its fucking bullshit they dick around people that actually need shit and they have no issue dishing out food stamps to crack dealers on time..... i watched my aunt go thru so much insurance bullshit and she has a list of cns disorders she lives on disability doesnt make enough to pay her bills or get by and yet they deny her medications and foodstamps she almost died a few years back because her insurance wouldnt cover her meds she needed to live at that point good luck with everything man and keep up the good work will def be checking in weekly and cant wait to see a harvest =D
High eveyone thanks for the kind replies. Today i want to talk about WATER QUALITY and what it can mean to you personally. In my life i've lived in 5 different locales Japan in the 50's, Hawaii 60's-NORCAL 70-2000,now SOCAL, and a few Carribean vacations. By far the best water i've ever tasted was Hawaii with the artesian water filtered thru volcanic rock of the island. The water is ''sweet'' right out of the tap. Japan in the 50's they were still using lead in the pipes...nasty. We boiled everything! The Carribean is a lot of cistern set ups anotherwords they catch the rainwater off their roofs in a tank under the house and if they run out they buy desalinized water delivered via tanker from the desalinization plant. Desalinized water tastes flat and you have to worry about how clean is that cistern that they poured the water into.The whole time i was there if it wasn't imported bottled water i didn't drink it....drank a whole lot of HEINEKEN's. NORCAL water is good water. Comes out of the tap at 6.9 -7 drifts up to maybe 7.1 in the summer tastes great! SOCAL water is shit. Tastes terrible and comes out of the tap at 7.2.Because of poor water here WATER is big buisness. There a water machines everywhere dispensing ionized wtr costing anywhere from 10 -25 cents a gal. I use to use them but i had concerns about how often they get serviced and the purity of the water.Most of them sit outside in the sun and the cheaper they are the more funky the location and standing in urine to fill my jugs got old quickly. Now i belong to a water store. The pics are of the store and their rig.Its expensive..i prepay in $20 increments and it gets me about 50gals that i get in 1 gal jugs for myself or 3-5 gal jugs for the plants. Lots of growers frequent this place because they have carts and you can haul a lot of water without busting ass I'm real stringent about my water intake i have to stay hydrated because i got kidney stones. I wasn't going to talk about this but LoveMyBudz reminded me. This is my 4th time in 9yrs. Never had the stones till i moved to SOCAL. Urologist told me kidney stones are rampant down here because of the shit water ..people don't hydrate enough. Once you have had them you're likely to get them again.The nurse who attended me had had them twice. Needless to say i'm battling med-cal to get the operation . I have been working on this since April 2011 prior to medi-cal incursion in dec.2011.The rules say they don't have to look at your prior records unless you file a greviance of "continuity of care" essentially start all over again. At any rate good water is way important to your plants and YOU.The pics of the plants are one day after changing nutes
G'day to all.Had to give some plants the big chop today as they were showing signs of being male. This is always nerve racking if you're doing regular seed. After 20 yrs you get good at it but you always have doubts. I do usually use feminized seeds but not the feminized auto.The FA's have a bad habit of out growing your grow if you're doing a cabinet/tent . They get stretchy if you're not very careful and if you go to a 12/12 before they decide to flower because you're running out of space you may not get a good yeild. Feminized seed you get to decide how big you want them to be and therefore you can utilize your space and time better. I got my PPE seed for free so i can't really go wrong unless i get a herme. I gave the chop to two of the dirts and there's only one which really is all i need left.Thing thats bothersome is i found a couple of bugs on them so i had to go to DEFCON-1.Sprayed serenade on the survivor after 20min inspection with magnifying glass 2.vacumed the chmbr 3.bent the plant back so i can more closely inspect it on a regular basis 4. cleaned all BK bukets I'm disturbed about finding bugs but i'm not freaked out. Bugs are the risk anytime you do dirt and not all bugs are bad but they aren't my specialty the way PM is. I caught it early and i got all the gear to deal with it i just don't like it. The pics are of the PPE's left. 1 in dirt development bent back and 4 basking in hydro bent and lovin it
G'dar readers. Today my garden is shit.I can hear a pump in the dwc unit going down.It's still pumping but its buzzing so its on borrowed time.I made my rig so i can get at it easily and i use way cheap pumps so i expect them to fail.They only have to pump 10'' into a drip ring so why blow money? When pumps get too groty i toss them into the parts bx in a bag.Should i need it that's when i clean it. I also give them away. I checked the last PPE in dirt. DAMM!! its a hermie and i'm going to have to give it the chop.Now i'm dwn to the 4 left in hydro. I checked them this morn and its not looking good. Its looking to me like the smallest one is a Jill and the other 3 Jacks . Couple more days of 12/12 and i'll know for sure....but i got a bad feeling. I have to plan on the fact that it is turning out i got shit seeds. They were free but still 7 males out of 8! and then a weak sister!? I have a seed pak from Mr.Nice- Dreamtime but they will have to be sexed if i use them and i don't want to waste more time at this time .I think i'm going to use some info i read on SG1 thread. I'm going to take the GEN 4 out of krankenhaus and put it in dirt. If it makes it she'll go outside this summer. This will free up the krankenhaus for me to use to germinate some seeds that i'm going to order. The seeds will be feminized but no autos. Meanwhile the flwring chmbr is just choogling buds are looking nice and gave big plnt a nice trim of leaf not needed I'm looking for feminized White widow/Romulan. Its the best i've ever grown in terms of yeild and potency but hard to find as a seed . Next time i'll have pics.
Good afternoon to all,Today i made the decision to drop all plans for using dirt in the forseeable future. SG1 dropped the news that he's getting reports of fungus gnats from all over the country and they're coming in bag soil because companies are not sterilizing their soils that have compost in them. I had a big problem couple of harvests back and i can't do that again. Back to hydro i go. I pulled the smallest PPE and put it in the Krankenhaus with the GEN4 and upped the ppms to 1100. The 3 PPE's were rebent and now they are filling the space fast.I think 2 of them may be jills after all but i have to be sure so a couple more days of 12/12. The flowering chmbr plants are really starting to pick up weight and density with maybe two more weeks to go. I pulled all dowels and let the plant expand as she wants with no restrictions. Very little to do for right now..just sit and observe. pics are todays growth
As alwaysa very solid update....crazy that you bounce back and fourth at will from soil to hydro Keep those updates rolling, I'm reading
Good day to all. I been goofing on my writing but really nothing worth writing about but after some '' reflection '' about things i have a plan. Now i'm done with dirt but hold on that don't mean i have to throw the baby out with the bath water. The plant in the pic was harvested Thanksgiving day 2011.A friend of mine did the trim job and left foilage so it can be regenerated. I've read of it being done but all the people i know say its real hard to do so i was just going to chop the plant down after harvest.My friend who is a for real botanical scientist took a look at the plant and said that the root system was outstanding and he could regenerate the plant. He trimmed it and took it home where he's been wintering it. I checked with him last week and he said the plant was alive with nubs of green and that once it starts warming up he expects growth to increase.So now the plan is to take that plant at the end of mar to this years summer site and hope for the best. It'll be repotted several times before its all over but i won't be doing any of that. It's all in the caretakers hands now. This plant is a S.A.G.E. that i got as a clone from a grower. It yeilded 3.5 oz that i'm still smokin.It got almost 4' tall and would have gotten bigger if i allowed it. I was afraid it would be seen. This is a very long shot but i have nothing to lose and should this work out it'll be like finding Mose's cd collection. If not no big deal. My mission in this is to provide the clean sterlized soil and amendments for the caretakers. Meanwhile the 3 in hydro devel chmbr are jacking with me not giving me a clear indication of what they are. They're getting big fast and idealy i want two but i can work just as well with only one. I'm as itchy about it as one those guys in the beginners forum. I just gotta be patient....grrrr. If i don't have some indicators by next wed i'm going to use some co2 to steps things along.
Gd'day to all.I'm done with the garden today. Changed out the resvs in flowering to just straight water and GRAVITY at 6.2 ph and 450ppm. Big drop from 1700ppms they had worked their way up to over the last bunch of weeks.Next week it be straight water and shooting powder and then straight water and done. The pics are of the root systems .The big plants root system is massive...the runt not so much but still good considering it was stunted in veg around week 3 as an experiment What i've come to see is if you want ounces above you need lbs of roots below.The plant gained so much weight it sorta bent the deck of the system. I'll shore it up next time at the start. Meanwhile the hydro devel chmbr is on the edge of outta control and i still don't know who is what. I'm bending not triming at this point and don't want to slow the vigor unless i absolutely have to. Their roots are doing great but they still aren't indicating clearly. I've bbeen using my magnifying glass but i may have to break out the digital microscope and get busy. This is a new toy for me and i'm still learning how to use it properly and i've never used it to sex plnts before. Next time i'll try and have pics off the micrscope
is that those pre made drip rings i see there??? interesting photos, i wish you had a better camera.... your setup is super interesting... its just hard to grasp what im looking at with the soil and hydro pics and what appears to be a clone area
G'day to all. Afraid i've been neglectful the last few days and haven't been writing. I've been having a Ray Miland "Lost Weekend" except i don't drink but i've got some superb aged Cherry OG. I trolled the forums but i didn't really do any replies but i got a "feel "as to what people are doing ,what they're building and growing. It's true there's a 1000 ways to do this but at the same time i'm seeing info overload. In tribute to SG1 i'm seeing a lot of "3x3x3 Death Cab "syndrome. They over watt the space can't contol the heat or humidity They crowd the space to the point they can't manage it properly and then they're canidates for pests and disease. Cabs have a stiff learning curve and i'm seeing so many for sale on CL...that and 1000wt lamps. My last post was somewhat disjointed due to technical problems the pics didn't upload with the text and i just reposted the pics without the text.I guess that made it hard to follow on certain devices. I'l try to not have that happen again I was asked to talk about my DWC system. I use those pre-made drip rings over a 8''x8''x8'' net basket with a 3'' hole drilled in the bottom. The basket is dropped into a blk rubbermaid storage container with a matching hole .The front quarter is inspection port/fill. The ripples on the top act as runnels for the overspray which flows back into the resvr.A airstone connected to a big airpump and thats it. Roots are bathed from the top and immersed on the bottom. The flwr chmbr is doing extremely well .The bud has gotten some real nice density from the GRAVITY. When i squeeze them gently they feel like errect hard nipples and thats what i'm looking for The pics are of the plant that got chopped....it got too big and i was pretty sure its male. The two plants that are left still not indicating This week i'm to break out the digital microscope for pics....and i'm going take y'all to where i shop for a lot of toys for my rig you will not find online or at the hydro or big bx store.
hell yeah, shopping trip? cant wait... nice update with the pics there... i love pics... isn't that red light used for flowering??? is that what those plants are doing there?
G'day to all, First i want to answers some questions i've been asked about some of my previous pics, next the pics i just took off my digital microscope...then i want to go on a little tangent and talk about manufacturing in China and how it relates to what we do. I was asked about the red lite in the hydro/dev chmbr. That is a 60wt led glow panel. I start seeds/clones on 40wt cfl in rockwool plug 2''net pot, roots show, move to 3''net /hydron under 60wt led ebb&flow DWC, roots show, move to 5'' net, roots show, move to DWC/drip ring in 8''x8''x8''net pot under 250wtMH for 1-2 weeks, switch to 400hps&2- 90wt led UFO for flowering. As i'm progressing thru the net pots increasing size as i step up the lighting and they adapt...i'm turning up the nutes getting them to love nutes. I'll start at maybe 250ppm and by the time i'm done they'll be used to sitting in 1700ppm and not burning because they are fully adapted. I mix 1500pp it drifts up to 1700 i'm not worried they can do it...if i'm a day late on chng solution which is weekly. The pics are of my two flowering plnts that theoreticaly should be ready for harvest the first week of Mar. This is my 2nd harvest using the digital microscope. It definitely is a must have tool.I believe i can get a better pic but i need photoshop to tighten the pixels? To me it looks like the tricombs are developed and cloudy and are right on sched for mar. What y'all think ? This is the absolute hardest part for me ...don't want to go too early. Let take a side trip to China.I've lived in the far east as a child and so i got some insights . I was reading the tv log and saw that Primetime was going to get cameras and acess into the Apple plant in China and that the plant had suicide nets thru out the plant.WTF!! Seems the work is so mind numbing boring, the living conditions so crowded, the pay so low...that workers kill themselves by stepping out the window, roof, or stairwell. These are the people making most of our hydro stuff...they do a poor job and i want to know why. Apple or FOXCOM pay the best around but its dismal.They sold 93 millon cells 40million ipads last year. They pay $1.78hr to start $2.00hr/overtime....and are tight withovertime. 12-13hr shift, $17mo for drm rm with 7people, 80 cents for a meal of rice ,meat ,and vegetables. In the 80's i worked in a semiconductor plant for 1week doing what those guys do. It was one of the worst jobs i ever had in my life...and i've had some really f'd up jobs.I made $7hr. All those jobs are now overseas and its evil what they are doing to these people. Makes me feel like an "ugly American'' because these people make a lot of what i use possible because i take advantage of the price. After watching the report i feel like only the sellers are doing well. I read journals by tihspeed and bonecrusher and its hit or miss on a lot of gear. Shouldn't be that way but after seeing the report it makes sense. How can you have quality control in a plnt that has 235,000 workers ?! I'd like to buy USA but i can't afford it so i buy China. WTF I want to be frugal but i don't want to support sweatshops. Thats my politico for the day.
G'day to all. I have good news and bad news. Good news...I got my meds!!! Bad news..I had to chop two more plants as they were male. 7 out of 8!! so far with one left. Not good at all. Broke my heart as one by one they got the chop.They were superplants but male unfortunately. The one left is the smallest so i put it and the GEN4 in the devl chmbr and i'll start over by ordering seeds that are feminized.I'm also casting about for clones but i've heard nothing yet. Hey GARBAGE IN IS GARBAGE OUT i knew it going in but damm i've done better with bag seed. Meanwhile the flwring chmbr is doing wonderful and smells heavenly..maybe another week. Tricombs looked cloudy to me in the microscope pics last post. Density is just great. A resv chng this weekend to shooting pwdr for 3 days..3 days straight wtr and i think i'm done The pics are of the flwring chmbr this morn and the hydro dev chmbr with the last PPE and the GEN4
Where did you get your genetics from? That plant looked killer, bummer it hermied on you....but you have meds now
G'day to all. I ordered seeds so i can keep this party going.After much research and mainly looking at my meager bank acount i went with: Afghan Kush xWhite Widow...world of seeds Vanilla Kush....barney's farm Super Lemon Haze....green house 2 free seeds from samsara Total cost plus shipping around $53. not too bad. Free seeds are always a crap shoot. I always grow them out but i've learned it's a good idea to start them first before what you paid for. If they're crap it's good practice for your rig and you still got good beans left. If they're good i'll run the full cycle with them for as long as i can.Seed,clone,GEN1,2,3. I think Gen 3 is about the limit for my set up plus i get bored and i want to grow and smoke something different. A full cycle as i've descibed is 5 harvests and takes up a year before you know it. The cycle i'm ending with the GEN 3 Big Band in flwring with a week to go started last year around this time with 2 free seeds from Kanabia with my order of Dreamtime from Mr Nice. I got the Big Band and BCN Diesel auto started first and i knew right away that these plants were Superplnts. I couldn't clone the BCND but i did the BB and i've gotten way more than i ever thought out of a free seed. The Dreamtime is a mix that will have to be sexed so i thought i got these Purple People Eaters for free from a grower that have to be sexed as well let me get my skills back up before i use the stuff i paid for and F it up. Well as you know it didn't go well and i'm left pondering many aspects of the failure.The plants grew extremely well. Germination was not a problem .They thrived in rkwool cubes and then in dirt as well as hydro. Nutes were quality and plnts were not overfertilized . I did use Lucas Formula at the start and switch to H&G at week 4 for hydro...H&G only for dirt. Could that have caused 7 out 8 males? I was asked about the genetics. I don't know. The guy i got them from is a commercial grower and he only does dirt like SG1. Last summer he gave me the clone that i grew into the biggest plant i've ever grown so he's got rep with me. Thing is he's a dirt dawg and i'm a hydonaut. If i get seeds from an outdoor dirt dawg will those plants be viable for hydro or is the code for dirt too ingrained ? Does the concept even make sense? Can nutes cause sex influence? I'm confused because all the stages and gear worked just as its supposed to and i've been at this a long time and i know how to run my rig and what i'm seeing when i see it. 7out of 8!! possibly 8 out of 8 ! I'm going to run this pass SG1 when i get a chance. It's true that i've got my harvest coming in so i'll have bud but the problem is now i'm late for the next harvest if that last PPE doesn't turn out and its not looking good. My problem is ambient temp. By the time we hit june, july i want to be not flwring because i gotta run my 400 for that and even with air conditioning temps are hard to keep dwn. During that time i want to be vegging with leds or 250mh...timing is tricky with my grow but once you get it extremely efficent. I'm feeling better now that i'm back on my arthritis med but i went too long with out it and its going to be another week before i trust my knees enough to go without my cane. Thats the main reason i haven't taken y'all shopping yet but we will go soon.
G'day to all. Checked the flwr chmbr when i fired up this morn ...they are so ready.My sched calls for a harvest on the 1st so i'm thinking i'm going to keep them in darkness from 6pm on the 28th to around 3pm on the 1st. I read here on GC about doing that so i'll give it a try. I preharvested one branch that i'll dry in a collander above my A/V center. Highest pt in the room warm yet shaded. 3 half days depending on ambient temps and its ready for tupperware rehydration, drying, airing, then the mason jars. What i preharvested is like house stash while i work. I'm finding the density just suberb.Ever since i started using Gravity i've been getting outstanding flower density. Pics are of the branch and then trimmed in colander with lighter for size and then in big colander to dry
Gravity is also suppose to be terrible for human consumption....the debate still remains that since growth retarders are only used for such a short time if its still in the plant at harvest Nice update man....love this journal
G'day to all. Not much going on .The system is running smoothly and on schedule.I trained the tanks yesterday and i'm running straight water in the flwring chmbr.The wtr went in last week at 450ppm came out at 750ppm so we definitely are getting the flush effect. 4 days straight water ..darkness starting tonite till thurs..HARVEST! The pics are the two plnts being bent and oriented to eventually face EAST using curtain rods.East needs to be the lowest point because later in the next phase that direction is the back wall and will be the highest point making it ""stadium style seating". At this point i'm encouraging them to grow long not tall and root development. I'm running 1200ppm so i'm being careful not to have the roots grow down into the solution just yet by lowering the drain ht as they ebb&flow. I don't want them to od themselves. In two weeks they'll be ready to go in flwr chmbr under 250wtmh with dwc/drip ring and then i WANT them to grow roots into solution. I have the co2 option and i may do it depending on what my budget is doing the next couple of days. I just have to get the tank filled. I received confirmation my seeds shipped so all is back on sched. I love a good plan don't you?