Disabled growers

Smoker's Lounge
61

Mike thank you for sharing. Please tell us more about your forest compost and what you are looking for, how you decide what compost is the best, and where you find the best compost in the forest. A lot of us live in the forest. I have 2 1/2 acres to search for the right composted product. This year I bought a compost tumbler. I plan on starting compost so I don’t have to buy potting soil anymore. I use the best, fox farm, they are organic and I use their fert. for my plants. All organic so I can keep them feed when they need it the most. I am with Nirvana on this one. I don’t believe in flushing your plants when they need the food the most. Again thank you for sharing with us and we love hearing how others make growing work when most would give up or never try because when your disabled your supposed to act certain ways. Don’t worry about the memory thing. Marijana is very forgiving and none of us have the minds we used to. Like you said to many doctors and brain killing prescriptions.

Have a great day and better tomorrow.

3 Likes
63

Hey everybody, being a disabled grower I sometimes get help with setting up equipment and moving heavy pots, and I just wanted to remind everyone-

always check the work.

Even if it’s a fellow grower or someone who helps you all the time, always check their work. someone helped clean out my veg tent for me recently, and they did a great job, but they did something wrong with my inline fan. My grow is in my bedroom, and I woke up at 6 in the morning to a fine haze of smoke, and opened the tent to find that the inline fan had become blocked. it was overheating, and was just starting to melt the tarp at the bottom of the tent. Everything worked out fine, but the whole scare could have been avoided if I just checked their work.

I just saw this topic for the first time. I’ll be going back and reading through later, and I’ll probably post a detailed introduction for me and my grow techniques. For now I just thought I’d share that quick reminder and cautionary tale.

Side note, my bedroom has 5 smoke detectors in it, with 2 on top of each tent and one on the cieling. the thin smoke was not enough to trip the smoke detectors, likely their alarm wouldn’t go off without an actual fire. fortunately my internal smoke detector was working… and it sounded like ice-t saying “6 in the mornin” over and over. the human brain is truly fascinating.

2 Likes
64

I’m sorry if I was misunderstood, I get my base compost from the county, the county landfill. The county gathers brush, dead trees, horse manure things like that, whatever they can not make mulch out of and sell, they scrap and make top notch compost that is usually aged to near perfection. Sometimes, sometimes I do have to put it in the pile to age a little longer before I mix my vermiculite and spagnum peat moss to the mix. But, the compost they actually give away for free, when they have it.

regards,

mike28086

2 Likes
65

I’m not sure if I am considered disabled or not. My family has told me for years I qualify for it, but I’m stubborn.
I can barely bend over without falling over. Moving my left leg up to step over something around mid thigh level causes a lower back flare up. If I rotate my torso while upright, turn my head, and lift my left leg all in 1 action I have to gather myself as I usually go cross eyed from pain.

That said it has made getting to the plants safely difficult. I’ve almost fallen on them 10x in the last month alone just from trying to water them. I rotate my torso while crouched and I lose my balance. Good thing I still have access to my arms when this happens.

IDK if that counts, but I’ve been fighting my bad back since I was 10. I can’t get any doctors to look at me to even see if anything is wrong as they just laugh off my words and tell me I’m too young to be having issues. I don’t have those doctors anymore. The judgmental assholes. Even when I sign away my right to get meds for whatever they find they still won’t even so much as trace my spine. If they so much as used their eyes they’d see the issue.

Complaining aside I try not to let it stop me from going about my day. Overall I’m only a constant 4 on the pain scale with an occasional 8 mixed in. Only 2x have I ever experienced a 10. My legs gave out once from it. The spikes are infrequent enough that I can mostly move about without gritting/clenching my teeth all day.

I wish I could know what specifically is wrong with my spine, but who knows. Maybe if I end up paralyzed they’ll finally take me seriously and look at my spine? It just sucks it seems like it’ll only get taken seriously when an incident happens exclusively. Apparently I’m not looking like I’ve been suffering with back pain on growing pain level for 18 years now. You’d think that would warrant at least a visual inspection, but no. I just got them to stop doing physicals entirely. They see me for them and only check my blood pressure and height now. No prostate or spine check. Not even questions about my habits and lifestyle. I’m sorry, but that’s not a physical. It’s a checkup at best.

1 Like
66

i just woke up & can’t muster a solid worthy reply, but i’d say you struggle enough to “qualify” :head_bandage:

it took some years for me to even consider the label for myself because i like to reserve it for the more obvious, the more extreme, the needier, & the “traditional” idea of being ‘crippled’ by circumstance…usually from a young age/birth.

as with sanity :upside_down: itself, or anything else, it’s a question of degree/magnitude. :thumbsup: as example… some people are barely but surely alcoholic and others are on a liquor-IV & beer-hat. :slight_smile:

so don’t lose your pride, per-se, but suppress it when it comes to seeking govt benefits/welfare. if we’re facing ‘survival of the most fit’ in all things, then get ‘mean’ and tear into the carcass with the rest of the pack. :smile:

from an outward glance i almost certainly don’t “look disabled”. i’m sure that’s not unique. if you hovered over me like a drone for a couple of weeks & could ask some questions it would probably be quite different.

there’s one thing that i am certain of, Oni-- finding qualifed people who care and can treat your conditions is like climbing mt. everest-- possible? YES. Difficult as fuck? YES. and sometimes we get lucky. my physical therapist via Obama literally saved my ass. then there’s an old friend (RIP) who saw a slate of Dr’s over some years until he got a single competent one, and a stage 4 cancer, 6 months to live prognosis. so a Doctor is not a Deity. they’re a potential chump like anyone else but with big fuckin ego’s.
losing my :train: train of thought.

harumph? :older_man:

IMO: “A doctor is an over-schooled & under-experienced nurse.”

:evergreen_tree:

4 Likes
67

Honestly I’d trust my GF best friend’s fiance who’s a nurse over most doctors I’ve ever spoken to. The instant snap answers he has shows he’s memorized the information he knows. While he’s rigid thinking I’d still prefer someone like him as my doctor.

On a positive note I do understand from the other perspective what it’s like making someone’s life better. My friend/former roommate has HIV he’s lucky to have almost 500 tcell count, but he had given up hope on ever having hope of kids without giving them an awful diseased life they’ll probably die from in childhood. Too many friends growing up passed of it in my case. I understand from the perspective of someone who’s lost friends from it. One day I’m doing research on something I remembered from 2007. I’m sure you remember the burlin man? Well Delta32 or the CCR4 and CCR5 genes mutation has shown strong promise on a near 100% scale. Thank you bubonic plague and Darwin for that small village you innoculated.

Anyways there’s clinical trials approved in the US rn. I’m going to be trying to get him in it. Worst case scenario it’s something you can actually do at home funny enough. It’s crispr. 10 years ago they were trying to find a way to concentrate it and keep it alive in a bottle for shots to innoculate, but apparently it didn’t work out being 3k per shot LoL. Crispr isn’t cheap either, but it’s definitely cheaper than that shot was before all existence of the thing vanished. I can’t find it on Google anywhere and I’m not on the dark web.

1 Like
68

Iif you need any help, inspiration or what ever on making an simple automatic hydrogarden. Let me know!
I had a accedent years ago, placed me in a wheelchair for 8 months. Still have issues, so my builds is made for no lifting. Flick a switch or turn a nob, pumps will do the workload.

Happy growing

3 Likes
69

I wonder if when I liked this I realized u were responding to me?! I think not coz otherwise I would’ve taken u up on the offer lol. I still kinda suck at navigating this site lol. But yeah, if u wanna shoot some cheap and easy ideas my way to make the grow life easier lemme know! Another member already suggested using a shop vac to extract water from my buckets rather than taking them out of the tent and dumping them. My only concern is I like to wash the buckets out when I change the water every 1 to 2 weeks, they can get kind of slimy on the inside. Also wondering if sucking out water with the shopvac would damage the roots? Any insight is in appreciated! Thanks :slight_smile:

2 Likes
70

@Sativaindica I would not worry about a little damage, by sucking water out with a shop vac. Might break off a few ends, but I would try and push the rootball away from the vaccum tube.

Personal I only clean my res between grows, unless I have issues with root rot.
The slime is just bacteria culture growing on the sides, if you have a helthy water culture.
Keeping it, will only help keeping the culture strong.

In the beginning I ran sterile aeroponics, but yeald and over all health was not great.
It’s much easyer, running culture water. Then you can always clean and sterilise the roots and buckets, in case of something going bad. A mild h2o2 solution, will clean your system and not harm your plants. No need to clean the buckets, the h2o2 will do it for you and you can drain it all out.

Beneficial bacteria can be a great help, and I highly recommend seeding your res after a sterilisation.
Can be picked up at Koi pond shops, or at growshops for a much higher price. Same with enzymes, that break down dead organic matter.

1 Like
71

Well said. Reminds me of times when I could not move around well at all and I had to crawl from the bathroom to the grow room dragging the end of a hose to the water butt which fed my plants. If you are able to move yourself and tie stuff to yourself, you can grow (at least that was my experience, YMMV) I found it was not so much overcoming my disabilities more like avoiding my weak areas, and using my stronger areas for things they would not normally be used for. I could not lift or carry, but I could drag so I did not lift or carry water, I dragged a hosepipe instead and let that carry the water for me.

Which reminds me, things that can make it easier for reduced mobility people who want to grow are waist level benches that are no deeper than arm’s length with all adjusters, controls, and other things that need dealing with within arms reach, at waist height. Some sort of water feed, at waist height, near your plants. Also some sort of drain near the plants so you do not need to carry waste to the bathroom or similar. This does not need to be fancy, my ‘drain’ is a funnel at waist height stuck in a hosepipe that leads to the bath overflow.

A good visualisation aid for designers who are able bodied but want to design for the less able bodied is to imagine you are sat on a fireproof chair and the floor is lava so you cannot walk on it, or touch it with your feet, yet you still need to grow. How would you want things arranged? What would you want near you? Where would you want your plants? Your tools? Your nutrients?

Personally, it is one of the reasons I now grow in hydro. So much less to move around, get rid of etc. I can rig a permanent mains water inlet so I never need to carry water in, I have a permanent drain so I never need to carry waste water out. The heaviest thing I have to move is a cut plant, the next heaviest is the bare roots from that plant but I can wait until they dry so they weight hardly anything.

Now, I pretty much just move a few cuttings in, nutrients are in 1L bottles, all water is moved with a hose or plumbing pipe, measurements and dosing are automated. I can sit in my chair and control pretty much everything to a finer degree than if I had my nose in it all.

There was about 20 years between the hose drag and the auto system.

4 Likes
72

I’m disabled. I had an anoxic brain injury. I was in a coma for 7 weeks. I was partially rehabilitated. My frontal lobe suffered a lot of damage. I have a horrible memory, ringing in the ears, nerve damage on my right side which causes a slight limp. I also fractured my L-1 in a car accident and had bulging of discs, so it adds to the nerve damage existing in my back. Although, I will not let it defeat me. Im enrolled in college, finished a semester already. I have about 2 years down, 2 to go. I will get off disability when I graduate and get a job… smoke and grow on OGers!!!

2 Likes
73

@Brandon7467
Thanks for being with us & helping Overgrow the planet. :smile:

What strains do you prefer? (for different reasons?)

I have found almost nothing to help tinnitus(ear ringing). Weather affects it big time for me(low pressure, humid being ideal).

Good attitude! :sunglasses:

:evergreen_tree:

2 Likes
74

What strains do I prefer? Well, I like sour diesel, GSC, and GG 4 the best really. I have some blueberry city diesel right now that I’m really liking. Im hoping this bruce banner I’m growing will help a lot.

3 Likes
75

Thanks for the welcome btw @cannabissequoia along with everyone else here!

3 Likes
76

Unfortunately, I live in a conservative Republican state. I can’t grow legally but fuck it. Noone gonna stop me lol

2 Likes
77

I have been disabled since 2010, I fell off of a 15 foot ladder in my garage. I was trying to put an interior door in the rafter when the door scooped the ladder out from under me. I fell straight down and shattered my calcaneus (heel) bone, then the door fell on me and broke my ankle. I now have 4 plates and 9 screws in my foot. Once they put the cast on me, there was a point that something didn’t feel right and I told the Doctor’s. The best way I could describe it was it felt like one of the screws was loose. Well, needless to say, I was told it was in my head and that the hardware inside of me looked spectacular. I would tell them about the pain every time I would go to an appointment and they ignored me but would give me a ton of morphine to take.
So because of the run around, I was diagnosed with C.R.P.S … use to be called RSD. When you take the frosting off of the cake it is massive nerve damage. I have constant pain that shoots from my foot to the middle of my back in a crappy loop. I have a hard time standing or sitting for more than 15min. I also have RA so when the weather changes I feel it, and now I am having some pain in my knee. It affects mostly the right side of my body. I have been disabled ever since. Hard hitting Indica’s are my best friend. I also use a stool to take care of the plants and now have some CBD plants in the tent. I am so blessed to have found all of you for all of my questions. Thanks Overgrow

6 Likes
78

Ouch.

Reading this part triggered my constant “automotive analogy” thinking. :slight_smile: (used to be a mechanic). It takes 4 shops until you find the good one who has to undo all the fuckups of the previous ones, who all swore they were experts. :unamused:

My own “medical journey” revealed the same crap about the medical professions. They’re just as prone to being a chump or a cheat as any other person. But most of us are misled by the popular mythology that they’re all kind geniuses who are on the cutting edge of science. :sparkles:

Thanks for sharing @Prince. Glad you’re here with us. :hugging:

3 Likes
79

Thank you @cannabissequoia

2 Likes
80

Treedawg…I am dbl below knee amputee…have prostetics and am driving now with the help of hand controls…been a long road but am doing better…trying to find skunk#1 X Big bud.beans. to no avail…ill keep lQQking…

3 Likes
81

@DrkestStar I’m sorry to say Treedawg had a dispute with the admin here (i believe) and hasn’t been around since the summer. :neutral_face:

That said, I’m glad to as much of what little I can do from here. Are you short on seeds, perhaps? :wink:

:evergreen_tree: :gift: