Sweetsue's First Grow - Stealthy Trio of Autos Under CFLs

Sweetsue said:
Greytail, you'd mentioned before that in highly mineralized soil the trichomes might not turn amber. I've noticed that this might be happening with the Bomb. They're all cloudy now but I couldn't find any amber when I looked last night. How would you determine harvest time in such a case?

I may go home tonight and find dramatic change. Yesterday morning Buddha had very few pistils changing, but last night I found the plant riddled with rust colored hairs.
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Many of my plants will go into another surge of calyx-building after their pistils go all brown, so I've developed the habit of waiting another 5-6 days to see what they'll do. Of course, I'm risking the mature trichs deteriorating while I wait for a possible second surge to finish. In most cases, I've been glad I waited and watched.

So, my advice would be to not think of harvesting until the buds go brown and stop producing any new white pistils. Then you decide whether you want to let it run, or take it down.

But I seem to be a bit of a loner in that regard. :cheesygrinsmiley:
 
Graytail said:
Many of my plants will go into another surge of calyx-building after their pistils go all brown, so I've developed the habit of waiting another 5-6 days to see what they'll do. Of course, I'm risking the mature trichs deteriorating while I wait for a possible second surge to finish. In most cases, I've been glad I waited and watched.

So, my advice would be to not think of harvesting until the buds go brown and stop producing any new white pistils. Then you decide whether you want to let it run, or take it down.

But I seem to be a bit of a loner in that regard. :cheesygrinsmiley:
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That's what I was thinking Greytail. You may be a loner, but a successful one at that. I was looking her over this morning and what came to mind was wait until all the pistils had changed. Thanks for the help. :green_heart:
 
Hi Sue. My pistils indoors seem to go all brown like Gray says too while the trichomes are still in the cloudy/clear stage. I'll harvest anytime after I see 50/50, but more often when I see 75% or more cloudy. On some strains waiting for amber will sort of "wreck" bud appearance as they will leaf out. Some never seem to turn amber.

I just harvested one of my strongest strains of recent times that showed ~85/15 with only a few amber trichs at 86 days. It was a Chem 91 that breeder had flowering listed at 65 to 70 days. I harvested one at 72 days & 2nd at 86 days. An experiment of sorts. The 72 day plant was about the same 85/15 two wks. earlier. Very little trich deterioration in either one at harvest. Both good but little difference in effect even with added 2 wks.

Your 2 autos are very good looking so I'm sure they will be plenty strong for you no matter when you decide to harvest. Nice job.:Namaste:
 
Thank you brightlight. So, I should be safe to wait until the pistils finish changing and are pulling back in. I prefer a higher percentage of cloudy. I enjoy the head high more - it kicks me into creative, and with the never-ending challenges his health presents me with, creative is a necessity.
 
heya sue, cheers and :Namaste:. my last and only plant to flower put on a burst of new flowers, first white pistols in ages, just before harvest and had new ones even when harvested,, and i had approx 2% amber. just some more data to maybe help with your decision,, :yummy:

of course i did everything wrong, even near right up to harvest time,, :lot-o-toke:
 
Note to self: ALWAYS copy before leaving an incomplete post. :straightface:

I appreciate the input, and if anyone else is inclined to chime in, please do. A year ago I had never considered growing cannabis and was completely unaware that communities dedicated to growing and sharing information about growing even existed. This is a new world to me and I can only read so many journals while keeping Dale alive, so please, share away. After all this time I want to do the girls proud - does that sound too weird? At the same time I want to demonstrate to future growers how easy it is to grow using LOS soil, even with a quirky grow. Let's go ahead and admit that my open closet grow in the corner of our living room is not your standard grow. :laughtwo:

Now let's check up on the girls.

Daily Update: Day 73 (THC Bomb Auto) and Day 72 (Buddha Magnum Auto)

Long days in the hospital are grueling, even for the most experienced. It was so good to walk through the door and find them happily growing away.

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It can be challenging to get a good shot with all those lights glaring at you. :laughtwo: These aren't my best pictures. The lighting is better in the morning. The window next to the open closet faces east and fills the room with light as the sun rises. Tomorrow I'll be able to get some with morning light.

They each took a quart to top off the reservoirs, and of course they got their 1/4 turn. I noticed that in doing that daily turn I have smeared some trichomes on fan leaves, either from rubbing against the walls or rubbing against each other's flowers. Next grow (and from this point on with this grow) I resolve to be more aware and careful in executing that important adjustment.

The Bomb's main cola has really beefed up. I can tell we're getting close now. I have to remember that these are autos and they often don't follow the rules.

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It's been 11 days since I tried backbuilding the buds and it's time for a comparison.

The trims were done on the 5th.

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This is today.

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What do you think? It has a lean now, I'm thinking it may be from the placement under the lights today. It was a little off center. Other than that, I do see a squaring off of the top, but any other change is too subtle for me to catch.

I love the way the internal circle of secondary colas stand in attendance to the main cola, like courtesans.

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There's lots of bud swelling going on under the protection of the fan leaves.

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I finish with my favorite of the day. Ofttimes we get all caught up in the flowers and buds. I get lost in the leaves.

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Tomorrow the lights get cut back another half hour, and we'll be down to 13/11.

Time to get this posted. Dale has stage two of the surgery tomorrow at noon. Today he slept a lot. They deprive you of sleep in hospitals, even friendly ones. It's a kind of torture. I'm going to spend some time reading journals and call it a night.

Spread a little joy and watch it infect your world.

:Namaste:
 
It does certainly seem that letting them go a bit longer never disappoints. Someone says that breeder recommendations are for hydro. Maybe that's true, maybe not. I've played around with my bubblegum and longer is always better. I get bummed if I take a plant too early, and realize I missed out.

Hang in there Sue (with life, not the harvest).
 
Breeders recommendations are just a I hate it when im lost for words but its usually close
best to check trichomes to make sure its where you want it when you flush
keep in mind soil can flush for 1-2 weeks hydro can be 4-7 days
so you have to plan ahead part of it is experience with the particular strain when to start flush so its where you want when your ready to harvest
Hey Brotha COo :thumb:
 
Cronichemphog said:
nutrient salts
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Chronic, forgive me, but thanks for the laugh. :laughtwo: I appreciate the input though. :Love:

No nutrient flushing with LOS. That's one of the reasons we can't believe everyone else persists in using
bottled chemicals. The cleanest, purest taste and potency to knock your socks off with no need to flush. It's why we can play with the harvest date without fear of pushing it too far. LOS is a different paradigm. An easier paradigm.

Thanks CO. I've been reviewing organic and HB journals to get a feel for the look of the plants just before harvest. I like the way Greytail put it - wait another 5-6 days before I make a decision. That feels like really solid advice.

I wish it were possible to let you all smell her perfume. Wow!

I'll post after the surgery to let you all know how it went. So far everything is moving smoothly. Tomorrow I need to start a process of getting the VA involved to see what assistance they can offer my Navy man.

Later all. :green_heart:
 
COorganics said:
Señor hemphog, I think Sue's gonna tell you we don't flush the soil, ever. We only flush toilets. :)

This organic thing is something else.
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I installed a new toilet yesterday. It flushes when you wave your hand in front of a motion sensor.
Cost $10 more than the other one like it, but comes with an overflow sensor to stop flushing if the bowl water level is too high..
I saved more than $10 installing myself.

My first toilet and batteries were included :)
 
Cronichemphog said:
nutrient salts
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Cronic has a point - don't the biota produce waste salts? :cheesygrinsmiley:

Sure, we don't need to flush excess nitrogen and such, but PJ recommended a flush whenever we wish. He said it would essentially "reboot" the biota population - rarely a bad idea - like a good downpour with following bright sunshine. :cheesygrinsmiley: Outdoor soil is constantly "flushing".
 
An interesting aside about the biota salts. If you use LOS and fabric pots you can see the salts building on the pot sides. While reading through Bluejay's no-till thread (another site) they made numerous mentions of how those salt crustings gradually faded when a regular application of malted barley grain drenches were scheduled. I've just begun that process so I'll be watching to see if this happens.

Dale is out of surgery. Everything went smoothly. After a few days recovering in hospital we're off to rehabilitation. Whew!
 
An interesting aside about the biota salts. If you grow with LOS and fabric pots you begin to notice the crust developing on the surface of the pots, near the lower regions. I have always assumed they were naturally occurring salts. While reading through Bluejay's no till journal (another site) they made mention of how a regular application of enzyme teas with malted barley grain eventually eliminated these deposits from the pots. Mine have only had two applications so far, so I will be watching for this to occur.

Dale has come through the surgery with minimal blood loss and no complications. After a few days of hospital recovery we're off to rehabilitation. BIG sigh of relief.
 
Sorry double post. :laughtwo::green_heart:
 
plants look good. i hate hospitals. the worst is waking up to get blood drawn every morning.
 
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