One Pink Lemonade - no-till cycle 7 in 4 foot diameter pot, 5x5 tent

Northwood said:

Yeah I prep the area for the seed because just throwing it into a very thick 4" cover crop growing out of at 2" thick mulch might be a bad idea. lol

In all seriousness, if these mites were responsible then I'd not really consider them all that beneficial. Then again, if the area where the seed was planted was watered more frequently than other areas, then obviously that would attract the mites that enjoy a bit of moisture. The seed was cracked open though, right?

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Haha! That's true.
I guess I was too worried about disturbing the layer under the mulch by making a spot for my plant. It makes sense though, I feel like
letting that exposed area dry out enough to not attract those guys would help. I'm probably being over cautious. I'm on my first cycle in a 100 gallon so I'm still getting established.
The seed was cracked open when I dug it up

Whalesandwich said:

I guess I was too worried about disturbing the layer under the mulch by making a spot for my plant. It makes sense though, I feel like
letting that exposed area dry out enough to not attract those guys would help. I'm probably being over cautious. I'm on my first cycle in a 100 gallon so I'm still getting established.

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You're not going to harm anything by moving mulch away to plant a seed. I usually make it at least 5" in diameter because I know what the cover crop is going to try to do. I pull up every cover crop plant within that circle, move over the mulch and just enough of the humus layer to expose something substantial, usually the part filled with roots from my last grow. That leaves a depression in the surface, so I fill it up with more potting soil (I had Pro-mix Organic Herb & Veg), and planted my seed in that. It's only a handful of potting soil needed per seed area. The idea though is that the root only has to go grow down an inch or so before hitting that substantial layer where all the mycorrhiza is living around the roots of your last grow. And cannabis sends down a root that far within hours of cracking.

Yes a seed should be planted in an exposed area where it can dry out and you can see how dry it really is. Damping off can be an issue when things are too moist. It's caused by a fungi that will kill our little babies. Ironically my only problem with damping-off happened when I tried using peat pellets. Peat pellets must be kept moist because if they're dry on the top, they're just as dry on the bottom.

It's good to be over cautious. In the warmer months, I don't see my plants after going outdoors unless I shower and change clothes. Usually I time things so that I do everything in the morning with my plants after my morning shower. Then I go out for my day. Is that being over cautious? Lol

Northwood said:

You're not going to harm anything by moving mulch away to plant a seed. I usually make it at least 5" in diameter because I know what the cover crop is going to try to do. I pull up every cover crop plant within that circle, move over the mulch and just enough of the humus layer to expose something substantial, usually the part filled with roots from my last grow. That leaves a depression in the surface, so I fill it up with more potting soil (I had Pro-mix Organic Herb & Veg), and planted my seed in that. It's only a handful of potting soil needed per seed area. The idea though is that the root only has to go grow down an inch or so before hitting that substantial layer where all the mycorrhiza is living around the roots of your last grow. And cannabis sends down a root that far within hours of cracking.

Yes a seed should be planted in an exposed area where it can dry out and you can see how dry it really is. Damping off can be an issue when things are too moist. It's caused by a fungi that will kill our little babies. Ironically my only problem with damping-off happened when I tried using peat pellets. Peat pellets must be kept moist because if they're dry on the top, they're just as dry on the bottom.

It's good to be over cautious. In the warmer months, I don't see my plants after going outdoors unless I shower and change clothes. Usually I time things so that I do everything in the morning with my plants after my morning shower. Then I go out for my day. Is that being over cautious? Lol

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Thanks a ton for the tip, makes total sense. I really appreciate the help

The Pink Lemonade plant yielded 979 grams of cured bud. That's a few ounces more than I thought, but those nuglets are pretty dense. Too bad it didn't grow a full kilogram. I was so close!

Looks fantastic, I'd be pretty damn satisfied with that

lakesidegrower said:

Looks fantastic, I'd be pretty damn satisfied with that

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It did get me thinking one thing though. And that is the fact that anyone who has a 4 plant limit with space could easily grow at least 8 Kg per year with my math, just by vegging their plants longer. I don't want to get political here, but it really makes you wonder what these legal plant limits are for?

I grew 6 footers in a vertical 2kw super silo in 25 gallon no tills for YEARS. I ran my lights in a MH/HPS stacked config. Using the timers to alternate the lights and give the entire plant both lights for 6 hours each day. so in the morning, MH would kick on for 8am, then hps at 10 am. then MH would turn off at 4pm and then the hps at 6pm. I consistently pulled 2-4 lbs out the room depending on strain and fuck ups over a 6 year stretch. I did end up cutting a light back a lot. I got to the point that I would run the mh in the morning for a 2 hours. I was playing with stuff. I don't think in all of it I ever got any substantial improvement one way or the other. At least not enough to have me running to the forums with my "findings."
Running it less didnt really change how much i pulled out. 10hrs vs 12hours. It was a wash in my data. So I ran 10 hours. Even still with everything it was still pretty strain dependent. It sucked when you got a strain that liked to be topped a lot of something. I think if I was ever to do anything as a breeder it would be to try and breed out the "stretch" in cannabis. I loved growing indicas. have minimal stretch meant that at times I could really fill out a screen and get a good yield. but if it was stretchy sativa hybrid, id start it too soon or too late and it would be unwieldy after awhile. I had to babysit it more. I aint got time for that.

I think that the legal plant limits are to keep home growers in check. they dont want people pulling 50k watt in suburbia. 6 plants, even trees wont need more then 7k watts HPS with central air. Or think a 500 gallon recirculating hydro system with reservoirs. I think that system needs looked at for sure. There should be a info-graphic for it. you can have 60 12 inch plants or 6 8 foot plants.

Northwood said:

It did get me thinking one thing though. And that is the fact that anyone who has a 4 plant limit with space could easily grow at least 8 Kg per year with my math, just by vegging their plants longer. I don't want to get political here, but it really makes you wonder what these legal plant limits are for?

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One gal I know has a 15 plant cap for her condition. Shes lucky to get half of them to full maturity before they yellow and die.I often gift her some of my older stuff.I show her how but in the end she does it her way and seems to be happy with 1/2 oz plants.

I didn't check on my plants for a couple days and noticed this morning that my cover crop was completely out of control. I couldn't see my plants! After pushing back the cover from the plants it looked like this:


Time to flatten it down and use weight of my Pink Lemonade stems and stalk to hold it down:


I made bubble hash from all the Pink Lemonade trim yesterday, so I next put that over the stems:


To make up the biomass of the 1kg of bud I harvested, I decided to add about 1.2 kg of alfalfa pellets over an application of azomite (mostly for worm grit):


Once this settles a bit, I'll add a couple inches of timothy hay mulch and water it down - probably tomorrow. And that will conclude the nutrient part of this grow until harvest. Not much to do now. lol

Still killin it! No surprise

Geneiac said:

Still killin it! No surprise

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Except for that runt. There's not much I can do about it, but 3 good plants should fill the tent quick enough anyway.

I got the hay mulch spread this morning and watered everything in. They should be good now for 5 days without me bugging them.

So one last harvest update on the Pink Lemonade. I saved all the dry trim and put it in a cooler where I stored it in the cold garage:


I didn't weigh all the trim, but I turned it into bubble hash. Here's the dried bubble hash, ready for rolling with the bottle of hot water. I can tell it's decent quality by the fact it stuck together all by itself a bit while drying even in a cold spot in the basement:


I decided to split this batch into 2 balls after rolling it today:


It smells amazing. I'm really liking the terpenes in this Pink Lemonade hash. There's still a hint of lemon, but a very strong spicy note dominates that I really love. It really smells like hippy ol'school.

I'm jinxed as far as getting round numbers from this Pink Lemonade. Why on earth didn't I just get 1kg of weed and 100 grams of hash from the trim? Lol

Nah man forget the runt...it will fill in as you said...you got 95 grams of hash off that trim?? You're so obviously killing it....also I'm realizing now how crucial it is that I dial in a bubble hash step...that's epic. Enjoy the fruits of your labor my dude!

Northwood said:

I didn't check on my plants for a couple days and noticed this morning that my cover crop was completely out of control. I couldn't see my plants! After pushing back the cover from the plants it looked like this:
View attachment 4851312

Time to flatten it down and use weight of my Pink Lemonade stems and stalk to hold it down:
View attachment 4851314

I made bubble hash from all the Pink Lemonade trim yesterday, so I next put that over the stems:
View attachment 4851321

To make up the biomass of the 1kg of bud I harvested, I decided to add about 1.2 kg of alfalfa pellets over an application of azomite (mostly for worm grit):
View attachment 4851324

Once this settles a bit, I'll add a couple inches of timothy hay mulch and water it down - probably tomorrow. And that will conclude the nutrient part of this grow until harvest. Not much to do now. lol

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Had another question for you. My cover crop is starting to crowd my plants too, what would you do if you did not have any dryed stems to weigh down the cover crop? I'm assuming they are a source of carbon that helps balance out the N from the green mulch. Should I just smash it down and cover with timothy hay until this cycle is over and I have enough stems for next round?

Whalesandwich said:

Should I just smash it down and cover with timothy hay until this cycle is over and I have enough stems for next round?

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Yup, whatever you got that's dead plant material will work as long as your cover crop isn't too strong. Mine actually lifted up the stems, alfalfa pellets, bubble hash junk, and the 3 inches of hay the next morning by a few inches. I had to push it down again. I think it's given up and dying now because everything seems to be at the same level for the last couple days.

There's nothing wrong with "mowing" or cutting it down with garden shears or whatever either - as long as you leave the roots intact. I don't do that because I'm too lazy or busy with other things.

I found some alfalfa pellets. I topped my outdoor beds with it today. Southern Alberta so weather is up and down. I watered it in. Was wondering about covering in clear plastic to warm my beds. I didn’t add much ,just a light sprinkling.Any fear of mould with the plastic on top?

myke said:

I found some alfalfa pellets. I topped my outdoor beds with it today. Southern Alberta so weather is up and down. I watered it in. Was wondering about covering in clear plastic to warm my beds. I didn’t add much ,just a light sprinkling.Any fear of mould with the plastic on top?

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Alfalfa pellets always get moldy when kept damp, regardless of plastic. It doesn't last long though. My plants seem to ignore it, so I do too. The springtails like it though. Fungi is an important member of your biological arsenal to cycle organic matter anyway. If you don't have it growing that might be a bad thing.

Northwood said:

Alfalfa pellets always get moldy when kept damp, regardless of plastic. It doesn't last long though. My plants seem to ignore it, so I do too. The springtails like it though. Fungi is an important member of your biological arsenal to cycle organic matter anyway. If you don't have it growing that might be a bad thing.

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Great thanks. Weather is so up and down. Yesterday was 20c today was high of 3c. I’ll keep an eye on how wet it stays. Will have frost on the plastic in the mornings for a little while yet.
Hell of a deal. 20 kg bag was $15 at the UFA.

myke said:

Great thanks. Weather is so up and down. Yesterday was 20c today was high of 3c. I’ll keep an eye on how wet it stays. Will have frost on the plastic in the mornings for a little while yet.
Hell of a deal. 20 kg bag was $15 at the UFA.

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Hmm... must be chinook? We haven't had 20c yet in Eastern Ontario. -10c this morning, which is warmer than usual. lol

$15 is a freakin' excellent deal! I'm paying about $20 with HST in. Considering one sack lasts for years in an indoor 4-plant rec grow, I'm not really complaining though. I'm all out of hay now, so I need to head to the feed & seed store to buy another couple bails this week. I use it for mulching our little vegetable garden beds outdoors too. It's a good time to buy hay because it's normally kept in an unheated dry place over the winter which limits the chance of introducing pests from it. I avoid buying hay that was harvested more recently for that reason. I'm a bit paranoid.

Northwood said:

Hmm... must be chinook? We haven't had 20c yet in Eastern Ontario. -10c this morning, which is warmer than usual. lol

$15 is a freakin' excellent deal! I'm paying about $20 with HST in. Considering one sack lasts for years in an indoor 4-plant rec grow, I'm not really complaining though. I'm all out of hay now, so I need to head to the feed & seed store to buy another couple bails this week. I use it for mulching our little vegetable garden beds outdoors too. It's a good time to buy hay because it's normally kept in an unheated dry place over the winter which limits the chance of introducing pests from it. I avoid buying hay that was harvested more recently for that reason. I'm a bit paranoid.

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Broke a 110 year record for Mar 14,19c.Forecast for lower teens this next week.Feed store only sells straw bails,cant seem to find a sq bale unless I drive south, but most farmers use the bigass round ones.