Larro Darro
Member
I had been out of the game for 11-12 years, and started to get the itch back last summer. I lost about 10 so-so strains, and three really good ones to a broken freezer while I was on the wagon. I tried some of all of them, but nothing popped. I have a cousin whom I knew did a little growing, so I ask him for a few seeds so I could grow some seeds. He dug around in his freezer and came out with a paper bag that had, "1998 J*** S***** {Northern Lights} Crossed with C**** H**** {Afghan Hybrid} Deer Ate" on the bag. The ziplock inside had about two fingers of shake with a few seeds inside. He gave me about 50 seeds, with the understanding I would give half the sprouts to him, plus a few seeds if I made any. It turned out he had been growing this strain off and on for years without getting a male plant. The few seeds mixed in with the shake was the last of his supply. When I sprouted them, we got about 20 plants each.
I like naming my strains, so I set trying to think of a name. I knew both the growers who's strains my cousin had used to make the cross, and playing {punning} off their last names, I came up with The 2015 Floral Collection. But after I had topped the plants the first time, and did a taste test, I was tempted to change that to Side Track.
Anyway, I put my plants out into the woods, using a quart of triple 13 per plant. I tilted the balance of cover and sun over to the cover side. When I used to grow, the local law used their copter quite often to find patches, so you had to do a really good job of hiding your plants. These days they don't fly that often, {it's a money thing} but I was still in that old mindset. So as a result of not enough sun, my plants were not what you would call big.
And by late summer, when everything was starting to flower, there still wasn't any males. {for me or my cousin} I waited a couple more weeks without seeing any show male. Then looking to turn them with stress, I topped the hell out of almost all my plants. My CP patch was the nicest I had, so I didn't top these 4 plants, but everything else got it. The next week I had 3 males and a couple weeks later, one of the girls changed her name to Herman. Herman only had 1 little cluster of balls, and she was small enough I was able to dig her {?} up and move it far enough away to be safe. I did a taste and smell test on the 3 males, and used the best one to breed with, {including Herman} then gave a little pollen to my cousin. My CP patch was the hardest to get to, so it was a few days before I got to it. Most of my pollen had been used by then, and I didn't put any of what was left on the upper branches.
My other patches were named GV, SOL, SLO and BP. I ended up with 11 females and Herman. They were GV 1, 2, 3 and 4, CP 1, 2, 3 and DA {deer ate}. Once the males and Herman were gone, there was only one plant each in SOL, SLO and BP.
Skip forward to this week. Yesterday I mixed up some of my Darro Dirt to give it plenty of time to cool down by spring. Then I took a long walk in the rain this morning with my nippers and handsaw. {I also had a small bag of corn for the deer. You have to have that back story ready, just in case} I had gone out a couple of weeks ago to scout locations for the 2016 Primate Patches. {No gorillas will be harmed in operation of this garden} I'm near the {very small} county airport, and there is always some sort of aircraft about, so I try to wait for rainy days to do my work.
In this years patch I'm going to be a little braver with the cover sun balance. But I still passed on lots of locations that seemed too open to me. I found a couple of downed trees that had opened up the canopy for sunlight. The sun always causes small trees and bushes to take off. I trimmed a few trees, pulled some back out of the way and cut others to get that south sun. {that is what is good about getting out this time of year} I also like to weave bushes together to help with side viability. I got 3 or 4 spots ready. Because of the bigger trees, 1-2 plants per spot is the best I can do on the woods side.
Then I checked out an area that had been logged 3 or 4 years ago. There are a few trees left, and millions of small bushes, briars, broomstraw and just weeds in general. I got 4 spots ready where I can put 3 plants each. Which is funny, because I had talked myself into growing just 12 plants again this year.
As soon as I have another rainy day, I'll be digging holes and putting in the Darro Dirt.
Got to run. Time to get off work. See ya later,
Larro
I like naming my strains, so I set trying to think of a name. I knew both the growers who's strains my cousin had used to make the cross, and playing {punning} off their last names, I came up with The 2015 Floral Collection. But after I had topped the plants the first time, and did a taste test, I was tempted to change that to Side Track.
Anyway, I put my plants out into the woods, using a quart of triple 13 per plant. I tilted the balance of cover and sun over to the cover side. When I used to grow, the local law used their copter quite often to find patches, so you had to do a really good job of hiding your plants. These days they don't fly that often, {it's a money thing} but I was still in that old mindset. So as a result of not enough sun, my plants were not what you would call big.
And by late summer, when everything was starting to flower, there still wasn't any males. {for me or my cousin} I waited a couple more weeks without seeing any show male. Then looking to turn them with stress, I topped the hell out of almost all my plants. My CP patch was the nicest I had, so I didn't top these 4 plants, but everything else got it. The next week I had 3 males and a couple weeks later, one of the girls changed her name to Herman. Herman only had 1 little cluster of balls, and she was small enough I was able to dig her {?} up and move it far enough away to be safe. I did a taste and smell test on the 3 males, and used the best one to breed with, {including Herman} then gave a little pollen to my cousin. My CP patch was the hardest to get to, so it was a few days before I got to it. Most of my pollen had been used by then, and I didn't put any of what was left on the upper branches.
My other patches were named GV, SOL, SLO and BP. I ended up with 11 females and Herman. They were GV 1, 2, 3 and 4, CP 1, 2, 3 and DA {deer ate}. Once the males and Herman were gone, there was only one plant each in SOL, SLO and BP.
Skip forward to this week. Yesterday I mixed up some of my Darro Dirt to give it plenty of time to cool down by spring. Then I took a long walk in the rain this morning with my nippers and handsaw. {I also had a small bag of corn for the deer. You have to have that back story ready, just in case} I had gone out a couple of weeks ago to scout locations for the 2016 Primate Patches. {No gorillas will be harmed in operation of this garden} I'm near the {very small} county airport, and there is always some sort of aircraft about, so I try to wait for rainy days to do my work.
In this years patch I'm going to be a little braver with the cover sun balance. But I still passed on lots of locations that seemed too open to me. I found a couple of downed trees that had opened up the canopy for sunlight. The sun always causes small trees and bushes to take off. I trimmed a few trees, pulled some back out of the way and cut others to get that south sun. {that is what is good about getting out this time of year} I also like to weave bushes together to help with side viability. I got 3 or 4 spots ready. Because of the bigger trees, 1-2 plants per spot is the best I can do on the woods side.
Then I checked out an area that had been logged 3 or 4 years ago. There are a few trees left, and millions of small bushes, briars, broomstraw and just weeds in general. I got 4 spots ready where I can put 3 plants each. Which is funny, because I had talked myself into growing just 12 plants again this year.
As soon as I have another rainy day, I'll be digging holes and putting in the Darro Dirt.
Got to run. Time to get off work. See ya later,
Larro
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