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

[Groovy Bud]

@cajun, I'm not quite sure mate, thing is that overal I have around 15-20% of ambering trichs (transitioning from cloudy to amber, so they are not 100% amber)

Just a reminder that my Blue Dream is on day 72 of flowering (over 10 weeks of flowering). I'm thinking of letting it up for until I see some effective yellowing on the leaves. How long would that be, since it's been a week that she's been flushing? I'll probably wait 2-3 more days.

I'm thinking of keeping Super Lemon Haze up to around 80 days (11.5 weeks of flowering).

This is just a mere guide, since I'm not 100% sure of the trichome color due to the faulty microscope.

 

[CajunCelt]

You don't want 100% amber. Even 5% amber is alot for those 2 strains.
Those are sativas, so you want to pull them when mostly cloudy, very few of any amber trichs.
When you chop them, they will continue to turn amber for about a week.

 

[Groovy Bud]

I know that first part. Didn't know they'd continue to become amber after harvest!

Thanks again Cajun

 

[Groovy Bud]

Ok both Blue Dreams have been harvested, wet trimmed and hung to dry.

Put into cardboxes hanging, without touching each other. I had to fabric 3 cardboxes, holed up in back, sides and top so air could circulate inside the box, preventing humidity accumulation.
What worries me is that the cardboxes are a bit crouded with buds, and I'm always afraid of mold issues again. That nightmare is haunting me.

I'm running a dehumidifier inside the tent, pointing towards the cardboxes. The machine isn't very powerful, and I'm not getting perfect humidity values.

The harvest was a big pain in the ass, taking nearly 11 hours to get to plants down, trimmed and hung to dry. It sure has a proeminent learning curve, in which you become faster at trimming. Still, it takes forever.

Is there anything else I can do to prevent mold in the boxes?

Tomorrow I'll be chopping Super Lemon Haze on it's 75th flowering day. It sure looks ripe enough, and I want to be hanging all the buds on proper hangers ASAP, so I can lower the humidity on the tent even more (humidity drops has reservoirs and plants are removed) and carry on a safer drying without molding risks.

 

[CajunCelt]

I think you've done what you can bud.
Congrats on your 1st harvest!!!
Revenge complete!
How's the BD smell? You can tell her phenotype from the smell. Some are maple syrup, blue berries, Kush/earthy, skunky.

 

[jojo677]

Congrats on the harvest Groovy! Are you going to share any pictures? I understand if not, as I just want to go to sleep after a session of trimming. Now I understand why people lollipop and try to grow big colas - less trimming!

It sounds like you have a good plan to keep your chances of mold low. You'll just have to feel them daily and with all that airflow/dehumidifier/etc, they'll probably dry out quicker than you think!

 

[Groovy Bud]

Well jojo you are probably right.

Just after 26 hours they have shrunk big time! My humidity has been in between 42-53% with the dehumidifier.
I rather have quick drying rather than mold issues, although

It just amazed me how small the nugs are after some drying, when comparing to the post-harvest moment.

I'll be chopping Super Lemon Hazes today, and moving the buds from cardboxes to hangers, so I can distance the humdifier from the buds for slower drying.

Buying a drying cloth rack today to store all the popcorn as well.



I'm searching a good way to make hash from the trims and too small buds.

Should I take the iso-alcohol method over any drying/collecting the "dust" techniques?

@ Cajun, about the smell, I still have that hay'ish smell from post-harvest. We'll see how fast that smell goes.

 

[CajunCelt]

The terpenes (smells) will come back after a few days in the jars.
Hard to beat bubble hash. I make cannabutter & cannaoil out of the trim.

 

[Groovy Bud]

After reading more about drying. I'm trying to pump the humidity back up to close to 55%-60%

I think overnight, they dried too fast, and I don't want that, otherwise that hay smell will last forever on the bud. That was due to me over thinking about humidity and mold, and drying air too close to the cardboxes.

Turned off the dehumidifier. I'm going to monitor it better this time, to prevent fast drying. I hate that hay smell.

 

[jojo677]

Yeah, thef the buds should be around 60-65% RH before putting into jars, as the centers of the buds will still have some moisture. You also don't want to over-dry any of the bud otherwise it won't cure. The changing in smells really is interesting. They smell great when trimming, and within a few hours mine tend to smell kind of like tea leaves (I guess you could call it kinda like hay). Then after about a week in jars the terpenes really start to come back. You'll see!

You can probably just cut down on the dehumidifier or moving air and that should bump the humidity back up. It's a trial and error thing!

I use the trim to make bubble hash (I bought a 5 bag set on Aliexpress for like $35) and it is awesome! I thought I'd need the 5 gallon bags, but I was wrong - they are gigantic. If you're only growing a few plants, the 1 or 3 gallon bags are fine. If you don't want to spend on those, I'd say the cheapest option is cannabutter or cannaoil, like cajun said.

 

[Groovy Bud]

Super Lemon Hazes have been harvested and hung to dry.

I've been trialing with humidity and ventilation.
So far I've been cycling through 2 humidity ranges: 55-65% (without duhumifier) and 45-55% (with dehumifier)
I'm in between trying to prevent molding that is more risky at near 65%, and drying too fast when close to 45%.
I'm reluctant to turning off the ventilation as it was key to stop the molding spreading when I was flowering.

honestly what would happen if my ranges stayed 55-65% RH for some days before I lowered it?

I also think that as buds loose their initial excess moisture it becomes easier to control humidity ranges without needing the dehumifier.

Thumbs up jojo, again, for the help!

I'll be posting some harvest pics in a bit

 

[jojo677]

Isn't it sad watching them shrink so much!?!? You watch 75% of your harvest evaporate...

I think you'll be great in the 55-65% range, and I'd personally prefer it. Many people try to go for a slow 7 day cure time, but I know you're worried about mold. You'll be just fine the way you're doing it. And we're still waiting for those pics buddy!

 

[Groovy Bud]

Hey guys, I'm back with some updates. Sorry for the delay.

I have only had the chance to take pictures upon Super Lemon Haze harvest. Still, my phone fucking sucks and it only focuses when taking photos with flash. We all know that flash doesn't reveal the true bud color, but it gives you an idea of how much frosty is it.

I didn't take many shots as we were kinda in a hurry to sleep after that hardcore trimming fest.

@ Jojo, SOO TRUE! It hurt like hell. Upon the first 2 drying days of Blue Dream (on which I had a way too powerful fan working), I think I mistakenly speed-dried it a bit. It shrunk so fucking much on those 2 days that I was like... " I need to pop new beans tomorrow".

Without further due:

With Flash:

THE ONLY ONE WITHOUT FLASH THAT WASN'T 100% blury. So you can see it's color.

The Root Complex

The Stem Structure

Some Scissor-Hash that resulted from Super Lemon Haze crop.

Great times indeed guys, all thanks to your help! BUT, the journey is not yet over. Curing is known to be the expert's art, which I'm currently learning. It's all about playing around with/out both ventilation and dehumifier. It's tricky not to get over-dryed weed.

I'm sorry for not taking as many pictures as we'd like, but I was on hard-core working mode that night.

 

[Groovy Bud]

Tonight I've pulled one of my 8 drying rack levels, which had Blue Dream, and put into a jar to test the drying process. They had been hang drying for 8-9 days now.

The buds on that level were slightly crunchier than I'd like (crunch is mostly coming from the dried sugar leaves), stems were snapping (the ones coming directly from the buds) and still a tiny bit spongy on the middle. I think that level got bigger air movement due to the overpowered fan I initially had. I have never put the fan blowing directly into hanging buds, I had it pointing into a tent wall so wind would dissipate all around. Still, there are always areas that get a more intense air flow than others, and I recon that's what hapenned to this level. All the lower levels on the rack that have blue dream are feeling less crunchy and more spongy, so I kept them drying for some more time.

I have no tactile experience on how spongy and dry to the touch they must be in order to be moved to the curing jars.

So guys, I crave your help again. I need more criteria that can guide me through drying.
The ones I got so far:
1. Stems snapping instead of bending. (I only jarred the ones that did that) QUESTION: Upon harvest, I kept some of the bigger stems, so I could keep that coala shaped bud, and to slow down the drying process. Those are hard and fat, and will definitly take longer to snap, and they are only bending yet, but they do make cracking sounds. But when I check the stems that are coming directly from the buds, those do snap. So which ones do I take into consideration? For the popcorn bud, I've only checked their little bud stems, and they were snapping.

2. "sponginess" (when I squeeze them, they feel dense and you might feel some of the moisture at the core of the bud. Still on the outside of the bud, it must feel dry to touch)
3. Smoking properties such as having an even burn while smoking a joint.

I've searched all over for some decent small analog higrometers to drop on the jars but I haven't found any. There are some for reptilians terrariums, but they are oversized and expensive. Also found digital ones from China, but they take 1 month to get here.


Thanks in advance guys,

 

[Groovy Bud]

I think my crop might be getting a bit overly dry. I don't think I should be getting this much crunch when touching buds. In denser buds, I can feel a bit of moisture deep in the bud, but the outter part is dry and crunchy to the touch. Should I be jarring now?

 

[CareStaker]

It sounds like you can put some in jar...but maybe keep them only slightly more than half full, and keep the lids off, for a day or two. The jar becomes it's own little microclimate, and will have higher than ambient RH, so it slows down the drying, but still allows for water bleedoff.

I use the typical 2"x2" square LCD temp/RH thingy that just about everyone uses, and I put one in a half full single quart jar, to get a reading when I'm in doubt.

 

[Groovy Bud]

After 12 hours of experimenting with the first curing jar, keeping the lid close, the seemingly over-dried buds regained a bit of moisture and became less crispy on the outside. This sweating process is wierd and hard to control without a higrometer.

The jar is like 3/5 full, having some spacing between buds for air circulation. MOLD PANIK ALERT! :x

I'm opening and emptying the jar every 8-12hours and letting them buds "breathe" outside of the jar for like 10 minutes, before going back in.

You sure I should be letting the lid open Carestaker? I'm not sure they are as wet as you think. Thanks for your input.

 

[jojo677]

Wow Groovy, those are some HUGE buds! I guess I didn't know how big they were until I saw you holding one of the colas!

I got several RH meters from China, but had to wait several weeks to get them. You might check at a Cigar shop, as they probably have some hygrometers. Other than that, I'm not really sure what to tell you..

I also found it easier to cut the big colas into smaller buds before going into jars. By biggest buds are only about the size of 2 lighters side-by-side, but I'm not sure how others do it around here. It just made it easier to pack them, and I didn't have to worry about the centers of bigger colas being too moist.

I think you're on a good path with the stem snapping though. It sounds like you're going about it in a good way. I'd probably use the small stems attached to the buds for the snap-test, since the bigger stems probably won't give you as good of an indication since they stay moist longer.

Congrats and I'm looking forward to the dry weight!

 

[Groovy Bud]

I threw the rest of the Blue Dream into jars yesterday. It felt way too crunchy when I was jarring but today, they have regained some moisture, that came from the buds' cores, and it feels more spongy now, but they don't feel wet.

I'm burping the jars every 12 hours, would this be ok?

 

[jojo677]

I'm burping the jars every 12 hours, would this be ok?

Yep bud, that should be fine. I generally burp them every 12-24 hours for the first few weeks. Sometimes I have to leave the jars open for a few hours, depending on the ambient RH.