Late Flowering Yellowing

[Emilya Green]

May I trouble you grow gurus for just a little more info. I've targeted the next full moon to harvest so I'm only days away now. The buds have swollen up and are gargantuan with loads of trichomes, most of them are getting cloudy but there are still enough clear that I will give it to that full moon phase. Something I noticed this evening is that the buds seem to be growing more white pistil hairs. And only on the side that faces the window for the last 36 hours. It's indeed noticeable and I think I read somewhere that this is a common even late in flowering. Can anyone spread some more of all that technical jargon about this stage?

I suspect that it is still a little early for harvest and that you are still in full bloom then. Wait for amber trichomes before you harvest.

 

[nickeluring]

Okay, forgive me for being bored with Cabin Fever due to Covid-19 shutdown, this is probably too wordy a post but here goes.

In the words of that inimitable philosopher of life, "Vinny Barbarino" on the old "Welcome Back Cotter" series, "I'm so confused!" Do I have nute burn or a case of too little nutes like Emilya references above. Not that I doubt her credentials, she is well informed and helpful.

So here's the scoop. This beautiful female is estimated to be 20 weeks from a seed sprouted in some wet paper towels. I can only estimate because I didn't record the exact date, I know it was sometime in mid to late April 2020. She was topped early on so she has twin colas of substantial length and girth. Not to mention the dozens of other buds she's sporting, and quite well as far as most of my previous grows have gone. Before I describe the nute burn issue further let me interject here that she came from a seed that I got by pollinating during previous grows. I tried to be particular but let's just call her a "Heinz 57" variety. Her great grandparents were White Widow, then I crossed in some Strawberry Blue, some Skunk Haze and some Cotton Candy. These strains were all involved in her evolution. As you see, she looks healthy and green but most of the rest of the leaves on this mama are yellowing as one would expect in late flowering.

The buds are looking top notch. Lots of cloudy trichomes. I checked closely this morning and if there are any amber ones in there I just can't see them yet. The red pistil hairs are numerous but I would not estimate them to be the 75% I'm looking for so she's got at least 2-3 weeks more.

The original soil was a 50-50 mix of FF Ocean Forest with some home-made organic compost I get by tossing all my uneaten salads and fruits, banana peels, etc... into a pile in my backyard. I put all that in a big plastic pot and augmented the mix with natural organic Plantone fertilizer and some dried blood. I was liberal in adding these to the soil as they are organic and one would think there is no danger of burning the plant with it. I watered her lightly to begin with but in this heat wave there have been times I poured 2-3 gallons of water on here at a time and nothing leaked out the bottom. The soil is airy but you can guess her root ball is extensive and she would drink up all of that properly ph'ed (6.5) water. About every 3rd watering I mixed in a little more of the Plantone, some FF Tiger Bloom and FF Grow Big. And with the FF nutes I used only 1/2 cap full to a gallon of water. That was enough to change the color of the water slightly but nothing anywhere near the full dose FF recommends.

Once she went into flowering I cut back to mainly the Plantone but added the FF duo very sparingly. It took weeks into flowering for me to start feeling confident of my work with her but finally her colas and the other buds started to fatten up. She looked so impressive but only for a few weeks. She started to yellow about week 4 which I fully expected but then the yellowing spread quickly. Everywhere except the colas and the ancillary buds. And there are many ancillary buds. I resisted the temptation to cut them off and let her focus on just the two main colas. Because while some growers think this is the only way, I'm more of a gentle farmer and see this as mutilation of the plant instead of focusing growth. I may be wrong but that's my style for the present.

So she's now about 8-9 weeks into her flowering, give or take 1 week. You can see that the buds look to be top quality but I won't know for sure for at least another month after harvest and curing. I gave one of the main colas a gentle squeeze this morning and she's dense and thicker than previous grows I've done. The heat here worries me as one previous grow produced enough high quality weed for at least 3 years for my rate of smoking, only about 2-3 joints per week. But the buds were airy and wispy. Hardly any weight to them at all. A gallon glass jug of them weighed only a few ounces.

Late in her flowering I started to sprinkle a pinch of FF Open Sesame on the soil before I watered her. Later I used FF Cha Ching. And when I say pinch I mean no more than 1/2 teaspoon, probably not even 1/4 teaspoon. I've burned plants before and it was always traced back to when I started adding FF Open Sesame and FF Cha Ching. So I went easy on them. She continued to yellow, but the buds got bigger and fatter with each passing day. I would marvel on the day after I watered her how her buds would swell and get frostier.

As you can see from the photos, she's yellow but the bud sites are still green and plentiful. The problem is all those burned leaf tips. Or maybe it's not a problem. The buds look fine but those burned leaf tips tell me I did something wrong ... again. And this is my confusion. I've burned or at least what I'm told is nute burned every grow I've ever done. It's definitely hot here and that I can't control as I grow outdoors in pots. So is this a case of too much or not enough nutes that caused the dark leaf tips. Could it have been just the heat. She did well, in spite of almost constant +90° F days and the nights were only a few degrees cooler.

I have started to flush the pot. This morning I add 3 gallons of water and like before very little run off was noted. The pot she's in is huge. And when I lift it to move her especially after watering this thing must weigh 70-80 lbs. It's like lifting a bag of Sacrete at the DIY stores. I would like to give her 2-3 more weeks, only one more problem has cropped up. Some teenagers in the neighborhood know about her. I don't trust them at all and I'm sure some of them have their eyes on her. I hope I'm wrong but in addition to all the nute issues I have the thieving teenagers to deal with too. Surprisingly and like my previous grow several years back, this one has been pest free. No spider mites, white flies or mold to deal with. No eggs under the leaves, I check for this regularly. But darn it, this is why it's so confusing. Several people tell me too many nutes, several others say not enough. Add to that there is a risk of bugs and some distrusted teenagers. It's enough to drive a grower crazy. Oh, did I mention that it's still illegal where I live and you gotta know that at least one police helicopter has observed her from on high. "I'm so confused!"

I would start feeding her again. Those buds got plenty of growing to do still.

 

[OlderStoner]

I took one of the branches off of the lower portion of the plant and let it dry for 5 days. Twisted one up and it's so smooth, so clean and yes I got a buzz on the first couple of puffs. Not the head twisting rush you'd get from smoking a big bud in Amsterdam but well worth the effort. Now the trouble. The dried material lost at least 150% of it's weight. No joking this branch that was about 12" long with a nice bud on it's end and several smaller ones along it's length which weighed not to much when I hung it up, went to weighing almost nothing after 5 days. Like I said, the smoke is great but I was really hoping to have those buds which hold up and have some solidness to them. The plant is still in the pot, I was waiting for the full moon on 10/01 to harvest but I think I'll let her go another couple of weeks to see if the buds toughen up. They look so solid while growing but drying took them to whispy air filled buds. I hate when that happens.