GG7's Indoor/Outdoor Grows!

[Goldengoose7]

Wow GG7, You Have Enough Room, To Still Be able to Jar Up All Your smoke??? For the Curing!!! I gave Up On Jars Many, Many Moons Ago!!! There was just WAY WAY Too Much To Jar Up, and Keep Proper track of it All!!! Nowadays,I use Bins(LARGE ONES) Lined with Black Plastic Bags(LEAF AND GARDEN BAGS)45 Gallon Size, That I Place My almost Dry, Ready To Continue Curing Buds Into. All Arranged by Strain Of Course. The Bins Hold Onto The herb, The Bags provide A Way To easily open Said Bin Of Buds, so they can be Lightly Shifted, and Let Breathe for several Minutes, To Continue The Cure. A Cure should Continue, all the way up until it is Not Being Binned and Bagged Anymore, Meaning, When It is Time to Get ready for Patients, It will Be Cured To Perfection, and can be Manicured, in It's proper State, giving The MMJ to Patients Properly Cured And Cared for, is A Truly Humbling Experience!!!

To Give(NOT SELL) Something to Someone, that You Know Their very Continued Mental Health and Wellness is Attributable Too, Is Most Humbling. I Have Actually Had People That Could Not Grow, Did Not Know How To Grow, or any of Another Million Reasons, Get The Herb We Gave Them For FREE, Actually Break Down On Us And Cry, For us Giving Them A HP of Primo Smoke. The Only Thing We Do Not Do, Is Actually Grow It For them, But In A Way, I guess We Do!!! Anyways, It Always Makes Me Feel So Humbled When They Come To Us To Thank Us, and ME In My Shy Way With People, Probably Do Not THANK THEM ENOUGH!!! For Without The Ones Whose VERY LIVES DEPEND ON WHAT WE PRODUCE, There would Be No Prop 215, PERIOD!!!At Least That Is What I Believe!!! Y'all Take care Now, Ya Hear!!! SINCERELY, JAMESTHEGREEN.

Hi James,

Sounds like you have a good storage system going that obviously works well for you! Sounds like you have way more to manage than I do. I think if I grew any more than I already do, then the jar method would get a little too crazy! As it stands now, I am just about maxed out in terms of the physical space in which to keep all the jars, but it is still manageable. One of the reasons I am going to take a break in 2013 is because I am about out of room. I also have a max of 6 pounds of dried bud in my MMJ exceptions from my doctor, and we are very close to hitting that number with everything we have now counting the 2012 stock.

I am pleased to hear that you are so generous with your stock! I give a lot of mine away as well but most of those folks want to step up around spring time and chip in a little cash for me to put towards buying all the growing supplies I need to start the next season's grow. I don't ask them for this donation or for a specific amount. They contribute what they can afford, and that makes them feel good about the arrangement and also helps me out since good soil and plant food isn't cheap! Also, if I need a backhoe, a tractor, a flatbed or any other heavy equipment for performing some kind of needed work here on the property, many of these folks have access to, and the training to operate such things, so I can usually just make a phone call with a few days notice and get the needed gear here to do the work for free! so it all comes out in the wash and in many ways, I probably come out ahead in most cases anyway! If you have ever tried renting a Bulldozer, Bobcat or Backhoe, you know those things ain't cheap!

As far as storing space goes...

I ordered another dozen 1/2 gallon jars a few weeks ago in order to house all my new harvests. I already had a dozen here and had used all but 4 of them for the 2011 crop that remains. I also have 32 single quart jars with about 2/3rds of those filled with more of the 2011 crop. I only fill them to about half in order to give the bud some breathing room. I try to go through all my stock and shake and rotate all of them at least once a week once they have been cured to a stable point.

I am very maticulous about my curing process and believe in doing it very slowly over time as you said. First few weeks and about every 3-4 days I dump the contents of a jar onto a drying rack and let it get some fresh air for about 30 minutes or so and then back into the jar. Later after the bud has stabilized, I then just open the lid of the jar and let it air out for a few minutes every couple of days. I always shake and rotate the jar to move the stuff around a bit before I open a jar, and also do that again after I close up the lid. Eventually I will drop a couple of Humidipaks in the jar in order to keep the moisture level stable and that will keep the stuff viable and fresh tasting for years!

I still have some of my 2010 crop left that we actually smoked tonight and it was still great and had a great flavor and smell. I have found that a quality strain that has been properly dried and slow cured in glass gets better and better with age! One of the advantages of having so much each year is that I can afford to set a good portion of each season's harvest aside and won't use it until it has been curing for at least 6 months. That 2 year old Blueberry is some of the best weed I have on hand right now, which is saying something considering the quality strains I grow up here.

Heres to well cured MMJ!! May more growers take the time to season their stock for the benefit of everyone they supply!

 

[Jimmycricket]

Wow GG7, You Have Enough Room, To Still Be able to Jar Up All Your smoke??? For the Curing!!! I gave Up On Jars Many, Many Moons Ago!!! There was just WAY WAY Too Much To Jar Up, and Keep Proper track of it All!!! Nowadays,I use Bins(LARGE ONES) Lined with Black Plastic Bags(LEAF AND GARDEN BAGS)45 Gallon Size, That I Place My almost Dry, Ready To Continue Curing Buds Into. All Arranged by Strain Of Course. The Bins Hold Onto The herb, The Bags provide A Way To easily open Said Bin Of Buds, so they can be Lightly Shifted, and Let Breathe for several Minutes, To Continue The Cure. A Cure should Continue, all the way up until it is Not Being Binned and Bagged Anymore, Meaning, When It is Time to Get ready for Patients, It will Be Cured To Perfection, and can be Manicured, in It's proper State, giving The MMJ to Patients Properly Cured And Cared for, is A Truly Humbling Experience!!!

To Give(NOT SELL) Something to Someone, that You Know Their very Continued Mental Health and Wellness is Attributable Too, Is Most Humbling. I Have Actually Had People That Could Not Grow, Did Not Know How To Grow, or any of Another Million Reasons, Get The Herb We Gave Them For FREE, Actually Break Down On Us And Cry, For us Giving Them A HP of Primo Smoke. The Only Thing We Do Not Do, Is Actually Grow It For them, But In A Way, I guess We Do!!! Anyways, It Always Makes Me Feel So Humbled When They Come To Us To Thank Us, and ME In My Shy Way With People, Probably Do Not THANK THEM ENOUGH!!! For Without The Ones Whose VERY LIVES DEPEND ON WHAT WE PRODUCE, There would Be No Prop 215, PERIOD!!!At Least That Is What I Believe!!! Y'all Take care Now, Ya Hear!!! SINCERELY, JAMESTHEGREEN.

Hell James, I have a pipsqueak sized yield compared to you fellas and I am already sick of these jars. Plus I already used the case of 12 after just a few plants . I been trying to think of an easier way, if nothing else find a place with some really really big jars. These stupid 1 quart jars are a joke.

Goose I see what ya mean about busting them out of the jars and letting them air out for 30 or so mins. I just dumped all 6 jars into a cardboard tray and stuck it back in the closet about 2 hours ago. The buds where starting to feel a little damp again (from the stem moisture spreading out im sure. I think I need to hit up wally world and get some 1 or 2 gallon jars for the strains with the bigger yields, otherwise this will get tedious fast . I shall use these stupid little jars for smaller yielding plants... like my XXX... two plants of XXX fit into a single jar rofl.

 

[Goldengoose7]

Hell James, I have a pipsqueak sized yield compared to you fellas and I am already sick of these jars. Plus I already used the case of 12 after just a few plants . I been trying to think of an easier way, if nothing else find a place with some really really big jars. These stupid 1 quart jars are a joke.

Goose I see what ya mean about busting them out of the jars and letting them air out for 30 or so mins. I just dumped all 6 jars into a cardboard tray and stuck it back in the closet about 2 hours ago. The buds where starting to feel a little damp again (from the stem moisture spreading out im sure. I think I need to hit up wally world and get some 1 or 2 gallon jars for the strains with the bigger yields, otherwise this will get tedious fast . I shall use these stupid little jars for smaller yielding plants... like my XXX... two plants of XXX fit into a single jar rofl.

Hey Jimmy!

Welcome to my journal! I was wondering when you would drop by and check things out over on my side of the garden!

If you are interested in reviewing all my 2012 harvest photo updates, they start HERE with my Harlequin GDB #1 harvest and continue forward from there all the way up to today's latest chops.

Regarding the curing jar situation...

Now you see why I said not to worry about the buds feeling too dry before you jarred them up? It will take at least a week in and out of the jars before you stop seeing them get so damp again each time you open one back up. But this is all part of the curing process, so keep doing what you're doing!

Eventually, as I said earlier, you won't have to dump them out every time you check and instead you can just take the lid off and let the air exchange with fresh air. After that phase, you will eventually want to get yourself something to keep the humidity stable and at the right level. Thats where the Humidipaks come in for me!

While you could probably get away with not using those if you consume the bud within a short period of time, if you want to set aside some of your denser stuff for a long cure, then those little packets are a must in my opinion!

I use 1/2 gallon jars made by BALL. I can't find them at any stores down in town so I have to order mine from Amazon.com, but I bet ya that Wallmart would sell the larger ones. Gallon jars would be good if you had a lot from one plant, but I prefer to keep each plant separate from all the others of the same strain. I number each plant starting from when they are clones or seedlings and after the bud is ready for jarring I affix a stick on label to the side of the jar and also include the date it was chopped. That will come in very handy down the road when you end up with several years worth of bud of the same strain and the same plant number!

For example... I've got several jars in my storage closet labeled GDP #1 but they are GDP #1 - 10/04/2011, GDP #1 - 10/08/2012 etc. I also do this to keep a handle on what bud is from what plant since I usually harvest a few days apart and there can often be differences in the high from plant to plant. I often find that I like say GDP #2 the best out of all the GDP from 2011, but GDP #5 is my overall favorite from the 2012 harvest and so on. This is also handy if I sell some of my stock to a friend or a dispensary cause I can keep my favorite plant's bud and sell off one of the other numbers instead.

If I just threw all the GDP from say 6 plants into jars without noting which plant was which, you would never know from one bud to the next exactly what the high would be like, and as I said, when you stagger your harvests like I do, that can create notable differences with buds from the same strain. I find that this method also guarantees that I will end up with at least one plant out a crop that nails everything perfectly right down the line!

I agree with you about the 1 quart size! I started with those also, but as you said, they just don't hold enough to be useable if you only fill them up to about half to three quarters of the way up as you should. The bud needs a little air space in the jar to cure properly. I still have a lot of those that we use for canning/pickling our Jalepeno peppers and I do use them for some of my smaller yields and if I use up the bulk of a strain in a 1/2 gallon jar and want to transfer whats left into something smaller to free up the larger jar. So, they do have their purpose over time, but not at the beginning of the harvesting season for sure!

 

[Jimmycricket]

Yeah I just got back from Wallys, wanted to get some big ol 1 gallon or 2 gallon or half gallon ones. While they did have jars of those sizes, they didnt seem to be ultra air tight seal like the Kerr brand 1 quart jars are. These Kerr jars seal REALLY well and with minimal effort. You actually have to put some effort in to getting the top off, but imo thats a good thing cause it vacum seals every time.

I think I will search the net to see if Kerr makes 1 gallon jars or such. I am, in the aspect of sealing, very glad I got these jars instead of the walmart brand ones.

Hehe I had been meaning to get over here for awhile. As you could probably tell I been super busy trimming and cutting and finding praying mantises lol.

I too think I may cut the Og Kush in stages. Like harvest the big tops within the week (they are ripe enough now but they are swelling rapidly so id rather not cut yet). Then let the rest go another 5-8 days. They have great tops, but the little under buds certainly could use some plumping up.

 

[Goldengoose7]

Yeah I just got back from Wallys, wanted to get some big ol 1 gallon or 2 gallon or half gallon ones. While they did have jars of those sizes, they didnt seem to be ultra air tight seal like the Kerr brand 1 quart jars are. These Kerr jars seal REALLY well and with minimal effort. You actually have to put some effort in to getting the top off, but imo thats a good thing cause it vacum seals every time.

I think I will search the net to see if Kerr makes 1 gallon jars or such. I am, in the aspect of sealing, very glad I got these jars instead of the walmart brand ones.

Hehe I had been meaning to get over here for awhile. As you could probably tell I been super busy trimming and cutting and finding praying mantises lol.

I too think I may cut the Og Kush in stages. Like harvest the big tops within the week (they are ripe enough now but they are swelling rapidly so id rather not cut yet). Then let the rest go another 5-8 days. They have great tops, but the little under buds certainly could use some plumping up.

I use both Kerr and Ball interchangeably. My 1/2 gallon jars are "Ball" since Amazon doesn't have that size in the Kerr brand name. Both of those brands are quality products and both have air tight seals. If Walmart had some off brand jars that looked funky, then you did the right thing in passing on them, but you can get the same quality from the "Ball" brand as you can from the Kerr brand. As I said, I have both here and they both work great. In fact, you can use the tops of either brand on either jar since they use the same thread pattern and diameter on most sizes.

 

[Jimmycricket]

Yeah the walmart brand was like 8.50 for a box of 12, the Kerr was only 9.50 and after pulling a jar from the box and looking at them it was a no brainer the Kerr is about as good of a jar as you could want.

Good to know that Ball is of equal caliber though. I mainly just want good big jars so that I dont have to spend all day burping like 40 jars every single day lol. Because next harvest ( I am not even close to done with this one but I like to plan ahead ), I will be harvesting way way more. I think I am going to do a spring harvest that was vegged indoors then harvest those late march early april and simultaneously be planting my fall harvest.

If you have any info or experience with spring harvests of weed I am all ears.

 

[JamesTheGreen]

Yeah GG7, I Had To Quit Using Them, But Still Enjoy Jarring Up Special Things For My Wife and I!!! I Had Not Thought About Still Doing That, So I Guess It Counts As Still Jarring, LOL!!! Jimmy, His Advice Is Sound On The Curing Process With Out Doubt!!! Glad Your Not Even Close to Finishing Either Jimmy(IN A GOOD WAY!!!), For The Pictures!!! And GG7, Believe Me, I Know About Renting Backhoes, and Building Gardens On Anothers Land With It, Just To Increase Their Property Value!!! Take care Y'all!!! SINCERELY, JAMESTHEGREEN.

 

[Jimmycricket]

James, need info on spring flowering . I know you have tried once or twice somewhere.

My idea was to take my 6 plants I got vegging in my tent and veg them for the next 3-4 months inside, putting them all in 15 gallon pots hehe. Then take those monsters outside in late winter early spring and let em flower for 2 months or w/e.

I bet I could make some huge buds doing it like that and then still be able to grow a normal fall harvest, planted at the right time (finally)

 

[JamesTheGreen]

As Long As You Have The Room, The Light, and It Worked Out Whether You Should Be Leaving Your Plant Out, I Would Build A Light Deprivation System Jimmy. I Know You Know What Those Are Right??? If Not, It's Time You Did, So Google IT!!! But If You Have No Worries About Pulling Em In And Out, Do It That Way, Whatever is Cheapest, and Works!!!! Once Spring Actually Comes Here In CA, Were usually Home Free, So You Know Around The Time Of Mid March To Early April, Put Them Out To Bud, This Way You Can Leave Them Out Without Worry Of A Freeze Killing Them, You May Not Even Have To Worry About That, IDK!!!! Plus It Will Keep You From Breaking Branches, Pulling Them In And Out, As You Must Know. You Could Probably Turn Your Tent Into A Light Dep Chamber!!!

Gotta Go Brother!!! Take Care. SINCERELY, JAMESTHEGREEN.

 

[gittergreen]

Hey what % humidity packs do you use in your jars Goose?

 

[Goldengoose7]

GDP #2 Harvest!
The best of the bunch!

After giving this plant a few more days in the cold, we finally harvested this last GDP of the season. As you will see, this one was by far the largest and most impressive yield of all of the GDP grown this year, with a total of 33 large to extra large colas!

Topping all the growing tips on this plant back when it was in veg sure paid off in spades!

I am also going to trim the harvested plant down and add it to the bathtub for overwintering. This plant was just too damned impressive to not attempt to clone it for the CS experiment!

Pre-Harvest Recap

After the chop and rough trim...
The extra couple of days out in the cold really helped pump up the purple in this one!

What's Left of GDP #2 after the big harvest , now moved indoors for Reveg

GDP #1 and #2 Now Under 18/6
Photo taken immediately after feeding them their first dose of Fox Farm Grow Big since they went into flower back in August. I also gave them a dose of Liquinox Vitamin B1 to help with any possible stress as a result of the radical pruning they have both just been subjected to! Blue Cheese #2 in her 3.5 gallon Air Pot will get pruned down like this tomorrow and added to the tub to join these two for revegging. With luck, I should have all three come through this process and allow me to clone them all out for our upcoming CS seeding project! I figured that if I was going to go through an overwinter again, I may as well get as much bang for my buck as possible! The light bill and feeding regimine would be the same whether I had one plant in here or three plants in here! Fortunately, GDP #2 was in a 3.5 gallon Air Pot as well, so I can indeed squeeze three plants into the tub! Lucked out big time in that regard, since I had no plans to do this when I transplanted these as recently cloned cuttings back in March!

So that concludes my GDP harvest for 2012! I will post some additional photos once the buds have been dried and given their final trim and a week or so in the curing jars.

Stay tuned for a few more harvest updates in the next couple of days as we finish up the last few plants left to harvest.

Hope you have enjoyed everything do far!

Cheers!

 

[Jimmycricket]

Yeah pulling like 6-9 plants that are all 70-120 pounds inside every single day is not an option lol.

I am talking about putting them out then leaving them.

I figured they would need to be harvested by april1st maybe as late as April 15th? The daylight here in So Cal on April 14th is almost exactly 13 hours. Pretty sure a plant will be fine up till 13 maybe 13.5 hours of light and keep on flowering, especially if it was already well into flowering. But I wouldnt want to let it go more then that. The strains I am considering are all mostly indica and have 7-10 week flowering times.

This is why I was thinking mid to late Feb to put them out to start flowering. Then plans on harvesting them some time in April. The average temp in Feb is 63 for high and 37 for low.

Iono I guess I will figure it out while I go along as I always do. Im not much for having a plan with this MJ, as my growing plans seem to change like the wind. The only thing that stays constant is the desire to grow killer dope .

BTW doing light deprevation is a posibility in my greenhouse, however Iono if all these plants will fit in there as I would imagine/ hope with 5 months of vegging in 15 gallon pots they would be monsters.

 

[Xlr8]

Hey Goose, good info on curing and I agree on the methodology totally. It's a process that consists of jarring once the outsides are somewhat dry, and letting the jars pull the moisture back to the surface, before repeating until it's a consistant level of dryness throughout the bud (burping, I guess you'd say).

Humidipak started making a 62% RH specifically for MMJ, and I use them now religiously. But, not until they are appropriately dry. As I understand it, 62% is the ideal RH for cannabis - still enough to keep the cure going, but not too high that there is mold risk. But, I know a lot of people like the 67%, etc., too, and so far I've just done the 62% so maybe I'd like the 67% better (hmm... I should test the difference sometime). I love those things!!

Also, I use the Kerr jars, but I vacuum pack them now too using one of those "Foodsaver" vacuum pack machines once I'm happy with the cure. You can get an attachment for them that will vacuum pack the regular "Mason" style jars without any modification. It's a sweet way to really extend the freshness and keeps them from degrading much beyond the point where you are happy with the cure. Anyway, it's working well for me so far. I'm experimenting with freezing them, once cured and vacuum packed now, to see how long I can keep them for while maintaining the quality. This experiment will only be proven successful over some time.

Hope you had a great weekend. Awesome journal and info as always! X

 

[Goldengoose7]

Moved to a lower position on page 111 to make room at the top for my big GDP #2 harvest photo update post!

Hey what % humidity packs do you use in your jars Goose?

Hey Gitter!

I use the 72% ones, although I also have some 67% ones for the smaller quart jars and I just bought some larger 75% packets for the 1/2 gallon jars. Going to see if I can get away with using just one of those in the large jars instead of 2 of the 72% packets.

 

[Jimmycricket]

Have either of you guys used nitrogen for long term storage?

Also where have you found to be a dirt cheap source for these humidipaks? Can they last more then 1 year or is 1 year kinda the max?

 

[Goldengoose7]

Hey Goose, good info on curing and I agree on the methodology totally. It's a process that consists of jarring once the outsides are somewhat dry, and letting the jars pull the moisture back to the surface, before repeating until it's a consistant level of dryness throughout the bud (burping, I guess you'd say).

Humidipak started making a 62% RH specifically for MMJ, and I use them now religiously. But, not until they are appropriately dry. As I understand it, 62% is the ideal RH for cannabis - still enough to keep the cure going, but not too high that there is mold risk. But, I know a lot of people like the 67%, etc., too, and so far I've just done the 62% so maybe I'd like the 67% better (hmm... I should test the difference sometime). I love those things!!

Also, I use the Kerr jars, but I vacuum pack them now too using one of those "Foodsaver" vacuum pack machines once I'm happy with the cure. You can get an attachment for them that will vacuum pack the regular "Mason" style jars without any modification. It's a sweet way to really extend the freshness and keeps them from degrading much beyond the point where you are happy with the cure. Anyway, it's working well for me so far. I'm experimenting with freezing them, once cured and vacuum packed now, to see how long I can keep them for while maintaining the quality. This experiment will only be proven successful over some time.

Hope you had a great weekend. Awesome journal and info as always! X

Hey XL!! Thanks!

Not surprised that we are on the same page when it comes to this vital and often overlooked aspect of growing top notch bud!

My bad! The lower humidity packets I have are actually 62% not 67%. Sorry about that! I picked up some of those at the dispensary in town last week to try in the smaller quart jars where the 72% sometimes can be too much for a half jar of stuff. They actually have stopped carrying the 72% version and now only stock these. The cleark told me the same thing that you just said, that these are being made specifically for the MMJ market, which makes sense! Still, based on my rather indepth knowledge of proper humidity levels for cigar curing/storage, 62% seems like it might be a little too dry to me. I keep my humidors at about 65%, but it takes more humidity than that to achieve and maintain that level. I use the "Humi-Care" humidifier jars for the bulk of my cigar collection cause it gives me more control than the Humidipaks do in that application.

I still prefer the 72% packets for large amounts of bud stored in my half gallon jars though and I have to use 2 packets to keep everything at what feels like the right level for my taste. The bud I grow is incredibly dense, so there is a lot of surface area wound up inside those buds and they can really go through a single pak and dry it out in no time, so I need to use two which seems to work best. At least I have been able to keep the bud for long periods of time and it doesn't get any mold or fungus growth on it, and it still packs a great punch and hasn't lost its original smell!

As I mentioned, I have some of the larger 75% packets on their way to me and I plan to try a single packet in some 1/2 gallon jars filled about 3/4 of the way to the top. I got a good price on these, so if they prove to be too wet for the bud, I can always put them into some of my humidors instead and see how those compare to my Humi-Care crystal jars.

I had a great weekend by the way, and I hope you did too! Thanks for asking!

Hope you had a chance to check out my big GDP #2 harvest post at the top of this page! I am definitely proud of the results I got from that plant! Especially considering how much trouble that girl had trying to reveg after that accidental premature flowering debacle this spring! I came very close to chopping this one down, but gave her more time, and she finally came around with some very impressive harvest results!

 

[Jimmycricket]

Nice to see I am not the only one who has a humidor and a few cigars laying around . Thats actually where I have kept my weed for the past year or so. The little water filling things can be a pain in the butt though. I was gonna get a humidipak for my cigar box too, as they say they last up to a year with minimal tampering. This would be nice because over the summer I let some of my cigars get a lil crispy when id forget to fill the little water holder thing.

When I get a new house I think I shall put in a walk in humidifier. How cool would that shit be? Fully automated and all that then would never have to worry about storing weed or cigars again .

So where do you guys get your humidipaks at anyways? I wonder if my local grow shop has some for a good price. Some of their shit is skyrocket high, but other stuff is actually quite good. I think I would get 62-70% ones. Over 70% to me personally sounds a tad too high. I keep my humidor at like 65 usually.

 

[Goldengoose7]

Nice to see I am not the only one who has a humidor and a few cigars laying around . Thats actually where I have kept my weed for the past year or so. The little water filling things can be a pain in the butt though. I was gonna get a humidipak for my cigar box too, as they say they last up to a year with minimal tampering. This would be nice because over the summer I let some of my cigars get a lil crispy when id forget to fill the little water holder thing.

When I get a new house I think I shall put in a walk in humidifier. How cool would that shit be? Fully automated and all that then would never have to worry about storing weed or cigars again .

So where do you guys get your humidipaks at anyways? I wonder if my local grow shop has some for a good price. Some of their shit is skyrocket high, but other stuff is actually quite good. I think I would get 62-70% ones. Over 70% to me personally sounds a tad too high. I keep my humidor at like 65 usually.

Oh yeah!

I love my "5-Vegas Torpedos!" I have been enjoying these for years and until a few years ago, you could pick them up for a really good price. Then a popular cigar magazine reviewed them and gave them a 90 rating and suddenly everyone wanted them, and the prices started going through the roof! I've smoked a lot of very expensive cigars in my day including a lot of the high end Cubans, and I think 5-Vegas as overall brand is better than a good chunk of them! Very consistent box to box, and just a very good, satisfying smoke! Cigar bid puts the 25 count box up sometimes and depending on how many boxes they offer and what time of the year it is, you can often grab a box for under 45 bucks which is a steal since retail is well over $100.00!
Ya know what? I think I'll torch one up right now!

A walk in humidor would totally rock! I've thought about having one built at our house, but I have a soft spot for my half dozen humidors which I have collected and received as gifts from friends and relatives over the last 30 years. I keep about 300 cigars on hand at any given time, so that isn't quite enough to justify a dedicated walk in with all the expense that goes in to equipping it with the electric humidifier system and the automated temp and RH monitoring system etc. etc. etc. etc.

Regarding best price for Humidipaks...

The best price I have found is from Cigarbid.com in one of their auctions, but they don't sell the 62% versions of course since that is geneerally considered too low for cigars *, but I have gotten the 72% small packets from there before. I checked the other day and all they had were the 75% large packets in a box of 12. I think the closing bid was $28.00 which is a very good deal considering that the retail price for that dozen large packets is I believe in the neighborhood of $50.00!

* I like to keep my humidors at around 65% RH instead of the more common and recommended 72% RH. I personally find that the cigar burns better, cooler and more evenly at a slightly lower RH than 72%. As I mentioned in my previous post, I am currently using Humi-Care Gel Crystals in jars and they work really well in a humidor. You add distilled water to the jar and the tiny little blue balls absorb the water and grow to about 5 times their original size. I only need to add a little water to them once every couple of months. The advantage of these gel crytals as opposed to the Humidipaks is that they are reusable and can be refilled hundreds of times and will last for years.

These are obviously not an option for storing bud kept in jars, so the Humidipaks are hands down the best humidifier system I have found for storing my bud in jars. Since the packets don't take up any real space in the jar, and tend to last for a very long time before all the water inside them is all used up, they are a good value.

I linked you to Cigars International's web site above, so do a search and see what they offer in Humidipaks, but use the name "BOVEDA" now since that is the new name for these.

 

[Jimmycricket]

Yeah I think the little water filler thingy in my humidor box has crystals like that. I just can not actually see them. The main problem I got with those things if you gotta fill them up every few weeks maybe sooner depending on size.

BTW I am having a bitch of a time finding 1 gallon jars and 2 gallons are seemingly impossible.

I did have a pretty cool idea though that if I think of the right material would work. So ok you take something that seals fairly well, like one of those blue buckets from Lowes. Now it might not be ultra air tight, but heres the trick. You get a thin 1 or 2 mm thick piece of rubber, drap it over the top of the bucket, then snap the lid on. I bet that would seal up real well

 

[Goldengoose7]

Yeah I think the little water filler thingy in my humidor box has crystals like that. I just can not actually see them. The main problem I got with those things if you gotta fill them up every few weeks maybe sooner depending on size.

BTW I am having a bitch of a time finding 1 gallon jars and 2 gallons are seemingly impossible.

I did have a pretty cool idea though that if I think of the right material would work. So ok you take something that seals fairly well, like one of those blue buckets from Lowes. Now it might not be ultra air tight, but heres the trick. You get a thin 1 or 2 mm thick piece of rubber, drap it over the top of the bucket, then snap the lid on. I bet that would seal up real well

I wasn't sure if you would have trouble finding anything larger than 1/2 gallon or not, but I definitely have! The largest I can get online is the 1/2 gallon variety, but I find that those are large enough for me since I keep all my plants separated and numbered along with the harvest date. I guess if you wanted to dump an entire crop of one strain into one big jar, you would want something larger than that, but I wouldn't recommend it. There is a point where you can store too much in one place. I find it much better to store in smaller batches.

As far as your idea... I wouldn't advise storing anything long term in plastic. Glass is really the best storage vessel for bud since it doesn't impart any smell, toxic chemicals or gases into the bud. Certain plastics, including the ABS used most often for buckets and the like can off-gas over time, and you could wind up with a problem because of that. No one wants to smoke weed that tastes or smells like plastic, or worse!

If I were you, I would pick up a few pallets of 1/2 gallon Kerr or Ball canning jars and roll!

In more journal specific news...

Did you check out my GDP 2 harvest photos yet? Better hurry before the page ends and another one starts!

In fact, when I am finally done with harvesting everything, I think I am going to create a post that has links to ALL of my various harvest photo updates this season. So many of them got buried this year before I think a lot of folks had a chance to even see them.

I really wish that the 420 staff could come up with a better way for growers to put their most important posts at the top of their journal pages, or perhaps a special section linked off the main journal that the grower could fill with copies of all of their grow and harvest updates. Then folks who were interested in seeing an entire season worth of photos could pull up that section and see only the posts that the grower wanted to list, which could have all of a season's harvests lined up one after the other.

I just don't think a conventional forum setup like we are using now works that great for time sensitive subject matter like this.