Thanks PW! Got some work done now to get in some light reading and maybe a video upload! I hope your day is as chill as mine!
from Northern BC
Morning Newty
I understand the reason behind pruning and such, but how much is to much. I notice some people take all the lower growth out and make their plants look like scarecrows and others just do a little. So far i am just doing small amounts i just don't know if i should do more.
Since you have lots of traffic I thought I would ask it here instead of in my own journal
Thanks for any Help.
My plants have all reacted positively and usually bounce back within a day so far.
Thank you Newty, I wanted to ask you just that question!!! Love this site, you think it and info shows up!! Haha. Just gotta surf around a bitHey there, I’m a big fan of Defoiling plants throughout their life to increase health benefits, increased yield, also to increase airflow and reduce risk of mould. I would suggest doing a little at a time when they are old enough and see how the plant reacts? Each plant is different and I’m learning autos take a bit more time to recover so any heavy defoil needs to be strategic.
To Defoil or not to Defoil???
I defoliate my plants all through their life. I tend to do 2 “strategic” defoils in my plants life cycle. I do a big defoil a few days before flip and one after the 3 week stretch is done. I do this for a couple of reasons;
1. I use the leaves to make fan leaf oil for me, my friends and my dog. (I separate veg/frost leaves)
2. As a gardener, I am a natural plucker and defoil my plants and flowers regularly. I see great results in regards to yield from doing this. When I started growing cannabis, I never thought twice about using this practice. I have read lots of information on here and other sources with regards to when I should be doing this in their life. Experimenting has been fun, I’ve gone waaaay too extreme!! Ha! Now I know what “too far” is and that’s no good.
I know now that there are certain points in the plants life where a heavy defoil really works for me for a couple of reasons.
I like to thin out my plants before flip because of the heavy vegetation they throw out during stretch. I find them easier to manage this way in my small tent, rh airflow etc. I schedule it for a few days up to a week before I change the light cycle to allow them plenty of recovery time. I leave them alone for the 3ish weeks of stretch. Once my plants stop stretching, they are an overwhelming bush. This is when I do the last strategic defoil, I “lollipop” and really clear out the bottom and centre leaves, leaving the top half for the most part. They don’t grow much vegetation after stretch and mainly focus on buddage by this point so I feel like I’m helping them be the best buds they can
sweet!
So, I combined several different recipes/methonds I found online to try my own way.
It looks like a lot, but am just trying to be thorough enough to follow stoned without missing any steps!
Here's what you need:
1 cup "raw" almonds (unroasted/unseasoned)
1-3 grams bud or trim depending on potency, etc.
(I had a stunted mango/auto that matured at 6" tall and yielded about a gram of SUPER frosty flower/trim, just chopped it up with scissors and used it all)
large jar
large strainer
large glass or metal bowl
extra bowl
med pot/saucepan
cookie sheet w/foil
blender
cheese cloth
candy thermometer if you have one
1) put one cup of raw almonds in a large jar and at fill the rest up with water.
2) let sit overnight (aka 8-24 hours), the almonds will soak up the water and swell up
3) next day pour almonds into large strainer and rinse
4) pour rinsed almonds into blender
5) add 2 cups water and run on highest speed for 2-3 minutes
6) put strainer over large bowl, pour blender contents through, mash down white pulp with spoon (this was the trickiest part because the blender mush is really squishy)
also, splash a little water in the blender, swirl it around, etc to help get the leftover almond mush out.
7) optional step: pour the screen contents from bowl back into the blender, rinse strainer and add cheese cloth, pour blender through cheese cloth. I tried cheese cloth initially but the mush was too thick, so I gave up on that and strained it first.
Almond milk finished!
8) put herb in oven for 30 min @ 200 deg (F)
9) while the herb is in the oven, put a few cups of water in the saucepan and start warming it up. Put the bowl of almond milk on top and let it start heating it up.
10) when herb is done decarbing in oven, crumble into the hot almond milk.
I popped the candy thermometer in and turn up the heat a little to stay between 180-200F. Tiny bubbles should appear occasionally but not boil.
10) simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally
11) pour hot milk over cheesecloth lined strainer into spare bowl (it will stay pretty hot for like 20 min)
VOILA!
I poured mine into two jars and put in the fridge. Then looked up how long homemade almond milk lasts (only a few days) so tonight I'll pour it into some ice trays and dump frozen milk cubes into a baggie and keep in the freezer!
add to beverages, snacks or use in cooking. Just substitute a small portion of milk in recipe for the infused milk. It shouldn't take much!
(stunted mango auto)
Cute plants. Awesome recipe.
Yeah, I've read about that happening.....sorry.
