Old-School & Young Blood - Grown By An Old Fart

[Spitz]

Nice list of seeds. Bubba Kush and Jack Herer would be my picks. I have a similar lineup of choices so I haven't/won't buy seeds for a while. Bubblegum and Blue Dream are on my wish list. I may pass on the BD and go with a Dr. Grinspoon that my Blueberry impregnated. Who knows.. may be a keeper.

Standing by for the tour...

 

[TorturedSoul]

Nice list of seeds. Bubba Kush and Jack Herer would be my picks. I have a similar lineup of choices so I haven't/won't buy seeds for a while. Bubblegum and Blue Dream are on my wish list. I may pass on the BD and go with a Dr. Grinspoon that my Blueberry impregnated. Who knows.. may be a keeper.

I'm not a real big kush fan. I have the Sensi Seeds (the original breeder of the strain, AfaIK) Jack Herer plant, and have taken four cuttings. I haven't done any training whatsoever yet, but it has produced the usual branches. I can whack off a few more if needed. Have cuttings of the Serious Seeds (also the original breeder) Kali Mist, and can get more. I do not believe they have rooted yet; I have gone low-budget, low-stress (in regards to both mine and the plants', lol) on that, just stuck them into little cups of (mostly) perlite, as a record-breaking rooting time is not required at this point. I'm waiting on a Blueberry x White Widow to germinate, and the old Snow White. And I have initiated one of the "mix" auto-flowering strains. That aspect is also proceeding somewhat slowly. I fear that the Snow White might not germinate. I have no idea about the Blueberry x White Widow - but I have a few more of those seeds. I might end up trying to germinate another of those (or, who knows, maybe something else?) soon in case the first fails to open or (perish the thought) turns out to be a male.

I have yet to spot any "pre-flowers" on either of my established plants, which is somewhat unusual, given their age. But they also do not appear to be sexually mature, yet (nodes are still being produced directly across from each other instead of in the "staggered" pattern), so that is not really surprising.

I held off on posting pictures when I realized that the deadline in Mars-Hydro's thread asking for applicants to test/learn/use/review/teach about their new Mars Pro II Epistar 320 product (along with a 4'x4' grow tent). There were enough people that my odds of getting picked are quite low, but one can always hope, lol. IF I am chosen, it'll mean a major rearrangement of the entire room (a couple of tents take up more space than one might think), so things are currently in a mild state of disarray. I thought just a little while ago about taking a couple of pictures of the two established plants, but then I realized that the lights had already gone off. Maybe tomorrow if someone is nice enough to remind me. I'd really like to get picked - I should easily be able to fill the tent and take full advantage of the new light (and give it a thorough test in the process) - but I need to get busy in the grow room either way. Regardless of who is chosen, I will be interested in learning about the new product, as they are also a sponsor here and their products seem to be well-received. It would be nice to be able to do my learning in person, though . It will be good to see it in a journal.

BtW, those 4'x4' Mars-Hydro grow tents... A lot heavier than I had expected them to be. Just carrying it into my house (in the box), I thought, "Wow, this thing must weigh more than the 10'x10 camping tent I owned until I got divorced." Before I received it, I was thinking of it as a cheap product. However... Now, I would consider it to be an inexpensive one - but not a chea[ product, if you know what I mean, lol. If you need a grow tent, but your funds are low - you could probably do a lot worse than choosing one of their tents.

Oh, I almost forgot: I have read too many scary things about Barney's Farm genetics to consider myself a fan (although I do have a few of their seeds and am willing - and hoping - to be impressed), but I have always been intrigued by that Dr. Grinspoon. To me, it looks like it might have some "ancient" sativa genetics in it. I wouldn't mind growing that one, myself. And the thought of it being crossed with (a good version of) Blueberry... That seems like it might be very appealing. I hope you have great luck with it!

While I'm thinking about it (since I just had to repair a set that I managed to screw up :rolleyes3 ), if anyone has yet to figure out why I sometimes make certain company names bold green, it is because those companies are sponsors here - they are the companies that help keep this forum in existence and free for all of us to use. I figure it is the least that I can do to show my thanks for that. I may not always remember, but I try. Please consider using one or more of this forum's sponsors whenever you need a product that they sell!

 

[HashGirl]

Okay, TS, I took your advice and posted my version of your post below on my blog. Here's the link if you'd like to check it out:

A Stoner's Random Thoughts

I like reading your grow journal even though I don't personally grow because you write with humour and I appreciate that.

No journal update until Sunday - when you should be able to see the plants enjoying their new home - but I wanted to remind people to make sure to vote in our three 420 Magazine contests:
Member of the Month - September 2016
Plant of the Month - September 2016
Nug of the Month - September 2016

There is another week or so before the polls close. The "Plant..." and "Nug..." contests are cool, you get to see pictures and choose the one (of each category) that you like the best. The "Member of the Month" contest is, IMHO, especially important, because it allows us to vote for the member that WE feel has been the most helpful/positive/etc. during the (previous) month. It's a peer-recognition kind of thing!

It bugs me that we have thousands and thousands of members - but in a "good" month, we might have 100 people vote. Why don't we try to change that? If you run a journal, make a post in it something like this one. Help spread the word.

The winner of each contest gets a nice prize package. Many candidates can use some/all of the prizes, and I'm sure that if there is something which they cannot use, they can find another forum member, family member, or friend to gift it to. Who knows, lol, that person could be... you.

Remember to pay attention in regards to which members you see helping out in the forums this month, so you can nominate one of them for the MotM contest next month!

And stay tuned for that update. The girls have moved out of the shack and into the penthouse ...

 

[HashGirl]

Sue has that effect on a lot of people here. She's a good person.

Yeah, it even made the depression seem to be merely a thing for, IDK... almost a day. It was almost like living again.

 

[Big Sparks]

Very nice looking plants TS. I'll be pulling up a chair and tagging along for this one. Hope you don't mind. Also, that is a very impressive list of seeds you have in stock there. I can't wait to see what happens with a few of those....keep it green. Im outta here for now but will be hanging around here somewhere in the cloud of smoke! *wink-wink*

 

[Spitz]

How they looking sir?

 

[AngryBird]

HI TorturedSoul. All well?

 

[TorturedSoul]

I'm trying to decide when/how to initiate flowering. I've got two reasonable sized plants. The only reason they're as small as they are is because I've kept their root space restricted. I also ended up with four clones (two each from the plants) and two seedlings. Not the two seedlings that I initially planned on sprouting, but IDK the history of the seeds and how they were stored, so you'll have that, lol.

I have to make the decision... Keep things in the vegetative phase so the seedlings (and, to a lesser extent, the clones) can have time to grow? If so, I can take/root some more cuttings and attempt to sprout more seedlings. I figure a week to ten days before switching to a flowering light schedule ought to be sufficient time as far as up-potting my two larger plants goes (comments?).

Switch to flowering ASAP (again, with a little time after moving the two main plants to larger pots)? That'd mean that my (recently rooted) clones would have very little vegetative time, and could be placed into small containers (two-liter bottles, three-liter bottles, one-gallon buckets, et cetera). But it would also mean that the seedlings would get basically no vegetative time - and I have always been against this strategy for various reasons.

One issue that will probably end up affecting my decision is that I'm very low on perlite. I broke down and went to the "local" plant nursery where I always bought it in 2 ft.³ bags before and was told to come back in March. The nearest thing I can find around here is those little Suzie Homemaker bags of a few quarts each. I'm also low on "known good" soil (have a little bit of a fortified organic brand I've never used before, too). I can pick up some Fox Farms, AfaIK both Ocean's Forrest and Happy Frog. But without something to cut it with... IDK. BtW, this time I've used Happy Frog instead of Ocean's Forrest because last time I used the latter, I had issues (too much nitrogen in OF for sativas, maybe?). I have been pretty happy with the 'Frog. I would like to produce additional clones so that I could try one Happy Frog, one Ocean Forrest, and one 50:50 (all cut 3:1 with perlite) to see which appears to be best for each of the two main strains I am growing; I'm guessing that I will continue to grow them both, so it would be a useful piece of information to have.

After the Long Hot Time (lol), the weather became seasonal so now I have cool (frost warnings at night) weather. I typically fire up my furnace as late in the year as possible - some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas if at all possible. I can use an electric heater, but the two I have are both poor (one will run for a little while and then activate it's DANGER buzzer which can be heard by the occupants of the nearest graveyard, the other is a quartz heater and the plastic fan assembly is pooched). I have an old oil-filled one that I took over to Mom's house a couple years ago. If she isn't going to use it this Winter, I'll get it back. It doesn't produce a great deal of heat on its 600-watt setting, but that setting is safe for my (mostly) 80(?)-year old electrical system, lol. I'm not really worried about the immediate future - but December has never been a pleasant month in my home.

I put my name in the Mars-Hydro thread where a tester/reviewer was solicited to learn/demonstrate their new LED panel along with one of their tents that is presumably sized for that light (or vice versa). I didn't expect to win, but my thought was if I DID win, I could rig up my ventilation so that - when both tents were on a 12-hour schedule - each tent could provide warm air to the other in its off cycle. Alas, not only did I not "win" the chance to try out their new light... It looks like the company has decided that nobody won :rolleyes3 . Oh, well, it was pretty unlikely anyway.

One of my cats has moved into the grow, lol. I think it's warmer in there. He doesn't seem to be eating anything (much). But, speaking of cats... HtH do you cat-proof a grow tent? I saw one of my cats run up a tree faster than a squirrel before I adopted him and brought him inside. His claws remind me of Eagle Claw fishhooks. And that's just the fronts. The back ones are pretty deadly, too, and don't seem to retract. I tried cutting them but there was way too much blood (mine, not his)...

Should I take and post pictures this evening?

 

[TorturedSoul]

Nice list of seeds. Bubba Kush and Jack Herer would be my picks. I have a similar lineup of choices so I haven't/won't buy seeds for a while. Bubblegum and Blue Dream are on my wish list. I may pass on the BD and go with a Dr. Grinspoon that my Blueberry impregnated. Who knows.. may be a keeper.

I just noticed this post. You have Blueberry x Dr. Grinspoon seeds? Wow, I wish I was your neighbor. If I could find such a seed, I'd grow it. Or a Serious Seeds Bubble Gum x Dr. Grinspoon cross. Depending on which Blueberry - and what kind of Dr. Grinspoon phenotype you had - that could be... Something Special.

 

[SweetSue]

Yes, you delightfully crazy man. Take pictures. Post them. We're waiting to see these plants lucky enough to have you caring for them. You're going to get a harvest regardless, TS. I prove all the time that you can abuse them and still get the brass ring.

Dare to have fun with it TS.

I have a walking engagement. When I get back I'll be hoping for some pictures of your charges. I do so love reading your posts.

 

[AKgramma]

TS, definitely veg your babies a month or two before switching to flower. A decent soil you can get at a grocery store is Black Gold potting soil. You want that black stuff for indoor plants. I use this soil and am very happy with it. This mixes well with the perlite and your other soil to fill out the volume some, till you can get what you want.

I also alternate my two grow areas so the room doesn't get too hot with both of them on daytime together. In your case, you're providing just enough warmth to keep them growing.

and yes, we wanna see pictures!!!

 

[TorturedSoul]

I went in earlier to take a few pictures. Saw a couple dead leaves hanging on each of the larger plants, so I stopped to pick them off. I moved the first plant off by itself to take its picture and realized that I still had some dead leaves in my hand. Not having anything else to smoke, I thought I might as well grind them up so I could say I smoked part of my plants ( ). I walked to my grinder, opened my hand, and saw that I had pulled a little live leaf off. I picked it up to place it off to the side to dry...

...and noticed that there was a little male flower in my hand, too! I know it was a male flower because (a) it was open and (b) when I stabbed it with my finger and then looked at it (my finger), there was pollen on it. <SIGH>

I didn't even bother to take pictures, I'll get to them tomorrow sometime. I'm bummed out over this. I don't even know which of the two plants I pulled it off of. I'll have to look at both of them after the light comes back on. I wish I could see halfway decently.

Right before I started messing with them, I glanced at my "milk crate nursery" and saw that the two seedlings aren't looking all that proud - but the four clones are happy as could be and two of them look a little taller. I was so happy, lol. Was going to stick them into larger containers some time around Wednesday or Thursday, take a few more cuttings off of the two plants, up pot them if possible (depending on materials), let everything get accustomed to its new container for seven to ten days, and set the timer for a flowering light schedule. I figured I could keep a few small plants in the vegetative phase while everything flowered if I did not mind little/no growth.

Now... IDK. IDFK. I took a quick glance and didn't see any more male flowers, but with my glasses I can't see close up and without them I... kind of... sort of... can. Like I can see to read with one eye :rolleyes3 . I don't even have eyeglasses on the wishlist. Maybe I can find a magnifying glass somewhere. I'll figure something out when I feel like thinking about it, doggone it.

I'll have to see if there are any more (if there are, I'll at least be able to tell which plant it came off of, LOFL). Afterwards, I'll decide. Considering the genetics, if it turns out that I've been hosting a (fully) male plant, I'll be tempted to just let 'em both go until I have a few thousand seeds. Or... not. Maybe hack it back to a stub with one branch and stick it at the other end of the house until about a month before the other one is ready. The question will be if I find no more male flowers on either - or if I find one or more male flowers on one of the plants but also find female flowers on it, too.

They've been stressed several ways, so anything is possible and nothing would surprise me. I'm just... <SIGH> I guess at one point I just started assuming they were both female, and stopped paying attention. I should have known better after someone pointed out that I, err... needed to change one of my cats' names shortly after I adopted them into my home :rolleyes3 . That was actually kind of funny. This? Not so much.

Out of three seeds I planted, one didn't come up, one is barely up (short, tiny leaves, not growing), and one is "small but stretching." I think the one that turned out to be a dud was my Pineapple Chunk. That's another <DOH!>, because I've seen great reports about the smell/taste (and the affect is supposed to be decent, too). The other two are Blueberry x White Widow (the lame looking one, IIRC) and Huckleberry. I had another seed soaking in a Solo cup in my oven, but forgot and set the oven to preheat to 350°F - I walked in to see if the oven had shut off (attained temperature) yet and heard a faint little noise every six or eight seconds. Turned out it was the water boiling over (AfaIK) and landing on the bottom of the oven and flashing to steam a little bit at a time. Cup was... Was about an inch tall, lol, and hanging between the wires on my oven rack. I guess the water kept the cup from going above 212°F and landing on the 350°F oven bottom, so it could have been worse, but that seed got cooked. Hasn't been my year for cannabis seeds.

And the Cubs lost this evening....

 

[AKgramma]

TS: it looks like you need to pay attention, or do what I do: set a kitchen timer for timed operations. We older folks tend to get distracted with other things, then forget we have something cooking.

 

[Graytail]

Stoners and stoves - a tricky combination.

The other day, I boiled a pan ... ohhh ... let's say 15 minutes past dry ... ... mighta been a half hour. I heard a few odd popping noises from the kitchen ... later I discovered the dry pan ... burner on high ... *sigh* At least this pan is sturdier than the last one I cooked to death.

I had a bad habit years ago of putting a small pan of eggs on high to boil, and then "coming back in a few minutes to turn it down". Uh huh. The sounds of exploding roasted eggs is louder than the sound of a pan boiling dry. A lot messier, too.

 

[TorturedSoul]

TS: it looks like you need to pay attention, or do what I do: set a kitchen timer for timed operations. We older folks tend to get distracted with other things, then forget we have something cooking.

I'd have had to set it for a week, lol - and to remember that it meant "cannabis seed in oven."

Stoners and stoves - a tricky combination.

I do not currently qualify to be a stoner. Closest I've come this month was the handful of dead/crunchy leaves I smoked @ 4:30am thinking a few bowls of shite might help me sleep. A month or so ago I rode 300+ miles (round trip) to get there. (No, that's not why I went, lol, it was just a bonus.)

I think this is a case of "cavemen and stoves." I do better with an open fire :rolleyes3 .

The other day, I boiled a pan ... ohhh ... let's say 15 minutes past dry ... ... mighta been a half hour. I heard a few odd popping noises from the kitchen ... later I discovered the dry pan ... burner on high ... *sigh* At least this pan is sturdier than the last one I cooked to death.

I boiled a couple of teapots dry when I was, IDK, six or seven. Switched to coffee - had zero issues with the perculator (other than the harm it did to all that poor coffee).

I had a bad habit years ago of putting a small pan of eggs on high to boil, and then "coming back in a few minutes to turn it down". Uh huh. The sounds of exploding roasted eggs is louder than the sound of a pan boiling dry. A lot messier, too.

If I eat an egg, I burp up sulfur for a long time - so no worries there. I'm pretty good about not forgetting the food in the oven, since I have to eat it regardless of how it comes out. It's just remembering to look in the blasted thing before turning it on that I cannot seem to be consistent about. I actually taped a sign on it that stated "Remove SEEDS before using!" - but it turned out that spelled "Shred this sign and get it all over the kitchen" in Cat.

Things to Do This Evening:

• Take two to five more cuttings from each of my two plants and stick them in something so they can root.
• Remove cats from grow area.
• Decide what to do with the four rooted clones I already have (what pots/media to place them in, I mean). Wonder about two-liter soil setups for mostly sativa clones (lol).
• Strongly consider moving the two seedlings and any cuttings to a separate location under fluorescent light.
• Remove cats from grow area.
• Yell at two established plants until one decides to confess to producing the male flower I found last night.
• Scrape together enough media to up-pot at least one of them.
• Remove cats from grow area.
• Think about tying down both established plants - or at least about raising the light significantly.
• Hold internal debate about the pros and cons of attempting to start a few more seeds.
• Try to figure out exactly when "two days before the next new moon" is.
• Take those pictures.
• Take a second set of pictures after discovering cats appeared in first set.
• Chase cats out again and search online for cat-removal image editing software.
• Upload pictures, post them in this thread, wait for the laughter.
• Wish I was a cat.

 

[TorturedSoul]

A couple of days ago I walked into the grow area (generally left open during vegetative phase) to perform maintenance... and found my favorite cat stiff as a board on the floor.

Out of sorts.

I stuck my head in there yesterday long enough to notice that they must have needed watering when I found my cat. I filled a jug straight from the tap and gave all the containers a little water to keep them a live until I feel like going back in there tonight. Or maybe tomorrow.

He was a good cat. Adopted him into my home after some SoB tortured him half to death (vet and surgery required). Wasn't sure he'd take to living inside - or to living with me - but when I brought him home from surgery, I left him in the vehicle with the driver while I went to unlock my door and the driver said he went absolutely apesh!t when he saw me leave without him. And his only goal in life became... sitting as close to me as possible and purring.

I

 

[SweetSue]

 

[AKgramma]

A couple of days ago I walked into the grow area (generally left open during vegetative phase) to perform maintenance... and found my favorite cat stiff as a board on the floor.

Out of sorts.

I stuck my head in there yesterday long enough to notice that they must have needed watering when I found my cat. I filled a jug straight from the tap and gave all the containers a little water to keep them a live until I feel like going back in there tonight. Or maybe tomorrow.

He was a good cat. Adopted him into my home after some SoB tortured him half to death (vet and surgery required). Wasn't sure he'd take to living inside - or to living with me - but when I brought him home from surgery, I left him in the vehicle with the driver while I went to unlock my door and the driver said he went absolutely apesh!t when he saw me leave without him. And his only goal in life became... sitting as close to me as possible and purring.

I

I am so sorry you lost your feline friend! I can tell, you gave him a good life, and he chose to pass away in the room where you spend the most time, or put the most of yourself in. Let's hope Kitty heaven has lots of catnip-Cannibus hybrids!

 

[TorturedSoul]

I gave him a shit life. He had a shit life and then he died. And I guess that's an awful poor way for me to repay something that actually enabled me to fake giving a rat's ass about anything. But hey, that's all gone now and fuck faking.

Grow update: The plants are all still alive. Probably. I wouldn't know. Assuming they are, they're mighty thirsty. Maybe the roof will fall in and it'll rain on them. If so, a cop will probably be driving by and I'll get busted for the most miserable grow ever. OtOH, I don't really care, so fuck it. Fuck this, fuck that, and fuck life. It's only fair - it fucked me first, repeatedly and brutally - and with no lubricant. You'd think that life would have found someone else to bend over the proverbial fucking chair by now, because at this point my asshole must be enlarged and torn wide enough to drop a small planet through. But life, she's a bitch. She'll keep coming round and raping me because I still have a pulse, so she hasn't won yet.

But she's surely got a 100 point lead. Looks like it'll be a shutout.

 

[AKgramma]

TS: Your pain is obvious. Kitty would not have stayed with you if you had given him a shitty life. Accept the gift of his presence as long as he was with you.

That he chose to breathe his last in the middle of your grow room, rather than slink away and hide himself from you, speaks volumes to this cat owner. And I have had cats all my life.