2018 Outdoor Cannabis Grow - Week 9 of Flowering

2018 Outdoor Cannabis Grow
Week 9 of Flowering
Strain: Super Silver Haze

The Super Silver Haze strain is a 100% true sativa plant, and in our opinion they have truly thrived here in the New England climate. Today is chopping day for one of the three plants. It is farthest into the flowering stage, and also is getting hit the hardest with infection.

Although these plants have been very resilient to the cool climate here in New England (lows in the high 30's), they were susceptible to both mold and pests. And that has pushed up the harvesting timeline.

But that was not exactly their fault. We decided not to use pesticides, and did not provide them with any covering during the wetter weeks between September and October. It is very possible that these plants would not have had these issues if we tended to them differently.

Ultimately this was an experiment to see how well the strain could grow here in New England. And we provided them with minimal assistance. Other than the nutrients in the pre-mix store bought soil, we fed them nothing during the entire vegetative stage. And then offered only a handful of feedings during the early-middle flowering period.

In our opinion this strain did very well, and grew tall and healthy. And probably could have gone another couple weeks if the rot and pests weren't a factor. And that is without a covering.

All of the flower and sugar leaf from the plant being chopped today will be converted into concentrates which will be used for edibles. The plant matter will be bagged and frozen fresh. From what we have read, drying can remove some of the Terpene flavor profile from the concentrates if plant matter is allowed to dry.

That will be another video down the road.

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Happy Growing!!!

MM's

B Horror Film Movie Review - Warlock (US release 1991) with Super Silver Haze

With Halloween just a week away. We felt it was appropriate to do a movie review. And this isn't to review anything new. Oh no this is from the b film archives. Thanks to the streaming video providers there is no shortage of terribly cheesy horror films to choose from. 

You know the movies I'm talking about. Straight to VHS. Where there is a light amount of nudity, tons of poor to terrible dialogue, and plot lines that just really don't go anywhere.

Please note that below this photo there will be a lot of movie spoilers. Yeah I know this film is ancient but don't read further if you might want to watch this multi-movie series about a Warlock that terrorizes modern society.

So if you're still with me. Light 'em if you got 'em. And I'd like to suggest you check out Warlock (release date in the US 1991). Produced and released by New World Pictures.

Spoilers below this line...

First let's just say this film was very enjoyable with the help from some super silver haze.

Warlock the film, begins in Boston, Massachusetts in the 1600's where a witch is being held in a tower awaiting his execution. He was somehow caught by a witch hunter who is overseeing the warlocks detainment until he is burned alive.  

New World Picture (release 1991)

And I like the dialogue here, because they are going to burn a living cat along with the warlock. Priceless...

I was reading reviews about this film before watching. One of the best comments. The Warlock is a lot like the terminator only he goes forward in time and is a fantasy villain rather than a sci-fi villain.

Anyways the winds kick up and the Warlock disappears with it, and he is transported to Las Angeles in the late 1980's. The witch-hunter magically followed the Warlock and continues his pursuit.

The movie at this point introduces a ditzy blonde female lead. Who is living with a gay roommate. That roommate is murdered by the Warlock. He actually kisses the gay roommate and bites off the man's tongue before murdering him. The acting is pretty terrible in this scene. And it seems like this whole angle might have been very edgy some 25 years ago. Now it just seems dated and unrealistic.

So the ditzy blonde is chalk full of lingo that probably hasn't been uttered by anyone since the 90's. I think that's one of the things that makes this movie so enjoyable. Just how dated everything about it is.

All rights reserved to New World Pictures

The ditzy blonde is cursed by the Warlock and starts to age 20 years every 24 hours. Her transformation is just awful, but she keeps on wearing her hip outfits which is hilarious as she goes from being a 20 year old to a 40 then 60 year old.

The Warlock is looking for pages of a book that will help him call out the true name of God and basically destroy the world by reversing everything God created.

It's really odd how a lot of the pages are stored in random places. Like tables and attics, as though these would not have been discovered at some point over the some 300 years they were hiding.

The plot is going to bounce around a lot. But stick with it, the ending is pretty good.

You get to learn a lot about hexes and witches in this movie. And combines 1980's LA hipster, with child face eating Warlock, Amish, and Grave desecrating all in just 103 minutes.

The ditzy blonde actually saves the world by injecting salt water into the veins of the Warlock in a Boston cemetery. I will say that nothing about that end scene looks like Boston.

And furthermore, this poor woman has it pretty rough. She is forced to endure a curse of aging. She has to travel from LA to Boston hunting a Warlock. And once she kills the Warlock, he and the witch-hunter disappear. Leaving her in Boston without her car, and a ton of new credit card expenses. And she was complaining about having no money from the start of the film and she went ahead and maxes out all her credit cards...

My favorite scene #1: Hands down the entire time they are in the Airport. 

Why, because everything about that has changed. Yes it's a movie. But they show up and basically board a flight they have just paid for. And the protagonists run through the entire airport and board the airplane with a huge weathervane.

My favorite scene #2: The Boston cab driver scene

The film plays on the rivalry between Boston Celtics and LA Lakers in this scene. When the witch-hunter is arguing with the cab driver on where to go on Tremont street in Boston. Because he knew where to go over 300 years ago. Oh well it's unfortunate they couldn't get an uber in this movie and just point out the location on their phones. 

Rotten Tomatoes gives this a 53%

And if you like this film please note that it has 2 other sequels. We watched the second one right after this one. It was also terrible enough to be good.

Are you watching any horror films right now?

Do you also have a favorite b horror film or scary movie?

We'd love to hear what what they are.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment or check us out at:

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Happy Growing!!!

MM's

2018 Outdoor Cannabis Grow - Week 8 of Flowering

It's mid-October and the plants are doing okay.

Bud sites are starting to really fill in which is great. But we've also seen a fair occurrence of bud rod on one of the plants.

Having come from mainly running indoor grows, we have been trying to manage these new challenges as they develop. Which is obviously not ideal, but it's sort of all we could do.

We have been very lucky with the temperature. But the excessive moisture really hurt our plants.

Here are some bud shots at week 8. They are clearly not ready to be harvested. But we are racing against factors that we cannot control. So harvest is likely coming in the next week or two.

Even the lower bud sites have started to show amber colored trichomes and red pistils.

This photo was used for our youtube video. One of the better buds on the most eastern facing plant. It's been hit hardest by the bud rot.

Under a jeweler's loupe we are seeing a mix of clear, cloudy (white) and even amber trichomes.

We've noticed that the pistils and trichomes are in different stages based on where the plants are positioned. They sit in a row with one plant facing the east, one being in the middle, and the last plant facing the west.

The most western plant is the least ripe, with majority of pistils being white and the trichomes largely still having that clear look.

The most eastern plant is the most ripe, with about 40-50% of the pistils having turned red, and the trichomes being majority cloudy, followed by clear, and less so amber.

Here is an example of the bud rot. Such a shame that we couldn't control or prevent it from happening this year... 👎

It has been a really fun ride, watching these plants go from being cuttings, to foot tall transplants, to 12-13 foot giants.

And we arrived to this point with minimal feeding and training.


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Happy Growing!!!

MM's

Would Ants be Helping or Hurting a Snapped Cannabis Stem?

Week 7 - The week of 'fun' outdoor issues.

After surviving a pretty wet couple weeks things have become dry and mild again here in New England. Some temps into the low 40's are expected, but this is preferable over 60's with high humidities.

We noticed today that the plants had taken quite a beating from the wind gusts that went through our area the night prior.

It wasn't obvious as the plants are supported and weren't flopped over on their side.

What we noticed was a patch of ants around the snapped stem area. Any idea why they are there? We assumed this was for the sap of the plant.

Anyone have an idea if these little insects are helping or hurting the plant?

**update**

We have taped the plant and added another support rod. So hopefully they will not have any additional stem snaps before harvest.



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Happy Growing!!!

MM's

Wild Mushrooms Invading the Cannabis Garden - possible Amanita species

With all of the rain we have received over the last couple weeks, and the relatively high humidity levels our garden and surrounding area has been invaded with mushrooms.

It's not a good sign for fighting bud rot within the cannabis garden, when all around the plants we have wild mushrooms sprouting up. Basically most of New England has been the perfect conditions for fungi.

But we did our best to remove them from the area. Not sure if those mushroom are even a threat to the cannabis plants.

And since we have no idea if these cool looking things are a problem. I'm more or less going to ignore that possibility and geek out on mushrooms for a bit

Anatomy of the mushrooms in these photos:

Cap: is a yellow and light brown color
Scales: yes, they are a off-white color
Gills: are prominent and well spaced
Ring: hangs off the plant and is white with bits of yellow (better example in the photos below)

Appearance seems to fade out as the mushrooms progress through their life cycle.

Compare the younger mushroom (above) with the two older ones (below).

A basic search on the web, led us to believe these are Amanita frostiana mushrooms.

According to wiki, this genus contains some 600 species, including some of the most toxic mushrooms to be found around the globe.




Some of those well known species include:

Amanita muscaria - also called the fly agaric and fly amanita. They contain muscimol and ibotenic acid. Primarily found in the cap of the mushroom. It is these two compounds and their interactions with the body that cause the psychoactive (hallucinogenic) effects. We are merely citing wiki and related sites for information, and are not promoting human consumption of these mushrooms.

Two other infamous mushrooms for their toxicity are:

Amanita bisporigera and Amanita ocreata - Also called Destroying Angel, what a name right?
It contains amatoxin which inhibits RNA polymerase II and III (just nod like that means something to us). Symptoms do not appear for 5-24 hours when most of the toxin has been absorbed by the kidney and liver. And it is at this time that the damage is irreversible. As little as half a mushroom cap can be fatal. And these can be confused for the magic mushroom variety.

Amanita phalloides - Death Cap. I mean if the name itself doesn't drive a little fear into you you. This excerpt hopefully will.

And quote, "The death cap is one of the most poisonous mushrooms in the northern hemisphere. It grows throughout the entire temperate zone of Europe, Asia and North Africa. It was carried (probably with tree seedlings) to North America and Australia. This amanita is responsible for most mushroom poisonings, and even small doses can be very dangerous. Resistance to the poison varies among individuals, so specifying a fatal dose is difficult. The poison - amanitin, damages the liver and kidneys. Initial symptoms occur 8 to 48 hours after ingestion. In this phase, the person experiences fatigue, stomach nausea, dizziness, headaches and feelings of cold, even freezing. The nausea intensifies, stomach aches occur, accompanied by strong retching and watery diarrhea, leading to dehydration, and eventual circulatory failure. This is usually the immediate cause of death in children. If the patient survives this phase, his condition appears to improve (usually the fourth day after ingestion). In the second phase, the kidneys fail, and sometimes the liver as well. Death usually occurs four to twelve days after ingestion."

Full link to site: Safety about wild mushrooms and simply search wiki or call your local poison control. Better yet don't go foraging for wild mushrooms if you aren't a pro...

I don't believe these are Amanita mushrooms they are a lot smaller. But still pretty cool looking. I sort of gave up on researching these ones after doing a serious deep dive into the Amanita genus.

Artsy photos are easy. Looking through a ton of photos for, white small mushrooms with ring, less fun.

Here's, "the odd pair"

Calling this one, "the loner"

And this, "mushroom deep in thought"

Anyways like I said, I have no idea if these mushrooms are going to negatively impact our cannabis garden. But it was fun photographing and researching them.

Please be careful even just handling mushrooms. After researching the more poisonous ones, I went and washed my hands a couple times just for good measure.



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Happy Growing!!!

MM's

2018 Outdoor Cannabis Grow - Week 7 of Flowering

Weather in Massachusetts this weekend was perfect for fall and for our cannabis garden. Temps didn't drop too low into the 50's and the humidity levels were also below 70%.

After 3 days of rain with humidity levels exceeding 85% for most of the work week. We will take a couple dry days before more rain comes to the area.

We had our work handed to us this week, for sure... Removed a lot of lower branches and some bud rot.

Lots of spot checking on the garden for bud rot. It doesn't always look obvious. And the untrained eye may just see a collection of fuzz that could confused for a dense section of pistils. And then it can also be darker red which also has the appearance of aged pistils.

To any one else dealing with bud rot. It pays to look at the plant bud sites from different angles. Remove any dead leaves, and look for dead or dying fan leaves around bud sites. That can be an indicator of disease around your buds.

When in doubt cut away - cut often and cut deep - don't kill your plant with kindness
It is very to want to be gentle with your plants. But by doing so you can be setting it up for more issues later on in the grow. If you find bud rot, cut that area out from the plant completely. Leaving anything could just promote return of the mold in a week.

But this philosophy should really be practiced from start to finish. These plants required a ton of late stage stem trimming, because we didn't fully remove the lower third of the plant. We removed branches that are flowering but will not develop full buds. It's a waste of resources for the plant. And thats our failure to realize this from the start...



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Happy Growing!!!

MM's

POT USA Humor - Please Wait The Donald Will Be Texting You Directly...

Crap don't let the donnie know he can text all of us directly... 






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Happy Growing!!!

MM's