Yet Another Nube Grow Journal

Greetings fellow growers! Been a while so I thought I'd post an update for those following along. When last we met our hero was deciding whether his crop was ready for harvest on July 13th before a week long trip to Michigan, or to let it go and harvest upon return. Well, the 13th came and went and the ladies were left standing. When I got home on the 20th I took a good look at the buds at 30x and decided it was time. Since I was planning to harvest I decided not to have my spouse unit water them during that week (typically need feeding/watering about once every 4 or 5 days). Feeling just a bit of a traitor I cut them on the 20th and hung them in the tent. Here's a photo of one of the buds just before harvest

Just before harvest

Just before harvest


Here's the tent with the entire harvest getting ready for drying. This was July 20th.

The Harvest

The Harvest


I cut off all the fan leaves I could get. Today is July 27th and they are still not ready for final trim and jar. My uneducated guess is that a few more days is needed. The stems still bend but don't break. I also have a small amount of buds accidentally cut off during harvest that are drying in a paper grocery bag. I shake the bag every day. The air in the tent has varied from around 74 to 82F, and the humidity from around 50% to 60%. I bought a trim tray with 150 micron screen and a set of small snips (came 5 to an order) that I'll use to do the trim. While I was in Michigan I visited a dispensary and got 3.5gm of a nice Grapefruit sativa. I should be all set! BTW - starting a second grow journal for the new plants - four Chocolopes from Weedseed Express.
 
So I changed my mind about waiting any longer to trim and jar - and I'm glad I did. As it turns out I had actually over-dried the weed. Rookie mistake! So on Wednesday I began the task of clipping the buds off the branches and trimming them. It took most of the day because I had allowed a lot of smaller stuff go so I was trimming a lot of popcorn. Here is a picture before starting to trim.

Aug 1 N4

Aug 1 N4


And here's the confirmation regarding my suspicion that I had over-dried the weed. The first jar, after leaving a mini hygrometer in it for over an hour, was showing just 54% relative humidity. And it stayed right at that level until the following day.

Aug 1 N3

Aug 1 N3


I continued to trim fearing that I'd screwed up BIG TIME! They've been in the jar now for three days and the relative humidity has risen slightly. Here's a shot of the entire harvest with hygrometers - showing between 55% and 59% relative humidity. I do have some Bovida 62 packs but so far have held off using them. I'm burping the jars twice a day for about 20 minutes each time. Ironically the RH in my basement is actually higher at around 65-70%, so I'm guessing that burping them is helping raise the RH in the jars?

Aug 1 N5

Aug 1 N5


So the question to all y'all is: Is the RH close enough that I can avoid using the Bovida packs until the end of cure? One advantage I have is that despite being in a warm climate (typically 90F or more during the day) the floor of the basement sets just above an underground stream. The jars are kept in a box under my work bench in contact with the floor and are showing a steady 70F.

I've yet to try a taste. I'm going to wait a couple of weeks if I can...
 
After some reading and thinking about it I've decided no Boveda Packs until cure is over. One reason for the decision is that the RH in the jars seems to be slowly increasing (to the extent these inexpensive hygrometers can be trusted). The RH in all 5 jars has increased by about 2% across the board. I'm opening the jars twice a day and setting them out on a table in my basement, where the humidity is at about 70%. I leave them open for 20 minutes or so. I've also decarbed all the trim and hope to try my first coconut cannabutter on Thursday.
 
Just another quick update! The buds have been in their jars for two weeks now. For the first week I was somewhat concerned that the relative humidity (RH) in the jars was too low, as mentioned in my previous post. But slowly the humidity has increased to where they are at currently; all jars are between 61% and 66%. I'm burping every other day right now, though I'm going to check the RH tomorrow as I'm now worried the RH will get TOO high! Ya - if it's not one thing it's another! But on the SAI (Sleepy's Anxiety Index) I'd say I'm around 2/10. My fears greatly subsided after finally trying a bit of the bud on Monday. I got a really good "up" high, though it only lasted a couple of hours. These are from Desert Diesel plants which apparently is normal, though I hope the length of the high extends somewhat after curing. I plan to do 8 weeks (six more at this point). We're in a very hot humid spell right now (95-100F every day) so even though the jars sit on my basement floor (which itself sits just above an underground stream) the jar temps are reaching the mid 70s. Heat spell should be over by week's end.
 
So chalk up another nube mistake! I decarbed all of the trim in the oven, about 240F for 40 minutes. Today I set about to make coconut cannabutter. 30g of decarbed trim and 15 fluid oz of raw coconut butter, into the slow cooker, set on low. I did check temps fairly often but somewhere had read to keep the temperature between about 220F and 245F. Not sure what the result will be like but after three hours it is chilling in the 'fridge!

I had also read somewhere that the now "spent" trimmings might still be good to use for some low-intensity edibles. Any suggestions? Bake into a pizza crust?

First time coconut canna"butter"

First time coconut canna"butter"

 
A Final post for this harvest - I'll mark this journal as complete soon.

Sept22_2021.jpg

Sept22_2021.jpg

Final first harvest!


The buds have been curing for two months now. Nothing really significant happened during that time. Early on I burped the jars every day and then progressively less often as the weeks went by. I had small hygrometers in each jar and with a little juggling I was able to keep the relative humidity between 58% and 64%. Today I've declared the minimal cure is over. I measured the total weight of the jarred bud as 130gm. On top of that I got trim that weighted out to about 55gm, which was enough to make almost three cups of strong cannabutter (or, more appropriately, coconut cannabutter). Enough for four batches of very good brownies!

Many many thanks to all the people who directly responded to my questions and for the countless bits of wisdom freely shared by the thousands of fellow growers on this site.

I'm now deep into flowering my second grow. Those interested can find the link in my signature.

Sleepy
 
SleepIsWrong said:
A Final post for this harvest - I'll mark this journal as complete soon.

Sept22_2021.jpg

Sept22_2021.jpg

Final first harvest!


The buds have been curing for two months now. Nothing really significant happened during that time. Early on I burped the jars every day and then progressively less often as the weeks went by. I had small hygrometers in each jar and with a little juggling I was able to keep the relative humidity between 58% and 64%. Today I've declared the minimal cure is over. I measured the total weight of the jarred bud as 130gm. On top of that I got trim that weighted out to about 55gm, which was enough to make almost three cups of strong cannabutter (or, more appropriately, coconut cannabutter). Enough for four batches of very good brownies!

Many many thanks to all the people who directly responded to my questions and for the countless bits of wisdom freely shared by the thousands of fellow growers on this site.

I'm now deep into flowering my second grow. Those interested can find the link in my signature.

Sleepy
Click to expand...
Nice journal @SleepIsWrong!

A good "up" high that last a few hours sounds good to me. :Rasta:
 

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