My New Double-Wide Grow

[Tony Aroma]

Bet it would be a lot better if you sprung for a MH to HPS conversion bulb.I guarantee they will increase your bud size by 30-40%.But anyway,looking good bro.....keep on keeping on.

You're probably right. But that would require purchasing a new ballast and bulbs, which is not something I really want to do at this time. And I like using the 10,000k (blue) bulbs for veg, as I think it helps produce more females.

FWIW, I am using Iwasaki (EYE) 6500k bulbs for flowering. They are supposed to be the best of the best when it comes to MH bulbs. They are broad spectrum, and heavy in the yellow/red end of the spectrum. They have the highest PAR values of all MH bulbs. So maybe not the best, but not the worst either.

And I will keep on truckin'.

 

[hazy]

those nanners can hide down in the buds. I had a plant that while seeded did not show any nanners, till i chopped and was trimming. They were down inside the bud.
Sometimes the male flowers will be inside a calyx. Stealthy bastards.

other than that, nice looking girls Tony.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Update at 50 Days of 12/12

Update at 50 Days of 12/12

A very happy (belated) 4/20 to you and yours!

The girls are now at 51 days, which means they are in their 8th week and we are in the home stretch. I checked the trichomes for the first time this week, and some are already cloudy on all plants. Even a few amber here and there. But I think we've still got a way to go. I don't know about the others, but on my previous grows I've let the WW plants go to 65-70 days. I guess I'll just have to wait (patiently) and see.

Oh, and I raised the lights up about 3 inches. I was worried that it was a tad too hot at the canopy, so I gained a few degrees with the lights higher. I don't think the difference in light intensity will make much of a difference, and it actually spreads the light out a little more evenly. I'm hoping the drop in temperature, although not great, will be good for the girls in their last few weeks.

Here's one of those WW plants. They are the only two that are really filling in (or is that filling out) and getting frosty.

And here is a bud from the other WW.

This is that F plant with all the seeds from a different angle so you can see more. Not too spectacular, but it could be worse.

Here is one of the MANY buds on one of the AM plants. Hopefully the large number of buds will make up for their smallness.

And finally a group shot. As you can see, they are all looking pretty healthy.

 

[guest 77721]

Looking good Tony

I've had a few seeded buds from the occaissional hermi flower. There isn't enough pollen released to really harm the buds. I like taking the seeds and planting them in public flower beds and especially in the foyer at work. LOL.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Update at 57 Days of 12/12

Update at 57 Days of 12/12

We are now at 57 days and it's almost time to stick a fork in the fat lady.

Well, I wish I could say they are all still looking healthy and happy, but there's trouble in River City. Two of the AM plants suddenly started showing yellow spots on their leaves and generally yellowing leaves. One day they looked fine, the next day spots. Same as their father last grow, although it happened much later this time. I guess their mother's genetics helped out. My best guess is a calcium deficiency, which is not that unusual toward the end. Especially since I have not used any calcium supplement (beyond lime and eggshell in the soil). But I just ordered the Metanaturals calcium supplement, and it will arrive today. Luckily, all the rest look very healthy still.

It looks like they've pretty much stopped growing, packing on weight much more slowly now. The beginning of the end. I'd guess about another week to 10 days.

Here's F, looking about the same. This plant is just not going to be a big producer (except for seeds, that is).

Here's that frosty WW bud. It's still looking good, but not growing too much anymore either.

And here's an AM bud (one that does not have the deficiency). It has MANY of these smaller, but still decent-sized buds. I took a small popcorn bud sample from this girl and I think she might just be alright.

Interesting observation: I noticed I can tell the difference between the AM and WW buds by feel as well as sight. When I squeeze the WW buds they feel firm and solid, while the AM buds feel much more soft and fluffy. Doesn't necessarily mean anything about quality, but it does say something about weight.

And here's the gang. You can see the AM3 plant in the back with the spotted, yellowing leaves.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Update at 61 Days of 12/12

Update at 61 Days of 12/12

I did a pretty thorough check of the trichomes on all my plants today. All three of my AM plants are mostly cloudy, maybe 75%, with most of the rest being clear and just a few amber. Both my WW plants are pretty much all cloudy, with maybe 5-10% amber and just a few still clear. My F plant is about 60-40 cloudy to clear.

Because of my schedule, I have to harvest and trim on either a Sunday or Monday (it's about a 3-4 hour job). That means I either harvest this weekend, which would be 63-64 days, or wait another whole week, making it 70-71 days. As far as I'm concerned, all but the F plant are ready to be chopped now. So it looks like this weekend is it. I may leave the F plant go another week, but it's really not putting on any more weight, so I may just go ahead and chop it too. Plus it's the smallest of the group and has lots of seeds. Decisions, decisions!

Almost forgot to mention, I received my Metanaturals Calcium and did a foliar spray at the beginning of the week, then added some to my regular watering a couple of days later. It didn't seem to help the one plant that was looking pretty bad. However the other plant that was showing just a few spots doesn't seem to have gotten any worse. Luckily this happened pretty late, so I don't think the consequences will be too severe with respect to the final product.

I will take at least one final set of pictures at harvest time, and then that's it until the sampling begins. Wish me luck.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Harvest @ 65 Days

Harvest @ 65 Days

Today was the day. The fat lady sang. Or should I say the fat ladies?

Overall, I am once again disappointed, although not as much as last time. Based on wet weight, I'm guessing I will end up with about 3 oz from 6 plants when all is said and done. Better than last time when I yielded 1.6 oz from 6 plants (short veg time). But still. Up till my last grow, I had been vegging for 7-9 weeks and averaging 1 oz per plant. I seem to be getting worse, and I have no idea why. They all looked happy and healthy all along, except for the one plant that had trouble at the end. I thought everything was looking great, but still not a lot to show for it.

I know that I am using bag seed and shouldn't expect massive yields. But I had grown some of theses seeds out before (the WW type) and got 1 oz per plant with the same veg time that grow.

OK, enough of my bellyaching, here's the show and tell:

Here's the gang moments before the chop. Do they look nervous? You'll notice some plants are labelled twice -- that's because their colas are spread out across the screen. Good thing I used string instead of wire, as I had to cut them out they were so tangled. You will also notice the AM3 plant, which in the past few days has lost most of its upper leaves.

This is AM1, total wet weight - 93g. Yes, I saw that bud I missed in the trim as I was hanging it up.

This is AM2, total wet weight - 86 g.

This is AM3, total wet weight - 77 g. This is the one with the serious deficiency.

This is WW1, total wet weight - 71 g.

This is WW2, total wet weight - 68 g.

This is F, total wet weight - 40 g. This is the one with all the seeds. It never got too big. (I don't know what caused the white lines in the pict.)

A couple of other observations: The two amazing, colossal plants did not end up all that amazing or colossal, yield-wise. And there is a big difference in the feel of the buds among the three types. Type F are rock hard, WW are pretty fat and solid too, and AM are much thinner and fluffier.

That's it until they get weighed for the final tally before they go into jars. Wish me luck.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Harvest + 5 Days

Harvest + 5 Days

Even after many years of growing, I still don't seem to have "a feel" for when to jar my plants. I think I always wait too long. Usually this means they end up with little or no taste, and occasionally they even have a bit of a green taste.

So this time, to eliminate the guesswork, I'm drying by weight. From what I've been able to find, it looks like plants should go into jars for curing when they are around 25% of their wet weight. So I'm weighing my plants every day.

I was surprised to find that after only three days hang drying they were all down to around 50% of their original weight. That seemed pretty quick to me, as they still seemed almost as wet as when I harvested them. Now here we are at day 5 after harvest, and they are an average of 36% of their wet weight. The outside of the buds is just starting to get dry, but the stems are still very flexible. At this rate, I'm guessing two more days then into jars. I'll keep you posted.

 

[K.J]

Even after many years of growing, I still don't seem to have "a feel" for when to jar my plants. I think I always wait too long. Usually this means they end up with little or no taste, and occasionally they even have a bit of a green taste.

So this time, to eliminate the guesswork, I'm drying by weight. From what I've been able to find, it looks like plants should go into jars for curing when they are around 25% of their wet weight. So I'm weighing my plants every day.

That's a fine method there Tony, I think I'll use that one myself.

 

[rusty_shacklfor]

And here are the three W plants. They are about in the middle size-wise. The one on the left in the back is a little hard to see -- it's getting shaded a bit and is stretching. I tucked some of the large leaves shading it, so hopefully it will get more light.

omg that scrog! i never thought of drilling holes in pvc

 

[Tony Aroma]

It's Jar Time

It's Jar Time

At post-harvest days 7 and 8 the deceased girls went into jars. They were all around 30% of their harvest wet weight. Yes, I know I was shooting for 25%, but they seemed pretty dry. That's still a little wetter than usual for me, as the stems did not quite snap.

So it looks like I will have another pathetic yield. I'm estimating around 2.5 oz from 6 plants. That's with 8 weeks of veg time. Last grow I ended up with only 1.6 oz from 6 plants, so it's not quite that bad. Still, up till these last two grows, I was averaging 1 oz per plant. I seem to be getting worse instead of better. And I really don't know what I could do differently. They all looked healthy, and there was nothing I can see I did wrong.

And you don't need to tell me that I would probably do better with quality genetics as compared to the bag seed I've always grown. But I've always, until recently, got respectable yields with bag seed. I'm afraid I'm going to spend money on seeds and still end up with a crappy yield. Then I'll know for sure I suck at growing. Maybe it's approaching senility.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Final Tally

Final Tally

It's been almost two weeks since jarring, and I figured it was time to come up with a final weight. They still have some curing to do, but this is the time I usually weigh them. And the results are:

• AM1 – 14 g
• AM2 – 12.5 g
• AM3 (seeded) – 13 g
• WW1 – 14 g
• WW2 – 13.5 g
• F2 (seeded) – 10 g

That's a grand total of 77 g or, for the metrically challenged, 2.72 oz.

So I ended up with a tad under 1/2 oz per plant. Not terrible, but certainly nothing to write home about. And don't forget, two of those plants are pretty much fully seeded, so I'd guess their yield is really about half of what the scale said.

Now I'm afraid that I don't have enough to last me a full year till my next grow. And I've learned that growing in the summer with my current set up does not work too well. That got me thinking that maybe a "12/12 from seed" grow might be the ticket. Last summer I started the beginning of August, but if I go straight to 12/12 I could start the beginning of September (I need to be all done before Xmas). The weather would be cooler and it would allow me to keep the lights off during the day, which was the biggest problem last summer. After switching to 12/12 I didn't have nearly the heat problem last time. Still mulling it over, but it might just be crazy enough to work. What do you think?

 

[feltonmuggs]

nice pull Tony!
Looking forward to smoke report from you.

Next time consider taking a mother to clone off!

 

[Tony Aroma]

Smoke Report

Smoke Report

Curing has pretty much come to an end, and I've been sampling the product for a few weeks now. Although I'm still not happy with the quantity, I'm quite pleased with the quality. Mostly. Here's the gist of it for each strain:

WW - These I've grown twice before and got exactly what I expected. Although there was some variability in yields, the smoke has always been the same. Very nice, light flavor and reasonably potent with a nice, balanced buzz. This is probably my favorite in recent grows.

AM - These surprised me. Seriously. The parents were both pretty mediocre, one sativa-dom and the other indica-dom. I mainly planted them because I knew they'd be females. But these amazing, colossal offspring not only outdid their parents in size, but in potency as well. The total was definitely greater than the sum of the two. They don't have much taste, good or bad, but they are pretty potent. It's the kind where you don't expect it, and then you suddenly say to yourself, "Wow, I'm really stoned?!?!?"

F - This one plant was disappointing in quality and quantity, not to mention all those seeds. It's what I consider 5-plus-hit weed. You need a minimum of 5 good hits to get some kind of buzz going. At least it doesn't taste bad. Nor good really. This will be my rainy day stash. For a really, really rainy day.