New to Grow Journal

[KeepOnTheGrass]

Well your very welcome for the links, just ask if you´re in doubt about anything.. I´m really not as big a noob at making hash as I am growing

Well I´ve been doing some trimming and by the looks of it the buds are now generally getting more light all over. I did´nt completely trim the bottom 1/3, but did it more like all over the plant here and there to maximize the light coming through (of course) and still keep all the popcorns thanks for your help. I´ll prob keep trimming a bit everyday over the weekend just prevent too big of a shock.
I´ve taken some pictures before and after, dunno if you can see the difference at all but here they are - my beautiful ladies
Before:






After


I know I should have taken the after shots outside the tent aswell, but you know how it is when you been smoking Next time I´ll take some outside pics after trimming.

 

[Encomium]

Ok so last week I picked one of the smallest branches and dried it and has been curing for 5 days.
As you know from the beginning of my thread here I got 12 mystery seeds for $50 from my local seedbank and was assured that they were premium seeds and I believe them hehe
I planted 6 and got 6 females and they are all doing really great
I was also told that a lot of people were reporting that they were getting blueberry kush from these mystery seeds.
It does look like blueberry but it's so hard to tell exactly Maybe some of you guys can tell better then me...
Here is a pic of one of the curing buds, let me know what you think.
View attachment 1609712

That looks fantastic man. I had several small buds/branches break off before I actually harvested as well. I tried the water cure for them and am smoking the results until my regular harvest is cured. How's it smell?

 

[KevinSmith]

After drying and into curing jar burping it has been smelling minty, sort of pine like but I think that's the chlorophyll, maybe the unflushed ferts...I know for sure when Harvest time is here they will be bigger and better all around
The longer the cure the better it is smelling!
Did a second trimming of the buds today and the trim will go into my vaporizer.

I am starting to get impatient waiting for those damn trichomes to change color lol!

Here is some pics after second trimming on curing buds

 

[KevinSmith]

6.4 now say maybe 5.5 after final curing that is great for a tiny lil bottom branch I can only imagine what the colas as thick as my wrist will yield

 

[Encomium]

I tried flooding 3 of my plants pre harvest; 2 for 24 hours light and 48 hours darkness and the other plant for 36 hours light and 24 hours darkness. All plants are harvested now and have just placed the final cola into a large jar for curing. I've found the flooded plants to have seemed to cure faster than the last plant that I just flushed during the last week of flowering.

So you haven't harvested your entire plants yet? I had to bump up my harvest time on at least one of my girls by a few days to ensure enough drying and curing time before I'm out of town again.

 

[KevinSmith]

No I haven't harvested at all yet (just that one branch).
All the trichomes are just starting to be milky in color, no amber yet.
My nutes call for 5 days of flushing at the end.
I think my last resevoir makeup was my last at adding nutes.
I'll start by just adding more water (watering it down) and then sometime soon switch to straight water for the last 5 days.

 

[Encomium]

Are you going for a heady high or couch lock type high? 3 of my girls I started flooding when I saw a few amber trichomes; most were milky or cloudy when I started the flood.

 

[KevinSmith]

between heady and couch. 1/4 amber before 5 day flush at least.
I haven't seen a single amber trichome yet and am only starting to see them going cloudy.
65 days in 15 more to go max with flushing I think...
But who knows really the girls will tell me im hoping lol

 

[KevinSmith]

I did a first partial harvest last night,
Chopped the top half of two plants (Annie and Cindy).
Set myself up on my couch and used a dome cover to catch all the trimmings.
Had beers and smoke at the ready. It took me about 2 hours to trim this lot.
I took my time and got good little ball of finger hash

I chose to harvest some now because I like the different highs for different occasions.
This batch will be heady buzz. (I know from the branch I took and dried already).
No flush either but I like the taste and it burns great!
I will probably feed straight water starting middle of next week for 5 to 10 days.

 

[KevinSmith]

few more pics:

 

[Encomium]

That's looking like a hell of a harvest. I'm just about into the second week of curing my girls. My yield so far is ~ 300 grams.

I also have 5 clones going into their 1st or 2nd week of veg (really 1 week of hardening).

 

[KevinSmith]

Nice Ec. Hope your trip and auto burp went well
I have to hit 448 to be mildly happy (hoping for 1.5 times that = Mr optimistic)

This first run has been fun but I'm definitely taking a break between the next grow and basically start over with the next one.
I want to dedicate a room entirely to my grow where as now it's a shared space. Fun sleeping to fan rhythms lol
Like I stated from the get go on this thread, mistakes a plenty.. worth the the ride definitely haha.

So to date info;
Day 3 of drying on tops of Annie and Cindy
Using veg box for drying, temp is 70F and RH is 40% in box.
All buds are still soft to the touch and if squeezed they don't press back quickly, so still wet..
I'm thinking 5 days drying considering the low rh in the room but as I've said before the plants will let me know lol
My branches are too thick to go with the snap test. Maybe the bend test...
The outsides of the buds are fairly dry but the stems and inner buds are wet still.
You think growing them is the hard part and ur done haha not!
Don't dry and cure properly and your bud can have no smell at all!
Mold, over-dry buds Oh-my!

 

[KevinSmith]

After four days of drying in 70 to 72F and 40 to 50 % rh. Dependent upon whether the dehumidifier is on or not.
My climate this time a year can go from stone dry to swimming in humidity in 12 hours or less.
My grow is all in one room so I have to control the humidity and it affects different parts of the grow in different ways..

Ok so 4 days into drying (don't smoke and post kids! haha)
The outsides of the buds are uniformly dry from small to big buds.
Seems a little scary dry, like too much but I'm following what I have learnt from the basic 'read, read, read' and videos etc. etc. etc. (and weeding out the bullshit lol)
The outside of the buds are dry to the touch, when squeezed the press back slightly and the stems bend and not break. Check, check and check.

Time to jar these ladies
Remember this is just tops of 2 of my six ladies.
Filled 6 jars loosely. Let the burping begin!

 

[KevinSmith]

Oh! also noteworthy
I drained and flushed my rez. today so day 1 of 5 to 10 day flush on the rest of the crop.
only ph'd clean water from here on out.

 

[KevinSmith]

So I realize with this flush I need to drain and add fresh water to my rez daily.
The salts are really leaching out. Day 1 ppms were at 135, tap water level then after one feeding it was at 280. Fed again with same make up and it jumped to 390.
I'm going to drain and fill the rez between each feeding.

The cure is going well. I have one small hygrometer that I put in a random jar.
I am removing the buds from the jar and let them get crisp on the the outside of bud every 12 hours. About 1 hour out of the jar.
All stems small or large still bend.
After table drying and I put back in the jar, the humidity is at about 40- 42% (that's about my room rh)
When I reopen them 12 hrs later it is reading 55%.
So there going in the jar, dry to the touch but push back when squeezed.

So all seems well to me.. and comments or suggestions always welcome.
The info on curing varies a lot from burp every hour to every 2 days..
take out the buds to just lift off the lid.
I'm thinking like a lot I have learnt about growing, it is all about personal preference and what works for you.
The one message that seems to be shared from all opinions is don't stone out and forget to burp your buds!
I have two alarms set as reminders at 8am and 8 pm I'm up at 6am anyway.
I'm keeping the jars in the original box I bought them in because it has the 12 pack type separator built in and makes it easy to transport it from my cool dark place to the table.

Some pics of it out on the table today;
(on that note,, Laying it out on newspaper good or bad? if bad what should I use in it's place?)

 

[KevinSmith]

Humidity is staying at 55 to 60 steady now on first batch. going to reduce burping. Remove the big stems and be set to store long term.
Stems are also cracking on bend so I know I'm there.

Harvested a second batch today Day 5 of flushing.
Cropped the colas on plants B,E and F. Did A & C tops on the first. D is a short indica and I'm letting her go a bit longer.

 

[KevinSmith]

another pic

 

[Encomium]

Beautiful updates KS. Your jarred buds look incredible! When I started my harvest and curing I think I may have jumped the gun on putting them into jars. My initial RH readings after an hour or so had some jars up as high as 74% and that was after 3 days hang drying and "feeling" crispy on the outside. Took me about 10 days to get them down to high 50's for RH for a true cure.

I will note that the plants that had "flooded" (NOT flushed) prior to chop look and smoke much better after a week in the jars versus the plants that I had just flushed for the last week. This might be just due to genetics but flooding is supposed to start the fermentation process a bit earlier which results in a quicker cure (from what I've read). My next harvest I believe I'll increase my flood time as I personally am convinced that flooding pre harvest has a positive impact on my smoke.

PS - I wouldn't think that newspaper would be harmful if used to table dry but I also know that just rubbing newspaper leaves a residue on my fingers so I used just plain paper grocery bags cut up and lain flat for air drying.

 

[KevinSmith]

Good to hear from you EC.
I'm so baked smoking my own top shelf lol

I think the first batch is good to be cleaned of the larger stems. I kept them on because it created space between the buds in the jars and good hanging points in the initial drying.
I'm no longer removing all the buds from the jars to burp. Just remove the lids and shake up a bit lightly. Don't breath in to the jars co2 is of no use at this point but you can suck out the chlorophyll, tastes good a little green..

I now have batch 2 in drying and added batch 3 tonight.
May 11 first bud cut and dry
May 14 second bud cut and dry
May 28 was top harvest of plants A + C
June 5 was harvest of ready buds of plants B,E and F
June 6 trim harvest of B,C,E,F
Pics will show today's work.
One plant has not been touched yet 'D'
I think she is going to be special. always the runt at just 28 inches she has 3 main colas and that's about it. Some popcorn below but not much else.


The later batches that have been flushed more smoke cleaner.

With the first batch (and from here on) I will watch and get the rh below 70 even as low as 65% before jarring unbelievable how much they bounce back.
Outside of the buds dry and I mean dry! But the stem rule is good you want it to bend not break before going into curing. If you here crack you're a little late!
Yeah it's touchy like that.
AND I've read and read and read and it's not a science unfortunately.
You watch the dry.. My conditions were very controlled.
Temp by ac, RH by dehumidifier.
Temp is 74 max and RH is controlled to 45% in the room so the plants are in their norm to control their own.
My RH in jars was 70% for the first few days and I think that's why it's always suggested to burp twice a day. Soon after it will stabilize at 55 to 60% then you can slow down on burping imo. You need to check em out at least 3 times a day and rotate buds and look for mold.
Flooding, flushing or no water for X amount of days? light dark?
There are sooo many opinions!

Weighed the first 6 jars after 5 days of curing and they are at a total of around 200 grams.
Good start

 

[Encomium]

Too right about the varying opinions on curing. The bible I read (Cervantes') actually states that hang drying should go up until the point where the stems "snap" and not bend but I chose to jar before this. As I said I may have been slightly preemptive on my initial harvest when the jars shot up to 74% Rh in a few hours after sealing them but I wasn't off by much. I definitely have a better game plan for curing for the next harvest.

I decided to try not flushing and drowning my root systems of 3 of my plants. I got the idea from this thread and the results have been good so far. From equal days curing the buds from drowned plants look and smoke much better than my plant that was just flushed in the last week.

Oh, I made a batch of hash with one of the trimming bags and it was delicious! I didn't weigh my results or anything but the smoke was amazing and lasted me a good 15-16 small bowls.