DobeWan's First Grow! LA Confidential & 24K Gold - LED - 3x3 - Coco

[DobeWan]

So to be clear, you don't wash your buds, you don't hang to dry, you just skip it all, trim, in a bag, and in the fridge?

Yep! I put just the buds in, removed from the stems. And I laid the paper bag flat but closed it at the end, and filled it so that I had basically a layer of buds with none on top of one another. Seems to be what people are doing.

 

[DobeWan]

And then there were 2! The 24Ks' days are numbered - they'll likely come down next Friday. Then Chocolope moves in.

So I was way off - LA Confidential 1 came out to 74g wet, 21g trim. I thought she'd be bigger because of the bigger top buds, but LA2 had better growth down lower. Ah well, no big deal - but clearly I have no idea yet of how to guess at yield! The buds seem way danker than the LA2 buds though - full of resin the whole way through, whereas LA2 wasn't as sticky. Way stinkier. I think she'll be a stronger smoke.

Either way, I should end up with over an ounce of LA Confidential when all is said and done. Although my target was 2+ of the LA Confidential, I have other strong indica meds in my stash so I'm covered either way until LA2 / Kushy Kush get harvested in October.

My goal was to to push 3oz of the 24K Gold. Seems hard to imagine them getting there given my LA Confidential numbers, but I obviously suck at estimating so who knows? Either way, I know I have some great bud coming down again in a week!

 

[Old TimingMan]

I bet getting the 2 done is kind of a happy/sad time, happy its over but sad to have to end a 3 1/2 month affair with them!

One thing I have to say is that following along with your grow, CG's, Lady A's and all of the others on my list is that it has been a great learning experience that will help all of us in one way or the other down the road, many great tips, methods, and idea's have taken root! (pun intended!)

 

[DobeWan]

It was definitely bittersweet. This journey has been pretty special - feels like the foundation of something I'll be doing the rest of my life. But at the same time, I've made mistakes and I'm excited to see what correcting those will mean to next time. I'm super excited for what the round 2 flower has to offer. And I love that I'm running the same plant from round 1 in LA2 so that I can compare apples to apples.

I've learned to much, and so much I'd never have picked up without the journal. The experience has been fantastic. It's awesome to know there's a group here to pitch in and help any time I come across a problem or need advice. And I know it's a little different for you OTM based on your history but it really feels like there's a little group of us that came together for our grows at the same time and were in it together.

Really appreciate you going down this road with me OTM! Maybe some day before we both kick the bucket, cooler heads will prevail and we can share a toke and listen to some Pink Floyd!

 

[Asesino85]

Guessing yield numbers is tough. I still look at my plants and kind of shrug my shoulders. Density plays a large factor and you never really know until it's dry and weighed out. I used to weigh my plants wet. 15-20% is a good guess on what you will get dry but it's never been consistent enough for me.

The 2nd round to me is much more exciting. I am looking forward to seeing those results compared to these. Looks like some quality bud you got off there and that is all that really matters. I'd like to know what you've changed between grows and how you think it will improve the round 2 girls. What adjustments are you making this time? I always enjoy reading about what people learned and the improvements they are making and then watch them put it into action.

 

[DobeWan]

The 2nd round to me is much more exciting. I am looking forward to seeing those results compared to these. Looks like some quality bud you got off there and that is all that really matters. I'd like to know what you've changed between grows and how you think it will improve the round 2 girls. What adjustments are you making this time? I always enjoy reading about what people learned and the improvements they are making and then watch them put it into action.

That's a great question Ase - reflection is critical for improvement.

The biggest thing from start to now is settling into a feeding rhythm. In round 1 the first 2 weeks I fed every other day (in coco). I started daily feeding and ran too much water through for a while, getting 50% plus runoff. Then I fed just Flora Micro and Bloom, and no plain water days (which I do now). Around this time I realized I had introduced pH issues by not re-testing water I'd let sit. Then I added Potassium Silicate. Then Epsom Salts. Then H2O2. Epsom Salts and H2O2 got dropped and CalMag added very late in the game. I tried KoolBloom. I was all over the map. Problems were misdiagnosed (I attributed early deficiency signs to light burn incorrectly) and when I clued in, they had advanced. I never got the mix right and probably had lockout from very early on. Tinkering with the mix sent me further down the rabbit hole. It also meant I had nute burn even when feeding a fraction of the nutes I was supposed to be feeding. I had to cut the mix down to 50% and even 25% of the recommended for virtually the entire grow, and I still had nute burn recur from beginning to end.

I've kept it simple since on the advice of a few of the awesome folks here. I've kept the potassium silicate for now, but otherwise, it's Flora Micro and Bloom, and CalMag, and I'll add KoolBloom for a period of flower if all is well. I won't take Micro out of the mix during flower like I did last time unless I have N issues. I'm done my first week of flower and the proof is in the feeding and results. My plants have not shown any deficiency issues whatsoever. I just got a hint of claw in the last few days and bumped down the nute solution - from 100% to 90%. I've fed 100% from week 2 of veg. My Chocolope, which is still in veg at 62 days of veg, is still getting 100%. I've fed a 3 nights nutes, 1 night plain water solution the whole way through so far. I've put at least 2x as much nutrients through the plants to this point, and had none of the issues from round 1.

Some other important differences:

- I did an intermediary pot up to 1 gallon pots between the Solo cups and Smart Pots. Growth in there was fantastic, and I expect my root ball was better shaped going into the Smart Pots as a result, giving me more capacity to grow.

- My training in round 1 was all over the place. I did a poor job training the main stem of LA2 (learned a ton though) and didn't do the level of defoliation needed on LA1. In round 2, I focused on defoliation with 2 plants (applying what I learned about defoliation) and trimmed down from the top, causing the bottom growth to come up to the canopy without topping. On the other plant, I focused on training, and tried my hand at manifolding. After all of the training mistakes (broken and lost branches, for example) in round 1, I executed the manifolding almost perfectly (broke but saved a branch) in round 2.

- My light distance was all over the place. I let the plants remain at the same base height, making the canopies uneven. I kept the light too far away at times and got stretch. This time, I've kept it locked at 24" from the canopy and used buckets and tupperware to get everything even. The plants are tall, but not excessively stretchy, and better structured by far with better node spacing.

- I flipped too early in round 1. I let the plants get mature before flipping to flower this time. Waited for the asymmetrical branching to get going, and for the plants to get big and bushy. My hope is to limit stretch and maintain good node spacing.

- I have far more light. I got the plants into a larger tent with more light late in flower in round 1. They'll benefit from having been under the stronger lighting for the entirety of flower this time.

- I have my environment in far better shape, and stable. I kept adding new things throughout round 1 trying to get the environment right. After adding the new lighting I struggled for a while to get the right balance of heat and humidity and tinkered a lot with making it work. At this point, I get 22c in lights out, 26c at lights on, and piles of air flow. 65% RH in the veg tent, 55% in flower. A stable environment seems to make a world of difference.

Otherwise, the experience of having been through round 1 taught me a lot about training and defoliation that I apply constantly. It also taught me about things to look for to diagnose several common problems. I'm making little decisions every day when I inspect the plants and those are informed by experience this time. There's no better teacher.

 

[DobeWan]

Thinking about when to pull the 24K Gold. I'm at 62 days. I know Feral pulled his at 70 and got a heavy indica stone. I was hoping for a balanced stone so I'm considering going earlier. My trichomes are mostly cloudy, but I can spot more glassy ones than ambers. I'd say I'm 80-85% cloudy, 10-15% glassy, 0-5% amber. I have more amber hairs than white hairs. I'm thinking a few more days but not much more. I don't think it'll go beyond day 68, which is next Friday. Longest I found anyone go online was 74 days. Most people seem to pull at 9.5-10.5 weeks.

I can think of worse ways to spend next Friday night if that's what it comes down to!

 

[gtrmike470]

DobeWan's First Grow! LA Confidential & 24K Gold - LED - 3x3 - Coco

And that my friend is why we keep a journal. What a fantastic example of how much can be learned in a place like this. How much we can teach ourselves. The ultimate personalized reference manual with notes you'll look back on for ages. I have no doubt Dobe, that this next round is going to far surpass your expectations. And the learning has only just begun. Successful journal . Way to go man!

 

[Pennywise]

I agree, you're just getting started and doing well. Imagine where you'll be a year from now. 1 pound per tent is very doable.

 

[DobeWan]

Thanks Mike, really appreciate the kind words. I said from the beginning that if the journal helped someone else, then great, but what I had no doubt it would do is help me. I started out keeping a journal in Excel before I found 420mag and had planned to have notes I could reference. But that wouldn't have held a candle to what I have here. My musings, but then a bunch of feedback from people who know what they're doing, adjustments based on that feedback and based on what I see... for a beginner - now a novice! - a journal is the best thing short of having a mentor there with me to coach. I owe a lot to you guys for helping me get through this successfully!

 

[DobeWan]

I agree, you're just getting started and doing well. Imagine where you'll be a year from now. 1 pound per tent is very doable.

Thanks PW. That kind of output would be a dream but my nature is to strive to improve so hopefully I can get there.

You've given me so many tips that led me to some of the changes I talked about above. Appreciate ya, bro!

 

[Asesino85]

Thanks for sharing. Reflection is huge and maybe it will prevent someone from making the same mistakes. You had a lot of similar learning experiences that I had after my first grow. Experience is so valuable and you can read and look at pictures all you want but actually doing it makes a huge difference. I expect great things out of round 2 for you.

 

[VexGrows]

Very nice. Keep it up!

 

[DobeWan]

Thanks Ase!

And thanks Vex!

 

[DobeWan]

Low and slow update. The sweet spot is 40-45 degrees f, 45-50% humidity. I'm currently at 42 degrees, 55% RH. Not perfect, but probably close enough. I'll tinker a little more to see about bringing the humidity down further but I don't think it'd be a big deal if it stays where it is.

I scraped resin off of my scissors last night and put it into the chamber with a dose of Blueberry. I got super high. But the high didn't last long and was a bit more in my head than expected. I guess due to the lack of proper drying and curing? The resin was from LA1 so if nothing else it seems LA1 will have some potency.

 

[DobeWan]

Also forgot to add, my round 2 flowers have pistils! LA2 clone is probably a day ahead in maturity over KK, KK has the first hints whereas LA2 probably had those same hints Friday - I just missed when when I was busy harvesting!

I'll see if I can get some pics tonight.

 

[Old TimingMan]

Also forgot to add, my round 2 flowers have pistils! LA2 clone is probably a day ahead in maturity over KK, KK has the first hints whereas LA2 probably had those same hints Friday - I just missed when when I was busy harvesting!

I'll see if I can get some pics tonight.

And the cycle starts again with more confidence and knowledge under the belt!

 

[Lady G2HM]

I'm in for the ride, shhhmokin KKUSH myself. Passing it on to you. ..

 

[DobeWan]

And the cycle starts again with more confidence and knowledge under the belt!

You got that right OTM. Looking at my round 2 ladies and envisioning where I'll be in 2 months is exciting!

Growing is more addictive than consuming!

 

[DobeWan]

I'm in for the ride, shhhmokin KKUSH myself. Passing it on to you. ..

Can't wait til I can take a hit of Kushy myself - but I'll settle for good vibes for now.

Thanks for stopping by G2HM! Stop by any time you like! I might make a perpetual journal next weekend where Kushy and friends will take a starring role. If I do I'll post up the link in here.

Meant to ask you G2HM, given that you played - do you follow pro soccer at all? I follow the EPL.