The cheapest grow ever?

Welcome to RIU and thanks for the kind words. I hope you enjoy yourself here. There is so much to learn.

zoic said:

Welcome to RIU and thanks for the kind words. I hope you enjoy yourself here. There is so much to learn.

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Wooo! Thank you kindly! Lovin watching your progress. Fingers crossed for ya!

Life has been ugly for a bit lately, but I finally have my daughters used iPhone 4S. Just what I wanted, an easy to use digital camera. So I took some pics and discovered my problem.
PICNIC error:
Problem In Camerman, Not In Camera.
I do not understand this, but I will add cameras to my list of my inept use of technology, right up there with TV/VCR remotes. How is it I can replace a motherboard in an hour, and I am talking LAPTOP here. Building, fixing, installing software is all easy peasy for me, but hand me a remote and watch closely as I end up in a Russian menu in the first 3 clicks.
This is so damn frustrating, so here are some pics and I will get my wife to finish the photo shoot later. There are actually 5 plants in flower, but one pic was so dark it was not worth posting. Day 50 in flower now.

OK, now for the sad sacks. Picture one is a plant that I topped at about week 4. It just would not stop stretching and around week 9 in just started to flower on a 16/8 light schedule. Plant 2 was also topped and was stretching as well. I moved Plant 1 upstairs with plant 2 and switched the lights to 12/12. They are both so spindly and pathetic looking I want to just scrap them, but so much time invested has me thinking I should just finish it anyways. I doubt that it could even support any decent buds without imploding.

zoic said:

OK, now for the sad sacks. Picture one is a plant that I topped at about week 4. It just would not stop stretching and around week 9 in just started to flower on a 16/8 light schedule. Plant 2 was also topped and was stretching as well. I moved Plant 1 upstairs with plant 2 and switched the lights to 12/12. They are both so spindly and pathetic looking I want to just scrap them, but so much time invested has me thinking I should just finish it anyways. I doubt that it could even support any decent buds without imploding.

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These bagseed or known genetics?

Bagseed. I do not even know which of the possible 12-15 strains it was from. I toyed with putting them outside but I cannot see how they would survive any serious rainfall. I think I need to get to a place where I chuck out the lame plants and keep the best ones, like a lot of folks on here seem to do.

It's hard to beat dirt, sunlight and compost for cheap.

Just saying...

Compost is something I want to try again. My first attempt created a concoction so foul I could not use it.

zoic said:

Compost is something I want to try again. My first attempt created a concoction so foul I could not use it.

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That would have been a result of anaerobic decomposition. You want the aerobic kind. You just need more dry organic material.

Thanks much. I will confer with you at some point for advice, once I get it started up again.

zoic said:

Thanks much. I will confer with you at some point for advice, once I get it started up again.

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A wise man knows his limitations. I would have you go to the organic section and get competing advice from the experts you'll find there.

No worries, I research the shit out of everything. Just like a little guidance now and then from people who clearly have a very successful grow.

Cutting, drying and curing:

OK, I am in the 11th hour here so I want to get some info on cutting. I have read scads of info on drying and curing, but there seems to be little info on Step 1. What I was thinking was to cut of all the stems and branches, then hang them to dry. Once completed I would cut down the main stalk to about a foot and plant it outside to see if re-vegging is viable for me. One of my buddies did it in the 70's, and the buds of his 4th regrow were the size of my forearm, and crazy potent.

Option B I could just cut the whole plant and stuff it in a yard waste bag to dry. Really not sure which is the preferred method for chopping my plants down. I really cannot see any specific advantage of hanging it like you would with a side of beef.

Is there any advantage to turning off the lights for however long before cutting? I have seen that mentioned a bunch of times, just not sure if it matters very much.

Thanks all.

Zoic,

I'm a fan fo chopping the whole plant and hanging it to dry. I find after a week or so hanging its ready to trim, buck, and cure.

Revegging works if you leave enough lower buds and didn't run the plant dead in flower.

At least 12 hours dark and preferably 24, to use up all the harsh starch which is stored during the light period. Hanging is good for the reasons that it allows good air flow and also won't cause flattened buds like laying them on something will. Also good to rinse the plants off to get rid of any mold that may be on them but can't be seen. A spray bottle is an easy way to do it, with deionized water, just spray the hanging buds until a fair amount runs off. I guess something like a weed sprayer would be better than a spray bottle if there's a lot. You'd have to do it somewhere that water runoff wouldn't be a problem though. Of course you could just dunk them but then the dunk water would gradually get dirtier.

Got some soil outdoors? cover it with straw, woodchips, autumn leaves or whatever organic mulch you have around, give it the occasional sprinkle of water and it will create living soil that will outperform bagged up compost. Yes, these plants consume some nitrogen, but I have never seen it run out outdoors in soil.

I had one plant that got these weird moth thingies make small cocoon things all over it. S oI just left it to see what it did as all the other plants were harvested already.
It grew strangle leaves around the flowers for a while and then just went on with life for a total of 11 months from seed.

OK, thanks for the info. Not sure if I am even going to bother but I just cannot shake the memory of those giant buds. It was an indoor closet grow and the outdoor season around here seems a bit short IMO.

So I had my wife take some better pics, here they are:

I was looking in close with my magnifier and discovered the plant in the last picture has a lot of amber trichs now. This is not one of the GSC and I think I am going to chop it at the end of the month. I think I may take one bud from it today and get a jump on drying and curing. This is actually the first time I have grown and made it to flower.

I found some mason jars at Crappy Tire. Walmart had none, citing it as a seasonal item. I have an empty cabinet with doors just waiting store my treasures.

Hey there zoic! I'm here to say hello and see how you are. I only read your last three posts. I want to say, dang, just enjoy those buds you grew! Rock it, (like I am), and kick it on ahead! Big praise for what you did! Good to know ya. Thank you so much for sharing. P E A C E.

Hey nsky, thanks for all the kind words. I look forward to seeing your grow journal someday. Were it not for all the awesome help and great advice in this forum, I doubt I would have made it this far since I was unable to do so in all previous attempts. It is so much easier to grow with experts so ready to jump in and give good advice.

On a side note, I was sure when you first posted beginning of May your profile showed you as 53. Now it shows you are 54, which begs to ask, did you have a birthday recently, or is my old brain playing memory tricks on me, LOL.