El Bandito Rides Again

[El Bandito]

Thanks Steve.. Welcome! Things are just starting to go off!

Yo Chunky!!! So pleased to see you stop by, man. I laughed about the idea of needing help trimming but then today I pulled a couple plants out to make room for feeding and such, and they look a whole lot bigger on the outside!



HOLY FU@&ing shit! A bit intimidated here and nervous about a healthy finish. Wish me luck!

 

[growbig789]

Hah yah good luck getting those back in there! amazed they all fit in there. Looking good, have fun coming down the homestretch. DIY expanded greenhouse project for next year?

 

[El Bandito]

Yeah I am sure next year's area will be bigger! In the meanwhile, I have been doing lots of maintenance, feeding, looking for pests. Squeezing into the greenhouse to do any if that now results in my clothes and body getting sticky with resin. I went to the local flea market to look for some and struck out.

I did, however, find these for 6 bucks:


So much more convenient than holding a loupe in one hand the whole time. It's a nice hands-free inspection solution that sits snugly on your head like a visor. The visor and lenses slide up whenever you want them out of your way, and there are 3 different magnification levels. You can comb over the entire plant in 2x and then zoom in when you need to by flipping down another lens. The pics aren't good but you get the idea:.





Found a few spider mites but not many. No caterpillars yet (knock on wood). More frost by the day and it's looking like dense goofball sized nugs are going to cover the Sour Bubbles. It's awesome to have that smell around again.

 

[BigSteve]

I hope we get more pics soon!

<3

 

[El Bandito]

I hope we get more pics soon!

<3

Haha ask and ye shall receive! Pulled some plants out to get better pics.

SB 1 of 4 (all 4 SB's are in 25 gallon pots:



SB2 (broke a small branch today and trimmed the buds on it for an early sample)



SB3 and 4:



As you can see, SB4 is going yellow much earlier than the other 3. Not sure what the deal is there. I have been keeping the spider mites under partial control with just water and I think the neem regime during veg helped a lot. Last year my plants got pretty beat up by mites and some bud worms but I am going to finish much faster this year. These things are going to be ready in 2-3 weeks! It's not gonna be the same quality as when I grew her indoors, but it's gonna be really close I think.

Crossing my fingers! I will deliver a smoke report on these nugs as soon as they are dry.

 

[BigSteve]

Looks really nice in there. Can't wait to see the nugs when they are finished. It looks like one of your bitches is hungry. Unless she just likes to be yellow.

What kind of temps/humidity have you been getting the last few weeks?

Gotta hate spider mites. Luckily I haven't had a problem with them yet. I always have some, they just don't do much except hang out. I've had a caterpillar munching on some of my leaves too. There's plenty to go around, I hope he doesn't bring the whole neighborhood though.

I'll post some pics of my stuff soon so you can peep. I'm 2 weeks in flower now so it's still a little boring. Once I get something nice to see I'll update my journal and show you my kung fu.

 

[El Bandito]

Thanks BigSteve- I will definitely keep an eye out to see how yours develop. As for temps and humidity here, it's been hot and dry. Inside the greenhouse, it's 100+ during most days. The mites like the heat, but interestingly enough, it's so hot near the roof of the greenhouse, that it actually kills moths. I find them fried up all of the time in there. Hopefully that will cut down on problems with caterpillars and budworms this year.

 

[anonymousgrow]

Looking good man. That's a full gh

 

[BigSteve]

I finally got around to posting a few pictures of my stuff. You should check out my journal!
https://www.icmag.com/modules/Journal/viewentry.php?journalnoteid=11384#comment11384

When you gonna come with that smoke report?

I can't wait for the next round of pictures! I think next year I'm gonna throw up a little GH like that. Looks so cool.

Edited to mention it's on day 22! Amazing for the date age!

 

[BigSteve]

You gotta get that camera rollin'! Can't just leave us hanging!

 

[El Bandito]

Thanks for the interest Big Steve. They certainly aren't looking as healthy as yours =P

Well, now that my photo uploading app stopped working, I am having a tough time uploading to an album here on IC Mag. All of the pics turned out sideways. Hmm... oh well, Steve- I guess if you want to see them that bad, you can turn your head sideways...

As you can see, they are putting on a lot of weight and are starting to droop over here and there. The pistils are over half brown now, and beginning to recede into the flowers just a little. I have been foliar feeding regularly with cat hair ;p

The samples I cut down last week dried for about 3.5 days (it's warm in my garage) and are now curing. They were definitely premature- not much smell to them, although the familiar lime tang is starting to come out a little during the cure. Still potent as f*ck, of course, but a little anxious at the onset of the high. After about 30 minutes of trying to catch your breath (mentally) that relaxing indica stone sweeps in and introduces your face to the couch cushion. A couple more weeks will make it perfect. Oh well- I really needed some flowers, so I'm happy with the ounce that I cut down early. Still plenty to go around...

Finally got a couple of those hygrometers from Simon's curing thread and I'm looking forward to the peace of mind I'll have once everything's in jars at a stabilized humidity. Now if I could just press the fast forward button on the next couple of weeks........................................

 

[growbig789]

yah those are getting fat! its not necessarily supposed to be an early strain is it? seems like yours got a bit of a head start on flowering though didn't they? Sounds like a nice stone, hope the last couple weeks are good to you and your ladies.

 

[BigSteve]

Those are some fat buds. I wish I could smoke some. I been smoking the same weed for a while and I'm getting immune. I need something to kick me in the butt!

Looks good though. I can't wait for more pics! Plants never seem to grow fast enough for me, no matter how much they grow!

Do you have a date you plan on chopping down? If you did mention this previously, I forgot!

 

[El Bandito]

Thanks Growbig and BigSteve =) Definitely finishing a bit early this year, as are lots of others in NorCal. I actually just chopped one down this morning. I know what you are saying about getting immune to the same strain after a while. Sour Bubble is the first strain I've found that doesn't make me want to try something else after a while. It's the best of the best.

I'll be AFK for a bit while trimming and drying and such, but will take lots of pics in the meanwhile. Good luck to everyone!

 

[El Bandito]

I think I finally understand why people hate trimming so much. I spent over 8 hours last night trimming just one plant. By the end, I was so tired and burned out that it took an immense amount of effort just to pick up each new bud and start trimming it. I was able to chop up the plant and strip all of the fan leaves in about 2 hours, but the trimming took forever. This is an easy strain to trim, too! Lots of calyxes, not too many leaves. I threw all larf and buds damaged by caterpillars or bud rot into a separate bag for bubble hash. Leaves are in yet another bag and will be used for butter.

I set up a little mostly-enclosed drying area in the corner of my garage. Started with 40% humidity but once all the plant material went in, I ended up at 60%. There are two small fans circulating air but not blowing directly on the buds.

Here's the whole plant chopped up without fans, prior to the final trimming. This is about the same amount I harvested from my entire indoor run previous to this grow.

Overall, I am incredibly happy. The quality is definitely there, and the buds and leaves are covered with cloudy trichs. I would have liked to let them go for a bit longer, but Mrs. Bandito had been stressing big time about the smell. To be fair, you could smell it from a long way away. Now the greenhouse is empty and the othere 4 plants are in a dark room awaiting their fate. I would estimate another 30 hours of trimming work. Sigh.

 

[growbig789]

I think most can relate for sure! Congrats on the harvest, you'll get through the trimming, but damn its a grind isn't it? I'm kinda in the same boat, I usually end up pulling some real late nights or sometimes when the fam is gone I can dedicate a whole day or a weekend. Its amazing how long it can take to do a good job, you look at the clock and its been 2 hours and you've maybe done a few branches!

I think I'm still about a month away from being where you are, by then you'll be all jarred up, smoking your new stash and planning for next year! Good luck with the continued harvest, nice pull this year!

 

[BigSteve]

I hope the trimming becomes more bearable. The better at growing you get, the more trimming you have to do! It's pretty crappy work.

I can't wait for more pics. If possible maybe more close up of the nugs? I like big nugs, I can't help it.

 

[Chunkypigs]

congrats on a safe harvest! wish I was your designated trimmer, I feel your pain. I have found for my personal meds that drying the plants whole and curing them untrimmed in large plastic bins works well for me now. they take a lot longer to dry with the leaves on and they cure better too. I give a little trim before I prepare it for smoking but that's it now. it's a superior smoke and taste for me but it doesnt look as pretty. I'm over pretty.
try one plant and see what you think... you can still do a dry trim on it after if you want.

some strains need to be de-fanned 1st depending on the plant structure FWIW.

those meters from simons thread are the shit!

another great year for you buddy! I blow smoke from my last jar of Chernobyl in your general direction!

 

[El Bandito]

Never imagined I'd be complaining about too much trimming! It's funny- the other day I was at the local butcher shop and there were a couple of hunters there that were dropping off some wild boars they shot. The carcasses were all skinned and gutted and hanging from hooks on a conveyor belt that disappeared into a closed door in a refrigerated facility where they butcher game and livestock. Needless to say, it wasn't a pretty sight, but neither is my drying area right now. The processing is ugly- the part where the life is leaving the material, and it's stuck in that limbo phase between alive and ready for consumption. I guess I feel a bit like Dexter back there all alone surrounded by plastic and cutting instruments, wearing latex gloves, breathing in the hot humid taste of death in the air. I seriously need to invite someone over to help me, or at least keep me company. 2 out of 5 are trimmed!

Chunkypigs! Good to hear from you! Thanks for the encouragement- you've really helped me to learn a ton over the last year. It's funny that you mention curing them untrimmed- I think that's what I'm going to do with the other 3. I did it on my last run and it worked fine. I have close to a pound of pretty trimmed buds for friends/family, and the rest can be a bit shaggy. I like a little leaf in it for the joints anyway. Here's the one I'm taking down tonight- I have been picking away at big fan leaves but will leave the rest untrimmed and just hang the branches for drying. This also spaces out a lot of the fine trimming work.

Growbig- thanks for your support and enthusiasm as always! I hope your harvest goes smoothly as well.

BigSteve- you make me feel so pretty =p I took a few more pics at lunch time just for you.

It's interesting using my entire garage as a big microclimate- I've got to exchange the air sometimes. It fluctuates between 50% and 75% humidity in there right now. Ambient in there is usually 40%.

 

[BigSteve]

I loved that up close picture. Allowed me to see what I wanted to see. Nice swollen calyx covered in crystals! Looks like you got tons of nugs. It's always a nice feeling. But the weed is always gone so soon!

If you let your plants get real dry you can use your hand to quickly bust off most of the excess leaf matter real quick. Basically just jerk off the bud real fast and all the leaves will explode off. Your hands end up covered in a lot of resin by the time you are done. And if a bud isn't especially nice I don't really trim it, besides the big uglies. I've done this with tons of dank when I was short on time but really needed to jar quickly. I do this with all the buds that aren't worth the effort of trimming. Lately it seems every one of my buds is worth trimming though.

I always do a few jars especially nice for myself though. I chop off as much leaf and stem as possible as I put the weed in the jar. In my experience the leaves and stems add a nasty smell and taste to the cure, which I dislike. The more of them in the jar the worse it gets. I've done many side by sides because I don't have the motivation to trim all of it as good as I could, and it's what I've noticed. Not really a big deal but I'm bored and felt like blabbing. I just vaped a bunch! I don't know what I'm doing!

I figure my stuff will be done here in about 2 more weeks. I can't wait! Unfortunately, it's the same kind of weed as what I've had for a while. I posted new pics in my journal if you wanna take a peek. I got a few close ups.