Weenmeoff's Inside Soil Alien Abduction Grow Journal

[weenmeoff]

Awesome, thanks again Dirt!

 

[Canna Montana]

If you are growing in the kit, I don't think you should flush. There is nothing to flush. The soil feeds the plant, not nutes so there are no nutes to flush out. Double check for sure, but I'd hold off if you haven't already flushed.

 

[weenmeoff]

Thanks Canna! This grow was regular nutes until he last 4 feeds which I used trans and GE and tea but it's not kit soil and I used bottled nutes up until 4 feeds ago. Planning on flushing tomorrow or next day. Any other thoughts on the flush situation?

 

[weenmeoff]

+72 of 12/12

I flushed the Georges tonight. How long should I wait before I chop em? Was thinking between 4-7days. Should I clip off the bigger fan leaves before the 48 hour dark period?

 

[weenmeoff]

Gonna leave the fan leaves on until after wash. Thoughts about how soon after flush I can chop?

 

[Duggan]

Evenin Ween, hope your well my brotha. Wadaya talkin about leavin the fans on. Get them off right now, while it's easy, always trim when the leaves are still turgid. If you leave them on the buds may not get washed and ,...well, it's up to you. They were not in kit soil Ween. Save a jar of it to compare with your first HB harvest! Cheers bud!

 

[weenmeoff]

Hey Duggs! I was gonna leave em on so they'd get washed so they could be used to make tea but I think we'll have enough buds for that, the leaf has little to no visible resin anyways so I'll clip em.

What about the flush question? I flushed last night and would like to chop this weekend but I can push it off a few days if needed.

I'll certainly have some of this left to compare to the high Brix buds.

 

[Duggan]

Hey Duggs! I was gonna leave em on so they'd get washed so they could be used to make tea but I think we'll have enough buds for that, the leaf has little to no visible resin anyways so I'll clip em.

What about the flush question? I flushed last night and would like to chop this weekend but I can push it off a few days if needed.

I'll certainly have some of this left to compare to the high Brix buds.

It's fine to chop now Ween, growing in soil you don't need to flush as much as when growing with Hydro and force feeding bottled nutes throughout a grow. That's when you need to flush. In soil it's not really required bud! you will be fine ! Get on with growing in DBHBB....waitin for it!

 

[weenmeoff]

Thanks Again Duggan!

At harvest-time all you have to do is cut the plant as low as possible and hang the whole thing upside down to dry on a line. The room you use to dry should be the about the same size you grew in (if not the same room). The humidity should remain a constant 50-60%. Too high and buds will mold, too low and they dry too fast and taste bad. Temperature should be around 65-68 degrees, wherever possible. Make sure the room is dark, as light degrades THC.

All kinds of processes, like the transport of sugars inside the plant still take place, even when you cut it down. These processes will slowly come to an end while the drying progresses, but are the main factor for the end-taste of your smoke. That is the first reason why you don't want to quick-dry your weed. The second reason is the way that a plant dries. Plants are made up of cells and, as we all know, cells contain mainly water. Exposed to air, the (dying) plant's outer cells will dry out first but the above-mentioned processes will still transfer water from the inner cells to the dryer outer cells, thus causing the plant to dry equally all over. By removing the stalk and cutting off the individual colas, you prevent this natural process by taking away the extra moisture that would be drawn from the stem to the leaves and bud. Got it? Good! Moving on...

Make sure you hang the plants so that they do not touch each other (invites mold). With constant temp and humidity, the plants should be ready for manicuring in 3-4 weeks. At this time trim colas from the main stalk, and trim large and medium fan leaves (save them for making hash), leaving most of the smaller leaves sticking out of the bud in tact. Hang them up again and for a day or two, until 'popcorn' dry. The stems should snap when you bend them, and the bud should be dry, but not brittle. Now for the curing...

I got this quote from the how to grow MJ section. Wondering if you all dry this way?

I'll need a saw to cut these very thick stems and will need to use wire cutters to remove the plants from the scrogs. My biggest question is the last bolded statement also underlined. Am I reading this wrong or are the plants supposed to hang for 3-4 weeks? I was thinking about 5-7 days, when the stems snap or is that only if each stem is separated from the plant and hung individually?

With the lights not running, I think I can run my little heater and keep the tent at about 65-68 as suggested. Will keep the fans going too.

 

[Nismo12]

When we harvest we try to keep as much as we can handle trimming. We take the fan leaves and anything that isn't frosty, which isn't much except maybe a couple burnt tips. Hang for 5-7 days then manicure them as we wish and jar them with boveda packs. Either use the large or medium depending on size of jar and quantity. Our drying tent stays at 70 degrees and 56% humidity. When humidity drops below 50 they come out and go in jars and that's right when stems snap.

 

[weenmeoff]

When we harvest we try to keep as much as we can handle trimming. We take the fan leaves and anything that isn't frosty, which isn't much except maybe a couple burnt tips. Hang for 5-7 days then manicure them as we wish and jar them with boveda packs. Either use the large or medium depending on size of jar and quantity. Our drying tent stays at 70 degrees and 56% humidity. When humidity drops below 50 they come out and go in jars and that's right when stems snap.

Thanks Nis but I don't fully understand what you're saying here. I just had a thought, I should chop, wash then hang, correct? If so, I'll need to cut up the plants into smaller sections so they'll fit in the buckets, sound about right?

Unfortunately, my leaves are not frosty, buds do have some but nothing like I've seen in yours and other journals. Hoping kit soil and the Goliath will remedy that.

 

[DankestBuds42]

Hey Ween, glad I'm in time for your chop! I have never harvested a cannabis plant before, so I'm taking lots of notes on all this primo info everyone is laying down. Many thanks to all! I don't have much info to offer as I'm still fairly new to this whole "growing" thing. But I do have some SeaWarp, a nice sativa that is a bit of a creeper so be careful haha

 

[weenmeoff]

Thanks Dank Brother!

So I tore a ligament in my arm pulling docks out of the water yesterday. I'm gonna have a hard time with today's task with only 1 arm. It didn't hurt too much yesterday but it sure does today. I may need to lean on my GF for help.

 

[Duggan]

Good morning Ween (one armed cultivator....) hope it's not too bad brotha! OK, i'm gonna tell you what to do at harvest minus the bud wash(try that process later when you do DBHBB OK!). Most growers do it this way including me . Cut branches off main stalk right at the main. You will be working with whole branches for now OK. After you cut one branch off...(do one at a time ) Take a look at it, now start cutting off all the big fans starting at the base of the branch ...then move to the smaller single leaves (the smaller ones). Then move to the buds and colas and cut off any leaves you can get at with your SMALL scissors without digging into the bud to get it....we don't wanna disturb it too much OK. next look at the branch again...it should be trimmed except for the one bladed leaves sticking out of the buds ....trim these now , but only even with the bud , get it . After you've done this , the branch is ready to hang in a cooler , dark room , with NO circ. fan running, (if you do the buds will dry way too fast OK. We are shooting for a dry that takes as long as possible ...this is way more favorable than a short , quick dry, which will promote harshness and uneven burning ! After they have hung for 4, 5, or 6 days the buds are ready to trim off the branches ....weigh up on the scales , then they go into jars loosely packed for the cure. As far as knowing when they are dry enough for this...DON'T wait until the stalks "snap" that is too dry! When you can snip off a bud from one of the hanging branches and roll up a "J"...if it burns good enough to actually smoke it....it's ready to put in jars with close monitoring over the next week to make sure correct moisture is in them OK! Please ask if you don't understand OK. I would like to see you harvest this without bud washing....lets just get the harvest procedure correct before you bring that into the game OK! Cheers Ween , hope this has helped bud ! have a great day my friend!

 

[weenmeoff]

Wondering why you don't want me to wash the buds? Is it the add moisture? Heading out to start soon.

 

[Duggan]

Ween, it's not that i don't want you too, it's just another step that can be saved and learned later after you learn the basics of harvesting correctly. If ya really wanna wash this harvest , that's cool bud, just get the TWO buckets ready and after the lil branches are ALL trimmed up and ready for hanging,...this is when you should wash and rinse , then hang the branches as i said ! Cheers bud !

 

[weenmeoff]

Ok Duggs! So I'm having a hard time at it already, not just the bum arm because I can us it to hold the stalk but I have a couple questions.

There are lots of popcorn buds that were hiding underneath. Can I just clip these for use in making oil and of so, how should I dry, on a screen?

Can I harvest these over a couple few days? If so, is it ok to leave em in the dark tent?


Example of typical branch I'm pulling off so far

 

[Duggan]

Ok Duggs! So I'm having a hard time at it already, not just the bum arm because I can us it to hold the stalk but I have a couple questions.

There are lots of popcorn buds that were hiding underneath. Can I just clip these for use in making oil and of so, how should I dry, on a screen?

Can I harvest these over a couple few days? If so, is it ok to leave em in the dark tent?


Example of typical branch I'm pulling off so far

OK, don't fret my brotha....take that lil mess of a branch ...clean it up a little by trimming off any one bladed lil leaves, then hang that whole branch with all the buds still attached to it OK. Leave all the buds on it ...that way they will dry a bit slower with the branches moisture there to slow down the dry a bit,...get it. You could take those tiny buds ...sure if ya wanna try some , and laying them on a screen will work to dry them but why bother...just wait till you trim them all off the branches when it's all dry and include them in with the rest of the bigger buds ...this is sometimes what i do ...the moisture evens out as the "cure " starts to happen and ALL of the jar's contents is the same!

 

[weenmeoff]

Ok I spent 11 hours straight trimming and my lady did about 3 hours and we are only 1/2 way done.

So I left the inlet and exhaust fans going because there are still 2 #7's that were flushed 3 days ago in there so humidity is high. I did put the heater on at 68 and will be checking in on them via my wireless camera and will go in there a couple times before bed. Is it OK that the LED display is on? That way, I can check temp.

All trim and tiny buds are drying on a window screen. We got about 1/2 gram of finger hash.

 

[Nismo12]

Light at this point will degrade the THC. We check our drying buds once a day and that's it. After you get it dialed in its easy. If you need the light to check the temp, may I suggest a CFL just to light it up enough. Since you have a heater, it won't let it get too cold.

Oh and everything duggan said is spot on to what we do except we have started washing before trimming so that the trimmings are clean for bubble hash. Can't wait to see some pictures. Oh and you will get faster at trimming. Trust me.