this trick works great, i do it all the time to harvest 2 to 3 times ayear outside....just time it right and you wont bake your plants....
GG7's Indoor/Outdoor Grows!
- Thread starter Goldengoose7
- Start date
Reunions!
BBK Growing Tip? ... Meet your Mom! - BBK Sisters Together Again - 12/12 Outside for GDP #2
Its been a VERY busy day today around here. All the various food crops we grow during the season are all starting to ripen and harvesting has begun! I am growing a lot more Cannabis this year too, so we are spending many, many hours a day out in the back garden dealing with one crop or another!
Along with our latest heatwave, UV levels have been VERY HIGH too, which while helpful to the plants and their various fruits to some degree, not at all helpful to my nose! Plenty of 50+ sunblock is the order of the day this time of year. That and a good straw hat!
The weather this sumer has been awesome though! Really can't complain! Probably one of the nicest/mildest summers we have had up here in 25 years.
Mother and Child Reunion
Here we see the now 27" tall growing tip clone on the right of the mother plant that it was taken from those many weeks ago.
Sister Act!
A few hours ago I walked BBK #2 up from the back hill and put it on our main deck alongside BBK #1. You can see what a difference topping makes when you compare the topped plant's yield on the left to the untopped version's yield on the right. All the colas on the topped plant are much bigger and more numerous as well!
12/12 Outside in August?
I came up with a way to keep my GDP plant under the full 12/12 it was getting inside. This plant was not as far along in its flower cycle (currently week 6) as the BBK plants were, so I didn't want to risk any reveg from our current natural cycle of 13.5/10.5.
Came up with this idea...
The trash can is green and will impart green light onto the plant if any gets through the plastic. The box keeps most of the light from getting through from the other end and there is enough of the box corners showing outside the can rim (out of camera view) to allow air to move in and out. I figure that as long as this plant is covered around 7:00PM and uncovered right around 7AM, it will stay nice and cool in there and in total darkness for 12 full hours!
Been doing this every night since we were forced to bring the plant outside after the PM fiasco.
The whole concept works great and is really easy to do. Will only work with medium sized plants obviously. GDP #2 is 27" tall from the base of the pot to the top of the main cola. Don't think you could get anything taller than 35" in there without hitting the top of the can. A deeper box might help, but the width needs to be considered too.
Anyway... There ya have it! The lastest update!
I'll be back with another batch of photos as events unfold!
Thanks for checking in and... Stay tuned!
Nice clever idea! What we won't do for our plants, huh?
lol
- Thread starter
- #264
I had a feeling that I wasn't the first person to think of this method of covering a plant!
Only thing I saw on the web was all this stuff about putting a black garbage bag over the thing which in my opinion is ridiculous when dealing with a resin covered plant!One day I glanced over at one of the "cans" we keep around for yard waste collection, and the idea hit me! The BOX part came when the can wasn't tall enough to cover the plant without the can resting on the tops of the stakes on each side of the main cola.
Didn't wan't to risk one of the cats jumping up on there and knocking the whole thing over and busting off the plant, so I devised the empty cardboard BOX portion to set the plant into and effectively RAISE the height of the can over the plant!
Like you said... It works great, and with the green of the can acting as a green filter for any evening or early morning light while covered, the whole thing is perfect for my needs. Provided of course that the plant in question will fit under the diameter and height of the can.
Our local sources don't sell anything larger than the typical 32 gallon sized cylindrical can. I have seen much bigger diameter cans used by janitors, but those are probably too expensive to be practical.
- Thread starter
- #265
Nice clever idea! What we won't do for our plants, huh?
You got that right XL!
Hey! I keep meaning to post this link but I never get around to it.
I found a cool little web page that allows you to see what your day/night light cycle is for your latitude at any time of the year. It uses a simple slider that moves a graph around and displays the total hours of daylight. The default latitude is 41 which is close enough to our latitude of 37 without having to change it, but you can type in anything there to make it accurate for your specific location's latitude value. Handy if you are curious what you are getting at your location on any given day of the year.
Check it out!
Daylight Hours Explorer
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100 gal = $100 at Home Depot , we always painted them or wrapped in camo ductape to deter thieves and the like....and light of course
- Thread starter
- #267
Cool! I like the camo idea!
Our closest HD is about 65 miles from here, so we obviously don't get down there that often.
I think a 100 gal may be a bit overkill for my purposes, but something twice the size of the 32 would be ideal for larger plants like the size of my BBKs.
Next time we make the trek down south, we will definitely check out the trash can selection of HD as well as Lowes.
- Thread starter
- #268
Weekend Update #1 • August 26th, 2011
BBK Bud Photos on Eve of Harvest! • GDP #2 Looking Good! • Purple Urkle #4 and GDP #1 in Bloom Room!
I just going to jump right in with the photos, so... AWAY WE GO!
Blueberry Kush Buds Looking VERY Ripe!
The multi-colored hues of this great strain are really starting to pop!
Grand Daddy Purple #2 free of Fungi on Week 7
Purple Urkle #4 Week 4
You can see how small the flowers are on this Urkle plant at Week 4. It is no wonder that it gets crossed with higher yielding strains like Oregon Big Bud to get the flowers larger than Urkle is capable of.
GDP #1 Week 2
Purple Urkle and GDP Side by Side
Tomorrow should be an exciting day in pictures as we check the BBK trichomes under the scope to determine whether they are at the PEAK of perfection and ready for the chop!
Stay tuned!
BBK Bud Photos on Eve of Harvest! • GDP #2 Looking Good! • Purple Urkle #4 and GDP #1 in Bloom Room!
I just going to jump right in with the photos, so... AWAY WE GO!
Blueberry Kush Buds Looking VERY Ripe!
The multi-colored hues of this great strain are really starting to pop!
Grand Daddy Purple #2 free of Fungi on Week 7
Purple Urkle #4 Week 4
You can see how small the flowers are on this Urkle plant at Week 4. It is no wonder that it gets crossed with higher yielding strains like Oregon Big Bud to get the flowers larger than Urkle is capable of.
GDP #1 Week 2
Purple Urkle and GDP Side by Side
Tomorrow should be an exciting day in pictures as we check the BBK trichomes under the scope to determine whether they are at the PEAK of perfection and ready for the chop!
Stay tuned!
Great shots, GG7! That blueberry looks awesome! 
- Thread starter
- #270
Great shots, GG7! That blueberry looks awesome!
Thanks Mr. Krip!
I'm really pleased with how well these two have turned out! I've never grown this specific Blueberry strain before (Kush), so I wasn't sure what to expect. The rainbow of colors that have started emerging on the buds over the last few days look really cool in person!
I'm glad that a few of the photos were able to capture those colors to some degree.
I'm also VERY glad that I have cloned so many plants off these two original plants to keep this train rolling through the winter and into next summer at least!
I'm planning to replace the Purple Urkle in my Bloom Room with that growing tip from BBK #1 that I featured earlier this week. Just waiting a few more days for it to get a few inches taller. The Urkle is going outside to finish, cause I think it needs the cooler nights out there to really get going. The larger Urkles on the back hill look a lot more promising in terms of their flowering activity.
HomeMedGrower
New Member
GG7, plants look very nice. I'm going to have to add that BBK to my wish list.
- Thread starter
- #273
Weekend Update II • Is It Soup Yet?
Yes and No
I just got done inspecting the trichomes of both BBK plants under the microscope. I took a bud leaf sample from four different buds on each plant and checked through them looking for the right ratio of clear, cloudy, amber to dark amber on each bud leaf.
The results were interesting. BBK1 is just about PERFECT, but BBK2 does not have the same level of tricome coverage overall and lacks a large enough amount of cloudy and amber trikes. (Twelve: Looks like my initial observation about the trichome difference was real afterall! We will need to further discuss that topic at some point)
Based on this I have decided to harvest BBK1 this evening after one more day in the sun without water, and have given BBK2 a watering of Molasses and water to allow it to survive and flush for another few days when I will recheck the trichomes under the scope.
Photos of BBK #1
The plant is about as RIPE as they get today! I found a few isolated areas of PM on a few of the lower buds, so I have sprayed some milk/water on them followed by distilled water to wash off the PM residue. Need to let the plant thouroughly dry in the heat of the day before harvesting this evening.
BBK #1 Trichomes Under the Scope!
You can see from these images that this plant's trichome ratio looks just about perfect, even in the tiny sample areas we are observing here!
Something to note for those who rely on hair color to determine harvest time: This plant still has WHITE hairs on many of the flower tops, even though the trichome coverage indicates the flowers are RIPE and READY for harvest!
BBK #2 Trichomes Under the Scope!
#2 looks to need a little more time before it would have reached the same ratio we are seeing with #1 right now. This is even more obvious when using my 10x Loupe to inspect a wider swath of trichomes. This plant got placed outside earlier and in a less flowering friendly light cycle, so that may have reduced the trichome production from that point.
More later this evening after harvest!
I also wanted to extend my sincere hopes and prayers to everyone on the East Coast in the path of Hurricane Irene! The news video footage looks AWEFUL!! Stay safe everyone and hang in there! All of us out here on the West Coast are pulling for ya!
Yes and No
I just got done inspecting the trichomes of both BBK plants under the microscope. I took a bud leaf sample from four different buds on each plant and checked through them looking for the right ratio of clear, cloudy, amber to dark amber on each bud leaf.
The results were interesting. BBK1 is just about PERFECT, but BBK2 does not have the same level of tricome coverage overall and lacks a large enough amount of cloudy and amber trikes. (Twelve: Looks like my initial observation about the trichome difference was real afterall! We will need to further discuss that topic at some point)
Based on this I have decided to harvest BBK1 this evening after one more day in the sun without water, and have given BBK2 a watering of Molasses and water to allow it to survive and flush for another few days when I will recheck the trichomes under the scope.
Photos of BBK #1
The plant is about as RIPE as they get today! I found a few isolated areas of PM on a few of the lower buds, so I have sprayed some milk/water on them followed by distilled water to wash off the PM residue. Need to let the plant thouroughly dry in the heat of the day before harvesting this evening.
BBK #1 Trichomes Under the Scope!
You can see from these images that this plant's trichome ratio looks just about perfect, even in the tiny sample areas we are observing here!
Something to note for those who rely on hair color to determine harvest time: This plant still has WHITE hairs on many of the flower tops, even though the trichome coverage indicates the flowers are RIPE and READY for harvest!
BBK #2 Trichomes Under the Scope!
#2 looks to need a little more time before it would have reached the same ratio we are seeing with #1 right now. This is even more obvious when using my 10x Loupe to inspect a wider swath of trichomes. This plant got placed outside earlier and in a less flowering friendly light cycle, so that may have reduced the trichome production from that point.
More later this evening after harvest!
I also wanted to extend my sincere hopes and prayers to everyone on the East Coast in the path of Hurricane Irene! The news video footage looks AWEFUL!! Stay safe everyone and hang in there! All of us out here on the West Coast are pulling for ya!
- Thread starter
- #274
Thanks HMG!
Yeah.... I had no idea that BBK was this cool a strain! I was expecting a typical Blueberry bud size and overall look. In fact, early on in my journal, I referred to these two clones as simply Blueberry because I didn't think the KUSH was anything more than marketing hype from the collective I bought the clones from. Boy was I wrong!
This is more like GIANT GDP Buds with dark green/black leaves instead of purple. The trichome coverage is just as heavy as GDP and Blue Cheese but the buds are obviously MUCH larger!
Definitely a KEEPER STRAIN!
Looking good Goose! Those trich pictures are worth the price of admission on their own. I'm with you. Positive thoughts, prayers and vibes to those on the East Coast in that bitch Irene's path. Please be careful and take care of yourselves.
Love the trich shots. The amber ones is about to finish. Need to add one of the scope to my lab. heh
- Thread starter
- #278
Looking good Goose! Those trich pictures are worth the price of admission on their own. I'm with you. Positive thoughts, prayers and vibes to those on the East Coast in that bitch Irene's path. Please be careful and take care of yourselves.
Thanks XL! Glad everyone is enjoying the trich shots as much as I do! It really is one of the more interesting parts of the whole process for me mainly because the changes happen on a daily basis rather than the somewhat more glacial pace of the majority of the growing and flowering process.
Check my reply to Twelve below yours! I forgot that I took some photos of my scope/Mac setup earlier this morning and with everyone so enjoying the trich shots, I figured I would post a couple on here for you guys to check out. The previous scope photos found earlier in this journal were taken in between flowering cycles so the bench was a mess and nothing was actually hooked up.
BBK2 Has Been Chopped!
As of this post, BBK2 has been chopped and all the photos have been taken. Only problem is that I am too worn out from a really long and HOT day to post another major update tonight.
I might manage to get them uploaded to my gallery tonight, but the actual update will have to wait till tomorrow. I am glued to my TV watching all the Hurricane coverage. I have a lot of friends who live BackEast, so I have an emotional attachment to many of the areas being hit right now.
Thanks as always for your continued interest in my contributions to the site!
- Thread starter
- #279
Hey Twelve! I figured that you might!
We can be the "Professors of Pot!" 
LOL! Here are a few photos of my setup in action.
My 15" Apple MacBook Pro connected to the Microscope digital imager USB camera. I am using an OSX webcam app called EVOcam to handle the imaging and the rendering of the actual photos I post here. (Notice the USB digital imager in place of the conventional optical eyepiece on the top of the microscope)
The $3.00 USB keyboard light with Gooseneck I use to "front light" the specimen.
These shot were taken while I was actually inspecting the trichomes of BBK2 earlier today and snapping selected shots as I scanned around the four leaf cuttings on the slide.
I've had a few folks ask me what brand and model of scope I have been using to take these trichome photos, so I am going to provide you and everyone else interested with that info right here in this post.
Hopefully the mods don't have a problem with these links. I sure hope not, as this is probably the best quality microscope you can buy for the money for our specific needs.The microscope pictured above is my trusty:
Celestron Advanced Biological Microscope 500 Model 44104
To get the scope images to my computer and onto 420 you also need to pick up this great little gizmo:
Celestron Digital Microscope Imager
This thing is an amazing little 2MP micro camera for $50.00! I have used $1500.00 imagers in labs that really didn't have any higher quality on a computer screen than this great little device. Since Celestron makes this, it fits their scopes like a glove with no modifications needed! Just remove the optical eyepiece and drop this cylindrical camera down the tube and secure the three set screws on the adapter ring.
Last but not least, you need a front illumination source since the scope only lights from below and doesn't give you light onto the top of the leaf surface where most of the trichomes are. For that I use a 3 dollar USB LED keyboard light on a gooseneck. I plug it into a small AC/USB supply and point it down at the specimen/slide. You can also use the back illumination that comes with the scope at the same time depending on the subject.
Of course, you can always forgo the digital imager and just look through the eyepiece of the scope like they did in the old days, but it isn't nearly as fun and convenient, AND you can't share your findings in your 420 journal!
You will still need a front-light source either way.Shop around for the best price! I bought mine from the online store named after a famous river down south.
See you guys tomorrow when I post the actual HARVEST photo series!
- Thread starter
- #280
BBK2 Has Been Chopped!
As of this post, BBK2 has been chopped and all the photos have been taken. Only problem is that I am too worn out from a really long and HOT day to post another major update tonight.
As Homer Simpson would say.... DOH!
I was SO BEAT last night, I didn't even notice that I was reporting that I chopped the WRONG PLANT in my report.
Correction...
BBK #1 is the plant that we chopped and harvested last night, NOT BBK2! BBK2 is still alive and well out back, needing a few more days to ripen up before it too is harvested.
We just got done trimming up all the buds and the yield was NICE! I am putting all the harvest photos together and will be posting my final Weekend Update a little later today.
Stay tuned and sorry for the confusion!
