Blazing Oaks 2016

[Blaze]

I had not posted any grow threads in a long while, though I'd share a bit with what we've been up to out in the Mendocino hills lately. So far 2016 is off to a good start - the clones are vegging, the seedlings are sprouted and growing, and we actually got some much needed rain this winter and spring. Nice to see the hills still green and the wild flowers everywhere, unlike the last few years where everything was brown and dead by the end of winter.


Seed line up for this year:

Kush Cleaner (aka Longbottom Leaf), from Sierra Skunk / Loran

Kush Cleaner x Mendo Pineapple, a new cross of mine being tested

Guava Kush F2 x Kush Cleaner, a cross of mine I've been working with a lot the last 2 years

[Kryptonite x Grape Krush] x Kush Cleaner, a new cross of mine being tested

SFV OG Backcross from a friend in Trinity

OG Ringo from SoHum Seeds

Ringo's Gift from SoHum Seeds

Mendocino Purple Kush from CSI: Humboldt

Cornbread Bubba from CSI: Humboldt


Clone line up:

Archive OG

OG Twist

Mendo Pineapple

Urkle Wreck

Purple Zebra from NCGA

OG Ringo (best pheno from last year)

Kush Cleaner (best pheno from last year)

Kryptonite x Grape Kush (best pheno from last year)

Guava Kush F2x Kush Cleaner (most potent pheno)

Watermelon Rancher (most unique smell and flavor from last year's [Guava Kush F2 x Kush Cleaner] selection, placed in the top 20 at the Emerald Cup.)

I might plant a Super Silver Haze (Oldsgo cut) and a Guava Kush F2 as well, but their growth and rooting seems to be a bit lagging this year so I don't know if I want to dedicate any space to them.

 

[Blaze]

Over the winter I completely red-did my mother room and veg area. An additional 10x8 room was added to the original 10x12 building, and got new Gavita lights for over the mother plants, as well as redesigned the whole layout to be more space and time efficient. I do the first round of cuts for my outdoor mid March, which gets them to a good 3' feet in size from a late May planting. Seeds were popped April 3 and transplanted outside to 1 gallons pots on April 11. They should be ready to transplant up into 3 gallons within 3 weeks, and sexed and ready to plant by mid to late May. I always shoot to have everything in the ground by June 1.

The cover crops did really well this year, and required no additional irrigation at any point. All our raised beds were planted with a mix of cereal rye, bell beans, 4010 Peas, Frostmaster Peas, purple vetch, hairy vetch, common vetch and cayuse oats. This mix was selected because it not only helps build soil, but is also supposed to be very good at weed suppression, fungal disease suppression, and provides food and shelter for beneficial insects. Cover crops are really important in maintaining soil health and play a huge role in keeping you soil healthy and your plants happy. Not to mention they are a big time saver since I only ever have to weed the occasional thistle here and there rather than the entire bed.

 

[Blaze]

Over the last week all the seedlings got transplanted from their plugs into one gallons and moved into their cold frame. The first rounds of clones are all rooted and transplanted into 4" pots now as well. The clones usually need at least 2+ weeks under the T5 lights until they are big enough to move outside into the transition greenhouse. They will stay in the transition greenhouse until the end of May, when their light cycle matches up with the natural light cycle. I also have a second round of cuts rooting now for back-ups and for orders from other people.

All the cover crops were chopped down and laid on top of the raised beds, then covered in composted dairy cow manure. When my load of green compost gets here next week, a layer of that will be added on top as well. Once that is done, it will be time to water it in well with some compost tea to get it all breaking down. I need to send in my soil samples to a lab here soon as well. The plan will be to amend the soil with whatever it need in another month, turn it over, let it sit for 2 weeks, then put all the plants in the ground. I have usually used Fruit Growers Laboratory (FGL) Inc. in the past but I think I might try Logan Labs this year since I have heard a lot of good things about them, and they are much cheaper than FGL for a full work up.

 

[MendoGiantZ]

Everything looks really clean and well organized. Awesome job.

 

[sanvanalona]

Looking fantastic!

 

[cemchris]

Always love seeing your grows and what they turn into.

 

[mendo local]

Looking forward to this grow!

 

[Blaze]

Thanks for stopping by guys...

I'm also in the process of building a permanent light dep greenhouse, but there isn't much to show yet, except for a flat, empty space. Dealing with building permits and engineering has been a real pain, and the county building department threw us a big curve ball over the winter that set us back about 2 months. Plans are being drawn up now and hopefully I'll have wet stamped plans to submit to the county by next week...

Since it became obvious the permanent greenhouse would not be finished until some time over the summer, I decided to throw up a temporary hoop house for a light dep run in the spot I had cleared and prepped for a veggie garden. It will definitely be smaller, and later than ideal, (usually I would have had them in the ground a month ago) but it's better than nothing I guess.

The hoop house is 12 x 40 and has 25 pots total. The soil was amended two weeks ago and I think the plant I have set aside for it should fill out their 1 gallons pots and be ready to plant by next week.

 

[maya42]

Over the last week all the seedlings got transplanted from their plugs into one gallons and moved into their cold frame. The first rounds of clones are all rooted and transplanted into 4" pots now as well. The clones usually need at least 2+ weeks under the T5 lights until they are big enough to move outside into the transition greenhouse. They will stay in the transition greenhouse until the end of May, when their light cycle matches up with the natural light cycle. I also have a second round of cuts rooting now for back-ups and for orders from other people.

All the cover crops were chopped down and laid on top of the raised beds, then covered in composted dairy cow manure. When my load of green compost gets here next week, a layer of that will be added on top as well. Once that is done, it will be time to water it in well with some compost tea to get it all breaking down. I need to send in my soil samples to a lab here soon as well. The plan will be to amend the soil with whatever it need in another month, turn it over, let it sit for 2 weeks, then put all the plants in the ground. I have usually used Fruit Growers Laboratory (FGL) Inc. in the past but I think I might try Logan Labs this year since I have heard a lot of good things about them, and they are much cheaper than FGL for a full work up.
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Nice setup! Looking good. When do you usually start seeds for those huge plants? I feel behind this year because of the later rains and colder weather compared to the last few years. It seems different every year.

 

[MendoGiantZ]

Do u have a greenhouse plastic layer for the dep or do you just keep it open and cover it with the blackout tarp?? I was looking at my dep today and can't help but think that my plants rather be fully exposed to the sun then have that cheap 6 mil plastic covering them. Your property looks like a beautiful area

 

[Ned Kelly]

groovy im subbed

 

[Rootbound]

So, you renamed LongBottomLeaf aka LBL to kush cleaner?

 

[GrowingGreen]

Getn busy there brother ill be watchin, what is your feed line up if you dont mind me askin?

 

[Seamaiden]

@Blaze we may need to talk because I don't believe I'll be able to do *any* growing this year. In the meantime I will grow vicariously through others.

So, you renamed LongBottomLeaf aka LBL to kush cleaner?

Not him, someone else did. I've also heard it called Heart Attack Kush.

 

[Rootbound]

@Blaze we may need to talk because I don't believe I'll be able to do *any* growing this year. In the meantime I will grow vicariously through others.

Not him, someone else did. I've also heard it called Heart Attack Kush.

If blaze knows its Actually Longbottomleaf, why not call it Longbottomleaf??

 

[Blaze]

Nice setup! Looking good. When do you usually start seeds for those huge plants? I feel behind this year because of the later rains and colder weather compared to the last few years. It seems different every year.

April 1, give or take a few days. I try to start them within a few days of a new moon or a full moon. The weather plays a part too - if it looks like we are going to have clear and warm conditions I'll start them a little earlier. If it's going to be cold and nasty I'll delay a little bit to let the storm pass. They are outside within a week to 10 days of being started so I want to make sure they don't go out right in the middle of a storm.

Do u have a greenhouse plastic layer for the dep or do you just keep it open and cover it with the blackout tarp?? I was looking at my dep today and can't help but think that my plants rather be fully exposed to the sun then have that cheap 6 mil plastic covering them. Your property looks like a beautiful area

I will cover it with some of the FarmTek Sun Master plastic right before then plants go in. I always do that last otherwise it gets really hot and makes it unpleasant to work in there. Right now it would be too cold to have plants out uncovered in my opinion. I leave the plastic up until early June most years, but this does depend on the weather. I think they the plants do indeed do better when fully exposed to the sun, but not until the weather warms up.

Getn busy there brother ill be watchin, what is your feed line up if you dont mind me askin?

The plants are mostly fed through the soil prep at the beginning of the year. NCGA does a nice organic soil amendment mix that he sells for less than I could make it for myself, so I just give him my soil results and he calibrates the blend accordingly. Exact ratios and amendments are proprietary, sorry. Other than that I top dress with guano every 2-3 weeks for faster release nutrients. I do a soil drench with aerated compost tea every week as well. I try to foliar every week too but it usually ends up being like every other week. My foliar is generally a very simple regiment - humic acid and nitrogen during veg, humic acid, seaweed, and sometimes calmag during the transition and early flower. Unless I see some sort of nutrient imbalance I almost never use liquid fertilizers once the plants are in the ground, other than for foliar feeding.

For my mother plants indoors I like the Botanicare line up - Pure Blend Pro Soil, Liquid Karma, CalMag, Silica Blast, and sometimes I throw in some seaweed extract.

 

[Blaze]

If blaze knows its Actually Longbottomleaf, why not call it Longbottomleaf??

Well, because it when it came to me years ago it came as Kush Cleaner. From what I understand SierraSkunk produced the seeds which I have, using the same female and male which he got from from Loran. So though it is identical to the LBL strain Loran does, it was actually produced by someone else. And as Seamiaden pointed out some people call it Heart Attack Kush too (though technically that is a specific cut of it). Everyone I know personally who grows it calls it either Kush Cleaner or Heart Attack Kush. Having the word "leaf" in the name put off a lot of people so the name got changed years ago - apparently no one reads Tolkien anymore I guess.

 

[Ned Kelly]

for some reason like is not working for me . so just assume I liked everything and don't be scarred to throw up heaps of pics brother blaze lol.

 

[grayarea]

does the feels change if you go over 100 plants or is it the same ?

is it bad or good if its the same?

do you count that as numb ?

nice sun pics.

 

[Seamaiden]

If blaze knows its Actually Longbottomleaf, why not call it Longbottomleaf??

The person I believe he acquired the genetics from is personal friends with the breeder and I'm pretty sure the renaming was done with his blessing. :)