Jon's New Pared Down Setup Soil Grow: 3 Photo & 1 Auto With New Dedicated Auto Rig

[Jon]

Looks like it will be good smoke to me! Does have some colors going on too. Nice!

NTH

There were two or three flarfly buds at the base of that stem that were so dried on the vine that I just pulled the three off and smoked them as one bong hit right off the plant. Never did that before. It was surprisingly smooth. I did not cough. I couldn't believe it. And I got enough to know a few things:

1. No seeds
2. Yes, it gets you high
3. Yes, it's relatively low THC as I knew it would be, maybe 18-20%
4. Yes, it is going to taste real good - the hit tasted more perfume-y and flower-y than anything else
5. It will dry very quickly since there's only bud there and it's already basically trimmed

It's going to be excellent what I call "maintenance weed." Like what you smoke that you enjoy smoking that won't put you down or get you crazy high, but feeds that pain jones and gets you through days when maybe you have nothing else to smoke or you want to go light until later cuz you have to edit a book or whatever. I usually like to have one strain of low THC around for that reason, and this will fit the bill nicely.

Real curious about the yield on the whole plant.

 

[Jon]

We Are Having Fun Now!!!!!
You Guys Will Get A Kick Out Of This
A Smoke Report That Should Not Exist, Lmao!!!!

The picture below shows you a trichome shot of a tester bong hit I just made out of a combination of the three day cured Sour Apple and the zero day cured Chunkadelic (dry enough to smoke flarfy bud) autoflowers just harvested or starting to be. This pile I just smoked was a 50/50 blend of the two strains. Good combination, even already. The flowery of the Chunky balanced well with the dank fruitiness of the Sour Apple. We are talking right off the vine and a three day cure, that's it, I shouldn't even be smoking it. But...no cough. Great taste. Smooth smoke. Already. Very happy. And it got me very high. The THC in the Sour Apple is way high (mid 20's easy) for an auto and easily overcame the THC limitations of the Chunkadelic. I have a head buzz that hit me immediately and it has moved down to about low shoulder level so far in about 15 minutes. Hopefully as it cures it'll get lower on the body buzz effect (it often does I've found) and I'll get relief to lower parts of my back. Yes, this really is targeted pain medicine for me. As it is for many of us. So all that said, I can taste that the Chunkadelic needs to be flushed. One will do it, it's close. I can taste Canna in there just the tiniest touch. It's an aftertaste thing, and it's way subtle. In my limited experience it's a flush away and then a few days more of fattening up from not having this little bit of taste I don't want. Glad I got "lucky" and had flarf that was immediately smokable, cuz otherwise I would not have flushed this plant at the end. I have been giving her only clean water feedings for a week now and hoped that'd cover it. Nope. Excellent learning experience.

I know I won't be flushing nutes out of the buds, and I know that is not what a flush does. But you can taste it when you don't flush the salts out of the soil. That's the taste I don't want that I hope will go away.

Can't wait for @Emilya to tell me how many incorrect assumptions I made in this post.

Anyway, here's some pretty trichomes. Enjoy.

 

[Jon]

I Took A Page From Someone's Book Today
*I Think.....*
A Couple Public Questions In Case Someone May Learn Something
Putting @Emilya on the spot - THANKS!!!!

Hi Girl. I need your expertise. I am putting it here cuz it's way relevant and I suspect the questions and answers may help someone who might possibly once in a while occasionally very infrequently check in here. Lol. Thanks in advance, it is greatly appreciated.

Two arenas: Back cutting buds and Nutritional supplementals as they apply to watering

1. Back Cutting. I am going to do this to several of my buds in the photo tent. Even the one I did poorly on the Sour Apple had impact, visibly, albeit small. If I do it properly this grow is going to go to the next level of yield and visual bliss. I read all the stuff in your journal again, and I get it entirely. The only thing I am wondering is when, and I mean very very specifically when. Today is Day 27 of flower. You did yours at the five weeks of flower mark, yes? That would be around what, day 35 or so? Is that when you would suggest I do these photos? Or is that when you assess and decide if you want to do it then? And - any chance when it's getting close you could help me out on this a bit in terms of selecting the buds to do it on? And does it make a difference that I have basically one sativa, one indica, and one 50/50 hybrid? Or is it just the age and size and development of the buds that determines it? Those are the first questions.

2. Nutritional Supplementing. I read your passage on the "half watering" to just the very outside roots and less than you normally water, so as to keep it to just those roots in the top half of the pot. I get that entirely. So this week got flushed on Sunday morning. 10 gallons each to the two FF plants of clean water at 6.3 per gallon. Then on Tuesday they were dry and I fed them week 8 of the FF chart as directed. Today they are only wet in the bottom of the pot. The next watering is a clean watering, but I thought it would be great to give them a HALF gallon today (instead of their usual gallon) of the same week 8 FF feed mix I gave them on Tuesday. I watered slowly as hell, and only on the VERY MOST edge of the entire pot. I mean S....L.....O.....W.....L......Y, so as to keep it up top better. Anyway, this way they will be completely dry on Saturday instead of Friday. So then I water them as usual with a gallon of clean water at 6.3 and we're well set up to begin Week 9 of FF chart by Monday or Tuesday. Perfect. This gives me two week 8 feedings, albeit one is just a half. But the leftovers they'll get on Saturday will be awesome. My question is, was this pretty much your concept and did I do it right? If not, what could I have or should I have done differently?

You're the (wo)MAN, Emilya. THANKS!!!!!

 

[Jon]

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to present.......

The brand new 420 Magazine logo!!! This is the t-shirt I won with the GJOM prize pack. As I am not as pretty, it is being modeled here by Molly, my grow room guard. She's much more psyched about it than it appears. I sent this picture to Renee, Teddy, and Rob, at moderator request for modeling the new t-shirt for placement somewhere, which would be cool and an honor for Molly.

VERY cool t-shirt. Thanks @420 Magazine!!!!

 

[Emilya Green]

I Took A Page From Someone's Book Today
*I Think.....*
A Couple Public Questions In Case Someone May Learn Something
Putting @Emilya on the spot - THANKS!!!!

Hi Girl. I need your expertise. I am putting it here cuz it's way relevant and I suspect the questions and answers may help someone who might possibly once in a while occasionally very infrequently check in here. Lol. Thanks in advance, it is greatly appreciated.

Two arenas: Back cutting buds and Nutritional supplementals as they apply to watering

1. Back Cutting. I am going to do this to several of my buds in the photo tent. Even the one I did poorly on the Sour Apple had impact, visibly, albeit small. If I do it properly this grow is going to go to the next level of yield and visual bliss. I read all the stuff in your journal again, and I get it entirely. The only thing I am wondering is when, and I mean very very specifically when. Today is Day 27 of flower. You did yours at the five weeks of flower mark, yes? That would be around what, day 35 or so? Is that when you would suggest I do these photos? Or is that when you assess and decide if you want to do it then? And - any chance when it's getting close you could help me out on this a bit in terms of selecting the buds to do it on? And does it make a difference that I have basically one sativa, one indica, and one 50/50 hybrid? Or is it just the age and size and development of the buds that determines it? Those are the first questions.

2. Nutritional Supplementing. I read your passage on the "half watering" to just the very outside roots and less than you normally water, so as to keep it to just those roots in the top half of the pot. I get that entirely. So this week got flushed on Sunday morning. 10 gallons each to the two FF plants of clean water at 6.3 per gallon. Then on Tuesday they were dry and I fed them week 8 of the FF chart as directed. Today they are only wet in the bottom of the pot. The next watering is a clean watering, but I thought it would be great to give them a HALF gallon today (instead of their usual gallon) of the same week 8 FF feed mix I gave them on Tuesday. I watered slowly as hell, and only on the VERY MOST edge of the entire pot. I mean S....L.....O.....W.....L......Y, so as to keep it up top better. Anyway, this way they will be completely dry on Saturday instead of Friday. So then I water them as usual with a gallon of clean water at 6.3 and we're well set up to begin Week 9 of FF chart by Monday or Tuesday. Perfect. This gives me two week 8 feedings, albeit one is just a half. But the leftovers they'll get on Saturday will be awesome. My question is, was this pretty much your concept and did I do it right? If not, what could I have or should I have done differently?

You're the (wo)MAN, Emilya. THANKS!!!!!

I am sorry Jon, but this evening I must give you an uncharacteristically short answer because at 4am I am starting a 3 day journey to put my brother in his final resting place. This evening has been a jumble of last minute things that must be done, to safeguard the dogs, fish and the plants. I will have to hurry an answer to you on this, for now, but tomorrow night and the next will offer me some more time to get online from our hotel room and I will do what I can.

I am certainly not an expert in backcutting, but as I understand it, it should be done right as the buds start taking on that conical look, and on an 8 week plant that happens right around day 35, at the start of the 5th week. I have seen longer running plants, where this happens a little bit later, maybe at day 42. It is more of a look thing than a number thing, if that makes sense.

I would call my inbetween watering more of a partial watering rather than a half watering. I think that by giving half of what is normally given you would have to be adding to the water table down below... and that is exactly what I am trying to avoid. I don't think that the watering that I last gave would have even been a 1/4 watering.

Next, your flush. The only purpose of the flush is to clear the salts and since that water is not being used to activate any nutes, since you are in fact removing any and all that happen to be there, there is no reason to pH adjust your flush water. The only reason we pH adjust our fluids is so that our synthetic nutes will be in the range where they break free of their EDTA salt bonds and become mobile within the soil. Since there are no nutes involved in this flush, there is no need to be in such a narrow pH range... as long as your flush water is not so base or acidic that it could harm the roots, and if it is between 9 to 4, you should be good.

The second part of your question about using left over nutes on a partial watering between major waterings perplexed me for a moment, because I couldn't remember a time that I had consider this. This is because I would never leave mixed nutrients to sit and be used again several days later. Nutrients are encapsulated into chelated bonds in the bottle for a reason... because without that protection they interact against each other. In your pH adjusted mix, this is exactly what had to happen, and when you try to re-use that fluid several days later it is not going to be what you think it is. I would not trust it. Plain pH adjusted water around the edges, or a new batch of nutes... but not what you just did... that can't be good. Now, I am not sure if it would be best to feed twice or water twice around those edges, but I tend to think that less would be more in this case, and given this choice I would go with the adjusted water on the special partial watering.

 

[Jon]

I am sorry Jon, but this evening I must give you an uncharacteristically short answer because at 4am I am starting a 3 day journey to put my brother in his final resting place. This evening has been a jumble of last minute things that must be done, to safeguard the dogs, fish and the plants. I will have to hurry an answer to you on this, for now, but tomorrow night and the next will offer me some more time to get online from our hotel room and I will do what I can.

I am certainly not an expert in backcutting, but as I understand it, it should be done right as the buds start taking on that conical look, and on an 8 week plant that happens right around day 35, at the start of the 5th week. I have seen longer running plants, where this happens a little bit later, maybe at day 42. It is more of a look thing than a number thing, if that makes sense.

I would call my inbetween watering more of a partial watering rather than a half watering. I think that by giving half of what is normally given you would have to be adding to the water table down below... and that is exactly what I am trying to avoid. I don't think that the watering that I last gave would have even been a 1/4 watering.

Next, your flush. The only purpose of the flush is to clear the salts and since that water is not being used to activate any nutes, since you are in fact removing any and all that happen to be there, there is no reason to pH adjust your flush water. The only reason we pH adjust our fluids is so that our synthetic nutes will be in the range where they break free of their EDTA salt bonds and become mobile within the soil. Since there are no nutes involved in this flush, there is no need to be in such a narrow pH range... as long as your flush water is not so base or acidic that it could harm the roots, and if it is between 9 to 4, you should be good.

The second part of your question about using left over nutes on a partial watering between major waterings perplexed me for a moment, because I couldn't remember a time that I had consider this. This is because I would never leave mixed nutrients to sit and be used again several days later. Nutrients are encapsulated into chelated bonds in the bottle for a reason... because without that protection they interact against each other. In your pH adjusted mix, this is exactly what had to happen, and when you try to re-use that fluid several days later it is not going to be what you think it is. I would not trust it. Plain pH adjusted water around the edges, or a new batch of nutes... but not what you just did... that can't be good. Now, I am not sure if it would be best to feed twice or water twice around those edges, but I tend to think that less would be more in this case, and given this choice I would go with the adjusted water on the special partial watering.

Don't be sorry. It wasn't expected to be answered even now. Thanks, I know you have a lot of stuff that's serious going on. Namaste. Anyway, all good on everything. I did not use nutes that were already mixed. A world does not exist where I would ever save one drop of mixed nutes for one day. I mixed a fresh half gallon batch for each, silly. Of course. So now that you know that, was it a terrible thing to do? Or I just used twice what I should have in terms of water volume.

Good luck with tomorrow, if that means anything. Sorry.

 

[Jon]

Friday Morning Bud Porn
Grow Day 98
Flower Day 28

Exactly four weeks into flower today. I'm pretty happy with the bud development at this point. They seem to be stacking hard, and getting bigger at a fantastic rate. The shape of the buds is pretty consistent too. You can see when you're live that the GTH buds appear a bit yellower than the others. You can also see, at least this is where I'm putting my money, that the Hulkberry is going to live up to it's name and have very large buds. I'm guessing it's the best yielder of the three. The tent is beginning to smell like there's three large plants in flower growing in it. In a month this whole garage is going to STINK despite my filter, I can tell already. I also expect the frost train to kick into overdrive now, between the age of the buds and lowering the light. Environment remains as consistent as always. Air flow is solid and all over the place. Defol done basically. I still don't have a single leaf on any plant with the slightest blemish. To be honest, I don't get that. Trust me, I ain't that good. The genetics in play here are obviously WAY solid. Those would be Royal Queen Seeds/Hulkberry, Rare Dankness/Ghost Train Haze, and Greenpoint Seeds/Slurricane. First time I tried Greenpoint and Rare Dankness (via weedseedexpress). I'm impressed so far.

Only other thing worthy of note is the temperatures at night and what we're doing with that. Right now, at night, I leave one of the two AC units on high cool, with the house door open and the garage door almost closed. I use the AC unit that is drawing from the garage door side, ie, outside cool air, not inside AC'ed house air as the other unit draws due to it's placement on the opposite (house) side of the tent. I am here at 6 am when the girls wake up, just to make sure my light didn't fall on the plants overnight. Lol. This morning at 6 am the temperature when they woke up was 64.5 degrees. It's cool. Not that cool, and not cool enough to generate real colors like I'm looking for. For that I believe you need to be in the upper 50s overnight. So at the start of the sixth week of budding, ie day 36, I will begin to engage both AC units at night. I already tested it. This is going to allow me to get as low as 56.8 degrees. If I use the lower setting on the second unit I come in at around 59 degrees. 56.8 is the lowest temperature I've been able to generate. As 55 degrees is where I draw the line, that's about perfect. I'll run it that way at night for the remainder of budding. I can use either setting depending on how cold it is overnight that night. AC units work extremely well for environmental control if you live somewhere like Texas or Florida or Southern California or Louisiana...or anywhere it's always hot. They are super easy to set up, and although they cost 200-300 bucks or so, it's a one time expense that'll last through a ton of grows. They allow for awesome temperature and humidity control. They work extremely well in terms of negating any heat issues your light may cause you. The only downside to them is that it's a bit costly to run two 5000 btu AC units 24/7 for two months or one for four or five. But to me that's a small price to pay for a supremely consistent environment start to finish. I believe a big part of the reason my plants in the tent look as they do is due to the consistency of the environment they have lived with since day one. I would have a hugely more difficult time maintaining that if I didn't use AC unites. I'm a huge advocate. Once you perfect your seal your life becomes way happier. Oh and btw, they actually work to cool down other things when you don't need them for a grow - your room for example. Heh. Just sayin'.

So here's some random bud pictures to get off on this morning.

1-2: Slurricane Buds
3-4: Hulkberry Buds
5: Ghost Train Haze Buds

 

[Jon]

Chunky the Never Ending Chunkadelic Auto
Day 99

This plant won't stop getting fatter and fatter. Every day there are tons of these white hair "fattening" growth sites popping up. I've included several tops and some interior growth shots to show that it is everywhere, on all the buds. These guys are super super dense. The yield is going to crush my auto record. Too bad it's not a high THC plant. Oh well. But they're still in final fattening mode. When this slows down, if it ever does, we'll start on the trichome checks. I did one a few days ago and they were all clear, hardly any milky, and zero amber. She's got days left yet, maybe a week or more. Definitely going to zoom past 100, first time I had an auto do that.

Here's a bunch of Chunky porn. Check out the volume of white haired growth popping everywhere. This has been happening for days now. There's some foxtail-y growth in a few spots too, but so far these have morphed into the buds themselves and not remained as foxtail growth.

- Towers of Power
- Top 1
- Top 2
- Top 3 Duo
- Top 4
- Lower Growth 1
- Lower Growth 2
- Lower Growth 3

 

[Rexer]

Looking great Jon!

Loved the Chunky porn "towers of power"

Seriously though, I'm really curious on what her cured weight will be.

 

[Jon]

Looking great Jon!

Loved the Chunky porn "towers of power"

Seriously though, I'm really curious on what her cured weight will be.

I am too!! Thanks!

 

[Jon]

Ladies and Gentlemen....
FINAL YIELD NUMBERS AND PICTURES
Sour Apple Autoflower
LED 20/4 Sohum Soil
Harvested Day 89

Last Sour Apple we let go, it made one gigantic cola, it looked amazing and smoked great, but only amounted to an ounce and an eighth total finished weight. I only weigh and count actual, real, solid, non-flarfy buds, the rest I smoke or do other things with. That one was so beautiful and it disappointed me greatly to get that crappy yield out of her.

A little different on this one. This weed still has to pick up odor and smooth out, but it's done sweating weight. It's gorgeous and dank and stinky and dense and awesome. Smoke report after a cure for a few weeks. But we can and did do our yield numbers and pics today, so here you go.

Final Yield: 65 grams, aka, call it 2 1/4 ounces
Yield Compared to Last Sour Apple: DOUBLE

It's a lot better, obviously. But still not enough. Not what I'd call lame for an auto, but nothing to brag about. I expect the outdoor one to crush this weight though. We'll know that one soon enough.

I am just pleased with the quality, taste, and smell, and the appearance. This weed has everything and gets you wasted. It also makes my back feel better. Now I can leave it be and put it away for a couple weeks.

Here's the haul, selected buds, a couple closeups, and a really close up. Enjoy.

 

[Jon]

Chunky the Never Ending Auto
Can Anyone Help Me Figure This Plant Out?
Day 100!

I just don't know what to make of this plant. It just keeps getting fatter and fatter with no signs of the white hair explosion slowing down. Her water consumption won't slow down. I give this plant a gallon of water every single day, no kidding. Every morning the pot is dry as a bone. It's insane. I know part of that is due to being outside with tons of air, but still....I simply have no reference point for an auto going 100 days, or stacking this hard for this long. She's starting to throw some colors, too. And getting frostier.

One thing's for sure - easiest trim job of all time. There's nothing left basically but buds growing. Guess they don't need leaves at all at this point, cuz this one has not slowed down for one second and you can see she has nothing but buds. Not that I don't wish I didn't burn them all off. Lol.

Anyway, here's 8 pictures of this plant. It's mostly buds and bud closeups. She's showing off. Bragging.

 

[Jon]

Sunday Phototown Update
Grow Day 100
Flower Day 30

7 pictures today, all taken with bud booster (130 watts of various reds) turned off to try for natural colors except the last picture with the booster turned back on. 100 days and 1 month exactly into flower today. I'm liking it so far. Everything seems to be going the way it's supposed to.

1-2: Slurricane Bud and Top - note how her leaves are beginning to turn purple
3-4: Hulkberry Bud and Top
5-6: Ghost Train Haze Bud and Top
7: A shot from the middle of the tent and overhead in an attempt to get one nice bud of each plant in the same picture. Slurricane in the 12 o'clock position, Hulkster to the lower right, Ghost Train to the lower left.

NOTE: !00 days into the grow. That's 2400 hours so far. Let's say your actual work time in that 2400 hours was 10%, ie, you actually labored in some fashion for 1/10th of time of the actual grow. That's 240 hours. I assure you I have, and likely most of us do, work this much on each and every grow. I probably do more than that just due to the wheelchair thing. But 240 hours of work as of today, to estimate.

That's a shi-load of work. And it's not nearly over. You're damn right I'm going to be downright fanatical about tending to my plants on every level. Garden Like A Boss (If I may quote). I take it seriously. Just WAY too much effort involved to make it worth my time to try and produce anything but the absolute best medicine I possibly can.

Just sayin.

 

[Jon]

Sorry To Keep Posting This Plant But....
Chunky the Never Ending Autoflower
Day 101

This damn plant simply will not stop. She just keeps building and building and building. If I hadn't used MSA all these towers would be on the ground. The buds are heavy and rock hard. They are now starting to toss a lot of purple into their color palette too, not sure that comes through in the pictures tonight. I checked the trichomes on these guys tonight, and they are not ready for sure. Mostly clear, not even 50% milky yet on most spots I checked. This plant has at least a week to go, maybe 10 days yet. We may hit 115 days on her. And I hate to project cuz I'm always wrong, but I won't be surprised if this turns out to be a quarter pound autoflower when it's all said and done. The black fan in the picture behind the towers in the one photo is a 12" fan if you guys want a reference point. Top to bottom that fan, with the housing, is 13" inches. The towers dwarf it. There's so much bud on this plant I can't believe it. It's going to outyield many photos I've grown in my earlier "career." Lol.

Check out the TONS of foxtailing (the good kind, the building kind, not the too much light kind, lol) and white hair explosion that is going on everywhere. They've been doing this for days and days. Every white hair explosion is another fattening up building block. They show no sign of slowing down although finally her water consumption is slowing. Today for the first day in (literally, no kidding) WEEKS I did not have to add a gallon of water to a dry pot.

Here's some tower shots including a shot with the fan for perspective.

 

[Jon]

Entire Plant Photograph of Chunky From Above
Whoa....
Day 102

 

[Jon]

Phototown
Grow Day 102
Flower Day 32
Slurricane Focus

I get tired of posting the same angles of the same plants just at a few days later in development. I like to at least try to change it up. So today I'll start a three day focus, one on each plant. Today's focus is on the Slurricane.

Slurricane. Greenpoint Seeds genetics. Indica mix of Dos-Si-Dos and Purple Punch. THC content potential 28-30%. Leaves turning reddish purple around the edges. Main stems are green, small stems are purplish-reddish. Grown in Sohum soil. One non-plain-water additive of bloom nutes as a boost. Trained as all the others. Canopy is 2.5 feet across. Undercarriage clean as a whistle. Stems are very strong. Buds stacking sweetly and this plant *may* be the biggest yielder, the buds all around the outside ring are all going to be apex colas. The frost train has pulled in as well, these guys are frosty pretty far down already. To my relatively inexperienced eyes, this plant is exactly where she should be at day 32 of flower. No complaints. Also not the slightest blemish anywhere, other than that I have one goddamn rogue bug in the tent somewhere who keeps eluding me. So periodically I find a leaf with some chomps taken out of it. But that's it. No fungus gnats or anything else pest oriented. And yes, she's beginning to stink. It's kind of hard to tell with three different strains all starting to stink at the same time, but I *think* she smells kind of sweet/perfume-y/flowery so far. My smeller is by far the worst though, which I've heard many of us say. When you're around it all the time, and when the room you smoke in is the same room as your grow room, your smeller accuracy goes to crap. At least mine does. Lol.

Anyway, on to the Slurricane porn, and a front and back shot of the tent overall just to show you where we're at.

1. All the girls, main doors view from the Hulkberry/Ghost Train Haze side of tent
2. All the girls, opposite view from the Slurricane side of tent
3. Slurricane overhead
4. Slurricane undercarriage
5-8: Slurricane Bud shots

 

[Jon]

Big Day for Phototown Starting Tonight...

Flower Time Estimates/Musings
Temperature Controls Changes
Light Level Change
Defoliation Information

So tonight at midnight begins day 33 of flower. We have three different strains here that are all three definitely going to finish and harvest at different times. I have one small advantage up my sleeve regarding the Slurricane. I got the seed from my grower buddy and old drummer Pat, in Pa, who traded me a Slurricane seed for a Jelly Rancher seed. He's growing the Slurricane too, also in soil, he uses Roots Organics, but it's roughly the same thing as the Sohum my girl is in. His lights are Bestva blurples vs. my super pro high end light, and I actually know how to use mine, so of course my plant will crush his, simple infrastructure will ensure that as well as obviously my training, which he did none of. But the only important comparison I am interested in is when will it be ready to harvest. There's no reason to think his experience on WHEN they're done will be any different than mine. It should be roughly the same amount of days. He started his 25 days ahead of mine and is now on Day 58. He says his plant is getting close, maybe one more week. He believes the Slurricane is a 65 day flower plant. Not sure about the power of his opinion as a grower, but I give him enough credit that if he gets 65, I'll get close to 65. I've smoked his weed forever, and he harvests with the same goal as I have regarding buzz, and thus harvest time. He grows pretty good weed considering his rookie infrastructure and how hands off he is.

So let's say it's 65 days on the Slurricane.

I'm 100% certain the Ghost Train Haze will be the last plant done. She's the only super sativa heavy plant. I can already see her buds are growing like sativa buds vs. the indica bud growth pattern the other two plants are exhibiting. She's a longer finisher for sure, and the literature supports that. I know sativas. She's 80 or 85 days and maybe even more is my semi-educated guess.

So let's call it 85 days on the Ghost Train Haze.

The Hulkberry appears to be the most hybrid, but indica leaning, of the bunch. It seems I got a nice dose of each parent. And she will be done before the Ghost for sure. She appears to be more of a 65-70 day plant to my eye, maybe a few days longer. Growing fat quickly. If there's going to be two plants that'll harvest at the same time, it'll be the Hulkster and the Slurricane. That would be sweet, but I think the Hulkberry will go longer than the Slurricane.

Let's say 75 days on Hulkberry.

I believe those estimates are *roughly* about right, we'll see. But if so, that'll be WAY sweet, as I will have one plant almost dried and in the next phase of my curing process as the next plant is harvesting, and once the Slurricane and Hulkberry are out, the Ghost Train can finish by herself in all that space and air and also dry in the tent.

It will be interesting to see how I do on these projections. Just curious. Always testing my skills against myself, lol.

So due to the age of the buds and the point in development, tonight we begin the cold temperatures overnight. I mean REALLY cold, as cold as I am capable of making it. The girls went to sleep at 6 pm. 9 pm or so is normally when the outside gets overnight level cold, and so that is when I have been turning one of the AC units off for the night. (During the day it takes both, at night I've been using just one. The overnight temperature upon exact 6 am wake up is almost always, to this point, 65ish degrees)

Starting tonight we are keeping both AC units on for the rest of the grow on high. That's going to give us as low of overnight temps as we dare go, but way enough to let these girls generate the color level I'm looking for. This technique worked very effectively on Sadie, the Jelly Rancher, who is the model for this entire methodology. She got so crazy purple I couldn't believe it. I posted one picture at the end of this of her to show her purple. I'll check it at 6 am tomorrow morning, but the overnight temperature should now come in at somewhere between 55 and 58 degrees. With Sadie the Jelly Rancher she lived her last month of budding at 58.3 overnight as average. That's about what I'm looking for. I expect it can go a bit lower since it's cooler outside now than when Sadie grew in the summer.

I promised you a fireworks show. This is one way to help make it happen.

I am also going to move the light down to about 10" tomorrow. That's going to put them at around 1300 par across the footprint. This will be their finishing light footprint, assuming they don't stack into higher numbers, lol. They have continued to pray like mad to the current light level which is around 1175ish, and any color you see on my buds is their actual colors, not light singe, so I suspect they can take the same 1300 par that the Jelly Rancher finished at. It sounds high, I know, but trust me it's fine. If I see the slightest sign of a negative response I simply pull it back up a bit.

We are defoliating slightly periodically, just to expose legit buds that are blocked in the upper canopy, and taking the overkill, mold inviting growth that's all smashed together in the lower canopy between the buds. The Slurricane you saw today, tomorrow will be another. They are all real bushy and dense underneath. My experience says that a bunch of leaves in your undercarriage all jammed together is a potential mold risk and a definite air block. It must be attended to regularly, just enough to ensure air flow and leaves not smashed in wet piles together. When you do it you find lots of tiny little leaves crushed into piles with one another that are almost more yellow than green. I don't want this, that is mold waiting to happen. So I take enough of those to get the air flow we need, but leave enough that'll now get air and light and turn green like the rest. It is especially necessary, the most by far, on the Ghost Train Haze, so I'll do that focus tomorrow morning and show a before/after defoliation thingie.

So there's a rare (these days) long post with hardly any payoff of photos at the end. Lol. This is when you find out who is really paying attention.

Here's one though. This is a Jelly Rancher bud upon harvesting, getting ready to be trimmed and hung. Note the level of purple I got from her. COLD does this. At least I have found.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Jon]

Phototown
Ghost Train Haze Defoliation and Buds Focus
Grow Day 103
Flower Day 33
How Cold Did It Get Last Night After Our Change?

Ghost Train Haze's turn in the defol barrel today, and she is today's focus on day 33 of flower. This is the sativa girl of the three and likely the longest finisher. Ghost OG x Neville's Wreck, bred by Rare Dankness. This is considered one of the strongest strains on earth, with one of the highest THC content you can grow. It has won many awards, and is a world famous strain I can't wait to try. @Virgin Ground grew some gorgeous examples of this strain recently, and I have leaned on VG a little for some info. (Thanks, VG!) I turned off the flower booster for the pics, so you're seeing her actual colors. The buds do indeed have a light yellow thing going on compared to the others. Also, on this plant, the upper sugar leaves all tend to go down like you see. She's becoming more frosty daily, and she has probably the most consistent buds across her canopy of any of the three plants. Amazing, stinky plant. So I defoliated her today, as she was a mess underneath. Not so much with flarfy stuff as just so many dense leaf spots that are inviting mold. I took care of it. I'm like @Rexer, in that I'm not that gentle (think I heard you say that a while ago, Rex). I get in there, pull buds to the side, pull bunches of tiny yellowish leaves in three or four leaf bunches from underneath, etc. The buds get touched for sure. And my fingers are so goddamn sticky I won't be able to play my bass for a week! Lol! But now she has much sweeter air flow through the plant, which was the entire point. Before and after pics included.

Last night we started engaging both AC units to generate colder temps overnight. Today at 6 am wakeup the girls were sitting at 59.6 degrees. Not bad, it was a bit warm out last night. I want a few degrees colder, lol. But a significant change from the 65 or so it has been to this point overnight. Enough to trigger the color response I hope.

Lowered the light to 10" above the canopy. The girls are getting 1300ish par across the footprint. They love it.

Also beginning to think about backcutting some buds and wondering if the time is getting close. Gotta get with @Emilya on that one. The buds are starting to take on that conical shape just a little.

So onto the Ghost Train Haze porn, and man is this plant gorgeous, I gotta admit. Also a front and back shot of all the girls as we did yesterday with the Slurricane focus. We'll start there.

1-2: Front and Back View of All Three Plants
3-4: Overhead Picture Before Defoliation/Overhead Picture After Defoliation of Ghost Train Haze
5-6: Bud Clusters From the Middle of the Plant
7: Single Bud Closeup
8: Single Bud Top

 

[Emilya Green]

Also beginning to think about backcutting some buds and wondering if the time is getting close. Gotta get with @Emilya on that one. The buds are starting to take on that conical shape just a little.

Soon... but maybe just a bit early yet

 

[Jon]

Soon... but maybe just a bit early yet

Wow, that was fast. Thanks. I thought that too.