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

[Pennywise]

The foxtails could be genetic too, I'm going to chop a couple of indica dominate plants before the get too much amber and see how they turn out. At cloudy with just a few amber showing they should be at their most potent. We'll see

 

[MotaFina]

The foxtails could be genetic too, I’m going to chop a couple of indica dominate plants before the get too much amber and see how they turn out. At cloudy with just a few amber showing they should be at their most potent. We’ll see

Thanks PW. I dried and quick-cured some early samples of both strains about a week ago - at mostly cloudy - no amber - and tried that last night. Very stony, but it definitely has a cerebral/mind-racing high. I'm really curious to see how that changes as the amber starts to appear.

 

[Pennywise]

The speedy head high will soften with more amber, it's good to experiment like that to find what you like

 

[BluePhoric]

Yeah, the general look... they look done or almost.

Maybe try to take some photos in natural light near windows.
In my case, it revealed a lot of opaque + amber trichomes that I couldn't see under artificial lights.
It could be a Ha!Ha! moment for you too ;-)

BP

 

[BluePhoric]

Harvesting when trichomes are milky white or cloudy with just a few amber trichomes starting to appear should result in highest levels of THC.

Waiting longer will increase CBN content (witch is a product of degradation of THCV), so it will be more sedative/sleep inducing, more anti-inflammatory, etc.

More CBN means less potent (less THC) and more sedative, both of witch make for a less strong and less anxiety inducing experience.

For me... my two strains of Indica hybrids are somewhat sleep inducing. My girlfriend wants to go to sleep 30 minutes after smoking.
So for me, letting the trichomes turn amber on those strains is a no-no.

 

[BluePhoric]

Trichomes color vs THC vs CBD vs CBN update...

Check this out : Grow Happy Plants

What I understand is that few strains make the good king of amber trichomes. The rest (like my strains) just makes brown degraded trichomes. They go clear/milky/opaque/brown(dead)

According to the article, Indica hybrids should be harvested with 40% to 60% milky trichomes. No amber.

I think CBD and CBN levels are more relative to strain than anything (no measurable difference in amber trichomes), and harvesting later (or too late) may only reduce potency with no other benefit.

It's hard to get true scientific evidence of anything related to cannabis ;-)

 

[Pennywise]

I'm going to harvest a couple of afghan hybrids a little earlier than I normally do and see what difference there is.

 

[MotaFina]

Trichomes color vs THC vs CBD vs CBN update...

Check this out : Grow Happy Plants

What I understand is that few strains make the good king of amber trichomes. The rest (like my strains) just makes brown degraded trichomes. They go clear/milky/opaque/brown(dead)

According to the article, Indica hybrids should be harvested with 40% to 60% milky trichomes. No amber.

I think CBD and CBN levels are more relative to strain than anything (no measurable difference in amber trichomes), and harvesting later (or too late) may only reduce potency with no other benefit.

It's hard to get true scientific evidence of anything related to cannabis ;-)

Very informative! and timely for me. Thanks! This is definitely the hardest part of the grow as far as decision making.

I decided to do a stepped harvest on the Special Kush and I've already started with it. I based the decision on seeing a percentage of 'amber', but also on the overall look of the upper buds. Could be a tad early, but the samples have been well received. Here's what I see in the microscope:

Here's the hanging buds:

And here's the shortened plant:

Tent shot:

The bud below (Damnesia 2) is looking very close. It's pretty much all milky/cloudy, with just a few amber/brown here and there. My wife says she likes the high now - from the early samples - so I'm tempted to cut now. But it's a 9-10 week strain that is in week 8 from pistils appearing, so I have to think hard on it.

 

[BluePhoric]

I know your difficulties do decide.

Been reading a lot recently...

We know CBN is degraded THC. It degrades in two possible ways :
- Harvesting late (brown trichomes)
- Degrading TCH in storage over time (faster if bad storage).

Lets say you have 18% THC and 0% CBN... wait some time and it will convert to 15% and 3%... etc.

A brown trichome contains a bunch of CBN and almost NO THC. So the more brown you see, the less potent your weed is going to be. But it will give a fuzzy stone and sleepiness. Both of witch you may or may not want.

So old weed would be about the same as weed harvested too late ;-) If you feel it's too much "head-high" and not sleepy enough, let it poorly stored in full daylight for a few months... it will get where you want eventually !

If you see a high percentage (over 50%-60%) of opaque and "some" amber/brown, I think it is the best time to pull the trigger.

BP

 

[MotaFina]

I know your difficulties do decide.

Been reading a lot recently...

We know CBN is degraded THC. It degrades in two possible ways :
- Harvesting late (brown trichomes)
- Degrading TCH in storage over time (faster if bad storage).

Lets say you have 18% THC and 0% CBN... wait some time and it will convert to 15% and 3%... etc.

A brown trichome contains a bunch of CBN and almost NO THC. So the more brown you see, the less potent your weed is going to be. But it will give a fuzzy stone and sleepiness. Both of witch you may or may not want.

So old weed would be about the same as weed harvested too late ;-) If you feel it's too much "head-high" and not sleepy enough, let it poorly stored in full daylight for a few months... it will get where you want eventually !

If you see a high percentage (over 50%-60%) of opaque and "some" amber/brown, I think it is the best time to pull the trigger.

BP

Awesome advice....well said. I'll be pulling the trigger on one or two plants as soon as I have a window of opportunity for the trimming. Thanks!

 

[BluePhoric]

So-oooo ?

 

[MotaFina]

So-oooo ?

I know, it's time for an update, right?

Real quick - I harvested the top 3/4 or so of the Special Kush. It's all dry and curing. I also harvested the entire Damnesia 3. It's also dry and curing.

With the humidity so low now, the stuff is drying too fast. The branches are still very bendable, but the outside of the buds are bone dry after 3 days. It's a challenge but I'm adjusting and it seems to be working.

So far, dried weights are 84 grams on the partial Special Kush and ~130 grams plus popcorn on the D3. I'm starting to harvest the bottom of the Special Kush now. D1 and D2 have a little ways to go still.

Photos coming - as soon as I have some time!

 

[BluePhoric]

When I dried the last harvest, it was drying fast also. Partly because I remove all leaves and I trim wet.

What I did, is use a couple of big cardboard boxes (wine boxes for 12 bottles of wine, they had cardboard separators) and I suspended the buds in there. I just put some brown paper on the top. Turned them (bud-up, bud-down) and aerated once in a while. It was not air-tight, but it kept a bit more moisture in and it went well.

I think it's a good thing that the buds dry quickly in the first 2-3 days, to some extent, but it's good to slow the drying down afterwards...

BP

 

[MotaFina]

Update - Day 125 - Day 70 of 12/12 - Day 62 from first pistils:

This morning, I harvested the top 3/4 or so of the Damnesia 2 plant - the one in the 10-gal pot. It had started foxtailing out of control, so I figured it's time. I also plan to take the tops off Damnesia 1 - hopefully some time today.

Here are some photos:

Tent:

Damenesia 2 buds before cutting today:

Damnesia 1 bud:

I did cut this one D1 bud today - it's a big'un:

Harvested D2 bud:

D2 trichomes today:

D1 trichomes today:

 

[MotaFina]

Well I've run into a big problem here. All the beautiful buds I harvested off of D2 are starting to get moldy. There's just a few little spots here and there, but once compromised, it's a total loss, right?

Is there anything you can do with moldy bud? I know smoking it is out, but can edibles be made from it?

I'm bummed. These were gorgeous buds...the best of this crop. And lots too....probably 4-5 ounces.

 

[BluePhoric]

Shit, man... I was so happy that you had a fantastic grow.

Did you get all the moldy stuff out of the room ?
Do you think there were spores flying around from the previous grow ?

If you dry your buds quicker in the first 3-4 days would it help ?
What's the RH in the drying room ?

If you remove the moldy parts of the buds and put the healthy buds to dry... you think they wont be smoke-able ?

Sorry I cant help much.

An Idea... Do you know about ROSIN ? It's a recent method for making concentrates. No chemicals. Makes a concentrate at 80% + THC.

You can find many tutorials pretty easily. The thing is, it's made by pressing buds with a heated hair straightener (or larger devices), and this method works well for small quantities. It would be quite a task for a whole harvest. But maybe there's a way you can decarboxylate your compromised weed than freeze it or something, and then make ROSIN concentrates (or edibles) when needed. That or get a T-Shirt press to make ROSIN in large quantities, but I think that would cost a lot.

BP

 

[BluePhoric]

Do you have a carbon filter running ? It should filter spores flying around ?

 

[MotaFina]

As I'm going through the buds, I'm seeing that there are just little spots on the inside-most part of some buds, near the stem. The mold is pure white and looks like cob webs. And there are large portions of the buds that don't have any visible mold. I might be able to cut out the visible mold, break down the buds enough so they dry quicker, then apply heat and moving air to get them to dry really fast to prevent additional mold.

There seem to be lots of opinions on mold, but some folks are saying that if the mold is pure white and looks like cob webs, it can be removed, or sprayed with H202 to remove it.

 

[MotaFina]

Did you get all the moldy stuff out of the room ?
Do you think there were spores flying around from the previous grow ?

I think spores are everywhere...we breathe them in with every breath we take. But when spores combine with moisture and oxygen, they can grow into mold.

Right now I have all the colas lined up on newspaper and trying to figure out what to do. The easiest thing to do would be to toss it all. But if there's a way to cut out the small bits of visible mold and quick dry, maybe I can save a lot of it. Lots of work though.

 

[MotaFina]

or maybe make bubble hash out of it.