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

[SweetSue]

Why are 'we' sifting the worms out ? Would the plants not benefit from them in the root area ? Bedding would be the top-dressing ? I've seen numerous gardening communities do this, since I started researching this ... why are we sifting them out ?

The only reason to sift the worms out is to maintain a stock of worms for your bin. My main bin is under my kitchen sink. It's not very big, but it's adequate for my needs, which are to have a bin to compost particular inputs so that my top dressings and teas will infuse my pots with the trace elements geared to raising spectacularly healthy and potent cannabis. My expectation is that my pots will eventually have such a large worm population that the plants will be swimming in worm poo.

Sifting only gets the majority. There will always be cocoons and juvenile worms that sneak by. If you grow your own vermicompost your pots WILL have worms. This is a good thing.

 

[PlanetJ]

Thanks for clearing that up

 

[SweetSue]

Sorting Out The Vermicompost

Who knew playing with worms could be so much fun?

Begin by gathering up supplies: worm bin, a plate for sorting, a piece of screening and some support for the screen. I used a glove for the digging hand too.

Let's open it up and see what we have.

Reach in and grab a handful to dump on the screen. Be gentle now. Worms live here and we want to keep damage to as little as possible.

After you've sifted through, move the bigger stuff and the worms over to a storage area. I have the bag that the worms originally came in for this, and if you look closely you can see I was smart enough to slip the edge under the paper beneath the sifting plate to keep things all neat and clean as I worked. This was done in my living room, so cleanliness was necessary.

The sifted vermicompost.....

..... and the stuff going back into the bin. See the worms?

The little worms cling for dear life to the screen. I was very gentle with my sifting and you know I took the time to gently coax each and every one back onto the pile.

All it took was a soft, light touch to get them to release onto my gloved finger.....

..... and drop them back in with their buddies.

Keep going like that until you have the whole bin finished.

The super-charged topdressing for my no-tills.

The still-to-be-composted material and my worms, waiting to be returned to their reconstructed home.

The entire process took me less than 45 minutes. It took that long because I was so fascinated and careful with my little pets. There's a nice community going there. I know it's silly, but that first time you never know - will they be sparse, stunted in growth, or just plain dead? I'm happy to report that my little worm soldiers are happily doing their job. Neglect and good food has paid off.

 

[Doc Bud]

Sorting Out The Vermicompost

Who knew playing with worms could be so much fun?

Begin by gathering up supplies: worm bin, a plate for sorting, a piece of screening and some support for the screen. I used a glove for the digging hand too.

Let's open it up and see what we have.

Reach in and grab a handful to dump on the screen. Be gentle now. Worms live here and we want to keep damage to as little as possible.

After you've sifted through, move the bigger stuff and the worms over to a storage area. I have the bag that the worms originally came in for this, and if you look closely you can see I was smart enough to slip the edge under the paper beneath the sifting plate to keep things all neat and clean as I worked. This was done in my living room, so cleanliness was necessary.

The sifted vermicompost.....

..... and the stuff going back into the bin. See the worms?

The little worms cling for dear life to the screen. I was very gentle with my sifting and you know I took the time to gently coax each and every one back onto the pile.

All it took was a soft, light touch to get them to release onto my gloved finger.....

..... and drop them back in with their buddies.

Keep going like that until you have the whole bin finished.

The super-charged topdressing for my no-tills.

The still-to-composted material and my worms, waiting to be returned to their reconstructed home.

The entire process took me less than 45 minutes. It took that long because I was so fascinated and careful with my little pets. There's a nice community going there. I know it's silly, but that first time you never know - will they be sparse, stunted in growth, or just plain dead? I'm happy to report that my little worm soldiers are happily doing their job. Neglect and good food has paid off.

Beautiful!

 

[SweetSue]

Rebuilding The Worm Bin

Now that we've emptied the bin we need to rebuild it. I saved the shredded newspaper the worms were shipped in for this very moment in time.

Begin by sticking all that newspaper and some torn up egg cartons into a basin with warm water.

Let it soak up lots of water and then squeeze it almost completely dry. Toss that into the worm bin.

I have lots of those dry paper towels I saved that were used to mop up veggie cutting boards and comfrey. Time to tear them up smaller and add them.

I broke open my saved tea bags and sprinkled them in. They're mint medley tea leaves, a combination of spearmint and peppermint. The worms love it.

Mix all of that together to incorporate it well. You don't want any bunches of wet newspaper or all your bigger pieces on the bottom. Make it nice and evenly distributed.

Add the worms and compost.

Cover it over with a nice piece of cardboard.

Put the lid on, but not tightly. We want air movement.

Back into the dark and quiet safety under the kitchen sink.

No one would ever know.

I'll give them about a week before I feed them now. They need the time to get used to the new digs.

In another four months or so we will repeat that for grow #3. Life is sweet, no?

 

[SweetSue]

Topdressing The Pots

Now for the reason we went through all that trouble to raise worms and screen vermicompost. Before planting the next seeds I need to add a sweet topdressing and prepare the soil community for the next grow. This takes the magic of quality vermicompost to easily introduce a steady supply of all those nutrients that keep everyone happy.

Very gently and methodically move the mulch to one half of the pot. This was trickier than is appeared at first, since there's all this living mulch to contend with, but I eventually got it done. Much of the original mulch has been broken down by now, so that helped to make it easier.

I sprinkled a handful of Yum Yum mix onto the surface and just wiggled it in with my finger tips. I don't want to go digging into the soil at all here.

Then it was a top dressing of vermicompost. I had some Worm Power left, so I used that first and then topped off with my homemade batch. I figure as I water in my homemade will enhance the Worm Power. Mine is fresher, so it's got more life to it. The Worm Power has been carefully stored for this. I made sure it never got dry or was subjected to extreme temperatures.

Now repeat on the other side. Move the mulch, sprinkle with Yum Yum, top with vermicompost.

Time for new mulch material. I have these lovely fan leaves I set aside for this. Really excited about this. Rediculously excited.

I watered it all in with about a quart for each pot. I used a stronger stream than my normal light spray. I wanted it to begin to wash into the soil.

These leftover fan leaves will be tossed into the worm bin later today.

It's been a busy morning, but I'm so relieved to have the pots all ready for the new seeds.

I'm at the point now where I will begin the process of starting my new journal. I want to wait until the seeds arrive before launching, so let's keep the conversation going here. I'd be lost without the charming company guys and we're starting to get into some interesting discussions about the soil.

I've dawdled my morning away and it's past time to be with Dale, who's still over 1 1/2 hours away by bus. I think I've earned a reward before I go, so where was that pipe?

 

[NuttyProfessor]

i see your keeping busy , great job sue

 

[Teddy Edwards]

Terrific Worm Update, Sue.

I particularly enjoyed the Stealth Bin Cupboard. No carbon filter required.

 

[xtrchessreal]

Those cannabis fan leaves I use in my morning breakfast vegan smoothie. There are a lot of good things in them leaves. The worms will be happy

 

[nivek]

heya sue,, glad to see all is wellish in your town, home and garden,, cheers to that,,

isn't it funny how one never hears about something,, hey,, we weren't born knowing everything,, right?? , anyway, how one never knows or hears about something, then all of a sudden one reads or hears and says to themselves , 'self ',,, ' were you born under a rock??'

speaking of rocks,, that is what i am referring too,, rock dust. sheesh,, you called it , i think, 'like gold',, at the time you said that i had not yet read up about the stuff,, but wow,, how impressive is that,, and , also like you said,, especially volcanic rock dust,,,, double wow wow. i need to get drilling some up,, right soon.

need to do more of this..

and i will get some to you, i promise,, might take a bit of time,, but it will arrive,, cheers sue

 

[nivek]

Those cannabis fan leaves I use in my morning breakfast vegan smoothie. There are a lot of good things in them leaves. The worms will be happy

i do the same,, though a fruit smoothie,, just a couple or three fresh, smallish, leaves,, young ones,, cuz my plants never get old ones,, ha,, cheers

 

[SweetSue]

Those cannabis fan leaves I use in my morning breakfast vegan smoothie. There are a lot of good things in them leaves. The worms will be happy

The whole time I was harvesting I was saddened that I didn't know anyone nearby who was juicing. I'm wondering if you could freeze them and juice them frozen? I'll need to research that further before my next harvest. To be able to juice them over time for Dale or our daughter.... Wow! I can't think of any reason why you couldn't. Anybody know about this?

 

[SweetSue]

Smoke Report: Buddha Magnum Auto

I've been smoking her since yesterday, trying to get a good handle of her effect and how it differs from the Bomb. At this point, she hasn't been curing long enough to get her taste, and early buds don't have much flavor really, do they? Buddha tastes mildly of hash at this point and every time I smoke her, I get about 1/2 hour away from the first hit and I'm thinking of pumpernickel rye. Not that she has that taste necessarily, just that at that point there IS a taste that brings the memory of pumpernickel to mind. I have no explanation.

She has the sweetest little buds. The batch I cleaned last night shows this off best. Look at these tiny powerhouses of THC.

It takes about three of those teeny bud sacs to make a hit (just what's laying there or what's in the pipe here) and you have to coax the flame over them like you would hash, drawing it in deeper and deeper until the whole bowl is glowing. Hold without tension for as long as you can before exhaling.

You know it's strong when you feel your first hit behind the eyes. It takes about six hits to get me out the door for that bus ride. I try to have everything ready to go before smoking because by then I'm not going to be good for "is there anything I forgot?" Six hits and out the door. Down the 40 stairs with today's haul hanging from my shoulder, hoping the temps are bearable today and floating down the whole way, excited to be on my way to him.

Standing for the bus yesterday under Buddha's influence I was struck that while the Bomb heightens my awareness - as cannabis is prone to do - and shows me deeper colors and shapes in the world around me Buddha shows me how it would look painted. Flashes of the whites it would take to create the effect of the steam rising from the line of traffic in the chill. The many shades of blues and purples and greys one would require to get the sense of depth in that snow bank over there.

With the Bomb I stand and contemplate, running through plans and looking for new ways to do the old, Buddha is a playful companion and creates more kinetic energy. Today at the bus stop I found myself working through the nuances of a piece of music that's been haunting me lately, trying to get true tones and belt it out against the noise of the traffic. Buddha inspires playful creativity and laughter - just exactly what her breeders promised.

One has to wonder what particular element of this strain causes this brain response. That's for another time. For now she's great fun to smoke, and that's enough for me.

Her high lasts in excess of four hours, despite the many chores that fall to me as I make life more bearable for Dale. Even after all the bathing and cleaning and setting up the dialysis cycler and dealing with the staff and - good God, yet another injury!!!!!! Buddha reminds me to breathe deeply, look into the eyes of my frustrated and frightened husband and remember that love is the most important thing here. That loving nature I cultivate so carefully makes this dismal room feel like home. That's my place here and Buddha has helped keep me on that course. She makes me laugh with life.

I think this dancing girl was made just for me. There's a point about four hits in when I think those words every time. It strikes a spiritual cord filled with joyfulness that's me.

In two weeks to a month from now I will do another report on her, cured. That will be in my new journal.

Tomorrow we do the Bomb.

 

[SweetSue]

Oooo! Oooo! NEW TOY!

I was at Lowe's yesterday picking up the hardware cloth when I stumbled over this:

I'm going to cut a couple pieces of wood to go under the reservoirs and set them on this. That will make it easier to rotate the pots every morning and to move them in and out of the grow space.

WooHoo!!! The $18 for both will be worth it.

Little by little improvement continues.

 

[Doc Bud]

Oooo! Oooo! NEW TOY!

I was at Lowe's yesterday picking up the hardware cloth when I stumbled over this:

I'm going to cut a couple pieces of wood to go under the reservoirs and set them on this. That will make it easier to rotate the pots every morning and to move them in and out of the grow space.

WooHoo!!! The $18 for both will be worth it.

Little by little improvement continues.

You might be in the stage where everything you look at is assessed as being either helpful or not for growing. Everywhere you go you'll notice things and think, "I could use that...."

 

[SweetSue]

Final cuts: THC Bomb Auto

Time to finishing processing the Bomb's harvest. All the rest of the branches are now snap dry.

The easiest part: snipping the nuggets from the branches.

We have a lot of little popcorn buds on this batch of branches. I'm going to get a quantity of the sugar leaves from them to make some cannabutter tomorrow. So let's get busy cleaning these babies up.


Two hours later (how was that two hours?) the trimming is done and all the nuggets are ready to be jarred for curing. I'm almost seeing double, but I'm also on an incredible rush from seeing up close and personal how dense these buds really are.

On to dry weights. Jar #1, 23 grams.

The top of the main cola weighs in at a whopping 7 grams, completely stripped of all sugar leaves, so that's just the weight of the buds. Wow!

I included the main cola in this jar, which comes in at 17 grams.

I got 5 grams of sugar leaves and popcorn buds from this batch. Something yummy will be cooking for my man by Sunday night. He'll finally get a taste of the harvest. WooHoo!!!!!

A close up of those delicious sugar leaves and popcorn buds. How beautiful they are.

That brings us to a total of 71 grams of buds from the Bomb. I didn't include the weight of the sugar leaves or the weight of what I've been smoking. That's 71 grams of buds trimmed and curing. I'm as surprised as you all. I was figuring around two ounces and coming in at a clean 2 1/2 oz is a shock. A happy shock.

We still have the four main colas from Buddha to process. Maybe tomorrow night.

Next grow will be better.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

I feel lucky I even have anything to smoke, but 2 ounces from one plant is something special.

 

[SweetSue]

Thank you CC. Two and a half ounces from a plant grown under CFLs is unheard of, I believe. I tell you, this soil is incredible! Think of what will happen with better lighting.

 

[Graytail]

2 1/2 ounces from an auto under any kind of lighting is at the top of the range.

And those aren't ordinary buds.

+reps! Enjoy!

 

[Subnoise]

You might be in the stage where everything you look at is assessed as being either helpful or not for growing. Everywhere you go you'll notice things and think, "I could use that...."

Lol does this stage ever end? Feel like I been in that stage since I started growing last summer.