MJ Crescendos 'Operation Snowflake' Journal

Well I had some great before and after pictures for the 1st part of the harvest.. but after resizing them I forgot to put them on my computer for uploading and deleted them. O well.. I grabbed some photos of them drying. The temp is 74 degrees and rH is 42%. I have a fan blowing downward so no direct air is hitting the buds.

By the way, I saved all the sugar trimmings aka trich coated fan leaves that I cut off. I also have a bag full of just plain fan leaves. Should I keep the plain fan leaves as well? I was hoping to make a small batch of edibles. The sugar trimmings should be 5-10grams total. I'm going to throw away the plain fan leaves unless someone has a good idea for how I could use them.

Trimming took 3 hours, but the bud sites are just beautiful. I was finding some areas of dark purple buds and other with a light purple. I guess the 65 degree nights brought out some color. I'm curious to see how they dry out. Of course, mostly just white strain buds. I accidentally put my fingers together and they stuck like super glue. The trichs are just gooey and all over these buds.

SW#3 - 2 gallon air pot - No LST
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SW#2 - 2 gallon air pot - Minor LST (only 3 tie offs then she single cola dominated)
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SW#4 - 16 oz solo cup - No LST
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#2, #3, #4 w/ bottle for size reference
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I finally got to see what was happening in these air pots. They worked perfectly! I was hoping to see hundreds of roots around the circular air holes, but no. It looked just like lumpy soil on the outside perimeter but I started digging into it and found a huge root system in the center of all the dirt. There was a main root that had a bunch of secondary roots around it. This main center root was strong as hell. Basically, these plants were far from rootbound and had huge root systems in the center of the soil. This is exactly what I wanted and it's funny because I always fed them by pouring water in the center of the pot.

Keep in mind that these plants were put into flower after 30 days veg @ 8''. Their primary stem was about the size of a pencil, yet still had lush bud growth everywhere. Especially after I saw the root mess in the solo cup, I will always use air pots. They keep a healthy trained root system which gives nice large buds. If the upper portion of the plant is properly trained these pots can yield big plants. A good example is a medijuana grow I saw on here. Those were some of the best trained plants I have seen, I even voted for them on plant of the month.

My back hurts from all the meticulous trimming so time to see what this scissor resin can do. :bongrip: Thanks for the words of encouragement guys. The second part of the harvest is sure to be even better.

O ya I'm going to hang these for 48-72 hours. I'm trying to avoid over drying at all cost. The closet smells earthy with a mix of burnt rubber? It also has a green kushy smell that I recognize from some good buds I've smoked. This stuff is going to be some A++ bud. Did I mention it's incredibly dense?

MJ :yahoo::thanks::yahoo:
 
Nice haul MJ!!!

you can make cannabutter with the fan leaves.

Just checked out the recipe. All I need is some cheesecloth so thanks for letting me know. I may just mix together sugar fan leaves, fan leaves, and popcorn buds to make the cannabutter stronger. :thumb:
 
what u gonna do next time? :rollit:

I'm sticking to feminized seeds for the next round. I currently have

2 Reserva Privada Kandy Kush
1 Barneys Farm Red Dragon
1 G13 Labs Pineapple Express
1 Nirvana Wonder Woman
1 Big Buddha Cheese

I will hopefully have 4 LST plants in 3 gallon air pots. I'll be using the spectra 180 again and possibly 4 supplemental CFL's in the corners. I'll have to pick the top 4 out of those 6.

The drying situation is going smoothly on the snow whites. They have shrunk about 50% and starting to feel dry on the outside. I put the popcorn buds in the mason jar with the hygrometer to see where they are at. I'll probably jar the rest tomorrow morning which will be 72 hours of hanging.

The HMW, SW#1, and Ice have been in the dark for 12 hours. I will be trimming and cutting them down tomorrow morning which will be 36 hours of darkness. I'm planning on hanging them in the tent with just the ventilation running for 3-4 days before jarring. I'll be putting the hygrometer in every jar for at least an hour and checking that rH is in the optimal zone.

After touching the buds for dryness my fingers smell great, but there is a slight hay-like smell coming from the closet. The rH is 40% in there and I turn the circulation fan off for a couple hours at a time to slow down the drying process. The circulation fan is indirectly blowing air around the closet. I'm hoping this hay smells goes away and I think it will because the buds themselves have a great smell. Only time will tell after they get into optimal cure zone in the jars and get burped for a few days.
:peacetwo:
 
Hawaii maui waui before trim
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After trim
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Snow white #1 before trim
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she had beautiful fan leaves
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Ice after trim
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Snow whites root mass. The whole bulk is in the middle of the container. The ice had a large amount of root system spiraling the container. I'm sold on air pruning of the roots.
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Drying in the tent w/ ventilation on only. rH is 38% @ 71 degrees
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I'm hoping that HMW and SW#1 produce at least an ounce. The ice was definitely root bound, but during trimming I noticed that almost all her fan leaves were in great health. She was a healthy plant, but being root bound, her yield suffered greatly. I'm hoping to get a quarter from her. Stinks of diesel :yummy: I'm sold on Nirvana genetics because all these plants are spot on to their seed descriptions. A good description I found was, "Snow White's palate suggests fresh, upturned soil mixed with amedicinal smell that learns toward turpentine in astringency." She has a very earthy medicinal smell :thumb: The HMW has a strong citrus scent, but the foxtails on the buds are beautiful. She's going to dry out to be some amazing stuff. I haven't tested any of the bud yet, but the scissor resin tasted great. Harsh stuff so I'm over that.

The first part of the harvest is all in closed jars now. I'm burping depending on the rH in the jars. I've been moving around the meter a lot to check rH in the jars after an hour of being closed. They are all around 58%-66% which is pretty good I think. I'm on the burping stage right now. Just got all the jars prepped for when I nuggy these girls down in a few days.

I'm sold and loving Nirvana genetics, air pots, and GLH LEDs :woohoo:

MJ:xmas:
 
I do like the airpots SS. I figure that to get good production you have to train and stress the above soil parts of these plants, but I also know that healthy root systems are just as important so why not train/stress those as well. These air pots do just that and even for a rookie I was able to keep these root systems in good health. I've been thinking that having the trf's in the center of these air pots, all the way to the bottom, where the majority of the root system will end up, would effectively feed the plants really well. They were easy to flush when it came time. I was using fox farm chemical ferts so I knew flush would be a necessity, so it's an important factor for me.

I filled them with pure fox farm ocean forest so it was definitely a denser medium compared to what it shoulda been. The ocean forest does have perlite in it so it did still drain pretty good and never over saturated the soil, so I was really happy with it. I've been looking through my journal and I'd say the general time for it to dry out was 60 hours (2 1/2 days) when they were at their peak thirstiness. Towards the end I was easily watering every 4-5 days. For ease of watering intervals the majority were exactly 3 days apart. The plants dealt really well in these air pots with every 3 days. The soil was sometimes a little moist, but they were drooping and I could tell. I was watering the non air pot and solo cup in the same interval, so I'd say air pots dry out about the same as traditional pots. It really depended on how much the girls were drinking.

I was pretty happy with the interval of waterings and it was not over bearing at all. I was just tired of mixing up new feedings every other watering. I feel like I was able to dial in what a plant wanted with personal feedings, but it's a lot to keep track of and extra work. Hopefully I can get a mix of dynamite and OC+ in the center of one of these air pots mixed evenly in the soil and it can be easiest grow ever. I'll have to see..

The big plants are still hanging out. I'm thinking another 3 days. The jars are all about 64-68% rH so I'm lowering it a bit by leaving them open. Basically a 2 hour burp a few times a day. The jars are really starting to smell delightful.

I tested some snow white popcorn buds that dried a little faster. They've been curing for 2-3 days so not the smoothest smoke, but the ash was pretty white in the end. It smelled 2x as good once I grinded it up, the varietys palate really came out then. This is definitely the good stuff. Earthy, kushy, minty, skunky, its real nice aroma. The flavor is mostly earthy, but the high was powerful. It had some creepers at first, but really kicked in after 10 minutes, it was strong and persisted for at least 45 minutes. This was just one hit for a test, I usually finish an entire bowl for a similar effect. It really leveled my head out and had some good medicinal qualities. I know I'll enjoy every bit of it, its exactly what I was going for. I think the 70 day flowering really helped the trichs mature and definitely gives this bud a stoney feeling. I can't wait till it's been cured for a couple weeks. Hoping to get all these jars at 58% soon so the real cure get going.

I'll still keep this thread open till I know full harvest weight and can conclude how great a grow this was within a DR80 w/ Spectra 180. I don't think any of us will be disappointed. I know SoilGuy had another great micro grow that's finishing up. Go 420!
 
Thanks for the feedback on the air pots.

People who use them sure seem to like them. I think I'm going to try some on my next grow.

Sounds like your final product turned out great! Patience pays off. I think the old saw, "when you think it's ready, wait one more week" is probably true more often than not.

Looking forward to your weigh-in.

great job!
 
The SW#2 and SW#3 have been curing for 6 days now. I think the rH has finally stabilized to around 58%-60% which is fine by me for curing. I do usually smoke buds a little dryer then they feel, but I assume they will get to that perfect point after 2 more weeks of curing.

I weighed what I thought to be in it's dry curing state which was the first part of my harvest. I was pretty surprised that the weigh in's were admirable for small plants.

Snow White #2 Weigh in = 22.27 grams
Excuse me for my earlier mistake, but this plant had no LST and had dark, waxy green leaves till about 65 days flowering and during that last week flush she began to eat herself up slightly. Great health overall. She was in a 2 gallon air pot.

Snow White #3 Weigh in = 26.98 grams
This plant had minor LST during veg and beginning of flower, just 3 tie offs. Towards the end of flowering she had 30% of fan leafs looking nute burned, but was stable after a good flush. I assume the tiger bloom precipitated some nasty salts in the medium, but total proof that LST increased yield. Less healthy plant in a 2 gallon air pot, but higher yield. I must attribute it to the LST. I can't believe I got almost an ounce from a 20'' plant.

Snow White #4 Weigh in = 6.46 grams
Grown in a solo cup and root bound the majority of the grow. She was pretty tolerant to root stress, but still was much more difficult to keep in good health. I do not recommend flowering in solo cups, but everyone already knew that. It was a fun experiment and she still yielded a single cola that weighs 5 grams.

Total for 3 plants (half the tent) was basically 2 ounces. I'm expecting a lot more from the HMW and SW#1, it took 8 jars to the top so I expect almost double the yield per plant, maybe 4 ounces for both and another ounce from ice? I'll weigh them in 5 days once they are in stable curing state.

The HmW, SW#1, and Ice are all in open jars with the fan running. I tested them and all are around 70% rH so I'm drying them out a bit more. I feel that they slowly dry when in jars so I'm going to just keep them in there. They are in a dark area w/ 38% rH so I'm not too worried about mold. All the product looks fantastic and the white trichs have really come out in the snow white's. I really love these white strains. I was in pure amazement while trimming down HMW and SW#1. The size and quality of the product is unreal. The calyxes are fox tailed everywhere on the HMW and it's a beautiful sight to see. The SW#1 just had so much bud.

I could see an easy 6 ounces from 4 plants in 3 gallon air pots under the spectra 180. With supplemental lighting and the right amount of LST yield could reach up to 8 ounces. I'm still shocked by the 27 gram yield from small snow white #3. This project was a total success. I'm grinning looking at the 15 jars of high quality bud in front of me. It's going to be a great winter! Stay tuned for the final yields on the big girls

MJ
 
I'm in awe at the harvest weights thus far as well SS. The 2nd part of harvest is all still at 65% rH so I'm going to let that drop a little before weighing in. The way I got to that 6 oz number was that I have 2 oz in 6 jars, but still have 10 more jars with a lot of huge buds. I have high hopes for a solid weigh in on the last jars and hopefully a very admirable total weight. I gotta say that it looks like the GLH 240 can easily pull 6 ounces. I'm just a rookie and have such an assortment of strains, it's hard to dial anything in perfectly. I can only imagine a high yielding strain like PPP w/ everything dialed in, this light might pull over 1 g/w easy.

I also had the same problem as you had on your grow. I stopped training too early and a single cola dominated the other LST buds. If I were to keep the plants perfectly horizontal w/ a level canopy, I see a lot more potential. I do love these fat single cola's with super dense nugs, but far as maximizing yield, better LST to create a level canopy is where it's at. I can only hope that you and I will have a perfectly level canopy under a GLH in the near future.

I'm very happy w/ my first round of LED growing thats for sure :ganjamon:

Thanks for sticking along the ride w/ SS, Staffy, and other fellow cannabis enthusiasts :thanks:
 
I have at least 5-6 super huge cola's that require independent jarring. I just couldn't bring myself to trim them down, they are beautiful. I'll snap a few pictures tomorrow and post them, but for now I weighed everything today.

By the way, these snow whites were named by how fast they sprouted. Looks like the fastest sprout yielded the most.

Snow White #1 = 49.3 grams which is approx. 1.76 oz from a 3 gallon air pot
Snow White #2 = 22.3 grams which is approx. 0.8 oz from a 2 gallon air pot
Snow White #3 = 27 grams which is just under an oz from a 2 gallon air pot
Snow White #4 = 6.4 grams which is about 0.2 oz from a solo cup
Hawaii Maui Waui = 42 grams which is 1.5 oz from a 3 gallon air pot
Ice = 16 grams which is 0.6 oz from a 2 liter standard pot

Total of 163 grams or 5.8 ounces

This from the GLH 240 which is quoted to have 240w. I grew only with this light and no supplemental lighting from start to finish. I think I ended up with a 0.68 gram/watt. I'm pretty happy with this performance from my DR80.

Both the SW#1 and HMW shared half of my tent. That means they got 1/4 of my DR80 floor and were sharing the GLH 240. With yields over 1.5 ounces per plant, I can see that this is where the best growing is done. I hope to have 4 plants in 3 gallon air pots sharing the GLH 240 + each will get a CFL for supplemental lighting. I hope to be able to achieve around 8 ounces with the future setup. I think it can easily be done. These GLH light are great and really perform to my expectations. With great genetics, the right amount of light, and good soil and nutrition, a really great grow can come out. I think I achieved this and I'm pretty proud of myself.

The HMW and SW#1 have only been in the cure state for 2 days so I'll be able to smoke report those in the near future. They should be the best of my bud and they are the majority. So glad I finally have meds for myself :grinjoint:
:):rollit::)
 
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