Motafina Fall 2018: Damnesia, Chemdawg & Royal Cookies

[MotaFina]

Day 51 from pistols. Here's a couple microscope shots of the Chemdawg - just starting to see amber at the very tops of the buds:

CDTrichomes2.jpg

• MotaFina
• Nov 22, 2018

Chemdawg trichomes - starting to see some amber

CDTrichomes1.jpg

• MotaFina
• Nov 22, 2018

Chemdawg trichomes - starting to see some amber

I'll probably bring her down in a day or two. I took about 4 inches off one of the tops to get it under the scope. it's looking amazing...dense, smelly and full of crystals. We're not interested in a heavy body high, so I don't want to wait for a lot of amber.

 

[BluePhoric]

Hey MF, how are you ? I'm back for a new grow ! I'll check yours in more detail a bit later.
BP

 

[BluePhoric]

Beautiful plants MF !

The R-Cookies is really something different. Strange but beautiful.

I noticed your stems were really red...
I had the same thing on other grows. Had that on my current grow... at the beginning.
I thought on the first grows it was strain related... but I figured it wasn't normal to see that systematically.

I had some calcium issues, that I fixed with CalMag. But the main culprit was a Phosphorous deficiency related to a too high PH. I was watering at PH ~ 5.8, witch is often recommended in coco. My runoff was always over 6.5 with a tendency to climb. I decided to water at 5.5-5.7 (5.8 MAX) with some intentional variations.

The stems (99%) went from purple to green in a short time. The plant now has better access to Phosphorous and other nutrients and it shows. My runoff PH is always 6.5 (even when I did a flush with really low PH) and stable. I guess my coco buffers at that value.

 

[MotaFina]

Hey MF, how are you ? I'm back for a new grow ! I'll check yours in more detail a bit later.
BP

Hey Blue! Nice to see you back! I'm just starting a new grow too. I had trouble over last summer with heat, so I thought I'd overlap my fall/winter grow with a winter/spring grow and then lay off over next summer. I just put seeds into paper towel last night. Here's what I hope to be growing next:

- Damnesia - just love this strain - great yield and great smoke
- Royal Cookies - a really unique strain so I thought I'd try it again
- Barney's Farm Liberty Haze - something new - Sativa dominant
- RQS Critical - freebie - Indica dominant

 

[BluePhoric]

Yeah, summer is a no-go for me too. From fall to spring is better, but heat and low RH is a challenge for me in the middle of winter.

I'm growing a freebee White Widow from Canuk seeds. That's not what I was excited to grow, but since I was switching to chemical powdered nutes + coco + dtw + auto-watering, I felt I needed to practice on a plant that I did'nt mind. Turns out I'm having good success on the first go.

After WW, I'll grow Royal queen HazeBerry (essentially a BlueDream). I also have a Pineapple-Kush seed. I may stick to growing one plant at a time. Other wise I'd use 2 reservoirs and 2 pumps, and adjust watering/nutes individually for 2 completely different strains... I'll see.

A fellow grower (we ordered seeds together) will be growing a Canuk cookies, a Northern lights, an OG Kush... and a white widow clone I gave him. I'm curious to see if his Canuk cookies will grow like your RQS Cookies... He keeps clones of everything he grows, so I figure I'll be able to choose my favorite strains (smokewise) to grow in the long term.

 

[MotaFina]

I'm growing a freebee White Widow from Canuk seeds. That's not what I was excited to grow, but since I was switching to chemical powdered nutes + coco + dtw + auto-watering, I felt I needed to practice on a plant that I did'nt mind. Turns out I'm having good success on the first go.

After WW, I'll grow Royal queen HazeBerry (essentially a BlueDream). I also have a Pineapple-Kush seed. I may stick to growing one plant at a time. Other wise I'd use 2 reservoirs and 2 pumps, and adjust watering/nutes individually for 2 completely different strains... I'll see.

Sounds like you've made some interesting changes. I can't wait to see what you've got going on. Will you be journaling your next grow?

 

[MotaFina]

I should have looked at your signature first....checking out your journal now.

 

[BluePhoric]

Did your grow go smootlhy, without problems or pests ? Looks like it went well.

 

[MotaFina]

I have a small fruit fly or gnat problem, but there's not many of them, so I haven't worried too much about it. I need to get some of that sticky paper. Other than that, it's been fairly smooth.

I'm having a problem now with the branches not being able to support the weight of the buds. I'm propping them up with sticks as best I can.

 

[BluePhoric]

Yellow sticky paper worked great for me in the past. With fabric pots, gnats love the under side of the pots. I put yellow paper in the tray underneath the pots (when dry between waterings) and caught the most there.

Big heavy colas : I've had success simply putting some rope around the plant, near the top; All buds pull on each other from every side and stay in equilibrium. You have to tighten a bit so all buds go a bit towards the middle.

 

[MotaFina]

Update - Day 125 from seed - Day 60 of 12/12 - Day 53 since first pistils:

We're getting close here. Chemdawg is starting to show some amber in the tippy tops and Royal Cookies is looking close as well. The Damnesias are beginning to show cloudy trichomes now, so they're probably a week to 10 days off.

This part of the grow is a little nerve-wracking. It's so important to get it harvested at just the right time. And then to follow through with a proper dry and cure. This is what makes me the most nervous.

I gave the Chemdawg a flush feeding, and the others got a full feeding of late-harvest NFTG nutes.

These photos don't do justice to how good these plants look - it's really hard to take good photos in HPS lighting:

Tent shot:

Tent-11-24-18.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Tent - Day 53 since first pistils

Royal Cookies:

RC-11-24-18.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Royal Cookies - Day 53 since first pistils

Damnesia 2:

D2-11-24-18.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Damnesia 2 plant - Day 53 since first pistils

Damnesia 1:

D1-11-24-18.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Damnesia 1 plant - Day 53 since first pistils

Chemdawg:

CD-11-24-18.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Chemdawg Plant - Day 53 since first pistils

Bud Shots:

Royal Cookies:

P1110566.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Royal Cookies - Day 53 since first pistils

Damnesia 1 and 2:

P1110570.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Day 53 since first pistils

D2Bud-11-24-18.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Damnesia 2 - Day 53 since first pistils

D1Bud2-11-24-18.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Damnesia 1 bud - Day 53 since first pistils

D1Bud-11-24-18.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Damnesia 1 bud - Day 53 since first pistils

D2-Bud2-11-24-18.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Damnesia 2 - Day 53 since first pistils

Chemdawg:

CDBud-11-24-18.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Chemdawg bud - Day 53 since first pistils

CDBud2-11-24-18.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 24, 2018

Chemdawg Bud - Day 53 since first pistils

 

[MotaFina]

I started a stepped harvest of the Chemdawg a few days ago. I took about 2/3 of the upper buds and left the lower buds to finish for another week or so. Three days into drying now. My humidity is a bit low at around 41-42%, but I think it'll be OK. Those buds will probably be ready to put in jars in another 3-4 days. The yield looks to be about 2-3 ounces so far, with another ounce or so still on the plant.

The Royal Cookies is getting very close. I'm seeing the beginnings of amber trichomes on the very tops. The buds are beginning to take on some purple in the leaves. I'm thinking I'll harvest that plant this coming weekend.

The Damnesias are cruising along. I haven't put them under the scope yet. The loupe is still showing mostly clear trichomes, so at least another week to go for those.

 

[BluePhoric]

For your humidity... I like to suspend the colas in a box (or whatever enclosure) to slow down the drying, when RH is too low. The liquor store boxes have little compartments... one cola per square, works really well ! If RH is very low, i also put a sheet of brown paper on the top of the to keep a little more humidity inside the box.

I prefer a few days of relatively quick drying, then slow things down a bit...

BP

 

[MotaFina]

For your humidity... I like to suspend the colas in a box (or whatever enclosure) to slow down the drying, when RH is too low. The liquor store boxes have little compartments... one cola per square, works really well ! If RH is very low, i also put a sheet of brown paper on the top of the to keep a little more humidity inside the box.

I prefer a few days of relatively quick drying, then slow things down a bit...

BP

Thanks, BP! I may give that a try. You mean like a wine box, right?

 

[BluePhoric]

Thanks, BP! I may give that a try. You mean like a wine box, right?

Yeah, a box like this... They give those away for free here at the Quebec liquor store (SAQ).

I tape the sides upwards, to make the box higher.

You can place the colas up or down, depending if you want more or less humidity.
You can drop an RH meter in there to monitor...

BP

 

[MotaFina]

Update - Day 131 from seed - Day 66 of 12/12 - Day 59 from first pistils:

I finally put the Damnesias under the scope. I've got quite a bit of amber trichomes on D2 and just a few here and there on D1. Oddly, they both still have a lot of clear trichomes also. I'll probably harvest D2 in the next 2-5 days and D1 shortly after that.

I've harvested a couple of major branches off the Royal Cookies. I'll probably get the whole plant harvested later today or tomorrow.

Chemdawg buds are just about ready for jarring.

Here's some photos:

First a couple of shots of the Chemdawg just before I harvested:

CDBudPreHarvest2.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 30, 2018

Chemdawg bud just before harvest

CDBudPreHarvest1.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 30, 2018

Chemdawg bud just before harvest

Here's a dried Chemdawg bud, ready for the jar:

ChemdawgBud.jpg

• MotaFina
• Nov 30, 2018

Chemdawg - Dried and ready to be jarred

Here's some shots of the Royal Cookies branch:

RCBudScissors.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 30, 2018

Royal Cookies bud trimming

RCBudPurp.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 30, 2018

Royal Cookies showing some purple on leaves

A couple shots of the first Royal Cookies bud that was harvested (still wet):

RCBud1.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 30, 2018

Royal Cookies bud

RCBudGrinder.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 30, 2018

Royal Cookies bud

And finally an update on the start of the next grow. The Damnesia seed didn't germinate, and I don't have any more seeds. I'm awaiting an order, so hoping it'll get here real soon. Otherwise, I'll probably start a freebie Peyote Critical or Mama Mia.

Here's a shot of the seedlings (Royal Cookies, Liberty Haze and RQS Critical):

NewSeedlings.JPG

• MotaFina
• Nov 30, 2018

Seedlings for next grow

 

[Slowpuffer]

Ok, I'm drooling !! Royal cookies look delicious !! Hope mine come out as nice.

 

[Slowpuffer]

And finally someone using Coast of Maine products, for comparison. do you know any other growers using COM ?

 

[MotaFina]

And finally someone using Coast of Maine products, for comparison. do you know any other growers using COM ?

Advocate420 is using it on his current grow. Advocate420 Soil Grow 2018

I think I've seen others too, but can't recall off the top of my head

 

[MotaFina]

Ok, I'm drooling !! Royal cookies look delicious !! Hope mine come out as nice.

Thanks! That was one oddball plant. Early in the grow, I was contemplating even continuing to grow it out due to the funky looking pheno. It doesn't have any odor at all but is really loaded with trichomes.