Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

I started 12/12 Flowering Cycle on a Thursday 10-8-09.
Thursday, 11-26-09 will complete 7 weeks of Flowering.

Most Indica strains normally takes more than 8 and less than 9 weeks to Flower to maturity. Being my 8th grow with this Northern Lights strain, I expect to Flower two more weeks, to more than 8 weeks and less than 9 weeks.

And a side note,
I am going to naturally dry that fertilized bud that i just found and cut off, and smoke it this weekend! It will be my first taste sample!

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

I have several giants like this one, full and about 18 inches long. I am trying LIGHTS ON ande LIGHTS OFF to see how a pic looks the best here.

I have two very large FOX TAIL BUDS. FOX TAIL BUDS are deformalties, created by using extra Nitrogen in Flowering.

Here is one, 20 inches long! It is nothing but those side stems with flowers.

This FOX TAIL bud is 20 inches long and has 18 to 20 stems growing off the sides of it with flowers on it and it is the freakiest bud I have ever seen. It is so long and lanky and heavy, it leans against the wall and will not stand up on its on. It is near impossible to get a good pic of it, and this is all I could show you after several attempts to get a good pic of it. I can not get to it, to take a better pic.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

This is not a normal bud, but a very filled out FOX TAIL BUD.

This bud has FINGERS, or caylxes stacked on top of each other. This happens when a bud is becomig VERY MATURE and did not get fertilized with male pollen.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

I forgot to mention that FoxTail buds are the product of
a Sativa-Indica mix of strains.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

This is a discussion of HARVEST TIME of Indica, Hydroponically grown indoors. Determining Sativa Harvest Time is much different.

WHEN DO I HARVEST?
From experience of growing the same two Indica strains many times, I know more than 8 weeks and a day less than 9 weeks of Flowering will be a great time to harvest my Indica as well as most other Indicas. I start counting Flowering Time the day I change the Light Cycle to 12/12.
But what if I did not have any experience?

In the old days of growing outdoors, we harvested when the weather man told us the first frost was coming. What we were really doing is harvesting when the plant and buds became FULLY MATURE. But how do you determine that? How do you know the buds are RIPE AND FULLY MATURE? How do you actually determine the right time to harvest?

Some growers say go by the calendar and count the weeks of 12/12. That will work OK, but it is not an exact science. Some growers buy seeds and harvest by the suggested Flowering Time on the seed packet. That is a good
2nd rule of thumb.

And then there are those that harvest by the color of the so-called hairs, or pistils, or stigmas. For the first 7 or 8 weeks of the Flowering Cycle, we see white pistils. Then, just overnight it seems, we see a darkening of them, a reddening, or some say a browning of the hairs. They do change from white to red to a very dark near brownish-red color. Many growers harvest by waiting until the majority of the pistils on the upper growth of the plant turn about 75% red, and then they harvest. That will work too, although still not very scientific.

The most scientific logical practical time to harvest is determined by the trichome color.
Trichomes (the trichs) are what we used to call the "crystals" or "diamonds" or "sparkles" that we see on the trim leaves very near the buds. In Europe, they are called the resin glands.
Trichomes are very sticky, almost like fresh model airplane glue. They stand tall, looking like a phallic symbol. Some have large heads like a tall skinny mushroom, and some do not. Some appear like a golf ball sitting on a T.
They are easily viewed with a cheap magnifying glass.

Let me show you a few pics of trichs taken with a microscope.

Here you see some trichs on some swollen calyxes:

You can also see the pistils changing from white to red and reddish-brown.

(trich pics supplied by C5Rftw, a grower friend)

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

Other than the Trichome color and counting the weeks in 12/12, you should also determine harvest time by:

When the Calyxes are fat, swollen and plump, looking like they contain seeds.

When about 80% of the pistils have turned reddish brown.

And Very Important, when the new pistil development has come to a crawl suggesting the plant is at the end of its life cycle.

Why does the plant have trichomes?

Trichomes are on the plant's flowers to deter insects.

They are there to hold moisture in, to collect humidity, and to warm the plant from the cold.
(Suggestion: Chill the plant or grow-area to increase the trichomes)

Trichomes are there on the flowers and young trim leaves to prevent mold and fungus.

Trichomes are supposed to taste bad to animals, although most cats loves them.

Being sticky, the Trichomes catch the male pollen.

And best of all, Trichomes are where the THC is stored and concentrated.


This is the most popular trichome chart available for determining Harvest time.

You can easily tell by the chart, that you do not want to harvest while the trichs are still clear.

Trichomes begin CLEAR, then get CLOUDY or MILKY, then they get AMBER colored.

When the trichs are the color of male semen, a milky cloudy color, the buds will give a HEAD HIGH, similar to a HASH High.

When the trichs are the color of Heineken Light Beer, or what we jokingly call BUD LIGHT , the High will be a couch lock high, a sleepy high, or a numb high, the one most desired for medical reasons.

And when the trichs are half and half, the High is both half heady and half body high too.

I had to ask someone what the color amber looked like. The answer is its the colro of Bud Light!

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

So how do you look at the trichs up close?

I spoke to a grower today who uses a telescope turned upside down to look at them. Some growers use a large magnifying glass.

A good Magnifying glass works great.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

This is a jeweler's loupe, for looking at precious stones, and it works great for looking at trichs.

And this loupe is used to look at 35 mm film or photo slides.

The magnifying glasses and the loupes are excellent for looking at trichomes and pre-flowers, while still on the plant. The microscope is best used on a sample removed from the plant and taken to the kitchen table to look at.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

I bought this battery lighted microscope at Radio Shack three years ago, for $11.00. I think it is $13.00 now. I like it best.

And this one is easily found on the Internet for twice the price.

With the smaller microscope, it is easy to cut a sample of a trim leaf off, just snip the tip off. Then you take it to the kitchen table, holding it with tweezers, laying it on a white dinner plate to examine it. To learn how, seek the edge of the leaf. After you get the hang of it, and get some practice in focusing the microscope, it will get much easier to do.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

Growers discuss harvesting in parts. In other words, taking some of the bigger buds, or upper buds and waiting until later to harvest the smaller buds, allowing them to get larger.

I attempted a Partial Harvest two years ago, and I was not satisfied with the results.

I harvested the top third of 6 plants, leaving the lower 2/3s. I stayed on BLOOM nutes and maybe I should have switched back to VEG nutes, but I only wanted my popcorn buds and smaller buds to mature.
I harvested the top 1/3 larger colas on a Saturday and two weeks later, on a Saturday, NOTHING had changed. NOTHING. They stayed in SHOCK for two full weeks. They barely drank half as much as previously and ate nothing. I waited two more weeks and very few buds got any larger. None of the popcorn buds showed any increase in size. I could have spent that 4 weeks on a full new grow. I lost patience after 4 weeks and took them. I feel like it was a wasted 4 weeks.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

FLUSHING AT HARVEST?
MANICURING CLOSE?

I was reading my biggest grow book, getting ready for my harvest. It said there is a two sided arguement to trimming the buds close and not trimming close (manicuring) and the book discussed pros and cons over 4 pages.
Basically it said
Leaving some trim leaves also leaves trichomes, which help protect the bud from insects and fungus. But leaving leaves is where the bad taste of nutrients remain too. You also risk bud mold by leaving larger trim leaves and drying and curing takes longer too. Drying and curing is more risky with many leaves still on the buds.

Closely manicuring will leave tasier buds, or sweeter tasting buds, since nutes were storred in the leaves, especially if you do not flush for two weeks before the harvest. But close manicuring is less weight and those trim leaves do contain a high percent of THC if covered in trichomes. And Trimming Close gives better looking buds, and less drying and curing time too. Trimming close is less risky.


I trim very very close because I love to make hash, and I need the trim leaves to make hash. Maybe that is why they still taste so sweet without flushing.

There's two sides to everything I guess.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

Nitrogen in Flowering

I flowered for a few weeks on high phosperous Bloom Nutes only, and everyday, I came home and picked up 3 or 5 leaves from each plant, that had yellowed and fell off. All of them came from the lower 1/3 of the plant. I had a large shoe box and a half full of dried dead leaves from 9 plants, although two plants were seriously small runts. All growers will tell you that the large fan leaves naturally fall off in Flowering.

After a few weeks, I started adding a very fractional part of VEG nutes high in nitrogen to my Flowering Nutes. I started as an experiment on one of three reservoirs, and after 4 or 5 days, I add Nitrogen to the other two tanks. Since the 2nd day of adding the very slightest amount of Nitrogen, NOT ONE leaf yellowed and died off. I also saw extra growth on my buds too. The plants seemed healthier and happier and more green and lush, they had a bigger thirst or appetite for water too, and I will always add a very slight amount of extra Nitrogen to my Flowering Cycle in every grow I do in the future.

BUT to be 100% honest and tell you everything I have observed,

on the other side of the coin,

I am contemplating and thinking that it might be natural, or normal, or even beneficial for the lower third of the plant to lose those leaves so that LIGHT can penetrate deeper into the plant. My plants are so thick in leaves, well, I've never seen anything like it on my previous grows. A half inch from the bottom of each plant's stump or trunk are buds and leaves galore, thicker than I could imagine. The foilage is much much thicker than on any plant I have ever seen.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

Flushing?

Flushing is using straight water with no nutrients for a period of time, before harvesting. Most growers do it 48 hours to a week before harvesting.

In the book GROW GREAT Marijuana by Logan Edward, he says if you manicure the buds very closely, and remove every leaf, then there is no need to Flush, because the mineral-fertilizer-nutrient taste is not stored in the pistils, or calyxes or buds or flowers, but only in the leaves.


He says
Preharvest flushing puts the plant(s) under serious stress. The plant has to deal with nutrient deficiencies in a very important part of its cycle. Strong changes in the amount of dissolved substances in the root-zone stress the roots, possibly to the point of direct physical damage to them. Many immobile elements are no more available for further metabolic processes. We are loosing the fan leaves and damage will show likely on new growth as well.

The grower should react in an educated way to the plant needs. Excessive, deficient or unbalanced levels should be avoided regardless the nutrient source. Nutrient levels should be gradually adjusted to the lesser needs in later flowering. Stress factors should be limited as far as possible. If that is accomplished throughout the entire life cycle, there shouldn’t be any excessive nutrient compounds in the plants tissue. It doesn’t sound likely to the author that you can correct growing errors (significant lower mobile nutrient compound levels) with preharvest flushing.

Drying and curing (when done right) on the other hand have proved (In many studies) to have a major impact on taste and flavour, by breaking down chlorophylls and converting starches into sugars. Most attributes blamed on unflushed buds may be the result of unbalanced nutrition and/or overfert and unproper drying/curing.

I stand by I did flush my first grow and not flush the next 6 grows and I can not tell any difference. I now do not ever flush and never will, I do and will continue to manicure very close and I never get or got any mineral-fertilizer taste in my buds.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

NO WATER 24 Hours before Harvest



Many books suggest a 24 hour DRY period of no water in the tank to speed up the drying process, BUT they also say it makes manicuring much more difficult. Manicuring green fresh leaves is much easier than manicuing dried wilted sticky leaves that cling to the buds. Try it both ways and you will NEVER manicure later after drying.

I 've been on Grow Forums for over 3 years and seen at least 5 or 6 threads, if not a dozen, from new first time growers that say they messed up big time NOT manicuring before Drying.
1, it makes manicuring much more difficult when you wait, and 2, not manicuring can cause bud mold and delay drying.

 

[420hps]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY


NO WATER 24-48 Hours before Harvest speed's up the drying process to 3-5days!

NO LIGHT 24-48 Hours before Harvest increases the high percent of THC & CBD(cannabidiol)& CBN (cannabinol) resin & trichomes!

 

[Blissed Out J]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

NO WATER 24 Hours before Harvest



Many books suggest a 24 hour DRY period of no water in the tank to speed up the drying process, BUT they also say it makes manicuring much more difficult. Manicuring green fresh leaves is much easier than manicuing dried wilted sticky leaves that cling to the buds. Try it both ways and you will NEVER manicure later after drying.

I 've been on Grow Forums for over 3 years and seen at least 5 or 6 threads, if not a dozen, from new first time growers that say they messed up big time NOT manicuring before Drying.
1, it makes manicuring much more difficult when you wait, and 2, not manicuring can cause bud mold and delay drying.

I've noticed with my recent harvest, that I prefer to cut off about 40% of leaves when fresh. Then I cut down plant let it hang for a few days and cut off another 40% of the leaves. Then I let it dry a few more days till remaining leaves are very crispy and I cut off those remaining leaves (I find it easier and more precise to cut off the really crispy leaves) And then I jar the buds for curing.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

Let me repeat, if you use and follow the procedure of NO WATER 24 to 48 hours before harvest, it makes manicuring much more difficult. Manicuring green fresh leaves is much easier than manicuing dried wilted sticky leaves that cling to the buds. AND if you dried it long enough to have CRISPY leaves, you over dried it. Try it both ways and you will NEVER manicure later after drying AND you will always cut off all the leaves to start with at harvest time. .

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

Let me start with a Synopsis of what I will be doing here.

HARVESTING AND CURING

I start by finding two boxes, one to put the large fan leaves in, to make oil later, and one box for the trim leaves, the leaves that grow out of the buds with trichiomes on them. The trim leaves with trichomes are for making Hash later.

I bring branches to the kitchen table and trim (also called manicure) them, by cutting off the leaves that are growing out of the buds. I trim them very very closely for several reasons.
1, they dry faster.
2, if there is any clorophyll taste or chemical taste to be found, it will be in the leaves and not in the pistals, caylxes or flowers.
3, I am not trying to achieve the most WEIGHT or Quanity, I am trying to achieve QUALITY!
4, I can worry less about bud mold. If I leave large leaves on the buds, the leaves could possibly hold moisture in the buds and then mold on me.
5, Well manicured buds are more attractive to look at.

You will need very sharp scissors. Some growers wear rubber gloves, and after completing the trimming, they freeze the gloves, and the trichomes that stuck to the gloves will peel off in a thin sheet of plastic like HASH. YUM -YUM. You will also want to have a straight razor blade to scrape the scissor blades. What you scrape off you will want to smoke in a pipe, two hits will blow your mind.

After I trim them, I sort them by size. Very small popcorn buds and fluff buds with no significant stem on them, go onto box lids to dry.
Buds with stems get hung up, according to size, separating very large ones from the smaller ones. I want the least amount of stem left on them. They need to be in low humidity, in complete darkness or at least in very low light and not in direct light, they need to be in air that is well circulated and moving, but not blowing directly on them. The enemies of the THC and buds are strong light, heat, dampness, mold, and animals and insects.
I hang them to dry and be sure they do not touch each other to hold any moisture.
I do blow a circulating fan OVER them, but not on them. The sides of the boxes prevent the fan's air from blowing directly on them.

The popcorn buds and fluff buds that are laying on box lids, and not touching each other get stirred and turned over daily. They take at least 3 and no more than 4 days to dry. These are not what we call the nugs or nuggets, or very tight dense buds. They never had a stem.

My smaller buds, on skinny stems dry for more than 4 days and less than 6 days.
My larger buds dry for 6 or 7 or 8 days, depending on the thickness of the stem, the bud and the stem lenght.

You will read in many places to dry them until the stem will easily "snap" and be very dry. If you do that, the buds will need re-moistioning again later.
I dry mine the number of days I mentioned above and disregard the stem easily snapping. I have completed 8 grows total, and each grow taught me to not be as concerned with how dry the stem got, but how dry the bud got.

AFTER I dry them the prescribed time, I remove them from the boxes, and cut as much STEM off as I possibly can. I then put my nugs in air tight containers, I use large mouth mason glass jars, same as most other growers use. Every day for 30 days, I burp them, or open the jar, shake and stir it a couple seconds, smell it, and reseal it. IF it stinks, IF it smells funny, like moldy, IF the jar sweats, I dry the contents a complete day again. They have to be burped 30 days in a row. That 30 days in a jar is called CURING.



We DRY pot, so we can CURE it.
We CURE pot, to make it taste sweeter, smell sweeter, to avoid bud-mold, to make it more Smokable or burnable, to get the chemical and clorophyll taste out, and to increase the potency. A GOOD cure takes 4 weeks, and some conisours (mispelled) cure it up to 6 to 8 weeks.

The idea behind curing was learned from tobacco growers. Curing is a biological process of allowing the SUGARS and STARCHES to change into something MORE pleasant to the taste and smell. Normally the SUGARS and STARCHES taste HARSH and not so pleasant. To grow, Plants need SUGARS that convert into starches from Fertilizers and sunlight. Curing also removes alot of clorophyll or the clorophyll taste that is sort of a grassy leafy medicine chemical taste and leaves a sweet tastey pleasant taste.
Also, we cure pot to avoid MOLD that can come within 30 days AFTER Drying.

We cure pot in jars, in darkness, in a cool place. After being placed in the jar, we store them in a dark cool place, then we re-open the jar once a day, smell it, inspect it, let it breathe for a few seconds and then re-seal it. IF we smell an unpleasant "nose pinching" smell, or see white growth, we need to immedialtey remove it from
the jar and DRY it some more for a few more days.

When you first harvest the buds, save some moist large stems in the refrigarator, in a baggie. If you dry it too much, you can add a small piece of stem back, to remoisten it some.

I have CURED pot one week in jars, and tasted it, and then Cured it 4 weeks and tasted it. If you will try the same experiment, or ask any experienced grower, you'll learn (taste) the difference. It is much more potent, and much sweeter tasting, and smells much better too.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

This is the first cutting from my harvest.

I am taking cuttings from the closet, bringing them to the Harvest Table on a tray lined with Non-stick tin foil. I have two friends helping. I am harvesting from the five gallon bucket, two plants. A very large 48 inch tall plant and a runt that I should of tossed a long time ago.
The runt is not in these pics.

 

[Roseman]

Re: Roseman's Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

Indica-Sativa Blends are normally a darker green color.