Outdoor Crow's GG at 56ºN

[Crow River]

Headed along the railway this afternoon, took paper bags and secateurs ready to chop the girls in planters. The trees have shed a lot of leaves, and there's hardly any cover left for me to hide in as I wander the tracks. Still just about enough, but less and less every visit. Plenty of evidence of freezing temperatures over recent days, bits of ice and frost in shaded areas.

The two plants in the round planter had both sustained some damage, whether it was wind, animals or frost not quite clear. Maybe a combination of all three. Not much in the way of bud development. I decided to prune these two back to a smaller size, and I took undamaged branches back to dry. Won't be vapeable, but can make some oil or something. This is the area with the least cover now, quite open. I am going to leave those girls now until spring, see if they survive. Might check in on them when prepping another planter nearby.

Two Super Kush clones in round planter


Moving east, I had planned to chop the two in the long planter as well. However I may be imagining things but I thought the buds had ripened and fattened a bit. It would make sense in a way, as this is the sunniest bit of the line now that a big tree opposite is lying on the ground in pieces. So I gave them both a trim, removing dying, damaged or yellowed leaves. I'm going to leave them now for a couple of weeks, see if they do anything.

Two Super Kush clones in long planter


Quite a bit further along the line, the first two girls planted in the ground have not changed much since last visit, maybe pistils have browned on top but that could be due to the cold. I removed tree leaves and florets that had fallen onto the plants, shored up the cages with some granite chippings, and left them to it. I'll check on them again at the end of the month.

Two Super Kush clones in granite chippings


In the next clearing, another four girls, all slightly taller and more stretched. Similar situation as the other two, maybe a bit more cola development? If anything's happening it's all rather slow. No damage detected, I removed dead tree leaves etc. and these four will also be left out for a few weeks more.

Four Super Kush clones in granite chippings


I'm in no real hurry to harvest any of the remaining plants. Seems they're all doing okay, healthy enough. I'll be interested to see what, if any development or change happens at December gets closer.

 

[Crow River]

These late girls today and yesterday have got me thinking. I will probably only chop or prune back the remaining plants if one of the following applies:

1. Buds ripen noticeably and get closer to readiness for harvest
2. Damage is visible and/or getting worse

Otherwise I reckon I'll just leave them be. See what, if anything, survives the winter. I was reading about a Scottish grower who left plants out over winter for two years running. That was also by a railway...

Two plots still to visit, the only girl that might be a concern is the Super Kush mum, as she's fairly well into flower. When I see her I'll check for any ripening or damage, might harvest but might not, depending. The Frisian Duck and CBD Critical Mass at the embankment had barely started flowering properly before the cooler temperatures hit. I may as well just leave those two out for the winter too.

If any of the girls survive into the spring and start growing again, that will obviously alter some of my plans for next year, but it's okay. Might mean a bit less work...

 

[Crow River]

Thought I would update this diary as there are some bits of news.

Visited the two Frisian Ducks a fortnight ago, and well they look dead to me. I'll let them sit it out until spring, nothing lost after all. I suspect they'll not come back from this, but we'll see...

Mum


Clone


Finally managed to head along to the railway this afternoon before sunset. I've been putting it off, as I suspected I'd just find lots of dead plants. But there was a surprise in store. Six clones have been ripped, sometime in the past month since the last visit. They were the ones planted direct in the ground, which is a bit frustrating as I wanted to see if they might survive the winter. All gone, taken up by the roots. The cages were left behind, scattered behind the planting holes, but the little slug defence rings made from plastic bottles were all taken. It's possible it was the police, maybe someone spotted them as there's no leaf cover any more. Or it was an opportunistic ripper with no tools to cut the stems. Oh well, they hadn't really produced much in the way of buds anyway. So not much lost.



I might just leave this section of railway fallow next year, come back the year after. Or maybe just do autos, harvest before the autumn. Will have a think. In the meantime I'll retrieve the cages etc. and store them.

Further along the line, the two clones in a planter look dead, possibly some signs of life closer to the roots. Interesting that they were not taken, which makes me think the plants in the ground may have still been alive when ripped. Anyway, I'll leave these now until the spring.



I'll have to reconsider my approach to the railway line next year. I was very lucky over the summer that I managed to grow and harvest so many autos and semi-autos at these locations. That good fortune has partially run out, different tactics may be required at least for the coming season.