To nute or not to nute, before harvest?

[jokerlola]

So I have one plant left that hasn't been harvested yet. It's a Funky Charms from Exotix Genetix from seed that I grew outside in a 5 gallon bucket in soil (Sunshine Mix). It started flowering later than all my other plants at around Sept 1st, so it's just over about 10 weeks into flowering. It's too cold now to keep it outside or even put it outside in the sun so I've been shuffling it between a spare bedroom for dark and my sunny south facing kitchen for the day. It just has too many clear trichomes and 0 ambers to be harvested yet and there is still a few white hairs. I last fed it bloom nutes on October 31st. I last watered it to run off Nov. 6. I thought it would be ready for harvest by now but I have no idea when it will be ready now, but it will be at least another week or longer. It's ready for more water. Should I feed it more bloom nutes with it's next watering or just give it only water now until harvest?

I've been watering/feeding it about every 6 days now, letting the soil get as dry as possible before any drooping.

 

[Bill284]

So I have one plant left that hasn't been harvested yet. It's a Funky Charms from Exotix Genetix from seed that I grew outside in a 5 gallon bucket in soil (Sunshine Mix). It started flowering later than all my other plants at around Sept 1st, so it's just over about 10 weeks into flowering. It's too cold now to keep it outside or even put it outside in the sun so I've been shuffling it between a spare bedroom for dark and my sunny south facing kitchen for the day. It just has too many clear trichomes and 0 ambers to be harvested yet and there is still a few white hairs. I last fed it bloom nutes on October 31st. I last watered it to run off Nov. 6. I thought it would be ready for harvest by now but I have no idea when it will be ready now, but it will be at least another week or longer. It's ready for more water. Should I feed it more bloom nutes with it's next watering or just give it only water now until harvest?

I've been watering/feeding it about every 6 days now, letting the soil get as dry as possible before any drooping.

I'm a fan of feeding my girls everything they need right up to harvest.
I get great buds and no issues with the smoke.
Giving plain water in soil isn't as bad as there will be some nutrients in the soil.
But I don't chance it and feed right till the end.
Just my method others may have a different theory on feeding.
Hope she turns out great.
Take care my friend.




Stay safe
Bill284

 

[SmokingWings]

I've been watering/feeding it about every 6 days now, letting the soil get as dry as possible before any drooping.

This might be what is slowing down the final stages of growth and why the amber seems to be so slow to develop.

Holding off on the water and letting the soil get dry is the recommended way to get the plants to grow a large, strong and healthy root mass. Then when the plant enters into the flowering stage that root mass will be available to absorb all the water it can get along with the nutrients that have naturally mixed with the water.

There are recommendations found in @Emilya Green's thread on How to Water a Potted Plant which discuss the change in watering techniques that should be considered once the plant is ready to start flowering. Only thing is the thread has become so long, over 55 pages and up to 1,110 individual msgs that the info on watering once in flowering gets lost in the mix.

The link is to the msg, called Proper Way To Water Potted Plant Addendum, that she posted in the thread and is the first one which begins to explain why the watering methods should change when the flowering stage is ready to start. That is the first of 18 important msgs that I have found that get into the main points that should be considered. Earlier this year, out of boredom I tried letting the plants dry like you mentioned, I tried letting them dry to a droop, and now have been not letting them dry at all. The results have been great with bigger buds but most important is that the buds seem to ripen sooner with a lot more trichomes. Incidentally, I do not look for amber anymore but that should not matter when considering how important this change in watering is turning out to be.

 

[Azimuth]

Great post, @SmokingWings . Spot on.

 

[jokerlola]

This might be what is slowing down the final stages of growth and why the amber seems to be so slow to develop.

Holding off on the water and letting the soil get dry is the recommended way to get the plants to grow a large, strong and healthy root mass. Then when the plant enters into the flowering stage that root mass will be available to absorb all the water it can get along with the nutrients that have naturally mixed with the water.

There are recommendations found in @Emilya Green's thread on How to Water a Potted Plant which discuss the change in watering techniques that should be considered once the plant is ready to start flowering. Only thing is the thread has become so long, over 55 pages and up to 1,110 individual msgs that the info on watering once in flowering gets lost in the mix.

The link is to the msg, called Proper Way To Water Potted Plant Addendum, that she posted in the thread and is the first one which begins to explain why the watering methods should change when the flowering stage is ready to start. That is the first of 18 important msgs that I have found that get into the main points that should be considered. Earlier this year, out of boredom I tried letting the plants dry like you mentioned, I tried letting them dry to a droop, and now have been not letting them dry at all. The results have been great with bigger buds but most important is that the buds seem to ripen sooner with a lot more trichomes. Incidentally, I do not look for amber anymore but that should not matter when considering how important this change in watering is turning out to be.

That is interesting! I’ve read Emilya’s watering post but probably missed the addendum. (I just read it.) So I should have been pushing the watering and keeping the soil wet instead of continuing the wet/dry cycle! I had read about the wet dry cycle when I first started growing in 2018 and had been watering like that from the beginning but have always continued it through flower to harvest. Now when the weather was still hot (in the 80’s and 90’s and my plants were still outside, they were drying out every other day so I had got up to watering them every other day by going by how light the pots got. But when the temps dropped the watering intervals got longer and on this particular plant, it’s gotten to about every 6 days now for the last month or so.

So in the heat during flower I should have probably been watering once a day at least. I love finding out new info on making my grows better! Thanks!

What is your opinion on the nutrients? Should I continue with the bloom nutes until harvest or just water?

Also, if you don’t look for amber, what do you look for? Thanks!

 

[SmokingWings]

So I should have been pushing the watering and keeping the soil wet

Not wet like we could squeeze the soil and see water but at least moist. Certainly not dry more than 2 or 3 inches down into the soil.

I’ve read Emilya’s watering post but probably missed the addendum.

I did too and first came across the idea of changing the watering during flowering in a totally different thread. This link at the bottom of the paragraph points to one msg that is part of another discussion on this same sort of topic. At the bottom of that msg is a list of 18 links. They all look the same (eventually I hope to get them all named) but if you click on them one after the other you will notice that each is taking you to a different msg in the Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant thread. Each one of the messages contains some of @Emilya Green's explanations on what is happening to the roots and plant during flowering and the changes in the watering methods.
https://www.420magazine.com/community/threads/how-often-do-you-water-during-flowering.524107/post-5664025

What is your opinion on the nutrients? Should I continue with the bloom nutes until harvest or just water?

That is your choice. I will give a dose of fertilizer if I plan on using the same soil right away for another plant otherwise just water. Most of the time it is just water.

Also, if you don’t look for amber, what do you look for?

I might be able to see the occasional amber with the loupe but I have stopped checking. Now I look for overall bud development and health. They fill out and get dense the last couple of weeks and I look for that stage. A lot of the time I can see the trichomes starting to mushroom and can see that they are mostly cloudy without a loupe.

 

[jokerlola]

Not wet like we could squeeze the soil and see water but at least moist. Certainly not dry more than 2 or 3 inches down into the soil.


I did too and first came across the idea of changing the watering during flowering in a totally different thread. This link at the bottom of the paragraph points to one msg that is part of another discussion on this same sort of topic. At the bottom of that msg is a list of 18 links. They all look the same (eventually I hope to get them all named) but if you click on them one after the other you will notice that each is taking you to a different msg in the Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant thread. Each one of the messages contains some of @Emilya Green's explanations on what is happening to the roots and plant during flowering and the changes in the watering methods.
https://www.420magazine.com/community/threads/how-often-do-you-water-during-flowering.524107/post-5664025

That is your choice. I will give a dose of fertilizer if I plan on using the same soil right away for another plant otherwise just water. Most of the time it is just water.


I might be able to see the occasional amber with the loupe but I have stopped checking. Now I look for overall bud development and health. They fill out and get dense the last couple of weeks and I look for that stage. A lot of the time I can see the trichomes starting to mushroom and can see that they are mostly cloudy without a loupe.

I haven't been too bad about watering during flower but I was definitely waiting till the pots got light and after the stretch they were draining the pots about every other day so at that point, if I had been following Emilya's addendum, I probably should have been watering at least everyday and I may have been able to sometimes even water twice a day on really hot days. It's been since the weather cooled off that the frequency has dropped. Plus I've been going longer for the last month because I kept thinking I was close to harvest. I was just making sure not to go so long as to let the leaves droop. I've still been going by weight and I use a bamboo skewer to see how much water is in the pot and when it comes out dry, I water. But with Emilya's method, I should have been watering much more frequently. At this point, it's probably too late to make a difference, but I am going to water the plant more frequently these last days or weeks.

I've also been trying to follow Intheshed's advice and note when the plant slows drinking water to know when to harvest an outdoor plant but even though the plant has slowed down, the fact that I am seeing no ambers and still many clears that I think the plant is still not ready.