Two Heads 2010

[two heads]

A few buds from the swamp

A few buds from the swamp

I went out last night to harvest the swamp site. As expected, it did very poorly but it wasn't a complete loss. It was just getting dark so I had to use the flash.

Here's the "trough":

And here's the "herb wheel":

In a closer view, you'll see a broken branch laying on the chicken wire. It looks like an animal took a bite but it must have happened very recently:

We'll manicure this later this week but don't expect much more than a couple of oz., meaning our harvest will be well under half of last year's. Next year we start with fresh Pro-Mix - lesson learned!

 

[maxkravitz]

Nice plants. At one of my spots I also allow the earliest males to lightly pollinate the girls. It usually results in the pollination of preflowers. This often becomes a problem when the pollinated calyxes begin to senesce as the whole flower is maturing. The pollinated calyxes become the source of bud rot and the yield is somewhat reduced. This may be worth it depending on your situation. Happy Harvest!

 

[two heads]

Hi Max, I hear you. The plants just brought in from the swamp have just a tiny bit of mold and only at the pollinated calyxes. Very little loss but it could have been a problem if it had spread.

 

[hamstring]

2 heads
Man I can almost taste that bud it's beautiful. I am a very crude pollinator and am thinking of moving away from it because lack of success on my f2s.
I always seem to end up with plants that are less desirable than the f1s and no doubt it has to do with my techniques and selection process.

I was wondering if you saw any loss of vigor or yield as the generations went by f2, f3, f4 etc??

 

[Jeff Johnson]

Hello Two heads. Don't be deceived by my "handle" as it is I, Oldsterone, your student from the days of OG.

Sensational looking plants, as always.

My grow is in my peat bog buckets is weak this year. I will have plenty of quality, but not the jars of yore.

Please teach me one more thing: how did you adjust for ph with lime. This must be my problem...do you add handfuls, mix it into the muck, and then test?

In some places, spindly plants abound, with bud at the end...elsewhere in my bog, they are doing ok. Better experiment, and go back to a few upland sites.

Another issue was serious rain, and the water levels got too high in August and early September...perhaps some damage.

Any way, so glad you Two Heads continue to prevail. Have a good winter dudes.

 

[two heads]

Sorry for the slow replies - going back into hibernation I suppose.

hamstring - we've been relying on our own seed for a few years now since we stopped maintaining a clone over the winter. I feel we did lose some potency the first year or two but the last two years have been excellent. We use the old Mendelian dictum of 'select the best and reject the rest', primarily concentrating on potency and mold-resistance and letting the early pollination process keep maturity under control. We now seem to be producing a stable hybrid that has many of the qualities of our original clone including September maturity, pink pistils, potency and mold-resistance. Perhaps you just need a few more generations?

JJ - nice to hear from you Oldstonerone! Our attempt to adjust pH was pretty lame really. Not wanting to allow the time required for lime to work we just made a solution of water and pH Up (used for pools or hot tubs) and watered with it a few times. I'm not sure it made much difference. I've heard of quick-acting lime but couldn't find any. Researching gardeners websites it appears re-using container soil is commonplace but we let it go far too long (5-6 years) with no added lime. Next year we will haul new bales of Pro-Mix in and start over. Hopefully we can re-use it for several years if we re-lime each fall but I still think accumulated fungus and pests may mean renewing the soil mix every few years.

As far as testing goes, I used a cheap test kit from Home Depot but I've yet to find a method of testing pH that was very accurate. Our soil was clearly below 6 though which is death for cannabis as I understand it. Lime is slow-working so add it now or very early in the spring. Or just start with fresh Pro-Mix like we are planning. I have a feeling next year our yields will be back where they used to be (0.5 - 1.0 oz. per gallon of soil). I sure hope so anyway!

How bad was it? Last year we harvested 30 oz. between us. This year, 9.3 oz. Ouch...