Off-Grid Spring-Fed Hillbilly CBD Greenhouse

[One Of These Days]

Dang Simon we gona have to get you some Cheech and Chong papers to go with your cucumber diet.

That would be good idea for you to take at different tricome stages, being your offgrid shop of holy crap im gona have alot of buds. That way u can see at what stage of cloudiness really helps you.

 

[Simon Limon]

Another full inch of rain last night and it hasn't let up all day. The temperature in the greenhouse was 60º early this morning with a high today of 62º. Still no sign of drought stress so there's nothing to do but stare at the plants.

All of these are the same Critical Mass plant, the first to bloom and I expect the first to harvest. This cola is going to be at least a foot tall.

The sugary texture is spreading downward.

 

[CattleTurd]

The fan leaves on Dutch Hawaiian must be 14 inches or more. That’s pretty big.
Very nice.

 

[Simon Limon]

Another 3/4" of rain last night and a wetter day predicted tomorrow. Rather than continue to speculate about drought stress even though it has been a week without watering I went ahead and gave everyone two gallons, with a 2 gallon bonus for the Dutch Hawaiian, the thirstiest of the girls. (Also 4 gallons to the cucumbers as we're loving the sweetsour pickled gherkins.)

We had some sun breaks between showers so the greenhouse is at 72º today but 52º last night.

I trimmed a couple of leaves on this Critical Mass cola to get a clearer view. Are we there yet? How much development does this need before it is usuable (as CBD oil)? How much longer before it will be fully developed?

Lots of suspense in a first time grow!

If I hadn't done some fairly strict training these plants would be raising the roof.

The plants have crowded into the narrow walkways around the central raised bed.

Asparagus from seed. We'll hope it survives the winter for planting in the spring.

 

[greenjeans]

How much longer before it will be fully developed?

Hey Si - I'm not a good one to know but still looks like lots of white stigmas - I think they should be turning brown when it gets closer.....having said that, I think I have seen amber trichs on Angie and all the stigmas have been brown for awhile so I took one branch off today because I think I have had a small bit of bud rot, so to be on the safe side, and for shitz and giggles why not start early, considering how the crap I trimmed off a few weeks ago seems to give me a pretty good buzz, why not experiment??
Are ya gonna need a bigger greenhouse next year???

 

[CattleTurd]

Asparagus by seed. You sir have a little patience don’t you?

 

[Simon Limon]

Hey Si - I'm not a good one to know but still looks like lots of white stigmas - I think they should be turning brown when it gets closer.....having said that, I think I have seen amber trichs on Angie and all the stigmas have been brown for awhile so I took one branch off today because I think I have had a small bit of bud rot, so to be on the safe side, and for shitz and giggles why not start early, considering how the crap I trimmed off a few weeks ago seems to give me a pretty good buzz, why not experiment??
Are ya gonna need a bigger greenhouse next year???

I'm really not sure if I will grow again at all next year. Based on our current use I think we may be looking at a ten-year yield from the present crop. I'm actually a bit serious. We have been making CBD oil from a generous gift of buds, 20 grams at a time, and each batch is lasting us well over a month. If I get 500 grams that is a 2 year supply.

I'll give away some of this crop, very discreetly, but as much fun and education as the grow has been the clone house will likely be back to growing tomatoes next spring.

 

[Simon Limon]

Asparagus by seed. You sir have a little patience don’t you?

This is the first time we've grown from seed and it was surprisingly easy. I think it helped a great deal to keep a garden sprayer at hand filled with plain water. I was easily able to keep the seed tray nicely damp and eventually all of the seeds popped up.

 

[greenjeans]

I hear ya, Si. I'm hoping to be in the same position as you - minus the screwed up shoulder of course!!! - But this has sort of become fun - plus I want to see what will happen if I do it more gooder!!

 

[Simon Limon]

I hear ya, Si. I'm hoping to be in the same position as you - minus the screwed up shoulder of course!!! - But this has sort of become fun - plus I want to see what will happen if I do it more gooder!!

I hear ya. Definitely more fun than spuds and zucchini! I am a fairly experienced vegetable gardener but raising cannabis has taught me a lot that I'll also be applying to the food garden. I am especially interested now in creating more compost rather than buying ready made stuff from the hydro store. I've got the materials but just haven't worked the compost seriously.

If I do a cannabis grow next year it will be just a few plants. I'd like to try other high CBD varieties, perhaps from seed. The place where I bought the Critical Mass clones is great but that is their only CBD strain.

 

[greenjeans]

Yep - 4 - in one place!!!

 

[Van Stank]

I hear ya. Definitely more fun than spuds and zucchini! I am a fairly experienced vegetable gardener but raising cannabis has taught me a lot that I'll also be applying to the food garden. I am especially interested now in creating more compost rather than buying ready made stuff from the hydro store. I've got the materials but just haven't worked the compost seriously.

If I do a cannabis grow next year it will be just a few plants. I'd like to try other high CBD varieties, perhaps from seed. The place where I bought the Critical Mass clones is great but that is their only CBD strain.

Compost is where its at. I have gone to a no till garden where I just add compost every year and its amazing. You don't need to water nearly as much and my production is through the roof. The size of my veggies this year has been incredible. I had my doubts with no till but those doubts are gone.

Leaves and grass makes some amazing compost by themselves, not counting any food scraps. Grind up your used eggs shells and throw them in there as well, the worms will love you and your calcium availability will skyrocket.

The other great thing about compost is you can do it year around regardless of where you live. Compost puts out an amazing amount of heat as it breaks down. It can actually be used as a heat source in greenhouses over the winter. There is an urban farmer in Wisconsin that uses compost piles to heat his greenhouse in winter up there. They can produce heat upwards of 150-160 degrees when its really active.

 

[greenjeans]

Hey Van - You see the 5 laundry tubs I am using for growing all used to hold red wigglers - I finally used the last of them in my growing mix. I got tired of the darn drain flies and how much room they took up. I'm going to go with outdoor regular composting now. Sure hope I made the right choice.

 

[Simon Limon]

Assuming that I recover from shoulder replacement before spring arrives I plan to compost wood chips with fresh goat manure. I've spread about 100 yards of wood chips throughout our gardens and orchard but now I want to try a more direct method of composting them. Our neighbor has a tree service and lets us take all the wood chips we want. It usually takes about 2-3 days before the piles he creates begin to really heat up. Layering with manure ought to speed the process considerably.

 

[greenjeans]

Hey Si - when I had goats the darn manure was 95% hay and 5% manure - those darn things could waste more feed than any animal I knew - and once it hit the floor they would rather starve than eat it!!! But for compost - wow!!!

 

[Van Stank]

Hey Van - You see the 5 laundry tubs I am using for growing all used to hold red wigglers - I finally used the last of them in my growing mix. I got tired of the darn drain flies and how much room they took up. I'm going to go with outdoor regular composting now. Sure hope I made the right choice.

I run a few bins of vermi compost in my basement. I plan on ramping up production next year for my outdoor cannabis grows. Hopefully I will be able to produce and feed enough to have 250 gallons of soil for my outdoor grows (10 plants.....25 gallons each).

I guess I am pretty lucky, I don't get a lot of flies with my vermicomposting. Hope that trend continues.

 

[greenjeans]

I admit I had regrets and even went scrounging thru my dirt to see if I could find any - there might be some in the gals tubs, I'll check when finished.
So, have you ever entered a room and announced "I have worms!!"

 

[Simon Limon]

I run a few bins of vermi compost in my basement. I plan on ramping up production next year for my outdoor cannabis grows. Hopefully I will be able to produce and feed enough to have 250 gallons of soil for my outdoor grows (10 plants.....25 gallons each).

I guess I am pretty lucky, I don't get a lot of flies with my vermicomposting. Hope that trend continues.

I've thought about vermicomposting but I'm not sure if the effort to collect compostables would be worth it? My current system is to layer whatever is around in cylindrical stock wire bins four feet high. I just let them do their thing for a couple of years, then sift the compost into a wheelbarrow.

What are you feeding to get so much soil?

 

[Van Stank]

I admit I had regrets and even went scrounging thru my dirt to see if I could find any - there might be some in the gals tubs, I'll check when finished.
So, have you ever entered a room and announced "I have worms!!"

No, but I am the weird guy that ends up bringing up worms and bacteria and fungi around people far more often than 99.9% of the world. If people only understood what is below their feet! So freaking amazing at the power of such little things. The whole food soil web is intriguing to me.

 

[greenjeans]

Oh gosh Van - I just saw the first line of your signature...I'm that guy!!!!!