Black Sands Ranch - Outdoor 2020

Hello:

Is it too early to start planning for 2020? I didn't think so either so I started a few weeks ago. I will be doing a grow journal this season and hopefully every season in the future. I hope to include lots of pics and am willing to explain what the hell I am doing and why.

Background:
Black Sands Ranch was created back in 2012. I had been teaching school for many years and was ready for a change. Washington legalized recreational via 502 in the fall of 2012. I watched this very closely as I wanted to retire from the classroom and start growing. I had been a medical patient for several years and grew my own in two cabinets. I applied for a license and passed the requirements for a Tier 1 (under 2000 square feet of canopy). The plan was to have no employees, an actual mom and pop operation. Our license was granted the fall of 2014. I grew indoors and outdoors until the price the grower got fell to below $2 per gram and abandon indoor growing as too expensive. Outdoor became my focus and that is where we are today.

Setting:
I built two light deprivation housed (12 x 16) and grew the rest of our square footage in the great outdoors. We knew going in that the biggest problem was going to be trimming, as we hand trim to keep cost down and quality up. In central WA. the weather is usually frost free until about the 20th of Oct. We have been growing about 70 plants per year averaging just under a pound per plant. We like to trim wet, I believe the quality is better and the trimming is easier. But due to weather we always have some dry trimming to do.

Strains for 2020
Ace of Spades - subcool
Plushberry- subcool
Super Hash - Pyramid seeds
OG Kush - Pyramid seeds
Dos-si-do - Pyramid seeds
Black Cherry Punch - Pyramid seeds
Fresh Candy - Pyramid seeds
Mendocino Madness - TH seeds
Heavy Duty Fruity - TH seeds
Berry-tite -Seattle Chronic Seeds
Gelato - Professor Trichome

The first four we have grown for a while. The last 7 are brand new to our garden this year. As you can tell I like the Pyramid genetics. Here is a pic from last year.

Happy Growing!
BSR

Good Morning!

The last of the new genetics has arrived. I was a bit nervous as I sent cash to the UK. Took a month to arrive from when I sent a letter to them. I also used an American seed company. About 9 days from when I mailed a money order. I could not wait any longer so they are all in grow mix since yesterday. Was a mix of feminized and regular. I like feminized and have had good luck with them in the past. Should see something by Sunday or so.
Here is what is in the cups:

12 regular Berry-tite from Seattle Chronic Seeds
5 regular Mendocino Madness from THSeeds
5 regular Heavy Duty Fruity from THSeeds
2 feminized Gelato from Professor Trichrome (these were a freebie from the UK order)
1 feminized Black Cherry Punch from Pyramid
1 feminized Do-si-dos from Pyramid
1 feminized Fresh Candy from Pyramid

Hoping for 100% germination rate. Wish me luck.
BSR

Trimming may be the biggest problem for you, but are you doing those light dep by hand twice a day ?

Yes the light dep is done by hand twice a day. For the last 4 years I have covered the houses at 7 pm and uncovered at 7am. Takes about 10-15 minutes for each. This year I am going to cover at about 6pm wait until after dark and uncover about 10 pm. Then they won't be covered for 12 hours. I hope this will help with two issues. Mites are a problem in the dep houses and we have more botrytis in the houses as well.

Update:

All beans have popped except the Fresh Candy. It has been a week since they hit the soil. I am happy for the 96% germination but Fresh Candy
sounded so good. I keep checking the soil for cracks. If not up in the next couple of days I will give up hope on this one.
BSR

BlackSandsRanch said:

Yes the light dep is done by hand twice a day. For the last 4 years I have covered the houses at 7 pm and uncovered at 7am. Takes about 10-15 minutes for each. This year I am going to cover at about 6pm wait until after dark and uncover about 10 pm. Then they won't be covered for 12 hours. I hope this will help with two issues. Mites are a problem in the dep houses and we have more botrytis in the houses as well.

Click to expand...

When I ran deps, we always pulled after the sun went down to make sure they would get adequate air flow after being cooped up for ~3 hours. Unless you are in the city or something with a crazy amount of lighting it should be just fine. Not sure where you are but I was in southern Humboldt County, CA and from June-early August we would pull around 6-6:30 and have them open again just a little after 9-9:15. As long as you are a shortening the amount of light they get a day they will flower, no need for 12 hours of tarps.

If you are reusing your old tarps I would highly recommend cleaning them very, very well. Bud rot spores can stay active for a pretty decent amount of time.

Agreed. I need to clean the tarps. Good to hear with the uncovering during the night. This will be the greatest year ever!

BSR

Here is a first for me. I have planted hundreds of seeds in my lifetime. The Fresh Candy showed no sign of sprouting for over a week. I was getting ready to give up when I saw a crack in the soil. I was elated. The next day I could see the root tip just emerging from the soil. With the care of a surgeon I dug up the sprout. It was shaped like a snake with the root tip up and the seed case on the bottom. I rotated it 180 and replanted with the seed case just at the top of the soil. I thought there was a chance it would grow. Five days later it looks to be doing well. Up about 3/4 inch, the seed case is still there but it is starting to open. I may get to grow Fresh Candy this season after all. Wish her luck!

BSR

This is the Fresh Candy the came up root tip first.Some of the seedlings
The regulars have not showed preflowers yet. Still waiting.
Cheers
BSR