Blazing Oaks 2016

[UgrewWHAT]

Is that the same watermelon rancher that you'd entered in last years Emerald Cup, Blaze? Excellent pics btw... and Congrats!

 

[Blaze]

It sure is, I saved a mom of it and ran it in both our light dep and full season. I also have another pheno of that same cross I saved as well that we are running in the full season outdoor. It does not have the unique sour watermelon smell and flavor of the WR pheno, but tested higher on THC at 26.5% and the total terpene levels were the highest of anything I have seen so far - over 6%. Average terpene level of a good strain is 2-3%, and even my other high terpene strains like the Pineapple and WR max out at around 4%.

 

[UgrewWHAT]

That's what I thought. Good job, man! You going to the Cup in December? I'm not going to be entering this year but I've requested that whole weekend off for the festivities!

 

[Blaze]

I will definitely be there, wouldn't miss it! Not sure what we will enter yet, whatever comes out best, and is the most unique from the full season harvest. Most likely that will be the WR again but I've got some new strains going this year as well that might prove to be competition worthy.

We've even been kicking around the idea of going in with a booth with someone, but I am still not sure if I want to deal with all that hassle. We actually produce a fair amount of olive oil on our ranch as well and have worked with a friend that is starting an extraction and edible company. They made us some really nice cannabis infused olive oil last year with our olivo nuevo. I am thinking organic, hand crafted infused olive oil with both the cannabis and the oil coming from the same farm would be a big hit.

 

[geologic]

I am thinking organic, hand crafted infused olive oil with both the cannabis and the oil coming from the same farm would be a big hit.

It would be a big hit down here--
fer shure...

 

[UgrewWHAT]

It would be a big hit down here--
fer shure...

Yep. Here too!

 

[papapayne]

here in oregon to!

 

[Blaze]

Last of the light dep has been harvested. We pulled it just before the massive heat wave hit this week. It was 108 in Ukiah the last two days. Luckily we are a little closer to the cost and a little higher elevation so we only hit 104 in the shade.

SFV OG Kush: I had been a little hesitant to grow this one because I had heard from so many people that it was finicky and a low yielder and not worth the space, etc, etc. It killed it in the light dep for us though, the buds are big, dense, and sticky and it looks like it was actually one of our better producers this run:

OG Twist (OG x Chem Dog), one of my personal favorites:

Archive OG: This one does not test quite as high on THC as the Twist or the SFV but it has a very unique flavor that reminds me of anise. It is one of the best tasting and smelling OG's in my opinion.

The first concrete pour happened for the new greenhouse today as well. Setting up the metal ground posts was a lot more tedious and time consuming than expected. In order to meet the seismic loads to get the county building department to permit the greenhouse the posts had to be set nearly 3' into the ground. They also have to be within a quarter inch on every dimension, even height, and perfectly level or things will not line up correctly when we go to erect the building. All the supports are built from quarter inch steel and will be very difficult to bend, cut or modify so we want to make sure we DON'T have to do that. As a result a bunch of extra framing was built to get the supports just right before the concrete pour.

This is why hiring a good contractor is so critical for projects like this, no way I could do something like this myself. They were able to get everything lined up within a 1/16th of an inch and everything went really smoothly.

The framing for the rest of the foundation will start going up in a few days. Hopefully within 1-2 weeks the foundation and block walls will be done and we can starting building the rest of the structure.

 

[Blaze]

Starting to get towards the end of veg time for the full season outdoor:

Our last minute smart pot expansion has done better than I would have especially considering they were only planted a month ago. These three were different phenos of Hawaiian Cough (Watermelon Rancher x Mendo Pineapple):

DJ Short Grape Krush. This was always my favorite strain from DJ and this was sadly my last pack of it:

 

[papapayne]

Damn man, so beautiful. Wish my plants were looking that happy this year!

 

[Blaze]

Hey papa I had a question for you - you use neem seed meal right? How late do you apply it? It's slow release N so I am thinking we might want to do it one more time before the plants really start to flower. Having that extra mite protection is important, they are just out in our environment and always show up towards the end of flower every year, no matter what....

 

[MendoGiantZ]

Everything is looking really good including the greenhouse construction . What strains are you impressed with for the full term outdoor. Do you have any good advice for the transition phase of flowering. Do you do a bunch of cleaning up the underneath of the plants and leafing them or do u just let them grow naturally.

 

[papapayne]

Hey papa I had a question for you - you use neem seed meal right? How late do you apply it? It's slow release N so I am thinking we might want to do it one more time before the plants really start to flower. Having that extra mite protection is important, they are just out in our environment and always show up towards the end of flower every year, no matter what....

Ive used it all the way till after stretch. You can top dress it now still, or if you wanted, steep in 48 hours in water, and apply as a drench up till post stretch. I wouldn't use it once everything has crowned out though, as you said, it is slower to break down. I actually just top dressed mine with the last I have of it

 

[Blaze]

Everything is looking really good including the greenhouse construction . What strains are you impressed with for the full term outdoor. Do you have any good advice for the transition phase of flowering. Do you do a bunch of cleaning up the underneath of the plants and leafing them or do u just let them grow naturally.

The Kush Cleaner and Kush Cleaner x Guava Kush are the largest and bushiest, as usual. Some of the OG Ringo have gotten really big this year too. I am liking the look of the Mendocino Purple Kush from CSI: Humboldt as well. For some reason my Mendo Pineapple have all been really slow growing this year and seem some what stunted which is disappointing. Usually they are the largest plants in the garden.

I prune my plants all year long but we will be cleaning out a lot more over this next week. I think it is really important to clean out all that underbrush and dead leaves before they go into flower. Letting them grow naturally is never a good idea, you don't want a bunch of dead or half dead branches and leaves on the inside of your plant. They won't produce anything of value, all it does is restrict air flow and increase the changes of mildew and mites getting a foot hold.

I usually like to foliar with a little cal-mg during transition and I will be applying some seabird guano next week. I like to top dress with the neem seed meal and Baseline granular once a month as well. I always foliar with Regalia and Stylet oil every two weeks to keep the pests in check too.

 

[papapayne]

What product do you use for your cal mg foliar?

 

[Blaze]

I am not sure what I will use this year I need to look around. I have always liked the Botanicare line up, but I would like to find an organic Cal-mg if I can...

 

[papapayne]

Let me know what you settle on, I am looking around at options for one to.

 

[juiceyjay]

Nice thread blaze dunno how this one slipped past me. Congrats on being fully legal now, really got the ball rolling over there.

I've been taking notes from you mendo growers. I'm in central cali so my growing conditions are nearly the same.

When you do a light dep. What is ur schedule 8am to 8pm? I want to dabble with this possibly on my spring harvest next year

 

[Blaze]

For dep I cover 12 hours after sunrise and then open it up again once it is totally dark. The exact time can vary a bit depending on what part of the year it is, but usually that means covering around 5:30-6:00 PM and uncovering at 10:00-10:30 PM. If you are deping in the early spring you would be able to cover later and uncover earlier.

 

[juiceyjay]

For dep I cover 12 hours after sunrise and then open it up again once it is totally dark. The exact time can vary a bit depending on what part of the year it is, but usually that means covering around 5:30-6:00 PM and uncovering at 10:00-10:30 PM. If you are deping in the early spring you would be able to cover later and uncover earlier.

Ok so u do uncover them at night. I was wondering about that. Which buds do you think are better in ur opinion. Light dep or the full term buds?