Maine 2021

I guess this is Day 0 , way behind getting started. Another 28 days till sexing.
Just popped the sprouted rapid rooters in 2 cups ProMix
Tap roots had nice mycos growth in the rooters, b.bassiana spores across the top.
Easier to transplant and water evenly with the fabric bags, more time to fill initially though.

~# , including the stems

Nice...not too late at all. These going in fabric pots or in the ground?

NewEnglandFarmer said:

Nice...not too late at all. These going in fabric pots or in the ground?

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Probably the fabric pots with risers wrapped in chicken wire again, I can roll them later in the season.

Heading into week 5 here. Overall things looking good: 1 Chinook Haze ended up with a partly broken stem because I had a few plants sitting in a fairly exposed spot and the breeze picked up. Hopefully it'll recover--I brought it inside and will baby it for a week, packed some additional soil around the stem (broken part is buried now). Will keep it indoors for a week and see if it can heal up.

Only other issue is that one of the Cherry Wines was showing the "taco" shaped leaves yesterday afternoon. It was fairly warm, though not really all that hot. Is tacoing a sign of the plant trying to cool itself off? I gave her a little water in the afternoon but the leaves still looked curled at dusk. Plus looks a little "crinkly." What do you think this is? Here's the plant after I brought her in for the night, just before turning the lights off last night. It's about 63 degrees in the shed.



Here's the whole gang. I know my light setup here is pretty ghetto, but it's just for a couple hours in the evenings, they spend the day outside at this point.



Got my soil test results back for the area where all the Cherry Wines are going in the ground, not too bad at all. pH was 6, much higher than where last year's garden was (4.9!). I'll add a small amount of lime and a few other amendments to each planting hole but I should be able to use mainly native soil with some composted cow manure mixed in.

I need to rig up a way to pump water from the brook for irrigation. Anybody have any recommended gear? Not close enough to run power from the house--a solar-powered pump would be pretty slick, but if I have to run a gasoline motor pump or generator I will. Certainly not going to be carry 5g buckets from the brook like last year, not with this many more plants!

Been fairly dry so far this spring, planning on a hot dry summer again but maybe we'll get more rain.

Brown-tail moth caterpillars are just showing up now--total nightmare (we're in year 4 of a bad infestation here in the midcoast). They didn't touch any of my cannabis plants last year but they'll strip an entire Red Oak in a matter of weeks. Just devastating. Thought about trying to spray some of the canopies in Bt but no way to get a spray that high up (50-80 feet) without destroying the bacteria with a high-velocity nozzle. Going to try banding the tree trunks with aluminum tape or possibly some special "goop"--maybe that will keep the caterpillars from climbing back up into the trees and stripping them bare.

Oh, and did I mention the ticks? They've been endemic here for some time, but this spring has been by far the worst ever. I'm pulling the bastards off me pretty much all day and whereas normally I might get 1 or 2 embedded in a season, so far this year I've probably had a dozen. Really bad. I swear I must have Lyme resistance built up from exposure over the years because I would surely have Lyme disease by now.

Hope everyone's doing well. Let's see updates.

NewEnglandFarmer said:

Oh, and did I mention the ticks?

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I feel your pain. I'd guesstimate I've been crushing about 50 ticks or so a day, and then there's the 3 or 4 that magically materialize even after changing clothes and showering when chilling at home in the evening.

About 15 years ago I got tired of hauling water from a stream for the garden. Thought about a RAM pump, but opted for a little honda pump instead. Worked well, lightweight and very economical on gas. Used it to fill a couple 275 gallon ICB containers. The stream elevation was
maybe 15 -20 feet below the garden site, and the little pump did alright. I paid about $320 then, looks like they're in the low $400 range these days.

Rob Roy said:

I feel your pain. I'd guesstimate I've been crushing about 50 ticks or so a day, and then there's the 3 or 4 that magically materialize even after changing clothes and showering when chilling at home in the evening.

About 15 years ago I got tired of hauling water from a stream for the garden. Thought about a RAM pump, but opted for a little honda pump instead. Worked well, lightweight and very economical on gas. Used it to fill a couple 275 gallon ICB containers. The stream elevation was
maybe 15 -20 feet below the garden site, and the little pump did alright. I paid about $320 then, looks like they're in the low $400 range these days.
View attachment 4902081

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Thanks, that looks like a slick rig. I'll put it on the list for sure. Would love to rig up a solar setup (I installed 6.4kW worth of panels with a battery backup system in my house so as you can tell I love solar).

So you kill 50-60 ticks a day? Wow, I thought I had it bad. Like you say, though, the worst is in the evening inside the house when you think you're safe. I woke up this morning and found one on my shirt sleeve--and I assure you I checked myself very thoroughly before bed. Never seen it this bad here, and it's been pretty bad in the past. So how is it they were able to come up with a COVID vaccine in less than a year but they've been working on a Lyme vaccine for 20+ years and still nothing? Guess they aren't investing the time/money needed to get it done. Too bad because I know quite a few people whose lives have been totally upended by Lyme. And a lots of undiagnosed Lyme cases too. Big problem.

NewEnglandFarmer said:

Thanks, that looks like a slick rig. I'll put it on the list for sure. Would love to rig up a solar setup (I installed 6.4kW worth of panels with a battery backup system in my house so as you can tell I love solar).

So you kill 50-60 ticks a day? Wow, I thought I had it bad. Like you say, though, the worst is in the evening inside the house when you think you're safe. I woke up this morning and found one on my shirt sleeve--and I assure you I checked myself very thoroughly before bed. Never seen it this bad here, and it's been pretty bad in the past. So how is it they were able to come up with a COVID vaccine in less than a year but they've been working on a Lyme vaccine for 20+ years and still nothing? Guess they aren't investing the time/money needed to get it done. Too bad because I know quite a few people whose lives have been totally upended by Lyme. And a lots of undiagnosed Lyme cases too. Big problem.

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Yep, I'm a tick magnet.

Let's not get me started on the covid thing though. Lol.

I set up 6, 170 watt panels for an off grid house quite a few years back. Enough to run lights and a few things, but propane fridge and wood heat to lighten the electrical draw. Clothes line, no dryer, gas generator when needing to run saws and stuff for building projects etc..

Seems like solar prices have really come down these days. If you go that way for a pump, I'd be interested in seeing what you get and how it works out. If you have a year round moving stream, RAM pumps have some potential. Always wanted to make one of those.

NewEnglandFarmer said:

Thanks, that looks like a slick rig. I'll put it on the list for sure. Would love to rig up a solar setup (I installed 6.4kW worth of panels with a battery backup system in my house so as you can tell I love solar).

So you kill 50-60 ticks a day? Wow, I thought I had it bad. Like you say, though, the worst is in the evening inside the house when you think you're safe. I woke up this morning and found one on my shirt sleeve--and I assure you I checked myself very thoroughly before bed. Never seen it this bad here, and it's been pretty bad in the past. So how is it they were able to come up with a COVID vaccine in less than a year but they've been working on a Lyme vaccine for 20+ years and still nothing? Guess they aren't investing the time/money needed to get it done. Too bad because I know quite a few people whose lives have been totally upended by Lyme. And a lots of undiagnosed Lyme cases too. Big problem.

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What type of ticks you see over your way? used to be all wood-dog ticks around here that changed 10-15 yrs ago now all i see is deer ticks an they get smaller every yr. they make lyme vaccine for dogs its strange none for humans.

I get less deer ticks with less deer around, neighbors guarding their shrubs with a silencer and night vision scope is my guess.

A mix but seems like mostly deer ticks now. When I bought the land and built my house in '01 we didn't even notice any ticks. That changed in a few years, now it's just Tick city. Dog got Lyme about 15 years back--knocked him completely on his ass overnight. All of a sudden stopped eating and drinking--vet put him on antibiotics immediately and it turned right around. That's the key, immediate treatment.

I knew a woman who worked at a lab. in Portland that was working on a Lyme vaccine for humans back in 2001-2002. Twenty years later and we still don't have a vaccine. Clearly Pfizer and those companies figure there's no money it for them so aren't bothering to invest in R&D. USG should be funding research, Lyme is a major problem.

Huge explosion of dog ticks where i am as well. I've never seen them this bad, finding them inside even after a clothes change. Yesterday, I visited a friend and we chatted on their GRAVEL driveway for 5 minutes. When I was driving home, had one crawl into the corner of my EYE!

Thankfully, they dont seem to be biting/sucking and double thankful it's not deer ticks blooming. Lyme is terrible where i am as well. I agree, Farmer, funny how there hasnt been much headway on that but they can fast track a covid "vaccine " LOL

natureboygrower said:

I agree, Farmer, funny how there hasnt been much headway on that but they can fast track a covid "vaccine " LOL

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Yet another problem with our for-profit healthcare system. Pharma figures Lyme is a relatively minor regional problem, not a big enough market for them to make gobs of $$ so they don't bother to invest much in R&D.

It's such a complex disease, a bacteria that acts like a virus almost. Mice carrier are the key to it's spread by ticks, thats where the money has to go.
Ticks need to feed on infected mice usually at 2 stages in their development to pass it to other animals.

Just looking at my empty pots, late start, cracked my last Poison Warp seeds for indoor.
The semiauto Critical + seedlings are growing fast, lots of ruderalis in that.
Anyone know how the Kodiak Poison is vs the Poison Warp?

Need to setup the tent again, get the root temps higher now that the vegetables are out of the way.
Forgot to transplant the 3 volunteers I found a couple weeks ago, hopefully I didn't step on them.

NewEnglandFarmer said:

Yet another problem with our for-profit healthcare system. Pharma figures Lyme is a relatively minor regional problem, not a big enough market for them to make gobs of $$ so they don't bother to invest much in R&D.

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I see the problem with for profit healthcare healthcare resting in the lack of "allowable" alternatives consumers really have.

Honest profit is a good thing. Dishonest profit isn't.

Honest profit is made, when two people make a trade they both agree to, each of them "profits" or they wouldn't have agreed to the trade.

There is a direct link between interventionist government licensure and regulation to the dishonest "for profit healthcare system". They are conjoined and in bed with each other. Much like the military industrial complex that needs a boogie man and feeds / causes much of the unneeded wars and global mayhem.

Whenever a company generates high profits due to government protectionism, it's usually because their potential competition has been regulated out of existence or regulatorily prevented from existing in the first place. When that happens, there are fewer potential suppliers, and prices are kept artificially high. There's the "dishonest profit" ,

For instance during heavy weed prohibition, people paid as much as $400 an ounce in my recollection. As regulations dropped and we've entered into a kind of "prohibition lite" era, (being "allowed" to grow a few plants in many places) the supply of weed has grown. Prices have dropped.

Moral of the story, the more you get government OUT of any kind of business, the better opportunities for entrepreneurs and customers alike. The more honest profit is the norm and both supplier and consumer benefit.

Sorry for the brief monologue....Sativa morning. Off to grow some weed now.

Thread starting to drift here--my fault, I brought up the ticks and Lyme disease. Back to growing: my question about the taco leaves on that one plant got missed. Anybody have ideas on that?

Surprisingly hot here yesterday. Hit 76. Ground is dry, dry, dry. Have a feeling going to be irrigating heavily this summer. Will be interesting when the brook dries up later in the summer...

Looking good so far--many working on their 4th set of leaves now. I've stopped moving them inside the shed at night, chances of frost are slim at this point and I can just move them back in for a night if necessary. Hopefully some of these will start showing sex this week or next so I can start putting them in the ground:


The garden from last year is all prepped. I added just a little elemental sulfur to bring the pH down a tad (overshot a bit last year) and some greensand for iron (last fall's test showed slightly low level there). Way overdid it on phosphorus last year (composted cow manure had plenty, I shouldn't have added the fishbone meal topdressing for bloom, live and learn). Mulched with hay over the planting areas, white pine chips over the surrounding area--it's dry as hell here now, probably be like this all summer, mulch really helps keep moisture in the ground and the worms and microbeasties seem to thrive beneath it. This is the MJ garden, hemp is going in a different spot:


Sounds like we may get some showers this weekend, hoping for a good soaking, we really need it.

Hoping to have everything in the ground before the full moon in June.

Looking good i put my first round of plants in the ground yesterday,I was going to wait but 10 day outlook looks nice an warm if not hot.

Fellow Mainers, in case you're unaware there's likely to be big-time thunderstorm activity this afternoon with high wind and possibly hail. Forecast even says to keep an eye out for an isolated tornado.

So batten down the hatches ASAP! And pray for lots of rain.

I left some of my plants out last night in a somewhat exposed location (was trying to give them maximum sun) and it was windy as hell--I almost got out of bed to bring them in but decided not to. Fetched them this morning, one is leaning way over and a few had torn leaves but they survived. Will bring them in the shed for the storm today.

In addition to the drought we've had 4 straight days of very gusty winds here--which dries stuff out even more. Don't know about other but I've been in Maine for 23 years now and it definitely seems like it's a lot windier. The past 2-3 years especially. Last year the September windstorm pretty much flattened the garden but the girls recovered quickly. Definitely need to put up stout support this year, expecting more of the same.

92 in the shade here,Got frost warning next 3 nights LOL Been right where i am 61 yrs lots more spring-fall winds now. Before last yr the last ten yrs have been very wet i love this dry hot stuff now that i have time to water things. My tomatos an peppers all got flowers not even june yet.