CptTripps' first grow journal.

Alright gang...here's the total, and a few learnings.

7d dry, and I'm at 7.1oz of bud, and 1.5oz of trim. I put all the little popcorn buds in the trim can as well. I'll use this to make butter next week when my molds arrive. I expect I'll lose a little more weight as it cures, but for right now I'm pleased with the results.



Learnings:

Wet trimming saves a TON of time after it's dried. (The dry-trim plant took me a 90min. Wet trimmed plant took 30.)

Defoliation in the middle of flower makes trimming a lot easier. (I did this to one plant, the one that I wet trimmed.)

Let them go a few weeks past when you think you need to cut. (I definitely lost out on density here. All my buds are pretty airy.)




Not exactly the best bag appeal, but my fiancé tried a joint and it got her high...so that's what I was aiming for. Mission accomplished.

I'll do better next time. The Bruce Banners are getting fracking huge and I have no idea how I'm going to get them finished in the 3X3. They've gained 12-13" in the week since I flipped then to 12/12. I'm in trouble here, I think.

CptTripps said:

Alright gang...here's the total, and a few learnings.

7d dry, and I'm at 7.1oz of bud, and 1.5oz of trim. I put all the little popcorn buds in the trim can as well. I'll use this to make butter next week when my molds arrive. I expect I'll lose a little more weight as it cures, but for right now I'm pleased with the results.

View attachment 4527248

Learnings:

Wet trimming saves a TON of time after it's dried. (The dry-trim plant took me a 90min. Wet trimmed plant took 30.)

Defoliation in the middle of flower makes trimming a lot easier. (I did this to one plant, the one that I wet trimmed.)

Let them go a few weeks past when you think you need to cut. (I definitely lost out on density here. All my buds are pretty airy.)


View attachment 4527249

Mission accomplished.

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Well done!

Just read through a lot of the journal. Those big photoperiod girls are dying to be scrogged out in that big tent. Perfect bushes to feed under and through a net. If it were my grow I'd scrog them in the big tent, get another 3ft x 3ft tent for autos, another led, a y splitter for ducting and use the same extraction fan for both 3ft tents.

Also when you are in flowering with that chicken soup the plants leaves have so much nitrogen in. That may hinder flowering and make the taste a bit rough in the buds. Maybe get a pk booster with zero nitrogen in and feed it every feed after week 4 at 1/4 strength with some unsulphered molassess. Let those leaves go through that beautiful autumn fade. If the leaves fade too early just add more chicken soup.

Excellent set up. Good results for 1st grow too.

Read up on drying weed in the dark. I'm sure it helps the chlorophyll go and the buds are a much lighter green. Anyway I've started drying my weed in the dark.

Fevs. said:

Those big photoperiod girls are dying to be scrogged out in that big tent.

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I'm going back/forth on that right now. I don't have room for another 3X3 anywhere in the room...or the house for that matter. I've got 8 plants in the 4X8 now, so I'd need another 4X4 to make it work. Just don't have the room. I'm honestly just going to ride it out with those girls with what I have and hope for the best. I'm already even with the board on money spent with my first grow, so it's all free and experimental at this point. If I get a few oz out of each of those, I'll be happy. The main goal has been the big auto tent, so that's where I'm concentrating my efforts right now.



As you can see, the photo Bruce Banners are 2" from the light at this point. I've raise it up as high as I can, as the light is nearly hitting the fan/filter right now. Next step would be some sort of way to put the fan outside the tent, and just keep the filter inside. I ordered another hose, so I'll try that out when it gets here.

I have NO clue what to do about the photo tent. Those girls were touching the light this morning. I was able to squeeze another 4-5 inches up on the light, but I'm against the fan now.

Should I bend the top branches over, like a super crop? Chop the branches and live with just the yield off of the other branches? Leave them alone and just ride it out?

The tent is wall-to-wall, I have no way to scrod it, no room for another tent, and I'm out of vertical height. I am guessing it's going to be like this for the next 6-8wks while these girls are flowering. My other tent is humming along, and the Diesel that I planted 2 weeks after these plants is already starting to flower. Going off of history with that strain, it'll be finished before these girls will.

Any advise is appreciated...

CptTripps said:

I have NO clue what to do about the photo tent. Those girls were touching the light this morning. I was able to squeeze another 4-5 inches up on the light, but I'm against the fan now.

Should I bend the top branches over, like a super crop? Chop the branches and live with just the yield off of the other branches? Leave them alone and just ride it out?

The tent is wall-to-wall, I have no way to scrod it, no room for another tent, and I'm out of vertical height. I am guessing it's going to be like this for the next 6-8wks while these girls are flowering. My other tent is humming along, and the Diesel that I planted 2 weeks after these plants is already starting to flower. Going off of history with that strain, it'll be finished before these girls will.

Any advise is appreciated...

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See I'm drastic when I grow. Imo, get the plants out. Get some hedge cutting large scissors and lop the growth off until they are all 1ft high. Then top all the top nodes once to let lower nodes grow up. Give them 4 days to recover Then flip to 12/12. That's exactly what I would do in your situation.

Fevs. said:

See I'm drastic when I grow. Imo, get the plants out. Get some hedge cutting large scissors and lop the growth off until they are all 1ft high. Then top all the top nodes once to let lower nodes grow up. Give them 4 days to recover Then flip to 12/12. That's exactly what I would do in your situation.

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I'm about 10d into the flip. Should I just lop off those top/high branches right now? The stalks are about 1/2" thick. I was 1/2 considering just chucking the plants altogether, so I'm willing to experiment here. Was thinking of just taking the top 12" off and seeing what happens. The autos in my other tent are chugging right along, so this would all be "bonus" weed anyway. If I score 4-5oz out of the tent, I'll be happy. Right now, I'm just worried that I'll bake it all being so close to the light.

How do you feel about either tying or weighing them down rather than taking off the top 12"?

Just Be said:

How do you feel about either tying or weighing them down rather than taking off the top 12"?

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You mean try to bend them over? Like super cropping?

The bigger problem I think is that the tent is wall-to-wall leaves right now. I think I need to get in there and defoliate a bit so the light gets past the top and into the mid/lower branches.

I've got nothing but time right now, and especially this weekend, so now would be the time to play.

Here’s what I’m talking about...

Actually, just tried banding one of the taller branches over a bit, and it snapped right off. So that made a decision for me. Oh-well....it's all experimenting at this point.

I think best thing to do would be to cut some of the tallest problem branches, cut them wisely though and use them as clones, you can just simply put them in solo cups on a heating pad, or just simply in one of the veg tents thats humid. If you get some to root thats a win, if not, nothing lost. Those clones can either be reused or given/ sold to friends.

After that, wire or tie the branches in strategic positions, aka outwards and downwards to allow maximum light coverage or usage in the tent. That way you can firstly use all the led and not waste the light hitting blank areas as well as reduce the amount of popcorn buds.

Also do some lolipopping to get rid of the growth at the bottom of the plant that firstly wont get as much light, and secondly will waste the plants valuable sugar stores on branches you dont need!

I would edit your photo to illustrate but just simply count 3 to 4 nodes down from the top! Lovely grow though man well done so far! And remember you only win or learn

I might also add, that as some guys were talking about - creating a sea of green in the tent by using a sog net, things like that are wise, and should be done when the plant is still young and about a ruler length so you can grow them flat and stretched out at a young age. Growers already top and LST the plant once it has its 3rd or 4th set of true leaves when you are growing from seed

Woah hold on, i just realised those are now in flower am i correct? Think i may be giving the wrong advise then, if a more experienced grower could fill me in, but i think if the plant is already flowering its best not to cut branches!

Joncoh101 said:

Woah hold on, i just realised those are now in flower am i correct? Think i may be giving the wrong advise then, if a more experienced grower could fill me in, but i think if the plant is already flowering its best not to cut branches!

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Yeah, I flipped about 10-12d ago. These were thought to be autos, as that's all I grow. The Seedbank had them listed incorrectly on their website, so this 3X3 tent I have them stuffed into wasn't ever meant to flower anything but be my drying tent. That's why this is all a mess. If I was meaning to grow photos, I'd have only put 1 plant in the 3X3 and scrogd'd it properly to get the most out of the plant.

I just defoliated quite a bit, and may defoliating some more just to see what happens. Lollipopping so to speak. These guys are about 4' tall in a 5' tent. I may lop off the lower branches and let the plant's energy concentrate on the top growth. I agree that nothing valuable is going to happen on the lower branches at this point.

So, I'm 10d into a 8-10 week flower process. Just gotta wait it out and see what happens, I guess.

I would have chopped that thing in half long ago other than that they look clean.
.,I have a mars going now too... subd

CptTripps said:

You mean try to bend them over? Like super cropping?

The bigger problem I think is that the tent is wall-to-wall leaves right now. I think I need to get in there and defoliate a bit so the light gets past the top and into the mid/lower branches.

I've got nothing but time right now, and especially this weekend, so now would be the time to play.

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What I was referring to wouldn't be as stressful as super cropping. Just basically late term LST.

In other news, the perpetual auto tent is crushing right now. I’ve got 8 plants going in 3 stages and everything is chugging along as planned...

Welp....the other tall branch came off today. I went in to check on everything and the top-most branch was getting cooked....literally.



It was jammed up against the light and burning. So I took it off a few nodes lower. Now the top-most branch on both plants is about 8" from the light. Still a little too close, but it's the best I can do without sacrificing several colas.

In the Auto tent, the Red Russian, Purple Lemonade, and Skittles all sprouted yesterday morning, so the domes came off today. It feels good to have several different strains going in the tent. This is what I was planning for all along. I love it when a plan comes together.




The Chicken Soup experiment is really interesting. Check out that thread if you haven't yet. The difference in the 4 plants is quite amazing. I did some LST on the smaller of the four plants today. (I did the bigger ones on Wednesday.)

Did an upgrade to the grow room too. My hole-saw finally came in, and I am now piping the tent air into the garage behind the trash cans. Dropped the temp int he room by 15-deg, and the smell in the room is nonexistent. Also...I've got heated trash cans now.



I've been taking each jar of buds out every morning, and spreading them out...waiting 5min...then putting them back in the jars. Just to air them out a bit. I'll stop doing this on Wednesday, as it'll have been a week of this. Then they go in the dark for 3-4 weeks for a nice long cure. Then, we see what we have. Fiancé has been smoking it already though. She says it gets her high and helps the pain, but not for as long as the stuff from the dispensary. Hoping this changes after the cure. But honestly, I made some mistakes in my first grow, so I'll do better next time.

Hopefully the warm trash cans doesn't eventually create the smell of warm garbage.