Colorado High - Soilless - LED/CFL - Dutch Dope - 2014

[David Bowman]

Peyton! I'm anxiously awaiting the results and the taste tests to come next month. I'm finishing up my last grow now and I've actually had to blend it with some dispensary cannabis to get it up to "full strength".

 

[PeytonManning]

My pineapple chunk flowered for 18 weeks and it isn't strong at all. I hope yours don't let ya down like mine. So what you got on deck for next grow?

 

[David Bowman]

Free seeds or a repeat of Easy Rider starting late summer.

 

[David Bowman]

My pineapple chunk flowered for 18 weeks and it isn't strong at all. I hope yours don't let ya down like mine. So what you got on deck for next grow?

BTW, Peyton, did you ever figure out why that particular grow was such a disappointment?

 

[PeytonManning]

Still haven't pinned it down. It was either a light leak that somehow only affected her, a possible pH problem, or just bad genetics. I know a few other growers who bought the same seeds at same time had bad grows, so I'm still leaning towards barneys unstable genetics/bad batch of seeds

 

[addonexus]

Just popped my PC lets hope they got it right or it is stable...

When you mean blend in are you meaning that you grind something like 2 parts your weed and 1 part dispensary weed because its not as potent or its over potent?

 

[David Bowman]

Yeah, I just added a half ounce of Sour Diesel #1 to ~3/4 ounce of my Skunk Red Hair to bring the potency up to a reasonable level. Now I've got over 2 months of stash that I can vape instead of just turning into butter/oil or, worse yet, enduring over a month of low potency vaping. An added benefit is no more grinding for a while either, I just store the ground strains already mixed together along with a Boveda Humidipak and I'm all set.

 

[addonexus]

So you basically make a jar full of shake and throw a boveda in it?

 

[David Bowman]

Yep. Keeps it at the perfect RH level so the first vape is as good as the last vape. I pour a few days to a week's worth into a gasket-ed aluminum stash case which keeps it long enough until it needs refilling.

 

[SBG]

Great Journal. Just spent an hour reading the whole thing and I must say I picked up a few tips along the way, thanks for that. You mentioned light to canopy spacing My 96 x 3 Toplight is about 3 to 6 inchs right at the moment with a mainline plant right now. I will let you know how it turns out she is on day fortyish at this time.

thanks again

 

[David Bowman]

SBG! Wow that's close, I just subbed up to your grow interested in seeing how it turns out.

 

[David Bowman]

Harvest Day!!

I chopped the ladies this morning, trimmed them up, washed them down and hung them up to dry. It took about 4 hours from start to finish. I cut off any leaves or parts of leaves that had little to no sugar on them to maximize the amount of sugar left on the buds. The ladies definitely were not fully mature with white pistils all over the B/L and F/C ladies and to a lesser degree on the B/R lady.

Group shot of the ladies prior to harvest -

Profile shot of the ladies prior to harvest -

Single shot of the B/L lady on the harvest table -

Single shot of the B/R lady on the harvest table -

Single shot of the F/C lady on the harvest table -

All three ladies hanging up to dry -

A check of the roots told the story, the most mature lady, the B/R lady, had the best developed root system and was the furthest along of the three. The other two ladies had smaller root systems and were not as far along in development as the B/R lady. Given that the last two grows have had similar results, I think my earlier diagnosis of what went wrong last time was incomplete at best and I now think the true culprit of these last two grows is a pH imbalance. Both grows were conducted in soilless mediums without any pH management whatsoever and this is more than likely why I have not had the success on the last two grows as I had on my first two grows in soil. It appears that soilless is not a good medium for me as I prefer a laissez-faire approach to gardening and soilless is anything but that. It's actually more akin to hydro than soil, something which surprised me actually. I think that the quantity is about what I hoped for and I only hope that the extra month of flowering helped to compensate for their slow growth and development and that this harvest is better in quality than my last grow. In about a week or so, once drying is complete and curing begins, I will post dry weights of each of the ladies. Two and four weeks after the start of curing I will conduct taste tests and post the results here. Thanks for following along and I hope to have a much better grow coming this fall.


Edit: I did add 1 Tbsp of Dolomite Lime per 1 gallon of soilless medium at the very beginning of the grow in an attempt to stabilize the pH of the medium. No other pH management was performed through the remainder of the grow.

 

[PeytonManning]

Awesome harvest man! Girls look like some dense colas that's for sure

 

[David Bowman]

Peyton. The main colas were the most dense of any grow so far so that's good and the B/L and F/C main colas could weigh an ounce a piece once fully dried.

 

[PeytonManning]

They definitely look it. As long as it makes enough high quality product to last you till fall, you're golden.

 

[SBG]

All looks good to me. Congrats on the harvest.

 

[David Bowman]

SBG. I think the disappointment of my last grow coupled with the same apparent issues with this grow have me being very pragmatic at the moment. With my expectations lowered, I'll either be content or surprised by the quality of this grow.

 

[SBG]

Nothing like a good cure to make things better thou and there's always the next grow. Have you ever used Fabric pots?

 

[David Bowman]

A six month cure did not improve my last harvest that much at all, a little perhaps, but I still had to blend in some dispensary cannabis to boost its potency. Next grow won't be ready until end of this year as it is impractical to grow, especially flower, during the summer months. No, I have not tried anything other than black plastic nursery pots.

 

[SBG]

I'm amazed by the root growth in fabric as to plastic, no twirling around the bottom of pot roots with fabric just thousands of small little roots throughout the pot