First Time Grower - 400 Watt HPS-MH - Hybrid Hydroponics - Big Bang Auto Fem

[Spimp]

In my humble opnion, you have at least 2 more weeks to go. Maybe more.

The pistols will wither and draw back and the calyx's will swell up. Your pistols are still 95% white and I do not see any swelling yet. Pretty ladies, but not ready sir.

 

[KingJohnC]

Hey guys, what's happening ?


Growing Cannabis was one hell of a ride and I certainly will go on growing in an expanded manner.

I must admit I have learned quite a bit throughout the grow, I've read so much before deciding to grow and I thought I had sufficient knowledge to grow amazing plants, I mean I am pretty okay with the results but I now know I can grow better plants! Before this thread is closed and moved to finished journals I will post what you may consider 'the butter of an unfriendly cow' but the main reason of this post is to pose the question : They be ripe and ready?

Now here is a collection of photos:
Close Up's:

Plants:

Outlook:

Your plants calyxes have not started to swell and add the majority of the weight to your buds yet. You have several more weeks of flower still. I harvest my cannabis plants by trichome maturity. You need a 30x jewelers loupe to see the trichomes and judge when to harvest. Most people harvest from 5%-30% amber trichomes. Harvest at 5%-15% amber trichomes for a "head high" energetic effect and harvest at 30%-50% amber trichomes for a "body stone" sedative effect strain dependent.

Active Eye Loupe, 30X

 

[b.real]

looking good! I agree with spimp they definitely need a couple more weeks. I bet they smell great

 

[velomania]

Hey guys Thanks for the quick replies.

Drawn from his book Growing Elite Marijuana Ryan Riley explains that there is a certain window in which the harvest is right. As KingJohnC said I understood that one can alter the high of the flower by harvesting at different times. Well to be perfectly honest I am shooting for the highest yield possible, regardless of the high.

Also the fact that those are auto-flowering plants is kind of making me feel a bit stressed., I've been able to make them grow bigger and produce more by cutting their cycle to 14/10 in their flowering period opposed to the common 24/0 cycle for the auto-flowering plants.


Is a 30x magnifier enough?I actually already ordered a 100x off eBay for 7 eu. Thanks tho

 

[KingJohnC]

I own a Hydrofarm Active Eye 30X jewelers Loupe, Carson Optical MicroMax LED Microscope 60x-100x and a 25X-200X Magnifier USB Digital Microscope Video Camera that I use to take trichome photographs.

Active Eye Loupe, 30X

Here is a Gro1 1.3MP USB LED Digital Microscope 10x & 300x

Gro1 1.3MP USB LED Digital Microscope 10x & 300x - Perfect Gardens

 

[b.real]

24 hours of light is stressful for a plant which is why you notice better growth rates under 14/10. I would suggest 16/8 for even better growth rates.

 

[velomania]

Hey B ,
Although I absolutely agree but I would like to know why it is stressful really?I mean later on when I grow normal plants should I not be using a 24/0 light cycle in the vegetative phase? Thanks

24 hours of light is stressful for a plant which is why you notice better growth rates under 14/10. I would suggest 16/8 for even better growth rates.

 

[KingJohnC]

For vegetative growth I would use a 18/6 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness lighting schedule. I read a study where lighting schedule versus root length was tested and plants grown under a 16/8 lighting schedule grew the longest roots, 18/6 was not tested. I was made aware of a study where lighting schedule versus growth was tested and plants given at least 5.5 hours of darkness grew the most.

 

[b.real]

Hey B ,
Although I absolutely agree but I would like to know why it is stressful really?I mean later on when I grow normal plants should I not be using a 24/0 light cycle in the vegetative phase? Thanks

you shouldn't. plants release hormones during their dark period that are needed for proper growth.

 

[velomania]

Hey guys

Check out Space waffles

 

[ColliBudz]

Thank you for the information on the lighting. Good luck the rest of the grow.

 

[velomania]

Harvest !!

Hey hey, so first apologies are to be given for the long break I took from this lovely forum

Now:

• I've finished my first Cannabis grow ever, and yes it is magnificent!! Everyone should grow his own weed !
• I couldn't be anymore satisfied with the hydroponic usage.
• For now I'm gonna let the pictures tell the story but I will shortly write a summary in which I'll explain the grow process from an amateur's perspective and I'll also offer all the 'hacks' and 'shortcuts' and tricks I've learned throughout the process (those are as important as the big details.
• Honestly no amount of reading can give you the experience(s) you get from growing, IT IS AWESOME!! GO OUT THERE (or rather stay in your room) AND PLANT CANNABIS THEN SPREAD THE LOVE !!
• If you like what you see PLEASE make sure you stop at the end and try to answer my very humble questions.

Micro's taken almost 20 days before the harvest
*I didn't really continue to check the microscopic structure as my magnifier is x100 powered and it's very hard to clearly look at the flowers attached to a plant; hence I've used the half white/ half brown hair method, I know vulgar ~_~

Almost a 40g rot lost I lost almost all the king/queen buds
*King buds are the freakish long ones haha

Before the harvest
*Look at them luscious delicious super nutritious buds :3

The harvest

After the harvest
Tent 1

Tent 2

• Those are Devil Fruit clones, tell me what you think about the strain (from a grower's point of view)
• Should I get an LED for the second tent? I want to get the tent up and running asap but I am really still super confused whether I should get an LED or a second HPS. Is there any chance for sponsorship? In the sense that I am running two tents with different lights (Comparison, stats and advertisement).
• I yielded 180g from the four big girls, there's still 3 smaller ones to go (40~50g yield) and the rot costed me about 40g. So a 400W lamp yielded that much after about 5 months, is this good in terms of efficiency?

Many thanks everyone I will be starting a new journal very soon, make sure you visit there !

 

[KingJohnC]

Congratulations on your harvest!

270 grams/ 400 watts = 0.675 grams per watt

0.675 grams per watt is a good efficiency that can be improved still.

 

[B A R]

Congrats Velomania

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks for sharing your grow with us.

Please head over to the 420 Strain Reviews forum and post your smoke report there too.

I’m moving this to Completed Journals now.

Have you started a new grow you would like to share with us?

If so, please feel free to start a new journal here: Journals in Progress

In the future, whenever you complete a journal, please use the Report Post feature found at the bottom left of every post, so we can be alerted to move it for you.

Hope all is well in your world.

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine.

 

[b.real]

great job. I dealt with mold once and it was no fun. looks like it still turned out great