Sweetsue's First Grow - Stealthy Trio of Autos Under CFLs

[SweetSue]

Cool water is fine for both rinses, warm for the baking soda/ lemon wash.

Any plans for your fan leaves?

Do you have your new seeds ready?

I'm going to sort through the leaves. The ones with trichomes get set aside for edible use. I haven't decided yet what to do with the rest - feed them to the worms, use them for mulch. Any ideas? Seeds are ordered this weekend.

ClosedCircuit, I'm going to leave them where they are until Friday morning and then move them into the bedroom to finish drying. It won't take them long. Since Dale's in rehab the room is dark most of the time and it's cooler than the other rooms. This weekend I'll get some canning jars for curing.

Soooo excited. That was such an easy and enjoyable experience. I really look forward to the Bomb's harvest now.

 

[Danishoes21]

Amazing harvest Sue, congrats. I gotta say you got some amazing meds. on the bud wash, it should become a standard when growing herb, after harvest wash your greens.

Keep up the good work.
Enjoy your meds

 

[36Gr0w]

Awesome job sue. It's crazy how big a deal people make about lights, they should just read your thread and learn some things.

 

[SweetSue]

I gotta say you got some amazing meds. on the bud wash, it should become a standard when growing herb, after harvest wash your greens.

I wholeheartedly agree. Let's keep spreading the word.

Thanks danishoes. ( blush )

 

[SweetSue]

Awesome job sue. It's crazy how big a deal people make about lights, they should just read your thread and learn some things.

Thank you for the compliment. I document so thoroughly because that's my goal. There's been so much valuable information shared here by so many talented growers. I'm humbled to be counted among the group of successful stewards of healthy cannabis and have a drive to help others find the same level of success. It's sweet when a plan succeeds.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Yeah Dutty, and the best is still ahead. I think this grow should change many minds. You can't blame it on the lights anymore. As I move forward I need to upgrade some though. Eventually I'd like to get to LED, but I may do a T5 first.

Dale's getting excited about the next grow too. I'm ordering seeds this weekend and hope they get here quickly, but the maintenance of the empty pots doesn't change so it will wait until they come in.

Tomorrow or Friday I'll be doing the reset for Buddha's pot. I need to get some 1/4" hardware cloth first to sift vermicompost. Since the pot is in resting stage for a while I may do a comfrey drench too.

My next shopping list:
- seeds ( Bomb Berry Bomb Auto and another undetermined auto)
- 1/4" hardware cloth
- Agsil
- powdered coconut water
- neem/karanja meal
- alfalfa meal

I think that's all. It's a never-ending process.

Can't wait to get home.

I would skip on the T5's...with out a doubt they are better than CFL's but the price of bulbs and a fixture pretty much adds up to a small Mars Hydro LED. Now, if you were going to use them in accord with your cfl's I could see that working since you wont be able customize lighting placement as much with just a T5. But if you are looking for a singular fixture I would go LED or HPS...something strong enough where the light doesn't really have to be moved because the light they emit is more intense and even. I bet if you used your CFLs along side either of those you would reach a whole new level. Just a thought I wanted to share.

If I had a little more vertical space I would hang my lights like yours...but I kind of need as low profile light as possible that doesn't really need to be moved because of my limited vertical space. Hence LED.

 

[nivek]

the bounty has docked,, hurrah,, super job sue, and gonna give the worms some credit too, they rarely get any, well done wigglers.

sue, you totally inspire me,, i don't have the soil you do and probably never will, but i will definitely be headed your direction soil wise,,

and bud washing,, i laughed the first time i heard it, not at all long ago, and my missus laughed last night when i told her about it,, but, you know what?? i'm gonna do it too,, i would not have even imagined a month ago. ha

enjoy your 'hash' sue,, cheers

 

[SweetSue]

I would skip on the T5's...with out a doubt they are better than CFL's but the price of bulbs and a fixture pretty much adds up to a small Mars Hydro LED. Now, if you were going to use them in accord with your cfl's I could see that working since you wont be able customize lighting placement as much with just a T5. But if you are looking for a singular fixture I would go LED or HPS...something strong enough where the light doesn't really have to be moved because the light they emit is more intense and even. I bet if you used your CFLs along side either of those you would reach a whole new level. Just a thought I wanted to share.

If I had a little more vertical space I would hang my lights like yours...but I kind of need as low profile light as possible that doesn't really need to be moved because of my limited vertical space. Hence LED.

I'm fairly certain that whatever I decide on I will continue to use CFLs as a supplement. They allow me to get light all through the plant and I believe that was a big part of my success. Penetrate from the canopy and form the sides and bottom. Load that plant up with light. It's what I love to do. Have you seen what atrain has done with a T5 and CFLs? His White Cheese is one of the most spectacular plants I have seen under CFLs. When he goes organic his grows are going to explode even more.

We've a class of first time growers on the site that are destroying long-held biases about lighting. This is a wonderful thing IMHO.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

No doubt T5's can achieve. The bulbs last a while, but pretty soon after you have had to change your first set of bulbs then you pretty much have paid for mars 3wattx100 or 96x3watt. I'm still very much considering getting one, but I have my concerns RE buying future proof items.

I think my favorite cfl grows (other than yours ) is this one I found some time ago. I think there are 8 installments...its addictive!

 

[SweetSue]

No doubt T5's can achieve. The bulbs last a while, but pretty soon after you have had to change your first set of bulbs then you pretty much have paid for mars 3wattx100 or 96x3watt. I'm still very much considering getting one, but I have my concerns RE buying future proof items.

I think my favorite cfl grows (other than yours ) is this one I found some time ago. I think there are 8 installments...its addictive!

Thanks for the link. I'll be sure to check it out later. Love a good CFL grow.

I'm finally home and pretty bushed, but still riding high. Time to allow myself to actually get high while I gently and lovingly sort through the left-overs. This magnifier of Dale's is handy for the chore. There's a surprising amount of trichomes on some of these leaves that can be put to good use. They're in the pile to the right. The rest will become mulch.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

I'm almost considering keeping the CFL's for one more go just so I can add to the undeniable evidence that they are viable. My grow right now is just "meh." I want to have a "Sue" Cfl grow

 

[akisunni]

Beautiful report on harvesting, washing and prepping for curing. Well done my friend.

 

[SweetSue]

Worm Bin Update

The harvest day isn't done until you finish clean up. I personally found it a matter of honor. If she could give herself up so lovingly, the least I could do was a thorough and timely clean up. Makes sense to me. Part of that clean up is feeding the malted barley grain mash from the enzyme tea to the worm bin. This time I decided to add egg shells. They work most efficiently in a worm bin if you can powder them. I bought a coffee grinder to powder things like malted barley grain and egg shells.

I found out I prefer using my muscles to create powders over the whine of the coffee grinder and the mess you're left to clean up.

I need a mortar and pestle. No way around it. I did a fair job with a custard cup and a spoon though.

I got lost in the marvelous process egg shells take as they continue to break down into smaller and smaller pieces and become near dust. The coffee grinder doesn't allow me to control the size like this does. Worm bins like some bits to work with. Lots of surface matter to attach to and build mold. Yeah.

Definitely a mortar and pestle.

Now I have this mess from this morning to deal with. Ten minutes later everything was clean except the bubbling pitcher.

I scraped the barley grain mash out and added it to the eggshells.

Instinctively, I reached for the reconstituted kelp meal and threw in a scoop.

On reflection, corn meal and a few drops of molasses sounded good too.-

Everything got mixed together and out came the worm bin. Begin with a nice trench in the vermicompost. You can't see that here because it's so rich and dark it distracts you.

Fill the hole with the mash.

Very gently cover it all over.

Close it up and put it back in the dark and quiet under the sink.

The buckets are cleaned and sanitized, all ready for the Bomb. The kitchen is clean. Laundry is done. The bathroom sparkles since I had to clean up the mess I made dumping 5 gallon buckets of water down the toilet.

I'm ready for a little "me time".

There is no high better than the one you grew yourself.

I will never tire of seeing this.

It's 12:30 and I still have some things to do, so I need to settle down and get off the Internet for the night. It was a pleasure to share the joy of this occasion with so many of you that I now think of as friends. It made it all the sweeter.

 

[SweetSue]

One more and off to bed. It's 1:40 now and I'm finally done.

All the stuff with trichomes is on the right. On the left are fan leaves about to become mulch.

Tomorrow I'll take some measurements on the colas. Weights won't come until they're dry.

Good night all.

 

[Dutty Panty]

My buddy owns a screen printing company. I told him I'd want a shirt that says world's best cfl grower if he does it I shall send.

 

[shaun6868]

Excellent journal Sue, congrats on your first harvest

 

[Atrain]

Congrats I cant wait to see what that auto bomb dry weight is later as well.... I have one going in for the next run when I give this living organic soil a shot

 

[newoldguy]

What a truly awesome job, Sue, not just on the grown plants, but the whole process, washing, cutting, curing and the clean up and feeding of the critters. All of this is what made your grow so spectacular.

 

[SweetSue]

Excellent journal Sue, congrats on your first harvest

Thank you Shaun, and to the community. I'm so glad you found my ramblings and the wisdom shared by my band of friends worthy. Stick around. The Bomb is going to surprise us again with her harvest. Enjoy.

 

[SweetSue]

HARVEST (Buddha Magnum Auto): Wet weights

I couldn't resist taking a wet weight. I wanted to give them an overnight to let most of the bud washing weight evaporate. Here's the tally.

I count 11 oz. I realize that includes the weight of some serious branches, but I'm ok with that. I needed a reference point so I could see for myself how much weight is water.

Yeah. I'm feeling a little proud.