DD Stable Of Impermanence

[DonkeyDick]

Sorry about the rot DD but congrats on the harvest nonetheless! I'm curious if that top was getting a regular spray of citric acid? I haven't had any bud rot since I started using it but that might be a complete coincidence. If yours got sprayed then we know it doesn't prevent botrytis, not that anyone claimed it would!

No I wasn’t spraying it. Maybe I should start using it as a preventative?
You know I only saw sign of the WPM on the White Widow and Sour Bubba. Not even a speck on a leaf on the Chemdogs’91.
This week has been especially trying weather-wise. It has been very hot and very humid as thunderstorms have been trying to happen, but not quite getting there. Steady rain the last two days now.
I’ll start the citric acid sprays as routine and keep my donkey eyes peeled as best I can.

 

[Stunger]

If you have a silicone mat like this you can roll the sticky stuff into a sausage.

That looks very useful.

Nice harvest too. The buds look lovely and probably a good thing to take now and leave the rest of the plant for a bit longer.

 

[HashGirl]

Sorry about the bud rot, Donkey but I hope just cutting the tops off will stop the rot on the rest of the plant.

How close was it? I hope it's close enough for you.

 

[DonkeyDick]

That looks very useful.

Nice harvest too. The buds look lovely and probably a good thing to take now and leave the rest of the plant for a bit longer.

Those silicone mats are great for dealing with rosin. Very handy.

Sorry about the bud rot, Donkey but I hope just cutting the tops off will stop the rot on the rest of the plant.

How close was it? I hope it's close enough for you.

It’s all good. I just clipped the tops down into bags for the fridge. It looks like there will be 3oz or more when it’s dry (12 bags @30g each). There is still heaps of the plant left in the flower room. I’ll be keen to let it go long now. It will be two weeks before I need her spot for the next Chem coming up through veg.

The good thing is that the tops were far enough along that the scissor hash kicked my pain for a while. So even early the staggered approach to harvesting might have been a good plan bud rot or not.

If this three oz lasts while the rest of the chems finish maybe I’ll squish some. I haven’t tried Chemdog’91 rosin and I’m super keen.

How is your pressing working out, @HashGirl ?

Also in the Stable today the Sour Bubba is 4.3oz in the jar, just out of the fridge. I haven’t measured how much I’ve already been through. Enough to have found over 60 S1 seeds so far. Pretty stoked with that. Already I can tell she’s going to be a useful bit of puff.

Perpetually staggering

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 4, 2022

Bubba’s Sis and an OG Kush in the back. Chemdogs’91 in front.

have a good day, good people.

 

[Stunger]

Those silicone mats are great for dealing with rosin. Very handy.

Cheers, are those found in the supermarket/kitchen shops or somewhere specialist?

The good thing is that the tops were far enough along that the scissor hash kicked my pain for a while. So even early the staggered approach to harvesting might have been a good plan bud rot or not.

That sounds a great approach!

 

[DonkeyDick]

Cheers, are those found in the supermarket/kitchen shops or somewhere specialist?

That sounds a great approach!

For the benefit of international readers @DabPress and other sponsors carry them.
For you, Koro Greenstone dispensary is our local go-to. (I have tried to encourage them to sponsor us, but I’m unsure if they followed up or not).

 

[HashGirl]

How is your pressing working out, @HashGirl ?

I haven't tried it in about a week since I fell but the last time I tried it, I started it at 215F and let the puck rest for a bit to warm up. I also checked the plates with our temperature gun just to make sure that temperature wasn't the issue.

Then I lightly squeezed it at 215F and got nothing, I dropped it down to 210F - nothing. I dropped it down to 200 - nothing. I dropped it down to 190 - nothing.

So, then I was reading about pressing issues and read that the whatever humidity the bud is stored at might be the issue. All of my bud is 62% humidity and under. I was thinking about throwing some clementine skins in with the buds to raise the humidity. There are humidity packs in there but they don't appear to raise humidity very well, in my opinion.

 

[DonkeyDick]

All of my bud is 62% humidity and under. I was thinking about throwing some clementine skins in with the buds to raise the humidity. There are humidity packs in there but they don't appear to raise humidity very well, in my opinion.

I have a feeling that any rehydration of the flowers after they are dried applies only to fibrous material and not to the resin glands. This is unfounded on anything but intuition I hasten to add.

I sort of wonder from what you wrote if you hadn’t maybe overdried some of your jarstock just a bit? To want to bring the RH up again in the jar I mean.

It’s a head scratcher. I wish you were reaping sticky rewards from your press. You will be so happy you persevered when it comes together for you, you really will.

All I can say on the variables so far is to watch as your next harvest dries to make sure the RH of bud in a jar doesn’t drop below the mid 50’s and have another crack at it.

Someone local who doesn’t know about my garden sometimes gives me bits and pieces of theirs. I tried squishing it and got dry paper and a dry puck. This is why I think there is a point of no return with RH when we’re drying and curing with one eye on the press.

Don’t know. Heigh ho. Hee-haw here we go...

Thanks 420

Thanks 420 Mag!

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 6, 2022

In my new favourite shirt and blazing one in your collective honour, Stabilisers.

The Garden

Chem-cetera

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 6, 2022

Leaps and bounds.

Some thoughts on drying

On wrangling jar stock down to optimal dryness. Assuming that optimal for our purposes is an RH of 58-62% in the jar. Remembering that the measured RH in the jar is only an indication of moisture content in the flower, not a measure of moisture content in the flower. There is some specialised gear that will measure moisture content in a dried stalk. I understand optimal is 8-13%. Testing the RH of air in the jar with the flower is a close home hack.

The Sour Bubba I harvested the weekend before last stabilised at 58% in the jar first time out of the fridge and is still there now after four days, so she is on her burping way to curing and being more delicious than she is already.

The White Widow from the same harvest had more density to the buds and took a couple more days to feel as crisp to the touch before I tested it in jars. She has taken a couple of days to transition from fridge to jar.

Transitioning to jars feels like this: crispy buds you think are almost too dry - you break one open into the grinder though and the stalk is still slightly ‘fresh’. You leave this sealed in a jar at room temperature all day (or overnight) and you see the RH which dipped to 56 when you jarred it now sits at 76. So you put the whole lot in one paper bag back in the fridge for 12 hrs and repeat the test.
This morning the (air in the jar with the) White Widow was 72 in the jar so she’s back in the fridge for a second time now. I’ll put her in the jar with the hygrometer again overnight and I expect her to peak in the mid sixties and cure down with regular burps as normal.

For anyone who isn’t fridge drying that’s how the moisture is drawn from the stalk and dried off in a controlled way. All roads lead to Rome of course and just as there are many ways to skin cats (I’m told) there are a lot of ways to dry cannabis slowly.

Seeing flower that is at that point though where you think you’ve over dried it, you find the stalk still too moist then later the same bud you were worried about is now fluffy in the jar just having drawn its own deep moisture to the surface. It feels like a good way to control the transition to air tight jars for the rest of the cure.

What a lot of reading!
Good to see you all.
Go play. Play safe. Come back.

 

[HashFart]

 

[DonkeyDick]

Pierogi for police commissioner!


Hi all. I hope things are good with everyone?

Soil Recovery

One of my least favourite jobs in the garden. It’s a couple of years since I bought any soil and hey presto any imagined inconvenience just vanished. Thanks for reminding me how good this is.

Soil recovery 1/3

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 10, 2022

Sifting

Soil recovery 2/3

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 10, 2022

Roots in the trim bin

Soil recovery 3/3

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 10, 2022

Add enzymes and wait

I sifted 90 litres of soil (I needed the pots). I remove as much root material as I can then treat the collected soil with enzymes to break down any more organic material. By the time I run out of soil in my working tote this will be ready to reuse.

Transplants

Chemdog’91 roots

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 10, 2022

Girl Scout Cookies

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 10, 2022

I took 20 tops off that GSC the other day. With luck that should mean 40 flowering tops by the time she gets underway.

I know I said I was going to flip a Chem next, but plans sometimes change on the hoof here.

Flowers

Bubba’s Sis budset, day 15

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 10, 2022

Chemdog’91, day 43

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 10, 2022

Chemdog’91, day 64

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 10, 2022

That’s the one whose tops I took last week. They’ll get the jar test overnight tonight. I’ve been using this the last few days. Even early it cuts pain better than any other.

The shifting stands of impermanence 1

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 10, 2022

I think I can see room for one more in there.

The shifting stands of impermanence 2

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 10, 2022

L-R Star Killer OG, Bubba’s Sis, OG Kush,
Chems in front.

Make it how you want to take it, people. Thanks for coming. Have a good one.

 

[InTheShed]

Great idea with the mesh grid! I made one of those to sift worm castings but I didn't keep up with feeding them and they became worm food.

Even early it cuts pain better than any other.

Great to hear!

I think I can see room for one more in there.

This surprises no one.

 

[DonkeyDick]

This surprises no one

What can I say?
Things are more streamlined than they were in the Stable. We’re probably going to have one more tight patch to get a little more clearance and after that things will open up again.

Stable Eyes Update

Chocolatina, three days old

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 13, 2022

This could be male or female. I was hoping for one of each, but I turned my other seed of it to mush.

GSC cuts

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 13, 2022

Getting ready to flip this one. Probably Friday.

Girl Scout Cookies

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 13, 2022

Here she is with weights on her branches like xmas baubles, spreading her out so she’s all set.

Donkey droppings

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 13, 2022

I’m adding five or ten to our Sour Bubba bag every day. It really is one of the best smokes I’ve ever had (and there have been a few). I’m lucky to have tried it and luckier to have some promises of more to come. She is agonisingly slow to veg, but worth the wait.
I’ll check a couple for viability then discontinue cycling cuttings and clones for both the Bubba’s Sis and the Sour Bubba.

OG Kush stretching

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 13, 2022

This is from late last week. She’s a great one for a vigorous stretch.

Chemdog’91

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 13, 2022

These were the tops I took early. Their density is what makes them susceptible to the botrytis with the humidity here right now. These nugs are as hard as rocks. Anyone who still doubts if LED’s can (out)perform HPS level bud density - get some chemdog up ya grow room! You won’t be unhappy.

Those tops gave us 3.8oz of, again, some of the best cannabis I’ve ever had only more so.

The rest of the plant is still doing fine. Just slowing down - taking four instead of two days to dry out her pot now.

Chemdog’91, day 67

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 13, 2022

That draught is the harvest window opening.

Chemdog’91, day 46

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 13, 2022

I’ll see if I can’t keep this one healthy for longer, but folks even three weeks early she is better for pain than (my memory of) NSAIDS, opiates and alcohol combined.

Flowering

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 13, 2022

I’ve staked that second Chemdog’91 now to help hold those hammer heads up and keep things breezy.

Thanks for reading.

 

[BakedARea]

What Rex said (except the thing about being first)!

Congratulations on your GJOTY win, and what a well-deserved win it is.

What Shed said except about being the last...


Kick ads journal worthy of the win. Ummm...so to publicly admit that I was only 50+ pages behind.

Beautiful stuff as always Donk. Blessings man.

 

[DonkeyDick]

What Shed said except about being the last...


Kick ads journal worthy of the win. Ummm...so to publicly admit that I was only 50+ pages behind.

Beautiful stuff as always Donk. Blessings man.

Thanks for your kind words BA!
Getting the grow journal of the year gong was a hell of a surprise. It has given me more than the prizes (most of which I can’t have sent to me) so I’ve taken it as a bit of a personal boost. Cheers.

It’s something to know that there are people in this community which has given me so much who feel that I have returned something to the community too.



The Stable

In order of height:

In the nursery

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 15, 2022

The Chocolatina is five days old now and is stacking flat. Kind of fun to see. No doubt (s)he’ll get his/her freak on soon.
Also in the box - a cup of CBD cuts to separate, my OG Kush Lazarus clone and the GSC cuttings from the other day.

SOUR BUBBA

Sour Bubba

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 15, 2022

Sour Bubba

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 15, 2022

Droopy here, but just being given a big drink. She is chugging away very much at her own pace. I have her on a shelf in the veg tent to keep her closer to the light. I fed bacteria to her gnats today. She is either one or two transplants from her final pot I haven’t planned that far yet.

THE CHEMS

Chemdog’91, day 48

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 15, 2022

Chemdog’91, day 69

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 15, 2022

Chemdog’91, days 69 and 48

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 15, 2022

Flowers in the Stable

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 15, 2022

You’ve gone long enough between puffs now. I think you should roll one.

 

[InTheShed]

a cup of CBD cuts to separate

Not sure if you saw Lerugged's suggestion about separating the roots under water:

On the note of splitting two clones or plants. Another way is to slide them roots out and gently shake them while the soil and roots are under water. Then it's just a gentle pull apart and then you arrange your roots however you, want them (I spread mine out as much as possible) and fill in with new soil. Never get shock using this method. Same method for repotting orchids. No need to change what works for you though. Just a couple ways to skin a cat. No offence to any cats reading this, it's just jokes, ok?

I did it with my roots in perlite and it went swimmingly! I'll be trying it with dirt clones next time I have them.

 

[stinker]

Beautiful Stable you have there, DD.

 

[DonkeyDick]

Not sure if you saw Lerugged's suggestion about separating the roots under water:

I’m game. Cheers!

Beautiful Stable you have there, DD.

Thank you, sir. It’s humble, but it’s humming!


Separating a cup full of cuttings

Thanks @InTheShed - and thanks @Lerugged -
I thought it would be worth a jam.

Here’s how it went:

Clones from cuts

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 16, 2022

Multicup roots

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 16, 2022

Separating tangled roots in water

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 16, 2022

Immersion

Rinsing soil off roots

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 16, 2022

Teasing tangled cuttings apart

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 16, 2022

Separated clones

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 16, 2022

Root condition

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 16, 2022

CBD rides again!

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 16, 2022

Back under nursery lamp

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 16, 2022

Messy, but fun and it got the job done. I’ll probably do it this way again.

It’s a minor thing to use that water on plants then top up a pot or two with the slurry in the pail. It isn’t about the donkey after all - it is all about the plants and the preservation of future medicine.

It seemed to me to be a gentler way to do it than the dry jiggle-rip-jiggle-rip method.

Cheers


I don’t want to seem ungrateful by saying thanks and showing you some of the world’s best cannabis here that you can neither smell nor touch. I know you have some of your own Here’s mine...

Chemdog’91, day 70

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 16, 2022

Canopy

• DonkeyDick
• Feb 16, 2022

Stay green

 

[InTheShed]

Messy, but fun and it got the job done. I’ll probably do it this way again.
It seemed to me to be a gentler way to do it than the dry jiggle-rip-jiggle-rip method.

for diving in so quickly and showing how it's done!

 

[DonkeyDick]

for diving in so quickly and showing how it's done!

It needed doing (you could probably tell?) The nudge came at the right time.


My GSC cuts are hardening off nicely. I’m confident that I can flip her tomorrow without losing them.

That means having to harvest the rest of that Chemdog’91 first of course. Woe is(n’t) me

 

[BakedARea]

That was an awesome lesson on space efficiency! I WILL be doing that soon. Makes total sense and I could have got all the cuts I wanted into my limited dome space, had I combined a few into single containers! Thanks @InTheShed & @DonkeyDick for the nudge I needed. Now to find time. Has anyone seen some extra time laying around by chance? I know I lost it somewhere around here...