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Hi Krazy, thanks for the kind words buddy. Yeh I was so thankful that the good ventilation I rigged up allowed me to whack that 250w in. Was going to be a CFL grow if temps were too high. I'll get rewarded when it comes time for the weigh in as a result.
Can't believe we're here at the end of week 6 already. Week 6 has seen another increase in bud width and bud density for both girls. Again there's been no noticeable change in height. Many pistils have started turning a beautiful, creamy orange colour (which was nicely unexpected) and I can see lots of trichomes turning from clear to milky white already through the microscope! I stopped feeding with fish emulsion mid way through the week and I've given them their last dose of black strap molasses today. Will be feeding them with nothing but pure water until the chop now. I love organics!
AI 1 on the left has the larger buds of the two sisters but AI 2 on the right is the more resinous. This was very surprising as AI 2 took a full week longer than AI 1 to start producing trichomes. Will make for some wicked comparisons in the smoke report I'm sure.
I don't expect these girls to go much longer than 8 weeks a) because so many pistils have already started turning and b) I've just run out of smoke and I'm watering at the mouth to try these girls!!! I am anticipating to give them the chop on the 16th or thereabouts in that case.
I also have a house inspection due at the end of November so I hope to have the plants completely dried and jarred by then. Before I started this grow, I timed it so that I would be all wrapped up with these AIs by the time the agent pays a visit. I will start another grow the day after they leave! I will have new seeds germing in paper towels as the agent is inspecting the place and they will be none the wiser haha!
Have five pics below for you to enjoy and have posted five more pics in the post below:
AI 1 with 9 growing tips and a main cola
Using LST I've tried to create a two tiered effect with 5 growing tips sitting above the lower 4
AI 2 with 11 growing tips and a main cola
Less weight than her sister but more resinous. At a guess I'd say she'll turn out to be the more potent of the two
Some close-up bud shot pics. These are two truly beautiful plants. My camera doesn't really do the girls justice; they really are a lot more resinous than the camera quality will allow.
AI 1 main cola
Only 1 or 2 of the pistils on each head have started to turn colour. This girl seems to be focussing more on weight than finishing up
Lower growing tip of AI 1
AI 2 main cola
This girl seems to be in a rush to finish up and has gone bananas with trichomes and orange pistils
She will probably have the better bag appeal of the two IMO
Hi Piel, thanks for stopping by the grow mate. AI is a strain that I thoroughly recommend and I'd love to see some shots of a thread of yours if you get one going. Don't disagree with your friend about the smoke, already it smells so fruity and hashy and I can't wait to cut her down.
Hi there edro! Thanks for checking back in on the grow buddy. Definitely into the home stretch now for sure. I will be asking you guys in the coming 1-2 weeks about when to give them the chop so stick around.
So exciting when it's so close! I love checking back in every so often to see this evolve so well! Nice job, can't wait to see the final shots before harvest
I dunno if you have ever seen VerdantGreen's grows, but he made a scrog(screen) for each plant/ pot he uses. That might be something you could try in the future. With such a limited space, it maximizes your light coverage and your plant will have more bud sites if trained properly. * never hurts to try to get more
* BTW , I can't say enough about my good experiences with Nirvana gear. I have found that across their entire line, they have some really solid strains. No glitter or drama involved.
AK48, WW, Full Moon, Blackjack, NL Auto, Papaya, Bubblicious and Durban have all made me HAPPY!
The White varietys (widow, rhino, castle ) are really nice for sea of green if you ask me. The are very homogenous, and take anything you throw at them. They stank though ;0
Welcome back to the thread Green Sky! Really appreciate your input and kind words buddy. I need as much encouragement as I can get in this tiny space haha. I'll let these girls go for one more week up to the end of week 7 and then I'll be looking to you and others for an opinion on when to chop so please stick around.
I have definitely thought about going SCROG on my next run; great minds think alike. I have checked out VG's SCROG grows before and was inspired although do you think I should go with plant beds instead of pots for next time in order to start the girls off lower to the ground and to maximise vertical space? I'd be happy to lay a larger screen over the top of them both in that case if they're sharing a bed.
That's great to hear that you've had great experiences with Nirvana's gear too. I have only grown out these AIs and a couple of their White Widows previously but I concur 100% that Nirvana's strains will cop anything you throw at them and are homogenous in a lot of ways.
As we are fast approaching the next stage of these plants' lives, I thought it would be a good time to show you some pics of how I plan to dry and cure these girls after the chop. I will have to dry these girls inside my tent as I have no other suitable place for drying at the moment.
Some storage racks I nabbed from my pantry that I will use for the drying phase. One for each lady.
The curing jars. Pre-labelled and each with a mini-hygrometer inside as I will be using simon's "perfect cure" method of curing.
Picked up the mini-hygrometers from the local reptile shop!
I have a question for the more experienced growers out there though. While the girls are drying, I was planning on opening up the tent doors for passive air to be taken in and to leave only the exhaust fan running inside the tent to extract all the moisture that will be evaporated. I was worried that closing the tent doors and leaving the intake fan on for air intake might dry the girls out too quickly as the fan air would be basically blowing on the buds directly.
hey Penguin, it looks like the pheno's you have are leaning more to the afghan side of the cross. they tend to be the denser/fatter plants, fruity/hashy tasting
ive grown nirvana's afghan & northern lights separately too and tried to duplicate the cross on my own lol it worked and i had similar results but more variation in the pheno's
as for the harvest/cure; watch your humidity and temps for best results to ensure a slow dry point the fan away from the plants so the air circulates more throughout the tent.
Hi pheen! Thanks for the very nice words mate. Totally agree that they're the afghan side of the cross. The fruity/hashy smell is almost overwhelming when I poke my head inside the tent. I can't wait to smoke these girls!!!
Glad to hear that you got some great results with the cross yourself. At how many weeks did you give them the chop usually?
So you think I should be using the intake fan instead of just leaving the tent doors open for circulation but just point the fan away from the buds?
i found them to be a pretty potent smoke so based off your liking for the smoke effect i always judge from the trich color, with AI its a naturally sedating indica stoned effect so i would chop around 8 weeks 40% amber.
because i sometimes need more sedation effects i will let some go until 75% trichs are amber
and yes if you can keep the tent closed (smell) and if you blow the fan off to the side you create a circulation of the tent - just moving the air rather then blowing the buds around and i keep temps around 68-72 with humidity 50%-60% to ensure a smooth drying
this is just basics of how i do things that i have good results with
Hi pheen, thanks for the tips mate! Always good to get an experienced grower's opinion on the ins and outs of a strain that I've never grown before.
I will probably just wait until all of the trichomes have turned milky and about 10% have gone amber. I don't need too heavy a body stone. It will be good to have a bit of head high too as my personal preference.
Yeh you're right, I think circulation will be key in the drying phase. Will need to control humidity in that small space. I'll just have to point the fan towards the floor away from the buds.
Well everyone, on that note above, I just checked all the trichomes on the girls to gauge a rough time for harvest and have decided that this Friday will be the day for the chop; bang on 7 weeks for both.
On AI 1, only some of the pistils have turned brown but basically 90% of the trichomes are milky and about 10% are still clear. They will probably be all milky by Friday.
On AI 2, about ¾ of the pistils have turned brown already with 90% of the trichomes milky and 10% amber.
Even if one girl is a little bit behind the other, both plants are definitely in the peak harvest window either way.
I gave them a small watering yesterday (not a flush) so if I let the soil dry out until Friday, they should have soaked up all that water to dry normally when cut down and hung.
Feel free to offer any opinions or tips for the next phase!
Tips on next phase put more plants in there. Id say 6 would fit well in your tent. I have 9 in mine in 1/2 gallon bags and floor space to pot size wise I could fit 15 but would severely overcrowd the canopy. I could squeeze up to 3 more but that would be really pushing it. 9 in a sog seems good for my tent. Or fewer but bigger bushy plants works well too.
I noticed my yeild go up drastically when really filling the tent up fully and no wasted canopy space.
What kind of nutes are you using or just straight water?
Cant wait to see harvest pics and a little smoke report!