Junk's Growing Log

[Farmer P]

I just bought a gallon of Alaska Fish last week. I was thinking the price has gone up significantly at $20 per gallon but it lasts so long I forgot how much I paid last time. I was thinking about making my own with some cheap fish and a blender. Maybe I'll give it a shot this summer. I hardly spent anything on my outdoor last year. I just used homemade compost, some bait red wigglers I introduced and I used fish fert a couple times. I do need to step up my outdoor game cause the indoor is knocking it out of the park. When I compare the same grown in and out it's not even close. The indoor looks like completely different weed even though it is clones of the ones I grew outside. I'm also getting some mosquito netting to help control the caterpillars.

 

[SmithsJunk]

I just bought a gallon of Alaska Fish last week. I was thinking the price has gone up significantly at $20 per gallon but it lasts so long I forgot how much I paid last time. I was thinking about making my own with some cheap fish and a blender. Maybe I'll give it a shot this summer. I hardly spent anything on my outdoor last year. I just used homemade compost, some bait red wigglers I introduced and I used fish fert a couple times. I do need to step up my outdoor game cause the indoor is knocking it out of the park. When I compare the same grown in and out it's not even close. The indoor looks like completely different weed even though it is clones of the ones I grew outside. I'm also getting some mosquito netting to help control the caterpillars.

I offered to do a 50gal barrel with my cousin that would handle all our plants for the season but he wants to stick with the premade stuff. I plan on doing 15gal for my own grow since that's all I need. Found out our local fishmonger went out of business. I looked on Amazon for fish meal, kelp, and crab meal and found enough for the whole season at less than $70 total (8lbs fish meal $28.50, 4lbs crab meal $19, 5lbs kelp meal $21.50, I included the shipping in the prices). I'm figuring I can feed twice a week for the whole season if I brew this. I think the fresh stuff is great but without the monger it's going to be hard to source it locally. It's not a problem right now but in a month it's going to start getting warmer and if I don't want a major fly problem I'd need to make small batches. That means valuable freezer space being taken up and I'd need to buy an ice chopping blender. The meal is the way for me to go this year and next I'll see about picking up a small freezer if the meal doesn't produce like I want.

The solar screen was really nice last year but I'm thinking of going full sun this time. Was looking at pictures and remembering the harvest recently. The buds were crammed up against the fence and I harvested about half the total from that side. Being that my girls are growing from beans this year they're likely going to reach a little more than the clones and I don't want them to be stopped by the screen like what happened to the Kush last year. Spinosad is safe during the flower cycle and it worked on my cousin's worms last year. I don't know? I'm still on the fence.

For certain I'm changing up the positions of the pots. Don't want another dwarf like that Creamsicle under the shade of the oak. Going to bring the shaded pot up to the front and stagger them. They got so big they were blocking each other's light on the sides.

I do want to get an indoor grow going. The bud I buy is indoor and so tight it's like sand when it's broken down. My outdoor was good but it lacked the curb appeal of the indoor. Just like you're saying. Need to buy my new home (RV) before I know what's left for equipment.

 

[SmithsJunk]

This last snow really did a number on my sun screen...

 

[SmithsJunk]

I think I'll own this by next week. Waiting for her to get the pink from the DMV. It will be so much easier to get supplies for my girls. Might even get them fresh soil.

Then to buy a new (to me) trailer. Didn't have anything to tow with. Then, finally I will be able to get started on an indoor grow. Have to put my Grand Caravan in the shop on Friday to get new gaskets and some bolts replaced on my exhaust headers. That's another $700 I could have used for indoor equipment, but my van is worth it. She's been good to me.

My incubator showed up today. The dome is really thin but it'll work just fine. Most of what I was paying for was the light. Will post pics when my beans show up. I hope they show up soon, it's been a minute. Not worried about Logic. I know they were sent. Just hope they weren't intercepted and I have to wait for more. Don't want a delayed grow again this year.

 

[SmithsJunk]

I think I'll own this by next week. Waiting for her to get the pink from the DMV. It will be so much easier to get supplies for my girls. Might even get them fresh soil.
View attachment 786955

Then to buy a new (to me) trailer. Didn't have anything to tow with. Then, finally I will be able to get started on an indoor grow. Have to put my Grand Caravan in the shop on Friday to get new gaskets and some bolts replaced on my exhaust headers. That's another $700 I could have used for indoor equipment, but my van is worth it. She's been good to me.

My incubator showed up today. The dome is really thin but it'll work just fine. Most of what I was paying for was the light. Will post pics when my beans show up. I hope they show up soon, it's been a minute. Not worried about Logic. I know they were sent. Just hope they weren't intercepted and I have to wait for more. Don't want a delayed grow again this year.View attachment 786956

Yup, locked in the truck this morning. As long as nothing big shows up when I give her a final look over on Tuesday, it's a done deal. So f^cking happy I got this done quick like. Hate looking for a truck around here. Someone either wants $10k+, or it's some redneck trying to dump their duct taped together POS 1/2 ton 4x4 on you so they can buy some other rednecks duct taped together POS 1/2 ton 4x4 'with an extended cab' because they can fit all six of the kids in it that they didn't have when they bought the first duct taped POS. One thing that's nice about being surrounded by rednecks with six kids is that, if I want to sell it, my Grand Caravan goes for twice as much as the trucks. Even with no back seats, they'll just duct tape the kids in back there.

Chompin at the bit for these storms to pass. Want to go play in the dirt and plant some worms.

Hey, I'm planning on turning all the dirt in the pots with some new soil but I've been reading a lot of places that experienced gardeners disagree with tilling. Anyone want to out their 2 cents in on this? Should I just drop some worms and top It?

Does everyone like red wigglers, or should I just get some night crawlers from the bait shop?

 

[Rcubed]

Yup, locked in the truck this morning. As long as nothing big shows up when I give her a final look over on Tuesday, it's a dine deal. So f^cking happy I got this done quick like. Hate looking for a truck around here. Someone either wants $10k+, or it's some redneck trying to dump their duct taped together POS 1/2 ton 4x4 on you so they can buy some other rednecks duct taped together POS 1/2 4x4 'with an extended cab' so they can fit all six of the kids in it that they didn't have when they bought the first duct taped POS. One thing that's nice about being surrounded by rednecks with six kids is that my Grand Caravan sells for twice as much as the trucks. Even with no back seats, they'll just duct tape the kids in back there.

Chompin at the bit for these storms to pass. Want to go play in the dirt and plant some worms.

Hey, I'm planning on turning all the dirt in the pots with some new soil but I've been reading a lot of places that experienced gardeners disagree with tilling. Anyone want to out their 2 cents in on this? Should I just drop some worms and top It?

Does everyone like red wrigglers, or should I just get some night crawlers from the bait shop?

I read all the stuff about no-till so I'm trying out some 25 gallon soft pots. I made em up in December and I mulched it and added some of my native worms that appear to be a mix of a couple different species. Then I bought some red wigglers from the guy at Northwest Redworms. I started a couple worm bins and I've been adding some of those worms to my pots. We'll see how these do.

 

[SmithsJunk]

I read all the stuff about no-till so I'm trying out some 25 gallon soft pots. I made em up in December and I mulched it and added some of my native worms that appear to be a mix of a couple different species. Then I bought some red wigglers from the guy at Northwest Redworms. I started a couple worm bins and I've been adding some of those worms to my pots. We'll see how these do.
View attachment 787136

Thanks, I thought maybe I was going crazy and imagined those posts. Seriously. Must have been mulling it over in my sleep last night. Woke up this morning thinking I made the whole idea up.

 

[Rcubed]

It's funny but those no-till guys were real busy on this site in the fall and late fall, but now they're kinda scarce. I still think there's value in it. I'm going to put some seedlings in those pots in about 2 weeks.

 

[SmithsJunk]

It's funny but those no-till guys were real busy on this site in the fall and late fall, but now they're kinda scarce. I still think there's value in it. I'm going to put some seedlings in those pots in about 2 weeks.

They're outdoor growers like me (for the moment). They'll probably show up again in a month or so.

Yeah, I think there's somethin there. I can't remember what I read about it but I do remember thinking it sounded reasonable.

I'm thinking it's probably too late for me to start the process this year. I didn't know if I was going to be able to grow this year till a few weeks ago. At least I had enough time for beans. Last year I didn't know I'd be growing till the end of May.

It's going to be fun to see what my girls will do with a full season. I'll be able to fill the pots this year with the truck. Only had bag soil last year and that sh*t gets expensive.

 

[Rcubed]

Yeah I hear you on the full season thing. Last year I didn't start until the second week of July. This year I already have seeds popped. I have a Berry bomb that's about 2 feet tall from seed, some 2 foot tall clones and some newly popped OG Kush, White Widow and Gorilla Glue. I'm hoping I have to worry about getting them too big. I may end up flowering out the clones and the mature Berry Bomb indoors and growing seedlings outdoors because I could get another crop in between now and fall. If I start flowering out indoor in April I could have another crop done in June. Here's the new stuff.

I took the pics about a week ago so they've grown another 3 or 4 inches since then.

These are the seedlings that just sprouted and a Big Bud clone. I plan on keeping this Big Bud strain as long as I can.

 

[SmithsJunk]

Yeah I hear you on the full season thing. Last year I didn't start until the second week of July. This year I already have seeds popped. I have a Berry bomb that's about 2 feet tall from seed, some 2 foot tall clones and some newly popped OG Kush, White Widow and Gorilla Glue. I'm hoping I have to worry about getting them too big. I may end up flowering out the clones and the mature Berry Bomb indoors and growing seedlings outdoors because I could get another crop in between now and fall. If I start flowering out indoor in April I could have another crop done in June. Here's the new stuff.View attachment 787181 I took the pics about a week ago so they've grown another 3 or 4 inches since then.

View attachment 787182

These are the seedlings that just sprouted and a Big Bud clone. I plan on keeping this Big Bud strain as long as I can.

Sh*t!, they are stacked for how small they are, and look very happy.

 

[Farmer P]

Yup, locked in the truck this morning. As long as nothing big shows up when I give her a final look over on Tuesday, it's a done deal. So f^cking happy I got this done quick like. Hate looking for a truck around here. Someone either wants $10k+, or it's some redneck trying to dump their duct taped together POS 1/2 ton 4x4 on you so they can buy some other rednecks duct taped together POS 1/2 ton 4x4 'with an extended cab' because they can fit all six of the kids in it that they didn't have when they bought the first duct taped POS. One thing that's nice about being surrounded by rednecks with six kids is that, if I want to sell it, my Grand Caravan goes for twice as much as the trucks. Even with no back seats, they'll just duct tape the kids in back there.

Chompin at the bit for these storms to pass. Want to go play in the dirt and plant some worms.

Hey, I'm planning on turning all the dirt in the pots with some new soil but I've been reading a lot of places that experienced gardeners disagree with tilling. Anyone want to out their 2 cents in on this? Should I just drop some worms and top It?

Does everyone like red wigglers, or should I just get some night crawlers from the bait shop?

View attachment 787131

I'm not tilling my ground this year. Last year was the first year and I didn't really till it then either, I just stuck the shovel in every few inches and loosened the dirt a little then pulled it out without turning the soil. This year Ill just put in the plants and go. But as kind of a disclaimer, I have been taking care of the area all winter by keeping it moist for the worms and covered in compost. I also added a layer of barley at the end of last summer that has mostly rotted away now. The barley spawned a family of mice, but I've been trapping them to get ready for outdoor season and I think I got them all.
If you've left your dirt to dry out all winter and don't have much life going on in there I'm not sure if no till would help. The Idea behind no till is to not disturb the life in the soil. Tilling the soil is like a giant earthquake and tornado/fire all in one to the delicate little critters living in the dirt. I got into the idea after reading this article a couple years back. A really good read. This guy kills it with no till and a lot of compost.
https://craftsmanship.net/drought-fighters/

 

[SmithsJunk]

My first beans to pop this year, Banana Ice Cream. Those suckers germinated fast. Soaked overnight, then only a half day in the wet paper towels before they stuck out their tails. Took quick to the soil as well. Next morning and they were above the soil, all green and red, and casting off their shells. Scared me when they first popped up because their stalks were still white. Thought for a few minutes they hadn't grabbed and pushed themselves up and out of their pockets. Started to cover them up again and stopped when I realised they were just super aggressive growers and let them be. They cracked their coats no problem but were getting strangled a little by the the membranes. I gently helped them out and now they're all naked and doin da happy dance. Cha Cha Cha

 

[BudBogart]

My first beans to pop this year, Banana Ice Cream. Those suckers germinated fast. Soaked overnight, then only a half day in the wet paper towels before they stuck out their tails. Took quick to the soil as well. Next morning and they were above the soil, all green and red, and casting off their shells. Scared me when they first popped up because their stalks were still white. Thought for a few minutes they hadn't grabbed and pushed themselves up and out of their pockets. Started to cover them up again and stopped when I realised they were just super aggressive growers and let them be. They cracked their coats no problem but were getting strangled a little by the the membranes. I gently helped them out and now they're all naked and doin da happy dance. Cha Cha Cha

View attachment 790030 View attachment 790028 View attachment 790026 View attachment 790029 View attachment 790031 View attachment 790023 View attachment 790025 View attachment 790027 View attachment 790032 View attachment 790033

Hey neighbor. It’s that time of year again. Glad to see you growing.
I also am just busting out of the soil. Looks like 16 out of 18 this year, but I only have 12 holes, so looking good here. I plan on starting a grow log.

 

[SmithsJunk]

Hey neighbor. It’s that time of year again. Glad to see you growing.
I also am just busting out of the soil. Looks like 16 out of 18 this year, but I only have 12 holes, so looking good here. I plan on starting a grow log.

That's cool. You can teach us all how to grow those monster Christmas trees. I'll hop on over and check it out here in a bit.

I started with 9 seeds and four have popped so far. The three Banana Ice Cream and an XD-11. The rest are taking longer so I decided to increase my odds by dropping all the XD-11 and Columbian Queen. So now I have six Columbian Queen and four XD-11 I'm trying to pop. I went all in just in case they're old. They were on sale. Plus Logic bonused me with a couple Banana Crack and five suprise me's. No matter what I'm getting something. If I get three each of the ones I ordered I'll be happy. I'm going to start indoor growing this year as well. I was planing on doing three inside, maybe four, on a perpetual. Any I can't grow to harvest I'll get big enough and sell.

I have no f^ckin idea how I'm going to do this all yet. Don't have my nutes or soil, or any indoor equipment other than my incubator. Buying a truck, need to buy a trailer, and sell my van. As long as I have enough to get a 400-600watt cob and a tent, I'ts enough to start on the indoor. That can be $225-$375 and I need about $200 -$300 to get the outdoor started. I might loose some a few lbs eating cup o soups the next couple of months to pull everything off. That is, if i want to get the nice Cree COBs with the Meanwell driver's fan cooling and dimmers.

When I get everything settled down and maybe I'll finally have the mental real estate available to do more that a quip on here once in a while and actually bury my nose in some threads.

I have the time but my head is too deep in the hustle. Soon. I'll have it all sorted soon.

Nice to hear from ya.

 

[SmithsJunk]

Went back and researched the Cannabis Encyclopedia to see if there was a guideline for germination times and found that there is nothing of the sort. Some beans take months to pop. I did find a more useful tidbit, seeds tend to germinate more quickly in a similar environment to where they were grown.

I'd backed off the heating pad during the day because I didn't want to cook them, but the Encyclopedia said that seeds can germinate at up to 90F. My heating pad under two stoneware plates get them to 81F during the day. It worked and two more XD-11 popped. One fresh and one three days in. Goes to show that even in seed from the same plant germination times vary greatly. Good to know. Makes me think I'm going to get at least close to a 100% rate of success.

The seedlings are stretching but I don't know if it's the light. I do know that they keep developing droplets of water at their tips from condensation and it was causing them to bend from the weight, and bending causes growth. I'm trying to get the scratch for a COB array as quickly as possible.

Haven't really slept in days. The heating pad keeps trying to dry out the beans. I've been on perpetual moisture duty. Too little and they dry out, too much and they drown. Has me adding a small splash about every hour.

The external probe from my hygrometer.

 

[SmithsJunk]

I'm looking at two different COB arrays from CF Grow...

The 400watt uses Cree COBs, Meanwell drivers, and has dimmers. It's $570!

The far far far less expensive 600watt at $170, uses cheaper components but puts out a lot of heat, no dimmer, and a hair weaker in the 800-850 blue-green light range. I think I'll buy this one and dissect it. Then either build a new one or upgrade it's guts to Cree and Meanwell and add dimmers and better heat sinks. Will probably upgrade the heatsinks and diffusers no matter what. Especially if the heatsinks are passive.

 

[SmithsJunk]

Cash poor right now but needed something better for the seedlings. Couldn't bring myself to buy the cheaper light so I went with the single Cree CXB3590 100watt in a case for $168. I figure if I'm going to reverse engineer a light I might as well do it with the best. I'll see if piece-mealing a DIY can get me a better price. If not, just pick up new singles whenever I have the extra cash. These are perfect for solar with their power/performance ratio.

 

[SmithsJunk]

I'm looking at two different COB arrays from CF Grow...

The 400watt uses Cree COBs, Meanwell drivers, and has dimmers. It's $570!
View attachment 790396

The far far far less expensive 600watt at $170, uses cheaper components but puts out a lot of heat, no dimmer, and a hair weaker in the 800-850 blue-green light range. I think I'll buy this one and dissect it. Then either build a new one or upgrade it's guts to Cree and Meanwell and add dimmers and better heat sinks. Will probably upgrade the heatsinks and diffusers no matter what. Especially if the heatsinks are passive.
View attachment 790397

I didn't have my reading glasses on and misread the the color range. It's between 450-550 that the cheaper COB gets outperformed by the Cree.

The more expensive light puts out a lot less heat and is more suitable for tent growing.

 

[stiffneck]

Not sure what you will end up with smith... I got one of these... they are a little pricey at $800 but I love the light. Seems like it puts off no heat at all! I had to run an air conditioner with hps lights... now I am trying to keep the temps up!