Blue Dream CBD: Quadlining & Other Firsts In 2020

[steffgrowsweed]

QUICK MINI UPDATE - Week 16 in total - 6 in Fake Flower - 4 of that in real Flower

Here she is, fresh from this morning and after watering on Day 106:

Her canopy looks much better in real life than on this photo, she has some stronger ones shooting up, mainly the main ones. The supercropping has exposed some smaller ones, which are getting frosted up nicely as well. She now reminds me a lot of the Blue Dream Auto I grew from Humboldt seeds as well. I'm honestly very happy being in the position of remembering a strains attributes and seeing similarities from former grows, wow, I love it

Some of her leaves are getting a pink hue and veins to them, which makes me look forward to seeing her fade in beautiful colors. The right pictures beautifully captures the fading in fall colors I was referring too, that was my Blue Dream Auto from 2 months ago. I loved her colors and my patience for letting her go that long.

Here is a closer Bud situation:

Her clones still haven't found a home yet but they are enjoying the sun and rooting happily in their pots. I'm planning on building a little veg box and am currently assembling all parts. That's fun and could be a good place for them to grow.

Happy day to everyone and thanks for all you do, you have no idea how much your added value is appreciated ☀

 

[steffgrowsweed]

BIG UPDATE - WEEK 17 - DAY 114 - 44 DAYS IN FLOWER & A NEW HOME FOR MY CLONES

Here she is, slowly but surely tackling her journey through Flowering. I'm happy with her. Her buds start forming gracefully and are getting covered in crystals from top to bottom more and more. She shows some nice soft colors at the moment and I can't wait for more of them to show

One more bud shot from yesterday, still some slight yellow tips...

In general, not a lot is going on with her, so not a lot to do for me... She's just riding the last bits with no bigger issues. That's a good place to be and I can't wait for her to finish


NOW MY NEW FAVOURITE CRAFT

I finally finished building my small Veg/Clones/Autoflower box and I am currently doing first tests on temperature and humidity and also on how everything is positioned inside and where I need to add a nail or hook.
But the clones have moved in already and two new Autoflower babys for my balcony as well.
Here she is in version 1, my little black box yeaaaaaaaaaaay

I have not yet attached everything in its final place but that's what I figure out in the next days.
The basic idea was inspired by @Dutchman1990 - Thank you - and his GrowBox Build. I had to do some adjustments since I wanted to work with what I had. Initially I was also thinking about getting a small new light but decided to wait and see how the Box runs and feels. I had an old 60W LED plant light that I wasn't using for my house plants anymore.

The box size turned out 80cm height, 62cm depth and 70cm in width. I am very very happy with how it turned out.
I had black side panels of my kitchen left over for two side walls of the box and the bottom plate. The back wall I covered in a special reflector foil for tents, it was cheap and is quite sturdy when in double layers. With a handy stapler it was no problem and lot's of fun. I drilled my first hole for a bit of duct on one side and on the other side for all the cables. The "door" is also consisting of foil attached with small pins on the top, folded around the corner with sticky glue bits (easy to open and close) and made a bit heavier at the bottom with a wooden stick inside. The top of the Box has a wooden frame with some foil on the borders. I haven't attached a proper roof yet but only covered with foil and a thick bit of carton.
I like the idea of having the top open. The lights are currently 30cm away from the clones.

The clones
Here is the first clone I took, what a beautiful little plant, such fine and dainty leaves and also quite a number of nodes:

I must decide soon, what I want to do with them. Sooooo happy that they can move to the box before they move over to the bigger (2x2 haha) tent.

Some more news, I chopped my two Autoflowers (LSD-25 & Blackberry) today on Day 66 - wooooooooow. I was so worried in the beginning that they might not take the 12:12 well and they did. Small but powerful and so pretty. They are in darkness and will be low and slow dried from tomorrow on I also made bubble hash for the first time, desperation is a real thing, when you run out, you must become creative. It turned out great as well. Hallelujah. I also started two new seeds for my Balcony outdoor season. I'm in plant heaven.
The Blackberry on the left and LSD-25 on the right

Excuse this update to be all over the place, I had to share, my heart is full
Have a great weekend and enjoy your plants

 

[DeeCee112]

Looking good steff and congrats on the harvest! The blackberry looks gorgeous!

 

[McRib]

You've been busy!

Blue Dream is a stunner

 

[Dutchman1990]

Looks great man nice build! Glad I could help inspire!

 

[steffgrowsweed]

Update - Beautiful fade starting & some unhappy clawing leaves

Here comes a little update of my beautiful Blue Dream CBD in Week 18 since seed / Week 8 in Flower fresh from this morning on Day 122.

The end of the last week I decided to do 2 mini flushes, I watered her with 3l of PHed water with some Flawless Finish and with 2l of just water after. After 3 days again. She shows signs of nitrogen toxicity in my opinion (leaves clawing down, slight yellow tips), which I can only explain by still having added little Grow/Nitrogen in Flower phase. Adding only 1/2 rec. dose, maybe it was still too much, or she stored it from her veg phase and still had enough. Anyway. After those two flushes I decided to give her no more extra nitrogen and only half rec. dose of Flower food.

The beauty and the clawing beast, no-flash and flash-on

Besides all that she looks beautiful, out of the tent her sugar leaves are a dark purple and the bottom of the leaves have some pink hues and stems.

Her buds feel dense and hard already, never had a bud that dense. Guess that's the difference with photoperiods...
She's also sticky, when checking for airflow and in between canopy, my hands are well covered.

She's not a blue dream but a dark purple dream atm ❤ Her bottom leaves are fading beautifully through yellow pink and some light green. Hopefully she can deal or recover from whatever she's going through but there won't be that much time left. I had a quick look at her trichomes and she is getting to 50% milky 50% clear. Maybe 2-3 more weeks?

The small mini box is currently optimised. I ordered another light, the same as in the bigger tent (Greenception GC4 which draws 128W which equals 250W). I don't know who I was kidding with a shitty blurple plant light... The two baby seedlings started growing long and whimsy, awful. I can't go back from proper conditions, not even in "only" a little box. Anyway, I found enough reasons as to why it makes sense to invest in a better light
Here is the current tent-box situation, Mama in top tent, clones and seedlings in bottom tent. I love my new mini humidifier, you just put any bottle on top with an adapter. It's super mini and a great idea I think. I'm a bit lost with the clones, they still grow weird leaves (1-3 bladed leaves), the half-cut leaves from earlier are outgrowing the cuts again. I am not sure when I can start treating the clones as a regular plant, with training and especially defoliation. They look so untidy compared to Quadlining, I don't like I will LST them for now, any other trianing method seemed to challenging since there was no even nodes at all. The stem is still super bendy, so I laid them down flat.

Happy weekend, maybe you have any advice in regards to my clawing leaves lady?
Enjoy ☀

 

[DeeCee112]

Hey steff I wouldn’t fret about the big girl, everything she is doing looks like the natural cycle at the end, you’ve already flushed her out a bit and reduced the nutes as she finishes up. Just keep it in cruise control and keep an eye on the trichs!

I can’t help on the clones I’m a total newb on cloning sorry! I just have learned myself they need very little light though.

 

[steffgrowsweed]

Hey steff I wouldn’t fret about the big girl, everything she is doing looks like the natural cycle at the end, you’ve already flushed her out a bit and reduced the nutes as she finishes up. Just keep it in cruise control and keep an eye on the trichs!

I can’t help on the clones I’m a total newb on cloning sorry! I just have learned myself they need very little light though.

Thank you Deecee My current guess is two more weeks, that makes it 10 Weeks of Flower, so I think you're right.
You know the worry though Happy Sunday

 

[steffgrowsweed]

UPDATE - End of Flower - Week 18/8 in Flower

Hi week 18 and 8 weeks of Flower She continues to fade beautifully and I feel like she made a really big step in the last couple of days to being ready, almost. That kind of hit me, it's going so fast now, aaaaaaaaah.
- Her calyxes have started to swell and stack on top of each other. This is something I learned from other grows, swelling of calyx can be a good sign the end is nearing.
- Some of her smaller sugar leaves are pulling in or becoming shorter, if that makes sense...
- She also shows little foxtails, which I attribute to her strain. The Autoflower Bluedream I ran from Humboldt also showed foxtails stacked on foxtails.
- More and more orange-brown pistils, also at bottom buds.
- I checked her trichomes for the first time, not only on top, but also allover her buds, tops and bottoms. I see some amber, some milky, some clear. Getting there

I asked Humboldt Seed Org., when they recommend harvesting this particular strain, when looking at trichomes, especially with the higher CBD content, I wasn't sure if the same "rules" apply. They said:
"With high CBD strains we have found through lab testing that the CBD % starts to degrade and turns into other cannabinoids such as THC, CBG and CBN when the glandular trichome heads start to turn Amber. I like to harvest with only 2-5% Amber 85-95% still cloudy with 2-5% still clear."

Humboldt says, it's a 9-10 Weeks strain. I am 7 days short of reaching 63 days. I'm excited to see what she brings to the table in the last 8-14 days. The gaps between her buds on single stems are filling up nicely and form fat dense nuggets
I gave her a good feeding, a little more than normal since she reacted well to the last dose she got (after my mini-flushes).

I'm a little paranoid about finding any nanners or seeds In 3 days I will start the flush Wish me luck

Lot's of talking, but here she is

Some trichome shots on Day 55 of Flower:

Happy week everyone

 

[Brian420pm]

ready, almost.

Wow such a BEAUTIFUL plant!

How will it be consumed? The answer may help you decide when to chop. I looked at the heads before and after my recent ethanol wash and some of the amber did not dissolve fully even after 1 hr soak with some agitation. It makes sense that the more amber the harder and thicker the head.

For rosin, I would assume the contents of the amber heads are the darker extract at the tail end, perhaps less desirable.

I also heard from Frenchy Cannoli (sorry if I mentioned it already!) there is a specific 3 day window where the trichome heads swell up, signalling peak resin production. One of these grows I'll have a more detailed approach and actually look at them more often to catch this moment. To me, this seems to be the ideal method no matter WHAT the consumption method, for it should result in peak gross output.

There are so many signals to interpret at this final stage of their lives. It's interesting as we struggle to decode their language

 

[DeeCee112]

Patience is key at this stage steff but its the home stretch after all that work and care put into her!

I would recommend you do some research into end of Flower flushing! I’ve read a few articles and papers that suggest it is not possible to flush nutrients out of buds, it just doesn’t work like that, nutrients aren’t stored in buds and instead all you are doing is starving the plant during a period when she can be bulking up and ripening. That “chemical” taste referred to is likely due to an improper cure! I simply taper my nutrients down in the last week or more as she slows down and end with a water only a couple days before chop and my last harvest was incredibly smooth after a 2 week cure!

 

[steffgrowsweed]

Wow such a BEAUTIFUL plant!

How will it be consumed? The answer may help you decide when to chop. I looked at the heads before and after my recent ethanol wash and some of the amber did not dissolve fully even after 1 hr soak with some agitation. It makes sense that the more amber the harder and thicker the head.

For rosin, I would assume the contents of the amber heads are the darker extract at the tail end, perhaps less desirable.

I also heard from Frenchy Cannoli (sorry if I mentioned it already!) there is a specific 3 day window where the trichome heads swell up, signalling peak resin production. One of these grows I'll have a more detailed approach and actually look at them more often to catch this moment. To me, this seems to be the ideal method no matter WHAT the consumption method, for it should result in peak gross output.

There are so many signals to interpret at this final stage of their lives. It's interesting as we struggle to decode their language

Thank you Brian, indeed we all grow beautiful plants I plan on consuming it in multiple ways, that's why I felt drawn to a higher 1:1 strain with 10% each. I want to make oil capsules for my moms arthritis, topicals (I see your 3rd Oil thread and am happy to study some more, when I'm finished) but also smoke it I remembered in the back of my mind about harvest times for CBD plants, that's why I took the chance - when presented - to directly ask Humboldt, when they have grown the strain multiple times and could recommend a good in-between ratio, if that makes sense. I guess I will find myself somewhere in the middle. I have now marked one particular stem with a little wire, to always check trichomes on the same place.
I will have a look at what French Cannoli says, sounds geeky and something to investigate a bit more
Interesting finding you shared about the amber trichomes not properly dissolving, I never even thought about it that way, mmh... Please document your further findings and thank you,

 

[steffgrowsweed]

Patience is key at this stage steff but its the home stretch after all that work and care put into her!

I would recommend you do some research into end of Flower flushing! I’ve read a few articles and papers that suggest it is not possible to flush nutrients out of buds, it just doesn’t work like that, nutrients aren’t stored in buds and instead all you are doing is starving the plant during a period when she can be bulking up and ripening. That “chemical” taste referred to is likely due to an improper cure! I simply taper my nutrients down in the last week or more as she slows down and end with a water only a couple days before chop and my last harvest was incredibly smooth after a 2 week cure!

Oh you say it DeeCee, patience dear patience, hallelujah It kind of hit me yesterday though, that it might be over soon and that was weird. I almost forgot that that's the point of it hehe
I will practice patience and study trichomes
About the flushing, I read some things about it but am currently still trying different things, the flushing included. I have a small bottle of Adv. Nutr. Flawless Finish that I will finish and then I focus on more details and reading in regards to flushing. I am reading so much and sometimes that keeps me from just doing it. Without ever flushing I would also not know the difference to a non-flushed plant, right I appreciate your advice though and hey, you easily have the next benchmark growing in your tent right now, so thank you and a happy day for you and yours

 

[steffgrowsweed]

MINI-UPDATE - HAPPY 60 DAYS OF FLOWER

Not much to report besides she's showing off Took some photos with different background colours to try to display her beauty the best. I'm guessing one more week yeay.
Happy day

 

[McRib]

Loving those colours. She's a showoff for sure

 

[steffgrowsweed]

UPDATE - TRICH SHOTS DAY 61 OF FLOWER

It's a slow and emotional Monday, so I tended to my plants and took some more trichome shots of my lady.
What do you guys think? Keep in mind, she is a 1:1 THC:CBD Strain with 10% each. Humboldt told me the following, "With high CBD strains we have found through lab testing that the CBD % starts to degrade and turns into other cannabinoids such as THC, CBG and CBN when the glandular trichome heads start to turn Amber I like to harvest with only 2-5% Amber 85-95% still cloudy with 2-5% still clear." Of course he is referencing to his best results, which I'd like to trust since he must've grown this strain a lot. I wasn't planning on harvesting her today or tomorrow but was hoping to make it to the weekend, what would you do?
Thanks guys

 

[DeeCee112]

I think she is ready anytime now steff, looks mostly cloudy, couple ambers, couple clears which is my preference.

 

[steffgrowsweed]

I think she is ready anytime now steff, looks mostly cloudy, couple ambers, couple clears which is my preference.

Thanks DeeCee, I think you're right. Thinking I might leave her under the light the whole tomorrow, start the next day in the dark and leave her for 48hours in the darkness, so timing wise she could come out of the tent by Friday.

 

[burdok420]

Very sad that I arrived here so late. However I have caught up with your grow and what a lovely and impressive read it was!
Pulling up my wee chair for the conclusion

 

[steffgrowsweed]

Very sad that I arrived here so late. However I have caught up with your grow and what a lovely and impressive read it was!
Pulling up my wee chair for the conclusion

Hi Burdok, it seems you came at the right time, perfectly timed for her showoff hihi Thanks for stopping by and happy growing to you