Yeah I need to get my RO system back up and running as it’s been down and would save a lot of water lugging lol. I don’t have any specific brands to recommend but I would highly suggest the 4-5 stage filtration something similar to the NU Aqua system, if you wanted to spend extra money on the higher stage ones you could, but typically the 4-5 stage are the most cost efficient.
Two weeks after flipping lights to 12/12 (I never can tell if there's an actual standard for how we talk bout weeks in flowering - some people count weeks after first flowers emerge, others from the day of flip...) The above are both blue dream, believe it or not. The right one was the one that had issues from start (some insect bored its way into the stem; nutrient burn and pH issues). The left one had better soil which seemed to buffer the water pH problems I had, so she's got a lot better look to her. Strange how plants can look so different even though they're basically the same strain/variety. This is a Bergman's Gold Leaf. She also was stunted/burned due to mediocre soil + bad water. Fixing the water has resulted in notably improved growth (The two branches in the very middle were just nubs when I flipped to flower. Notice how they've basically caught up to the bigger branches on the exterior!). This was my last week with spraying neem oil for IPM (I'm choosing to stop in week 2 of flower to avoid any odd/unpleasant tastes). Keeping my fingers crossed that the IPM I've done will keep mites to a minimum!
Three week update. I noticed that the blue dream that's the healthiest and biggest also has bigger flowers than the other two plants. The smaller two are several inches (estimated 8" or so) further from the lights than the healthy plant, so I raised the two smaller ones. I'll have to be much more careful when rotating the platform they're on as I only had medium-sized plastic totes to put them on, and they're a little small...I also defoliated the two smaller plants as they were getting crowded on the inside due to their stunted growth. I also found MITES Very few, and controllable, but figured my weekly IPM would have been sufficient to keep them out. Guess I was wrong! I'll be continuing to spray with neem every 3 days, but at a diluted amount as they're in flower and I don't want to compromise the flavor of the buds. The healthiest Blue Dream is looking really nice. I have been trying to train her so that the branches are spaced out, and tucking leaves as I can. I did not defoliate this plant, but am seriously considering doing so as every day I notice more budsites being blocked and my leaf-tucking isn't cutting it. Next up, the less-healthy Blue Dream. Smaller in stature and hasn't stretched as much, but doing so much better than she was pre-flower. It's amazing how much good water will make a difference! And finally the Gold Leaf. Also much healthier looking than pre-flower - with more stretching than I would have imagined!
Week 4 update! They're growing! They continue to look pretty good, with the exception of the blue-dream in the back that's still struggling. It's not really filling out, and at this point I'm accepting that this plant, which has struggled from the get go, is just gonna be underwhelming. And I'm OK with that cuz the other two are looking great! I noticed after my last spray of neem oil that many hairs turned orange. I'm not sure if this is coincidence or not, but I'm going to hold off spraying at all anymore unless I see any signs of mites. And even then, I may just get some predator mites as I really don't want to spray this far into flower. 5 weeks to go, or so! Couple of close ups of the healthy looking Blue Dream below. Starting to get frosty! (I need to work on taking pics, as even if something looks good on the phone it looks like crap when I put it on here!)
Yup neem will cause orange hairs and could potentially change some smell outputs so be careful with spraying in flower, otherwise looking good
Week 5 update (coming a week late...week 6 pics and update coming late this morning) Things are looking bushy! Plants are filling out more. I did hit a little snag this week - I'm noticing some deficiencies in the leaves. I believe I have not been watering sufficiently...I've been so afraid of over-watering that I'm probably not 1) watering with enough frequency and 2) not watering enough each time. Being worried about CA and MG, I topdressed a little with gypsum (I admit to being very high and a little drunk when I made this choice... so if you're reading this and thinking "what a stupid idea" my sober-self agrees with you). BAD CALL. Added CA has locked out K (symptoms more noticeable in the week 6 pics coming up) So I supplemented a little with langbeinite one watering, and kelp during the next watering. Still, the best looking of the bunch continues to be the Blue Dream in the "good" soil mix. Not sure how well it shows up on pics here, but she's getting super frosty! The other BD plant is...not doing so hot. Buds are small, not well formed, and most of the hairs are red. This plant has just had struggles from jump, so I am not going to stress about her at this point. She is what she is! Finally, the gold leaf is somewhere in-between the two Blue Dream plants as far as health and filling out. She's definitely got some defined colas and is filling out. Happy that she's doing well as the last smoke of this strain I had was quality. Week 6 pics coming later today!
Week 6 completed. Basically the only two plants worth looking at, at this point, are the "good" BD and the gold leaf. The 3rd BD is not looking so hot, so I'm just going to exclude pics since there's not much to see (honestly thinking of chopping her early as there's nearly no bud formation going on, and all the hairs have turned orange...may just LITFA and see what happens in the last 3 weeks, though). Up-close of the remaining BD: The K lockout is definitely noticeable. I'm smacking my head against the wall for the dumb moves I've made especially so far into flower. But, the buds continue to swell, get frostier every time I look at them, so I'm still happy. Same with the Gold Leaf - more noticeable problems in the leaves, but otherwise the bud development continues apace. For both plants, I've defoliated in a few spots as the leaves were either blocking a budsite and I couldn't tuck them away, or the leaf was so K deficient it warranted coming off. Not my pretties grow, but I'm learning and plan on avoiding the same mistakes next time. (next time is a set of Autos from Mephisto that I am STOKED to try!!!)
Week 7 is in the bag! Two more weeks to go before the breeder's time to completion (we'll see if that's accurate!) The smell from the tent is fruity and...I can't quite place the other smell...skunky to be sure, with some coffee hints? Not fruity or citrusy. I can say the smell from accidentally brushing up against a plant is mouthwatering. Let's start with the sad, weird blue dream: I am not sure what the problem is with this plant, but I have my suspicions. Early in her life some type of boring insect chewed a hole into the main stem. Earlier this week, I saw what looked like sawdust coming out of the hole. I'm not horribly upset about this plant - it struggled from the start. What is there is frosty, so I'm likely to use it for edibles or concentrate. Not seeing any new white pistils, so I plan on chopping her soon especially as she seems to really be degrading day-by-day. The Gold Leaf is doing well - really fattening up, trichomes coming in, and still pushing out pistils. And finally, the Blue Dream that's still doing well (minus some minor K problems) I feel like with this plant I'm seeing the kind of growth that other's get - chunky nugs from the top to the bottom of the branch. It has some smaller nugs in the bottom areas, but they're still chunky and frosty. And the main colas are all long and frosty AF. I'm noticing that I'm having to water them every two days - any longer than that and I start to see some wilt in the healthy Blue Dream. I've continued using the chapin sprayer with RO water, and finding that the medium is getting more evenly saturated which is good! Plus, I was thinking about the DO of the water and how spraying it with the chapin would necessarily increase the DO which is a desirable thing. Double win!
Wrapped up week 8! Just another week to go to wrap up week 9, and depending on how they look they will either get the chop then or wait a few more days. They're really starting to fade. I wasn't 100% sure if I should do this or not, but I gave them some kelp and alfalfa tea a few nights ago. I figure that they're gentle enough as a tea that I should be OK. Guess we will see if I start having some serious foxtailing or something like that! Still, this last week has been one of my favorites. Both plants are really chunking up, bracts are swelling, and everything is super frosty. Blue dream: Gold Leaf: I even got some up-close pics of trichomes, just for fun. But man, is it a pain to get focused pics while the plants are still alive! Blue Dream - I'm seeing mostly clear and cloudy trichomes, happy I'm not seeing any amber yet! Gold Leaf - Seeing a few amber trichomes, but these are more on the leaves than the bracts (so far). Thinking she may come down sooner than later.
Finished up week 9 yesterday, took pics today. I think we're getting close...I will probably give them around another week, give or take a few days. Things have been a little crazy in my personal life (kids were exposed to a COVID positive individual so they have been home with me all week...I'm a single dad and I have to take time off work to watch them!) The blue dream really bulked up this week. She's still pushing out pockets of white hairs. I'm now clipping single bracts off the plant and putting them under the microscope. SO much easier than trying to hold the plant and microscope by hand. Trichomes are a mix of clear, cloudy, and a very few amber - so I think maybe a little more time is warranted. Gold leaf is putting out just a few white hairs here and there. She doesn't seem to be bulking up anymore, and 9 weeks is at the later end of what ILGM indicates is the time to harvest. However, when I look at her under a microscope I'm not convinced she's ready either. I had originally planned on chopping this Thursday and inviting a friend over to help out (she's already had COVID and recovered so we're safe lol), but I'm now thinking I may wait and just play it by ear. I've been toying around with turning my mushroom Martha into a drying "tent" with a humidifier in there to at least try to get to 60 degrees F and 60% humidity, as my ambient air RH is closer to 45-50. I'd much prefer to dry in my grow tent as its roomier but I suspect these plants may come down at different times. I think my walk-in closet may be a close 2nd option as it's bigger, but I worry about getting the humidity and temp right. Or maybe I just dry them in the basement (cooler than the walk-in) and hope a humidifier running nearby will keep the humidity closer to 60%.
Week 10 is in the bag. I'm seeing a lot more fall colors in both plants - oranges and reds mostly with a little purple tint. Nothing to make the buds look purple or anything, but definitely noticeable on the fan leaves and some sugar leaves. This last week I figured they would both be close to done, but the BD is pushing out a good amount of new pistils so I figure she's going to go for a little longer yet. Both plants continue to put on mass - they're looking more chunky and full. I've noticed the smell from the BD has mellowed and when I brush up against her now I definitely get more floral/fruity smells than before. I took sample nugs from both plants that have dried and are now curing (a sneaky sample smoke was underwhelming right after drying, but that's what I expected without any cure). Blue dream Gold Leaf I'm likely going to chop both this coming Sunday, regardless of whether they're 100% ready. Trichomes look mostly cloudy when I checked today, and I suspect that with as much fade as I'm seeing in both plants they'll be ready (though that's just a guess on my part). Here's to hoping!
Looking good sir Just about near the finish line. Glad things didn’t take a turn for the worse as I read about your obstacles early in flower. Dry / cure time
Yep, I am SO CLOSE, I can smell it. I'm also glad things didn't take a turn for the worse. I think honestly much of this is learning, with new lights and being new(ish) to organic soil growing. Still, I'm really pleased with what's coming along and think my next grow will even be better. Thanks for following, Nex420! As for dry/cure time, I'm gonna try to aim for a 6/6/6 dry (6 days, 60F, 60% humidity). We will see if I can achieve that. Cure will be in glass mason jars, opened once a day for ~5 mins or so, then after 1 week jars are opened once a week. Figure that'll go for about a month or so.
Sounds like a good plan, if you don’t have a hygrometer the little ones from Amazon are nice to have to get an idea of RH%
Well, the girls came down last night! I didn't remember to snap any pics before they were chopped, but they were definitely ready. I'm really excited to see how these turn out when dried and cured. The Gold Leaf didn't yield a ton (I'm betting between 2-3 oz total), while the Blue Dream was much chonkier and bigger than I anticipated. Here's a couple of pics of the branches set to dry on the frame I have for my lights (lights will be off during drying - this was just so I could see!). So these are gonna dry in my grow tent. I have a humidifier in there now, keeping the RH at around 60%. Temps are between 60 and 65F, so I'm planning on a 6 day dry. Then dry trim and into jars for curing! I also got a set of bubble hash bags and a washing machine so I should be putting out some bubble hash from these trimmings and what I have in jars from previous grows (larfy buds, trim). I'll be posting a few pics of dried and cured buds with smoke reports, and maybe some bubble hash pics, once I am able. But, then I plan on retiring this journal and starting another one that's less focused on this specific grow, and more of a place to post pics and my thoughts. In the meantime, I'm going to get a new mix of soil going for the next grow which is going to be composed of autos - trying to decide if I want to go all Mephisto Genetics in my first run (the seeds I have are dominant or heavy indica strains), or if I want to mix in any sativas from FastBuds...leaning toward just the MG indicas to avoid too much crowding. Then again, going all FastBuds for my next run could result in some serious crowding given it'd be all sativas! I'm also thinking of rejiggering my light setup - having each light on it's own cable so I can raise/lower for each plant. I'd ultimately like to add a few additional lights with more of a blue spectrum to balance things out and provide overall mover coverage. Maybe I'll have some leftover $ after Xmas this year? (hahahaha!)