BlueCollarBob- Bumbling Through My First Grow

[Zen_seeker]

Nice save.

When I did my one big outdoor I got two long sticks and stapled a big netting between them. Put it over the top of the plant. It held it together so it moved as a single unit. No breaks or splits even after some big storms. My net had the 4” squares iirc.

Pics for example.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Nice save.

When I did my one big outdoor I got two long sticks and stapled a big netting between them. Put it over the top of the plant. It held it together so it moved as a single unit. No breaks or splits even after some big storms. My net had the 4” squares iirc.

Pics for example.
View attachment 74225View attachment 74226View attachment 74227View attachment 74228

That plant looks great. Do you remember what it was? That's a good example of where my lollipopping should have been, too.

That's exactly what I needed to do. I bought four packs of that netting, but, being the procrastinator I am, never installed it.

 

[steamroller]

I bought four packs of that netting, but, being the procrastinator I am, never installed it.

Your sense of slacker is strong.
While your success while putting in less effort is amicable, I will not beat that easily~!

 

[Zen_seeker]

That plant looks great. Do you remember what it was? That's a good example of where my lollipopping should have been, too.

Sadly it’s unknown. I just call it my strain or Z-Weed. Gifted from my buddy who gets his weed from a childhood friend. One went to seed so I ended up with hundreds to learn and start with.

Got lucky as she’s strong, hardy and pretty mold resistant. Good smoke too. 60/40 to 70/30 on the sativa side.

That's exactly what I needed to do. I bought four packs of that netting, but, being the procrastinator I am, never installed it.

I got that crappy nylon net by mistake. Never planned to grow outside. But then stuff happened and it was the perfect solution.

Every grows a new set of lessons. Hard part is shaking off the laziness. Had a few hard lessons myself.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Lot happening. I’ll update when I get a minute. Hoping I can get some advice on this bud rot (I think). Should I just cut the entire cola off? It’s the only spot like this I can find, so far. Dry tent is full, but should be able to free up half of it this weekend. That’s if they survive the rain and humidity. Thank in advance.



Zoomed in:

 

[steamroller]

Chop it.
If what is above it is worth drying do so.
I think you are going to have enough with or without that cola eh?

 

[GoodShit97]

Lot happening. I’ll update when I get a minute. Hoping I can get some advice on this bud rot (I think). Should I just cut the entire cola off? It’s the only spot like this I can find, so far. Dry tent is full, but should be able to free up half of it this weekend. That’s if they survive the rain and humidity. Thank in advance.

View attachment 74667

Zoomed in:
View attachment 74666

You can try to remove the infected buds, spray with h2o2 first though to reduce spores spreading.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

You can try to remove the infected buds, spray with h2o2 first though to reduce spores spreading.

Thank you! Not working with a lot of daylight here. I feel lucky to get the quick advice. Appreciate it

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Chop it.
If what is above it is worth drying do so.
I think you are going to have enough with or without that cola eh?

Yessir. I am more concerned about it spreading. I’ve already exceeded my expectations. The best looking stuff is still out there. I’ll save it if I can.

Super fortunate to only be dealing with saving weed and minor basement flooding. So many people mourning the loss of loved ones and total property loss. Absolute devastation for many.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Lot happening. I’ll update when I get a minute. Hoping I can get some advice on this bud rot (I think). Should I just cut the entire cola off? It’s the only spot like this I can find, so far. Dry tent is full, but should be able to free up half of it this weekend. That’s if they survive the rain and humidity. Thank in advance.

View attachment 74667

Zoomed in:
View attachment 74666

I lost three half colas and a chunk out of another on Jilly Bean. I used two bottles of peroxide in a spray bottle over two sessions a day apart.

It ran and foamed. Got some leaf burn, more from doing it with the lights on than anything else.

But it nailed it. Got lucky. We just cut and wet trim. No mold yet. Looks good. Results pending.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

I lost three half colas and a chunk out of another on Jilly Bean. I used two bottles of peroxide in a spray bottle over two sessions a day apart.

It ran and foamed. Got some leaf burn, more from doing it with the lights on than anything else.

But it nailed it. Got lucky. We just cut and wet trim. No mold yet. Looks good. Results pending.

Awesome @Zen_seeker! Hope that was the end of it and it’s smooth sailing from here on out.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

The last couple of weeks have been an adventure in drying conditions and trying to get the remaining outdoor plants through this recent rain and high humidity.

Drying my first ever harvested plant went about as well as I believe it could have. Ideal conditions made it pretty easy for me to stay close to temp., RH and thereby dew point targets that @Stoneyluv and others pointed me towards. Honestly, I was tickled pink with round one. It hasn't been that way with what's currently drying as I battle high temperatures and humidity. House A/C failed on 19SEP24, the guys who did the repairs found that the expansion valve failed closed, preventing the refrigerant from circulating. They ordered a new valve.

The next day, I came home to our little creek running a tad high:

View attachment Creek 27SEP24.mov

I went inside after checking the creek out. There I discovered the basement had a couple of inches of water in it. Turns out that the pump bracket was loose and the pump fell against the wall. That prevented the float from lifting and switching on the pump. Of course, this made for high humidity. I pumped the water out and fired up the old dehumidifier to help out the new one. The higher temperatures have been the bigger problem, but the guys came back and brazed in a new expansion valve and I have air conditioning again. The silver lining is that I really needed to clean a bunch of junk out of the basement and this will free up space for an indoor grow. So, I've been carrying stuff out of the basement for the land fill and Salvation Army in the evenings. Mopping and disinfecting as I go.

I snapped a few picks of remaining plants while the guys worked on our air conditioning. One of them had commented that he didn't know how we canstand the smell. This was a good 40yds from the plants. I laughed and told him that I rather like it. He just blinked and then laughed.

I should be back on track for a better controlled dry, now. The weather looks good through the weekend, too. Plus there was a nice breeze blowing today. So, fingers crossed that my little stash will grow some in the coming weeks.

Bowl trimmer is on the way. I decided to try this 16" trimmer from Vevor.

Slurty3:



Jet Fuel Odder Popz:

Sour Diesel:

 

[Zen_seeker]

The trimmer is a little pricey. Hope it does es well for you.

Plants are looking good.

Bad luck with the pump. My mom has one or two. Great when they work right. Hope the cleanup goes easy and fast.

Creek looked pretty fast. Any fish?

 

[Zen_seeker]

Awesome @Zen_seeker! Hope that was the end of it and it’s smooth sailing from here on out.

Drying has been tricky. More rain yesterday and all night. I’ve had the dehumidifier on/off since I hung them. Unplug at 40%, plug back in at 65%. Entire basement is holding at low 60’s so it is what it is.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

The trimmer is a little pricey. Hope it does es well for you.

Plants are looking good.

Bad luck with the pump. My mom has one or two. Great when they work right. Hope the cleanup goes easy and fast.

Creek looked pretty fast. Any fish?

Vevor has a sale going on. The trimmer is $40 off, currently.

Weather is stressing me out, lol. Cleared up during the day, Yesterday. Then heavy rain again for the evening and over night. Hoping the plants make it a few more days. I'm probably going to chop the premium colas from the tops to fill up the dry tent. Not enough room for all of it. Maybe the rest will be worth chopping a week later when I free up some more drying space. We'll see...

The sump pump usually does great. We don't finish the basement because every few years we'll have severe enough rains to get water down there.

The creek dries up a lot in the Summer. There are pools that hold fish. Native stuff is a variety of minnows, chubs, fall fish, hornyheads, smallmouth and redeyes. When I was a kid, my dad dropped a couple logs across the creek and we used a huge section of conveyor belt to dam the creek. We'd catch trout and bring them back alive in coolers to put in the creek. They were like pets. They'd swim up to you looking for food. Probably not ideal food for fish, but the butcher at the nearby meat market chopped scraps into fine chunks to feed them. They'd nearly come up on the bank after it. They grew big and fat. Every Winter high water would wash them down the creek. Every Spring I'd take buckets and a seine to scoop them back up and return them to the dam.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Drying has been tricky. More rain yesterday and all night. I’ve had the dehumidifier on/off since I hung them. Unplug at 40%, plug back in at 65%. Entire basement is holding at low 60’s so it is what it is.

Does it hold low 60s with out running the dehumidifier? Sounds like that would be nearly perfect unless temps are just way off.

 

[steamroller]

Vevor has a sale going on. The trimmer is $40 off, currently.

Weather is stressing me out, lol. Cleared up during the day, Yesterday. Then heavy rain again for the evening and over night. Hoping the plants make it a few more days. I'm probably going to chop the premium colas from the tops to fill up the dry tent. Not enough room for all of it. Maybe the rest will be worth chopping a week later when I free up some more drying space. We'll see...

The sump pump usually does great. We don't finish the basement because every few years we'll have severe enough rains to get water down there.

The creek dries up a lot in the Summer. There are pools that hold fish. Native stuff is a variety of minnows, chubs, fall fish, hornyheads, smallmouth and redeyes. When I was a kid, my dad dropped a couple logs across the creek and we used a huge section of conveyor belt to dam the creek. We'd catch trout and bring them back alive in coolers to put in the creek. They were like pets. They'd swim up to you looking for food. Probably not ideal food for fish, but the butcher at the nearby meat market chopped scraps into fine chunks to feed them. They'd nearly come up on the bank after it. They grew big and fat. Every Winter high water would wash them down the creek. Every Spring I'd take buckets and a seine to scoop them back up and return them to the dam.

Some fish really thrive off meat protein.
Many of the worlds best discus breeder are still using Beefheart as a mainstay for feeding.
You can train fish believe it or not.
2 post in row from you I like the way you think beyond our given common ground.
I got my 13 inch spinner for $64.
They are all basically the same imo.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Some fish really thrive off meat protein.
Many of the worlds best discus breeder are still using Beefheart as a mainstay for feeding.
You can train fish believe it or not.
2 post in row from you I like the way you think beyond our given common ground.
I got my 13 inch spinner for $64.
They are all basically the same imo.

I definitely believe you when you say they can be trained. Ours were more conditioned than trained. The butcher used to get me out of going to church on Sundays. He promised my mom we'd have our service on the river bank. That was over 40 years ago, but I remember someone digging up info on, well... trout nutrition. Apparently, the meat scraps didn't provide a balanced trout diet. I'm glad nobody told the trout, because they sure grew big and fat. The creek got too low one super dry Summer and we moved the trout to these caves on private property that have a spring running out of them. There is deep hole at the mouth where the spring goes underground. Some weeks later we couldn't see any trout in there. I even drug a canoe up there and paddled back into the cave looking around. Later we learned that some other kids found out about it, went up there and caught them out.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Does it hold low 60s with out running the dehumidifier? Sounds like that would be nearly perfect unless temps are just way off.

It’s at mid 60’s for now.

It keeps climbing into high 70’s so I turn on the dehumidifier until it hits 40. Then I unplug it and wait for it to climb to mid 60’s before plugging in again.

First time I’ve ever had to do that for drying. Basement bathroom is usually good if not perfect for drying. Just to much rain this year. Keeping things damp.

 

[Zen_seeker]

I definitely believe you when you say they can be trained. Ours were more conditioned than trained. The butcher used to get me out of going to church on Sundays. He promised my mom we'd have our service on the river bank. That was over 40 years ago, but I remember someone digging up info on, well... trout nutrition. Apparently, the meat scraps didn't provide a balanced trout diet. I'm glad nobody told the trout, because they sure grew big and fat. The creek got too low one super dry Summer and we moved the trout to these caves on private property that have a spring running out of them. There is deep hole at the mouth where the spring goes underground. Some weeks later we couldn't see any trout in there. I even drug a canoe up there and paddled back into the cave looking around. Later we learned that some other kids found out about it, went up there and caught them out.

I used to offroad in the area of Marmora Ontario, town has an iron strip mine. It was closed for years, left to rot. It’s back in use last I heard.

It flooded with a natural spring feed long before we went there. It’s supposed to be over 300’ deep and has had mini subs tested there.

I loved fishing and tried to catch a few trout I saw there but no luck. Waters extremely clear too.

Lots of good little lakes and rivers there. Old rail beds where great for getting around without roads. The ones around the mine, which is huge, had been all blocked off with boulders last I saw years ago.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Nothing exciting to report, but I did chop Slurty, yesterday. The dry tent was full of Mostly Jet Fuel Odder Popz along with some Slurty and Sour Diesel. This was stuff I salvaged when rain and wind damaged some plants that I hadn't properly trellised. I did the salvage effort in two stages a few days apart. Half of the tent was dry from the first batch. So, I ran that through the bowl trimmer and into Grove bags. I'm calling this the mystery bag as I didn't separate the plants in the rushed effort to save them. I also didn't save the trim. Honestly, I am getting so much more than I need for personal use that I'll just grind buds for edibles. 12.6oz of buds went into Grove Bags.

This time, I washed Slurty . I chopped her before daylight and pulled the few remaining big fans off. I just used two bins to wash. One water and peroxide and one with water to rinse. I was surprised by how little this discolored the water. My wife even came out as I was finishing and asked if I had changed the water out. I hung that to drip dry while I bowl trimmed the mystery bag. I came back and did a decent wet trim on Slurty in the afternoon and hung it in the dry tent.

Around mid-week I plan to bowl trim what's left of the mystery mix in the dry tent and chop Sour Diesel. This Sour D is the most visually appealing of the four plants. It has larger buds. I have a lot happening this week and the wife and I leave for the beach Saturday. So, I think I'll probably just chop the best looking stuff out of the top. That will leave me with whatever remains of Sour D and Jet Fuel when we get back from vacation.

This was my first use of the bowl trimmer. I made the same observations that a lot of other people have shared: It's a time saver and it's not as pretty as a good wet trim.

I had sticky fingers and was in get 'er done mode, so I didn't take any photos except for one of Slurty that I sent to my daughter. I'm curious how this is going to smoke. Is doesn't smell like what I expected for 70/30 indica dominant. It smell super sweet like I almost want to eat it, but that is almost overpowered by a gassy diesel. I'm describing this horribly. All that to say I don't know what to expect, but hoping for good things. Might try a early sample tonight. Have any of you grown/smoked this?

 

[BlueCollarBob]

On planned harvests of my outdoor plants, I’ve been chopping early morning before light. I’m heading out of town for a week on Saturday and planned to harvest Sour D in the morning. There’s a frost forecasted overnight.

Anybody have a recommendation on harvesting tonight pre-frost or will it be okay and better to wait until morning?

Thanks, all.

 

[Stoneyluv]

On planned harvests of my outdoor plants, I’ve been chopping early morning before light. I’m heading out of town for a week on Saturday and planned to harvest Sour D in the morning. There’s a frost forecasted overnight.

Anybody have a recommendation on harvesting tonight pre-frost or will it be okay and better to wait until morning?

Thanks, all.

i have a frost warning tonight too, i didn't harvest mine yet.. if it's dry you can let it ride, if it's damp i'd pull it now. one night is not gonna make or break the smoke...

 

[BlueCollarBob]

i have a frost warning tonight too, i didn't harvest mine yet.. if it's dry you can let it ride, if it's damp i'd pull it now. one night is not gonna make or break the smoke...

Thanks. I think I’m going to wait. Bowl trimming half the dry tent that still has the salvage mystery mix, now. Testing the limits of my work ethic, already

 

[BlueCollarBob]

i have a frost warning tonight too, i didn't harvest mine yet.. if it's dry you can let it ride, if it's damp i'd pull it now. one night is not gonna make or break the smoke...

Over halfway there, tho:

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Slurty after a few days in the left side of dry tent:

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Getting a little taste of the Northern Lights here:

 

[Stoneyluv]

i'm not chopping tonight... i'll let her ride, weather guessers say full sunshine tomorrow!!!

had some lights here as well... very cool stuff!!!!




i'm intrigued by your trimmer man, that grill in unique to others... your rubber fingers look to be a different material as well.. got my ears perked!!

 

[BlueCollarBob]

i'm not chopping tonight... i'll let her ride, weather guessers say full sunshine tomorrow!!!

had some lights here as well... very cool stuff!!!!

View attachment 75648


i'm intrigued by your trimmer man, that grill in unique to others... your rubber fingers look to be a different material as well.. got my ears perked!!

I have nothing to compare the trimmer to, but can say it is a big time saver versus my few efforts of wet trimming by hand. That plate is for dry trimming and just sits on top of the wet trim plate. I’m going to try using it to wet trim a couple buds tomorrow, but I’m currently set up to dry hanging from the stem. If it looks nice, I might pick up one of those baskets to hang in the tent and see how that goes.

I’m going off of other people’s experience until I’ll get some time in of my own. I read somewhere that there might be some advantage to drying on the stem, but I see experienced people drying buds on racks. If there is a difference, I wonder if it would even be enough for me to notice, lol. I do know that I have a lot to learn and improve on. For right now, I’ll tickled that you guys have helped me grow something that is honestly far better than I imagined going into this first effort. Your guidance for dry targets has been key to this.

I was wondering if you’d be able to see the lights up your way. That’s pretty darn cool.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Silicone (I think) mat it sits on and collects the trim:

Wet trim plate:


Dry trim plate:


Stir fingers:


Sifted the trim through the trim bin:

 

[Zen_seeker]

On planned harvests of my outdoor plants, I’ve been chopping early morning before light. I’m heading out of town for a week on Saturday and planned to harvest Sour D in the morning. There’s a frost forecasted overnight.

Anybody have a recommendation on harvesting tonight pre-frost or will it be okay and better to wait until morning?

Thanks, all.

In May I soak the roots to save them. In this case I don’t think it matters if you’re chopping. But I’ve been wrong before.

I picked up a winter cover for some of our yard plants this winter. Got it out for my wee outdoor. Forgot to put it on last night.

Haven’t looked outside at her yet.

 

[Zen_seeker]

Getting a little taste of the Northern Lights here:

View attachment 75640View attachment 75641View attachment 75642

Where about are you?

 

[Zen_seeker]

i'm not chopping tonight... i'll let her ride, weather guessers say full sunshine tomorrow!!!

had some lights here as well... very cool stuff!!!!

View attachment 75648


i'm intrigued by your trimmer man, that grill in unique to others... your rubber fingers look to be a different material as well.. got my ears perked!!

It reminds me of a confessional screen I saw in a church once. I’m not catholic but as kids a buddy who is had me go check some things out.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

In May I soak the roots to save them. In this case I don’t think it matters if you’re chopping. But I’ve been wrong before.

You might be mentioning something completely new to me. What's the purpose of soaking the roots in May? I am chopping, though.

I picked up a winter cover for some of our yard plants this winter. Got it out for my wee outdoor. Forgot to put it on last night.

Nice! What did you go with for the Winter cover? I haven't researched good cover crops for my area, yet.

This first grow was in 100 gallon grow bags. For outdoors next year, I plan to go in the ground and really focus on maintaining living soil. A ground cover crop will be part of that, for sure.

Haven’t looked outside at her yet.

Sometimes they need some privacy, lol. Hope she's doing great.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Where about are you?

Southwest Virginia. Right at the VA/WV line. Closest thing to me of note in the Greenbrier Hotel. PGA used to host a golf tournament there. Now, it's a LIV tournament.

Weatherman got it right, we did have a frost last night.

 

[stonemason]

Southwest Virginia. Right at the VA/WV line. Closest thing to me of note in the Greenbrier Hotel. PGA used to host a golf tournament there. Now, it's a LIV tournament.

Weatherman got it right, we did have a frost last night.

Im Driving through your hood right now pretty part of the country.on my way to north Carolina for a wedding.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Im Driving through your hood right now pretty part of the country.on my way to north Carolina for a wedding.

Sweet! Would have been cool, if we had known in advance and you had time to stop and grab lunch or something. I’m heading to NC in the morning. Hatteras with the wife for some surf fishing and relaxing. We have family in the Winston-Salem area that we visit on holidays and stuff. NC has a lot to offer. Enjoy your trip and wedding.

 

[Max]

We had the aurora Australis putting on a show earlier tonite .was quite spectacular .i burnt my fingers with a joint watching it .

 

[stonemason]

Sweet! Would have been cool, if we had known in advance and you had time to stop and grab lunch or something. I’m heading to NC in the morning. Hatteras with the wife for some surf fishing and relaxing. We have family in the Winston-Salem area that we visit on holidays and stuff. NC has a lot to offer. Enjoy your trip and wedding.

Thanks man.havnt been to this part of country since I was a kid.i forgot how beautiful it is. We have family somewhere down in a holler in wv,can't remember where or if any of them are still alive .i wondered if any of you guys were down here,now I know.hit you up next time burn one or 10. We are only here for the weekend heading back to Indiana on sunday.

 

[BlueCollarBob]

Thanks man.havnt been to this part of country since I was a kid.i forgot how beautiful it is. We have family somewhere down in a holler in wv,can't remember where or if any of them are still alive .i wondered if any of you guys were down here,now I know.hit you up next time burn one or 10. We are only here for the weekend heading back to Indiana on sunday.

Yep, that would be fun. Safe travels!