Niwas and a jump to living soil in the new year.

[UndergroundFarmer]

The rest of the girls in the pickers came down today! I've been busy collecting fans for cannabis tea and there is a lot of sugar and color in this batch. I've also been in trim jail for the last few days. Even after two weeks of drying, the stuff from the first tent still isn't 100% dry so I'm having to set the jars in the air conditioning and leave them open for about an hour at a time twice day. The Blueberry finally did release some scent after being disturbed a bit, but is still not the terpene monster the Dutch Passion regs were. The Jack Herer has a bit more smell, nice and citrus-y. The Orange Cookies x Nicole freebie surprised me with the extreme frost and super-sweet lemon candy smell that fills the room when the jar is open. I lost most of last night after making a football-shaped piece of hash from what I peeled from my fingers after trimming then doing some "quality testing". Alien Rock Candy, Peyote Z--z and Chocolate Mint OG are yet to be jarred.

Here's two different buds from Peyote Forum before chop:


MAC-1 also purpled up a bit late and not on every bud:


Larry's Lemon OG was a big producer. The lemon smell is still on my fingers as I type.


Granddaddy Purple was also a big producer and did purple up a bit late.


Expert Gorilla absolutely owned its quadrant and then some, spilling over with buds too heavy to support. The flowers are gorgeous with a bit of color and smelling of coffee.



This post will be split because the server is getting stupid.

[UndergroundFarmer]

...continued....

Northern Lights purpled up a bunch after this was taken.


G-13 was dwarfed by mite bites and overgrown by three of its neighbors and will probably only yield about a half ounce. I will try again in the fall.


The 3x3 tent still has goodies such as Sweet Zombie, Purple Urkle and Alien Technology fattening up and there are still two clones of LLOG and MAC-1 to finish before this whole cycle is completely finished, but it is already a huge success for hitting all the marks of frost, terpenes and heavy buds. I could have done better with plant training. I didn't want to mess with a scrog net if I could get away with not doing that but the buds get too heavy growing this way. I will reamend all eight pickers with "green manure" (dead fan leaves and stems), dry organic amendments and minerals plus a fresh dose of worm compost and some ground gnarly barley to help feed the worms then put the mulch covers on and decide whether or not to grow through a hole in the cover or use cover crop like on this grow.

Now to pick out seeds for next. Poor me.

[UndergroundFarmer]

I've been in trim jail most of this week. Peyote Z-z got trimmed last night and yielded two jars and so did OC x Nicole and Alien Rock Candy. Blueberry and Jack Herer didn't quite fill a jar apiece. Chocolate Mint OG is next for trimming and will only need one jar. G-13 won't need a whole quart jar. The rest will yield two or three jars apiece I believe except maybe Peyote Forum. I've been falling asleep stoned on finger hash, so it ain't all bad having so much to dry and trim! Next grow for production in these 4x4s I will only have one plant per picker, manifolded and scrogged and with better starts than these guys got, should yield much more. Now I need to look at the seedbank and pick out sativa regs for seed production during the hot months.

[UndergroundFarmer]

The 4x4s are only being used for drying (and worm buffet). The girls in the 3x3 are foxtailing a bit from the heat and will still need at least another two weeks. The clones in the nursery are looking like they are in week 2 of flower and will move to the 3x3 when empty so I can start some seeds.

Here's a shot of one 4x4 after most reamending was done. I hadn't added the worm compost yet and no pics of that phase were taken because my hands were not touching my phone except in an emergency.



I've since put the mulch covers back on to let the worms do their thing and I believe I will leave them on for this next grow instead of hay and cover crop.

Speaking of next grow - This next one will feature feminized seeds grown out for stash instead of seeds. This is because I accidentally gave away my last jar of Super Lemon Haze last month thinking that there was still one more left besides that one. Not long after, I got some requests from friends who took some of the Lavender from last year for more. The 3x3 will be for the lone seed grow, probably Mother's Finest. I will also not be growing more than one plant per picker again. So I need to pick out six more sativa dominant candidates from the seedbank (unless I double up the Lavender and SLH). I'm looking really hard at the following:

Liberty Haze (Barney's Farm)
Durban Poison (Nirvana)
Fuel D.OG (Seedsman)
Malawi (Ace)
Candyland (Garden of Green)
Sour Tangie (Garden of Green)
Sweet Amnesia Haze (Sweet Seeds)
Train Wreck (Green House)
Acapulco Gold (Barney's Farm)
Bruce Banner (ILGM)
Ghost Train Haze (Rare Dankness) (They're regs, so it would be a gamble.)

I've grown BB and AG before with good results. I've neither grown nor sampled any of the others. Speaking of sampling, I'm liking the OC x Nicole and Peyote Z-z. Alien Rock Candy is good too but will need a long cure to make it truly smokable. Maybe this next batch will come down just as the humidity leaves us for the year.

I'm open to opinions of the candidates if you've grown or tried them. I'm kinda set on four already but there's plenty of time to decide.

[UndergroundFarmer]

There are only four plants remaining from this grow now - two clones each of MAC-1 and Larry's Lemon OG and one of the LLOGs will be cut down next weekend, the rest in another 3-5 weeks.

Here's the last bud porn from the ones cut down last week:

Alien Technology


Larry's Lemon OG


Purple Urkle


Sweet Zombie


These four are all drying in one of the empty 4x4s. Pics taken about a week before chop.

I've been able to sample some of the recently harvested bud and damn, but it's on another level from what I've been getting. It's all making me feel like a noob smoker again! There can be no other way forward now. I've gotten better quality from my bud than the average dispensary before but this stuff is on par with the best stuff I've gotten from dispo weed, both in potency and in jar appeal. I can't wait for the next run. I will only run one plant per picker with scrog netting to keep the manifolded girls from flopping over and should see more than 3 jars per plant like I got from the LLOG and Expert Gorilla. Seeds were started for the next batch grown for stash. The focus is on sativas that can deal with the heat and humidity here. I chose these guys:
Super Lemon Haze and Train Wreck (Green House Seed Co)
Malawi (Ace Seeds)
Liberty Haze and Acapulco Gold (Barney's Farm)
Lavender (Expert Seeds)
Sweet Amnesia Haze (Sweet Seeds)
Durban Poison (Nirvana Seeds)

SLH, Lavender and AG are reruns due to demand from those I share with, the rest are untested. It will be fun to see if they turn out significantly better in living soil. The seeds for the total grow will come in stages. I have to wait until these eight are ready to go into the pickers before I can start the four Mother's Finest (Sensi) for a seed grow in five-gallon pots that will go into the 3x3 once I harvest the last four girls in there. Then I can start four Ghost Train Haze seeds in the nursery for a stash grow in there.

Happy Independence Day to all who celebrate!

[UndergroundFarmer]

I need to start another thread for the next grow which is just getting underway! I may comment again after all the "bonus bud" is harvested and cured. Here's a rudown of how everybody did:

Expert Gorilla (Expert) - filled 3 jars. Buds were large and nicely formed and smell strongly of coffee, chocolate and licorice. Two hits are enough to get me off the ground but not off the couch.

G-13 (ILGM) - Overwhelmed by GDP, produced about a 1/4 oz. Buds were undersized of course but deliver decent indica high. Will try this one again this fall.

Granddaddy Purple (ILGM) - First decent grow I've had of GDP with old seeds, filled 3 jars. Smell isn't as grapey as expected, need to sample for smoke report.

Blueberry (Canuk) - BB didn't grow to potential because of mites, filled one jar. Dutch Passion regs made much better smelling bud. Haven't sampled it yet. Will grow more BB from regs this fall.

MAC-1 (Expert) - Filled 3 jars. Decent smell, more grapey than GDP. Powerful hybrid high. Two clones in flower.

Orange Cookies x Nicole (Seedman) - filled 2 jars. Huge surprise from freebie seed. Unique citrus and vanilla odor. Strong but relaxing high.

Jack Herer (Seedsman) - 1/4 oz (overgrown by OC x Nicole). Citrus smell. Need to sample bud.

Peyote Forum (Seedsman) - one jar filled, was overgrown by LLOG. Purpled up buds similar to GSC. Mild odor and high also similar to GSC.

Peyote Trademark Infringement (Seedsman) - 2 jars full. Slight candy smell and a chill high.

Chocolate Mint OG (Humboldt Seed Org) - about a 1/4 oz, was overgrown by Peyote Z-z, chewed by mites too. Need to sample. Will try again in fall grow.

Larry's Lemon OG (Garden of Green) - 3 full jars. Large buds reeking of lemon. STRONG but relaxing high. Two clones flowering, one about to get the chop.

Alien Rock Candy (Seedsman) - 2 jars full. Weirdly sweet smell. Near psychedelic high when tried early, need to revisit.

Northern Lights (Sensi) - filled one jar (overgrown by Expert Gorilla and LLOG). Lots of frost. Need to sample bud.

Sweet Zombie (Expert), Alien Technology (Prism) and Purple Urkle (Pyramid) are nearly ready to jar up. AT surprisingly has more berry smell than PU. All three chopped later than they should've been but too early for new flowers to mature because of high temp in tent and AT had 'nanners.

The lessons I'm taking from this are that pickers/earth boxes and living soil can produce big grows but it's wise to stick with one plant per container and that this setup produces very heavy buds and shouldn't be done without a net in place. I'll have to remember to spray for pests regularly in veg and hope that a population of predator mites will pick up the slack if I forget. I'm also going to add a bit of ground sprouted grain (Gnarly Barley) once a week to help keep the worms alive. It's mind-blowing how fast the roots from these plants disappeared after the plants were chopped. A few weeks later, the stumps just pull right out from the soil. I can't fail to mention that the bud from this grow is superior to the very good stuff I grew before! At this writing, I've reamended and watered down everything for another batch and should be moving plants in within a week or two. Thanks for following along. See you in the summer grow thread that I need a name for.