Ice Water Flush & Darkness Before Harvest

[CA215]

Hey Daraldo good story, a little more confident that this experiment with actually show some results. It is possible to document her after the first 48 hours, and if she looks to be doing well and could last a little longer, we can always leave her in there for an extra day or two. KJ, we will still keep this experiment running. The only thing that has changed is the harvest time and now also the sheit hermie, I don't think the hemie seed production should mess with the trich production enough to be seen with our human eye. Rascal is still being flushed every 2-3 and after dousing her with 3 flushes with molasses, 2 gallons each time. and 1 cold water flush with 4 gallons, she will receive her final cold water flush this morning right when light turn on. She will be left to dry out for the remaining week in the 4X4 with the others. If for some reason the banana amount is starting to pop up uncontrollably she will get pulled early and set in OG1969's 8X4 tent to finish out her 48 hours solitary confinement in the darkness. I will get some pictures of Rascal today along with some scopes

 

[CA215]

Yesterday, 5/3/13, I snapped some pictures of rascal with my phone, scopes afterwards are from today, 5/4/13, from minutes ago, more to document the hermie seeds... seeing very few amber but a lot more milky trichs showing up.

 

[JB42]

Looking good mate, how much longer left in dark time? You seeing anymore swelling since darkness?

What do you think on the whole hermi seed thing? Are they fem or are they fems with a hermi trait?

 

[CA215]

Rascal received last cold water flush yesterday and is currently still in the flower tent receiving 11 hours of 600W. Buds are putting on more weight daily with plenty of new pistils. She is starting to look locked up and weak due to no nutrients but is still going hard.. Going to see how much longer she will push, she will be placed in darkness within 1-4 days.. Trying to hold off for a few more ambers! Rascal was a clone that I purchased from a dispensary, one could only wonder. My tent has been cracked throughout the grow and I was never too on top of closing it all the time. I'm thinking some excess light bounced in during darkness, when I thought it would be no big deal... well it was. Learning from my mistakes

 

[KarlJay]

I got my rascal as a clone from a dispensary too. And truth be told, I wasn't Mr Perfect with the lights myself. I had a few small leaks from between the sheetrock and part of the ceiling got light when I used the bathroom, indirect, but still a bit sneaked in.

Would light really cause a plant to go hermie? I thought it was more a veg/flower issue, but I'm a noob.

 

[CA215]

I got my rascal as a clone from a dispensary too. And truth be told, I wasn't Mr Perfect with the lights myself. I had a few small leaks from between the sheetrock and part of the ceiling got light when I used the bathroom, indirect, but still a bit sneaked in.

Would light really cause a plant to go hermie? I thought it was more a veg/flower issue, but I'm a noob.

I knew it was a big issue but the light I have plugged into my ceiling dan is, like 8 watts? Figured it wouldn't do much at all.. Lights being turned on during lights off will make your cannabis stress, therefore showing signs of deficiencies, slow growth, and hermy.. This was my first grow and I do a lot of stuff in the tent, I'm also newbie. With that being said I really cannot pin point one issue and say that is what cause my plants to hermy... Some issues I can think of that could have cause my plants to hermy. One, stated above is the lights. Two, maybe I was a little too hard on defoliation during flowering and cause this. Three, bagseeds that I was growing in the tent possibly had male/hermie and passed them on. And Four, the clones I had received from the dispensary already had the hermy trait characteristic, #4 I doubt.. definitely #1 through 3.. Next grow all bases are going to be covered to avoid this headache

 

[KarlJay]

I knew it was a big issue but the light I have plugged into my ceiling dan is, like 8 watts? Figured it wouldn't do much at all.. Lights being turned on during lights off will make your cannabis stress, therefore showing signs of deficiencies, slow growth, and hermy.. This was my first grow and I do a lot of stuff in the tent, I'm also newbie. With that being said I really cannot pin point one issue and say that is what cause my plants to hermy... Some issues I can think of that could have cause my plants to hermy. One, stated above is the lights. Two, maybe I was a little too hard on defoliation during flowering and cause this. Three, bagseeds that I was growing in the tent possibly had male/hermie and passed them on. And Four, the clones I had received from the dispensary already had the hermy trait characteristic, #4 I doubt.. definitely #1 through 3.. Next grow all bases are going to be covered to avoid this headache

The important point is that you learn and maybe even have some fun

I started out with LST, and some heavy defoliation during the veg cycle of the 1st grow, but I haven't done any at all since then.

I figured the LST and defoliation were for yield and getting light to the lower parts of the plant. So I took the easy way out... I went with more plants and more lights.

When I started, someone told me he was running 30 plants and they were all under 18" when harvested. That way he wasn't as dependent on just a few plants. That sounded good to me.

 

[mississippi]

Goodmorning all I definately have better results with a 48 hour darkness period bedore harvest. Never tried the ice water and have some who say dip the roots in hottttt water. I can't bring myself to do it

 

[KarlJay]

That reminded me of a problem with me doing an ice water flush... I'm doing a selective harvest, so I wouldn't be able to any of these things.

 

[CA215]

Rascal OG was put into darkness on 5/5 and got her first check up today on 5/7. The room is running at 45% rH & 73-75f. I pulled her out for a matter of 1 maybe 2 minutes to check everything out. And without a doubt I can say, darkness before harvest is going to give you a lot more trichs regardless. I didn't even use a scope yet and can tell the plant is working overtime on packing on trichomes... With my eye they just look completely longer and fatter.. with further inspection in a little bit when I get some more time i'm hoping to see that the trichs multiplied, got bigger, and hopefully converted more to amber/yellow. But for now she feels quite heavy like she still has some water weight to shed so she will stay in darkness until I see fit to cut her. Above Daraldo stated he let one of his girls sit in solitary for 5 days! So we are going to push this until we cant any more! Photos to proceed later, possibly tomorrow, want to give her as much uninterrupted light possible, CA215

 

[CA215]

Snipped the smallest and lowest nug of them all to get a good feel for what all the other buds should look like.. just hope they all aren't as dog hair/fuzz paritcled as this one.. Might be making a buttload of kief&edibles I am seeing a decent amount of yellow/amber & cloudy throughout the trichs, but still quite a few clear, would really like more cloudy before chop so she will chillax for another couple days. As stated this was the smallest/low bug on the plant and could just be very clear due to that. I plan on tomorrow picking out a bigger more mature nug to snip off and bring out of the darkness for some more scopes. Here are some for 5/8, about 3 days darkness.

 

[TanR]

High CA215,

Been lurking and watching your updates. I can see in the photo's a little of the "dog hair/fuzz particles" you refer to and wonder if you've considered washing your buds before drying. I've been following Doc Bud and Curso (among others) in their high brix grows and they have begun incorporating a 3 step lemon juice, backing soda, plain water rinse/wash into their harvest and drying regimen. Curso is a chef by trade and once they began discussing a rinse/wash everyone kind of did a “I could have had a V8” forehead smack. We wash our vegetables and fruit, but almost no one washes their buds.

I’m not completely sure of the exact mix, but it involves a dipping the buds and lightly agitating them in a warm (bath water temp.) mild solution of lemon juice or citric acid for 20-30 seconds, followed by a longer (double the time) dip in soda water(baking soda/water) that is chilled to about 40 degrees cooler than the lemon/citric acid water, followed by a short dip in the plain water for a final rinse.

I am still 60 days or so from harvest, but am definitely going to incorporate.

Good luck and thanks for sharing your experiment with us.

 

[CA215]

I have not heard of this.. I have heard of, if your harvest has PM you can do a rinse with water and hydrogen peroxide which wil remove all mold spores from the buds and leave in the water. I really like the idea you are stating above, i'll have to do some more research on this topic. With multiple dogs/carpet, dust and dog hair is everywhere and is almost impossible to keep it out of my grow room, as my grow tent is in my room I sleep yes I sleep with my plants... Most all low nugs are pretty caked, with the top nugs still somewhat clean.. Thanks for that post TanR, I will begin my lurk for this godly info, i'm sure it will most def help me, reps to you brotha. I REALLY DONT WANNA SMOKE MY NUGS NOW THAT I HAVE A MICROSCOPE

 

[TanR]

"I REALLY DONT WANNA SMOKE MY NUGS NOW THAT I HAVE A MICROSCOPE" LOL

I can't deny that once I began thinking about it I litterally shuddered to consider all the crap I've ingested over the years stuck to buds. Indoor and outdoor grows... it kind of grossed me out! Both Doc Bud and Curso (that I've followed) swear that it not only improves the taste but also the color.

Really happy if I was some help. Good growing to you!

 

[CA215]

Couldn't find the info for cleaning buds their journals are lengthy I tired my hardest but the ganj got the best of me. Been smoking the rascal for about a week now. Jarred the girl up on 5-9 after a quick 3 day dry, due to temperature issues this process went a little too quick for my taste but, issues arise. Speaking of TASTE rascal OG kush is quite appetizing, very crisp lemony citrus on the way in, watch out this girl expands your lungs so be cautious, exhale is smooth gooey doobage, very earthy. It is missing that skunky after tone that I've tried before with this strain, hoping a few weeks curing will help them nuglets out.

For the , renamed "prolonged darkness experiment" due too actually leaving rascal in darkness for almost 5 days instead of 48 hours, in my opinion and for further grows, I will conclude that I do see significant "changes" in the trichomes.. I'm not sure exactly what is happening through the whole botany aspect but I saw the trichomes actually bulk up in length & width, with a few (not too significant) turning yellow/amber in color. I would really like to keep testing this experiment in my grows, on and off, too see what will actually give me my better meds.

For the ice water flush, I have a feeling this really didn't do much but shock my plants, in my opinion, I really didn't like this. Will stick to room temp from now on up all the way to my girls final flushes.

Some micros;

This will conclude this experiment. When I compare more results I will share on this thread

Thanks for stopping by, CA215

 

[Spimp]

 

[WildRosebud]

Haha I found this AWESOME thread on google a moment ago good info!

It is currently 39'f outside here so I put my short plant outside to harden off in the shade. I hope it shocks the hell out of her to put out some extra sticky

 

[CA215]

Haha I found this AWESOME thread on google a moment ago good info!

It is currently 39'f outside here so I put my short plant outside to harden off in the shade. I hope it shocks the hell out of her to put out some extra sticky

Noticed that too awhile ago, I researched "Darkness before harvest" and boom... Haha, wish I had better pictures now, looks like this thread could have a little potential . I am going to be attempting the darkness before harvest again here when my new set of indoor sativas are getting close to being done (we have months before this). Anticipating some great documentation come flower time.

Thanks for stopping in WRB, & for the likes dude.
Keep the water warm though, my girls didn't like the "Ice water flushes" HA. Would like to point that out again

Can't wait to see how that frigid air affects your gal

 

[GreenNation]

Look on amazon for a grow tent. I had mine in just a spare room but now with two tents i can go n my room! I have the window opened! I even have the green party light so when my.friends i trust come over all i gotta do.is drape down the plastic over the window and bam! Complete darkness till the green light is on! The tents are as cheap as $89 bux. I got two for $240 bux! And feel its the best Investment i made. Before i had built a 48'x48'x72' wood box! That costed 140 bux! The tent was way cheaper and better! Cheers!

 

[BudLova]