BlackStar LED GROW 4 Bubba OG Kush Harvest Journal

Hi Everyone,

Ive been gone from RIU, because I just got lazy and did a few grows "OFFLINE". I am nearing the end of my current grow, and I decided to document the last days. So all you who would like to view this journal skipped all the boring stuff and got right into my favorite part of flowering. Here is the breakdown of this grow:

2 X 500W Blackstar LED (Approx 608 drawn wattage)

4 x 4 Grow Tent

4 x Bubba OG Kush

Airpots

Sunshine Mix #4

House and Garden Nutrients

I vegged these bitches for about 5 1/2 weeks. They grew slow and were very bushy. I induced flowering at about 19-20 inches, and they are now 29-30 inches tall. I did not top these girls. I trimmed the huge bush of fan leaves around week 5 of flower. I am currently on DAY 49 of the flowering cycle and just started HOUSE AND GARDEN's Shooting Powder Last week. These girls are looking very delicious. I had no problems at all with mold, bugs, etc. The buds are rock hard and forming trichs. Trichs are mostly cloudy with some clear still. Planning to harvest anywhere from day 63-70. So sit back and enjoy this harvest journal!

Definitely sub. I lurve me sum bubba.

Sub'd man! Looking pretty dank

glad to have ya back sleez girls are looking brilliant cant wait to see what ya pull off em

So I checked on my grow tent this afternoon, and thank GOD I did. One of the support elbows (Plastic) broke, and one of the beam went right thru, causing everything in my tent to slant! I had to take out my plants and lights and use a spare elbow to repair the tent. Not only was my tent damaged, but the plants must have put on some weight overnight, cuz they were starting to lean and slouch. The shooting powder is definitely kicking in, because the buds are getting pretty dense, hard and heavy. So I took this opportunity to stake my plants after I fixed my tent. I got a good look at the buds under natural lighting, and it is definitely looking really good! It has a good beginning of trich buildup, and the red hairs are starting to shrivel up and almost disappear behind those milky trichs. It definitely has more of a Bubba Kush smell over the OG Kush smell, but I can smell some hints of that lemon fuel OG kush is known for. This grow is looking really good! I actually called House and Garden last week to ask if my leaves turning orange was normal. I have experienced this everytime I go full strength with shooting powder, and for once I just wanted to make sure this was normal. I was reassured that Shooting powder really pushes the plants for another growth spurt and the nutrients stored up in the leaves are being used on overdrive. So even though I see other plants not exhibit these signs during harvest, I guess its just what my nutrients are designed to do. As long as the Buds are getting bigger and looks legit, im good to go.

curly604 said:

glad to have ya back sleez girls are looking brilliant cant wait to see what ya pull off em

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Good to see you again Curly! Thanks for finding my journal!

Beautiful plants man, absolutely stunning!! How many watts of LED did you say you are using?

eastcoastmo said:

Beautiful plants man, absolutely stunning!! How many watts of LED did you say you are using?

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Thanks! Wait till I take new pics! The trichs and buds are packing on! The total power draw for both lights are approx. 608 watts.

Wow man thats amazing growth. Im guessing the lights are expensive then? Looks like they dont get anywhere near as hot as HPS?

$550 each. Temps hover at 85 degrees. No inline fans, no hot ballasts. I can touch the glass after 18 hours and it's warm. So many advantages growing with LEDs. No changing lights during vegg and flower, less power consumption, plants absorb 80% of light vs 10% HID... My bill is $35 more a month.. Very quiet. 50,000 hours of light per unit. List goes on forever!

Today I fed my girls for the very last time of their life. I pushed them as far as they could with shooting powder, and their leaves are being sucked dry of nutrients. The smell is a wonderful Bubba/ Lemon Fuel smell, and I can see the calyxes swelling and trichs developing more every day. Last night I checked the trichs under the microscope and most are milky with some hints of clear. I am planning to harvest next Saturday, Day 63. I will start flushing them this coming Sunday for the whole week until Saturday. I am very pleased with how frosty, dense, and pleasant smelling these buds have become. I find myself checking in on my tent 8-10 times a day, because I know the end is near and it feels like Christmas. I feel this is the most important time of the growing cycle, a perfect grow can be screwed up at this time. If I don't cut them down right when there are amber trichs showing, don't dry properly, or cure..My whole 93 days was a waste! So im watching my humidity and I have ample buds to smoke now, so I don't rush my harvest time.

All i can say is WOW, that looks like some dank fuckin weed man! Awesome job

sleezy1 said:

$550 each. Temps hover at 85 degrees. No inline fans, no hot ballasts. I can touch the glass after 18 hours and it's warm. So many advantages growing with LEDs. No changing lights during vegg and flower, less power consumption, plants absorb 80% of light vs 10% HID... My bill is $35 more a month.. Very quiet. 50,000 hours of light per unit. List goes on forever!

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You've sold me mate, will be looking into LEDs fpr
my next grow

Here are some pics of the ladies right at lights out. Today is day 55 of flower and I will begin my flush tomorrow. I plan to flush every other day until next Saturday, harvest day. Trichs are mostly all milky with a few amber showing here and there. If the trichs don't have a little more amber by next saturday, I will let them go on longer. My leaves are pretty sucked dry from the shooting powder, and now they will start to yellow even more once I start the flush. The girls will start freaking out knowing that the end is near and start pumping out more frosty trichs and swell up. As you can tell, the trichs are packing on, and looking sexy. I took a sample yesterday from the bottom of the plant, where Im surprised there was even buds because I can't see how light penetrates that far. Anyways, I checked the milky trichs on that drop of bud and popped it into a bowl just to see what it tasted like. I was surprised it didnt taste like grass, and it actually had that distinct bubba taste. The smell was already very strong on that teeny tiny bud all the way on the bottom of the plant. I was already medicated, so I won't even lie and tell you how bomb the smoke and high was. I can only tell you that it wasnt harsh at all and tasted delicious! wait till its flushed, dried and cured properly! I am very happy with this grow, and after 2 years of growing I think this is going to be my best harvest yet. Its all about patience and monitoring your environment and plants.

Wow looks great from here. Led looks very promising, how is the light penetration to the lower bud sites and how big of a footprint do those throw off per unit? One thing I noticed from your first post was that your are using airpots but from here they look like smartpots the fabric bags. No biggie but if you ever decide to use airpots you will find veg times cut down significantly and you can feed more often because the roots get more air and dry out faster. Can't wait to see final weight.

North40Farmer said:

Wow looks great from here. Led looks very promising, how is the light penetration to the lower bud sites and how big of a footprint do those throw off per unit? One thing I noticed from your first post was that your are using airpots but from here they look like smartpots the fabric bags. No biggie but if you ever decide to use airpots you will find veg times cut down significantly and you can feed more often because the roots get more air and dry out faster. Can't wait to see final weight.

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You are right! I got the name wrong on the type of pots im using. Smartpots, thats it! I have to feed every other day with those pots already, so I don't think its going to make a difference. To answer your question regarding the footprint of the LEDs. That is the tricky part of growing with LEDs, that I had to figure out from 3 harvests thru trial and error. THey say one 500w can cover a 4 x 4 area, but I don't think that would be enough so I got two. There is a certain "sweet spot" with LEDs. The closer you are to the top canopy, the smaller it gets. I figured out that I use 14 inches away from the tops during Vegg, then eventual lower to 10 inches. At flowering I start off 10 inches while the stretch happens, then the final two weeks when I start using shooting powder I move the lights about 12-14 inches away from the tops, because the intense lights orange out my leaves a little too much. The light penetration is surprisingly really good! I am getting good solid rock nuggs 3/4 down the plant. In my previous grows I gotten as little as 1.5 ozs a plant to as much as 3.5 oz per plant. It really depended on the strain, and some harvests I had mold issues so I had to pull early. This grow I figure Ill get anywhere from 8-12 oz out of the 4 girls. The nuggs are rock hard, but I barely have touched my buds because I am anal about smashing trichs. Thanks for stopping by. Stay tune for more updates, harvest pics, final weigh in and smoke report!

They look great dude! Cant wait to hear how it smokes.

Today I flushed my plants with 3 gallons of PH'd water per pot. House and Garden recommends a 2-3 day flush before harvest. There has been a lot of controversy pertaining to flushing your plants at the end of harvest. Some say that you are denying your plants proper nutrients during the most critical stage of development. Some say that if you don't flush the smoke will be harsh, bad for you and taste terrible. In the past, I did not flush. I did not have any harshness or terrible taste in my buds. But as a grower sometimes you need to experiment and try new things to see if it improves your product. So for this harvest I plan to do one more flush with PH'd water, then water just plain ph'd water for the remainder of the life of the plant. I thought it was a good idea logically to flush, cuz its obvious my soil is pretty hot with that shooting powder. So this time Ill see if it makes a difference in my end product. Harvest day is scheduled for July 14, 2012, but it all depends on the trichs. Don't see much amber yet, and I like a little couch lock, but not too much. So ill wait till I am 85% milky 10% amber 5% clear. That is all for today's update.

Great work mate, cant wait to see the smoke report

I flushed my girls again today, checked trichs, and picked a few dead leaves off the buds so more light could penetrate. The trichs are now 90% milky and 8% clear and 2% amber. I think by saturday I will have a little more amber and Ill be right on schedule. Buds are hard as a rock and the outside is packed with trichs. Red hairs are receding, so maturity of the plant is here.