JoJo's Hempy SCROG Bucket C99 Grow Journal - 2015

[jojo677]

Mini-Update:

I decided to harvest small Hempy tonight, so I could reduce the lighting and stop stressing big Hempy. She has been flowering for 55 days. It took me about an hour and a half to trim, and it looks pretty good! It's pretty dense, and I got to it before the foxtails were terrible. They still weren't fun though!

The roots look super healthy and since I vegged her so long, she was pretty rootbound. The plant seemed to have the same volume of trimmed bud and container size.

Wet weight was 134g, so I'll probably get like ~30g dried. Not great, but this plant is just the appetizer!

Most likely, I'll have a proper update tomorrow.

 

[Weaselcracker]

It really does! It's so hard to see every nook and cranny too! You just look at each bud, hoping you see that bright green nanner staring at you. If I see another tomorrow, I'll take a pic tor all to see.

I've often thought of the hermie seed question. The way I think of it is this way:

Any feminized plant is the product of a female plant producing pollen and pollinating another female or itself. If you have a female that doesn't hermie easily under stress, her offspring are likely to have similar traits. If you have a female that hermies easily, she may pollinate herself and others, creating seeds. So while they all have a tendency to hermie, wouldn't you rather have the one from the strong female, such as the ones breeders pick?

Of course the other side of this is that if you have good conditions and minimize stress, you may have good luck with either. Also, you never know quite what the offspring will turn out like. Many people have good luck with them. A lot of bag seed grows are most likely products of hermies, and people do them all the time.

Just my thoughts!

Yeah I think of it that way too - like each female has a different tipping point at which she is going to start making nanners- some will make nanners every time, just because...
If I had thought of it, and been looking - I could have avoided a lot of seeds in my bud.
I have a clone of nanner girl, or should I call her 'Nanny'? ready to flower. Maybe I'll just flower her, triple check against any possible light pollution sources keep an eye on her and hope for the best. As for the seeds- I'll have to grow them out to know for sure I suppose. I think I'll go on a quest though to find someone in here who knows more about genetics than me to answer the question. I don't want to grow nanners.

 

[jojo677]

Well all of the breeding I have done was with feminized mothers, so all of my plants may hermie too. Let me know what you find out as I plan on growing a few of them soon!

 

[Weaselcracker]

Nice job on the little hempy. The buds look like those nice dense 'crumbly' ones. Though of course I can barely see them with my crappy phone screen but they look nice and dense. 55 days is awesome! My plants usually take twice as long!

 

[jojo677]

Thanks dude! They are nice and crumbly, though not as dense as I'd like. I think it's hard to get super dense with this sativa strain though - my NL were much denser. I'll get some good pictures before curing (ones you can see on your phone)!

 

[mussh]

grats on your homegrown primo smoke!

30 grams @ tens bucks a gram = $300 in your pocket! saving money like crazy.

 

[jojo677]

Update (53 days flower, 110 days old):

Just a quick update. I watered again today and the buds aren't growing much at all. I think for my next grow, I may try feeding up to 3 days from harvest, and use a diy clearex solution. The last few grows, I've noticed how much the 2 week flush slows down growth.

Anyway, she's looking a little better, and I think it's because of less light. I only plucked a few (3?) nanners today, so hopefully she's not stressed anymore. You can see one of the nanners in the 3rd picture.

The little Hempy is drying in a cardboard box. I hate seeing those buds shrink so much every day!

The clone is looking good. I just watered today to maybe slow down growth. It's not growing too fast, but I just don't want to add more light. She'll explode when I get her under some proper lighting!

 

[rhetorrikz]

Like your diy drying box !
If your getting a few nanners right now i wouldnt worry i dont think they could do much damage at this stage ? How long do u think left maybe a week to harvest?

 

[jojo677]

Like your diy drying box !
If your getting a few nanners right now i wouldnt worry i dont think they could do much damage at this stage ? How long do u think left maybe a week to harvest?

Thanks man! And I agree, I don't think the nanners will hurt much this grow. I'm going to redo my growroom and clean it anyway, so I'm not worried much about stray pollen if I do miss a few (more) nanners!

And yeah, I think I have about another week. I still see no amber, so I'll let her keep growing. Hopefully I gain a little more weight! They haven't grown much in the last week, but the buds are starting to swell a bit.

 

[HunterHunt]

Really a flush should start when all growth has slowed and pretty much stopped... Then start the two week flush to finish her up. IMO if you are flushing while still growing its to early. You will even see she will stop drinking almost completely. Look good though!!

 

[jojo677]

Really a flush should start when all growth has slowed and pretty much stopped... Then start the two week flush to finish her up. IMO if you are flushing while still growing its to early. You will even see she will stop drinking almost completely. Look good though!!

I didn't know that, thank you Hunter! I think I may have been harvesting most of my previous plants too early. I cut them when growth slowed, but didn't allow them to fill in. Maybe this is why my buds are so airy, including the ones I harvested a few days ago... I knew I was doing something wrong!

Harvest is coming up pretty quick though. I looked again tonight, and like 1 amber tric

 

[Weaselcracker]

Really a flush should start when all growth has slowed and pretty much stopped... Then start the two week flush to finish her up. IMO if you are flushing while still growing its to early. You will even see she will stop drinking almost completely. Look good though!!

Thanks for this Hunter. Good info. Tweaking the harvest/flushing window is something I'm still trying to get my head around, after quite a few years of growing.

So how does this relate to the maturation of the trichomes? If you are waiting for the plant to get fully 'ripe' and finish- then you are not using the trichomes directly as an indicator- correct? And what color trichomes do you 'usually' end up with if you wait for a plant to stop growing- then flush for 2 weeks?
I realize that there might not any definite answer to these questions...

 

[jojo677]

So how does this relate to the maturation of the trichomes? If you are waiting for the plant to get fully 'ripe' and finish- then you are not using the trichomes directly as an indicator- correct? And what color trichomes do you 'usually' end up with if you wait for a plant to stop growing- then flush for 2 weeks?

Good question man, I was wondering the same thing myself!

 

[jojo677]

Mini-Update (57 days flower, 114 days old):

I did water big Hempy last night, but didn't put up pictures since not much has changed and I'm build anticipation for harvest day! I still see no ambers, but maybe this strain just doesn't really show them? The breeder suggests a 56-60 day flowering period, but I've also heard that LEDs shorten that time a bit. I also saw some reviews of this strain mentioning how nanners start popping up around day 56, and I had them about a week ago...

Also, I got some snapping stems on little Hempy, so I moved it to a mason jar to start curing. Yield was 29.53g of fluffy bud. I'm pretty sure I harvested that plant entirely too soon as well. Big Hempy will be my redeeming harvest... Live and learn!

 

[Tead]

but maybe this strain just doesn't really show them?

I've never seen that. I've always seen amber.

 

[HunterHunt]

Thanks for this Hunter. Good info. Tweaking the harvest/flushing window is something I'm still trying to get my head around, after quite a few years of growing.

So how does this relate to the maturation of the trichomes? If you are waiting for the plant to get fully 'ripe' and finish- then you are not using the trichomes directly as an indicator- correct? And what color trichomes do you 'usually' end up with if you wait for a plant to stop growing- then flush for 2 weeks?
I realize that there might not any definite answer to these questions...

I always get at least 25% amber after a good month cure. I think it really helps to let them go all the way. IMO a cannabis plant is not mature and doesnt shows the full effect if someone harvest with clear and milky trichomes. Grows that I have let go extra time and actually finish up have been the most potent/best terps. I hardly check trichs anymore. This can be strain dependent a little but all the indica/hybrid 8 week strains ive grown are all about the same as far as maturity. Just the way i like harvesting.

jojo as fair as airy buds that all has to do with light buddy! Cant wait to see harvest pics! I like a good mix of amber and milky trichomes. Once I get a good month cure and i see gold trichomes all over my bud I know I have accomplished something... =) some bomb ass smoke.

 

[jojo677]

I always get at least 25% amber after a good month cure. I think it really helps to let them go all the way. IMO a cannabis plant is not mature and doesnt shows the full effect if someone harvest with clear and milky trichomes. Grows that I have let go extra time and actually finish up have been the most potent/best terps. I hardly check trichs anymore. This can be strain dependent a little but all the indica/hybrid 8 week strains ive grown are all about the same as far as maturity. Just the way i like harvesting.

jojo as fair as airy buds that all has to do with light buddy! Cant wait to see harvest pics! I like a good mix of amber and milky trichomes. Once I get a good month cure and i see gold trichomes all over my bud I know I have accomplished something... =) some bomb ass smoke.

Interesting take on bud maturity. When you said that before, I figured it was strain dependent, and if you use your method, some will end up with more amber than others. I'll keep that in mind for the future!

About the fluffy buds, I know it's the light... THOUGH, these buds are getting much denser than the little Hempy (as far as I can tell), so I think they've gained some weight in the last week. They are feeling much more solid, so I'm actually going to wait for the amber to get where I want it this time. I've been an impatient boy...

I have been thinking about a 400W HPS though... It's hard to justify when I already have 2 LEDs and will be shrinking my grow space. So many things to try in the future!

 

[jojo677]

Oh, also - I've been checking trics daily, and I've still only seen 1-2 ambers. Would anyone think it would be worth going back to a light feeding until they start showing up? I've been flushing for 2 weeks, and realize I started way early. There are still some new pistols emerging, but not many.

 

[Weaselcracker]

That's awesome info to hear. Thanks so much HunterNitro, and +reps ! It's totally in line with what I want to be doing, too. I'm happiest when my plants look 'ready'. They get so sticky and white with various rainbow highlights- the leaves are basically a done deal- like a tree in the fall. I know it when I see it- better than I can explain it. I know the same look in my garden -vegetables, berries and fruit trees. Ripeness. I remember GreenThumb J had some amazing plants that way. Page 16 of his last journal if I recall correctly after all these months, which show some version of what I mean.
Yes.... Here - GreenThumb J's Perpetual Multi-Strain Journal!
Now I just have to master letting them get there without screwing it up on the way.

 

[rhetorrikz]

Oh, also - I've been checking trics daily, and I've still only seen 1-2 ambers. Would anyone think it would be worth going back to a light feeding until they start showing up? I've been flushing for 2 weeks, and realize I started way early. There are still some new pistols emerging, but not many.

Nah should be fine just keep doing what your doing let the plant use up all its stored nutes and u'll see it sucking the last out of the leaves . I dont think it will go on for much longer