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[MEGA]Community Growing advice, tips, tricks, & experiences Part 4

Update -

Just checked the plants. Again, they have been in flower since Jun 1st. They appear to be ready but can't be sure yet. (Will get magnifying loop soon) - Just noticed that overnight they have gotten much "Sugary" - We also noticed that 1 plant has some dark purple leaves. Yes, only 1 plant. What could this mean? Is it possible that they may be ready for harvest? The hairs on the buds are all brown/red, with hardly any white pistils. Pics are below:

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Hi, if you harvest at this early stage, would you have buds that are super trippy?
 
PsychicBuBBLe said:
Update -

Just checked the plants. Again, they have been in flower since Jun 1st. They appear to be ready but can't be sure yet. (Will get magnifying loop soon) - Just noticed that overnight they have gotten much "Sugary" - We also noticed that 1 plant has some dark purple leaves. Yes, only 1 plant. What could this mean? Is it possible that they may be ready for harvest? The hairs on the buds are all brown/red, with hardly any white pistils. Pics are below:

PIX
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Click to expand...

The plant with purple leaves is a different phenotype. Since phenotype = 1/2 environment and 1/2 genotypes it is more likely to be the environment factor, but given the distinct lack of info you have I would suspect it could be the latter.

Lovely looking plants :)

By the way, nice fingerprints =D


loulou reed said:
Hi, if you harvest at this early stage, would you have buds that are super trippy?
Click to expand...

Depends on the strain on the first place, but it tends to be that way. There is a peak windows of opportunity to harvest but within that window there is some scope to harvest either early or late, which influences the subject quality of the high. Early harvesting results in less CBD in relation to the amount of THC etc. and makes it more psychedelic, more anxiety-inducing (anxiogenic for those that love jargon) whereas late results in a more narcotic, sleepy, couchlock stone with less anxiety. You should harvest some buds early, some mid flowering period and some late flowering period (even all from the same plant) to find what you prefer, rather following being proscriptive about harvesting during a set and arbitrary period. Don't rely on when others tell you to harvest - find out for yourself by experimenting yourself.


PsychicBuBBLe said:
Another Update - Just got a microscope, 100x. The trichome tips are clear.
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I missed this. This means you need to wait to harvest, definitely. Flush in the meantime. This demonstrates how inaccurate relying solely on pistil colour can be.
 
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Going to have surgery, in pretty bad condition. Ill be gone for the next week, then hopefully I can get back to posting and what not. I miss posting pics and being involved with this thread. Thanks AE, Chainer, and other Mods who have been helping. Sorry for my absence .


And as for the matter of the smell of bud.

I saw that someone mentioned Northern Lights doesn't smell, well, I , in particular love Northern Lights, and it is the main strain that I grow. (Northern Lights #5)
I've never had a harvest that didn't smell,
Now , after curing/drying, thats a completely different story.
If I throw Northern Lights into a paper bag for a week and a half to let it dry, the weed will most likely just smell like grass clippings. (IME)
If I put that same weed in a sealed container and burp it through out the week a few times a day, the smell will stay with the weed (IME).

Ive seen people throw bunches of weed (pounds) thrown into plastic tubs to let dry. (I also helped harvest these plants, so I know the smell was pretty potent)
I came back 2 weeks later, I was given some of the weed, and it smelled like grass clippings. They didn't burp it, didn't keep it out of the light, they just dried it, and sold it to a cannabis club (The strain was Pure Power Plant if it makes a difference).

And loulou, Id have to say yeild of plant from the pics doesn't look to great either, don't get me wrong, the buds look like they'll be a great smoke, just doesn't look like their will be alot of it to smoke, But , I still have yet to see a picture of the entire plant. (Looks much better than my first harvest though, lol)
 
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So here are more pics of the purpling leaves. They are also curling under a bit... is this a cause for concern? What could this mean?

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Hello... I'm with PsychicBubble...
If we end up with a decreased yield, it will be because of the fungus gnats and pyrethrum.
We had them for weeks and they're all dead now... BUT... Our sticky buds have acted like sticky traps...and we have really young (tiny tiny) dead gnats on our buds. All of these gnats must be removed at harvest, and I'm ready to devote my time to picking them off one by one. ... but the question is.....
Should we remove the gnats from the buds before or after we dry them?
Also, why do people mist their plants with water right before harvest? We've never sprayed them with chemicals or food. They're very clean (except the gnats)
P.S. I always hated killing bugs, but I will murder gnats to protect my babies. This is war! :)
Any help would be a great help!
 
lotusbloom said:
Hello... I'm with PsychicBubble...
If we end up with a decreased yield, it will be because of the fungus gnats and pyrethrum.
We had them for weeks and they're all dead now... BUT... Our sticky buds have acted like sticky traps...and we have really young (tiny tiny) dead gnats on our buds. All of these gnats must be removed at harvest, and I'm ready to devote my time to picking them off one by one. ... but the question is.....
Should we remove the gnats from the buds before or after we dry them?
Also, why do people mist their plants with water right before harvest? We've never sprayed them with chemicals or food. They're very clean (except the gnats)
P.S. I always hated killing bugs, but I will murder gnats to protect my babies. This is war! :)
Any help would be a great help!
Click to expand...

Pyrethrum? That's an organic pest control. Are you sure that caused your problem? Do you mean pythium?

I would dry them first before picking off the gnats. In future I would approach the pest problem from multiple angles.

Firstly, you need to never use that potting medium ever again. It's probably what caused the fungus gnats in the first place. Secondly, right from the start use silver sand mulch that's very deep. If it's deep enough and used from the start, it will control the issue in future. I would also invest in a plethora of pest control products before your next grow. Pyrethrum is a great pest control product and I would thoroughly recommend it. I would also get some organic neem oil (must be organic) and some fatty acid spray like savona. Just don't get any pest control products which don't label all (or any) of their ingredients because this probably means they have something to hide rather than because they want to protect a trade secret (trust me, there are none anyway so don't let that excuse fly with you).

Before your next grow you need to spray your grow room with a diluted bleach solution or some other garden cleaning product that will sterilize the grow room. Also vacuum it thoroughly beforehand.

I don't think you need to worry about the moral implications of killing the fungus gnats. If you want to grow more ethically try and grow more efficiently and use less power in the process, contributing to climate change less. Try and grow a plant outside the yields a few pounds instead.
 
I personally find it easier before drying as you can move the plant around more while its moist to get in there and find the gnats, Id just use a pair of tweezers and get at em. But as I've learned through this thread, to each his own, everyone has a favorite way of doing something ya know? Just give it a shot and see which works easier, try some dry buds picking em off and try some wet.

Buds look great though. Happy smoking once you start cutting.
 
Thanks everyone!

Yes, we used the organic pest control. Unfortunately, this grow, we opted for chemical fertilizer.. this is because we heard that for first time growers, chemical fertilizers control pests better and it's easier to keep track of the amount of food we give them (aka.. we got screwed by salesmen) We also heard (maybe on here?) that organic compost almost always has larvae waiting to hatch (we have organic medium, and didn't have to feed AT ALL in veg, also has modified the PH.... i like organic medium) Is the larvae theory true?
 
^ no. I know because I have tried quite a few organic ones without the larvae. The person that told you that either has a hidden agenda or is misinformed. I've seen non-organic ones have fungus gnats too.

For some reason there seems to be this split between the organic and the non-organic camp, with both sides making stuff up and being dishonest about the other. For compost growing organic growing is ideal, but non-organic growing, like in hydroponics e.g. coco, it does have it's place and I'm a fan.

You're right about the chemical fertilizers having nothing to do with pests. I wish I could have been there when they said that! I'm not sure why they seemed to think it would make it easier to keep track of the amount of food you give them. Sounds as if they need a bit of a slap or reality check to be honest! I wonder how many people they've managed to misinform so far?

By the way, I'm getting on with that guide thing. It will take a long while, since I'm not letting it interfere with the rest of my daily activities, but I haven't and won't forget about it, and it'll be original and my take on different contentious issues. Whether or not everyone agrees with every point I make, if you use my methods you will be successful in all likelihood. I know this because I can and do grow healthy plants (just not at the moment, damn), so some pictures will have to be begged, borrowed or stolen (okay maybe not stolen, but perhaps you guys can help me if I get stuck). Each section will have it's on post in the thread, so I can take the post number URL and give it to someone when they ask a relevant question, meaning that they'll arrive automatically at the right section. I haven't gotten far but plan to do a big chunk of it this weekend.

Uniquely, perhaps with a plant such as tomatoes, I plan to dispel some of the more common cannabis horticultural myths (like the notorious pH issue we've had ;), whether you need to soak seeds or germinate them in paper towels and if this helps or hinders things, whether the various root stims and other magical ingredients make a difference, and if they do, whether they're worth the price and other things like just how much better coco and fytocell is compared to soilless media in terms of growth rates). Although I'll be responsible for initially writing it, I will take requests to add topics if anyone wants, if they PM me. They can even write the topics themselves if they're willing for it to be edited, tidied up and slightly altered if something needs changing. At the end there will be advanced sections, such as breeding topics as well as CO2 enrichment, climate control with DIY microprocessors (all of it will be easy enough for anyone to do). The plan is to carry out what are essentially experiments so that all variables are carefully controlled, so that the only one that is altered is the one intended to be. For example, a batch of tomato clones in the same environment with a uniform footprint would be grown with exactly the same conditions, except the only thing that would be altered would be the pH, with plants being fed nutrient solutions ranging from pH 4-8 to see the effect. If I prove myself wrong I will still hold my head of high and will own up to it. Basically there will be complete transparency. It will be as much of a learning experience for myself as others. All these experiments will take time and so that backbone i.e. the main guide will be written first, and the detail of experiments later as amendments.


........................................................................

At the moment I'm making a DIY SMS alarm for future grows so that when the door is opened by anyone (or smashed open), a cheap magnetic switch will activate the 'send' key on an old Nokia phone so that an SMS message will be sent to another cheap pay as you go mobile phone (cell phone). The budget will be anything under (a small amount of money - sorry about that mods, I forgot!), so if I'm on budget, it'll be less than a tenth of the cost of the SMS COM SMS alarm system commercially available from grow stores and the instructions with photos will be available here on Bluelight. This means that if your grow located at a location is broken into or discovered by someone like a nosey landlord and you don't want to risk going back for whatever reason, you will have been forewarned and may avoid getting into trouble just over some plants. Shown in the photo is the a photograph of the cheap magnetic door switch that is operated when the door (or window) is opened. When I buy a new multimeter (preferably the pocket-sized type), I'll be able to test to see whether it's normally open or normally closed type. This will, depending on what type of switch it is, will be replacing the 'send' button of the Nokia phone. Well that's the plan anyway! The second photo shows a pic of the soldering iron, the lead-free solder and the wire cutter for the job. I'll need to buy the phone, relay, multimeter and micro-drill next and then I'll have everything needed and will start building it! The third photo is of the phone I plan to buy from Ebay, the Nokia 6210, because it doesn't automatically go onto standby.

For anyone thinking this is just helping someone break the law, well I would argue that no I am not at all - people will be growing cannabis whether I build this or not. This just gives you a warning system so you'll simply know if and when someone has been in your grow room. It's no different to having someone there all the time to keep an eye out, except the device doesn't have the annoying habit of ratting you out and gossiping like humans do!



Magnetic door switch
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Soldering iron, wire cutters and solder
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Nokia 6210
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This is what the end SMS warning system should look like.
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Hello! Glad this site is back up :) So we just harvested 9 plants, they're hanging upside-down right now, and I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for curing methods? They've been hanging in a dark low humidity low temp tent for about 24 hours. We definitely want to cure, and have heard of this method where you hang for 24h, brown/plastic bags for 8h, hang for 16h, bag for 6h, and hang for 12h. Our buds are so sticky, fat and delicious, but also heavy and I'm afraid to lay them on top of one another. Any help would help! :) Thanks
 
2 Weeks in Curing...

2 weeks in curing and it still smells like hay plus the only difference i notice in taste is that it dont taste chemically and it burns more evenly the trichs have turned more amber..but when is the smells going to come out and more than that when is that distinguished good taste gonna come out..?
 
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