Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Express

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Hey All! Welcome back.

Got some pics for you today, if you're interested. Not much happening. Some of my seedlings are growing well, some are barely alive it seems. Looks like I'll have to sink those ones in the trash and just plant a lot of clones. Which are coming along nicely, by the way.

So let's get to the pics, shall we?

This first pic is of an Northern Lights X Mazar and a Blue Dream. The BD is one of those seedlings I mentioned weren't doing so well and the NLM has some weird yellow banding that I cannot figure out what it is. Might be genetics, but I seriously doubt it. Something is wrong with her and I'd like to fix her. So if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

This next pic is of an Ice Bomb and a Critical Mass. The CM is doing fine, but the IB looks just about dead. Actually, it never grew bigger than this.

In this next pic you'll see both seedlings and clones, coexisting harmoniously. For the most part these seedlings are doing well and only one of the clones, a Pineapple Express, is having trouble with the transplant. But now the garden is really looking up, eh?

And this is my mass of clones that I'm waiting for them to root. Two fo the Big Buds already show root through the Rapid Rooters, but I'm waiting for them to grow longer before transplanting them.

And there we go. A romping good time rolickin' through my summer outdoor grow!

 

[dick23rk]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Subbing up for this outdoor journal. Always fun to watch, especially when we are provincial neighbors Best of luck with the outdoor endeavor, you got this! Hopefully the weather gets warmer soon to get them babies outside.

 

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Subbing up for this outdoor journal. Always fun to watch, especially when we are provincial neighbors Best of luck with the outdoor endeavor, you got this! Hopefully the weather gets warmer soon to get them babies outside.

Hey Dick!

Sorry it took me so long to respond to your posting. I've been a bit swamped lately with both my inside grow which is still happening and working towards my outside grow. Jeezus, taking care of clones and making sure they root and seedlings -- a whole bunch of each -- is taxing! Not that it's hard work, it's just a lot of it. My inside grow is into its 4th week of flowering and you've seen what's happening to my clones and seedlings.

I just transplanted another four clones just now. 3 Big Buds and 1 Pineapple Express were all growing roots out of their Rapid Rooters and needed to be transplanted into dixie cups. So I just finished that after an already long day dealing with my editor and such. Had a long (one hour) conversation with my editor who is in LA and we were discussing character dialogue in chapter 7 of Finding Max, the book of mind that is getting published (whenever the fricking editing is done... don't get me started on how slow my editor has been with the workload). She wants the character to be dumbed down (my words, not hers) to indicate that he's a little less intelligent than I've made him. I told her I would do it with the caveat that I will not tone down his eloquence nor his poetic nature as he relates his story throughout the chapter. She finally agreed and all is well. Now I just have to dumb down his dialogue... Maybe I should say "dial down his dialogue" but that doesn't really convey what my editor wants exactly. Oh well. The joys of working with a book editor.

For those of you who don't know, I'm a fiction writer and I"m getting my first novel published after years and years of writing and trying to make a go of it. The novel is titled, "Finding Max" and it chronicles the exploits of Max, our protagonist and his brother Gary and Gary's girldfriend, Jean. At the age of 5, Max is abducted by an unknown criminal and is not heard from again until an unlikely meeting between him and Gary 17 years after his abduction. Max and Jean and Gary must learn to love throughout the book, all the while trying to evade the maniacle clutches of Quinn, who seeks to re-abduct Max for his own nefarious purposes. The end. Until the sequel, and the next sequel, come out. Seriously, there are three books planned in the series, though only 1.5 of those books have been written at this time. I'm currently working on both editing (with my slow editor) Finding Max and writing Loving Max, the sequel. The last book is tentatively titled, Killing Max.

So that's the story of my professional life, in a nutshell. Oh, and I grow CBD stuff because my back is fucked and I have a terrible anxiety disorder, both of which are alleviated somewhat by weed. I do like my sativas, though, so I grow some of that, too. Like the Pineapple Express, for example. Looking forward to some good times with the fruits of that plant!

So many of the seeds I purchased for this grow haven't germinated that I'm beginning to think that I bought from a not very reputable company. I purchased 17 seeds (including the freebies) and only 9 have germinated. I just cannot believe it. Sure, you expect one or two of your seeds to be duds, but eight of the fuckers??? I'm so pissed. I damned well laboured over which seeds to buy, too, because money is so tight all the time and I wanted to make good choices. Shit, I should have made a better choice and gone to another seed vendor. And it's not that I don't know how to germinate seeds. I've been germinating seeds for a long time. And not just cannabis seeds, either. But still, only 9 germinated. I mean, you drop them in water for up to 36 hours an then put them between either sheets of paper towels or cotton balls (I prefer the cotton ball method) and they either germinate or they don't. And I don't wait for the taproot to get long, either, because it's too easy to break off then. I just wait until it's barely visible and then into the Rapid Rooters they go. But a lot of them didn't make it to the Rapid Rooters this season. And the company said they will send me 3 replacement seeds, but they'll arrive too late for my summer outside grow. Oh, I can grow them, but they'll never amount to what they could have been if I start them late. Still, they will produce, so maybe I shouldn't bitch. I'm not trying to be a downer. I'm just frustrated. You would be, too.

Okay, what else is there to say? Hmmm. Well, there is one thing, but I'm not sure I should be telling. But what the hell. Why not?

I was approached by a friend's son today, a good friend, and his 16 year old son is like a good friend, too. A few weeks ago, he followed me outside of the house where he proceeded to tell me, "Guess what? I'm a stoner too!" Well, I never made any claims to being a stoner to any of my friends. Some of them know that I'm about to begin using cannabis medicinally for my back and my anxiety. But James, the son of my friend, is friends with me on Facebook (here we go), and through Facebook he learned that I'm going to be using weed for my back and my anxiety. So he assumes, then, that I"m a stoner! Oh well. The plot thickens, mind you. Then James rolls the conversation around to the fact that I'll be growing this summer outside. And I"m wondering where this conversation is going, right? But he rolls it around, until finally he says, "Have you thought about selling your extra weed for cash?" And I told him, truthfully, that I had thought about it, but that I really didn't know how to go about doing it. I mean, I live in the sticks, I don't know anybody here buy myself, my wife, and my friends Colin and Karen and their son James. I know a few other acquaintances, but surely not enough of them to begin a thriving pot selling business. And here's the kicker. Then James says to me, "Well, I'll be your runner."

I just about dropped on the spot. My 16 year old friend, who is the son of a good friend, has just told me he wants to go into business with me selling weed to everyone in the town near where we live! And the more I talked to him, the more I realized that the kid is really, really into weed and knows a bunch of people who would buy from him. I could, if I wanted to, start a little business selling my leftover weed. And lets face it... with 15 - 20 outdoor plants, I'll surely have some leftover that I could sell.

What a dilemma. I feel kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. I need to let him know that I'm not interested in going into business with him while trying to figure out whether I should let his parents know that he's in over his head. I mean he's in over his head with wanting to sell drugs at his age. I don't know. I trust him completely, but I don't like the idea of going into business with any 16 year old, even one I trust. Besides, I'm not sure I even want to sell my own stuff. I mean, I grow it for myself, not for anyone else. Of course, like anyone on here I've thought about selling a small amount to family and close friends, but even that is a bit sketchy as far as I'm concerned. Last thing I want is to wind up in the slammer for selling weed, especially to underage persons. Here in Canada, that's a BIG no-no. If I were caught doing something like that I don't even know the penalties, but I know it would be prison time. And at the ripe age of 50 years old, having never been in trouble with the law -- ever, not even a single speeding ticket -- the last thing I want is to be spending my remaining free years well, not free!

I've edited this because after having gone back and read it, I realized that it looked like I was asking something I wasn't. It appeared that I wanted advice as to whether or not to go into business with my friend James, whereas in reality I was wanting some advice on how to handle this situation. So, sorry for the edit.

 

[dick23rk]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

well.. I'm not 100% sure but I don't think we are allowed to talk about this kind of thing on these forums, the selling of our product. Pretty sure it is against some of the rules. As well, you never know who is going to be signed up to these forums, could be a cop you're talking to for all you know, (let's hope that never happens) when you specify in your profile where you live and are using friends names that could raise a lot of concern.

Otherwise, I would say no to the kid, it's just bad news. All it takes is for the word to get out where it came from and it will spread like wildfire in a small town, not to mention that in Canada you will do 14 years for selling to a minor and something like 5 years for sharing with a minor when the new legislation comes into effect next year. Risky business I say.

 

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

well.. I'm not 100% sure but I don't think we are allowed to talk about this kind of thing on these forums, the selling of our product. Pretty sure it is against some of the rules. As well, you never know who is going to be signed up to these forums, could be a cop you're talking to for all you know, (let's hope that never happens) when you specify in your profile where you live and are using friends names that could raise a lot of concern.

Otherwise, I would say no to the kid, it's just bad news. All it takes is for the word to get out where it came from and it will spread like wildfire in a small town, not to mention that in Canada you will do 14 years for selling to a minor and something like 5 years for sharing with a minor when the new legislation comes into effect next year. Risky business I say.

Thanks, Dick. That's all I was asking for. Not to discuss selling weed on the forum, but ask for advice on how to handle the situation with this friend. I guess I didn't make that abundantly clear. I'm pretty sure not to go into "business" with my friend. I'm more wanting to know how to deal with him while I try not to divulge to his parents what he's asked of me, because he's kinda put me in a bit of a rough spot.

I went back and edited my original posting. I should have read and edited it before posting, a bad habit of mine. I was more ranting than anything, trying to get out all the feelings and fears that I was going through and while doing so, I neglected to watch just how I was phrasing it. It's true, it did look like I was wanting to go into business with James, but in fact that isn't what I wanted to write at all. Hell, maybe what I was REALLY feeling was coming through, while I was trying to write what I knew I had to write. Anyway, the whole thing is too sketchy for me as I'm not into the "drug scene" at all. I don't buy marijuana off the streets. I don't know anyone who does. I wouldn't even know where to start to begin an adventure like that. One thing I do know, however, is that I don't want to start that adventure with a 16 year old, no matter how much I trust him.

So thanks for writing back. It alerted me to the fact that I had misrepresented what I wanted to write about, and I needed that. Last thing I want is to be barred (or even castigated) on 420mag for going against any policy. Be well.

 

[walleye]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Hey Bud, try soaking seeds 12 hours max. I soak seeds 12 hrs in 1% H2o2 , this seems to clean any molds from shells while initiating germination. Any success is good success! Cheers Magnus8 (a good name, better than oil !).

 

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Hey Walleye!

Long time no hear! How are you doing? I hope well.

I heard from the company this evening. They're from the UK. They've decided to outright replace the 3 seeds I made the original claim on (CBD Critical Mass, which I wanted to grow for my back pain and my anxiety. This strain comes highly recommended by a shitload of people here on 420mag, and I'm coming to trust you all here more than anyone I know on issues of cannabis and strains and growing and all manner of things. So they're going to replace them. They are also going to "throw in" some etra seeds as a "gesture of goodwill" towards me! I'm so pleased! What a great thing to do. The other day I explained my frustrations in a polite email (polite being the operative word, right?) and told them just how many of my seeds didn't germinate, hence the "gesture of goodwill" without having made an actual claim on those seeds. I couldn't make a claim on them because to make a claim, you need to show a pic of the seeds that didn't germinate as well as the opened package. I see the logic behind that. They want to see if the problem was a problem of poor seeds, bad germination methods or bad environment. They also want to see the package to ensure they are replacing the correct ones, and not something else. But who keeps seeds that didn't germinate? Don't you all just toss them into the toilet or something? I do. And who keeps empty seed packages around the house. The certainly get tossed into the trash bin around my place. I've got enough crap cluttering up the countertops without having opened envelopes that seeds were packaged in hanging about. So that's why I didn't make a claim for all my other seeds that didn't germinate. Well, they're going to replace at least some of them. Hey, wouldn't that be nice if they replaced all of them and then threw in some extras as a "gesture of goodwill". That would be cool. But highly unexpected and unlikely. I am, though, curious to see what they send me.

So I went down to Peavey Mart and picked up some Blood Meal and some Bone Meal, two of the ingredients for my soil that I'll be growing in. Don't know if I got enough, but I hope so. The Bone Meal is one of the ingredients for the Compost Tea I'll be making, too, but I'll certainly have to pick up more of it before brewing any of that shit. (that shit, geddit? okay, lame-o). I still have to get Bat Guano, Worm Castings, Chicken Manure and Humic Acid (at least I think I need Humic Acid, gotta check on that before my next trip to my grow store, Hydro Lite). I also found the submersible pump I want at Peavey Mart. I need the pump for both watering and for dispensing my Compost Tea. Here's how the watering will go.

We're going to build a trailer that will hold a fairly large tank and my tools and whatever else I need it to carry (such as my Blood Meal and other soil ingredients). On top of the tank (that will be sitting on its side) will be an opening that can be securely closed when needed. I will fill the tank with water from the hose up at the house and then haul the cart with my 4-wheel Blazer across the field to the grow site. There I will attach a hose to the bottom of the tank and use gravity to drain the tank into waiting barrels standing on the side. I will pH the water in these barrels, and then use the submersible pump to pump out the water, through a hose, to each of my plants. The force coming from the pump will be enough to attach a sprayer wand and get great water pressure from it. I will also be able to dip the pump into the compost tea and spray the leaves of my plants with it and also water the roots with it. Does anyone have any simpler ways of getting around how to water plants that are 1240 feet from the nearest water source? I don't.

At Peavey Mart I also saw a perfect water tank for use on the trailer. It's plastic and has all the requirements that I specify. But it's $260! I cannot afford that. I've still got shit to buy (literally, chicken shit amongst other things) for my upcoming grow.

I've got quite a bounty of seedlings and clones as a crop to count. I keep wanting to plant more...More...MORE! I'm like a beast, uncaged. The master mind of root development. I know I cannot plant all the ones I'm trying to root, that's for sure. I'd be planting a frigging forest out there in the back forty. Johnny Fucking Appleseed, sowing seeds wherever he goes. Yes, I know I have too many, but I think like this. There's no harm in trying to root more than you need. You want to try to root plenty to see how many work out for you because not all of them will be viable. And of those that do root, you want to then pick the strongest, most vital plants that you've got. So what if you throw the rest out in the tree patch and they grow there, unattended and you suddenly find them "by chance" at the end of the season and they've just come into their own and flowered up nicely, eh? No, I shouldn't do that, either, because if I get caught with too many plants then I'm really up shit creek. Mind you, if I'm growing as many as I plan, what the hell does one more do to my prison term, right?

Work on the book goes well. My editor finally just passed me chapter VII to look over what she's suggested as edits and to address her concerns about the chapter. I should have it finished and back to her within a week, I suppose. That's usually how much time it takes me to do my editing work on a chapter. This is the chapter where Donovan walks into Gary's office and tells him... Wait a minute, here bucko! Did you really think I'd fall for that one and actually tell you what happens in the chapter? R-i-g-h-t... Sorry, you're just going to have to pick up a copy to see what happens. When it's out. If my editor ever actually gets her work done on the book (do I sound bitter? surely not.)

I picked up my new glasses today. TRIfocals, for chrissakes. It's so damned hard to get used to using them. I need the third lens to see the computer. Before these glasses came in I'd have to remove my other glasses and get my stupid nose right up to the screen to see anything. But trifocals? At MY age? I mean, I"m only 49 (my gawd, for gawd's sake don't say that next birthday age... I still cannot believe I'm getting this old.)

But anyway, the night grows on and I grow weary (see, it's all about "growing"). Cheers for tonight, and I hope you're all tucked away in your beds, safely.

Best,
Magnus

 

[walleye]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

It's a blast growing!! You never know what will happen just like life, but nature will help all the way. Actually, nature will do most the work if you don't get too hi-tech for her!! I know what you mean about tri-focals, I called mine cheaters cause they helped me cheat the nature of my eyes getting older. I excepted my humanity but nature gifted my vision back a few weeks ago and now I see just fine without glasses. I suppose nature can change her mind about anything she wants to. To me that's a sign of the Lords' love when nature can change her mind for us!!! Work with her and she can work with you , as she really can be super if you let her!Peace and Best Buds always

 

[SweetSue]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

The plans for the trailer are wonderful. I was curious as to how you planned to water.

You're growing outdoors, in soil. The microbes will take care of pH. You don't have to be concerned with that. Look at the time and frustration you'll save not needing to pH the tanks.

I'm glad to hear you'll be recieving some replacement seeds. It's likely your technique that made the tragic difference, but it's nice that they let go of a few of this rediculously-priced seeds to keep PR on a steady course. There are times when even the best of us struggle with germination, and then there are times when they jump out of the soil for us. If the prices weren't so high we'd probably have better success rates, if only because we wouldn't stress about it. At $10 a seed, on average, we're gonna complain when they don't show up for the party.

Looks like things are rolling along. Before you know it you'll be preparing for harvest.

 

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

The plans for the trailer are wonderful. I was curious as to how you planned to water.

You're growing outdoors, in soil. The microbes will take care of pH. You don't have to be concerned with that. Look at the time and frustration you'll save not needing to pH the tanks.

I'm glad to hear you'll be recieving some replacement seeds. It's likely your technique that made the tragic difference, but it's nice that they let go of a few of this rediculously-priced seeds to keep PR on a steady course. There are times when even the best of us struggle with germination, and then there are times when they jump out of the soil for us. If the prices weren't so high we'd probably have better success rates, if only because we wouldn't stress about it. At $10 a seed, on average, we're gonna complain when they don't show up for the party.

Looks like things are rolling along. Before you know it you'll be preparing for harvest.

Hi Sue,

How nice to hear from you. Hope your Saturday is turning out spades.

I just came in from my grow site. I had to aerate my compost pile, turn it over with the spade and get some oxygen into it. It seems to be coming along nicely. It is all damp now. The chicken shit I used was very old and very dry and caked together. I knew this would hamper the composting process so I poured bucket after bucket of water on it in the very beginning (not to mention 4 very full pails of urine). Well today I realized that the whole of the matter was suitably dampened by all the water and the urine (the urine turns to Nitrogen, the water turns to, well, watery things). This is good. The dampness allowed me to break up the larger chunks and mix it up better than it had been before. The pile now stands about 3.5 feet high! I'm so psyched! Making my own fertilizer on the farm, right on.

After attending to my chicken manure pile, I then gathered up some pails I had brought with me for the occasion and shovelled up some cow shit (this is the field where the cows graze in the spring/summer/fall before they go off to the slaughterhouse). Then I poured the cow dung in a pile not far from the chicken manure pile. Time to start a cow manure pile, so that I can have some cow manure, too.

There's a big difference between types of manure. Large, 4-legged beasts give a manure that is usually 1-1-1. Cows, horses, goats, etc. Fowl (including chickens) give a manure which is along the lines of 5-1-1. See the difference? Which one would you pick for your vegetative period of growth? And which would you pick for your flowering stage of growth? You'd have to supplement some P into that cow manure so that your plants have enough to create those big, luscious, enormous, dripping, drooping, dropping, intensely flavoured buds that we all love so much. Cow manure just doesn't have enough of it. But add some blood meal and some bone meal into the equation and you've got a perfect mix to cruise into flowering months with.

Do you know how they get Blood Meal? Some of you with weaker stomachs might want to skip this para... They gather up the spilled blood from the floors of the slaughterhouses and dry that shit up to sell as Blood Meal. Now, I'm sure they're not just selling you raw blood to drop into your garden. They must process it somehow. But the basic ingredient is the blood from slaughterhouses. Now, could you imagine if it starts raining on you and you're caught out with your Blood Meal and no cover for it? Can you imagine that old english ladies with their rose bushes holding their fancy hats to their heads as they try to outrun the storm and the blood from their Blood Meal is getting wetter and wetter and splashing up on their nice white dresses and by the time they get into the vestibule they are dripping in crimson blood?

Okay, so I'm a writer and I think like that sometimes. So shoot me.

I don't know if you know this, Sue, but I've begun work again on Loving Max, the sequel to Finding Max. I first wrote the beginning to Loving Max (the first 4.5 chapters) just after finishing Finding Max, while the story was still very fresh in my heart and haven't really done any writing on it since. I remember at the time getting really discouraged with rejections and all, and I thought to myself why bother writing a sequel when the first book in the series is never going to get published? So I put it aside. And now everything has gone kinda through the roof with Finding Max. I mean, it's actually getting published! Now I have to write the sequels (Loving Max and Killing Max) or I'm only shooting myself in the foot. I mean, here's the chance to actually get 3 of my books published, albeit a series of books, but three books nevertheless. If I choose NOT to write the sequels, I'm only giving in to my own fear of success ("fear of success" = buzzword my ex-therapist liked to use to describe how I operated professionally. Apparently I have this deep seated desire to sabotage myself professionally. And I think it's true. Every time I've ever come close to some kind of professional success in whatever sideline career or job or work environment I"m involved in, I wind up destroying it somehow. I've seen the pattern over and over again in my life. The only thing I haven't succeeded at sabotaging myself at is my own writing. There was a period when life got in the way a lot and I forgot what my primary focus in this world was (to write) and so I didn't work at my craft for sometimes years at a time. But over and over again I come back to it, like a favourite beloved teddy bear that gives comfort in times of need. Writing is my mainstay. It is my grounding. It is the way I sort out this horrible, nasty, brutish world around me and make sense of it. When I write out these tales of abuse and kidnappings and abductions and cruelty and fear, I'm really writing out all my own anxieties. I'm a big enough man to know this.

Writing also gives me something to be proud of. A large part of my self-esteem comes from my writing. I'm an excellent writer and I know it, without being arrogant. I'm just being truthful. I know I"m a good writer. Someone can know they're a good accountant or a good manager or a good salesman and we don't think of them as arrogant for knowing that. Why do we always think that an artist is arrogant for knowing their own worth as an artist? I've seen it often enough. Anyway, I'm proud of my writing, but I'm especially proud of my book, Finding Max. I had encountered this idea one day upon waking: "What would it be like for a child to be abducted at the age of 5 and forced into child prostitution? What would that do to the grown up man, years later? What kind of an impact would these event have on not only the grown up child but those who love him? So I had these thoughts upon waking one morning and I didn't know where it was leading. After about a week of obsessing about these ideas, I had an inkling that they might turn into a book, but I had no idea what form of writing it would take. Then, after about 3 or 4 weeks of ruminating on this problem, I finally woke one morning and said to myself, "Self," I said, "Self, if you want to write, then just sit at the damned computer and start writing!"

The first draft of Finding Max was finished in 12 days!

It was an incredible ride. Each morning I'd wake and make my coffee and then sit straight away at the computer and begin writing. I'd write like mad because the words and sentences and paragraphs were coming to me so quickly it was all I could do to get them out and into the computer's memory. I'd begin working around 6:00 a.m., break for a bite to eat around 2:00 p.m. and then continue writing until about 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. each night. I wrote 91,000 words in those 12 days. It was an incredible feat.

There's this self-paced writing contest that goes on around the world during the month of November each year. It is called (and forgive me if I get the spelling wrong, please) Na-No-Ri-Mo and is short for National November Writing Month (though it is way beyond the national borders now, though the prizes might still be only for Americans). The challenge, for anyone who wants to take up the mantle, is to write a 70,000 word novel in the 30 days of November. Everyone complains about how hard it is, how difficult it is to write so much each day. Yeah, I can see that. But then I think about how I wrote Finding Max in 12 days and I think, "What are y'all bitching about? Just write."

Hmmmm. I may write the rest of Loving Max during these next few weeks (no, I do NOT want to repeat my feat of writing a book in 12 days, that was damned hard and I had a passion then that is lacking right now for this book. Maybe not, when I get into the thick of it. I remember when I first started Loving Max that I had a lot of passion for it, too. Maybe I can tap into that again.). Then come November, I might take up the challenge of Na-No-Ri-Mo and write Killing Max during that month. That way I can honestly say that I've done Na-No-Ri-Mo and can join the ranks of the contest graduates. On the other hand, when I've finished writing Loving Max I'll probably just go ahead and dive straight into Killing Max right then and there.

So, have I bored you to tears yet about all my writing shit? Sorry bout that. But if you're gonna stick around for this grow, you're gonna hear all about writing, Finding Max, Loving Max and all that shit. But I think a grow journal can be about so much more than just the grow. Of course, the grow is the twine that holds it all together in the end. Why else would we be here if not for the grow? So yes, you'll get lots about the grow here, too. But I cannot -- and will not -- refrain from adding bits and pieces and thoughts and ruminations about the rest of my life, too, because I am unable to separate the grow from the work on the novel from my relationship with the wife-bot, the ongoing exploits of James as he tries to convince me to go into the drug trade with him, etc. If anything it'll all keep it interesting.

But here's what I'm a-gonna do.

I've decided that, since I'm spending so much time developing my compost heap and trying to get good fertilizer for my angels that I"m going to research the biological processes that produce compost and break down organic matter into the stuff that the earth is made of. Then I'm going to write a long-ish post (aren't ALL my posts kinda longish?) where I'll break it all down (geddit?) for you and explain how this stuff works. Hey, it's an outside grow using compost, right? Shouldn't we use this opportunity to learn about compost, then? I think so.

So I might post again later today, if I get some pics done. I'd like to show you the roots developing on one of my clones. It's not too exceptional compared to my other clones because the root development has been like this on all of them, but I do something different when I clone. It's in the way I cut the ends and then "scrape" the outer layer of cells off the bottom 1/2-inch of the cutting. Since the roots grow only from the cut portion of the stalk, scraping the outer cell wall from the stalk opens the plant up to developing roots along that whole 1/2-inch of territory. You can see the difference in the way the roots grow, and I'd like to show you that to see if you're interested in doing your clones the same way. But then again, that's if I get my butt in gear and get the pics done.

One of these days, I tell you, I'm going to win "Grow Journal of the Month" if only because my journals are so bloody all over the place, touching on first this subject, then that. Maybe it won't happen. I hope it does. I'd like for someone to come out and say they like what I'm doing in my journals.

With ALL THAT said, I now bid you adieu. Time to finish my cold, cold coffee and to get some pics taken.

Have great Saturdays, all of you!

 

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

So, I just wrote this fucking long posting and lost it through my own stupidity. I'm so pissed at the moment that I'm just fuming.

But let's try to get that info back out again.

So I've got some pics for you now, but first I'd like to chat about a few things.

I'm beginning to rethink my proposed grow site location. The issue is that my proposed site runs along a length of field which is owned by the farmer next door. He plants hay in that field every spring and cuts it down in the fall. During the interim he doesn't enter the field at all after planting is over. Don't want to damage the crop, you see.

So I was planning on planting the weekend after he plants. Then come fall, we'd both be harvesting around the same time. However, he'll surely harvest before I do so he'll naturally see the plants all growing in a nice, straight line down the length of the field. Now, one might say that he's a hick and he'll never recognize a pot plant or discern it from climbing teacup roses. But I don't think so. This is a man who makes his whole live about planting and growing live plants. He's a professional at it, and as such must be treated with as much care as you'd treat any highly educated professional in their field (oooh, there's another pun, "in their field"). He'll surely be able to recognize a pot plant from 100 yards away, maybe further. Now wouldn't it be a disaster if he recognizes the plants and calls the cops and they come and cut my angels down? Yes, that's a disaster for sure. Not to mention my ensuing prison time! I tell you, this sphincter of mine has gone almost 50 years without having any foreign objects pass its barrier, and I don't think I want to try lending it to "Mother Bubba", my cellmate in prison for a bit of protection.

So maybe that spot isn't the perfect spot. It's perfect in so many other ways, though. All day sun with no obstructions to shade my angels at all. On a bit of a rise so that any rainfall doesn't sit on the ground lying at my angels' feet. Unable to be seen from the road. Etc.

But today I found another spot while I was out 4 wheeling in my Blazer in the field (coming back from the compost heap). This spot also borders the farmer's field, but there lies a large grove of trees between his field and mine here. I could plant here with incredible safety. Absolutely no one would know about my crop except the wife-bot, who helps me devise all sorts of mechanisms for my grows, including the watering problem. I mean, no one would know. Now that sounds like safety to me, don't it?

But there's a problem with this proposed site, too. Remember, this is a cow field. I would have to fence off an area large enough to grow my 20 or so plants in it so that the cows don't eat all the leafy greens that would be growing there. Now THAT would piss me off, royally, if the cows bloody well ate my crop before it even had a chance to grow.

At the first proposed site I would also have to do some fencing, but the fenceposts are already pounded into the earth, there. Pounding in fenceposts is the hardest part of fencing and you need a post pounder for it. A post pounder is a machine that you haul behind your truck and it uses hydraulic technology to lift up the post and slam it into the earth and deposit the post there. Well, I do not own a post pounder. Nor do I know anyone else who does. And to rent one? Well, that's just yet another expense to add onto the already growing mass of dollar bills that I just cannot afford to lose right now. So the post pounder is out. It's a no-go. And for the second proposed grow site, I would definitely need a post pounder to even begin cordoning off a section to grow in.

A bit of a dilemma. I know. But I'll figure it out.

I've booked James, my 16 year old friend who wants to sell drugs with me -- you remember him, don't you? -- for 2 weekends from now to come and dig my holes for me. I've decided to forego the idea of growing in cloth bags outside. I was going to make my own cloth bags but the fabric would come out to over $200 to purchase, and again, I just cannot do that. So I"m growing in the ground, in conditioned soil that I'm going to mix up myself. I picked up 15 bags of Black Earth for $2.79 each and 5 bags of Cow Manure for the same price to help condition the soil, and I've got my Blood Meal, Bone Meal, and soon enough I'll have Bat Guano, Worm Castings and Humic Acid (actually, I"m not sure if I need Humic Acid or not. I'll have to check again. I've got it written down on my shopping list, but I cannot remember where exactly it fits into the equation.).

So for those of you who've never grown outdoors and who don't know much about it, let me tell you a few things that might be of interest to you.

First of all, we have this belief that cannabis roots grow really deep down and that the more room they have to grow down the better it is. Well, this is patently untrue. Marijuana plants have roots that reach down about 6 - 12 inches primarily, and then they reach out, not down. You can see this if you look at a picture of roots grown hydroponically. You can see the mass of the root ball hanging down about 8 inches, and then it just doubles upon itself, now growing further down, but kind of growing all around that root ball mass. Given this, you don't need a terribly deep hole to grow your cannabis, but it should be a wide hole. That's wide, not deep. So to grow a nice, big plant outside, you'd dig a hole that's about 2 feet deep and at least 3 feet in circumference. Then you add your good, healthy soil (neither the soil you used last year nor the soil you dug up from your vegetable garden; they both have problems inherent more than they are worth), your conditioners like Blood and Bone Meal, Bat Guano (which is Bat Shit for those who don't know), mycorrhizae and all that other good stuff. Then plant yer plant in the middle of all that yummy goodness.

Most cannabis plants will thrive beautifully in that hole. Lots of room to stretch their roots. And if their roots do reach the outsides of their cushy confines, as they surely will, then they are free to bore into the rest of the earth around them. I've got no fear about this happening. This is good farmland where I live, some of the most fertile soil in the world. So my plants will surely grow past their conditioned soil into the harder earth around them, but they won't be constrained by it. Rather, that 3 foot diametre hole affords them lots of room to stretch their little legs. The key is that they can still access the nutrition that is contained in the soil that I'm providing and they'll get other nourishment from the earth surrounding. Win-win situation, if you ask me.

By now you know that I'm going to be brewing Compost Tea this summer, too, to both feed my angels and to spray on their leaves as a pest repellent and mold/fungus deterrent. Well, I've developed my own recipes for it (based, of course, on tried and true recipes that have come before). In my spring/summer teas I'm going to be brewing for heightened Nitrogen levels (without going overboard and burning my babies butts) and in my autumn teas I'm going to be brewing for heightened Phosphorous levels.

Okay. Enuf chit chat. Ready for some pics?

This first pic is of the cuttings that are still waiting to grow massive root clusters and become clones. They currently reside in a plastic grow box with a lid that affords 7 inches of room for them to grow up in and the lid has air holes for the angels to breath with. But this is how many I still have to see if they'll root adequately enough to become viable plants. All the clones are either Big Bud (indica dominant hybrid) or Pineapple Express (sativa dominant hybrid).

This next shot is of the seeds that may or may not yet grow into viable plants. Some are sprouting nicely and some are not. And SweetSue, please take note that it is not a question of germination practices that has caused so many of my seeds not to grow. I started germinating 4 seeds the other day at the same time using the same methods and only 1 of them has sprouted. The others are dead. This is not a question of grower's technique (or lack thereof). It is a question of piss-poor seeds. Anyway, here's the shot of those seeds/seedlings.

The next three shots are of my newest clone with root development. I do something a bit different when I root my clones. The roots grow out of the parts of the plant that have no skin and are exposed to the rooting solution (gel or powder). I scrape the bottom 1/2 inch of outer skin from the plant's stalk to expose more of the plant to the rooting gel and consequently to the possibility of rooting. You can see the results in the root development because roots grow all up the 1/2 inch of stalk where I scraped off the skin. It works. It really does. You can see for yourself in how the roots have grown from this clone.

So it turns out that I've got 6 viable Big Bud clones with vibrant root systems, 6 Pineapple Expresses, plus this last Big Bud that has rooted but hasn't yet been planted. I've also got several seedlings coming along. 2 CBD Critical Mass, 1 AK-47, 1 Blue Dream, 1 Northern Lights X Mazar. I've also just planted into Rapid Rooters 3 Cinderella 99s (of which I think I'll have zero viable plants!) and another Blue Dream.

So, all in all, if my Cindy 99s root and grow, then I'll have 21 plants for my outside grow this summer! I am SOOOO psyched. And if they don't grow? Well, you saw that boatload of cuttings just waiting to grow roots and fly.

I've been trying to figure out where I"m going to hang my bud to dry come fall. I"m thinking one of two rooms. This first room is in the porch attached to the house. Needs a bit of rearranging but it would work just fine. But is it big enough?

This next room is the old garage/shed that houses nothing but junk now. I could conceivable hang there to dry. I may just have to use both spaces, depending on the size of the harvest. To be honest, with never having grown outside before and never having even had a harvest at all yet, I have no idea how much bud to expect to come.

And here's my new shovel! I just bought it yesterday and it's already got cow shit all over it.

The next two shots just show the size of the Bone Meal and Blood Meal that I purchased yesterday at Peavey Mart. I doubt it'll be enough of either.

And this is an essential part of the well-dressed pot farmer's wardrobe. Rubber boots.

This is the size of the bag of Black Earth that I purchased from Canadian Tire as the base for my soil.

And this is how wonderful that Black Earth looks after I've added some perlite to it for drainage. I've been using this to transplant my seedlings and my clones into so far. When I transplant them outside, I'll of course be adding the Blood and Bone Meals, the Bat Guano, the Mycorrhizae (great for root development, and we do like our big strong roots, don't we?), etc.

So there you have it, my pictorial journey through my morning. Are we having fun yet? I hope so.

It is my wish that we can all learn so much this summer from this grow. We seem to be great repositories of knowledge regarding how to grow indoors, but so many of us haven't got a clue how to grow outdoors. That's because we're never faced with the possibility of being able to grow in the great outdoors, right? But wouldn't it be fun to learn how it's done, anyway. Well, hopefully we'll figure that out along the way.

Here's to the (bumpy) ride!

 

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Well, the weather is slowly getting a bit warmer. I've contracted with my friend James to come and dig some holes for me in about 2 weeks. I cannot dig them myself because of my back. The last time I dug holes in the ground it was to plant 6 tomato plants. The next morning my wife had to call an ambulance for me because I couldn't get out of bed! Seriously. I couldn't twist, I couldn't get out of bed to piss in the pot, I couldn't lift my arms above my head even. I was down for the count for 6 weeks like that and we had to get home care in to help me shower and eat and do frigging everything. So there's no way I"m even going to attempt to dig these holes myself. I'll go as far as to make James a big jug of homemade lemonade or two and cart that down to the site. But I'm not digging any fucking holes by myself. No way. No how.

My buddy BJ had an interesting idea. Build a greenhouse out of an old carport that you use to shelter you vehicle in the winter. Then just string a clear tarp over it and voila! -- instant greenhouse. Install a door and a wall on the back and everything goes well. Except it'll be too small for the number of plants I want to grow. It would be only 21 feet long, and there's no way I could fit 20 plants into that space. Mind you, I wouldn't mind the greenhouse to grow some tomatoes in (I frigging loooove heirloom tomatoes and the only way to get them is to grow them). I've even thought about using my indoor grow stuff to grow tomatoes inside my grow tent with my lights while my outdoor grow is going on. It's too late to start tomatoes inside and then take them outside for the summer, so I'd have to grow them inside if I wanted to grow them at all. I know I could buy those tomato plants that have already been started, but I want heirloom tomatoes. The difference in taste is so extreme. You just cannot get good tomatoes from the plants they sell in these greenhouses. It's like growing those seeds they sell in packages. Tomatoes have been bred for 70 years now to be big, red and weigh a lot. They have NOT been bred for flavour. For that, you have to go to the heirloom varieties. I figure my LEDs and my nutes and my flood and drain system would grow nice almost hydro tomatoes.

Are we supposed to call coco grows hydro grows or not? I'm not really sure. They don't grow in soil. They grow in coco and receive all their nutrients from the nutrients you add to the watering system, just like a hydro grow. For all intense purposes, the coco is just used as a medium to steady the plant and keep it upright, just like a block of that green shit that I cannot remember the name of right now. So for all purposes, they are hydro grows, but I don't think I ever hear them referred to as such. Just wondering. If anyone has the definitive answer on this one, I'd love to hear it.

I may have to change my grow site. The problem is that I thought the field alongside our property was tended by my friend BJ's father. BJ's dad would listen to reason about my grow, consider that it is medical and not blab his mouth about it to anyone in the community. I've met him on many occasions and sat at numerous dinner tables with the man. I think he'd be pretty safe with the knowledge that I'm growing weed in the field. But it turns out that the owner of the land rents it out to a Mennonite family who lives nearby. I don't know these people from Adam and Eve and so I have no reason to trust them with this knowledge. So that sounds unsafe to me. Sure, sure. Maybe he won't recognize what the plants are, but he's a farmer and they know plants. It's their livelihood to know different plants. I"m sure that once they grow big enough he'd recognize them and know what they are. This is an unsafe grow.

So there are a few other spots in the field where I could grow where they'd be more hidden, but the problem is the fencing. At the original site, there was a row of fenceposts already installed at the location where I could string up some barbed wire and just attach it to the already existing fenceposts. But that's the only place in the field like it. Anywhere else that I want to grow I would have to install fenceposts, and that means renting a post pounder to pound them into the ground. I just don't have that kind of money to rent a post pounder. Its probably not a ton of cash, but I live on government disability. Every dollar is a lot of money to spend, and I"m trying to keep my costs down.

So then I went and sought out other spots around the yard and house to grow my plants. I found enough space where each plant would be well concealed for 11 plants, but that was all. These 11 spots were well hidden by either trees or sheds or chicken coops or what have you and are placed in various spots around the homestead. But what about the other 9 plants? My angels?

So I've come up with another idea, and the idea came from my wife-bot. She suggested that I ask Maria, our 91 year old landlady, if I can grow my pot on her property, which is about one kilometre from our house. She lives on the farm next to this one. Actually, she lives in one of three houses. She has the farm, a place in Two Hills, and a duplex in Edmonton that she doesn't go to often.

Then I had this thought. What about growing on the farm across the road from Maria's, where no one lives anymore and there's just an old farmhouse and some falling down sheds? Maria owns that land, too, and it's the original farm where she grew up as a child. The farmhouse stands on the apex of a hill that you come to directly after turning into the drive. When you go behind the farmhouse the land slopes down and a gentle curve and if I were to grow down there then every single plant would be completely concealed from the road out front.

I think the idea is brilliant! A perfect spot and not on my property, but not really a stealth operation, either. I would have to haul water in to the site, but I would have to haul water to my site on my property if I planted anywhere in the field, anyway.

Speaking of water, we've decided, the wife-bot and I, to get a trailer to pull behind the Blazer. Doesn't have to be big or long in any way, it just needs to carry at least one 100 gallon tank on it, turned over on its side. This tank I will fill with water from Maria's hose (because my water is so shitty) and haul it to my site (wherever it is) where I will have two 45 gallon barrels. I will divide the water between the two barrels. One I will leave to warm up in the sun (because water from the well is so damned cold) and the other I will prepare Compost Tea to brew. Then in 2 days time I will return and give them both Compost Tea and water. Twice a week. That'll be my watering schedule for my angels this summer. I think they'll like that.

I"m going to go as natural and organic as I can with this grow, and using as few packaged nutrients as possible. I know I purchased some already, but I've decided to return them to the store. I may purchase some organic nutes for soil, though, just in case. I've got an issue with my compost pile. There's no way it will have composted in time for me to plant. That means that I won't have all that nitrogen from the chicken shit that I need for my angels to grow with. For them to get big and strong like bull, mind you. So I'm either going to have to find some composted chicken manure or I'll have to use nutes for the beginning of my grow until the compost pile is ready. I've already checked and Canadian Tire doesn't have any chicken manure out yet, if they will. They have cow manure in bags, just not chicken.

I just took a break from writing this post and drove up to Maria's old homestead to take a look. There are two brilliant spots to grow in, in clearings hidden by trees all around where no one goes. They would be absolutely perfect for my summer outdoor grow! I have to pay my rent to Maria tomorrow so I'll stop by and ask her if I can grow on her property. I'm sure she'll say YES to me. It was her idea for me to grow on the farm, anyway. And I could grow 20 plants or so without fear of getting caught. Sure, the helicopters might come, but they'd be pretty well hidden even from up top because of the trees surrounding them. Not exactly hidden, but they'd blend in better than if they were growing at my place.

And I've just checked on my angels and all is well, they're all growing beautifully. Still hoping to get a few more clones to grow for myself, but maybe there won't be any more. I'm going to transplant one of my clones tomorrow, a Big Bud, because her roots have grown quite decently already out of the Rapid Rooter. This is the one that I showed a pic of up top a few days ago, with the roots all up the side of the Rapid Rooter. Those roots have developed further now and she's ready to drop into some soil. I think two of my transplanted clones might not survive their transplant, however. They don't seem to be doing all that well. Yellowing leaves and always a bit droopy. Not from overwatering, either. That I"m sure of. Oh well. As many will live as will live. I'm fine as long as I get 20 plants to grow this summer. I'll be happy with that.

I'm trying to imagine what kind of yield, given a relatively good year, I might harvest with 20 outdoor plants. I have no way of conceiving of that. I've never grown an outdoor plant before except zucchini and radishes and lettuce, as far as I can recall. Hell, I have no way of imagining how many ounces I might get from this grow. And I know there's no way of telling because it depends on so many different factors. Strain. Water. Nutrients. Light. Wind. Training. Etc etc etc. A little too much, a little too little of any of these elements can screw up your yield. But still. I want to know at least a ballpark figure. For a couple of reasons, too. First of all, I want to know what's in store for me work-wise come autumn when they all finish blooming. And this is two fold. First, I've got to know I've got time to harvest everything. If 4 plants become ready on one day, will that be too much to handle on my own? And even more importantly, do I have enough room to hang the whole harvest? I've got an old garage/shed out front which could take a lot and a room at the back of my porch that'll take some too. I also realized that this one shed out in the field is all cleaned out and would house some bounty in it, too. So I should have enough room it'll just be parcelled out into 3 spots, probably.

Well the shadows grow long and the dogs grow restless. Time to take them out for a piss. I bid you all a good night and I hope I haven't "talked" your ear off by now. If you did read to this end I thank you for that. I hope I can keep you interested enough to keep coming back until things really get under way. I'll keep some pics coming but there's not much to show right now, just the clones and seedlings growing. And let's face it, looking at clones and seedlings can get boring after a while if that's all you're looking at. So until they actually get in the ground, I hope that things can stay interesting around here.

Until then, then. I bid you adieu.
Magnus.

 

[walleye]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Hey Magnus8, I grew indoor coco coir, it's more hydro than soil but neither?! Takes nutes every watering and needs coco specific nute ratios. Best of luck and best buds friend. I love how your grow is evolving everyday. Brilliant! walleye15

 

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Hey Magnus8, I grew indoor coco coir, it's more hydro than soil but neither?! Takes nutes every watering and needs coco specific nute ratios. Best of luck and best buds friend. I love how your grow is evolving everyday. Brilliant! walleye15

Hi Walleye,

Thanks for this. Yeah, that's kind of how I feel. More like hydro than not. But nothing at all like dirt, so that's that said. Yeah, I think of it as almost hydro, the only difference being the medium: coco or those little green squares (whose name I always know but it escapes me yet again!).

 

[walleye]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Rookwool?! Hey Magnus8, it gives me great joy knowing you ice fish. I can only imagine the great fishing you enjoy. I am a fisherman too! I have not gone lately cause my back gets sore but I think I'll grab some rods (and a fishing license) now that walleye season is open here in Michigan and sit on a shore somewhere. I have a 14 footer but have nothing to tow it at the moment. My best stories are about fishing. I almost lost my wife to a fish on our honeymoon!!! I left nightcrawlers in the trunk of her NEW oldsmobile our first date! Smelt like limburger cheese after that! Thank God she didn't throw me back! I am one reason some of Michigans' fishing laws were rewritten. The DNR did not like my legal methods although once I was arrested for being ignorant of the fishing guide. You need a lawyer to explain the rules here! I plead no contest and that didn't go well with the judge! My mother-in -law had issues with the guide rules too but she would disappear before the DNRs' eyes before being apprehended. She would hear and smell them coming! Good times. Peace

 

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Rookwool?! Hey Magnus8, it gives me great joy knowing you ice fish. I can only imagine the great fishing you enjoy. I am a fisherman too! I have not gone lately cause my back gets sore but I think I'll grab some rods (and a fishing license) now that walleye season is open here in Michigan and sit on a shore somewhere. I have a 14 footer but have nothing to tow it at the moment. My best stories are about fishing. I almost lost my wife to a fish on our honeymoon!!! I left nightcrawlers in the trunk of her NEW oldsmobile our first date! Smelt like limburger cheese after that! Thank God she didn't throw me back! I am one reason some of Michigans' fishing laws were rewritten. The DNR did not like my legal methods although once I was arrested for being ignorant of the fishing guide. You need a lawyer to explain the rules here! I plead no contest and that didn't go well with the judge! My mother-in -law had issues with the guide rules too but she would disappear before the DNRs' eyes before being apprehended. She would hear and smell them coming! Good times. Peace

Wow, Walleye,

I don't know where you got that I ice fish from. I haven't fished in freakin' ages. I used to go as a child with my father a go to a mountain lake between AB and BC, don't remember the name of the lake now. Probably all fished out by now, but I remember one ice fishing trip up there, snowmobiling in about 10 miles into the bush to find only a handful of people on the lake each day and bombing around with my buddy on the skidoos while our two fathers did most of the fishing. But I remember walking away from that trip with 23 perch and 3 trout to my name. And between the four of us that day we wen't home with over 120 fish in all! I think the final tally was 124 altogether.

But. unfortunately, I haven't ice fished in years...

 

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Time to Transplant!!!

I took some pics yesterday when I transplanted two clones and one seedling into dixie cups.

This first pic of all three of my little angels in their respective dixie cups.

There's 2 clones, one Big Bud and one Pineapple Express. Also one Kali Mist seedling.

The next shot is a pic of the dirt I use, only to point out how much perlite I use. I mix about 30/70 black earth. The perlite gives it the aeration the plant needs.

This is the first plant I need to pot. Check out the toots. At least I think they've developed pretty well without any root additives or such. This is the same clone I showed the other day.

Then I fill a dixie cup 1/3 full...

...and voila. The little sucker's been planted.

This is my Pineapple Express clone.

And this is my Kali Mist seedling. Not too sure that she'll live to see vegetative time.

 

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Greetings All,

Hope this posting finds you all well and enjoying the beautiful spring I know you're experiencing.

All is well on this end. Every day it seems like a little more work is piled upon my shoulders, not all of it having to do with this grow, but a bunch of it so.

I've had to re-think where I'm going to set my grow for the summer. As it turns out, the farmer who tends the field next to ours is not the farmer I thought it was. Turns out I don't know this guy from Adam, so I can hardly expect him to keep his mouth shut about my grow when he sees it as he tends his field. So I've had to seek out other locations.

I had found this perfect spot on my landlady's other property nearby, but as I was walking with Dobby down there the other day to check something out I met up with the landlord's son. Turns out he's going to be using that particular field to graze his cattle this year. Damn! There goes another perfect spot because of course the cattle will destroy my angels for sure.

So I've found another location. This one is nextdoor to the trailer. Right beside, which will make my life a shitload easier. Next to the house there's an old, run down shed that stores shitloads of scrap lumber that could be used for nothing but burning in a wood stove. It's packed with that kind of wood. But running alongside the house and the shed is the barb wire fence that keeps the cattle in the fields. Between the fence and the shed, though, there's enough room to build a greenhouse. (Do you see where I'm going with this? Probably not.)

So the reason I wasn't going to grow anywhere near the house before is because of the road that runs out front. There's not a lot of traffic on it, but there's enough to notice 20 or so plants growing like weeds all in a row or so. Too many prying eyes for my tastes. But if we build this greenhouse beside the shed, then we've got all this room behind the two structures to hide about 20 growing plants.

Got it? Now you see where I"m going with this?

So my buddy BJ has an old carport frame that he doesn't need anymore. It no longer has the skin on it, but the structure is still intact. So BJ is going to give me the frame and he's going to help me set it up. Then I'm going to buy a one-ply clear tarp about 20' by 35' (about $300!!!) and cover up the frame of the structure with the tarp, tie it down and Voila! -- instant greenhouse. Add a screen door (BJ also has one of these for me) and enclose the back wall with another tarp and it's all set up.

This solves another problem. Because I live so far north the days are really long here. At the height of summer, we'll have light in the sky until 11:00 pm, no exaggeration. Anyone who lives far north in Canada will know what I"m talking about. Because the plants will only go into flower when the days get short, I need to find a way to simulate darkness for the plants artificially. So we're going to purchase a black tarp of the same dimensions (there goes yet another $300 smackeroos) and use it to cover the plants up come the beginning of September. This should give them enough time to flower before the frosts come. Hard frosts are here by the middle of October, so maybe I will need to cover them even earlier. I've got one auto that will not need this treatment, but all the others are of the other kind (I cannot remember what the other plants are called; photo-something or something like that; I'm sounding pretty stupid right now, aren't I?) So I will definitely need that black tarp.

There's this series of stores out in Alberta called UFA (United Farmers of Alberta). It's a membership store and they sell gas, purple gas (for the farmers, no one else can use it), stuff for farming like seed and all kinds of devices and goods, and tons of gardening stuff. I'm going to go there and special order my tarps. I've already purchased a shitload of stuff from them for this grow. Peavey Mart has also been a great resource. I bought my Blood Meal and my Bone Meal there. I got my Mychorrizae from my grow store (there is no better than Hydro-Lite, my grow store) in Edmonton. I'll be back in Edmonton on the 26th of May, the same day I get paid, so I'll purchase my Worm Castings, Sea Kelp, Humic Acid, Bat Guano and Chicken Manure from them. They carry it all for an outdoor grow as well as hydro and coco grows. They're a great store and a wonderful resource, and they give me 10% off for doing medical grows. 10% ain't much, but every little bit helps when you're spending about $1000 on a grow. When we were setting up our indoor Flood and Drain system for watering my coco grow, my wife-bot found them to be invaluable for instructing her on how to set the whole system up. They advised her on couplings, hoses, pumps -- everything. I love them. And the owner is this incredibly gracious and kind woman who has been building her clientele for over 20 years now.

So I just finished transplanting two Pineapple Express clones from the starter tray into dixie cups. I think both of them are strong enough with enough root development to survive the transplant. One of my Pineapple Express clones that I transplanted the other day didn't make it, though. But now I've got 8 Pineapple Express clones which have survived their first transplant into dixie cups and 10 Big Buds that have done the same. I've got 2 more PE clones that show roots emerging from their Rapid Rooter cups and another 2 BB clones doing the same thing. That's at least 18 plants just in clones this year! Jeezus -- what will I do with all this weed? Hmmmm. Well, I can think of one thing I can do...

Then I've got the seedlings of which some are doing really, really well and some are struggling along, trying to get big and strong.

I picked up some Mychorrizae the other day at Hydro-Lite and have begun using it when I transplant my angels into their dixie cups. I"m hoping this stuff is as amazing as they say it it. It's supposed to help with both root development and also helps the plants uptake Phosphorous. Which is good because a few of my plants (my indoor grow from which I got my clones) were showing signs of Phosphorous deficiency. They got these white bands that were about one centimetre wide and crossed the whole width of the leaves. I had no idea what it was but was looking at a chart the other day at Hydro-Lite and I'm sure it's a Phosphorous deficiency that they were experiencing. Not a lot of leaves showed the deficiency but a few of them did. Enough to trouble me. Everything worked out after I increased the ppm of nutrients up to 750 ppm instead of 500 ppm. But the bands, though the leaves never died, didn't go away.

So do you want to see some pics? I don't have many for today, and the ones I do have are pretty boring. But here they are anyway.

These first two pics show the front of the shed I was talking about and the side where I want to put the greenhouse sits beside the barb wire fence that keeps the cows locked into the grazing field. Do you see the three metal drums that used to be used for burning garbage (not us, the previous tenants used to do it; lots of people out near here do it, burning their paper refuse)? Those barrels mark what will be the back end of the grow while the backside of the greenhouse will mark the front of the grow. Not bad, eh? Lots of room to grow my demented little angels.

Okay, here's the two pics:

This shot shows the grow area from the side. The pic is shot from alongside the barb wire fence. Though its a wide angle shot and therefore looks like there's more room than there actually is, you can still get a sense of how much space I have to work with.

This next shot shows just why I need to hide my angels behind the shed and greenhouse. See that road? There's not a ton of traffic on it, but there's enough to worry me. If the wrong person were to see my grow well, that would be bad. Not good. Bad.

So there you have it. My pics for the day. I've contracted with James, my 16-year old friend to dig my holes that I'll be planting in. But I've decided to rototill up the earth beforehand so that the digging is easier. I don't have a rototiller myself, but BJs father has a big tractor with a great big rototiller on it and I'm going to ask him to do it for me. Rototill up the earth underneath where the greenhouse is going to sit and rototill up the earth behind it where I'm going to be planting my plants. Since I'm going to be planting my plants outside and not inside the greenhouse, I'll need the earth to be as soft as I can get it before digging my holes. If we rototill up the earth all over where the grow will be happening, then I"m one step closer to getting the earth the way I want it for my grow.

It's all so exciting. Despite the barriers I've been facing with this grow (seeds not sprouting, finding the right spot, figuring out my water situation, etc etc etc), I'm still thrilled to be growing outside, in my yard, without (much) fear of recrimination from anyone. Even my 91-year old landlady is down with it.

The water situation has presented itself as a bit of a problem. Up until now, I've been using water I purchase for my inside grow. My own water is terrible. And I mean terrible. It comes from the well but the well must have some kind of bacteria growing in it because it stinks to high heaven. It's even difficult to take a shower in this water because you come out of the shower stinking like the water. And I do mean that you stink. It's not a pretty smell at all. And I'm very worried that whatever is growing in that water is going to mess with my plants. Not to mention the terribly high ppm reading I get from it. No. I cannot grow with my own well water, and to be honest, I cannot afford to be buying water for an outside grow. I've been reading that my plants, during the hottest part of the summer, may each drink up about 10 gallons of water per feeding! Kee-rist that's a lot of water when you're thinking 20-25 plants to grow.

So I'm going to be using my landlady's water from her well. It is much better quality and you can even drink it (something you'd never try with my water). Which means that we've had to get ahold of a trailer to haul tanks for water that I can get from Maria's well (my landlady). We don't have the trailer yet, but it's coming within a couple of weeks (from BJ again). My little brother has told me he can get me two 60 gallon water tanks for the trailer and as many 45 gallon drums as I need. But this means hauling water with my SUV from Maria's home (about 1/2 a kilometre from us) back to our home, dumping it into 45 gallon drums to warm up to outside temperatures that I can use to water my angels with and to make my Compost Teas with. So that's one obstacle that was in the way that is now working out, but it still is a hassle. It would be so much easier to just attach a hose to the water tap and watering my demented little angels that way. But, alas, it is not meant to be I suppose.

Anyway, I'm just boring you by now I'm sure. So keep well, everyone. Enjoy your beautiful spring, wherever you are. And please, keep coming back. I'm looking forward to hearing what you all have to say this summer.

All my best,
Magnus.

 

[Magnus8]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

Good morning, everyone!

Just wondering if anyone who has subbed in has grown outdoors previously. I'd love to keep you along for the ride if only for selfish reasons. You will be invaluable to me for this grow because sometimes I wonder if I have any idea what I'm doing.

I do have a question for you now, though. If you've grown outside before, did you plant in pots or in the earth? And if you planted in the earth, did you use that landscaping plastic material to line your holes or not?

I'm of two minds when it comes to that plastic stuff. I'm thinking that I want to grow my plants in soil so that they have room to grow, room to stretch their little filaments that will be able to snake through the soil and do whatever they want to do. That plastic landscaping material would prevent this, though. It would keep the roots contained within the dimensions of the plastic bag that you are using. This counters what I@m trying to achieve with the room for the roots. Why even plant in the soil if you are containing your plants in plastic bags that prevent the roots from growing naturally? Doesn't make sense to me. I know, I know that they keep the weeds out and that's why you should use it. But I think that when I weigh the options that I'm coming up with growing in soil directly.

Can someone with any experience growing either way want to expound upon why they did it that way, whichever way they did it? And would you choose a different path if you grew outside again?

Any advice and help in this matter would be greatly appreciated by me, I assure you.

I checked my angels this morning and I've got another viable seed coming up (a Blue Dream) and another viable seedling that has sprouted quite tall and strong (a Cinderella 99 seedling). I've also got two more Pineapple Express clones that are showing some promising root development and would be ready to transplant in about 3 or 4 days from now. Also 2 new Big Bud clones that are just showing roots now and would be ready to transplant in about 5 or 6 days.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High, I tell you.

Cheerio, everyone. Hope you're having a great day today!

All my best,
Magnus!

 

[0utd00rsman]

Re: Magnus' Summer Outdoor - Soil 15 AK47, Crit Mass, Ice Bomb, NL, Big Bud, Pin Expr

My friend is using laundry baskets with a landscape fabric as a liner right now with awesome results! I'm outdoor but I do small plants that I train and force flower. I am in Walmart fabric bags right now, 45 cents a bag.