Northern Lights Harvest Day 69

Here is a quick video of our solitary Northern Lights hermie plant on harvest day. We had to isolate her from the main area after the plant started displaying intersex traits. 

It was a hard choice to move or kill the plant, because the plant was about 3/4's of the way through the flowering phase and we didn't really have another place for it. And yes this can be expected for some strains, but we didn't want to pollenate any of the other plants.

She was ultimately quarantined to the veg tent where we had our clones for the the next cycle. It was pretty fun to watch the clones also go into flower mode. However it took nearly a month for them to re-veg. Delaying the next cycle.

We were pretty sure this NL plant hermied as a result of human error. We made a couple mistakes with lighting and light leak during the vegetative phase. So this wasn't unexpected. We were happy to find that only one plant hermied.

The lighting was 12 LED bulbs putting out a combined total of 108w.

If anyone has any input about the leaf coloring that would be great. We did reduce total feeding strength about 2 weeks prior to harvesting.

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MM's

2018 Outdoor Cannabis Grow - Week 9.5 of Flowering

2018 Outdoor Cannabis Grow
Week: 9 and 1/2 of Flowering
Strain: Super Silver Haze

Week 9 and 1/2 and we are cutting down the second plant. Unfortunately it is also immature, but the harvest was required to prevent the spread of bud rot. And the weather in New England was supposed to be cold and wet for the majority of the next 10 days.

Looking at the plants using a jeweler's loupe we saw that the plant had a pretty decent presence of amber trichomes. Not enough to really warrant harvesting at this time, but a higher concentration than the first harvested plant.

Some of the buds still had a lot of white pistils on them. As you can see in the photo below.

Some thoughts after growing Super Silver Haze outdoors in New England.

1. Train and top the plants 

We didn't do this and they grew to be between 10-13 feet in some places. That was fun but it made them hard to manage. Had we topped and trained them over the course of the summer. The heights would have been managed better, and we could have better addressed other issues as they developed.

2. Provide support for the plants as the buds developed

Here in New England as the season changes from summer to fall the area gets a lot of wind and heavy rain. Both of which did a number of the tall top heavy sativa plants. By not providing them with proper supports, most of the plants had branches and stems that snapped and died.

3. Manipulate the light cycle

We allowed the plants to enter the flowering cycle naturally. This was by far our biggest mistake of the outdoor season. Had we forced the plants into flowering one month earlier, they would likely have reached their full potential in the flowering cycle.

4. Pesticides during the vegetative cycle

We didn't use any pest control methods this season. As a result the plants were attacked by caterpillars. These were in the buds as they were harvested and dried. Doing some general research on this subject, we could have found a number of safe options that would have helped the end product.

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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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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.

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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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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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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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The Mini Indoor Garden Grow Operation

Just some shots from a micro grow. What do you think we can expect to yield out of these 9 little beauties?

I reckon close to a pound, maybe more?

Just kidding...Can anyone guess what happened here?



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Major Correction in Canadian Marijuana Stocks

Canadian Marijuana Stocks took quite a hit today. In some cases closing down nearly 20%. This correction comes after the sector has seen strong growth for the last month or more. This was the saddest photo we could find. She certainly look upset, if not sad.

Here are two companies we have been following. We missed the boat and are waiting for stocks to drop dramatically before buying into them. 

Aphria Inc - Which has skyrocketed over the last month saw a 16.81% drop today. It will be interesting to see where this one goes tomorrow. Personally I don't believe the correction / sell-off has ended yet. 

Aurora Cannabis Inc - An equally strong Pot stock, dropped 9.07% today. Killing nearly all of the gains on the week.

Disclaimer: We currently do have own nor intend to buy into these companies at this time. But it's crazy how volatile these stocks are. One needs to exercise caution and do your research before buying. 

Do you have any Marijuana stocks? Are you selling or buying right now? We'd like to hear your thoughts on this sector.

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MM's

Is it the weekend yet?

Anyone else wishing today was Friday???

I mean Seriously...!

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Big Data suggests Marijuana Users Can't Name their Favorite Strains and that's okay

Big data / Analytics firms like Highyieldinsights are finding that marijuana user's regardless of frequency are having a hard time naming their favorite strains. At face value that sounds like something out of a stoner movie.

Like Dave's not here man, and dude where'd you park your car, level i dunno's...

Northern Lights - 3 days after harvest 11/2017

But their numbers were actually fairly high.

Approximately 1 in 3 users who smoke a couple times a week could not name their favorite strain. Most were at best able to say they liked, sativa, indica, or hybrid types. And only 1 in 4 infrequent users could name a favorite strain (but if you're not a frequent user, should you really be expected to know this?).

This is largely just free promo for what they are capable of providing consumers of data and analytics. I for one eat this stuff up faster then OG kush brownies. Sorry for the pun. But it's interesting and that statistics they provide are pretty easy to understand.

It's crazy to think that frequent users wouldn't know their brand, right? Maybe not.

Legal marijuana has been around for such a short time and the industry does not have the best track record for being able to provide a product over and over again. Which doesn't set a good standard for consumers to be selective and recalling which brand/strain was good a couple times ago.

In fact people can go into a shop and find that the product or flower they had come to purchase is no longer be available.

And there is research which shows strains can vary wildly genetically speaking between shops. So patrons may get different experiences from the same strain purchased at different stores.

This isn't like beer, cigarettes or other consumer products.

You can't just go into a store any store in the country and expect to get the same product, the same quality/potency, the same experience, and yes the same price each and every time you shop.

What's your point?

I've been throwing a lot of shade on all of the bass ackwards strain names. Getting all sorts of frustrated over how the strain names tell you nothing about the type of cannabis or expected effects.

But I came to realize that the names of these strains are not the problem. They are the creative draw for the consumer.

Like when you go into a liquor store, to buy beer. Say you want IPA, there are going to be a lot of brands to choose from. The average IPA drinker has a general idea about the taste and potency.

This over time will become a norm for cannabis users.

With better practices, improved branding, and genetic / potency testing labeling. Users are going to get a better handle on which types of cannabis they prefer.

I will agree that there are some truly offensive pot strains out there, and I'd like to see that change. But really it all comes down to luck, which strains become popular and which don't.

And I'm okay with all the crazy names that are out there. There are sites online that will tell you the lineage and effects of most strains.

I think they have it wrong that strain names are meaningless. They obviously serve a purpose in helping catch the eye of consumers.

I don't see why people can't simply start by identifying their favorite type as, Indica, Sativa, hybrid, or even CBD types. Those 4 classes in my mind are a great starting point. I don't see how we can create a new naming convention for marijuana strains, nor is it necessary.

I for one don't need to say my favorite strain is x, y or z. I think it's best to have a couple options from each type (I, S, H, C).

What do you think?


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MM's