Yankeetoker's 2nd Grow Attempt - 2016 - All Advice Welcome!

yankeetoker said:
Yes, she does....:circle-of-love:

But what do you suggest with regards to the yellowing leaves?

YT
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I suggest they look like yellowing leaves. It doesn't seem to hurt when the yellow starts in mid to late flower.


I harvested with yellow leaves 2 days ago

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I harvested with yellow leaves 2 years ago

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Notes from Friday (6/10)...Day 31 of flower for both plants

Both plants soaked in pH adjusted rainwater (6.3-6.5) and top watered with the same rainwater (1 TBSP fish fertilizer 2-4-1 and 1 TSP Cal Mag added per gallon). Both of these plants were grown from Nirvana Northern Lights fem seeds, and they could not be more different. Lexi has more slender fan leaves and is tall and leggy, Hope is more short and bush-like.

Lexi from Friday night....:Love:

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And Hope....:Love:

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I've read that these finish in 54 days, what do some of you more experienced growers think about these girls finishing around the 4th of July? I just don't see much bud mass at this point, but they are nice and frosty. Thanks in advance for any comments...

YT
 
yankeetoker said:
But what does "finished" look like? Lol

YT
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The most trusted way to see what "finished" looks like is to use one of these...loupes (20x and 30x work best for me. )

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These mushroom shaped trichomes are 'cloudy.' Their color is 'frosted glass' instead of 'clear crystal.'

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Shaded from the light, you can see the stalks are mostly whitish 'mostly cloudy'

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Low on the same plant the trichomes on this seed are 'mostly clear.' There is a sparkle you will not see on cloudy trichomes.

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I like to think that as my trichomes turn cloudy they are filling up with THC. Since these are 'mostly cloudy' rather than 'fully cloudy' I am going to wait a couple more days for the trichomes to fill with more THC. If I harvested this girl today, my wife would still get high, but if I wait a few more days she will get a more powerful, more complex high.

If I waited 10 more days, the trichomes would start to degrade. The heads would start to turn amber (beer colored) or some of the stalks would form kinks and some of the heads would fall off. Lots of people wait for '10-20% amber', but my wife prefers 'mostly cloudy.'

If you are growing a high CBD strain, I think you harvest at 'slightly couldy' I'm not sure.


- - -

Without a loupe another indicator is the pistils(spikes) in the flowers. When a lot of the pistils have turned colored and the pistils are mosty shriveled, this seems to happen about the same time as 10% amber. The colors and changes of pistils vary by the strain of cannabis.

If you happen to have seeds, your girl will be ready to harvest when the seed covers split open and the seed inside turns brown or falls to the ground. Most of the time, you won't have seeds.
 
yankeetoker said:
Some bud shots of Hope, Day 33 of flowering...looks like she has quite a ways to go! I had read any where from 54-70 days (or more). What say you guys?

YT

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On this photo, your trichomes seem to have the sparkle of 'a tiny bit cloudy.'
About half your pistils have kinked and/or changed color.

You could snip a 'test bud', oven dry at 150F for about an hour, and smoke some of your test bud.
You could then do the same thing in 4-5 days and see if it has improved.

If you plan on growing more plants in the future, it is probably worth the $30 or so to buy loupes on the internet.

If it was me, I would shop for loupes on the internet rather than take a tester so early.
 
Thanks, Rado! I have actually been looking at the loupes on the internet...so the lens is large enough that I can take photos through it?

Even though the girls are doing pretty well, I still don't think the buds are "fattening up" enough. I have been using Alaska fish fert (2-4-1) and they have a Morbloom fert that I'm interested in adding for a couple of weeks. Been watering them with rainwater the last couple of weeks, and they seem to like it, but they could use a "boost".

YT
 
yankeetoker said:
Thanks, Rado! I have actually been looking at the loupes on the internet...so the lens is large enough that I can take photos through it?
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I actually take the back off my cellphone so I can get the loupe lens tight up against the cell phone camera lens. The bigger the lens, the bigger the view, but the higher magnifications tend to be smaller in these less expensive loupes.



yankeetoker said:
Even though the girls are doing pretty well, I still don't think the buds are "fattening up" enough. I have been using Alaska fish fert (2-4-1) and they have a Morbloom fert that I'm interested in adding for a couple of weeks. Been watering them with rainwater the last couple of weeks, and they seem to like it, but they could use a "boost".

YT
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You are probably right that they could use a boost, but I don't know anything about how to do that.

I'm a simple grower: soil, light, worm castings, and water. I have not played with questions like: Liquid Koolbloom vs Snowstorm Ultra during flower - so i am clueless :)

Have you asked around the threads of growers whose technique and results appeal to you?
 
Been a bit busy, but here are some photos from this morning Day 44 of flower for the White Widows (all 3 look different...2 have very little odor and the 3rd is real strong smelling)....gave the girls a little drink of kelp in their water this morning (been alternating with kelp and just plain water...all pH adjusted to 6.3-6.5). I would like to harvest these girls around July 12, so a couple of more weeks to go.

Bernie has come along as of late.....:circle-of-love:

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Hope looking good as usual.....:circle-of-love:

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And Lexi....:circle-of-love:

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Got 3 autos (2 Northern Lights and a Royal Haze) as well.... here are a couple of them...:circle-of-love:

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YT
 
CareStaker said:
They look great. If the leafs are half/mostly yellow, you can just pull them off if you want. I'll have to pop back in to catch up. Great work YT. :cheertwo:
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Hey and thanks, CS! That's what I have been doing...letting the plants defol themselves....if a leaf comes off easily, I pull it off otherwise I let them fall off on their own.

Still need to order my jeweler's lope, but hope to harvest around 7/12.

YT
 
That's my policy on defol as well. Unless a half yellow leaf is covering a bunch of small nugs in the center of the plant. Then it goes. Looking good YT, which of those WW was the stinky one?
 
ShiggityFlip said:
That's my policy on defol as well. Unless a half yellow leaf is covering a bunch of small nugs in the center of the plant. Then it goes. Looking good YT, which of those WW was the stinky one?
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Hope is the stinky one....it's really weird...all three seeds are from Canuk seeds and they all look and have completely different characteristics (I know different phenos, but interesting nonetheless ).

I was concerned about Lexi having a "weird" smell, so I removed a small bud to see if there were any "issues" and it was green through and through....I let it dry out and think I'll test it out in a few days.

YT
 
Ok, so I rolled a blunt with the bud I took off of Lexi and smoked it with my brother-in-law. We are both daily smokers and are both extremely high right now! Smoked real smooth, and the high crept up and hit hard....geesh

The plan was to cut these girls down around July 12....what will the effect be if I wait until then?

YT
 
yankeetoker said:
Ok, so I rolled a blunt with the bud I took off of Lexi and smoked it with my brother-in-law. We are both daily smokers and are both extremely high right now! Smoked real smooth, and the high crept up and hit hard....geesh

The plan was to cut these girls down around July 12....what will the effect be if I wait until then?

YT
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Let's hope it's better :)

The loupe probably won't arrive until you order it... The next two weeks are the most interesting time to use your new loupe :)
 
Really depends on the trichs. I harvest at 10% amber or less because I love the up high.
 
Almost there, July 12th sounds about right from the look of them. If they hit nicely now, they should hit even harder after 2 weeks, and a nice slow dry/cure. For the drying process, keep them in high RH 60-70%, so they take at least 7 or more days to dry. No fan on them, and little to no light on them. Then they can go into jars or sealed containers for daily burping. The dry/cure will effect how the high is, so it's an important last step to get right. I dry in cardboard boxes to trap RH, but there are other methods you can search for here on 420M. I'll post up a shot of my boxes in my journal, as I'm harvesting today. :)
 
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