JohnGalt's First Grow - Outdoor Surprise 2010

Hi JG, congrats on your first harvest. Lots of growers don't get this far their first time out, so you're doing fine. Hope your other plant can get that last few weeks in. From your posts, I would say that you will learn as you go. You strike me as being quite observant and capable of analyzing what you see. Another grow or two and you'll be amazed at the plants you'll turn out.

I have no idea what caused the first one to dry up like that, maybe a combination of critter treatments. If that plant was the one close to the brick wall there might be some chemical remnants leaching or splashing from the mortar. My best guess.:goodluck::smokin:
 
10/1/10 - Gave the surviving plant about 2 gallons of pH'd water. Due to some wilting/browning leaves I chose to withhold nutrients. If this one is going early I at least want to give it a bit of a flush.

10/3/10 - Rain and high humidity, and lower temps the past couple days. For now I won't have to worry about heat stress, but I now have to worry about bud rot and overnight lows in the 40-50F range.

Gonna need a bunch of luck to get this plant to the finish.
 
10/5/10 - 2nd plant is slowly going the way of the first. Again the browning is mostly on the side facing west. Past few days the temps have stayed within the 50F-75F range. RH has been between 60-100%.

One limb already fell off (kinda gusty last night, and it's sister wasn't there to shield her from the wind). Between frailty and stress-induced death, it looks like this one won't get to finish. Going to give it a few more days, but don't want the necrosis to get near as bad as on the first plant.

Just spoke to a friend that knows a lot of the local outdoor growers (large-scale ones). He said that NOBODY has anything left living in the ground in this area. Word around here is that most the crops were cut early due to the same symptoms I experienced.

So, turns out I'm doing better than I thought. Half my crop outlasted the vast majority of the pros!

The bad news is most the outdoor stuff is crap. One "distributor" I know just picked up 3 ounces for $100. Not sure how much the retail would be on that ounce, but around here $250 is a great deal on an ounce. And usually a distributor would pay about half that.

The good news is... I should have enough smoke to last me through my first grow cycle on my indoor setup (which I should be planting tomorrow or Thursday).
 
10/8/10 - Decided that I didn't want this one to get as bad as the other did. So, when I saw the small bud-leaves starting to get brown I decided it was time to take everything that had brown leaves. Harvested two main stems, but this wasn't even half the plant. The rest will go until it gets too brown or gets done.

Before harvest:

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Had some pics of the colas pre-trim, but decided not to post them for security purposes (gotta be more careful what's in the background next time). Here's the post-trim results:

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This trimming session took WAY less time than the last. Mostly due to the better condition of the buds and having a little help from a friend. My guess is that this partial harvest will rival the full harvest of the first plant... and plant #2 still has ~60% to go.
 
Not sure if I mentioned it or not... been a very busy week between this harvest and transplanting clones in my indoor Scrog (which is now up and running (see link in sig)... check it out!)...

anyhow... plant #1 harvest is dried and has been curing for several days. Weighed 10/9/10 and totaled up to 25 grams of buds. Didn't even think to weigh the shake, but I'll estimate that at about 2 ounces. Ground the shake in a grinder that has a sifter/screen. Got about 1 gram of trichomes. The shake might go into some budder or cooking oil.

So, figure about 3 ounces off this one, but really only about an ounce of premature buds. I'll have to smoke twice as much, so it's really like having a 1/2-ounce of buds. Not bad considering it was pretty much free (and not too much work).

I'm not sure how much weight they lose during curing... but I'm guessing not much.

Potency/flavor test coming soon. I didn't get to flush this one, so I want to give it a solid week or two of curing before I smoke it... OK, who am I kidding? I'm gonna smoke the shit out of this as soon as my current bag runs empty.

One of the most satisfying things about this experience is knowing I may never have to buy another bag again. I got enough off just these two plants to easily last into the new year. Prop 19 is looking like it is gaining momentum (the Mormans retracted their $40M anti-19 funds... basically conceding defeat on the vote, saving it for the court battle). Further, I just put 12 Blue Dream clones in my indoor grow... so even if 19 loses the vote or court battle, I should be smoking my own for a while.

In this area (like most of the state) it's fairly likely that the herb you buy on the street benefits street gangs. It's satisfying knowing I may never have to contribute to funding violence again.
 
Hi JohnGalt, congrats on your first crop. I hope it smokes great. An ounce or two of your own product along with the trichs and maybe some edibles is not a bad way to start.
I'm on the way to your new grow to sub. keep it green.:cheer:
 
10/12/10 - Chopped another 30% of the plant to get more buds off before they got too brown. Trichomes on this batch appear to be twice as dense and twice as large as the first plant.

This is a pic of the main stem off Plant #2. Note that we took about 1/4th of the main stem last time, so this is the middle ~50%; still have some lower buds ripening on what's left of it.

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A picture of a bud that I decided to leave on the plant (I never notice all the dandelion pollen until I review my pictures...):

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The very first bud I took off of Plant #1 is now pretty much cured... or at least it's as done as it will get since I only have about a gram left from my last purchase (noticed I'm smoking more now that I know I have a couple ounces to get me by for the next few months).
 
10/14/10 - Plant #2 was going downhill pretty quickly (been pretty warm here the past couple days), so it was time to chop the rest of it.

Pictured below is all the harvest taken 10/12 and today, plus a couple of the bigger buds from plant #2, harvest #1 that weren't dry yet. (Note the thumb tacks for size reference.)

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All the popcorn buds in an egg carton tray

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Earlier harvests curing in 1-quart jars... From right to left: Plant #1, harvest #2 -- Plant #1, harvest #3 -- Plant #2, _some_ of harvest #1. (Remember that Plant #1, harvest #1 was one 2.5-gram bud)

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Not pictured: another ounce or so of shake (estimated dry weight).
 
Sorry for the delay, took a long time for the colas to dry enough for curing... been a bit humid so that didn't help.

Anyhow, here's the final tally:

Plant #1 - 25 grams of buds, estimated 5-10% THC (about half the usual stuff around here)
~1 gram of kief sifted from the shake
~1.5 ounces shake

Plant #2 - 70 grams of buds, estimated 8-12% THC
~ 3 ounces shake (not sifted yet)

Pretty amazing the difference in yield on these two plants, considering Plant #1 looked like it should have yielded twice as much as #2. Guess that's the difference a couple extra weeks of flowering can make... Those buds fatten up fast.

Still haven't smoked it yet... that first bud got pretty brown and smells a little funky... was hoping a longer cure will fix it. Might try a little sample today. If it's too awful for the pipe I can mix it into some tobacco and smoke it in the hookah... just got some Mint Chocolate Chip and Caramel Frappuccino the other day... bet one of those will fix any flavor issues!
 
Well, other than the upcoming smoke reports, I guess that's it. There will have to be about 6 smoke reports due to my batch harvesting methods. 5 harvests now curing in 6 jars at different starting dates ranging from 10/2 to 10/20.

Not a lot of bag appeal, and probably gonna be the worst I've ever smoked... but it should be enough to get me by for a month or two.

Mods feel free to move this to the "Completed" journals.

Thanks for tuning in folks, and feel free to drop by on my other grow already in progress. (See signature for link.)
 
Hi JG. You fought off the borg twice and got your plants through some tough weather. I call that a success and not a bad first harvest, considering the troubles your plants endured.:goodjob:

Congrats, nothing better than smoking your own product.:peacetwo:

Good luck with your new grow.
 
Happy to report it is much smoother smoke than expected. The very first cola harvested was cured in a peach jar, so it had a bit of a fruity flavor. And despite having very few trichomes, 1.5 grams lasted me an entire day.

So, the worst of my grow wasn't too bad after only 3 weeks curing. Really psyched about trying the best of my grow after a 6-week cure (or more).
 
Thanks for sharing your grow with us!

Don't forget to head over to the 420 Smoke Reports forum and post your smoke report there too! :cheer:

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!
 
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