1st Grow: Grape Ape, 3x3 Tent, In Soil

[Trala]

They are some really beautiful pics

 

[MeezyKushOG]

to that!

Flushing isn’t a real thing, at least for the reasons adherents ah.. adhere to.
Rinsing chemical residues from inside your flowers somehow while they are alive by rinsing the roots with clear water - that just doesn’t happen. Some nutrients have mobility from some plant tissue structures to others, other nutrients don’t. No amount of rinsing the roots (beyond normal hydration) will affect this.
As you have noticed some very skilled gardeners have learned to rinse/flush, learned no doubt from an old school grower who showed them what to do.
I’m not here to cast aspersions on anyone’s beliefs or practices. If you were lucky enough to get well intended help you might have learned to flush. We’ve all learned a lot over the years.
Sometimes a flushing regime has given a noticeable result to taste/yield/resin, etc. Sometimes not. Why?
Because with holding nutrients from your feed water mimics a form of drought stress to the plant. No matter that water is there, because water-borne nutrients are not the plant will sometimes respond to this stress (it is a form of stress inducement) with an increase in resin production. Sometimes not. Other factors affect hydrostatic pressures and other things within the plant.
I say feed to finish. That’s my tax free two cents

 

[MeezyKushOG]

It's really hard to get a steady and focused picture of these little guys. But I'm seeing a few still clear and a good amount cloudy. Some of the sugar leaves have a few amber. I know I'm still early obviously but I'm interested to see how fast this process happens for future reference. I'm pretty well blown away by the trichome production, it's a winter wonderland down there. Hope fully I can get them through the last couple of weeks and cut at just the right time. I'm really looking forward to finding out how well we've done with potency, and of course flavor post cute. Getting closer every day!

 

[MeezyKushOG]

It's really hard to get a steady and focused picture of these little guys. But I'm seeing a few still clear and a good amount cloudy. Some of the sugar leaves have a few amber. I know I'm still early obviously but I'm interested to see how fast this process happens for future reference. I'm pretty well blown away by the trichome production, it's a winter wonderland down there. Hope fully I can get them through the last couple of weeks and cut at just the right time. I'm really looking forward to finding out how well we've done with potency, and of course flavor post cure. Getting closer every day!

 

[MeezyKushOG]

I believe I will cut these ladies down tomorrow afternoon. I went back and checked dates in my calendar and I'm actually starting week 9 of flower this week. So I feel like the timing is right. For whatever reason making this decision has been the hardest part of the grow so far. I can tell the buds are still swelling a bit, but I don't want to over ripen and sacrifice a ton of potency. Am I ready to go, or still to early?

A lot of the Amber trichomes seem to be on the sugar leaves, but everything is cloudy for the most part.

And a few of the garden.

 

[DonkeyDick]

Am I ready to go, or still to early?

Not too early at all. Another week may give them a bit more weight, but those ambers...
I agree with you. It’s time to read her her last rites.

 

[MeezyKushOG]

Not too early at all. Another week may give them a bit more weight, but those ambers...
I agree with you. It’s time to read her her last rites.

Awesome DD thanks for the feedback. I guess I'll just give them a drink tonight and see if I can pick up a little more weight through the weekend. That gives me some extra time to decide if I want to wet or dry trim, because I still have no idea. I'm not procrastinating I swear . I did pick up some cheap curtain rods for drying that I can hang in the top of the tent with a couple of s-hooks. It's a pretty clean, simple, and functional solution. I'll post some pics once I get them up and in. So I feel like drying and curing are pretty well planned out, now just to decide on the trim.

 

[DonkeyDick]

Those S hooks are great aren’t they?
You don’t even have to decide on the trim method. Do both. Wet trim a branch or two. Keep an eye on them they’ll be ready to jar a day or two sooner than the leafier branches. Then at the end you’ll be able to decide which you prefer. I like a wet trim. I found I had to be more accurate with a dry trim and found it slower and more of a nuisance personally. But I’m fridge drying in paper bags. It takes 10-14 days between the trim and starting the cure in the jars.
You’ll find ways that work for you. Having a plan is half the battle won

 

[MeezyKushOG]

Those S hooks are great aren’t they?
You don’t even have to decide on the trim method. Do both. Wet trim a branch or two. Keep an eye on them they’ll be ready to jar a day or two sooner than the leafier branches. Then at the end you’ll be able to decide which you prefer. I like a wet trim. I found I had to be more accurate with a dry trim and found it slower and more of a nuisance personally. But I’m fridge drying in paper bags. It takes 10-14 days between the trim and starting the cure in the jars.
You’ll find ways that work for you. Having a plan is half the battle won

That's good advice... I can learn a bit about both methods. I had also considered a staggered harvest to try and learn more first hand about trichome development and how the effects differ at different maturity levels. I may still do that with my next grow, I just decided to try and keep it simple on this first go round. No need to overcomplicate or try to learn everything all at once. It's really just more stuff I can screw up So when you wet trim do you then also cure your trimmings? I am hoping to do a dry sift hash with the trimmings and larf.

 

[DonkeyDick]

If I am keeping the trim I will dry and cure it as best I can.
I wash at harvest so trim has to be pretty good for me to want to keep it. It means two trims. A first pass for the junk, then wash and drip dry, then a close trim for collection. Then I snip all the flowers off into bags for the fridge. Trim I will air dry on racks and be less fussy. It goes either for rosin or infusions.

 

[Trala]

I believe I will cut these ladies down tomorrow afternoon. I went back and checked dates in my calendar and I'm actually starting week 9 of flower this week. So I feel like the timing is right. For whatever reason making this decision has been the hardest part of the grow so far. I can tell the buds are still swelling a bit, but I don't want to over ripen and sacrifice a ton of potency. Am I ready to go, or still to early?

A lot of the Amber trichomes seem to be on the sugar leaves, but everything is cloudy for the most part.

And a few of the garden.

Hooray you!

Well done! And that glitter, looks to me like you couldn’t get a more perfect harvest window.

 

[MeezyKushOG]

This girl is showing off now and I think I'm just too small of an audience on my own. I'm sure it's just the first grow romance, but she sure is purdy. I almost hate to cut her down. Almost

 

[MeezyKushOG]

Hooray you!

Well done! And that glitter, looks to me like you couldn’t get a more perfect harvest window.

Thanks for tagging along @Trala I sure do appreciate the support. Chopping them on Saturday!

 

[MeezyKushOG]

If I am keeping the trim I will dry and cure it as best I can.
I wash at harvest so trim has to be pretty good for me to want to keep it. It means two trims. A first pass for the junk, then wash and drip dry, then a close trim for collection. Then I snip all the flowers off into bags for the fridge. Trim I will air dry on racks and be less fussy. It goes either for rosin or infusions.

@DonkeyDick I hadn't really considered bud washing, but I did some reading up on it after your explanation and it's very interesting. I think I may give it a go. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[DonkeyDick]

This girl is showing off now and I think I'm just too small of an audience on my own.

@DonkeyDick I hadn't really considered bud washing, but I did some reading up on it after your explanation and it's very interesting. I think I may give it a go. Thanks for the inspiration!

Cool Meez. I use three buckets.
1. Citric acid 1%, ie. 100g in 10 litres.
2. Baking soda - half a cup in 10 litres.
3. Clean RO rinse water.

I use RO h2o for each bucket. I have read some folk mixing the soda and the acid in bucket 1 and having 2 rinse buckets.
To my mind that’s a bit mad. I mean, use two buckets for rinsing if you like. But mixing acid and soda they will neutralise each other. I’m not a chemist and can’t say if it works to mix them. It works for me not to.
Hope that helps.

 

[Trala]

This girl is showing off now and I think I'm just too small of an audience on my own. I'm sure it's just the first grow romance, but she sure is purdy. I almost hate to cut her down. Almost

She is just lovely.

Those colours she is throwing are just extraordinary

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Wow, Meezy, Lovely plants!

I am currently growing a Grape Ape and did a 420-wide search on the strain name. That's what led me here and I'm so glad it worked out that way.

I can only hope that my GA is half as lovely as the one in your post #52. Just beautiful!

Well done!

 

[Mike Wright]

Hope all is well in your world.

How did this grow turn out?

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