Creeping up to first harvest

Howdy! My first thread here at RIU ends up coming in week 7 of flower, as I anxiously await my ever-so-slowly approaching first harvest.

I had a hard time starting out, and read probably way too much advice, which had me overthinking things in a bad way. I killed a bunch of seedlings through constant tinkering, but I backed off and started listening to the little ladies. That's showing itself to be a more productive approach.

Currently, I have two maturing ladies in soil in my bloom tent. Day 47 of flower sees one Dutch Passion Forest Dream and one Barney's Farm CBD Blue Shark winding their cycles down. The Forest Dream is approximately 3 feet tall, and the CBD BS is about 4 feet tall. The BS is much bushier as well with insanely thick colas packed with buds. The FD is healthy, and budding nicely, but nowhere near as productive as the BS. I am surprised by this, because based upon the breeders' statements, the FD should be the bigger plant. C'est la vie.

I've been fighting fungus gnats since these plants were seedlings. I've been using yellow sticky traps, the microbial drops that were recommended by every grow shop I visited. I even used neem oil for a while in veg (I stopped because the plants always looked sad for a few days after the application). The gnats have not killed anything, but I imagine they slowed veg a bit.

I've been using the GO Box (General Organics), and have found it to be just fine. The BS tends to want more calcium than provided by the recommended feed chart, and I have been using more of the CaMg+ for that reason.

I am using Espoma organic soil mix to which I added some cottonseed meal. I found that from about week 4 of veg, my pH seemed high (based on runoff). I know that 7/10 growers would say that measuring pH in soil when using organics is unnecessary, but I did it anyway. I adjusted my feed water (R/O) to between 6.7-6.9 for a few weeks, and the pH came back in line. I have been seeing the pH of runoff at about 6 these days, and I am happy with that.

Well, at day 47 of flower, the BS has started to yellow. The FD is still a deep green. I find this interesting, because the trichs look nearly identical from one plant to the next. I would say that they are 75% milky, with 20% clear, and 5% starting to show some amber. The hairs are mostly white, but about about 25% are browning. Very little has changed in the observance of the trichs or hairs in the past week; however, seeing the BS yellowing makes me feel that the plant is winding its cycle up.

I intend to withhold nutes from here on. I plan to flush with clearex in about a week (maybe overkill, but I already bought it). I expect that I am about 2 weeks from harvest right now.

Waiting in the wings I have another FD, CBD BS, and a CBD Durga Mata 1:1 ready for the flower tent. I have started a few Blueberry seedlings and a few Dutch Passion Brainstorm, which are about 3 weeks after germination right now. All of the seeds were feminized strains.

I don't have permission to write a journal yet, but I will do when I can. I will also get a hang of uploading photos, and will use such sparingly where illustrative.

Thanks for this forum. If you've read this, well thanks for that too.

Welcome to RIU, and the wonderful world of cultivating the world's most misunderstood and feared medicines!!!

The only 'advice' I can give you or anyone is to read and learn and then apply what you have read and learned to your garden and you cannot fail. Anyways, remember the search tool is your friend...Lots of folks here willing to help a new farmer get up and growing. But at the end of the day your grow will be only as good as the knowledge and work you put into it.

It is always great to ask questions but do not take anyone's advice or opinions and follow blindly. Do your own research, you will be much happier knowing you have done it for yourself and by yourself. The first buzz you get from your own budz...is by far the BEST high you will ever have!

Do a search using your current question as the keyword(s) and ZOOOM!! Like Wonka's Great Glass Elevator…off you go to tons of threads answering all your questions. Read all the Newbie Central stickies and learn…

Soaking up all that information and sifting through it, is going to take time. You will likely finish your first grow by then. Viola! grow complete and education well under way.

Fatbard said:

Howdy! My first thread here at RIU ends up coming in week 7 of flower, as I anxiously await my ever-so-slowly approaching first harvest.

I had a hard time starting out, and read probably way too much advice, which had me overthinking things in a bad way. I killed a bunch of seedlings through constant tinkering, but I backed off and started listening to the little ladies. That's showing itself to be a more productive approach.

.

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I love it!

Do it by yourself and for yourself...it is your grow and those will be your nuggies! Nostrovya!!!

Welcome and all the more we hear from you guys

the advice you first timers offer, is invaluable

congrats and good luck

Hell Yeah.......................Goddam paragraphs. lol
Welcome and well written. I'm a few weeks behind you in my first grow. Do what you think is best. It's all about learning.
WE

Day 49 - Both of my blooming ladies are showing yellowing leaves. Trichs are still barely showing amber. The vast majority of the trichs are milky white. The hairs are about 50% dark, which I thought would happen around the time I would see substantial amber in the trichomes. The trichs turning amber seems like the only sign of harvest maturity that these ladies are missing (even the smell has spiked over the past 3 days or so).

I've had folks tell me to expect that an additional week over what the breeder recommends for flower is often the ideal harvest time, but I'm starting to think that these ladies are finishing a bit early. I will do one Clearex flush tomorrow, then run pure R/O water with one more Clearex flush before harvest. As much as I can plan this stuff, I expect to harvest on day 58 (a little over a week out).

I'm curious to see what happens to the trichs in this week 8, because honestly, the trichomes have looked the same for days now. Maybe the amber fairy just visits one night???

Day 53 - Fan leaves are now about 40% yellow on the Blue Shark, and the Forest Dream is now about 25% yellow. The hairs are still about 50% brown. I'm seeing amber trichs now. About 20% of the trichs are now amber in some measure. I'm still looking at day 58 for harvest.

Sadly, despite using R/O water without nutes in the last weeks, and using Clearex, I expect that these buds will pop and crackle. It would be hard to imagine the gnat carcasses burning smoothly. I fought those bastards at every turn, and kept the population from spiking and destroying my roots. It's just annoying to see them stuck to the buds.

I'm looking forward to harvest, drying, and curing. I designed and built a drying tent in my basement this week, and I'm liking the setup (but that's a topic for another day and another thread).

I received some fungus gnats as well with my first set of clones. I killed them off pretty easily with a light layer of food grade diatomaceous earth mixed into the top 1/4" of soil.

Thanks for the tip, Growdict.

I've just harvested my first crop, we got bud rot, I think from an early-flower humidity problem, had to harvest a week early and I was gutted but it's a nice smoke and I got plenty, even if it was much less than expected; we live and learn.
As for the gnats, I hate those little fuckers! They moved in with a sack of coco and never moved out. I've lost so much hair on the damn fly traps, they look like dead animals hanging around my grow area. I did, however, find it fairly easy to pick the bodies out while trimming, disgusting as it was, I cursed every one of them that I picked out but there weren't really many caught in the buds, it's a pain but they didn't sneak through trimming to the stash jar, thankfully.
Great journal, I look forward to seeing how you do, and I'd love to see some pics; good luck with your first harvest man, looks like you've worked hard for it!

The red of my Eye Hortilux 600W HPS is making the pics wonky, but I thought I would throw these on the thread for Cannacat, and anyone interested in seeing my ladies. I'm not much of a photographer.
FD (taken Day 54)BS (taken Day 54)
Day 55 and substantially more amber trichs apparent. I think my plan of harvest on day 58 is right on track. I did a really heavy watering of both plants today with lots of R/O water (see how I didn't call it a flush). I've used clearex a few times too, so I think these should be fine to harvest in a few days. I can't wait to get all sticky.

Just thought that I would add that the CDB Blue Shark that I am going to flip to flower in a few days (along with another Forest Dream and a Durga Mata) displays a different phenotype than the above pictured plant. It has had plenty of time to fill out (it's been in veg for 4 months), but it is quite short. It was rootbound in month 2, and when I transplanted it it grew horizontally a bunch more than vertically. It looks very healthy, but very different than the one being harvested. Both seeds come out of the same Barney's Farm package, so it is just fun to see the plants express themselves so distinctly.

Fatbard said:

Day 53 - Fan leaves are now about 40% yellow on the Blue Shark, and the Forest Dream is now about 25% yellow. The hairs are still about 50% brown. I'm seeing amber trichs now. About 20% of the trichs are now amber in some measure. I'm still looking at day 58 for harvest.

Sadly, despite using R/O water without nutes in the last weeks, and using Clearex, I expect that these buds will pop and crackle. It would be hard to imagine the gnat carcasses burning smoothly. I fought those bastards at every turn, and kept the population from spiking and destroying my roots. It's just annoying to see them stuck to the buds.

I'm looking forward to harvest, drying, and curing. I designed and built a drying tent in my basement this week, and I'm liking the setup (but that's a topic for another day and another thread).

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If you are worried about bugs or anything in your buds, I would look up bud washing. I have used it on my first grow and have no complaints of it. Hope this helps.

Day 58 - Harvest. Well, my first harvest is now complete! I've hung the buds to dry in my drying area (light-proof, 65F and 54%RH at last check). There's some air flow (indirect) provided by a stationary fan.

Manicuring was interesting. I just had to tell myself that I had removed enough leaf matter so that I could be done. If I need to, I will manicure a little more after drying.

The Blue Shark was substantially more productive than the Forest Dream. The BS's main cola was really densely packed. The next BS to get flipped to flower has been topped, so I will be able to see what kind of difference that makes.

I'm glad that I made it to harvest without any major mishap this time. Plus, the three ladies waiting to go into the flower tent look healthy. My rooted seedlings are starting to show some calcium deficiency, so I will hit them with a bit of food tomorrow.

It is nice to see that I should be able to keep moving plants into flower from here on.

Thanks for your time and comments.

Thenoob420 said:

If you are worried about bugs or anything in your buds, I would look up bud washing. I have used it on my first grow and have no complaints of it. Hope this helps.

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I just started from seeds two weeks ago what is going on with these plants. I I usually go with clones.

TheWhiteDiddy said:

I just started from seeds two weeks ago what is going on with these plants. I I usually go with clones. View attachment 3696758View attachment 3696758 View attachment 3696759

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I can't really see an issue with your plants. I am not sure what you are concerned about. I do suggest that you start your own thread if you need advice, because I don't think you're going to the same response here that you would if you started a thread asking for help.

i personally would have waited at least a good two plus weeks before chopping them as they're not quite done yet imo, but congrats on the grow and harvest..
now dry and cure and enjoy the fruits of your labor..

racerboy71 said:

i personally would have waited at least a good two plus weeks before chopping them as they're not quite done yet imo, but congrats on the grow and harvest..
now dry and cure and enjoy the fruits of your labor..

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I'm curious as to what makes you believe that they are not finished. I really want to learn, and everything I've read about trichomes and yellowing leaves, etc. lead me to believe it was time. Please share your wisdom.

Fatbard said:

I'm curious as to what makes you believe that they are not finished. I really want to learn, and everything I've read about trichomes and yellowing leaves, etc. lead me to believe it was time. Please share your wisdom.

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i like to wait until a large majority, usually all of, but sometimes you might get a few new, pistils, have receded back into the buds. by the looks of the pix on day 54, i'd say yours have all started to change colors, but haven't fully receded back into the buds yet.. first sign of not being fully finished..
second thing is the calyx will get nice and swollen when they're ready to harvest.. the second plant, that hd i think it says, looks much closer.. if you look at the calyxes on that bud, you'll see what i mean by swollen calyx. nice and fat. the other plant doesn't look nearly as swollen in the pix..
lastly, it's kind of hard to put into words exactly, but with a bit of experience, you'll learn to read the plants color as it approaches time to cut.. they'll tend to take on a more orangey hue.. i know, it sounds odd, but i've found it to be pretty true, when they're ready to come down, you will be able to simply look at them, the color of the plants, the over all color of the buds, are all of the hairs receded, are the calyxes nice and plump and swollen? at that time i'll break out the magnifier so i can prove or disprove to myself that they're in fact ready to come down..
i've had a few plants that never did show amber trics, no matter how long i waited, so i've had to go by all of the other clues the plant was showing me that it was indeed time to harvest..

Thanks, racerboy71, I will keep those indicators in mind next time.

Fatbard said:

I can't really see an issue with your plants. I am not sure what you are concerned about. I do suggest that you start your own thread if you need advice, because I don't think you're going to the same response here that you would if you started a thread asking for help.

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Thank u