Antics CFL Grow 2014

[Antics]

5 days without an update, I'm surprised it's been this long.

So we have some bad news first. I originally thought it was a PH problem causing a nitrogen deficiency, but after correcting the PH, and still seeing the problem, and adding nutes as scheduled, It looks like Quick One came down with some root rot. I blame the poor drainage in the nursery pot, combined with a low perlite content (which was my fault). Lesson well learned, although she's still growing, and I'm hoping to see maybe 5-10 grams dry from it, which is far from the 25-35g yield the breeder claims. But 5 grams is 5 grams.
All 3 plants have been watered/fertilized on the same schedule, so it's definitely not an over watering problem, as the 2 MG1's have done really well.

The oldest MED GOM is about a week or two into flower now, and is long overdue for harvest according to breeder specs, but longer veg meant more height and more branches. The breeder claims 25g-50g yield, and I'm hoping to see at least 35g from each of the MED GOMs, and I don't think that's an unreasonable # at this point. The younger MG1 is following the same schedule, as it's 56 days old from sprout now, and should be ready to harvest in 4-9 days according to the breeder, but it looks like it's about 3 weeks away or so.

So, picture time.

Quick One:

Youngest MED GOM:

Oldest MED GOM:

And a closeup shot of all the little flowers:

I would advice heavy LST or SOG and a chandelier of hanging adjustable CFL's on some sort of ring, and that ring suspended from an adjustable cable. That would give optimal flexability and is what I was using the last few days before things went south .. it worked well for me.

I have done LST on the oldest MED GOM already to spread out the branches and allow as much light penetration as possible all around, It's a little late for SOG at this point as she's already flowering and I don't want to cause any damage. LST starts on the other MED GOM this week, And SOG is on my list of things to do/learn for the next grow As for the CFLs, the whole grow will be completely redesigned next time around. I used pegboard to build this cabinet, so I was able to adjust the "shelf" the lights are mounted on in 2.5cm/1" increments. The area these are growing in is just far too small for anything else, and I'm all out of autoflower strains, everything else is fem or regular, and will have a longer veg and flower period, and every strain I have grows much, much taller than these autos lol.

The next grow will be a Royal Queen Power Flower, and probably a Cali Jack.

 

[Antics]

I just looked up the info on Quick One from Royal Queen's site...

Flowering starts at 5-6 weeks. I started seeing flowers forming right around the 4 week mark.
Harvest is 8-9 weeks after sprout. So my harvest time for Quick One should fall around May 22- May 29

I have tons of visible trichomes now, under the microscope they're about 50% clear 50% cloudy, and no amber as of yet.

But the way it's growing, most of the development is at the top 3 nodes, so I'll likely just harvest the top, and leave the rest to grow as long as I can to hopefully reach a better level of maturity.

Then the pain really begins. Waiting for the dry and cure to finish. That's going to drive me nuts

 

[Antics]

Ok and harvest time started today.

Quick One had about 70-80% cloudy trichomes on the top 4 bud sites, and I spotted a few amber here and there on a couple bud sites so it was cutting time. I left the last bud site intact, lights still on, hoping it'll mature a bit more since I was only seeing about 30-40% cloudy there.

Fan leaves are all trimmed, And I trimmed all the leaves that only had partial trichome coverings, which left just a few that were fully covered. It's going to be a really, really light harvest from her, but a little is better than none! I should have enough from her to at least make a small recipe of some arthritis/fibromyalgia salve (And I'll be trying some out on my back as well, to see how well it works for the pain) And I'll be hanging on to a couple buds just to have a chance to enjoy my work in the form of a nice evening smoke, which will give me a chance to try to describe the flavors and feeling for you folks (I've never really described the taste and feeling of Cannabis, so this will be new for me!) And It will be my girlfriends first time enjoying nature's medicine, so I'm looking forward to sharing it with her.

The MED GOMs are still happily growing, and I'll update in a few days again, or when there's something worth noting here.

 

[Tugafox]

Hi Antics, just finished reading your journal.
Your MED GOMs are turning out really big and bushy! Great structure for an auto strain
Hopefully, they will compensate you for the loss you had.
Read your comments about the watering. Ya know, each strain is different and even within the same strain we can get different phenotypes. This means that not all strains have the same needs of water and feeding. I treat each of my ladies individually, which gives me a bit more work when I´m running multi-strains like I am now but that extra work is worthy.
I also grow with both 2700k and 5400k. Although 5400K is said to be better for veg. and 2700K for Flowering my theory is the more light spectrum the merrier
The seedbank info is just a guide, we would need the perfect conditions for those flowering times. I go for trichs to determine my harvest time, just like you did.

Keep up the good work & Happy growing!

 

[Antics]

Thanks brother! It's my first REAL grow (I killed the first 2 completely lol, so I continued this journal with a replant )

I've learned a lot, and I have even more to learn, but it's been a lot of fun so far, and call me weird, but I spend a good hour each day just sitting with my girls and admiring them.

The MED GOMs aren't perfect, you can see a handful of spots from minor nute burn, a few deficiencies, but they've handled it quite well, and they didn't seem to mind the LST either. (I have the younger MED GOM being LST'ed right now, and will remove the ties tomorrow)

I agree with you 1000000% about the different strains, and even different phenotypes within the same strain. They're just like people. We're all human, but we've all got different personalities

Thanks for the tip, I'll remember to treat them all individually on the next grow

I've been using the 2700K and 6500K bulbs side by side from the start. I was curious if it would affect yield, growth, etc.. And so far, the oldest was about 66-67cm last I checked, and the breeder says the strain will grow 50-100cm so I'm happy with that so far, and they still have a little more growing to do.

For trichomes, I bought a small 60x-100x lighted microscope for a few $ on Ebay. It's a small lens, but it lets me see what I need to, so for what I paid, I'm happy.

Thanks for stopping by my first grow

 

[Tugafox]

Yeah, i read it all and don´t worry bro you´re not alone. I drowned and killed a few seedlings myself in my first attempts at growing That´s why I´m now extra careful with waterings to the point of only giving them a drink every 4/5 days or until the pot feels really light. I also stick my finger on the top layer of the soil to check if it´s moist or not. I take notes so I don´t forget when I last watered or feed, you know how us stoneheads tend to forget stuff
Same here, a lot learned and still a lot to learn. What counts is we´re having fun growing and off course the pleasure of smoking our own. Our ladies shows us the signs if we´re doing right or wrong, we just need to pay attention.
Call me weird, I also have a radio to play music for them, ha

I saw your LST, good job!
I never top autos but LST is good.
From the pics, I can see nuts burn in leaf tips and maybe some minor light burn.

Both k spectrums work, 6500K mimics daylight and 2700 k mimics sun-set colour. Ideally, the ladies day would start their day with 6500k and finish with 2700k, just like it happens in nature. But that´s quite difficult to manage indoors so I´m all for using both spectrums.
I have one 160/200X lens I bought from Amazon pretty cheap. When to harvest also depends on your personal preferences cause more ambar=more couchlock and milky gives more a head high.
Each grow is different and although you´ll find different opinions about the same topic we just gotta do what works best for us.
& never give up cause we failed in the first attempts. Warning: This hobby is addictive! lol

Dinner time for me now, see ya

 

[Antics]

LOL I thought about playing music for them, but I didn't know what they'd all like most

Memory? ha... thanks to pharmaceuticals I'm on now, I have short term memory loss all the time. If I can replace them with Cannabis, I'll only have memory loss while medicated.

And forgive the short message/reply, but...

Well so I got a little impatient with my harvest. I couldn't help myself, and I know the golden rule.. DON'T RUSH THE DRYING AND CURE!

So I followed that rule. I heard/read nothing about sampling the trim So I took a few leaves and gave them a real quick dry tossed them in my bowl and gave it a shot.

Quick One was actually fairly smooth, considering I dried it poorly, and relied on the lighter to dry the rest. I expect the buds to be much, much better. And for you guys who didn't have severe issues like my root rot? I think you're in for a nice treat. The taste was a little citrusy, and piney for me. I'll get a better review when I sample the properly dried buds.

It didn't hit me at all at first. I assumed there weren't enough trichomes on the leaves to affect me. So there I was, sitting on the floor admiring the girls. It's nice seeing the flowers get closer and closer with each passing day, and all I can do is wonder if I'll get to see 1 nice bud, or maybe one really nice cola, like I see these other folks grow.

And suddenly? I'm a bit high. It's not like others I used to experience when buying no name dirt weed. I can think still. I don't feel couchlocked. I feel relaxed, yet I want to go out and do some gardening or landscaping.

I don't notice much of a change in my back pain at the moment though, but I also only smoked a total of 6 or 7 small trim leaves. By leaves, I mean 6 or 7 individual lobes from a single leaf. Like they have 5 or 7 lobes usually. I took like 6 or 7 of those little guys.

Ah man you guys are going to love it.

And before I forget
Measurement of the oldest MED GOM: 71.5cm/28"
Measurement of the youngest MED GOM: 60cm/23.5"

And yeah.. I already have the gardening and landscaping addiction. Now it's Cannabis growing too. lol

 

[Antics]

Just a Quick One harvest update

Ok so after 36 hours drying, I have a total weight of .97 grams lol.

I removed the next fully matured bud today, which currently weighs .3 grams.

The rest of Quick One will be left to grow, and we'll see if she produces anything else, but I don't expect much. And I now see that my hopes for 5 grams +/- were really, really optimistic lol.

Realistically, I'm probably going to have .3-.6 grams when dried and cured lol. BUT! It's still better than nothing at all

Plus I have the trim, which will be going towards making some salve, and I was able to try out the trim as well, and enjoyed a nice relaxing evening from it.. So it wasn't a complete failure, but it was also far from successful.

 

[Pablo Tesla]

What do you mean with .97? 0.97g?

 

[Antics]

Yes LOL as in not a full 1 gram lol.

 

[Antics]

I figured I'd just update with a few pictures.

Quick One:

Quick One harvest.

MED GOM:

MED GOM:

 

[FaTalPsYcHo]

those plants in flowering are still looking really healthy. Maybe trim up a few leaves to help the air movement(plus make it look better), and not covering any other leaves or flowers. But Wouldn't go to crazy with it. And keep growing!!

 

[Antics]

I actually have a little bit of undergrowth that I definitely need to trim, but I've been hesitant about trimming any fan leaves, since it's just a CFL grow, I didn't know if doing so would take light/nutes from the plants or not.

When trimming an auto, what should I know? How much is too much? Any tips would be helpful.

 

[Tugafox]

Good night Antics, catching up in now.

LOL I thought about playing music for them, but I didn't know what they'd all like most l

Some say plants like classical music like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven. There´s even a study done by a lady about this topic where she found that plants would bend towards the source of some types of music.
I think plants might like calm music but also music that makes us the gardeners happy

 

[Antics]

I would prefer if my plants liked metal

And I have nothing exciting to share really. MED GOMs are still growing nicely, I expect one to be done in 2 weeks or less. And the other should be done a week or so after that.

The cure for the tiny harvest is going well. The grass smell has faded and it has this strong piney/skunky scent now. Smelling the buds gives a similar feeling to when smelling Vicks vapor rub, or any eucalyptus type product, that fresh almost 'burn' feeling in your nose.

Total weight? 0.87 grams lol.

BUT! Smoking the trim was great, I expect the bud to be so, so much better. And I'll be lighting one up in a bit, so I'll update this later on my experience.

 

[Tugafox]

I would prefer if my plants liked metal

Me too! At least, Hard Rock

Hey, you got something to smoke, that´s something! You gained some experience and next time It´ll be even better.
I´m trying out a lower branch bud of my smallest MM too, so
& Good high night

 

[Antics]

Exactly how I see it mate.

The experience alone was worth the $ I paid for the seeds. But on top of it, I have a small amount to sample, and I learned a valuable lesson about root rot to share with other new growers.

And I'm going to try a bud now.. so I'll just pick up typing after a few puffs. I'm not looking to get baked, just mild relaxation, and a chance to taste it, and hopefully be able to describe it.

Ok taste is fresh, but piney. A little earthy, and a touch of chlorophyll, so it needs a litttttle more cure time. It's a tiny bit harsh, but the flavor isn't bad at all. Minus the chlorophyll and harshness, and this would be really nice.

I can't really rate it out of 10, since everything I've used before was always no-name bagweed.

But I'd try growing it again, but next time I'd prefer not having root rot lol.

 

[Antics]

Ok time for an update.

Quick One is still slowly maturing the last 2 bud sites, I have started a Power Flower and Cali Jack, I did a little trimming on the two MED GOMs, with a little more still to do (Mostly removing leaves when they reach a certain level of yellow), and the oldest MG1 should be ready to harvest within about a week now.

Although Going from my first picture of it, which was taken March 22, and in that picture it's actually already a few days old, but using that date as a reference point, The oldest MG1 is 64 days old now, and the breeder package claims harvest in 60 days. So CFLs might be to blame for the slightly slower growth. But it's still progressing nicely, trichomes appear about 50/50 now, I'm just waiting for the first sign of a few ambers to pop up, and then I'll start harvesting.

Quick One

MED GOM

MED GOM

 

[Antics]

Well this honestly really fucking hurt. It was easy cutting the Quick One, since she was so small, sickly, and she wasn't with me as long..

I had to harvest the first MED GOM today. And daminit man.. I sat there forever, just wanting to give her a few more days. But every time I looked at the trichomes, 90% cloudy, and a few ambers visible on the older calyxs.

lol man I'm seriously sad about this right now. My first grow is coming to an end, and I've been so attached to them. Especially the one I harvested today. She never gave me any serious problems. A few signs of nute burn, deficiencies, light burn, etc... on her leaves, but nothing ever stopped her.

And now she's gone

It was a pain in the ass cutting the stem. About halfway through I wanted to stop.....

And now the drying process begins.

I saw a guy on youtube drying his plants differently from what I've read about so far. He hung the whole plant upside down, no trimming of fan leaves at all. And let it dry for a couple days. Then he trimmed the fan leaves, and let it finish drying before he moved on to the 2nd step of drying. Which instead of using a paper bag, he used plastic totes, and would use a hygrometer inside the totes, and would slide the lid open more, or closed more, to maintain the desired humidity level, and for circulation. After that he finished his cure in Mason jars.

I'll be using his first step of drying, but for the second step, instead of plastic totes, I'll be using the paper bag method. After that, I'm curing in Mason jars also.

And now I'm going to finish off my smoke, I need a little pick-me-up right now. I never thought I'd get so attached.......

 

[Pablo Tesla]

I'm very curious about this strain!!
Let us know how are the effects...
I'll be waiting for your smoking report.

Greetings from Uruguay.