Pound Dawg F5 GERMINATED on August 14th, 2024

DAY 92 - 11/15/24 - Plants good, not sure when to chop. Maybe in a day or two, not sure if they need the full 3rd week of Cake. Concerned about some light colored pistols on Back Left, but lots more amber trichs are appearing. The THC is starting to degrade. I added another feed while I wait and watch the plants. FEED: 6 gal water, 180ml CS Cake, PH’d low to 4.9 NIGHT (12-2AM) AVE: T 70.8 H 56.4 V 1.12 DAY AVE: T 76.1 H 49.6 V 1.55 DAY 93 - 11/16/24 - All good. Took some more test shots, set up some extra lights to face the front of the plants for picture time. NIGHT (12-2AM) AVE: T 70.6 H 54.6 V 1.16 DAY AVE: T 76.7 H 48.2 V 1.62 DAY 94 - 11/17/24 - Last full day of life. Getting final shots, Finishing the cleaning and prepping of the drying and curing materials. NIGHT (12-2AM) AVE: T 71.4 H 53.9 V 1.21 DAY AVE: T 77.1 H 45.6 V 1.72 DAY 95 - 11/18/24 - Chop day. Lots of shots. I chopped up the two weakest and threw em into the dryer. Chopped around 4PM, started with the smallest/weakest (Da Bush and Breaker) took pics, chopped another, took pics, chopped em all, group pics. Then I separated the stems from the main stocks. I Cut the buds front he stems from the weakest plants and threw them into the dryer. I have two main sheets of primo nugs and (1 per plants) and 2 trays fulls of sloppy goodness per plant. Can’t wait to see how they turn out! I left the two strongest plants together on the big stems – separated from the stocks, ofcourse. I ran out of steam after a long day of harvesting and filming. So I left the stocks separated by plant piled on top of each other. Plants ended up in the dryer around 2 AM. DAY 96 - 11/19/24 - I hung the remaining plants up in the tent. I cleaned out the pots and the dirt, I am going to soak with run clean, may do multiple soaks, we will see. So the big plants are hanging in the tent, the little ones I stuffed into the herb dryer. There are also some smaller stems laying on the trim tray on the floor of the dry tent. DAY 97 - 11/20/24 - I plan on keeping the big plants tucked away in the tent in the dark for a few more days before I check on them. I will check on them when the herb dryer timer has counted down. The timer lasts for four days. I plan on checking the stems tomorrow night at three days time. I will see if I need that last 4th day or not. DAY 98 - 11/21/24 - I might’ve fried the weed I stuffed into the grinder. All the trays are pretty starkly dry, the bottom tray, that was not really a tray did not dry the right way. I should have used the moisture shot and checked every 6-12 hours. Who knew. I placed the dry ass schwag into my grove bags. I’m going to try to revitalize with Boveda packs, but I am not super hopeful. The temperatures got cold and dry over the past few days and I was not incorporating that data into my calculations. I am not too bummed. I did not do this run to grow the bestest weed. I want weed, and I want good weed, but I want to learn and get better more than I want to hit it out of the park. You learn more from fucking up. It sucks, but it is true. The good news is that the chlorophyll smell is pretty gone from the Herbs Now dried weed. I want to run it through a bowl trimmer, but I need a little more moisture back in the bud or the trimmer will act more like a shredder. Not a bad way to grind up shwag, but that is a pretty dire “solution”. The weed that is air drying in the tent is going well. I will monitor that closely over the next couple of days. DAY 99 - 11/22/24 - The dry continues. DAY 100 - 11/23/24 - The lower trays from the Herbs Now Dryer were not totally dry, so i have those drying in the tent, I also have some open backs drying in the tent, trying to knock out that chlorophyl smell. DAY 101 - 11/24/24 - I’ve started trimming branches from plants when they are done. I am monitoring things closely and trying to give the plants the time they need. The top trays from the herbs now are pretty good, but I am pretty sure I messed it up and would do many things differently next time. I am about done with this journal now. The drying is finishing. I am trying to keep everything on track. I will add some notes as I have them, but this is the end of daily updates. Thank you for coming along on this adventure! I had so much fun and learned so much! ANd the purplest weed actually smells really good. If I got 1 plant of 8/10 weed from this cycle, I will be stoked. I will add notes as the cure develops, but as it stands idc if the herbs now dryed bud will recover, The two best plants are drying nicely, tho they feel awful light and larfy. I definitely plan on pruning more of the lower bud sites next cycle. I have a lot of pop corn nugs. Which isn’t bad, but they are a pain to trim. I bought a bowl trimmer. Plan on running the bud through it, we will see how that works. DAY 101+ - Final Thoughts: The bud trimmer massacred my buds. Saved me a huge amount of time in trimming tho. But I lost a huge amount from my premium nugs. All the breakable top bits were mashed and pulled away. All the time I saved in trimming, I made up for with sifting for buds. I spent whole days doing that. Would not recommend. There must be some sort of happy medium and I cannot wait to find out what that looks like. Hanging to dry works the best. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. But the Herbs Now dryer is an impressive little monster. When not overloaded, when monitored correctly, it can function beautifully. I was thrown off by a rapid change in humidity and temperature due to the season, and because of that and the overstuffing, my own faults really impaired the end results. In short, device = good. My incompetence = bad. Highly recommend growers pick this up or something similar as it si a great tool to have on hand for a wide variety of purposes. I stored my bud in some Grove bags to cure. I brought the overdried plants back to life by putting a damp paper towel in a plastic cup, placing the cup in the Grove bag, and letting ti cure for a few days at a time that way. I would change the paper towels and cups and shake around the weed for fear of any mold buildup. To clarify, I had no mold. I also placed some Boveda packs in the bags. Initially a mix of 58 and 62, then all 62 as those work best. I also bought some C-Vaults. The Grove bags tear very easily, they are not meant to be opened often. C-Vaults are great, but too expensive for me to buy all that I need at this moment. I am going to wash out some old mason jars, then when I am pleased with the weed being cured properly, I plan on moving the weed from the bags into the mason jars. Thank you all so much for reading this far if you have. I hope these insane ramblings end up helping future growers. If you are interested in Autos, try them out!! They hit hard, they grow quick, and certain strains are basically idiot proof. My only recommendation is this: you need the autopots to grow autos correctly. These plants have a near insatiable thirst for nutrient rich water. Give them what they want and they will give you what you want. See you all back hear for my next grow. Most likely another auto, most like Dreamcast or God Particle from Speed Run Seeds, but maybe another later generation, more stable strain. If you have any preferences or are curious about a specific strain, let me know. I may not get to it this year, but I have, hopefully, 50+ remaining years to try to fit it in. FINAL WEIGHT BREAKDOWN: Back Left: 4.8 Oz Premium Purple Nugs Back Right: 1.7 Oz of A and B Quality Nugs Front Left: 1.9 Ounces of A and B Quality Nugs Front Right: 2.1 Mix of A Quality and Popcorn Nugs Kief: 36G High Grade Shake/Popcorn Nugs: 11 Oz Low Grade Shake/Kief: 6.1 Oz