My girls are just barely flowering and I have to go out of town in 9 weeks

[TheFertilizer]

So yeah I have 6 Blackberry Kush, 1 Frankenberry and 1 Platinum GSC that have all been 12/12 from seed and are just now showing preflowers at 32 days from seed. I was hoping to harvest at mostly amber, I really like the heavy "body" high effect. Anyway I think most of my strains are reputed to be at the 8-10 week harvest window so I am a little nervous about how to swing being so late into flower and going out of town, or if I should even worry too much about it.

I will probably be flushing with plain water that late in the game, but I am using 1 gallon pots and not sure what the water demands will be like. I will be gone anywhere from 1-3 days, so I am wondering if I could just water them really well and get away with leaving other unattended for a couple nights, not sure what other options I have.

My other idea was to just let them dry out in the dark starting from when I leave. I did want to try the "swell" thing and it would be nice not worrying about light or water. I just kind of wanted more control over the trichome color at harvest.

 

[415friendly]

When I had to go out of town, I switched my grow to an ebb and flow hydroponics system.

I was already growing in coco/perlite in fabric pots, so I bought a concrete mixing tray for around $10, ebb and flow fittings for around $10, a $10 water pump, $8 air pump and airstones, and a $15 20 gallon garbage can to use as my reservoir... Oh, and a $15 timer.

I don't know if this was really the best setup, but it does save me time and makes watering and feeding a lot easier

 

[Weaselcracker]

You'll know the situation better in nine weeks from now. But I think either choice will be fine. Usually they are using very little water that late in flowering and I can't see you having any problems with watering. You can do the three day darkness thing as long as the environment in there is still good. ( You have to keep fans going for fresh air, temps up, RH low, etc, or they could stagnate and start getting moldy. )
Usually breeder's estimates are very much on the optimistic side, so chances are good it will be a non-issue, but three days delay doesn't make much difference anyway.