When I began News Joint Grow Journal four years ago, more than anything, I wanted to learn about the plant while growing my own medicine. For each grow, I’ve changed or added to my process and experimented with new grow techniques, nutrients, lights, and more. I’ve tried not to shy away from documenting the good and bad, and, oh, I’ve had some bad. Case in point—and it’s hard to admit—my last two grows were my worst by far. So, here’s what happened.

Without getting into too much detail, two grows ago, aphids from outside my house invaded my tent while I was gone a few days, and the infection overwhelmed all four plants that were more than five weeks into flower. I sprayed The Amazing Doctor Zymes several applications, but it didn’t kill the yellow aphids. I switched to Lost Coast Plant Therapy, which did eliminate the aphids, but after spraying the plants several times, I decided I didn’t want sprayed flower as medicine and cut my losses. I trashed all four plants, cleaned, and started over with a few autoflowers to speed up the process.

The next grow I attempt, I ran a bag seed from a 1998 plant that a friend had grown outside. The plant from the bag seed seeded out, which seeded out the other three plants in my tent. I trashed the 1998 plant and grew out the others, but even with great genetics, the energy it took the plants to produce seeds disappointedly muted the flavor and aroma profiles. The biggest tease came when a seedless bud let me know how great the potential could have been by delivering a more flavorful hit that quickly faded away. I rolled plenty of joints with the flower, but fighting through seeds took about three days before completely frustrating me.

The worst part of these unsuccessful grows was that most of the plants (or seeds) were sponsored by breeders (and the nutrients which was sponsored by FloraFlex representative Seed Attics). I apologize to the sponsors. I offered a specific service, a good grow to showcase their genetic and nutrients, and I did not deliver. I plan to circle back to these strains (or other strains from the same breeders) in later grow journals. The strains were:

• Guava and Grapes Auto (Double Guava x Planet of the Apes) and Frosted LSD Auto (LSD x Frosted Guava) by G.O.A.T. Genetics
• Pink Drink (Cappuccino x FPOG Sours) by Golden Ratio Seed Co.
• Squirt (Blueberry Muffin x Tangie) by Humboldt Seed Company
• Frosted Watermelon Auto (Wautomelon x Frosted Zin Auto) by Mosca Seeds
• Sour Orange (Clementine x Orange Sherbet x Tangie) by Supernatural Seeds
• Biscauto (Biscotti photo x Dark Nose Candy) by Twenty20 Mendocino

I’d admit, I fleetingly thought about quitting growing, or at least taking a long break, but if I don’t grow the medicine I prefer, I won’t have it. After chopping the seeded plants, I thoroughly cleaned out the tent and started the next batch (spoiler alert: best batch I’ve grown). The next four included:

• Sour Orange (Clementine x Orange Sherbet x Tangie) by Supernatural Seeds
• Tangie (California Orange x Skunk #1) by DNA Genetics
• Icy Grape (Purple Skittles x 1996 Black Domina) by Copa Genetics
• Blue Dream (Blueberry x Haze) by Colorado Seed Inc.

I am looking forward to my next News Joint Grow Journal entries more than any other journal I’ve put together so far. Not only because of the successful grow but also because I will be announcing a collaboration with Cannatrol that incorporated a new technology in my grow, which proved to be the best grow adaptation to my grow space and final product I have made during my four years of grow journals. It has been a complete gamechanger. Stay tuned.

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