Sunday, September 18, 2022
I'm a better catnip gardener than I am a cannabis gardener.
Growing cannabis outdoors in New York is not easy, no it is not.
The plant containers began their life as newly purchased black Rubbermaid Roughneck 31 gallon storage totes.
I drilled holes in the bottoms and sides, gave the exterior a couple of coats of the cheapest white paint I could find, bought a shovel and a tarp, and filled the containers with a soilless "Coot's" mix.
They're sitting on what used to be the back of an Ikea futon.
I put some straw mulch on top and scattered some seeds of white clover, German chamomile, lemon balm, and catnip.
Meanwhile, I got some seedlings going indoors. Two of them are Durban Poison and one is Master Kush.
You can't just put an indoor plant outside. The sunlight will kill it. Instead, you take the plants outside for a short time each day, gradually increasing their exposure to full sun.
After doing this for a while, I transplanted two of the young plants into the totes. I don't remember which strain was which.
A coworker recommended that I give the young plants some shelter from the noon sun, so I found some light metal polls on garbage day, and used them to prop up the tote lids as little roofs.
On a windy day I noticed that one of the plants was being blown around to the extent that the roots were moving. Anchoring the middle of the stem to the roof supports helped limit the wobble.
At this point the plants were well established and began to thrive.
I chopped off the top portion of each plant in order to promote more lateral growth. This increases yield for indoor plants, and may increase yield or discourage mold for outdoor plants.
There was quite a growth response.
That week I noticed that a weed that had been growing alongside each plant since the start began to take over. In an act of anticompetitive crony favoritism, I pulled the weeds out at the roots.
After a particularly windy day, I noticed that the left plant had suffered a stem injury. Not long after, the plant took a turn for the worst, and within a few days it was dead.
How quickly things can go south.
Then, less than a month after the first plant died, we go a spat of heavy rains, and so went the second plant.
At least the catnip is thriving.
My best guess at the problem these plants faced is inadequate drainage of the growing medium. The mix is approximately 1/3 perlite by volume, but perhaps after a heavy rain even that is not enough to keep the roots from rotting.
I could remix the medium for next season, as I am now the proud owner of four cubic feet of vermiculite. However, that would mean that I throw away an entire season's worth of soil development. The growing medium is now full of roots and fungi and life, and is covered by a thick mold-crusted layer of straw mulch and fallen cannabis.
On the other hand, leaving the totes as is risks next season's plants meeting the same fate. I have all Autumn and Winter to think it over.
In the mean time, the third plant has been surviving indoors. It's a Durban Poison, and sure stinks up the place.
