Final Thoughts and Smoke Report:
Strains
Damnesia - This harvest, the Damnesia produced the most and seems to have the highest quality overall. These buds are so sticky they're almost impossible to grind. The resin is like glue and just gums the grinder up so bad that it becomes almost unusable. The smoke is rich and thick and hits hard and quick. Produces an upper high that's quite enjoyable. Two hits max for me.
Gelat.OG - This was the easiest plant to grow and had a great look about it....tall, round-topped colas, with nice color and a strong tropical fruit aroma. Samples have been well received, but I haven't tried it yet myself.
Jack Herrer - The Jack Herrer was a little finiky, suffering a little with apparent nitrogen toxicity. I thought I might have pulled the JH just a little early, but now it seems to be just about right. It suffered the loss of one big bud to bud rot, but produced just slightly less than the Damnesia. The buds are long and spikey and have a great citrus aroma and taste. Produces an upper high.
Hulkberry - An amazing strain. This plant produced enormous buds, although the overall yield was the lowest on this plant. I did suffer the loss of one of the prize buds to bud rot, so that contributed to the lower yield. The aroma is a delicious sour lime. The buds have large crystal-covered calyxes. Not super dense, but very lovely buds. This also has an upper high and is very strong.
Nutrients - My supersoil provided most of the nutrients, but I started adding light doses of Nectar for the Gods liquid nutes at about 2 weeks into flower. From then on, I alternated plain tap water with NFTG and instant tea. So a water - nutes - water - tea cycle. This seems to have worked out great.
Soil - Re-amended supersoil mixed with Coast of Maine Stonington Blend. I added different things to the soil for each transplant. Most notably, I added a lot of the Coast of Maine "Buds and Blooms" flowering amendment into the final pots. This is a calcium-heavy, 5-13-0 fish bone mixture.
Lighting - CFLs for seedling stage up to early veg, 400w Plantmax MH in veg up to week 1 of flowering, 1000w Plantmax HPS for flowering. I'm still too poor/cheap to pay for the switch to LEDs.
Pots - 3 x 7-gal fabric and one 7-gal plastic. The only difference I notice with the pots is that I can wait an extra day or two to water the plastic pot. The pot type doesn't seem to affect the quality or quantity of the harvest.
Water - I started out using store-bought spring water, then used primarily untreated tap water.
Process:
Germination: Wet towel process - 100% success (4/4)
Veg - No nutrients were added. Instant tea a couple of times. No problems here.
Training - I used the 'quadline' technique on the Damnesia, which turned out to have the highest yield. The other plants were topped twice and trained to grow outwards. The Hulkberry displayed amazing branch strength from the lowest nodes.
Flowering - I started adding nutrients in early flower. One thing I learned from this grow is to switch my intake and extraction fans to 24/7 at some point before the buds get really big. I hope to never experience bud rot again.
Drying/Curing - Wet trim, then hang in dark space with airflow. After 3-4 days the buds were super dry and crumbly on the outside, so I transitioned the cut buds into paper bags. They were in bags for another 4-6 days then into jars for burping. Once they get to the desired moisture level, I will use my "FreshSaver" vacuum to vacuum seal the jars for longer term storage.
Overall, this was a very successful grow. We're sitting pretty for the next year or so with plenty of variety in the jars. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to check out my grow. My next grow is started and a new journal is at the link below (or in my signature):
This is my 7th indoor grow since the good old days. Back then I did more production-oriented grows, utilizing three grow areas, a single strain with a mother plant, and with the goal of a harvest every two months. Now, I'm growing everything from seed in a single tent, trying to stay as...
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