from the branch, instead of forming one huge cola as the branch would have done were it not bent over. Last year I got some huge buds that I was excited about, like this one from last harvest:
2017 Blue Widow
But, the big buds like that one actually turned out to all have rotted from the inside by the time I harvested them. :(
I am in much better shape than I was at the same time last year with three girls crowded into the same space, one of them a sprawling Sativa that took up every bit of available space between the other two.
Blue City Diesel Flowers
Many smaller colas growing upward from a trained-over branch
The same trained-over branch viewed from above
I absolutely love the pinks and violets of the stigmas (the "hairs" sticking up out of the flower, the stigma is part of the pistil - the female reproductive organ of a plant) on the BCD! On most strains the stigmas will start out white and then darken to a red or gold color as the bud matures. The BCD started out with these gorgeous colors! Matched with the dark purple of the stems and the BCD is really maturing into a gorgeous lady.
Flowers and Trichomes on the Girl Scout Cookies
The GSC was a good two weeks behind the BCD in starting to flower. But she has made up for lost time in a hurry! In fact, the largest buds on the two plants are about the same size now, and the GSC has actually already surpassed the BCD in terms of visible trichome production!
Trichomes, trichomes, wherefore art thou trichomes...
"Trichomes" are the "crystals" that potheads enthuse about :) The "resin glands" that contain all the good stuff. While it actually isn't quite true, and in fact some strains can be very potent without much visible trichome activity, in general it holds that the more bulbous trichome heads you see, the stronger the high. Capitate-stalked trichomes in particular have a "stalk" leading up to a big bulbous head that will expand as the bud matures, and eventually change color from a clear waxy color to a deep amber (signifying that the bud is ripe and ready to pick).The "sugar leaf" around the buds on the GSC is already getting frosty with capitate-stalked trichomes. It warms my heart <3
Insect Visitor - Green Bottle Fly
The episode wouldn't be complete without sharing an insect visitor. It is very difficult to capture the metallic sheen of the blues and greens across the back of a green bottle fly. I think flies have one of the most under-appreciated beauties in the world. Gorgeous!
Okay so the hairs may be a little creepy and the red eyes are freaky and... yeah so I understand why people are grossed out by flies. But seriously I think they are beautiful.
Thankful to live in a legal state!
I am thankful to live in Oregon, a state which has finally legalized marijuana for recreational use. I can legally grow up to four plants (I have two beautiful girls). I hope to see the legalization movement continue to sweep across America regardless of the current political climate.
Cheers - Carl