Hi Y'all, I am both a new patient and a new grower. I am somewhere around halfway through bud on my first crop. I will carry this journal on through the harvest and cure of the next crop, as this one was just a rough and ready tutorial for me. I will have Better info on my strains for next crop, more on why further in.
I am growing in a mix of FoxFarm Ocean and worm castings mixed with mushroom and organic potting soil (can't remember brand). I started with five mothers gifted to me; 1 Jack Herer, 1 Dairy queen, 2 White Widow and 1 sour Diesel (Not for sure but I think the Diesel was a cross with something else from the taste, appearance, smell and high). I was also given 3 SD clones, 1 JH clone, and 2 WW clones. These were from my Son, who was given them by a grower who had lost his patient, and didn't need them anymore.
I built my 7' L X 4' w X 6' H grow room in my shed, using 1 1/2" sheets of foam insulation board with the shiny side in, and the first weekend in June my son brought me the plants, and some lights and hoods. We went shopping for the rest of what I needed. When he brought the plants, the were all in Dixie cups. I bought square 1.5 gal pots for the mothers and round 3.5 gal ones for the crop.
We ran the Veg with two 27? CFL's and one 400 watt. I fed every other watering with FoxFarm Grow Big, and and used a Root Support single feeding with something that my Son had with him when I did the Transplant. About one month in to Veg I got a bad case of White Powder mold, and had a heck of a time getting Rid of it. The Local Grow Store Turned me on to an organic Foliage Spray that worked after a month of spraying every third day or so.
It was so bad that my plants were beginning to die by the time I found that spray, and it was a close call to save them. I know now what to look for, and just how important humidity and airflow control is. My ignorance almost cost me my first crop right then. I did lose one WW mother.
Finally, I got them nice and healthy again. Then, around the end of Sept., just when I was ready to begin adjusting the light schedule for bud, I came out one morning, and most of the leaves were completely yellow. Figuring it was nut lock, I flushed with 15 gal for each of the crop, and 12 gal for each of the mothers. I had to wait for the plants to recover and refoliate before I could put them into bud, and the mothers never did get as healthy as I would have liked.
I was actively bending and twist-tieing down my tops as the plants grew, so between the 10 plants I have somewhere around 45 tops.
Because I had lost all of the lower branches on all of the plants, and they had been so stressed that I wanted to begin with new mothers, I decided just to buy seeds after harvest and begin fresh, so I put them all into bud 4 weeks ago today. I am using all of the lights that I did for veg, and added a 1000 watt MH to HPS conversion bulb with a switchable ballast. Right now, four weeks since beginning the light transition, I have trimmed away almost all the Fan leaves, down to the bottom couple inches of canopy, and everything looks very healthy. I am feeding FoxFarm Big Bloom 2 out of 4 waterings, and Grow big on 1 out of 4 waterings. I have good buds forming throughout a 12 - 16" canopy, and the top several inches are forming into nice kolas. They are all crystally, and I have a plethora of clear triclomes.
Yesterday AM I took an early sample bud from the smaller JH. It was a small one from about halfway through the canopy on a smaller side stalk. I left in on top of the HPS hood loosely folded in a paper towel, and after about three hours it was fairly dry. I burped it Three times for about 20 minutes each over the next 24 hours. It was a nice, pretty dense bud just big enough for a small bowl. I put it in my pipe about an hour ago.
Toke Report: Pipe was a seasoned but freshly cleaned antler pocket pipe with a preburned clean screen. Rather harsh grassy taste, what I expected with a rushed sample dry and half baked (pun intended) cure. The smoke was rather mild on the throat and lungs though, and had a smooth exhale. I was prepared to not notice much of an effect at all, as this was such an early sample, and taken more out of impatience than thinking I should test for readiness. I was pleasantly surprised to notice a mild onset of a gentle cerebral high by the time I was ready for my second hit. Two hits was enough for the time being, as I wanted to feel the effect by the toke. Within ten minutes, I was beginning to feel a slight relaxing body effect. It was mild, and felt very good. Pain levels went down by about one and a half points on the one to ten scale. After thirty minutes from the second hit I took a third, and the cerebral high got a little more intense, a little buzzy, but still able to think clearly and function.
I really can't wait to smoke this as a mature well cured medicine! I have bought a lot of medicine from dispensaries that was not this good, and this is halfway through bud and rush dried!
I am going to borrow a friends camera to take some good pictures, but it's not so important till I begin building the rooms for the permanent set up.
I have two people who are signing me up as their caretaker/grower, so next harvest will be around 18 plants. the plan is to get 48 clones and take the first 18 into bud at 6 weeks, and the rest when the first ones are harvested. I will need a fourth card to grow for by then, but I have the room, and know I can give them good medicine for less than dispensary prices.
The next set up will be in the attic. I have an old house with a large enough attic to put in a whole second floor. I will do two 12 x 12 rooms for veg, and one 12 x 16 room for flower. I should have enough room up there for a trimming area, supply storage area, work table, and drying room. So far I have most of the area floored, and will be putting in the walls before I have this grow cured. Then I'll move the lights and all that when I start the clones.
I will post again in a few days, with a pic of the current plants in bud.
Sage.
I am growing in a mix of FoxFarm Ocean and worm castings mixed with mushroom and organic potting soil (can't remember brand). I started with five mothers gifted to me; 1 Jack Herer, 1 Dairy queen, 2 White Widow and 1 sour Diesel (Not for sure but I think the Diesel was a cross with something else from the taste, appearance, smell and high). I was also given 3 SD clones, 1 JH clone, and 2 WW clones. These were from my Son, who was given them by a grower who had lost his patient, and didn't need them anymore.
I built my 7' L X 4' w X 6' H grow room in my shed, using 1 1/2" sheets of foam insulation board with the shiny side in, and the first weekend in June my son brought me the plants, and some lights and hoods. We went shopping for the rest of what I needed. When he brought the plants, the were all in Dixie cups. I bought square 1.5 gal pots for the mothers and round 3.5 gal ones for the crop.
We ran the Veg with two 27? CFL's and one 400 watt. I fed every other watering with FoxFarm Grow Big, and and used a Root Support single feeding with something that my Son had with him when I did the Transplant. About one month in to Veg I got a bad case of White Powder mold, and had a heck of a time getting Rid of it. The Local Grow Store Turned me on to an organic Foliage Spray that worked after a month of spraying every third day or so.
It was so bad that my plants were beginning to die by the time I found that spray, and it was a close call to save them. I know now what to look for, and just how important humidity and airflow control is. My ignorance almost cost me my first crop right then. I did lose one WW mother.
Finally, I got them nice and healthy again. Then, around the end of Sept., just when I was ready to begin adjusting the light schedule for bud, I came out one morning, and most of the leaves were completely yellow. Figuring it was nut lock, I flushed with 15 gal for each of the crop, and 12 gal for each of the mothers. I had to wait for the plants to recover and refoliate before I could put them into bud, and the mothers never did get as healthy as I would have liked.
I was actively bending and twist-tieing down my tops as the plants grew, so between the 10 plants I have somewhere around 45 tops.
Because I had lost all of the lower branches on all of the plants, and they had been so stressed that I wanted to begin with new mothers, I decided just to buy seeds after harvest and begin fresh, so I put them all into bud 4 weeks ago today. I am using all of the lights that I did for veg, and added a 1000 watt MH to HPS conversion bulb with a switchable ballast. Right now, four weeks since beginning the light transition, I have trimmed away almost all the Fan leaves, down to the bottom couple inches of canopy, and everything looks very healthy. I am feeding FoxFarm Big Bloom 2 out of 4 waterings, and Grow big on 1 out of 4 waterings. I have good buds forming throughout a 12 - 16" canopy, and the top several inches are forming into nice kolas. They are all crystally, and I have a plethora of clear triclomes.
Yesterday AM I took an early sample bud from the smaller JH. It was a small one from about halfway through the canopy on a smaller side stalk. I left in on top of the HPS hood loosely folded in a paper towel, and after about three hours it was fairly dry. I burped it Three times for about 20 minutes each over the next 24 hours. It was a nice, pretty dense bud just big enough for a small bowl. I put it in my pipe about an hour ago.
Toke Report: Pipe was a seasoned but freshly cleaned antler pocket pipe with a preburned clean screen. Rather harsh grassy taste, what I expected with a rushed sample dry and half baked (pun intended) cure. The smoke was rather mild on the throat and lungs though, and had a smooth exhale. I was prepared to not notice much of an effect at all, as this was such an early sample, and taken more out of impatience than thinking I should test for readiness. I was pleasantly surprised to notice a mild onset of a gentle cerebral high by the time I was ready for my second hit. Two hits was enough for the time being, as I wanted to feel the effect by the toke. Within ten minutes, I was beginning to feel a slight relaxing body effect. It was mild, and felt very good. Pain levels went down by about one and a half points on the one to ten scale. After thirty minutes from the second hit I took a third, and the cerebral high got a little more intense, a little buzzy, but still able to think clearly and function.
I really can't wait to smoke this as a mature well cured medicine! I have bought a lot of medicine from dispensaries that was not this good, and this is halfway through bud and rush dried!
I am going to borrow a friends camera to take some good pictures, but it's not so important till I begin building the rooms for the permanent set up.
I have two people who are signing me up as their caretaker/grower, so next harvest will be around 18 plants. the plan is to get 48 clones and take the first 18 into bud at 6 weeks, and the rest when the first ones are harvested. I will need a fourth card to grow for by then, but I have the room, and know I can give them good medicine for less than dispensary prices.
The next set up will be in the attic. I have an old house with a large enough attic to put in a whole second floor. I will do two 12 x 12 rooms for veg, and one 12 x 16 room for flower. I should have enough room up there for a trimming area, supply storage area, work table, and drying room. So far I have most of the area floored, and will be putting in the walls before I have this grow cured. Then I'll move the lights and all that when I start the clones.
I will post again in a few days, with a pic of the current plants in bud.
Sage.
! 
