Blaze's 2013 Endeavor

[Seamaiden]

Blaze, I haven't been able to do much with our vegetable garden, either. And THEN I didn't think, put bonemeal on all my starts and left them in the greenhouse. Where raccoons shredded them. Fortunately, they left my most important crop alone.

Those sammies kind of remind me of Dave's Monte Cristo sammies. Those things are so fucking good.

 

[Mogrow]

I just hope they keep filling in. If the clones start to flower, that will cause a lot of problems, they won't get much bigger than they are now. Sounds like you've got a great garden going this year. My veggie garden was pretty pathetic this year, just didn't have time for it. I planted 4 apple trees in the spring, but that has been it. Really hoping by next year all the repairs and needed improvements will be done on the property and I can finally put time in on a good garden and maybe even some landscaping. I really miss eating home grown food, it is so rewarding. Looks like we will just be eating figs and maybe a few pomegranates and persimmons this year.

Done a little cooking lately but I tend not to get too fancy when I'm busy with work. Made a North African inspired dinner the other night - roasted red potatoes in BarronA''s Moroccan spice blend (sooo freakin' good!), Harissa baked Tri Tip, and corn with cinnamon-paprika butter. Been getting some good beets lately so I've been making a lot of grilled goat cheese and beet sandwiches on 9 grain bread for lunch too.

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Dinner looks delicious.
You're right, there's nothing like eating food you've grown.

 

[Oldsog2]

looks great like always! was really good to see you and your wife and to finally meet the baby! i wish i lived closer so i could visit more often.

 

[Blaze]

looks great like always! was really good to see you and your wife and to finally meet the baby! i wish i lived closer so i could visit more often.

Hey man sorry on the slow reply been swamped with work. Was really good see you and the family again. It has been far too long since we got to kick it and smoke a bowl together.

I'll post up some more pics in a few days here. Garden is coming along nicely for the most part. Will probably be harvesting the light dep next week. Got a new 16 x 32 drying shed / work space built over the last few weeks. Last thing to do ir run power to it, which should be all done by Monday, just in time for harvest.

NCGA's event took a lot of time and I needed nearly a week to recover afterwards LoL. Back to back 12+ hour days in 100 degree heat with almost no sleep was a little rough. Garden's been keeping me busy too, have not been on here in like a month or so. Will try to be a little more regular with the updates here.

 

[Blaze]

OK, a few pics from last week:

First shot is of a Eggs Benedict casserole, topped with Hollandaise sauce, fresh chopped tomato and roasted asparagus. Nice way to make Eggs Benny for a group without a lot of hassle and mess.

Next few shots are of the outdoor plants. Not quite as big as least year for this point in the season but I think they should still yield pretty well. Getting the clones started earlier and getting the larger before planting has not made any difference in growth or size, as I suspected. I suspect the yield will not be more either but we will see. I will be starting probably 3-4 weeks later next year. A few of the clones had some flowering issues earlier on which slowed growth as well, so that did not help.

Last few pics are of the light dep. Harvest will be sometime next week. I took the plastic cover off a few weeks ago to help with air flow and heat build up. Also discovered last year when I did a little side by side test that letting them finish up under natural sun increased bud size and density so I always let them finish under full sun now. Did have a few mites show up about 3 weeks ago so I applied Azamax and stylet oil weekly since. The damage was minimal but I think it did stress the plants out a bit so they are finishing early. Also starting to see a bit of fox-tailing, most likely because of the 100+ degree heat we have been getting so it is time to chop them here.

 

[midwestdensies]

This thread is full of great info just like your previous logs. Appreciate your hardwork and documentation.

 

[Blaze]

Nice update was wondering if you were gonna take the plastic off :D looks good bummer about the little bit of mites .
Do you think its too soon to stop pulling tarp ? im on day 24 of 12/12 and thinking about calling quits with the tarp .

Yes, we are still at about 14.5 hours of light, at least where I am at, I would not stop tarping. They could potentially try to re-veg if you stopped now, I don't think it is worth the risk.

So I'm pretty sure I made a mess in my pants when I saw your irrigation system. Love it man. My question would be, if the sun hits some black plastic at say 2 PM, and gets that water up to about 180 degrees, wouldn't it cook your feeder roots? I want to design something like your system with an automated purge for that reason.

Yes, hot water on the roots is definitely not good for them. You could set up an automatic purge system fairly easily so long as you had a pair of reliable timers. My tactic to get around this problem has been to do most of my watering in the mornings so by the time it starts getting hot mid day the plants are nice and drenched and set for the day. The other thing you can do is bury your water lines so they stay cool, then you can water whenever you want and don't have to worry about it. If you take a look at the outdoor plants you can see the water lines are buried right up until the riser for the bed pops up. With the greenhouse the water lines is buried up until about 10' from where the greenhouse is.

This thread is full of great info just like your previous logs. Appreciate your hardwork and documentation.

Thanks for stopping by midwest!

 

[Mogrow]

U hitting on all cylinders brother...
thanks for sharing your grow and breakfast with us...

 

[Blaze]

Well you might be able to get away with it but I've seen a few people really screw up their dep from not tarping all the way though so I have always been very leery about doing that. Just not worth the risk IMO.

Power got installed in the new dry shed on Monday, just finished up the sheet rock today. The building is fully insulated with a 15" gable fan for exhaust and a pair of 12k portable AC units for cooling. Won't be needing any heat or dehumidifiers until the fall harvest so those are not set up yet. All I have to do is set up the drying wires and fans tomorrow morning and then it's time to harvest!

 

[Don Peppy]

Your food looks awesome.. But its not dinner I want a taste of. lol. Nice outdoor grow brother.. I enjoyed my walk.. Two of my loves also, mj and food.. Best to ya..

 

[Blaze]

Your food looks awesome.. But its not dinner I want a taste of. lol. Nice outdoor grow brother.. I enjoyed my walk.. Two of my loves also, mj and food.. Best to ya..

Thanks! MJ and food are two of my loves as well, obviously.

Finished harvesting most of the light dep today. The Blueberry x Northern Lights needs another week, but everything else is in and drying. New dry shed is working great, temps and humidity has stayed within range despite highs of 100 with 15% humidity. The A/C's have not dropped the humidity in the room too low either, which was a concern. I do have some cold air humidifiers as well, in case I need to add some humidity later in the week. It's actually been getting too humid at night, so I may run a dehumidifer tonight with the A/C's set on auto in case the dehumidifer gets the room too hot. Been wanting a fully climate controlled drying space for years, I'm lovin' it! Pics to follow shortly, too exhausted to post anymore today.

 

[Blaze]

Couple of harvest shots of the Blueberry Pie (pic 1 & 2) and Bubblegum (pic 3 & 4) right before harvest. Forgot to get a pic of the Sour D and Purple Trainwreck, oh well. Fifth shot is of the greenhouse just before it all got chopped. Included a shot of the 'drying silos' I'm trying out this harvest. They are just big cylinders of 7' Remesh. Each one is the equivalent to about 70' of wire space but only takes up a little more than 12 square feet. They were much easier and faster to set up than running a bunch of wires too.

Last pic is of the celebration dinner.: Veal rolls stuffed with proscuitto and sage and fresh fettuccine, both topped with Picatta sauce, served up with a side of organic Port braised carrots.

 

[Mogrow]

blueberry and bubblegum look awesome homie. that has to be gratifing with all the hard work you put in for a light dep run. you have some lucky patients.
peace mogrow

 

[caregiverken]

I like the drying racks Blaze! And Your Drying Room too! I Need both!
Great work !

 

[Seamaiden]

Ok, now for the branch-by-branch method you use, I REALLY like the cylinders, much more clever and better use of space. I bet it's a lot easier to get set up and take down, too.

 

[Blaze]

Thanks for stopping by guys!

Sea - it's a heck of a lot easier. To do the wires I used to have to build an internal frame of 2 x 4's in the space to anchor all the wires to. Then you had to run them all, attach them with turnbuckles, etc, etc. Usually took at least a full day of work - this took a few minutes for each cylinder. The most time consuming part was wiping them all down with alcohol to get the oil off them - which we won't have to do again.

Ideally I think you would want them a little narrower but this was a narrow as I felt comfortable to make them if they were free standing, didn't want any to tip over. My buddy and I were thinking you could make some that were about 2' in diameter, anchor them to a 2 x 2 piece of plywood, then attach wheels to the bottom, and have a small fan right in the center pointing up for air flow. It would be a more efficient use of space, plus be easy to move, and the extra air flow through the center would mean you could stack the cylinders together more tightly.

I'm thinking within the next day or two the first plants to come in will be dry enough to break down. Once the buds are dry enough not to squish under their own weight I remove the remaining larger stems and place them in brown paper bags. This slows the drying process down and evens out the moisture content.

 

[coloradochem]

Looking Good Blaze. I Always Enjoy Your Threads

 

[jaredman]

Those racks are awesome!!!! I am gonna copy that trick at the end of the year for sure. I am just gonna chop plants and take the cages they have and cut them in half and should get an awesome setup. Such a good idea I was stressing building all the frame and wire like you were saying but this will be way better I think

 

[Ohiofarmer]

Awesome thread blaze, everything looks stellar, not much else to say man, your livin the dream:)...take it easy

 

[Blaze]

Few shots from yesterday of the full season outdoor ladies. Everything is shifting into flower mode now, even the late strains. Will be starting to trim up the light dep on Monday or Tuesday. Came out really good if I don't say so myself, very sticky and frosty, smells great, and the dry and cure was much better than last year since the climate control was more precise in the drying space.