El Bandito Rides Again

[Zen Medz]

Bandito, Been following your grow for a couple months and wanted to say congrats on finishing things up nicely. I'm in Orangevale and am about 3 weeks away from harvest I think. Not looking forward to the trimming either but hey that's the life of a suburban farmer! I usually invite a couple close friends over and do a few trim sessions, beer, food, and music provided along with some herbs as a token of appreciation.

One thing I wanted to mention was you should definitely watch the humidity of your drying area and try and have plenty of air movement. I dried some untrimmed plants in my garage last year and thought a oscillating fan would be enough, I ended up getting quite a bit of mold on the ladies, brought tears to my eyes. This year I'm breaking the plants up and will be drying them in my indoor room which has much better ventilation. Cheers!

 

[El Bandito]

Love all of the input, guys- keep it coming! I've only been growing for a year now and this is my biggest harvest, so it's nice to be able to share my progress and get recommendations from more experienced growers.

Zen Medz- nice to have OV represented here. I figured there must be a couple of local lurkers hanging out. It's funny that you mentioned having a trim session. I originally planned to take the plants down tomorrow morning and then have a BBQ with some friends at the house. Mrs. Bandito, however, has had quite enough of all these growing shenanigans and doesn't want to have to get the house ready for company this weekend, blah blah blah. She's off shopping tomorrow during the day and I'm sneaking a friend over to help for a few hours.

I'm definitely watching the ventilation closely, with two fans and regular air exchanges. The buds are drying quickly- 3 or 4 days, so I'm crossing my fingers. I put the first plant into jars last night but ended up pulling it all out after seeing that the humidity was rising too fast. I will re-jar them tonight and see how it looks. The manicured buds from the first plant occupy about 1.5 gallons. (Keep in mind I am throwing any damaged or smaller buds into my hash pile.)

Speaking of my hash pile- it's getting massive. Only sugar leaf trim and buds:

Still have about 60 feet of clothesline with branches hanging on it. Here's to a busy weekend!

 

[Zen Medz]

EB, It's surprising how damp the buds can get once they're jarred up, if I notice the buds are too moist after jarring I pour them in a paper grocery bag with some holes punched in it, the bag lets the buds slowly dry and after a day or three you just put 'em back in the jars. Curring buds is an art and it takes a few attempts to get things dialed. Good luck with the trimming, some nice Fiskers, a buddy or two and some cold brews help.

 

[growbig789]

yah I've had a few not so perfect harvests when it came to drying and curing/storage. I tend to get busy and then forget to burp the jars enough so I've had a few experiences with the bud moisture creeping back up in the jars. Not mold necessarily but they get a little of that ammonia type smell, not good. Definitely an art! I've found that for me I prefer to make sure the buds have a nice and slow but thorough drying before they go in jars. For long term storage i like the buds to be pretty darn dry, then I use the mason jar attachment on the vacuum sealer and stick them in the fridge. A few jars left from my last year OD and while the buds are dry and a little crispy they are fresh and have retained color and desired smell much better.

Nice hash/trim pile! I can sympathize with the spouse issues, my wife gives me grief at times mainly over the smell. But she knows it brings me a lot of enjoyment so she tolerates and is coming around more and more. She doesn't smoke either, just a puff here or there... I don't pressure her but someday it would be cool if she was a bit more into it. Have a great weekend trimming!

 

[Zen Medz]

For those of you that have a co2 tank handy flush your jars to get the o2 out then vacuum seal 'em. no2 works better I've heard and that's what companies do who sells hops (cousin of cannabis) in bulk do. The main idea is getting the o2 out of the jars/bags which reduces the amount of oxidation or breakdown of compounds in the herbs. Helps with long term storage. Peace.

 

[El Bandito]

Happy Monday guys! In the past week I've done 45 hours of trimming! I now have all 4 of my Sour Bubble plants completely trimmed. 2 are in jars and the other two are drying for another day or two before going into jars. On Saturday we had a big storm that brought the humidity levels way up, and it's slowed down the drying process a little bit. I have to say that those hygrometers from Simon's curing thread are one of the best purchases I have ever made. The peace of mind is invaluable, especially when you're a novice grower dealing with your biggest harvest ever.

The goal from day one has been to grow out some Sour Bubble plants that are as close to indoor quality as possible, and make them yield more than the standard couple of ounces I have been getting from each plant indoors. Today I am proud and happy to announce that I've succeeded on both fronts. Quantity-wise, each plant yielded over ten ounces of large solid manicured buds. Each also yielded around five ounces of small, loose, or slightly damaged buds that went into my hash pile.

Quality-wise, this stuff is looking really good. I always seem to experience some panic or doubt during that time when the buds are still pretty wet. They don't smell quite right, they feel soft and mushy, etc. Now that half of it is in the curing stage, however, I can see that the quality is top notch. The smell is back, the buds are getting crunchy and rugged, and the high is getting better by the day. I had my parents in town yesterday and my mom had to sit down after taking one hit. Success!

I think that growing inside the greenhouse has also cut down on the foreign contaminates in the sticky flowers, which (besides pests) is the biggest problem with outdoor growing IMO. The dude at the cannabis testing lab told me that the number one contaminate he sees in flowers these days is little bits of blue plastic from those outdoor tarps that are ubiquitous in backyards, covering everything from wood piles to old bicycles. The plastic degrades in the sun, the wind whips at the tarp, and those little bits of plastic are everywhere in the air right now.

Anyhow, as we all know, we'll have to wait until after the cure for the final smoke report, but this is my third round with this strain, and I can definitely say that it's on track to be connoiseur-grade cannabis. After nearly seven months of caring for these plants, I can't tell you how good it feels to have everything wrapped up. I still have a small Sour Strawberry Kush plant that's drying- saving that one for last. It smells a bit like cat piss right now though- hoping to see that change soon.

I was tickled pink to hear that I won BOG's picture of the month contest, and am going to get some tester seeds from him as a prize. There's a silly thread on his forum where people post pics of themselves with BOG plants, along with a vacuum cleaner and some old pajama pants. (Long story) Anyway, he loved my pic and I'm going to get a sneak peek at his next strain! Awesome stuff....

 

[Chunkypigs]

nice of you to share it with mom....wish I could do that.
Go Bandito!

 

[BigSteve]

Boss!

 

[El Bandito]

Now I don't really know what to do with myself. Everything is in jars now and the humidity levels have stabilized in the 60-65 percent range. Guess it's just a waiting game now. I trimmed neatly and did a completely organic grow, so hopefully the curing will go quickly.

I was looking over some pictures of my first grow (last summer) and chuckled a bit because this year is so much better. Last year I grew out six plants in ten gallon pots and ended up with less than a pound of buds. I trimmed everything wet, and had never done it before, so I manicured every last little wispy tangle of pistils I could find. I had no idea they would shrink so drastically. For that run, I didn't even know what strains I had. Here was my final harvest picture (the plastic bags are the trim):

So this year, I raised 4 plants in 25 gallon containers, and pulled over 40 oz. of top-notch Sour Bubble. (There was a small Sour Strawberry Kush in a 10 ten gallon pot that yielded a couple of ounces as well.) This was all grown in the same 5' X 8' greenhouse as last year. Additionally, I have another 20 ounces of smaller buds that didn't make the cut- those are in the big jar. I am so excited to make all kinds of concentrates with it. It was really nice to have enough meds that I could be picky with the flowers I kept. Here's the money shot- I have an entire box full of fan leaves and trimmings for cooking as well:

 

[growbig789]

nice job, that should last you a while that made me laugh a bit when you mentioned your mom smoking some, thats pretty cool. I think thats a pretty great yield improvement from last year especially using the same space. You really had them crammed in there its probably good they finished early before mold and such possibly became an issue.

So do you have any tentative plans or changes for next year outdoor based on this years experience? more strains/add a greenhouse??? You are getting this harvest lab tested? I've always wanted to do that to see how the homegrown stacks up but never have... enjoy the fruits of your labor!

 

[BigSteve]

Congratulations!

I see you have upgraded to the man size jars. I love those things.

How is the taste of everything? Maybe you could get a close up of a bud? Are you happy with ratio of good to bad quality buds? Did you get mostly big buds or small buds? It's hard to tell with those big jars. Makes the buds look so small.

Do you got plants lined up for an indoor grow? Or are you about to take a smoke break? Hopefully you don't disappear on us!

 

[El Bandito]

So do you have any tentative plans or changes for next year outdoor based on this years experience? more strains/add a greenhouse??? You are getting this harvest lab tested?

No plans yet for next year. I'm assuming I'll do the same greenhouse again. I don't think I need to increase the workload at all, and I have plenty of stash. Maybe go with six X 20 gallon pots rather than 4 X 25 gallons... I would like to try a no-feed soil mix and maybe even get a set of Blumats for more precise watering. As for strains- I really like monocropping. Less variables involved, and a less confusing feedback loop for the novice grower. And for me to pick another strain.... well, I would have to find something I like better than Sour Bubble, and that hasn't happened yet. It has a long veg time, but for an outdoor run, that doesn't matter to me.

I am going to get some tested again- this is all from a mother I had tested at over 20%. I am waiting until I have some concentrates as well prior to making a trip down to the lab. I can get a volume discount if I test a bunch of different batches all at once. I'll do some bubble hash and BHO.

How is the taste of everything? Maybe you could get a close up of a bud? Are you happy with ratio of good to bad quality buds? Did you get mostly big buds or small buds?

Do you got plants lined up for an indoor grow? Or are you about to take a smoke break?

The taste is great- I'm terrible at describing it, but it's an earthy bubblegum smell with a citrus/sour tinge to it. It's super smooth and gets better by the day as it cures in jars. As for the ratio of good to bad buds- I have so much that honestly I didn't really mind stripping out the smaller/bad buds. I was actually kind of relieved I didn't have to trim them. I have a pound of bad/small buds and 2.5 pounds of good ones. Sounds like a decent ratio- this strain usually has very few small buds, but the monster cropping created a ton of branches.

For the near term, I am taking a smoke break, but loaning some indoor equipment to a friend, so I can mentor him through his first run. BOG is sending me some Sour Grape and LifeStar- I'll get them started at my place and then take them over to my friend's house when they are ready for the metal halide. I'll still document the grow though...

Here are some close up pics of the SB flowers:

I've gone out of my way the past week to visit friends and share this new crop with them. It's been bittersweet because I show up all excited, light a joint, and start babbling about how happy I am with the results. At that point I look over to find my friends staring at the carpet with red glassy eyes, obviously comprehending nothing I'm saying. Then it's no fun to hang out with them. As Pure Knowledge always says- this shit definitely ends parties.

 

[BigSteve]

I wish I could smoke some of that.

I'm glad you will be documenting the grow at your friends house. I look forward to this kind of stuff. I spend a lot of time just staring at my plants.

It's to bad I'll have to wait another year to see more from you!

 

[El Bandito]

I figured it was about time to buy a BHO extractor, after reading so much about the wonders of honey oil. I purchased a nice glass one that holds maybe 50 grams or so, and blasted out my first batch last night. Let me preface this by saying that I actually have never smoked any oils, BHO or otherwise. My first hit of BHO was my own fresh oil from top-notch Sour Bubble flowers.

HOLY F*&*ING SH1T!

This stuff made my legs shaky and I broke out in a cold sweat. It was more of an "up" high than just smoking the flowers. That initial rush was pretty intense. I can only imagine what this stuff would do to someone without my tolerance level. Hmmm gonna have to test it out on my poor mom. LOL!

 

[Chunkypigs]

way to go on the big harvest! how much did you smoke since last year? I'm taking a long break, plenty of stash and I'm dying to try some new herb! I have not had anything new that was good since my last trip to Cali almost 20 months ago. So glad you got thru that harvest with no problems....maybe a little carpal tunnel?

Stay medicated bro!

 

[Infinitesimal]

hell yeah bandito,

nice harvest... its always good to have a nice stash of sour bubble, I never made any BHO with it but BOG's full melt was the shit!

 

[BigSteve]

I haven't heard anything from you in a while! I just got some pics of my stuff. It's all chopped and dried. Got pics of it hanging, as well as a pic of the nug. You can see I got nice dense buds that are all nice sized. I was real happy, even though I made a lot of mistakes. I'll probably make some honey oil soon. It will be so good!

Did you have any idea when you would have the next operation up and running? I'm interested to see how things work out. You picked this up fast, I'm excited to see how the next project goes. I'm sure while you are tutoring your buddy, you will see how far you have come. You did real well in that greenhouse, it inspired me to start planning one for next year!

BTW, how much did you end up yielding total off your greenhouse? It looked like you were gonna get a ton. I'm guessing it was about 3.5 off what you said earlier, but I'm not sure if that meant total.

 

[oldmanriver1]

sweet thread ,congrats bandito !

 

[Curtbigd08]

I know it's been awhile but this thread is still so inspiring!

 

[Chunkypigs]

yo Bandito! you getting started again?