WWeek Office Cannabis Grow Week 1

This week, we mixed up some nutrient-rich soil, potted our plants and dealt with our first plant injuries

July 1, 2015 marked the legalization of recreational marijuana in Oregon. Now, everyone can legally grow up to four marijuana plants. Last year, WW had an office grow-off competition. But, this year, we are just trying to get the best yield we can out of our green girls. The four strains growing at Willamette Week World HQ this year are a Texada Timewarp, BC Pinewarp, The Purps and The Big.

You can find the previous week of our office grow here.

This week was the first real week of growing at the office, marked with making some nutrient-rich soil and discovering our first injury—a result of my amateur understanding of greenhouses.

Chris—WW's Accounting Manager and in-house cannabis grow expert—gathered up all of the ingredients for Subcool's soil recipe and showed me how it's done. We mixed up worm castings, steamed bone meal, bat shit, blood meal, rock phosphate, Epson salts and sweet lime to help boost the potential of our potting soil. We brought this mixture up to the roof and mixed it into some soil with our bare hands, because we're totally bad ass (and had no shovels in the office).

Soil_GrowWeek1 A bin of nutrient-enhanced soil waiting to be potted.

After pouring some water over our soil mixture, we let it sit until Friday and finally potted our plants.

TEX:

Texada Timewarp Texada Timewarp

Tex, our Texada Timewarp, got a bit sunburnt this week. And by a bit sunburnt, I mean the yellow, curling tips of her leaves haunt me at night like an anxious mother fretting about whether or not her frail child might be sick or not.

As Chris and I were mixing up soil on the roof (like I said, with our hands because we rock), we checked the greenhouse and realized—holy shit! It is hot as all hell in there, just absolutely cooking the baby buds. For any potential growers out there, Chris and I established that a black roof with large amounts of sun exposure isn't the best environment to grow your weed in.

Heat Damage on Texada Timewarp Heat Damage on Texada Timewarp

But, since we have already committed to the roof, the conclusion we came to was just not to leave them in the greenhouse unless the weather gets too intense. I moved the plants to the one corner of the roof that has a little bit of shade.

"Whatever temperature feels good to you as a person—around 70's—probably feels good to the plants," Chris told me.

TIM CURRY

PottedBCPQ_GrowWeek1 Potted BC Pinewarp

The three clones from Cultivated Industries are still so tiny and fragile. Don't they look just adorable in these huge pots? I named the BC Pinewarp Tim Curry, because she has a (genetic) history with time warps and fancies herself a lady.

ELLA

Potted Purps Potted Purps

I named our Purps strain Ella after Ella Fitzgerald, because the color purple makes me think of jazz, and cannabis-culture runs deep in the genre. After the sweltering heat of the greenhouse, Ella also suffered some minor singed leaves. Being so small, this is a little scary. But, I'm hoping that with a twice-a-day watering schedule and some TLC, Ella will grow up into a big, strong indica that will make you "Dream a Little Dream of Me."

CARMELLA

PottedBIG_GrowWeek1 Potted The Big

As far as I can tell at this early stage, our clone of The Big—Carmella—is doing fine. Like the rest of the plants, she suffered minor burns on the tips of her leaves from the greenhouse, but out of all of the plants, she and Tim Curry are looking the healthiest.

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