MC`s Forest Adventure

[markscastle]

Today did not go well. I had all the water caught up so I could take the water tank out of the truck and get lumber and doors for the greenhouse ends. I just needed to empty and unload the last tank from the truck. I did and then the truck wouldn't start. I ran the battery down before I realized I had a fuse out to the electric fuel pump. I knew it wasn`t getting fuel because I put a few drops in the carb and it would start. Well charged the battery and replaced the fuse only to find it ran bad. Next stop was the injectors . Yep one wasn`t seated right. But by the time I had it running it was to late to go to town. Didn`t get a dam thing done today! I also had to cancel a side trip to see what is up on the office trailer. I`m exactly where I was 24 hrs. ago, except 24 hrs. older.

 

[markscastle]

Looks like the race is on! Looking at long term weather reports, it looks like rain around the 8th and 9th of Sept. Also a stronger storm around the 1rst week of Oct. I need the greenhouse plastic up and the ends done before then and next the office trailer needs to be up here with the siding stained , steps and a wood stove in place before Oct 1rst. I also need to go over the roofs of both RV`s before then. I should also start thinking about cutting some fire wood. We still have a lot of sunny days and warm weather ahead but I need prepared for the coming rain. We may be in a drought but we always seem to get a few rainy times early enough to cause bud rot none the less! Having the plants under cover will also cut down on branches being broken in the wind. I wish I could just get a reprieve from my disabilities so I could work harder! The AS has been in remission for some time now ,just to have the nerve damage from Diabetes take it`s place in disabling me. Getting old is bad for your health! I suggest all you younger people avoid getting old as long as you can hold out!

 

[mars]

Hey mc this is mars. Been watching the show since the thread was created. It would be different living in the mountains, something I have always hoped for. If I ever get the chance to buy some land it will be a good thing.
I built a 12 x 32 greenhouse after my mom passed away back in 2011. Did not research it enough thou . I still have to get a 6000 cfm evaperative cooler for the summer & a rocket stove system for winter.
It gets up to 149 degrees in the summer and down to 25 degrees in the winter. I will only grow veggies in it thou being in Salt Lake and all.
Sucks having disabilities. I really feel for you. Damn if I only could avoid getting old to. You were born the same year as my mom. More power to ya my man.
I will pray for you and your well being. Never give in , never give up. Keep it up.
Have a good day. mars

 

[markscastle]

Yesterday I sat almost all day waiting for the plastic for my greenhouse to arrive by truck. Neraring the end of the work day I finely called the trucking companies number to find out what happened to my purchase. They said the address was rural and they didn`t deliver to that location every day. They also said the driver would call me and let me know when it would arrive. That didn`t happen! I`m going to call again today and see if I can come pick it up. I went to town and got some lumber and three 32" wood screen doors for the ends. I could have got more done had they not wasted my time and called me!

 

[markscastle]

Got the plastic yesterday night just before 5pm. This morning I fell back to sleep after coffee and chores until noon. Worked on my son`s car he will be selling to my daughter. It has a short somewhere and I can`t find it. I tried to put in a kill switch between the ground post and the ground connection but it doesn`t get enough power through it to start, also doesn't kill the engine when running because the alternator keeps the systems powered. Used heavy house copper wire made for 220 volts. I`m thinking to much resistance. I`ll try doubling up the wire tomorrow. The battery runs down overnight from the short otherwise. My daughter really needs a car being a single working mom! I really need it fixed so I can get back to working on the greenhouses! Kids always seem to turn to Dad when having problems and need a hand. My son`s GF is going back to college on Monday so I should have more help from him except on weekends now. Oh, I also collected some pollen from the Chemdog 91 males! Thinking I`ll pollenate a few branches in the garden when they set flower better.

I need to get my rush on things and be set up as harvest and Winter are coming! Days will become shorter as Winter nears making it even more important to be productive now ! I`d love to be set up and be able to kick back and relax this Winter! It just keeps getting a little tougher getting caught up as I get older. I never used to fall asleep after drinking coffee in the morning! This just isn`t the same body I was born in!

 

[m8ty]

What year is the car? I had a similar problem where the engine would stay running when i turned the ignition off and over night battery drain, it turned out to be a fried computer...

 

[markscastle]

I think it`s a 2001. It`s a 300 M . They`re known for bad wiring in that year and model.

 

[markscastle]

I`m pissed! I got woke up last night when my cats(two females ) got into it. They made a mess for me to pick up spilling everything around in the RV and making a general mess of things. I was up at almost 4 am and thought I had things cleaned up but somehow they even got into the overheads and messed things up! I need my sleep and can`t put up with this krap! This is the worst mess they`ve ever made. And they were getting along so well for such a long time , I just don`t understand it ! They even had Brute barking and growling at them last night from outside the RV. I fell down after tripping on a jar and have a nice burse this morning! Stupid dam cats! Well nothing broken but my sorry ass ! I`m going to finish my chores and try to take a nap although I don`t think it will make up for the lost sleep. Then going to try again to get the kill switch fixed in the car. I need it done by Monday. I also need that job behind me so I can get back to grow related work! Brute may be eating feline BBQ if this happens again!

 

[markscastle]

OK seems there may have been an earthquake last night or something. Nothing to big but it must have shook the cats up. I didn`t feel anything, just got woke up by the cats and dog. My opps !

 

[m8ty]

The story about the cats mess turning out to be the earthquake had me laughing, great story :]

 

[markscastle]

Kick the cat syndrome. I am doing a water run early this morning after discovering my tanks were lower that I thought last night. Seems my son is watering heavy. That`s good but keeps me working harder. Got to make a trip to town so I`ll make the best of it and get everything I can done on this trip. Later before heading back up I`m picking up one of my son`s friends to help him put up the plastic over the hoops. I still need to order vents before I can make the end covers. Got to get his help before he lands employment as an EMT. He`s a local kid returning to the area with an education and experience behind his belt so it won`t take much longer as he nearly has his Cali certification out of the way. Hard to get and keep good help. I`m no good and my son can`t do some things by himself. My son is thinking of getting retrained for employment and may not be in the game next year. I`ll be better set up but still should try to find someone to help off and on. He may not always be available , even on days off from work.

I`ve been thinking maybe of making an offer for the 2.6 acres above me on the road. I`d still keep the 10 acres and do all my medical growing on the 10 acres but could build a place above the road to live on. My access runs through the property so I could gate it and keep an eye on it from above. The 2.6 is also close to power lines and with a well , septic and covered pad it would be easier to get in and out during the winter time. I`d still need to chain up sometimes but it would be doable. I can look in the county records and see the last sale price reported as well as tax records. This would give me a ball park idea of the land`s current value. If the owner has a hard a time getting through the next winter as I did my first year I think he may bite on an offer in cash for 5-6 k more than he paid and above the current value. I`d have a place near where I am now so it would be easy to move onto , it could have power hooked up and it would allow me to gate off the road to my property and keep an eye on access to the 10 acres year round. If I put a well in I`d have water from above and below. Water is everything in dry years.

 

[Kush Kloud]

Sounds dope

 

[markscastle]

All this time I thought I had been growing from age 6 turns out I started much earlier! After a conversation with my older sister who is working on putting older family photo`s onto computer I found out that the negatives for the picture where I was holding a hose were corrupted from age, There were a few other photos from that roll of film however and one clearly puts me at `almost` 4 yrs. old. Written on the back along with my name is @$@#& at 3 years and 10 months. This would have made the picture taken in maybe early Sept. I also found out it was my first cloned plant! The strain was Jefferson`s porch. I may have also grown the mother plant ( with help from my Grate Grandmother) but that isn`t conclusive. The year was 1958. I been growing 56 years I guess ! I have been breeding (if cloning doesn`t count) for 54-55 years. I`m still learning all the time, however seems a lot of the stuff I`m learning now days consists of things I`ve forgot. It`s a bitch getting old ! My father tells me it`s bad for your health, ... Don`t I know !

 

[winta]

All this time I thought I had been growing from age 6 turns out I started much earlier! After a conversation with my older sister who is working on putting older family photo`s onto computer I found out that the negatives for the picture where I was holding a hose were corrupted from age, There were a few other photos from that roll of film however and one clearly puts me at `almost` 4 yrs. old. Written on the back along with my name is @$@#& at 3 years and 10 months. This would have made the picture taken in maybe early Sept. I also found out it was my first cloned plant! The strain was Jefferson`s porch. I may have also grown the mother plant ( with help from my Grate Grandmother) but that isn`t conclusive. The year was 1958. I been growing 56 years I guess ! I have been breeding (if cloning doesn`t count) for 54-55 years. I`m still learning all the time, however seems a lot of the stuff I`m learning now days consists of things I`ve forgot. It`s a bitch getting old ! My father tells me it`s bad for your health, ... Don`t I know !

Thats crazy! My oldest son would just crush up my clones at 3 lol It always amazes me how much this is a large part of your family history MC!

 

[Kush Kloud]

Man that crazy you should be pot grower of the year.

 

[markscastle]

I`d settle for having the best pot grow of the year. I just put the seed in the ground , it`d God who gives the seed life and allows it to grow, I just see the potential in the seed and put my sweat into it.

Yesterday was a good day. We got the runners up between the loops to keep them from having sway and got one of the looped structures covered. Two more to go and then the ends need capped. I also ordered solar attic fans and louvered vent covers for air exhaust. Later I went over to a friends house and brought them some Neem oil they wanted to put into their dog`s bath water to kill fleas. Turned out they had a pile of venting and I picked out three good intake vents that they donated to the cause. One has a screen in it and one has a louver that allows air flow in only one direction. I was thinking I`d add screen and one way louvers to the others. The screen will help keep rodents out of the intake. Inside I could add fans or cover the holes with Kirby vacuum bags that would filter the in coming air to 2 microns. No dust and no bugs getting in to my plants. If they work well enough I`d like the intake to be passive but I could add fans. The vents have bonnets on them that will keep rain from blowing inside during storms. Now all I need is the plywood for the top so I have something that can be cut to fit tight and be used to attach plastic with. I`m still thinking about 12v circulation fans. Seems the 12v radiator fans might blow to hard and use up to much power to me. Maybe if I could add some kind of fan speed control? I really need as much of an off grid system as possible. I want the greenhouses to not have energy footprints any more than possible. Cutting down running expenses will be more of a factor than construction costs but It also can`t be too extravagant.

 

[markscastle]

Working on covering the remaining loops today. I`m still waiting for the solar vents to come in before I can do the ends. I`m still milling around on the circulation fans and looking for more options that could work. Worried about having fans that blow to hard, use to much energy, and deplete the batteries to low over night. Also if I do a Winter grow I`d need the batteries to stay warm to keep them taking a good charge.

Lights are an other concern for winter growing. I`d need to rebuild the carb on my larger generator and build a cover near the greenhouses to keep it out of the storms. Thinking I could run a line of 150 watt MH lights over each row in the greenhouse for supplemental light so they will stay in veg until ready to flower. The 150 watt MH lights don`t require a ballast. But what about a string of them? I`d need maybe 10 , one for each plant and run for a few hours early just before the sun goes down or just after the sun goes down in the evening to make the plants think it`s Summer. Heat would also be needed 24 hours a day. Building this will cost and it will also cost to run. That`s not counting the propane for the CO2 . And even if it works it brings into question how much yield would I be able to get for my extra costs and labor? I`m thinking the quality should be on par with indoor. It would only have a slight advantage in energy costs because of mostly using sun light. The advantage of just using greenhouses would be having a few more months of grow time along with much less chance of bud rot if controlled well. I could also grow some winter vegies along with the meds. If I was on grid it would make many more options for equipment. That`s just not the case but I should have somewhat lower running costs.

 

[mars]

Hey mc. Do you have a link or the name of the company for those solar vents?
I'm curious , how hot does it get after the plastic coverings are on?
Thanks, mars

 

[markscastle]

I just ordered them off EBay. I noticed the temps and humidity went up a little with just the tunnels and loops covered. I`m sure it will get to hot without proper venting when the ends are covered. I can always cover any vents in Winter to hold in the heat but if these are to be used year round it will need proper venting or Air conditioning in the warmer part of the year and heat of some kind in Winter. I`ll take some pictures of what I got so far in the morning. I should also get a thermometer and humidity gauge put in each greenhouse so I`m not guessing.

 

[markscastle]