Qwiz

The Kids Are Alright
My plants are getting big enough that the canopy is blocking the well-needed lumens from getting to the base of my plants. My kids have out grown their nursery and I need to do a little adjusting. I got out the next set of 4’ fluorescent lights and attached them to the wall so that I have 2 tubes on the top and two tubes on the side. I will rotate the plants to make sure they get light on all sides. Three of the tubes are from the blue spectrum and one is from the red spectrum. The plants are within a foot or so of both sets of lights.

The growth under the canopy is just as important as the growth at the top. I can see that my plants were stretching a bit, growing tall and thin. There were scarcely enough lumens hitting the base of the stalk, making it a little thin compared to the stalk closer to the top. The new branches are forming and this under canopy lighting will greatly promote their growth.

The grow chamber has changed, as I have now done away with the plastic incubator for another season. The plastic has been replaced with a silver emergency blanket I bought in the camping section, for under a dollar. It’s been cut in half and it hangs down a meter long and covers 3 sides. These types of blankets work two fold.

First, they will help keep the lumens in the kid’s room by having them bounce off, back onto the plants. The bouncing effect is still a long way for the lumens to travel and we have seen from the previous posts, just how little effect it will have bouncing back anywhere from 2 to 3’. Although the blanket saves some lumens, it’s not a great deal of savings. Still, every little bit helps.

The second thing the blanket will do for my kids is to keep them warm, as it will reflect the heat back to the plants. The plants won’t need the heat from the monitor, ‘cause the extra set of lights and blanket will compensate nicely. The temp in the kid’s room is a constant 86F with the fan off. These types of blankets will raise the temperature of the room by about 10F. The emergency blanket is made of aluminized non-stretch polyester. Mylar is best to use but it can be expensive and you may need to buy more than you want. I still like the idea of going with an inexpensive set up.
Qwiz

Azathoth

So,can we expect a few shots of the buds,when you're done,and maybe a few growth shots,too,or are we going to have to use our imagination?

Qwiz

Hello Aza,

I can’t promise any pictures ‘cause I don’t have a digital camera.
I will be working hard again this year, to get some pics of the crop.
Grow spots are like fishing holes, they're best when you keep them a secret.
We don’t use a light to get to the spot and I don’t want to use a flash.
We only go to the grow spot at night.

We hung the plants last year but we may change our process this year.
We have a number of alternate plans for the curing process, which I will take you through step by step. There are many variations on growing and curing techniques, as they must apply to each grower’s individual situation.

I do have a pic from the ’03 campaign, to wet your appetite though.
This is a pic of the cola from a blueberry bud after 24hrs of hanging.
It looks a bit brown but when we picked it and got it into proper light it was a magnificent shade of purple.
This bud's for you
Beauty eh?
Qwiz

Qwiz

If you are a late starter because you need the outdoors to grow your bud, there are a couple of things you can do to help improve your chances. Don’t be afraid to plant your seedlings in 4�? pots and then plant the pots in the ground if you plan to move them from the garden, to the secret spot before they are big enough to be noticed. This will avoid additional stress on the plants or a potentially messy transplant. Just make sure your pots have drainage holes and that the soil around the pots will also drain the rainwater, so you don’t drown the plants. This way you can eliminate an additional transplantation. Transplanting, if not done correctly can place the plant in shock or even kill the plant if you butcher the operation.

Plastic two liter pop bottles can be a handy thing for growers. There are many uses for them so you may want to start collecting them. In the early season the tops can be cut off the bottles and they can be placed upside down to give the seed or seedling a perfect greenhouse environment. Any condensation that collects on the top or sides will run back down, to the soil. This way the plants will be safe from frost and chilly weather.

Two liter bottles are also handy for transporting your bud. Assuming you have saved the top that you cut off of the greenhouse, you can use the bottle to carry your plant. The 4�? pot will slip nicely into the bottle and that will keep the plant safe during transportation.

Simply top up your pot with potting soil so that it is all the way to the top of the pot. Apply a layer of cling wrap to each side of the plant to immobilize the soil and the roots in the pot. You may want to cover the sharp edges of the tube portion of the bottle with tape so that when you slip your pot into the 2L carrying case, you won’t cut any of the branches as they fold up nicely on their way down. Take the time to cut off the bottom of the 2L bottle and tape it back in place before you slip your pot in. This will make for easy removal of your plant through the bottom, without having to tip it upside down or have the cola (top branch) bear the weight of the plant, pot and soil as you try to pull it up out of the bottle.

Remember, whatever you bring to the site you must take back with you for disposal. Leave no evidence that will alert any passers by, that there is something in that spot to see. Last thing you want is a "Good Samaritan" to discover your plants ‘cause they care enough to clean up your mess.
Qwiz

Qwiz

The under canopy lighting has really worked wonders as the nodes (branches) are growing like crazy, where the branches meet the stem. I would have liked to of had the second set of lights on the plants from the start but there just wasn’t enough room to accommodate both panels. In past years I started germinating and growing my seedlings later in the season and was able to get them outside in the sun much sooner too. This year’s grow like the others, has presented some new and interesting challenges.

I have been laying off on the water, in anticipation of the next step. My plants are too big for their pots and I need to transplant them to bigger pots. I took the larger pots and filled them with potting soil. I scooped some of the soil from the center of the pot and pushed an empty 4�? pot into the hole. I added more potting soil around the outside of the empty pot, which I used as a mould. I packed the soil around the mould so that when I remover the empty pot, the imprint would stay in the soil.

I grabbed one of the 4�? pots that held the bud and used a butter knife to cut the soil free from the edges of the pot, like muffins in a baking pan. I turned the pot over with my hand covering the top, with the stem of the bud between my fingers. Holding the blade of the knife I used the handle to tap the bottom of the pot to loosen the root and soil, yet keep it all together in one piece. I then placed the root ball and soil, into the awaiting mould and leveled the dirt.

I could see that it was high time they were transplanted because the root was growing quite a bit, circling the bottom of the pot. I used only water to soak them as there are nutrients but no fertilizer in the potting soil and I don’t want to shock the delicate root system. I waited till the soil was good and dry before I attempt the transplant as I find the root and soil come away from the old pot much easier. This makes transplanting less stressful for both the plant and me.

I did half of the plants the first night and waited to see how the plant took the next day, before I transplanted the remaining kids. It’s a little more work to do the plants in stages but it’s safer in the long run.

Looking at the plants, they don’t look any worse for ware and came through the transplant without any signs of shock. These plants are resilient if you treat them with the care they deserve.
Qwiz

Qwiz

The kids spent their first full day outside. I set them out on the deck in the morning. It was a little windy, but I had no second thoughts about it as they were strong enough to face the elements on their own. I’ve had the fan blowing for 12 hours a day now for some time and the plants handled the spring winds without problem. I wasn’t worried that the kids would be alone to face the elements without supervision.

I gave them a good soaking with water only and left them for the day. I didn’t use fertilizer this time, 'cause this would only be the second watering after the transplant operation. Later in the day I noticed it clouded over for a short time and was wondering if we would get rain. I wasn’t too concerned because I had set them outside without their overflow tray for that very reason. Should we get rain the excess would just drain out the holes in the bottom of the pots. As it turned out, we didn’t get rain and it cleared up shortly after that. The day’s sun did wonders to the young plants 'cause when I got back to check on them, I noticed quite a few, fresh green leaves had unfurled all over the place.

I set up my timer and checked that it was working properly with a little test run while the kids were still outside. I have the timer set for 20/4 or 4/20 if you like, 20 hours of light and 4 hours of darkness with the fan running the whole time the lights are on. It’s time to acclimatize the plants to the periods of darkness they will soon be getting in the great outdoors. I brought them in and placed them in their room for another night.
Qwiz

Qwiz

POLICE BACKING OFF ON POT

Toronto First Major Force To Ignore Simple Possession. Ontario Now "Safe Haven" For Marijuana Users, Says Fantino

Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino has told his officers to stop laying charges for simple possession of marijuana.

The decision, Fantino said in a statement yesterday, follows government inaction and court decisions that leave police wondering "whether simple possession of marijuana is an offence at all."

Tom Kaye, president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, echoed Fantino's move and yesterday advised police leaders across the province to "use discretion in situations that involve the simple possession of marijuana."

It's the first time a major Canadian police force - and a provincial organization of chiefs of police - have taken such a stand on cases involving simple marijuana possession.

Fantino said police will simply seize the drugs and record the circumstances, with a view to possibly laying a charge later "following clarification of the law by the court of appeal or Parliament."

But that, said Toronto criminal lawyer Paul Copeland, could leave police officers open to lawsuits. "It's legal to smoke pot in this province," he said yesterday. "My opinion is there is no law in Ontario prohibiting possession of up to 30 grams, or a gram of hashish, for that matter."

Allan Blakeney, president of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and a former Saskatchewan premier, agreed. (end)

Qwiz

The plants have been watered twice with room temperature water only, since the last grow post. The first one was at the time of transplant and the second one was a week ago. This most recent time I decided to add some nutrients from my (3-1-2) fertilizer. I mixed up a batch at 50% of the recommended strength and gave it to the plants. This fertilizer is new to me and highly concentrated. I gave the plants a good watering with the fertilizer. This time I soaked them till the water ran out the bottom of the pots. I was amazed at how much water these pots could take.

I noticed a little later, that some of the leaves on a couple of the plants started looking a little odd. I had never seen this before. Some of the leaves had a weird shape to them like they were taking the shape of an upside down canoe. I had burned plants before but they would get rust colored tips or the jagged edges of the leaves would get a little rusty color to them. This type of nutrient burn I'm familiar with, but this canoeing effect was a little new to me. The leaves in question had no discoloration. In fact they were dark green. This didn’t look right to me so I decided to flush them.

I took the kids and placed them on my deck and place a couple of long pieces of wood trim, parallel to each other, like rails. I set the pots without the overflow trays, on the rails to get them off up, off the deck and flushed them with gallons of water, to help dilute the fertilizer. I flushed them with the water I had sitting at room temperature, in the blue water jug I use for camping. I must say that’s a handy thing to have. The excess water just ran out the bottom drainage holes in the pots. I repeated the process until I felt I had sufficiently diluted the fertilization.

Well I had a chance to do some research, to find what the problem was. With my high concentration of nitrogen (N) the dark green canoeing was a classic example of too much nitrogen. I went back and checked the instructions and it seems I made a mistake and used the directions for gardens as apposed to the directions for houseplants. Turns out, rather than giving the plants what I thought was 50% of the recommended strength, I gave the plants 150% of the recommended dosage. The plants look fine now and have stabilized but due to a momentary brain spasm, I almost murdered my kids. I hope you have learned from my mistake and I hope I have too. Although, it seems I’m never truly happy unless I over fertilize at least once a season.
Qwiz

blueshuttle

Tomorrow, pot smokers can rejoice all over Canada!

there is a god after all...

Qwiz

Hello Blue,
Unfortunately there is a difference between having a law protect you and having a law struck down. The first is instantly recognizable and gives you certain rights. With the law being struck down the authorities are trying to keep a lid on it until new legislation is written.

In some of the smaller cities the local police will try to make your life difficult if they catch you smoking. If there is another charge they can write you up for they will do it. Then again if you light up in front of them, then they see it as being disrespectful to their authority and forcing them into action. They have no idea what they can do, they just feel they must do something. They will try to find something else to get you on. They may take your stash or if you’re driving and smoking they will try to write you a ticket for something else. It’s best to be polite, respectful and aware of your rights! The intimidation tactics will be in full force but I will carry on with “out of sight out of mind.�? Just got to be cool about it.
Qwiz