AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal - Ebb&Flow - Bubblelicious 2013

[AfricanGrower]

6/1/14

So it has been 68 days of flower for the bagseed, and it is finally time for harvest. As per the Capn's suggestion and Sl1ng being the role model, I will make a timeline of photos from seed to harvest. I will go over some the details towards the end of the slideshow.

Harvest

So my wet bud weight came up to 22.9grams. My wet trim weight came up to 17.3 grams. These numbers are reminiscent of my first grows as a beginner...no longer will I be harvesting less than 5 oz at a time

Bud Washing

I'll throw up some pics of my attempt at the process. If you want to see a more detailed report on what I did and the results, I will be posting them on Hiker's Bud Washing thread

And to those who want to try a quick dry technique I have recently stumbled upon for those tiny samples you are aching to try, I think the 'water vapor' method must be the most efficient and 'quickest' method by far.

 

[B A R]

Marvelous, Simply marvelous! Great Photo Shoot AG & congrats on your harvest.

 

[VictorVonDoom]

whats this water vapor technique bruv?

 

[AfricanGrower]

Thanks Reg And Victor for the kind words.

Victor I was going to post this on here anyway, but since you asked here you go:

Dankmaster's Microwave Steam Method
A vast improvement in quick dry technology. It does a satisfactory job fairly quickly. Trichomes don’t burst and flavor while not great isn’t awful anymore -- which is all I can say for any of the previously mentioned methods. What the method does is use steam to dry out the weed.

Necessary items
*Tupperware container with lid.
*Buds fresh off the plant (cut into small pieces, don’t shred them – cut into nice little chunks).
*3-paper towels.
*Microwave with power setting options.
*Water.

First, take 1/4 piece of a paper towel and lay it on the bottom of the Tupperware container. Then put your cut up weed on the paper towel. Next, take two paper towels, fold them several times and get them wet. Wring out most of the water. You want the paper towels wet but not dripping. Now, you lay the paper towels over the top of the Tupperware making sure that you completely and evenly cover the top. Then take the lid and squeeze it almost all the way on. When I say almost I mean to get all sides and corners on tight except for one corner to allow the steam to exit. Now your ready to put your steam dryer in the microwave.

Set the microwave power to 40 or 50 %. I recommend 40% -- I tried it on full power the first few times and it didn’t work nearly as well. Now set it for a minute and let it go. Take it out and let the steam evaporate out and let sit for 15-20 seconds. If the bottom paper towel (the one that the buds are on) is wet change it. If the two paper towels you were using are dry make sure to re-wet and wring out and put back over top and put lid on in same way.

Now microwave at 40-50% for another minute and repeat process for typically 3-5 minutes. This is the best method if you need the herb in less than 20 minutes.

The original article with more techniques on how to quick dry buds can be found HERE

I follow the instructions to a T. The only minor differences is that I put my power settings to 30% and I go for 1 minute intervals for a total of 2 minutes. I find that any longer than this dries out the buds WAY TOO MUCH. Great thing about this is that it keeps the integrity of the nug without loosing too much potency or flavor. The smoke is still somewhat rough on the throat, but it is far better than drying them for an hour in the oven. Plus less stink around the house!

 

[VictorVonDoom]

That's what I tryed out too, it worked pretty well to be fair i went for 30% too.

Decided to have a sample for NYE, it was stronger than I thought it would be, and really smooth.

Did your microwave make some crazy noises when you tryed this?

 

[AfricanGrower]

No, no crazy noises. I thought I was going to 'cook' the bud the first time I tried it though. I took it out at least every 1o seconds

 

[AfricanGrower]

My next project that I am currently undergoing is the creation of my own 'Thai-Stick'. I started a month ago and will be curing all the way up to 420. Hopefully I will have a couple to share amongst the crowd

Here are the leaves drying and getting ready for cure. They are the last piece of this process, and will be glued onto the Thai-Stick with honey, wax, oil, you name it. By the end of this I'll have a Canna-Cigar that will kick me back into last year

 

[VictorVonDoom]

No, no crazy noises. I thought I was going to 'cook' the bud the first time I tried it though. I took it out at least every 1o seconds

Yeah me to, every one says its the best way, but i had my doubts about microwaving my green.

 

[b.real]

congrats on your harvest! enjoy the smoke.

I found a good way to quick dry is to put the bud in a toaster oven on "keep warm" (or as low a temperature as possible) for 30 minutes, then let the bud sit out for another 24 hours (time will vary depending on environment).

 

[TheCapn]

6/1/14

So it has been 68 days of flower for the bagseed, and it is finally time for harvest. As per the Capn's suggestion and Sl1ng being the role model, I will make a timeline of photos from seed to harvest. I will go over some the details towards the end of the slideshow.

The way I look at it, this was a random bagseed thrown into your real grow. Everything you got off this was purely a bonus! And that looks like great material to make some kick ass oil.

Way to go. I can't wait to see the big girl come down.

 

[Dresney]

Grats on your harvet, AG!

Love the beginning-to-end photos and quick-dry technique. Can't wait til my girls pack it on and I get to test it out.

Have some harvest reps

 

[trichomes]

Awesome share AG, very very good trimming skills too!

 

[AfricanGrower]

Thank you everyone for the words of encouragement and well wishes! I appreciate the support, as I wouldn't have been as successful without this community as a resource Thanks once again, next update should be this Saturday, where I'll decide whether or not the Bubb has 1 or 2 more weeks left

 

[KingJohnC]

Congratulations on your harvest!

 

[trichomes]

Re: AfricanGrower's 1st Hydro Journal-Ebb&Flow/Bubblelicious 2013

Great share, I could not find your vegging preference, AG did you veg under 24 hours or one of the other methods?

That's it for now, I will be updating this journal with pics either every 4 days or every 7 days depending on my schedule and how baked I might be at the time

All comments and criticisms are welcomed here, AG

 

[AfricanGrower]

18/6 was what I chose for vegetative growth, and 12/12 is what I chose for the flowering stage. THough it is not 'considered' keeping it simple, I am planning on getting my feet wet with GLR next round

 

[b.real]

you should consider flushing before harvesting on the next batch. are they all in one bucket?

 

[AfricanGrower]

you should consider flushing before harvesting on the next batch. are they all in one bucket?

Hey Real, thanks for stopping by! I decided to flush the bagseed for 48 hours in total before chop, with 3 individual watering times. I plan on doing the same with the Bubb, but a longer 72 hours instead. I may give a dark period as well the day before chop.

To answer you question, yes that there trellis is all in one bucket, from one plant. It is by far the most and the longest I have ever grown from a single plant!

 

[AfricanGrower]

11/1/14

FLOWER DAY 73

Hello all. Some very slow progress in thee tent this week in regards to maturation. But I can still be happy for the fact that the Bubb is still throwing out 'fresh' pistils on most growth. I did a res change today, leveling out the PPM to 900. I have decided that she will need at least another 2 weeks, maybe 3...so coinciding with not lowering the PPM incrementally weekly, I have also feed the plant it's last dose of tea to further push it through the last few weeks.With the way things are going, I don't know if I'm going to be squeezing another harvest in by June Well enough talk, and on to the pics. I took a lot today...it was the Silver Haze...some of these shots might make me think about entering into PotM for the very first time. Any way, I have 4 days to decide, but onwards to the pics; details to follow.

Some panorama shots, trying to capture the whole grow space.

Just as Sl1ng predicted, a lot of those 'skinny' tops have started to produce fresh pistils, shooting out on all sides!

A lot of the bigger colas have also started to produce more pistils. To the point where I can see the bottom half of the plant finishing up to a week quicker than the top section of the plant. Here are some top/side views of some colas.

More mature lower growth.

Since bringing temperatures down to around 55F at night and 75F during the day, I have had some 'purple-ing' of a lot of the calyxes on the plant's lower sections, and very tips. A lot of the petioles are also turning red as well.

If some of you have been noticing dry, frail, dying, brittle leaves scattered among the plant, then you must be thinking, "deficiency"! That is very viable, however, one way I 'keep tabs' on what deficiencies are eminent and which ones are residing, I usually never remove affected leaves. All of said leaves in the photos are from the Mg deficiency I had about 3 weeks ago. And one thing to always remember about deficiencies, especially micro's that concentrate mainly on new growth, is that they will always show minor progression up to a week after the deficiency is cleared out. Here is a leaf that I have kept since the 3rd week of flower, where I experienced my first escalated Mg deficiency. You can see that the right half of it has been subjected to symptoms, and as it slowly progressed towards the left, the Mg deficiency had been cleared, keeping the leaf at a healthy state.

Do any of you notice anything missing here? It looks quite empty eh!

That's because I took my first sample from the Bubb 2 days ago to see how far things have come along. I have decided to dry it slowly and cure for a little less then a week to fully get the effects I am looking for.

Here is the bud after 48 hours of drying.

Here are some trichome shots of bud.

Also a quick observation. I noticed a lot of 'black specs' on the underside of some leaves attached to the colas of the Bubb plant. At first glance they seem like overly mature resin glands...but then again I don't know. I have no insects in my grow room that I can visibly spot, and all of the LB's are deceased.

 

[VictorVonDoom]

Good update as always AG