Zephyr grows and creates

[zephyr]

I find the lactobacillus spray wash quicker and less labor intensive than regular washing. Plus it’s nice that it can be done at any point in the growing process, as needed or even repeatedly.

In theory this is potentially a safer option for seriously ill patients. When we use any kind of sanitizing process, we run the risk of eliminating all but the strongest and most harmful microorganisms.

I’m not sure what wash method you use, but a lot of people use hydrogen peroxide or baking soda to sanitize their harvested buds.

The main difference is that instead of attempting to sanitize the buds, I am replacing any bad bacteria with harmless / beneficial competitors that will literally eat bad bacteria and pathogens. This is also a simple form of covid precaution, some lacto bacillus eat pathogens including cold and flu viruses.

I am basically just physically cleaning them by misting them at close range with a simple food grade hand sprayer using a decent amount of pressure to rinse and irrigate the buds. This should also combat any fungal spores.

And lastly, I have no proof of this, but in terms of a safe and controlled drying process, I think it is less risky to get flowers on a live plant wet than it is to dunk harvested buds into water.

And again, I have no proof of this, but I would feel a little weird about dunking seeded buds after they have been chopped. I know that rain and foliar feeds do not harm ripe seeds growing on a live plant or interfere with the seeds drying process.

[ShiskaberrySavior]

Informative post thanks for putting that up . Makes a lot of sense to pre wash while the plants are still alive vs drying plants .

[Badger]

I use baking soda and lemon juice, then a double rinse. I feel this is non negotiable on outside plants. Though I’m sure your method would make almost anything left behind on these buds perfectly safe. I just prefer to remove the various possible fecal contaminants that can make it on outdoor harvests.

On the other hand, I feel like that is a super idea for indoor buds.

That was a great, informed response, thank you so much. I already have labs in the fridge, so another use makes perfect sense also.

I appreciate informed viewpoints such as yours. I learn so much more on here then I would on TV.

[zephyr]

Thanks badger always glad to share what I have learned.

exactly this is my process for indoor buds.

I don’t usually smoke my outdoor bud anymore because I live in a polluted city and my grows are usually exposed to wildfire smoke. My outdoor is grown primarily for seed, and I use the flowers for all the products I make with cannabis. alcohol extracts, tinctures, edibles, topical balm, etc.

[Bud_Weiser]

Blz @zephyr Wau uuu !!! Newcomer fron Brazil … Zephyr for me is Alva and Adans … Dogtown man …

Carioca with a Venice soul … You said process i"m in …

@LemonadeJoe gave me so much homework …

Tks to contact you … very simple ( high end) like my TLO No till Org Bottle free style …

[minitiger]

When was the last time you were in Venice? The days of Alva and Adams are long gone. Now it’s a bunch of five and ten million dollar houses…

[zephyr]

The two guava F have been harvested. The guava F f2 are very consistent, they were both very sticky, both had nice purple tips hints of red, and they always smell like kush and onions with additional subtle notes that vary from plant to plant.

Because the plants are small and heavily seeded, I am just drying / curing the tops to get enough bud to sample. the other 3/4 will be made into fresh frozen live resin concentrate.

More of the seeds are mature than I thought. I pulled about 130 perfectly healthy mature seeds off of each plant from the lower buds I am processing into hash.

Interestingly, the guava F f2’s all get munched on by my roly poly decomposers. They don’t usually eat anything with resin on it, but for some reason they have developed a taste for the guava F in particular.

I will be growing some guava F outside, hopefully this doesn’t indicate general susceptibility to pests. I don’t think we can draw any conclusions based on the roly polys, because they are actually an ancient land dwelling shrimp like a trilobite, and not an insect.

[zephyr]

Berry Larry update-
ken estes Berry Larry (goji og x [larry og x grandaddy purple])

3 berry larry have been transplanted into 5 or 7 gallon pots. I am really liking these so far. Their leaves are huge for a seedling. even the single blade start leaves which started out the size of a thumbnail have grown quite large. you can actually see some stretch marks which is not uncommon for vigorous broadleaf hybrid seedlings.

Their roots are amazing, very thick extra fuzzy roots which were well distributed throughout the soil. They were putting roots out of the drainage holes I cut into the solo cups.

They have been slightly munched, looks like some hungry rolly polys came out of water retention dormancy and needed a quick meal. I am planting a cilantro cover crop for them to eat instead, and mulching with worm castings, chopped cannabis stalks, and organic herbal tea bags.

Here are the other two berry larry seedlings which were not ready for transplant. they are looking slightly funky as seedlings often do, but they are quickly growing out of their awkward phase. They may be expressing some displeasure about their soil ph, but as soon as they establish a decent root system they will begin to regulate their root zone ph themselves.

[zephyr]

Rolly polies, no-till gardening, and a compost bin experiment-

I keep the rolly polies around because they are excellent beneficial decomposers. They break down mulch and turn it into castings much faster than worms, and they are much less sensitive to environmental variables than worms. They also act as soil aerators and improve soil drainage. This is very helpful for no-till pots.

I looked up rolly polies in an old organic gardening book. It says they are beneficial and only considered a pest for strawberries. I’m inclined to agree with them, and I don’t think occasional leaf munching does the cannabis any lasting harm.

I also learned that roly polies eat insect eggs, so they are also beneficial predators. they do not eat live prey, only the eggs, but this is a valuable ecological niche for natural pest control. I thought they must have been out-competing any other potential pests, and this information confirms my hypothesis.

I can’t spray essential oils or other organic pest control indoors because of my asthma, so beneficial decomposers that also kill the eggs of any potential pests is a perfect pest management solution. If a pest is introduced, the roly polies will prevent reproduction and infestation.

I also found a study on line that said that roly pollies could potentially be used to sequester heavy metals in soil. The study found that lead and other heavy metals are catalyzed into small spherical metal deposits within their bodies.

Ecologically, that seems to make them a perfect match for cannabis which is also amazing at sequestering heavy metals. This is great because I live in an area with industrial pollution from a glassworks and a metal casting plant.

I am going to try to reduce the rolly poly population in my tents by relocating them. I am going to try an experiment using rolly polies in a compost bin to produce castings. this should be easier and less messy than a worm bin. unlike worms, they will get all the moisture they need from the vegetal matter they are eating. The fact that they can compost in dry conditions should make this perfect for indoor use. It could potentially be more productive than worms for a very small set up.

To test this idea I am going to start off with a 3 gallon smart pot with just a couple inches of soil at the bottom. Then I will fill it with vegetal matter from kitchen scraps, and see how well they break it down. Based on what I’ve seen they should be very happy with that environment. The 3 gallon pot will be placed in a small plastic bin to keep the rolly polies from wandering off.

I’m not sure how the nutritional value of the castings will differ from worm castings, but it will be perfectly usable and it will allow me to use compost sources that would not work as mulch for a no till pot, like vegetable peels and black tea.

[Greasy]

My outdoor compost is covered in roly polies, but I’ve been unsure about whether I can use it in the tent. Been afraid of introducing anything from outdoors inside, which is a shame since it’s such nutrient rich compost. I will be closely watching to see how your experiment with them goes.

[Moka]

What’s your recipe for the lactobacillus serum?

[Moka]

Sorry if it’s been posted already and I haven’t searched

[minitiger]

That’s a really cool idea, using rolly pollies to compost, I’m super-interested to see if that works out. Did you introduce them to your grow, or did they just kind of show up?

[zephyr]

My soil mix includes native volcanic clay soil, which provides all the minerals and trace elements my plants could ever need. The clay came from my back yard, about 3 feet below the top soil. We dug it out nice and deep to be certain that they would be no pollutants, and to be certain there would be no pests. This actually worked great. The finished mix had a high ratio of clay, but over the years as root systems broke down and worms and rolly polies aerated and worked the soil, it has become rich and fluffy, but extremely fine like clay.

The rolly polies must have come in as eggs in the clay soil, which is absolutely mind blowing. We found a coin from 1909 beneath the topsoil on top of the hard packed clay, which is a pretty good indication that the clay below hadn’t been disturbed for many, many years. I had 3 kinds of beneficials hatch out of the clay indoors, rolly polies, crane flies, and worms. I’m not sure if the eggs and cocoons were as old as the soil, or if these beneficials were simply the only organisms that populated the soil at that depth. Interestingly, they all had different coloration than what you normally see.

the first generation of rolly polies was actually pink, which I have never seen before. Over several generations, their color darkened to the normal dark grey.

the crane flies were bright orange. They hatched and were perfectly happy in the tents, but there was never more than one at a time so they could not continue their life cycle indoors. Crane flies are beneficial predators which eat fungus gnats, mosquitos, and other similar pests.

So yeah they just kind of showed up, but they made quite an entrance. It really shows how resilient nature can be.

[JoeCrowe]

I’m gardening with those little woodlice rolly polies as well. I find them scuttling through the woody debris and rummaging through the compost I put in the ground. The report is they are the only land based crustacean and they taste like… umm piss. I think they like to eat the alfalfa meal I used on the no till beds. Only time they irritate me is when I find them inside a potato, the little buggers.

[zephyr]

gauva F recent harvest vapor report-

I needed indica meds asap so I vaporized these in the volcano as soon as they were fully dry. Most will be processed into live resin concentrate which is the fastest way I know to go from fresh plants to finished meds.

I kept about an eighth of each.

The red F on the left seems to be the offspring of the same male as f2 B#2 from my previous guava harvest and in-cross breeding project. Possibly the male that had red pollen pods based on the red coloration. Smells like onions like all the F, but it also has a hint of artificial / cleaning fluid sweetness and smoky smell similar to the B#2.

I vaporized this one a few days ago. I was feeling really sick, so I can’t really tell you about the high on this one.

But it really helped with my muscular condition symptoms. I was having worse muscle symptoms than I have had in a few years, no coordination ability, weakness, shaking, and spasms. After vaporizing it all afternoon, I was back to my normal level of function.

The guava is a really special line for muscular conditions and muscle healing.

The one on the right has a slightly louder smell, and appears to be the offspring of a different male. I really like the smell of this one. The most prominent smells are intense lightly cooked garlic, and white rice. There is also an acrid black coffee smell. Very nice.

Hitting this with the volcano, the rice and garlic flavors really carry through in the vapor as well as some additional sweet floral notes. Kind of like garlic and jasmine tea, and a pot of white rice cooking on the stove. Started with a slight rush, and then transitioned smoothly into a nice relaxing high.
(edit: after hitting it all afternoon, it is particularly psychoactive and very enjoyable.)

Good medicinal properties, this is definitely managing my muscular symptoms effectively.

Now that they are both completely shucked, I would estimate there are upwards of 350 seeds from each of these. I think this could be useful because the one medicinal quality that the guava lacks is migraine relief, and the maple leaf has proven to be an excellent medical strain for migraines.

[Tejas]

It’s great that the plants are providing the medicine that you need.

[zephyr]

lebanese guava harvest:

Not bad for a couple of reveg monsters. reveg definitely made them extra leafy, but I’ll get plenty of cannabis juice which will be very helpful medicinally. I also know that they are very sexually stable even after reveging and power outages interrupting their flowering photoperiod. I think this lebanese guava will be a useful line.

the resin content is a nice increase from the pure lebanese. It has a nice complex classic lebanese smell, with melon sweetness, hints of tart red berry, aromatic celery and licorice herbal smells, and slight pepperiness and woodiness. The guava b mother’s influence has made the smell sweeter than pure lebanese.

There is additional larf from the reveg process. interestingly it looks a lot like an occasional pheno with open foxtail structure buds that shows up occasionally in the the pure lebanese line. It’s kind of like the reveg made it express different lebanese traits under stress.

I harvested these on sunday, and trimmed the fan leaves off on monday. They are drying whole with sugar leaves intact for a slow drying process. These are lightly seeded with an accidental pollination from the sensi seeds maple leaf indica.

one plant is a totem, and the other has additional branching but still forms a single wide cola. The tips of the buds are extremely dense, but surrounded with some reveg larf. I am happy with this harvest for the small size of the plants. These whole plants are about the length of a forearm, elbow to wrist.

Here are photos of the plants on 16" by 9" baking sheets for scale.

totem

branching pheno (sorry about the blurry pictures)

[zephyr]

My volunteer outdoor plants which sprouted naturally in spring from dropped seeds were transplanted today and will be given to a local gardener who is interested in learning to grow cannabis.

One in particular was looking really nice, it would cost at least $70 for a clone that size from a dispensary here. they were all lebanese and lebanese hybrids, obviously we can’t be sure exactly what each one is but they will all be good medicine.

This will be their second grow. On their first grow they grew a beautiful pure lebanese in their untended organic ornamental garden. We are going to identify and cull the males for them to help keep things simple for their first grow with more than one plant.

[zephyr]

Maple Leaf Indica update-

Here is another photo of the seeded sensi maple leaf indica. Not a whole lot going on aside from the seeds.

The resin is greasy not sticky, It has a really nice cantaloupe and lemon smell, with an odd baking soda type note that is almost salty.

Very effective migraine relief. So effective that it makes me realize that most of the time I am just tolerating a lot of pain in my head. It’s nice to have some actual relief from constant migraine symptoms, and that along makes this a worthwhile line for me.

The high is subtle, not intense. It is pleasant and noticeable, very very clear headed and offers transparent pain relief without introducing other sensations. I am not sure what a recreational smoker would think of this line, but I really appreciate the migraine relief and the flavor.

It will be very interesting to grow this cut to its full potential sinsemilla.

The maple leaf seeded mother was never particularly happy with its soil. As usual, I made no particular efforts to change the environment or soil. Most plants in my organic no till soil can adjust the ph and nutrient availability within their root zones to suit their needs. With my grow method I make the plants do all the hard work.

The maple leaf was not able to self regulate as well as other plants in my garden.

You can really see this in the maple leaf clones. For comparison, here are a couple maple leaf clones transplanted from solo cups into 5 gallon pots under 12/12. These are performing much like the original maple leaf female from seed.

(haha forgive me for this one. it’s so sad…)

And this is what the maple leaf looks like when it is reaching its full potential. As you can see, it is more vigorous, the leaves are larger, and in general, it looks more similar to the maple leaf male than the expression we saw from the maple leaf female the first time around.

There are two differences here. The first is that this pot got 2 weeks of veg time after the clone was planted instead of the cutting getting transplanted directly into 12/12.
The important difference is that this is actually three small cuttings that all rooted in the same solo cup. With three root systems instead of one, the maple leaf was able to alter its root zone environment and PH much more effectively. If I were to read into this, I would say the maple leaf might perform very well in hydro, and that it is a bit more finicky in organics, or at least more sensitive to PH than the average plant grown in organic soil.

I have some fresh pollen filters set up. I am going to pollinate the flowering tent with Snowhigh Vietnam Da Lat from @YoBigdaddy. I will be trying to keep this healthy maple leaf sinsemilla, and fully pollinate the little maple leaf clones.