Groovy Bud's Revenge Grow Journal - Super Lemon Haze & Blue Dream DWC

[Groovy Bud]

I actually found myself yesterday thinking about this, and reached the idea you proposed Jojo! Thanks. Although I'm struggling wondering if card boxes can develop mold at such high humidity values while drying the buds. May I also ask why are some hung upside down while others go on the net?

@cajun, "flush 1 week out" means flush over the last flowering week (e.g. For a 10 week flowering strain, I flush during the 10th final week)?

dearest friends.

 

[jojo677]

If the buds have enough air supply to them, and aren't touching too many buds around them, you shouldn't have any mold issues. They just need a little fresh air and medium humidity. You can control how much air they get by how much you open the box too. A bag is just as easy too, and you can layer buds by using shredded paper, etc.

Oh and the reason some are hanging is that in previous grows, I had larger colas that I would hang and then put the little popcorn bud on the screen. It made for easy management, and the bigger buds have a better appearance when hung if they aren't super dense.

 

[Groovy Bud]

As we spoke last of mold, my luck has ran out and my whole crop is in danger.

Yesterday I noticed BUD ROT on two of my biggest coalas.

I immediately proceded to cut the affected zones, and a bit further down the coala, and thus I'm feeling very depressed.

My ventilation deficit might have led to accumulation of humidity in the bud and it started to smell funny. A bit like "cheese". At first I thought it might be Blue Dream original smelling. But then I differenciated the rot smell from the cheesy one. The rot smell is slightly sweet but also slightly cheesy.

SO my whole crop is in risk of becoming trash.

It hurt soo much removing 2 of my biggest coalas, preventing them from dissipating the disease to the others.
Still, far back in the room, near the extractor, I can't check on all of them for rot due to space limitations. Maybe that positioning near the extrator will prevent them from accumulating humidity.

I just hope that I removed the right parts and that my panicking moment didn't cause me to spread more of the disease.

I've put the huge fan I have blowing into one of the vents but standing outside the tent (I have no room for it inside and mini-clipping fans are out of stock everywhere - Summer) in order to check if I can prevent that humidity concentration inside the buds.

In the other hand, that fan technique is blowing a bit of air to the wrong direction and smells are getting harder to control.

I shall post pictures of the rotten buds in a bit.

It hurts soo much going this far and having past so many hard situations, for this to happen.

I'm starting to ready myself that the whole crop might get affected and there is little to nothing I can do about it now.

Anyways, good luck yourselves with your grow and remember my mistakes,

 

[CajunCelt]

Damn. I'm sorry to hear about the bud rot. Hopefully, the rest will be OK.

 

[Groovy Bud]

Should I harvest earlier than the usual? I mean, if it stays controlled (no more affected areas), I might get to the end of the 9th week. But if I push it to the 10th, I might have bigger risks of resurging the mold.

It's on the 62th day now. Before this hapenning I was planning on pushing the BlueDream till the end of this week, flushing it (9 weeks). And keeping the Super Lemon Haze 1 week plus (10 weeks of flower).

I'm kinda lost. Read around about: spraying solutions(Actinovate Fungicide not available in Europe); cutting the whole crop right away, lowering humidity (I pushed the exhaust fan harder on the setting, along with a blowing fan); get higher temps (fungus won't thrive over 80ºC); removing 5 inches below the affected area.

 

[Groovy Bud]

Tonight I proceeded to inspect more buds for signs of mold or rot.

I took down some more beautiful nugs, the best of them, as the fattest ones were where the most moisture was trapped, thus creating that typical "cotton wool" of fungae.

I kept switching sterile gloves everytime I handled a new coala, wether they turned to be infected or not. Also kept sterelising my scissors everytime I had to perform a cut.

I have new hopes for this, even if I cut a lot, the remaining healthy ones are worth busting my ass off.

Another note to self: get a dehumidifier working when flowering starts. On hot countries like mine, even if there isn't high humidity outside, high temperatures along with hydroponics create a lot of evaporation that can result into this.

F**, yesterday I was about to give it all up.
Today was a shitty day as well, but hopes and dedication are brightening my path.

Hoping for the best, for me and you guys.

 

[HunterHunt]

If you have ROT HARVEST NOWWWWWWW

 

[jojo677]

Sorry about the rot Groovy, that sucks! But you have to just keep learning from each grow. I don't know much about rot, but Hunter may be right..

 

[Groovy Bud]

Ok, the rot was sucessfuly controlled, and ended up chopping just some of my biggest coalas as I told you before.

It didn't spread, as I added more ventilation, and drastically reduced the humidity (it was way over the roof, and it caused the mold and rot consequently).

Both strains are being flushed now, but Blue Dream is almost ready (started the flush earlier). I'm flushing for 5 days on the Blue Dream and 7+ on Super Lemon Haze, just to see the differences.

About Harvesting, you guys got any special tips or "must-do's"? Still struggling to measure benefit/risk of wet trimming vs dry trimming.

So, just start by cutting the excess fan leaves, give a small haircut to the little sugar leaves (cutting of where they don't have trichomes), cut branches, and hold them upside-down drying on the dark? What would be the ideal room humidity levels for drying? (40%-55% Maybe?)

I also read that when curing the humidity on the jars should be 60-65%, but that has nothing to do with RH when drying upside-down right?

After 4-10 days of hanging, they go on curing jars right?

I'll be scrapping out the resin that builds on the scissors for some scissor hash, and I'll also save the trim products to experiment on that hash method Cajun has developed.

 

[CajunCelt]

Ok, the rot was sucessfuly controlled, and ended up chopping just some of my biggest coalas as I told you before.

It didn't spread, as I added more ventilation, and drastically reduced the humidity (it was way over the roof, and it caused the mold and rot consequently).

Both strains are being flushed now, but Blue Dream is almost ready (started the flush earlier). I'm flushing for 5 days on the Blue Dream and 7+ on Super Lemon Haze, just to see the differences.

About Harvesting, you guys got any special tips or "must-do's"? Still struggling to measure benefit/risk of wet trimming vs dry trimming.

So, just start by cutting the excess fan leaves, give a small haircut to the little sugar leaves (cutting of where they don't have trichomes), cut branches, and hold them upside-down drying on the dark? What would be the ideal room humidity levels for drying? (40%-55% Maybe?)

I also read that when curing the humidity on the jars should be 60-65%, but that has nothing to do with RH when drying upside-down right?

After 4-10 days of hanging, they go on curing jars right?

I'll be scrapping out the resin that builds on the scissors for some scissor hash, and I'll also save the trim products to experiment on that hash method Cajun has developed.

Did you acquire a loupe or microscope?
Personally, I would hold off if you haven't.

I hang my bud until the small stems break when bent & the big stems are a little pliable, but dry.
That's usually about 10 days in this climate.
I cure in jars for a month minimum after that.

With your humidity, might be 2 weeks before you cure.
You will get more bud rot for sure if you jar too early.

 

[jojo677]

Hey Groovy, I'm by no means an expert, but I'll share my little knowledge on trimming with you.

I start by picking as many of the big fan leaves off by hand (just pull them downward) and get the rest with scissors as close to the stem as I can. I used to do the "haircut" thing by trimming the sugar leaves (cutting the areas with no trichomes), but I don't see much use in it, unless you plan on smoking the trim. If you are making hash, that extra bit of leaf won't matter much.

I've tried trimming wet and dry (one time) and I'll tell you that I never want to trim dry again. All the leaves are just more difficult to cut. When they're wet, they are more rigid and sticking straight out. Some people say you will smear chlorophyll all over your buds, but I never see ANY. Try one bud for yourself and see what you think for yourself. If you do cut dry, leave one cola un-trimmed and do it dry, just to see the difference.

I then hang the bigger buds in a cardboard box and put the smaller buds on the bottom of the box, stirring occasionally. You'll find it's easier to trim smaller buds while they're not on the main branches.

If you have a way to measure humidity in the drying area, try to get it down to 65%ish RH, about when the stems start snapping. Then into jars for a few weeks to cure, opening daily to get the RH down to 60-65%. My last batch I jarred at 72% and two weeks later, they're still at about 70%. I should have let them get to 65%...

Sounds like you've pretty much got the method down, but I thought I'd share a bit from my experience. You're nearing the exciting part! You'll also get tired of trimming after about 10 minutes...

And as Cajun mentioned, you probably want to hold off until you have a way to inspect the trichomes, and harvest when you're happy with them. You can also go by when the plant just looks "ripe", but that takes a little more experience (more than I have)!

 

[Groovy Bud]

Jojo big reps for you for such input! It's worth gold.

@ Cajun, I didn't find any loupe, and ordering it online will take its time. Thing is that Blue Dream has already past its flowering period (it's 9 weeks of flowering, and they have already passed). I'm just flushing it for a bit more. It looks well riped.
Super Lemon Haze is being flushed until the end of its 10th week of flowering. It isn't looking as riped as Blue Dream yet, but it is getting there.

I suppose that strains aren't meant to be held from chopping much further than its recomended flowering time. And I already have done that with Blue Dream.


Also, what do you guys think about having an oscilatory fan running on the cardboxes ever since the beginning of the drying process? Ventilation was my saviour before, when the first rot/mold appeared. I don't want it to come back during drying.

 

[CajunCelt]

Truth be told, how do you know it's ripe my friend?
I've many pounds under my belt, but grow new strains each grow that I damn sure can't tell by just looking. Pistols turning colors & receding just doesn't cut it.
Also, you'll hit the Breeder's flowering time like never. Those times are for pro type set ups. Lots don't count preveg time before full veg lights & don't count the flip transition time.
That would possibly add 2 more weeks.

Just don't want to see you chop early. But, waiting too late with those 2 strains is no bueno either. You don't want sedative effects too much with those 2.

Post some close up picks of the buds.

 

[Groovy Bud]

I shall Cajun, thanks.

I still took into consideration that flowering transition period when speaking about flowering times. I'll take your expertise as a more valuable "currency" than what the breeders say on their seed marketing.

I found out that the local grow shop has some satisfatory variety of loupes and microscopes.

How much magnification would it be necessary to spot those trichs?

1. There's a microscope with regular light (there are 30x and 50x versions)
2. There's a microscope with Led Light (30x, 50x or 100x)
3. And there's a Iphone camera adaptator with 45x magnification.

They are all very affordable, (10-20 dollars).
Keep in mind that option 3 is not the correct answer, EVER! AHAH I hate Iphones, I hate smartphones, I hate phones all together. Thus, I own a Nokia.

 

[CajunCelt]

The 30 or 50, leaning towards 50, would be fine. You'll be able to see the color of the resin in the trichs pretty well.

 

[jojo677]

Yeah, I'd lean toward around a 50x as well. The iphone camera ones suck anyway! If you want to take pictures of them, eBay offers some fine choices for less than $20 USD. The "digital microscopes" work well, but hand loupes are just as good and easier to use!

 

[Groovy Bud]

I took some Blue Dream BUD & Trichomes Pictures.

I used a hand loupe + camera zoom. They're both shitty, and were used while hps lights on.

I'm yet to color correct these and try looking out for their true color. Anyways, here are some:

BLUE DREAM BUD PORN

TRICHOMES PRON

What do you guys think about its ripness?

Wish you all the best,

 

[jojo677]

Nice shots Groovy! They are looking very tasty. It's hard to see trichome color in that lighting, but I've come across several other ways to tell that they are ripening. I'm not saying these definite ways, but they make sense to me as far as a "ripe" fruit. Take them with a grain of salt!

1. The trichomes stalks will start to lean over or bend. If you watch them through flowering, they stick straight out, but as they mature they start to lean over. I can see yours are doing a lot of this! I think it was HunterNitro that mentioned this in my journal, but not 100% sure.

2. Most of the pistils will turn red/brown and start curling and receding in. When they are about 50% receded, the plant should be about ripe. It looks like you have quite a few white pistils left. Strains all differ in how they progress and many will have several waves of white/red pistils, but eventually reach a plateau. You can harvest a plant whenever you'd like, but if you harvest by pistil color, you're relying on the genetics and growing conditions to determine what kind of high you'll get, not the trichome color. If you want a stonier high, grow indicas - a head high, grow sativas.

Remember that trichomes will age a bit while the bud is drying and curing to leave you with more golden/amber trichomes than you started with. If they aren't ambering enough during curing, you can expose them to warmer temperatures and some light to speed up the process.

Here are some trichome shots from my last harvest, before and after curing. You can see how much they ambered in a week. Hope you don't mind the pictures!

Keep in mind that I'm no pro, so this is just some information I've scooped up from more experienced growers, that mostly makes sense to me. There's no definite guide in when to harvest, so I'm still trying to work through some of the logic people have!

 

[Groovy Bud]

I tested and bought a 50x LED Microscope. I took a brand new sealed item, to come home to check it had a crack on the inside lense. It gets really hard to focus on the trichs when the microscope keeps focusing on that crack. Oh and the LED on button flickers when pushed "normally". It only fixates de light if pushed hard.

As a result, I don't have many news on the trichome situation. I think I saw cloudy trichsmostly, and about 20-30% ambers ones on Blue Dream (but I also spotted some less cloudy ones).

Super Lemon Haze also has amber, but less than Blue Dream. It can stay some more days flushing while ripening.

I'll see what the grow shop says about the damaged item.

No luck at all

 

[CajunCelt]

If those truly have that much amber, pull them now.