Another Crappy Day in Paradise..... Changes

Did you miss me? Good, Now stop it, we got a lot to cover....


Five years, everything can change in five years. Ironically, even more hasn't changed. But enough has. Enough that this log will not resemble the last few, no, we're doing different things now. Gone are the days of shotgunning small plants all over the place, order has been restored. I've pushed out to new dirt and covered everything over.


It's been awhile...the last one of these things I did was started back in 2015. For those of you new to this, and I'd guess that would be most of you, this little trip will take place on the island of Maui. More specifically, 3,000 ft up on the Western flank of the volcano we know as Haleakala. Our climate is characterized by sunny mornings and cloudy afternoons. When the trades blow lightly this area is known for hard afternoon downpours. Our temperatures range from 80 in Summer to a low of 44 like it was last night. We grow in dirt! Why the fuck not? It's great dirt, made less than 50,000 years ago! Throw some compost in and your golden. Only problem is so were the rocks. This property is steep, and it has lot's of rocks too, so in my younger years, many moons ago, I took all the rocks out and made walls with them, then backfilled behind the walls to make terraces and planterboxes. Then in went the plants. And that's about where we were way back in 2015 when we went dark.


The strains? It's complicated. It was so much easier when Greyskull was right down the road. But he's not, and Maui is the end of the line when it comes to new blood. So when something lands at your feet your gonna have to preserve it. I now have thirty holes and keep fifteen different strains going at all times. Right now here are the flavors for this year.


Chem D
Skunkdog
Lemon Skunkdog
Mother's Milk
Maui Girl
Maui Passion
Sunset Sherbet
Kula Dog aka Original Dog
Blue Dream
Pink Gorilla
Firepie
Firecracker
Scientist Diesel
Motherloaded
Champagne Blood
Black cherry OG


So this is what we'll be playing with as the year goes by. Some of you will note that we were running many of those years ago. That's right. If it works we'll keep it forever, or at least long enough so that no one else has it. Everything above has been tested by the usual group of delinquents and been found adequate in the brick to the side of the head test. Most of these are Greyskull finds. Back when he lived here he and did his seed trip had me backstop him and I collected all of his mothers. When he left I got permission to say where they came from. Yea Me!


This log is gonna go the year. Alot's changed, I know you don't see it but you will. Much has not changed though. This will not be one of the plain vanilla logs you see here, no, if it came to that I'd just shoot myself and be done with it. Many times we start off in one direction, and end up someplace else. But who knows, it's been years since I've done this, and life is short. Some good news, I actually have a decent camera, so I will be throwing up better pics than you are used to. If you have a comment or question feel free to slap it on up, but don't blame me if I take it and run with it.


I've done this for a short while now and if there's a mistake to be made, I've done it twice, so if your new to growing in Hawaii, this may help you. If your stuck on the Mainland, cold and wet, and need to get warm, you've come to the right place. And if your bored, show up here once a week and I'll entertain you for 5 to 7 minutes, depending on how fast you read.

I'm in.

I like the cut of your jib, sailor.

I'm in.

Welcome back OH! Can't wait to see you rock it again.

Look what you helped inspire me to pull off this year OD.

Well, well, well, I see someone was busy.

Looks like I be "inspirational" Go figure. Betcha you were happy with the way things worked out. That's kinda what I used to do, a sea of small plants. You did 'em all at once, I spread 'em out.

That was my mistake.

That last log. If you were to read between the lines you could easily see the cracks starting. The nice thing about this was I do this by choice, I enjoy it, and to a certain point it keeps me young. At this stage in my life I don't need the money, don't get me wrong, it's better than a sharp stick in the eye, but I also like the idea of waking up and doing nothing all damn day long. By 2017 it was clear things had to change.

The beginnings of the idea came in 2015. My partner had to go to the mainland for an emergency, and just had put three plants in the ground. He wasn't sure when he would be back, so he hung a drop light over each plant and left. He asked me to water his plants while he was gone and as the plants grew I moved the lights. When he came home he took the lights off and the plant flowered naturally. Overall the plants were too close together, and in the shade branches would die, and rot formed in the stem. Add to that a Kona storm came thru, and the harvest wasn't great.

A year later I discovered my cloneroom was trying to kill me. I know, a bit dramatic, but hey, it's my story. Besides being a big job in itself, hauling everything in and out each day, each month the room put out at least 20 clones that were about 3 foot tall. Any bigger and they would hit the lights. Each month, every month. Lots and lots of small little jobs, all different from what I was doing before. A sea of small plants. In a small garden. If you stayed on top of everything things went well, but take some time off and the undone jobs would start to build up. A couple of weeks off was never gonna happen. Why am I doing this again?

Wifey solved the problem. After listening to me bitch for countless hours she said, "Why don't you just grow big plants like you used to?"
"These ain't sativas', they just don't get big like that" I replied.
"Hang a light over it like --- did." she shot back. "You said that worked."
"Not really, those plants were nothing to write home about."
Then she looks me in the eye, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm sure you can do a better job."

Fuck.

Gauntlet dropped, challenge accepted. You fuckin' bet I can do a better job. Stand back.... or should I say "hold my beer".

That year I grew three big test plants, over the 'dead' of Winter. Each plant yielded well over an lb apiece. In Winter. Plenty of sun but short days, Winter yields are always small. There's a couple of tricks to it, but this can be done on a larger, a much larger scale. What I'm doing is covering four times the ground in twice the time. To do this the garden was gonna have to grow, to double in size. That was the first job. There was room in the gulch, but clearing the site of all the debris of the last 20 years was a job. We had a giant fire, it scared all of the neighbors. Ever burn a giant pile of old bamboo? Sounds like a war.

Garden also needed to be remodeled. Those planters all over the place were pretty, but I didn't near have the space needed for bigger plants. Wound up tearing many of them out. Right now we have four separate gardens, three in the gulch, one in the front, totaling about 2000 sq/ft. Also three of them are covered, so rain isn't a problem. Everything has a dripline, and electricity has been run out to the garden from the house.

The bigger plants really have been working out well. Instead of turning the garden over four times a year, now it's just twice. Starts can be planted at any height, all the growth happens in the hole so moving them around is not happening anymore. This has been working out well, so far. Last year was all bigger plants, and the way it's timed out we also had enough time off.

Anyway, an editing note. Just got a new computer and formatting this is all different from the old one. Right now I'm having trouble getting my pics to come out right side up. I'm gonna post this and try to add pics and explanations to what you see below because I don't want to screw up and lose it all because I hit the wrong button.

Bear with me, the text above will not change, but everything below this point on this post might. If I get pissed off tonight this may not even get fixed until someone smarter shows me what the hell to do, so don't whine at me that I changed the story... I did. Once I figure it out I'll smooth it all out. Then this will disappear.

Looking forward to reading about the new adventures!

How's the choppers been over there lately? Haven't seen them in Puna in a long time.

Gonna follow this time . Your writing is top notch !

I just booked my flight...

Always dig your stories OH, good seeing ya around ����

Aloha OH, good to see ya posting again!

Maybe this will flush Weezard out of the cracks

Pictures.... we got us some pictures....

Pictures.... we got us some pictures....

That was fun. This fuckin' new computer.... in order to do this I have to take four pics of the same shit, right side up, right side down , left, right, then post them all. If I do that one of the posted pics will be right side up, then I delete the three wrong ones and move on.... fun times. Inofuckinvation.....


But here we go.... I promised you all pics.... delivered. Everything's changed in this garden, your not gonna see any small plants in flower, we don't do that anymore.


No, at this time you ain't gonna see shit in flower, just before I started this trip I harvested. Wanted to get that out of the way and we get to start with a clean pallet. See, your joining this show "in progress". If I start off saying "oh shit guys, here's a boatload of flowers, check it out", you guy's will get spoiled, so were gonna build up to a boatload of flowers.... just not yet. Right now I'm gonna introduce you to some of the garden... you know.... where the magic happens. If you have been following this from long ago it may look vaguely familiar.





Start off in the bottom gulch. There's room for eight. I just framed this patch out. That job consists of four bamboo stakes with crossmembers ziptied tight so it doesn't move. From that crossmember I tie up each branch. On big plants the branches sometimes will get heavy and peel off the plant. Do this it won't happen. Netting also works, but it also confines the plant allowing mold to start. Over each plant is a cheapass shop light. It goes on all night, every night. My neighbors hate me. No stargazing for them! Also when I do my frames I get inside and take off everything that won't see the sun. In this pic the Skunkdog plant on the left has been done, one on the right, not yet. You can see the difference. This garden has a Valley plant, two Maui Girls, a Sherbet, a Black Cherry OG, a Champaine Blood and the two Skunkdogs on the bottom.




Here we are at the bottom garden. The only patch not in the gulch, and thus this garden gets the best sun. Room for seven, you can see it doesn't take long for the plant to recover from taking off the unproductive bottom branches. Soon I'm gonna have to do it again. The biggest threat to these plants is that stem rot sets in and kills the main stem. Take off those branches inside and this problem goes away. This garden consists of two Scientist Diesel, two Chem D's a Sherbet, A Blue Dream, and a Pink Gorilla. This patch is running two weeks ahead (older) of the bottom gulch shown above.






Little bit bigger plants. This is middle gulch. Looking up the hill. Room for just six, this is the first patch I covered, so all the mistakes were made here. Once these plants are taken, I'm gonna lift the roof up another foot and a half. Also this tarp is scheduled for replacement this year. You can help. Lights are off, and have been for about a month. Next week I will put in the fans. Your looking at a Pink Gorilla, and a Maui Passion, both about 8 feet tall.




Same patch looking down. Your looking at a chem D plant.. In the foreground are a couple of Mother's Milk plants. Lost in these girls is a frame. Plant grows right into it while it does it's job. Check out the ground. Since this is my test patch to see what works, look down. That's clover. Had to put in a new irrigation system separate from the plants to keep it alive. Not only does my ass not get dirty when I'm sitting at the base plucking branches, clover puts Nitrogen back into the garden. No veg nutrients are ever needed here and I have been replanting back into the same holes for years with no loss of growth or vigor. It works and this year I will expand it out to all the gardens.





Couldn't do it. Here's your gratuitous unnecessary flower porn. Offered without comment.


Now on to the Peanut Gallery....


Thank you everybody for the warm welcome back. It warmed the black withered shell that other people mistakenly call my heart. I'd put an emoji here but I'd have to bump a pic.


Cyat.... thanks very much.


Surfed... Helicopters? Ya mean they used to fly choppers over house to look for weed? Geez that's so fucked up! Wait a minute... it's starting to come back to me know.... Your right! They did use to fly helicopters! Been so long I almost forgot (isn't weed wonderful) yes I do remember that. They haven't flown here in six or seven years. And now with that Mauna Kea nonsense going on I thing they have other shit to worry about, so who knows. Ige doesn't term out until '22 so I don't see any Green Harvest happening until we have a new gov. And even then.....


Dawn Patrol. You know the way this has worked in the past, it does tend to draw the Hawaii crowd like flies on roadkill. I'd say chances are good we'll see a return of the usual suspects.... give it some time.

Sorry double post

I'm in for the show and to hopefully pickup some knowledge. Looks great so far man!

oldhaole said:

Dawn Patrol. You know the way this has worked in the past, it does tend to draw the Hawaii crowd like flies on roadkill. I'd say chances are good we'll see a return of the usual suspects.... give it some time.

Click to expand...

Cheeee! I'm in!
Looks amazing OH, These threads always motivate me and I could use a bit of that lol. Nice size trees considering they're clones too.
Ive been wanting to try a simple shoplight on a few outdoor plants to veg em a bit longer but Im kinda worried the light will attract all kinds of creepy flying bugs.

Also, you can rotate images in ms paint lol

Hi OH!

Glad to see you back posting! Best vibes sent to you in Hawaii!

Garden looks great, big beautiful girls!

Have a great day!

GOT_BUD? said:

I like the cut of your jib, sailor.

I'm in.

Click to expand...

Yup....

Me 2

Wow. looks like it's a pretty awesome day in paradise. I will tag along for the ride

New dirt.

New dirt.

I'm not getting any younger. Don't laugh, your not either. You get to a certain age and you realize that the days ahead are no longer endless, and you indeed to have a shelf life stamped somewhere in there. As somebody or another said, Use it or lose it. Don't do stupid shit.


That said, speaking of stupid shit, I quit smoking at the start of this year. No, not weed, stopped a pack a day habit. So far it's been holding. It's way easier to go to sleep knowing I'm not trying to kill myself. So I was kinda curious to see how I would feel when or if I broke a sweat replanting the top gulch patch. Emmm... not bad. My legs ache though.


Last log this garden wasn't even here. This was a giant pile of nasty where I threw all the green waste from the last twenty years, topping it off with a eight foot tall pile of dead cut bamboo covering the whole damn thing. Sure as hell wasn't gonna untangle it and haul it off, and the fire was another story in itself, but once the cops left there was a huge pile of ash which I turned into the soil, so it did work out for the best....


When you first clear new ground all the roots from the shit you killed still have a hold on the soil. Your first holes there are hard to put in, nothing wants to move, but it doesn't matter, plants in virgin soil always do well. After a year the roots have time to decay, then it's time to open the holes up a little bigger, pull out the rocks, and impose a tiny bit of order to the madness.


It got down to 48 last night. I know because instead of sweating my ass off I took a nap in the afternoon and worked all night fixing up the new ground. Pulled lots of rocks out and built small terraces to catch the dirt. Today was cloudy so I finished digging, then I hauled all my dirt in, filled everything, planted, and hung my lights. Now I hurt but I feel really good, because the whole garden is working. Everything is moving forward and my participation is not needed.


Looking ahead, I need to put the fans in and cut back all the stuff in the way, but that's another post. It won't take long. Then I can see about three weeks with not much to do. Vacation. You know, my goal in life.


Now on to the pictures....





Nice day huh? This was taken four days ago. That sad plant would be a Scientist Diesel that I left the bottom behind to see if it would get better... it didn't. Consider this the before pic. You can see that I've been busy playing with my chainsaw. All of those piles of brush used to be my cover. Back in the day I planted all of that shit to hide my plants. Now there is no reason to worry and all that shit will be burnt at a later date. Most of that stuff was in the way of the morning sun and with it gone the sun "rises" a good half hour earlier.





This morning we were almost done with the holes. Just the one is left to dig there in the corner.





The story of my life.... The last hole had a present for me. But on the plus side once I removed the stone the hole was just about done. Not a bad thing. And if your curious on how big I make my holes they each will eat three bags of Foxfarm. Also pictured is the tool that made the whole garden possible. Called an o'o in Hawaiian it's a twenty lb iron toothpick. Hit a rock with the o'o and if the rock trembles it can be moved, If it doesn't tremble you hit the rock with the other side and bring it out in chunks.





This evening we were done. Planted were a Kula Dog, Two Mothers Milk, a Black Cherry OG, a Sherbet, a Maui Passion, a Firecracker and two Firepies (I think). Lights are hung, and I have put empty boxes in front of the lights so they don't mess up that Firepie flowering under the tarp.

FlyinHawaiian said:

Cheeee! I'm in!
Looks amazing OH, These threads always motivate me and I could use a bit of that lol. Nice size trees considering they're clones too.
Ive been wanting to try a simple shoplight on a few outdoor plants to veg em a bit longer but Im kinda worried the light will attract all kinds of creepy flying bugs.

Click to expand...

Flying bugs aren't the problem I thought they were gonna be. In Winter there are very few moths anyway. And the plants don't flower until you pull the lights so that's not a problem either. Where I have noticed a problem is when the lights are on and the flowering plant in the dark closest to the lights will have more green worms on it than a random one in the middle. That's minor though.

My advise to you would be to give it a try. Take full advantage of it. It will make your life so much easier, grow them to the size you want, or two months before you want to harvest pull the plug.