Jimobry's Bag Seed First Grow Journal

[Jimbory]

Photo update!

Any help with trichome recognition, and estimating harvest time will be greatly appreciated, cause I find it really difficult.
I hope that these photos will allow you to do so.

I did my best.
Enjoy, and thank you!

 

[Dan Ultra]

Trich pics are a little blurry to see if they are actually cloudy or if its just blur. I think I see a random amber though. Your pistils are still mostly white, which is a good indicator that she's not ready yet. Some people will go soley by pistils, although trich color is a better indicator. Pistils will be mostly orange/amber before the trichs really start to change.

Here is one of my buds at only about 20% cloudy and the rest clear, but you can see that more of the pistils are starting to orange. I guesstimate mine has about 4 weeks left.

EDIT** After scrolling back up through your pics, a lot of them have a good amount of orange, the one that stuck in my head that did not was in pictures #4,#5 and #6

 

[Jimbory]

Yeah, the one you were looking at, was of one of the slower girls. I have two girls showing 40-50% ginger pistils, and two girls with much less.

 

[GhettoGro]

They are getting close! I can't tell much from the trich pictures. If they are still making new white hairs, they are still making bud.

The amount of cloudy and amber trichs is a good indicator, but all strains will be a little different. I've had plants that never turned amber. Once you get familiar with a strain/pheno you will know what to look for. Many people will take small samples at different stages with new strains. I have in the past. As a rule I like a full body couchlock so I usually wait until mine are 25-50% amber. There are lots of little factors (i.e. strain, environment, buzz preference etc...). There is no one-fits-all answer. Just something you will learn with each grow.

Dry and cure:
Once chopped and trimmed. I leave the branches intact and hang them in 30-50% RH (prefferebly) but the weather here doesn't always cooperate. I keep a fan moving air over them as they dry. Once the stems snap when I bend them, I clip the buds and put them in air-tight glass jars. I bought a case of 1 quart Ball canning jars. Each day for the first couple of weeks, I will open the jars and lets them breath for a half hour to an hour depending on how much the buds moistened back up in the sealed jar. If you ever get the buds too dry you can put a small piece of lettuce stalk or carrot in the jar and it will re-hydrate the buds. I like lettuce and carrot as they don't effect the smell or taste of the weed. Don't use potato (I learned that one the hard way). Don't use apple or fruit unless you just have some nasty tasting buds.

Some people will clip the buds from the branches and dry on a screen or in a paper sack. I tried the paper sack method and it didn't work too well for me. I have a small screen that I use for stray buds that are not on a large branch. I usually place the screen near the hanging branches so it gets a breeze from the fan.

The jars do the curing for you. Chopping at the right time and getting the dry right is the part you just learn as you go.

 

[Jimbory]

GG, You are the man! thanks for the info

 

[Jimbory]

GG, I will keep you updated when I start my cure, and I will try to implement your way in it.
I will buy the jars, when I start drying, then I will have a better idea, as to how many jars I need.

Meanwhile I broke, I cut a couple of popcorn buds off two of the ladies, and they have been drying slowly in the oven while it is left a bit open for the last few hours, buds are still moist, so I might put them in the microwave for 10 seconds.
Looking forward to lighting that spliff

 

[Dan Ultra]

Microwave is no good brother. It will cause the Trich heads to detach and then you lose your potency. At least that's what I have read.

 

[Jimbory]

I dont know, read that some people recommend about it. Beside, that was the quickest way I had to finish the dry after, trying the oven for 3 hours.
It was ok, gave a nice buzz.

 

[GhettoGro]

I would never use the microwave. Too high heat kills the THC content. If you "JUST GOTTA", chop and place in oven at low temp (200F)

If you can wait a whole day, I put "emergency" buds on my cable box and they are dry by morning. Realize that a spliff/joint is not going to burn good until a little cure is on.

 

[Dan Ultra]

I would never use the microwave. Too high heat kills the THC content. If you "JUST GOTTA", chop and place in oven at low temp (200F)

If you can wait a whole day, I put "emergency" buds on my cable box and they are dry by morning. Realize that a spliff/joint is not going to burn good until a little cure is on.

Agreed! Joints don't burn well at all unless properly dried.

 

[Jimbory]

I always smoke it with tobacco, so it helps it burn nicely.
I hope to stop smoking tobacco soon, and then I will join the pure club.
I used the microwave on 30% strength, and I did 10 seconds intervals with 20 second rest.
It worked out ok.

I don't have a cable box, nor a ballast or any other heat producing electronic devices really. My laptop doesn't give much heat either when it is on. I guess that It is just a reminder to keep my patience until my weed is properly dried at least.
I will cure most of it I assume, except a two week supply, which will be dried for a bit longer, to keep us going until the rest of the stash has cured some.

 

[GhettoGro]

Your about to have the time of your life when you harvest the garden you have going. You'll be rockin' da 'hood wid da blunts playa! lol

 

[Jimbory]

Hahaha, you cracked me up. I hope to do just that, playa!!!

 

[surfinchef]

Looking great bro. I know u are anxious to harvest.

And I'm going to take a Que from you on my second grow and go with a much shorter veg time.

Anyways man stellar looking ladies.

 

[Jimbory]

Thank you chef, your words are like violin to my ears

very eager to harvest. I am working on a new drying space, cause it seems like that two of the girls are getting ripe much quicker then the other two.

I think that one month veg time is just enough. I hope that you take my advise on several plants too, to increase the chance of females, even though I have a feeling that this time it is going to be a girl

 

[surfinchef]

Thank you chef, your words are like violin to my ears

very eager to harvest. I am working on a new drying space, cause it seems like that two of the girls are getting ripe much quicker then the other two.

I think that one month veg time is just enough. I hope that you take my advise on several plants too, to increase the chance of females, even though I have a feeling that this time it is going to be a girl

You are too kind Jim.

Good luck with the new drying space. Anywhere that is dark with good air circulation should be fine as long as you can keep the humidity down. I'm sure you will find or make that perfect spot.

For this grow we r sticking with just the one as a final learning experience. We r not doing nearly as much lst this grow. Just going to defol and top as a means to control heighth. But we already have autoflowering feminized seeds in mind for the next grow. Almost 100% sure we will have fruit juice auto feminized on the menu for next grow.

Yea I'm feeling it's gonna be a girl too. I have actually used this same bucket to grow from bag seed that turned out to be a female. We actually had a couple buds. Unfortunately there were so many things we did wrong we were surprised we harvested anything. So I'm feeling the good vibes this pot has brought us in the past will bring us another female on this one! Lol!

Cheers my friend! And we hope you have a happy harvest soon!

 

[Jimbory]

Haha, I really hope that you guys will get an easy and bud packed grow.
Glad to hear that you have decided on some proper seeds.
I will see after this grow, if I will do the same.
Much love.

 

[Jimbory]

Update: Flowering Week 8 Day 4

Getting close to where I thought I would start flushing.
I really thought that I started to see some amber showing today, but really cant be sure, cause when I checked again today, I couldn't find it again.
I think that I am going to harvest mostly by hunch, and if we fix an other drying space, then it will be one girl at a time.
They all got a round of nutes at 4 ml/l of all biobizz products in my possession.
The two girls that are less ripe are showing some massive buds, compared to the other two, which basically left me no choice but to give them the time they need in order to reach their true potential. Feeling optimistic.
The riper two are mostly ginger pistils by now, so I think I will start flushing them in a few days.

Question: When flushing, do I do it once and then continue water normally, or do I flush them every watering until harvest?
I couldn't really find a clear answer in my search.

Photos tomorrow, but I cant really get a proper trichome shot. :/

 

[Jimbory]

So I have got some fabulous news!!!
I manged to get trichome shots that just might be worthy of uploading
After messing around with my iphone 4 and the cheap microscope I bought for 2 dollars, this is what I got:

Please share you thoughts of the colors you see, I think that I see a little bit of amber, what do you think?

 

[Dan Ultra]

Great shots brother!! I bet that was a huge test of patience to get those. lol
Maybe it's just me, but I am not seeing any amber in these shots. A lot look to be cloudy though