Hmastrings 2011 "Striking seeds in the patch."
- Thread starter hamstring
- Start date
It's a good thread, Brother Hamstring.
A well thought out and executed guerrilla grow is a treasure.
Things are looking good.
Stay Sneaky and luck will be yours.
A well thought out and executed guerrilla grow is a treasure.
Things are looking good.
Stay Sneaky and luck will be yours.
Grimr3efer
Member
Great start hamstring. 
grim-- Thanks and you chose the most appropriate phrase "Great Start" because that’s all it is. Much more work ahead for all of us guerrillas.
Ebse- Brother you do better work in your sleep than my little cold frame. Much respect to a great breeder and grower and all around nice guy. You’re a class act.
Thanks again for all the replies I have some new pics and the next step in the process to share when I get a chance.
Ebse- Brother you do better work in your sleep than my little cold frame. Much respect to a great breeder and grower and all around nice guy. You’re a class act.
Thanks again for all the replies I have some new pics and the next step in the process to share when I get a chance.
Time to Transport
Time to Transport
Ok here we are the seedling are ready to be moved to their final homes. When I pull them from the cold frame you can see why the holes in the cups are so important. Those roots sticking out allow them to get moisture from the whole 40 gal tote and it makes a difference in growth too. The first time I did this I accidentally missed cutting holes in some of the cups and I saw a 20-30% difference in size of the seedlings from the cups with holes.
Your cold frame did its job now to transport your seedlings. It may seem like a no brainer but it’s far from it. Trying to carry seedlings through the bush without a special carrier is almost impossible. You could throw a few at a time in your backpack but if they aren’t secured well they will end up as a disaster from all the movement of hiking. Also making several trips is a security risk vs. making one trip.
All I did was take milk crate, which can be obtained at almost any gas station and make some modifications. Looking at this pic you can see I took some cable ties and put one each in the bottom and the top of each corner. I then slide in a bamboo stake and put in my seedlings. One of the most important aspects is to have the cups fit tightly in the milk crate. You have to ensure that they don’t bounce around this is paramount to success. Once there in I take a cut off leaf bag and put it over top. This is not for security but to keep the seedlings safe as I trudge my way through the bush. Without the cover they would be mincemeat by the time I made it to the planting spot. I am not exaggerating if you are guerrilla growing you know the kinds of brush and thorn bushes you walk through. You can simply carry this through the bush or make a DIY carrier seen in the next post.
Time to Transport
Ok here we are the seedling are ready to be moved to their final homes. When I pull them from the cold frame you can see why the holes in the cups are so important. Those roots sticking out allow them to get moisture from the whole 40 gal tote and it makes a difference in growth too. The first time I did this I accidentally missed cutting holes in some of the cups and I saw a 20-30% difference in size of the seedlings from the cups with holes.
Your cold frame did its job now to transport your seedlings. It may seem like a no brainer but it’s far from it. Trying to carry seedlings through the bush without a special carrier is almost impossible. You could throw a few at a time in your backpack but if they aren’t secured well they will end up as a disaster from all the movement of hiking. Also making several trips is a security risk vs. making one trip.
All I did was take milk crate, which can be obtained at almost any gas station and make some modifications. Looking at this pic you can see I took some cable ties and put one each in the bottom and the top of each corner. I then slide in a bamboo stake and put in my seedlings. One of the most important aspects is to have the cups fit tightly in the milk crate. You have to ensure that they don’t bounce around this is paramount to success. Once there in I take a cut off leaf bag and put it over top. This is not for security but to keep the seedlings safe as I trudge my way through the bush. Without the cover they would be mincemeat by the time I made it to the planting spot. I am not exaggerating if you are guerrilla growing you know the kinds of brush and thorn bushes you walk through. You can simply carry this through the bush or make a DIY carrier seen in the next post.
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Ok so you want an easy way to carry your milk crate through the bush here is what I did. Once again I used cedar because it is light and moisture resistant. All of the joints are simple lap joints and poly glue sometimes known as Gorilla Glue. As you look at the picks you can see I used some small chain to improve the strength and an old backpack shoulder straps. I have carried up to 35lbs with this pack but I don’t recommend it. If you really want to get crazy you can pack one milk crate and carry a second. That makes for a very easy way to bring 24 seedlings to their finial home.
Check out the simple dividers each section will hold 3-4 cups depending on size. The cups will fit very very tightly in there so no movement during transport and its worth repeating this is paramount to success.
Check out the simple dividers each section will hold 3-4 cups depending on size. The cups will fit very very tightly in there so no movement during transport and its worth repeating this is paramount to success.
Hey brother the transport has been retired that’s why you didn’t see it out in the bush but I promise and I think you can tell by looking this has had lots of use. I have carried 2 cu ft of soil and my whole cold frame at once using this. I am guessing in the 35-40lb range .
Last season was its last I put down some frog skins for a hard pack that has a detachable pack so you can just use the frame. It uses the exact same principles but it wasn’t made by a hillbilly guerrilla but by a large backpack company who has a few engineers sitting around designing these things.
I used this homemade pack for 4 seasons and it was a life saver but if you have $250.00 to throw down just for seedling transport and harvest transport I would suggest you invest. Thanks for the reply.
I also like to point out all my success was because of all the previous failures. I have fucked up more times than most people have grown. These techniques were not developed over night and none of these ideas came from my feeble mind. I am simply following the footsteps of giants of OG and IC mag.
I always tell my kids that hard work trumps brains every time and that’s really all I have to offer to anyone looking for advice work like a madman and just keep moving forward.
The pack came idea came after I carried 2 cu ft of soil and my cold frame one season. It took me around 4 (40 min) trips and then a 2 hr setup. I was so beat up and tired and I know from experience being tired equals mistakes and as guerillas we cant afford to be tired i.e. mistakes.
I always tell my kids that hard work trumps brains every time and that’s really all I have to offer to anyone looking for advice work like a madman and just keep moving forward.
The pack came idea came after I carried 2 cu ft of soil and my cold frame one season. It took me around 4 (40 min) trips and then a 2 hr setup. I was so beat up and tired and I know from experience being tired equals mistakes and as guerillas we cant afford to be tired i.e. mistakes.
If you want to avoid the hefty bill of buying an expensive pack, just find an old frame pack at the thrift store for a couple bucks, use a couple of steel shelf brackets with bolts to hold them to the frame, then make a 1/4" plywood "shelf" at the bottom. I've used mine to carry bales of peat moss, pro-mix, nutrients and during harvest I can stack three large rubbermaid totes full of bud then strap them down with bungee cords. This is a life saver and saves me so many trips..it cost me around $15 total to make, and I've been using it for a few seasons now...one of the best investments I've made in this career.
I have mad respect for you hamstring. That pack just made me chuckle when I saw the photo.
I've lugged garbage bags full of manure/soil, hurled over my shoulder; through the woods, 2 mile hikes, etc. It sucks. Now I'm trying to find a way to drop all of my soil and tools in late winter by ATV, thats how lazy I am... but honestly, if I have to pack soil out to location, Then there's no doubt a frame type backpack is the most efficient. Also, if I didn't have 250 bones to throw at a professional setup, then I admit it. I would wear that wooden frame.
We good now hammy :-D man-hug?
Sincerely
sadsmiley
ps: can I borrow your hill-billy guerilla frame now?
I've lugged garbage bags full of manure/soil, hurled over my shoulder; through the woods, 2 mile hikes, etc. It sucks. Now I'm trying to find a way to drop all of my soil and tools in late winter by ATV, thats how lazy I am... but honestly, if I have to pack soil out to location, Then there's no doubt a frame type backpack is the most efficient. Also, if I didn't have 250 bones to throw at a professional setup, then I admit it. I would wear that wooden frame.
We good now hammy :-D man-hug?
Sincerely
sadsmiley
ps: can I borrow your hill-billy guerilla frame now?
clunk
Awesome, sounds like a great tool I wish you would take a couple of pics and show everyone how it works I think it would be a great addition to this thread as many guerillas suffer from the same hauling problems and guys like you were where I picked up many ideas.
SS
No worries I new when I didn’t have any pics of the frame in bush people might think I never used it.
It was a lifesaver but as you can tell it wasn’t the most comfortable thing and it would always change positions under a heavy load.
You think that one looks funny you should have seen what I used before. It was back in the day and just a milk crate with some simple straps. That was when I used clones vs. seeds and i was carrying 2 liter bottles full of soil and plants. Talk about hillbilly and crazy I have had my share Rube Goldberg contraptions.
Hope you have a good season and the pack is here waiting for a new home I didnt have the heart to put her down although she is very lame heheheh.
LOL bro. I hear ya man...In this game, if yer not makin mistakes, you aint learnin anything... I'd rather listen to a hundred "dont do what I did's" than a single "this is all you gotta do..." Dude, youre the ultimate Frugal Guerilla...LOL CC
mines still stashed in the bush right now, but when I'm done with it and it's back home I'll make sure to take a few pictures and post them up..simple concept but hard to explain exactly how I did it!
CC
Yeah I am very frugal in general I'm a little older than most of the growers here and i was raised by people who had a garden the size of a city lot. Two chest freezers in the basement and one closet with nothing but home caned goods. It wasn’t like we were starving but if your parents come from the same generation as mine you understand how they think. Another motto I live by is not spending family money on my hobby just don’t seem right to me. It's why I became a grower I didn’t want to be taking grocery money out to feed my habit.
Clunk
Left it in the bush I like the way you think. When I used my old pack I would sometimes leave it in the bush for months waiting for the time to use it. That’s the thing about putting down some heavy frog skins for a nicer pack I cant get my self to do the same. I hate getting the damn thing dirty I have to remind my cheap ass that’s why I bought it in the first place.
Yeah I am very frugal in general I'm a little older than most of the growers here and i was raised by people who had a garden the size of a city lot. Two chest freezers in the basement and one closet with nothing but home caned goods. It wasn’t like we were starving but if your parents come from the same generation as mine you understand how they think. Another motto I live by is not spending family money on my hobby just don’t seem right to me. It's why I became a grower I didn’t want to be taking grocery money out to feed my habit.
Clunk
Left it in the bush I like the way you think. When I used my old pack I would sometimes leave it in the bush for months waiting for the time to use it. That’s the thing about putting down some heavy frog skins for a nicer pack I cant get my self to do the same. I hate getting the damn thing dirty I have to remind my cheap ass that’s why I bought it in the first place.
Ok guys need some help identifying a pest pleaseeee.
I went to check on my second cold frame, which is NOT in the swamp but near a small creek. I had been there aprox 2 weeks earlier and I had personally helped the seedlings shed their seed cap and was around 90% germ ratio.
When I pulled the top off the cold frame to my surprise all that was left was 8 seedlings/cups of the 24 that were in there. I lost all my WW and Green Poison to a pest.
The strain that was left was Med Man and all 8 of the cups I planted were still there. These seeds were the most vigorous and had already started showing their first real leaves two weeks ago. The others were just left with very small stems, the kind that are associated with seeding that just popped up and don’t have their first set of leaves. When I dumped the soil out of the cups I saw some roots in some of them so they were alive and kicking at one point.
I have been using this cold frame technique for 6 years 4 of those in the frame style I currently use. I have never had insect problems even once, notta, nothing, bubkis. The reason why is two fold first there aren’t many insects this time of year in my area and second I have window screen around my cold frame to keep the large pests out. That’s not to say there isn’t any way for them to get in just never had a problem.
The first thing I want to do is try and ID the pest so I can make sure to fix the frame so it will never happen again.
Here is what I have for facts and my opinions.
FACTS
1. The Med man was farther along and must of have been too large for the pest to attack or at least it chose the fresh new seedlings over them.
2. It must have happened with in a couple of days after I helped all the seedling shed their seed caps because of the size of the stem they left behind (i.e. very small).
3. Some of the Med man did show some signs of leaf damage but nothing critical or even significant.
4. I had 24 cups 3 strains, 8 cups per strain, and the med Man was all there not one plant gone and they had several seedling per cup because they are not fem seeds.
5. There were small red ants in the area they type you commonly see if you leave something sweet on the side walk.
OPINIONs
1. I don’t think it was the ants I get these guys almost every season in my cold frame because the soil is easily moved and somewhat dry compared to the ground and I have never had a problem.
2. I have never had slugs nor did I see any signs of them but from what I have read this has their MO on it.
3. If it is a slug problem do they differentiate between a 4-inch plant and a seedling that just popped up?
As stated the most important thing for me is to ID the problem and make changes to the cold frame so it doesn’t happen again. Ok I will admit to be bummed about the WW this is the second season in a row I lost all my WW I may have to buy some from one of the guerillas on here if I ever want to smoke any although Med Man sholud be a close second.
Any advice on pest ID is much appreciated
I went to check on my second cold frame, which is NOT in the swamp but near a small creek. I had been there aprox 2 weeks earlier and I had personally helped the seedlings shed their seed cap and was around 90% germ ratio.
When I pulled the top off the cold frame to my surprise all that was left was 8 seedlings/cups of the 24 that were in there. I lost all my WW and Green Poison to a pest.
The strain that was left was Med Man and all 8 of the cups I planted were still there. These seeds were the most vigorous and had already started showing their first real leaves two weeks ago. The others were just left with very small stems, the kind that are associated with seeding that just popped up and don’t have their first set of leaves. When I dumped the soil out of the cups I saw some roots in some of them so they were alive and kicking at one point.
I have been using this cold frame technique for 6 years 4 of those in the frame style I currently use. I have never had insect problems even once, notta, nothing, bubkis. The reason why is two fold first there aren’t many insects this time of year in my area and second I have window screen around my cold frame to keep the large pests out. That’s not to say there isn’t any way for them to get in just never had a problem.
The first thing I want to do is try and ID the pest so I can make sure to fix the frame so it will never happen again.
Here is what I have for facts and my opinions.
FACTS
1. The Med man was farther along and must of have been too large for the pest to attack or at least it chose the fresh new seedlings over them.
2. It must have happened with in a couple of days after I helped all the seedling shed their seed caps because of the size of the stem they left behind (i.e. very small).
3. Some of the Med man did show some signs of leaf damage but nothing critical or even significant.
4. I had 24 cups 3 strains, 8 cups per strain, and the med Man was all there not one plant gone and they had several seedling per cup because they are not fem seeds.
5. There were small red ants in the area they type you commonly see if you leave something sweet on the side walk.
OPINIONs
1. I don’t think it was the ants I get these guys almost every season in my cold frame because the soil is easily moved and somewhat dry compared to the ground and I have never had a problem.
2. I have never had slugs nor did I see any signs of them but from what I have read this has their MO on it.
3. If it is a slug problem do they differentiate between a 4-inch plant and a seedling that just popped up?
As stated the most important thing for me is to ID the problem and make changes to the cold frame so it doesn’t happen again. Ok I will admit to be bummed about the WW this is the second season in a row I lost all my WW I may have to buy some from one of the guerillas on here if I ever want to smoke any although Med Man sholud be a close second.
Any advice on pest ID is much appreciated
