My Outdoor Garden-2010

veggiegardener said:

I understand.

I only mention him because of an incident that still makes me laugh when I think of it. Percy was one of the biggest, strongest men I've ever known(a solid 6'4" and 240#).

He and I were walking into a warehouse one morning when we noticed a strange track left in the sugar on the floor. we followed it for several hundred feet into another warehouse, where we found an 18" garter snake making his way across the floor. I reached down and picked it up, and turned to show the snake to Percy...

Who was gone.

I followed his tracks, eventually spotting him outside, through the warehouse door, standing across the street.

He refused to reenter the warehouse until he'd watched me carry the young snake far away from his path back to work.

I'm a country boy, and have handled wild critters all my life. I had no idea that someone could be subject to such unreasoned fear.

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I know what your say'n VG....
I'm a woodsman through n through, in the woods for a lot of years, seeing/handling all kinds of critters and bugs. My good friend from So Cal (city folks) and his wife came to visit for a few days a couple of years back. We have a small home so they slept on our futon in my office. When we were setting up the futon, a spider ran up the wall from behind the futon, I killed it....no big deal, but my buddy's wife was freaking out! We did an inspection of the office to rid it of all possible bugs/spiders. This wasn't enough, her solution to the problem was to get RAID bug spray and spray that shit all around the Futon/room. She got the spray and sprayed a giant circle around the bed. This woman would rather poison herself by sleeping in a fog of RAID bug spray rather than dealing with the fact that there are bugs/spiders in the mountains. This bitch was nuts! They were in a hotel the next 2 nights.
I believe that Television has a lot to do with this type of fear. They hear stories or see movies about snakes, spiders, wild animals and think they are in danger when in their presence. I'm just the opposite, I sleep like a baby when in the woods, but put me in a hotel room in a busy city, I can't relax at all. I fear the fool next to me more then I do that spider on the wall!
TMB-

LOL, Yeah I've a sister in law who would break her neck running from a daddy long legs spider. I'm like you two, bugs don't bother me but I don't care for rattle snakes. Couple of bad run ins and I shiver now when I think of them..

There are apparently a lot of folks that fear snakes.

In thirty years of walking through tall grass in the foothills, I only saw two live rattlers. In both cases, they were in their habitat, and seemed unthreatened by my presence. I left them as they were.

During the same period, I saw literally hundreds of dead snakes, killed and squashed by heavy equipment operators. Most of those guys killed ALL snakes, and few could tell the difference between gopher snakes and rattlers.

On a philosophical note, I think the biggest mistake mankind is making, is distancing itself from "nature". We abandon survival skills. The events of the last thirty years makes me think the next thirty will be far worse.

Our hobby and the skills associated with it might be our salvation.

I saw plenty of rattlers, even had one I kept in the house (baby) only 1 button. The times I'm referring to are when I would reach under one of my plants to unclog a sprayer head and laying in the shade a foot or once even closer to where I had grabbed a sprayer would be a rattler just staring at me with those black eyes. Was fortunate they felt no threat from me but man do I still shudder.
The one I kept in a jar was found along the creek where I would pump water from. That day I saw 7 or 8 of those little snakes, guess they were hunting frogs and enjoying the cooler temps along the creek. I decided to keep one for a pet, (stupid) but I'm more the wiser now. Didn't have anything to put it in, so I had to carry it back to my cabin while riding my quad. After about 10 days and it wouldn't eat, I force fed it a small tree frog but then decided to release it.
Another time while walking too one of my gardens, I had a 4 1/2 footer strike at me without a warning rattle? Caught a quick glance and wham, it struck my boot where I felt for sure it got me. Jumped back with my heart racing like crazy, saw that sob staring at me, then pulled out my 357 SW then let go 5 rounds in it's general direction. I did hit the sob but I didn't kill it (not immediatley) after checking my leg and finding no punctures, proceeded to walk back, reload, then finish the job. Got 11 buttons off the sob and could see where he'd broken off some more. Showed my neighbor and he said it was the biggest snake he's seen around there. Did kill one in his chicken coop for his wife while he was out of town that was around 4 foot. But that's another story....

Many years ago I met a snake hunter that lived above Placerville. He sold the snakes to whoever collected the venom for medical use.

He mentioned that the only times he'd seen rattlers strike without warning was when they were shedding their skin. Apparently the process blinds them and they'll strike at any sound.

That would scare the shit out of me if I saw a rattler that close.

I think lollypopping would be a popular practice in rattler country!

BTW, whoever tried to PM me, please try again. I've cleared my inbox.

Believe your friend is right, did notice it's (4 1/2 footer) eyes were milky. Process of shedding. I didn't kill all the rattlers because I believe they have a job in nature to control the rodent population, but killed around 12 or so that were hanging too near my cabin or the big one who struck at me, that's in 8 years and can say I did see 100s in that amount of time. Back to growing....

Hey VG, is there any trick to doing one of those high altitude scrog's, like your signature pic?

I'm thinking of trying it in my greenhouse, any advice?

Peace
doublejj

I do a lot of hiking around Texas, and snakes just come with the territory. I've even seen a couple rattlers sunbathing in a residential street! 9.5 times out of 10, they want nothing to do with you. I built a water garden, and come spring and summer it's a magnet for snakes because of the fish and frogs. Hell, if I were a snake I'd post up there too! Venomous, or non-venomous, I always catch them and take them to a rural, unpopulated area near a lake that's about 5 miles away. I can't kill them, they're just trying to make it in this world like the rest of us.

doublejj said:

Hey VG, is there any trick to doing one of those high altitude scrog's, like your signature pic?

I'm thinking of trying it in my greenhouse, any advice?

Peace
doublejj

Click to expand...

I mentioned a couple things that might help.

I'm thoeoughly impressed with your garden.

LST rigorously until two weeks into flower(mid August) to try to keep the buds off the ceiling. JMHO

Thank you VG, I'm gonna try it.

I've been growing for a quite a while, but I learn something new every year.

Peace
doublejj

I hear you guys on the snakes. Got ambushed by a non posinous one this season.


On another note I'll be LSTing alot this season for height issues but belive that opening them up will up the yield and also help with rot/mold problems further down the road.

veg i have a quick question 1 of my plants became a hermi but it also got itself pregnant so now it has seeds are these seeds feminized seeds? i also ripped 2 lil branches off that had seeds i was wonder if i clone these 2 branches then put it under a light to veg it, then flower it, would it get itself pregnant again

WheresWaldosBUD said:

veg i have a quick question 1 of my plants became a hermi but it also got itself pregnant so now it has seeds are these seeds feminized seeds? i also ripped 2 lil branches off that had seeds i was wonder if i clone these 2 branches then put it under a light to veg it, then flower it, would it get itself pregnant again

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Seeds from a plant that has hermied often prove to be mostly hermies, as well. The more easily they hermie, the more likely the seeds will hermie.

I wouldn't throw the seeds away, but I'd be very watchful When they begin flowering. Some will remain true females.

Hey VG, I finally got a grow thread started and here's the link. https://www.rollitup.org/outdoor-growing/345533-richs-girl.html

Some random shots, taken yesterday.

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Various phenotypes.

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The hand that feeds him.

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This trileaf stem is very symmetrical.

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This volunteer Bubbleberry X is getting very dense. Two shots straight up from underneath.

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More plants in the West greenhouse. The pole to the right, hanging from the screen is actually a tool I made to supercrop branches that I can't reach, otherwise. I used it to supercrop the Bubbleberry cross.

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Cage plants. Still behind, but I think they'll catch up in a month or so.

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Random pix.

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Growing rapidly, but so are the larger neighboring tomato vines.

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An outdoor gardener's best friends!

Beautiful VG. I gonna try one of those scrogs.

Peace
doublejj

Garden is looking good, gotta love the weather we've been having. Happy 4th to ya.....

Looks like you have quite the army of helpers there VG.

Wow, nice plants. Hey VG is there a good supplier of seeds you could recommend?

What a lovely garden veggie....especially the artichoke...