Another First Grow - Kali Mist - C99 - Auto NL

[Qapla]

Nah man, didn't come off that way at all. I hear ya, been following similar journals or ones that catch my interest, trying to help out where I can as well.

Lurkers are fine with me, not looking for a pat on the back or anything. I started the journal mainly because thats what everyone advises you to do when you ask for help. Just figured I'd get some help or at least some comments if something doesn't look right or could be improved, or stuff to watch out for. Also figured it might be a good journal for others to learn from once I'm done and write up a final breakdown of lessons learned as someone just starting out.

No worries though, we'll get there. Thanks again man.

 

[Qapla]

Small update. Looks like the problem I was having with Auto NL was overfeeding. Apparently the extra runoff doesn't prevent accumulation. Even after flushing 9 gallons a week or so ago, I was still getting high tds runoff. Cutting the nutes way back and alternating between feed and water, with a bit of calmag on the water days. Doing the same to the kali and the c99 before they have more than burnt tips. Amazing how little nutes are actually need vs whats recommended.

The auto nl is 58 days old, 25 days in flower. I'm guessing there's about 2 weeks to go before harvest. Trichomes look mostly cloudy, which is still surprising considering its only just about 4 weeks into flower.

 

[Graytail]

Nice trichs and nice photography, too!

I couldn't help piping up about how to get more traffic on a journal ...

AKGrowBig is right - it has a lot to do with visiting other journals and making yourself known. It sounds like it's cliquish, and a lot of it is, but if you think about it, it's also a fundamental part of the whole online forum thing. There are hundreds of active journals like yours on the forum, and not a lot of people to read them, much less post on them. It may seem like there are a lot of members here, but if you mouse over the Forum tab on the menu bar and choose Who's Online, you'll probably be surprised.

So it helps a lot to "be around" when you're on the forum. If you read other journals, you should click likes - this tells the others that you've been there - they see your name and maybe check out your journal from your signature link. It's not so much that you literally liked the post, but you want the member, and others, to know you're watching and keeping track. Post a few times on journals that you think share your approach. It a bit of a community thing. Fortunately there are a bunch of small communities of growers with stuff in common. People find each other.

Basically, without wanting to sound trite ... ... "mingle" a little. Go visit other journals and leave your likes and it'll start to build, and you'll get more traffic. Then that traffic feeds itself and more people check in.

Your stuff looks good! I grow in an organic soil so I can't really offer any suggestions, but I'm subbed now that I've posted here, so I'll be watching. It was the Kali Mist that attracted my notice. I just finished a Y Griega that's half Kali Mist and the sucker has a heck of a punch to it. I learned that the Dutch lost the award-winning Kali Mist in a raid and the current one doesn't have the amazing kick the old one had, so I had the thought that the Kali in the Y Griega might be the old one, and it may very well be. The breeder says they got a 27% THC test and I believe it

Anyway, good luck with the Kali and I'll be eager to see what you think of it.




[Edit] I just checked ... to this day, I still only have 11 likes for the first post of my first journal, and three of those were recent, from people who went back and read those first pages. No one was watching.

 

[Qapla]

Thanks man, I've always liked photography but never quite got to a pro level. Too much artistic talent needed for those insane shots.

I hear you guys, it makes sense. The first page of the grow journals changes pretty rapidly with all the threads, lots of journals popping up daily. I'll just have to calm down, quit being so whiney, and get involved a bit more.

Yeah its not doing too bad so far. Been doing a lot of reading the last week or so over how plants actually function. Reading threads that a few super knowledgable members have been commenting on. Also read Ed Rosenthals book as suggested. Surprisingly, this doesn't seem so hard anymore, at least in theory. I think what really jacked up the Auto NL was using plain water for the flush as directed by AN screwing with the pH even more. I also believe I was letting the plants get too dry. Its mostly stable now and it looks like I may get an oz if I'm lucky.

The kali mist was definitely the strain that stood out to me from researching for a daytime strain without a body high. Never had sativa before so I'm hoping it will be what I want. Hopefully the reduced nutes and watering between feeding will keep me from screwing up again.

Thanks guys.

 

[mb5200]

Hey Q, how are things going? Looks like you have had your share of ups n downs on this one, no worries as the last pics look great.
I'm curious to see where your at now.

 

[Qapla]

Hey Q, how are things going? Looks like you have had your share of ups n downs on this one, no worries as the last pics look great.
I'm curious to see where your at now.

For sure, all part of learning. I think I have things on track now after a lot more research.


Been watering only, without feeding for a week or so on the Kali Mist and C99. Trying to bring the nutrient levels down in the plants before adding nutes. Looks like they are both starting to show minor deficiencies so I am resuming nutes on them. Going to run a few liters of pH'd water through before feeding every time to try to better reduce salt buildup. Also going to stop letting the pots dry out so much considering the good drainage of this medium.

The Kali Mist is now at 32" tall at day 14 of flower, hoping she doesn't get much taller as I don't have much more room optimally. She seems to be doing pretty good. Lollipopped a bit over this past week. 11 main tops and lots of bud sites.

The C99 is at day 57, day 13 of flower and is doing good as well. Used up the excess nutes pretty well, resumed feeding now. Not really stretching a whole lot, 2/3 the size of the kali mist. Lollipopped this one a bit as well.

 

[Qapla]

Lastly, the Auto NL on day 64. Sitting about 36" tall. I don't believe she is packing on any more weight. Been watering only for the past week or so. I'm thinking about harvesting tomorrow. Took a sample bud a few days ago, let it hang dry for 3 days and tried it in my vaporizer last night. Surprisingly strong compared to the "good" stuff I usually smoke, mine has a lot more trichomes I guess. Still had a strong grassy taste to it.

Speaking of the grassy taste, how long does that take to go away when drying and curing? Not when its at its best, but when the buds actually start to taste decent. I'm planning on hang drying it for a few days in the same cabinet out of the light, try to keep the humidity around 50%. Then either go in paper bags for a couple days, or go straight to curing jars. What would you guys do? I'd really hate the mess up my first harvest by ending up with something I can't stand.

Anyway, here's the pics. Drooping is from lack of watering, trying to possibly increase the resin a bit and not have so much moisture in the plants before I chop.

Looks like I have almost all cloudy with an odd amber here or there on the calyxes. Lots of orange shrinking hairs, swollen calyxes, lots of ambers on sugar leaves. I think she's ready to chop, anyone disagree? I want a more up high to mildly relaxing.

 

[Graytail]

The Kali looks like I thought it would but your C99 is much different than the one I ran - it was a Grapefruit from Female Seeds and it was more hybrid-like. Those serrated leaves are interesting, too.

I tend to let my plants run long but I grow sativas. That NL looks ready if you want to keep the high nice and bright.

The grassy taste doesn't take long to go away when they're nice frosty ones like that.

 

[Qapla]

The C99 is very different than most for sure. Not quite sure which pheno I got but it really seems to be getting a nice grapefruit scent to it. Hopefully she stretches a bit more. Looks like I will probably get a good yield off the kali in 3 months, kinda nuts I still have longer to go on the kali than the whole time on the auto nl. Still shorter than a lot of sativas from what I've read. I hope she's all she's cracked up to be.

Definitely going to chop the NL today. Hopefully I can end up with an oz after the problems. I'm gonna guess 29 grams dry.

 

[mb5200]

I would sure have a hard time waiting any longer to harvest, they look great!! Those amber sugar leaves would make some great edibles.

As far as curing goes, I'm on my first grow but after tons of reading I'm going to hang for 3-7 days and then straight into jars with Boveda 62% packs

 

[Qapla]

I would sure have a hard time waiting any longer to harvest, they look great!! Those amber sugar leaves would make some great edibles.

As far as curing goes, I'm on my first grow but after tons of reading I'm going to hang for 3-7 days and then straight into jars with Boveda 62% packs

It actually wasn't all that bad. When they say the buds pack on most of their weight in the last 2 weeks they mean it, actually pretty quick. I've been reading over your journal, won't be long before yours fatten up.

I did chop her last night, going to do about the same thing. I have the buds hanging in my veg cabinet on one side. Went out and got a humidifier. Sitting at 50% RH and 75 degrees. Hopefully it will take around 4-7 days hang drying, then on to the jars for aging. Going to try and do the jar cure without the boveda packs, providing I don't screw up the drying.

Anyway, I got 396 grams wet of trimmed bud and 77 grams wet of sugar leaves. Judging by the amount of buds, I'm guessing between 1 and 2 ounces of dry bud. Didn't take pics last night, but did get some tonight after 24 hours of hang drying. Oh, speaking of the edibles, already been looking at how to make some gummies. Awfully frosty stuff, should be good.

Main cola above supercrop

 

[Graytail]

Nice buds!

Bovedas are only $13 shipped for ten of 'em, online, and very worth it. I just ordered more and got 'em in 4 days.

I have buds in jars over a year old. The color goes a golden brown and the terpenes age, and the potency stays the same or rises. Once the jar stabilizes, it'll stay at 62% for a very long time. One of the other benefits is that you can tell how plump the packet is, and judge whether to let the jar breathe a little or not during the first couple weeks. If it's thin and dry I replace it with a plump one. It's great peace of mind. Oh ... and you can pop 'em in some warm water if they go dry and they'll restore themselves.

 

[MajinGreen]

Great job for a first grow!

 

[MajinGreen]

I'm thinking nutrient burn, or calcium deficiency :/ (A way to tell is to add the smallest amount of calcium and see if that helps at all)

Also, if there isn't enough light, the plant won't photosynthesis all the nutrients into chlorophyll (Please correct me on this)

Best of luck, I will keep up with this thread

 

[mb5200]

I bought the magical butter machine for making butter, coconut oil ect. and love it.

Check out the edible pages for lots of goodies

 

[Qapla]

Graytail - Thanks man. I have some packs that I use in my cvault for my stash. I was going to try and get the bud humidity right when I jar them without needing the packs if possible, at least for the first week or so. I love the packs for storing buds, always perfect. Thanks for the tip about the water, I've been putting them in plastic bags with a wet paper towel to reabsorb. I just hope I don't ruin my first harvest. The time before last, my "guy" got me some stuff that had a horrible grassy taste, actually threw away about half of it.

MajinGreen - Thanks, I'm pretty sure it was lockout from salt buildup. I was getting really high runoff readings. After flushing things definitely started to improve.

mb5200 - I was thinking about getting one. Not sure about the price though. That and they are backordered. I'll checkout the forum. Need to figure out the best method for a good tincture.

 

[mb5200]

I use my MB2e every week or 2, it makes great tincture with everclear.
I bought mine in Vancouver and can PM you info if your in Canada

 

[Qapla]

No, not in canada. I'm gonna wait on it for now, already pumped a lot of money into everything for the grow. Been looking at the rick simpson oil, but not sure yet. Seems like every gummy recipe wants a different concentrate.

After 3 days of hang drying at 50% RH the buds were getting pretty dry but the stems still bend. Took them down and trimmed the large branches off and put in a closed paper bag overnight. Still pretty dry on the outside but the stems still bend. Went ahead and jarred them up and put my caliber hygrometer in one jar. Really hoping I didn't dry too fast or over dry them. The outsides aren't what I would consider crispy, just dry and stiff. I don't see how some people air dry for 7 days at 50% RH. Have to wait and see what happens in the jars, I'll be devastated if I screwed up and end up with grassy smoke. I did just smoke a bud I cut off and air dried a few days before harvest. A little harsh, but not bad. Decent taste to it and surprisingly strong compared to the good stuff I normally buy. Oh, I did order some boveda packs and more caliber hygrometers that will be here tomorrow.

Weighed them up and it looks like I got 64 grams dry and 14 dry grams of sugar trim and larf. Pretty surprising considering the pH problems. The buds aren't very dense either, trying to figure out what caused that and what I can do to prevent that from happening to the kali mist and c99. They are looking amazingly healthy now btw, seems like I may have this somewhat figured out finally.

 

[Graytail]

I'd be prepared to vent those jars tomorrow if you have the time to leave 'em open for an hour or two - an especially long burp. I'm way north and very cold and dry this time of year at ~30 RH, and if I jar mine within 4 days they're still too moist. Leaving the jar open for awhile vents a lot of the excess and I can reseal it with a Boveda and recheck the next day. When the outside of the buds go crisp there's still a lot of moisture left in the stems and that'll rehydrate the buds. Mine cure really nice this way - jarred a bit damp, thoroughly vented a couple times, then left with the Boveda.

 

[Qapla]

Thanks for the tips. After sitting in the jar with a caliber 3 hygrometer for 24 hours the humidity only rose to 58%. My boveda packs are here so I opened the jars and good lord that was an awful smell. Actually made me kind of nauseous. I can't hardly begin to describe the smell. Like a slightly perfumey putrid herby plant matter smell. Absolutely disgusting. Not like ammonia though.

The outsides of the buds are stiff, but not crispy or wet. The buds seem dry, but feel dense like filled with resin. I don't think the buds are too wet as the RH only rose to 58% after 24 hours in the sealed jar. I took the buds out, mixed them up, and put them back in with a boveda pack and hygrometer in each jar. No signs of mold or anything.

Is this normal or did I possibly over dry and stop the cure? Everything I've read said the RH humidity in jars after 24 hours should be between 62-65% RH.