Team Microbe's Living Soil Laboratory

[blackpulpit]

Yes! I am sure it is black gold and will use some next round outdoors of course to see how it works along with some amendments, but will stick to coco indoors, thank for the information and look forward to talking more!

 

[Team Microbe]

Yes! I am sure it is black gold and will use some next round outdoors of course to see how it works along with some amendments, but will stick to coco indoors, thank for the information and look forward to talking more!

Excellent, and anytime man

 

[Team Microbe]

Budshots!

Budshots!

Silver Lotus #1 cola at week 10

Silver Lotus #1 cola after the hang/trim. They say flowers lose upwards of 66% moisture after fully drying (to 55-62% RH), and you can really see how visible the water is so-to-speak in the first photo. I had to chop this down in order to fit it into the mason jar but it weighed a little more than 18g dry. Bang baby

Before I severed the cola lol

Silver Lotus #1 lower

 

[Team Microbe]

CVK lower - lovin the purple hue in this plant. I'll be taking more cuttings off the mother for next round, I yielded well off of this girl too. More on yields later though...

CVK jarred up, burped like a baby, and sealed up for the 4 week cure. I like to wait til they dip down to 55-60% RH on the Caliber III hygrometers I use to measure humidity inside of the jars. They can be found here

The new strain I'm debating on stabilizing - San Adraes Crack (TGA's cheesequake female x TG's Hollister Kush stud). It threw a few nanners late in flower but only because this was from Cheesequake bagseed. I think something happened in the TG flowering room bc when my homie came through with the Cheesequake I found a good amount of seeds in it. I popped em, and this is what the baby looked like. They told me (as I've noted before) that I was the only grower with the beans grown out, so Fabo said I could name it. Hollister is on the San Adraes fault, and it came out crack so I thought San Adraes Crack was fitting both literally and figuratively lol

San Andraes Crack lowers - this plant threw out nothing but big dense nugs, the smallest popcorn was more like golf ball-sized. Very excited to smoke test it, if it passes then I'll most likely dip into my first breeding project ever. OoOoOooo how exciting.

Finally dialed in the flowering room for the dry winters, I have to refill the new humidifier like twice a day, but it takes my 10'x11' grow room from 15% RH to 50% RH, so it's well-worth it. It costed me $100, you can find it here.






The Cure

When I harvest I like to hang the entire plants upside down on string going across the flowering tent, but on plants with big colas - I'll chop the cola off and hang it next to the rest of the plant. This balances out the dry process and lets me jar and cure at the same time for the most part since colas are so dense sometimes. After hanging for 5-10 days in an environment that's suitable for drying (50F-70F & 45%-60% RH), I'll dry-trim and jar with 1 pint mason's. I try to balance out the flower sizes in each jar, so I can stick a hygrometer in the "tester jar" and judge the rest of that strain's flowers depending on this jars readings.

The goal is to not smell any ammonia odor after cracking the jar, if you do it's likely that the RH is still 65%+. If the reading confirms this, I'll dump out all the jars of that strain into the boxes that the mason jars come in, and let em air dry for an hour, then re-jar. I'll wait a few hours, then check the hygrometer readings again. I'll repeat this process until the hygrometers read between 55%-62%. This is the range where that sweet sensi odor explodes out of the jar after cracking it in a room. There will be no ammonia odor, and the flowers will just barely be able to "snap" open. I also do a moisture test by putting the buds up against my upper lip - this lets me smell and better judge the moisture content. I'm not sure why this works better than touching the buds with my fingers, but I have a feeling it has to do with a double of senses and the excess nerve endings we all have in our lips....

Once I'm smelling sweet sensi smells and buds begin cracking open with the right feel, I immediately jar and seal for 3-4 weeks. The anaerobic bacteria in the sealed jar will slowly degrade and break down chlorophyll, eliminating that "green" taste bud has when you smoke it before curing. This process also converts THC-a into THC and CBD-a into CBD. The longer the cure, the higher the conversion rate. This is why edibles require different decarboxylation lengths depending on how fresh the material is. Material less than 4 weeks old need a longer decarb, while older material is already broken down and has converted the THC/CBD into available forms. Not to say that THC-a and CBD-a compounds aren't "available", but they're not what we're after when it comes to medicating. This is why it's always best to resist the urge to smoke that uncured harvest - it's so inefficient to smoke flower that hasn't had a chance to get to it's full potential potency-wise!

Anyways, after 4 weeks I'll crack the jars and taste test every strain. By then the ash burns clean and white, and the terpenes will really come out (especially if you grew organically) in the taste of the smoke. It literally becomes a mini cannabis cup around here during harvest, I love testing out each strain and deciding on which will be keeper cuttings and which mother plants I'll toss out. This "Mini Cup" is always an epic time, I suggest really getting into it and inviting friends over to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

 

[2amcrooner]

Thanks for the info TM, this has been a super informative thread.

 

[blackpulpit]

I love the sound of that "Mini Cannabis cup" at your place come testing time!
Could you recommend any books on recognizing particular plants (dynamic acumulators, possibly plants for use with teas etc)? would like to be able to recognize the many many various plants I have around here and possibly use my backyard as a food source for my soil microbes.

 

[Granger2]

I'm the first to call Dibs! on what won't fit in the jars. -granger

 

[Team Microbe]

Thanks for the info TM, this has been a super informative thread.

No problem, I like it because it helps others but also opens up topics for discussion and in turn I end up learning as well... it's full circle

I love the sound of that "Mini Cannabis cup" at your place come testing time!
Could you recommend any books on recognizing particular plants (dynamic acumulators, possibly plants for use with teas etc)? would like to be able to recognize the many many various plants I have around here and possibly use my backyard as a food source for my soil microbes.

Haha it's fun! Everyone loves it too...

I actually don't, but I was about to start looking into these very same type of plants myself for when I buy this springs garden seeds. I've had my eye on comfrey (there's a specific kind of comfrey that's best to use but I have to look into it again), nettles, horsetail, and yarrow. I would love to hear back from you if you do find any books on these dynamic accumulating babies because I'd probably buy it myself! I bet Amazon has somethin like that... just type in "dynamic plant accumulators books"

I'm the first to call Dibs! on what won't fit in the jars. -granger

 

[Kozmo]

Hi TM, whats your air exchange rate in the flower room?

 

[Antrim]

Hey TM! First, I'd like to say fantastic job on the grow! This is one of the most helpful and entertaining threads on ICMag. I love coming home from work and checking the progress you've made everyday. Second, I wanted to ask what made you choose dry trimming over wet? I understand the advantages and disadvantages to both methods but I'm interested to hear why you chose one over the other. Thanks for sharing your garden with us! Keep up the stellar work!!!

 

[dali kush]

My Tlo grow @ 10 weeks. 2 phenos of Conspiracy Kush in pic 1. Thin mints upclose pic 2. Thin mints, Conspiracy Kush, and jesus og center in pic 3.

 

[Team Microbe]

Hi TM, whats your air exchange rate in the flower room?

My fan is 450 CFM, and it's a 5x10x8 room

 

[Team Microbe]

Lookin good over there DK!

 

[dali kush]

Here's tonight at 11 weeks. Gonna pull on Monday.

 

[Team Microbe]

VERY nice! Those are packed in there, I bet you get upwards of 1 GPW from this...

 

[dali kush]

VERY nice! Those are packed in there, I bet you get upwards of 1 GPW from this...

Thanks TM! Im really hoping so this run. Im running a modular scrog. The foliage depth is under 1 1/2 feet. Totally bare underneath, and im running a 600 in a 4x4 tent.

 

[Team Microbe]

That's what's up, scrogs really help you get every inch out of your canopy don't they?! I'm thinking about running one for my flowering tent next time... had a bunch of buds that could've used the extra support but I just let em hang there this time lol

 

[2amcrooner]

Thanks for the info TM, it is invaluable.

 

[blackpulpit]

Haha it's fun! Everyone loves it too...

I actually don't, but I was about to start looking into these very same type of plants myself for when I buy this springs garden seeds. I've had my eye on comfrey (there's a specific kind of comfrey that's best to use but I have to look into it again), nettles, horsetail, and yarrow. I would love to hear back from you if you do find any books on these dynamic accumulating babies because I'd probably buy it myself! I bet Amazon has somethin like that... just type in "dynamic plant accumulators books"

Thanks ™, will let you now if I find any books.

Question: I have a mix of compost, coco coir (fine), lava rock and rice hulls, EWC and the CC BAS nutrient kit all mixed up now for a week and a half, how long till I can safely transplant a 1 month old plant into this mix roughly without problems? thanks brother.

 

[3rdEye]

go check out horizon herbs if you want a nice spot to pick up useful plants and seeds. I got my bocking 14 comfrey from them and they really are quite knowledgeable.

canopy is looking tight dali kush