BudBogart said:

We just lost our most awesome 140 lb Akita a couple of months ago. I have had one Akita after another for 30 years but I'm getting old to control another beast like Akita. Max knew you didn't chase deer and didn't alarm if cars drove by to neighbors farm, only when they turned onto my place. He was great, I have a solar motion light that shines into my bed room window if a car tries to sneak past, but I need more, for sure.
I really do have to post some of the crazy shit that has gone on here since we moved in. Peace

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MendoGiantZ said:

Not sure what your willing to spend on the garden or how motivated you are to do things on your own. But I highly recommend buying the 40 pound buckets of growilla bud for your top dressing throughout flowering. They have a great blend that is pre mixed for you and it's pretty reasonably priced. You could buy everything in it and blend it yourself but I hate mixing those dry powders they are disgusting and end up getting everywhere.

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Marksurfs said:

Nice work BudBogart :)
Looks like you know what you're doing ! Very nice and healthy plants. I read what you're adding for nitrogen to your plants , doesn't look like you need my advice :) .
I use guano to green mine up in flower so I can keep control of the chlorophyll amounts at heaarvest .
I find that easy to use . What you're doing is what I'd be doing if I wasn't using Bat guano 10% .
If I didn't know that was your grow above , I'd have thought they came from my grow journal :)
Very nice and healthy .
What are the strains or strain , I didn't read the whole post yet :) Picture shoping :) Very nice ! Can't wait to see the buds . 3 to 4 more months or so and they should have all kinds of buds on them .
Towards the end of my outdoor grow the buds braches were headed for the ground from size and weight , I took some chicken wire and rolled it in about 2 foot round rolls and put them under my branches , circling the plant cages , so that the braches couldn't touch the gorund or for sure I would have gotten some rot on some of the buds . It worked out really well . If you look at my grow you'll see I have the same plant holders as you , I just place the chicken wire circles around the holders under the branches . Just a thought if the branches buds hit the ground on you .
Nice job ! It's nice to see someone else journaling who has a real grow :)

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MendoGiantZ said:

Looking good :). I grew up with a 140 pound Akita. I loved that dog View attachment 616918

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Marksurfs said:

I've been using the big hanging baskets to throw the bud into before I trim and let the fans to the buds for a while. That gives me some time to trim the drier buds and put them into the mason jars. I was hanging it all but I didn't have room to do that here so I got the hanging baskets and treid those . They worked great , I could control the dry length - period until I like the buds so that they're dry enough to cure without any mold . I've seen plastic used in big giant grows where the pots everywhere and they need the big plastic containers , but I'm not so sure personally how the cure is , using the plastic as far as for taste.
I've never tried plastic containers do to fear of molding the buds all in a bunch wet , so the vented hangers to dry with or hang them .
Just my thoughts , I've only ever used Mason jars so I could control the moisture content in my buds to this point . , nNever put them into anything until they dried to the 10% miosture content or so . I don't have a moisture content reader , I'm the meter used :)
The buds I grow are all for my own personal stash so the taste has to be right for me so lots of air , hanging bud holders and mason jars to cure :)
Trimings going to be a problem , to bad I wasn't closer by .
I have to trim all my own and that gets old so I know how you feel .
Though my buddy who can't grow right now wishes he could be doing triming , so I guess he has a point . I'd rather be triming than not have the bud to trim :) even if it is a pain .
You need help . Where you live you should be able to find some younger people looking for work triming in your area I'd think . My buddy from Mendo had me coming from here where I am to help him trim . That was a long drive for me but he made it worth my while and is great people . Your buddys there who grow shold be able to set you up with some trimers who work for the bud or cash , which ever and would be safer than just bringing in someone new to your home .
Thanks for the insight on the Blue dream pheno types . That saves me from having to grow it out unless that's what I'm looking for in my plants . I'm curious to see how the bud turns out on all your strains . Since you're close by to a degree what grows well for you will do so for me too out doors . That's alot of strains you have going I won't have to grow to find out how they turn out , :)very cool !

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BudBogart said:

With the price of ammo now days, I can no longer afford to give them a warning shot.

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Marksurfs said:

When my buds are first put into the mason jars I burp them once or twice a day to get the gases out and let the curing do it's thing . So burping is a must . I do that each day once or twice at least . I do it with my jars that are older cures once in a while to help the cure continue or cure would go wrong eventually concidering my buds aren't completely dry to the point of dust. That dry and you wouldn't have to burp the jars as the breaking down of the veg part of the plant will have stopped . It's not as bad as trimming, put your full jars back into the box they came out of so they can be stacked or at least put somewhere and stored ,if need be like you and I . In the boxes I just open the cap , let some air in and close it back up .
I have a post I wrote on 420 magazine website . I'll post it and hopefully it has something people can use as helpful information .
Drying buds depends on where your located and what is available to you to use for drying . I take a line - rope of any sort - line , run it across my room attached at both ends tightly so the line can hold the weight you are about to put on it from the branches . The room needs around 50% humidity to be ideal .To dry and the buds will turn to dust so humidity helps as long as it isn't to high , then you have problems with mold . Air circulation - fans are important as not to allow mold to set in or on your buds as they dry . Plants harvested : Take off your fan leaves before you harvest , if the grow is small enough to do so , larger grows , remove them as you harvest them if they have no valuable THC left on them . For outdoor smaller grows , after taking off your fan leaves , leave the plants so they can use the energy without fan leaves for a few days so all the growth goes towards yeild , not leaf , or not . I like to do that since I grow with sun and use lights - MH and HPS , at the same time . Days the plants get the sun, nights they get the lights so they don't flower on me until I want them to . If I left the plants outside at night they'd flower on me . I take off the fan leaves outdoors , my plants in buckets , a few days before I harvest . It gets rid of alot of chlorophyll uptake possability and makes harvesting easier . I don't want the green taste - hay taste - chlorophyll , in my end cured buds . Plus it makes it easer to deal with when hanging and when trimming the buds with them already out of the way . This is based on the size of your harvest , braches could be larger when hung . My plants go from 3 to 6 feet wide depending on if I'm growing in the ground or using buckets to grow in. The plants in the ground are much larger , so are the size colas I hang . They are over 12 inches. This is for a indoor grower bud drying but will work just as well for outdoor grow drying only the branches are larger I deal with due to way more yeild and larger branches . Smaller grows : Cut off budsicles - braches , 12 inches long or so off your plants and have a plastic bucket to put nice sized colas - buds into and keep your fingers off the bud . As you harvest them , tie or put one of the branchs over the line of the colas you just cut , make sure they won't fall off from air flow and you moving around them . See that the branches are spaced so air can flow freely throughout the hanging branches . Keep air flowing in the room so the buds can't rot or mold and helps with the drying process . I have a hepa filter air purifier in my drying room to make sure the air is pure , no mold . Not everone can do this and isn't needed . I do it just to be safe , no mistakes as they can be costly bud wise . It takes a long time to grow nice buds and I want to get the chance to try them out and have them be tasty . When the bud's braches are dry enough , they snap . My drying room is dark , though I've dryed buds with my lights on no problem , hanging in my bedroom with a fan overhead .
Once the buds branches start to snap , take the trim off the buds , save for bubble hash or oil . As you trim the buds , put them into Mason jars for cure . Make sure to leave a little area at the top of the Mason jar for air so you don't rot your buds because you jamed them into the jar so that the buds couldn't breath to cure . Jamed together is not the way to go . As was posted by the wine maker , if cured right , your buds actually smells like fine wine . I have buds in gallon Mason jars full of buds that smell like wine . The buds were a fruity smell at first but over the years have really truned out nice. The buds THC levels did not go up from a cure . It did give it a smooth taste and smoke that will last for years and years if kept in a cool place, NOT frozen . You freeze your buds and the THC will fall off , I freeze my bubble hash to draw out the moisutre from it , so freezing bud isn't a good idea unless you like freezed dried bud . If you freeze green undried buds or trim , you'll have mush when unfrozen . Once the buds are trimmed and in Mason jars - Mason jars have a great rubber seal to keep your buds curing and safe from mold and you can get them in all kinds of different sizes as needed . Open the jars each day at least once , twice is good . I open mine once or twice a day to burp them, let out the gases . In doing so you'll get rid of the green taste and smell and have great tasting buds rather than green tasting hay . The Gallon jars that are years old I open once and a while and burp them as well and also to check to see how far the cure has come . I keep all my bud so I have to work with it or lose all my work . Dry and crue your buds right and theyll keep you smiling and high for years to come . My buds have about a 10% moisture rate when they are jared up for curing . They are NOT as dry as a rock . If I didn't have air tight containers my buds would rot . That's why Mason Jars if possible or like the guy said who created this post , use jars with a rubber snap lid if you can get it . Anything glass and air tight would be prefered by me . You can use the netted hangers as well , put your cut branches in each level with plenty of air , dry the branches to the points the branches snap , jar the buds after trimmed off the branches and into Mason jars to cure. Not everyone has room to run ropes or lines so netting hangers can take their place. Hope that helps , Marksurfs way to dry buds

Take care ! Marksurfs from OverGrowAmerica.com .............. Hey UncleBen , where are ya ?

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Marksurfs said:

As far as for a salad container that seals, I just tried to use some Tupper ware type container that seals that I saw in a commercial bud curing building . It didn't work right for me . The cure dired alright but the buds smelled like the last container of water making my bubble hash , heated up by the sun , that stinks to me :) I'd use anything that 's glass with a seal on it for storage or you'll be dealing with mold and a bad cure for all your great efforts . You don't want that . It may be a pain in the ass to do it right , I know :) But in the end , it will be worth what you put into it, yourslef .
Burning your buds may be a little extreme :)
Bubble hash what ever bud you don't want for personal stash .
I used the buds in that tupper ware container I didn't like the taste of and make it into hash which tuned out great .
All trim and bid I won't smoke because it doesn't suit my taste, litterally , goes into hash .
I put that in a freezer bag , into my freezer , in sandwitch bags - so I know which batch or grow it was made from - for storage so it won't mold on me. I take it out as I'm going to smoke it .
Even in Mason jars bubble hash if not completely dry will mold on you, though you can always wash it off :) Your hash is a oil base so not to much will wash away , hopefully , if you end up with moldy hash issues :)
The freezer after I dry out the hash is great for long time storage if you can do that .

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