Hello and welcome to the end, everyone! I can't tell you how satisfying it is to type those words out. This morning and yesterday evening have been a painful study in patience that in the end I believe will pay heaps and bounds. Let's take it from the top!
After my previous update where I turned off the lights for a planned 48 hours, I got bored the next day (yesterday) and started reading through 420. I came across a lot of posts that agreed 36 hours is the sweet spot for leaving them in darkness. After gathering all the needed items I set forth in making the first cuts on the Alaskan Purple.
The AP is a funny one. For those that don't know, she began her life November 27, 2022. I had a lot of problems with her that many helpful members popped in to try and correct. I followed everything to a T, to no avail it seemed. No matter, about 30 days later I decided to start some Blueberries. Around that time the AP seemed to have gotten jealous of her tentmates, and kicked it into gear. She got into a 1 gallon pot and stayed there the rest of the time.
Cutting her down went off without a hitch. I commented in previous posts she seemed airy and that doesn't seem to be the case (at least, not as much as I thought). Due to her growing method (quadline), her age, and her small pot, she created 'no-light' zones below her canopy I didn't really catch. Because of this, I'd say around 1/4 of her buds were airy and ended up in the trim pile. I still got plenty of nice smokeable buds, with some being top shelf, and most being mids I'd estimate.
This is only one of the 3 total hangers I have for her. Plus a 1/2 gallon bag of popcorn/larf/trim. I haven't grown my own since 2019 so I really can't estimate what I think dry weight is going to be. I always had a goal of 4oz per plant, because my first and only grow was just over 4oz. But honestly, just making it to this point is good for me on this one.
Blueberries
I love these two plants. Even more so now that I've cut them down. It was truly fascinating seeing the differences in phenotypes between the two, and always wondering where they were going to go next. A true pleasure to grow I now see why it's a lot of people's favorites. During trim the smell was overpowering of fresh fruit with a seriously convincing blueberry smell. The resin built up over the trim scissors much faster than the AP. Everything was dense as a rock, all the way to the bottom of the plant. I couldn't believe it. Not a single bud from BB#1 or BB#2 went into the trim pile. Not one. From what I see, every bud on those plants is what I'd consider top shelf.
The difference in how the bud built on the two plants is night and day. BB#1 had much longer internodal spacing whereas BB#2 was short, squat, and highly compact. Then again BB#1 had a lot more purpling going on. I've kept them separate so I may see if there's a difference in smoke.
I'm just going to showcase BB#2, as all the hanger pics of BB#1 look like the same trimmed weed pics everyone else has. (Besides the purple. Keep an eye out for pics after the dry. I'm keeping BB#1 a bit secret until then...) But BB#2 on the other hand...
So, uh, yeah. I mean, what do you say to that? I for one have literally never seen buds that big with my own eyes (outside of internet or magazine pics). I've never seen my growing friends have that, I've never seen it at a dispensary. I mean shit, I'm typing this out and still don't believe how big those colas got. I mean I knew they'd be stacked, but the width on them is what really gets my mouth watering. Unbelievable.
15 total hangers in a 2.5' x 2.5' tent. I have my DIY smart grow system hooked up in there so we're maintaining 60% humidity at around 63*F, and we're going to shoot for a long slow dry.
And there it is. In all its glory!
@lootznbootz as far as bud washing was concerned, there isn't much to say. I had 3 buckets in a row, first bucket had 1 cup baking soda and 1 cup lemon juice from fresh lemons (filled with water). Took the whole bag of lemons. Second and third bucket was plain water. The kicker: after the wet trim (which I had not planned on doing...I was going to pull major fans and leave for a mid-way trim or dry trim but did a wet one anyway) literally almost all the cat hair was gone. I think I washed 6 or 8 stems out of ... idk, 30 stems or something? After the trim there just wasn't anything visible on them. And for the ones that did get it, I
followed this link for the technique. I just didn't use the peroxide and the 4th bucket.
I want to thank every single person that has come in here and offered advice during this process. I could not have done it without you! I'm going to have another post here soon where I'll take pics of the pots, root balls, etc. I am also planning on taking some good pics of the dried buds to showcase for 1, the absolute massive size. But also for 2, to showcase how purple BB#1 got. I don't believe her bud structure got it as much as her leaves, which is why I'm curious how she'll look once she's dried up. I also don't want to drown this post in pic after pic of green/semi-purple wet buds.
Thank you again for coming by. I estimate around 12 days +/- for the dry, and when it's done I'll have official weights. Then we'll cure, and after that I'll put together a smoke report and link it in here. Lastly: 3 new seeds have been dropped and have begun the germinating process. I'm going to hold off on starting a new journal until they pop. If and when they do I'll drop a link in here. I appreciate you dropping in!
