Unsure how to maximise my harvest

[BlueBucket]

Hi all

 

After goggling and reading countless articles and viewing many youtube vids, I'm still unsure that I'll be getting the most from my crop.  Although cannabis doesn't alleviate all symptoms of my illness, it 100% works for my chronic severe nausea and inability to sleep due to pain .. nothing, not even the wafers given to chemo patients eased my nausea in the past.  I get a few bad headaches and have balance probs due to inflammation in ears .. so am wary of using anything 'too green' like juicing the leaves (as I've read it can cause headaches).  That and I've always needed to eat food I really really like as I never have an appetite and forcing down something I don't like the taste of usually comes back up.  Most times just forcing down stuff I like is difficult enough.  

 

This is my second hydro grow, I didn't get much out of the first using only the buds (not that I had many!).  I used the Rick Simpson method to make a thick grease like substance (washing with nearly pure alcohol) which worked brilliantly, but I absolutely don't like the taste .. was real messy and caused a bit of waste trying to put a bit in capsules in a bid to not taste it, so I got some syringes and squirted a bit on half a jelly baby and swallowed it whole without tasting it .. but sometimes I'd get the tiniest bit on a finger which would end up on my teeth or tongue .. back up again.  As such, was wondering if making cannabutter would work just the same and whether I'd get as much out of it <- meaning volume.

 

The ability to eat and sleep better really improved everything and made life liveable, so I dread running out of it again and need to maximise my crop.  Also, I'm fine while taking cannabis everyday, but when I stop I get bad anxiety for a few days which can also be very unpleasant.  Another reason not to run out.

 

So am I wasteful just using the buds?  Does anyone know if I would get the same volume of cannabis if making butter (cooktop method .. stewing the buds in butter and water) as I did the Rick Simpson method?  Reckon I'd have less trouble eating a bit of cookie dough!  ..  I also saw a video of this excitable chap using the cold press method to juice leaves, oranges and whole coconut saying it was a brilliant long-lasting high .. I imagine that the anti-nausea and whatever it is that lets me sleep would still be there with the THC in this case too.  Apparently, the citric acid combined with oil from coconut undergoes some chemical process that 'cooks' it.  I've not heard of anyone else making this claim, so it could be b/s.

 

Sorry for the big story, but any advice from medical users or others with experience would be greatly appreciated. 

 

(I'm growing medical hybrid strains 'Nightingale', 'Hiydrow', 'CBD Supreme' .. and 'Blueberry' which I grew from seed sourced from 'Seedsman' in the UK .. sent stealth)

 

 

[BlueBucket]

Hiya Merl1n 

 

Yep, I will be taking some to hospital next time I need to go in.      

 

I realise that our govt. bleats that cannabis is available to 'certain' patients in Australia .. and I'd fit into one of their current categories of allowable patients to have this (I feel dumb typing the two following words) 'dangerous drug'  .. but having worked in the Qld public health sector for over 20 years, know for a fact they would find a way create an entire organisational division with a thousand employees to manage it, to ultimately just hopelessly fluck it up .. all whilst screwing around the sick, of which I'm sure some take their own lives due to their suffering & poor quality of life (as I once would've succeeded if my husband didn't unexpectedly showed up home when he should've been, so I'm still here).  To me, it's just govt. propaganda to create the illusion of compassion when you and I both know it's about money and control.  I won't bother myself with it.

 

I'd advise people not to depend on regular GP's or the government when it comes to cannabis .. get advice from specialists and do your own research to ensure what they're telling you rings true.  I depend on PubMed sites and research coming out of reputable university hospitals and just go to GP's if I need a pharma script and eat healthy whole foods when I can.  Since I've stopped taking heaps of medication and doing the rounds of specialists my health certainly hasn't worsened .. cannabis helped me immensely, but I could never get it, so I now (try to) grow my own.  It's a wonderful thing the 'free' people of Australia are being forcibly denied.

[merl1n]

Hey BlueBucket,

I agree, the Federal govt make all these big speeches about 'legalising' but in reality nothing changes. The Fed's have passed it onto state govt's to organise/manage/cock it up, some states are talking about it but in reality doing SFA, hell, my state isn't even talking about it, leaving to others to make the first move. They want to pass it onto big pharma, they may legalise certain cannabinoids, not cannabis as GVM (Green Vegetable matter). You and I have will have no way of gaining access to those specific cannabinoids without going pharmaceutical. I do not need solely CBA or CBD, I get the benefits from the whole plant. So I choose to break the law to obtain the medicine I need.

 

My GP fully supports my use of canna but upon investigating has found that access to opiates, which I'm 'trying' to reduce, is easier than obtaining canna. These Bastards are restricting some opiates, (not that this is affecting me as the dosages I'm taking aren't available over the counter anyway)but access to canna is SO high, you need to have exhausted all other options AND high dose opiates are still a preferred option over canna, like WTF. My GP explained it to me that I'd basically have to be at death's door to get approval ie Nausea due to chemo. So to hell with them, I have to manage all of this for me, not them. It is my understanding that there are only 2 neurologists within this state who have approval to prescribe CBD and they are specialists in epilepsy, which is something I do not have to manage. I attended a pain management clinic, reportedly one of the world's best pain clinics. The subject of canna was brought up by one of the attendees but was shutdown real quick "...we are here to discuss approved therapies..." we were told "...and cannabis is not an approved therapy...". So fuck'em, as I say "I have to manage all of this for me, not them".

 

Merl1n

[Auqadoll]

If you look on pinrest theres heaps of recipes inc lolly pops and gummy drops. If i manage to actually grow then i want to try and make them. Would be way easier to give a person in hospital homemade candy.

[BlueBucket]

Hi Merl1n 

 

Yep, you are 100% right.  Sometimes I feel like sitting on the stairs of parliament house with a protest sign .. if only I could get thousands more to do it with me .. not 'renta protesters' but real honest decent aussies.

 

I have a quick question about PH levels in hydro .. I've been dropping it down to 5.7 following manufacturers recommendation which gave a range of 5.5 - 5.8 (didn't mention the plant medium for this range) .. but I've noticed my buds are skinny and appear a bit stunted.  This could be for a number of reasons as I've struggled a bit with the airconditioner playing up and the temps have been a bit up and down on certain days, sorted now with temp sitting on 26 celsius .. the humidity is also a bit higher than I would like, currently sitting on around 70% which isn't ideal.  I was also overfeeding and two plants had a bit of build-up .. which I've now sorted thanks to you    

 

What I wanted to ask is do you think I'm adjusting the PH down correctly, as the run-off from the plants is a lot lower than what I'm putting in .. like 5.4 for two of them.  From my google research, others have theirs sitting on 5.8 .. but didn't mention their mediums, whether soil or canna coir (mine is canna coir & perlite around 1:3 ratio).  I've also now been feeding them three times per day.  I've got a feeling that due to nute build up and advise that Dr.Argon gave me I may've mucked things up a bit.

 

 

 

EDIT:  .. I just re-read what Dr.Argon advised about PH levels in my post about high run-off EC readings.  Sounds like I'm in PH hell until I keep flushing with only 30% nutes until PH sorts itself.  The little crystals are still clear as on all four plants, no amber showing yet.  With only a fortnight to go until planned harvest, do you think I should extend the grow a bit due to the mistakes I've made?  

Edited February 24, 2018 by BlueBucket

[Ozzy420]

Hey BlueBucket.

 

Cold press jucing is use as to try not to activate the THC-A to THC they want it more for the CBD's and not to have the high feeling u get when it is activate.

 

The method i use for the most part for extraction is BHO Butane Hash Oil it gives you a lot more pure oil but a but more gear is needed and the risk goes up.

 

There is a method called winterizing using alcohol you dilute the oil and then place it in the freezer for a few hours over time all the waxers and rubbish will start to come tougher wile the oil stays in the alcohol, using coffee filter you filter the mix the oil will drip through with the alcohol wile all the crap will stay behind in the filter, it will help get rid of a lot of the harshness to it then u just evap off the alcohol and a good way to make it easy to handle and put into capsules use cold press virgin coconut oil, the coconut oil will help the body absorb more of the hash oil.

[merl1n]

Hey BlueBucket,

The problem with hydro is that there are many variables, from your medium, to your nutes, to your feeding regime. For example my nute manufacturer's recommendations are simply way too strong for my setup. They recommend around 1600ppm and if I run at that level I have a marked decline in plant health and the same with pH. They recommend higher but again my setup means lower is better for me. My feeding regime is also different, it's all automatic on a timer and I run for 15min/hr every hour.

I top up with straight water every day and to keep my salts at a manageable level, flush my setup every 2 weeks. My plant tells me when it's not happy, ie droopy leaves, change in colour.

So to be sitting here and saying "you need to be doing X" is impossible IMO. You need to be taking lots of things into consideration. For example your airconditioner, depending on it type (Evap or refriged?)will alter your air quality remarkably. Evap will heighten humidity where refrigerated has the opposite effect. Some refrig a/c systems only recycle the air within that specific area, so air exchange is minimal, where evap is bringing in fresh air, but adding humidity in the process.

 

Measuring the pH of your run off is not going to give you any great indication. I test my levels in the morning, but my levels in the afternoon after running thru my setup are all altered as my plant has absorbed what it needs and excreted what it doesn't into that run off, and that's going to alter the pH anyway. Every morning when I test my ec and pH I have to alter both back to 'normal' anyway.

 

Merl1n

[BlueBucket]

Thanks Merl1n

 

I was running auto feeding every 2hrs for 15mins .. until I read i was doing it wrong.  Made it so much easier on a timer.  I'll take your advice over whatever it was I read and alter my system back to the way it was.  The only thing I know about the aircon is that it's a refridgerated split system <- I'm set up in an unused bedroom.  When they were in the 'grow' phase, I had a humidifier to keep the humidity up .. it got retired when I switch to the 'bloom' phase as I've read that they prefer less humidity then .. the aircon reduces the humidity significantly.

 

I think the only way to learn is to keep a 'grow dairy' .. which I have on each plant, so I know better next time.  I will never grow 3 different strains at the same time again!  Bonus though is I get to try the three different strains so get to know which one gives me the most benefit.  I'll also try two different types of extraction .. RSO and your recipe.  Ozzy420 also mentioned a different extraction method that sounds interesting.

 

Your advice has been invaluable .. thanks so much 

[BlueBucket]

Hi Ozzy420 .. thanks for the info.  Reckon I'll also look into the BHO extraction method

[micmac]

Do what they say and you’ll be surprised

To answer your ? The more growing tips u get to direct light the more buds you’ll produce, many ways to achieve this

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using OZ Stoners

[BlueBucket]

Thanks micmac .. tomorrow I'll be crawling around my tent playing twister with my plants! ha .. I'll be pushing my buds to the light .. thanks for your tip