TychoMonolyth
Boreal Curing
I started this journey thinking I'd pick up from when I was an optimistic 16 year old growing a few plants. Back then I'd grow, sell half, and I'd be dry after new years eve. Secretly though, I'd still have some left to last a couple more selfish months, but to be honest, I'd be sick of smoking it by then, and would start buying flavour of the month from the local dealers. Sometimes it was hash, sometimes weed.
Times and methods have changed, as has this god given plant. In the 70s, we'd burn a patch of weeds to prep for a crop killing the previous year's overgrowth, and plant the seedlings. There was no fertilizer, no guano, no chicken shit, nothing other than the fresh ash. Most grows turned out well, but yields were not like they are today. Far from it. I'm older now and more optimistic than ever. I consider it my greatest strength. Obviously, it's also a significant weakness. When I started looking around last winter and spring I chose my spots carefully as part of my plan. I even assigned a security score. 1 = very insecure to 5 = very secure. I scored accessibility and access, assumed the fertility and water access. My plan was very intense and included which date to plant which crop, where to plant, and also the logistics of how, with all the accompanying graphs and charts. It was a perfect Wile E. Coyote plan. In my zeal to kick this season out of the park, I waved off Rule #1. Keep it Simple. Some things went exceptionally well, but only because of Julian's rule he repeated often in his posts. "Do what you can with what you've got." It saved my ass when it counted most.
What Went Well And Poorly
I used Google Earth (GE) to scope out potential spots. It worked like a charm. I found so many great spots, I didn't have time to do the recon and physically scope them out. I absolutely should have. This fall, I took the ATV out and visited a few spots I didn't bother with in the spring. Big big big mistake. 2 spots are stellar with great cover and room enough for 400 plants in each. Both are overgrown thick with goldenrod, nettles and raspberries. This stuff thrives in great PH 6.5 soil. One spot I planted in was a little swampy with lots of ferns. It was by far my worst spot. The 2nd worse spot was a freshly cleared forest. I figured all that forest humus would kick ass. It only kicked mine. I should note that I amended EVERY hole with chicken manure, kelp, lime, potash, and a good dash of Blood and Bone meal. I realised that even if you amend your holes, if the surrounding soil doesn't have the chops to push weeds, how is it going to push your plants? The soil needs to have some nutrients in it. Preferable lots.
My biggest failure was to not use cages and ignoring rodents. I knew cages were important, but I figured I'd make up with it with numbers. I thought I could harvest 25%, but without cages, the plants were dropping like flies. I ended up with barely 7%. What a disaster. Another bad decision was to simply dig my holes and stick the plants in the ground without clearing enough grass/weeds from around the plants. Mice just LOVE cover. If I had taken the time to use my string trimmer and cleared a good area, they wouldn't have been susceptible to the mouse logging crew. Within two weeks at least 50% of my plants were chopped down and just laying there to waste away. They didn't even try to eat the plant. Just Chop, let it drop, and chop the next one, until they're all down. Fuckers. Ironically, my biggest successes were not caged. While I did lose half of them, those that survived the wilds grew into monsters.
Lessons Learned
To some extent, most of the lessons above bit me this year. Ya, lots of fuck ups. But I still had an OK year and had fun doing it. My goal for next year is to say "What the fuck am I going to do with all this weed."
If you feel I'm wrong about something, or want to add to the list, feel free to do so.
Times and methods have changed, as has this god given plant. In the 70s, we'd burn a patch of weeds to prep for a crop killing the previous year's overgrowth, and plant the seedlings. There was no fertilizer, no guano, no chicken shit, nothing other than the fresh ash. Most grows turned out well, but yields were not like they are today. Far from it. I'm older now and more optimistic than ever. I consider it my greatest strength. Obviously, it's also a significant weakness. When I started looking around last winter and spring I chose my spots carefully as part of my plan. I even assigned a security score. 1 = very insecure to 5 = very secure. I scored accessibility and access, assumed the fertility and water access. My plan was very intense and included which date to plant which crop, where to plant, and also the logistics of how, with all the accompanying graphs and charts. It was a perfect Wile E. Coyote plan. In my zeal to kick this season out of the park, I waved off Rule #1. Keep it Simple. Some things went exceptionally well, but only because of Julian's rule he repeated often in his posts. "Do what you can with what you've got." It saved my ass when it counted most.
What Went Well And Poorly
I used Google Earth (GE) to scope out potential spots. It worked like a charm. I found so many great spots, I didn't have time to do the recon and physically scope them out. I absolutely should have. This fall, I took the ATV out and visited a few spots I didn't bother with in the spring. Big big big mistake. 2 spots are stellar with great cover and room enough for 400 plants in each. Both are overgrown thick with goldenrod, nettles and raspberries. This stuff thrives in great PH 6.5 soil. One spot I planted in was a little swampy with lots of ferns. It was by far my worst spot. The 2nd worse spot was a freshly cleared forest. I figured all that forest humus would kick ass. It only kicked mine. I should note that I amended EVERY hole with chicken manure, kelp, lime, potash, and a good dash of Blood and Bone meal. I realised that even if you amend your holes, if the surrounding soil doesn't have the chops to push weeds, how is it going to push your plants? The soil needs to have some nutrients in it. Preferable lots.
My biggest failure was to not use cages and ignoring rodents. I knew cages were important, but I figured I'd make up with it with numbers. I thought I could harvest 25%, but without cages, the plants were dropping like flies. I ended up with barely 7%. What a disaster. Another bad decision was to simply dig my holes and stick the plants in the ground without clearing enough grass/weeds from around the plants. Mice just LOVE cover. If I had taken the time to use my string trimmer and cleared a good area, they wouldn't have been susceptible to the mouse logging crew. Within two weeks at least 50% of my plants were chopped down and just laying there to waste away. They didn't even try to eat the plant. Just Chop, let it drop, and chop the next one, until they're all down. Fuckers. Ironically, my biggest successes were not caged. While I did lose half of them, those that survived the wilds grew into monsters.
Lessons Learned
- Start your recon now (in the fall). Spring time is a pretty shitty time to do it. Remember, in spring, you want to go in, plant and get the fuck out. Not walk around all day. Having said that, I had perfect spot I visited last fall but spring flooding kept me from getting in until the end of June. I have a plan to get in there this year via another route, but it'll be a hard trek so I might have to deep six that spot. Too bad because it can hold thousands.
- When you find a spot via GE that you think will be great, you absolutely have to visit the spot and give it a physical evaluation. Will you be able to get in there in the spring?
- Visit your candidate spots in the fall before the snow flies. It'll give you the best view of the undergrowth and what grew there this year. Spring time doesn't show you much.
- No spot is perfect. If you have to choose, pick a spot where you get the best morning sunlight and afternoon shade, rather than morning shade and afternoon sun.
- Look for a spot with an abundance of weeds. The taller and thicker the better. Make room for your plants with a string trimmer.
- If weeds aren't growing like gangbusters in a potential spot, discount it as a candidate. If someone talks to you from a burning bush in that spot and tells you to plant there, don't believe it. Move on.
- Fiddle Head Ferns = Poor Soil. Even with sun. No matter how much amendments you lay down, it just can't perform. You'll get small sickly plants and have to fight off giant snails the whole time. So stay away from wet areas bordering a forest. Especially pine trees.
- 60 caged plants = 1000 not caged. For god's sake, cage your plants! Seriously. 60 caged plants is a lot of weed.
- If you're doing lots of plants, don't top them. Topping decreases branch strength. You don't want to have to start staking 100 plants.
- I used peat pots with great success this year. The trick is to put them in trays and water from the bottom. They'll wick up the water and roots WILL penetrate the walls. I didn't use solo cups because I'd have to haul them out. Peat pots go in the ground.
- Fill your peat pots with a mix of good seedling starter and rooting powder (I added mycorrhizae to mine). Initially hydrate the pots from the top the first time only, then plant your popped seeds. *water from the bottom from here on out.
- If you can, put a timer on the light you use for your seedlings. I had two rooms. One room had 24/7 lights, the other had 20/4. 20/4 seedlings grew better root balls. But this is hardly scientific.
- Keep the lights about 2" away to avoid stretching. Having said that, some will anyway.
- Keep a fan going blowing around the room to encourage stem strength. (Again, not very scientific.)
- Don't grow only one strain. But don't go nuts on it either. 4-5 strains is good enough (for me).
- Put liquid fertilizer (1/4 strength) in your water after the second week.
- Let the peat pots dry out somewhat when you're ready carry your seedlings out to your spot.
- Use a garden auger and a cordless drill to make your holes. Really mess that shit up. I used it and it was a huge time saver. Bring extra batteries even if you don't think you'll need them.
- If you can, plant when rain is in the forecast. Let that be your trigger. If it's supposed to rain in a day or two, go to town and get them in the ground. Don't forget to use a little water crystals on your holes.
- If you're not going to water, use water crystals. One of my disasters was the only place without them. They were small and sickly plants. What a waste of time.
- Bring a bit of compost, nothing too hot, to help your seedlings at planting time. A cup full in a hole is enough.
- If you're using Fish, Blood and Bone meal, make sure you put a concentrated amount in a few decoy holes for animals dig there.
- Plant your seedlings deep enough. Make sure your peat pot (or whatever you decide to use) is well below the top of the hole. A couple inches deeper should be good enough.
- Drop small packages of mouse poison in your grow. Lots of them. Don't open them. The mice will open them on their own. I know, I know ... I'm killing mice. But there was a mouse plague here so that's what I'm doing.
- Don't work on weekends. Try to do it during a weekday when people are at work. I did some work on weekends, but at 4am and sunrise, and quietly. No power tools.
- Spread your fertilizer in the fall, and it'll be ready for your plants in the spring. It wouldn't hurt to drop packages of mouse poison at this time either.
- Spread snail bait in the spring and a couple times during the season. Be generous.
- Slash and Burn baby. Use a String Trimmer with a solid weed chopping blade. If you can, get a battery powered trimmer. Pro model only. Don't fuck around with a home and garden model. Trim at planting time and again a couple time during the season.
- Cut your cages NOW. You won't have time in the spring.
- Debuck in the field and trim it there if you can. You'll be carrying so much less weight and all you'll have to do at HQ is put it on drying racks. Trust me on this. I used the traditional stem and scissors at first, but I had to get serious because time was running out. I debucked using my hands. Grab tight and slide the branches through your hands. Works great and it's fast. No, you won't be making popcorn from nice buds.
- Make sure you have enough room to dry your buds. Prep it while your plants are growing, not at harvest time.
- Don't plan every little thing. But plan what is necessary. String trimming, how many plants, where, how will you transport your seedling and cages and tools... This means you'll probably have to make a couple trips. But if you've finished your recon in the fall for next year's grow, you can bring the cages and drop them off. Drop off anything you don't mind loosing like a shovel, ax, whatever. You'll be glad you got that done early. Most of my cages are already cut for next year.
- When entering your spot, avoid making a path by stepping over weeds and grass at the entrance. Once you're in, never walk in a straight path. Always walk on an angle for a few feet from the entry point until you're well away from the entry point. Zig zag like. I found two small grows this year because I noticed something different when I was driving by.
- Don't park at the entrance of your grow. (Do I have to say this?)
- Plant and cage more than you could ever harvest. Worse case, you'll end up with a shit load of colas and huge buds. Best case, you'll have a big harvest even if you messed up a bit. If you still have time after your trimming, go back for the secondary bud.
- If you have to pick the popcorn, you didn't get enough plants in the ground.
- Bring bottled drinking water and a few energy bars. You'll need it.
- Spray paint your shit flat black. No white or bright orange buckets. (Seriously?)
- Keep your mouth shut! (There's a reason you see this advice everywhere). If you need an ego boost, get it here in ICMag.
- Pick up your garbage. Haul it out. Always. Don't leave a fucking small candy wrapper.
To some extent, most of the lessons above bit me this year. Ya, lots of fuck ups. But I still had an OK year and had fun doing it. My goal for next year is to say "What the fuck am I going to do with all this weed."
If you feel I'm wrong about something, or want to add to the list, feel free to do so.
) and I'm on the cusp of retirement so I need a fun hobby. lol. 
died in the field. I had 2 lbs of seeds shipped to me, 2 different times, via FedEx and had them seized at the border because of "foreign contaminants" (bits of stems, leaves and dirt in the bag) I'm going back this winter and will clean them myself then ship them. I'm also going to Ecuador and the Galapagos for 3 weeks so I'll see if I can find something interesting. I suspect it'll be Colombian because it's next door and I've never heard of Ecuadorean or Galapagos weed. 
