Outdoor Growing With BeezLuiz

Hey, what's going on here... two updates in one day? Yikes!
I felt kinda bad purchasing a commercial SIP unit instead of making a DIY unit. So many folks around here have made some beauties! :adore: However, I did add a DIY accessory today:
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SIP reservoir water gauge.
I thought it might be nice to have a visual indicator for when my reservoir was needing to be filled so I made a gauge for the fill tube out of old cannabis stalks (of course)! I kinda got the idea from this conversion with Carcass and Shed:
Carcass said:
I have to use a dipstick, instead of a float, to check the water level in the black SIP -that 1/2" pvc pipe is too small to work with any float material I've got around here, so a dipstick it is...
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BeezLuiz said:
I bet you could find a small fishing bobber that would fit in your fill tube.
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InTheShed said:
Next up, BeezLuiz's thread on how to make small fishing bobbers from your cannabis stems!
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BeezLuiz said:
You know, I think the cannabis wood would float really well. Hmm... :nerd-with-glasses:
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Anyway, here we go - a very brief tutorial of what I did:
Materials came from a previous White Widow grow.
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  • Media owner BeezLuiz
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Cannabis building materials.
I sliced a chunk off the trunk for the float.
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The float body and cap.
I sanded it smooth and then hollowed it out.
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Sand it smooth.
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Hollow it out.
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Hollowed out float.
Then glued the cap back on, filled some cracks and gaps with wood filler, sanded everything and then several coats of varnish.
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  • Media owner BeezLuiz
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Cap glued on, sanded down smooth.
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Varnished the cannibus float.
Next came the shaft. It was cut to length and sanded. A slot was cut out of the top of the float and the shaft was glued in, and then varnished.
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  • Media owner BeezLuiz
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Drilled out a slot for the indicator shaft.
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Insert the shaft and glue it in place.
Finally, I added a decal to the top of the shaft to indicate where the full and empty conditions were, and then more varnish to seal it on.
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Final piece with " high" and "low" decals.
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Green means a full reservoir.
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Red means empty.

It seems to work pretty well. I'm not sure it was really necessary, but I had to try it! :nerd-with-glasses:
 
BeezLuiz said:
chunk off the trunk
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Like a chip off the ol' block!...Well done, Beez!
BeezLuiz said:
I'm not sure it was really necessary, but I had to try it! :nerd-with-glasses:
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Actually, it's pretty cool to just glance at it and know the water situation..
True, a dipstick will also tell you, but a float is just easier.
And I'm all about easier...
 
BeezLuiz said:
It seems to work pretty well. I'm not sure it was really necessary, but I had to try it! :nerd-with-glasses:
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Sweet floaty-stick-indicator!
I've been thinking about making one as well.
 
Miss Ashley is beautiful in repose Beez! Nice fat buds! That float idea is a corker! :)
 
The winter grow is finally in the books! :yahoo: I took down both of the Obama Runtz today - took about 3.5 hrs of trim time. They both sprouted the same day and both looked ready the same time. #2 was shorter, but had more dense buds than #1 which was surprisingly airy (see last photo).
Here's a photo dump of today's activities:
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Obama Runtz #2 ready for harvest at 166 days from sprout.
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Obama Runtz #2 on harvest day at 83 days from flip.
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  • Media owner BeezLuiz
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Obama Runtz #2 on day 83 from flip.
I've been mostly using my digital microscope for close-up shots lately, but today I pulled out my cell phone camera lenses. Here's a comparison of the two methods (the first two are from the microscope and next two are from the cell phone).
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Obama Runtz #2 close-up on harvest day. Digital wifi microscope.
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  • Media owner BeezLuiz
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Obama Runtz #2 close-up on harvest day. Digital wifi microscope.
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Obama Runtz #2 close-up on harvest day. Cell phone camera with macro lense.
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Obama Runtz #2 close-up on harvest day. Cell phone camera with macro lense.
Not a large harvest, but the buds are nice and dense and very frosty.
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Obama Runtz #2.
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  • Comments 1
Obama Runtz #2
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Obama Runtz #2

Obama Runtz #1:
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Obama Runtz #1 on harvest day. 166 days from sprout.
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Obama Runtz #1 on harvest day. 83 days from flip.
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Obama Runtz #1 on harvest day.
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Obama Runtz #1 harvest yield.
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Obama Runtz #1. Light and airy buds.
 
Purple flowers, purple leaves, purple trichomes...a trifecta and seems like a name change is in order! Frost looks great but what a difference in density. :)

Other than the color shift in the cell phone pics they're pretty damn close.

Congrats on putting winter to bed! 🛏️
 
GratefulBud said:
Congrats on another sticky icky harvest!
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Thanks GB, sticky for sure - gloves were changed out often during the trim!
InTheShed said:
Other than the color shift in the cell phone pics they're pretty damn close.
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I felt like the microscope gives slightly better resolution, but the cell phone gives more accurate color. And taking the pictures requires completely different techniques.
InTheShed said:
Congrats on putting winter to bed! 🛏️
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These took way longer than I originally anticipated! Now that they're gone, I can concentrate on the summer grow.
 
The Sensi Cheese has now been in the SIP for one week. It certainly seems like it's starting to pick up some growing momentum. Yesterday I began some LST.
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Sensi Cheese one week after transplant to SIP.
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Seni Cheese beginning LST.

On each of the branches that I have pulled down, I gave them a quarter of a twist so that the new nodes are horizontal to each other. Otherwise one would grow straight up and the other would start out growing downward and not amount to much.
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Added quarter turn twist so that new node becomes horizontal.

Here it is after just 24 hours.
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24 hrs after initial LST.
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24 hrs after initial LST.

And here's China Cat 7 days after going into the 20 gallon pot. There's not a whole lot of growth going on yet, but it looks healthy none the less.
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China Cat on 7 days from transplant.

My recently harvested buds are still going through their drying cycle. I wanted to do a refrigerator "low and slow" method, but there's just not enough room for everything. Instead, I trying out a hybrid style drying method. I'm alternating between a day of hang dry and then a day of refrigerator dry. I assumption is that they will dry quicker than the two weeks it normally takes in the refrigerator, but slower than just the hang dry alone. We'll see how this works in due time. So far, so good.
 
Anything special you have to do on your twist? Like, will the twist hold after the first try, or do you have to do it multiple times?

I ask because I usually remove both the ones growing straight up and down since the ones growing up will want to become dominant and the ones growing down have to swing back up from under the branch, but twisting them horizontal seems like it might work well.
 
Congrats on a pair of sweet harvests!
The summer grow is looking sweet👍- now all we need is for summer to actually get here...
BeezLuiz said:
- gloves were changed out often during the trim!
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Try some el-cheapo vinyl gloves- the goo doesn't stick to them at all...
BeezLuiz said:
On each of the branches that I have pulled down, I gave them a quarter of a twist so that the new nodes are horizontal to each other
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That's a genius move, Beez! -potentially, that one thing could double the number of branches, which, of course, also doubles the number of buds..:thanks:
 
Come on Beezy
Let's do the twist! 🎶

Excellent work and happy plants. :thumb:
 
Azimuth said:
Anything special you have to do on your twist? Like, will the twist hold after the first try, or do you have to do it multiple times?
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I do need to keep adjusting for a couple days, but then it seems to hold ok. It works best when the branch is young and pliable. Sometimes on stubborn branches, I'll hook my LST wire on the fan leaf to encourage it to stay put... like this:
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Keeping the branch from "untwisting".
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Keeping the branch from "untwisting".

Carcass said:
The summer grow is looking sweet👍- now all we need is for summer to actually get here...
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IKR! It's been grey and gloomy here lately as well. It only got to 69F here yesterday,
Carcass said:
Try some el-cheapo vinyl gloves- the goo doesn't stick to them at all...
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Normally I don't get sticky while trimming since I trim while the buds are still wet. I don't loose any trichomes to "scissor hash" either. This plant was the exception because of being so frosty - I can live with that! :cool:
 
Congrats on your winter harvests, Beez! Your summer grow looks like it's off to a good start. Do you have any info on the strains, i.e. phenotype and/or terpenes?
 
HashGirl said:
Do you have any info on the strains, i.e. phenotype and/or terpenes?
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Unfortunately, the info on these two strains is minimal, but here's what I know:
Sensi Cheese
Genetics: Sensi Star x Buddha Cheese
Breeder: ApeOrigin
80% Indica / 20% Sativa
Estimated potency: 15-20% THC

China Cat
Genetics: Trinity x New York City Diesel
Breeder: Top Dawg Seeds
Hybrid
Estimated potency: 23% THC
Effects: Clear headed, but super stoney head space.
 
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