Greatwolf's Hydro Auto Blueberry & Tangerine Dream Grand Experiment Journal — 2017

[greatwolf]

Another Standard Strain Technique Appears to Work With Autos

Nearly a week after doing a partial harvest (top 4 buds) of the Blueberry and I can state with reasonable confidence that autos appear to respond similar to standard strains, which opens up the possibility of extended harvest. Buds at the top of the plant have stretched about 1/2" in the past 6 days, an new whit pistils are forming, even near or at the top of these buds. This behavior is identical to what I saw decades ago with standard strains. This means more larger and fuller buds over a period of time. I have to monitor for hermes, because of stress. But if the harvesting is gradual enough, it can easily go on for months and generate a much greater yield than if it had all been harvested at once. We'll have to see over time how this works out. I'm hoping to take some off the Tangie late this week or early next week, perhaps experiment with a different drying/production technique or two.

Back to the darkside

 

[smokesbetter]

Re: Another Standard Strain Technique Appears to Work With Autos

The product looks great ! Wonder if the same is for outside as far as just letting it go for say another month after the budding ,,, but i was thinking a few fast harvest in staggers time over a 5 month season !?!? You have done a good jog and i think you !

 

[greatwolf]

Day 70 - Photos & 10 Week Recap

Several people have asked if I'm still growing these 2 plants in the aerogarden, so I wanted to take a photo to show that they are still in there:

But I am cheating by using an aero-voir (on the left), because I was having to add water up to 3 times a day. One gallon is a little too small for 2 plants, but with the reservoir it is effectively 2 gallons, the bare minimum for 2 autos. Realistically, 1.5 to 2.5 gallons per auto is ideal. Anything over 3 gallons is a waste and can slow initial plant growth.

Blueberry 70 Days

Tangerine Dream 70 Days

Blueberry New Top 70 Days

Tangerine Dream Top 70 Days

10 Weeks In - A Recap
So, What have I learned about growing autos so far? In many respects they behave similar to standard strain (photoperiod) plants. So let's review some things:

Why should I top or use LST? If I had height limitations it would make sense, but the twisted sister technique produces excellent branching without impacting time to flower.

Why should I defoliate? You shouldn't. Period. Leaf bondage (or leaf tucking) allows almost as much light to lower branches. And these leaves will produce energy for those branches. Leaving outer branches' leaves unbound allows them to grow nicely.

Is harvesting buds as they ripen worthwhile? I believe, if it fits the schedule, yes. The light(s) can be lowered and the lower and side buds have the ability to get bigger and fatter. If only a few are taken at a time, stress - and the chance of hermes - are reduced.

These are my opinions from one auto grow so far, but developed over many standard strain grows. These techniques will not fit everyone's needs, nor are they intended to. But they offer more options and more starting points for experimenting. It should help to dispel some assumptions and force us to rethink what we do. Go back up and look at the first photo here. These branches are spread out in 4'x4' tent, covering about 4'x2'. From a virtual 2 gallon grow tank. And nearly 7g harvested off the Blueberry in the last 3 weeks.

Cheers from the darkside

 

[greatwolf]

Partial Harvest for Daytime Caps

I cut the 2 top Tangerine Dream buds for making daytime caps:

I also cut 3 small Blueberry buds to even out the top for lowering the light:

Here are the Tangerine Dream after trimming:

And the trimmed Blueberry:

Cheers from the darkside

 

[Blazinjones]

Re: Partial Harvest for Daytime Caps

I cut the 2 top Tangerine Dream buds for making daytime caps:

I also cut 3 small Blueberry buds to even out the top for lowering the light:

Here are the Tangerine Dream after trimming:

And the trimmed Blueberry:

Cheers from the darkside

Nice bro those are some sweet ass lookn buds u got they look potent as HELL I can't wait till setup another 5 gal dwc bucket and that one i will try two autos in at once I figured since alot of people say 3gallon buckets of soil is a good final home for autos then a 5gal for 2 plants would technically get 2.5 each but im guessing it will end up roughly alil under 2 gallons each once u consider roots and pump space being takn up but yea u give me hope for my future auto grow setup i started off with 1 at first to see how I get for a yield i did a gorilla glue auto but I plan 2 try a tangiematic auto with c4 auto 2gether in a homemade 5gal dwc bucket.

 

[greatwolf]

Day 72 - Photos

Here are updated photos after yesterday's partial harvest.

Aerogarden Day 72

Blueberry Day 72

Tangerine Dream Day 72

Blueberry New Top Day 72

Tangerine Dream New Top Day 72

Cheers from the darkside

 

[greatwolf]

Day 73 - Daytime Caps

Today I made 33 daytime caps. [Actually, I made 47, but managed to crush 14 in assembly; some are salvageable, in fact, under the influence of one now, so if more rambling or run-on than usual blame that, I think.]

I'd cut these buds on Tuesday and let them hang for 1 day, then placed them in the dehydrator to completely dry them out for this experiment (making a more tasteless, stronger oil than the I used in the nighttime caps, which I'm currently taking 2 at night, about an hour apart). Using a can with a metal hash screen, that was frozen along with the dried buds and a quarter, I shook this over a mirror to produce kief. I repeated this 3 more times, refreezing each time (the last didn't produce much, which is why I stopped at that point).

Here are close-ups I tried to take of the kief:

I assumed that I only collected about half of active material, which is why I only used 2 oz. of MCT oil this time. [I added the leftover material to the trim from the buds I've been collecting and will use it for pain cream.] I processed it in the instant pot for 115 minutes, same as last week. But I only filtered it through the coffee filter since there was little material and the resulting oil was much lighter in color and nearly flavorless. [Success kickn!!! ]

The smooshed cap I had hadn't leaked yet, so I had that dose, plus some tastes off spoons, etc, and caught a slight buzz. Far more importantly, a 5 spasm was stopped (not masked, but stopped) within an hour. So success and success, so to speak. I'll try to add comparison photos of daytime/nighttime caps later, probably tomorrow. And on that note

Back to the darkside

 

[SweetSue]

Re: Greatwolf's Hydro Auto Blueberry & Tangerine Dream Grand Experiment Journal — 201

You got me smilin' like a butcher's dog greatwolf. Stopped a spasm! You weren't expecting that, were you?

I'm impressed sir. Mostly I'm relieved that yet another of us has found relief. It's my only goal here, to help others find ways to tweak their personal regimens to offer more relief. You're doing a mighty fine job.

Sleep well.

 

[greatwolf]

Day 74 - Photos

Aerogarden Day 74

Blueberry Day 74

Tangerine Dream Day 74

Blueberry Top Day 74

Tangerine Dream Top Day 74

Cheers from the darkside

 

[SweetSue]

Re: Greatwolf's Hydro Auto Blueberry & Tangerine Dream Grand Experiment Journal — 201

Beautiful! That shot of the Blueberry top is just lovely greatwolf. The Tangerine looks like she's blind you in the right light. Lol!

Has the darkside gained any brightness?

 

[greatwolf]

Re: Greatwolf's Hydro Auto Blueberry & Tangerine Dream Grand Experiment Journal — 201

Beautiful! That shot of the Blueberry top is just lovely greatwolf. The Tangerine looks like she's blind you in the right light. Lol!

Has the darkside gained any brightness?

Sue, both tops (actually all of them) are showing new pistils which does have me smiling.

As for the darkness, some days are betters are betters than others, but I'll never give up. I have to say that all of my experiments so far have given me hope that while for me this wouldn't be a cure, it might be enough pain management when properly adjusted so that I can work on my core, which is a key goal. Sleep is marginally better, so still much room for improvement. I need more experimentation there.

 

[smokesbetter]

Re: Greatwolf's Hydro Auto Blueberry & Tangerine Dream Grand Experiment Journal — 201

Looking really GOOD man , i am stoked you got some relief from the spasms and sleep is better i am sure . The kief freeze is new on me but i did just get here lol people round here just smoke the stuff . can't wait to see the caps you filled !

 

[greatwolf]

Re: Greatwolf's Hydro Auto Blueberry & Tangerine Dream Grand Experiment Journal — 201

Summary

[Yes, I am putting the Summary of the pain cream production at the top for a reason. I will also repost the entire content in Magnus' Thread and this Summary in the 2 Holy Grail Threads because I believe it is apropos. If it is inappropriate to do this, someone please tell me and I'll refrain in the future.]

I used some of this cream on the hyper-sensitive spot on my back and the Spot that Sue and others have described on the neck (only a little here). Within a short while I felt some relief from the pressure on that spot on the back (more than I get from the Daytime caps I am taking about every 6 hours). A short time later I felt a much stronger buzz, a definite high feeling. This was much more than from the Daytime cap and much more than I expected from a cream applied to my skin.

And all of this after my concern that perhaps I had over-decarbed. I had decarbed the material separately in pint jars for 110 minutes (Kickn told me afterwards the Nova uses 75 minutes with specific heat-up and cool-down time). Then infused (part of it twice) for 110 minutes. Then heated up in double boiler to melt beeswax into final result. There should be quite a bit of degradation, right? I know there had to be loss of terpenes and breakdown of some too. So what gives?

First, we need to throw out that chart that keeps popping up on this forum. This has been written about in several threads, that other studies contradict it, that other experience contradicts it, that anecdotal evidence contradicts it, but the chart keeps reappearing, as if it were the holy grail of knowledge. We know it isn't and we must get the word out. Oldbear's current experience just proves this point - that people are worrying about the wrong thing. Perhaps we should be increasing time and/or temperature drastically to convert more THCA and CBDA (or just add CBD in at the end, which I forgot to do in my Daytime caps).

We now have the ability, and a thread exploring, adding terpenes back in. While this may add to the cost, it may be cheaper to convert more THC/CBD to make a stronger medicine and add this component back in. This at least gives us another option to explore. Especially since we could custom tailor the profile this way.

Production

I divided the yellowing fan leaves I had collected (as well as any fan leaves from buds I harvested), dried, and crushed into 2 pint jars. Packed tight, it came to about the 6 fluid oz. line in each jar. In a third jar, I placed all of sugar trim from buds as well as the remains from the Tangerine Dream kief production and a small Blueberry bud. These jars were lightly closed and processed in the Instant Pot on Manual at High Pressure for 110 minutes to decarb. When done, I did manual pressure release, removed the jars, and allowed them to cool to room temperature (to allow any surviving terpenes to settle out in the jars).

To one jar of fan leaves, I added enough Grape Seed Oil (GSO) to barely cover all of the leaves. The other jar of fan leaves I did the same with Pumpkin Seed Oil (PSO). These jars were again lightly closed and processed in the Instant Pot on Manual at High Pressure for 110 minutes to infuse the oil. When done, I did manual pressure release, removed the jars, and allowed them to cool to room temperature (to allow any surviving terpenes to settle out in the jars).

Each jar was strained through a double layer of cheesecloth and then a coffee filter into labeled half-pint jars. Yield was about 5 oz. GSO and 4 oz. PSO.

I crushed the concentrated contents of the third pint jar and it would probably be about 2 fluid oz. I used an oral syringe to add about 20 ml PSO Base just made to this jar and lightly closed the lid. I then processed it in the Instant Pot on Manual at High Pressure for 110 minutes to infuse the oil. When done, I did manual pressure release, removed the jar, and allowed it to cool to room temperature (to allow any surviving terpenes to settle out in the jar).

I repeated the straining process above and got about 15ml. I added another 15ml of the PSO Base and 15ml of the GSO base to this. Placing this oil in a double boiler (bowl floating in pot of water), I added 5ml Shea Butter ad 15ml of Beeswax. Once the beeswax melted, I added 20 drops of Tree Tea essential oil and 25 drops of Peppermint essential oil. I used the oral syringe to fill 11 and 1/2 empty lip balm containers with a light olive green colored, potent balm.

Cheers from the dark side

 

[greatwolf]

Re: Greatwolf's Hydro Auto Blueberry & Tangerine Dream Grand Experiment Journal — 201

Looking really GOOD man , i am stoked you got some relief from the spasms and sleep is better i am sure . The kief freeze is new on me but i did just get here lol people round here just smoke the stuff . can't wait to see the caps you filled !

Sorry, I posted photos in another thread. Here they are (Kief on left):

 

[smokesbetter]

Re: Greatwolf's Hydro Auto Blueberry & Tangerine Dream Grand Experiment Journal — 201

The kief ones look better , the other looks like the shit they sell us here in NC!! The non believers ... I just printed your recipe Thank You !!

 

[greatwolf]

Day 77 - New Photos

Here's today's photos:

Aerogarden Day 77

Blueberry Day 77

Tangerine Dream Day 77

Blueberry Top Day 77

Tangerine Dream Top Day 77

Cheers from the darkside

 

[greatwolf]

Day 78 Partial Harvest for Daytime Caps

Since the Daytime caps I have (which seem to be working, more details later) will run out a week from Friday. I decided to cut some buds straight across so I could keep the light level. I'll actually make the caps from a mix of Blueberry and Tangerine Dream:

Blueberry Trimmed

Tangerine Dream Trimmed

Cheers from the darkside

 

[SweetSue]

Every time I get down onto the mat to meditate I think of you @greatwolf, and every day I wonder where you are.

You changed my life for the better, just knowing you. Today I had to get off that mat and leave you this loving message. Be well my friend. By as pain free as you can muster, but mostly, be well. You made a difference in our community. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Amadeus Forzin]

Hope all is well in your world.

Thanks for sharing this 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

You can use the Report feature found at the bottom left of every post and we'll move it for you right away.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.