4) FastBuds / Lemon Pie Auto / MicroGrow

She was harvested on Day 100 because I noticed some white fuzzy stuff under the canopy. On some leaves and on some buds. Yep, mold. Don't know when it started. Noticed it when I was feeling around and noticed one section of the plant was really wet. So I looked around and started noticing white stuff I was sure wasn't trichome related. Then I started noticing it was in a few places. She was a very bushy and compact plant. I had been concerned about mold possibly happening, but didn't know what I could/should do to prevent it. I might need more fans, maybe. Not sure that fixes this problem, because the wetness was caused by foliage and buds stuck together. Will more air fix that? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I should remove some buds? Maybe my LST was too low. There are so many potential reasons why this went wrong, but her bushiness (which is not a flaw by any means) was the main issue. Why did that make me harvest? I didn't know what else to do honestly. I removed some of the buds that had the problem (they looked alright inside), but I prolly didn't get every affected bud and much less, every spore. But being right before harvest time, I don't have much time to monitor the situation even if I did try to remedy the mold somehow. And I have a job, so I don't have time to pre-trim this plant on a whim. Even considered just throwing the whole plant out. I'm not excited about putting a plant that already shows mold signs inside a dark tent to dry slowly at 75 degrees/60% humidity. But harvesting is a better idea than a garbage can, so why not? That was the logic. This way we’re closer to the end and the problem has less time to progress. When I trim, I’ll have a better chance to assess the damage. Rotten buds will be thrown out. If that’s the whole plant, oh well. Yes, I'm a little heartbroken. And yes, this has my head spinning about what I could do better next time. I'm taking some time off after this (possibly failed) grow, so I'll have time to reconsider everything I did and will do going forward. Harvest time is usually a happy time for me, but this one isn't too much. 😐 Told ya I was a noob. HAHA. Might try giving her a trim or inspection or something later today. Or maybe cut her up into branches, do inspection/removal - instead of whoIe plant dry? I’m at a loss for ideas. Shoot me a message if you have any advice. NEXT MORNING/AFTERNOON: Firstly, I want to thank @bostongirl17 for reminding me that great growers learn from their mistakes and keep going. Thank you @bostongirl17 for your kind and thoughtful support. And thank you GrowDiaries for making that happen. I decided this morning, that what I should do is cut up the plant into sections, search for the moldy spots, remove them, and hang the branches separate from each other in the tent in order to allow all the foliage and buds room to breathe. I’m grateful I went that direction today, because the inspection showed me what the main likely problems were that led to the mold: 1) Too Low LST/ Crisscrossing branches: I didn’t do the best job organizing this plant when she was in her LST days. I was continuing the “Turbo LST” concept I kinda mentioned in my last grow, but I may have gone 2 cm too far this time. I never saw the “tree trunk” of this plant with my eyes because you just couldn’t see it. That’s how low all the branches were tied. I still believe this is a great idea, obviously, for my setup, but since I didn’t give myself enough room to see under the plant, I didn’t/couldn’t organize the plant properly. Or even lollipop, at all. Waterings were difficult. Couldn’t even see where the water was landing. I like to push limits. You learn stuff when you do that. I’ve learned this time that you need to give yourself room to at least SEE under the plant. Then you can diagnose/prevent/organize issues better. You get it. Ok. Done. So as a result, some of the branches were going on an angle up to the canopy instead of straight up like the others. The intersections that caused meant buds and foliage were growing and rubbing against each other the whole time without hope. Seems to me, this is where I could have done something to prevent all this. Lesson learned. 2) She was just a bushy girl: Big buds growing everywhere under the canopy. Very little larf upon early inspection. Beautiful juicy buds. But they and their corresponding leaves were all smooshed together because she’s just that kinda plant. How do you manage a bushy girl? Interesting thing to think about this offseason. You know, none of the buds were “all molded out” or whatever. There were just traces of stringy mold and just a couple places where that mold got fuzzy. So the mold infestation seemed to have just started. It was found more often on necrotic and damp leaf material or on the end of stems that were left after defoliation. Not a terrible tragedy. There should be plenty of salvageable plant in a few days. 3) Too little air circulation? I had the same setup for this grow as I’ve always had, so I’m not confident this was a contributing factor. For the reasons mentioned above, I don’t think air would have made it where it needed to go. But I could try adding more next time. Why not? AFTER 3.5 DAYS IN THE DRY/CURE TENT: Checked her this morning. No weird unexpected smells or sights. She’s looking alright. Did a branch bend test. No snap. A tiny bit of crackle though. Like a stretching sound. Wouldn’t surprise me if she was drying too fast a bit. In addition to not being a whole plant dry as I would have preferred, it’s hot outside these days. That’s a kind of conundrum with regards to room climate strategies for the drying period. I’m trying to keep 75/77 F with 60% to 65% in the tent. The temperature part is easy. 75/77 is easy to get to and stay at if you run the AC reasonably. But the AC also dehumidifies (dries), which is not what you want. Well, at one point yesterday I had the AC, the big de-humid, and the big humid going at the same time. I had the humid going so that it would humidify as the AC was going or quickly repair the damage done by the AC after it was done. The de-humid was just there to catch my mistake if the humid was set too high or too run too long – hard to calibrate. My little system seems to be working well. TRIM BEGAN AFTER 5 DAYS

TRIM JAIL I learned this term recently thanks to Pigeons420 on YouTube. It’s a fitting label. At one point in the trim, I thought, “This work should be shipped off to prisoners somewhere.” At another point I also thought, “This activity feels like that time I was in the precinct waiting to see the judge after they arrested me for buying weed (oregano, actually) from an undercover cop at the park. Just sitting there, watching the clock, hating life, when does this end.” Yeah, trimming still sucks – the undisputed champion. And try trimming when you think bud rot may have ruined your plant. Your feelings ride the line between hope and futility. But on this tip, not only would I be relieved at the result, I would, once again, learn something new. (I love this hobby. Don’t you?) So there’s actually THREE types of mold. Not just two. Everyone knows powdery mildew. Everyone knows grey mold, also known as Botrytis, also known as bud rot. But there’s one more. It’s called white fuzzy mold, or Sclerotina – more commonly known as stem rot. If you actually read my diaries for some reason, you’ll note that I noticed that the white fuzz seemed to emanate from the dead remaining stems of defoliated leaves sticking out of the buds. When I was doing the trimming, I kept noticing this pattern, then I would check the underlying bud and find no rot there. So this wasn’t bud rot at all. The buds that I threw out were likely salvageable. I mean, I did the right things when I noticed the mold. DeBacco University also recommends harvesting upon noticing mold ASAP as I did – in order to salvage what you can. And if you are assuming bud rot, getting rid of affected buds is of the utmost importance. I just misdiagnosed the mold – but in the right direction! Hooray! Right? Didn’t feel that way. For a while, I was pouting over losing buds unnecessarily. Eventually though, I accepted it as the price of admission to Hard Knocks University. F*ck it. Lots of little buds. Took a long time to trim lots of little leaves on lots of little buds. No grassy smell at all. I could hear people talking in the hallway of my building wondering where the wonderful smell was coming from. Saw my cat sleeping with his paw over his nose (he preferred the latent smell of the litter box on his paw.) I’m pretty sure cats don’t like heavy weed smell. Anyway, my point is, she seemed almost pre-cured. So exciting. She went into the jars a little on the dry side. I’m not a fan of the stem snap method of determining when to start trimming. I’ve done it twice and in both cases, I needed humidity packs to raise the sweat level. All in all, very happy with the results. Goal 1; Beautiful buds? Check. Goal 2: Sufficient yield? Check. She came in at 107 grams or about 3.8 ounces. OH! I almost forgot the most remarkable part. NO LARF! I mean there were maybe two or three larfy buds, but that’s it. Again, everytime I squeezed a bud I would ask myself, “Do I believe this nug can be ground into vapable weed?” 99.8 percent of the time, the answer to that question was yes. My marriage to top-down leaf-strip defoliation in early flower remains strong and we’re making babies! Yeah! So that’s it. My next grow diary will likely appear in the fall. See ya in a number of weeks when the cure is over. That’s when I’ll write my smoke review. I’ve never smoked this cultivar before, so looking forward to trying it. She was so frosty! And with loads of my favorite terpene, limonene! Should be good, right? SMOKE REVIEW: It took over 6 months to get through the Wedding Cake that I harvested before this plant, so I didn't try this Lemon Pie for almost all that time. She cured ALL that time, untouched. All of it. And I finally tried her. I like this strain! I like her more than that earthy Wedding Cake pheno I just finished smoking. This strain is exactly as advertised. I nice relaxing euphoria that turns into a nice body high - neither overwhelming. It's a positive chill out that doesn't make you sleepy. Makes you feel grateful about life, too? That's a nice touch! Has a citrusy sweet and sour taste. Notes of diesel? Highly recommended! Get on this strain! Have a great grow day!