Second Grow - Venice Beach Afghan

[Vestrimatrik]

Can you get fungus gnats in DWC?

Here is a link to my thread regarding whether or not I'm dealing with fungus gnats

Other than that I just checked where I had my worst case of pm and it seems that after the treatment it's been deactivated. Also, is it normal for buds to shoot out new pistils near the end of flower?

Sure has a weird smell inside around the plants, I will definitely be washing the buds after I chop.... I can only imagine what's on them from the spray, dust, and dirt from falling over.

 

[TanR]

Hi Vestrimatrik,

I'm really sorry to hear about the PM and insect issue. I looked at the photo's of the insects in the other thread, but am not 100% positive on an ID either. I wondered if they might be mosquito pupa as the adult has a bit of a mosquito look to it, but looked up photos of mosquito larvae and pupa pics and not a match to my thinking. I looked up Fungus Gnat pupa pics and they are much closer to your pics.

I have had a plant pop new pistils late in budding. It was on a plant that eventually foxtailed and turned out to be the best stuff I've ever grown. I hope, foxtail or not, your's doing this has same positive end result!

Yes to the washing of your buds btw! PM treatment or not, I ALWAYS wash my buds and anticipate always doing so in the future.

Be well and happy growing!

 

[Vestrimatrik]

Well the mildew is back and I'm starting to think I'm fighting a losing battle.
Not so much on the big girl but definately on the smaller one in the tent, I may have to chop her earlier than expected

 

[TanR]

So sorry dude. Mildew sucks!

 

[Emilya]

do you have a strong fan in that room? How much fresh air exchange do you have?

 

[Vestrimatrik]

Yes to the fans, I have a large box fan and an oscillating fan pointed directly at each side.
Unfortunately, no to the fresh air exchange. It simply wasn't in my budget to pick up another inline fan for the main area.
I will however definitely get one for my next go around, I'll have it venting directly out the roof with fresh air coming in the cracks of doors and such.

With all the problems and how much I'm learning from them I'm determined to finish this one out, and definitely take precautionary measures next time.

 

[Vestrimatrik]

So here is a little bit of an update on how things are going:

Upon walking into my room I noticed a stench of some sort... one that I've smelled before but couldn't quite put my finger on. Immediately after hitting the wall of odor I was surprised and disappointed to find my big girls was looking rather sad.

Once I got her standing up straight again (with the help of more ribbon of course) I took a look at her reservoir, only to notice an oily substance lurking about the surface. "Must be from the spray I did yesterday" I thought.

But wait! Spraying plants doesn't leave a brown sludge deposit! So I immediately checked on how her roots were doing and OH NO! They were dry! Silly me forgot to plug in the top feed pump when I switched to flush...

While I was performing my natural duty as her caregiver I couldn't help but notice the remarkable resemblance of a smell similar to a sewage vent. I guess that's one way to mask her odor. Btw, she smells amazing!

Once I had all the fart smelling water changed and washed the roots a bit I proceeded to plug the top feed pump back in. A little while later I come back to check on her once more and well crap... her root chamber was full of water. She's not draining! Ok, time to make more drain holes. Time for the drill.

I wanted to make sure she was draining adequately. Hey, whIle I'm on the subject.... is she getting enough of a stream to keep her happy? I got it! I'll just remove the little dipper ring that's gotten a couple holes clogged and she will be sure to have plenty of water and ample drainage. Maybe the constant current will help deter the fungus gnats as well, who knows.

That was a great idea! I'm going to do that to all my plants! (1 indoor, 1 outdoor)

Just to be safe I added a little H2O2 to the res in hopes that I kill any bad bacteria remaining.

Aaahhh! Well, now that that's over and she's got plenty of access to clean water I can sleep easy. I'll go ahead and admire her and her sisters beauty for a bit.

*click* OH! There go the lights. I'll let them go to sleep now. Sleep tight, don't let the spider mites bite. :wood:

Sorry I didn't get any close ups or trichome shots but I can tell you that they are looking marvelous! Also, today marks the start of week 8. 2 more weeks to go!

 

[Vestrimatrik]

Last night I decided to take one branch for a wash test, I figured why not since the trichomes were mostly cloudy.

Started by cutting off my selected branch (not the bogged ones of course) and removed all the fan leaves with no sugar.

Mixed up a 1% H2O2 solution and dunked them. Several times for abut 5 min. Let them drip all the excess water off.

Moved then over to a mix of 2tbsp/gal baking soda solution and did the same.

Took them to the sink and thoroughly rinsed them off. Shook most of the water off and hung them to dry with a light breeze over them.

About an hour later I checked on them and I was amazed.... so green, so crisp it reminded me of kale.

This morning I did a tight trim and I'm very pleased with the results. They were about as fresh as if they came right off the plant but not as difficult to trim. And so plump.

Overall I'm very pleased in how the plant and wash came out. Definitely won't be skipping the wash at any time from here on out.

 

[Vestrimatrik]

 

[Vestrimatrik]

Due to my own fault I had to harvest the bigger plant 2 weeks early.
Her roots dried out without the water flow over top and caused them to rot right in the center of the mass after just 3 days.

Im having trouble uploading pics right now so I'll post them later.

The smaller one in the tent is doing well and still in her flush. Next weekend she will be coming down.

After I cut the big one down and trimmed off all the dead leaves I washed them in 3 stages... .5% room temp h2o2 then a warm baking soda solution and finally a cold plain water bath.

Hung them all up to dry with a fan gently blowing air current over them for a day. This might have been a mistake because the leaves I haven't trimmed yet decided to curl around the bud itself and made it rather difficult to trim the rest of the way.

As of right now they are still hanging to dry and I'll move them to some new 1 gal jars I just purchased with a hygrometer in each to monitor their humidity over the cure.

The buds are super frosty and ended up being about 15% clear, 80% cloudy, and 5% amber.

As far as the wash goes I couldn't find any real signs that there was any powdery mildew left on the leaves or buds. They came out with better color, great smell and very dirty water.

I'll be updating again in about a week or so with the move to jars and harvest of the second plant.

 

[servinbeats]

So here is a little bit of an update on how things are going:

Upon walking into my room I noticed a stench of some sort... one that I've smelled before but couldn't quite put my finger on. Immediately after hitting the wall of odor I was surprised and disappointed to find my big girls was looking rather sad.

Once I got her standing up straight again (with the help of more ribbon of course) I took a look at her reservoir, only to notice an oily substance lurking about the surface. "Must be from the spray I did yesterday" I thought.

But wait! Spraying plants doesn't leave a brown sludge deposit! So I immediately checked on how her roots were doing and OH NO! They were dry! Silly me forgot to plug in the top feed pump when I switched to flush...

While I was performing my natural duty as her caregiver I couldn't help but notice the remarkable resemblance of a smell similar to a sewage vent. I guess that's one way to mask her odor. Btw, she smells amazing!

Once I had all the fart smelling water changed and washed the roots a bit I proceeded to plug the top feed pump back in. A little while later I come back to check on her once more and well crap... her root chamber was full of water. She's not draining! Ok, time to make more drain holes. Time for the drill.

I wanted to make sure she was draining adequately. Hey, whIle I'm on the subject.... is she getting enough of a stream to keep her happy? I got it! I'll just remove the little dipper ring that's gotten a couple holes clogged and she will be sure to have plenty of water and ample drainage. Maybe the constant current will help deter the fungus gnats as well, who knows.

That was a great idea! I'm going to do that to all my plants! (1 indoor, 1 outdoor)

Just to be safe I added a little H2O2 to the res in hopes that I kill any bad bacteria remaining.

Aaahhh! Well, now that that's over and she's got plenty of access to clean water I can sleep easy. I'll go ahead and admire her and her sisters beauty for a bit.

*click* OH! There go the lights. I'll let them go to sleep now. Sleep tight, don't let the spider mites bite. :wood:

Sorry I didn't get any close ups or trichome shots but I can tell you that they are looking marvelous! Also, today marks the start of week 8. 2 more weeks to go!

Damn!! sounds like a close call

Just curious, do you use aquarium stone bubblers for added oxygen? I always have. been thinking of trying this one
High Buy: The O2 Grow | High Times

 

[Vestrimatrik]

I do use aquarium bubblers and I always put them right in the center of the root mass under water. I haven't found a need for anything larger than that.

Maybe in the future though

 

[Vestrimatrik]

Hey guys, sorry for the late update but here it is:

I've harvested both plants and the total for the first one while in jars at 60% humidity is at 7.8 oz of bud and around 9oz for trim and larf.

The second plant was cut down and wet trimmed on friday.... I think it will yeild more than the first.

This is just 3 of the main stems cut about a foot down and trimmed with wet weight

And all the buds hanging to dry.

Tonight I will be taking them down to start sweating them as the small stems snap and the outer buds are crispy. Humidity in the area has been kept between 50-55 for the past 3 days. Hopefully I can find a paper bag to do this in because it seems to be the most common method for sweating.

One quick question though. Should I remove the buds from the stem to sweat them or leave them on to do it?

 

[JohnnyBlaze]

I remove it personally because it takes up a heap of room in the jar.

 

[Vestrimatrik]

Final weights are in!

Total bud: 16.2 oz at 62% humidity
First plant: 7.8 oz
Second plant: 8.4 oz

Total trim: 10.3 oz at 62%

Already made 5lb of butter cooked with 6oz of trim at 194°F for 12 hours.

Kind of disappointed with the yeild on the first girl but live and learn. The buds themselves aren't too frosty but I think it's due to a couple unavoidable light leaks. The leaks have been fixed and the area is getting closer to ready for my next round.

I don't have a smoke report because I don't smoke but I'll be getting one in the next couple weeks.

 

[TanR]

Congrats Vestrimatrik! Nice harvest especially given some of the challenges you faced. I'll keep my eyes open for any of your future journals and will definately follow along.

Be well and happy growing!

 

[Vestrimatrik]

Hey all! Smoke report is in!

Now I can't be for certain what the effects are because I don't smoke myself, but here is the review from my friend who has tried some.

It has a rather sweet smell and It's a great weekend body buzz. Enough to get you feeling good but not enough to lock you to the couch. A normal daytime buz that you can function with. It made him a little hungry but not enough to fumble with his words at a fast food restaurant.

Sorry guys but this is all I have to go off of at the moment. On the 13th I will have my patient come down and give me a full detailed review.

 

[Vestrimatrik]

Here is a few pics of the buds as they are currently. They are still at about 62% and the burping process is complete

 

[Vestrimatrik]

Final update!

My patient has tried some and said it worked great for her headaches and anxiety. She smoked in the evening and just like the last smoke report, it wasn't enough to put to sleep but it did however help her stay asleep. Same body buzz, nice after work smoke.

Thankyou all for following and I hope to see everyone in my next journal

 

[Vapeman420]

Good stuff Ves, those plants and buds looked very nice! Anxiously awaiting your next grow!

-Vape