MotaFina's Winter Garden 2019: Liberty Haze, Damnesia, Royal Cookies & Critical

[MotaFina]

No problem, I enjoyed them & look forward to the 6th! Would look to see you run something "exotic".

Are you a fan of Og's or gassy strains?

I don't know what's considered exotic. I grow primarily for my wife and she requested that I always have Damnesia in the tent. Other than that, I've been picking some strains that either interest me or that I think she might like. I haven't picked out my next grow yet, but here's what's in my seed bank:

RQS Hulkberry
Blue Dream
Gelato OG
Master Kush
Bubblegun
Sour Diesel
Northern Soul
Mama Mia
Peyote Critical
Liberty Haze
Royal Cookies
Damnesia

A lot of those were freebies. I don't know if I'll ever grow them. For next grow, I'm thinking 2 Damnesia, 1 Hulkberry and either a Blue Dream or 2-3 Master Kush (regular seeds).

 

[Phaaaze]

Happy wife happy life!

The freebies are where you find the hidden gems! I'll be tuned in, throw in a Sour Diesel or Gelato for me!

 

[MotaFina]

The Gelato definitely interests me, so maybe I'll throw one in. The Sour Diesel was a freebie, and although it should be something she'd like to smoke, it's a 11-13 week strain. I've been having problems keeping plants alive much past 10 weeks in flower.

 

[Phaaaze]

The Gelato definitely interests me, so maybe I'll throw one in. The Sour Diesel was a freebie, and although it should be something she'd like to smoke, it's a 11-13 week strain. I've been having problems keeping plants alive much past 10 weeks in flower.

From what I've heard Gelato is a short / 8 week finisher but I stopped reading breeders recommendation ages ago! Try it you might have good luck this time i'm rooting for you! Anything else close to getting the chop? I'm looking forward to the final weight!

 

[MotaFina]

Some (really bad) pictures from the tent last night:

Tent-Day64.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Tent - Day 64

RCPlantDay64.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Royal Cookies - Day 64

LHBud3Day64.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Liberty Haze - Day 64

LHBud2Day64.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Liberty Haze - Day 64

LHBudDay64.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Liberty Haze - Day 64

RCBudDay64.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Royal Cookies - Day 64

DamBudDay64.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Damnesia - Day 64

DamBud2Day64.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Damnesia - Day 64

And some trichome shots - they're still looking a little early to harvest. I actually prefer early, but I don't want it to be too heady, so must choose harvest time carefully.

Royal Cookies:

rct3.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Trichomes - Day 64 - Royal Cookies

rct2.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Trichomes - Day 64 - Royal Cookies

rct1.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Trichomes - Day 64 - Royal Cookies

Liberty Haze:

LHT3.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Trichomes - Day 64 - Liberty Haze

LHT2.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Trichomes - Day 64 - Liberty Haze

LHT1.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Trichomes - Day 64 - Liberty Haze

Damnesia:

DamnesiaT2.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Trichomes - Day 64 - Damnesia

DamnesiaT1.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 11, 2019

Trichomes - Day 64 - Damnesia

 

[MotaFina]

The RQS Critical is dried and jarred now. I was a little low on my estimate. It weighed out at 192.2 grams - 6.86 ounces. Not bad! It's retaining it's dank aroma nicely. I haven't sampled it yet, but will soon.

I'm beginning to harvest the others now. A couple of branches broke on the Damnesia and Royal Cookies, so they're drying now. And I pulled off a big bud of the Liberty Haze to look at trichomes, so that's drying now too.

I seem to have a hard time drying and curing the Damnesia. It takes on that weird grassy smell and curing doesn't always remove it. The smoke tastes good, but I wish it would keep the awesome smell from when it gets harvested.

 

[MotaFina]

I harvested the Royal Cookies over the weekend. This was at 67 days - so nearly 10 weeks on an 8 week strain. I still didn't see much amber on it, but it's time to take all the plants down.

For such a small plant, it looks to be a decent harvest. I'm guessing around 4-5 ounces. It's a pretty amazing strain. The buds are super dense. And the plant had buds sprouting out in places I've never seen before. Even after defoliating the lower branches, I ended up with dense little buds all over the lower branches. The aroma is hard to describe and not really a pleasant smell, but it hints at being cripplingly strong.

Here's some photos from the harvest:

RCHarvest1.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest2.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest7.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest4.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest6.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest5.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest3.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

I'll be harvesting the two remaining plants (Damnesia and Liberty Haze) over today and tomorrow.

 

[Phaaaze]

I harvested the Royal Cookies over the weekend. This was at 67 days - so nearly 10 weeks on an 8 week strain. I still didn't see much amber on it, but it's time to take all the plants down.

For such a small plant, it looks to be a decent harvest. I'm guessing around 4-5 ounces. It's a pretty amazing strain. The buds are super dense. And the plant had buds sprouting out in places I've never seen before. Even after defoliating the lower branches, I ended up with dense little buds all over the lower branches. The aroma is hard to describe and not really a pleasant smell, but it hints at being cripplingly strong.

Here's some photos from the harvest:

RCHarvest1.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest2.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest7.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest4.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest6.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest5.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

RCHarvest3.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 15, 2019

Royal Cookies harvest at 68 days

I'll be harvesting the two remaining plants (Damnesia and Liberty Haze) over today and tomorrow.

I’m impressed with how much you’ve improved as a grower! Whens the next journal starting? Make sure to drop the link. I’ll be starting one to once I get this tacoing issue dealt with!

 

[MotaFina]

I’m impressed with how much you’ve improved as a grower! Whens the next journal starting? Make sure to drop the link. I’ll be starting one to once I get this tacoing issue dealt with!

Thanks! I still have a ton to learn. I think it'll come with more experience.

Unfortunately, my next grow won't start until the end of July. I had problems with heat and humidity last summer, so I've decided to take a break this summer. Without environment control, I think starting mid-summer is perfect. The seedlings get a hot and humid climate, and late flower ends up cool and dry in the late fall.

 

[Emeraldo]

Hey MotaFina, glad I saw this grow of yours. Looks like you've had some ups and downs with leaf burn etc. LH had light green/yellow edges at one point, wondered how you solved that?

Looks like it turned out very well!

I am growing some of the same strains this year: Damnesia, RQS Critical, and I've got a Barneys Farm G-13xHaze. May need to pick your experiences for problems!

One question: Is this an organic soil grow or are you using bottled nutes?

 

[MotaFina]

Hey MotaFina, glad I saw this grow of yours. Looks like you've had some ups and downs with leaf burn etc. LH had light green/yellow edges at one point, wondered how you solved that?

Looks like it turned out very well!

I am growing some of the same strains this year: Damnesia, RQS Critical, and I've got a Barneys Farm G-13xHaze. May need to pick your experiences for problems!

One question: Is this an organic soil grow or are you using bottled nutes?

Hi Emeraldo! Welcome to my journal. I'm surprised to see someone else growing Damnesia. I think it's a great strain, but it doesn't seem to get many takers. It's a very high yielder that's relatively easy to grow and has an excellent high. On the downside, I've run into issues curing it, as it loses a lot of aroma and seems susceptible to mold, despite having "anti-mold strain" genetics.

The RQS Critical came out really well this grow. Beautiful dank nugs and definitely the easiest to grow this round.

The Liberty Haze was a really sensitive plant. It had some clawing early on, then some yellowing. It did seem to harden up a bit at the end. I think I reduced the feedings a little.

To answer your organic question, my grow is close to organic, but technically not. The Nectar For the Gods nutes are organic bottled nutes that are not certified organic due to at least one of the products containing calcium nitrate.

 

[Emeraldo]

Yes, very interested in your grow. Especially that Damnesia is your wife's favorite as I am growing D for mine. Am germinating Strain Hunters' (GHS) Damnesia and also White Strawberry Skunk. The Damnesia seeds appear to be popping, but the WSS seeds are apparently duds.

Funny with the mold, though. Damnesia is a cross with AMS (anti mold strain). I am so destroyed when I see it. Last summer I grew a wonderful plant, flushed her right before harvest (instead of letting her dry out in the pot), and in the jar .... mold. Live and learn, it's all good (for something).

 

[MotaFina]

I harvested the Liberty Haze last night - at 69 days. It was big, with huge colas that had extensive fox tailing. Took a lot of trimming. Here's a couple photos:

LHBudHarvest.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 16, 2019
• 1

Liberty Haze - Harvested at 69 days

LHBud2Harvest.JPG

• MotaFina
• Apr 16, 2019

Liberty Haze - Harvested at 69 days

LHPile.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 16, 2019

Liberty Haze - Harvested at 69 days

LHBud.jpg

• MotaFina
• Apr 16, 2019

Liberty Haze - Harvested at 69 days

 

[Phaaaze]

Looks amazing! How long you plan to dry for? You wet trim? Or combination of wet/dry?!

 

[MotaFina]

Looks amazing! How long you plan to dry for? You wet trim? Or combination of wet/dry?!

I've been having challenges with drying. My stuff seems to dry too fast. RH is fairly low in my area right now. The RC buds have only been up for 3 days and feel bone dry already. I'm jarring those now. Hopefully these huge Liberty Haze colas will come out OK. I'm a little worried about mold with huge buds. So maybe a quick dry is a good thing.

I wet trim for the most part. I re-trim a little after it's dry, but this is just personal stash, so I'm not too worried about 'bag appeal'.

 

[MotaFina]

Everything is dried and jarred. I tried a slightly different drying method and it seems to have worked out pretty well. Instead of going straight from hanging to jars, I added a transition step in paper bags. The hanging buds were getting super dry on the outside, but then sweating pretty bad once in the jars. So the paper bag transition lets them dry more slowly. I got most of the buds down to ~65% in the bags. Now I just do short daily burping of the jars.

Here's my finished weights:

Strain	Weight in grams	Weight in ounces
Royal Cookies	142	5.07
Damnesia	186.2	6.65
Critical	188.1	6.71
Liberty Haze	225.8	8.06
Total	745.1	26.6

 

[MotaFina]

Grow Completed - Summary:

Strains

Damnesia is still a great strain, but this grow showed me some challenges. This plant grew somewhat woody and suffered a couple of breaks. It produced a lower yield than past grows, but still shows dense, crystal-coated buds that smell fantastic and produce the same great high. I'm not sure what changed this grow to account for the difficulties, but I have a bunch of Damnesia seeds so I'll definitely continue to grow this one.

Royal Cookies - this was my second time growing this strain. It continues to amaze me with the way it stays so small and compact, but manages to produce a decent yield of incredibly strong weed. Buds from both grows are nearly identical in size, smell, density, and potency. The problem I have with this strain is that it's not too popular with folks who've tried it. Most of my friends seem to prefer sativa-dom strains and this one is more indica. I've got another seed so will probably have another try at some point.

Critical - This one came to me as a freebie, so I thought I'd see how it goes. It's a great strain to grow...super easy. Mine stayed relatively small, and ran slightly longer than the breeder's suggested 7-8 weeks. The plant was nicely shaped with minimal effort and produced a good yield of dense, stinky buds. It's curing up nicely. I haven't tried it yet so no smoke report. It's indica dominant, so I expect a more relaxing, evening smoke.

Liberty Haze - A new strain this grow. This one grew the biggest and yielded the most, but the buds are not as dense as the others. Still, they're encrusted with crystals, sweet smelling and seem to have a good 'upper' high. I've got more of these seeds and I think my wife will like this strain once it's fully cured, so I'll definitely grow this one again.

Nutrients - I used primarily Nectar for the Gods line. I was searching for a new line to use. I started adding in some Home and Garden nutes from a sample pack I got, but I found out they're not organic, so I stopped using those. I'm still happy with the Nectar line. I'm not happy with the calcium build-up on the top of the soil. And the amount of Herculean Harvest you need to use pushes the cost of the line up. But otherwise it seems to produce really good results.

Soil - Supersoil mixed with Coast of Maine Stonington Blend. This grow was about 50% used soil. Still working great. I'll be reusing this soil again next time after a recharge.

Lighting - CFLs for seedling stage, 400w MH up to week 3 of flowering, 1000w HPS for flowering

As much as I'd like to, I still can't make the move to LEDs when these old lights are giving the results they do.

Pots - 7-gal plastic and fabric

I did notice a bit more robust root ball in the fabric pots this time. I'll probably do all fabric next grow.

Water - Tap water treated with de-chlorination solution

Process:

Germination: Wet towel process

Veg - No nutrients were added. Instant tea a couple of times. No problems here.

Training - I did a 'quadline' on LH and Critical. On the Damnesia, i did the same, but left the two branches from one of the lower nodes intact. Those two lower branches reached all the way to the top of the cannopy and produced the biggest buds. On the RC, I left most of the branches intact.

Flowering - Nutrients were added throughout flowering. Plants seemed to love everything I gave them. All plants stayed in flower for at least as long as the breeder recommends. Damnesia went 10 weeks.

Drying/Curing - Wet trim, then hang in dark space with airflow. After 3-4 days the buds were super dry and crumbly on the outside, but if I put them into jars, they became too wet. So, I tried doing a transitional stage by trimming them off the branches into paper bags. That extended the drying time by another 4-6 days. This seems to be a much better method and the buds now seem to be retaining most of their terpenes in the jars.

Overall, this was another successful grow. We've got a lot of buds still from the last grow, so we haven't gotten into these new buds much. We're definitely all set for now and don't need to do a summer grow. In fact I should try to give some away. Next grow will start up at the end of July. Thanks to those of you who stopped by to take a look!

 

[Amadeus Forzin]

Hope all is well in your world.

Thanks for sharing this grow with us.

Please head over to the 420 Strain Reviews forum and post your smoke report there too.

I’m moving this to Completed Journals now.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.

 

[MotaFina]

have wobbled me already. lol
i am glad i waited till the trichs ambered more. she was a dream to grow and tastes so sweet as the days pass. still finishing drying her off because a few buds still slightly bendy . hopefully today will be trim up day.
you wont regret using this strain i assure you

Ganjagrandad, my Liberty Haze didn't come out nearly as crystal coated as yours. It's pretty decent though. It has a very fruity, berry smell. The buds are a little light but not too bad. It's definitely a daytime smoke...uplifting and a little cerebral, but with some euphoria and relaxation. And it was a great producer. This one yielded the most in this grow.

0816191253.jpg

• MotaFina
• Aug 16, 2019

Liberty Haze - cured buds - 3+ months in vacuum sealed jars

0816191302c.jpg

• MotaFina
• Aug 16, 2019

Cured LH bud

 

[Ganjagrandaddy]

Ganjagrandad, my Liberty Haze didn't come out nearly as crystal coated as yours. It's pretty decent though. It has a very fruity, berry smell. The buds are a little light but not too bad. It's definitely a daytime smoke...uplifting and a little cerebral, but with some euphoria and relaxation. And it was a great producer. This one yielded the most in this grow.

0816191253.jpg

• MotaFina
• Aug 16, 2019

Liberty Haze - cured buds - 3+ months in vacuum sealed jars

0816191302c.jpg

• MotaFina
• Aug 16, 2019

Cured LH bud

wow you are patient with the curing. looks top drawer now. nice job. hope you are searching for your next strain. enjoy your hard work.Thanks for the comments.