1st Medical Grow, 3 Strains in 2x4 Hydrohut

[Icemud]

Photo's for today, June 26th, Day 33 of flowering...

Full Tent view before adding the overhead screen...

Blue Dragon's

Chemband's

University Hill's OG's

Blue Dragon twin tower comparison close up

----------------------------------------------------------------

After adding the overhead screen and supports

-------------------------------------------------------------

Side full tent view after hanging UVH OG's

Close up of UVH OG's

A full tent view after screen hung and starting to support branches.

Chemband's

Tent side view

UVH OG's after being spread out and supported, now much more airflow and light gets to the lower branches, as well as much more intensity to the tops...

Another photo of my chemband's

Photo close up of Blue dragon nug

Another close up of Blue dragon nug

Undersides of blue dragon nugs showing purple and red colors

Close up comparison of my University Hill's OG

Close up comparison of my Chemband bud

Another close up of Chemband bud

 

[Sonzor]

Still looking very nice. I have fished there many times. Never really had too much luck, but its always fun getting out on the water. Bless...

 

[Macgyverup]

I also added a much needed support system for my supercropped tops as well as the thin stemmed/very heavy nugs that are bending over..Mostly my University Hill's OG in mind...

I had some leftover screen from my SCROG build and it actually fit perfectly in my tent without any cutting...what luck!!! awesome!! With the help of my buddy, I hung the screen just below the lights, with some braided 30lb fishing line. The purpose was to make a sort of hanging rack so I could tie individual branches wherever I wanted to, to help open up lower light penetration, as well as support the heavy dense nugs to keep them from breaking branches.. Overall the screen worked perfectly, one thing I learned was work from the back first....I started from the front on one side and it makes things rather hard to get to after the front is all tied up....lmao!!

I also fed the ladies this morning there nutrient tea that has been on bubble for the last 3 days. I will be preparing another feeding batch today for 2-3 days from now, since the girls are really sucking up some water...

My question to you guys is...... I know most people say to flush 2 weeks prior to harvest (with chem fertz), and with organics, some say not to flush at all. I am not going to "flush" but would still like to water with distilled water and minimal or no nutrients prior to flower anyways, but how do you know when 2 weeks till harvest is?? I know you base your harvest of trichome development however, usually 1/2 to 3/4 amber trichomes means pull right?? So how do you determine 2 weeks prior to that point? Most of my buds are only less than 1/4 amber and most still have white hairs....I am on week 5 and my blue dragon's are supposed to be 7 week flower....should I start watering with distilled or wait until at least I see 3/4 orange hairs? What do you guy's use as your 2 week indicator??

Hey Bro! I agree that flushing before harvest is good whether or not your organic only. IMO, you get trich's to 30-40%% amber you can safely start your flushing or watering only regimen. When your at @ 30% your most likely at the point that growth or bud development, if any, would be minimal. But that's just my opinion. I'm sure there's more experienced growers here that can give you a better answer. Flushing with water is fine. I really liked the Clearex for the glucose/dextrose that adds some sweetness. But I think water is just as good. Will you be lights out before harvest or do you have any other strategies? Will you be taking pistil change into account before you chop?

That twist looks like a super cropped branch with the twisting. But since you scrog maybe it just got twisted when you were working around the girls and didn't notice it? Anyway can't wait to hear your smoke report.

Fishing! Sheeeit I'm jonesin so bad for nice day on the lake I could spit!!! Too much work and no play as the saying goes...

Nice job on the added screen!

 

[Icemud]

Hey Bro! I agree that flushing before harvest is good whether or not your organic only. IMO, you get trich's to 30-40%% amber you can safely start your flushing or watering only regimen. When your at @ 30% your most likely at the point that growth or bud development, if any, would be minimal. But that's just my opinion. I'm sure there's more experienced growers here that can give you a better answer. Flushing with water is fine. I really liked the Clearex for the glucose/dextrose that adds some sweetness. But I think water is just as good. Will you be lights out before harvest or do you have any other strategies? Will you be taking pistil change into account before you chop?

That twist looks like a super cropped branch with the twisting. But since you scrog maybe it just got twisted when you were working around the girls and didn't notice it? Anyway can't wait to hear your smoke report.

Fishing! Sheeeit I'm jonesin so bad for nice day on the lake I could spit!!! Too much work and no play as the saying goes...

Nice job on the added screen!

Thanks MacG for your advice...so just to make sure I'm clear....when my trichomes are about 1/3-1/2 amber, mean's I have about 2 weeks left till full maturity (like 50-75% amber trichomes)? So when I see 30% amber trichomes, water my next 2 weeks feedings water only, no nutrients?

Does that sound about right?

I don't really have any strategies for harvest yet and I am open to hearing all options or what is the best ways to do it? Dark period before harvest is one, but since I have 3 strains in my tent, and they are not the same time finishers, I don't believe I will be doing the dark period.. Is there other harvest techniques that I should know about?

I also read that harvesting in the morning vs evening will yield higher THC content so most likely I will do a morning chop, but with my Scrog and setup, I wont be able to remove plant pot and all, I will have to chop each individual bud and stem....


What do you mean about pistil change? can you elaborate or shoot me in the right direction to read more...links?

 

[Icemud]

Also, when doing my last 2 weeks of watering with distilled water or spring water, should I still be using molasses with the water or my Naked fruit juice smoothy (for fructose, sugars and complex carbs for soil)....also any other soil additives (not nutrients) like hygrowzyme, humic acid or liquid carbo load?

I figure since these only feed the soil and have no nutrient value's of there own, it might not hurt to add during flushing because they will only help in plant using up nutrients in soil and leaves....am I thinking correctly with this?

 

[Icemud]

Still looking very nice. I have fished there many times. Never really had too much luck, but its always fun getting out on the water. Bless...

Yeah this was my 2nd time fishing Irvine Lake, since I was born and raised in the midwest, freshwater fishing is much different here in Socal...deeper lakes, less weeds and cover to fish...so my knowledge was out the door fishing this lake....much more top water lures and drop shots is the way people were hooking bass..... not me...lol...still had a great time though!!

 

[Icemud]

Today June 27th, Day 34 of flowering!!!

The ladies are really looking healthy after the medium defoliation and support system added to the tent...The support almost makes it a 3 dimensional SCrog!! kind of awesome!! or maybe I'm medicated and amazed right now...lol...

The blue dragons still showing a lot of white pistils but the color is really starting to form a light healthy green mixed with a redish lavender purple color showing thru!! beautiful strain!!! and smells so much like blueberries!!!

The university hill's og's are really starting to fill out there popcorn style nugs and connect lower nodes to tops!! A very very frosty strain, so much that the smaller bud leaves are coated with a thick layer of resin around the edges and smell soo skunky but sweet.. The supercropped and now supported buds are really curving towards the light and lower nodes are starting to grow upwards in a pinecone fashion!! awesome tip!!!

My chembands are also really filling out and full of trichomes!!! There smell is not as pungent as the others, a more mild og type smell with a sweet skukyness.... Also the supercropped buds are really starting to look upwards toward the lights!!

Today mixed up a batch of nutrients for use 2-3 days from now. Mixed up 4 1/2 gallons of distilled water with my full Earthjuice line in the reciculation chart (mixed to 4 gallons amounts), 20ml of cal/mag, 60ml humic acid, 12ml liquid carbo load, 20ml of bioroot, 10ml of snowstorm, 3ml of gravity, 20ml of bioweed, about 3 tbsp of Indonesian bat guano, about 5tbsp of molassus (just poured it and guessed as I usually do...too sticky to pour and the repour..lol) put the mix on aeration for the next two days.

Not much else to report but I am very happy with how these ladies are showing there beauty!!!

 

[Icemud]

Here are today's photos, June 27th, Day 34 of flowering...

Full Tent view

My Blue Dragon's

My chemband's

My University Hill's OG's

Another angle of University Hill's OG's

Close up of Blue dragon bud

Blue Dragon twin towers

Close up of Chemband bud

Close up of University Hill's OG bud

Close up of Blue Dragon cola, notice how the lower part is really showing a lot of red/lavender color...!!

 

[bambee]

Very nice pictures!! The close up are especially nice. I really like the colors in the blue dragon, its a very pretty bud. Nice job on your plants

 

[Macgyverup]

Thanks MacG for your advice...so just to make sure I'm clear....when my trichomes are about 1/3-1/2 amber, mean's I have about 2 weeks left till full maturity (like 50-75% amber trichomes)? So when I see 30% amber trichomes, water my next 2 weeks feedings water only, no nutrients?

Does that sound about right?

I don't really have any strategies for harvest yet and I am open to hearing all options or what is the best ways to do it? Dark period before harvest is one, but since I have 3 strains in my tent, and they are not the same time finishers, I don't believe I will be doing the dark period.. Is there other harvest techniques that I should know about?

I also read that harvesting in the morning vs evening will yield higher THC content so most likely I will do a morning chop, but with my Scrog and setup, I wont be able to remove plant pot and all, I will have to chop each individual bud and stem....


What do you mean about pistil change? can you elaborate or shoot me in the right direction to read more...links?

That sounds about right to me. I'm no expert with only one harvest under my belt but I waited till amber was @ 40% stopped nutes and began flushing. That ended up being about 2 1/2 weeks before harvest. But my Hogs went 10 1/2 weeks in flower, ugh!!! The temptation was strong to pull those babes. Harvesting in the morning means that they will have some dark period before harvest which I believe helps resins flow to the buds. So that sounds like a good strategy.

On the pistil change. I waited till the pistils turned orange and 95% or more were completely withdrawn back into the bud. I'll pm you a link to more info.

Also, when doing my last 2 weeks of watering with distilled water or spring water, should I still be using molasses with the water or my Naked fruit juice smoothy (for fructose, sugars and complex carbs for soil)....also any other soil additives (not nutrients) like hygrowzyme, humic acid or liquid carbo load?

I figure since these only feed the soil and have no nutrient value's of there own, it might not hurt to add during flushing because they will only help in plant using up nutrients in soil and leaves....am I thinking correctly with this?

On the molasses. I fed my Hog with molasses with 20 ml per gal every time I watered throughout the grow. When I began flushing I held back. The last week I dried them out. Then I went dark for 24 hrs before one last flush with water and molasses. Then I harvested. For me it worked very well, the buds are sweet to the taste and the smoke is super smooth. The only problem (not sure if it is actually a problem) I have encountered is that though the ash burns nice and grey and the doob stays lit properly they seem to have tons of resins. This I attribute to the sugars in the molasses, as the tip near the head of the doob turns black and resiny. Also some of this resin is directly attributable to the high thc resins naturally occurring. These are some really powerful meds. Some may assume this is from ferts but it's not as I flushed them very well and according to the directions on the Clearex bottles and with improperly flushed plants the smoke will burn the back of your throat especially on exhale. I'll see if I can pm you a link on this in a while also.

I would not give them anything. They have developed as much as they will at that point so no need in adding anything you wouldn't want to smoke into your meds at that point.

As I said I'm not an expert and there are many more experienced growers that can hopefully give you better info. And I won't mind if I'm corrected. I just know what worked for my grow.

Question: Is the reason for not doing a full on flush because of your water situation? Just wondering. I'll go look up those links for you and pm them.

 

[Icemud]

Hey MacG!!! I really appreciate you taking the time to help me understand the best approach for harvest time which is very quickly approaching!!! I'm excited as hell to be able to soon try a product of my own green thumbs!!! lol...

That video was really informative, I really appreciate you sending me the links...

Your plan of starting the flushing/clearing period sounds good MacG and so far that will be my plan as well....wait until trichomes are at least 50% and then start the pure watering regiments...


As far as "flushing" vs watering with pure water......I have read that since with organics, there are no "salts" or salt based fertalizers to flush out of the soil..."flushing" or running 2x-3x the amount of water thru the soil, is not necessary, since there is nothing to flush out....

Many different organics forums even showed that many organic farmers do not flush at all....since bat poop is only bat poop until soil microbes break it down to usable nutrients....there is nothing to flush....

So after much reading, most likely I will not "flush" but run just molassas, water and probably my naked smoothies and coconut water for the last week or two.... out of all the reading that I did, MacG, your the only one I found to clarify the timing of the trichomes vs the last 2 weeks...I really appreciate it buddy!!!!

 

[Macgyverup]

Hey MacG!!! I really appreciate you taking the time to help me understand the best approach for harvest time which is very quickly approaching!!! I'm excited as hell to be able to soon try a product of my own green thumbs!!! lol...

That video was really informative, I really appreciate you sending me the links...

Your plan of starting the flushing/clearing period sounds good MacG and so far that will be my plan as well....wait until trichomes are at least 50% and then start the pure watering regiments...


As far as "flushing" vs watering with pure water......I have read that since with organics, there are no "salts" or salt based fertalizers to flush out of the soil..."flushing" or running 2x-3x the amount of water thru the soil, is not necessary, since there is nothing to flush out....

Many different organics forums even showed that many organic farmers do not flush at all....since bat poop is only bat poop until soil microbes break it down to usable nutrients....there is nothing to flush....

So after much reading, most likely I will not "flush" but run just molassas, water and probably my naked smoothies and coconut water for the last week or two.... out of all the reading that I did, MacG, your the only one I found to clarify the timing of the trichomes vs the last 2 weeks...I really appreciate it buddy!!!!

No problem glad I could help, but not sure if I could say that this will work for your grow, only that it worked for mine. More on that in a second. It's true most organic growers do not flush. I flushed because in the flower stage I added FF nutes, Beastie Bloomz, etc. But I would take issue with never having to flush using organics. There are times it may be beneficial, such as when poorer quality of water is being used and minerals can build up and lock out nutes in poor soils, not only salts. This is obviously not your case and I wholeheartedly support your choice! Using organics is the best insurance against nute lock up but is not 100%. Just food for thought.

My trich's at time of harvest had not fully developed as I had hoped. All the other signs were clear. But and this is a big "but", when they completed drying and now curing the trich's are 80% amber, 15% opaque/cloudy, and 5% clear. Go figure! It worked for me and hope your strategy, which I think is sound, works for you.

 

[Macgyverup]

Just something I thought you might be interested in.

What is Nutrient Lockout?

 

[Icemud]

Thanks again Mac G!!! I actually started off in the beginning with using chemical PH up and down, not knowing this was a huge NO NO with organics, and locked up my plants because the soil was up around 8ph, flushed right afterwords, treated with micronutes and b1 and foliar feedings, and corrected it...as well as a repotting before flower...lol....mistakes learned from are worth making though...lol...

that video is stuck in my head about the ash test....now I am going to be looking at each bowl i roast!! lol

Again I really appreciate the support and knowledge your feeding my way!!! "hence food for the mind"

I really try to do most of my own research before asking and taking the lazy route, but sometimes a few good experienced assurances are very helpful and comforting!!! much respect MacG!!

 

[Icemud]

Today June 29th, Day 36 of flowering!!!

Gave the ladies there much needed nutrient soaking today, it has been on bubble for 2 days now and the ph was sitting right at 5.1. The ladies soil was dry down to the bottom 1/2 of the pot, seems like every 3 days they are ready for watering, wow, they suck up a ton during flowering!!

As soon as I gave them there watering, whooosh!! a rush of there fragrence filled my room....as there thank you to the feeding!!! The tops are getting really fat and the blue dragons should be 2-3 weeks away from harvest, but with MacG's help, I will be using the pistils and trichomes as my indicators for when to harvest...props Mac G!!!

Other than the watering, not much else to report today.

 

[Icemud]

Here are today's photo's, June 29th, day 37 of flowering!!!

Full Tent view

Top shot of blue dragon twin tower

Side view of Blue dragon cola

An overview of my blue dragons

The chemband's

University Hill's OG's

another photo of University Hill's OG's

Close up of Blue Dragon cola

Another close up of blue dragon cola

twin tower blue dragon close up comparison shot

Chemband close up comparison shot

University Hill's OG close up comparison

 

[thspot]

shieett some dank

 

[dogstick]

Well done, awesome you have worked mulitple strains in there.

 

[surfinstoned]

I love the blue dragon shots! If you are stoned enough i can pictured little lizard faces on the blue dragons and the fan leaves on the colas look like their neck scruff!!!!!! me and MR. Jack Herer just had a session. Great job Ice any predictions or goals of a dry weight to hit?

 

[Macgyverup]

Thanks again Mac G!!! I actually started off in the beginning with using chemical PH up and down, not knowing this was a huge NO NO with organics, and locked up my plants because the soil was up around 8ph, flushed right afterwords, treated with micronutes and b1 and foliar feedings, and corrected it...as well as a repotting before flower...lol....mistakes learned from are worth making though...lol...

that video is stuck in my head about the ash test....now I am going to be looking at each bowl i roast!! lol

Again I really appreciate the support and knowledge your feeding my way!!! "hence food for the mind"

I really try to do most of my own research before asking and taking the lazy route, but sometimes a few good experienced assurances are very helpful and comforting!!! much respect MacG!!

Thanks Ice. You're on it and the results are showing. Yeah I check every bowl/joint now. If you think about it, many growers don't take the extra effort to grow great healthy meds, their in it for the bucks... too bad for those people who can't grow their own and have to rely on shady grows for their meds.