Welcome to GrapeStreet. This is an organic grow in compliance with all state laws regarding medical marijuana. We grow for patients suffering from spinal injuries, anxiety and mood disorders, and chronic pain. Our equipment is, in areas, crude, so statistics mentioned are only estimates. Colorado rocks. -- We'll begin where we left off. The Youngblood NYCD was coming close to harvest, and my other three bloomers had taken a PH nosedive. NYCD was harvested, dried, and some is still curing. I was surprised at the yield for her size, 44.3g total. She had about 76% water weight and yielded 45% of her total dry weight. She took 86 days to mature and was 124 days old. 1 Day in Bloom 5 Weeks in Bloom 10 Weeks in Bloom 10 Weeks in Bloom Harvested Harvested Getting the Chop NYCD The big NYCD, Sadhu, and Afgoo all came very near death. I kept them alive, but the canopies were painfully devastated and most hope for a good harvest was lost. The lower stems died off completely before harvest. The cause of the massive PH shift is still unknown. No photos. I've harvested the Afgoo and Sadhu since as well. The afgoo was horrible looking and lacking any smell(but dense with trichs) was promptly dried and used to make some Frost Hash. At least that's what I'm calling it at the moment. It's sort of a Bubble/Qwiso hybrid... -- Sadhu is curing. She yielded 54g dry, a 45% yield at 56 days blooming (give or take) and only 60% water content when harvested. She was truely handicapped by her acid days. Total burnout. But the flowers came out alright and have a sweet smell. Main cola -- Upgrading the hoods in bloom to air-cooled lumenaires. Unfortunately my balasts have a euro-style plug running to the mogul, and the hoods have a 3 prong designed specifically for certain ballasts, but not mine, so I'm slicing and dicing to turn both the new hoods and the old ballast into standard 120v 3-prong plugs. Useless Gold Screw/Black Wire(Hot), Silver Screw/White Wire(Neutral), Black Screw/Green Wire(Ground) Done! And it works. The exhaust will be a 745cfm turbine fan. Intakes left open with a 250cfm fresh air duct into the room. 2x 600w HPS @ 8'x10'x8' running 13/11. I'm also converting the old batwing reflectors I was running into 2x 138w CFL hoods for supplemental lighting in bloom. -- More soon, must sleep. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eyGw2Ts4qY"]YouTube - Caravan Palace - Star Scat[/ame] Sleep well.
Black aphid diggin' on my catnip. And it's grasshopper hatching season. I've got colonies of the hungry bastards going to town on my mints. Noticed the tell tale spider mite speckles on an adult and a few clones. It's insect season. Run! Veg room got a full neeming, top and bottom, and I'll be checking the bloom tonight. I caught it early, probably no more that a few hundred mites in the room, so I should be good with a week of heavy treatment and a good wash. I've done it before, I'll do it again. The bastards will not take refuge in my jungle. No asylum for these arachnids. I believe I still have Hypoaspis Miles in my blooming NYCD, predatory mites. I'll try to colonize them to the other pots, let 'em run wild with it. Tomorrow I'm releasing 8,000 Ladybugs to reup the population and make damn sure those evil aphids dont make it past the front door. -- Organic Insecticide, Current Recipe: 2tbsp Neem Oil 1 garlic clove, minced 1tsp. cinnamon 1L H2O -- I can't get the temperature down any more at the moment, so I've decided to increase relative humidity daily to 30-40% to see if that will deter them some. Sweet. I get to water my concrete! I hope it grows. It looks underwatered. It gets so dry here, I don't worry about mold really, the room's back to 0%RH within one day even after a heavy watering and I use H2O2 regularly to prevent molds and algae in the cloning area. -- Batch two of Frost Hash is cooling. Collected from the worst of the Sadhu harvest and the trim. Will probably be lower quality than the first batch due to the different source material.
What up dude, those buds look awesome bro, ill be bouncin in and out of here to see what you came up with for the perpetual, sub'd for sure, peace
Hey Grape! Subbed (again). Congrats on the harvests, dude! That's some cool looking hash. Gonna share your technique? Bummer on that pH spike. Hope you get it handled this next time around. Peace.
The technique is in my signature, "Frost Hash" it has the whole breakdown and my running improvements and experiments. Got 3 bagseeds in bloom now, one is a definite keeper, the other two we'll see. Named them "Sundrop", "Midnight" and "Daybreak". I'll get an update tonight or tomorrow with the whole room. Was going to throw in a Chocolope and another NYCD but when I found the mite signs I pulled them out to get treated. They were only in 12hr dark for 2 days, hopefully it won't be an issue to reveg them for a couple weeks. No signs of mites in the bloom room, but they were exposed when i put the two in, so I'm going to wipe the leaves and water with a neem concoction just to be sure. Excellent sir. I'll have a schedule down soon i hope. Thanks dude, welcome to GrapeStreet.
Didn't get a chance to get photos. Here's a different, unrelated photo instead. "Calle Yunque", Puerto Rico - Rolled about 200 joints today. Whew. Got almost 1g of rub hash out of it. -- Spider mites are dead. Long live the ladybugs! Can't find any living, the few I found are dead and eggs will have hatched by tomorrow. Will neem again tomorrow, and continue watering the canopies and surrounding floor to keep the RH up. -- Watered the bloomers with a molasses + neem mix today. I didn't find any colonies on the leaves but I don't want to take chances, so the plants will get some neem with every other watering for at least a couple weeks. The neem gets absorbed into the plant's system, making the leaves more repellent to the mites from the inside out, not effecting the resin production or plant respiration. Pretty much the only thing I can do in bloom, though I've been told pyrethean can be used in bloom, I'm not comfortable with the idea. I also transferred some soil with the h. miles mites into a couple of the smaller pots that showed spider mites. I'd like to get a glimpse and see if these mites will climb from the soil to the plant in search of spider mites, or if they remain in the soil where they battle fungus gnat larvae (very well, it seems. Only gnats remaining are in the cloning area, where there's little soil). A couple days from now I'm going to spray with some natural soap (almond oil based) and try to purge the room of any sign of the lil' bastards. -- After adding the fan and hoods, temperatures are staying in the mid 80's. Best I can hope for at the moment. I've got a killer window AC unit but I'm still working on insulating and exhausting the back of it and splitting the cold exhaust into ducting so I can run it indoors. My first try was a box built of insulation foam attached to the back 1/3 of the unit, vented with a 6" duct @ about 300cfm. As it stands, after running it for about 30 minutes, the compressor's thermal trigger fires. It doesn't vent the heat fast enough. I don't want to but I think I'll need a dedicated fan for it. My other idea was to create a "hot box"a small corner room, maybe 4'x4'x8' that was insulated and openly vented into the attic, ballasts and the ac could be put into the room and then a dedicated fan for it would make sense and be more cost efficient. I've got another couple months of hot days to figure it out, then it'll be a moot point , and I get to start planning for winter again. It runs about the same wattage as my veg light. 1kw/h. -- Happy Free Day.
[quote name='GrapeStreet'] Unfortunately my balasts have a euro-style plug running to the mogul, and the hoods have a 3 prong designed specifically for certain ballasts, but not mine, so I'm slicing and dicing to turn both the new hoods and the old ballast into standard 120v 3-prong plugs. Useless /QUOTE] Those plugs were hydrofarm specific plugs that work pretty darn well with the right ballast, lol. I would have traded or sold the cables; they aren't exactly the cheapest cables.
Want my cable heads? $20/pair (males only). -- The cable was hardwired to the mogul in the hood. The other was hardwired to the ballast. My alternative would have been to buy new ballasts that matched the hydrofarm plugs, or to mount the old mogul into the new hood. Financially, it seemed more viable to buy the $10 standard cables from Home Depot than the $150.00/ea hydrofarm ballasts. And it seemed simpler than jerry-rigging the mogul. We even looked through the catalog for a Euro-HF conversion plug, to no avail. And you're right, those are expensive cables! -- In this case, a plug really is just a plug, the same voltage runs over them, same wire gauge, and it's the same hot/not/ground configuration. I actually benefited from the modification, adding a few feet to my cable (within limits of the wire gauge) so I can move my ballasts into a separately ventilated hotbox. If I were running a 240v room, I probably wouldn't be messing with the wires, but I've got enough experience wiring to handle a project like that safely while saving $140.
The Clonery Trying to fill in the gap you see on the left. I had some issues getting the cloner up and running well again. Most of my clones over the last month were paltry and tepid when rooted and it's slowed down my game plan. Each clone tray holds 66 rockwool cubes, each flat of 2 1/2" pots holds 32, and each 4" flat holds 10. In total, this Clonery holds 196 plants, and can produce about 60 clones/wk. Using 2x 2x40W Flo Shop lights I already had and a 45 L/m air pump. I can't tell you how much the air speeds up rooting. I had initially set up 1 clone tray with a 3.5 L/m air stone, when I added the second, the pump wasn't putting out enough so I upgraded and within a few days, the clones that hadn't taken in almost 2 weeks rooted well. I'm using recycled Grodan cubes, soaked in a H2O2 mix to sterilize. The flats were recovered from a greenhouse recycle bin (along with all my pots). The reflectors in the back are actually the packaging material that fish come in when PetCo or PetSmart gets their orders. Most of the time, they'll give it to you no problem, just show up on "truck" days. Total investment in equipment <$40. Mostly it was the air pump. -- Veg Room Twins! I've identified at least 6 species of spider inhabiting my garden. Go little guys! Eat up. -- Ghetto rigged 250cfm fresh air intake. no filter. This is a good example of function over form. And financial frugality. -- I'll get some of the bloomers when the light comes on. -- I was out with some friends checking on a SoCal Geurilla Grow when we caught this on tape. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS4hljas4o"]YouTube - SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BIGFOOT SIGHTING[/ame]
So, I bought a cheap pollen press online and the threads got stuck the first time I used it. Made in India, it was more aluminum than tube, twice the physical size of my other one, but the same sized disks (almost). I had to use a screw driver to pry the sucker open. ... So I bought a different cheap pollen press online and sold the first. This one was made in china and did what it was supposed to do. The problem is the dowels it came with aren't large enough to press anything under about 1/2". So I used the piston from my first press as a splint at the end. Works well. I'd recommend to anyone they buy the much better made SpaceCase press. The price is exuberent but the engineering and craftsmanship are profoundly better. Sadhu Trim Frost Hash Pressed 1.5g Still powdery. Scoped it's good, but for consistency I'm disappointed I didn't get a more solid object. I'm purging a tray of pure waste alcohol, I want to see what it gives me. If I can figure out what ratio to mix the waste back in with for the texture I want, I'm down with polluting my pure hash. Personally, I'd take the pure, but my patients don't want kief hash, they want finger fuckable, rollable stretchable dark hash. And the consumer satisfaction level compared to the price...people just don't want pure. Fair enough, I wouldn't want to have to carry this around with me. or figure out how to get it onto a joint without a mess. -- Bloom I planted a total of 40 bagseeds, 20 germinated, 10 sexed, and the best 3 raised to adults (had to kill the others due to MMJ regs) Finally, they're in bloom. They all looked very similar growing up, but now their growth patterns are markably different, and their bloom schedules have divided. GrapeStreet #1 aka. "Sundrop" My hands down pick of the littler. Her growth was almost perfectly symmetrical. I only pinched her once, when she was young, and now have 4 main stems in cardinal orientation. When I preflowered them, this one ebbed a wonderful lemony skunk smell. She also went to bloom earlier and faster than the others. Same held true when I went 12/12 with them. She showed more internodal stretching in the first two weeks of bloom than the others. Her buds are bigger, healthier and with more pistils than the other two. I'm stoked. These photos are just past 3 weeks into bloom. GrapeStreet #2 aka. "Midnight" This one wasn't pinched, simply bent sideways to allow sideshoots to get a hold. The slowest of the three. GrapeStreet #3 aka. "Daybreak" Smaller, thinner leaves than the others, but more top colas. More branching than the others, but thinner stems. Slower than #1 by a good degree. This is the shortest of the three, about 6" shorter canopy with almost no stretching since bloom. -- Soundcheck I figure I'll add some kind of sound to each update. Shit, it's my journal, right? Delhi2Dublin a mix of Indian and Celtic music. Fantastic Canadian group making their break on the West Coast. These guys have the ability to make me drop whatever I'm doing and start to dance like a tribal fire is burning in my living room. "Hand me my spear, we must appease the harvest gods!" [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFuVXzg_gkg"]YouTube - Delhi 2 Dublin - "Apples" Music Video[/ame] This one's shot @ Venice Beach. Ever get a chance to go chill there, I'd highly recommend it. Good people, good vibes, smoke+drum circles on the beach at sundrop. Instant friends aplenty, and a head shop every 10-30 ft. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWwRGOHJ-2A"]YouTube - Laughing Buddha - Delhi 2 Dublin[/ame] We had more joints than I could count going 'round when 5-0 shows up in a beach combing behemoth. Suddenly, nobody had any weed. I Venice Beach.
Hey man Im subscribing saw you on MX journel and I know you are great at what you do. Any way you know I thought about moving to CO to get into the boom that is going on out there any way seems as if the market is getting flooded now so i guess I will wait for the next big state. Any suggestions??? Any way cant wait to see more updates.
Not only is the market flooded, but the regulatory law that was passed (ON 4/20! 200 feet from the Capital hill Smokeout, then secretly signed by the governor with no press allowed. Called HR1284) is coming into effect. By this time next year, the entire industry will be fully regulated and only dispensaries will be able to actually sell weed to consumers. A caregiver CANT EVEN SELL TO HIS OWN PATIENTS!!! My current opinion, from what I've been seeing over the last 3 months, dispensaries killed the MMJ world in Denver. Before, caregivers were operating independently and selling to the dispensaries as "vendors" or straight to their patients. Now it's set up so only the big businesses can survive the "fees" and regulatory hoops. In less than 2 years, we went from an open market (damn close to laissez-faire, way cool to watch) to almost the same type of system as liquor and pharmacies. I now understand all too well why small business in America is damned to failure. The bureaucracy makes it legally impossible to be an independent businessman and turn a profit. RON PAUL, 2012. Shit, I even registered as a freedom-stomping GOP to vote for him in the primaries...but they won't let us have a small government prez. They're the big gov, it's self preservation at it's best, and worst. All of the big commercial ops are selling themselves to dispensaries because they cant operate alone (check out denver CraigsList, some funny shit) and all of the small timers are freaking out or going to ground. There's already a ton of folks moving here thinking they can catch the "green rush" and it's pretty much over. We'll see a small ebb over the next few months, but I bet when they start enforcing the new regulations, you'll see the market contract and go back to black. If you're looking to be a black market grower, there's still plenty of room in the front range. Only 100,000 of us have MMJ cards, and I'd guess we're at least 800,000 strong from Colo. Springs to Ft Collins. Many dispensary owners are now selling off their established businesses, knowing they won't survive the legal storm that's brewing. Hell, I haven't been to a dispensary in months. Most of them are mid-grade and they think it's all "the shit" and it's way overpriced, unless you're a deal-shopper and ride all the discounts around town. Plus, the hash....pure garbage. Black gunk and crappy bubble. I've seen a few places that got it right, and some are charging up to $80/g. for their "earwax." Which is just whipped BHO and Kief. I asked them if they decarboxylated it...he lost me on the second syllable. As far as I've seen, it's a bunch of newbies without experience or research under them running the actual shops, and the few "pros" that manage it are so damned cocky they leave no room for improvement or criticism. Nothing's black and white, and there are some good dispensaries out there, but my personal opinion is shut them all down and go back to the caregiver model. It's less public, won't attract as much scrutiny and then it really comes down to the quality of the grower, not the quantity they can grow. Not to mention it creates jobs....which this city fuckin' needs right now. -- You hit a sensitive spot, lol. Hope you were prepared for a rant! If you are moving out here, stay in touch, we're trying to find good folks to share our house with.
Man, I found all these shots of the NYCD that I never posted. This has been harvested and most of it's already been smoked, but here they are, some badass shots of the NYCD at about 5 weeks flowering. For you, my friends... ...some top shelf bud porn...
Click then click for closeups Feel free to use the images, just don't sell them...or if you do...send me a couple bucks... ...cool? Cool.
"Not only is the market flooded, but the regulatory law that was passed (ON 4/20! 200 feet from the Capital hill Smokeout, then secretly signed by the governor with no press allowed. Called HR1284) is coming into effect. By this time next year, the entire industry will be fully regulated and only dispensaries will be able to actually sell weed to consumers. A caregiver CANT EVEN SELL TO HIS OWN PATIENTS!!!" Grape I hear you and although I havent been following yalls area that much I just had that feeling that it wouldnt last long. But I will say that still in all I envy you guys and gals in states that has some kind of tolerance to this industry. You see I live Deep Deep south in a state that doesnt even call counties, counties and out here mj is a plant sent here from the Devil.lol... Anyway I actually enjoyed your article (haha) it was very informative. As for me I am not sure where I will end up but I do know that I will never and I mean NEVER be free until I can grow without any worries of someone kicking my door in. I have a love for this plant that cant be described and i am someone who you can consider a non smoker I just love the diversity and beauty of this plant. I may toke every now and then but really I am not in it for that I just love this plant! Oh well I will be following you keep up the good work and continue to educate the rest of us and maybe on day we will see total legalization.