LJFM White Widow Grow

Yeah Mark, I was talking sog with many small plants which is why I'm interested in the autoflowers. However my box could easily be changed to use scrog with some bigger plants wrapped around. There are a lot of possibilities
 
LJFM said:
Haha, no problem chiefin, the more the merrier! They live up to their name for sure, lot's of white trichs popping up all over. It's a beautiful plant and I'll probably get more clones of it in the near future!
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Nice, glad to hear that i want a frosty plant. Got things to look forward to now. Well your grow seems to be kicking ass lookin forward to updates on yours man
 
Beggining of Week 7 Flowering

Howdy all been a while so I figured I'd update.

Not much new to report. Using my microscope I can see that most all of the trichs are at the cloudy stage right now. I will be watching her closely in the coming weeks for them to start turning amber. I recently helped my buddy (who gave me this plant) trim up a few of his plants which I'll post some pics of too.

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This is the thickest and longest bud. It's whole branch is covered in buds
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I'm really excited for her to finish, I think I'm going to get a decent pull for such a little plant.


Here are a couple of my buddies plants pre-cut. I believe these are Apollo plants. I think he harvested a little early because I saw all white trichs on them but I wasn't about to tell someone when to harvest their crop.
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Post Chop
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Here is his Jack the Ripper. The picture doesn't really do this plant justice. The buds are so thick and velvety looking it's crazy. As you can see he's got some mites too.
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And finally he had a couple of Northern Lights which were up to at least 7 feet tall now almost to big for the room.
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Wow, that is one sweet=looking plant, LJ!

You're going to have a really nice smoke when you're done.

P.S. I just smoked a bowl from some that I cut off earlier. Flying higggh
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OOPS! You already know.

This is the thickest and longest bud. It's whole branch is covered in buds
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Just so you know - the tops of the long major branches are called "colas." Buds are the smaller shoots that come off the main branches. When I first started growing, I couldn't figure out why some shoots were called "buds" while others were called "colas" either!
 
Thanks yet again for the info ggrant! I did know that the big top guys were colas just lazily interchanging I guess. I've got a nice 12 pack of colas on her right now! lol

I have a question about the trichomes. Is there an average of how long it takes them to turn amber? Or does it very greatly by strain and condition or what have you?

I'm asking because I do want to do a flush close to harvest but also want to give her plenty of nutes. I've read several people who say any harshness comes from the leaves so if you completely remove them you don't have to worry about flushing the nutes out of her. But personally I don't mind smoking the small leaf especially when they're caked with trichs so getting rid of some of the chemical would be nice -although I'm not too concerned because I haven't really gone crazy with the feeding anyway. Thoughts?
 
Personal opinion:if you cut the fan leaves youll still want to flush. Its alot better tasting. The 2 weeks can be cut in half or less if you use final phase and carboload by advanced nutes. The last 2 weeks your plant wants different nutes than what just your base or additives can offer or maybe they could offer them but not enough and too much of what they dont need. Carboload gives it the carbs it needs during the last 2 weeks.
Imagine your a body builder and before a competition they go on water diets, but during that week of water the body starts losing weight do to lack of certain proteins and nurishment. Now if your plants arent body builders but do need those nutrients and carbs during the flushing with water phase and carboload gives what it needs during the flush.. and of course final phase flushes the salts in 4-10 days if used for 6 hours before water flushing
 
I have a question about the trichomes. Is there an average of how long it takes them to turn amber? Or does it very greatly by strain and condition or what have you?
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This is the 64 million dollar question, LJ. I've often wondered about this myself. I've never seen anythng written about this. If anyone here knows the answer, please share.

From what I've read, how you cure your crop is more important than worrying about removing the final nitrogen by flushing your plants. A slow cure will break down the compounds that can give MJ a bad taste.

The good thing is that after you flush your plants, they will not die immediately. They can keep going for 1 to 2 weeks afterwards.

You posted at an interesting time. I'm going to flush my plants tonight and expect to harvest them in 10 - 14 days from now.

After you flush, use only plain water and blackstrap molasses. The sugars in the molasses will keep the plant alive for a long time while it uses up any remaining nitrogen in the leaves (reducing harshness). During veg and flower, I use 1 tsp per gallon. After the flush, I use slightly more (I don''t measure, but instead dip a 1 tsp measure into the molasses to coat it and drop it in the water. My guess is that it's about 1.5 - 2 tsps of molasses. I've read about some growers using 1 tbsp - 3 tbsps per gallon! Not me - that sounds extreme.

Anyway, my point is that after you do your flush, you don't have to panic about harvesting right away, but can wait until you trichomes are the exact color you want.

It's worth reading this:


Go down the page to the part that says

Harvesting & Curing​

Here's something from an external site (not allowed to post links to these sites):

Drying and Curing Cannabis ...for the Most Potent Smoke

Drying and curing cannabis properly will yield the most THC-potent smoke. When dried and cured improperly, potency can diminish substantially. The level of THC in a plant is determined by its genetics. Proper drying and curing will keep the THC level as high as genetically possible. It does not increase potency. A little background on what happens inside and outside the harvested drying plant will help you understand why proper drying and curing are so important to good quality dope.

Drying evaporates most of the 70- 75 percent water content in fresh marijuana. Drying also converts THC from its non-psychoactive crude acidic form to its psychoactive pH-neutral form. Once dry, THC-potent marijuana can be smoked and you will get high. Every THC molecule must shed their moisture content before they are fully psychoactive. In other words fresh green marijuana will not be very potent.

When you cut a plant or plant part and hang it to dry, the transport of fluids within the plant continues, but at a slower rate. Stomata, small openings on leaf undersides, close soon after harvest and drying is slowed since little water vapor escapes. The natural plant processes slowly come to an end as
the plant dries. The outer cells are the first to dry, but fluid still moves from internal cells to supply moisture to the dry outer cells. When this process occurs properly, the plant dries evenly throughout. Removing leaves and large stems upon harvest speeds drying, however, moisture content within the "dried" buds, leaves and stems is most often uneven. Quick drying also traps chlorophylls and other pigments, starch and nitrates within plant tissue, making it taste "green" burn unevenly and taste bad.

Taste and aroma improve when these pigments break down. Slow even drying — where the humidity is similar inside and outside the foliage — allows enough time for the pigments to degrade. Hanging entire plants to dry allows this process to occur over time, about 3-4 weeks at 50-60 percent relative humidity and a temperature range of 60-70 degrees F. (15-21 degrees C.) The large outer leaves also form a protective sheath around buds. This protective foliage shields resin glands on buds from rupture and bruising.
Removing large leaves and stems upon harvest saves time. This is what most growers do, because fresh supple leaves are easier to work with than dry leaves. When you are looking a manicuring 5 kilos, you make it as easy as possible! However, this process often causes uneven drying and keeps moisture inside the foliage. This is why it is important to "cure" the "dry" marijuana.

Curing lets the plants continue to dry slowly. The first week of curing affects potency in that it removes moisture within the bud evenly, so that virtually all the THC is psychoactive. Curing also allows buds to dry enough so that mold does not grow when it is stored. A well-cured bud will also burn with an even glow.

Note:
Rough handling and friction from fondling hands will bruise and knock off resin glands. Even with proper drying and curing, brutal handling of harvested marijuana will diminish THC content.

Drying

Here is one of the best ways to dry plants to retain the maximum amount of psychoactive THC. Cut the entire ripe plant at the base and hang it upside down on a line to dry. Try to keep plants from touching each other to avoid uneven drying and mold. Keep the humidity between 50-60 percent. Keep the temperature at about 60-70 degrees F. (15-21 degrees C.). The room should be relatively dark as light, especially direct sunlight, degrades THC.

A circulation and ventilation fan may be necessary to control heat and humidity. You can also use a dehumidifier to control humidity or an air conditioner to lower ambient relative humidity and control room temperature. Do not train fans directly on drying plants it causes them to dry unevenly.
Depending upon atmospheric conditions and the size and density of plants and buds, plants should be dry enough to smoke in about a week. Plants with outer "fan" leaves intact take longer to dry than if leaves have been removed.
Check for dryness by bending a stem. It should snap. The bud should be dry to touch, but not brittle. The bud should burn well enough to smoke now.

Once dry, carefully manicure buds by cutting large leaves where they attach to the stem. Leaving the petiole (leaf stem) can cause mold to grow. Snip off smaller leaves that show little resin so that buds a beautiful bud remains.

Freeze Drying

Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. CO" changes from its frozen solid to a gas without turning into a liquid, a dry (ice) process that is called sublimation. The atmosphere contains little CO2. Dry ice sublimes (converts) completely into a gas leaving virtually no liquid. It is dry.

When moist marijuana is enclosed with dry ice at virtually zero relative humidity, water molecules migrate from the cannabis to the dry ice. The relative humidity of the CO2 increases and the moisture content of the marijuana decreases. This process occurs below 0 degrees C (32 degrees F), preserving the cannabis.

Place equal amounts of dry ice and bud into a container. Dry ice on the bottom and bud on top. Seal with a lid. Make a few small holes in the lid of the container for excess gas to exit. Place in the freezer. Check the dry ice every 24 hours. When the ice is gone, the buds will be completely dry. If not dry, add more dry ice until cannabis is dry. Conserve dry ice by partially drying buds for a few days before enclosing with dry ice.

This method retains potency, freshness and causes very little degradation of resin glands by the bad guys — heat, light, air and fondling hands. The marijuana tastes 'minty' because the chlorophyll does not break down.

Curing

Even though the plants appear to be dry, they still contain moisture inside. This moisture affects taste and potency. To remove this excess moisture, curingis necessary. Curing makes the bud uniformly dry and converts virtually all THC into its psychoactive form. Cut stems into manageable lengths — less than 12 inches (30 centimeters) — and place them in an airtight container.

Glass containers with a rubber or similar seal on top are the best. Avoid Ziploc plastic bags, which are not airtight. Many growers also avoid plastic containers such as Tupperware, sighting the plastic imparts an undesirable flavor in the buds.

Enclose buds in a container. This creates a microclimate that allows moisture to "even out" within the buds. Internal moisture will migrate to the dry portions of the bud. Gently pack as many buds in the glass container as possible without damaging them. Leave the jar(s) in a cool dry dark place. Check the jar in 2-4 hours to see if buds "sweated" moisture. Check buds by gently squeezing to feel if they are moister than they were a few hours before. Be careful when squeezing buds, they bruise easily. Most often they will be completely dry. If not, leave them in the sealed jar overnight and check the next day.

The buds will be a bit moist. Remove them from the jar and gently lay in the bottom of a paper bag. They can be stacked in the paper bag as high as 10 centimeters (3 inches). Close the top of the bag by folding once. Check the buds 2-3 times during the day to see if they are dry. Carefully turn them in the bag so that different sides are exposed. Remove when they are dry and place back into the sealed glass jar. Check them the next day to see if they are evenly dry and not moist again. If moist, remove and place back in the paper bag until dry. When dry place back in the glass container. Repeat process until buds are evenly dry.

If buds appear to have fairly low moisture content, you may be able to leave them in the jar and let excess moisture escape out the top. Simply open the jar for a few minutes every few hours to let the excess moisture escape before closing the lid again.

Check the container daily, leaving the top open for 5-10 minutes so moisture evacuates. After a week or two, it should be totally dry and ready to seal airtight. Vacuum seal the jar and place it in the refrigerator for storage. Leave it in the refrigerator or a cool dark dry place for a month or longer. The taste and potency will be tops! Refrigeration slows decomposition but remember, refrigerators have a high humidity level, so the container must be sealed airtight. I just checked the relative humidity in temperature in my refrigerator — 65 percent relative humidity and 5 degrees C. (40 degrees F). Do not place it in the freezer. Freezing draws moisture to the surface of buds, which can harm resin glands on the surface.

FAST DRYING

I do not recommend fast drying however here is a brief rundown on several methods for those of you who can't wait.

Method One: Manicure fresh buds. Spread them out evenly and wrap in paper or enclose in an envelope. Place the paper or envelope on top of a warm object — refrigerator, radiator, television, etc. Depending upon heat level, buds will be dry in a few hours to overnight. Buds should be a bit crispy when dry. Place buds in an airtight container until they sweat. Follow curing instructions above.

Method Two: Cut up fresh buds and foliage. Place on a 6-inch (15 centimeter) square of tinfoil. Hold or place it over a 60-80-watt light bulb. Stir every 30 seconds. The weed takes 1-3 minutes to dry.

Method Three: Place cut up buds and foliage on a cookie sheet in an oven at 65 degrees C. (150 degrees F.) for 10-15 minutes. Check regularly until dry. Follow curing instructions above.

Method Four: Place cut up buds and foliage in a microwave oven. Power the oven to 40-50 percent and give short 5-10 second bursts. Check regularly until dry.

Method Five: Cut fresh buds and foliage into small pieces and place them in a glass jar with an airtight lid. Place several silica gel desiccant packs (the kind that come with electronic devices and cameras) into the glass jar and seal the jar. Moisture will migrate to the silica gel in a few hours. Remove the packets and dry in the sun. Replace silica packs until marijuana is dry enough to smoke. Find silica gel packs at auto parts or electronic stores.

Method Six: Peel stems so they plants dry faster. First remove large leaves. Peel off the outer layer of the stem with a knife. This exposes the inside of the stem and cuts drying time by about 20 percent.

Patient growers smoke no bud before its time!
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Hey LJ,

As I'm getting ready to harvest, I've been reading up about curing. Although this is my fourth grow, I only tried proper curing on my last grow. The others I just let completely dry out and smoked them. It wasn't terribly smooth, but I didn't care. I was mostly interested in the high.

The last grow, I followed some of the advice I've posted (copied actually) here. I've gotten compliments on how smooth the smoke was. But I think I can do better, which is why I'm still researching the subject. So, in the same spirit, here is another article I've copied. It's part of a much longer treatise basically on

Everything you've ever wanted to know about growing marijuana​

I read most of it and, while the guy has a touch of Unibomber in him, he knows what he's talking about. I can just picture him in a bunker growing a whackload of weed and cleaning his guns.

I left in the wacky parts at the end because I thought you might enjoy it.

Cheers!

6. Potency, maturity, harvesting and drying

A. When to Harvest
The single most important factor in the potency of your crop of cannabis is the plants themselves. Any given clone or seedling has a pre-determined, genetically set, potential potency in its DNA. Once you have finished, dried and sampled a certain healthy, mature bud, a clone of that plant will only vary about 5 to 10 percent in potency no matter what techniques are used to grow it. Good buds are born, not made.

The second most important factor is the maturity, or ripeness of the buds. As the buds get bigger and bigger, you will notice that some of the hairs (pistils) on the buds which were all white to begin with, will start to wither and turn red. When about 65 to 75 percent of the all the hairs on the buds have turned red and new growth seems to slow (usually after about 45 to 60 days in the flowering cycle for most pure indicas and 50/50 hybrids), the buds should be ripe for harvest.

Something else to watch is the crystals, which should appear under a magnifying glass like tiny clear mushrooms of resin. If they begin to tint amber or yellow, it is a sign that the THC (which is concentrated 95 percent in these crystals) is starting to degrade into two less psychoactive byproducts: CBD and CBN. If you notice this happening the plant has already reached its maximum potential and should be harvested immediately unless it is very large, possibly in which case individual parts of the plant may ripen before others. Once again, every one of the infinite number of cannabis varieties is different, and with "faster" strains, (that is, varities that finish sooner), you have to be more careful about this over-ripening, whereas some strains seem to continue on flowering forever without ever ripening as it is described here. You just have to watch and use your good judgment. If you aren't sure, then wait. The last few weeks is the time when buds are bulking up the most weight-wise, and with a good sized crop, days can turn into extra ounces. When you have waited this long, you can wait a little longer.

B. Harvesting, Manicuring and Drying
Harvesting is easy. Cut the plant into manageable sections and trim all the large multi-fingered leaves off of the buds. Single-fingered leaves that stick out of the thick part of the buds should be trimmed to the circumference of the bud. These trimmings, when properly dried, make good joint rolling material.

When you are manicuring, you may find yourself with an unbelievably sticky coating on your fingers and scissors. This is almost pure resin, otherwise known as finger hash. If you start out with clean hands and clean scissors, you can collect this substance by gently rubbing your fingers together in small circles. Do not try to use heavy pressure between your fingers. This stuff is so sticky I have seen it take skin off. You might not mind losing a bit of skin but smoking it is no fun. Instead gentle circles will produce little tiny pieces that look like the dust from a pencil eraser. These pieces can be rolled together into small BB sized balls. Scissors can be scraped in a process a lot like pipe scraping. All of these little pieces together can add up to hours of quality entertainment for a room full of stoners, if you know what I mean. It is best to use a small piece of bud underneath these resin balls (a green screen) because like pipe resin it melts when a flame touches it and will go right through a screen. Extra stickiness comes off your fingers effortlessly with a little butter or margarine (don't try to smoke this).

Hang the manicured buds on some hemp twine (like clotheslines) in the drying room. The idea of hanging is to facilitate even, thorough drying. Although they can be laid out on newspapers, I found that this leaves unsightly flat spots on the buds and they can remain wet for longer because the air cannot circulate around all sides. Keep temperatures moderate, around 75 and around 50% humidity. You may need to use a ventilation system to reduce humidity if your drying room is particularily crowded (I hope you have this problem!), or a heater if it is too cold. I recommend placing a small fan in the room to circulate the air, especially if using a heater. Usually in about seven days, your buds will be ready to smoke. Do not be fooled if after three or four days the buds feel dry to the touch. If put into bags, the moisture that remains on the inside will transpire into the outer dry parts and will result in an unacceptable degree of wetness.

Now, I've really tried to keep the commentary to a minimum here, and pot knows, it's hard when you are the writer, editor and publisher, BUT, this rant I must have.

Improperly dried pot is unacceptable for smoking and useless for enlightenment purposes. One of the reasons that pot is commonly sold wholesale, to smiling customers, for as much as the going rate for gold, is because the grower has had to dry it out before selling it. This drying cannot be veiwed as losing money. No one should ever have to pay this amount of money for water. Drying is merely the process of evaporating water, purifying the buds down to just the essence of their remarkable existence.

As the buds dry, chlorophyl breaks down into more simple, easy-burning sugars. Harsh smoking characteristics such as a green or shakey taste diminish. The true unadulterated flavor can come through. The THC itself evaporates a water molecule, making the THC psychoactive, giving the high a greater feeling of spaciousness, enhanced perception and appreciation of beauty, as well as seemingly miraculous medical benefits.

The buds attain a level of combustabillity such that you will be able to crumble them into a firm, lip-smacking, even burning spliff of Rasta revelry, or receive a prompt flow of thick, cool, flavorful smoke from your favorite waterpipe, as soon as the flame touches the bud.

Needless to say, the disappointment to the consumer of not being able to get stoned after finally acquiring the desired object, a bag of weed, at great time and expense to all, is definitley severe. This is compounded when you are one of the ever growing number of people who use this substance to relieve pain and suffering incomprehensible to healthy people. Dry pot is the balm of the sick, a miracle cure-all. Ask them.

Every stoner knows that kind, dry buds are probabally the single greatest gift to mankind ever. If you do not plan on thoroughly drying the buds you grow with every bit as much care as you took growing them, then you shall not be worthy of the title "cannabis creator" and I should now beg and implore you to: (A.) give this guide to someone who will, or (B.) burn this guide. Why? Because I wouldn't want anyone thinking that I was associated with you. Selling undried buds, even at wholesale prices is a definite karma no-no, and smoking them is totally defeating the purpose.

I know there are money hungry people out there- it's even considered normal in our materialistic consumer based society. Thats the greatest thing about this occupation- you can set your own salary by growing as much pot as you want- but the way for a righteous non-greedy cannabis creator to estimate yields (and therefore profits) is simply, only on a dried basis, Thank you.

This concludes The Home Cannabis creator, everything you ever wanted to know about cannabis creation but were afraid you would be detected by the power company. Good luck and a happy high!
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Mark G. said:
You can use non powdered latex gloves when harvesting. The Finger hash will build up on the gloves, when finished place the gloves into the freezer for a few min and the hash will peel right off.
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Wow, thanks for posting that! I've had so much hash stuck to my fingers that I've been tempted to light them to smoke it.

P. S. Doesn't work - I tried.
 
Lol, after helping my buddy trim I was more tempted to suck on my fingers than try and light them!

I did scrape a decent amount of "scissor hash" from my clippers. I can honestly say the best (and first) scissor hash I've ever smoked.

I had heard of the glove thing before and even had some to use for trimming but in my typical stoner fashion completely forgot about it. I'll be sure to remember for mine though, I want to get everything out of her I can.


Side note, I think I've decided on the what and how of my next grow. Stay tuned for the thrilling details!
 
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