MotaFina - 2nd Indoor Grow - Damnesia & Special Kush - Supersoil - HID

[BluePhoric]

Hey MF, nice to hear from you.
Your lower leaves seem to look good !

I'm finding it necessary to water every other day now. I'm settling into a routine of feed, feed, water, feed, feed, water....although I might try to add a compost tea into the mix. Never done one, but I'd like to get some fresh microbes into the soil.

Do you have any Earthjuice Catalyst left ? I think that's good stuff (molasses and kelp based) in terms of micro-nutrients.
I'm planning to add just that to my next waterings. No other nutes for now, as my compost does the job.

Sorry for your bud-rot-scare... I hope it stays under control.

 

[BluePhoric]

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[MotaFina]

Hey MF, nice to hear from you.
Your lower leaves seem to look good !

They do look better than the last grow. Even though there's some yellowing, the leaves are standing up, unlike the last grow where they were drooping and lifeless.

Do you have any Earthjuice Catalyst left ? I think that's good stuff (molasses and kelp based) in terms of micro-nutrients. I'm planning to add just that to my next waterings. No other nutes for now, as my compost does the job.

Yeah, I still have some Catalyst. I believe one of the Nectar for the Gods bottles "Zeus Juice" is a molasses/kelp mix. The NFTG regime seems pretty complete except for microbes - bacteria and fungus. I've heard that compost teas can be used to add microbes, but not sure I want to go to all the time and effort to mix and bubble a tea for two days. I ordered some SLF 100 to add into the plain water feedings. I'm hoping that will add some microbial and enzyme activity.

 

[MotaFina]

Actually, it turns out Zeus Juice is humic and fulvic acid. It sure LOOKS like molasses - black as used motor oil.

 

[MotaFina]

Some more bud shots - taken with my wife's DSLR:

 

[MotaFina]

Update - Day 92 - Day 37 of 12/12 - Day 29 of flowering:

We're still just cruising along. I gave them water today - no NFTG but I did add 1 tsp SLF 100 + 1.5 tsp Caln'Mag + 1/2 Tbsp molasses per gallon of water. 4 gallons total.

The plants are still looking good. The yellowing is still slowly progressing on D1 and D3. Buds on all plants are still producing tons of pistils and there's not much calyx growth yet. I'm in week 5 of flower now, so I expect to start seeing swollen calyxes soon.

Here's some pics from today:

Tops:

Special Kush:

Damnesia 3:

Damnesia 2 buds:

Damensia 2:

Damnesia 1:

 

[MotaFina]

Update - Day 97 - Day 42 of 12/12 - Day 34 of flowering:

I watered today after an extra day of drying out. 1/2 strength NTFG nutes (including Bloom Khaos & extra Herculean Harvest) + Caln'Mag into RO water.

I'm still supplementing the 1000w HPS with 6x 26w 6500K CFLs. I don't know if those are helping, but definitely not hurting.

I'm finally starting to see the pistols receding into the bracts on the Special Kush. That plant has a fantastic smell to it. It's gonna be great smoke I think. Probably 2-3 weeks more on that one.

The Damnesia are still bulking up. I don't think they're producing new pistols anymore. I'm just starting to see some of the lower parts growing out from the inside. So probably 3-4 weeks to go on those.

Here are some photos:


All the happy ladies:

Special Kush #1:

Damnesia 3 - 5-gal pot:

Damnesia 2 - 10-gal pot:

Damnesia 1 - 7-gal pot:

Close up of a bud:

Bud shots:
Damnesia 1:

Special Kush:

Damnesia 3:

Damnesia 2:

It's hard to see in the photo below due to the HPS lighting, but I tried to get a shot of the D3 upper leaves. Even the upper leaves are starting to turn yellow now. There doesn't seem to be anything I can do to stop this. So, hopefully it's close enough to harvest that the plant will make it through OK:

 

[BluePhoric]

I's hard to see in the photo below due to the HPS lighting, but I tried to get a shot of the D3 upper leaves. Even the upper leaves are starting to turn yellow now. There doesn't seem to be anything I can do to stop this. So, hopefully it's close enough to harvest that the plant will make it through OK:

I wouldn't worry too much. You're close to harvest... 3 weeks to go ?

 

[MotaFina]

I wouldn't worry too much. You're close to harvest... 3 weeks to go ?

Yeah, I'm thinking 2-3 weeks more for the SK and 3-4 weeks for the Damnesia. I'll start checking trichomes in another week or so. With that much time still to go, I'm probably going to need to add some support for the colas....they're getting heavy!

 

[MotaFina]

Update - Day 101 - Day 46 of 12/12 - Day 38 of flowering:

Buds are continuing to swell. I'm seeing more deterioration of fan leaves, but that's probably pretty normal at this stage in flowering. With winter setting in, it's becoming harder to keep the temperature and humdity up. Special Kush buds are getting really chunky, while the Damnesia are still looking more hairy and spread out.

Here's some pics:

Tent:

And lots of bud shots:

Special K:

Damnesia:

This is the bud that was topped a while back - it's bulking up nicely:

This shot looks like it needs to be rotated, but it's actually a lower branch that's bent over:

 

[BluePhoric]

man... I'm jealous !

 

[MotaFina]

man... I'm jealous !

The waiting game at this stage is just agonizing. Can't wait to get this batch in the jars.

This batch is much smellier than the last. I'm starting to notice the smell as far away as the street out front (about 50-60 feet away) when the wind is blowing in the right direction. I have a carbon filter, but haven't used it because I think my tent would heat up too much. But maybe I better set it up, since I'm technically not 100% legal.

 

[TheMadDabber]

Wow. Saw the pic for your journal and had to stop in and say awesome job!!! your cola fans have a ton of fingers a testament to an amazing grow.

 

[MotaFina]

Wow. Saw the pic for your journal and had to stop in and say awesome job!!! your cola fans have a ton of fingers a testament to an amazing grow.

Thanks Dabber! and thanks for stopping by...

 

[TheMadDabber]

Sure thing! I love that the carbon filter drops rh 20% for my flower space. Low rh high tric and resin production

 

[MotaFina]

Update - Day 105 - Day 50 of 12/12 - Day 42 since pistols appeared:

Getting close now! I'm seeing mostly cloudy trichomes on the bracts and calyxes, and maybe 20-30% amber on sugar leaves. I gave them 1/2 strength nutes yesterday and I think that might be the last feeding.

Here's some trichome pics from different days over the past week or so:

Here's a bud showing the length of the cola:

And here's a little sample bud I grabbed - just couldn't wait! You can't really tell from the picture, but it's super dense. It weighed out at 29.6 grams wet, so I'm guessing that it'll be 7-10 grams dried.

I'm thinking of giving Special Kush two more plain water feedings then harvest. I'm not sure on the Damnesia yet. It looks pretty close too, despite it being a 9-10 week strain.

 

[MotaFina]

Update - Day 111 - Day 56 of 12/12 - Day 48 of flower

I'm thinking I'm not quite so close to harvest as I had thought. I thought the Special Kush would be ready by tomorrow, but it's still showing nothing but cloudy trichomes, except on the leaves. I still see some clear ones too, but I'm guessing that's to be expected with all the growth from the inside. Maybe?? I'm not sure. So, I'm not harvesting quite yet. I've already started flushing - feeding only molasses and SPF 100 - so I'll continue that up to harvest, or possibly alternate that with just pure water.

I pulled another couple of sample buds to keep my patient medicated until harvest.

Here's pictures:

Tent:

Buds:
Damnesia 1, 2 and 3:

Special Kush:
Top:

Lower buds where I pulled a sample:

Here's the two samples I pulled today - guitar pick for reference:

And finally, here's some trichome shots:

Given that I'm only seeing amber on the leaves, and none in the buds, I think it'll be another week or two before harvest. I'm still undecided about switching back to metal halide for the final week or so. Any opinions?

 

[BluePhoric]

This is such a long wait... looking at the trichomes and not seeing amber !

Under what light do you look at your trichomes ? I found that the only light that truly showed the reality was near a windows, with the natural light of day. Artificial light masks some things.

Truly beautiful and healthy plants you have there. Congrats on this superb grow MF.

BP

 

[MotaFina]

This is such a long wait... looking at the trichomes and not seeing amber !

Under what light do you look at your trichomes ? I found that the only light that truly showed the reality was near a windows, with the natural light of day. Artificial light masks some things.

Truly beautiful and healthy plants you have there. Congrats on this superb grow MF.

BP

Thanks! I'm amazed by Damnesia 3 in the 10-gal pot. It's got what I describe as a "grape soda" smell...like a sweet, sticky grape juice smell. Totally unique and I get it every time I touch the plant. The other Damnesias don't have much smell at all, but that one is awesome!

The lighting in my trichome pictures is either my desk lamp (the more yellow pictures) or the built in light on the USB microscope (the more white pictures). I pull the whole plant over to my desk and examine the buds on my monitor so I don't have to pick off a sample. It's still a pain, but much better than the loupe or that crappy hand held micro.

Yeah, it's really slow to get to amber. Also, in retrospect, I think I know what happened last time. I'm getting a much better look at the trichomes with this USB microscope. It seems that on some of the older sugar leaves, there's already about 50% amber. But inside the buds, where the bulk of the trichomes are, it's all clear/milky/cloudy with no amber yet. On the last crop, I think with my loupe and inexperience I saw the amber on the leaves and decided to harvest. But the plants were far from ready. Chalk it up to learning.

 

[MotaFina]

Update - Day 115 - Day 60 of 12/12 - Day 51 since pistils appeared:

I'm not too sure about harvest time. These plants look ready to go from a distance. They're bulked up, dense, and chunky. Hairs are receding into calyxes and have mostly turned to orange and brown. But at the microscopic level, I'm still not seeing many amber trichomes. The SK is a 7-8 week strain, and this is middle of week 8. Damnesias are 9-10 week strain. I know folks always say "When in doubt, wait it out" or something like that, so I guess I'm gonna do just that.

Photos (wish I could get some better shots):

Tent:

Special Kush:

'Grape Soda' (Damnesia 2) - This plant has gorgeous neon-orange hairs, but is fox tailing a bit now - too close to lights??:

Damnesia 1:

Damnesia 3: