Howdy Overgrowers,
Thanks for stopping by! I’m new to OG and feel comfortable enough to start sharing.
I don’t have any social media and hope to use this as a place to store my time with cannabis and her powerful influence along my journey.
A little about me to start.
I am a hermit.
I live off-grid in Vermont (The nearest powerline is 1.25 miles away).
My house is equipt with a fairly small setup:
6 panels with a shared inverter.
8 nano carbon(still lead acid) batteries.
Backup propane generator connected to a 1000g tank(holds 850g).
Cannabis has been the needle in my compass since the first time she filled my lungs. At that time I was only 19, now 36, and had no idea the seed she planted in me.
That seed soon broke open, and the one thing I needed manifested. A teacher.
Many years passed with many lessons learned.
Through all this time I was buying from roommates or friends. I also sold for a bit so I didn’t need to pay for it. But as years went on, her effect on me seemed to be weakening. I decided to spend the extra(EXTRA) money at the dispo, $195 for 1/2 zip, on shit I couldn’t begin to remember what it was called. Everything sounded like Dr. Seuess knockoffs.
But it all sucked. I remember checking the trichomes when I got home and they were easily 2-3 weeks immature. $195 for a 1/2 zip…
At this point, I had just bought my house and realized it was time to learn how to grow. I had zero experience with any plant and was now holding 2 clones. I bought a 2x2 tent with a 150w HPS to keep them alive until I could put them outside on June 1.
Once the clones were moved outside I started popping seeds and that’s when I fell in love. Seeing my first seeds germ, and then become little plants was ecstasy. I was hooked.
I had 6 plants outside that summer. The weather was all over the place, typical for Vermont.
85-degree days with 50-degree nights sometimes, monsoon rains, and a steady 70+% humidity.
That mixed with the caterpillars…
The clones were the first to go. By September they both were fully infected with botrytis and were chopped. The other four also got infected in early October, and about half of each plant was salvageable.
At this moment I had some decisions to make,
- Be happy with what I have, learn something, and try again next year,
- Build a greenhouse,
- Figure how I can grow indoors with a limited amount of power.
I ended up smoking some of the salvaged product and I took off. I got so high I had to get up and go outside. My mind was being flooded with so much inspiration and euphoria. I had finally found my teacher again. At that moment I knew growing was not going to just be a hobby, but something more.
Currently, I am making the majority of my inputs, including microbes, utilizing ferments and JADAM techniques.
Indoors I have a few tents, 2x2 and two 3x3. Typically only run one at a time for veg and either split into the two 3x3 for flower or just put them all together in the room with no tents.
I have a few lights; Ac infinity evo4(300w), Migro array3(250w), Ac infinity iongrid(150w), Ac infinity UVb supplement lighting.
In the tent, I have 9 DLA 5.3 and 3 Soma’s Amnesia Haze(fem).
The only way I could grow indoors without destroying my batteries and paying $2500+ in propane a year was to remove my need for entertainment via distractions( tv, movies, sitting at night with lights on, streaming videos-1080p video streaming uses more power than you may think, and using wifi.)
Removing all these distractions was massive in correcting my mental health, and allowed me to grow good quality bud indoors, off-grid.
But I do still need to be creative. I Veg typically on a 16/8 light sch, and honestly, I think this makes the plants happier. Everything does the majority of growing while sleeping, but I have no idea.
If there are several days of dark skies I’ll do dynamic lighting and lower and raise intesnsity as the sun comes and goes.
I also usually won’t grow between Nov and Feb.
I don’t keep clones and just pop seeds.
I’m not a yield guy and strive to get the best quality I can with the tools I have.
I would also like to keep track of my greenhouse build here. I’m about a week into construction.
I have dug a 5.5’ deep hole with very custom dimensions. I am building the walls from stone.
This baby will be about 6’ underground when done, with the roof fully exposed to the sun. I’ll use polycarbonate for roofing in the beginning. Technically speaking, I should be able to maintain above 55-degree temps at this depth during winter months with no heat. I have a few ideas for heating though! And the stone will act as a natural heater as well. The sun will cook the stones while she’s out and hopefully radiate a few hours after sunset. Light deps from May until October
I’d only need the greenhouse from April-Nov most seasons for cannabis and will grow food in my off months.
I hope that maybe if people are interested in the greenhouse you guys can keep me motivated and going. I’m building it solo and sometimes I lose spirit with projects. Although this one is very fun.
My crazy goal for the greenhouse is to be able to work with long-flowering sativas outdoors. I’d like to do my part by helping with preservation and sharing the seeds with the fine folks of OG.
And maybe, just maybe one day I will have made my own heirloom in the process.
Wishful thinking but this shit is a simulation so fuck it!
Anyway, that’s all for me for now.
I only run Wi-fi from 630am to 8am most mornings and I will post plant and greenhouse updates Sundays, or as requested.
Thanks for coming by and I hope you stick around, this should be a fun ride!
Cheers,
Ron