Jon's Second Grow, First Grow Journal, Soil Grow Autos & Photoperiod

[StoneOtter]

Hey Jon, my memory has a few shapes of trichomes are in the world. Yours look lovely!

 

[Jon]

Clear heads say a week maby two.
Ok they don't need total darkness for 36hrs. They just need away from direct L.E.D. Light. It degrades the trichomes over the 12 hr period.
Are you able to cover her in the tent for the last Light cycle. That will give you 36hr.
I have left some for over 48hr by the time I finish harvesting everyone.
Still was in great shape.
Bill

I just decided to try something else entirely. The one blurple really is shining directly on the Cinderellas. They really are getting more of that than full spectrum by a mile (see picture of how I angled the light - the idea was to really pump up the Cinderellas because I realized early on that they were the prize of the bunch). And the Pineapples in the middle that are way behind and have a long time yet are getting almost completely quantum board full spectrum as they are directly under it, and the Lemons on the other side, which are also not ready, are getting full spectrum from the blurple. So it's all good and I could leave it alone, but I can't help but tinker. You've heard of this "blue light" treatment at the end of budding to bring out terpenes and trichomes, right? Similar to the dark thing but different, you use the veg (blue) light on them for a couple days. So I switched the blurple to the blues. We'll see what happens. The Cinderellas are too far along to screw up now no matter what I do with that blurple above them, so I see zero risk and potential reward greater than zero, whatever that is. Should be cool. Check the picture.

 

[Jon]

Hey Jon, my memory has a few shapes of trichomes are in the world. Yours look lovely!

Thanks S.O., I was pretty happy when I saw the pictures. I can tell by looking at them that they're intensely coated, but seeing them under the scope is amazing. Great $40 buy. That means for this entire two tent grow I only got one fan that isn't worth shit for like $18, and one dehumidifier that works nominally for $30. Less; thank $50 in wasted equipment money spent. Not bad. Lmao.

 

[Bill284]

I just decided to try something else entirely. The one blurple really is shining directly on the Cinderellas. They really are getting more of that than full spectrum by a mile (see picture of how I angled the light - the idea was to really pump up the Cinderellas because I realized early on that they were the prize of the bunch). And the Pineapples in the middle that are way behind and have a long time yet are getting almost completely quantum board full spectrum as they are directly under it, and the Lemons on the other side, which are also not ready, are getting full spectrum from the blurple. So it's all good and I could leave it alone, but I can't help but tinker. You've heard of this "blue light" treatment at the end of budding to bring out terpenes and trichomes, right? Similar to the dark thing but different, you use the veg (blue) light on them for a couple days. So I switched the blurple to the blues. We'll see what happens. The Cinderellas are too far along to screw up now no matter what I do with that blurple above them, so I see zero risk and potential reward greater than zero, whatever that is. Should be cool. Check the picture.

As far as I know they use both especially at the end. But I could be wrong.
I leave both cycles on all the time. Veg and flower
Just curious do you use a meter on the lights. I have mine 12" away by the time they are almost finished. You probably have better quality lights so may be fine,just a thought.

 

[Jon]

As far as I know they use both especially at the end. But I could be wrong.
I leave both cycles on all the time. Veg and flower
Just curious do you use a meter on the lights. I have mine 12" away by the time they are almost finished. You probably have better quality lights so may be fine,just a thought.

Good thought man. Yes, you can and should use both veg and bloom on blurples, and I do and am mostly. But now in there the quantum board more than gives them all the full spectrum they need. So the blurples really aren't even necessary, I'm just going with the "more light = bigger buds" theory so I left them in. They've been on full spectrum the whole time except for a few hours of red light before you and I discussed that and I kept them on both veg and bloom. But just for the Cinderellas at the very end of their budding, who knows? They already are covered in amazing trichomes, and they're only days away from harvest, so what the hell. I'll try anything. As far as light, yes, I have a meter, I use the Korona app which is way accurate. But for me the plants tell me more than the meter. I moved the quantum board up three times already because the tall Pineapples leaves were getting yellowish, and the blurples are just pretty much a ton of supplemental light from the sides. The quantum board is 26" from the top of the tallest buds at 100% power and full everything. The blurples are around 18 or 20" away. They have those shitty 10 watt LEDs, and any closer than 16" you burn the plants, I learned from my first grow. Anyway, last grow for the damn blurples. The quantum board is more than enough by itself in the tent. I just have to treat the 5 x 5 as if it were a 4x4 and it's plenty, and that works for autos. I'm giving the blurples to a pal who is just starting and believe it or not they will UPGRADE his lights. I don't know how to process that. Lol.

 

[Bill284]

Good thought man. Yes, you can and should use both veg and bloom on blurples, and I do and am mostly. But now in there the quantum board more than gives them all the full spectrum they need. So the blurples really aren't even necessary, I'm just going with the "more light = bigger buds" theory so I left them in. They've been on full spectrum the whole time except for a few hours of red light before you and I discussed that and I kept them on both veg and bloom. But just for the Cinderellas at the very end of their budding, who knows? They already are covered in amazing trichomes, and they're only days away from harvest, so what the hell. I'll try anything. As far as light, yes, I have a meter, I use the Korona app which is way accurate. But for me the plants tell me more than the meter. I moved the quantum board up three times already because the tall Pineapples leaves were getting yellowish, and the blurples are just pretty much a ton of supplemental light from the sides. The quantum board is 26" from the top of the tallest buds at 100% power and full everything. The blurples are around 18 or 20" away. They have those shitty 10 watt LEDs, and any closer than 16" you burn the plants, I learned from my first grow. Anyway, last grow for the damn blurples. The quantum board is more than enough by itself in the tent. I just have to treat the 5 x 5 as if it were a 4x4 and it's plenty, and that works for autos. I'm giving the blurples to a pal who is just starting and believe it or not they will UPGRADE his lights. I don't know how to process that. Lol.

Thats what I thought. My lights are just s..t. I if just one of our wonderful light sponsors would keep their word to me id be telling you about how good my new lights were . Now I'm getting thick which I don't like. Obviously your dialed in, I just thought I'd mention distance.
Keep it up my friend I love your ladies.
Bill

 

[Jon]

Thats what I thought. My lights are just s..t. I if just one of our wonderful light sponsors would keep their word to me id be telling you about how good my new lights were . Now I'm getting thick which I don't like. Obviously your dialed in, I just thought I'd mention distance.
Keep it up my friend I love your ladies.
Bill

Thank you man! You know my heart is in the photo tent and the autos were kind of a blow off experiment, so no expectations and it's gonna be fun. They've already produced more than I thought they would.

 

[Michael Hunt]

As everyone else said, they’re likely just “young” trichomes that have yet to develop their head or broken them off one way or another.

There are a few different types of resin and non resin producing trichomes. Resin producing trichomes obviously have heads on them. The non headed ones are thought to have a more defensive role for the plants. Looking more like little hairs or spikes even under a microscope.

they look delicious man, nice work!

 

[Jon]

As everyone else said, they’re likely just “young” trichomes that have yet to develop their head or broken them off one way or another.

There are a few different types of resin and non resin producing trichomes. Resin producing trichomes obviously have heads on them. The non headed ones are thought to have a more defensive role for the plants. Looking more like little hairs or spikes even under a microscope.

they look delicious man, nice work!

Very interesting. Well I know they aren't from breaking the heads off cuz that pic was taken using the microscope on a spot on a bud I couldn't ever touch even by mistake. Thanks for the info. I wasn't the least bit worried about it, really just super curious more than anything else. Gracias!

 

[Michael Hunt]

Very interesting. Well I know they aren't from breaking the heads off cuz that pic was taken using the microscope on a spot on a bud I couldn't ever touch even by mistake. Thanks for the info. I wasn't the least bit worried about it, really just super curious more than anything else. Gracias!

Not a problem man. I crawled down a rabbit hole of trichome research a few weeks ago. Some really interesting stuff to read up on out there

 

[Jon]

So here's the results of the 36 hours of darkness.

Meh.

 

[Diatomacious]

So here's the results of the 36 hours of darkness.

Maybe they'll set bud a little faster.

My first thought was they look pretty good, a little extra yellow up top from lack of light but they look good. 12 hours should perk them back up.

 

[Jon]

Maybe they'll set bud a little faster.

My first thought was they look pretty good, a little extra yellow up top from lack of light but they look good. 12 hours should perk them back up.

Well, when I tucked growth last night before lights out I looked a lot more closely at what that 36 hours actually did, and I must say it had more impact than I thought. There are preflowers all over the place that did not exist before the dark period. That alone indicates acceleration of the process a little bit I believe. Also, last night at lights out was the first time they have had a 12 hour day and at 2 pm I will see the results of the first 12 hour day/12 hour night , ie, day one of flower and day one of the stretch. On my first grow with a similarly growing strain to these, the actual "stretch" of the stretch didn't begin until the morning of the second day, when I opened the tent and they had grown three inches overnight. So not sure I'll see anything today after just one 12/12 day. But we'll see. I do expect them to be less yellow however. Also today I am going to engage the flower booster on the light. Supposed to do it on day one after you flip. It pumps the wattage up from 550 to 680 and adds the appropriate spectrums, far reds, IR, and UV and such. But that's a biggish jump in wattage at the push of a button, so I am going raise the light. The manufacturer says 6" - 12" for flowering. I'm going to place the light at 16" to start as it seems this light has more output than the numbers on their par charts indicate. (LOL, how often does a light manufacturer UNDERestimate the output of their light? I know their numbers are true but the real life effect on the plants is what I mean). Anyway, that ought to have them ready to go for a week or so before reevaluating the light from canopy distance. I'm being extra careful about that since it's my first run with this light and it has a ton more power than anything I've used.

 

[Emilya Green]

I have found that this period of darkness at the flip cuts a good day and a half to two days off of the transition to bloom. Your results sound typical. I think you are also on target hoping that the additional light keeps them from stretching as badly.

 

[Jon]

I have found that this period of darkness at the flip cuts a good day and a half to two days off of the transition to bloom. Your results sound typical. I think you are also on target hoping that the additional light keeps them from stretching as badly.

Hey Emilya, thanks for commenting. Yeah whatever happened in that 36 hours would have taken the plants around 3 days to get to had I just flipped normally, so a day and a half or so sounds exactly right. I assume you would not engage in this practice if it had any negative effects on yield or quality or density or terpene/trichome development, correct? I guess I'm wondering if it was worth it to shave a day and a half off of transition time. I wasn't in a hurry. Is it perhaps possible that there's any danger of any negative effect on anything?

Nice to know I'm reasonably on target, thanks.

 

[Emilya Green]

I have never noticed any adverse effect to this, but it is rare that I even have a space where this can happen independent of my grow rooms, so I haven't done it very often. I also have to wonder if DLI comes into play here, and even though miniscule, if the amount of extra light that a plant gets by doing the normal flip without the dark period, makes some slight difference in plant development. Either way, the effect has to be minimal, and this in the end might just turn out to only be a great way to prove that longer nights induce flowering. It is sort of cool to see that we can have an effect on our plants by making these sorts of wild changes to their environment though, and I really don't think that it hurts a thing... the plants just keep chugging along, no matter what strange things we do to them.

 

[Diatomacious]

Is it perhaps possible that there's any danger of any negative effect on anything?

Think what happens to the plant when it's outside and has a week of overcast weather. Should be OK.

If you begin to see growth that is totally white (absence of chlorophyll) then you have let them stay dark for too long and they need immediate lighting. This typically takes 3 days or more to happen... strange things you learn when a hurricane hits and you lose power for a week.

 

[Jon]

Phototown Update
Grow Day 75, Flower Day 1

Nothing much to say here. This is how they look after their first 24 hours of 12/12 and right after I got done today's first tucking session. I can already see that tucking is something I have to do three or four times a day through the stretch. The stems seem to get woody on the ends pretty quickly so I don't want to wait. Really is like putting a puzzle together. interesting. The screen to my eyes looks to be filling up very quickly. And they haven't even begun to actually stretch yet! Anyway, no health issues, no environmental issues, no nute issues, no ph issues. All that for the moment, lol. I also moved the light to 18" to begin budding and engaged the flower booster, adding 130 watts of the appropriate spectrums to the already hugely bright light. So we'll start at 18" and come down as we see how the plants respond. Also engaged the Vortex fan for the first time today, which now blasts air at the underside of the canopy.

Other than that, enjoy your Monday night everyone.

Here's the state of play at 2:30 pm today in Phototown:

 

[Jon]

I have never noticed any adverse effect to this, but it is rare that I even have a space where this can happen independent of my grow rooms, so I haven't done it very often. I also have to wonder if DLI comes into play here, and even though miniscule, if the amount of extra light that a plant gets by doing the normal flip without the dark period, makes some slight difference in plant development. Either way, the effect has to be minimal, and this in the end might just turn out to only be a great way to prove that longer nights induce flowering. It is sort of cool to see that we can have an effect on our plants by making these sorts of wild changes to their environment though, and I really don't think that it hurts a thing... the plants just keep chugging along, no matter what strange things we do to them.

I've been considering this discussion. After only a few days of stretch and few days experience tucking, this much seems pretty obvious as it applies to the 36 hours of darkness thing: whether or not you do it should probably be dependent upon how close you are to filling your screen. I'm already noticing the acceleration. Yesterday I took a six hour extendo-nap, and when I woke up and checked the tent it had become pre-flower city on every plant. It was as if an entire node had grown out in six hours. I couldn't believe it. Anyway, I can see that the 36 hours accelerated the process by, as you suggested, about two days, and made the time between the flip and when the buds are set shorter. That means I have less time to finish filling the screen, cuz once the bud sites are set I'm done tucking, right? So there you go - a rookies assessment. In light of just three days knowledge on this, I purport that if I had to do it over I would not have done it this time, as I feel I have more holes to fill right now than I have time to fill them. Maybe. Maybe not. We will see, and that's part of the fun. But you see what I mean?

 

[Emilya Green]

I've been considering this discussion. After only a few days of stretch and few days experience tucking, this much seems pretty obvious as it applies to the 36 hours of darkness thing: whether or not you do it should probably be dependent upon how close you are to filling your screen. I'm already noticing the acceleration. Yesterday I took a six hour extendo-nap, and when I woke up and checked the tent it had become pre-flower city on every plant. It was as if an entire node had grown out in six hours. I couldn't believe it. Anyway, I can see that the 36 hours accelerated the process by, as you suggested, about two days, and made the time between the flip and when the buds are set shorter. That means I have less time to finish filling the screen, cuz once the bud sites are set I'm done tucking, right? So there you go - a rookies assessment. In light of just three days knowledge on this, I purport that if I had to do it over I would not have done it this time, as I feel I have more holes to fill right now than I have time to fill them. Maybe. Maybe not. We will see, and that's part of the fun. But you see what I mean?

lets see what the 2 weeks of stretch does to the plan