Week 11! Day 77. Gotta be nearing the final lap now. Old fan leaves are turning yellow & pistils are turning brown. I did a few trial runs of "ice flushing" but with just one ice cube at a time last week lol. Maybe 2-3 cubes per day. Figured it'd help imitate colder conditions outdoors if nothing else. Still doing the slow, small waterings as she definitely prefers them to dumping a whole bottle-and-a-half in there at once.
The smell is more noticeable than before, but still not where you'd expect for the size & maturity. My smaller plants both smelled stronger, and MUCH earlier. One of them was a Solo cup grow all the way to the end & neither exceeded a paltry 4.3 grams dry. (Maybe I've just had COVID one too many times since then but this plant is as odor-free as can be). Frost level is moderate compared to popular strains & bud sites are abundant which is my main concern. I don't smoke weed for the taste or smell, though I know terps play a role in the final effects. This girl couldn't smell any LESS like Skittles, berries or chocolate if it tried, leaning much farther in the skunky/pungent direction.
Planning to do a wet trim & staggered harvest, cutting the top into 3 sections 24 hours apart to hopefully avoid/reduce stress. Then I'll leave the bottom part to grow another week or so. With a plant this tall and lanky, there is a real difference in maturity of buds. Plus my lights are weak af. Not sure how I'll get the temps down in the 60-70 degree range for for TWO separate drying periods, but we'll try. (I'm cold-natured & would have to run the AC 24/7 since it's still warm & muggy here, and that gets expensive. But I'll also have my ceiling & oscillating fans, some baking soda to absorb moisture & windows to open on cool nights. Gotta keep the temp AND humidity in the right range!
I looked at her the morning after applying a small amount of potassium humates & noticed a bunch of brown rusty spots on the upper sugar leaves. So I cut them off. Would be curious to know what it most likely is though. Also found a dead bug on her. Little black thing with wings... looks like he died happy lol.
10/29/25:
Ice flush + stem-splitting initiated. Next is 24 hours of light before adding more ice (half as much, if that) plus 36 hours in the dark before (partial) harvest. Landlord scare this morning had me scrambling to hide everything! Hence the bent cola on top--she wore the black garbage bag "hat" again lol. No bottle/chemical nutes so this isn't technically a "flush" in every sense... more of an end-of-life stressor/imitation of outdoor conditions (if we weren't frying due to climate change, heh). Hoping this staggered harvest thing works out. I wouldn't likely be doing it if not for the time crunch & fact that I need to whittle this plant down to a more manageable size.
Next few days should be eventful, check back. 😉