Weed it and reap: My first Dinafem garden grow

[Dinafem-Mark]

@PermanentWaves I didn't know you were a beekeeper mate is the technical term an "apiarist"?

 

That's super cool buddy, if you ever get the chance and want to put a few shots up of the bees and honey I would love to see

 

I have herd of some beekeepers using cannabis as pollen for the bees, would this then transfer into the honey produced? 

 

Sorry about the questions mate just very interested 

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

[PermanentWaves]

Hi, @Dinafem-Mark. Hope you’re well. Actually, it’s my husband who is the beekeeper - I’m just his glamorous assistant (as if)! This is our first proper year of beekeeping so extracting the honey at the weekend was really exciting, albeit bloody sticky and messy and a bit of a faff. But we ended up with 4 litres of honey, and we still have some frames left in the hive. That’s 10 jars worth (would have been 11, but unfortunately my son dropped the first jar). I am biased but it’s bloody lovely! I get hay fever so I’m hoping by consuming huge quantities of it, I’ll become immune to all the local pollen.

 

As for the plants, bees aren’t generally attracted to cannabis as it doesn’t produce nectar. I’ve read they have fed on the pollen of the males plants as a last resort, but it’s not a plant they will hunt out. If they do feed on the pollen, some of that pollen must make it’s way into the honey. I don’t know whether it would affect the flavour. Last year, I didn’t see any bees on my plants. The only thing it attracted in great numbers was the blue bottle - I think that was because my plants stank of rotten fruit.

 

I’ll try to get some shots of the little buzzers and their lovely produce (if we haven’t eaten it all by then!) 

[Dinafem-Mark]

20 minutes ago, PermanentWaves said:

I’ll try to get some shots of the little buzzers and their lovely produce (if we haven’t eaten it all by then!) 

 

I would love to see the bees mate

 

What a cool hobby 

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

[PermanentWaves]

Here’s a shot of one of our first-ever pots of honey, @Dinafem-Mark. Have to say it tastes divine. And also a shot of our hives. I couldn’t get too close, unfortunately. The bees are very busy at the moment and I got stung in the face last week, so I’m keeping my distance. We’ve still got some frames of honey to remove so hopefully we’ll have some more jars to fill soon. Honey on toast and a sneaky vape is the perfect way to start the day .

 

[PermanentWaves]

Anyway, enough about the bees and on to my other hobby - horticulture of the illegal kind 

 

It’s been a mixed weather week here - cloudy and dull to start and then some lovely weather to end it. The girls have been out in the garden as much as possible and still on a mainly water diet with a bit of fish mix every three days or so.

 

I’ve topped both plants. I’ll probably only do this once - if I manage to harvest them there will be more than enough buds to keep me going. The other reason is to hopefully keep them a bit shorter, but my Sweet Deep Grapefruit has other ideas. This girl is something of an Amazonian. She’s only five weeks old and 18 inches high. Looking at my diary last year, my tallest plant (a Mellow AK) was 10 inches at five weeks, so this Grapefruit is really going for it. The Mellow AK ended up over 6ft high, but she was sativa-dominant, so hopefully the SDG’s indica dominance will keep her down.

 

So here’s the SDG at five weeks:

 

 

The Ocean Grown Cookie is also stretching nicely, although she is four inches shorter than her cousin - unbelievable for two plants the same age. Perhaps she’ll be more Jimmy Krankie to the SDG’s Ser Brienne of Tarth!

 

 

Looking to this week, seems a mixed bag of weather - cooler, sunshine and showers, so they may end up staying in the greenhouse if it gets miserable. Hope you all have a good week xx

 

[Dinafem-Mark]

On 02/06/2019 at 7:17 PM, PermanentWaves said:

Here’s a shot of one of our first-ever pots of honey, @Dinafem-Mark. Have to say it tastes divine. And also a shot of our hives. I couldn’t get too close, unfortunately. The bees are very busy at the moment and I got stung in the face last week, so I’m keeping my distance. We’ve still got some frames of honey to remove so hopefully we’ll have some more jars to fill soon. Honey on toast and a sneaky vape is the perfect way to start the day .

 

 

 

Forget the plants this looks amazing 

 

Such a cool hobby

 

Thanks for sharing and enjoy that fine looking honey 

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

[PermanentWaves]

Morning, everyone. What a miserable old week it’s been. I think we’ve had two days of sunshine in this part of East Anglia and it’s been grey, windy, cold and wet the rest of the week. The girls have been sheltering in the greenhouse for most of the week, but fortunately the sun’s out today so managed to get some snaps.

 

Not much to report - we’re in the vegging stage so it’s always fascinating to see how much they grow week by week. It hasn’t been great, light-wise, this week and we’ve had four inches of growth for both girls.

 

The Sweet Deep Grapefruit has reached 22 inches. She’s my tallest plant and has the most enormous fan leaves - they’re massive. Being outside they get hammered by all sorts of creepy crawlies, but so far they are still looking nice and healthy. The portrait mode on the first photo makes it look as if it’s about four inches high!

 

 

The Ocean Grown Cookie has also grown four inches and is now 18 inches tall. Both girls are on plain water and a bit of fish mix two or three times a week. They’re already stinky!

 

 

This coming week doesn’t look great again for weather so they will probably shelter in the greenhouse when it gets bad. It’s still pretty warm in there, even when the sun’s not out.

 

Anyway, hope all you outdoor growers don’t get too much bad weather this week. Sunshine and showers will be ideal. Have a good week, y’all xx

 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2019 by PermanentWaves
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[Dinafem-Mark]

@PermanentWaves Considering the dire weather your still getting some decent growth mate

 

I'm hoping the weather picks up this year

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

[PermanentWaves]

Hi, everyone - hope you’re all ok and hopefully dried out. It’s rained every day here for over a week - weather most foul!

 

My girls have been in the greenhouse all week, apart from a short spell in the sun for about two hours and then they got caught in a huge downpour which almost flattened them. Thankfully they’re ok, although looking a little shell-shocked.

 

The light here has been awful this week - so dark with all the rain clouds. I didn’t think I’d see much growth on the girls, but they seem to have other ideas.

 

The Sweet Deep Grapefruit has loved being under the glass this week. Incredibly she’s grown six inches - that’s more than when she was sunning herself in the garden. She obviously loves hothouse conditions.

 

 

The Ocean Grown Cookie is pacing herself and sticking to the usual four inches of growth this week.

 

 

The Cookie girl has got lovely leaves, though. Both plants stink already and they’re still on rainwater and fish mix.

 

The weather looks slightly better this week, although still lots of rain about. We need to see that flaming orb in the sky this week, keeping those darn slugs and snails away.

 

Hope you all have a good week! xx

Edited June 16, 2019 by PermanentWaves
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[Kipper420]

Looking super @PermanentWaves

 

Can I ask about the fishmix please ? How much are you using ? how often ? Thanks

Similar style of grow to me. love it.

[PermanentWaves]

Hi @Kipper420. At the moment I’m just using between 1-2ml a couple of times a week in about a litre of water. When they get a bit bigger, this might increase to between 2-4ml, depending on how hungry they are. I tend to look at the plants to see what they need, rather than force-feeding them. I don’t really have a set routine around feeding. When they flower, I add a bit of the BioBloom into the water as well, but that’s it. I like to keep it as simple as poss 

[Kipper420]

Thanks I'll make a note. @PermanentWaves

[Dinafem-Mark]

On 16/06/2019 at 9:17 PM, PermanentWaves said:

My girls have been in the greenhouse all week, apart from a short spell in the sun for about two hours and then they got caught in a huge downpour which almost flattened them. Thankfully they’re ok, although looking a little shell-shocked.

 

It's been the best place for the ladies this week mate. Dire weather to say the least. With that said they really do look to be loving "greenhouse" life especially the Sweet Deep Grapefruit

 

Even though you've had less growth from Ocean Grown Cookies she's still growing and developing really well 

 

Nice update mate, thank you

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

[Moobman]

Superb looking plants

[PermanentWaves]

Afternoon, fellow Herbologists. Hope you are all well. It’s a warm and sticky one in these parts by the looks of it this week. Thank goodness. We could do with some warmth to get our herbs going. Despite the iffy weather recently, bug life is rife. It seems a lot worse this year. My poor girls are getting hammered by all sorts - it’s very annoying.

 

Despite being the main course of a bug’s lunch, the Sweet Deep Grapefruit and Ocean Grown Cookie are vegging away nicely. They’ve both had a good growth spurt this week.

 

The Grapefruit has grown 7 inches since last Sunday, which is the most so far. She’s now 35 inches tall at 8 weeks.

 

 

The Cookie has also grown a bit more this week - 6 inches. She’s now 28 inches at 8 weeks. She’s a bit bushier and squatter than her cousin.

 

 

Both plants have really strong stems. I haven’t had to prop them up with cane sticks this year - yet! I guess that might change when they start flowering and get heavier. Both are still on fish mix and water when needed. I’ve found that sitting them in a watering tray for 10-15 minutes is a better way of watering for felt pots. As soon as the pots gets really light, it’s time for another water.

 

So that’s about it for another week. It’ll be nice being able to leave them outside in the sun this week. Now we’ve passed the longest day, the countdown is on for flowering time.

 

Till next week, everyone xx