Let's Find a Mother! Hiking Through a Field of Mary Jane

[Xlr8]

Love the book find! I just finished reading Mel Thomas's "Cannabis Cultivation: A Complete Growers Guide". Another great go-to reference book (though a few gaps here and there). But, I must admit to a little jealousy, as yours is worth twice as much - for the cover alone!

 

[Hiker]

Love the book find! I just finished reading Mel Thomas's "Cannabis Cultivation: A Complete Growers Guide". Another great go-to reference book (though a few gaps here and there). But, I must admit to a little jealousy, as yours is worth twice as much - for the cover alone!

I was wondering if this old edition had any collectible appeal. Not that I would sell this book. Sentimental value is real, monetary value isn't.

I thumbed through it a little last night. It still has my little post-it notes bookmarking several pages on lighting. I'm surprised how familiar the pages all seem. I bet I've read this book 100 times! hehe


I did a little more edible experimenting last night.

Nearly twice as much ground material as last time.

That went into a pot with a lot of water, 2-3 tsp of soy lecithin, and 1.5 sticks of butter. It was simmered for 6-7 hours, stirring occasionaly. I then filtered everything through a cloth bag into a glass jar, and put the jar in the fridge. This is what I ended up with.

Last time I used coconut oil, so I wanted to compare it to butter. I can already say that I prefer working with coconut oil, but I'm biased as it's been my preferred cooking oil for many years. (look it up, it's much better for you). I made brownies last time too, so this time I will make brownies again to compare, but I'm also going to make some cookies. I'll post pics of those here as well. If I ever settle on an exact method, I'll make a new thread for that. In the meantime, it's MY journal, so you will all have to suffer through my edible experiments as well!

The best part about the edibles is I'm getting high on stuff I grew myself before I've had a harvest!


I worked on the cloner some more last night. I redid my curtain a little different than last time. I just used duct tape temporarily to test the configuration. It's much improved, but still leaking a little. I think it may just be the lid of the tote I bought. It has LOTs of little ridges molded into the plastic around the rim of the lid. I'm going to look at getting a new tote, but in the meantime, I have my 2 little test clones back in the cloner.

My DIY cycle timer was a bust too. I don't think it was my DIY modifications. It's just a crappy timer. The ring with all the little tabs that spins is loose, but it's not from anything I did. I'm going to go ahead and get a 'real' cycle timer. I will need one for a long time, so it seems like a good investment. Does anyone have a recommendation of one they like? I was looking at the CAP product, but I'll probably check out the other big vendors then see what's on eBay.

The ladies looked great. They are all recovered from last weekend's defoliation. Some are already starting to shade themselves again. From here on, I'll just be removing a few leaves here and there as I notice them.

I started feeding the clones last night as well. I didn't get to finish as it got too late. I am also modifying their cups a little this time by adding more drain holes. I think they are holding water too long. I give them ~1/2c RO first and let that soak a bit. Then I give them 1/2c nute mix and let that soak in. Then I feed an additional 1/4-3/4c depending on how dry the cup feels. I like to see a little runoff.

Thanks everyone for being here. It means a lot that you are spending your priceless time following along. I want it to be time well spent though, so if anyone has any feedback about what you might like to see more or less of, please let me know. Does anyone care about things like specifics about nute recipes I use? Do people want to know more detail about hieghts or widths of plants or buds? It's my journal, and I'll include and omit what I like, but I also recognize that the aspects I'm interested in isn't necessarily the same as what others are interested in.

 

[Hozona]

I still have half the batch I made a while back...like my bubble hash better! Instant gratification!!

 

[Hiker]

I still have half the batch I made a while back...like my bubble hash better! Instant gratification!!

Gotta harvest before I can make hash! Closing in on 4 weeks of flowering. 4-5 weeks to go!

 

[Lurch Farmer]

The ground material is the fan leaves?
do you use them fresh or dried?
my wife makes lotion with coconut oil, we are investigating now. Just waiting on green stuff, then to find test subjects that can give a true cannavaluation.

 

[Hiker]

Yes. This batch is, I think, all defoliation leaf. I have 9 male plants and the Cheese Bomb hermies drying now. I use dry material.

I forgot a step. I use Xlr8's method of carboxylization(sp?). Put the ground material into an oven bag (turkey bags are larger). You want some air in the bag, so I blow in it then roll the end and tuck it in between 2 cookie sheets. So the bag sits flat on one sheet, but the opening is rolled up and sandwiched between another cookie sheet under the one with the bag on it. Should have taken a picture. Oh well.

I'm not sure this step is necessary though. It will be hard to test until I start having some consistent material, ie all harvest trim. I've also only made one batch of oil before. Last night I made butter, and I got some more coconut oil cooling now.

I ended up with 3.7oz of cannabutter. That's just under a stick, so I recovered ~60%, or I lost a 1/2 stick roughly. I didn't measure the coconut oil, so I won't be able to measure yield. I split the ground material fairly evenly, so each batch has ~3.5 oz. I'm hoping to make it real strong. I'd rather eat less, and I have developed a fairly high tolerance lately. Plus my wife is funny when she eats too many edibles!

Making some cookies tonight!

 

[DocDee]

Let me know how they go man!! I usually just chuck the fans and save the good trim and popcorn buds for cooking but if these work for you then I just may start saving the fans too! You should check out bassmans journal he tried out a milk drink that has worked wonders for his mom you may like I haven't tried it yet myself but plan on it.

 

[Lurch Farmer]

I use the fresh fans and males for milk.
the wife falls out if I put 3/4 cup in a pot of coffee

 

[Xlr8]

Hiker, I sure enjoy your journal.

You've been a really nice addition to the community here so far. I love your positivity, respectful, thorough communication style and helpful nature. Nice job!

This is one of the coolest pics I've seen in a while - love that we see your feet up, kicking back and enjoying the view...

 

[DocDee]

Agree with X on all accounts!!

 

[wildbill38]

Nice view good smoke, feet up, whats better than that?

 

[Propa Gator]

Nice view good smoke, feet up, whats better than that?

It's best if you've walked them shoes for a few miles, to earn the comforts of feet up.

What's this guilty pleasure? Am I on some kind of trip

 

[JokerJohn]

Hiker! dude sorry ive been a bit busy havent checked in a while but daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam ur babies are AWESOME!!!!! reps all the way!!

 

[Hiker]

Let me know how they go man!! I usually just chuck the fans and save the good trim and popcorn buds for cooking but if these work for you then I just may start saving the fans too! You should check out bassmans journal he tried out a milk drink that has worked wonders for his mom you may like I haven't tried it yet myself but plan on it.

They sure work. I can't really judge potency too well yet, but I know they work. I made more edibles last weekend. I made brownies and peanut butter cookies. I loooooOooooove the cookies. One cookie was nice. Two might have been too many. The brownies are good too, but I'm not a big chocolate fan. My wife ate a small chunk (1.5" x 1") of brownie and was stoned for hours, but she rarely consumes cannabis.

I use the fresh fans and males for milk.
the wife falls out if I put 3/4 cup in a pot of coffee

Haven't tried making any bhang yet. In college, we tried it once and it worked. I'll try again eventually, but I think you need fresh material, right? So far I haven't had a lot of fresh material and the time/energy to make some right then.

Hiker, I sure enjoy your journal.

You've been a really nice addition to the community here so far. I love your positivity, respectful, thorough communication style and helpful nature. Nice job!

This is one of the coolest pics I've seen in a while - love that we see your feet up, kicking back and enjoying the view...

Thank you very much Xlr8. Coming from you, this is truly high praise!

I really like that picture too! I'll share the story behind the picture. I've spent a lot of time in that chair defoliating and training these plants. At the end of the night, I sit back, smoke a bowl, and just relax while enjoying that view. Each time I've tried to capture that feeling, but found my iPhone unequal to the task. The other night, this composition finally occurred to me. I've taken several landscape photos using this same technique. Including a piece of the photographer into the shot really helps pull the viewer into the scene. Sadly, I will not enjoy this view forever. I'm sitting inside what will be flowering room #2.

Thanks again for the kind words. To hear from you, whom I consider the model member, that I'm an asset to this community means more to me than you can imagine.

Agree with X on all accounts!!

Thanks Doc

Nice view good smoke, feet up, whats better than that?

Nothing!
Thanks Bill

It's best if you've walked them shoes for a few miles, to earn the comforts of feet up.

What's this guilty pleasure? Am I on some kind of trip

You have grown plenty of miles to earn a little guilty pleasure my amphibious friend.

Hiker! dude sorry ive been a bit busy havent checked in a while but daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam ur babies are AWESOME!!!!! reps all the way!!

Thank you John. They seemed to have smiles on their faces earlier tonight.



The ladies got a fresh reservoir tonight. I'm completely sold on DM Zone. The res looks good even with no H2O2. I am still running hygrozyme too, but at the lower end of their recommended strength. I'm using most of the 'normal' GH recipe: Micro, Gro, Bloom, FloraBlend, Liquid KoolBloom. Plus Zone, Hygrozyme, Calimagic, Superthrive, and epsom salts. I add all the ingredients to 40g RO and I get 5.6ph and 1560 ppm. I look forward to experimenting with other nutrients, but I'm really pleased with my current regiment. Maybe after I've tried some others I'll understand, but I don't understand why more folks don't use GH Flora. It worked great in the 90s, and seems to still be working great!

 

[Propa Gator]

Big secret Hiker: most all the nutrients work fine and dandy. Air, water & light make the big difference.

And belief. You just gotta...

 

[jon705]

absolutely gorgeous as usual bro + reps coming your way. If your into trying something new give BPN's High yield kit a try. I was using GH Flora with all the exras and imho BPN is flat out better. I have never had the res as stable as it is now. The only reason I had to adjust at day 4 from res change is because the res was running out of water. 50 gallons of water set at 1530 ppm's(full strenght BPN) and the ph at 5.6. 4 days later and 15 gallons less the ppm's are at 1470 and the ph is at 5.8.At this stage last round I was adjusting ppm's and ph every 24 hrs.

 

[cannasensei]

Lookin good. What's this now day 35?

 

[Hiker]

Big secret Hiker: most all the nutrients work fine and dandy. Air, water & light make the big difference.

And belief. You just gotta...

And love

absolutely gorgeous as usual bro + reps coming your way. If your into trying something new give BPN's High yield kit a try. I was using GH Flora with all the exras and imho BPN is flat out better. I have never had the res as stable as it is now. The only reason I had to adjust at day 4 from res change is because the res was running out of water. 50 gallons of water set at 1530 ppm's(full strenght BPN) and the ph at 5.6. 4 days later and 15 gallons less the ppm's are at 1470 and the ph is at 5.8.At this stage last round I was adjusting ppm's and ph every 24 hrs.

Thanks Jon

I plan to try BPN in the future, but first I want to establish a solid baseline as a reference. I'm going to try and make minimal changes until I am harvesting a whole room of 1 or 2 strains so I can have a good comparison.

I get that same stability from GH Flora so far. I mixed new nutes last night and it was right at 5.6. It will take about a week to climb to 6.2 at which point I'll adjust back down to 5.5. When it climbs again, I change the res. Mine are using less water than I expected, but they are using some and ppms still go down a little, so I'm not worried about that.

 

[Hiker]

Lookin good. What's this now day 35?

Yes. Flipped on 2/6/13, so when the lights come on later today, it's day 35.

 

[cannasensei]

Damn I'm good. Can't say I never listen

I just remember ur 3 days behind me, I cheated