My wife got shingles - IN BOTH EARS! and she was only 37. If you are suspect, pay for the vaccine. If you have auto immune then by no means get the shot. They told my wife she is so auto immune suppressed that she was not even supposed to be next to some who got the vaccine for 2/3 weeks. It was terrible for her, earaches for over 6 months and still issues a year later. Even now, 2/3 years later, when she is run down or stressed out, her ear canals begin to hurt. She is not allowed to go under water anymore. Shingles is a horrible ailment.
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Shingles pretty much killed my grandfather. At 75 he was healthy as a horse then cought shingles. He never fully recovered. Doctors said he was ok a few months later but he was never right again. Died 4 years later still feeling cruddy.
@sc13oldie I just realized I only answered half of your question. Lol
Of the two strains it’s hard to pick a favorite before the final smoke test but as for just cultivating they were both rewarding for different reasons.
The Blueberry X Big Devil auto has less pheno variance and an amazing aroma. Made it a lot easier to figure out what they needed through the grow. It got some nice colors too. It is pretty easy to grow and handles stress well. It’s a light eater so it’s easy to over do it but all in all would be a great cultivar for beginners.
The Critical Purple auto had more pheno variances and made it a bit more difficult to figure out what the strain needed but once I dialed it in it was pretty easy. They like calmag and some extra phosphorus over the Blueberry X Big Devil and they’re sensitive to potassium so when you go to flower a little more P and a little less K will work great. The colors though were amazing. Deep dark purple calyxes.
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@dmtscravey i know you’re joking man. I’m just excited to start my next grow. Growing is one of the only cathartic things I have time for these days with having to homeschool the kid because of covid and working a split schedule over nights and days on the weekends. Don’t have time for my music or my writing so I spend 20 minutes or so a day in my garden and it helps calm the nerves. With my buds drying in the tent I won’t have that until I get my new grow in the dirt. Lol
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@MDBuds Thanks for the info. I noticed the same things when I grow also. Certain strains have more pheno variations which makes it a bit harder to dial in the perfect grow process. My CBD Cream and Cheese was one of those. I grew two plants in one pot(both from seed) and one ended up with calmag deficiency, while the other didn’t show any signs of deficiency. Same strain, two completely different plants. Smelled different, looked different, and smokes differently. One more sativa leaning and the other more indica leaning.
I also grew two Bruce Banner x Chocolope in one pot(both from seed). Both plants look the same, smell the same, and smoke the same.
It seems certain strains with a stronger overall lineage are better at retaining those desired traits from generation to generation.
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@sc13oldie yeah I definitely enjoy stable hybrids so you know what to expect. I’m a huge fan of F1s with hybrid vigor though. Even though they aren’t considered stable as far as phenotype variances are concerned that hardiness and adaptability to growing styles is something I look for. Especially if you want to breed something yourself so you can pheno hunt and selectively breed for your own needs and environment.
The hard part comes with F2 though because then you lose that vigor and all the weaknesses start coming out and you have to be careful in your pheno selection to stabilize the line or you’ll end up with a finicky strain that’s almost impossible to grow outside of the environment you bred it in.
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@MDBuds That makes total sense. I’ve noticed when researching strain lineages, a lot of the more stable strains have been bred with a landrace strain of some sort to allow it to adapt to the environment you’re trying to grow it in. It also makes sense that you would want to start with F1 so they are stable also. I would never try to get feminized pollen from a feminized plant just for that reason. Its always better to start with a true F1 male and a true F1 female and work your way out from there… I do have some Afghan regular seeds that I was going to throw in this next year to get a ton of seeds from the strains I like and then start working out from there. Afghan is always a good landrace strain to work with because it adapts so well to outdoor environments.
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@sc13oldie yeah. Pure landraces make the best F1s with vigor for sure but you can still get hybrid vigor with breeding two hybrids into an F1 if they’re genetically different enough.
Afghan is a great cultivar to use as breeding stock but hard to find regular seeds that are actually landrace and not hybrid. I’ve found some Hindu Kush regulars though that would help make some great indicas.
The only regular sativa landrace I have found recently is Durban Poison. I’ve been searching for Purple Thai regulars myself.
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@MDBuds Hindu Kush is an awesome strain! I personally love indica strains because you can still get sativa effects from an indica plant. It all depends on when you harvest it.
I agree with the Afghan being hard to find in a true landrace. The ones I got are from Dutch Seeds. I grew some Durban Poison from them also a few years back. I personally wasn’t smoking that strain a lot, but it was a heavy producer and grew very well outdoors in Northern Nevada high desert around 5000ft. Temperatures over 100, coupled with thunderstorms on and off all summer, then down to freezing at nights for the last month before harvest. Didn’t show any signs of stress at all. I’m hoping the Afghan seeds I got will be a similar grow as I want to grow them outside also. I’ll definitely keep y’all posted on that this next summer.
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I’m freaked about my soil. For my 1st autos going with FFOF in main pot with a well of FFHF for the seedling pod (42mm). Can I get by with this? The thought of mixing with all these ingredients seems like a beginners nightmare.
Does all soil have to “cook” before using???
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@GrnyGrows no. Cooking soil is just a process where you let it set and build up aerobic bacteria and fungus as the added organic nutrients break down and you wait for the exothermic process to finish.
If you’re using a base potting soil and not adding any fresh nitrogen rich material or using products to create a reaction to attract bacteria you should be fine. Happy frog is usually safe for seedlings.
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Dang this is awesome. Can’t wait to get to this point. I’m finally in the game. Germed and now into the peat pods. Thanks for all you’re help… 
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