Covert Grow Ops/Sidetracked:

Sprout update:

BST2 3 of 3
7-20 3 of 5 {seeds #3, 4 & 5 sprouted, the weaker looking ones}
GV1 7 of 8
Buddy Bud 0 of 11

Larry {the} Gardener said:

BST2 #1 in the FP patch.

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She looks good. Keep up the good work.

Any plans to bend and / or tie those long arms down ? I've seen a Pine Apple Chunk or two get that treatment on top of an overgrown deep woods beaver dam and really pack on the bud. A lot of work getting to there, but the ol backpack was literally packed full of bud several times come early October, Branches laden with bud everywhere! Sweet memories!

Rob Roy said:

She looks good. Keep up the good work.

Any plans to bend and / or tie those long arms down ? I've seen a Pine Apple Chunk or two get that treatment on top of an overgrown deep woods beaver dam and really pack on the bud. A lot of work getting to there, but the ol backpack was literally packed full of bud several times come early October, Branches laden with bud everywhere! Sweet memories!

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I was trying a little super cropping {on some of my other plants}, but after breaking several limbs, I've backed off that. I had a very helpful tip to use a sharpie {or lighter in my case} to pinch against before doing the bend. I haven't broke as many since then. But on some of my other plants, I have been hanging small oak and pine limbs near the ends of the branches to hold them down. This has worked pretty good. Last year some of my tie down branches got broke in big storms. I changed how I did them. I would find a dead limb that weighed just enough to hold the branch down. Then I pulled the branch down and tied it off to the limb laying on the ground. Then if there was a big storm, there was some give to it. It could pick the limb up an down with the gusts.

But my problem is too many plants and too little time. I do need to maximize the yield on that BST2. It is my bushiest plant with the least training. The hole is size of a kiddie pool and it gets more water than any of the others. Not to mention the natural soil is better, and less sandy, so it hangs on to the water it gets better too.

Yesterday afternoon I took the tray of sprouts in the round cups to the holding grounds. {two 7-20's and 7 of 8 GV1's] I grabbed the lost plant while I was there. It was a Slo2 like I had figured. I counted where it had put on 20 sets of leaves and dropped them. The other Slo2 the same age is about 8 foot tall now. I remembered digging a hole for one of the spur of the moment male plants that I never used. I ended up killing him after I had dug the hole. I added one gallon each of the turkey manure soil mix, the 1st full kitty litter mix and another recent mix.

T-Pig is 78 + 1 = 79

Just about dark I got by the GB patch and checked on the GV1 and GV2 there. They are both alive, but still runts.

I stopped at three different wild blueberry bushes on the way back to the camp. They have just about reached their peak, but picking blueberries with a headlight isn't the best way to do it.

I was back in the woods this morning before the sun was up. I took ten gallons of water, along with a pack full of plant food, {liquid and powder} lime, Epson salts, stinky deer stuff and slug bait back to the 3DT, SEE, JP and DDW patches.

All the plants were alive and the young GV1's {????? that doesn't sound right. Maybe CP1's instead. I will have to look back and make sure what's in those holes} in the 3DT patch were doing quite well. I took lots of tops from the older plants, and two each from the 3 young ones.

Two of the four plants in the JP patch were looking good, although there was a broken bottom limb on one of the plants. I propped it up so it wasn't on the ground. The two plants in one hole were still alive, with the young one growing quite nicely, and the deer ate one showing signs it was going to make it. Again took lots of tops.

The plant in the SEE patch is looking like she is trying to flower, so I didn't take any tops from her. I don't think I did the last time either. I took pictures, but left my camera at the house. I'll try to remember it tomorrow.

The one plant in DDW that isn't deer ate was looking good. One of the two deer ate plants had been nibbled on again, but they were both alive.

After going by the house for breakfast, I took the other sprouts in the square pots down to the other holding grounds. They are two BST2's and two 7-20's. And I misspoke about which seeds came up from the 7-20. It was #2, 4 & 5, but 5 was looking pretty weak.

Then I went on down to the FP patch. I did a little LOB training on the three older BST2's. {pictures tomorrow} Took lots of tops.

After lunch I went to the SOL, GV and Slo patches.

In the SOL patch, I have my single BP for this season. I only had three seeds, and plan on doing one a year until they run out. The other two plants in that patch are the 88's {F1's}. I topped one of them for the first time, and took two tops off the other one.

The young 88 in the GV patch had been topped by something. It is in a tomato cage, so I'm thinking it must have been grasshoppers. There was a small top that had been cut on the older 88 also.

The Slo patch has two small 88's, one larger 88 and the newly transplanted 60/40 plant. I topped the small 88's for the first time, took two tops off the 60/40 {which was even with the top of the tomato cage}, and lots off the older 88.

A damn busy day. {I also washed and blanched about a hamper of peas to go into the freezer} Glad I got to come to work so I can rest up.

I went back and checked, {because that is just the way I roll} on what plants were in what patches. 3DT has five CP1's, JP has four GV1's, SEE has one CP1 and DDW has three GV2's.

Larry {the} Gardener said:

I stopped at three different wild blueberry bushes on the way back to the camp. They have just about reached their peak, but picking blueberries with a headlight isn't the best way to do it.

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This was the next morning. I had a belly full of blueberries for breakfast. Not quite as sweet as domesticated but I like that they get ripe after all the others are gone for the year.

My little lost Slo2. I looked for a recent picture of her sister in the BP patch, but all I could find was from May. I'll go out this week for a side by side photo. The same age, but one is more than 7 feet and the other is less than 18 inches. So, does pot size matter?

One of the recently transplanted CP1's in the 3DT patch. Too long between toppings, but until I can clone myself, Darwin Dope is what I got. Survival of the dankest.

The CP1 in the SEE patch is looking like it wants to start twisting. What do you guys think?

Here is my LOB work on the three bigger BST2's in the FP patch. Damn airplanes would not let up, so I didn't get to finish them.

#1



#2 {this one was really needing it. It should have been topped more often too}



#3 {with the peach tree in the hole}

The BP plant in the SOL patch. The mamma to this one was one tough cookie. Good tasting too.

60/40 in Slo patch.

Larry {the} Gardener said:

The CP1 in the SEE patch is looking like it wants to start twisting. What do you guys think?

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Today {which was 1 minute 2 seconds shorter than yesterday} I had 13 hours 51 minutes of actual daylight. Tomorrow will be 1 minute 4 seconds shorter. It's time for clock watching.

Tick tock. Tick Tock people.

I got to both holding grounds today. Two of the four seedlings in square pots had cashed. Looked like too much sun. I didn't pull up the labels to see what was what.

And only two of the nine seedlings in the other holding grounds were alive. {it was 2 of the GV1's} This was mostly grasshopper damage. I know I said I was going to get them under screen, but I didn't. If I was depending on these for smoke, I would have paid more attention to them. The crazy thing is, I was just getting my young plants in the ground this time last year.

Side by side of two Slo2's the same age. One spent almost 5 months in coffee cup. One transplanted into ground at five weeks.

We got a good inch of rain last night. It started out pretty hard, but settled in nice and slow. I went ahead and carried 10 gallons of water back to the SOL, GV and Slo patches. Younger plants got 24-8-16 and Epson salts. Older plants got the same with 11-2-1 added. Pinched a few tops, but most had not grown enough since the last topping. The 60/40 plant had grown about 6" since I was back there a few days ago. I had left my woods camera at work, so no pictures from those patches.