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Hi everyone ! this is my first time with a GrowDiary, so I hope it lives up to your expectations.
Lets start with the setup... this is an indoor we just finished putting together with a group of friends. Its goal, before all things, is to maximize the comfort of our girls, so that their short lives on this Earth will be the most pleasant possible and they reward us with big and tasty buds 😀
GROWING SPACE, SUBSTRATE AND NUTRIENTS
- 1.0 x 1.0 x 2.0 meters Piranha Grow Tent
- 300 cc. Plastic Pots for germination and 20 L. "ProPot Active Fabric" pots for growing.
- Canna Terra Professional and all of the "Terra" product line (Terra, Flores, Rhizotonic, Cannazym, PK 13/14 and Boost).
ILUMINATION
MaxiLight high performance cool tube with 600W HPS bulb for both vegetation and flowering stage. This combination of light and cool tube lets us take full advantage of our indoor, we are planning to grow at least 6 plants each time, so in this way, the girls won't be fighting each other to get more light. Also, the possibility of connecting our extractor to the light allows us to drop a few degrees on heat.
VENTILATION
- 150mm (460m3) In-Line "Vent" Centrifugal Extractor located in the top of the tent, connected to the cooltube.
- 100mm (320m3) "Kasvi" Plastic Extractor (for helping air in) located in the bottom of the tent.
- 150mm (540m3) "Vanguard Hydroponics" Carbon Air Filter located in the top of the tent, connected to the cooltube on the other side of extractor.
All of these are connected by fully insulated air ducts to reduce noise. We also have four 6' Clip Fan of 15W to help move the air inside.
MISC.
- Ultrasonic 5.2L humidifier
- Thermo-hygrometer to measure temperature and air moisture.
- Parrot’s Flower Power to measure soil moisture, amount of light, temperature and soil conductivity.
- "Wassertech" PH meter and EC meter to measure water's indices.
STRAINS
Well, I love FastBuds, so I decided to try growing all of their varieties, two at a time. These are the first lucky autos on growing in this crazy journey... 4 Northern Express and 4 Girl Scout Cookies 😃.
So...
GERMINATION
We submerged the small pots filled with soil into water with nutrients, we let them drain and we put the seeds directly into the soil, about 1 centimeter deep. Then we left them on top of their future home, just to have the tent in its final distribution. Every other day, we switch the pots forwards and rightwards to ensure they receive the same amount of everything evenly.
Hope you enjoy the journey with us!
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Day 4 update:
Yesterday the girls beated the soil ! We're very happy that all made it, but one Northern Express seems to have problems to grow, we'll be monitoring her very often to encourage her pulling through. Anyway, we put another GirlScout Cookie on germination just in case our girl doesn't make it... If both grow successfully, I think I'll make them compete for the spot XD
Today was the first time we spray them, just nearly 20cc of water with nutrients each pot.
C'ya on friday!
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Day 7 update:
Hello everyone! Today was a big day. We transplanted all our girls into their final home and started feeding them heavily (2.5L to each pot). Sadly, the once troubled Northern Express isn't with us any longer 😢 but in her place, a new Girl Scout Cookies is waiting to be born so we all have hope on her coming to live with her bigger sisters. The current count is 5 Girl Scout Cookies and 3 Northern Express.
Hope you enjoy the rest of the weeks with us! C'ya
Hi everyone! Today we transplanted our smallest girl into her final home... it seems like she is very excited about growing as big as her sisters so there's no reason to wait any longer 😀. The final count is 5 Girl Scout Cookies and 3 Northern Express.
In the past days the leaves turned a little yellow so we looked up for problems and finally we concluded that the light was too close. We fixed it and in a couple days the green was back, so nothing to worry about... yet.
C'ya next week!
Hi everyone! Yesterday we did some FIMming to the girls (to all but the little one) and sadly I miss one cut and ended with a whole leave and the newest grow tip on my hand, I really did learn why they call F*ck I Missed to this method xD
We are taking the watering slow because some moss appeared on the soil and honestly they can wait a few days more to be fed. Soon we will be doing some LST to them, so keep in touch!
Hi everyone !
This was a rough week, so forgive me if I'm not very communicative right now.
We did strong LST to all of them and defoliation to the ones that need it... they're starting to react very well. Also about half of the girls show female pre flowers, so we're on a good path.
See you next week, hopefully on flowering :)
Hi everyone! We are almost on flowering stage, and the girls look very well. A few days ago we switch the light cycle to 20/4 and we also cut a lot of leaves in order to allow more penetration of light. As usual, 12 hours later the girls look like nothing happened 😃 Hopefully this is the final stress they would have.
6 out of 8 are big enough, but the other 2 seems to have problems to adapt to all the work we have done. Let's hope they recover and produce a few buds at least.
C'ya next week!
Hi everyone! We finally entered to flowering stage. The 2 troubled ones are catching up, but at this point is obvious that they will stay a lot smaller than their sisters. We put more effort on the pictures so hope you enjoy them.
We are feeding them with flowering concentrations and we stop doing LST and defoliation to all of them, in order to let the achieved bud sites do their thing. At this point we only have to sit tight and wait for the best.
How do you guys see them?
Hi everyone ! A real tough week again, so I'll be not very communicative.
We started to feed heavily the plants and they have responded very well. Two of the girls have abandoned us because a friend took them to continue their growth, so the remaining ones have a lot more space to flower! Only one northern express continues with us though :(
See you!
Hello everyone! We have great news this week... it turns out that at the beginning we mislabeled some of the pots and instead of only one northern express left, we have two of them 😄 As my friend took one more plant, we finally have enough room for the remaining 5 girls. Hope this improves the flowering cycle.
This week we reduced the light cycle to 18/6 and we continue with the feeding schedule just like last week. Enjoy the photos and feel free to comment any thoughts!
Nothing new, just a little trimming to the newest grow tips so they don't delay the rest of the ripening phase. The largest plant is 3.3 ft and the shortest one, 2 ft. Still no flushing.
C'ya!
Hello everyone ! I am a bit delayed because we recently started a new and exciting project and it has been taking most of my time, but here we are.
We change the light schedule to 12/12 for the final 3 weeks of flowering, and this week we fed the girls one last time (same concentrations as last week). Starting today (7/3) we flush every other day until few days before harvest.
Keep in touch because friday we will have very good news !
C'ya !
Hello everyone ! This is our final week. The plants were flushed two times, first with 5 L each pot and the second time (three days after) with 20 L each pot. Both times we use Grotek's Final Flush on a concentration of 3 ml / L . Trichomes are getting ready and we just cut all fan leaves for the final week. This way we cut all plants access to nutrients stored on the leaves and allow more light penetration on the lower buds, so we will get less popcorn and more viable buds. See you next week, on harvest post!
-- Update --
Added a picture of the five girls without fan leaves 😁
Final week ! The plants have been flushed one last time a week prior to harvest and they are all ready to be cut. We cut some buds at this point and put them on water curing for 5 days, then dried them for 3 days, so we will be able to smoke this samples of both types on harvest day. There are some pictures of it too, they show how ugly but top quality the buds result after water curing.
These pictures were taken 60 hours prior to harvest, moment when we turned off all lights for good. Tomorrow we will upload harvest post, with their corresponding smoke reports 😁
C'ya !
Doesn't respond well to heavy training and feeding. It's a very delicated strain and has nothing different from any northern light. I would not recommend this.
Top level quality. Very sweet, creamy and smooth flavor. The high was very balanced between cerebral and relaxing but it didn''t last long. It hit very fast though. Tested on bong after days of water curing, and both water hash and rosin extractions
Respond very well to heavy training and feeding. It is a very resistant strain, really worth growing for begginers or experience growers. I would recommend it.
Northern Express final weight after water curing and drying:
91.5 g
Girl Scout Cookies final weight after water curing and drying:
149,8 g
Both are top quality buds, without any impurities or unwanted molecules as they are all gone thanks to the water curing. The smoke is the sweetest and tastiest ever. It’s true that water curing sacrifices a lot of the harvest’s quantity. But the quality it achieves is, in my experience, far above the level of air drying - air curing processes. It is totally worth it.
@nicogm, WOW, you did amazing work buddy. I'm not familiar with water curing.... I'm glad you liked the results. Great work man, I cannot wait to see more from you :D
@CANNASIM, Thanks bro ! We pass the water through the nets but found nothing, as it should be as we kept the water above 16º C all the time, so no trichomes would drop.
@WhiteWidow, With girl scout cookies you're right, I could have waited a few more weeks and have more mature buds. The thing is i wanted no body-stoned effect on this strain so i've harvested when no trichomes were amber, and a few more weeks would have added an unwanted effect on this strain since some of the THC had begun to degrade into CBN.
With northern express, I couldn't wait any longer. I harvested when almost all trichomes were amber so a few more weeks would have closed the harvest window, ruining my work.
Very nice observation 😃
@Chuckie, Hi !
https://denverdave23.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/water-curing/
The only thing I disagree with the autor is the advantage of the use of running water, because tap water is not good for cannabis, no matter where. The salts and other molecules present on tap water will do an undesired process: sugars and salts from the buds will pass to the water because the water doesn't have them but in exchange, a lot of molecules present in the water (and not in the buds) will "contaminate" your batch. Also, fluorine and chlorine will damage some other non-water-soluble molecules and this will decrease the taste and potency of the buds. All the time you should be as close as it can be to reverse osmosis water. Cheers.
love your diary already, detailed and very informative, how did you hook up the extractor to the light, id love to reduce the heat a few degrees to up the power to 600w
@autopassion, thanks for your kind words, mate ! I connected the extractor to the MaxLight cooltube of Garden HighPro and the other side of the duct is connected to a carbon filter. It reduces a lot of heat from the light, you should try it.
@BigDaddyK, Yes, it does. I think the minimum is 5 days of water curing... more days is kind of an overkill for some strains. At the end of the day, it's only a matter of personal preference imo. Good luck !
@BigDaddyK, Thanks ! I water cure slightly more than half of the harvest for 7 days, and then dry them for a few days. The remaining is used for making water hash and rosin, both of which i am already enjoying.
@nicogm, if you are looking for a quality/quantity northern lights auto you wont go far wrong with royalqueenseeds, it is 100%indica too much for me i like 70i/30s range but its quality all the same.
@KonopCh, But it is long enough for finish the ripening, which is what I want. Don't worry, these girls have been trained enough to maximize potency (that's why i hurted them since the beginning). Even if they finish with a lot of popcorns (which it doesn't seem like), is quality what i was looking for, not quantity.
Looking very good bro! 👍🏻 Nice work! Interesting maneuver with the light cycle, in what time frame do you reduce the lights(in how many days/weeks do you make the switches) ?
@CANNASIM, Thanks !
Let see... First I start with 24/0 on seedling and vegetation (in this diary, 4 weeks)... then, when all plants have shown pistils on preflowering, I change to 20/4 (around week 5). First weeks on flowering (when the flowers are developing in length) I keep 20/4 until the flowers stop increasing their length and start increasing their volume (in this diary, week 8). At this point I switch to 18/6 and keep it that way until flowers stop increasing their volume and start ripening, moment where I switch to the final 12/12 cycle which in this diary is exactly today, on week 10.
I prefer that way because of many factors, among them: reducing electricity billing, doesn't affect the yield that much due to the scaled and late switch, increase the potency of the buds (light breaks THC) and slow the unnaturally-fast flowering of some autos (improving quality). So far it has been worked very well :)
Now, I am going to feed one more time the girls and then start flushing for 2 weeks on a 12/12 light schedule. Then, 48 hrs before harvest I will turn off all lights to remove the remaining nutrients from the buds and speed the drying process.
Hola capo, alto seguimiento :) Me da curiosidad el sensor Parrot, parece muy útil pero leí por ahí que se suelen terminar rompiendo, cómo les viene resultado? Dónde lo compraron?
@plater, Gracias amigo ! Mira la verdad no costó mucho encontrarlo ya que lo he visto en varios GrowShops, sin embargo yo terminé ordenándolo a través de Amazon jaja. Sobre su utilidad, es principalmente para medir intensidad lumínica y control de humedad del sustrato. Para la medición de temperatura y electroconductividad uno tiene mejores opciones. También es muy cómodo que mantenga un histórico de datos graficados y los sincronice a través de bluetooth. Cabe mencionar que ya cuando las plantas están grandes, tapan toda la luz del dispositivo y las lecturas son menos útiles. Saludos
@Bstoner, Thanks !
The change is mainly due to the belief that even though autoflowering strains control their hormones by age and not by light schedule, the balance between florigen and antiflorigen can be influenced by longer periods of darkness. Basically, we are telling the plants that days are getting shorter and they need to hurry. Until now, there have been two "flowering spikes" just before the changes from 24/0 to 20/4 and from 20/4 to 18/6 so they are getting the message.
Hey. I Just bought fastbuds autoflower seeds. I have made good a experience with fimming my plant. Do you think I can fim autos as well. And if you recommented, when should I do it ?
nicogm
