Outdoors in SE Virginia

I like to slow dry the bubble hash by chopping it up into as fine/spread out as possible on some very clean cardboard pizza boxes since they have lids to keep the ever present dog hair and dust out of it and the cardboard helps wick the moisture out of it and keep it dark. I'll run a fan over it the first day but a very small fan so that it just sort of blows away the moisture that's evaporating. Just be sure you get it and keep It thoroughly dry, it can mold just like bud can. I know a buddy that does a real short shot at a low temp in the oven but I'm not risking vaping away any hard earned terpenes. You can use parchment paper if you're worried about the bleach in the cardboard, some people are really sensitive to chemicals. Im glad the machine worked so well. I have soooo much trim to run. Like literally two full stand up freezer shelves. My wife is done letting me store any more, I've pretty much just been dry sifting the crap out of my trim lately and tossing it because I'm out of room and I just don't want to have to run what I already have without a machine. Never in a million years did I think those words would be coming from me because I focus on frost when growing but it's just too much at some point when you're disabled. You got to be realistic with what you can physically do. This outdoor grow has totally kicked my ass and I'm struggling to finish it off. I never did get the board to make the rolling plant trays, I have the wheels but couldn't figure out how to get the sheet of plywood home. My buddies are crazy busy with tree season right now. So I've been dragging a 7-8 foot tree around my deck all summer and I really can't lift more than 10 pounds without getting some serious pain going on. I gotta find some energy to just gut up and get through the next three to four weeks cuz this is money making time and the girls don't care that I'm struggling. Thankfully my wife smokes and is really helpful, she doesn't know much about gardening but is willing to help me with the heavy stuff I can't do anymore. She also is learning to trim which is a huge help because that's a big problem for me. I still do all the final trim stuff because I'm OCD and a bit of a control freak when it comes to the sugar leaves getting trimmed. I got the girls dried out pretty well from the shower yesterday by running the fans high all night and moving them around. Insomnia has it's virtues at times. They are looking nice but sort of airy from the lack of direct sun hours I'm thinking. This is also my first grow I used organic nutes and didn't pump tons of Advanced Nutrients into them until the tips were fried off from over fertilizing to try to pump up the buds. I'm very interested in seeing how the flavor is vs indoor with chemical nutes. I'm hoping for some really good flavor from both as the Bag of Oranges has the most amazing orange smell, it is just like a freshly scraped orange peel beaten with a dead skunk lol. The Blue Dream has this super strong mocha smell that I'm crazy for with a sort of coffee and sweet berry background that is really nice. Even with the buds being so airy they are really sticky with tons of sugary trim so I'll have some good buds and more god damn trim to make bubble with than I know what to do with. I might just have my son come down to do it and work out a deal with him for a percentage of the haul . I donated some flower to him when he came home to help out and he was telling me it was as good as what he was buying in DC which was cool to hear. You never really know how good your bud is until someone else smokes it, you know? It works for me and my wife which is the really important thing but after so much time and effort it's nice to hear that it was good to another regular smoker. Good luck with all the projects you have going on and enjoy all that delicious bubble you lucky dog.

it is really too bad we are in different parts of the state - how long a drive would it be from Yorktown to where you are? I’d be happy to help out with trimming/Bubblehash of the drive wasnt too long.

I don’t have any kids, and am happy your son can help ya out, and especially that he compared yr flower favorably to the stuff in DC. I have some Girl Scout Cookies left from a trip up there that hasn’t even been opened yet-I’ve been sticking to my own grow and pretty happy with that. I’m close to the point of an overage of inventory...I have more from one growing season than I could use in a year, so my friends are very lucky indeed. the addition of a whole bunch of Bubblehash adds to that fortunate problem...I tried some more of the mid-grade stuff this AM...good flavor, easy burn (although not all the way down to white ash), and I was buzzed for a while.

I‘m at the GF home overnight and left the 25 micron bag half full in a bucket with no bottom to drain overnight. I’m really interested to see how much it drained in a day...it was going really slow so hopefully ive got a pile of mud at the bottom. I also have a half full bucket of what came from the 73 micron bag on the third run to put in there too.

I might try to make a temple ball out of the hash, then stash it away for a couple months and break it out for the holidays! good cheer to everyone!

I think I'd take the stuff out of the bucket when I get home and try to spread it out as thin as possible. Look up micro planing as a way of drying it's something I haven't tried but the hash purists do it to ensure a quick and total dry. You really want to thin it out for surface area as much as possible, or at least that's what I've been doing. That's why I do the pizza boxes also, it gives me a bigger area under cover to spread it out over.

Yep, if the bag is drained, I’ll pull the hash from it. I still have a bucket from the last run I did with the 160 and 72 bags to run thru the 25 too. I use 4 buckets to run the process to speed things up.

do you place the hash directly on the cardboard, or put a 25 micron screen underneath it?

check this video out-I saw it many years ago and have been looking for it for the last 6 months...I’m gonna try a variation in this...

there normally is a 2 layer shower curtain hanging in front of my tub enclosure, so I’ll put that back in place, put a couple 5 gallon buckets with warm water in the tub, seal the drain, drop in the dry ice, and close the curtain, with the curtain bottom inside the tub. I can’t completely seal the volume, but can come close. i have too much time on my hands...

Turns out the video is age restricted. it shows a pretty good size tent filled with several plants. The grower took an old campfire coffee pot, filled it with hot water , suspended it from the top of the tent and dropped in dry ice. The reaction was instantaneous and kinda violent, but the tent filled with a co2 fog in just a minute...apropos with Halloween coming up...

I used to spread everything out on parchment paper once I had press dried it out of the bags and chop it all up to spread it out over the paper when it was really damp. That's when I'd run a fan over the top of it to help draw out the water as quick as I could. I'd make sure it wasn't blowing on the hash though, just above it. I'd work it a little bit if it was too thick to spread out really thin by fanning it out every so often until the color change was consistent. Then I'd just slide it into the box into the cardboard because it was pretty much dry to the touch by then. Let it finish drying until it had a nice consistently with no clumping together. You just need to get the rest of the water out before you store it. I only did it this way a couple times before the machine broke but it worked pretty well. I tried drying it on my portable electric radiator with a cookie sheet but it was too hot and dried it way too fast. Ive tried running a hair dryer on the cool setting over it when I first made it. That didn't seem to help much. The concentrate forum has some super smart guys on bubble. They make full melt hash with it sometimes. I'm just happy when it's not too green and medicates me strong.

After seeing so many posts about caterpillar damage and bud rot I figured I had been too lucky so I did some heavy digging into the buds today with a pick and tweezers. I'm not used to handling my buds at all because I don't
want to damage the trichomes but I figured it was more important to check especially since I haven't been spraying anything since the 3 in 1 stuff awhile ago. I found 1 caterpillar in a little nest on my Bag of Oranges that had the PM and it had caused a small bud to die and start to rot which I cut out. That was honestly my first case of bud rot. I'm sure not the last but it really pissed me off when I saw him repelling down off the bud on a line of silk. Hit his ass with my Zippo and I'm usually not a mean guy. I saw another area where some rot happened from a dead leaf getting stuck up against the bamboo support and rotting against the bud. Don't know how I missed it that long but it's gone. Blue Dream had a cocoon that seemed isolated to just a leaf with no bud damage but I stripped out the little popcorn bud it was on anyway just to be safe. There was nothing else I found on it so far but I needed to get the ladder to check the upper stuff later. I'm not going to spray anything else on my buds so whatever comes my way will come at this point. This has been all organics and I don't want to take a chance of screwing up the flavor now. I checked trichomes today and Bag of Oranges looks nice with almost 75% or a bit more cloudy and some clear mixed in. Not ready yet but if a hurricane blew in I'd be okay with chopping it. It still could use another two weeks if the weather allows it. Blue Dream probably could go even longer if I let it. It was mostly cloudy but still had some clear also. I'm guessing Blue Dream is an eleven week strain putting it around the 13th. Bag of Oranges would hit ten weeks then and be done or overdone by then. I'll just have to see how fast these cold nights speed things up if at all.

I like the zippo solution...no mercy!

ive been rolling my 120 hash in between parchment paper all morning while I wait for the 25 micron bag to drain; there must be a lot of hash at the bottom since it hadn’t drained over night...I gently coaxed some of the water out and will let it just sit now for however long it takes...

im researching the hot water in a wine bottle method of pressing hash...right now I have the 120 sandwiched in parchment paper between a heating pad and a piece of glass. If that doesn’t work, I’ll heat up a pan of water and set it on top of the glass to see if I can get it viscuous...it’s the junk out of what I pulled (first photo below) so I’ll experiment.

second photo is the 72 micron yield. it is getting lighter in color as it dries...takes a bit to get it to burn, but nice hash taste and good effect...

I can't remember where I got the wine bottle method I tried last time, probably here, but it was pretty easy. It took me a couple attempts but putting it on a preheated pizza stone that's at a really low temp and rolling with a rolling pin and repeating the process works too. I sort of just tried that after dropping the wine bottle one too many times and waiting for it to crack. I just replaced the wine bottle with a warm pizza stone and use a rolling pin for the pressure. It takes practice to figure out how hard to push when rolling and you have to stop after a few minutes and reheat the stone so it can be tedious but it works great for small amounts of dry sift.

I worked it for an hour with the heating pad underneath it, made it homogeneous but still tacky. So I heated up a pot of water half way to boiling and put that on top of it with a towel between. After a couple rounds of that it was where I wanted it. Let it dry for an hour and then I ran it all thru my grinder since I’ll be using as bowl top dressing and in joints...wanted it kinda loose. I just ran some weed thru the grinder, which is coated with hash - damn fine bowl on the bong. I’m gonna break out the vaporizer in a few...

both are chillin in the CVault. Underneath the Boveda packs is a mix of Jack Herer and Glue Gelato that has been curing for a couple weeks. The smell is glorious...

and, the 25 micron bag is still draining. Must be a sea of mud on the bottom...

Man that's so awesome you got such a great return on your first time using it. As you get used to it and run it more it's only going to get to be a bigger return which is nuts right? I think Boveeda makes a lower range humidity pack than 62, I wonder if for hash and kief long term they might be a better call. I need to check in the concentrate forum and see what they are doing with their bubble long term. We used ours pretty quickly as it wasn't a big amount back then. I keep a clean toothpick with mine to stir it up, it's kind of like shaking the jar when you're burping the jars. It just turns it over and keeps exposing the stuff to air to be sure it's dry. I took some nice shots of the girls today after going over everything I gave them a pretty serious haircut. I am sick of the PM, leaf spot and now bud rot hiding because I was keeping them so leafy. With a couple weeks left max and humidity in the 90 percent zone at night I'm willing to take the risk of losing my solar panel efficiency.

damn, those are some great looking plants - can tell you’ve been giving everything they need and I’m sure they’ll repay you in kind soon. As I get closer to harvest I get more aggressive with leaf trimming. I wind up with lollipops on chop day which makes trimming easier and makes it easier to look for pests and problems. I guess I’m losing out on the last couple days of solar efficiency, but the buds have probably swelled all they will, so they might kick trichome development in to hyper drive, and I can make sure they are clean. I have a fan on them outside now to dry out and ward off overnight dew. I’ll prolly move them inside for the night soon and then give them a closer trim in the AM.

The Hash really kicked me in the arse today - it is definitely an end of day treat...cvault makes some small storage containers so I might pick up a couple to store the hash, and get some lower RH Boveda packs to really dry it out. the 25 micron screen is still draining; I think I’m at the point of water loss more thru evaporation than drip/drip/drip. That’s okay, I’ll just be patient and have fun with what I’ve collected so far.

just got word my Cannatrol dry/cure cabinet is complete, and I hope it gets shipped tomorrow. Should see it my mid week, so the chop on the outdoor plants is gonna coincide with delivery. I’ll keep them outta the rain starting on Sunday in the interim...

the blue mystic is still goin nuts...tons of new flower sites, throwing fat brilliant white pistils, in its 10th week of flower.

No way in hell I could have smoked hash with all you had going on today. That stuff is ass kicking medicine for me. A little sprinkle is one thing but when I really get a ball out to smoke by itself it's for straight pain relief and then about an hour later I'm out. That's why I look forward to doing the green dragon, I think with a heavy indica taken nice and late with amber trichomes that stuff would be some knock out drops. I want to do that cherry vanilla truffle strain soon and that would be nice for a concentrate for sure.

Yeah, the hash is a nite time, make sure ya have beer, butts and booze kinda thang cuz I ain’t leaving the house afterwards...

the 25 bag is still draining...I go in the laundry room once in a while just to hear at least one drip. should be a good yield, next year at some point at this rate...

another 2 or 3 days of full sun and moderate temps in store down here. Getting tougher to get to the sun early in the day but we manage...hope you are getting awesome finishing weather there too!

Fighting the long shadows these days...they will wind up in the yard soon...

I would take that 25 bag out and spread it out to dry on a screen for sure by now. It's been soaking wet for 5 or 6 days and dark probably. I'm thinking that's probably not a good idea. Post a thread on the concentrate forum about what you have and how long it's been sitting and see what they say to do. They have the pros over there but I'm getting nervous about how long it's been wet for you.

I

Retired engineer said:

Fighting the long shadows these days...they will wind up in the yard soon...

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It's getting harder and harder for me too. I was lucky to get 5 hours a day beforehand and that's with moving them around and now I'm constantly chasing tiny sun spots around. I told my wife I feel like God is playing with me like I play with the cats and a laser pointer. Chasing the dots around.

Yeah, if I could fell 2 or 3 trees (not in my yard), I‘d be all set...1 Oct is definitely the latest I want to be messing with outdoor plants next year. 15 Sep,is,the target, with 2 weeks at the end just in case. We’ve had some awesome weather to close out the growing season...

just made a batch of salted caramel/butterscotch cookies. We follow the chocolate chip recipie, but I have a friend who is allergic to chocolate so we skip that part. They are freakin awesome!

Blow gun with dutch elm disease tipped darts perhaps? You just have to decide how bad you want to grow Those cookies look so good. I haven't had any edibles in years. I'm the only one that really likes them so I need to make small batches or stuff that lasts. My wife got super high on my brownies and did not enjoy the experience at all. I tried to warn her about the dosing but she didn't listen and ate a whole one and it was just too much. Since then she just doesn't care for them. She'll make them for me if I asked but until recently I just hadn't thought about it much. I hope this damn ABC hurries up with my permit.

Just got a good look at the long range weather forecast and starting Monday there's going to be about ten days of clouds and rain. Damnit, I thought things were going too well. Now I have to decide on if I'm going to chop Sunday night or not. No real point letting them go if I'm not going to get any real sunny days to help them mature. Just waiting for them to get soggy and moldy seems like a bad call at this point. The short one I might be able to muscle into my tent to finish. The others, not happening. Well, I got close at least. Sunday is day 67 for Blue Dream and day 60 for the others. I'm going to be overwhelmed in the drying room since I was going to do them one at a time over a couple of days apart. Having to chop and bud wash all three would suck. Hopefully I can get the little one indoors. That gives me some time for drying blue dream and the bigger Bag of Oranges. Or I might just say screw it and just chop Blue Dream since the others fit under the lean to. I gotta make my mind up soon and get ready. Arghhh! Mother nature can be a real PITA.