I'm catching up here but this is how I do it. I can smell when the ladies gave it their all and are getting tired. I try and harvest when its a very dieselly sweet smell but not over bearing.
Smell is an interesting thing. I just jarred up 2 girls, both Caramelicious clones of different mothers, grown side-by-side. During the second half of flowering, Quiffa had a sour, slightly diesel aroma that was the strongest in the room. Sassy smelled nothing much. After drying 8 days, Sassy has a strong lemon and honey scent and Quiffa smells like nothing. My wife smells an entirely different aroma from Sassy than I do, and a 3rd adult just said "I can't tell what it smells like, but it smells real dank!"
All that said its definitely cultivar dependent. Just like yield its: genetics genetics genetics. This is why I found a cultivar I really like that suites my growing style which is way hands off lazy and don't want to even go in the flower room. I found one I like and grow it all the time. Less is more for me.
So get to know your strain that you like to grow and run it a bunch of times. It's going to get better as you adjust and figure out what works best for you and your ladies and your growing style.
My first two strains were 'White Widow' and 'Caramelicious' from the same breeder. The two strains grow, look, and smell almost identical. I have my doubts that there is much connection between their strains and the famous strains of the same names, but they are both fun and giggly highs.
The third strain I added, Hawaiian Skunk' was very similar in growth rates and responses to soil and water conditions but radically different in structure, smell, and leaf shape.
I have played with more 7 strains in the last year, and each shows distinct characteristics in how they respond to stress, light, training, and timing. A better memory would really help this part
It has been interesting to see the differences between what is fun to grow and what is fun to smoke.
I look forward to growing these and a very few other strains a bunch of times. Cloning really leads the grower to understand the impacts of intentional and unintentional growing experiments.
Re: water PH - I use RO water which is exactly 6.5 PH - the only thing I test is PPM AFTER my filter is say 8 months old. We use the RO water for all our water uptake so we filter a lot of water not just for gardening (cooking and drinking). I can't for the life of me understand why anyone with lead issues in water don't use a RO filter?? Think Flint, MI.
I am blessed with chlorine-free town well water of 6.6 pH and 150-ish PPM. I guess that's why over 3% of the households in my town have small grow ops
In organic soil the microbes use/change soil PH to adapt to what the plants root exudates are giving back to the microbes. It's a symbiotic relationship. Feed the soil ... plants will follow and so will yield. Faith is time immortal.
Here's a good read:
Soil Health - part3
Thanks. I'll be reading this sometime this week. I could read it in 5 minutes, but it looks like a page that deserves more attention to the details.
I'm going to continue reading along ... Rad your new round of girls are looking VERY healthy. If you see a change to that, take pause and look back at what YOU changed.
I am seeing:
Increased vegetative health and growth rates
- In Early Veg, I attribute this to A) reduced time in the 1-liter small pots, this is a direct result of 'holding' plants in the bucket cloner to enhance timing of the perpetual grow, and B) more consistent, individual watering.
- There is unrealized potential for faster, healthier growth in the 1-liter pots with an improved seedling soil mix.
- I am also trying to chose larger and 'better' clones
- In Late Veg, I think they like the Agromax Pure Par T5HO bulbs Emilya recommended. These CFLs have a purplish spectrum the girls seem to enjoy.
A decline in flowering health and bud growth
- This is probably because of the spider mites and some stressful experiments with different anti-mite sprays.
- I am testing top dressing with worm castings when I move the girls into the flowering room.
A major increase in bud quality
- This may also be because of the stress of spider mites and anti-mite sprays.
- Switching from 12/12 to 11/13 may have helped.
- I recently went 10.5/13.5 to see if it affects the buds.
In soil (organic), plants that are growing normally will continue to do so, there should not be a big change until the flowering cycle is getting closer to the end. Sometimes I want to intervene when no intervention is required.
I always think thrice before chop, and sometimes more.
Keep it green and best wishes and health to all. You are on the track to win!
I have had 3 eras in the flowering room:
- Yellowing in early flower (bottled nutes and poor soil)
- Green in early flower (fresh made CC-mix soil and SWICK watering) - highest yield
- Yellowing in early flower (use CC-mix soil, spider mites, and not using the SWICK) - highest quality
I am aiming for moderate to high yields of highest quality.
Somedays, I feel I am on the right track. Somedays ot
Thanks for giving me an excuse to analyse what may or may not be on the track towards good yields of high quality buds.
sorry its a bit dark, seems only difference is the USB port for the RTU, led's moved and status led changed to Superlux, I still have a few hours before it even switches on though to test that feature 
- keep it green. Cheers
