The James Gang

[H.A.F.]

The continuing saga of what the stoner dude will do next. With the exception of getting the occasional elite cut to grow out I am done with clones. I might even use this little tent to run an auto on its own schedule, but I have too many beans to drop. That I want to drop. So the GSC Forum Cut and the Flo Rida will get flipped soon as the Flo shows normal leaves.

Those got soaked this morning along with the babies, just postponing up-pots for a few days until the dark tent is empty. Then once I have all that potted and sorted out, I am dropping beans. The simple fact is that I like growing from seed. It never seems like a chore like cloning does- and after 3-5 days you know if there's a viable plant. The Mimms and CLHP clones are just in here because they ar the same size pot and need to be in that up-pot rotation without me forgetting - but they and the big clones are flipping as soon as I see true leaves on everything.

 

[H.A.F.]

The next drop is pretty much sorted out now that I won't need clone space. Three S1 fems from Humbolt CSI (Chem 91, Chem D, UK Cheese), and I was gifted 3 Soundclash regs from Well Grown Seeds [(Dread Bread x Star Pupil) x Marmalade] and they are dropping. And to round it out a half pack of Vin Santo.

So far it is the rankest stuff I have grown, so I want to see how it competes with the Chems for stanky

 

[H.A.F.]

Too busy to take pics, but taking a break for a quick update. The AC x Adub contester plant got the jar, and was just under an ounce.

If I do multiple plants in a big pot, knowing that this "flat stanley" pruning (and the twin towers Mimms) where it is only as wide as the fattest bud might be a good plan. They take up no space except for the pot, so lining up a few in a pot seems like it would work.

Got the GMO Cake (310g) and the Sundae Batter (195g) hanging with the Lemon Tree left to go.

Then a tent to clean and soil to sift and mix with the older soil to get ready for up-pots tomorrow.

 

[H.A.F.]

The Lemon Tree got the tops hand trimmed, but the rest got the bowl trimmer. All the nugs were dense and made it through the trimmer fine.
There was 81g of tops,n and 114g of the rest - so exactly the weight of the whole plant SB. That will be an interesting (though not scientific) comparison on about how much stem weight there is once I jar the SB.

 

[H.A.F.]

Crappy pic, but you get the idea. Those are shrooms. I don't know what to think about that. The plants seem fine with it though.

I up-potted the babies that were ready. All of the Emerald Mountain stuff and the Oilspill and PTK from @J.James

I didn't mess with the Freakshow or the 007up yet. But I did up-pot the Mimms clone and one of the CLHP. I have more beans of both. These are staying in smaller pots. And the Elites will get yuuuuge pots tomorrow or the next day. I have the tall skinny tent empty now, which is nice. Options.
The Auto is back in here for now.

The outside one is doing fine so that one might join it. Anyone grown barley? Should I mow it?

And this is all that's in flower now, with the Zkittles auto going soon. The GSC will slide right in there when I up-pot. Having that single light I can move around is working OK for the monster.

 

[H.A.F.]

The outside one got put in all local soil, mainly worm dirt from under a fallen oak tree. It stretched up in just a few days, so now it's going to get worms and some wild compost/mulch on top.

Side note. I got a 60gl cloth pot for mixing my soil in. Much better than a tarp.

 

[H.A.F.]

Upon further review, I like the idea of storing the soil in cloth pots rather than tubs. My understanding is that if it dries out most of the microbial stuff goes dormant instead of dying. I have been keeping the soil in the tubs slightly moist, but not enough that there's sweat on the lid when I open it.

That might be how I am cultivating the shrooms. But there have been none in the tubs

 

[H.A.F.]

The Vin Santo is strange-good. The high is soothing. Mellows you right out, with no sleepy. But the taste...
In a bowl it is odd. There's not much on the inhale except a hint of sugar - on the exhale it's like cardboard. But not in a bad way. It's not harsh, no cough, just that odd flavor.
Now take that same stuf and roll one, and it's amazing. That hint of sugar hangs around, and it's more of a cereal flavor. And it builds as you work your way down the joint. The oil-ring makes the difference I think. It has a hint of cocoa, so it's like the cheap-ass copycat cocoa-puffs mom used to get.

 

[H.A.F.]

I have been mowing down the undergrowth behind my house, and have a good field of fire all the way around now. Now there are no briars and such clogging everything up and there's lots of new growth sprouting up. Ease of access, easy food:

First I've seen in my yard since I moved in 3 years ago. She was fairly calm, I walked around about 50yds away taking a bunch of shitty pics because of the light, and a few that were salvagable.

As long as the bitch doesn't mess with my garden we can be friends... But I have a big freezer
Daytime with flash looks spooky

 

[H.A.F.]

Confession time. I spent $300 on dirt... But like getting your first good light, I wish I had done it sooner.
For general comparison, a 12qt (3 gallon) sack of FFOF is in the $20 range. This kit makes 70 gallons of soil, and has probably better ingredients than the pre-mixed stuff. Plus it came with a 100gallon pot to mix it in.

4 sacks of peat, 2 sacks of pumice (better than perlite), and bag each of "fish compost", worm castings, and rice hulls. That's the soil.
But there's also 8lbs of Clackamas Coots nutrient blend, a 32lb sack of minerals, 2 gallons of biochar, half pound of kashi blend, and a small pack of quillaha extract (soapnut powder) as a wetting agent.

Basically its a pre-measured super-soil without having to source all the individual ingredients. And the shipping was free. Not cheap, but I think worth the investment. I am starting with just one tents worth of 7 gallon pots so they can be moved from veg to flower instead of being stuck in on tent. After sorting it out, I think mixing half a batch will be easy. I got a 2-pack of the 60gal pots for mixing/storing. so next spring I'll have a 100 gallon pot to play with outside. Could be interesting.

BuildASoil Take 'N Bake - Artisan Soil Building Kit

 

[H.A.F.]

Soaked beans to dirt. The Soundclash were the only ones without decent tail nubs, but all beans were cracked. I was listening to Mr. Bob Hemphill talking about planting and he says to put them pointy-side/tail up, and closer to 1/2" deep than 1/4". Last drop (and many others) I had several that needed at least some assistance because of helmet-heads, and according to him planting them tail up and the action of the plant curling up strips the shells. Makes perfect sense, 'cause gravity ain't just a good idea - it's the law!

I've also been impressed when beans broke soil the next day - too shallow. So we'll see how this works out. I expect longer for them to break soil, but zero attached seed husks

 

[Slowdrawl]

Confession time. I spent $300 on dirt... But like getting your first good light, I wish I had done it sooner.
For general comparison, a 12qt (3 gallon) sack of FFOF is in the $20 range. This kit makes 70 gallons of soil, and has probably better ingredients than the pre-mixed stuff. Plus it came with a 100gallon pot to mix it in.
View attachment 95711
4 sacks of peat, 2 sacks of pumice (better than perlite), and bag each of "fish compost", worm castings, and rice hulls. That's the soil.
But there's also 8lbs of Clackamas Coots nutrient blend, a 32lb sack of minerals, 2 gallons of biochar, half pound of kashi blend, and a small pack of quillaha extract (soapnut powder) as a wetting agent.

Basically its a pre-measured super-soil without having to source all the individual ingredients. And the shipping was free. Not cheap, but I think worth the investment. I am starting with just one tents worth of 7 gallon pots so they can be moved from veg to flower instead of being stuck in on tent. After sorting it out, I think mixing half a batch will be easy. I got a 2-pack of the 60gal pots for mixing/storing. so next spring I'll have a 100 gallon pot to play with outside. Could be interesting.

BuildASoil Take 'N Bake - Artisan Soil Building Kit

That seems like a decent deal to me considering free shipping.
I only need half of that for my little 2x4 grows.
I've mixed a lot of soil and it's not cheap to do a top notch batch.
Used to do 400 gal for my past GH grows.
Was getting 1.5 cf FFOF for $14 and HF for $12 as a base back then.
Spendy to get started, but used that initial mix for 4 seasons.
I like all of the ingredients, think I'll follow suit.

 

[Old ST1R]

Soaked beans to dirt. The Soundclash were the only ones without decent tail nubs, but all beans were cracked. I was listening to Mr. Bob Hemphill talking about planting and he says to put them pointy-side/tail up, and closer to 1/2" deep than 1/4". Last drop (and many others) I had several that needed at least some assistance because of helmet-heads, and according to him planting them tail up and the action of the plant curling up strips the shells. Makes perfect sense, 'cause gravity ain't just a good idea - it's the law!
View attachment 95727
I've also been impressed when beans broke soil the next day - too shallow. So we'll see how this works out. I expect longer for them to break soil, but zero attached seed husks

This is from Grow Yer Own Stone, by Dr. Alexander Sumach, T.H.C.:

 

[Fiddler's Green]

Saving $2.45 a gallon for the good good is a heck of a deal.

Are you going to throw a cover crop on the 100 gal?

 

[H.A.F.]

Saving $2.45 a gallon for the good good is a heck of a deal.

Are you going to throw a cover crop on the 100 gal?

I am mixing half to use in 7-10 gallon pots and ease my way into the living soil thing. I have worms making compost and castings, stuff planted for barley and corn teas, tryingg to make this a mainly one-time investment, with the occasional recharge of specific stuff.

I am leaving the other half dry to use later. I just don't need that much soil now, but the soil I am currently using will probably be outside with the tomatoes next year.

After I get into the system I am thinking about a 2x3 or 3x3 bed in the tent and just planting it like a garden. I think that'll be perfect for fems, not so much for regs where you might end up culling everything on one side and having the other side too crowded.

To answer the other question I will have cover crops on the stuff I'm growing, and will have worms in them as well, but not the stuff I'm storing. After I mix and wet it and it cooks and dries out it'll stay dry until I use it. It should be ready for the beans I just dropped. I am considering sticking three fems in a 15gal. If they are all relatively the same height when they leave the solo-cups it's definite.

 

[H.A.F.]

The elite cuts are in 5gal short pots. The GSC will get flipped in a few days when the Zkittles is done.

The FloRida Kush got heavy LST to try and sort out limbs. It's on a high chairr just until stuff points north again.

The 007up wasn't drinking, so I up-potted to dry-ish soil and covered it with rice hulls for more dryness. Most of the others are gonna get pruned down to 4 limbs next watering. Maybe topped, but definitely eliminating the non-keeper branches. The one known exception is the cabbage-leaf Royal Kush (the wierd one in the middle). It has almost nothing for sprouts.

Biggest change for me now since I have a spare/emergency tent set-up is that I am waiting to flip stuff until it's ready. They aren't getting flipped with the group just because.

 

[H.A.F.]

I like the way the rice-hulls look. It's about an inch deep and I have enough to do the rest of these next watering. I have half of what came with the build-a-soil to play with. I'll order more when I mix that next batch.

 

[H.A.F.]

The closet is now just "flip asap" clones and the auto. Barley sprouting to feed the veg tent tonight.

I am seeing if the Freakshow might prefer the lower spectrum than the high veg spectum of light. All my problem children are in the middle getting the best of whatever is there.

 

[H.A.F.]

I like when you get your money's worth. I pruned some shoots on some, topped others that were ready. After it was done I lined them up by cross, and surprise - all 5 I topped were the Emerald Mountain ones. Granted, the freakiest one that ain't a Freakshow is also from them, but it's showing sprouts now too. Royal Kush are on the left, with the cabbage freak. Queens Sangria and Royal Limes on the next row (QS in back).
The PTK are in row three and get topped next. They were almost there but not quite. Then the Oilspill front right with the 007up in the corner.
The smaller Oilspill was a pointy-end-down catastrophy. It has a curly-q in the stem and is basically growing sideways with the leaves facing up.

 

[H.A.F.]

One thing I just noticed/remembered. The PTK all had smallish shoots on the 3-toed leaf node, so they got pruned on all three. The Emerald Mountain plants hads larger shoots there, that were caught up to the ones above them so I kept the lower shoots.

The PTK weren't that far behind, just structurally better to keep the next two nodes so it'll be another few days.