1st ever outdoor in n. Alberta using Sebring auto fems!

[Shadey]

They are all looking nice and healthy Lab, I hope you get to to finish them off.

I started using the STS 10 days ago going to flip them shortly. I thought I would giver them 2 doses before I did as I want to get them producing male flowers asap, so the seeds have plenty of time to mature.

Temps are cooling down here thankfully staying around the mid 25C’s. Allowing me to do some stuff in the back yard without getting soaked in sweat in 30 seconds. I got to get 30 cubic meters of clean fill for an area we have re claimed from weeds and bull rushes and covered in weed barrier. I might be able to get down there with the chainsaw as well soon, and start cutting up the fallen trees. Did the ones out the front no bother, except the big dead one, that is leaning over 15 degrees. I think I might get a pro in for that one, the lean is taking it towards the road, and I dont want a bill from the government for cleaning it up if it goes the wrong way, and blocks the road off lol.

Daughter left today for Kelowna with her boyfriend, I am hoping he can find some work out there quickly, so he doesn’t burn through his saved monies, and has to come back here lol. I have been researching the cheapest way to get out there next year for her graduation. We need to take the dog as well, as it has real bad separation anxiety, and a dodgy hip, needs to be carried if it needs to walk more than 10 ft now. Thought we might get it on a plane with us, but she is too big by 2 inches, in all directions

So looking for a cheap second hand camper, and do a 10 day drive out, 10 days back, and 2 weeks there if the wife can get that much time off work. Its nearly $4000 to hire one and will use close to $2500 in gas for a 20ft motor home, so I may as well buy one.

[LabRat]

All? Down to the one plant now outside. Solid rain today so went out and covered the ground around her so it doesn’t fill up and drown her. I dug the holes in solid clay so there is no drainage if the soil I added gets saturated and the rain looks like another day’s worth yet. I’ve only had to give her water twice since I planted them near the end of June. Even thru the hot times we still got cloudbursts enough to keep them watered. Now that she’s on her own she can pull water from the other 3 empty spots too as they are all linked. I need a good long dry spell so I can feed her some bloom foods tho there is a lot of everything in the mix I made so might not need any.

I got lucky with my trees. ATCO the people who do maintenance for the electric here showed up last week and are going to show up and take down a lot of dead trees out front that pose a hazard to the power line coming in off the highway. She went out and spray painted the ones to be cut and it’s all the ones I planned to cut so saves me and my saw a lot of work. I took out the tall one at the back that could have hit the line and dropped it exactly where I wanted to. Took out a bunch of smaller 30 footers too and think I overheated my chain bucking up the trunks as it’s all dead wood and heats up the chain faster than live wood. I know the oiler is working good for it. Just hold the tip of the saw close to some light coloured surface and rev it up a bit and you should see a line of oil hit the surface.

Any way you do it that trip to Kelowna is going to cost a pretty penny. You don’t think you might be better off just driving the car and staying at motels? Going to be a gruelling trip just doing the driving and a hot shower before bed will be better than sex! lol

You’ll get to see a lot of the country tho the trip thru the prairies will be pretty boring. I’m still hoping to make the drive some day as I’ve never done that before or visited the east coast. I’m kinda hoping to head out to see mom and the boys late Oct when the coho salmon are running so I can get some decent fishing in with my sons. Not likely tho and I was a bit too late last year. Talked to mom yesterday and she’s still doing good and will be 93 on the 27th so will talk to her again soon.

Had my cystoscopy, (camera up my dick), done last Monday. Was pretty weird but didn’t really hurt. He shoots some numbing gel up there first so it feels really creepy and I got to watch the whole thing in hi-rez in full colour on the monitor which keeps your mind off how embarrassing and strange it all is.

The most embarrassing part was hoisting up my gown and laying back with 4 female nurses/med students standing around watching the doc do the procedure. Oh well, got to flash a bunch of young ladies with nobody calling the cops and the best part was nobody laughed! Clean bill of health for that and now he wants me to go to Edmonton for my next MRI as there is a bumpy 1cm area on the prostate they aren’t sure of and they have a much better machine there. If that spot looks like something’s going on then I’ll have to have a targeted biopsy to get a sample but that’s almost a year away so not going to worry about it now. Might just start taking RSO myself now and maybe there will be nothing there by the time I get that next MRI.

[Shadey]

Lol it’s 1 plant at 2 different angles not 2 plants, squinty stoner eyes and a need for new glasses.

The car would be the cheapest option if the accommodation on route is cheap. I like the idea of a camper as cheap accommodation and no set in stone plan of direction and pre booked rooms. If we find somewhere we might want to spend a bit more time at.

Plus now the daughter has moved out the house, its to big for just me and the misses. So now I can re decorate and finish the house off properly, without having Zeus the horse dog causing a lot of wear and tear.

Sell it maybe and get a smaller house somewhere, and travel around Canada checking out some amazing places.

[ShiskaberrySavior]

You spray sts prior to flowering ? I’ll need to read up on how to do it properly I’ve got some coming in the mail should be here next week .

[Shadey]

There are different ways to do it, I want those male flowers as quick as possible, and this way seems to be it from what I read.

[LabRat]

@Shadey

The car would be the cheapest option if the accommodation on route is cheap. I like the idea of a camper as cheap accommodation and no set in stone plan of direction and pre booked rooms. If we find somewhere we might want to spend a bit more time at.

Pros and cons for either scenario but you have some time to figure it all out. Can be hard to find a safe parking spot for overnighting in a camper or motorhome. Then with motels there’s always bedbugs or a hooker working out of the next room to consider. lol

If I ever win some lotto money I want to get a nice new Ural motorcycle with an enclosed sidecar and maybe a small trailer and ride across the country staying at motels as I go. Be packing a little tent and some gear too in case of breakdowns. Need the enclosed sidecar to carry all my fishing rods or jump into in case of a nasty storm. If the money isn;t too big then I’ll settle for a used Royal Enfield w sidecar.

Downsizing is a good idea especially if you end up with extra cash. A smaller house saves work and can always have a nice shed put in for a grow/hobby place to hang out in. Our place is about the right size for us but way too cluttered so need to get rid of a lot of stuff. If lotto money is involved then I’m the hell out of here ASAP!

Who knows. A cross country trip at leisure may find you a place you’d rather live. You should try to get out to Vancouver Island or some of the gulf Islands while out in BC. Warmer climate than where you are at but pretty pricey in Victoria and cheaper the further north on the Island you go. Go have a proper High Tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria on the waterfront. Still kicking my ass for coming up here rather than Campbell River which was an option at the time and where I would likely go if on my own now.

[LabRat]

@ShiskaberrySavior

You spray sts prior to flowering ? I’ll need to read up on how to do it properly I’ve got some coming in the mail should be here next week .

I got my instructions from Sebring and scanned them to be able to send copies to folks I might sent the chemicals to so they can make their own STS. The instructions say to mix both parts together to make a full litre of the concentrated STS that needs to be diluted 9:1 but I plan to use only 1/10th of each to make a 1L batch of STS ready to use at a time. The stock sol’ns should keep on their own for years if kept dark and cool but once mixed together have a limited shelf life. 1L should be more than enough for a couple plants or more so it would be a shame to waste 9L of it if not used up.

When you mix the two parts together you need rapid stirring while pouring Part B in over 30sec to one min for the reaction to work properly. Years ago I found this tiny whisk somewhere and knew I’d have a use for it someday.

Are you getting your chemicals in measured amounts or bought more bulk amounts that need measuring out? These are the instruction I got from @Sebring with my hand scribbled notes at the bottom about using 50ml of each for each 1L batch of STS. Same format as a fax file and should be able to be printed out if you have a printer. Won’t allow me to upload a .tif file so I’ll change it to something else that can be printed out. just a mo . . .

I’ve read other instructions that say to start spraying a week before flipping to flower and there are different methods for spraying a branch only or doing autoflowering plants. If one starts early on a plant that hasn’t started flowering yet and it’s a male plant I wonder if you get lady flowers coming out on a male plant? lol

[ShiskaberrySavior]

Not sure how it’s going to be packaged it’s coming from Sebring so maybe the same way yours shipped!

[Shadey]

The chemicals only block female hormone in the plant so it won’t change a boy to a girl

How important is the mixing bit I just used a chop stick, added half of the a to the b stock and stirred but not briskly, pouring and stirring is hard with shaky hands, then I just added the other half of the a to the b and stirred again, poured into the water and shook it for a couple of minutes.

[LabRat]

@ShiskaberrySavior

Not sure how it’s going to be packaged it’s coming from Sebring so maybe the same way yours shipped!

I would imagine he’ll send along the instructions too. Such a great guy helping out all sorts of folks and not just pot growers.

I would have liked the fem autos to work out better but shit happens and it didn’t cost bugger all to try. I’ve still got seeds yet to sprout so can still find one to spray down and make a good batch of fem autos for next spring. I’m really hot to grow that one in the garden out and have clones to try inside. A good photo hi-CBD plant is much desired as well. I don’t want to grow autos indoors other than to breed them.

Got started on my cloning. I put a tarp under the plant yesterday when it was raining and just went out to take it up an hour ago and I guess a lower branch got caught under it and broke off when I moved the tarp. Grabbed my new cloning gel and a pot of the ProMix I had already mixed up from my last repotting job and have it in the dome under the fluoros. The branch would have looked like a decent plant in a small pot it was so big. Hope it roots but I’m still going to get a couple smaller cuttings and need to get some others too from some other plants.

Tossing some plants and sprouting some new seeds.

[LabRat]

@Shadey

The chemicals only block female hormone in the plant so it won’t change a boy to a girl

How important is the mixing bit I just used a chop stick, added half of the a to the b stock and stirred but not briskly, pouring and stirring is hard with shaky hands, then I just added the other half of the a to the b and stirred again, poured into the water and shook it for a couple of minutes.

I kinda thought that was the way it worked.

Should have worked OK just stirring but I know from lab work at school you were supposed to really be mixing it briskly for instructions like that. Maybe get the wife to do part of it next time. She mix while you pour slowly or something.

[Shadey]

Yeah I want to get this right the first time, I will mix a fresh batch and give them another spray. It says in the destructions it will cause things to go brown if you get this stuff on something, I don’t see any of the dripping residue in the clone cab making any brown marks, so it’s probably not right.

I will bend up a piece of coat hanger wire and stick it in my drill to use with a heavy glass bowl that will be a lot more efficient than a chop stick and a pair of shaky hands and a small plastic paint mixing pot lol.

[LabRat]

That should work! Try it with water first in case it’s a little too good and splashes stuff all over the place.

Something I was thinking about yesterday was using one of the blades out of a broken hand mixer. Some even come with different blades that can be swapped out in those things and would work fine in a drill. That drill in the pic I posted has a Hi and Low switch and I’ll be running it on low. Still pretty fast tho and should work fine.

Working with a larger volume would be easier but you can’t dilute either part before the initial mixing or the needed reaction likely wouldn’t work. I’ve yet to mix up a batch so not sure if there is any visual indication that there is a reaction going on. When I decide to flip those kush into flower I’ll mix one up and spray a branch on one of them to see how it goes.

[Shadey]

I didn’t see any indication of it mixing or not, I will run mine on low. Good idea on experimenting with the water first, I was thinking about how to stop it splashing everywhere, 100mil is not a lot of volume to mix, in fact I only did 25 mil of each into 450mil of water. I hate wasting stuff.

I just made up some more distilled water.

[LabRat]

I might go with 25 each to now to think of it. I have a nice 100ml beaker that would be perfect for the job and will fit in my 3-finger clamp on my lab stand securely too. I have a few 500ml brown glass bottles and a couple spray heads to fit them so that would work fine. Have a couple 1L ones as well but would rather use them for colloidal silver storage. Need to get busy and fill them up.

What are you making your distilled water with?

[Shadey]

My water/alcohol distilling machine.

[Shadey]

Tried making another batch this morning, fucked it up I picked up a bottle of alcohol instead of distilled water, as I am using the old alc bottles to store it in ffs.

Second time was good. I used an allen key in the drill after cleaning with the alcohol along with all the paint measuring cup and mixing bowl, which is why I picked up the wrong bottle.

I did 1 second bursts on high speed alternating clockwise and anticlockwise same as how I degas my wine. It did change colour this time looked like very weak tea with no milk. Then I added it to the water, and not the alcohol lol, and gave it a good shake in the spray bottle.

[misterbee]

I spray 3 days BEFORE the flip, then 10 - 20 days, once per day. I’ve known some to spray TWICE a day for 14 - 21 days. Stay safe/be well.

[LabRat]

@misterbee

I spray 3 days BEFORE the flip, then 10 - 20 days, once per day. I’ve known some to spray TWICE a day for 14 - 21 days. Stay safe/be well.

That sounds like you’re using colloidal silver but we’re talking about silver thiosulfate, STS. Same principle, different procedure.

[LabRat]

@Shadey

My water/alcohol distilling machine.

Have you got one of those countertop distillers that hold 4L? I’m thinking of getting one as it would be a lot easier to use than my DIY still and saw a guy use one for alcohol in a video. Hoping it can do naphtha too tho it has about 10-12 degree C lower BP than booze. I’ll be pissed if I spend $200 on one and it won’t do that but it should. Hoping I can use my variac to cut the power a bit.