I thought I would take you along with me on my first grow journey as I start to come closer to the harvest of my first micro-crop. 

I'm thinking of turning this photo into my first Cannabis Christmas card...what do you think?

I kind of look like a librarian with really bad hair. These Queens are exceptionally sticky (at this point) and if I went into my little grow room without my hair severely tied back, it would be certain disaster. On a good day in the Summer, my hair resembles that of a Cajun Voodoo High Priestess' (the likes of which, have be seen well-depicted in the Disney movies: Pirates of the Caribbean, saga. As a character myself, I'm really not that far off. LOL!).  

                      

Ok, ok, back to the garden-tour. 3 plants remain from 4, that were originally kept. Number 4 was a male and I will have seeds.

I did segregated the plants once I could tell the difference between them.

The "Mister" got kicked out (very early on as soon as I could tell what female hairs should look like and what male "balls" should look like). Come on, it's not everyday that a gal gets a chance to see green balls...even with the cheater magnifying glasses that I am using, I found it hard to know what the hell I was actually looking at until I was face to face with BIG BALLS and there was no denying what they were.

What can I say?  You can look at a static picture all you want, but until you see what it really should look like in real life, my untrained eyes couldn't see the difference. (I can only hope my skills will improve over time and if anyone who may read this, has an easier way to determine cannabis plant gender, please do share.)

I did read that once these gender traits are visible you have a very small window (like 24 hours, or something crazy like that, before pollination will or can occur. So, who only knows if I got him liberated from the 3 remaining Queens in time, or not. 

At any rate, I banished him to " the outside, but didn't destroy him for a few weeks. I made this decision because I wanted to  fully inspected him in an effort to learn what a male plant does and looks like as it matures. 

Of course, this eventually led to pollination via myself as a probable pollinator, as well.

What I have learned is that cannabis plants are like mates of Velcro. The females do their best to produce sticky resin so that they can catch the pollen that the males release. The structures on the male plant, that appear to hold the grains of pollen remind me of little coral bells in their physical appearance.

I know this is sick.

Sacrilegious and maybe even repulsive to seasoned growers. (I completely understand if you never talk to me again) but I decided to let the male plant do its thing, so that I could learn from this experience.

The silver lining in all of this, is that I have preserved these genetics and now will be able to start my own seed library as a result. (So, all is not lost.)

                       

The major difference from one week to the next is that the white hairs (or Pistils) have turned orange in colour.

    

The photo on the left with all the white pistils is from week #7. The photo on the right is from week #8. (Both, of the flowering stage.) In the entire blooming cycle, these plants have been receiving 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of light. The photos were taken using a cell phone and 45 x magnification through a loop.

                      

This one still has the odd white pistil which needs to turn orange yet, but you can also see that the trichomes appear to be turning milkier with the passage of time, too.

Thanks for joining me on my micro garden-tour.

I welcome your comments and invite you to follow me on my journey.

~ Rebecca Ryan