BlueCollarBob- Bumbling Through My First Grow

[Stoneyluv]

Brother, I'm an animal lover, but I'm starting to struggle with bears. They used to be a rare sight in my neck of the woods. Now they're thick and a nuisance.

I have a buddy who will help me out, if I get into bees. It does add some responsibility that I'm not looking for, lol. I think they require pretty regular inspections. Not a big deal on it's own, but added in with other stuff... I just want to make sure it will be fun and not feel too much like work.

I use honey from by buddies bees every day in my coffee. My wife uses it to make a granola mix. I imagine infusing it could provide some interesting opportunities, but I haven't gotten into anything like that, yet.

You go first and let me know how it works out .

the place where i would want to keep the bees is bear ally around here.. i was wondering if a electric fence would keep them away?

garden looks great man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have you tried that curry out yet?... made my tummy growl out loud when i looked at the photo!!!!

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Not super familiar, I'm up in northern va, but my wife would love it, she's crazy about sunflowers

you guys might like it. Unless you're a lot more patient than me, it might be a good place to take a gander at the view and release your wife to the festival while you jump on your bike and tour the area, lol. I love seeing my ladies enjoying themselves, but it was too much time with vendors that were not appealing to the average guy. My wife fessed up that it's the sort of thing she used to go to with her mom when I worked weekends, because she knew it was more geared towards women.

This isn't even me trying to be funny, but one of the tents they spent a lot of time in sold something like essential oils and scented bath products. Smelly stuff. I'm sure they were nice individually, but, where I was waiting outside the tent, they combined to smell just like urinal cakes. I even looked around to see if there was a port-a-potty somewhere nearby.

the place where i would want to keep the bees is bear ally around here.. i was wondering if a electric fence would keep them away?

I was thinking electric fence, too. I'll ask my buddy how he protects his bees and report back.

garden looks great man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have you tried that curry out yet?... made my tummy growl out loud when i looked at the photo!!!!

No, I haven't tried any of it, yet. Been a little hectic and late hours at work. They had a whole lot of different blends to choose from. I just picked three that smelled good and asked them what was popular. I'm looking forward to trying them out. I really have lost some of my go to seasoning mixes due to their preservatives and stuff the wife tells me aren't healthy. I'm cool with that, if I can find healthier alternatives. So, fingers crossed, but the ingredients and smell make me optimistic

I am curious about the curry. I love Thai curries at restaurants, but we only have one super simple curry recipe in the regular rotation at home. It's basically just a Trader Joe's curry sauce we like that goes into the slow cooker with chicken. It's one of those easy, but tasty meals that we just eat over rice. So, I'm looking forward to seasoning up something different with this spice. Not sure what to try. They're website mentioned it is good on cucumbers or tomatoes marinated in the fridge overnight. Simple, but I still have some good garden tomatoes. I'll also want to season an actual recipe, though.

 

[ninjadip]

you guys might like it. Unless you're a lot more patient than me, it might be a good place to take a gander at the view and release your wife to the festival while you jump on your bike and tour the area, lol. I love seeing my ladies enjoying themselves, but it was too much time with vendors that were not appealing to the average guy. My wife fessed up that it's the sort of thing she used to go to with her mom when I worked weekends, because she knew it was more geared towards women.

This isn't even me trying to be funny, but one of the tents they spent a lot of time in sold something like essential oils and scented bath products. Smelly stuff. I'm sure they were nice individually, but, where I was waiting outside the tent, they combined to smell just like urinal cakes. I even looked around to see if there was a port-a-potty somewhere nearby.

I was thinking electric fence, too. I'll ask my buddy how he protects his bees and report back.

No, I haven't tried any of it, yet. Been a little hectic and late hours at work. They had a whole lot of different blends to choose from. I just picked three that smelled good and asked them what was popular. I'm looking forward to trying them out. I really have lost some of my go to seasoning mixes due to their preservatives and stuff the wife tells me aren't healthy. I'm cool with that, if I can find healthier alternatives. So, fingers crossed, but the ingredients and smell make me optimistic

I am curious about the curry. I love Thai curries at restaurants, but we only have one super simple curry recipe in the regular rotation at home. It's basically just a Trader Joe's curry sauce we like that goes into the slow cooker with chicken. It's one of those easy, but tasty meals that we just eat over rice. So, I'm looking forward to seasoning up something different with this spice. Not sure what to try. They're website mentioned it is good on cucumbers or tomatoes marinated in the fridge overnight. Simple, but I still have some good garden tomatoes. I'll also want to season an actual recipe, though.

I just made some thai stuff the other day and now and to try to make my own peanut sauce, instead of using the jar stuff, you guys have any good recipes for that?

 

[BlueCollarBob]

I just made some thai stuff the other day and now and to try to make my own peanut sauce, instead of using the jar stuff, you guys have any good recipes for that?

I don't. Maybe Stoney or someone else has something. That's the type of thing everybody in my house would like. This is my wife's weekend to cover at work. So, I wouldn't mind trying out a new recipe. Shoot for having a meal ready when she gets home from work.

 

[TomH]

I was looking forward to seeing Brent Cobb and The Fixin's this evening, as it's my first time seeing them live. I'm a fan of live music and this turned out to be one of those bands that I enjoy better live than I do their studio work (which I do like). They're young to me but still have 20yrs of experience, and it shows.

Another pleasant surprise was that their just released album has a lot more rock than their alt-country and Southern rock sound I'm familiar with. Brent said he had come across a drum kit for his 4yr old son, who he referred to as "Tuck". Brent had set up a little amp in Tuck's bedroom so he could plug in and jam with him. One day Tuck asked him to play some rock. No matter what Brent played, Tuck said, "No dad. Play rock like [so-and-so]." So, the story goes that the whole album was written to prove to his son that he could rock. The guitarist was even playing a Flying V, lol.

I'm a sucker for learning the stories behind songs and Brent was great at weaving those stories into the show. The venue was perfect, too. It's a place about a 45min drive from my house in Lexington called The Lime Kiln. It's well known on the bluegrass circuit and a lot of people purchase season tickets, for those shows alone. They do get some different acts sprinkled in, like this. A lot of the bluegrass fans sell or give away their tix for these shows. Bluegrass or nothing for some of that crowd. The venue is outdoors in a hollow. The stage is set in a deep pit and the sound is great. Smallish and pretty intimate venue. I think it has around a 600-700 person capacity.

None of this is forum-related. I'm just laying here in bed, not sleeping and pecking away on my phone. Wish I had grabbed a photo to share before it got dark, but only have this one. I don't take many photos or vids at shows. I did get a little video to share with a buddy, tho. It really is a pretty place. I've only been to a handful of shows there, but my wife goes to see some bluegrass with her friends. I used to be really outgoing and have always loved live music. Then I entered a hermit phase that the wife is ripping me out of. I thought forced socialization would be horrible, but, dammit, she's right again. I'm atarting to look forward to our outings.

View attachment 112529

Couple of pics of the two Shishkaberry X Sour Lime OG from yesterday evening (Day 55). The first is with the HPS light on. The second pic is of the second plant with HPS off.

#1 while HPS is on- This plant is starting to show some amber trichomes:

View attachment 112530View attachment 112531

HPS entered lights out, right before I took pics of #2. The supplemental LEDs were still on. I had them set to a 10min fade in/out on either side of the HPS. No reason other than I saw the option, lol:

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The fairies' puffball ring, right before mowing them to the ground and adding their delicate little wings, homes and all to the compost pile:

View attachment 112534

Enjoy your weekend, everyone. I doubt I'll forget about the draft-dodging, billionaire dictator pressuring the USAF into reversing course and offering a funeral with full military honors to an insurrectionist. This, after giving $5mil of our tax dollars to this traitor's family. This is the long weekend we get to celebrate the average hardworking men and women who make up the backbone of our country. May they rise up and right the ship.

View attachment 112535

Those puffballs may be in the genus Lycoperdon which is something that showed up in a Mykos blend I used so apparently the mycelium improves the soil.

Additional useless piece of information: The genus name Lycoperdon translates into Wolf Fart, which is what puffballs were believed to be in ye olde ages.

 

[Observer]

Bumbles too. I can go a year or more before seeing one. I used to see them everywhere during the summers when I was a kid.

We've known the honeybees were in decline for a long while now but big Ag doesn't give a shit.

The less bugs on windshield phenomenon =(

It is not good a sign for the ecosystem

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Back at the Lime Kiln. Darrell Scott is up tonight:

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Last week, Darrell Scott received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Assosiation. I grew up a metalhead, but love music from many genres. Darrell is one of my favorite songwriters. He just knows how to tell a good story. More than 70 artists have recorded his songs .

I'm a sucker for impromptu stuff and grabbed this video with my phone. Darrell Scott's show was a solo performance, but, as a surprise guest, he had flutist/saxophonist Gina Sobel, who is from VA, join him for a few songs. Darrell said Gina had reached out to him on facebook saying she liked his music and would love to play with him sometime. Scott then made arrangements for her to perform with him at a show in Charlottesville some time ago. That lead him to invite her to join him again tonight, since he was back in Virginia. After playing a few songs with Gina, Darrell invited openers, Michael Daves and Jacob Jolliff to join him and Gina onstage. They huddled and decided to play Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I wish I had recorded the next song, but this was pretty cool, too.

The Shishkaberry X Sour Lime is getting closer to chop time. I'm still trying to decide how to time it. With my first ever grow last year, weather dictated harvest time. So, this is my first time really having time to think about it. There's some amber, but the majority of that is on sugar leaves. There's also some clear trichomes. I'm still guessing it'll come down next weekend, but any advice is welcome. Here's some photos from Saturday morning:



The dogs must have been paying attention when I gave them a pep talk about not letting deer get in the garden. Zeppelin chased some out of the yard, last night

The weird White Widow, is the furthest along outside. She's also the smallest. Here she is from Saturday:



Happy Growing everyone!

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Those puffballs may be in the genus Lycoperdon which is something that showed up in a Mykos blend I used so apparently the mycelium improves the soil.

Additional useless piece of information: The genus name Lycoperdon translates into Wolf Fart, which is what puffballs were believed to be in ye olde ages.

I hope it is beneficial. I have a bagger on my mower. All of the clippings end up as compost. Some goes in the chicken coop for what is called the deep litter method. They scratch it all around and poop in it. There are no bad odors with this method, it requires little effort and the bottom layer is pretty well composted by the time it gets deep enough for me to want to clean it all out and mix it into the compost piles. Some of the clippings end go straight onto the compost piles. I never even thought about whether or not I should separate those wolf farts.

Thanks for sharing. I find unique bits of info, like this, really interesting .

 

[doublej]

Last week, Darrell Scott received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Assosiation. I grew up a metalhead, but love music from many genres. Darrell is one of my favorite songwriters. He just knows how to tell a good story. More than 70 artists have recorded his songs .

I'm a sucker for impromptu stuff and grabbed this video with my phone. Darrell Scott's show was a solo performance, but, as a surprise guest, he had flutist/saxophonist Gina Sobel, who is from VA, join him for a few songs. Darrell said Gina had reached out to him on facebook saying she liked his music and would love to play with him sometime. Scott then made arrangements for her to perform with him at a show in Charlottesville some time ago. That lead him to invite her to join him again tonight, since he was back in Virginia. After playing a few songs with Gina, Darrell invited openers, Michael Daves and Jacob Jolliff to join him and Gina onstage. They huddled and decided to play Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I wish I had recorded the next song, but this was pretty cool, too.

The Shishkaberry X Sour Lime is getting closer to chop time. I'm still trying to decide how to time it. With my first ever grow last year, weather dictated harvest time. So, this is my first time really having time to think about it. There's some amber, but the majority of that is on sugar leaves. There's also some clear trichomes. I'm still guessing it'll come down next weekend, but any advice is welcome. Here's some photos from Saturday morning:

View attachment 113662View attachment 113663View attachment 113664View attachment 113665View attachment 113666View attachment 113667

The dogs must have been paying attention when I gave them a pep talk about not letting deer get in the garden. Zeppelin chased some out of the yard, last night

The weird White Widow, is the furthest along outside. She's also the smallest. Here she is from Saturday:
View attachment 113668


Happy Growing everyone!

It's a growers choice brother, and what your looking for from that flower.

Looking great man!

 

[BlueCollarBob]

It's a growers choice brother, and what your looking for from that flower.

Looking great man!

Yep. I just need to learn what I want. Last Fall, @steamroller shared this video showing when a plant hits peak potency and discussing the trade off as potency drops while yields increase. And I've seen where people prefer the flavor from weed that's allowed to ripen more.

Last year was my first effort growing weed. I had 4 plants outdoors. Each was a different strain. One plant was ahead of all the others. I chopped her aiming more for potency. That plant ended up being the favorite of everyone I share with and my second favorite. Rain and winds hit that I wasn't prepared for and forced me to harvest the remaining three plants on the early side, too.

Honestly, I'm not as good at picking out and describing flavors as a lot of people. I can tell a difference between different strains and can recognize repeats, but have a hard time picking out flavors that people use to describe them. So, it might not be a big deal, to me. The two indoor plants I have are the same strain and one is finishing a little ahead of the other. I'm curious to see if I can tell a difference. So, I'll bag them separately and find out. Plus, I am enjoying flavor a lot more with this little dry herb vape. So, maybe I'll be able to turn into a weed snob connoisseur , after all

What do you look for to determine when to harvest? When you mention it depending on what you're looking for from "that flower", does that mean you intentionally harvest different plants at different stages of ripeness?

 

[doublej]

Yep. I just need to learn what I want. Last Fall, @steamroller shared this video showing when a plant hits peak potency and discussing the trade off as potency drops while yields increase. And I've seen where people prefer the flavor from weed that's allowed to ripen more.

Last year was my first effort growing weed. I had 4 plants outdoors. Each was a different strain. One plant was ahead of all the others. I chopped her aiming more for potency. That plant ended up being the favorite of everyone I share with and my second favorite. Rain and winds hit that I wasn't prepared for and forced me to harvest the remaining three plants on the early side, too.

Honestly, I'm not as good at picking out and describing flavors as a lot of people. I can tell a difference between different strains and can recognize repeats, but have a hard time picking out flavors that people use to describe them. So, it might not be a big deal, to me. The two indoor plants I have are the same strain and one is finishing a little ahead of the other. I'm curious to see if I can tell a difference. So, I'll bag them separately and find out. Plus, I am enjoying flavor a lot more with this little dry herb vape. So, maybe I'll be able to turn into a weed snob connoisseur , after all

What do you look for to determine when to harvest? When you mention it depending on what you're looking for from "that flower", does that mean you intentionally harvest different plants at different stages of ripeness?

Well, for me I like a little stronger reefer, so if I want real sit and stair buds, I'll read trics and let them go pretty well Amber, and I watch the plant resend into itself,
That's just what I look for, I understand there's a peek and a decline I get all that, that's why I said it's a grower's choice....
That's the best thing about growing your own....

That HID light working pretty good.....

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Well, for me I like a little stronger reefer, so if I want real sit and stair buds, I'll read trics and let them go pretty well Amber, and I watch the plant resend into itself,
That's just what I look for, I understand there's a peek and a decline I get all that, that's why I said it's a grower's choice....
That's the best thing about growing your own....

I have a lot to learn. It sounds like this is one of those areas where l'll need to get some experience and learn my own preference.

That HID light working pretty good.....

I haven't used anything else to compare it to. results have exceeded my expectations, though. I was imagining the old tech would lead to much smaller plants and buds. I'm curious to see if heat from the light is a plus for a winter grow. We'll see...

 

[BlueCollarBob]

the place where i would want to keep the bees is bear ally around here.. i was wondering if a electric fence would keep them away?

garden looks great man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! have you tried that curry out yet?... made my tummy growl out loud when i looked at the photo!!!!

My buddy said electric fence is the standard for bears, but it's not 100% effective, if you get a stubborn bear. He said skunks are another issue, in our neck of the woods. He said they'll eat the guard bees at night and suck the juice out of them.

I fed the worms today. So far... so good. One is training for floor exercise in the worm olympics:

https://imgur.com/a/JZ6IDWN

 

[Stoneyluv]

My buddy said electric fence is the standard for bears, but it's not 100% effective, if you get a stubborn bear. He said skunks are another issue, in our neck of the woods. He said they'll eat the guard bees at night and suck the juice out of them.

I fed the worms today. So far... so good. One is training for floor exercise in the worm olympics:

https://imgur.com/a/JZ6IDWN

i've always been fascinated by it thats for sure. a neighbor was telling me about small hives you can buy for inside a greenhouse, i could never find out where to get them though..

i have a ton of carpenter bees here, you don't think they would chase the honey bees away do ya?

.

you got some nice wigglers man!!!!! i don't see any shredded paper in that mix? i keep mine on a high fiber diet!!!

 

[BlueCollarBob]

i've always been fascinated by it thats for sure. a neighbor was telling me about small hives you can buy for inside a greenhouse, i could never find out where to get them though..

i have a ton of carpenter bees here, you don't think they would chase the honey bees away do ya?

.

you got some nice wigglers man!!!!! i don't see any shredded paper in that mix? i keep mine on a high fiber diet!!!

I don't know if there's any conflict between carpenter bees and honeybees. We have had carpenter bees pretty bad here, at times. I haven't seen any, this year, but I also replaced their favorite dining spot. I had a lean-to carport that was framed with rough cut pine boards that they really liked to chew on. I tore that out and replaced it with treated lumber. As important as pollinator are, I don't miss those guys. I hope they're happily chewing on a dead pine in the woods, somewhere.

Actually, everything I'm hearing is that beekeeping is pretty easy. Sounds like you just have to invest some time and check in on them fairly regularly. Beekeepr's seem to be a pretty tight knit community, around here. They help each other out, get new guys started and some get together to extract honey and share processing equipment.

That worm video was pre-feed. I've since read it isn't necessary, but I've been blending the green food in an old blender. I followed a recipe for the dry feed and made a big batch that I've just been mixing into an equal part of the green feed. The dried feed was measured according to the recipe and has corn meal, whole wheat flower, rolled oats and some powdered toasted egg shells that I have left from a one of @stonemason's KNF recipes. I'll probably hit the easy button and switch to powdered oyster shell when that runs out. Shredded paper bags are mixed in, too. The green has been mostly cucumber, since I've had a lot of that lately. A little squash, banana peal or watermelon added in here and there. And like a teaspoon of spent coffee grounds that I saved and dried out, I've been sprinkling a little wheat grain, that the lady gave to me along with the worm bins, on top of it all.

II have wetted paper bags torn to fit the bins that I remove to feed, moisten and replace over top of the worms and feed, before putting the lids back on.

I took a few paper grocery bags to work and tried running them through the shredder, today. That worked great. I'll be filling a box full of that to take home. Pretty big time saver.

Do you have any tips on feed or anything else? I still need to study up on when to add new tiers to the bins and when and how to collect castings. I looked up the owner's manual on all of that, but just did a quick scan and it didn't stick in my brain, lol.

Any concerns with the blue ink on the Food Lion bags?

 

[Bandit420]

Yep. I just need to learn what I want. Last Fall, @steamroller shared this video showing when a plant hits peak potency and discussing the trade off as potency drops while yields increase. And I've seen where people prefer the flavor from weed that's allowed to ripen more.

Last year was my first effort growing weed. I had 4 plants outdoors. Each was a different strain. One plant was ahead of all the others. I chopped her aiming more for potency. That plant ended up being the favorite of everyone I share with and my second favorite. Rain and winds hit that I wasn't prepared for and forced me to harvest the remaining three plants on the early side, too.

Honestly, I'm not as good at picking out and describing flavors as a lot of people. I can tell a difference between different strains and can recognize repeats, but have a hard time picking out flavors that people use to describe them. So, it might not be a big deal, to me. The two indoor plants I have are the same strain and one is finishing a little ahead of the other. I'm curious to see if I can tell a difference. So, I'll bag them separately and find out. Plus, I am enjoying flavor a lot more with this little dry herb vape. So, maybe I'll be able to turn into a weed snob connoisseur , after all

What do you look for to determine when to harvest? When you mention it depending on what you're looking for from "that flower", does that mean you intentionally harvest different plants at different stages of ripeness?

This chart has helped me a ton when it comes identifying terps and finding what I like in entourage effects and strains. I keep the poster of it in my drying tent and reference it as I smell and sample



So you have those terps and they vary from plant to plant and even flower to flower within the same genetics.
Think of two plants as sisters but one sister has green eyes, the other blue, but both have blonde hair.
I compare this to an audio equalizer with each frequency moving up or down



Then here comes the real fun part...everything you do and give the plant is like the slide controls on that equalizer.
Some things will bring up the bass and other things treble.
Or in this case, all those terps listed and that's where you will find which strains are best for you and what's best to do for them to get what you want out of them.
Each person is a bit different so for example my fave of all time smells like incense in a church on Xmas eve with a dead skunk behind a pew.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

This chart has helped me a ton when it comes identifying terps and finding what I like in entourage effects and strains. I keep the poster of it in my drying tent and reference it as I smell and sample

View attachment 113805

So you have those terps and they vary from plant to plant and even flower to flower within the same genetics.
Think of two plants as sisters but one sister has green eyes, the other blue, but both have blonde hair.
I compare this to an audio equalizer with each frequency moving up or down

View attachment 113806

Then here comes the real fun part...everything you do and give the plant is like the slide controls on that equalizer.
Some things will bring up the bass and other things treble.
Or in this case, all those terps listed and that's where you will find which strains are best for you and what's best to do for them to get what you want out of them.
Each person is a bit different so for example my fave of all time smells like incense in a church on Xmas eve with a dead skunk behind a pew.

If I have enough life left to wrap my head around this, I might set some kind of longevity record, lol. You're operating on a different level.

Thanks for the chart. I'll print it off and hang it. Maybe some of it will sink in and I'll start getting a better sense of things.

As always, big time thanks for sharing your experience and helping out. I don't know how you find the time to do it. Especially during this demanding time with the long work weeks .

 

[Zen_seeker]

Brother, I'm an animal lover, but I'm starting to struggle with bears. They used to be a rare sight in my neck of the woods. Now they're thick and a nuisance.

I have a buddy who will help me out, if I get into bees. It does add some responsibility that I'm not looking for, lol. I think they require pretty regular inspections. Not a big deal on it's own, but added in with other stuff... I just want to make sure it will be fun and not feel too much like work.

I use honey from by buddies bees every day in my coffee. My wife uses it to make a granola mix. I imagine infusing it could provide some interesting opportunities, but I haven't gotten into anything like that, yet.

You go first and let me know how it works out .

Too much work for me to keep bees. But I have been making the yard more inviting for them for a decade. I leave one or two lawns for a while to let the native wild flowers and grass grow to seed. We also have a lot of flowers for each month. Right now they love all the golden rod and sun flowers.

I use honey pretty much daily in my tea. After reading Cannagranny’s post on making cannahoney I tried it a few times. Nice. Good before bed too. I haven’t used sugar or milk in tea since I tried this.

Hardest part is decarb. That’s in the oven and best judgement.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Too much work for me to keep bees. But I have been making the yard more inviting for them for a decade. I leave one or two lawns for a while to let the native wild flowers and grass grow to seed. We also have a lot of flowers for each month. Right now they love all the golden rod and sun flowers.

I want to try it, but I also don't want to take on too much. I have some stuff to get get caught up on around the house. I'm working on the flowers for pollinators, too. I've been studying up the native plants and hope to develop a little pollinator mecca, eventually.

I use honey pretty much daily in my tea. After reading Cannagranny’s post on making cannahoney I tried it a few times. Nice. Good before bed too. I haven’t used sugar or milk in tea since I tried this.

Yeah, I'd like to try making the infused honey, for sure.

Hardest part is decarb. That’s in the oven and best judgement.

I'd like to try making the infused honey, for sure.

 

[ninjadip]

I want to try it, but I also don't want to take on too much. I have some stuff to get get caught up on around the house. I'm working on the flowers for pollinators, too. I've been studying up the native plants and hope to develop a little pollinator mecca, eventually.

Yeah, I'd like to try making the infused honey, for sure.

I'd like to try making the infused honey, for sure.

Back when i was doing a lot of infused coconut oil,i used to love a dollop in my coffee. Man what a great way to start the day!!!