Wanna Ask The Old Farts A Question?

[EatMoGrass]

I unplug my ballast the night before harvest so I can sleep in and take it easy before harvest. Harvesting is like a busy holiday for me. I need time to smoke tuff before doing work on that special day. My plants usually end up getting about 18-20 hours of darkness before harvesting.

 

[HempKat]

I just finished chopping down my last girl from this grow and was wondering if it is a waste to continue with co2 right up to the end. Is there a benefit to using it through out or is there a point where I should turn it off?
Thx

I've never heard of a point of deminishing returns on CO2 use but then again I don't use it and so would not likely run across that sort of info.

All I can think of is that by the time you're about 2/3rds thru flower there's not so much new growth that would justify the expense of CO2 enrichment. What's going on at that point should be able to be covered just as well by the CO2 naturally in the air. Then again in my personal experiences the CO2 naturally in the air has always seemed enough for the plant's needs at any point in it's growth.

 

[HempKat]

thank you very much HempCat, i will do just that, one quickie, the top buds look done, but not the smaller ones, do i take just the done ones or all ?

It's up to you really, even after harvest there is some ripenning of the trichomes that goes on so if not all the buds look ready by the trichomes you could still harvest the whole plant and those unrippened buds will eventually ripen. You will perhaps lose some size on those smaller buds though. So what you can do is what I call a split harvest which is where you take just what's ready and leave what isn't (remember to move the light closer since you removed the top level of buds). Then you just wait until they're done and harvest them then, usually they'll be a good bit bigger and heavier for having waited.

I say it's up to you because sometimes harvests are brought about by or dictated by other things so maybe you can't afford to wait because you need the room for a new crop, or you're going out of town, or you can't afford to run your grow room during the summer because of what it takes to keep it cool. If you have the time and can afford it then doing a split harvest will benefit you.

 

[HempKat]

Hey guys... I'm curious what input you might have about this.

In a previous post HempKat helped me see my lower growth problem was probably due to low/no airflow and insufficent light. It looks like the issue has stabilized some, the fan leave die-off has slowed to almost nil. I had kicked up the fan speed, that might have helped. But its obviously not very bright at the bottom. I've seen single T-5 lights and thought that might be the ticket.
http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=54975

The question is, how I see putting one of those in my cab, it would by design light upwards, instead of down. MJ leaves obviously like light from above. Would this help greatly? Not at all? Do more damage than good?

You couldn't mount it to the side so it's neither pointing up or down? I myself have wanted to try lower side lighting but I usually have the circuits available maxed out and therefore haven't done it yet. The people that I know have done it have all said it improved their lower growth.

 

[HempKat]

Hi Guys,

Okay, I have worried every step of the way on this grow journey, so why stop now?

I am between 2 & 3 weeks into curing. I think probably everything is going fine, but I'm worried about bud mold, not that I see anything that looks like the mold I see on old stuff in the frig, but the buds are kind of shiny. I think it is probably the resin, but does anyone know of some pictures of bud mold that I can look at?

Also, each jar smells different. The first canned doesn't have much of a smell at all. The others do have an odor, but I don't know how to describe it.

Thanks ever so.....
Gabs

I've never seen shiney mold if that helps?

As for smells well depending on what's in them and when they're harvested it's normal for jars to smell different. For one thing if it's a different strain in each jar then of course they'll smell different. Even if it's the same strain though it can smell different if they were harvested at different times. Starting out, buds that are curing tend to have a smell similar to hay or cut grass this is mainly the chlorophyll. As the buds start to cure that hay like smell fades and the smell of the resin becomes more distinct. Once cured if you're very careful not to disturb the buds then a jar can seem to lose it's smell but once you break some bud up or shake the jar a bit you should find the smell was just hiding.

 

[HempKat]

Hi HK, hows it going?

I have switched to the lights being on at night this has cooled things down a bit but the temp is stll about 90F i know this is too hot but the plants look fine. Is this temp doing any damage/slowing growth etc?

If so I will take the cfl out for a bit and just leave the 250w hps as the temp will sit about 80F I think if i can remember correctly.
Thanks

If it's doing damage you'll see it, parts of the plant closest to the heat will wither and die if the air gets too dry and the plant can't find enough moisture in the soil to cope with the heat. Beyond that alot will depend on the strain. Strains originating from more equatorial climates will stand a better chance of surviving the heat then a strain that comes from a cooler climate.

I've taken to not growing in the summer for a number of reasons and one of those reasons was that the room usually gets too hot even with a window AC unit cooling things and as a result the buds don't seem quite as nice or quite as frosty as the crops I get in the winter when heat isn't an issue. The same held true in how it smoked. The summer bud would be okay but not as good as the winter bud.

 

[HempKat]

Hey guys. I just had a quick Q. Do you cut down your harvest just before they are about to go into "lights on" (the normally scheduled time)?

I've heard that this gives them 1 last full 12 hours of dark to build up starches.

From somewhere in the So.Cal hills....

Thank you, and as always,

peace.

I'm sure it doesn't hurt to do it that way but I doubt it makes a very big difference, not just from one night's worth of starch production. Alot of people feel the thing to do is leave them in the dark 2 or even 3 days before actually harvesting them. Personally I don't think it matters, logically they are going to be harvested during a light period anyway so you'll always be doing it following a dark period. Also if you like many plan on triming most of the leaves off at harvest, then you'll be trimming away most if not all of those extra starches since thier production and storage is in the leaves.

 

[HempKat]

I unplug my ballast the night before harvest so I can sleep in and take it easy before harvest. Harvesting is like a busy holiday for me. I need time to smoke tuff before doing work on that special day. My plants usually end up getting about 18-20 hours of darkness before harvesting.

Now this kind of extended dark period just prior to harvest I can understand, because it has nothing to do with the needs of the plant but everything to do with the needs of the person doing the work of harvest.

 

[ericcalif]

You couldn't mount it to the side so it's neither pointing up or down? I myself have wanted to try lower side lighting but I usually have the circuits available maxed out and therefore haven't done it yet. The people that I know have done it have all said it improved their lower growth.

Well, as I see those fixtures, they don't put out light in one direction, they spread it out. I had one placement in mind (between my two tubs at the bottom pointing up) but you got me to see an alternative, which I might try in the future.
My biggest problem as you've seen is my cab is cramped, I vegged about a week too long so my girls are... well, cozy. A light mounted on the side will be too close. I would have to manage size closer too.

Rather than spend $50, I'm going to try a 30 watt cfl down low, and see what happens. I'm thinking if its detrimental, it will show fairly quick. I'll post an update.

 

[gabjaz]

Thank You HempKat,

You are right. Last night I looked at some of the buds under the microscope and I can see clearly that what I thought might be mold is just the resin bulbs or should I say the THC .. I think I'm probably out danger of mold. I will continue burping the jars the way you told me in an earlier post..

How long do you recommend curing buds? Two months? Then I will shrink them into a foodsaver and keep in a freezer.

Peace, Gabs

 

[gabjaz]

Thanks Ericcalif,

I actually have one and have been using it along with following HempKat's harvesting and curing directions. I know that I probably canned some of my buds too early and the hygrowmeter or what ever it's called was great as the moisture was too high and with that little gizmo I could easily correct it.

Peace, Gabs

 

[meltman85]

hempkat please help

i think my timer kept the lights on all night im a newb so im not aware what efects this will have

im 7 wks into flowering white widow and blueberry

very nervous

 

[HempKat]

Well, as I see those fixtures, they don't put out light in one direction, they spread it out. I had one placement in mind (between my two tubs at the bottom pointing up) but you got me to see an alternative, which I might try in the future.
My biggest problem as you've seen is my cab is cramped, I vegged about a week too long so my girls are... well, cozy. A light mounted on the side will be too close. I would have to manage size closer too.

Rather than spend $50, I'm going to try a 30 watt cfl down low, and see what happens. I'm thinking if its detrimental, it will show fairly quick. I'll post an update.

Actually that cfl is likely going to put out more heat and therefore be more likely to cause a problem then a T-5 light fixture.

 

[HempKat]

Thank You HempKat,

You are right. Last night I looked at some of the buds under the microscope and I can see clearly that what I thought might be mold is just the resin bulbs or should I say the THC .. I think I'm probably out danger of mold. I will continue burping the jars the way you told me in an earlier post..

How long do you recommend curing buds? Two months? Then I will shrink them into a foodsaver and keep in a freezer.

Peace, Gabs

Yeah 2 months is good, you can go longer if you want but 2 months and then seal for long term storage. On letting the jars breath, remember you don't have to do it as often as time progresses. Every day for the first couple of weeks, then every other day for a couple of weeks and then once a week for the last month.

 

[HempKat]

hempkat please help

i think my timer kept the lights on all night im a newb so im not aware what efects this will have

im 7 wks into flowering white widow and blueberry

very nervous

Well you're lucky in that it kept the light on, had it turned them off then you might have a problem. Plants key off the length of the dark period, not the length of the light period. If a light stays on longer then it's supposed to, the plants just see it as an unusually long day. As long as that light period is followed by an uninterupted dark period that's 12 hours long then you should have no problems. The only issue should be that you might have to give it one light period that is shorter then normal to get back to the schedule you're used to.

Now to maybe calm your worries a bit let's examine the worst case scenario a bit. To me the worst case scenario would be that the plants got light stressed and went hermie. So lets say that happened. At week 7 of flowering you're almost done. It would probably take more then one incident to stress the plant but if the plant did hermie it would take at least a week to start putting out the male flowers, then another week for the pollen they create to be transmitted to female flowers. So now were at like week 9 and no seeds yet and your plants should be finished. Even if they went 10 or 11 weeks it still probably wouldn't be enough time for the seeds to develop.

 

[mymix]

mymix
I have just found this site and have read some of your posts. I would like to ask a question. Have you ever seen a post that listed the bottom half of the original haze poster, cc1973. Is it a growers secret or what?
Original Haze was one of my favorites. I stopped growing back in the late 70's. Obviously I am an old fart. Now I am back using for medical uses.
I have my original poster framed in perfect shape! Brings back many memories...
Would anyone have an idea of a price on such a piece of art? It is beautiful and in mint condition. My children have no use for it, so I have decided to sell it.
Any information would be much appreciated (including another site that may assist me). I don't know if this site allows this type of information to be given or not, but in any case...happy growing..mm

 

[SickBoyZap]

Yeah I thought the whole thing was BS, or of minimal effect, anyway.

However, when I do harvest I chop the whole plant down 1st and hang it until dry for days w/o manicuring. So they never get any light until they are almost cured.

 

[EatMoGrass]

But there might be something to the dark period you mentioned.
I have read that many spices and herbs are harvested just before dawn to maximize the amount of essential oils present.
I have tried the whole 2-3 day dark period and it did not seem to help any. And it just seems to unnatural to me.
12-24 hours of dark before harvest has always worked well for me.
Remember that harvest day is a special day and you absolutely must smoke tuff and eat well before all that sticky work.

 

[mellow yellow]

Hey HK
Thanks as usual, I have turned off the Cfl temps dropped to about 71F. The cfl covers about half a plant, if i had the cfl come on for 20 mins then off again for 20 mins (so the temps to not rise too high) whlist in the "light period" would this confuse the plant? It would still be getting some light from the hps.

 

[ericcalif]

mymix
I have just found this site and have read some of your posts. I would like to ask a question. Have you ever seen a post that listed the bottom half of the original haze poster, cc1973. Is it a growers secret or what?
Original Haze was one of my favorites. I stopped growing back in the late 70's. Obviously I am an old fart. Now I am back using for medical uses.
I have my original poster framed in perfect shape! Brings back many memories...
Would anyone have an idea of a price on such a piece of art? It is beautiful and in mint condition. My children have no use for it, so I have decided to sell it.
Any information would be much appreciated (including another site that may assist me). I don't know if this site allows this type of information to be given or not, but in any case...happy growing..mm

Interestingly enough, here's someone on IC that was looking for one...
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=127243

Second, I'm not sure where you live but the only thing that came to mind was this place...
http://www.rockaway.com/online/online/index.php

I realize that poster isn't exclusively music oriented, but it is culturally related to what that outfit buys and sells. I've gone there for decades and I'm always nostalgic looking at the stuff they acquire. They buy/sell/trade posters, flyers, tickets and music paraphernalia going way back. If they aren't interested or you can't strike a deal, they may at least give you an idea of it's value.
And as with anyone that is into collecting, you might get a better idea if they aren't interested in it, as opposed to low-balling you if they are. Good luck...