Let's Find a Mother! Hiking Through a Field of Mary Jane

[mcloadie]

ah ok, I misunderstood. In my thread you kept saying "rock", so I assumed you meant lava rock. I went back to the beginning of your journal and see the hydroton. My bad! Well, now you have me doing on this research on lava rock, and I'm thinking about trying it out anyway The thing I don't like about it is the sharp edges will cut roots... so that's what I'm afraid of.

It won't hurt the roots bro, a lot of folks use it..........combined with soil or by itself with hydro.

 

[Hiker]

I've looked at some of that rock too Capn. I don't think it will hurt the roots. The rocks aren't moving.

I've also been interested the 'rock' they are making out of recycled glass. It sounds like it has some nice properties for growing, but it's spendy.

 

[fish cake]

A fine weednesday to you Hikester Alovertheplaceousses

 

[jlt1202]

I've looked at some of that rock too Capn. I don't think it will hurt the roots. The rocks aren't moving.

I've also been interested the 'rock' they are making out of recycled glass. It sounds like it has some nice properties for growing, but it's spendy.

lol love how recycled material can be more expencive then the fabricated soil lol

 

[TheCapn]

i had some of that recycled glass in my hands today. wow is feels so sharp. I would like to find a SOFT medium that I can top feed every hour. Eh, I'm in no hurry, what I have now is working

BTW, you said you were growing some AK48 outdoors. Is this the nirvana AK48? I have some ak48 outdoors and it's about 1/2 as tall as my ace of spades.

 

[fish cake]

Happy Frieday Hikester Alloverthepacesousses

 

[Hiker]

i had some of that recycled glass in my hands today. wow is feels so sharp. I would like to find a SOFT medium that I can top feed every hour. Eh, I'm in no hurry, what I have now is working

BTW, you said you were growing some AK48 outdoors. Is this the nirvana AK48? I have some ak48 outdoors and it's about 1/2 as tall as my ace of spades.

Yep. That's the one. I have 2 of them outside. Each is a different pheno. I also have one Blueberry, on White Widow, and 2 Apollo13 x Vortex, also 2 different phenos.

I was gonna put up some pics I took yesterday, but my phone is dead.

The AK48s are probably the largest, but they might have the best spot and been planted the best. These 6 plants are not a well thought out experiment. I had 6 duplicate mothers, so I was gonna get rid of them anyway. Seemed like I had nothing to loose by putting them outside. Of course, now I'm sorta obsessing over them. They get water almost everyday since it got hot. So I am loosing some time and energy, but the dogs are getting lots of walks and I put them in a pretty little forest to hike in, so I guess I'm gaining just form visiting them. I actually hold very little hope of gaining anything other then knowledge from this. If I get any buds, that will be great, but I'm not at all counting on it.

 

[BigIrishDoode]

lol love how recycled material can be more expencive then the fabricated soil lol

That reminds me of how food at the grocery store is, you pay more for unsalted top saltines, no added sugar Ice cream, they save tons of something by not adding it but charge more I guess because it's a "speciality" item total bs

Yep. That's the one. I have 2 of them outside. Each is a different pheno. I also have one Blueberry, on White Widow, and 2 Apollo13 x Vortex, also 2 different phenos.

I was gonna put up some pics I took yesterday, but my phone is dead.

The AK48s are probably the largest, but they might have the best spot and been planted the best. These 6 plants are not a well thought out experiment. I had 6 duplicate mothers, so I was gonna get rid of them anyway. Seemed like I had nothing to loose by putting them outside. Of course, now I'm sorta obsessing over them. They get water almost everyday since it got hot. So I am loosing some time and energy, but the dogs are getting lots of walks and I put them in a pretty little forest to hike in, so I guess I'm gaining just form visiting them. I actually hold very little hope of gaining anything other then knowledge from this. If I get any buds, that will be great, but I'm not at all counting on it.

I do that sometimes go unload some clones or seeds check it care for it and end up leaving it to whom or whatever lol!
Funny I have a big bag of hydroton 3/4 full I don't really use I top some of my plants with it but I wash & reuse it, be a collectors item someday maybe lol

 

[Hiker]

I've worked 20 hours straight now, and probably another 50 since Thursday.

Sorry my family. I just don't have the time to post pictures, let alone catch up your journals! I do want to know what's going on, but this week is the annual convention for my company's industry. I'm swamped. I'm taking a 15 minute break to let everyone know why you won't be seeing much of me.

There is a LOT of work to do in the basement in the next 2 weeks. Even when work lets up (in a couple days I hope), I'll be busy doing that. I have a deadline to get the basement construction done. Harvest! Without checking my notebook, I think this is week 7ish of flower, so I'm 2 week out. The room will probably run for 3 more weeks to let my longer running strains finish up. I have been and will keep taking pictures, but you're all gonna get a big blast at once. Sorry

The construction involves finishing sealing up the rest of the flowering area. This involves a couple non-growing related items as well, so I'm going to have to push to get this done in only 2 weeks. I think I will take a few days off work when everyone else gets back (I'm one of only 2 employees that didn't go).

Anyway, Once it's all sealed up, my flowering area will expand from ~5.5' x 10' to ~19' x 11'
I can't light it all yet, but I'll be able to use more space than I am now. This run I've used 2 of my 750W HPS on a mover. I think it's moving too far (~5-6') though. I'm going to put the third light back on, and then move all 3 about 1 reflector width. I haven't done any math to figure out how much space I'll actually be using. I'll set everything up in one corner of the large flowering area. I'm hoping the larger space will give me a "buffer" for my environment. I was concerned if my equipment would be able to handle the larger space, but they were a little larger than I needed in the current space, and the new space will not have more heat or plants than the old space. Everything will just have more room to breath. I'm also hoping I can get a mini split installed out of this harvest, but I have to wait for the CFO's report.

I gotta get back to this code.

 

[shottafire]

I hope everything rolls along smoothly for ya bro.

That sounds like a lot of work but when its done you almost always feel satisfied.

cheers to a good week or weeks ahead. good luck hiker

 

[Xlr8]

Whassup Hiker?!

You sound busier than a one-armed paper hanger.

Sounds like some nice upgrades to the flower space! Hope you are well my friend -

X

 

[Hiker]

Work has not let up much, so still pretty busy. I've been trying to finish sealing the ceiling of the basement in the veg area before I start harvesting. I will have to halt any construction during cure as I can't be making dust. Harvest probably should have started this weekend, but I'm not ready yet.

And on top of work and the garden, I'm trying to get a fence up around my backyard. The asshole neighbor called the cops again this weekend, WHILE we were putting up the goddam fence!! wtf is wrong with that guy? my smaller dog had gotten out without our knowledge and wandered into the alley (he is diagonal across the alley from me) and was barking at one of his kids. He told them she bit him. Anyway, cop pretty much agreed he was a dick and liked that I was already recognizing and dealing with the problem. He said, "I wish we had more people like you." Kinda cool to hear that from a cop, but still don't need cops here! I planned to start trimming this weekend, but my basement construction time was usurped by fence time!

I've been trying out my jewleler's loupe to try and see these cloudy and amber trichomes I've always heard about. I found them. There are some amber, but not a lot and only on a few plants. They can go a few more days. I am supposed to have this Thursday and Friday off, so the plan is to do a 4 day marathon trim. Of course I was supposed to be off last Friday and ended up working until 11AM after working ALL night Thursday trying to get stuff out.

Anyway, I'm waiting on an update to run and wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know I'm not dead.

I'll take lots of bud porn pics during harvest. I'm still planning to wash the harvest, so I'll take a few pics of my process for that.

I apologize to everyone who's journals I'm not going to catch up on. I just can't do it right now. After the 1st of the year, ie Feb, my work will let up a bit. I hope!

 

[fish cake]

Happy Weednesday Hikerous allovertheplacesous
can't wait to see the harvest pics and I hope they give you the time from work to do it

 

[TheCapn]

Admit it, you bribed the COP with a little pre-harvest sample. ha ha ha!

Looking fwd to seeing the harvest.

 

[ronnie6690]

can't wait to see the harvest pics sounds like we've all been pretty busy. temps have been soaring to 105f here in so cal , so being an a/c tech I've been working my butt off. cant wait for summer to be over. new system is running like a top so when you get time I would love for you to pop over to check it out.

 

[Hiker]

Happy Weednesday Hikerous allovertheplacesous
can't wait to see the harvest pics and I hope they give you the time from work to do it

Thanks Mr Fishington

No harvest yet. We're starting tonight. The delay was partially due to my schedule, but I've been watching trichs. They aren't "late", so they aren't being hurt by going an extra few days.

Admit it, you bribed the COP with a little pre-harvest sample. ha ha ha!

Looking fwd to seeing the harvest.

LOL I have plenty left from the previous harvest.

Harvest starts at light on tonight!

can't wait to see the harvest pics sounds like we've all been pretty busy. temps have been soaring to 105f here in so cal , so being an a/c tech I've been working my butt off. cant wait for summer to be over. new system is running like a top so when you get time I would love for you to pop over to check it out.

I'm gonna come check out your system now! Might take all day to get catch up, but I do want to see how that new system is working for you!


Work has let up some. I was able to take a couple days off to work on my fence. It's almost all up, but I'm still waiting on the drive gate to be built. I also used 2 different line posts due to issues getting them initially, so now I'm waiting for the right eye caps for some of the poles. I at least have all the fence up in the direction of the asshole neighbor.

I've gotten all the insulation, plastic and plywood up on the first side of the basement, and almost all the drywall. The veg/mothers area is done, so I can at least move the mothers back. I needed to get at least this far before I could start harvesting. As soon as the harvest is in the jars, I can start the next phase of construction... the expansion of the flowering area!


The outdoor girls are not doing great. They got dry a couple times, so they lost a lot of bottom leaves. They are also showing some signs of deficiencies, but it's not symptoms I'm familiar with. I'm suspecting it's a couple things at the same time. I'm going to start feeding with some bloom nutes. They have been eating the Osmocote I added last month, but I probably didn't give them enough. I didn't want to give too much since it's a time release, so I think I was successful in not burning them, but they are probably hungry too. I'm still enjoying the outdoor experiment, but it's difficult when I have to drive to them and then hike in for a mile. I'm not complaining, it just makes it difficult to make the time for it. I'd MUCH rather have some outdoor plants in my backyard. Next year, I might try 1 or 2 hidden in my veggie garden.

Pics coming in the next week!

 

[Hiker]

OMG! Can it be?!?!

Hiker is posting pictures!

Not a big post though. Been trimming for 5 days now. Hoping to be done tomorrow or the next day. Anyway, I promised pics for a long time now, so I wanted to give everyone something!

Here is the garden before starting harvest. The pic doesn't really show how badly they are falling over on themselves in the middle. I didn't have enough air movement in the space (both oscillating fans stopped moving within a few days of each other), so the stems were not strong. I tied them up, but the buds were just too big.

Here is the harvest drying. This is ~60-70% of the total harvest I think.

We're generating more trim on top of the 3 turkey bags full I still have from the first harvest. I finally ordered some extraction bags. We have friends that live up closer to the border that I found out recently grow a few plants for personal, so I finally told someone local(ish) that I'm growing. They told us that everyone up here grows there own (at least up in their area), but that nobody did hash. I just think that's terrible and feel bad for the patients that can't find quality hash, so I'm going to help.

I haven't really taken a lot of individual plant pics because they are falling over themselves so bad. I've been taking some pics of the branches while we trim, but my cell phone isn't really capturing the detail well. If I get some good ones, I'll share those, but don't expect tons of pretty plant pics cause there aren't any

I will say that I'm giving up on my White Widow. The strain has not done well either time, so I may even cull the mother (and I have a father). She made HUGE buds, if the not the largest, close, but I found some rot inside one of the biggest buds. It was caused by an old shade leaf that was decaying buried inside the bud. This just reaffirmed my dislike of giant buds. There are more crystals on the outer surface then buried inside the flowers, so more smaller buds will contain more trichomes than one large bud. That alone should be enough to steer people away from trying to grow the giant colas, but when you throw the risk of rot on top, it isn't worth it to me.

Anyway, the search for the mother is progressing. My goal is to only run 2 strains this next round. I've put myself behind schedule by not taking any clones yet. I was waiting to see the results to help me decide which strain to focus on. The Blueberry plants really did well this round. They make wonderfully frosty dense nugs that smell amazing. The one female I got really demonstrates the blueberry scent she is named after. Right now, I'm planning to run Blueberry, and one other strain. I'm leaning towards one of the TGA Apollo 13 x Vortex moms, but I'm undecided about which one. They all are similar, but they are also unique in their own ways. I'm pretty sure I know which one I'm keeping. All the mothers I decide to not keep will get flowered out with this next batch.

Hope you guys appreciate the pics. I ended up writing more than I planned, but I'm not surprised. Work let up slightly, but harvest has really kept me hoping. I've averaged 4 hours of sleep for most of a week now.

I've been experimenting with washing the buds too, so I'll post some pictures about that after I have my buds curing in their jars.

 

[TheCapn]

hiker I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to harvest! ha ha

I give this grow a score of 10! And that picture of the hanging branches is amazing. You should get the "harvest OTM" prize. Congrats, I know you worked hard on this one.

+1 on the risky large colas. I've flowered out 3 different TGA strains and the buds are smaller but plentiful and not one sign of mold.

 

[Hiker]

thanks Capn. Just finished up night 6 of trimming. It will be 2 more nights to finish

I just looked at the picture and realize there is no scale. That span is 8 feet, and the longest branches are probably ~20 inches.

Anyway... 29 down, 6 to go.

 

[KingJohnC]

congratulations on your harvest!