Starting to Flower

While I have kept up with the pictures on Facebook, it has been a struggle to post here.  My last post was 9/25 and a LOT has happened with the plants since then.  I had trouble with one of the plants early on, under-watering I believe.  Apparently some strains require more frequent watering.  I transplanted her and put her on a stricter schedule and she seems to be recovering okay.  I have another plant that I am fairly certain is dying.  BUT, out of 5 plants total, at least 2 are doing well, and on Sunday, I switched them to flower.  From what I have read, plants can "veg" for 2-6 weeks (or longer).  Mine vegged for 5 weeks and the weaker ones are still vegging.  But I changed the light schedule for the two that looked to be doing the best, and they seem to be doing okay so far. 

In veg, you leave your lights on all the time, or cycle 18 hours of light, 6 hours of dark, or some variation of that.  In flower, the lights are off for 12 hours and this mimics natural daylight and darkness that plants need to do their thing.

So, once plants begin to flower, it takes anywhere be 7-12 weeks for them to finish, depending on the strain.  Now is the time I also start looking to determine if my plants are male or female.  I'm honestly hoping the two in flower are female so that I have some bud at the end instead of just seeds.  I may literally be able to tell any day, as they have been in flower for almost a week now.  Right around/after Christmas, if all goes well, I might actually have my medicine fully grown.

Sadly, once I harvest, there is still at least another month before I can use it.  Drying cannabis and curing it can make or break a harvest, from everything I have read.  So, even though you have to wait even longer, in the end, if your medicine is better, then it is worth it, right?

They Started Growing!

I'm not gonna lie.  I really didn't believe I could make my seeds do anything.  I have read about so many different ways to germinate seeds.  Some of them are as simple as putting seeds in moist paper towel for a few days, and some are extremely complicated.  I chose to use the humidity dome, and when I checked on my plants after 24 hours (on Monday), nothing.  No change.  At all.  I wasn't worried, but I still didn't believe that anything would happen, especially after a message from my seed guy indicated a terribly long list of confusing things he suggested doing to germinate.  After all, they were his seeds, so he would be an expert.  I figured if there was no change by today, I would try his complex way.

But yesterday, I opened the tent to look at them and was SHOCKED to find that 5 of the 8 seeds I started with had tap roots coming off of them.  I was like a little kid at Christmas!

This morning, I decided to check on them again and found that one of the CBD seeds that hadn't started yesterday now has a tap root and both of my OG '18 have tap roots now, so it looks like only one of my CBD seeds is still chugging along trying to pop.  Also, the tap roots from yesterday are bigger now, and there is a leaf on one of the OG '18 plants!  I think one of the Romulan (or both) have some growth as well, but it appears to be happening underneath the tap root, so I can't tell for sure what is happening there. 

I decided that growing a literal weed is really the right kind of plant for me.  I am so impatient and I hate when I can't see results.  But cannabis is a weed, and being able to see changes even weekly will be right up my alley!  I've also received some encouragement from friends who have grown before and so my anxiety about not being able to do it has gone down and I decided to just keep charging ahead and will try to do so without constantly second-guessing myself.

Just Jumping In

Due to a miscommunication, I got a later start on germinating my seeds than I wanted or intended.  I really thought there was more that needed to happen in my grow area, but my husband explained that what I am waiting for still has nothing to do with whether or not I can start my first grow.

So, today was the day.  Feeling scared and nervous, I dropped 8 seeds into some sort of soil-like substance, that sits in Styrofoam and floats in water.  It is supposed to help the seeds pop and sprout, so that I can move them to their "homes" for the remainder of the growth cycle.  To be honest, I have no clue if it will work.  I went to a hydroponics store today to get a humidity dome and these little pod things the seeds go in (at least, I think that is what is supposed to happen).  There are so many articles and videos out there that tell me how to germinate, but it was really intimidating to just start.

Next Steps

At the end of May, a friend of mine who knew my struggles, gave me a small jar of coconut oil that had been infused with cannabis.  My initial experiments surrounded food, as I was told this would be a good "edible" option for me.  What I discovered initially is that in addition to the SMELL of cannabis, I also hate the TASTE.  Why is it so gross???????  Every now and then, I could maybe tolerate the full on taste of it, but in trying to see if I could get longer-term relief, I knew I needed to find a way to consume it so that I didn't have to taste it.  That's when my friend and I thought, "Veggie capsules!"  I took 1/2 tsp of the oil (I had previously been trying 1/4 tsp in my food and wasn't getting any relief), melted it, then put it into some veggie capsules.  I wasn't really expecting anything to happen.  Honestly, I have tried so many different medications and courses of treatment, I didn't think it would be any different.

A New Direction

I am three months in to taking control of my health. I have been thinking about writing about this for a month. The more overwhelmed I get with information, the more I think, "I really need to write about this."

Today is the day I begin. I could write multiple posts leading up to how I got to where I am today, sitting here in my zero gravity recliner, unable to function in the manner I want, but I will try to keep this somewhat brief (as brief as I am capable of being!).