2020 - 2021 Bubble Kush RQS, Bubba Kush Dinafem, Sour Tangie GOG, Strawberry Amnesia Dinafem

[BluePhoric]

Nice selection. You've got all aspects covered...relaxing Indica to uplifting Sativa

Yeah, 1000w might be too hot in your space without adding some cooling.

My strategy for controlling heat is first to skip summer. Then, I run the lights-on period overnight, both for cooler nighttime temps and cheaper nighttime electric rates. My reflector doesn't have the flanges for attaching ducting, so I just have my extraction duct up above it venting out a basement window. Seems to work out OK for the (9-month) cool season.

I've been running cheap Plantmax bulbs. The 400w MH is about $10 and the 1000W HPS is about $25. I recycle them after two grows. I've run Hortilux bulbs in the past and I can't tell any difference.

Your seedlings are looking good! I like it when they all stay about the same size.

The 600W HPS Ushio HiLUX GRO ... according to manufacturer...

...has an Optimized spectrum, distribution pattern, lumen output and irradiance, maximized output in both red and blue spectral range, for maximum flower yield, and added blue spectrum for vegetative growth efficiency...

...bla bla bla...

But it has good reviews, was ~60$ US, and I thought I'd give it a try.

I'll be using the MH only for the first half of VEG, then switch to the HPS @ 600W, so I wanted an HPS that had a more balanced spectrum (more blue). More blue is good to have "maybe" less stretch, mostly when switching to 12/12.

The spectral distribution graph seems to indeed be advantageous... compared to others I looked at.
Others not costing a fortune I mean.

 

[MotaFina]

Great job on the manifold! The trunk on that plant is massive.

 

[BluePhoric]

Day 8 ... beginning of week #2:

In order, from short to tall :

Bubba kush
Bubblegum OG
Strawberry amnesia
Sour Tangie

Sour Tangie is way ahead in terms of height AND leaf development.

 

[BluePhoric]

Got busy and made some crumble yesterday ;-)

 

[BluePhoric]

A nice blend of two tasty, mostly-sativa (60/40) x (75/25), uplifting strains... from a previous grow.

Out of ~ 50g of a mix (50/50) of Liberty Haze X Lemon Shining Silver Haze, I got 9.16g of pressed hash.

That's about 18% conversion or 1:5.5 ratio. Not bad.

It would have been at least 20% if I had used only Liberty Haze since it's the more resinous plant of the two.

I made 4 pucks of ~2g plus one of ~1g. Most pucks will go into long storage, sealed in individual vacuum bags.

Here's the eye-candy... Too bad you can't smell it ;-)

 

[BluePhoric]

Day 10 :

Bubba Kush has weird wrinkled leaves...

I think I went pretty low dosing the Cal/Mag on the first waterings. Maybe that's why.

Judging by the roots, the plants will possibly go in bigger pots on Friday (day 14).

BP

 

[MotaFina]

A nice blend of two tasty, mostly-sativa (60/40) x (75/25), uplifting strains... from a previous grow.

Out of ~ 50g of a mix (50/50) of Liberty Haze X Lemon Shining Silver Haze, I got 9.16g of pressed hash.

That's about 18% conversion or 1:5.5 ratio. Not bad.

It would have been at least 20% if I had used only Liberty Haze since it's the more resinous plant of the two.

I made 4 pucks of ~2g plus one of ~1g. Most pucks will go into long storage, sealed in individual vacuum bags.

Here's the eye-candy... Too bad you can't smell it ;-)

Looks good! How do you make those pucks?

I just did a run of bubble hash last weekend. I used 1-2 oz of buds and about 5 ounces of sugar leaf and larf. It's still curing. I'm sure I didn't get any kind of return like you did.

 

[BluePhoric]

Looks good! How do you make those pucks?

I just did a run of bubble hash last weekend. I used 1-2 oz of buds and about 5 ounces of sugar leaf and larf. It's still curing. I'm sure I didn't get any kind of return like you did.

I use a... vise pollen press. Got it from wackywillysweb dot com in Canada.

The cheap T-Presses did not appeal to me. Many comments say they just break (screw strip) or drop metal shards into the hash.

The Stainless steal Hammer-press that can be used in a vise seemed more rugged and reliable.

The first bubble hash I made (Blue dream) did not yield much. The weed went like 4 times thru the ice-water-bags, and yielded about the same quantity of trichomes every-time. I just got too tired and abandoned.

This time (possibly better technique and preparation), 1st pass gave a huge amount of trichs, 2nd time half that, 3rd time very little. I skipped the 4th time, it wasn't worth the effort.

It may be only the strain. Liberty Haze gave an incredible amount of finger hash when I trimmed her. Not even comparable to any plant I trimmed before. So it's a good hash-plant.


The first pucks I did were much paler and friable (Blue dream). But I did not use any heat. It looks just like compressed saw dust.

This time I wanted a more traditional hash, with the traditional look, feel, and aroma.

I used the hot water bottle method (frenchy style) in parchment paper to first melt the dry trichomes into a thinner than 1/8" slab. Not too much heat and not too long, just to get a more resinous feel, get rid og the "crumbleness".

Then I folded it several times, broke it in weighted chunks, made pucks with the press that i also had heated a bit beforehand (in hot water). I put a thing coat of olive oil on some parts of the press so to be able to remove the pucks.

Notes :

Heat and hard pressing will break the trichome heads, releasing terpenes and cannabinoids giving a more traditional hash, for better or for worst, depending on one's preference. Due to it's corrosive nature, aging hash should melt the trichome "skins" and other organic matter, become more homogeneous and improve in flavor, aroma, etc.

The heat will partly DECARB the hash as well. I think it will be a good thing for me since I only vape weed/hash.

Proper storage (vacuum) is a must since the terpenes and cannabinoids will degrade in presence of oxygen.

I'm quite inexperienced with hash-making, so we'll see how well I've done when time passes.

BP

 

[MotaFina]

Do you mix up all your bags? or keep the different grades separate? And how do you get the crumble so consistent? Mine's always full of big chunks.

We dug into some 18 month-old 73-micron last night . It's been kept in a vacuum-sealed 4-oz mason jar. It's become very sticky. It still has great aroma and is quite potent.

 

[BluePhoric]

Do you mix up all your bags? or keep the different grades separate? And how do you get the crumble so consistent? Mine's always full of big chunks.

We dug into some 18 month-old 73-micron last night . It's been kept in a vacuum-sealed 4-oz mason jar. It's become very sticky. It still has great aroma and is quite potent.

Yep I mix all grades (not looking for full-melt grade). Went with 220u work bag + 120, 73, 25 (skipped the 160).

I dump the 120 stuff onto the 25u drying screen (paper towels underneath). I dont spread it much.
I dump the 73 and 25 over the 120 grade and fold/mix them up.

* I hate putting the 25u stuff directly on the 25u screen, a pain to manipulate (and clean) it after.

After that, I spread all that onto a parchment paper, delicately crumble it and mix it well with a knife or credit card.

I leave a paper towel on the bottom and on top to absorb the remaining humidity.

To my surprise, it was very dry the next morning. Mixed it again, the went straight to pressing.

P.S.: I use distilled water for rinsing (partly for mixing) the trichomes just before I collect them at the bottom of the bag.

BP

 

[BluePhoric]

MF, you may find this article interesting, from Ed Rosenthal's site:

The Heavy Hitters of Hash: Five cannabis strains favored by the world’s top hashishins...​

These three strains seem great candidates for hash making :

Gorilla Glue #4, OG Kush, NYC Diesel...

NYC Diesel being the only mostly Sativa (70/30) strain listed, that's the one I'd try sometime in the future.

BP

 

[BluePhoric]

Day 14 :

Plants will go into 3-gallon soft pots today.

I installed a new MH bulb yesterday... more LUX power and less heat.

Still, my plants were doing great with the old MH.

I like to use transparent solo-cups... I can see root development :

It's become a habit : 2 weeks in solo-cups and then into bigger (final) pots.

I'll post again later during the day... after re-potting and reorganizing the grow space a bit.

BP

 

[BluePhoric]

That's a lot of milk crates ;-) But it works well.

The girls will grow well in those 3 gal pots. They look bigger than previous 3gal pots I had before...

The plants are a little low (far from the light), more than I'd like, but that's it for now.

BP

 

[MotaFina]

They look good....nice color, healthy roots.

Interesting setup on the light. Are you pushing cool air from the floor over the bulb? or extracting warm air down to the floor?

When it gets really cold, I vent my extraction fan into the basement instead of out the window so it heats up the basement and I hopefully save on my gas bill.

 

[MotaFina]

Hey BP...I started a new journal too....link below. I'm not super active, but I try to update about once a week.

Motafina Winter 2021: Peyote Zkittles, Blue Dream, Royal Cookies, Wedding Gelato

 

[BluePhoric]

They look good....nice color, healthy roots.

Interesting setup on the light. Are you pushing cool air from the floor over the bulb? or extracting warm air down to the floor?

When it gets really cold, I vent my extraction fan into the basement instead of out the window so it heats up the basement and I hopefully save on my gas bill.

I'm extracting to the floor at a 45 deg angle. Another fan (like 10 feet away) blows towards the plants.

Good air movement. Ambient temp is about 23-25c (73-77F) in the basement.

Yes, the heat contributes to heating the house as a hole, so I guess the cost of lighting the plants in winter is near 0.
Heat goes up, so it heats my kitchen floor up there ;-)

 

[BluePhoric]

They're baaaaack !

Yep, I inspected my seedlings with a magnifying glass... witch I always do around this time in the grow.

Spider mites are back, only a few, and I almost failed to see them.
I didn't see any eggs, witch is a good sign it's just the start of an infestation.

It was a bit expected... my basement is a storage room for all my summer gardening stuff, including lawn mower, etc.

I've been thru this before, always in the seedling stage, when the girls are most vulnerable.
I've always had good luck with a Neem Oil solution.

The girls were just misted with the solution (1L water, 1 tsp neem opil, 1/3 tsp dish-soap.).
I mostly spray under the leaves (drench), and also a light mist on the top of the leaves and branches.

I'll do that AT LEAST once a day, two if I can, for a week or so.

You can't really do it too much... it's not hard on the plant like a bug killer / End all / miticide...

Plants like a mist of water + Neem.

Still... it's always stressful to see bugs in one's plants.

BP

 

[MotaFina]

They're baaaaack !

Neem should take care of those buggers. I had some experience with them way back, but I haven't seen them since moving to the East coast.

 

[BluePhoric]

Merry Christmas !

Day 21 (3 weeks) :


Bubba Kush :

Bubblegum OG :

Sour Tangie :

Strawberry Amnesia :

Neem oil treatment is ongoing.

I plan to start topping and training soon, but I'd like to take cuttings when I top, so maybe I have to wait a bit...

BP

P.S.: Dunno why, it keeps repeating photos under here...

 

[BluePhoric]

Day 27 :

Well, today was cloning day...

I'm a bit late for topping the plants... but it's fine, the trunks are getting big and will make for a great mainlining/manifolding. I dont exactly follow the tutorials and do my own interpretation according to the structure of the plants.

The plants were topped and I kept only 4 tops on each plant, at the 2nd and 3rd nodes.
All un-necessary growth was removed. That will set be back a week (or two ?).
Training will begin when the plants get over the shock of being mutilated.

The cuttings were trimmed and re-sized to go under my dome.
It usually takes me 10 days of caring for the cuttings before I see rooting out of the jiffy and repot in solo cups.