FirstGrow - BlueRhino - VanillaKush - SharksBreath

[Cheeforest]

Re: FirstGrow-BlueRhino/VanillaKush/SharksBreath

Looking ready as hell chee.... not long now at all huh??? How long was the projected flowering time of these plants in comparison to how long they are taking, is it all on schedule or close??

Well, the "projected" flowering times are obviously some sort of average or Mean Value Theorem number, because each plant is going to be different based on amount of light, diet, stress, etc. As I've said, these plants were subjected to a goodly amount of stress (burning, LST, topping/supercropping, dryness) so I expected they would be behind the industry standard of 8-9 weeks.

According to DNA Genetics, the indoor flowering time for Sharks Breath is 9 weeks. Week 10 begins tomorrow so we're right there; although I expect to leave them up for at least another week.

I believe Blue Rhino is from Positronics, and their flower period was listed as "medium." I would describe the flowering time so far as "long."

Everyone keeps saying they look ready, but check out those tops again: almost no orange pistils yet, still all white.
I've seen a negligible amount of amber so far in the trichromes; I will definitely wait until more amber emerges. They are all getting cloudy though. I still think it's gonna be a week or more for those tops though.

 

[Cheeforest]

Re: FirstGrow-BlueRhino/VanillaKush/SharksBreath

I removed a leaf and sampled the fluid from the amputated end: almost no taste at all, so I'm confident the flushing has done the job. My girls missed the light cycle last night, will continue in darkness through another, and I will chop tomorrow night, right before the lights would normally "rise."

 

[Cheeforest]

Re: FirstGrow-BlueRhino/VanillaKush/SharksBreath

Harvest Update:

Tonight was a magical night. I'd like to suspend the journal for a moment and let us contemplate the extraordinary blessing of MaryJane. She is a voracious and vivacious creature, dynamic in her surroundings, a true survivor. She can live almost anywhere, is a marvel of evolution. I give the highest respect to this amazing creation of nature. Murdering the girls and amputating/mutilating their genitalia was a... sublime experience. Not necessarily sorrowful, but certainly a journey.

I was stunned when I realized the size of these colas. My perspective changed when I was holding them in front of my face. I am ecstatic with the results of the 250-watt light. I really think my being able to keep the intensity high by placing the plants close to the source was a major factor. The light penetration was pretty good; those babies are thick most of the way down. Oh, and when they were still alive I thought they were much less dense. They both feel very solid, especially the Sharks Breath. I ended up with way more bud than I thought I would.


Blue Rhino:

Leaning tower of Pot:

Her scent is of blue and purple berries, very sweet like grape bubblegum with a blue flavor... My hands still smell incredible

I dare you to tell me this is not a badass shot. She stacked on trichromes. Rather than a parade of tiny hairs standing up on her calyxes, they look more glazed than anything under the scope.

I think she is finna be tasty:

I think I might even see some foxtailing going on on the very right of the photo at middle height (is that even possible?):

Shark's Breath:

Omigod I dunno if I can even leep koing... Drowsing... I smust took a amssive hit hitter hithit of the craziness with some hash on top. Must. Pull. Bootstraps.

Shark's Breath in front, Blue Rhino behind:

So I went to the local hardware store this glorious afternoon for some type of shears, and the guy there recommended some bypass pruners made by. Fuckwhatwasit. Something with a C. Dammit. Made by... Corona!!!! So instead I got a set from Corona that included bypass pruners and floral snips. I was thinking, Perfect!
Those floral snips pooped out after I was done with the first plant. So I did what any man would do: I went in my room and got a whetstone (a great one with a nice long narrow thing I could get at the snips with, it has a groove in it for sharpening fishhooks), and that shit hardly even helped. I was like what the fuck. I was even cleaning the shears during trimming. (Damn this Mango is strong, Chemdog must have some psycho killer strains if he threw this out) Anyways I totally had a point and completely lost it. I s'pose I hafta buy a new pair of skizzers for each plant now sheesh.

The plan now is to wait until just before the stems crack, then they will go in glass jars with rubber stoppers. BlueDog posted a great-looking curing plan on Farnorth's journal, utilizing a hygrometer in the jar and showed the optimal relative humidity for curing. If you're watching, Blue, I tried to heed your advice about trimming but I got a little carried away. There is still a decent amount of roughage on them, but I had intended to leave s'more(s) whole leaves attached.

 

[Cheeforest]

Re: FirstGrow-BlueRhino/VanillaKush/SharksBreath

Man, the god damn aliens made me mess up and hit the submit button too soon. And I totally lost my train of thought there again shit. I also have a grand amount of trimmins. They are on paper plates on the floor of the tent; I neglected to take photos.

The stem of the sharks breath still smells like a pine tree, and she has a skunky funk to her. When you touch/squeeze(caress?) her, she smells superfruity and just really really dank, almost like real Lucy smells but not chemically, if that makes any sense. Like sticking your nose in a vial, but more of a sweet, natural nose. For some reason I think her shit is going to be powerful. It's an intense aroma. Very medicinal-smelling.

I shall be back with cured bud photos, and a smoke report. For now, I will leave all of you with this: Sayonara.

 

[Cheeforest]

Re: FirstGrow-BlueRhino/VanillaKush/SharksBreath

Early tube rips of the Blue Rhino are discouraging, did not keep me high for long. All buds are very light and airy; I truly thought they were going to be more nug-like. I am wondering if they dried too quickly. But they have yet to realize their full potential.

 

[farnorth]

Re: FirstGrow-BlueRhino/VanillaKush/SharksBreath

Im sorry to hear that! But its ok! Keep your chin up. Try curing them for a long time. Roll some joints and things will be ok.
Jump back on and try for a second go around and use the information you learned from this grow on your next one. THe fact you set out to accomplish something, and you did. You grew some plants that went from nothing more than a few eaves to bud that you are now smoking.
Just keep improving on yourself. Great job Cheeforest.

 

[Cheeforest]

Re: FirstGrow-BlueRhino/VanillaKush/SharksBreath

Thanks, Farnorth, what you said got my head back in the right place! I am amazed that I put a seed in a pot, waited a couple months, and this is what happened. Life is incredible and crazy and magical and it's hard to believe that worked. The buds have been in the jars for a little over two weeks now- mostly just the colas; I used the popcorn nugs for hash. I filled six ~quart-sized Emma jars. I am taking Farnorth's advice and letting them cure very slowly. The Blue Rhino remains wet, too wet to smoke. The very tips of the Sharks Breath are now dry enough. When broken apart it has a potently sweet nose. The taste is sweet up front and earthy/bitter/acrid when you exhale. Hopefully a full cure will mitigate that green-chemical aftertaste. High is balanced, leaning a bit toward the heady side, very psychedelic. Potent but unlonglasting. Smoking with a water pipe almost negates the bitter aftertaste. Earlier I hit a spoon of the SB topped with a goodly pinch of the hash; it floored me fairly handily but didn't keep me there. All in all, I am extremely jubilant- I grew a damn good amount of perfectly smokable bud, and it won't get any worse as the cure progresses. I think I might have hit the curing "sweet spot" with the SharksBreath - when it went in the jars it felt a little dry, but very, very sticky. It has stayed sticky and not dried out too fast, so I have a really good feeling about the cure. The BR has stayed wet even though I open the jars multiple times per day. I am doing my best to remain patient. The buds definitely tightened up when drying, they are not nearly as airy as I thought they would be. Can't wait to make a full report. Stay growing and stay hungry!

 

[Bruce Wheelman]

Thanks for sharing your grow with us!

Don't forget to head over to the 420 Strain Reviews forum and post your smoke report there too!

I’m moving this to completed journals now.

Have you started a new grow you would like to share with us?

If so, please start one here:
Journals in Progress

Hope all is well in your world.

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine!

 

[max brown]

Re: FirstGrow-BlueRhino/VanillaKush/SharksBreath

im currently growing vanilla kush from barneys farm but the leaves look much morsimilar to the rhino the fater softer leaves as apossed to the sharp thin ones that your vk is showing....case of mixed up beans maybe?

 

[Cheeforest]

Seeds have the potential for different phenotypes. I think this sativa pheno is more common than Barney's Farm would have you believe. I've seen four other journals with the sativa pheno and only one with the indica pheno.

 

[Cheeforest]

Thanks, cyclist. GO LEVI!!! Strong showing in the Suisse, should set up a great Tour de France for him. My next journal is still a few months off (I believe I shall be moving soon); but I will certainly post another one here. I love this site and the amazingly wonderful, helpful people here. Everyone stay happy and stay (get) growing!