Kosmi's First Grow - $40 DIY Grow Box Experiment

How quickly does this "optimum" window of harvest close? I watered them yesterday because I thought I had at least 1 week to go, and I know you're supposed to let them dry out before chopping. I really don't know the optimal way to harvest, just cut it down and trim the leaves off? I know to dry and cure, but the actual harvest, and prep up to it.
 
Further examination reveals that I think I just saw damaged leaves since it was about midway up. Checked the rest of the plant and all over it looked like this. Just took this shot of one of the "frostier" leaves.

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An update on that clone I took forever ago: It didn't like the bubbler, and it started wilting towards the end. I used the "mason jar" method in a rich worm castings and top soil blend in a pot with no drainage at all, and after turning ghost white, it has started to get its green back, and its growing :)

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Kosmi said:
I really don't know the optimal way to harvest, just cut it down and trim the leaves off? I know to dry and cure, but the actual harvest, and prep up to it.
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At work, we chop down the plants, cut the branches into manageable pieces, and then remove any large fan leaves that don't have trichomes but keep the heavily trichomed leaves aka "sugar leaves". After that, we hang them up to dry for 3-7 days. The slower the drying, the more evenly the bud will dry out. Once the buds are sufficiently dry, we nip the buds off the branches and do a final trim. The extra sugar leaves and small bud pieces are kept and turned into hash or oil. Then the buds go into containers to cure.

Every grower will have their own tweaks to that process, but those are the basic steps. Several tips that will make things go smoother:
  • When cutting up the branches, try to leave a hook to hang the buds from -that is, unless you plan to dry them on a rack rather a line.
  • When drying, don't point circulation fans directly at the buds as it will cause uneven drying.
  • When curing, be sure to let the buds breathe a few times a day by opening the lid of the bud jar. This will allow proper curing and prevent mold from growing.

Hope that helps. Oh, and your buds are looking very nice. Congrats on a stellar (almost finished) first grow!
 
Thanks for the props! Been a pretty interesting grow, and I've learned a ton about how these plants grow, and what I can and can't get away with. I'm looking forward to doing the space bucket for one plant (ideally the clone if it makes it) and then redoing the cabinet too. I think it's a space better suited to one plant as well lol. I did some more trimming of the leaves (it was day 45) and I'll get some pics up tomorrow. It looks like it's gonna make a pretty good amount of bud.
 
So next Tuesday will be the end of the eighth week of flowering. Buds are starting to bulk up! Can't wait to see what I get off these plants and how it smokes

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Harvest day has arrived! They spent 3 weeks in veg from seed, then 10 weeks in flower, wet weight is 2.5oz, so if I hope to get around 3/4-1oz dry. Really anything more than 1/2oz and I'm ahead :D I'll update with a dry weight in a few days.

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Well, I sprouted two seeds that I ran across this last couple weeks. One was in a bag of REALLY good weed, and the other was just a random seed in a random bag. The clone is down to just a little tiny nub, but it's growing and has roots. When I chopped the plant that I did not have a clone from, it totally had a shoot with no flowers at all. So I'm gonna try regenerating it. Drop it back into veg, see if it starts growing. I'm fascinated by space buckets so I built one and I'm gonna do the regenerated plant in the bucket, and the seeds and clone in the foot locker, but first I'm gonna make some mods on it.

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Kosmi said:
Well, I sprouted two seeds that I ran across this last couple weeks. One was in a bag of REALLY good weed, and the other was just a random seed in a random bag.
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Bag seed? This is gonna be interesting. Are you starting a new journal?
 
Yeah, I know, I'm that guy who refuses to buy seeds for anything when you can just get them from whatever fruit you are buying. Won't go into too much detail but I've got at least 5 other exotic fruit plants growing that I've simply bought fruit at the grocery store, kept the seeds and then sprouted them.

I might start a journal for it, but it will probably be a little less updated than this one. Probably just mostly showing off the upgrades and he results. I've got 30 feet of LED strips coming that I'm going to line the walls of the bucket and foot locker to supplement the cfls and maybe increase the yield a bit.

Oh and the harvest is all dry, and I've just jar'd it for curing, but I weighed it all out as just a hair over an ounce dry :)
 
Kosmi said:
Yeah, I know, I'm that guy who refuses to buy seeds for anything when you can just get them from whatever fruit you are buying. Won't go into too much detail but I've got at least 5 other exotic fruit plants growing that I've simply bought fruit at the grocery store, kept the seeds and then sprouted them.

I might start a journal for it, but it will probably be a little less updated than this one. Probably just mostly showing off the upgrades and he results. I've got 30 feet of LED strips coming that I'm going to line the walls of the bucket and foot locker to supplement the cfls and maybe increase the yield a bit.

Oh and the harvest is all dry, and I've just jar'd it for curing, but I weighed it all out as just a hair over an ounce dry :)
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Congrats on making an ounce! Way more than I would've expected from the CFLs in that small space. Do you know the wattage of the rope lights?

No dogging on the bag seed, I just mean that bag seed can produce almost anything: male, female, hermie, sativa-dominant, indica-dominant, etc. That's what makes bag seed so exciting. Since your spaces are small and you probably don't want to waste much time and electricity growing what could be male plants, I suggest starting the seedlings under 12/12 light. They will grow much like autoflowers and you'll know the sex much sooner than if you vegged for a month. Some others on this forum are trying 11/13 light (11 on/ 13 off), which simulates tropical/equatorial light conditions. Since many sativa land races come from tropical regions, it makes sense.

Anyway, keep us updated on this thread if you start another journal, as it'll be easier for current followers to make the switch. Even if you just post updates and not questions, we will all be just as happy.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor! :goodjob:
 
Kosmi said:
Oh and they are 5w/ meter LEDs. I've got 10 meters at my disposal, cuttable every 3 inches.
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50-watts of extra light can't hurt. What did 30-meters of rope light set you back? I just ordered an extra 300w Mars Hydro LED ($68 on Ebay) that I'm gonna try to pack into my tiny tent. The more light the better I say.

And good luck with the FIMming. It'll produce interesting results, though I might argue that a good topping or two and some LST would do just as well.

Hope your seedlings are starting to take off. Any word on a new journal, yet?
 
No word on the journal yet, probably this week sometime. The strips were $2.14 with $4 shipping from China. Not sure why they were on a massive sale (bought on Amazon, usually $20). Bought two 5 meter strips. I fimmed them, and one seedling appears to now have 5 colas growing lol, the other one at least 4. It's only been 3 days since I pinched them
 
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