Tales of a guerilla

[Mattskibop]

Checked the PC at the auto spot and I decided to leave it, didnt see any mold so left it to do its thing.

I checked the bait plot...
The plants are mostly in pretty good condition. The FD had a bit of budrot in spots and I lost a couple of tops so with a week of rain ahead I cut her down, maybe 2 weeks early.
I gave the others some TLC, cut out some small bits of mold to manage it spreading and left them to it... MM and PC should be ready in 3-4weeks, TD about 6-8weeks.

 

[Gnz]

The weather has been a mess this year, I feel for you outdoor guys. Things are looking nice despite this weird summer though.
Why dry outside? Apartment?

 

[Mattskibop]

The weather has been a mess this year, I feel for you outdoor guys. Things are looking nice despite this weird summer though.
Why dry outside? Apartment?

I live with family and they aren't keen on a stinky house, I also live in a major city and have lots of neighbors close by.
Definitely not an ideal situation but I wouldn't want to have any decent quantity drying where I live. Seen way too many stories in the news of people getting snapped because their houses reek of weed... gotta be smart.
If I could get access to a barn or shed or similar somewhere out of the way that... would be mint.
Till then I'll try the out-hang method, its been tested by many before me.

Been dealing with alot of mold after the recent rains of cyclone Debbie.

I left them out knowing that this would be the case but I left them in hopes for some good weather... and it has been good for the past few days, but the forecast says more rain for the next few days.
So more of this...

But its not all bad news...

Most of the plants that had any developed flowers were affected. Some lost more than 50% to mold.
Many of the plants are into their 7th week of flowering and have already shown a tendency for mold. This is automatically a concern with the incoming rains.
With this in mind I have begun harvesting the majority of the plants. Before the last rains I think harvesting would've been panicking. Now that Ive seen how each strain is coping with the rain I can make a more experienced decision about which plants should come down and which can stay. My heart says to leave them all till they are fully mature but my brain says there wont be much left after another week of rain.
There have been some gems among the fluff in terms of mold resistance. Mostly the Sativa leaning strains have dodged the mold so far, the Tangerine dream is looking really good and still has 4-6 weeks.

The PC has done really well up to now but I didn't want to risk leaving it so I chopped and hung most and left the lowers. Chopped the main tops from the MM, lost bits to mold... Got out to the minis and chopped a couple of decent lollipops, a bit of mold here too nothing major... Chopped the BR after losing every top to mold... sigh... Still have a few plots to check but feeling less motivated to travel to a plot full of mold, or worse yet, nothing. Everything thats come down should get another week or two of maturing while its hanging.

8 degrees difference between ours and highest in the country.
Hope everyone's climate is much better than the one where I currently reside...
Stay safe... peace.

 

[flamstaa]

A great job Mattskibob!
Not a year for mould free plants on the east coast of Oz. Not sure where you are but I've wondered how the Northern NSW growers have gone with all that cyclonic rain.
We just got the tail end of the rain in Vic but it couldn't have come at a worse time for budrot.
I chose to pull some of mine a bit early that were showing rot.
Very impressed with your grow.

 

[Mattskibop]

A great job Mattskibob!
Not a year for mould free plants on the east coast of Oz. Not sure where you are but I've wondered how the Northern NSW growers have gone with all that cyclonic rain.
We just got the tail end of the rain in Vic but it couldn't have come at a worse time for budrot.
I chose to pull some of mine a bit early that were showing rot.
Very impressed with your grow.

Thanks man... it really doesn't feel like a great job at the moment. 2 cyclones in the final month of flowering...
I've been tossing up whether or not to go and chop everything but the idea of chopping wet plants and hanging them outside doesn't really appeal.

These recent events have reinforced some of the important factors in outdoor growing, things like strain selection. At the moment I sit with a jar of Frisian Dew and about the same of HWFNV, if I had grown these strains exclusively my season would be over already and I wouldn't be worried about the recent cyclones, interesting idea.
I have plants hanging at dry locations and in these conditions every aspect will be put to the test, is the tarp secure enough?, are the knots going to hold?, are the plants hung well? When I was constructing the dry locations I never imagined they'd have to withstand cyclones. My perspective will be different next year.
Im gonna try and get out to check the plants/dry spots when the weather clears up.

There was a bust around here recently, apparently >100kg... thats alot of weed. Maybe they grew FD and got it all in early

peace

 

[Gnz]

I'm right in the middle of the cyclone path and near the sea, assume you're in the same area judging by your username? I didn't think it got too bad last night, the wind didn't hang around long and at least the rain has cleared today. Hope the spots held up!

 

[Mattskibop]

Well... the weather has me running around cutting out mould everywhere. Even the plants that have already been cut are suffering in the current conditions...

Had to toss out half of this due to mould and will likely have to cut more when I return... sigh...
Alot of the stuff I cut to avoid the worst of the weather ended up mouldy anyway... sigh...

Went back to take this down yesterday because more rain forecasted...

Had a spot ripped as well, I knew it was coming too. The spot is in amongst some blackberry bushes and there are some pretty die hard blackberry gatherers around here. The last time I visited I saw the trail, plus they began some major construction right next to my grow halfway into the season. Moving on...

As you see from the top pic the TD at the bait spot has the potential to save my season from being a huge waste. Just need the rain to stop for a few weeks, it's raining at the moment though...

 

[Mattskibop]

Glass half full or half empty...?

Glass half full or half empty...?

It's always better for our Psyche when the glass is half-full.
My apologies for my last post which was a bit on the glum side and not acknowledging any of the positives that have been gained from this grow so far. It's just hard to be positive at the moment and we'll leave it at that.

Lets start with the dry locations.
They were still in pretty good condition when I returned.

As you can see I switched out the shitty tent fly I was using and the tarp definitely has none of the buildup of moisture and debris.
Some of the plants near the ends still got wet... but what are you gonna do in a bloody cyclone?!?!... I digress...

Another good point... none of the plants were on the ground when I came back... they were when I left... a pile of them...

None of the strains I'm growing have a very strong odor either, this has been a relief, one less thing to worry about. They do definitely smell but nothing too major. I have this preconception that smelly weed is stronger though... has this been true for you?

While were talking about smell I'll quickly mention the various smells I've noticed in each strain so far:

Many have a similar sweet fruity smell - Pineapple chunk, Blue cheese, Fast n Vast and Frisian dew
A couple have what I describe as the haze smell - Tangerine dream and Chronic haze
The Money maker has a lemony smell.

I really like how these TD buds are shaping up...

So there is always that... and the cuts I have of the TD, MM and FD that I have close by ready to be re-vegged if I wanted to... unsuccessful in the CS breeding project but now potential mothers... another glass half full type situation.

Another positive gained from this experience is I've developed an appreciation for climate. My less suitable climate has had pretty consistent temps and weather relative to the rest of the country. I've also begun to notice areas, 4 hours away that have consistently had some of the highest temps and sunshine hours.

Hope everyone's glasses are full... stay safe

 

[seeded]

It sucks that you've lost so much but it's great to see you getting a bit of bud and learning from everything that nature has thrown at you. I have no doubts that you're absolutely gonna kill it next season

 

[rod58]

hey mattskibop , earlier on we were talking about spraying with CS and i said that it hadn't worked for me ...well , it did but it happened a lot later than i expected .
i sprayed just a few branches just as it started flowering and continued for two weeks until i ran out of spray . i decided to begin cutting about 7 days ago and noticed a few munted male flowers buried within the buds so i left those until i finished cutting yesterday .
already quite a number of seeds have fallen out ..
so next year i'll do it again but begin well before budding . i used the health supplement mixture which is 30ppm . ureka !!

 

[Mattskibop]

hey mattskibop , earlier on we were talking about spraying with CS and i said that it hadn't worked for me ...well , it did but it happened a lot later than i expected .
i sprayed just a few branches just as it started flowering and continued for two weeks until i ran out of spray . i decided to begin cutting about 7 days ago and noticed a few munted male flowers buried within the buds so i left those until i finished cutting yesterday .
already quite a number of seeds have fallen out ..
so next year i'll do it again but begin well before budding . i used the health supplement mixture which is 30ppm . ureka !!

Cool Rod!!! I managed to produce quite few male flowers but struggled to get any pollen from them. Admittedly I slacked off a bit and didn't continue spraying after noticing the male flowers. I'm kinda hoping they might still pollinate something but not holding my breath.

We're the seeds you've found in the same plant that was reversed? Do they look mature/viable?

 

[rod58]

the seeds that i found were in the sprayed plant mattskibop . i read somewhere here that pollen is collected and applied to another female . i don't think that it should have any bearing on doing it this way . worth researching a bit more though .
maybe you'll find some seeds on your sprayed plant at the end !
the seeds that i've collected so far , about 20 , are all nicely colored though maybe a tiny bit pale because they were picked a bit early . time will tell .. when i've extracted all seeds i'll germ about 8 and see if there all fem or not ..

 

[Mattskibop]

Good morning!

Quick mold check...

Everything seems ok...

Some decent weather forecast for the next few days. Its getting dark earlier now too, this doesn't leave much time after work so weekends are my only real chance to do anything.

The cuts...

There are the tall Tangerine Dreams, the purple Frisian Dews and the light green Money Makers. I'm still undecided whether I want to keep any of these strains.

 

[Mattskibop]

Drove out to a river spot and really didn't factor in the extra rainfall we've had over last few weeks...

and bit if this...

No way Im walking up there. Normally I'd get up there without going in past my knees. Im pretty sure that spot would be close to washed away anyway, plants nowhere near as healthy as Rods, plants on a riverside bank and in the shadow of a hill... Might go and check it out in a few weeks... just for shits and giggles.

 

[seeded]

You live in a truly beautiful part of the world and those cutting are very pretty with their colouring too

Good luck with the upcoming weather and harvest.

 

[Nowhere_Man]

Nice pics dude!

 

[luvaduck]

Wow Mattskibop, you are growing in close quarters!
As a young lad I did quite a bit of the same. Found that most folks stay on the beaten trail. Always the odd inquisitive one though...

 

[Mattskibop]

It certainly is beautiful where I live... just not enough ganja, I'm working on resolving this as you can see.

I do have a few urban spots, most are 1-2 plant type spots... which is good to know for anyone who wants to grow their own but has no land/space to grow - it takes a bit of work and planning but anyone can do it in a million different ways. Being smart about location selection will save you time, money and heartache. You don't have to go all the way out to the boondocks either.

Well... 4/20 rolls by here with pretty little acknowledgement, did anyone here celebrate it? While we are celebrating harvest in our hemisphere all the northern growers are going through their seed stash. There's a similar type 4/20 thing here this weekend I think, might check it out.

I've been thinking about whether I keep any of the clones or just let them run their course and search for better next season.

Tangerine dream
It suffered through germination and started slowly but stretched and kicked into flower late. Has a hazy smell and no mold. I would like to keep some kind of haze in my stash and this one's a "cup winner" but we'll have to wait and see.

Frisian Dew
The mother of this plant was thick and short.
I really like this plant... when its dry...
Thicker buds with a moderate fuel/spicy smell. Some mold.

Money Maker
Fluffy buds which are susceptible to mold. Lemony smell.
Still waiting to see how this finishes but so far meh...

All of these strains seem ok but nothing too special.
No space for anything but special... well... for anything really... but special... exceptions can be made for special

Peace

 

[Brother Nature]

Awesome stuff Mattski, that morning silhouette shot is great.

Glad to see some shit worked out for you at least. I, for one, was fortunate enough to have a pretty decent 4/20, hope a few others were as well.

Cheers for the river shots.

 

[Mattskibop]

More rain coming...

More rain coming...

Been busy getting things down...
Turning this

...into this

and making sure what looked like this a couple of moths ago

looks like this again... well not again cos I cleared it out to look that way.

Alot of early morning activities so not many pics.
Have about 80% in and pretty close to meeting my target which is personal stash til next year.
How much is that? you ask... well... how long is a piece of string? nah I actually did have a figure in mind. I'm in that vicinity with 20% still left out which could potentially out-yield the first 80%... or turn to mush and be nothing... or somewhere in between.

Mold losses have been high this year, both during growing and drying phases.
Im not sure there was much more I could have done to prevent the mold during the growing phase apart from selecting better strains for the locations. Better grow locations will improve my success too but those locations are yet to be found. Having no previous experience with either the strains or locations meant there was going to be alot of trial and error this year. Perhaps I could have used a fungicide type product to reduce losses?
There are still some kinks to iron out of my out-hang drying too. I have the main concepts sorted, but there were some things I've noted from this year, things I think will help me get better results at the end.

Got a bunch of fluffy bud that I'm looking to make some oil/bho. Looking through the forums for the easiest/safest methods.
What do you guys like to do with your trim/fluff?

Anyway...

Heading out to check another spot I haven't been to since putting them in... bit of a drive... walk the dog... and hopefully some wild herb harvesting... or not.

Peace... stay safe