Colorado High - Soil - CFL - Easy Rider - 2013

[b.real]

thanks for all the info my dude. best wishes to you and your buds.

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks man! Good luck with the new light, I hope it works out for ya!!

 

[David Bowman]

Day 69 of flowering and I decided to do another trichome check this time off of the top colas. I snipped the very top part of all four of the top colas and as the first picture shows, they are developing nicely with mostly cloudy trichs, ~25% amber along with a few clear ones remaining.

Trichomes on very top part of top cola @ ~200X

What I found interesting was as I moved around the bud I found some very strange colored trichomes, the heads appear cloudy but there is a purplish streak within the stalk of some of the trichomes. As I have never seen this before, I really don't know what to make of this development. Has anyone anyone seen this phenomenon before or know why these trichs are colored like this?

Trichomes on very top part of top cola @ ~200X

Trichomes on very top part of top cola @ ~400X

 

[b.real]

69 days from first pistil sighting or 69 days from 12/12 flip?

 

[David Bowman]

69 days from first pistil sighting (pre-flower).

 

[b.real]

and you still have pistil growth? I like to pull my plants just when pistil growth is stopping, just before almost all hairs have turned amber.

 

[David Bowman]

A little, it has really slowed down on the established buds.

 

[b.real]

A little, it has really slowed down on the established buds.

sweet. now is when you should be checking trichs daily (as you are)

you're going to LOVE growing super skunk. just wait.

 

[David Bowman]

Yeah I can't wait. The picture of the bud on the seed website looked so colorful and beautiful.

 

[b.real]

Yeah I can't wait. The picture of the bud on the seed website looked so colorful and beautiful.

if you get a good cut shes a stinker. the good old skunk #1 x some indica heavy afghan goo plant.

its good smoke

 

[KingJohnC]

I have seen many photographs of trichomes with purple in them.

 

[David Bowman]

I have seen many photographs of trichomes with purple in them.

Do you know what causes the purple in the trichomes?

 

[David Bowman]

Harvest Day!!!! Well the day of harvest finally arrived and all went very well. It took about 3 hours total to fully harvest, wash and hang to dry my 4 ladies. The vast majority of time was spent removing fan leaves and washing the buds, but I believe it was worth it overall. It seemed that it was easier to remove the fan leaves since the ladies had nothing to drink for 3 days prior to harvest. While I was harvesting, my wife went through the fan leaves and made a couple of salads for us to enjoy with our Papa Murphy's Bacon Bacon Bacon Pizza later today! Yummy!! Since I am performing the initial hang dry with branches, I did not get a wet weight. However, once I remove the branches, trim up the buds and finish the drying with my dryer rack I will get a final dry weight.

First, I thanked my ladies for making my first grow a success. Below is a final group shot of my ladies in the grow box before I started the harvest.

Then I proceeded to unmercifully chop them down! I followed Doc Bud's Bud Washing procedure with a couple of minor changes. I used four 5-gallon food safe buckets. In bucket #1, I put in 3 gallons of warm water and one gallon of 3% H2O2. In bucket #2, I put in 4 gallons of 120 degree hot water and 16 oz. of baking soda and 15 oz. of lemon juice. I doubled the recommended amount of baking soda/lemon juice since I could not find a smaller box of baking soda nor a smaller bottle of lemon juice and did not want to deal with any leftovers. In buckets #3 and #4, I put 4 gallons of cold water in each for rinsing. I did the top colas one at a time and did the smaller side shoots in pairs agitating them in each bucket for 30 seconds starting in bucket #1 and finishing in bucket #4.

Here is a shot of my 4 ladies and bud washing setup just prior to the harvest -

Here is a close-up shot of the bud washing setup with bucket #1 on the left and bucket #4 on the right -

Here are photos of 3 out of the 4 top colas prior to washing -

Here is a shot of the bud washing setup post washing - (Most of the debris floating in the buckets is dried pistils) -

Here is a close-up shot of bucket #1 and #2 -

Here is a close-up shot of bucket #3 and #4 - (Bucket #3 is slightly more cloudy compared to bucket #4) -

Here is a picture of two plants worth of branches hanging inside the grow box -

Here is the final setup within the grow box of all four ladies worth of branches hanging to dry -

The current environment within the grow box is ~60 degrees with ~45% RH. The lights and clip fans are off and the extraction fan and humidifer are running 24/7 for the duration of drying. I expect to be able to trim the buds within the next few days and complete drying on my dryer rack no later than a week from today.

One of the unexpected perks of bud washing were the small buds and sugar leaves that broke off during the washing process. I plan to dry them separately which will give me any opportunity to try some of the harvest while the remainder is curing. Here are a couple of pictures of the collateral damage from the bud washing.

I want to thank everyone who provided advice, support and encouragement throughout this grow. I greatly appreciate all who participated in this first of many grows, even if it was only to look at all the pretty pictures! I will continue to post updates regarding drying, curing and tasting. I have already started my second grow - ColoradoHigh - Soil - CFL - Super Skunk - 2013 - and I hope it is even more successful than this one! I'm absolutely sure it will be at least as fun and rewarding!!

 

[KingJohnC]

congratulations on your harvest!

 

[KingJohnC]

Do you know what causes the purple in the trichomes?

I believe it is genetic

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks KJC!

 

[CA215]

Those meds looks potent CH Grats on your harvest, nothing better than smoking your own grown meds.
Ill second that with breal, super skunk is super good smoke, we had it around these parts for awhile and I was able to smoke that stuff for months and not get tired of it. Hope you enjoy the fruits of your labor buddy! Heading to your new thread

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks CA!

 

[b.real]

sweet. enjoy your pizza and enjoy the smoke of those fine buds!

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks b.real!